It’s Grace’s birthday! And she’s still sick! And I’m….not not sick. I’m not writing anything today, and giving up on the idea that I’m going to clean the house/get really good at pushups/whatever else. “Tell people to send me nudes, if they want to,” Grace says wanly from her side of the bed. “That’s all that’s keeping me going.” She’s already seen me naked, so I don’t count. (I love you all! How are you doing today? What are you watching? I’m trying to find a copy of the ‘31 Dirigible and having absolutely no luck.)
Happy birthday Grace! I hope y’all start feeling better SOON.
Life with a four month old means that a day of the Bay Area’s shelter in place order looks a lot the same for me as any other day. Unfortunately my partner’s workplace in SF was deemed essential, so he’s still going to work and it’s making my anxiety go wild. To divert myself from my natural tendency to panic scroll (newsfeed! Twitter! Instagram!) I’ve been rereading Dorothy Sayers - Lord Peter Wimsey is exactly the right kind of cozy mystery for me right now.
Today I'm trying to work on my dissertation, which is about bodily fluids in medieval literature: the subject seems all too relevant when all anyone seems to be talking about is "nasal droplets."
In the evenings I'm watching Nancy Drew, which is absolutely BANANAS. It's sort of like the creators read all the original books, then marathoned all of Teen Wolf and Gossip Girl back to back, then slept for 72 hours straight, and this show is the dream they had.
In college, I took a (really excellent) class about magic and medicine in medieval Europe, and we talked a lot about various women who drank pus as a mortification-of-the-flesh type deal. I ended up the Monk Whisperer because I said that made sense to me, given my Catholic upbringing.
I'm continuing to send out job applications as if everything is normal, despite the fact that no sensible people are going to be scheduling in-person interviews. I have no idea what the protocol should be here, because nobody does. Hopefully companies will like my resume and get back to me once the crisis has passed?
On the positive side, being unemployed (barring the tiniest of side hustles) is making social distancing very easy.
Any suggestions for how to stay on people's radars? I want to demonstrate that I'm ready and willing to exchange my labor for money as soon as that's happening again, but I don't want to come off as a pest.
I highly recommend getting really good at pushups. I went from doing 10 in a set to 35, and now I do 100-200 pushups every day and I'm not even kidding. I have a cursed rug that I dragged into my apartment with much difficulty last fall, and yesterday I slung that puppy over my shoulder like it was Styrofoam. Pushups are my religion now.
Yes, I've been doing push-ups every day! I actually started doing this at a writing residency where I was too lazy to go to the gym, and it's a very manageable thing to do. I started less ambitious than you—5 push-ups to start, now up to more like 15—but I do it once in the morning & once at night.
Ah, there are so many kinds of pushups! Try moving your hands closer together or farther apart and see if there's a sweet spot where you have the strength to get through one. Try with your knees on the ground; try not going down all the way; try just holding yourself up without going down. And then, a couple times a day, do whatever part of or kind of pushup you can. I swear it builds and becomes incredibly satisfying.
Yes! Do not do them on the ground! Especially if you have more estrogen than testosterone in your system it is REAL hard to do them on the ground, and can be especially difficult to learn good form. Instead, start by doing them against the kitchen counter, and think about doing them with your abs and butt instead of your arms. When that feels easy do them against a slightly lower surface, like your desk or the back of the couch.
i used to do them with my arms way out and be like "why is this SO uncomfortable" but this way is still challenging but doesn't feel like i'm hurting my elbows
What everyone else said, but also negative pushups (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7pHvvD7oqA) are the modification that finally got them to click for me, so I highly recommend it
I have excellent news, which is: my very standoffish cat, who the shelter said would "never be a lap cat" is napping all over me. She's loving the quarantine, the monster.
I am trying to figure out how to switch from face-to-face teaching to online teaching as an adjunct at three different colleges with different available technologies, working on daily photo projects, and playing Star Trek trivia games with my girlfriend.
I read the Shatner Chatner posts all the time but haven't ever clicked through for commenting, for some reason. Hello, and happy birthday to Grace.
Have you seen the article making the rounds exhorting in person teachers to do a "bad job" of making their classes online? It's good food for thought, and maybe would help you feel some solidarity about the challenge!
