Three wins

1. Walked on tip toes as soon as I formed the conviction that hiking boots reign supreme.
2. Spent the entire Tuesday with Anja at Studio Pansa, where I made my first two wheel-thrown pots. Looking back, the whole thing was too wet, which is confirmed by the ridiculous amount of clay I brought home on my clothes. Between drying, trimming, firing, glazing, and more firing, it could be months before I find out whether I did it right. I find that quite exhilirating.
3. This feels like a bit of a sad win, but I’ve cancelled my YouTube Premium account, putting an end to three months of near non-stop background videos, and bad reality TV on repeat. I’ve replaced it with discovering new music through NTS Radio, which continues to delight me.

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Three wins

1. Read the eleven peer reviews I had received at work, and was stunned, inspired, and humbled by the kindness and positivity. Part of me thinks that’s just because people felt sorry for me and my Christmas Eve surgery. A more positive part sees I’m doing things right.
2. Despite what I was told, my PICC line, which delivered antibiotics intravenously, was able to come out on Wednesday. This meant I no longer have to carry the dispenser pack, that I can pick up the dog again, and that I can take normal showers!
3. Had my first physical therapy session, where the therapists straightened me out right quick about my posture. The younger one, a senior student, massaged my calf in a way that gave me so much more flexibility it left me speechless.

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Introduction For years, years I tell ya, I’ve been telling myself I need to write better week notes. “Better” refers to their frequency and to a lesser extent to their content. I never seemed to have found the pace to spend my Sunday afternoons sipping tea and reflecting on the week gone by. I just noticed in my RSS feed that Rach Smith is adopting a new habit of writing Dave Rupert-inspired month notes. (Continue)

This week, I attended my first Gerimedica party. It’s great to know I can expect a big celebration every year, and not just for the company’s sweet sixteen. It confirmed what I already know: great vibe, great taste, great people. I went to Bar Bario on Saturday for a meet-up called Hair Haven, which fosters connection between people with curly hair. Again, I was struck by how welcoming the space is. (Continue)

January flew, flew by, I tell you. We started with “wow, 2023 already, let’s have a chill time this year, hey what’s on Netflix?” and at the time of writing everything is different: Things are not chill, because we’re preparing ourselves, our lives, and our house for our first-ever puppy Both our work lives are unexpectedly bustling and busy We cancelled Netflix I’ve been saying for years that I’d be willing to pay 100 euros a month for a single, all-encompassing international streaming platform. (Continue)

I forgot how the COVID booster can make you feel as though, temporarily, the world may well be ending. I got it earlier this week, and it left me with a sore arm and that dreadful, ridiculous sensation that accompanies a flu that lasts a week too long. I mimic my late stepfather, who used to wimper like a puppy whenever he got a cold. I still do well to limit my hours of screen time. (Continue)

In many ways, 2015 was a transformative year for me. Much of my soundtrack of 2015 is made up of party songs that played at the bars I used to frequent while I was living in Haarlem. The feelings invoked by some of these songs are entirely devoted to a particular crush I would have had at the time. Each song has the capacity to bring me back precisely to that period of time, in such a way that my body feels it. (Continue)