13 things: February
on things I've consumed, created, thought and experienced recently
(This voiceover is an audio version of the newsletter below. If you need or prefer to get your info via audio, I hope it’s helpful. Please note it is unedited, so includes life noises and word stumbles, and all sorts of stuff.)
So, after jumping the gun and posting early yesterday, I thought I’d pop back in today with something (mostly) light to end the week.
Here’s 13 things I’ve experienced/enjoyed/done/thought lately. Think of it as an extended version of the “Currently…” section that usually lives at the end of my newsletters, only with way more words.
Listening to Professor Scott Galloway on Armchair Expert. He’s a marketing academic from NYU but has recently become an advocate for boys and young men who are facing a crisis of self-image. (If you need proof of this, look at the rise of the Andrew Tates and Jordan Petersens of the world). To be honest, it took me about three weeks to finish the interview portion of this episode because some of what Scott was saying frustrated me, but once I decided to simply listen, I recognised there was far more common ground than not. Plus, as always, I appreciate Monica Padman’s take and her ability to disagree with people while remaining open.
(It’s in a similar vein to the Terry Crews interview on WTF with Marc Maron – a podcast I have referred dozens of people to over the years for its no-bullshit look at toxic masculinity and how it is affecting the boys and young men we love. Highly recommend it too.)
Watching The A List on Netflix. This show is terrible. And I knew that within the first five minutes. Yet here I am, almost at the end of Season 1, and I am invested. Is it the absurd storylines? The terrible dialogue? The heavy-handed use of songs that don’t quite fit or that weird thing TV shows do sometimes when they are very clearly filmed during the day but try to make it look like it’s night-time? None of those. It’s the fact that my daughter and I sit together a couple of times a week and watch it. Laugh at it. Quote cringeworthy lines from it. It’s our thing. Sometimes a thing doesn’t need to be big and earnest in order to be important.
Writing in my logbook (almost) every day. Austin Kleon posts about his logbooks sometimes and while I think I experimented with doing this a few years ago (I have a very hazy memory of it) this is the first year I've stuck with it for more than a week or two. I just use a page-a-day diary and scrawl all over it with a purple texta that used to be one of the kids’. What I did, what I felt, any funny moments, a book I finished, the movie I cried in, a good meal, a bad meeting – I jot them down. At the end of the year I always want to create a list of the books I’ve read or the shows I’ve watched, but I can never remember them, so this might be a way to help with that. Plus, I’m a big believer in writing to remember things, so while I may not be journaling every day at the moment, it doesn’t mean I can’t form memories from words.
Sending copies of Care to bookstores, reviewers, Bookstagrammers etc. As I mentioned late last year, the book has been released in the UK and North America, but all of the marketing that would normally be done by a publisher is falling to me. It’s not my strong suit, that’s for sure, so if you know anyone who might be interested in stocking/reviewing it, please let me know.
Curious about the volunteer plant that’s popped up in one of the veggie beds. Is it a pumpkin? A cucumber? Maybe a zucchini? Time will tell….
Feeling a real mix of emotions at the moment. Poggie ending, family stuff, health stuff, parenting stuff, heart stuff, head stuff. It’s all a lot sometimes, and my emotions feel very close to the surface.
Spending time every day trying to do something that feels good. It looks different every day, but might include things like:
Standing in the wet grass barefoot while I hang the clothes out
Sitting in the sun for ten minutes eating lunch with Ben
Taking the dogs for a walk in the evening and making the kids come with us, then watching their entire mood and demeanour change the longer we walk
Stretching while my coffee machine works its early-morning magic
Using some of the beautiful body scrub I got for Christmas
Cutting some flowers from the garden and putting them in a vase in the front hallway
Letting myself feel my feelings (see above). Today, for example, I got upset by something. Rational Brooke knows it’s no big deal in the grand scheme of things, but that doesn’t stop Emotional Brooke from feeling hurt. I’m trying to give space to all the emotions (whether they’re seen as “negative” or “positive” – a categorisation I’m trying to do away with, personally, because they’re all just feelings) and work out ways to move through them, and let them move through me, more effectively. When I got pissed off today, I did the old trick of drafting up an email outlining my concerns/complaints and let it sit, unaddressed, in my Drafts folder. It’s still there. And the emotion that felt so large only a few hours ago feels far more right-sized now.
Helping myself to a date and peanut butter morsel. Some fancy folk like to dip theirs in melted dark chocolate, sprinkle with sea salt and freeze them (apparently they taste like a frozen Snickers?) but I am not fancy or patient enough for that. So I just take a medjool date, split it in half, spoon on some peanut butter (natty if I have it, Bega Smooth if I don’t) and shove it in my gob.
Looking forward to reading Joshua Drummond’s upcoming deep-dive into “The Cult of Self-Improvement” on Webworm. I read the first post in the series through my fingers, feeling kind of uncomfortable and a little bit called out, but now I’m just really interested to see what kinds of self-improvementy things he tries!
Loving my new-ish obsession with pottery. Ben gave me a class for Christmas 2021 and I fell in love with it immediately. I spent the first half of 2022 learning how to throw on the wheel and had made some progress before my health tanked. I’ve been going back for the past few weeks but due to some issues with hand strength, am learning how to handbuild instead. Even though it hurts my inner-over-achiever who wants to be good at the hard thing, I actually enjoy handbuilding a lot more. It’s like knitting vs crochet to me. Knitting felt very stressful (one wrong move and the whole thing unravels) whereas crochet feels much more controllable. Or maybe it’s akin to learning how to snowboard (really hard in the beginning, but once you get the basics it starts to look impressive) vs learning how to ski (you can get up and going within one day, but it takes a long long time to ever be what’s considered good). I don’t know. All I do know is that I love it and my Wednesday classes are an absolute joy.
Reading The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa. I’m not feeling this one as much as the first book in the series, but I’m committed to finishing. I also picked up a copy of The Stars Did Wander Darkling by Colin Meloy (I guess I’m back on my middle-grade/young adult kick again) and am looking forward to reading it. I really liked the Wildwood trilogy, in spite of (or because of?) its Portland-hipster underpinnings, so am keen to see what this 80s-inspired kid-horror offering looks like.
Observing the subtle changes in the garden that tell me autumn is on its way. It tends to arrive early here in the highlands and I’m not ready for it. (Not that I have to worry too much just yet – this weekend we’re expecting a heat wave. Make sure to leave dishes of water for the birds and animals!)
And that’s it. A snapshot of what I’ve been doing/thinking/feeling lately.
Before I head off, I just want to say thank you to everyone who left comments and sent messages after yesterday’s post. It feels good to close the Slow Home chapter, and exciting to crack the cover on the next one. I’m so glad you’re here to be a part of it.
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Until next week, mates, take care.
Brooke xx
I would so love to take a pottery class. Might have to find one this summer!
I too once abandoned wheel throwing for hand building. It felt like a limitation at the time, but turned out being the catalyst for a whole new creative perspective. Wishing you the same!