How is “swimmer’s bliss” not a common concept, like “runner’s high”? I just did 27 laps and I assume this is what LSD feels like.
Nomadland
Watching this film makes me want to read the book that inspired it. I didn’t know there were so many middle-aged and older Americans living this life. I also didn’t know that 20...
We (Dutch)
If you’d ask me what a Dutch version of Elephant and Kids would look like, We (2018) is it.
I got a season pass for our outdoor pool, and we’re going for a morning swim. I expect the water to be seriously cold.
In reply to a post on twitter.com:
@patrickfweston I'm syndicating notes on my website to Twitter, it helps me own my content! Check out https://indieweb.org 🤘🏽
Us at the beach. Me, holding a soft-serve ice cream cone in my mouth. Anja: “you look like a Picasso unicorn.”
Watched Dutch Memorial Day service
It’s been long since I last watched the programming for our country’s Memorial Day. I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that it’s disturbing and counterproductive to group ...
In reply to a post on calumryan.com:
At this point I’m hesitant to even call myself the tech crowd without this Star Wars badge, but 🙋🏽
First time having an early dinner with outdoor seating since the start of the pandemic. The waitress told us she wouldn’t serve tap water because the restaurant chain that emplo...
Promising Young Woman
Carey Mulligan has begun to remind me of what would happen if Judith Light and Jessica Lange had had a love child. The depth in the characters she’s been portraying recently is ...
Today I celebrate three years of sobriety
On May 2, 2018, as we got off the plane from Stockholm, I said calmly to Anja: "I think I may try not drinking for a week or so."
In reply to a post on twitter.com:
No length of sobriety will ever make me forget how drunk I was through every single one of these.
Bookmarked annualbeta.com
Tossed pasta
A home-tested pasta recipe that's so simple it's ridiculous, and so tasty it's scary.
reading New American Stories by
As a person whose body equates the scent of a pillow with immediate sleep, reading before bed is hard. I’m giving this book a try. So far, the first page of the introduction is ...
Not not enjoying girl in red's debut album, yet I'm sad to hear that, like so many other bedroom pop artists who "make it", everything's just a little too… polished?
Bookmarked callil.com
Aside from the feeling that I deadlifted 100 pounds with only my left arm, I'm feeling great after this morning's vaccine.
When @anjawaleson asked what my fav meme was I spent the first 20mins explaining the significance of “Chocolate Rain” and then I quickly became nostalgic. The web has changed so...
Working file: how I'm using Omnifocus
Like so many others, I have a real talent for fiddling around with productivity products more than I am able to benefit from them. I’ve cancelled my Omnifocus subscription thric...
Bookmarked sebastiandedeyne.com
Bookmarked vincentp.me
In reply to a post on aaronparecki.com:
Really pleased with this guide, Aaron! Glad I was able to use it to send my first manual webmention.
Anja’s Apple Watch just alerted her that the sound levels has exceeded 90 as she was laughing loudly. Just leaving that here for posterity.
Bookmarked rasulkireev.com
Hello again, The Handmaid’s Tale
In honor of the arrival of season 4, we decided to give ourselves a nice and immersive recap of season 3. We’ve learnt that, when it comes to The Handmaid’s Tale, that’s just be...
Liked https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/opinion/derek-chauvin-verdict-floyd.html
“The United States demands too much wisdom from Black parents. We must walk that fine line between telling the truth about how cruel America can be toward Black bodies and sou...
Searching for Sheela
It doesn’t happen all too often that Anja and I purposely don’t continue watching a film. I remember us both cringing when we saw the production company’s name: Dharmatic Entert...
Sound of Metal
We finished watching Sound of Metal. Its sound mix is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. When I think of going deaf I think of the other option in the thought experiment: go...
Someone I interviewed yesterday told me about a secular Jew who let him know he tries to hold off on feeling guilty too much by pausing his guilt for a number of years. That way...
2003: me and a fellow obviously closeted classmate are in my bedroom, bickering about who’s hotter: her obsession Angelina Jolie, or mine, Shania Twain. I wonder if she has come...
Just realized that, in wondering where God ends and man begins, I never thought to incorporate the discernment of spirits. Parks are not God-made, but they may be God-inspired
I may write about this more in-depth at some point, but I’m experimenting with loose leaf journalling. It’s something I did for a while a few years ago, and it worked quite well...
I had been incredibly tired the past few days, to the point where I wasn’t even able to concentrate during meetings. Went to bed a bit early and put away my phone, which seemed ...
Today is my favourite day at Leeruniek yet. Nothing special happened, just the calm security of a good cause, space to shine, and quiet time to do good design work.
Someone pulled one of our beautiful tulips from the garden and broke its neck. The older I get, the more surprised I am by how poorly some people tolerate the innocent beauty of...
The week on Sunday 15/2021
I am on a 33-day streak picking my teeth before bed. I’ve designed a temptation bundle, pairing the activity with a few minutes of garbage television. During these days, I’ve ma...
