The Midnight Library

Book Notes Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 14:32 on 20 April 2021

I expected the Caltech Book Club to be pretty much all science and technology. So, imagine my surprise when I read this book, about death and the opportunity to live a life that undoes your biggest regrets. Start with the biggest and see where you end up in life with that correction. Holy shit, that reality sucks. Well, what about this second biggest regret, undo that one. Huh, this reality isn't what I expected it to be. Continue with this regression, and eventually you learn the lesson that every life has its downsides, disappointments, heartaches, choices, and losses. No life worth living is without some sacrifice. By looping through all the regret-fixes she can stand, Nora figures this out, and decides she wants to live.

The timing of this book for me was good. I strongly recommend this book.

Neko 001

Blog Instead of being asleep at 21:00 on 17 April 2021, kitt created this:

My new watercolors arrived while I was in Arizona, and I absolutely adore them. I finally decided on the image I want to practice on: my picture on and of the shore of Neko Harbor. I took this picture last January 14th.

My first of n watercolors of Neko, poorly lit.

I accidentally painted the sky and glacier interface, and I really like it. I haven't figured out the water. I noticed that I'm hesitant to start, so having the small surface is a good way to begin. The paper is 3" x 2", with a quarter inch border, so about 2.5" x 1.5" in size, so small form. The other hesitancy removal was the reminder that this is my experimentation medium: I'm not trying for a perfect painting, I'm learning and especially experimenting.

The Eating Instinct

Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 12:32 on 15 April 2021, kitt created this:

This book was mentioned in another book, though I don't recall which recently-read one it was. The book discusses just how detached we are from our normal hunger signals, to the point we all have some sort of eating dysfunction. From trauma-induced aversions (L's dislike of asparagus and bacon is a strong example similar to the ones listed in the book, where L ate too quickly and choked on both asparagus and bacon at different times, and now "doesn't like them"), to media-induced distorted body images inspire us into often-unhealthy restriction diets, the Eating instinct is a great starting point for "finding your food freedom," a Whole30 tagline.

I enjoyed the book, and immediately went to the freezer, pulled out a dozen cookies, and ate them without guilt.

Not How This Works

Blog Posted by kitt at 17:45 on 11 April 2021

First email:

I noticed that you have a broken link to a website. That site was first published way back in 2001 but unfortunately, it is no longer a working website.

We recently published an article that explains what happened to the site. I think it's an interesting story, and it could be useful to your readers.

Would you consider swapping out the broken link for our article? It would really help.

It went into the ignore folder.

Second email:

I wanted to check in and see if you got my note about the broken link on your site?

Yes, and I really don't particular want to invest the time in tracking down the 404 at this point. Such cleanup is on my Tech Debt List, which is not high on my to-do list yet. Soon, but not today.

Circe

Book Notes Instead of being asleep at 21:32 on 10 April 2021, kitt created this:

We, the Books on Books Book Club members, read this book as the third or fourth book, first for me. It was the first one in the book club that I read. Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed this book. I was, however, hit much harder with the dismissal of women's voices, opinions, and experiences portrayed in the book. It continued the trend of reading books that pissed me off, even as I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the subsequent conversation with D about the womens' roles in the book, and the curse of Odysseus for his pride.

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