Lately you've been gathering fragments

[dolorosa_12]

This was a weekend of ruthless gentleness, and ruthlessly guarded rest. This extended to choice of both activities, and of inactivity: starting the morning on Wednesday seeing — of all things — an account I follow on Instagram for interior design and renovation tips uncritically sharing geopolitical misinformation was the final straw, and I've been on a social media blackout since then. (I don't count Dreamwidth as 'social media,' although it technically is, because it lacks the real-time speed, the virality, the dearth of fact-checking, the incuriousity about the source of content a user shares that I find so frustrating about other platforms.)

Saturday dawned cold and rainy, and I was half-drenched in freezing rain on my twenty-minute walk to the gym, and tried not to be too irritated about it. It rained on and off all day, and apart from a flying visit to the centre of town to buy forgotten grocery items, and the aforementioned walk to and from the gym for my morning classes, I didn't leave the house, alternating between writing Dreamwidth posts and comments, and slowly cooking an uncomplicated but time-consuming dinner which involved frying lots of individual slices of zucchini and potato in batches, and then slow-cooking the lot in a stew. After dinner, Matthias and I rewatched Dune in anticipation of seeing the sequel at the IMAX cinema in Cambridge next weekend, and I fell in love with it all over again. Marie Le Conte's newsletter essay about it goes a long way toward explaining why, although I wish she could have expressed her thoughts without the dig at the MCU. (I'm inclined to agree with her there, but I find people's inability to praise one piece of media without comparing it negatively with another really irritating.)

Today, I woke before my 7am alarm clock, and read this article (sent to me by my mum) about the ridiculous shenanigans going on during the campaign for a Queensland mayoral election, then headed out to the pool for my regular Sunday morning 1km, returned home to cook crepes for breakfast, and then left immediately after eating to take advantage of the clear wintry sunshine. I walked down the hill through the park by the cathedral, along the river (which was crowded with houseboats both static and in motion), and up into the town centre, then paused for a coffee at the rig in the market square. As always on weekends, the market was busy, with people browsing the stalls, walking their dogs, and meeting for a coffee and a chat.

This afternoon has mostly been taken up with chores and cooking — laundry, washing up, making a marinade for tonight's dinner (which is various Indonesian dishes), infusing coconut milk with spices and other aromatics, in which the rice for dinner will be cooked. The few remaining hours of the afternoon will be a mixture of Dreamwidth-browsing, finishing my book, yoga, and more cooking: the very definition of relaxing and unwinding. There'll be no reading log in this post: I haven't had the mental energy to read anything new for ages, and so the various rereads continue. I never see any point in forcing these things — I find rereading nourishing and restful, and I'll pick up new-to-me books when I eventually feel ready. I'm listening to a lot of raised by swans.

Comments

[vriddy]

It sounds like such a lovely and peaceful day. I feel calmer just reading about it! Very glad you had that ♡

[dolorosa_12]

Thank you! I'm glad it was calming to read — it was calming to do, and to write, and to think about.

[kore]

Yes, the peace and deliberate calm really shone thru. It was inspiring.

[chestnut_pod]

Here's to a good week ahead.

[dolorosa_12]

Indeed, and to you too!

[wearing_tearing]

This all sounds lovely, aside from the sharing misinformation account and the freezing rain. It also made me want to eat crepes!

I hope this week is a good one <3

[dolorosa_12]

Thank you! It's been a good week so far.

[kore]

That all sounds like excellent self-care! In the Audre Lorde sense: "Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare." That seems especially true re your Instagram experience.

"Dune (2021) is the anti MCU movie" (the linked essay)

Sigh. Everyone blames only the MCU. Does no one remember Jaws (summer blockbuster) and Star Wars (big sf toyetic franchise)? (And I love both those movies, too. Critics often lightly skip over the misogyny and racism of The Best 70s Films given as corrective to pop culture movies bc they're usually white guys. Oh well.) Anyway. I'm really glad you're going to enjoy Dune 2 and in IMAX! That sounds like an Experience.

[kore]

(I'm sorry if this is too hostile! I just get cranky about the "Let me praise X by slagging off Y" too.)

[dolorosa_12]

It's not too hostile at all — I hate that kind of lazy comparative criticism as well. If you can't explain why a piece of media succeeds by describing what that media tried to do, and how well it managed to achieve it — without reference to another work of media to which you compare it unfavourably — in my opinion, you've done a poor job of reviewing it.

(The problem is that I like the parts of her essay that I agree with, so I felt compelled to share it anyway.)

That seems especially true re your Instagram experience.


I feel like this is being too generous — guarding my own sanity in the face of all this nonsense is the lazy way out, and I wish I were better equiped to actually push back against the endless tide of mis- and disinformation I see everywhere, rather than just hiding from it. But thank you.

[hunningham]

ruthless gentleness, and ruthlessly guarded rest That sounds so good (and maybe something I should try for myself)

[dolorosa_12]

It's definitely good, but it takes a lot of effort (and often time that I just don't have). Still, I recommend it.

[svgurl]

Outside of the rain and the misinformation, which suck, the day sounded nice and pleasant!

[dolorosa_12]

It was lovely!