7ToF: draggin' the line

1. I've been an avid reader since I was eight, and that whole time I've known, or been told/lectured/harangued, that it was bad to read curled up on the couch, or hunched over my laptop or e-reader for hours. But I like reading curled up on the couch, so I did it anyway. Turns out, it catches up with you. Turns out, posture is just as important as my grandmother always said it was. Good Lord, next thing you know I'll be telling you to keep your hair out of your eyes. My back and especially my neck are making themselves (painfully) known. Damn it. A new chair has been purchased, various stands/holders have been tried, and desks have been rearranged. Work in progress.

2. I've heard many, many people have not been able to read since the pandemic hit. Luckily, I can still read, I'm just having trouble with anything heavy or that requires deep concentration. Lighter reading is great, and here are the ones I've especially liked recently: Modern Lovers by Emma Straub, Bookish Life of Nina Hill or anything by Abbi Waxman, the Simon Snow books by Rainbow Rowell, and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. And also a couple that are more weighty but not difficult: Good Talk by Mira Jacob and How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu. Here is a link to the review I wrote of that last one, it's about four times as long as my reviews usually are because I had so many thoughts, so dangit, somebody needs to read it. 

3. My new favorite cookbook: I am loving Everyday Dinners by Jessica Merchant. Apparently her website, How Sweet Eats, is super popular, but I'd never heard of it until someone recommended the cookbook. She has some great ideas that are different than my same five dinners. So far my two favorites are also on her website: sheet pan gnocchi (the method for roasting gnocchi more than that particular recipe), and crispy smashed potatoes (I might have, um, used butter instead of olive oil, except for oiling the pan)(yum). 

4. Ten or twelve years ago, I saw one of those "inspirational" posters that said something to the effect of, "If you keep having the same problems in all your relationships, maybe the real problem is you." It hit me like a lightning strike, because I've had the same problems making and keeping friends forever--since childhood. So of course I was devastated to see The Truth, which led to years of self-recrimination and doubts and miserable awareness of how awful I am at being a friend, including basically just giving up on being friends with people, because obviously I am so bad at it. I'm kind of a loner anyway, so maybe I'm just not supposed to have friends, right?

5. Not kidding, it has only been in the last couple of weeks that it has occurred to me that this is true of everybody. Everybody has the same problems over and over again in their relationships, because we are who we are, and that means we keep on having to work on the same flaws we've always had. Honestly, who came up with that poster? They should be forced to hang out with themselves for the rest of their life.

6. Which sort-of segues into a sermon series I heard this summer by a visiting pastor on learning to live as the beloved of God. She based the series on a book by Henri Nouwen called Life of the Beloved. That led to a whole bunch of thoughts, and I already knew I was going to be revisiting the topics of faith, belief, and nurturing our spirits this fall, so there you have it. Stay tuned if you're interested, please come back in a few months if you're not. A large part of my project is figuring out what it means to be "beloved" if you don't believe in God, because a lot of days, I don't. At the moment, I don't know the answer to that question but maybe we can figure something out. 

(pause)(takes breath) it scares me to make an announcement like that, because now I have to do it and I'm not sure I have anything interesting to say. But you know, on the flip side, now I have to do it. Wait, that's the same side.

7. I know I said I was going to start posting again after Labor Day, but in late breaking news, I get to go to New York over Labor Day (insert whoop of joy here) after inheriting tickets to the USOpen from a relative who couldn't go. So it will be a little longer before I'm posting regularly, maybe mid-September. I'm just putting this up so you'll know I didn't disappear.

aside: I'm typing this on Wednesday morning and the CDC has recommended that even vaccinated people avoid traveling this weekend. So far, I'm still going. (I am vaccinated, for the record. I called and got an appointment the day vaccinations opened up to my age group back in April.)(And if you're reading this and you're not vaccinated, please just go do it. There are millions of us out here that are vaccinated and it hasn't killed us, and you might save a life.)

Hope you are surviving OK. It's a mess out there right now, isn't it? At least we have each other. *tune up soapy music* Or something like that. The post title is from an old 70s song (you knew that, right?) and according to reliable sources (*cough* Google), it refers to linemen stringing up electrical wires, i.e., just living their lives and getting by. If you haven't heard it recently, check it out, it cheered me up this week.