August 12, 2017 · 1:00 am

Suggestion Saturday: August 12, 2017

Here is this week’s list of poems, short stories, calls for guest posts, and other links from my favourite corners of the web.

I Am Sound via ‪ajh_books. ‬This is one of those links I find occasionally that works best if you know nothing about it when you start reading.

“Oh My God, That’s the Haggis Exploding” via GlenRStansfield‬. I couldn’t stop giggling at this and wondering how big the explosion was.

How the Main Coon Cat Learned to Love the Sea. If I wasn’t allergic to cats, I’d want a Main Coon or two of my own. They’re beautiful creatures.

If Everyone Ate Beans Instead of Meat. I’ve long since replaced meat with beans for a few of my meals in the average week. This article makes me want to do it more often. What a cool way to reduce greenhouse emissions.

The Box via WMASLAM63323693‬. First you must begin with the phrase “thinking outside the box.” What this blogger did with that idea is well worth reading

I Am Accused of Tending to the Past. This is another one of my favourite Lucille Clifton poems. If you lived next door, I’d come over and read it to you if you were okay with that. I find that poetry is often more meaningful when people hear it aloud.

Tolerance Is Not a Moral Precept. I couldn’t agree with this more.

From Fast Gas:

How was I to know
it would begin this way: every cell of my body
burning with a dangerous beauty, the air around me

Also, my friend AuthorSJB  is looking for guest bloggers:

Contact him through his site or on Twitter if you’d like to be featured there. I’m thinking about doing it myself!

If your site is looking for guest posts, I’d be happy to mention it in a future Suggestion Saturday post. While we’re on the topic, I accept guest posts here as well. I have two that are in the works at the moment, but I’m always looking for more.

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August 10, 2017 · 1:00 am

Meditating During a Heatwave

August in Toronto is a hot and humid affair. While this month did start out chiller than usual, we’re currently in the middle of a heatwave that’s been going on for a few days now.

I’m lucky enough to have fairly decent air conditioning in my apartment, but I’m still counting down the days until the heat of August fades away and the beauty of autumn begins because of how easy it is for the heat to sneak into my place on unusually hot days and how many places in this city don’t have good air conditioning.

One of the things I enjoy the most about meditating during a heatwave is what a fantastic tool it is for dealing with the weather as I step outside of my home and feel that first puff of hot, stale air.

There are several different lessons I’ve taken from my meditation sessions and applied to experiences like those at this time of the year. I hope all of you are feeling milder temperatures than I am, but I thought this would make a good idea for a blog post for anyone else who feels like they’re walking through an oven right now.

Breathe

Now that I’m meditating again more regularly after my break from it last spring, I’m sometimes surprised by how calming it is to breathe deeply and focus on nothing in particular at all.

My brain is slowly being trained to focus on my breathing when I step outside and inhale steamy August air. I do my best not to think about the temperature, the future, or anything else at all. All I need to do in that moment is breathe in and out again.

It is such a simple yet helpful reminded to stay in the present and focus on those things you actually do have control over.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Breathe in.

Breathe out.

Live in the Moment

Autumn is still seven weeks away, and even the fall solstice isn’t a guarantee of cooler weather immediately. Last year we had hot, summery weather all the way through until the beginning of October.

It’s tempting to wish away the end of a season. I know I often give into this temptation at the end of winter when it feels like warmer weather will never arrive, but this summer I’ve been making a genuine effort to live in the moment instead of fantasizing about what the weather will be like a month or two from now.

There are positive and negative sides to any season – literal or metaphorical –  we find ourselves in, and I’m telling you this as someone who doesn’t always grok this right away. It’s easy for me to imagine the worst or to spend so much time thinking about what could or might happen in the future that I forget to live in the now.

Notice Sensations Without Judging Them

Confession: I am not always very patient when dealing with months of humidity. There comes a time nearly every summer when the humidity has been so high for so many weeks that I honestly want to go jump into Lake Ontario, grow some gills, and spend the last month of summer swimming around with the fish to stay cool.

