Generally speaking, I try not to indulge the side of me that wants to medicate every bad mood with cookies. But sometimes, it is absolutely amazing with a handful of Oreos can do to one's outlook.

Five signs your president is a wannabe tyrant: youtube.com/shorts/Qnv8L... @maddow.msnbc.com #resist #impeach

Feeling pretty small and powerless today. I'm making a list of all the little things I can do to make my corner of the world a little better, like getting vaccinated (already done), and supporting my local public library. Any ideas? What are your "small" things that make a difference?

I'll be writing a series of posts over the next couple of months, outlining the journey of a single mail-in ballot in a state where everyone is automatically registered to vote by mail. Step one, for me, happened years ago, when I registered to vote at the same time I got my driver's license. 1/x

Because when a nation repeatedly goes to the polls and checks the box labeled “gun,” every act of gun violence is political, and to single out one death as somehow uniquely political is an insult to the memory of all the others who died and another failure of the test. 8/10

I don't have a single thought about today's political violence that is simple enough to put into the world via social media. So I'm just gonna mute the whole conversation and come back later.

It's worth noting for my own records that yesterday did not get any better after I posted this. However, today has been a LOT better, and I think that's in part due to the emotional work I did with compassion yesterday. Because I did not have to START today with the extra burden of shame.

Today, starting right now, I will extend myself some compassion and grace for the 9 hours I've been awake, so far. It's been a day of sitting and looking at my to-do list, and then just sitting some more. Compassion is hard work sometimes.

Y'all. This is really good. Among other gems, she says, "The job of the artist is not to skip to the good part." youtu.be/DCtbFZtoQ88?...

Today I'm grateful that I live in Colorado, where I could just walk up to a pharmacy to get my flu and COVID shots without a prescription or even being asked whether I "qualify".

My husband is out of town for a few days, and the cats are REALLY cranky that they've been left with only one human, and this one isn't very good at running zoom meetings while also serving as a cat bed.

Peaches make me melancholy. I love them when they're fresh, but I also associate them with the end of summer. Already, all the summer berries and melons are disappearing, and soon we'll be left with apples and imports.

We spent our weekend acquiring new car, which was such an exhausting process that I'm not even excited about it yet. But every once in a while, I look out the window and tell myself, "Look! New car!" So maybe tomorrow I'll be excited.

Zoë knows that my fountain pens are valuable to me, because she knows how quickly I will get mad if she starts to bat them around. But I think cuddling with them might be going a step too far in the other direction...

I've had Ness's short story open in a tab for a while now. (busy is busy, okay?) Finally read it, and it is as cathartic as promised. Go Read It!

The power company surprised us all by getting the power back on sooner than we expected. So now I can admit the real middle-class privilege that I have: as glad as I am to have a working refrigerator (and everything else), I was a tiny bit sad when my house started making all these noises again.

Power outage in my neighborhood, and it looks like the kind that'll last longer than anyone expects. (the power company has pushed back their estimated repair time twice already) For now, I'm using my laptop battery and wifi-hotspot on my phone, but I may have to relocate later today...

Local races always matter, but they matter even more right now. Those are the people who will protect your right to vote in future elections. They're the ones who can fight back against national shenanigans. AND local races are a great proving ground for new ideas, and whole new parties.

Ah, it's that time of year again... Not sweater season. (ye gads, not yet) Not pumpkin spice season. (not for me, anyway) It's "who on the neighborhood email list has spotted a wild turkey?" season!

Periodic reminder for US voters that the GOP wouldn't be trying so hard to disenfranchise voters if your vote didn't count. Time to check in on your voter registration and make a plan for 2025. 2025? Yes, 2025. Because local races matter.

I feel like we'd all be about 80% happier if we just assumed this was true all the time. If someone doesn't ask for advice, they don't want it.

One of my fundamental beliefs is that very few human beings are evil. Which doesn't mean we're not all (yes, all) capable of evil, but most of us have to be driven by tremendous fear or desperation before we will deliberately hurt people. Unfortunately, fear is easy to manufacture.

