and the wine-dark sea

I almost always see the sunrise; insomnia wakes me up painfully early and I make a point of opening my window shades so I can watch it. When I was 11, I was in a weird gifted and talented program in which we read The Odyssey, and I still think of "rosy-fingered Dawn" whenever I see a good sunrise. (Homer repeated several of the same phrases over and over, and that one stuck with me.) Apparently in a more recent translation, Emily Wilson switches it up more to better appeal to an audience who is reading rather than listening to the story. I don't remember which translation we read in 1986 and have considered checking out hers, but let's face it, I'm no longer that into classics.

Memento is an extreme but...

This philosopher suggests recording everything, primarily to assist with our faulty memory. I hate this idea even though my memory issues drive me nuts. Honestly it can be better for us to create our senses of self based on our memories rather than objective facts, because thinking of ourselves as behaving the way we wish we did rather than how we actually did may help us become that person instead of wallowing in shame. Some things we forget for a reason; they're unimportant or traumatic, and revisiting them helps nobody. Most healthy relationships would likely not be improved by re-listening to disagreements. And in the same way many people curate their social media images, some would start living for the recording instead of for themselves, and that would be a tragedy.

I used a five-year diary for a while, with one page for the same date of each year. I ended up throwing it out partway through the second year... reviewing my notes on what had happened the previous year was just too depressing. Not every year is that bad, but plenty are, and I enjoy letting them go as much as possible. (I also threw away all my writing from my teen years, and never regretted it.)

sports bras a lie?

As previously mentioned, fallout from a biopsy has meant I've been forced to wear bras for several months. I still find them deeply uncomfortable and a new frustration has arisen: because I am stuck wearing them all the time, the ligaments in my UNINJURED breast have weakened, and gets sore when I'm not wearing one (post-shower for example). I'd never choose breast surgery, but if I could have them painlessly removed I would.

This woman theorizes that sports bras are a lie. I can't say that's been my experience. Even as someone who's normally gone braless, running without a bra or in a minimally supportive bra has always been uncomfortable. Her hypothesis (and she includes some calculations regarding the movement of non-Newtonian fluids). Her theory is that most bras transfer what would be side-to-side movement to up-and-down, which is more uncomfortable. I'm glad it works for her, but I'm stuck with squishing them flat.

though she did not in fact study the blade

 Just ordered a sword for my daughter's graduation, as one does.

moms and witches

In an accident of when library reserves came in, I simultaneously read two books about complicated mother/daughter relationships and witchcraft. The Women Could Fly also had themes related to living in an oppressive society and the complications of deciding whether or not to flee. Lessons in Magic and Disaster was more about grief, making amends, and 18th century literature. (It was a messier book overall which tried to do too many things; fine but I preferred "The Women Could Fly.")

trees to make you happy

 * Check out this most excellent tree, grown to accommodate a dance hall! Maybe I should visit Europe after all, to get the eye drops I need AND to visit it.

 

every week at work there is a new boring disaster

Quote of the day from my boss: "I know people are afraid of you but that's a good thing." Work remains a disaster, and due to unexpected funding withdrawals and colleagues wisely fleeing for greener pastures, it appears that much of my job is now going to be trying to get spacy and inexperienced programmers to do their jobs. Extra hard mode: I am not a programmer and can't reasonably check their work, determine whether what they're doing makes sense, or set informed timelines. Yippeeeee...