Doing what I can

Trying to embetter myself requires work and dedication.

[start-somewhere]

Exciting New Job!!

Not many of you guys know this, but I work and study tech (I have an alt blog called @eroz-codes if you ever want to check out those projects). Now normally, this means being stuck behind a screen all day for the rest of my foreseeable future but, ask and ye shall receive as they say, because I managed to snag a job as a Land Conservation Intern at a Land Trust!!!!

Basically this means, that 60% of my time is going to be updating the way they process paperwork, making minor technical adjustments, and just generally be their go-to computer person, and 40% going out into the field, checking to see how the easements are doing.

I basically get to walk around private property, and get to do it legally for once!!!

Dude I am so excited and it couldn't have come at a better time. I wanted to enjoy my final semester and now, I think it'll be perfect.

[start-somewhere]

Breakfast Idea: Green Smoothie

Eating in the morning is dreadful. I cannot do it. Normally, I just drink some green tea as a way of settling my stomach but, I have had this recipe (from IKEA's website of all places) for so long and finally tried it. So here is the official link, and below is the recipe adjusted for a single serving.

DISCLAIMER: if you do not like parsley, you will not like this drink.

Take a moment to smell the greens. There is something to appreciate with how crisp they all are as they hit the nostril. Be present and enjoy the moment (especially since the blender will be going off soon haha)

Prepare the ingredients: 1/3 cup coconut water; 1 green apples, chopped to pieces; 1/8 cucumber, chopped; 1/4 bunch flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped; 1 slice ginger, 1 cm thick; 1/2 medium lemon, peeled and seeded; and 1/2 cup ice cubes.

Pour the liquids into the blender, then add the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Pour the smoothie into a glass, and enjoy yourself as you set yourself up for success as soon as the morning started.

[start-somewhere]

Becoming Bilingual

In classic American public education fashion, I have taken 5 years worth of Spanish lessons and none of them have stuck. Now as I am about to leave Uni, I want to actually do something with the language.

"But OP, how will this year be any different than every other time you have picked up and put down this language?"

Well beloved mutual, this time I am working towards a goal, instead of just being some arbitrary level of "fluency."

Goal:

Take the A1 Spanish exam and pass. Maybe. Depends on how expensive it is lmao.

Resources:

Foreign Service Institute, Spanish Headstart Program for Latin America.

The Foreign Service Institute is responsible for training and placing diplomats around the world to service the United States’ interest. They have literal days worth of recordings of language lessons intended to get people to at least a basic level of proficiency in whatever language you choose.

So far:

Just completed Module 1, Unit 1 (Tape 01, Slide 01 and 02) and honestly, I am very impressed. There are plenty of exercises and answers immediately after it. So far, I like this way way way way more than any app I have tried.

[start-somewhere]

Book Goal Accomplished!

At the last possible second maybe, but done none the less!

So, here they are in no particular order:

[stuckinapril]

Most anti phone advice is so inane and regurgitated to me but one thing I’ve been thinking about for days is “social media is okay, but the real danger comes in when you think your phone should be your go to during your limited pockets of leisure” like that’s literally the truest thing ever

[stuckinapril]

It really is true that after a long shift or a hard study session or a tiring workout the first thing I think to do is doom scroll to “reward” myself………. But as much as I try to combat my screen I’ve never truly delved into why my phone should be my go to during my downtime. Like why is it the reward . Why is it not taking a nap. Or getting a treat. Or calling a friend . Or even reading a book. It’s like I do those things w the idea in mind that that’s when I’m “on” but what if they rly should be my downtime rewards instead of phone time

[stuckinapril]

And this comes from someone who does not necessarily think social media is the devil bc I totally understand why people use it and how it makes connecting easier…… but I see older patients all the time and it’s so striking to me how they don’t have attention issues and how their reward system is wired so differently. My 52 year old boss rewards herself for an 8 hour work day by taking a run after work. Like immediately after work. She does have a phone, and she does use it, but it’s not her reward during downtime at all. She does not need a phone break in between things, because those things are what nourish her. And that’s just fascinating to me bc for my generation a peek at their phone is the ultimate reward

