“When we feel powerful, it leads us to act. When we feel powerless, we don’t act.”
— Amy Cuddy
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Posted in Other, Writing | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, inspiration, life, quotes, social psychology, Thoughts, writing | Leave a Comment »
My ancestors continue to get younger, it seems. My mother found a portrait of herself as a baby and sent it my way. I like both general and family history, plus I was happy to have another chance to practice my photo restoration skills:
Posted in Other | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Affinity Photo, creativity, family, photos | Leave a Comment »
I’ve been trying to work up a positive post for today, but the recent IPCC climate report keeps popping into my head, and that’s anything but positive. So let’s take a moment to review.
If you want a summary (or two), to read the report, or to test out the interactive atlas outlining what we can expect by region (here’s the info for North and Central America), you can.
tl;dr: “Worst choose your own adventure book ever.”
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Or check out this cartoon:
Because bad news goes down easier from cute penguins.
That said, it isn’t all bad. We’re at the bottom of the final inning, yes, but the game isn’t over yet.
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Also. Humans are a lot of things, but we aren’t quitters.
We must not delude ourselves about the immense challenges the world faces, but we can’t let anxiety overwhelm and paralyse us. The world isn’t doomed quite yet – there is still a window of opportunity to change things.
— Yes, the climate crisis is terrifying. But I refuse to abandon hope
And if I learned anything from the Terminator franchise (aside from the many uses of a shotgun), it’s that there is no fate but what we make.
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Posted in Other | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #IPCC, climate change, inspiration, Thoughts | 2 Comments »
My nephew is one of the thousands of young adults starting college this fall. I’ve seen a lot of “things I wish I’d known” and “advice for the college-bound” articles, some of which are on point for this thoughtful, capable, and confident kid, some not as much.
There’s the obvious, of course: be kind, don’t drink too much, call if you need bail money, that sort of thing.
All good advice.
But if I had to boil the foundations of a constructive mindset down to just one thing? I saw this quote the other day and thought it was pretty on point:
No matter who or what or where they are,
“Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.”
― Bill Nye
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Posted in Other | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, family, inspiration, quotes, Thoughts | Leave a Comment »
I had a lot of ideas for how today was going to go. I was wrong about most of it. It wasn’t a bad day by any means, I just didn’t get much done. I got caught in that trap where the to do list is massive and you’re surprised when nothing is completed. Too many ideas, not enough specificity.
My list included (but was not limited to) the following:
- make and freeze chocolate chip cookie dough
- learn more photo compositing, make awesome chimera, floating fantasy city & light speed travel poster; yes, all of those things
- do garden work
- vacuum
- make fresh pasta
- try letter locking
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So, yeah:)
I started just about everything on that list, and finished none of them. Time to take a step back, pick one project, then break it down into the smallest possible parts and start crossing them off. And by framing the problem with more clarity. When I’m stuck, that’s how I move forward.
(Also by not being too hard on myself when I have a day like today. Sometimes, things take time.)
On the plus side? We’ve still got ice cream🙂
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Posted in Other, Writing | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, arts, creativity, Thoughts, writing | 1 Comment »
Lemon cinnamon cardamom ice cream is amazing.
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Tetiana Bykovets & Jaspreet Kalsi on Unsplash
Posted in Food and..., Likes | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, food, Thoughts | 4 Comments »
Today is sourdough Friday, tonight is pizza night, and at some point this weekend I’ll make and freeze chocolate chip cookie dough.
I’m also prepping lemon cinnamon cardamom ice cream. I wanted to try a custard-free version, so yesterday I started with this Bittman recipe:
Notes:
— I had a little over a cup of cream so the rest was milk.
— For flavor, I used a touch of vanilla, about a dozen green cardamom pods, with a stick of cinnamon and some ground when the stick wasn’t steeping fast enough.
— I started with a handful of the most beautiful lemon balm from the garden, but the flavor wasn’t strong enough for this so I strained it out and opted for lemon curd, which I’ll add to the base mix as it whips and freezes.
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Today is lemon curd day.
Here’s my recipe. I don’t remember where I found it, but it’s been very reliable for me, plus no tedious double-boiler. And the pre-mixing means that I’ve never had to strain it to remove clumps.
Lemon Curd
— makes ~500g / 2C
Ingredients:
- 85g / 6T butter, softened
- 200g / 1C sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 163g / 2/3C lemon juice
- 1t. lemon zest (optional, I find it’s too chewy/waxy and skip it)
Instructions:
- beat the butter and sugar together
- add eggs and yolks, mix
- add juice, mix
- cook over low to medium heat, stirring frequently until smooth and thick, coating the back of a spoon without dripping (~10-15 minutes or 170*F). Do not boil.
Notes: I toasted the sugar briefly in the pan and then accidentally melted the butter, but it worked out fine. I also ran out of regular lemon juice and had to use Meyer lemons, but adding a little citric acid boosted the flavor to “Tang Factor: Ideal.” Which is not a thing. But should be.
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Tomorrow, we’re testing out a borrowed KitchenAid ice cream attachment. The owners of said attachment made some delicious vanilla ice cream with it, so any failures will be on us.
I’m ok with that.
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Posted in Food and..., Likes | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, food, recipes, yay | 3 Comments »
The world isn’t a clubhouse you can kick people out of, it’s Thanksgiving dinner with your crazy family—take what’s best and find a way to learn from the rest.
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Posted in Other | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Thoughts | Leave a Comment »
I love good writing. And humor. And science fiction. And epistolary fiction, because telling stories through letters is fun. Imagine how happy I was when I found this short story* combining all of the above:
There Will Be No Alien Invasion
by Sam F. Weiss, in Fireside
To be clear: I am busy. For at least the next two years. Because getting to do research in the super-techy lab requires a doctorate these days, an obscene pile of peer-reviewed publications, and the networking abilities of a ninja. I am busy with those things. Namely finishing the doctorate. Thwarting an alien invasion? Not on my to-do list.
So that thing where I came to the lab this morning to find your phosphorescent eggs floating in alien amniotic fluid in the vacuum chamber? Not cool.
— Sam F. Weiss
* For the young or those with delicate sensibilities, this piece contains swearing. Like, a lot. To be fair, I’d say it’s warranted. Grad school, you know. And oh yes, also aliens.
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Random selection of other epistolary novels that I’ve read:
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
The Color Purple
Griffin and Sabine (Griffin & Sabine #1)
Sorcery & Cecelia: or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Cecelia and Kate, #1)
Code Name Verity
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And a picture of a not-at-all-an-alien-probably cat:)
Posted in Likes, Writing | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, creativity, Fiction, free fiction, genre fiction, sff, writing, yay | Leave a Comment »
Do all the other things, the ambitious things — travel, get rich, get famous, innovate, lead, fall in love, make and lose fortunes, swim naked in wild jungle rivers (after first having it tested for monkey poop) – but as you do, to the extent that you can, err in the direction of kindness.
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Posted in Favorites, Likes | Tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, commencement, inspiration, kindness, Thoughts, Writers | Leave a Comment »
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