Start by Giving a Crap. (Right.)

At some point last fall, I think it was in October when covid numbers were dramatically spiking here locally, some inner part of me threw up her hands and said I'm done. I was past the point of caring, past the point of wanting to waste my mental energy worrying and/or arguing with the idiots. Just done.

But the thing about a pandemic is that it isn't done when we want it to be done. It's done when it has run its course, and apparently covid-19 isn't done with us yet. And of course there's all kinds of medical people (including two right here in my house) who don't have the option of shutting down. They're still right there in it. 

After getting several unrelated nudges from the universe this week, though, I'm coming around. I can't stay checked out forever. As my Ten Percent Happier meditation said on Monday--in a somewhat different context-- start by giving a crap. Damn it.

So here we still are. And I'm sorting through exactly what I'm going to care about and what I'm not.

In other news, since I just checked, I can tell you with confidence that I have THIRTY-ONE half-written posts in my Drafts folder. Maybe one way of caring would be to start posting again. 

In the meantime, here is my list of my favorite books I read in 2021. Other than Deacon King Kong being my favorite, they are in no particular order.

Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Everything I read by Martha Wells (especially the Murderbot Diaries)
Good Talk by Mira Jacob
The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K.Jemisin
The Liars' Club by Mary Karr
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Code Breaker by Walter Isaacson

Honorable Mention: How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, King and the Dragonflies, Craft in the Real World, Hamnet, The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, Under the Whispering Door, Project Hail Mary, Assassination Vacation.

This week's nostalgia listen: Whitesnake, "Here I Go Again"

OMG you have to watch the video. Did we ALL HAVE THE SAME HAIR? My hair has never in my life been that long but I sure had the perm.

Palate cleanser: try this one (song starts at 2:54) (pass the carrots, please)(but they still have the hair)