When I was in 10th grade I met an amazing man who changed my life. He wasn’t alive then, but I spent a year reading about him, listening to his music, and trying to learn to play it. That man, Charlie Parker, turns 101 this week. In junior high my family moved to the Kansas City area. After starting at my new school I switched from playing the violin in the school orchestra to playing the double bass.
Resiliancy is so cool. This morning I ran into a friend at the pool. We’re both working off our lockdown spare tires. As we chatted I couldn’t help but think two-years-ago us would have thought. Life goes on and we try to find ways to thrive no matter what.
Successful first day of school for my three kids. Busses were ridden, classes were found and lockers opened, instruments were played and foreign languages spoken. The sheer normalcy is so comforting.
Nothing I’ve read recently rang true quite like this: Parents aren’t even at a breaking point anymore. We’re broken. And yet we’ll go on because that’s what we do: We sweep up all our pieces and put them back together as best we can. We carry on chipped and leaking and broken because we have no other choice. And we pray that if we can just keep going, our kids will survive too.
Yard work is amazing. Before I do it I’m not happy at all and not looking forward to it. While I’m doing it I feel pretty great. After it’s done I feel even better. Yes, I am saying that mowing the lawn is sort of miraculous.
Shifting gears after work is over for the day or week can be hard, especially when you work from home. Any insights on how to do it? I’m struggling.
Last night I made the mistake of going on Facebook. (My mom sent a video of my brother from jazz on the news. Valid reason for going to FB!) Within moments I saw things the relatives and friends posted that were infuriating. I like people much more when I don’t see their FB posts.
TIL MacBook Pros with power via USB-C should always be powered from the right side. I’ve been bailing all kinds of issues (sudden shutdowns, high CPU spikes) that were fixed by simply charging from the other side.
For the last 18 months I’ve had the chance to tune pianos together with my boys. Today my daughter joined us and got her first taste of the torture and joy that is piano tuning!
I subscribe to my congressman’s email newsletter. It’s the one thing in my email sure to make me steaming mad every time it arrives. I faithfully reply, asking for more action, some attempts at compromise, but he’s stopped replying. Maybe he blocked me. 😂😭