Noticing and acknowledging sensations without immediately deciding what I think about them is definitely something I’ve had to work to do during my sessions.

To give you an example that isn’t weather-related,  I had a sore muscle in my neck and shoulder last week. It was the first thing my mind jumped to every time I sat down to meditate because of how it was affecting the way I moved and the kinds of things I wanted to do. (No worries, though – it is all better now).

Figuring out how to acknowledge that part of my body without immediately jumping to thoughts about why it was sore or when it would heal wasn’t easy. Relaxing helped, and so did focusing my attention on it for a brief moment before returning my mind to a state of rest.

It’s been interesting to transfer this mindset to something like standing on an overcrowded subway car or walking down a street that doesn’t have much shade at all.

Unless someone suddenly gives me the power to control the weather, there isn’t a single thing I can do to change the temperature or the humidity outside. It is what it is.

There is definitely something to be said for noticing perspiration forming on your skin or a hot breeze skimming your hair without immediately judging those sensations.

How does summer affect your meditation? How has meditating affected how you handle uncomfortable weather?

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August 7, 2017 · 1:00 am

How to Find Your Lost Motivation to Exercise

Last month I came down with a summer cold.

(As an aside, don’t you wish we could all look as healthy as stock photo models do when they’re acting sick? Most of the reason why I’m sharing this particular photo with you is because of how much it amuses me).

My illness was minor even for a cold, but as I was recovering I noticed that my motivation to exercise was not returning like it normally does after I get sick.

I’d stopped blowing my nose and my cough was quickly fading away. Yet I still didn’t have the urge to even do something as simple as take a walk around the block to get back into the swing of things.

If this is something that happens to you as well, keep these tips and tricks in mind the next time your fitness routine is interrupted or you really don’t want to do your usual workout today.

Commit to Five Minutes

I thought this idea was ridiculous the first time I heard it, but it does work. Promise yourself that you only need to move your body for five minutes. If you’re still feeling apathetic or unmotivated at the end of that time span, stop and go do something else with your time without any guilt.

It’s been my experience that this usually doesn’t happen, though. Five minutes is just enough time to begin to enjoy whatever activity you normally do during a workout. Most of the time when I make this bet with myself, I end up doing my full workout anyways. Getting started was by far the most challenging part of the whole routine.

Remember Why You Started Exercising

You might have wanted to grow stronger, gain energy, become more flexible, improve your health, or lose weight. On a more personal level, I love the warm, happy feeling I get from all of the endorphins my body releases after a long, brisk walk. That one factor alone is responsible for at least half of the walks I go on. It feels so wonderful.

Everyone’s reasons for exercising is different, of course, so I can’t possibly list all of them in today’s post. Hopefully the list above gave you a good starting spot if I didn’t mention your favourite ones.

Sometimes it’s an excellent idea to revisit your reasons for exercising and think about how at least attempting to get through today’s workout will help you reach those goals.

Try Something New

Occasionally I lose my interest in working out because I’ve been doing the same thing for too long. A few years ago, I included free dance videos on Youtube in my workout routine. They worked beautifully for about a year, and then my interests shifted to include more weightlifting in my schedule instead.

This doesn’t mean that I’ll never try another dance video again. Dancing is something I’d like to return to one day, although I don’t have any plans to do so at the moment.

Yoga was another activity I tried earlier this year in an attempt to broaden my interests. It turned out to be something that I wasn’t as interested in as I originally thought, but I’m glad that I gave it a try and I am keeping it in mind for the future. I may very well find it better suited for my needs in a year or two.

Make a Smaller Goal

To be completely honest with you, my goal for the first two or three days after my cold faded away was to take walks. I didn’t worry about anything other than walking for about thirty minutes a day, and most of those sessions were broke into smaller segments.