[stuckinapril]

LAST THING bc i feel like if this reaches more people they’ll be like ummm reading or talking to a friend arent downtime activities and like okay that’s so fair……. I think the whole point is finding a default downtime activity that feels right for *you* while also not taxing you mentally. Like this is not me saying go full blackout on your phone. Also it’s just true that doom scrolling is not as passive as people think it is (I literally do it too) and your brain is still burning out from taking in so much at once, so investigating if it’s the holy grain “brain off” activity really is valid

[start-somewhere]

New Hobby Alert!! Knitting

Alright guys, everyone and their mother (including mine) seems to adore knitting, but where's the finesse? Where's that umph?! Where is the vision of an old lady clicking her two needles together to the irritation of everyone on a train????!!! That's right, I have entered my grandmother era as the weather starts to chill and picked up knitting and here are my thoughts that no one asked for:

Knitting is as close to meditation as my distracted brain can get.

Love that I can watch youtube in the background and pretend its productive because I am knitting as I do it.

There are way more stitch types than I thought.

There are way more patterns out there than I thought.

In classic overachiever fashion, I have decided to try and knit a tapestry. Yes, I have only ever made a scarf. No, I don't know how to knit with two colors. No, I don't know what the fuck floats are (seriously though, do they matter? At the end of this I have some questions to ask yall).

Bonding with my mom feels nice!

Also free gifts I can give to people because my mom has a bunch of small balls of yarn and I can just make little squares and turn them into bunnies (tutorial I used). Pics below the questions if you want to see.

Why is it that with every other product you can throw away the label, but with knitting not only do you have to keep the yarns label to know how to properly use it, but also every other tools label too? This is bullshit.

On the flip side of that, I think it is super cool that the labels have patterns that utilize the yarn on the back.

Finally, I am glad I started this. It really has introduced me to some really cool people and I've found a little community through knitting.

Questions below (pls if you know answer them, ya girl is struggling)

Ok so this is the pattern I want to do. The issue is that on row one, it is a 9 stitch float and I don't know how to avoid that. Is there a way to pin it down? If so can you show me a video for it?

Another question I have is, is the knit stitch supposed to look like a classic 'V' in the front but, purl in the back? What is the benefits of switching between purl and knit? Is it just for stretchiness? Also I think I bastard-ized my purl. Essentially, I just did a knit stitch but, every time I transferred all the knits to one side, I switched which hand my needles were in basically just only knitting with one hand for all the rows. I can't remember which hand I started with. Below is the result.

Is there a tool where you can input a pattern (like the one I have above) and then it can track what row you are on for you? Like it highlights the row you are on and then when you press space it moves up a row? That would be so fricken cool if it did.

Lastly, here are the promised progress pics:

Should have chosen a different button for the tail but oh well.

[start-somewhere]

I DID IT!!!! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED ME AND TOOK THE TIME TO RESPOND! I really appreciate it 🥹🥹🥹

[start-somewhere]

New Hobby Alert!! Knitting

Alright guys, everyone and their mother (including mine) seems to adore knitting, but where's the finesse? Where's that umph?! Where is the vision of an old lady clicking her two needles together to the irritation of everyone on a train????!!! That's right, I have entered my grandmother era as the weather starts to chill and picked up knitting and here are my thoughts that no one asked for:

Knitting is as close to meditation as my distracted brain can get.

Love that I can watch youtube in the background and pretend its productive because I am knitting as I do it.

There are way more stitch types than I thought.

There are way more patterns out there than I thought.

In classic overachiever fashion, I have decided to try and knit a tapestry. Yes, I have only ever made a scarf. No, I don't know how to knit with two colors. No, I don't know what the fuck floats are (seriously though, do they matter? At the end of this I have some questions to ask yall).

