reading like it's your job

Fun article about Sarah Jessica Parker's experience as a Booker Prize judge. (It's interesting even if you don't like her.) 

book review

I didn't read World War Z sooner due to my general disinterest in zombies. Luckily they're just in the background: rather than a thriller, it's an anthropological exploration. Each chapter had a new narrator in a different place and different circumstance, and almost every one gave me something new to think about. The audio performance was really well done and I probably enjoyed listening more than I would have reading.

(I think in reality there would have been more small-group cooperation than it presented and, despite attempts to show what a terrible job world governments were doing, I think they actually did BETTER than they would in reality. But those are discussion topics, not criticisms!)

TV review

I'm always late on this; has everyone already seen We Are Lady Parts? It is fantastic; funny and original and super sweet. 

"Let no one tell you America is no longer the land of opportunity"

Amusing article on an Oktoberfest steinholding competition. (Apparently training by holding weights while driving is common.)

21st birthday!

My youngest kid turned 21! On the day of, she celebrated with friends in paper party hats at the same bar I went to in college. Then she made a less fun choice and spent the weekend at a 24-hour reading of Moby Dick. (So not only was she up for like 40 hours straight, she was needing to stay awake while listening to Melville ramblings.) Some of her texts:

I don’t know if you've ever read this book but it's over 600 pages and could be 200 and a lot more exciting if there weren't so many encyclopedic whale facts and also side stories

we're currently hearing a side story within a side story

I don’t think tranquo, king of tranque is a real person

it's a good thing you never read this book you would hate it

most of the whale facts are not correct

On the bright side, she'll now be more informed when people ask her about her Herman Melville Memorial Chili Festival shirt. (This was an annual party thrown by friends of my parents' in the 80s; she found a commemorative t-shirt in the attic and wears it all the time.)

(Bonus: to report on a story she's writing for the school paper, she attended a meeting the University president held for retired professors whose health insurance the University will no longer cover. She said she "got a little carried away" and yelled at him, but it was "very satisfying." One of my professors (who never taught her) paid for a round of her birthday drinks to say thanks.)

it's the usual with doctors

I went to see an allergist for the first time in a decade, both because my asthma has worsened over the past year and because I'm grasping at straws to try to end this headache. My previous doctor at the practice retired so they assigned me a new one... who is retiring next month, so that seemed like an odd choice. I'm excited not to see him again though because he was dismissive (acted like exercise induced asthma is not a thing, didn't believe albuterol makes me cough or Zyrtec makes me depressed, told me to see a counselor about the headache) and switched up my meds in ways that cost me more money, ignore common side effects I've experienced, and seem unlikely to be more effective. 

Three days later and despite taking antihistamines, I still have itchy welts from the allergy testing. Worst of all though... I'm now allergic to dogs. 

That's an unacceptable situation so I may start allergy shots this winter. I couldn't consider them in the past because of kids/ time/ transportation challenges but I have more room in my life now (and my own car), so if I'm able to afford them, I guess I have to start (much as I hate the idea of driving to Corporate Woods for an hour a week). 

work update: the more you suck, the better off you are

Work has been awful. There's been a new crisis every week or two since the hostile takeover last winter. Most recently I've been punished over and over again for having my shit together by being handed disasters to fix. Which I know is a problem competent people face a lot, but it's particularly egregious and thankless right now, and some of the people who caused the disasters are getting raises and promotions while I'm effectively making less money than pre-pandemic. (I had the most on-the-nose anxiety dream, in which I was trying to deliver a breech baby while my coworkers were ignoring the situation and filling up their plates at a buffet.)

I got an MRI and was thinking "maybe brain cancer would be a nice break from work," which obviously isn't true but the fact that it crossed my mind says something.

I'm on the verge of rage quitting, which would be a terrible idea, but the stress and fury on top of medical issues is destroying me. On the bright side this means I'm no longer worried about getting laid off, because it would in fact be an enormous relief to collect unemployment. 

I got pissy with the director one day and she lied to me about a bunch of stuff (she likes to tell people what they want to hear) but then gave me a $1000 bonus. Unfortunately I don't think that will work more than once or I'd be doing it weekly!

"Rare" wildlife sighting

Nextdoor post of the week: 

Last night near midnight I was driving home and a deer ran across Gifford Road. It was maybe a block before the elementary school as I made my way from McDonald Ave. It seemed so unusual, and I wondered if anyone else has had a similar experience in my neighborhood.

Plant foods week of 10/26/25

Olive

Tomato

Cherries
Potato 
Honeydew 
Chia seeds 
Whole wheat
Broccoli 
Staghorn sumac
Peanuts
Apples
Chocolate
Coffee
Corn 
Soy
Black beans 
Pineapple 
Cantaloupe 
Strawberry 
Grapes
Spinach 
Cranberry 
Blueberry 
Blackberry 
Sesame seeds
Maple
Flaxseed 
Onion
Cucumber

Lettuce

"have you considered that maybe you're making it up?"

 Unfortunately it didn't occur to me until too late that getting more imaging to try to determine why my surgeries left me worse off was not going to be as useful with prednisone masking the inflammation, so I'm going to have to go back to do it again. The (new) doctor had no ideas other than seeing a rheumatologist. "I've seen a few over the years, I'm seronegative, they don't want anything to do with me either." "Well give it a try again." Yes, everyone believes me to have an autoimmune disease other than the rheumatologists, but it's unclear what I'm supposed to do with that? (I did try a DMARD for six months, which left me even less able to get out of bed than before.)