Getting back into a lighter version of my usual routine was the key to returning to the way I normally live. I’m now back to lifting weights regularly, too, and I’m enjoying it as much as I normally do.

Track Your Progress

One of the biggest reasons why I love my smartwatch so much is that it keeps track of all kinds of exercise statistics for me. I get notifications when I reach specific goals and badges if I make enough of them throughout the week.

If you’re motivated by small rewards like these and don’t want to track your own statistics, definitely consider going digital.

With that being said, tracking can be done in many different ways. You could take notes about how many workouts you completed, miles you ran, or pounds you lifted in a Word/Pages document or with an old-fashioned pen and sheet of paper instead.

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August 5, 2017 · 1:00 am

Suggestion Saturday: August 5, 2017

Here is this week’s list of comic strips, short stories, and other links from my favourite corners of the web.

Protest. Climate change has been weighing heavily on mind lately. The fretful post of the figure in this week’s photo reminded me of this link.

Seven Reasons Why August Sucks via DrCarolCooper‬. I can’t stop laughing at this list. August definitely isn’t my favourite time of the year due to how it affects my seasonal allergies, but it sounds like this blogger enjoys it even less than I do.

This Is Just to Say. Don’t ask me to interpret this, but I love the imagery in it.

Why Rabbits Never Make It As Stand-Up Comics via MonsterMermaids‬. This was another link that made me laugh a lot this week.

Black Stories Matter: On the Whitness of Children’s Books. How many of you have heard about this discussion, I wonder? I’d love to see more diversity in children and young adult books.

How Not to Pack for a Holiday via joannesarginson. As someone who has perfected the art of traveling light, this made me chuckle.

From Packing:

Today is not the day I wanted to do this, but we aren’t always given choices. It’s time to pack for the new seasons.

No, you can’t stay. This place won’t be here soon. It’s already going, slipping away, each new summer tearing off strips.

 

 

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August 3, 2017 · 1:00 am

Who to Follow on Twitter If You’re Into Science Fiction and Fantasy

I’m starting a new series of posts on this blog today about who you should follow if you’re new to Twitter and want to dip your toes into specific communities there.

This week I’m going to be recommending Tweeps who talk about science fiction and fantasy who aren’t currently as well known as, say, J.K. Rowling or Margaret Atwood.

My goal is to highlight hidden gems and introduce you to accounts that you very well may never have heard of before.

Future parts of this series will be used to discuss mindfulness and fitness. I do not know how many other parts there may be after those posts, but I am brainstorming more ideas for it.

Without further delay, here are my favourite sci-fi and fantasy accounts from the Twitterverse. If you have suggestions for specific accounts to recommend or topics for a future post in this series, I’d be quite interested in hearing about them.

@babadookgay

Yes, these tweets are written from the perspective of the monster in The Babadook. After that film was released, some fans jokingly speculated that the Babadook was gay because it’s still so uncommon for LGBT people to be represented in the movies.

No, his account isn’t scary (unless you’re anti-gay). His tweets are actually about acceptance and the joy of finding kindred spirits in the most unlikely places. Reading them is a warm, happy experience for me.

@SarcasticRover 

Imagine what a sentient, sarcastic Mars Curiosity would be like. Their photographs and comments about what it’s like to roll around on Martian soil all day are quite funny and well done. This is a humour account, not a scientifically-minded one.

@bitsofpluto

This is a good account to follow if you have any interest in Pluto or space exploration in general and want to take a science-based approach to your research. The bot running it tweets photos of various sections of Pluto without commentary. It is up to the audience to come up with our own theories about the meaning and value of those photographs.

From what I’ve seen, this account does not respond to people who talk to it. That isn’t something that bothers me, but I know some people on Twitter who feel otherwise.

‪@PIutoThePlanet‬

On a more whimsical note, this account speaks from the perspective of Pluto itself. Imagine being a lonely planet that occassionally notices a satellite flying by to take its picture.

