This week was a bit busy in my personal life. I was a bit busy in my after hours with board meetings. I love attending board meetings because it gives me a chance to feel a bit more involved in my community, but it can also be a bit hard to fit them in around everything else. Today was a 6 hour retreat for one of my boards. In addition to the busy evenings, I was also a bit sick. I’ve been working with my doctor to hone the anxiety and diabetes medications I am on. In the long run, it will be great, but getting used to the changes is never fun for my body. I did get the chance to work from one of my favorite space in Lexington, The Greenery. The vibes are perfection and you will definitely be finding me there more frequently.
Reading
This week was ok for reading. I started and finished Fang Fiction (review to come) this week. It was exactly what I needed after the last few weeks. There was magic and supernatural but the stakes were low. Kate Stayman-London did such a great job capturing what fandom means to its members. I really loved the writing style, including podcast transcript and snippets from the book within the book. If you’re looking for a non-Halloween, low stakes supernatural/magic book this is for you.
I also started Where the Library Hides, sequel to What the River Knows. I really enjoyed the first in the series. I’m honestly struggling with this one but I want it to love it so I refuse to give up. My hope is that I can finish it this week.
Researching
I’ve been doing some reading on productivity which led to some interesting notes on hormones and finding joy in work. It has led me down an interesting series of thoughts on the interplay of hormones, mental health and physical health. I’m hoping to possibly write a bit more about this in an essay over on the newsletter. I suspect it will be a little while before my thoughts are more firm, but needless to say I think it is a really interesting path for building a better life.
Cooking
As I mentioned, this week has been a bit busy. I haven’t cooked any real recipes. However, I did discover a new go to “I don’t have time to cook” meal. Costco had Spicy Chicken Tenders when we went shopping the other week. We got them primarily for L, but after a long day at work I didn’t feel like cooking and had forgotten to thaw a single protein. I decided to use the tenders in a salad. I used some iceberg lettuce, a slice of onion, peppercorn ranch and some croutons to make a spicy chicken salad almost as good as a restaurant. This will definitely be going into the regular rotation.
Buying
I didn’t buy much this last week, outside of too many books. However, after spending some time trying to copy handwritten notes into my Zettlekasten and struggling to keep an eye on my planner, I decided to buy this adjustable acrylic book stand. I really just needed something that kept my notes or planner in a place that is a bit easier to see. This is not something anyone needs. It is merely a solution to a very minor gripe I was having. Again, so much of what I’m doing these days is to reduce the friction in my life.
Watching
TV has been effectively a no go for me. On Tuesday, it became clear that I was struggling with the news cycle so L started taking my phone from me and I just climbed into bed and read. On top of that, I just haven’t had a ton of down time in the evenings. We watched the Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson fight and wow that was depressing. We also finally finished The Penguin. I mentioned this before but I will be shocked if Colin Farrell does not win some awards for this show. He completely disappears into the role and it was truly phenomenal. We will be watching the new season of Silo and Dune: Prophecy so hopefully those will start capturing my attention.
Wearing
I took pictures 3 out of 4 of my work days this week and while that’s not much, it is better than I have been. This was for a Tuesday that felt like a Monday, a Wednesday filled with meetings and a Friday working in another location.
