Random things

 I have lived in this city for 6 years, and it was only this week that I discovered that there is a thing called the 9x9x9. Everyone meets up every Thursday at 9th and 9th at 9:00 on their bikes, and then they go for a bike ride all around town. No idea if it's the same route every time. But it was a LOT of bike riders (and skateboards, etc. Pick your pedestrian vehicle), like over 15 minutes worth. No idea how long this has been a thing, but it's a thing. 

A couple of weeks ago, my friend and I had an unexpected guest for lunch. It was a bird. We named him George. George did not like my food, he only liked my friend's. And, he did stand on the table. But he's a bird.

Why does my dishwasher play a song when it's done? No, seriously. It's a song. And I don't understand who it was that was like, "You know, my dishwasher is nice, but what it really needs is to also play a song like an ice cream truck when it's done washing the dishes." A beep? Okay, fine. Maybe a chime? A short one? But this was like a full-on song. And I just don't understand why that was a design feature someone thought would be great. 

Someone needs to come up with a way to make the whole watermelon taste as beautiful as the dead center of the watermelon. 

I'm really munchy lately. I just want to snack, but nothing is really hitting the spot. Food shouldn't be this hard. Someone tell me what to eat! Or maybe develop an app that will just know what it is I want to eat, without me having to know anything about what I want to eat. Or is that maybe just a little to demanding? Probably, yeah. 

Lessons from moving

1. I have too much stuff

2. At the same time, I don't have enough stuff? Mostly, like, shelves and that sort of thing for all of the too much stuff I do have?

3. Weirdly, the storage systems I had before don't work now. Even when it isn't a question of too much stuff. Which just seems rude.

4. Apparently living on the north side of the building is much cooler (temperature-wise) than living on the south side of the building.

5. Brand new appliances have some smells the first time you use them. That new appliance smell. 

6. Yoga mats do not actually offer a lot of padding. 

7. Back to the whole storage thing? Why on earth did I sit so long in my last apartment without getting more shelving? For realsies!

8. For having too much stuff, I still feel like I'm missing stuff. How is that even possible?

9. It's not just a new place. I have to figure out new routines. I mean, I literally moved 50 feet, so not major new routines, but still, new routines. 

10. I like vacuuming much more than mopping. 

Really?

I saw an ad a while back and was just a bit disappointed in humanity. I don't remember what the product was, the but tag line was: "Worship yourself. The world will follow."

Am I the only one that finds this, well, awful? Don't get me wrong. I'm all for a healthy sense of self-worth. And confidence. Those are both good things. But this seems like something way beyond that. 

Now, maybe it's just my introversion speaking. The idea of having the world follow me in any way, shape, or form, is incredibly unappealing.

Or maybe I've just had some bad experiences with people who were narcissistic and all about the self-worship. It never ended well for me or the people I cared about. In my experience, such a thing can only end in tears. 

Maybe I just am too aware of my flaws as a human being. I can say with absolute one-million-percent confidence that NO ONE should worship me. Ever. If I can just manage to be a decent human being for more then 10 minutes at a time, I feel like I'm winning the lottery. Earning someone's respect is an honor above honors. I just don't see why I need worship. Ick. Yuck. Blech. Please, no.

And given the fact that I can't even remember the product, clearly I wasn't their target consumer, so I guess we're all good. I didn't need what they were selling, and they weren't trying to sell to me. But I do hope that no one will be disappointed when I don't join the world in worshipping them. 

Surreality

I don't know how COVID things are going where you are* but in my neck of the woods, it looks like last April or May. You know, back in the days when people were still not sure if they were supposed to wear a mask or not? Kind of like right now, when people aren't sure if they are supposed to wear a mask or not, ha ha. 

And there are a lot of 'firsts' going on as people in my area are starting to do pre-pandemic things again. It is all a little surreal in some ways, as I do things that feel completely normal and then have the, "Oh, yeah" moment. 

Like going to Church. I have been doing this every Sunday since I was born. Then there was the pandemic, and we weren't meeting in person, and now we're back to meeting in person and it feels so normal. I'm seeing my Church friends in person again and we're picking up where we left off, but then there's the little tell-tale sign: talking about getting vaccinated, or not doing something because of COVID, or what have you. Or there are the little moments when I remember that I haven't seen such-and-such a person in over a year! 

There's other things, too. Hugs and handshakes. Going into a store and reaching for a mask and realizing I probably don't need to wear it (I still do most of the time, because I'm just not sure). There's the headline in my newsfeed announcing COVID cases. That used to automatically appear in my google newsfeed. Now, not so much. I have to look for it usually. Even the algorithm is in post-pandemic mode.

All of which makes for an interesting time, but the thing I find most interesting is how quickly we've all moved on--at least, in my neighborhood. So much of the surface of life is just back to normal. And maybe it's just my brain that adjusts so quickly, but I have these conversations where I hark back to the beginning of the pandemic and it feels so distant and removed. We talked about alternative work schedules after going back into the office, and I knew that once I get into the routine of the office, I won't want to work from home. Again it may just be me, but the adjustment to COVID life? On a surface level, it was just so rapid. And adjusting back? We quickly forget. While also deeply remembering, especially those of us who lost loved ones. 

And it's the deep remembering that I worry about for me. It took a long time for me to really feel the impact of the pandemic on myself in a recognizable way. And now that we are adjusting again, I'll quickly adapt on the surface, but if I'm not careful, in a year I may find myself struggling only to realize that that adjustment also took its toll. For some of us, it will be a much quicker realization, with immediate effects. For others, it may seem fine until weeks or months in. 

And so we need to give each other the grace to not always be okay. We need to watch out for each other and remember that even though on the surface, we're back to work and back to life, we are on that deep level not all okay. This isn't a new lesson, and it's not something that is only applicable after pandemics or serious global suffering, not at all. It's just an opportunity to get better at it on an individual level, since everyone has been impacted by the same thing. And so the message is: moving forward, remember that we all need space to have that deep recovery from the last year and a half. And that even though it was a shared experience, it was also deeply personal and unique for each one of us. So, remember to be kind. 

*Or when you are. If you are reading this a year from now, I sincerely hope COVID is really the past. And if you are reading it 50 years from now, I DEFINITELY hope it's not a thing. Still. Or again.