Help Where You Can Part 2

It is "the holidays" which means every nonprofit is sending its letters asking for your money. I've even gotten emails from groups I've never donated to in the past, likely thanks to some professional fundraiser getting my email from somewhere.

But I thought I'd compile a list of where I am donating currently, in case I forget, or in case it helps other people.

Seattle Public Library Foundation
Wikipedia
The Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
Propublica
Seattle Parks Foundation
FairVote Washington

Though, now I've listed them, I just found a site that vets such things, and ... some of the chief officers of the most commonly known nonprofits are making just a LOT of money. More than even some for-profit CEOs. It really, really sucks that we have to check in on organizations whose purported purpose is to help people, but here we are. Disheartening, but still worth finding places to spend your money and time.

Further Reading

My first of these posts, starting just after the 2024 election, listed some folks to follow and some books to read. I am less happy to report my progress on the books has been slow, but following new voices has worked out pretty well. As for the books, I have started and put down both The Jungle and Poverty, By America several times due to the text being overwhelming to my wee heart.

Instead, here are some recommendations for silly little fiction books (they're not that silly) that aren't political at all (they are)! 

Babel by R.F. Kuang

The Mercy of Gods by James S.A. Corey

The Lost Journals of Sacajawea by Debra 

At year's end, I have read 32 books and finished 31 of them. Some were audiobooks, some were not. I'm pretty happy with that number. Of that, 15 were nonfiction, but the last 6 books I read were Fiction, so that's a pretty good indicator of where I'm at, emotionally. Not that the fiction books were light by any means. I still want to finish at least one of my heavy books before the end of the year, so ... today's goal is to make some progress on it.

Struggling today, but I'll still try to be kind to my neighbors.

Working

Today, I need to go to work, and I feel strangely motivated to get a lot done. This post will be brief, and will not have much to do with my work. Instead, here is a link to a substack newsletter article by Heather Cox Richardson that is currently relevant, and I think is so far the best response I've seen to recent events.

TL;DR, humans have always been a mixed bag of responses to the deaths/murders of those a majority has deemed corrupt, and history repeats itself.

So yes, very, very short today. Just, as much fun as it is to meme and laugh, remember that life is short and precious. Be kind to each other when you can.

A Little Escapism, As a Treat

I have a job that affords me some weekdays off, and today's one of those days. Today's leisure time will be filled with videogame chores. It's too cold to do the yardwork I need to do. So, it's into the aether to sort my inventory, do a little crafting, farm a little in game currency to get fancy wings, and then go fishing. In between those things will be some knitting on the couch.

When I get warm enough, and feel reasonably like extricating myself from blankets, I promise to do the load of laundry that needs doing, and maybe even clean a bathroom. But until then, I'll be here, color coding my Stardew Valley chests and using the planner to set up the ideal farm. And maybe some Webfishing, as a further treat with friends later.

I suggest you do the same (or your game of choice's equivalent). Today only though, tomorrow we have to do more work.

<3

Writing Prompts

I recently received a book, Kickstartered on a whim, called "The Book of Good Things." It contains a series of prompts and activities, and at the end it encourages you to call a phone number and leave a message for others to listen to. It then will publish those messages (if the caller gives permission) in podcast form so other Book Of Good Things enjoyers can listen to.

The book itself is small and will not take me long to complete, but it has already inspired me to revisit the idea of giving myself writing prompts. Today's post is late because I had to do my activity for the day first! So, here's a list of writing prompts I'm going to attempt to follow along with at a pace of one per week. I have further given myself the limitation of only writing these in my physical journal.

• What consistently makes you laugh out loud?
  
• What's the most interesting fact you've ever learned about your family?
• Describe something you really enjoyed making.
• Why did you decide to start doing these prompts?
• (from the Book of Good Things) What is the most interesting thing about humans? (not best, or worst, just interesting)
• Try to describe what you feel when you listen to your favorite song.
• Who did you encounter today, and why do you remember them?
• Think about the last 2 movies you watched and then try to link them with a common theme
• Describe your ideal cozy morning
• What was the last piece of news that made you angry? Work through that anger on the page.
  

These are a few I came up with while I was at work today, but I am hoping to think of more. Anyway, writing down or drawing things as close to when they happen or when you feeling them is the best we can do for accurately remembering things, because our memory itself is absolutely rubbish. Write or draw something today as accurately as possible. Then, in 1 year go back and read/look at it. It probably won't come back to mind in the way you wrote it down. Anyway, halfway through the week. I'm already tired.

Still being kind to my neighbor though.

Cultivating Gardens

The wintery temperatures have begun in earnest here in the PNW, once again stifling my annual desire to magically become a gardener and grow my own food. Maybe if I wasn't so busy optimizing a farm in Stardew Valley I might consider actual gardening, but as it stands, I will sigh and glance sadly at the few wilting herbs I did grow this year.

Despite my horticultural failure, I do have a few metaphorical gardens I can cultivate. I think Voltaire coined the original phrase about cultivating your own garden in an absurd world, and while many many philosophers have argued about what it means, my take is that instead of retreating from the hardship and absurdity of the world, we have to make ourselves stronger mentally, physically, and emotionally during the times of relative peace and calm.

So, for me, today's goal is physical. I started running awhile ago with the idea of just getting the recommended 30 minutes of heart-healthy exercise per day. But today I've started trying to get actively stronger. I've got feelers out in my BuyNothing group for a set of adjustable weights, I've found a list of bodyweight exercises to try out in various configurations, and have added "fitness" to the list of rabbit holes I'm allowed to go down as time permits. I have a lot of aches and pains, and I'm hoping a little extra core and arm muscles will help. Stamina and strength are my goals. I'm not super motivated by competition or big numbers going up, so I'm not going to really be formal about it. I figure I'll be strong enough when, the next time I need to move some furniture, I don't need a break halfway through. 

Don't forget to be kind to your neighbors.

Routines Continue

It has been nearly a month since half of the U.S. had its expectations upended. There is plenty of speculation as to why this happened, and people way smarter than me are welcome to continue wondering. It is, I suppose, historically important. But for those of us who are not employed in a way that requires us to keep up with that, we must, as they say, keep calm and carry on. For me, I learned the lesson after the last debacle election and deleted as many quick and easy ways to doomscroll from my phone as possible. If I want to look at the news, I have to actively use up a whole desktop computer screen for it.

I've also started keeping more information in my calendars and planners and notebooks. Any idea I have or thought that I want to explore later, I write it down. If the notion comes back to me later without having to look it up, I'll give in to the urge, and look it up. 

My brain does not work this way normally. I simply must know, most of the time, but I am starting to let go of that urge, because about half the time knowing makes me upset. And if I'm going to be upset, I want there to be dedicated time for it.

Another thing, and this is today's action item for me, is that I need to itemize my regular habits. Not so I keep doing them in the exact routine I'm doing or anything like that, but so I can tell if I start to spend too much time on doomscrolling or the like.

For example, I usually would some sort of chore(s), my d&d game, and cook something tasty for dinner on Saturday, but because d&d was cancelled, I literally did not do a single one of those things, and instead shrimped at my computer and played games all day instead. Not necessarily a bad thing, but noteworthy since I'm trying to be a little more community-focused. Instead of the videogames, I probably should have found some sort of community event to attend. Saturdays are great for those and my Saturdays are usually busy with d&d. 

So today I'm going to start tracking "the typical" and see what parts I can shift toward community action. We'll see if any of it sticks!