Happy birthday to Grace and get well soon to you both! I'm vacillating between crushing, David-after-dentist-style "is this forever??" feelings and actually sort of liking the little nest I've been built with my partner and pup. I've been watching Babylon Berlin (Weimar-era detective thriller), whose third season dropped recently in the US. I lean into fiction from other wild historical periods in times like these (plus Volker Bruch is not bad to look at).
I am not sure if this book is as well known outside of Canada (which I am inside of) but: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is, okay, about a plague so maybe too much, but if not, so so good, and actually i consumed it via its audiobook which is tremendously well done and i listened to it while hiking around norway and sweden on my own for my 40th birthday and that was already surreal enough so why not now?
I read Station Eleven in a postmodernism lit seminar in college, I think about it at least twice a month. Recommend if you want to really lean into the apocalypse vibes
Happy birthday Grace and get well both! Pre-code is also how I will be getting through the pandemic. Dirgible is here! <3 https://ok.ru/video/749692062350
Bless... I watched "Desk Set" with my husband the other night and I know it's not pre-code but it put me in the mood for the Way Back Machine and there's no going back
there's a Turkish matriarchal time-cave show on netflix that has a great lead actress, it is dumb but I recommend it esp. for sick viewing (it's called "The Gift" but it is not about gifts, it is about turkish archaeology & and beautiful people in their beautiful apartments)
I'm still at work (museum closed to the public but still open to the teeny, tiny staff), and am currently having tea with jam and bread and listening to a podcast on the American Girl book series. So it's all as cozy as I can possibly make it. Love to you and Grace! <3
https://www.americangirlspod.com/ It's HEAVEN. They're doing it chronologically by date of doll/book series and they're currently halfway through Addy. I am LIVING for Samantha.
this show is getting harder and harder to watch! i have to keep spacing out between episodes and pausing to hug Grace and say "WHY AREN'T THEY NICE TO THEIR WIVES" and I am not prepared to handle anything
I would absolute watch a show about Italian men and their fits and being nice to their wives! I'm only on the first season still, it's a lot to watch at once already. I'm from a very Italian family from Rhode Island and the cultural family stuff is hitting unfortunately but somewhat humorously close to home? (NOT the mob stuff my family was not a part of the mob. I think)
Love and elbow bumps/toe taps/waves/whatever risk reducing greeting you prefer to you both! I hope you both miraculously feel healthy and great again later today, for Grace’s birthday.
I watched Knives Out last night and knew from your warnings to be prepared to avert my eyes frequently. I was mostly successful!
I've been watching the Atlanta Zoo's Panda Cam all morning while working, and it's as soothing as you would hope. I think they've just had their lunch so they might be napping now, but highly recommend: https://zooatlanta.org/panda-cam/
Aw, Grace I'm sorry you're sick! Hope you feel better soon. Remember, you can celebrate your birthday any day you want. (Declaring it a "birth month" and celebrating all month long is not insufferable and pretentious as long as you have a sense of humor about it and aren't performing jackassedry by expecting people to throw multiple expensive parties for you.) Am working from home today, trying to figure out if my company is insane for only letting us do so part of the week. In my workplace's favor as far as this is concerned but definitely not generally, is that it's not accessible by public transportation so there's slightly less chance of someone commuting, bringing coronavirus in. So, yay? Washing my hands, trying, trying, TRYING not to touch my face.
Okay, so I have a small, dumb, fun fact that I wanted to share: I was actually introduced to Danny's writing when the director of John Mulaney's Kid Gorgeous special (Alex Timbers) gave me Texts From Jane Eyre for an opening night of a play years ago. So I think you can take that as evidence that it's possible John Mulaney has read your work?
I keep trying to spread the Good News about Carole & Tuesday on Netflix. Beautifully animated series about two teen girls trying to break into the music industry on a terraformed Mars in the shadow of creeping fascism. Sweet, funny, sometimes surprisingly poignant, catchy tunes. Truly exceptional pandemic viewing.
Also, I’ve been listening to a lot of Dear Prudence podcast this week! (Sometimes I have to take a break because the questions can make me feel very low - bless you for dealing with such heavy topics every week!) and now that I’m back in it again, I loooove it so much again.
