Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #ugh, inspiration, Thoughts on October 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Brain is not really braining today, and the book I read at lunch actually dragged me deeper into existential day jobiness, so yeah. Bad book, bad!
Time for something simple, like a game of What Came First? Compare cultural moments in time
Which is older, the Mona Lisa or the Taj Mahal? Van Gogh’s The Harvest or London Bridge? Braille or the Empire State Building? I was surprised by quite a few of these.
You don’t have to sign in, just click through the Play Game button.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, inspiration, Thoughts, winning, writing on October 10, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.”
— Walter Elliott
Hope you’re winning too.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, from the archives, Thoughts on October 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Today, one from the archives. Because I love the story at the heart of this piece, and as yet another hurricane threatens large swaths of America, it doesn’t hurt to remember our shared humanity.
Sometimes, They Reach Back | J.R. Johnson
What makes people tick? In my experience, the answer is often fear. We’re all scared of something.
Understanding that, about others and ourselves, can open a fascinating window into motivation, behavior, and connection.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, climate change, language, safety first!, Thoughts, weather on October 8, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Is there a word like interregnum (“between two reigns”) that means “between two storms”?
If there is, I don’t know it, so for now I’m going with “intertempestas.” I’m also hoping that as Hurricane Helene recedes into the past and Milton looms in the future, the good people of Florida stay safe and recovery across the Southeast goes well.
Milton: The latest local update from the NPR Network
Extreme weather 101: Your guide to staying prepared and informed
Hurricane Helene: Where to donate money for relief efforts
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, adulting, Thoughts on October 7, 2024| Leave a Comment »
One of the great and terrible things they don’t always tell you about becoming an adult is that after a certain point, there are no more excuses. You may have reasons for behaving badly, but they are no longer sufficient to justify bad behavior. Your life is no longer predominantly a reflection of your family or your school or your past, it is yours. And while you will not always control your circumstances, you are now responsible for your own character in the face of those circumstances.
This is a burden and a gift. We must each decide who want to be, and then do our best to live up to it.
“It’s not the honors and prizes of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It’s the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very being is good stuff.”
— Mister Rogers
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Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, change, community, inspiration, reading, Thoughts, Writers on October 6, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“It’s important to remember that we all change each other’s minds all the time. Any good story is a mind-altering substance.”
― Hank Green, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, nature, seasons, Thoughts on October 5, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Did you know that the traditional Japan almanac recognized 72 micro-seasons?
Japan’s 72 Microseasons | Nippon.com
In ancient times the Japanese divided their year into 24 periods based on classical Chinese sources. The natural world comes to life in the even more vividly named 72 subdivisions of the traditional Japanese calendar.
I thought of that fact this morning when I woke to what felt like a sea change in the weather. The overnight temperatures have been dropping, of course, but there is something else.
Along with a new chill in the air, the morning started with fog that wound between houses, draping the neighborhood in a layer of mystery. The cries of geese echoed down from above as they arrowed south.
It is the season of feathers and fog.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, awesome friends are awesome, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts on October 4, 2024| 2 Comments »
Recently I received the most amazing present.
I found a pickup tag in the mailbox. What could this be, I wondered, I hadn’t ordered anything. After a day or so of speculation it was off to the post office. I was given a cute little box covered in international signage (expected, I am in Canada), from Germany (unexpected, I have ordered nothing from Germany!). What could it be?
I put the box in the center of the kitchen table so that I could walk past it all day, wondering what was inside. Finally, I broke down and opened the package.
A puzzle box. You may remember that I wrote a recent post about puzzle boxes. A friend did, and she sent me this.
How incredibly, unbelievably, extremely cool.
I wouldn’t have guessed that in a million years, and yet it is absolutely perfect.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, artists, awards, creativity, inspiration, Thoughts on October 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »
This year’s Genius Grants were announced this week. I love this award, not just for the secrecy and drama, or because deserving artists and innovators are being rewarded (monetarily, even!) for their work, but because the scope and creativity of their ideas helps us all think more expansively.
Here’s the 2024 MacArthur Fellows list – NPR
This year’s Fellows include performing and visual artists, writers, scientists, historians, activists and one filmmaker, Sterlin Harjo. The MacArthur Foundation considers these grants as investments in people whose “ideas, experiments, and solutions expand our expectations of what’s possible.”
Here’s to genius, whatever form it may take.
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Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, inspiration, nature, Thoughts on October 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
— L.M. Montgomery
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J.R. Johnson 
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