Bonding with my mom feels nice!

Also free gifts I can give to people because my mom has a bunch of small balls of yarn and I can just make little squares and turn them into bunnies (tutorial I used). Pics below the questions if you want to see.

Why is it that with every other product you can throw away the label, but with knitting not only do you have to keep the yarns label to know how to properly use it, but also every other tools label too? This is bullshit.

On the flip side of that, I think it is super cool that the labels have patterns that utilize the yarn on the back.

Finally, I am glad I started this. It really has introduced me to some really cool people and I've found a little community through knitting.

Questions below (pls if you know answer them, ya girl is struggling)

Ok so this is the pattern I want to do. The issue is that on row one, it is a 9 stitch float and I don't know how to avoid that. Is there a way to pin it down? If so can you show me a video for it?

Another question I have is, is the knit stitch supposed to look like a classic 'V' in the front but, purl in the back? What is the benefits of switching between purl and knit? Is it just for stretchiness? Also I think I bastard-ized my purl. Essentially, I just did a knit stitch but, every time I transferred all the knits to one side, I switched which hand my needles were in basically just only knitting with one hand for all the rows. I can't remember which hand I started with. Below is the result.

Is there a tool where you can input a pattern (like the one I have above) and then it can track what row you are on for you? Like it highlights the row you are on and then when you press space it moves up a row? That would be so fricken cool if it did.

Lastly, here are the promised progress pics:

Should have chosen a different button for the tail but oh well.

[american-boyboss]

[vampire-connoisseur]

TIP:

This holiday season, if you know someone who likes house plants,

DON'T

get them a houseplant. DO NOT.

instead, get them a NICE, MEDIUM-LARGE, AESTHETIC, BOTTOM-DRAINING, INDOOR

POT.

that is what they want. that is what they dream of. ok? thats what will be most useful and appreciated. in fact, if you can, get them a CUTE MATCHING SET. OF POTS!!!! NOT PLANTS, POTS!!!!!!!!

they may be more excited initially about the plant. that is true. but a pot is a gift that they will go home and use to upsize one of their already beloved houseplants, and every time they look at it they will remember how much they appreciate you.

HOUSEPLANT:

- they already have so many

- needs to be watered

- takes up window space

- comes in a pot thats already too small, needs to be upsized, costing money

- can die

AESTHETIC POT

- lets them care for an existing plant they own

- they will be grateful every time they see it in their home

- does not take up window space not already occupied by a plant

- can be wrapped without dying or spilling dirt everywhere

[ms-demeanor]

- does not need to be quarantined/cannot bring in pests that will threaten their current plants

[samwisethewitch]

Homemaking, gardening, and self-sufficiency resources that won't radicalize you into a hate group

It seems like self-sufficiency and homemaking skills are blowing up right now. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the current economic crisis, a lot of folks, especially young people, are looking to develop skills that will help them be a little bit less dependent on our consumerist economy. And I think that's generally a good thing. I think more of us should know how to cook a meal from scratch, grow our own vegetables, and mend our own clothes. Those are good skills to have.

Unfortunately, these "self-sufficiency" skills are often used as a recruiting tactic by white supremacists, TERFs, and other hate groups. They become a way to reconnect to or relive the "good old days," a romanticized (false) past before modern society and civil rights. And for a lot of people, these skills are inseparably connected to their politics and may even be used as a tool to indoctrinate new people.

In the spirit of building safe communities, here's a complete list of the safe resources I've found for learning homemaking, gardening, and related skills. Safe for me means queer- and trans-friendly, inclusive of different races and cultures, does not contain Christian preaching, and does not contain white supremacist or TERF dog whistles.

Homemaking/Housekeeping/Caring for your home:

Making It by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen [book] (The big crunchy household DIY book; includes every level of self-sufficiency from making your own toothpaste and laundry soap to setting up raised beds to butchering a chicken. Authors are explicitly left-leaning.)