I'm working from home and also watching Sopranos for the first time with my partner who has already seen it; we just got past a particularly upsetting episode and I'm torn between the need to take a break and the need to kNOW WHAT HAPPENS
I'm home ... not working ... because today is the day we find out whether this IVF cycle took. I had to go out for the requisite blood test, and also stopped to pick up my library holds, but otherwise I'm hunkering, watching TNG, playing SimCity 2000, and waiting for the nurse from the fertility clinic to call .... Meanwhile, the wife is out working in the world bc she has to, so I'm also worrying about her and drinking ginger ale.
For everyone else, I found great solace the other day in alternating reading chapters of Danny’s new book aloud with a friend, so I highly recommend that if it’s available to you.
A very happy birthday to Grace! It's my birthday, too. I'm going to bake a cherry clafoutis later, but now it can also be for her in spirit. Is that too weird? Spirit cake from a stranger? Probably. But it's well meant.
anyone have suggested reads//methods of reading during this? the stress of it all has slowed things more than I'd like. trying for immersion in books however
I recommend "Emily of Deep Valley" for the kind of immersive reading that also doesn't feel like it requires too much either mentally or emotionally from you
This -> googling -> The Blue Castle, an LM Montgomery book I had never heard of (how?) -> more googling -> the cover art for "Anne of Green Gables: The Collection" by Oregan Publishing. They made Anne look like Freya. WHY?
In case it is helpful to you, I told my therapist (FaceTime appointments FTW!) that I want to read but am having trouble focusing, and they recommended I try reading with white noise on. I haven’t done it a lot yet, but I did try it a couple of times and it seemed to help with the immersion part.
I am on staycation and rewatching Westworld because my anxiety won't let me have TOO much fun at this time. Maybe I'll try to get good at one (1) pushup.
Happy Birthday Grace! I am figuring out working from home, an exercise which is so far proving very unsuccessful. BUT I ran a virtual game party with other stranded NYC friends last night, so I have some hope for the rest of social distancing!
I'm watching a group chat of friends watch Love Is Blind? They explain their hilarious takedowns and I DON'T HAVE TO WATCH THE SHOW. Strong win-win. I'm also going back to the Diana Rigg/Patrick McNee Avengers.
Happy Birthday, Grace!! As someone with a December birthday and a middling immune system who is usually sick or at least under the weather on their birthdays, you have my deepest sympathies and wishes for a return to full health. Will also get to work on the nudes thing.
I made the genius decision to resign from my job to make a career transition in late Jan, just before we knew there was going to be a pandemic, so like someone else in this thread I am also trying to keep applying/interviewing/etc like everything is normal, and trying to figure out what side hustles are best now...HOW badly does Grace want the nudes and memes? What is she willing to pay for them? Is there a need for a remote meme coordinator...??
Whoaaaa, my name is Grace and my birthday was yesterday! I was thinking "How on earth does Danny know??? Is this a happy birthday bot?" Then I saw the part about being sick, which is not me, the illusion came crashing down. But happy birthday Grace Lavery, and I hope you recover soon!
Danny, I actually thought of you last night. I can't find it now, but there was a Twitter thread I was reading on TNG about how we remember Riker as a horndog (and he is!), but he genuinely seems to care for the crew under him, he respects women, and there's even a scene where one of the negotiators says they make Troi happier than he ever did and he just goes "lol good she deserves to be happy, what's your deal?" And how being on his crew would actually be pretty great. It reminded me of your essay on how we remember Kirk as a two-fisted horndog but he's not.
Happy birthday to Grace! I’m processing the fact that coronavirus ate most of my work. Is money cancelled yet? I can recommend Dickinson and Sex Education though. Here is some soothing art https://twitter.com/womensart1/status/1239100496666910720?s=20
Happy birthday, Grace! Get well soon to you both! I've been baking like mad, and my family has asked for a baked goods hiatus until we can finish what I've already made. I've been watching a lot of Bon Appetit videos, and I'm midway through a rewatch of Mad Men- another show where I just wish they were nicer to their wives.
Happy birthday, Grace! I watched "The Night of the Hunter" thanks to Danny's recent post. Great, disturbing film. Next up is either "Heathers" or "Sunset Boulevard" because apparently I respond to global disaster by watching films about murder.
