Currently reading: What Can a Body Do? by Sara Hendren 📚
I wasn’t sure what to expect but I really enjoyed watching The Two Popes tonight. Sir Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce were great in it. 🍿
I stopped by the Winter Stoke Block Party tonight. Everyone is stoked and ready for ski season so why not close off some streets, have some food trucks, beer gardens, vendor booths, and live music stages set up to properly celebrate together?
Our cultural attachment to our phones, she says, is paradoxically both destroying our ability to be bored, and preventing us from ever being truly entertained.
“We’re trying to swipe and scroll the boredom away, but in doing that, we’re actually making ourselves more prone to boredom, because every time we get our phone out we’re not allowing our mind to wander and to solve our own boredom problems,” Mann says, adding that people can become addicted to the constant dopamine hit of new and novel content that phones provide. “Our tolerance for boredom just changes completely, and we need more and more to stop being bored.”
A quote from Sandi Mann, a senior psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire in the U.K. as well as the author of The Upside of Downtime: Why Boredom Is Good.
Although a relatively older article, I’m always looking for insights from credible sources that effectively back up what my kids have been hearing from me for years.
This is a good word by Collins and especially relevant given the post-election fallout this week.
I’ve been taking incremental steps to simplify my (digital) life. While reviewing my premium subscriptions set to renew this month, I made the call to unsubscribe from Instapaper. I’ve been a loyal user for the past 14 years but I’m consolidating and going all-in on Readwise (including Reader).
Perhaps I should have read this well before election season but I had to wait for my library hold to come due. I’m currently reading: Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson 📚
Well, they said that no matter how the election turned out, the sun would rise today. I guess they were right. 📷☀️
I had to pick up my daughter from the airport late last night, and we didn’t get home until after 1:00 AM. It took me a while to settle in, so I didn’t head to bed until after 2:00 AM. Consequently, I’m running a little low on energy today.
My kids are at the age where they have LinkedIn accounts. My youngest just created hers for a school assignment, and it’s one more sign we’re stepping into a new season. It’s exciting and bittersweet—a blend of pride, nostalgia, and a glimpse of what’s ahead. I’m definitely feeling this transition.
Finally feeling better! I’m not quite at 100%, but this week I feel the best I have in about six weeks. I resisted taking antibiotics, but I have to admit—they’re making a difference. This past weekend was the first in a while that I didn’t spend mostly in bed.
Well, today was my first time at a Catholic mass since I was a kid (which I attended only once, and that was a result of spending the night at a Catholic friend’s house in the 5th grade). As an outsider, it was challenging given that everyone else seemed to know what and when to do and say things. I paid close attention and did my best to follow along. I was familiar with a hymn and I knew the scripture readings. I was able to hear and identify a few lines that I recognized as the Nicene Creed. But other than that, I just followed the crowd (when to stand and sit) except when it was time to receive communion. I knew enough to leave that for those who have been baptized in the Catholic Church.
There are a few things that stood out to me and that I appreciated about it. Perhaps I even appreciated some of these things more than what I’m used to experiencing on a typical Sunday at the local non-denominational church where I’ve worshipped for the past 17 years. I have some more ruminating to do on the experience overall before I can adequately express my thoughts but here are just a few things that jumped out at me and that I appreciated:
- The multi-faceted diversity that was evident. Generationally, socio-economically, race, nationalities, languages, etc…
- The structure of the mass. I’ve previously heard from others who perceive a mass as going through the motions of a rote ritual, but my experience today had me thinking about how it supported a certain unity in reverence, focus, and devotion of everyone in attendance.
- Speaking of focus, Jesus was the main and only attraction. It wasn’t about the personality of the speaker or how clever, encouraging, or inspiring their sermon (in this case, homily) was. Everything about the mass was focused on the person, work, and word of Jesus.
More to come but overall I was able to get past the initial feeling of being intimidated about not knowing what to expect or what to do and ultimately I’m glad I went. Especially since it was important to my son that we were there.
Even though my son was raised in the Protestant church, through his own study, he eventually decided to join the Catholic Church. Today, he has invited us to be present as he participates in the Rite of Acceptance into the Order of Catechumens.
All three of my kids are now young adults (18, 20, and 22 years of age respectively) but I feel like being a parent is more intense and requires more (emotional) energy than when they were younger. Or perhaps it’s just different. Or, maybe it’s just me. 🤔
I’m getting tired of having to reauthorize the YNAB connection to my Credit Union so frequently and then not being able to successfully connect. I’m fairly certain it is an issue on the bank’s side and I have to admit; if it came down to it, I’d probably switch banks before giving up YNAB. 🏦
Paul Graham has previously shared his thoughts on writing and the relationship between writing and thinking but his recent post shares his concerns about AI leading us into an age of the “writes and write-nots”. 📝
I love that my wife teaches at the neighborhood elementary school. It’s so fun to see and hear the reactions of the trick-or-treaters when they realize it’s their teacher who has answered the door and is giving them candy. And she loves seeing them and complimenting their costumes.
Happy Halloween!🎃👻🐕
I’d like to be able to talk to my son when he is out of his room in common living spaces but he seems to always have his headphones on. Then if I mention him always having his headphones on he gets frustrated with me which causes me to retreat in frustration. It’s a vicious cycle. 🎧😩