A Weekly List
a list of 3's for the week of April 6th...a day late because this is who I am
Short and sweet.
What I’ve been thinking about:
The Reticular Activating System in the brain ~ it does a whole lot of things, but one of the things it does is filters sensory information and decides what you notice. The RAS is why positive affirmations actually work. You can impact it — and therefore your perception and experience of reality — by what you choose to focus on. Here is some more good information about it. Neuroplasticity means our brains are constantly changing - which means we have a choice in how it changes. Attention can be like a magic spell.
The fact that I went to the movie The Secret of Roan Inish alone at the independent Flatirons Theater when I was 10 years old because I loved it and wanted to see it for a second time. I am realizing I have always been a cinephile.
A Chipotle commercial advertising 81g of protein in a bowl. We have taken it too far.
Things I’ve been reading:
Vulture Capitalism by Grace Blakey - I’ve just started this, but I’ve been enjoying learning from Blakey via the interwebs. “Tracing over a century of neoliberal planning and backdoor bailouts, Blakeley takes us on a deeply reported tour of the corporate crimes, political maneuvering, and economic manipulation that elites have used to enshrine a global system of “vulture capitalism”—planned capitalist economies that benefit corporations and the uber-wealthy at the expense of the rest of us.”
Apogee by OpalApparition « that is Heated Rivalry fan fiction but also about the International Space Station, so my polymathic/systems thinking brain loves the overlap of my current interests.
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab (this audiobook is great!) - this is so much more than a lesbian vampire book, but it is also that and I’m really enjoying it so far.
Things I’ve been watching:
Ponies - so funny!
Shrinking - so heartfelt! and funny!
Went to Project Hail Mary last night and loved it. I was watching the splashdown of Artemis II right up until I walked into the theater and I was not at all mad about my space themed Friday night.
Things I’ve loved recently:
Body-doubling // co-working. There are certain things I CANNOT get done unless I’m sitting with others with the explicit purpose of getting them done. This works IRL and virtually for me.
I have newly discovered Casa Bosques Chocolate and I am obsessed. I’ve only tried the Cacao Nibs flavor but it was unreal. Also I’m a total sucker for their marketing: perusing their different bars is like a massage for my eyeballs.
Moon Joy and the astronauts of Artemis II and literally every word that they say. I have cried so many times this week watching and listening to them.
Things I’ve Bought Recently:
Plane tickets to the East Coast and Berlin.
Instant Angel - the only moisturizer thick enough to protect my skin from the dry high desert air.
Hävenly Rustic Loaf - The only gluten free bread that tastes amazing and NEVER upsets my stomach. (I’ve been eating gluten free bread for 22 years…I have tried SO MANY different loaves of bread).
Tools or Hacks:
National Tax Strike - in case you didn’t know this was a thing.
ToDoist - so useful as a brain-dump app that I then organize later. It’s been super useful for my messy brain.
Timeshifter App - I don’t get jetlag when I use this app. They also have tools to support people who do shift work which is very cool.
Poem:
Remember by Joy Harjo
Remember the sky that you were born under,
know each of the star’s stories.
Remember the moon, know who she is.
Remember the sun’s birth at dawn, that is the
strongest point of time. Remember sundown
and the giving away to night.
Remember your birth, how your mother struggled
to give you form and breath. You are evidence of
her life, and her mother’s, and hers.
Remember your father. He is your life, also.
Remember the earth whose skin you are:
red earth, black earth, yellow earth, white earth
brown earth, we are earth.
Remember the plants, trees, animal life who all have their
tribes, their families, their histories, too. Talk to them,
listen to them. They are alive poems.
Remember the wind. Remember her voice. She knows the
origin of this universe.
Remember you are all people and all people
are you.
Remember you are this universe and this
universe is you.
Remember all is in motion, is growing, is you.
Remember language comes from this.
Remember the dance language is, that life is.
Remember.
Quote:
“The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”
― James Baldwin
Music:
I have been listening to this playlist all week. Today is the 4 year anniversary of my friend Kaleb’s suicide. Since his death, I notice that between his birthday on March 15th and his death day, he is always more present for me than usual. Spring now reminds me of him. This playlist is quintessentially 90’s. Makes me want to throw on some Jnco jeans (I will never again ever wear tight low rise jeans) and a tank top with my bra straps showing. It reminds me of dances in 8th grade and the first time I watched Cruel Intentions. It really makes me miss Kaleb, but it also feels like a communication from him and I love that. (I’m also very much in the middle of figuring out how to move away from using Spotify, and access to other’s playlists like this is one of the things stopping me).
Meme(or…tweet? or thread?):
