notebook / @tww

Vet trip a success, Kirby being deemed a perfectly healthy puppy / see you in four weeks. Office / Sanctum rearrangement and sanctuary-itizing on track. Puppy beds in bass drums and walk-through spaces in ikea shelves. Tunnels of fluff, etc. etc.

Blood sugar best it’s been in years - combo of covid vaccine and new puppies help - even when they try to gnaw at your cornea and get their head stuck under the couch attempting to do whatever it was they were attempting to do (the puppy, not the vaccine).

Finding the day’s rhythm, such as it is. Comfort in that. Hope to wrap up next SOCIALIZED RECLUSE interview assembly this afternoon; live on Wednesday. Second TSR interview of the month on Tuesday evening. Vroom.

Encore: Ep0002 of my weekly mini-pod, The Ground Loop, in which I attempt to answer frequently asked questions that I’ve never been asked, is here. This week: Why has it been so long since I’ve released anything major?

Kirby’s first vet appointment: perfectly healthy pup, “see you in four weeks.”

The basement drain is unclogged; writing hours have been met; Kirby slept through the night: all is well. First vet appointment today, shots and such; will undoubtedly face the howler monkey again. Out and about for much of the day; office/Sanctum reorganization will have to wait a bit.

Switched back to Tweetbot, part of a resolve to pay attention to social media only when directly engaged with an actionable task (read: reply to a reply). The gauging of value based upon likes and retweets and hearts is the 2020s definition of madness and I’ve played to it for far too long.

BTW: Gluon really is a brilliant little Micro app.

A bit against common wisdom in that I’ve found that I prefer to use the phone’s lock screen and silenced notifications (along with Drafts) to avoid having to enter the timelines. Sort of like Messages: do I refresh that for interaction? Nope. Just respond when something comes up, if I think to look at it.

Puppy teeth, man. Puppy teeth.

New, at Parenthetical Recluse: my weekly pod where I answer frequently asked questions that I’ve never been asked returns with THE GROUND LOOP, Ep0002 - Why has it been so long since you released anything major?

In a bit of a hurry this morning, a doctor’s appointment transport in thirty, give or take. Kirby’s all night howler monkey routine continuing to ebb. New bed in his crate; he’s already outgrown the first one. Makes a nice pillow, though.

Second GROUND LOOP episode coming this afternoon. I enjoy doing them and figured I might as well keep the aural Wednesday chain rolling.

Timing of transport will necessitate a missed run but I’ll have to live with it. Will take a few days for ye olde blood sugars to calm themselves down but fortunately the yard needs mowed this afternoon so I’ll get some exercise. I’m intolerable otherwise.

Ear one has popped… (Update: nevermind.)

A modicum of relief ensues as I find that I don’t sound quite as exhausted and nonsensical in the recording as I thought I did while conducting last night’s interview. I’m clearly worn out, but I managed, somewhat, to form coherent sentences. Yay.

I love Kirby’s puppy stage but I’m excited for when we exit the “put everything in our mouths” stage: in a backyard that’s mostly garden and filled with rocks, “vigilant” is a mild term for my parental instinct. “Hypersensitive Infrared satellite drone” might be more apposite.

Beginning to suspect that the piece of shit who dumped Izzy in front of me on my run four years ago did so because she didn’t get along with a new dog. My job right now is to make sure she knows that Kirby isn’t a threat and that I’d throw myself in front of a car before allowing even a sliver of a notion of such a reprehensible act of cowardice and cruelty to enter my thoughts.

A side note: I run past the power station where I found her daily and I can see that scared little dog sniffing the wet grass, alone and abandoned; it infuriates me every time. It remains one of the great privileges of my life to have picked her up and given her a place in our home and heart.

(Clearing out a backlog edition…)

A 4,000-Year-Old Student ‘Writing Board’ from Ancient Egypt (with Teacher’s Corrections in Red), via Open Culture.

Joye Hummel Murchison Kelly, Wonder Woman Ghost-Writer, Dies at 97, via Bleeding Cool.

Cosmic Nature: A Spectacular Polka Dot-Filled Exhibition by Yayoi Kusama Sprawls Across New York Botanical Garden, via Colossal.

Japanese man arrested for stealing women’s shoes and replacing them with new ones, via Sora News 24.

‘Justice League’ Screenwriter Chris Terrio Is Super Pissed Off, via Vanity Fair.

Social Media Use in 2021, via Pew Research Center.

Images of Hatha Yoga from the Joga Pradīpikā (19th century), via The Public Domain Review.

Midnight howling and whining continues but we’re getting used to Kirby’s howler-monkey routine which is, admittedly, on the ebb; just a very slow one.

Kirby-era routines also coming into focus, a better balance of sanity and responsibility and getting the day’s work done and, in so doing, finding a modicum of self-respect.

Chat with EJK went well last night though I’m fearful that my exhaustion was all-too-apparent. Regardless, always a joy to learn more about and - most importantly - from people whose work I admire.

Considering rescinding my decision re: no TGL episode this week. I’ve had one in my head for awhile and it might do me some good to get it out.

The day awaits.

If you’d like a Kirby update, he’s doing fine. So fine, in fact, that he decided that the water bowl placement wasn’t up to his standards and took it upon himself to move the bowl and placemat. He seems to prefer the bowl-upturned-and-water-cascading-across-the-floor look.

No new GROUND LOOP episode this week: two SOCIALIZED RECLUSE interviews plus new dog plus random acts of distraction and exhaustion required one thing to go by the wayside. Will return on a weekly schedule starting Wednesday, 05 May. Best laid plans and all…

(Also, given that I started this second show as practice for the main pod and that I’ll be doing two shows back to back of said main pod this month makes the practice bit moot - until the next gap, that is.)

Continued dismay as all of my routines have fallen apart but recognition that they are doing so while we get the new bundle of dog-child joy acclimated to our lives. It’s a hell of an lot better than falling apart because of family emergencies or personal self-destructiveness, both of which I consider myself to be an adept semi-professional.

Yes, it was a shit night of sleep but truthfully, I don’t think I’ve had a good night of sleep in ten years. That’s what happens when you move through life with one eye open.

And so the day, it goes. Happy Monday. If nothing else, I at least get to converse with a valued collaborator this evening.

Status.

Kirby whined and howled the whole way to my mother’s house and, in so doing, gave voice to the last ten years of my Sunday afternoon feelings.

Reading:

After-breakfast playtime. Dragon and squeaky pig and red tiger v. Kirby; Dawn of Kirb Appeal. First good night of sleep, Kirby’s howler monkey routine on the ebb. Still trying to bring The Jorkie around to the reality of Kirby, but no such luck. Stunningly, reason does not work on The Jorkie. Shocking, positively shocking, etc etc.

Hopefully will get some house things accomplished today though with the time/soul suck of Sunday visits I’m keeping my expectations low.

A rest with his friend at the end of a long day.