I wore black because I liked it; I still do, and wearing it still means something to me

Some things I’ve let go of, as I’ve grown older: 

    a LOT of clothes that don't quite fit now but may be just right 'someday'; shopping for boredom-relief or dopamine surge or company; pea pods (I want to like them but I. just. don't.); pretending to believe that mean-spirited "jokes" are funny; "saving" cards and letters (except a few particularly special ones); sending a lot of Christmas cards well before Christmas (it's more like, responding to the ones I've received and sending or giving a handful of others)

 

Things I’m most likely to lie about: 

    • being "fine"

    • whether I currently have a migraine

    • that I'm not afraid

 

What’s something I wish I had more time to learn: 

    how to use a different blog-hosting site. No offense to the one I've been using for 21 years, but there are soooooo many limits here, and of course there's the offensively ubiquitous company that owns the platform, and the 'upgrades' that are actually institutionalized bugs (I'm looking at you, photo placement).... I've tried to teach myself to use a different one; the learning curve was prohibitive, especially after having ingrained dumb habits from this one. Maybe when I retire?

 

If I could only wear only three colors, I’d pick these: 

    • blue

    • white

    • black

    Oh, wait—you mean I haven't been limited this way all along??

    Note: I was going to illustrate this with an image of a female dressing in the style of Johnny Cash. Instead, the first photo I found was of Johnny Cash, cuddling a kitten (who looks like she's squawking!). That's monumentally cuter and more fascinating than any other picture on the planet.

    Anyway, you get the idea.

 

Favorite books, music, TV, movies, and anything else notable this month: 

    Reading: The Battle for Spain (Antony Beever), an extremely long history of the Spanish Civil War; Nathan Coulter (Wendell Berry), the first in the 'Port William' series of quiet novels; Love is a Mix Tape (Rob Sheffield), a re-read of Sheffield's biography during the time surrounding his (first) marriage

    Music: I haven't been in a music mode, so whatever's on or rolls up in Apple Music is fine

    Movies: Absence of Malice, The Big Blue, Four Faces West, The Keys of the Kingdom (all rated 9)

    other: I've been into homemade pizza and crock-pot meals; the struggle to find a really good peanut butter cookie recipe; jigsaw puzzles when circumstances allow; and winter "nesting" e.g. cleaning, organizing the condo, purging unneeded stuff from the house (see Letting Go, above)

 

Social media trends that puzzle me:

    IG accounts that are populated with pictures or video of the smirking host pointing at something else, maybe at a split-screen of someone else's post, or a quote, or even just bizarrely manicured hands accomplishing some task that would not require such fancy hands or merit a video anyway. Whomever came up with "unboxing" ought to be subjected to cardboard cuts that will never heal. 

    The phrase "today years old." The Atlantic published an article ("The Case for Brain Rot") about the mind-numbing and "irresistible" internet vernacular that's destroying the world. That last bit may be my interpretation. It is an instructive and disturbing article about a distressing and alienating trend. People think that as we age, we become less savvy, and it's often perceived to be caused by declining ability: tech becomes impossible to understand, finances are overly complex, don't-get-me-started-about medical insurance and healthcare. Prehaps that occurs more by design, with the [naturally younger] creators and administrators of such institutions intentionally obfuscating in an effort to retain their territory. If I make this new social media outlet bewildering to the oldsters, then I am young!

    Finally, "collabs". Why would I care to see an "influencer" using a particular toilet bowl cleaner? Why would anyone want to know which meal-in-a-box is consumed by a sports figure? Why are fancy, expensive socks being shilled by an analyst of music?

 

Local phrases and terms I use often: hotdish; The Cities; "Yeah, no" or "Naaah, yeah"

[from here, Stolen from League of Extraordinary Penpals; the title quotation is from Johnny Cash, and reads more fully as below]

I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It's still my symbol of rebellion—against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others' ideas.