TV: Manifest

Manifest feels like someone working for the Hallmark channel decided to make a sci-fi show, when the only sci-fi they'd ever seen were the cringey parts of Battlestar Galactica. Its moral seems to be "obey the vague voices in your head and reject science, or you will die." I am continuing with it because it's fine in the background while I'm brushing my teeth, but unfortunately it's not a compelling Yellowjackets replacement.

as the soldiers would have wanted

I got a nice long hedonism weekend in for Memorial Day, bookended by getting to see my daughter on her way to and from a festival. It reminded me that perhaps my first ever hedonism weekend was also over Memorial Day, when I was 17 and visiting friends in college who were throwing a housewarming party. It was the first time we had a place where we didn't need to worry about parents or dorm staff or cops and WOW did we take advantage of it! Lots of fun, lots of drama. I mentally took anthropological notes to use to fit in when I went to college. (The cops did show up, and it was not the first time they would be there that summer, but were not interested in breaking up the party. They just wanted the fistfighting to move inside.) 

(Cops also showed up at one of this year's events; I was not envisioning that still being a thing at my age, but here we are!)

you are not conjoined twins ffs

I'm confused that this article about how to tolerate spending time on double dates with people you don't like never suggests not doing it. Why can't people hang out with their friends without dragging their unhappy partners along instead? (It opens with the author cheerfully saying she lies to her friends, so I knew immediately it was not going to be for me.)

efficiency

Today I waited an hour for a doctor's appointment which consisted solely of the doctor sticking his head in the door, saying, "Are the meds working? Yes, Okay, I'll see you in six months." Definitely a "should have been an e-mail situation," but on the bright side I now only get a couple headaches a week instead of having one 24/7, so I guess I can't complain.

who needs geocities

I came across this accidentally and was surprised: it looks like instead of setting up a personal blog like it's 2002 like me, this person made a subreddit for themself. 

so much rape, so little time

Last time I brought up Gisèle Pelicot, several of you talked about how much harder it was for you to live with men after that news came out. You're not the only ones, and there's a book out talking about it. 

pay attention to what's in the room

I wish this was focused on improving your life rather than "productivity," but anyway: "We gravitate to a customary level of interruption. If you are disrupted by notifications all day, every day, then even if those external triggers magically disappear, you will unconsciously start interrupting yourself to maintain the rhythm of distraction you’re used to. That is why the mere presence of a smartphone on a desk or in a ­pocket—even if it is turned off—has been shown to impair performance on cognitive tests, particularly among people who are more phone dependent."

Have you considered that you might be faking it?

An AI model was better at diagnosing ER patients than expert doctors. Given my experiences with doctors, well, I'm not surprised.

so say we all

PlutoTV now has a Battlestar Galactica channel so you can just have it rolling 24/7, and I am unreasonably happy about that. It also lets you stream it on demand, which is obviously better but I kinda like the idea of just tuning in randomly, wherever. (I know I am in the minority for my love of this show despite its ending not coming through, but "33" is one of the best episodes of TV I've ever seen, and I also love the details of the initial miniseries: tiny things like aging Adama taking his glasses on and off blow me away.)

okay boomer

My daughter, faced with a 60-year-old coworker who was shocked by how high the minimum wage is (which is what my daughter is paid), told her how much she pays in rent. To the coworker's credit, she was even more shocked by that.

(Also at her bakery jobs, she refused to make Kentucky Derby cookies on moral grounds. "my supervisor wasn't even mad he was just confused")

Sher-wood!

After several years in a nursing home, my aunt died. We weren't close exactly but the entire extended family spent a lot of time together when I was a kid and I have a lot of fond memories. She was clever with a sarcastic sense of humor, and her native intelligence kept her faking normality pretty well for a couple decades after she began losing her memory. My uncle and she took my brother and me to Disney World. I used to stay up late on vacation watching bats with them on the front porch. They set up epic Easter egg hunts for my cousins and me. They also showed me how to have a good life without kids at the center of it. We have an excellent white trash potato casserole recipe that is named after her, and I'm glad my daughter will carry that on.

Family caregiving during this gave me an excuse to take a week off work, and it helped a lot. I caught up on some sleep and started to feel halfway human again. It will be a financial disaster when my job disappears but time will be a huge silver lining.