I'm going to try to do a weekly summary at the end of every week until the end of 2024. After that we'll see where this goes! This sprint of posts gives me a chance to forcefully find my routine for blogging, although I don't expect I'll be posting weekly.
Week 48: November 25 - December 1, 2024
A blessed online experience:
- This cat https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTYB3c4Qc
- Good things happening in the world (TikTok)
- Blogging is Hard for Me (blog post)
- Zonelets (blog solution for Neocities sites)
- Warm up this holiday season with NASA's new SLS rocket engine fireplace (on youtube)
- Career Pivot to KM thread
- Your Life in Weeks
- Ellis' Techcomm/Content Strategy Starter Pack technical communication who's who to follow in Bluesky
Good things:
- I've been writing a lot at work! It's crunch time and it's a satisfying stress because I'm doing something I enjoy.
- My new hobonichi journal and blog
- The person on letterboxd who talked about how they liked holiday romances the way they liked horror movies which is the EXACT sentiment I have about holiday romances so that was cool. (They said it in a review and I immediately followed.)
- Getting a pen out and writing in my journal and filling the whole page with words
- Cat nests
Bad things:
- Increased social media and phone use (holiday anxiety, maybe?)
- Visiting the comments more, and though I'm not getting upset I am still spending time arguing with people for some reason
- Ignoring dishes even though my sink is fixed so my major blocker is gone
Watching:
- Christmas romances
- Timer (2009)
- Black Friday horror
- Dear Santa (2024)
- Free Birds (2013)
Listening:
- Why volunteering is worth it (Today Explained)
- Tangle News independent news source that covers multiple angles
- Land of the Giants Season 8 on Tesla (Jul 19 2023 - Aug 30 2023)
- Access On National Federation of the Blind's new technology podcast
Once a month at work we do a virtual event where we get together to make stuff. A former coworker started it around 2020 as a response to the pandemic, and to give herself a fixed hour every month where she's being creative during the workday. (We are still friends so I don't feel bad about continuing/adopting her idea.)
On the last Wednesday of every month, we get together for one hour to color, doodle, chat, relax, play music, make beaded bracelets, paint, or engage in other creative activities. Most of us stay off camera and eat, but we usually share what we made by the end of the session. The only rule is NO WORK TALK!!!
This is what I colored for the November session! It was a very welcome respite from the busy week. This is from the Plants & Flowers coloring book from Noah Goleman. This one is good if you like huge spaces to color. I thought it was going to have a lot of small images on each page (based on the cover) but it's still pretty good and the artwork is adorable.
Zenny did a very good loaf. She is cosplaying as bread.
I went out on Thanksgiving twice, once in the morning to go shopping to get cake for my mom's birthday celebration, and then again later to go to my parents. I was meant to go over for the holiday right after shopping but we got a delayed-time text so I went back home and cuddled with Zenny instead.
Anyway, the skies were really lovely and I took some photos.
I got a big big Black Friday rush after my friend sent me this link 30 minutes before it went up for sale: https://www.diamondpotato.com We waited in line together (from our respective homes), sweating and shaking and hoping to get a diamond-stuffed potato with a fancy stand. Neither of us got it, but what a good BF experience.
I am not a huge fan of Thanksgiving as a concept but I do like getting together with the people I love for harvest and being thankful for the seasons and natural cycles. What I love most about these holiday dinner events is the leftovers the next day.
Engaging in "Thanksgiving" is about as American as you can get. Let's ignore what happened earlier this month and erase each other's identities from existence in favor of "getting together" and "eating at the table as a family" and "taking a photo where we all look happy." From its origins the holiday has been about performative lying, which we, as a nation, excel at.
(This isn't a reflection of my holiday, rather a reflection of all the things I've seen this week about "holiday with the fam" and how many families aren't open to a viewpoint that differs from what they were told once in 1954. By this definition my family is pretty Argentinian because most of us have gone to therapy and we like each other.) (Note: We're not Argentinian, but Argentina is the therapy capital of the world.)
If you're in a family like mine, I hope your harvest was plentiful! If you're not, I hope you got some good quips in and rendered someone in your family speechless.