There’s a foggy area in my brain where talking just enough about why I’m not on speaking terms with my family results in me dreaming about them. I continue to scale it for size ...
Today may have been the first real day of Spring. I spent the afternoon at the park with my in-laws, and laughed until I was tired. Amsterdam is such a great place to live. Even...
Kids are so amazing. I just spent an hour looking at an outdoor circus class, and the fact that they have zero fear of falling is what I miss most about childhood. More than not...
The Life of David Gale
I didn’t know until today that Kevin Spacey had a trial run of being on the receiving end of rape allegations in the 2002 film The Life of David Gale. I explicitly don’t mention...
Morning habits: part one
One thing I appreciate is my growing ability to understand how small choices affect the quality of my day. I have a history of struggling with doing things that are good for me,...
Call me 'she'
The world beyond the gender binary is vast and diverse. As a queer facilitator, I’ve come to appreciate the value of writing my pronouns behind my name when it shows up in a vid...
I may be going to your hell
Earlier today I mentioned on Twitter:
Aging: part one
When I was a child, no physical activity brought me more delight than inline skating. I had a wonderful pair of skates; silver, neon pink, and teal, snuggly fitting my feet. I f...
Forgery or oldest manuscript?
I enjoy casually following research on Biblical manuscripts, and so this piece in the New York Times immediately caught my eye this morning:
My partner Anja is aware of the vampire-cough best practice of not sneezing in her hand. Yet when a sneeze comes out, she doesn’t quite make it to the elbow, and instead she spr...
Films about white people
Sometimes Ifeel that I ama badBlackgirlbecause whenevermy white girlfriendand I sift throughNetflixPrime Videoor anythingwith a reasonable trialperiodand she says ‘let’s watch t...
Is the Pope gay?
As a personal rule, I do not engage in queer Catholic apologetics. I am making an exception, however, to share some of my thoughts on the matter, and it’s only because I’m now a...
All the Trump insults* you need to voice opinions while hate-watching 'America's Got Talent'
“He’s a mental basketcase”Originally tweeted to criticize conservative commentator Glenn Beck about his love of super PACs, this statement would work just fine to describe a mid...
The week on Sunday 2/2021
I’m terrible at keeping it a secret: my favorite time in the week is when Anja1 works from home. We spent the past month building a home office in a one-bedroom apartment, and I...
My favorite instance of someone saying “just Google it” was my brilliant linguistics professor Jacomine Nortier, who once famously spoke these words during a lecture on multilin...
Klassen
I don’t know what the makers intended for me to feel, but watching Klassen has left me positively heart-broken and thankful that I will not ever be called upon to raise a child.
The greatest benefit to switching phone operating systems every few years is delight. On the surface, I find myself scoffing at iOS 14’s most basic features (wow… widgets…), but...
Vis-à-vis noise-cancelling headphones, when do you stop hearing, over any sound they could produce, the noise of your own heartbeat?
Pretend It's a City
One can only look at Martin Scorsese be unfunny next to Fran Lebowitz for so long, but their Pretend It’s a City sure is a total gem.
Pieces of a Woman
Pieces of a Woman is the first film that made me feel like someone was actually giving birth on screen. It’s also a really wonderful way to get to know the work of Vanessa Kirby...
The end of cute
I have a friendwho is so madat the pandemicthat he went ona six-day crack benderto prove it“I’ve deleted the numbersof all my dealersas well as theman who changed my mind”he tel...
Family, or notes from the battlefield
As soon as she hands you the giftyou know it’s another one“Trans Life Survivors”says the cover“Merry Christmas!”says your sisteryou have only been usingthey/them pronounsin priv...
33 things
Working from home does wonders for my productivity and mental health
Last month, Radiolab broadcast an excellent episode on deception, and the science and consequences of lying. You should listen to it. I was mildly surprised by the hypothesis of...
Of bridges and neighbors
When I first learned that ‘pontifex’, Pope Francis’ Twitter account, is Latin for ‘bridge builder’, I was entirely delighted. “How wonderful”, I thought, “that our institution s...
Hell is other people
Let’s meditate on us scattered sheep today, shall we? After all, if not scattered, then what are we? It has become a running gag in our household: I will be reading the New York...
On affirmation
It was only a few weeks ago that I mused about the true intent behind Pope Francis’ positive words for the parents of LGBT individuals. I said it then, and I’ll say it once more...
The benefit of discontent
If you are at all involved in queer Catholic Twitter, you know that last week was a riot. Cause célèbre was an unexpected shout-out from Pope Francis:
The pan
I have been sitting in a saucepan for the past few weeks. The water is scorching, peeling away layers at a rapid speed, its damage becoming more and more irreparable as the seco...
Clobber
She sounds quite chipper once she makes it to the telephone. ‘Hey dear!’ it sounds. ‘Happy Mother’s Day’, I go. A few years ago, when I decided that I was going to transition in...