Emchap's Shit from the Internet 01/20/21 đ
I scheduled several meetings this morning, because I am a creature who exists mostly unmoored from time and/or space and didnât realize the inauguration was scheduled for today. So it was that I wound up making several grim jokes to coworkers this morning who asked how things were going that I was pleased thatâas of my last concerned refresh of Twitter before speaking to themâweâd managed to go without anyone being shot at Bidenâs big This Could Have Been a Zoom event.
I donât bear Biden or Harris any particular fondness, but it was genuinely weird to check the bad news box mid-afternoon and see that, for example, weâd rejoined the Paris Climate Agreement. That seems good! I am glad that it happened, or at least⊠whatever feeling you feel when something reverts to the way it should have been in the first place.
Itâs that weird half-emotion that you get when someone who (and I know weâre all sick of looking at national political figures through the lens of romantic relationships but whatever) is a fundamentally fine person does something generically nice even though youâre not otherwise particularly well suited to each other. Theyâre not overwhelmingly great and theyâre not great for you and yet itâs still nice not to be yelled at because you want someone to text you back, you know? We should all want better and at the same time if your baseline has been shoved through the floor itâs nice to have that exceeded.
The last four years have been genuinely horrifying on so many levels, and it feels vaguely fake that that immediate horror has been lifted so that we now have to (get to?) confront the other foundational horrors of the rest of everything, which were there before and have stayed there during. I am at the very least slightly more optimistic that normal fucking public health outcomes might happen now, that we might be able to produce enough vaccine that I can leave my house again. So that will be good, hopefully. I miss doing things not in my little human terrarium; staying inside has absolutely led to me spending more time online than I already was doing and has not been good for me on approximately eight million levels. If nothing else I think all of this has made my bones soft.
Fingers crossed that for at least a few days we can all live in slightly less interesting times before we return to cyberbullying the mayor. (Which one? All of them, there are no good mayors.)
Shit to read
Always here for that good good Juggalo mutual aid content. (This is from 2017 but is making the rounds again.)
I loved this look back at Freaks and Geeks, a show that I love.
Great quick breakdown on the âCalifornia variantâ of COVID, which isnât particularly new or Californian.
As someone who enjoys mean reviews of bad things, I very much enjoyed this look at a terrible Kindle quasi-romance book about a government official and a theoretically antifa love interest.
Having tracked each of my expenses for the last year, I know that a disproportionate amount of them (nearly 6% of all the money I spent) were related to things in my home. I enjoyed this piece on the resurgence of the concept of a homemaker.
I love Griefbacon normally and particularly loved this piece on what itâs like to think about people you used to love and who you no longer talk to during All Of This and to hope that theyâre doing unimpacted by it.
Holy shit you guys this piece about Dave Ramsey and his spooky cult is NUTS.
The degree to which this piece on the 1,200 calorie diet resonated with me despite the fact that I havenât been on a diet in probably 15 years was genuinely horrifying.
Shit to eat
Develop a sudden midafternoon tiredness issue because full time employment is a con and also your cat keeps waking you up at night.
Remember that when you were a kid, all you wanted in the world was to be able to make your own frappuccino blended coffee beverages tm at home because this seemed like the height of culinary achievement.
Look at what that would entail, realize itâs all shit you have in your house plus you own a personal blender now.
Into your personal blender, put two packets of instant coffee, two ounces of water, 6 ounces of milk, a tablespoonful or two of sugar, and enough ice to fill up the cup about 3/4 of the way. Like half an ice cube tray?
Blend that shit. It will expand as you do, due to⊠ice? Air? I donât know.
When itâs blended, stop. You could put whipped cream on top, but I did not.
Drink your fancy sugar coffee through whatever straw you have nearby, and enjoy.
Shit to watch
Stealing this from my friend Delaneyâs newsletter, I loved this video of Stephen Colbert answering rapid-fire questions. He always seems like such a genuinely thoughtful person.
Shit to buy
A friend sent me a link to this etsy store and I am obsessed.
Iâm honestly very into these overalls at Old Navy, whoâs having an online sale right now.