This Life in Weeks— Week 2208
This week has been pretty warm for October. It seems like the whole month has been strangely warm. The leaves are changing though, and the milkweed and cattails are sending out seeds. And the light is fading. Time for bonfires to keep the monsters away.
Rum Tum Tiddy
I did some experimenting with Rum Tum Tiddy recipes in preparation for the family Halloween party and Rum Tum Tiddy cookoff that my cousins and I devised. None of my experiments looked like prize winners but they tasted good. Better than I remembered. I realized that Rum Tum Tiddy is really just the grilled cheese AND the tomato soup in one messy package. The crazy thing is that I’ve really never talked to anyone outside of my family that has had it, but somehow both my mom’s side AND my dad’s side grew up with it. Though the Clark side served it on toast and the Benedict side served it on crackers. I’m afraid I’ve never had it on toast. The arranging of the crackers is an important ritual
Decluttering
The unholy season of decluttering is upon me. The weather and the lack of light will keep me indoors more and I will start to feel oppressed the clutter that I surround myself with. I want to simplify. I know the holiday parties are coming and the house needs to be clean. I can sense the stressy pre-solstice party cleanup in my future and I know if I take action now I can defeat it without an army. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not actually doing anything. I’m just thinking about all the things I would do if I could actually muster the desire to do them.
Video Chat
Brian and I have been chatting using talky.io since June. Every once in a while it doesn’t work and we have to use Google hangouts which seems to have all sorts of other little irritating problems. Today Talky wasn’t working so we tried Jitsi which worked great. It’s also open source and has an android app (which I haven’t tried yet). So I think we’ll probably use Jitsi from here on. Though talky does have an impossible space ship game you can play while you wait for the other person to log in.
I’ve even been thinking I should shout out to my distant friends in case anyone else, like me, doesn’t get out much at night but might be mildly bored and/or lonely.
Big Ideas
I’ve had a savings category for a second car going in YNAB for almost two years now. We’ve are doing the one car thing until Brian finishes his Ph.D. He suggested getting an electric cargo bike instead of a second car. I love the idea! The saving category would definitely cover that and we could buy some new appliances or remodel something with the leftovers. It still depends on where he gets a job but not paying for the insurance and maintenance on a second car would pay for most of a pretty great vacation every year.
Design Resources
The Noun Project: The noun project is a huge repository of icons for pretty much anything you can think of. I finally signed up a membership at work. For me this a game changer — mostly because there was a real hole in my design arsenal. I may even contribute some. I love making icons but…
Podcasts
Some new podcasts that I’ve started listening to and some especially good episodes of podcasts in my regular rotation.
- Strangers — Do You Like My Little Lie?
This episode was so intense. I don’t want to tell you anything about it except seriously messed up closet skeletons are featured. Highly recommend this! - Uncivil —A podcast of untold stories of the Civil War. They have a couple of episodes out that I’ve listened to. Really great story telling.
- Heaven’s Gate — A show about the Heaven’s Gate cult.
I listened to Episode 1: The Seekers. I’m really interested in this topic but I had trouble focusing. I don’t know if it’s the topic or the dramatic pauses that cause my mind to shoot off in to space and I suddenly have no idea what’s going on. It has potential and I’m going to keep listening. - Mortified — The second half of this episode had a particularly hilarious horror movie love scene that the speaker wrote when he was fourteen.
‘books’
I’ve started listening to the Disaster Artist audio book about Tommy Wiseau, and the making of The Room. If you like bad movies, the room is transcendent. The book only deepens the mystery… so far anyway, I’m only on chapter 6.