Pluto doesn’t tweet very often, but when it happens it’s definitely worth paying attention to. It is much less sarcastic than the SarcasticRover.

‪@FolkloreThurs‬

The woman who runs this account tweet and retweets pieces of folklore from every corner of the globe on Thursdays. #FolkLoreThursday is the hashtag you’ll need to find these tweets each week.

I’ve been lurking and occasionally participating for a few years now, and I’ve learned about so many stories and traditions that I’d never heard of before. The community that has built up around this hashtag is warm and welcoming to newcomers. Don’t be afraid to jump in with questions or your own contributions if this is your sort of thing.

‪@apexmag‬

I’ve sung the praises of this literary magazine before, but Apex Magazine is still my favourite place online to find new SFF fiction. This is a wonderful place to begin if you’re in the market for free short stories and/or interviews with contemporary writers in this field. I’ve discovered many amazing authors and books through them.

‪@PlioceneBloke‬

Yes, this is exactly what it sounds like. Imagine a caveman tweeting about all of the things the first humans have discovered, invented, and learned.

Some of them are funny. Others are poignant. Occasionally he even tweets about current events from the understanding of a hunter-gatherer whose culture is completely different from our own.

‪@atlasobscura‬

Go here if you’re in the mood for some inspiration for your own stories or if you simply enjoy reading about the bizarre but true things that sometimes happen in our world. It’s a very eclectic mixture of sub-genres, topics, and ideas.

I don’t even know what else to say about this account. It seriously has something for every niche in the SFF community, and then some!

‪@MicroSFF‬

Imagine reading a SFF story that has been condensed to 140 characters or less. I am regularly amazed by how the owner of this account manages to pack so much storytelling in such a tiny amount of space.

The person who runs it is friendly and often responds to feedback. This doesn’t happen with all of the accounts I’m recommending today, so start here if you’re most interested in following people who will interact with you on Twitter.

‪@MagicRealismBot‬

If MicroSFF is a full story, MagicRealismBot is an idea. Not all of their ideas make sense, but some of them are great prompts if you’re looking for a partially-formed plot or character for your own writing. Like bitsofpluto, this is run by a bot. Don’t expect an answer if you tweet back at them, but do enjoy the ride.

@AwfulFantasy

Not every SFF story is going to appeal to everyone. If you have any pet peeves in these genres at all, this is definitely the account to follow. It pokes fun at all kinds of tropes, stereotypes, and overused plot devices in clever ways.

What are your favorite science fiction and fantasy accounts on Twitter?

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July 31, 2017 · 1:00 am

My Most Anticipated Upcoming Movies of 2017

2017 is more than half finished now, but that doesn’t mean there still aren’t plenty of great movies coming out between August and New Year’s Eve. I recently researched what films are scheduled to come out over the next 5 months, and I was surprised by how many of them I’m looking forward to watching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars. In theatres on August 21.

I’m going to cut straight to the point here. Was the original Starship Troopers movie from 1997 cheesy? Yes, and that was a huge part of the appeal of it for me. Sometimes the best scifi is the kind that involves fighting gigantic bugs on faraway planets and occasionally cutting away to a futuristic commercial.

I can’t wait to see what else is going on in this universe. It’s one of the best ideas for a 90s sequel that Hollywood has had since Fuller House was announced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Geostorm. In theatres on October 20.

There have been many natural disaster movies made in the past, but I can’t think of a single one that was caused by malfunctioning computers. This plot point alone was enough to make me curious about this film.

I’m assuming that a hurricane is a hurricane no matter how it came about, but there’s always the possibility that the writers have come up with some truly creative twists on this old trope. This is the kind of movie that I’d want to wait to rent until it was available on iTunes. As interested as I am in watching it, it will be even better if I can watch it from the comfort of my own home.

It doesn’t strike me as something that requires a big screen and a room full of strangers in order to enjoy it. Then again, I feel that way about almost all films these days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Shape of Water. In theatres on December 8.

