Huush

Huush - Full Performance (Live on KEXP) - YouTube

No idea what inspired me to click this link from KEXP’s YouTube channel. I follow it but rarely click anything honestly. Occasionally I’ll go back to one of Kae Tempest’s or IDLES videos. I don’t know why I did, but I’m glad I did. They are described as deciding to…

make a lot of noise with this new électro rock project. They warn us again, freedom will be total, punks are in the house ! Drums thump hard, guitar oscillates between technoid arpeggios and saturated sound, while the synthetic bass underpins powerful beats.

And I’m on board for that. There’s only a single song on Apple Music so I’ve been playing this short set on repeat in the meantime.

To love. Some say it’s what makes us human. That it defines our existence. But it’s not without risk. Love teaches us about pain, heartbreak, and resilience. It encourages us to do the small things that make a big difference. Love shapes our days, weeks, months… Our years. Because the act of devotion eventually reveals a path to fulfillment we can’t find anywhere else. From its Latin roots, the word Amateur simply means “To Love.” In running, we are all amateurs.

The Year of the Amateur | Tracksmith

Love this video but I just can’t do running.

Your water is haunted by the ghosts of other people. All the other people.

Things I haven’t thought about before. Where has your water been?

nobody really buys a drink, they just rent it

10 kinds of spooky stuff in your water - by Jessica Hagy

reciprocal virtues

The happiest older people I’ve ever seen are hanging out with each other. The crankiest ones seem to be quite solitary. Here are the ten reciprocal virtues I’ve gleaned via some sloppy ethnography (i.e.: eavesdropping) on giggling and gray coffee clutches.

jessicahagy.substack.com

A nice reminder for parents.

You think you’ve got your act together, then you have kids. You think you’re someone with a good handle on their emotions…then toddlers and teenagers alike disabuse you of this notion. Because that’s what kids do, they stress test us,

It’s So Hard - The Daily Dad

For example:

If I wake up and check messages and social media … would I like to spend that time in meditation and journaling instead?

Source: We’re Always Training Something - zen habits zen habits

Ask. Our need for help is simply not obvious to others, so make it clear that you want help. Do you hate to ask for help? — Aaron Bieber -

Everything in your life has a tiny string tugging at your attention.

I like this way of thinking about minimalism.

The case for minimalism

Guilt Won’t Help – Daily Dad

This job is hard enough. You are flawed enough. You have screwed up and will screw up enough. We don’t have room or time or the luxury for guilt. We have to focus on right now.

Shared joy is double joy. Shared sorrow is half a sorrow.
Swedish proverb.

What joy or sorrow have you been keeping to yourself? Who can you share it with?
Source: Shared joy, shared sorrow – Mike Crittenden

Got this thought stuck in my head.

5 Nice Things

Kottke just linked to this post titled An Easy Way To Practise Gratitude which is about a game where you simply name 5 nice things in your life. The rules are ‘don’t overthink it, and be specific.’

It ties in nicely for me with something I do about noticing nice things in my life, which I got from this Kurt Vonnegut quote

Anyway, here are mine…

  1. The security guard at school said good morning in English to me yesterday. Normally they would greet us in Chinese but he’s obviously been practising. Even though I had my headphones in it made me smile. Going against my normal programming I shared it in a school chat group and it turns out other people had noticed too. It made me feel a little more connected with people at school/work and I’m glad I shared it.

  2. A teacher’s friend is doing takeaway food from his flat. Yesterday he did bbq chicken with chips, peas and coldslaw and it was amazing. We ate it with a few friends and I had a couple of drinks and didn’t even get too annoyed with the kids!

  3. It’s the weekend and Lyra and I are going on a date tonight while the grandparents babysit. Curry and cocktails. I think I might get my hair cut today aswell. “My hair is long because I haven’t had the time to have it cut.”

  4. It’s the morning, Lyra and Yumo are asleep. I’m having coffee and Elise is getting some screentime. No one is crying or angry and it’s a very pleasant start to Saturday morning.

  5. The Apple photo widget has such a noticeable, positive impact on my life. Opening my phone to old photos of my wife, kids and family is just THE BEST.

Welcome back for the 2020 school year! [A letter from your local superintendent and school board]

Welcome back for the 2020 school year! We are incredibly delighted to have our children and educators back in school again, particularly after such a challenging spring and summer. We couldn’t be more excited to see your kids’ smiling faces back in our classrooms!

As you know, some things will be different this fall. We wanted to share a few things for us all to think about over the next few months…

First, some of our children and families probably will become very ill.

Link

If you haven’t seen it, this video of Alanis Morrisette performing via the internet while holding her daughter is de-lightful. Link

3 Links

I keep meaning to post things I like but I normally end up sending various links to different people.

Via Metafilter

  • The Hu - A Mongolian folk metal band. We’ve been liking their stuff since I started playing it yesterday. Especially Wolf Totem
  • This stop motion short about a trans kid coming out featuring Godzilla. via

Also

  • This John Hamm voiced meeting of a father and his daughter’s boyfriend that flips it a little. I’m not going to lie that this isn’t something I’ve thought about. via this inbox zine

What Social Distancing Looks Like Across the World - What Social Distance Looks Like Across the World. A compilation of user-submittted videos put together. “these intimate moments create a synchronicity of humanity”