March 2026 Accountability Buddy

After a strong start in January and February, I was felled by a cold in the middle of March, which decimated my stats, but I also wanted to give myself time to rest.  I think I'm still doing okay for the year.

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Sunday, March 1

30-minute full body strength training - This is an excellent video. Eight supersets done twice. I liked it. 

Monday, March 2

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Tuesday, March 3

Day off

Wednesday, March 4

30-minute no repeat HIIT full body and strength

Thursday, March 5

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

60-minute Zumba class after work

Friday, March 6

45-minute Two Birds Yoga Grounding Practice - I can barely move my left leg after Zumba. *sigh* Oh, well. I worked from home today, so I had time for a nice long yoga practice. 

Saturday, March 7

30-minute yoga to stretch away fatigue - I could barely bring myself to do this. *sigh* There's a great orange cat in this one and at one point the kitty is purring and it's caught on the mic and it's glorious. 

Sunday, March 8

35-minute full body circuit strength training

Monday, March 9

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Tuesday, March 10

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, March 11

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime*

Thursday, March 12

30-minute yoga video at the student union during lunchtime

Friday, March 13 - Sunday, March 15

Days off - I am sick!

Monday, March 16

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minutes of shoveling after work - I didn't talk about this on my blog, but we had a fucking blizzard last night. Now, you might look at this and think "hey, you can see grass" AND YOU CAN, but let's not discuss the three foot drifts and crazy winds, okay?

I don't mean to complain (but I'm going to). I still feel like death warmed over and was trying to really take it easy today, but Dr. BB has a chronic case of rhabdo, so guess whose responsibility became removing evidence of the mid-March blizzard? Oh, it's me. 

Tuesday, March 17

Day off

Wednesday, March 18

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

Thursday, March 19

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Friday, March 20

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

Saturday, March 21

35-minute full body workout - I like this one. It went by fast. 

Sunday, March 22

40-minute walking workout - Kat Gates- Buettner is always a hit for me. It's perfectly in the fat burning zone for me. 

15-minute post workout yoga flow

Monday, March 23

35-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Tuesday, March 24

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, March 25

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute Japanese walking workout - sweaty!

Thursday, March 26

35-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Friday, March 27

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute no repeat full body and abs - Look, I hate working out on Fridays. I'm so tired after work, but sometimes you dutifully half-ass a workout. That was me today.

Saturday, March 28

20-minute Yoga for When You're Feeling Unmotivated - I don't think I need to tell you how I'm feeling, do I? I put my yoga clothes on at noon to remind myself to do yoga and it's closing in on bedtime and I'm just now doing it. 

15-minute bedtime yoga

Sunday, March 29

30-minute functional fitness total body dumbbell workout

20-minute fascia stretch

Monday, March 30

Unplanned day off. Stupid life.

Tuesday, March 31

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work - I had to drag myself to class, but it was really fun. Our instructor accidentally had two different shoes on and it was pretty funny and made us all laugh. I managed to get everyone in the class to participate in the foot selfie! It's just a matter of time until someone asks for my blog's URL, isn't it? 

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*Our local healthcare organization does free stretch classes virtually three times a week. Sign up here! It's free. It's fun. She has the sign-up through June, so you can basically register for half the year at one time. We regularly talk about candy and what's for lunch. It's a delightful break in the middle of the day. You do not have to have your camera on. 

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Total: 22/31 (71%) days doing thirty minutes or more

Cardio/strength: 12 days

Yoga: 10 days 

Short stretch classes at lunchtime: 6 days

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Do you ever take foot selfies? What's the largest number of shoes in a photo you've taken?

What I Read: March 2026

I read some real bangers this month. Yay for a solid reading month. 

