Week of Dec 18th, 2024

Life

Last Wednesday I got together with some friends and played Microscope, an RPG that spans eons and you build on over the course of a few hours. I have been writing a little bit of fiction over this year (thanks to Writer’s Club!) but they’ve mostly been vignettes, and they’ve most been set in reality as we know it. With Microscope, I was hoping to build a world that I could then set a bunch of smaller fictions in over the next few months. One of the rules in the game is that, after the well defined collaborative part of the game is over, everyone on their turn has to come up with their own stuff, without inputs from other people. I thought this would be easy, but it was not. I’ve always felt that I am not very creative. It was so hard for me to stand up for the ideas that I came up with. This is a strange thought, because in any conversation people will peg me as the person who takes up her space and is assertive. Anyway, I don’t think anyone saw where the game was going to go (and that is the point of the game) but I’m definitely looking forward to playing it again.

Bryan Adams on Saturday was excellent. Apart from getting there and getting back, that was a mess¹. I’ve attended three gigs in the last 5 weeks and the demographics could not have been more different between them. This crowd was, I’m sorry to say, the worst dressed of the lot - but the vibes in general were so great! I loved how participatory and non-pushy the crowd was. In general I feel like us younger folks are starved of seeing older people and the inner lives they live - we mostly live in our own bubble. I’m glad I got to experience that. Also, I really want to go to jive classes with the nesting partner. Maybe next year, when I have more space for new hobbies and his knee is better.

Jigsaw puzzles bought me peace this week. So did reaching for my RSS reader instead of social media as much as I could. I still have a phone screen time that is too high for comfort, but shifting it towards reading more intentionally and more long form was noticeably better for my mental health and overall peace. I did have one instance of staying up all night and obsessively Sudoku-ing² but eh, it happens and I hope it doesn’t again. Got some moderately bad news from the vet about one of the babies but it’s fixable. The beauty of having friends who live close to you and will bully you out of your house and into dinner and hot chocolate with marshmallows is highly underrated.

Media

Music: Really like the new Doechii album. Didn’t realise Megan released ACT 2, so catching up on that. Also been vibing with the Kruangbin-esque music Spotify has been throwing at me. I would like to escape the algorithm though, so if y’all have reccs for good user-made playlist discovery for Spotify then please tell me how.

TV: Watched The Devil wears Prada for the first time and whew, that was quite excellent I think! I did read the book forever ago and this is one of those rare instances where the move matches up to the experience, or is better!

Reading: Finally finished my reread of Nona the Ninth - I was listening to the audiobook for the first time and Moira Quirk is a treasure. I heard the Dresden files audiobooks were really good, so I started and immediately DNFed it. I’m side-eying all of you who enjoy that mediocrity. Please send me audiobook recommendations narrated by a woman where both the book and the narration are actually good. Been enjoying The Program, a series recommended by Nemo at RC co-working one week. Revisiting Getting Things Done after a friend mentioned it offhand and now questioning if I read it at all in the first place.