It's wonderful! The dramatic lighting, archetypal conflicts, and that doll-like little girl. Another movie where attraction to men seems to make women terminally stupid, though. Only Rachel Cooper (headcanon: lesbian?) is immune!
Sadly not reading your new book- I ordered it from a local bookstore about 3 weeks ago, but they never called me about it arriving and I'm trying to be responsible and not like just go in with all the stuff going on. Honestly I've spent most of my time trying to avoid becoming nocturnal, as the combination of now online college and a very flexible WFH schedule means the call of waking at the moonrise beckons me.
Happy birthday Grace! I'm not sure where to send the nudes but I hope you both feel better soon. The thing will not let me delete my first unfinished comment, so please enjoy me looking like someone's elderly aunt on here (really selling those nudes, huh?).
Happy Birthday Grace! I'm watching the X-Files and trying to not let the days melt together by getting ahead on schoolwork. I hope you both get well soon and/or get better at not being sick!
I've been keeping myself busy cleaning the house. I half-watched a couple episodes of Orson Welles' travel show yesterday: https://youtu.be/HjAD7CXVvyw
Still being forced to go to work though it might change soon, not loving having to take the bus rn ugh. I CAN WORK FROM HOME JUST LET ME. If my shitty adhd brain has to work without structure at least let me do it where I can pet my dog
You share the day with my best friend :) I’ve been... trying not to panic as Boris Johnson makes a lot of bad decisions, helping to organise mutual aid online, and otherwise watching Kpop and “Jersey club” viral dance videos. Recommend. The only things that relax me rn, struggling to read.
Happy birthday to Grace, and get well soon! She's lucky to have someone like Danny, whose book I'm enjoying a lot right now. Hanging on every chapter and interlude like you wouldn't believe, especially at a time like this!
Grace says "I didn't say nudes! I said fun things!" Which for Grace includes nudes, but, you know, isn't restricted to nudes. Mea culpa!!!
danny I JUST sent nudes
i should HOPE!!!
fine fine nudes toooooooo
my big naturals, perfect for any occasion
yes like, I don't expect nudes! just like memes and interesting posts and etc etc
Tua maxima culpa
Happy birthday Grace! I hope y’all start feeling better SOON.
Life with a four month old means that a day of the Bay Area’s shelter in place order looks a lot the same for me as any other day. Unfortunately my partner’s workplace in SF was deemed essential, so he’s still going to work and it’s making my anxiety go wild. To divert myself from my natural tendency to panic scroll (newsfeed! Twitter! Instagram!) I’ve been rereading Dorothy Sayers - Lord Peter Wimsey is exactly the right kind of cozy mystery for me right now.
(very Frodo in Rivendell voice) I will take nudes for Grace. Lemme shower first and find some good lighting.
Happy birthday, Grace!
Today I'm trying to work on my dissertation, which is about bodily fluids in medieval literature: the subject seems all too relevant when all anyone seems to be talking about is "nasal droplets."
In the evenings I'm watching Nancy Drew, which is absolutely BANANAS. It's sort of like the creators read all the original books, then marathoned all of Teen Wolf and Gossip Girl back to back, then slept for 72 hours straight, and this show is the dream they had.
oh that sounds incredible. What is the most common bodily fluid in medieval literature??
Definitely blood but so far I have written about spit, vomit, tears, breast milk, and sweat!
In college, I took a (really excellent) class about magic and medicine in medieval Europe, and we talked a lot about various women who drank pus as a mortification-of-the-flesh type deal. I ended up the Monk Whisperer because I said that made sense to me, given my Catholic upbringing.
Yesss, I talk about this a bit in my chapter on kissing lepers (which was a similar practice)!
I showed my roommate Spirited Away last night because she’d never seen it, and now I’m on a Ghibli comfort quest. I might wind up rewatching them all!
10/10 highly recommend Ghibli movie marathons for emotional comfort/distraction! Pairs well with Jack & Coke (if you drink) or hot tea (if you don’t).
I'm continuing to send out job applications as if everything is normal, despite the fact that no sensible people are going to be scheduling in-person interviews. I have no idea what the protocol should be here, because nobody does. Hopefully companies will like my resume and get back to me once the crisis has passed?
