Blogging, Books, Cats, Music, Mayhem
So far this year, I’ve actually been sticking with my resolution to read more, so I thought I’d share what I’ve read so far with some thoughts on each title. It’s been a good year for fiction with a decent helping of Terry Pratchett, Martha Wells, and Maria Vale. Trying to balance that out with non-fiction, with mixed results. Continue reading “2024’s reading list, so far…”
I’ve been a Beatles fan since I was 7, nearly 50 years now. There’s only two Beatles songs I that I actively don’t like* and then the rest of the catalog I love.
Sometimes it takes me a few listens to get into a song, even some of my favorite artists. I love Aimee Mann, but I had to come back to The Forgotten Arm for a few extra listens before it really grabbed me. It’s never been that way with The Beatles. Maybe because I got into them so young, but they’ve always just felt like home.
When they released “Free As A Bird,” and “Real Love” in the 90s, they instantly grabbed me and felt like Beatles songs. I had a frisson of joy the first time I heard them, the same tingles I got the first time I heard “Help!” when I was 7 and was an instant fan.
“Now and Then” … didn’t do that. I was open and hoping, but to my aging ears it just doesn’t sound like The Beatles.
But I’m glad they tried. I’m not cynical about it. Better, IMO, that they tried and if it does give other fans the same joy as other Beatles songs then that’s awesome.
* (“Revolution 9” which IMO doesn’t even count as a song, and “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” because it’s just so low-effort and dumb.)
Caught this on HN. “Exit, Voice, Loyalty, Neglect: Why People Leave, Stay, or Try to Burn It All Down,” by Brett & Kate McKay.
The exit, voice, loyalty, neglect (EVLN) framework will help you understand why people stay in or leave a relationship (including friendships), why people stay in or leave a job, why people stay in or leave a church, and many more of life’s interpersonal and institutional dynamics.
Definitely worth a read. I don’t agree with everything here but I think it’s a great starter point for discussions.
My observation is that people often use their voice when they are invested and want a situation to work. You’ve worked at Acme Corp for seven years, most of the time it’s been good. You like your job and co-workers, but growth and management changes have taken a toll. So you start speaking up trying to make things better. That is loyalty. Loyalty isn’t passive acceptance or blind hope that things will get better if someone else makes changes.
What this calls “loyalty” I’d call apathy, inertia, or lack of agency. “Things were good once, they will be again, so I can just wait it out.”
And neglect isn’t the same thing as “burn it down,” IME. I’ve seen both. Maybe it needs a section on sabotage…
Prolly going to write something longer on this for Dissociated Press when I have the time. A bit backlogged there.
I often say that “I don’t like people,” but I realized recently that it’s something that I really need to stop saying. Not least of which because it’s not really true. Continue reading “Why I’m going to stop saying “I don’t like people””
Cupcake is our resident movie critic. I don’t think she cared for tonight’s movie.
I claimed this domain some time ago – more than six years ago, at least – but hadn’t quite figured out what I wanted to do with it. After paying for it for more than six years, it’s nice to be able to say that I’ve figured that out.
A few months ago I started drafting a post on my other blog and hesitated to pull the trigger. Too personal, I decided, for a blog that occasionally aggregated on Fedora’s Planet and got picked up elsewhere. I’m not making this site hard to find, but I’m also not going to be promoting it much.
Accordingly I’ve also lift and shifted a few more personal posts and my cat blogging to this domain. Still deciding whether I’m going to move anything else over, or if I’ll keep my music blogging on Dissociated Press.
This week I’m on staycation and decided to finally put some of my long-dormant domains to work. I put my portfolio site together a few weeks ago and jzb.wtf and another blog were on my list for this week.
If you happen to stumble on this blog, welcome. It’s primarily for my own amusement, but if it happens to appeal to anyone else then that’s a bonus. Feel free to say “hi” in the comments if it pleases you to do so.
Today is, if I don’t miss my count, 100 days since I started the 100 day blogging challenge. I’ve updated the site every day since November 21st last year.
It’s been a good exercise. Some days I don’t have a lot left in the tank after work, some days I feel like I could do two or three posts. Focusing here has been great for breaking the Twitter habit.
Question is whether I plan to keep going or take a break. The answer is… maybe? Not letting myself off the hook tomorrow, but I might give myself a few days off here and there. Next week I’m planning to attend SCALE, which will be my first work travel in quite some time. That might cut into any quality blogging time, or it might be something to do when I’m winding down after a long day at the event.
Also considering whether I want to split the blog up a bit into personal and non-personal. Right now zonker.net and dissociatedpress.net point here. I’ve been wondering how I could break out zonker.net into a personal-only blog and have a more “professional” presence on dissociatedpress.net. It’s a bummer that WordPress.com hosting doesn’t make that easy.
Until tomorrow…
A few days ago I noticed that Lilah wasn’t eating very much. She’s never been particularly food-motivated, and it’s not uncommon for her to ignore her kibble all day and then take a big chunk out of the kibble overnight or whatever. Continue reading “Sick kitty”
Chalk up one more orbit around the Sun for me. Another year older and maybe a little wiser. Certainly the stretch between the last birthday and this one has been full of life lessons.
Not making much of a fuss about the birthday thing this year, just sort of quietly observing the occasion and spending time with the fam. A big slice of cake, some good food, perhaps just a sip or three of good Scotch, and a couple of presents to open.
The state of the world is… questionable… but I’m very happy with the people (and cats…) in my life and my quality of life. I have few wants for myself and am generally content. That’s a good place to be.
If you’re reading this and feel inclined to grant a birthday wish, though, I’d be grateful and very pleased if folks donated a few bucks to Animal House, Independent Animal Rescue, The Trevor Project, or any good cause.
I get songs stuck in my head all the time, but usually it’s because I heard a snippet of the song or something that reminded me of the song recently. Other times, a song pops into my head for no reason I can fathom and demands that I give it a few spins before my brain moves on to the next earworm. Such is the case with this cut from Peter Schilling, “Major Tom (Coming Home).”
Yesterday I was minding my own business and it just wedged itself into my my head. Clearly that means I should share it on my blog so that it can go on to infect others.
It’s hard to believe, and perhaps a bit unsettling, that “Major Tom” was released more than 40 years ago. Despite its age, it sounds just as fresh and exciting to me today as it did the first time I stumbled on the video on MTV. Score one for the Internet that you can just dial up the video any time you want rather than waiting around for it to show up again on MTV or pop up on the radio.
If we haven’t put this one on a gold disc on its way out of the solar system, we really ought to get to it.