Beer Belly and All
Currently reading:
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
Insatiable by Meg Cabot
Out There Screaming, edited by Jordan Peele
An American Sunrise by Joy Harjo
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice [audiobook]
Books finished this week: 0
Library updates:
I didn’t finish reading any books this week, but I did get to pick up my finished pieces from the pottery class I took with Tori——hi, Tori!——over the last two months, which was perhaps more exciting!
My children:
Okay, but also the Parable of the Sower reading group is next week and I really need to finish it!! I’m getting close; I just haven’t been prioritizing reading in the way that I have in the past.
I’ve talked before about how my media consumption ebbs and flows, moving from one medium or point of interest to another. For example, I saw Schmigadoon last week on Broadway and then immediately binged both seasons of the show in two days. I know there are only a dozen half-hour episodes, so that really isn’t a feat, but when I give most of my time to work, sleep, trying to build out my social life, and one (1) media choice (which includes the media I consume and often, unfortunately, the media I’m trying to create, via writing), those six hours are precious.
Unfortunately, my media consumption dial seems to have been irrevocably stuck on YouTube for weeks now, if not months. Just . . . so much fucking YouTube. Watching compilations of let’s-players; rewatching commentary and pop culture videos I’ve already seen at least a dozen times; mostly scrolling endlessly through three decent shorts and then continuing to scroll through the garbage in hopes I land on something fun and nice again.
I put a limit on my Instagram usage (which I regularly ignore, but it’s a work-in-progress) for this exact reason: getting dragged into the void repeatedly, for hours a day, not absorbing anything I’m taking in, let alone enjoying it. So I think it’s partly social media addiction and partly a clearly broken attention span that has kept me from finishing any books recently. I mean, I can read and edit for work just fine, but I think that’s because there’s an incentive. It’s my job, so I have to do it well, and by a certain deadline, or else I’ll lose my job. Taking care of my brain and body during my off-hours? Psssshhhhh.
But it isn’t all doom and gloom in the YouTube world. (Or, like, it kind of is, because what the fuck else are we all supposed to talk about, but it’s also not always bad to consume social media videos, is my point.) A longtime favorite of mine is Abi Gibson, who I randomly stumbled upon probably five to seven years ago. Her videos were brutally honest and fucking hilarious and sometimes a little sad, but mostly because I related to them too much. But I loved her vulnerability and honesty, and also found her so wise and well-spoken, whether she was doing a drunken GRWM or speaking bluntly about her depression.
And then she vanished, and I was sad and parasocially worried.
And then she came back about two months ago, and I felt like an old friend had come home.
She posted a fantastic video this week called "How to be FAT and OK", which I think everyone should watch, because, as I said on Instagram when I shared the link, we are genuinely so fucking lucky to have her back.
Anyway, enjoy spending seven minutes of your screentime on some worthwhile content, and I’ll see you back here next Sunday for a book review——hopefully. (I have to do it now; I put it on the internet.)
Closing thoughts:
“You genuinely cannot please everyone. And what would be the point in that? As long as at the end of the day when it all boils down to it, aside from all your flaws, you still think you tried to be a good person, then you’re doing just fine . . . beer belly and all.” ——Abi Gibson, “How to be FAT and OK”
Total books read from the Moratorium Library: 213
(Total books added to the Moratorium Library: 454)
I picked up a Kew & Willow order and the person checking me out said, “Ooo, we love a big order!” So. There’s that.
(And I still have one more book I preordered that won’t be here until August lolllllll)
Also ignore the pile of last week’s books that this week’s books are sitting on top of!!
And then I was going to be in lower Manhattan Saturday afternoon anyway, so I decided to pick up this beauty from B&N Union Square. (Apologies for the terrible train photo.)