On the positive side, being unemployed (barring the tiniest of side hustles) is making social distancing very easy.
Same here. All of the companies I've spoken with so far are postponing their hiring. Let me know if you want someone to commiserate with.
Any suggestions for how to stay on people's radars? I want to demonstrate that I'm ready and willing to exchange my labor for money as soon as that's happening again, but I don't want to come off as a pest.
I am doing everything I can to avoid thinking about the THING and yet also social distancing but this is giving me life: https://twitter.com/i/status/1239248971006185478
It's a video of Wellington the penguin visiting other exhibits at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago since it's closed to people.
Also now Edward and Annie: https://www.facebook.com/sheddaquarium/videos/863425657440518/
They are shuffling around like little old people dressed up to see the sights. I love them.
I highly recommend getting really good at pushups. I went from doing 10 in a set to 35, and now I do 100-200 pushups every day and I'm not even kidding. I have a cursed rug that I dragged into my apartment with much difficulty last fall, and yesterday I slung that puppy over my shoulder like it was Styrofoam. Pushups are my religion now.
I am going to start getting good at not being sick first!!!
Yes, I've been doing push-ups every day! I actually started doing this at a writing residency where I was too lazy to go to the gym, and it's a very manageable thing to do. I started less ambitious than you—5 push-ups to start, now up to more like 15—but I do it once in the morning & once at night.
Ah, there are so many kinds of pushups! Try moving your hands closer together or farther apart and see if there's a sweet spot where you have the strength to get through one. Try with your knees on the ground; try not going down all the way; try just holding yourself up without going down. And then, a couple times a day, do whatever part of or kind of pushup you can. I swear it builds and becomes incredibly satisfying.
This is very helpful pushup advice that I will implement asap!
Yes! Do not do them on the ground! Especially if you have more estrogen than testosterone in your system it is REAL hard to do them on the ground, and can be especially difficult to learn good form. Instead, start by doing them against the kitchen counter, and think about doing them with your abs and butt instead of your arms. When that feels easy do them against a slightly lower surface, like your desk or the back of the couch.
this is a really good explainer! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dF1DOWzf20
i used to do them with my arms way out and be like "why is this SO uncomfortable" but this way is still challenging but doesn't feel like i'm hurting my elbows
What everyone else said, but also negative pushups (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7pHvvD7oqA) are the modification that finally got them to click for me, so I highly recommend it
me too! I came for nudes but got to learn about pushups instead.
I have excellent news, which is: my very standoffish cat, who the shelter said would "never be a lap cat" is napping all over me. She's loving the quarantine, the monster.
My rescue cat usually lies all over me but now that I'm working at home she sleeps under the bed all day.
Unbelievable 😔😔😔
I am trying to figure out how to switch from face-to-face teaching to online teaching as an adjunct at three different colleges with different available technologies, working on daily photo projects, and playing Star Trek trivia games with my girlfriend.
I read the Shatner Chatner posts all the time but haven't ever clicked through for commenting, for some reason. Hello, and happy birthday to Grace.
Have you seen the article making the rounds exhorting in person teachers to do a "bad job" of making their classes online? It's good food for thought, and maybe would help you feel some solidarity about the challenge!
I have; thanks! It's full of very good advice I'm taking to heart.
Happy birthday to Grace and get well soon to you both! I'm vacillating between crushing, David-after-dentist-style "is this forever??" feelings and actually sort of liking the little nest I've been built with my partner and pup. I've been watching Babylon Berlin (Weimar-era detective thriller), whose third season dropped recently in the US. I lean into fiction from other wild historical periods in times like these (plus Volker Bruch is not bad to look at).
Volker is Very Very Hot.
LOVE Babylon Berlin, thanks for the reminder to check out the third season!!
I am not sure if this book is as well known outside of Canada (which I am inside of) but: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is, okay, about a plague so maybe too much, but if not, so so good, and actually i consumed it via its audiobook which is tremendously well done and i listened to it while hiking around norway and sweden on my own for my 40th birthday and that was already surreal enough so why not now?
I read Station Eleven in a postmodernism lit seminar in college, I think about it at least twice a month. Recommend if you want to really lean into the apocalypse vibes
THIS BOOK. I read it five years ago or so and still think about it all the time. I could NOT handle a reread right now but it’s beautiful.
also. happy birthday to Grace and feel not not worse soon, please, i hope, thank you.
