Today’s puzzle progress.

Just re-watched The Substance because I’m writing a review of it for a local online magazine. It’s such a great film, but such a visceral experience. This time I was squeamish during the whole second half of the movie.

Puzzle progress!

Finished reading the memoir “All the Beauty in the World” yesterday. What a marvelous book. It’s going down as one of my all time favorites. Will continue with the other books I’m reading & also start “I, Medusa” next. #amreading

I went to the gym today! It was a legs and back day with the nautilus weights followed by a brief walk on the treadmill. Now to make the habit stick and escalate my cardio.

I got very choked up in class today showing my students what James Baldwin had to say about Shakespeare: “the greatest poet in the English language found his poetry where poetry is found: in the lives of the people. he could have done this only through love…”

Seriously feels like one of the weirdest changes in my life some times—one that leaves me pensive and and even slightly conflicted alongside my gratitude. Lots of different feels—which is to say, a blog post is forthcoming. #zepbound

Current status of my “The World of the Romantics” puzzle. I also read some poems by Blake and will continue my chronological but not-too-deep dive into British romantic poetry as I keep piecing this together. 🎶 Every day I’m puzzling 🎶

The BBC coverage of Trump for the last few days has been excruciatingly poor. Degenerative lunacy becomes a "reflective afternoon".

Ten more days until I fly to Miami to go on a short cruise with my parents. My mom and I are swimming with the dolphins at Grand Cayman and we’re all going on a “Magic Mountain Tour” in Jamaica. I am so looking forward to this. Only seven more work days to go!

Nearly every time I resolve to hit the gym, I come up with an excuse and change my mind. I am still my own greatest obstacle when it comes to fitness—and, to an extent, when it comes to financial responsibility and organization. Cheers to getting out of my own way in 2026.

Another person with a disability grabbed by ICE… this time while headed to pick up seizure and anxiety medication. She’s being detained and her family have no way to know whether she’s getting her medication. Suddenly stopping many of these meds can be deadly. www.twincities.com/2026/01/16/f...

Trumps America. Don’t look away.

I’m in the middle of five different books (Anima Rising, a book on horror history, a book of Romantic poetry, All the Beauty in the World, and a book on investing, appropriately titled “Girls Invest.”). I have yet to finish one, and my preferred combo is cold brew and halo top, but…close enough.

#OOTD, shirt by Lety & Me (a Stitch Fix brand), pants by Torrid, shoes by Dolce Vita, bracelet—a gift, don’t remember the brand, earrings—a gift, Steve Madden.

Weird (food) dream: I’m sitting alone in the back corner of a home ec class taught by my favorite high school Spanish teacher. Despite taking extensive notes, I still fuck up the cherry cobbler.

Weird (fascism) dream: I’ve started transporting immigrants to safe locations on an inflatable version of a large city bus that I keep in my pocket & inflate for emergencies. Perplexingly, it somehow runs on real rubber wheels.

Weird (using) dream: In a state of extreme exhaustion and disorientation, I start greedily chewing Wellbutrin XR tablets (which I take as prescribed IRL) to gain energy and focus. While using and drinking dreams are common for recovering addicts, this dream seems noteworthy.

Just wasting time on my phone while watching the snow and listening to a playlist I made last night. It starts with early 2000s Indy rock (Wilco, The Flaming Lips) then lapses into slow, folksy 60s and 70s music—Nick Drake, Bob Dylan, etc). Pockets of peace precede sometime hectic retail shifts.

"In all, Our searching, The only thing, We've found that makes, The emptiness bearable is each other" - Dr. Carl Sagan✨️

I have loved the Velvet Underground’s self-titled album since my sophomore year of college (2003). I will always love it. What an eclectic, emotive group of songs. It pairs especially well with the intense snowfall outside my window right now. #music

Finished my first jazz dancing class of the year a couple hours ago. Jazz dancing is a whole different experience after losing 60 lbs. I didn’t even break a sweat. Still got too nervous to go to tap and ballet at another studio. Oh well, maybe next season.

Just found a new photo tool that transfers pictures of clothes you want to re-sell on models who are affiliated with the app. Here are some pictures I’ve created so far to sell a PINK bomber jacket (xl), a torrid tank top (1x) and a Trixxi romper (xs). This may just up my poshmark game.