If I could only pick one of these movies to watch, The Shape of Water would be it without question. Guillermo del Toro won me over years ago with Pan’s Labryinth. The Shape of Water is promising to be every bit as interesting as that story, so I can’t wait to see if it measures up to my expectations.

I’m purposefully avoiding all spoilers for it. My regular readers know that I strongly dislike spoilers in general, and those feelings are only intensified by something that sounds like it’s going to a lot of fun to watch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miss Kiet’s Children. In theatres on December 13.

Wow, this looks like a tearjerker. I have a lot of compassion for immigrants in general, but immigration must be even more difficult for children who aren’t necessarily old enough to understand the conflicts that forced their families to move so far away from where they were born.

One of the things I enjoy the most about documentaries is getting the chance to see the world through other people’s eyes. I know very little about the political or social situation in the Netherlands, so I’ll be watching Miss Kiet’s Children with the hope of changing that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ferdinand. In theatres on December 15.

When I was in high school, a friend of mine dated a cute boy named Ferdinand. This movie is NOT about their relationship in any way, but the title of it did make me pause and smile at that memory before watching the preview.

Ferdinand is actually about a bull who doesn’t want to fight anyone. I’m intrigued by that concept and hope that the storytelling will live up to the premise. From what I’ve read about it so far, I’m expecting to enjoy this story quite a bit.

If you have a Twitter account, come over and tell me what movies you’re looking forward to seeing the most between now until the end of the year.

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July 29, 2017 · 1:00 am

Suggestion Saturday: July 29, 2017

Here is this week’s list of poems, essays, arguments, and other links from my favourite corners of the web.

The Phantom Traffic Jams via MBTTTR. I couldn’t agree with this more.

Telling Our Stories. As I mentioned two weeks ago, I discovered Lucille Clifton’s poetry earlier this month. Here is another wonderful selection from her catalogue. Don’t you love the way she assembles her words? It reminded me of the picture I included in today’s post.

How Eclipse Chasers Are Putting a Small Kentucky Town on the Map. What a fascinating article. How many of you in the United States are planning to see this eclipse, I wonder?

How We Really Tamed the Dog. A small number of foxes have been domesticated much faster than anyone thought was possible. This makes me wish I could go back in time and find out exactly how and when humans domesticated wolves. The first true dog must have been a wonderful creature.

Etobicoke “Park Stairs” Story is a Perfect Example of the Crass, Reactionary, Anti-Regulatory Nonsense That Lead to the Grenfell Disaster via ‪theleftchapter‬. I’m going to guess that my non-Canadian readers probably haven’t heard of Toronto’s recent controversy over a set of homemade stairs that a man built at a local park, but this blog post explains it well before diving into the author’s opinion on the matter. I thought all of you would find this interesting. I sure did.

What It’s Like Going to the Gym After Many (Many!) Years Away! via ‪SteffanyMR‬.I loved the message of this post.

Boys & DnD: The Second Session. Last week I linked to part one of these series. It sure sounds like my friend’s kids are enjoying this game a lot. Now I want to try Dungeons and Dragons someday. It seems like it would be a fun way to pass an evening.

From La Bestia:

A large plastic bag will keep you dry
during the heavy rain storms.

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July 27, 2017 · 1:00 am

How Social Media Is Changing the Rules About Spoilers

Those of you who have been following me for years might remember my post from 2014 about hating spoilers.

Since then I’ve been paying attention to how social media – especially Twitter – has been changing the rules about if, whether, and when it’s okay to share spoilers.

It was especially interesting to see how people reacted to The Handmaid’s Tale a few months ago because of how much faster that show was released in the U.S. than it was in other parts of the world.

Canada was always one or two episodes behind the United States depending on which day of the week you were on. Other countries were even further behind us.