Happy birthday Grace and get well both! Pre-code is also how I will be getting through the pandemic. Dirgible is here! <3 https://ok.ru/video/749692062350
YES!! Thank you!
Bless... I watched "Desk Set" with my husband the other night and I know it's not pre-code but it put me in the mood for the Way Back Machine and there's no going back
there's a Turkish matriarchal time-cave show on netflix that has a great lead actress, it is dumb but I recommend it esp. for sick viewing (it's called "The Gift" but it is not about gifts, it is about turkish archaeology & and beautiful people in their beautiful apartments)
p.s. happy birthday to Grace, meeting both of you in NY was the best part of that week by far and not just because I was tired before & sick after!
<3
Grace has an excellent birthday partner in the form of bog man Hozier
I'm still at work (museum closed to the public but still open to the teeny, tiny staff), and am currently having tea with jam and bread and listening to a podcast on the American Girl book series. So it's all as cozy as I can possibly make it. Love to you and Grace! <3
we need the link!!
https://www.americangirlspod.com/ It's HEAVEN. They're doing it chronologically by date of doll/book series and they're currently halfway through Addy. I am LIVING for Samantha.
bless you, your livestock, any and all children, etc...
They're doing the Lord's work, I'm just proselytizing. Hope you're safe and well!
It's my mom's birthday too!!! I hope Grace feels better soon <3
I am sadly working from home, which is proving difficult, but I've been watching the Sopranos in my down time.
this show is getting harder and harder to watch! i have to keep spacing out between episodes and pausing to hug Grace and say "WHY AREN'T THEY NICE TO THEIR WIVES" and I am not prepared to handle anything
I just wish it was a show about Italian men who like to coordinate their outfits with their friends and who were nice to their wives
I would absolute watch a show about Italian men and their fits and being nice to their wives! I'm only on the first season still, it's a lot to watch at once already. I'm from a very Italian family from Rhode Island and the cultural family stuff is hitting unfortunately but somewhat humorously close to home? (NOT the mob stuff my family was not a part of the mob. I think)
this is all that i’ve ever wanted!
Love and elbow bumps/toe taps/waves/whatever risk reducing greeting you prefer to you both! I hope you both miraculously feel healthy and great again later today, for Grace’s birthday.
I watched Knives Out last night and knew from your warnings to be prepared to avert my eyes frequently. I was mostly successful!
I've been watching the Atlanta Zoo's Panda Cam all morning while working, and it's as soothing as you would hope. I think they've just had their lunch so they might be napping now, but highly recommend: https://zooatlanta.org/panda-cam/
Hey! It was great to meet you at your DC reading and I just finished your book, which is _super poignant_ and amazing.
Aw, Grace I'm sorry you're sick! Hope you feel better soon. Remember, you can celebrate your birthday any day you want. (Declaring it a "birth month" and celebrating all month long is not insufferable and pretentious as long as you have a sense of humor about it and aren't performing jackassedry by expecting people to throw multiple expensive parties for you.) Am working from home today, trying to figure out if my company is insane for only letting us do so part of the week. In my workplace's favor as far as this is concerned but definitely not generally, is that it's not accessible by public transportation so there's slightly less chance of someone commuting, bringing coronavirus in. So, yay? Washing my hands, trying, trying, TRYING not to touch my face.
Happy Birthday Grace!! And
Danny, I just finished your book a few days ago- it was great!
Okay, so I have a small, dumb, fun fact that I wanted to share: I was actually introduced to Danny's writing when the director of John Mulaney's Kid Gorgeous special (Alex Timbers) gave me Texts From Jane Eyre for an opening night of a play years ago. So I think you can take that as evidence that it's possible John Mulaney has read your work?
!!!
thank you so much!
Happy birthday, Grace! Hope you feel better soon!
I keep trying to spread the Good News about Carole & Tuesday on Netflix. Beautifully animated series about two teen girls trying to break into the music industry on a terraformed Mars in the shadow of creeping fascism. Sweet, funny, sometimes surprisingly poignant, catchy tunes. Truly exceptional pandemic viewing.
wow! this is the most interesting synopsis of a thing i have never heard of, ever. thank you.