Safe and Sound: A Renter-Friendly Guide to Home Repair by Mercury Stardust [book] (A guide to simple home repair tasks, written with rentals in mind; very compassionate and accessible language.)

How To Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis [book] (The book about cleaning and housework for people who get overwhelmed by cleaning and housework, based on the premise that messiness is not a moral failing; disability and neurodivergence friendly; genuinely changed how I approach cleaning tasks.)

Gardening

Rebel Gardening by Alessandro Vitale [book] (Really great introduction to urban gardening; explicitly discusses renter-friendly garden designs in small spaces; lots of DIY solutions using recycled materials; note that the author lives in England, so check if plants are invasive in your area before putting them in the ground.)

Country/Rural Living:

Woodsqueer by Gretchen Legler [book] (Memoir of a lesbian who lives and works on a rural farm in Maine with her wife; does a good job of showing what it's like to be queer in a rural space; CW for mentions of domestic violence, infidelity/cheating, and internalized homophobia)

"Debunking the Off-Grid Fantasy" by Maggie Mae Fish [video essay] (Deconstructs the off-grid lifestyle and the myth of self-reliance)

Sewing/Mending:

Annika Victoria [YouTube channel] (No longer active, but their videos are still a great resource for anyone learning to sew; check out the beginner project playlist to start. This is where I learned a lot of what I know about sewing.)

Make, Sew, and Mend by Bernadette Banner [book] (A very thorough written introduction to hand-sewing, written by a clothing historian; lots of fun garment history facts; explicitly inclusive of BIPOC, queer, and trans sewists.)

Sustainability/Land Stewardship

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer [book] (Most of you have probably already read this one or had it recommended to you, but it really is that good; excellent example of how traditional animist beliefs -- in this case, indigenous American beliefs -- can exist in healthy symbiosis with science; more philosophy than how-to, but a great foundational resource.)

Wild Witchcraft by Rebecca Beyer [book] (This one is for my fellow witches; one of my favorite witchcraft books, and an excellent example of a place-based practice deeply rooted in the land.)

Avoiding the "Crunchy to Alt Right Pipeline"

Note: the "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" is a term used to describe how white supremacists and other far right groups use "crunchy" spaces (i.e., spaces dedicated to farming, homemaking, alternative medicine, simple living/slow living, etc.) to recruit and indoctrinate people into their movements. Knowing how this recruitment works can help you recognize it when you do encounter it and avoid being influenced by it.

"The Crunchy-to-Alt-Right Pipeline" by Kathleen Belew [magazine article] (Good, short introduction to this issue and its history.)

Sisters in Hate by Seyward Darby (I feel like I need to give a content warning: this book contains explicit descriptions of racism, white supremacy, and Neo Nazis, and it's a very difficult read, but it really is a great, in-depth breakdown of the role women play in the alt-right; also explicitly addresses the crunchy to alt-right pipeline.)

These are just the resources I've personally found helpful, so if anyone else has any they want to add, please, please do!

[start-somewhere]

Vent_Self Control and Sustainability

Listen, ok, just listen. The last time I ordered my bar soaps, I took note of all the things that were running out to order them ahead of time to save on shipping fees and emissions. This included my facial moisturizer that was close to death.

But now, three monthes later, it has only started to sputter out. And with each sputter there is still some more left. And I understand, you gotta use up what you have first, that is the most sustainable way to live, but damnit I want to try the new bar moisturizer I got!!!!!!

Tbh I did not think I had this level of self control.

Anyway I would love y'all's thoughts on the matter.

[start-somewhere]

Good things I've done in attempt at sustainable living:

1. Sewed a button back onto a flannel that fell off.

2. Restocked my soap bars (shampoo, conditioner, body wash etc.), which included a new facial moisturizing bar, but I haven't touched it because I still have some of a different moisturizer that I should get through first.

