Emchap's Shit from the Internet 12/22/21 🍠
Today was my last workday of the year, and in a fitting bit of fate, Substack has chosen this time to take its own vacation. (This is being typed elsewhere to be moved over once they resolve the outage. #hugops, etc.) I thought I wouldn't mind working a partial week, but knowing how close vacation was made the three days I was in the office ("office") feel like even more of a slog than I think they might have if I'd been working straight through.
No complaints, of course; I am lucky to have a job that allowed me to pop all the keys off of my mechanical keyboard and clean them today instead of doing actual work. (I discovered that underneath the keys was a fine layer of cat hair, and it was horrifying. Great use of my new vacuum attachment, though! We are entering 2021 with a sparkling new typing implement.)
I have been at that job for very nearly a year (I started January 4th) and it was interesting to reflect back on it. Tech stints at individual companies are often pretty short (the longest I've been at a place was 3 years) and I'm one of the more tenured members of my team. I feel like I've been there a long time and also for five minutes. With older tech companies, that's not the case—I regularly work with people who've been at an older-gen tech firm for 20 years or more, with an enviable deep knowledge of what they're doing. I can't imagine any of my employers still existing in 20 years, much less still working at one. (Of my previous employers, three have been bought by other firms, and one is still cranking along on its own. It's a turbulent industry.)
All of that is to say: it's the holidays! I've placed out all the German gingerbread I bought on the nice china; I'm off all next week, and plague permitting I'll be taking a trip out to Bend before the new year. I miss my friends in LA and everywhere else. I don't want to be doing public health math any more. I want to be eating grilled cheese in my friends' apartments. I'm tired of solo Christmas seeming like a wise public health choice instead of one I just make for my own reasons.
It's not all bad, though. I hear it might snow, and that will be pretty, at least. Taking my 2021 joy where I can get it.
Shit to read
We are not living in a good country.
This made me want to watch the Matrix movie. (Spoilers.)
Just some grim reading as we all re-hunker.
I loved this piece on the unicorn tapestries.
The content! We! Need!
Loved this, from a trans dude, on phalloplasty. It had not occurred to me that the skin has to have a blood supply the whole time (which like, makes sense) and the description of the actual mechanics of that blew my mind.
I loved this thread on things to do before the new year.
As a person whose childhood defining trait was “smart” until it became “funny”, I liked this, from a Defector reader who did very well on Jeopardy.
Shit to eat
Buy smoked fish
Buy crackers
Buy cheese maybe
Put them on a plate
Dinner from now through New Year’s
Shit to listen to
I have been listening to this Sufjan Stevens song about the cult from Wild Wild Country on loop. It is, insofar as anything Sufjan Stevens does is a bop, a bop.
Shit to buy
For anyone who wants some Louise Bourgeois art for the house, buy and frame this tea towel.
I love this throw pillow.
I just think these pajamas with cute nude figures are a delight.