Also, I’ve been listening to a lot of Dear Prudence podcast this week! (Sometimes I have to take a break because the questions can make me feel very low - bless you for dealing with such heavy topics every week!) and now that I’m back in it again, I loooove it so much again.
I'm working from home and also watching Sopranos for the first time with my partner who has already seen it; we just got past a particularly upsetting episode and I'm torn between the need to take a break and the need to kNOW WHAT HAPPENS
Happy Birthday Grace. I am watching a delightful toddler run a VERY complicated train line. May we all bring Jacob's intensity to all we do.
I'm home ... not working ... because today is the day we find out whether this IVF cycle took. I had to go out for the requisite blood test, and also stopped to pick up my library holds, but otherwise I'm hunkering, watching TNG, playing SimCity 2000, and waiting for the nurse from the fertility clinic to call .... Meanwhile, the wife is out working in the world bc she has to, so I'm also worrying about her and drinking ginger ale.
Update: not pregnant. Upgraded the ginger ale to beer.
Happy Birthday, Grace! May this be the worst thing that happens this year!
Happy birthday, Grace! Have you read this Twitter thread? It involves nudity and made me laugh uncontrollably: https://twitter.com/anbara_salam/status/1239489588353216512?s=21
Also, this charming story about penguins: https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-ent-shedd-penguins-field-trip-20200315-bpo4v5cwwnggzjp5ghccme3ray-story.html
For everyone else, I found great solace the other day in alternating reading chapters of Danny’s new book aloud with a friend, so I highly recommend that if it’s available to you.
That Twitter thread is amazing: "I am transcendent with shame. Untouchable."
I already had the penguins story open in another tab.
A very happy birthday to Grace! It's my birthday, too. I'm going to bake a cherry clafoutis later, but now it can also be for her in spirit. Is that too weird? Spirit cake from a stranger? Probably. But it's well meant.
lovely! thank u!
anyone have suggested reads//methods of reading during this? the stress of it all has slowed things more than I'd like. trying for immersion in books however
I recommend "Emily of Deep Valley" for the kind of immersive reading that also doesn't feel like it requires too much either mentally or emotionally from you
This -> googling -> The Blue Castle, an LM Montgomery book I had never heard of (how?) -> more googling -> the cover art for "Anne of Green Gables: The Collection" by Oregan Publishing. They made Anne look like Freya. WHY?
thank you! :D
also happy birthday to grace!
graphic novels are my go to when ill and I think that's extendable to 'living in a pandemic'!
In case it is helpful to you, I told my therapist (FaceTime appointments FTW!) that I want to read but am having trouble focusing, and they recommended I try reading with white noise on. I haven’t done it a lot yet, but I did try it a couple of times and it seemed to help with the immersion part.
great advice!
Thanks for the tip!
Happy birthday, Grace!
I am on staycation and rewatching Westworld because my anxiety won't let me have TOO much fun at this time. Maybe I'll try to get good at one (1) pushup.
Happy Birthday Grace! I am figuring out working from home, an exercise which is so far proving very unsuccessful. BUT I ran a virtual game party with other stranded NYC friends last night, so I have some hope for the rest of social distancing!
(if anyone needs tips, Zoom is great for this and they paused the 40 min max for their basic free version during the crisis!)
I'm watching a group chat of friends watch Love Is Blind? They explain their hilarious takedowns and I DON'T HAVE TO WATCH THE SHOW. Strong win-win. I'm also going back to the Diana Rigg/Patrick McNee Avengers.
Happy Birthday, Grace!! As someone with a December birthday and a middling immune system who is usually sick or at least under the weather on their birthdays, you have my deepest sympathies and wishes for a return to full health. Will also get to work on the nudes thing.
I made the genius decision to resign from my job to make a career transition in late Jan, just before we knew there was going to be a pandemic, so like someone else in this thread I am also trying to keep applying/interviewing/etc like everything is normal, and trying to figure out what side hustles are best now...HOW badly does Grace want the nudes and memes? What is she willing to pay for them? Is there a need for a remote meme coordinator...??
