#1: I am apparently really doing this

New year new newsletter

January 02, 2020

Hi everyone! Here we go, I guess! This is essentially supposed to be the “what if we didn't have to be on hellish social sites to keep up with each other" version of a newsletter, so you can expect the same sort of thing here that you'd get there, except more curated and way less frequent. Also, I figured out that if you want to open comments, you have to do a “thread,” not a “post,” and they have fewer formatting options. So: comment thread to follow separately!

The actual me updates

Within the space of 5 days this month, I wound up with bandages on both legs. On the Saturday before Christmas, I was walking down to the store, pushing the stroller, and slipped on a patch of ice. I went down, the stroller went down (Hap’s fine), and I spent the next hour or so walking around running errands, wondering how bad it was. Turns out I had a messy scrape on my left knee - okay. On with life.

Then, on Boxing Day, I went in to the presumably-empty office to work and listen to music out loud. But it wasn't empty. It contained a colleague, his dog, and another colleague's dog (the two dogs are best friends). The other person's dog has been aggressive with me in the past, backing me into a corner and barking her face off, and her human doesn't like me much either. So when I found them there and got barked at some more, I went to work upstairs to stay out of their way. He brought them upstairs. And at first it seemed like the dog had chilled out! She was letting me pet her and throw a toy for her! And then she ran into a post because she got too excited, and I stood up to go over and check on her. And she bit me. Three times! Well, only once was successful, the other two just gave me quarter-sized bruises and didn't break the skin, but she made a good faith effort!

Have I heard anything about it from either the dog's human or the guy who was dogsitting her since? I have not. I can't possibly blame the dog, but this hasn't exactly made me feel more positively towards her human.

Time for some links

Alone in a Crowded Milky Way - it’s long, but it’s fascinating. Fermi’s paradox! Pitcairn Island! Graphs!

The Rise and Fall of an All-Star Crew of Jewel Thieves - another long read that is well worth your time. This reads like a movie, and I wonder how long it will be until it turns into one.

Tunes on my mind lately

Also, I’m always (when possible) going to do YouTube links here rather than Spotify ones; I don’t want to fuck up your algorithms!

So look. I never don’t want to try and sing Neko Case songs; this one was the latest that I recorded; listen to the real thing instead though:

Back when I used to go to burlesque shows every so often and occasionally harbored “I could do that”-type ideas (note: I could not do that), I figured my optimal taking-my-clothes-off song would be this one. Not sure I still agree with that, but it’s still a jam:

I listened to this today and realized that this year I’ll be this age and you know what, neither have I:

This month’s top 5:

  • getting to make a “we do bones, motherfucker” reference in two (2) separate D&D games

  • got a new fridge which is great! still have the old fridge which is right next to it! get this thing out of my house!

  • Christmas is over!

  • watched the space movie and enjoyed it but also spent the next straight week complaining about it, which is also fun in its own way

  • STARTED WRITING THIS THING WOW

Okay! Well! That’s it for this month! Until next time, remember that Australia is 100% on fire and also that singing the “hang a shining star upon the highest bough” line in “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” (instead of the original “until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow”) is for cowards who don’t want to acknowledge WWI, thanks, goodnight!

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