3. Couldn't figure out what to get my sister, so I asked if I could just replace something that she owns. After getting permission, I got her a safety razor, some replacement blades, and a bar shaving cream soap. Also! The only thing I bought online was the razor (explain to me why the only one I could find local was 40 dollars???)

4. I needed a little trinket basket but, I didn't want to pay for one or buy new, so I made it. I think I'm the crazy lady of my neighborhood though because I just went into the forest and took a bunch o pine straw off the floor. (pictured below)

5. Slowly making the transition from paper towels to swedish paper towels. I love them so much because they are so durable, and machine washable.

6. Started my collection of reusable baggies and already used one for freezing and am in love. 10/10 I have no regrets, can't wait to get more of these (especially since I got three - each a different size - for only 10 dollars!!!! I gotta go back to get more).

[msexcelfractal]

It’s weird, it reprograms your brain a little. When you love a bug, and watch it for long enough, you see it eating other bugs. eat and be eaten. I love both parties. I love the moth and I love the wasp who is pulling it apart. it reprograms your brain. death is not the ultimate enemy. death just pays for life. life eats life. the bug’s life is one phase in a cycle, its death is another. i love the cycle, because it has bugs in it. so watching a bug eat a bug, i love them both. i love each bug individually and i love the greater whole that every bug is a part of.

we (contemporary human society) have attempted to isolate and sever ourselves from the cycle. we worship youth and tremor before death. we sterilize our environments. we doom ourselves to an endless cycle of suffering and agony because we reject the basic rule of life: biomass moves in a circle!

[rederiswrites]

Certainly there were times, and maybe there still are places, where simple neglect will allow a disrupted landscape to return to anything resembling a natural state. But here? On the east coast of the US, where we've been destroying habitat and employing high-control, extractive land management, and expanding urban and suburban areas, for four hundred years now, there is very little left of what was.

The chestnuts are gone. The canebrakes are gone. The wetlands remain only where they were least profitable to remove. The elm suffers, the grasslands are obliterated, the old growth is all logged long since.

I've got front row seats for some of what happens if you leave this land alone. The woods are choked by invasive multiflora rose and Japanese honeysuckle. I don't think I've ever seen a native honeysuckle in person. The fields, left to grow, grow nothing but non-native grasses, poison ivy that sets no berries and feeds no birds, invasive Tree of Heaven saplings that poison the soil with their root exudate, and the occasional hardy locust sapling. There are no flowers there, save a few ironweed and asters late in the year.

If I just leave it alone, those things will keep going, native plants long gone from this place will only appear by some miracle, and this landscape will continue to not support many of the plants, animals, and insects once native to this place. It needs my help. (It needs a lot more than just my help, but we'll see). I can't "return it to its natural state", because ecosystems do not have enduring natural states. But I can see that this land supports a far greater density and variety of native species, and I will do that.

[headspace-hotel]

I...tried to make a meme and got carried away and made A Thing that is like partially unfinished because i spent like 3 hours on it and then got tired.

I think this is mostly scientifically accurate but truth be told, there seems to be relatively little research on succession in regards to lawns specifically (as opposed to like, pastures). I am not exaggerating how bad they are for biodiversity though—recent research has referred to them as "ecological deserts."

Feel free to repost, no need for credit

[start-somewhere]

Life Update

Hello all! sorry for the slow updates, I am just kind of going through the motions.

In good news, recycle gang still going strong. I am loving my bar soaps that I have been using. Trying to reduce my meat consumption by making only one meal a day have meat in it. This is not only friendly on my wallet but probably better for me in the long run. A coworker gifted me some turmeric starter roots, which have shot up (pictures to come later) so let me know if you all have any recipes that use it because I surely do not.

Hope all of you are doing well!!!! Let me know how you're gardens are doing!

[start-somewhere]

Weekly Update

Switched to bar shampoo, conditioner, facial cleanser, and deodorant all from the brand Ethique. Haven't really had a chance to try out the hair products but the facial cleanser and deodorant are heavenly. Overall, no regrets about the purchase as of yet!