People in the States were sharing spoilers before or right after the latest episode there ended. Even mainstream news sites were leaking plot twists as they discussed what had currently happened and what was going to happen next. I had to mute the hashtags for that show and avoid reading all news articles about it until I’d finished the whole series.

While I still believe that it’s rude to share spoilers for a show that has just aired, not everyone agrees with me and not everyone who does agree with me has the same rules about how to go about sharing them after a certain amount of time has passed.

The Old Rules

This varied according to which parts of the Internet you spent time in, of course, but I remember the old rules being as follows:

  • Always put a spoiler warning before sharing anything that mentioned even mild plot twists.
  • Don’t discuss the latest episode of your favourite show with people who haven’t seen it yet unless they tell you they don’t mind.
  • When in doubt, don’t mention it.

I do not remember the mainstream media releasing spoilers back then the way they do now. To be fair, I don’t know if that’s because I watched fewer shows at that point or if the rules have since changed for the media as well.

The Controversy

If cats knew what spoilers were, they’d disapprove of them.

I’m going to be doing some generalizing and simplifying here for the sake of brevity, but people who have an opinion on this issue seem to fall into one of two camps.

The first camp believes that everything is up for discussion the second a show has finished airing in their time zone. While some of them do warn everyone about their discussion of spoilers ahead of time, many others don’t bother to mention it at all.

Interestingly enough, my own mother belongs in this group. If I read a book or watch a movie that she hasn’t tried yet, she genuinely doesn’t mind hearing spoilers about it. This blows my mind sometimes, but I’m much less cautious about discussing how stories end with her than I am with almost everyone else I know.

The second camp is against all spoilers. We want to be warned of potential spoilers well in advance so we can avoid them. We often also want everyone to use the official hashtags for that show or movie so that we can mute them before any of the plot twists are revealed.

The New Rules

  • Always use the appropriate hashtags when discussing your favourite shows on social media.
  • Give people fair warning if you will be sharing spoilers.
  • Find likeminded people to discuss (or avoid) spoilers with.
  • Respect the rights of others to make different decisions.
  • When in doubt, don’t mention it.

From what I’ve seen, the Internet hasn’t yet come to a conclusion about how long everyone should wait before spoiler tags are no longer necessary.

I take a conservative approach and add spoiler tags to almost everything. Just because a book was released a few decades ago doesn’t mean that everyone has read it. While I do occasionally share spoilers about old movies, TV shows, and books, I warn people first in case they don’t want to know what happened.

It’s going to be interesting to see how all of this plays out over the next few years.  Is giving spoiler warnings for everything no matter when it was released the best way to handle it? I honestly don’t know. This is something I do as a courtesy for others, but I don’t think it’s currently realistic to expect everyone to follow this rule given how unwilling they are to wait even a few days to dissect current shows.

With that being said, I would like to see people become more aware of the fact that their favourite shows have global audiences and that not every country or time zone gets the latest episode simultaneously.

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July 24, 2017 · 1:00 am

Why Unsolicited Advice Is a Terrible Idea

Yes, I appreciate the irony in writing a blog post about unsolicited advice that could be read as unsolicited advice.

I’ve been playing around with the idea of never giving anyone any advice that they haven’t asked me for, though, and I thought it would make a great topic for a post here while I’m adjusting to the idea of keeping my mouth shut until or unless I’m asked for my opinion.

Perhaps someday I’ll revisit this topic once I have more to say about it? For now, let’s talk about why giving people advice they haven’t asked for is a terrible idea.

 You Don’t Have All of the Facts

Everyone has private parts of their lives that are only shared with very few people or maybe even no one else at all. It could be as simple as a soothing bedtime ritual or as complex as an uncommon hobby that they only discuss with others who have also devoted their free time to perfecting the art of underwater basket weaving.

The parts of someone’s life that others see  almost certainly don’t give a full picture of who they are or how complex their problems – or their perceived problems –  really are.