3/5: Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke (library, 2021) - Pure joy. *dusty stick* 5/5 stars

3/6: A Wish for Winter by Viola Shipman (library ebook, 2022) - This book IS MORE THAN FOUR HUNDRED PAGES. A good 100 pages is praying and giving Bible quotes. Also, did you know Viola Shipman is a pen name for a DUDE? I got conned into reading a pseudo-Christian romance with a LOT of preaching written BY A MAN. Thumbs down. I only kept reading it because I didn't know it was 416 (!!) pages and kept thinking that surely I was almost done. One star because I did finish it. Half a star because I have to enjoy someone who loves Michigan as much as I do. 1.5/5 stars

3/8: Wild Eyes (Rose Hill #2) by Elsie Silver (library, 2024) - I think I read the first book in this series, but I can't find a record of it on my blog, so it must be my imagination. Anyway, I loved this book even though it has tropes I do not usually care for. 5/5 stars

3/12: How to Find a Missing Girl by Victoria Wlosok (library, 2023) - Girl gets murdered in her small town. Another girl starts a podcast about the investigation. Then that second girl gets murdered. What's going on in this town? The premise is good. The YAness of it is YAful and I guessed the murderer on the very page they first appeared. *sigh* I have got to stop reading YA. 2.5/5 stars

3/15: The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (library, 2019) - Historical fiction about a woman who grew up in an island in Korea through WWII and the Korean War. I wanted to like this book, but there were some things that just didn't work for me. 3/5 stars

3/19: Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy by Chris Duffy (library, 2026) - Very helpful and fun. 5/5 stars

3/21: In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard (library audiobook narrated by the author, 2011) - Funny coming of age story about a girl in the 1970s. 4/5 stars

3/23: The Global Pigeon by Colin  Jerolmack (university library, 2013) - Boy did I enjoy this look at pigeon-human interactions in urban environments. 5/5 stars

3/25: Dreadnought (Nemesis #1) by April Daniels (library ebook, 2017) - Transgender girl is secretly painting her nails when the superhero Dreadnought dies in front of her and passes his superpowers to her. What follows is a poorly paced action novel with lots of transphobia. I'm glad someone is bringing trans representation into superhero novels, but this didn't do it for me. 2.5/5 stars (I have to stop reading YA.)

3/28: Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon (library, 2024) - A pretty good thriller in which I learned a lot about the murdered and missing indigenous women movement. 4/5 stars

Total: 10 books
Average star rating: 3.7/5 stars

Did Not Finish

Where the Axe is Buried by Ray Nayler (library, 2025) - I'm sure this is a very good book, but I am 100% not into the idea of reading about an authoritarian surveillance state while I live in these United States in 2026. DNF on page 103 (31.6%). (This is happening in my county right now and no one is talking about it. They're too busy complaining about pot holes and discussing the flavors of ice cream at the newly opened for the season ice cream place.)

Orbital by Samantha Harvey (library, 2023) - Sorry to my friends who recommended this to me. I found the introspection boring and gave up after leaving it on the table for more than a week and never wanting to pick it up. DNF at page 29 (14%) 

Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin - I do want more trans representation in books, but I swear to all that's holy I would have been just as grossed out by depictions of dirty, sweaty people who haven't showered in weeks even if those people would have been straight. NGS out. DNF at 24%. 

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What's the last five star read you read? 

Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon

I read Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon to complete the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge prompt about a character who runs a marathon.

Quill is out for a run on the reservation where she lives in Minnesota one day when she hears a scream. She reports the scream to the police, who do a half-assed investigation and when she returns to the scene of the scream the next day, she finds an earring and tire tracks. From this point on, Quill sinks deeper and deeper into the mystery of women going missing. 

This novel draws attention to the plight of murdered and missing indigenous women in the United States and Canada. Women in indigenous communities go missing at a higher rate than other communities, as well as face higher levels of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and murder. Quill's experience here shows the ripple effects it has on all women, including those who are in stable, healthy relationships with safe homes. Quill is herself in danger when she starts investigating the disappearance of her friends, she has to change her running plans and routes because of the danger, and at one point, she's in danger of losing her children. And Quill has done nothing wrong, but because she lives on a reservation and is a woman, her life is impacted. If you then imagine what it's like for women who might lead riskier lifestyles, it all compounds in a messy stew of danger. 

I really feel like Rendon does a great job of weaving in details about Quill's daily life - what she cooks, wears, and chores she completes that are sometimes quite different from what my life - without this becoming a preachy book that veers off course from what is, at its heart, a thriller. 

It was an interesting setting and an interesting topic. There wasn't too much about running, but just enough so that you know it's important to Quill. I liked the female relationships Quill had with her friends and relatives. Sometimes it's nice to know that there are women out there who like other women, you know? 

