With ers Without You

I’m becoming increasingly good at avoiding death by truck

My social media notifications are busy because I dare wade into anti-antivaxx conversations with “let’s not be dicks to anitvaxxers" types of statements, and honestly, I’m probably ok with dying on this hill. Burn me at the stake for employing empathy please.

Law & Order Season 21, episode 1, opening scene: A restaurant in Chinatown and a CGI Detective Lennie Briscoe is checking vaccine passports on people’s phones. This continues for the entire episode.

I’m just saying, if Sharon the team psychologist, and Coach Ted Lasso don’t end up together romantically, I’m burning my AFC Richmond jersey in a symbolic disappointment ceremony that will be live-streamed on Bantr.

“The page loads, and a little video ad box rises from the bottom left of the screen and begins buffering. Then a big box pops up over the small one with an offer to subscribe to the paper at a special promotional rate. As you contemplate it, the video begins to play in a muted spasm. This throws a scrim of gray over the rest of the page, making it impossible to read.

Before you can deal with any of this, you’ll need to close this subscription box. You can achieve this by clicking either a tiny “x” or a passive-aggressive statement like “No, I don’t want great articles.” But while you’ve been triaging a second small video player has floated up into the middle left of the screen. A sedan silently snakes along a road hewn into a mountain and forces itself into your consciousness. It switches to a video of the Mets’ new manager, which you do not really want. Also, you now have to close a new rectangular ad at the bottom of the screen, advertising the same subscription offer as the first pop-up box.”

– David Roth

“Life should be a marvel, not a habit.”

Splash

Have you noticed a rise in Facebook posts asking questions?

If you’re interested in taking better photos, this is a great starting piece to read and be inspired by.

Author Anne Lamott on imperfection:

“Almost everyone is screwed up, broken, clingy, scared, and yet designed for joy. Even (or especially) people who seem to have it more or less together are more like the rest of us than you would believe. I try not to compare my insides to their outsides, because this makes me much worse than I already am, and if I get to know them, they turn out to have plenty of irritability and shadow of their own. Besides, those few people who aren’t a mess are probably good for about twenty minutes of dinner conversation.

This is good news, that almost everyone is petty, narcissistic, secretly insecure, and in it for themselves, because a few of the funny ones may actually long to be friends with you and me. They can be real with us, the greatest relief. As we develop love, appreciation, and forgiveness for others over time, we may accidentally develop those things toward ourselves, too.”