Is the government shutdown affecting your life?
My wife works for an airline and she has been a bit worried about security lines and air traffic controllers of course. So we are fortunate that at this point, that is the most apparent way.
Category: Cynical-C
Question of the Day
What are your favorite non-political blogs? They can focus on art, technology, books, food, etc.
This is completely a selfish question. My sphere of blogs have become stagnant and I’m just reading too much about Trump at the moment and need some mental sorbet.
One Week of Light Therapy
I posted about my new light therapy lamp last Friday in an attempt to combat my Seasonal Affective Disorder.
I have used it nightly for about 45 minutes. And so far I have to say, meh. Lola dislikes it and lets me know her displeasure by glaring at me with the intensity that’s only slightly less than the lamp. But she finally found out she can just put her head behind the lamp and not be so irritated.
The good part is that it brighter. This is especially nice when I’m practicing the cello and the light feels like a bright window where everything is sunny and nothing hurts.
The bad part is, I’m not sure how you quantify depression so I’m really not sure if it is much help. I’ll keep going to see how it does but I was was pretty down the last two days. So, I guess I’ll give it more of a try.
Question of the Day
What do you use to listen to music?
Spotify. I started to use it more over the past few months and I’m more than willing to give them my money for a premium membership. I’m listening to entire albums more than I have in years now.
Seasonal Affective Disorder
I think I have Seasonal Affective Disorder, aka, SAD (which is an acronym that annoys me because the fucker who came up with it was probably high fiving someone for being clever). I’ve never been clinically diagnosed but every year, like clock work, come January I become morose by evening, just wanting to lie in bed, read and be left alone. Last year I tried taking extra vitamin D which didn’t really do too much. People have been telling me about trying light therapy where you put a bright light (10,000lux) on your desk or wherever to increase your serotonin levels. So, this just came in today:
A verilux compact happy light.
This is not an endorsement because I literally just turned it on and placed it on my desk. I’ll give you an update in a week or two. So far the only thing it has done has made me feel like a moth. My wife’s response was, “That’s bright!!!” Yes. Yes it is.
Question of the Day
How do you predict the Donald Trump Presidency end?
I think the Mueller report will come out and be absolutely devastating. The Dems will start the impeachment process only to have it falter in the Senate where the Republicans will try this weird balancing act of distancing themselves from Trump without trying to completely turn on him. I don’t see Trump throwing in the towel. Considering he refuses to take defeat graciously, I expect him to still think he can win in 2020, where the GOP will have to decide if they are going to try to run someone against him for the primaries.
For fantasy purposes, I’d like to see the Mueller read his report live with out starting out with, at this moment, Federal agents have surrounded the White House and are taking the President into custody….
My Favorite Books That I Read in 2018
We’ve reached that time of year to start doing a book wrap up. Kottke has a roundup of various best books of 2018 lists so if you’re curious, go there. I find some of the longer lists to be overwhelming though. But here are my personal favorite books that I have read this year (so I have no idea when any of these were actually published)
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan. This one I may be jumping the gun on since I’m only halfway through. But the first half is amazing.
Boy’s Life by Robert McCammon. The book starts off with a boy and his father watching a car plunge into a lake. The father jumps in to save the driver who was apparently already murdered setting up what you would think is a straight forward murder mystery. But it really isn’t. The writing style is reminiscent of an early Stephen King novel and there are so many twists to this that I gave up trying to figure out what it was even about and just enjoyed the ride.
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. I enjoyed the first 2/3rds of this book more than the final third but there aren’t too many good prehistoric books that have kept me riveted as this did.
Animal Liberation by Peter Singer. A classic book that I hadn’t learned about until I read a Michael Pollan book referring to it. I stopped eating mammals back in July and have started weaning myself from poultry/fish (which is difficult) and eat more veggies and fruits. He makes a lot of strong arguments about animal suffering that I believe he’s just plain right about.
Collusion by Luke Harding. Out of all the anti-Trump books, this was my favorite and most informative. Maybe it’s because all of the jewels of Woodward’s book made it to the media, or maybe it’s because this was just better written. But Harding lays out all the facts known at the time of publication in a concise and clear narrative that just is shocking.
Grant by Ron Chernow. I picked this up to begin adapting it into a hip hop musical production but was pretty surprised at how good it actually was. (Personally, I liked it better than Chernow’s Alexander Hamilton).
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (Robin Buss translation). I have tried reading this book over the years but due to its immense size I would end up giving up. But everybody would mention the Robin Buss translation (I think I was reading whatever was in Gutenberg) so I plunked down the 12 bucks and gave it a shot. What a difference. Such an amazing book when it’s translated properly. (No way I was going to read 1100 pages in 19th century french and expect to be finished with it within the next few years). In the top 10 books I have ever read.
Here was my GoodReads challenge for the year which it appears I’m not going to hit. Leave some of your favorite books in the comments. I’m curious to see what you all have been reading.