#365Ways2023 | J.R. Johnson

Posts Tagged ‘#365Ways2023’

Wherever You Go, There You Are

Posted in Entertainment, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, bergen, inspiration, Norway, scandinavia, six-word story, Thoughts, writing on December 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

So there we were, about to turn off the television when Mr Man and I realized that the actor on screen was David Elsendoorn, who played rude Dutch player Jan Maas in Ted Lasso. Upon closer inspection, we realized that the movie was a moderately well disguised promo for the lovely Unesco World Heritage city of Bergen in Norway.

Having just discussed the clever and funny (and sadly not real) movie Dundee from Tourism Australia, we felt that this was an excellent use of a Hallmark-style movie.

A moment later, a shot of the Bergen sign at the city’s airport popped up on screen. By Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson, the sign has letters that are 5.5 meters high and weigh 2.5 tons, and is meant to be “existentialist and poetic.” Competition judges apparently had a healthy dose of Scandinavian wit, because the sign reads “Bergen?”

Everyone can put what they want in the question mark, and there are no wrong answers

It certainly gave me ideas, the shortest of which is this six-word story:

Stupid unpredictable teleportation. Welcome to Bergen?

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Nights on Earth

Posted in Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, astronomy, cool tools, curling it's a thing!, NASA, science, space on December 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

What’s happening in the night skies this month? I have no idea, actually, but this calendar does!

Astronomy Calendar for December, 2023 for Ottawa, Canada

Welcome to NightsOnEarth.com, a customizable, free astro-calendar to help you plan your stargazing, created by photographer Phil Mosby.

Click on any day and then on Settings to specify your location.

What’s this? The Pheonicid Meteor Shower will be visible starting tomorrow night and showcases meteors seemingly coming from the Phoenix constellation?

Cool cool cool. And what’s the Phoenix constellation? (Clicks on “learn more” and voila: Pheonicid meteor shower 2023).

Although that particular arrangement of stars isn’t saying phoenix to me so much as… curling stone.

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Useful Today. Or Any Day, Really

Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, creativity, Thoughts on November 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »

From the annals of the “Thoughts that have been thunk many times before but are still sometimes good to think again” archives, I found this idea useful today:

When it comes to creativity, you can do anything if you don’t care if it’s perfect.

And you should.

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The Terminator as Art Critic

Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, creativity, Thoughts, toddler art on November 29, 2023| 2 Comments »

I found a picture that I drew of a dragon, lo those many years ago.

Being the curious sort, I decided to see if AI was worth its salt by (obviously) uploading the image and asking it to animate said dragon.

I hoped for something cute and silly.

(Well, actually, what I expected was for it to say, “Are you kidding, lady? And also, You call that a dragon? I could do better than that while managing air traffic control for LAX! Who drew this thing, a toddler?” Yes, more or less. No need to be mean about it.)

What I got was a canned reply on how to animate, plus this:

So, not my dragon and not an animation. Just a lot of “Ooh, look at me,” with a heaping dose of computerized side-eye.

Kind of the internet in a nutshell, actually;)

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A Good Tuesday

Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, helping, kittens, Thoughts on November 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Today is Giving Tuesday, which is a reminder for me to support groups doing good work on issues I care about. For me, that usually means local animal charities like the one that rescues neighborhood kittens, food banks (for people and animals), and other groups that help people who need it. If you’re able to donate but aren’t quite sure where to start, this article might help:

Giving Tuesday: How to donate with purpose and intention

Cash is always helpful, of course, but donations can also be goods, time, service or support. And while I can’t save every kitten or cure every cataract or buy every child a book or feed every family, I can join others who care about those issues to help the groups who do.

And that’s what I call a good day.

“I’m convinced of this: Good done anywhere is good done everywhere. For a change, start by speaking to people rather than walking by them like they’re stones that don’t matter. As long as you’re breathing, it’s never too late to do some good.”
— Maya Angelou

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*Obligatory picture of ridiculously cute kittens! Photo by The Lucky Neko on Unsplash*

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Mushroom Soup Recipe Update (Spoiler Alert: Still Not Done)

Posted in Food and..., tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, creativity, recipes, Thoughts on November 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Still working on that mushroom soup recipe.

Here’s the thing: My default recipe is a little complicated.

I don’t mean that in a bad way, but in a creative sort of way. The truth is, the recipe for this soup is straightforward. Here, I’ll lay it out for you:

mushrooms, lots
chicken stock, lots
sherry, ehhhh, fine, lots
soy sauce and pepper
beurre manie, more than seems reasonable (I usually use this much: 224g butter, 144g flour)
also but optional: onions, garlic, herbs

The devil is, of course, in the details. I wrote out the whole recipe and discovered two things.

One, I have a hard time doing a thing the easy way. Well, that’s not entirely true. I tend to take a recipe, strip it down to the basics, then build it back up again so that it has what I consider the essentials of taste and texture. This leads to a basic recipe with many, many caveats.

And two, my memory for little things like quantities is not great. Both of these factors are further complicated by the fact that I never quite make a recipe the same way, and the point is to hand this off to people who want it to taste the way it did at a certain time (2023) and place (the wilds of northern Ontario).

So… stay tuned!

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*Photo by Christine Siracusa on Unsplash*

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An Early Career

Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, inspiration, Thoughts, Writers on November 26, 2023| Leave a Comment »

This image is a snapshot from my early career as a book reviewer. I was probably… eight?

Not sure why I found the word “flat” as interesting as the word “forbodes”, but I was right, I did read more Tolkien.

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*Thankfully, my handwriting has improved.*

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Exactly This

Posted in Likes, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, Thoughts on November 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

My mom sent me this quote and while I haven’t found a reliable attribution, it’s been around for years. So it’s not new, but it does capture my feelings about so much.

I want a simple life. I want to get up late, drink tea, and read old books. I also want a spaceship and a pet dragon.

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*Photos by Joni Ludlow on Unsplash; Matthew Ball on Unsplash*

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Relativity, Thanksgiving Style

Posted in Holidays, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2023, Thoughts, whoops on November 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Yeah, so, it’s like this. Yesterday, Mr Man and I decided that time is fluid and also history is a human construct and why not just do Thanksgiving dinner on Friday?

So forget what the calendars say, tonight is Thanksgiving.

And also, why is it that any time a recipe says something like “Stir constantly to reduce by 50%, or approximately half an hour,” it always ends up taking at least twice the time? Seventy-five minutes, in this case. Now I’m a little cooked from all the stove time and very behind on my schedule, but at least I don’t have to caramelize any onions.

But uh oh, I’m all out of cream.

Hmm. Maybe Thanksgiving should be tomorrow?

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