The sunlight agrees that it's good to take a moment and appreciate simple, beautiful things

There are many things going on in the world, but just now what I want to think about is how to celebrate my cat's 15th birthday. He has everything he needs, a relatively delicate digestion, and is picky about treats. He does like to tear paper, so maybe I can just give him wrapping paper 😂

This little guy turns 15 in a few days. It's hard to believe sometimes... He's the best darn cat. He's having some age-related health problems now, and I'm cherishing every day.

The weight of this grief is very heavy and I can't seem to put it down. People who love me are fine with my government trying to erase me, and I can't reconcile those things. It hurts to give up on them.

Oh goodness half this site seems to be having the same tired argument from Twitter about whether folks should follow bad people... My stance remains the same: if you think you should be policing who other people pay attention to, please just block me now and save us both the future conflict.

Hey world: stop asking me to pretend to be sad when terrible people die. I'm not going to do that.

I've been listening to k-pop, eating Korean food, and studying Korean for a couple of years now. Last night I was introduced to an older man I respect very much, and I shook his hand with both of mine and bowed my head. Without thinking about it at all. Too bad he wasn't Korean 🤣

We've reached the time of year when the sun is at an eye-punishing angle pretty much all day I'm walking west right now and can see nothing 🤣

I am not going to act like my choices don't matter. I'm going to go ahead and act like all of it does matter, a better future is possible and we're going to get there. -from me, on Flash Forward with Rose Eveleth, years ago. Thank you, Doug, for the reminder.

Someone just reached out via email to tell me that something I said on a podcast several years ago is helpful to them. It was about hope. I don't know if a message from a stranger has ever made me happier.

Most things we need to do will not be fun, but this one is: we need to embarrass the rich. A LOT. Hoarding personal wealth needs to be THE uncoolest, most shameful thing to do. Shitting your pants in front of the whole school? Who cares, everyone shits! But being a billionaire? Humiliating!

Good advice. Co-signed. And I've been at it for longer 😂 I've been here before, which means I might be able to offer useful perspectives and advice. But I'm not downplaying it. We didn't all survive, before.

I've been leaning on candle metaphors lately. I realized it's because they're small and delicate, you can use them to read in the dark, and if you have enough of them you can burn down an oppressive regime. Keep your own candle burning, everyone.

In times of economic hardship people vote for whoever they think will reduce the cost of groceries. Historically they're also quite happy to blame a chosen scapegoat for their problems without needing evidence. These are some consistent human flaws, played out writ large on the national stage.

A key tactic of con artists is to openly break the law while smiling. They do it knowing it calls the law itself into question - can it really be illegal if this person is just doing it? - and that enforcement, if it even exists, happens much later. Rich con artists have good lawyers.

Time to come back to the socials, I think. It's been a while... I have no idea how to use this. But I'm going to need to connect with people, and I think this is a good place to start.