Whoaaaa, my name is Grace and my birthday was yesterday! I was thinking "How on earth does Danny know??? Is this a happy birthday bot?" Then I saw the part about being sick, which is not me, the illusion came crashing down. But happy birthday Grace Lavery, and I hope you recover soon!
Danny, I actually thought of you last night. I can't find it now, but there was a Twitter thread I was reading on TNG about how we remember Riker as a horndog (and he is!), but he genuinely seems to care for the crew under him, he respects women, and there's even a scene where one of the negotiators says they make Troi happier than he ever did and he just goes "lol good she deserves to be happy, what's your deal?" And how being on his crew would actually be pretty great. It reminded me of your essay on how we remember Kirk as a two-fisted horndog but he's not.
(I think you're thinking of "Freshly Remember'd: Kirk Drift" by Erin Horakova with that last sentence, which is an incredible piece!)
OH MAN, I remember that! Yes, if I've ever expressed a similar sentiment, Horakova has put it better there.
Happy birthday to Grace! I’m processing the fact that coronavirus ate most of my work. Is money cancelled yet? I can recommend Dickinson and Sex Education though. Here is some soothing art https://twitter.com/womensart1/status/1239100496666910720?s=20
Happy birthday, Grace! Get well soon to you both! I've been baking like mad, and my family has asked for a baked goods hiatus until we can finish what I've already made. I've been watching a lot of Bon Appetit videos, and I'm midway through a rewatch of Mad Men- another show where I just wish they were nicer to their wives.
Mad Men is a great idea! It’s so captivating. Hmm might follow your lead
It's my 4 year old's birthday too! St. Patrick's day birthday FTW!! Happiest of celebrations to your household from ours.
oh god it's St Patricks' day -- I forgot. Jesus!!!
Quick! Make green chicken soup to heal Grace! (except don't, because we)
ew, autocorrect, ew
Happy birthday, Grace! I watched "The Night of the Hunter" thanks to Danny's recent post. Great, disturbing film. Next up is either "Heathers" or "Sunset Boulevard" because apparently I respond to global disaster by watching films about murder.
ooh, that sounds spectacular. Isn't Night of the Hunter absolutely stunning?
It's wonderful! The dramatic lighting, archetypal conflicts, and that doll-like little girl. Another movie where attraction to men seems to make women terminally stupid, though. Only Rachel Cooper (headcanon: lesbian?) is immune!
Sadly not reading your new book- I ordered it from a local bookstore about 3 weeks ago, but they never called me about it arriving and I'm trying to be responsible and not like just go in with all the stuff going on. Honestly I've spent most of my time trying to avoid becoming nocturnal, as the combination of now online college and a very flexible WFH schedule means the call of waking at the moonrise beckons me.
This is my ongoing struggle. It is like swimming against the tides, man.
Happy birthday Grace! I'm not sure where to send the nudes but I hope you both feel better soon. The thing will not let me delete my first unfinished comment, so please enjoy me looking like someone's elderly aunt on here (really selling those nudes, huh?).
Happy
Happy birthday, Grace! I hope you both feel better soon. I'm sick, too, but getting better.
I'm watching The Circle: Brazil with some friends (via gchat!)
How about that whole, our mayor and governor are fighting over the potential nyc shelter in place order, huh???
Happy Birthday Grace! I'm watching the X-Files and trying to not let the days melt together by getting ahead on schoolwork. I hope you both get well soon and/or get better at not being sick!
Happy birthday, Grace!
I've been keeping myself busy cleaning the house. I half-watched a couple episodes of Orson Welles' travel show yesterday: https://youtu.be/HjAD7CXVvyw
Still being forced to go to work though it might change soon, not loving having to take the bus rn ugh. I CAN WORK FROM HOME JUST LET ME. If my shitty adhd brain has to work without structure at least let me do it where I can pet my dog
Happy birthday Grace!
You share the day with my best friend :) I’ve been... trying not to panic as Boris Johnson makes a lot of bad decisions, helping to organise mutual aid online, and otherwise watching Kpop and “Jersey club” viral dance videos. Recommend. The only things that relax me rn, struggling to read.
Oh and get well soon!
Happy birthday to Grace, and get well soon! She's lucky to have someone like Danny, whose book I'm enjoying a lot right now. Hanging on every chapter and interlude like you wouldn't believe, especially at a time like this!