Hello, and happy Carmen Sandiego day!
Oh uh…hold on. I’m receiving reports that it is not, in fact, International Woman day. It is International Women’s Day. Well, in that case: Happy International Women’s Day to Carmen Sandiego! And also, all women!
I know I don’t pontificate much in this newsletter about my Day Job, but, at the risk of sounding like a wannabe LinkedInfluencer, I’m going to do just that! In the March issue of Ophthalmology Times Europe, you’ll find a cover story that’s all about gender parity in the industry. I’m very proud of the digital campaign we’re doing to support this cover story and the GORGEOUS imagery throughout the issue. Please, feel free to read the story and then send your favorite woman an e-card!
The Games We Play
I wouldn’t say I have great sleep hygiene. I’m not a morning person, and, sadly, I am very much a 3am person, so historically, I have had a hard time falling asleep at an hour that “is normal” or “allows me to sleep at all.” A healthy bedtime routine has helped with that, though. By “routine” I don’t mean “meditating” or “that magnesium supplement I keep meaning to buy1” but…gaming. Cause I am a gamer girl.
Every night, at midnight, The Games reset. You’ve probably played at least some of these: Wordle. Worldle. Globle. Emovi (RIP). Metazooa. Connections. If you aren’t familiar, these games task you with guessing Things in some capacity, whether that’s a hidden word, a secret country, or the taxonomic hierarchy of a particular animal. Nearly every night, at midnight, my boyfriend and I play these games in the same order, and then once we’ve finished them, we go to sleep.
This week TWO NEW GAMES entered the chat! Metazooa’s creator just debuted Metaflora, which deploys the same structure as its predecessor though through the nomenclature of plants. Then, there’s the Waffle game, which appears to be Amazon’s answer to the NYT acquisition2 of Wordle. It’s essentially a Wordlesque crossword, and you switch the letters around within a set number of moves.
Technically these games activate my brain/require me to think thoughts, but I find them weirdly restful. Maybe it’s their repetitive nature and the fact that several of them require me to gently scoot boxes around on-screen. It has a weirdly numbing, soothing effect that means by the time I get my perfect score on Connections for the second night in a row (brag!), I am ready to sleeeeeep. Plus, you only get ONE GAME per day, so you can’t stay up all night playing for a high score (stares in 2048).
What am I missing? Are there any silly, one-a-day games you like? Tell me please so I can stay up til 12:17.
Rock AND Roll? In THIS Economy?!
On Wednesday, my extremely brave boyfriend, who is a good driver and who I love SO MUCH, navigated through dense fog and heavy rain in a treacherous mountain pass so I could…do karaoke at a skate rink.
And it was the best night ever!
Skate Time is a very cool roller rink in Accord, New York, a little under two hours’ drive in good weather. On Wednesday, when Skate Time was holding its first-ever karaoke skate, it was…not good weather. Circumstances clicked into place, and my regularly-scheduled writing workshop was moved, and Myles very happily agreed to drive me four hours round-trip to Skate-y-oke, because we love road trips and we like adventures and a little rain couldn’t possibly be scarier than some of the gross winter weather we’ve driven through (Momma, don’t read this next part).
Okay. So, you guys know oatmeal? Yeah. Imagine driving through that. Accord is situated between the Catskill Mountains and the Shawangunk Ridge, so alllllll of the fog collected and coagulated into a thick, atmospheric cataract which made it utterly impossible to see anything on Route 209 (Amy, you were VERY correct). At one point, when the fog lights illuminated the yellow center line within two feet of the car and absolutely nothing else, a sign emerged from the fog to warn us that the road dropped down to one single lane for the next several yards. It was scary and cool and Myles, like I have mentioned, is a phenomenal driver and kept us both quite alive, and neither of us even cursed or anything, even though we drove through a Stephen King novel. We took a different route home, which was longer, but…worth it.
As for the skating? And the singing? Oh – it was super, super fun. Like. The MOST fun. So fun, in fact, that I’m going to write about it at length this weekend and drop it into a newsletter some day next week. Paid subscribers, keep your eyes peeled.
Detritus
Only one entry today. Remember that scammer from last week’s newsletter? The one who blocked me? Well, she came crawling back.
And yes, that IS a stock photo of groceries from the Instacart website. Blessing Janet Heather did not respond after this, and I blocked HER, but I’m considering just…requesting money from her on Venmo to see what happens.
WIDBTW
Man, I did a good job of not buying 15,000 books in the first week of March! Let’s review all the things I abandoned in my cart:
Matte navy liquid eyeliner, which I might get now that I have an Ulta coupon in my inbox
A ticket to the virtual Fiona Apple dance class from Angela Trimbur – I really want to do one of her in-person classes, but nothin’ is fitting into my schedule!
Sexy, cozy loungewear in a LITTLE WOMEN toile?! I am no stranger to “pajamas as outside clothes,” so even I am having a hard time believing I would pass this one up. But yeesh, $40 for shorts that will be ruthlessly consumed by my own butt.
There is a Pride & Prejudice print too.This lamp, which is suffering
The Great Divide, a book by Cristina Henriquez that I absolutely do intend to get my hands on, after reading and enjoying her recent LitHub piece
Cool duochrome eyeliner that my friend Lynn told me about – I feel like I should try replicating this look with my own duochrome eyeshadow and a thin brush?! This is doable???? Thoughts?
This lamp, which is neat (I have been shopping for lamps)
The new Sanrio stationery collection by my beloved Amenomori Fumika, which I feel a physical craving for. Every time I see this I drool, and cry. I have some Amenomori Fumika stationery that I bought from, I think, the basement at Kinokuniya, and I occasionally hold it in my hands and just look at it. According to the artist’s bio on Casetify, “The concept of Fumika Amenomori's illustrations is to deliver absolute cuteness forever.” What a noble goal.
Okay! With that, this international woman is going to go bake a cookie sheet of bacon. Godspeed, all, and remind me next week to tell you about the pot roast I made.
Wow, a lot of “rhetorical” quote marks deployed for “comedic effect” in this “newsletter”
Amazon is evil, the NYT made Wordle less fun, and I wish for a future where we can all play silly games unencumbered by big brands