Capitalism Brain Rot
This is still not the Agua Mala Story
Hello. Hi. I promised you my agua mala story (once again) and this is not it. Sorry to disappoint. I got too excited while writing and now it’s too long and I’m still editing and also I’m still recovering from surgery1 and I am incapable of just sitting and resting which means I overestimate how much I’m going to get done and how tired it will all make me.
Capitalism has seeped into my brain rot because during the week I took off from work to recover, I had a whole list of things I was going to do and I did approximately none of those things. I couldn’t even recover from a medical procedure without trying to optimize it.
My body thankfully had other plans which included: sleeping. Sitting. Being so tired and sore that I could do nothing else other than sit and sleep.
I didn’t really want to talk about my surgery here because 1) it’s not entirely relevant to a newsletter dedicated to reading and writing and 2) I was in complete and utter denial that it would have any kind of impact on my posting schedule here. Alas, capitalism brain rot comes for us all in the end and reality intervened. I could have just said nothing, but as you can tell, I like to talk a lot.
I would like to reiterate: I am fine. The surgery I had was minor and routine and was for a health thing that had to get done. It wasn’t urgent and it wasn’t going to kill me, but having it done did improve my quality of life. It did involve surgery on my abdomen and lemme tell you - if you haven’t had surgery on your stomach before, you are not aware of how much your abs do for you until you cannot use them properly. Or, in the words of my friend Jazmin:
“What did you discover exists in this world below waist level?”
Literally everything I ever drop on the floor.
In case that isn’t clear, I can’t bend over properly right now. Thankfully I have this fun gadget to help me out:
This is what we fondly refer to as the Nana Grabber. I truly have no idea what the real name of this thing is (Grabber??) because I only ever have called it the Nana Grabber because it was my Nana’s (my great-grandmother.)2
I am still reading and writing and being chaotic. (Clearly.) I’m reading the newest dragon book and it is testing my patience. I’m also planning all the short books I’m going to read in February. I’m slowly but surely building up strength and stamina to do anything other than sit on a couch all day. It only takes me 14 minutes to make it around the block now. (Down from 20; said block route is .5 miles long)
So in the absence of any other scintillating updates, here’s some greatest hits. I really do hope to be back to my regular posts soon, and I thank you for your patience. If anything else, you will be getting the agua mala post next week, so you’ll be able to divert yourself with my Cuban chaos tales.
If you’re wondering about the dragon book and why I read it:
If you’re wondering what this lady’s deal is:
If you’re wondering what a bookish vacation looks like:
If you’re wondering will she ever do an Artist Interview again? (yes, I’m working on it) Here’s the last one I did:
If you’re wondering what teaching college kids was like:
If you’re wondering about writing:
If you’re wondering about MFAs:
If you’re wondering why I read French books:
No New Books™️ Challenge
I have still bought no new books. But I was given a book this week and it’s lovely. Two of my dear friends came to me for our belated Christmas celebration. (I can’t drive currently.) We chatted, we exchanged gifts, we ate an unholy amount of cheese. And my friend Hannah got me this book and LOOK HOW PRETTY SHE IS.
Anyways now I’m just going to go around cursing people (sarcasm) via Italian Folk Magic and since I was gifted the book and it wasn’t bought, it doesn’t count as breaking my streak. (insert the Elmo fire meme here) Trust me, that time will come soon enough. I have to take the wins while I can get them.
Current streak: 28 days (January 1st - Present)
Mug Moment of the Week
As I’m an indoor cat right now, this has been the perfect opportunity to take advantage of all kinds of warm beverages in fancy mugs.
This my Chaotic Reading Friends, is a mug and saucer set I won at a cousin’s baby shower last year. What feats of strength did I need to achieve to be victorious? Bingo.3
This is the type of teacup that would be at home at a whimsical forest fairy tea party, so I have held it in reserve for a special occasion. Which ended up being: I’m recovering from surgery, the light in my house is great, and I want to feel like a whimsical forest fairy. 10/10 aesthetic, 4/10 drinking capacity. It’s not the mug’s fault I need an absolute tankard of tea beside me at all times.
Until next week friends, where you will get the agua mala story, come hell or high water.4
Literally I am fine no one panic.
I guess I have answered my own question but I will still call this the Nana Grabber.
I’m not going to make this try to sound cool but lemme tell you my family is REAL competitive at Bingo. We take it very seriously.
Pun intended.