family reunion, or not

one could ask, when will we meet again?

but we have! we have weekly meetings and look and chat and laugh and pray!

one could say, it's not the same.

and so they are not. he replaces the old with the new.

is this not an inferior substitute?

must it be? i am grateful enough.

dryer repair, or, why you must read the instruction manual

the dryer is failing us, i tell HOM. heat pump technology notwithstanding.

HOM looks up the instructions. it says to clean the filter every three uses. have we been doing that?

not for four-odd years, no. because uh, is the lint filter not the filter? no? 

xxx

the dryer is working again, very much better than before too. this is a most satisfactory recovery. 

year of the ox

au courant: family photos in matching colors, and little doggies in festive togs.* 

thanksgiving: for family catch-ups, with family at different stages of expectation and stress. everyone is in a bit of an equipoise this year just for the season.

best thing ever: the enforced social distancing. i'm afraid i love it.

*not for us and not for E! our independence and E's self-respect are intact!

john kotter (2006, 2016)

he calls them fables. wise they are too, and charmingly MBA in the tradition of the moving cheese. i started the year with these before the bridgertons took me on a ten-book detour. 

two dinky books, is wot i say.

 

range - david epstein (2019)

this is a good ego-patting pick-me-up for a career generalist with incorrigible side interests unrelated to core business. epstein does a good job of exploring the various facets of the generalist perspective in business and science and makes sense pretty much to the end, unlike some other two-chapter wonders. although the conclusion chapter is a little mushy for my liking. 

i very much enjoyed this after beginning the year with a series of forgettable chick lits. (i blame the bridgertons for that foray.)

and he says i can and should freely read outside of my specialty. the cat in me is happy to be legitimized.

comment on current affairs*

ghastly and grotesque.

i wonder how one man has apparently inspired so much support for so little that is decent and admirable. i wonder how a party that is so deeply divided can survive the dysfunction. i think that surely the truly brave and the really free will stand by what they say they hold dear and not desecrate it in the name of their freedom. 

i also think about when people storm the parliament building of another country.** why not then the outpouring of outrage and grief that i see now?

*the US Capitol breach of Jan 2021
**the HK Legislative Council breach of July 2019

for the rest of the year that is to come

the actions:

• take photos. forget the DSLR; it's not going to happen
• listen to music. because i actually own headphones now
• have people for dinner. the new tablecloths!
• read some more. although the NLB does have its limitations

the perspectives:

• be interruptible
• be kind

and if you think this is suspiciously like a rehash of last year's list, remember covid happened. this is the requiem for the lost year.