This doesn’t take into account my recent burst of interest in Eminem, but this is largely correct. I did love me some anime soundtracks this year.
I tell myself this every time the Church disappoints me. Which is often.
So, I’m doing this thing on Bluesky where you post a bunch of book covers:
“Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.”
Just because I feel like it, I’m posting all 20 covers here.
My work week isn’t over; I’m off tomorrow but have to go back to work Friday. But the week already feels like two or three weeks. 😐 The days feel more and more disheartening, and I want the disheartening to end.
It’s not yet Thanksgiving, but it’s not too early to break out a Christmas holiday tradition: Paul Shaffer’s rendition of Cher singing “O Holy Night.”
Hearing my first glimmer of Christmas music just now in a waiting room. I honestly don’t remember how I responded when I had the same such experience last year after E’s passing, which I guess says something.
Hoping I can be slightly less numb this holiday season.
E died a year ago today. Taking the day off work. Not sure what I’m going to do aside from be quiet, drive around aimlessly on this very gray fall day, and get a breakfast burrito, which reminds Chris of her because she would insist on us having breakfast burritos when we’d visit.
Why I’m smitten with Bluesky, reason No. 4,263.
A wee bit disappointed that this ube waffle turned out to be more brown than purple. But that didn’t take away from the excellent ube taste (accented with a coconut glaze and whipped cream smattering). So happy with the Filipino breakfast at Maypole in Wheaton, Illinois.
Anybody got suggestions for a good intro to basic Anabaptist theology? Asking for my curious Catholic self.
I’m so used to Calvinist-versus-Arminian evangelical talk in social media that I’m unsure where our Mennonite et al. friends land in my admittedly poor understanding of Protestant theology.
My first thought when looking at the latest Trump attorney general appointee is “Ivanka with a law degree.”
Discovered this morning that my Insta/Threads account was suspended for “violating community standards,” so I looked at both sites. I’ve not posted on Insta in months, and Threads is largely the same stuff here plus an occasional post on why I like Bluesky.
I “appealed”—which in my case entailed clicking an “appeal” button and spending too much time logging in and failing until I said I forgot my password—and am back on there.
I honestly don’t know why my account was suspended; the notice didn’t point out a specific post. It was my first time being suspended from any online platform. Weird.
In any event, I think Meta confirmed for me where I’ll be spending the rest of my social media time for a while.
Came home to an open umbrella on the floor. There was no open umbrella on the floor when I left to pick up my kid. She did not have an umbrella, open it, and leave it on the floor when she came home.
Apparently our dogs and cats are smarter than I thought. Or have opposable thumbs.
Via Threads.
Next Monday marks a year since my sister’s passing after months of declining health and difficult circumstances. It was unexpected but not surprising. Yet it remains a gut punch a year later. I miss Eleanor all the time.
It’ll be her birthday 5 days later. She would have been 68 this year.
Watching my first episode of the “FLCL” anime series (from the Alternative season), and I’m not sure what to make of it.
Something something space travel, then somebody just pulled an electric guitar out of a teenager’s forehead.
I’ll keep going with it. 😬
That old Thomas Jefferson quote comes to mind: “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
Dr. Oz? Now it just feels like Trump is trying too hard.
My daughter shared this map with me. Posting here for fellow “Avatar: The Last Airbender” fans, taking absolutely no credit for it. Feel free to reply if you know who created this.
Testing Micro.blog syndication of posts to Threads and BlueSky. It’d be nice to populate both platforms and the blog in one fell swoop.
I’ve gone from taking a break from Threads to rediscovering BlueSky, tweaking it to my liking, and appreciating all the functionality I’ve missed from That Other Place. Padres Twitter and saner elements of Catholic Twitter are surfacing there, and that makes me embarrassingly happy.
So much for shunning social media and hunkering down with books and Stardew Valley.
You can find me at @fluffbucket.bsky.social.
Taking a break from Threads. I’ve gotten into a terrible habit of checking the comments on a given post and blocking all the MAGA incel trolls who have surfaced there like earthworms after a rain. It does absolutely nothing for my outlook on humanity, which was already in the toilet and took an almost fatal hit last week.
Lots of people apparently use their account there as a diary. I know better, though I’ve fallen into that trap myself over the past year. Time to remind myself again that I have this space for that purpose – and even here, I try to be careful about how much I write.
The past week has felt like a month. I did not need yet another thing to grieve when my candidate lost to the least qualified American ever to win the presidency.
I have spent entirely too much time on Threads and am slowly backing away from all but baseball news for a while. I am retreating to podcasts, San Diego sports talk shows, and rewatching comfort shows like “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations” and “Gravity Falls.”
Meanwhile, my heart is mired in a soup of deep sadness for my country, rage over the racism and misogyny that the vote count appears to reflect, and endless consideration of what my late family members would have done during this election. Combine all that with the rethinking of my faith and convictions in life – and all of the losses I’ve seen in the past 4 years – and I am a mess.
Posted this on Threads the morning after Election Day. Still lost in thought and sadness over the result.
Maybe it’s everything I’ve been thinking about this week, but when I read “The fatherless and widow he sustains” at Mass today, I thought of the trans and nonbinary and other LGBTQ+ kids rejected by their families as “fatherless.” I want to think the Lord sustains them, too, as he secures justice for the oppressed and thwarts the ways of the wicked.
