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I try to get to the windows bi-annually but I honestly can’t remember when we did it last. (The scariest thing is I don’t know if that’s the haze of the last 2.5 years or if it’s actually been that long.) But we washed them yesterday and it felt like the restoration of the Sistine Chapel: so bright! so light!

So for this week, think about washing those windows. I highly recommend this tool plus a telescoping pole; if you want to get fancy, you can even get the rectangular bucket.

Next up: tackling the blinds. I might call in a pro for that, though…

This is a TikTok found on Instagram but it really sums up how I feel about giving unhoused people money when asked:

 

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A post shared by The Indigenous Anarchist (@theindigenousanarchist)

“You’re acting like you care about this person but it sounds like you really just want control.”

Things are still pretty overwhelming over here: Toby isn’t 100%, work is…something, the wooded lot in the neighborhood got clear-cut Monday, and the state of the world is best described as “slowpocalypse.” What better time is there to discover a random video game via Kottke and see what “a dynamic soft-body physics vehicle simulator capable of doing just about anything” really means?

Sometimes you just need to turn your poor worried brain off and watch fake cars attempt to jump a bridge over lava or take flight on some fake stairs (0r plow into 100 pianos or try to drive over a geyser…).

It’s Labo(u)r Day for the rest of the world, aka International Workers’ Day. Remember, unless you’re the one running the company, you’re a worker and the people at the top are profiting from your labor. (And if you are running the company, I hope your workers unionize.) Just remember: there are more of us than there are bosses.

Toby’s had a few Good Poop Days (TM) in a row and seems like his happy self in general…but I can’t focus on sewing much. (Saturday I just sat next to him on the couch and read.)

I have some nice shirting to sew up and some robes to make for friends if we go on a hot springs trip. I’m sure I’ll get to them and Toby will help me with every step:

My dad sent me this brilliant version of “Always Look On the Bright Side of Life” last week but the original feels equally appropriate, given the season…and what’s going on at work…and what’s going on with Toby (he’s had digestive issues on and off for a week; the mobile vet is coming Wednesday; he’s had a couple good days now but I’m still a mess).

Clearly I just need to do this!

When you’re feeling in the dumps
Don’t be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle, that’s the thing

After the last few years, I, too, would wonder, “When are the tigers coming?”

We checked on the progress of all the bulbs at Red Butte Garden yesterday–they are progressing! I also finally finished the last custom fleece and jumped right into a fancy shirt. Hooray for weekends!

It’s anniversary number eight for us (“the ocho“) and it really doesn’t feel like that long of a span…until I look at pictures from seven or eight years ago:We were mere children! Untouched by time and unburdened by cares.

But there is no one else on earth I’d rather have faced the last eight years with. Not only has he been a support through all of it, he’s been an example of how to be kind and open and generous, even in the darkest times. It is an ongoing joy and privilege to have him in my life.

Happy anniversary, honey!  I love you.

Anne Helen Petersen’s newsletter linked to this one from Delia Cai, who talked about a friend’s ways to keep her ideas/worldview fresh:

A friend in my graduate program told me very simply that you need to input to output. So when I’m feeling depleted, I have a process I follow. I write down the things I’ve been watching and reading, and any events I’ve been to in the past few months. Pretty much 100% of the time I see that I’ve been staying in, working, rewatching things I’ve already seen, and reading comfort books (to be clear: there’s nothing wrong with any of those things!).

Then I make an active plan to input. I have a list of “hard” books (nonfiction topics I don’t know much about, older books like “Catch-22” I never read in school, things that are challenging) that I choose a title from, I watch older movies I’ve somehow never seen…and I try to go see theater or comedy shows outside my normal sphere. I meet people for coffee to hear about their work…

After a few weeks of that, I start to have ideas again. I incubate them, start writing, stop taking in as much as I’m outputting, and then keep doing that until the cycle repeats itself. My life got a lot better a few years ago when I recognized this is as a cycle rather than feeling like I would never have ideas again and it was absolutely out of my control to ever coax them back. It also helps me take pressure off myself during times of ill physical or mental or emotional health to know that it’s just part of the cycle and I can let up for a bit and just input for a while without feeling guilty.

I think this is fantastic advice for anyone who works in their head a lot, or who creates either for fun or for money. I’ve been feeling burnt out and like everything is the same and…yeah, I’ve been sewing the same pattern for three months, I haven’t seen my friends in about that long because of Omicron, I don’t even try to watch new things. I’ll be trying this out.