Sometimes what looks like a banana isn’t actually a banana after all. (Also, I love this picture in and of itself. Isn’t it interesting?)

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

I’ve seen this happen multiple times with various friends of mine who are living with serious, longterm mental or physical health problems.

No sooner do they mention having a particularly bad day or dealing with a troublesome, new symptom than someone else will jump in with a half-dozen suggestions for how they should fix their disease once and for all.

Yes, they’ve tried all of those cures already. No, that random Internet article isn’t going to magically fix deep-seated health problems that have been bothering them for decades and that have been treated by multiple doctors and other healthcare professions over the years.

I’ve only ever had this happen to me briefly once or twice, and even that made me irrationally angry. I can’t imagine what my friends who must deal with possibly well-meaning but ultimately wrong and judgemental assumptions about their bodies over and over again go through.

What works for one person can fail miserably for another even if they’re both dealing with similar circumstances or diseases.

 It Doesn’t Work

Advice is only useful when the person receiving it is open to the idea of changing. It’s not like a vaccine that will protect someone from dangerous diseases regardless of what thoughts flutter through their minds while their immune systems are learning how to recognize and destroy inactivated polio germs.

One has to be ready to accept what the advice-giver is saying in order for it to have any hope at all of working. Changing your personality, habits, and/or current situation is such a difficult task that there’s no other way of going about it. Anyone who isn’t motivated to keep going even if they don’t see any results right away is almost certainly going to give up long before any of the work they might have put into their current personal project has had any chance at all to fix things.

Unwanted advice also doesn’t work well for adult relationships in general. When someone who isn’t in an official place of authority over me tries to control what I do or how I live, I feel annoyed and confused. If they continue to do it over a long period of time despite being asked to stop, I slowly begin to share less about my life with them.

Not only does unsolicited advice not work in the short term, it makes me much less willing to listen six months or a year from now if they have something else to say to me.

Rather than prompting me to change whatever it is they think I’m doing wrong, what this kind of interaction teaches me is that they’re not a safe person to confide in. I will often start spending less time with them and guarding myself when I do see them. Their intentions may have been noble, but the results of their poor boundaries are going to be the exact opposite of what they might have hoped for.

Some Lessons Have to be Learned the Hard Way

Not everyone is willing to take the experiences of others as the ultimate truth.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have the urge to warn other people about certain types of mistakes I’ve made in the past, but you can’t live someone else’s life for them.

Sometimes they have to find out for themselves that something is a terrible idea regardless of whether it takes thirty seconds or thirty years between their decision and reaping the consequence of it.

The only thing the rest of us can do in the meantime is to respect their boundaries and hope that they’ll learn their lesson as quickly and easily as possible.

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July 22, 2017 · 1:00 am

Suggestion Saturday: July 22, 2017

Here is this week’s list of comic strips, lists, and other links from my favourite corners of the web.

Summer Friends. Summer is about half over now. This is a funny take on one of my least favourite parts of this season. Hopefully all of us will be able to build elaborate sandcastles this summer instead of worrying about this stuff. Ha!

What Your Doctor Is Really Saying via DrCarolCooper‬. For those of you who might not know this, my mom has been a nurse for 20+ years. I’m going to have to ask her what she thinks of this list and if she has anything to add to it.

The Epidemic of Gay Loneliness. Ooh, this was a good article.

Letting Neural Networks Be Weird. This is  what happens when you ask a computer to come up with new proverbs by feeding it a lot of old ones . My favourite new proverb was “A good fear is never known till needed.”

Travelling a Million Miles Away: Nextdoor to Canada via LevRaphael. As a dual citizen, I approve of this message.

Fuck the Law of Attraction via CockAndCrow.Sometimes rants are exactly what you need to get through the day.

The Boys Try Dungeons and Dragons. This sounds like so much fun. I hope these kids get to have many more D&D games in the future.

What Not to Do in a Disaster. Everyone needs to read this link. It was full of good advice.

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