It took the song “Femininomenon” about a year to grow on me, but assiduously—and surprisingly—it has. #music

BREAKING: New York City is flooded with peaceful anti-ICE protests and it’s driving the right insane. They needed riots. They needed excuses. Instead they got Americans calmly rejecting authoritarian bullshit in the streets.

#Zepbound is the shit. (Not featured in this picture: lower blood pressure, no more foot pain from being on my feet most days, better—but still present—sleep apnea, better breathing in general, and so on, and so forth).

Loving this book so far. Reading it is like listening to a knowledgeable friend talk casually about art and life in a very honest, non-pretentious way. #amreading

Comfy day off #ootd

We Bury the Dead was phenomenal. Deciding between 4.5 and 5 stars for this one. Would highly recommend!

Registered for an hour long weekly ballet class Monday nights at 7, followed by a half hour tap class at 8. May also do jazz at another studio with my friend. Keeping busy until Italian dance starts in April. I love learning different types of dance.

Ready for the cold with today’s #ootd.

Had a dream last night that I was in a locally owned convenience store in a Southern city that had a small collection of rare books, including a vintage coffee table book about The Velvet Underground. Tried to barter with the owner because the book had damage, but he was a stickler. #music

There should be a vocabulary word for the rigorous task of trying to stay awake long enough to make it to a 10:30 pm movie screening when you’re exhausted.

Don't debate Trump supporters on the facts of this shooting. They lie and argue for the sole purpose of making you angry. It's a power move. It's a joke to them, and your anger is the punchline. Instead, ridicule them. Laugh at them. They act tough because they are cowards. Everyone sees it.

Going to a movie tonight. Naturally, I had to change clothes. And so I’ve moved on from posting “outfit of the day” posts. It seems I’ve moved into the “outfit of the moment” realm. #ootd

So apparently, according to radio news, the Trump administration “hasn’t ruled out the use of force” to overtake Greenland? I was deeply disturbed when I heard this on the way to work. I’m really not sure what world I’m living in anymore.

I just listened to the song “Mr. Electric Blue” for the second time on my way to work. It’s a fantastic song. It gets me so jazzed. #music

As someone with ocd, adhd, schizoaffective disorder “bipolar type,” and sleep apnea, getting a full night of sleep with my cpap machine after many nights of sleeplessness or poor sleep is seriously one of the best feelings. Aiming for better sleep habits in 2026.

Fuck off, coloniser

I decided to go to work wearing comfy clothes and no makeup—today, and in general about 60% of the time. #ootd

addiction is so stigmatized people forget it is a disability like any other—defined as such in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. it’s heartbreaking how those of us who struggle with addiction internalize the pervasive message that we are simply screw-ups.

It’s one a.m. and I’m just starting my nightly reading. Tonight it’s back to horror, with a book on the world history of horror that I’ve been reading slowly and carefully but with great enthusiasm. Reading is resistance. #amreading

I’ve been fascinated by Virginia Woolf since my freshman seminar in 2002. This article completely reframes my view of Woolf’s later years and her death. I very much want to do a deep dive into Woolf’s writing now, starting with “The Voyage Out.” lareviewofbooks.org/article/dont...

Got no reading of any kind done today. But I worked for 11 hours and caught a 10:50 viewing of Marty Supreme, which was an awesome movie. Now thinking of how weird it is to like my job so much. It’s so fast-paced and challenging. I do so many things in a day. And every day is different.

Nicolas Maduro is a bad person and authoritarian who stole the presidency from Edmundo Gonzalez. Trump's bombing of Venezuela and abducting their learders is unjustified and illegal. Both things can be true.

Why the fuck are we bombing Venezuela? What in the actual fuck is wrong with Trump? Okay, you don’t like Maduro. So you decide to bomb the country? A lot of his idiocy has become a part of the mundane everyday (re: Arendt’s banality of evil), but this is alarming even by his admins’s standards.

There are definitely things I do well. These days, sleeping is not one of them. I suck at both falling asleep and staying asleep. Went to bed at 10, woke back up at 12:30, have been a frenetic ball of energy ever since. I blame the imminent full moon.