Trans rights are, in fact, human rights. Pass it on.

I don't tend to do much social media when I'm at live events, because I much prefer to keep my focus on the in-person people. And then I come home, and log in, and I am instantly more anxious and stressed than even the 7000 people at WorldCon could make me. Sigh. There's got to be a better way.

Hey, I have had a largely great experience at Worldcon, but the #Hugos owe @wordsiren.bsky.social an apology for forgetting to include her in the announced Lodestar nominees during the award ceremony. Kamilah deserved celebration, not this blatant disrespect.

Some old friends slip back into conversation like there hasn't been a six year pause. I just had a brunch like that, even with all that has changed in the world, and the fact that we had a charming 8 year old with us who was obviously not an active participant in the last iteration. So good.

At the airport today, and there's a woman standing next to me that looks just like the teenage child of an old college friend, who I've never actually seen in person. (But lots on socials) This woman is a few years too old, but it is still so weird...

Looking forward to my first Worldcon in Seattle this week!

If you love someone, hold on tight. Never let them stand up, or go to the bathroom alone. #caturday

Local Elections Are Important. reactormag.com/somerville-c...

We're all going to feel really stupid the day that Merriam Webster has to update the common spelling of blueberry.

It's hard to write about making art without also writing about the state of the world. laurablegen.com/ideas-for-ge...

Gender is a performance and I am not in good voice.

So many white people I know are tuning out the news in our country under the pretext of "saving their mental health." I get this but it should last a day or two, not weeks on end. If you have the privilege of disconnecting, you are helping the fascists. factkeepers.com/fascism-and-...

I sat in the waiting room of an outpatient surgery for a while today (everyone is fine, everything went well), and watched all the other caregivers wait for their loved ones to come out of surgery. Rooms like that sure are common ground. We're all the same until we leave again.

Having the sort of day where technology which is always reliable is suddenly very NOT. On the other hand, technology that is never reliable actually just did exactly what I wanted it to on the first try. I think somewhere in here there could be a lesson in "don't rely too much on technology"

What are your favorite non-food rewards for a job well done?

The last few days in my part of the world have been a little cooler, in the way that often means "autumn", and I fully realize that this is a fake out and we have more summer coming, but the autumn-feeling is both pleasant and TERRIFYING BECAUSE WHAT IS TIME EVEN DOING?!

This is one of the best things I've seen in weeks.

Oh, that overwhelming relief of realizing that a recurring task *that I gave myself* is both unnecessary and a burden. And then taking it back off my list. This is why I like the end-of-month check in process. I feel better already.

Every once in awhile, I test my phone's speech to text capability with something English has only recently borrowed from another language, like a yoga pose name. It never gets it right, but I'm super amused that it somehow thinks that "chickenasana" is something I might have wanted to type.

They don't want you to know that saltwater and lemon juice is the secret to a shiny cybertruck. They would prefer you spend a lot of money on unnecessary cleaning products.

I made the mistake of listening to something from Chess the other day, and now the earworms have been hyperfixating on the whole musical for 36 hours.

You know what I don't love? Making fun of people who didn't catch your sarcastic joke. It's 2025. We all know that sarcasm is really difficult on the internet. Making fun of the awkward person just makes you the mean person. That's all it does.

The human capacity for kindness and ingenuity is fucking incredible.

Heads up, y'all! Sandia Starforgers have me a couple of really important moments in my writing journey this spring. It's so lovely.

I am the complete monster that has to disrupt this cat from her nap. But I need to take a shower. #caturday

My favorite line from within a larger piece:

I work in an off-site storage facility for an academic library, which has archives and also "regular" books that we don't want to weed but don't have the space to keep on campus. I am constantly finding "Holy shit look at this thing, I wish I had the rest of my life to read it" items at work. 1/?

This is SUCH a valuable read for this moment in time. Check it out!