Willpower IS a thing and there is some really interesting research about how it is an exhaustible psychological “resource” we have! In other words, we can exercise our willpower up to a point, but it’s not infinite. Highly recommend reading “Switch” by Chip and Dan Health which goes into willpower as a concept if you are interested in this.

I don’t know about the notes, but I wanted to say that it takes time and effort to unlearn this idea that we are supposed to be productive all the time. This is a lie that many powerful people want us to internalize so we work ourselves to death, and it’s very insidious and omnipresent. It’s become a perverse “value” in our society at large and something to be proud of.

But you are not a machine. You’re a person. And that means you need and deserve rest and comfort.

You have inherent worth outside of your productivity, how hard you work, or how much money you make.

Those metrics don’t tell us anything about how you are as a person, your values, your kindness, your strengths, the joy you bring others.

ALL of that stuff has value. Real true value. You have to start challenging these beliefs about your worthiness. Because you are already worthy.

Some further reading/resources:

1. The Body Is Not An Apology
2. Rest is Resistance
3. Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle

If you can, look into local jewelers who can craft you something handmade with ethically sourced stones. I’m in Seattle and we have Valerie Madison who does great engagement sets and Everling Jewelry who uses recycled metals. A local artist will be able to recommend something within your budget, and your SO can and should be involved, as another poster mentioned.

May I suggest “Don’t Let Me Die in America” by of Montreal? (Confusingly, an American band)

Also “Sunset on 32nd Street” by Strike Anywhere - although you could pull any track off that whole album and it would work.

Me too!!! I still play through it once a year or so and listen to the soundtrack all the time. My favorite game of all time; one of my favorite pieces of art of all time. Guess I’m due for another round!

One of the most intense and fun punk shows I have ever been to - surprised the walls stayed standing!

Literally me thinking of your top 3 also…I guess we have to be friends now. Good picks!!

Awesome!!

Actually, I lied, Strike Anywhere is my 5th pick

Discount

Misfits

Flogging Molly

Bikini Kill

Clash or Rancid… I can’t decide!

It may be because there are two types of flowers in the photo! The ones with lots of little “trumpets” appear to be lantana. The pink one could be a lot of things, it’s hard for me to tell without seeing the flower and plant more clearly. You can always post to the gardening community for help with plant IDs :)

Thank you for posting images, I couldn’t figure out how!

This is funny, but also fake - unless this person was truly pissing off the cooks! Their actual salads come in little wooden bowls and look like salads. You can image search it. They give you packets of dressing and everything. I’ve never ordered one, but eaten with friends who had dietary restrictions. They never got a plate this hateful, lol.

Ugh yes, nailed it!

Thank you for posting, I never really pursued this but just downloaded Airalo for an upcoming trip and I’m really excited to not pay $10/day with my carrier!!!

I just finished both Tulipomania (about the Dutch tulip craze of the 1700s - not as exciting as I thought it would be, lol) and Inside Out and Back Again (about a young girl’s experience of fleeing Vietnam and landing in Alabama as a refugee). I really loved Inside Out and Back Again. I had been putting it off because I thought it would be long and/or heavy, but it’s all poetry and was a very fast read.

With poetry on the brain, I moved on to Milk & Honey, from “Instapoet” Rupi Kaur. It reminded me of the poems you used to find in zines in the 90s/early 2000s, but without any alt subtext. So…kind of basic “young woman finds out she has to love herself” poems. I guess I would have appreciated that earlier in life, but I found them kind of uninspiring.

Oh! I also just finished The Bear and the Nightingale - a really fun read I stayed up late to devour. It’s a Russian medieval fantasy/fairytale, set in a realistic-feeling household and wider Russian imperial and Christian context. There are spirits everywhere, but also tension with those converting to Christianity and neglecting the traditional spirits - which has a lot of unintended consequences. Spooky, funny, grim, and action-packed, all in one book.

Our cat is on several different meds and we go through a veterinary compounding pharmacy that is semi-local to us; they ship his meds. It is cheaper than the vet, and we don’t have to give a feisty cat 3 separate pills morning and night! Worth looking into that if it’s more than just the thyroid meds. It’s made life a lot easier.

An Assassins Creed game as rich as Odyssey, but set in the Mali empire. Hanging with Mansa Musa? Visiting scholars at Timbuktu? Desert frontier towns, gigantic markets within cities, and everything in between? That period of history is so fascinating and it would be incredible to have the art budget to bring it to life.

No, I’m not referencing my original comment. I meant I drafted a detailed response to the water/arable land/invasives complaint about the entire cut flower industry, and all the orgs/lobbying efforts re: farmland and ag policy we are working on to change it, but deleted it.

I wrote out a long comment, but there are loads of people trying to change this industry for the better. 78% of all flowers in the US are imported and it’s a huge problem. I hope you’re able to always buy locally grown flowers from small farms like we do. (Many of whom also grow vegetables.) In our area, housing developers buying up arable farmland are the biggest challenge to small scale farms.