It is a thriller and there are descriptions of violence against women, so if that's a dealbreaker for you, be forewarned. 

4/5 stars

Lines of note:

After running Grandma's Marathon in Duluth, she set her sights on the Boston Marathon. (page 25)

Justification for using this book in this PSRC prompt.

Quinn put Cheerios, water, an apple, and gummy fruit snacks into a bag. Living in northern Minnesota meant you never left home for a drive in the winter without extra food, blankets, and good winter boots. (page 41)

I had a colleague who had a flat tire once on a major interstate (I-39/I-90 for the locals) on his morning commute on a cold, slushy day. He got frostbite ON HIS KNEES. There's always a blanket or towel in our car and if I'm wearing dressy clothes to get to work in the winter, I throw my boots and snowpants in the back, too. I never have to pack food because I always have food with me. I honestly can't imagine living somewhere where you don't have to take these things into consideration. 

Quill struggled to tell one white guy from another. (page 67)

Preach it, yo. Cross-racial identification is challenging. 

Things I looked up:

Strong Women's Song - an anthem for Indigenous women's empowerment and strength, and signal the distinct challenges Indigenous women face. It was composed in the 1990s by some of the inmates in the Prison for Women (often referred to as P4W) in Kingston, Ontario, as a means of communicating among and offering support to one other while they were in their cells (they tapped on pipes and metals bars with the drum beat and sang aloud). (source - I have university credentials and downloaded the full article. If anyone wants the article, let me know)

On the third round, the women, who were carrying their kookum scarves or had them tied on their wrists, counted coup on the door like they did on the pickup trucks and big SUVs...(page 205, emphasis mine)

Among the Plains Indians of North America, counting coup (coup is French for 'blow' or 'shock') is the warrior tradition of winning prestige against an enemy in battle. It is one of the traditional ways of showing bravery in the face of an enemy and involves intimidating him, and, it is hoped, persuading him to admit defeat, without having to kill him. Historically, any blow struck against the enemy counted as a coup, but the most prestigious acts included touching an enemy warrior with a hand, bow, or coup stick and escaping unharmed, and without harming the enemy, except for the enemy's wounded pride.

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

No hat. (page 73)

wearing a hat (page 91)

duckbill hats (page 118)

beaded top hat (page 147)

passed the hat (page 200)

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Do you stock your car differently during different seasons? I always have a snack with me and it's generally trail mix or a granola bar. What are your go to snacks to have when you're leaving the house? 

The Global Pigeon by Colin Jerolmack

I think it should be clear to all my regular readers that right now I am relistening to all the episodes of You're the Expert, a comedy panel show where comedians talk to an expert. I may be the only person listening to these episodes from ten years ago, but there's something sort of nostalgic about listening to these shows in a pre-COVID world. If you ask me about anything right now, I'll tie it back to YTE. Anyway, Colin Jerolmack was on the show talking about his book The Global Pigeon and I was immediately intrigued (here's the episode link). 

I am a political scientist. And I stand by my feeling that it's super important. If you don't think it's important, I suggest you take a closer look at the world around you right now. BUT. I also think the sociologists and anthropologists have a claim to important things. And their methodology is SO MUCH FUN. Participant observation is my absolute favorite academic thing to read. Richard Fenno's Home Style is a classic. Fenno was a political scientist, but he embedded himself with eighteen members of the House of Representatives and wrote a book that's literal theory is that there are nested circles of constituencies, which makes me laugh because why did you need to spend YEARS to figure that out. ANYWAY.  I love that book. Did anyone else read Gang Leader for a Day and then wonder why they didn't become a sociologist? OH! What about the ethical debacle that is Carolyn Ellis who embedded herself into a community, wrote a condemning book about them, and then lots of other people wrote about how unethical Carolyn Ellis was? SOCIOLOGY, MAN. SO GOOD. 

Okay, I need to get back on track. So when Jerolmack was on this podcast talking about how he's an anthropologist, but he studies pigeons, I almost peed myself laughing. By definition, anthropology is the holistic, scientific study of humanity. And he opens with PIGEONS. I want you know that I had to pause the podcast because I was laughing so hard. Is this funny to anyone else? Anyway, it's not really about pigeons. He is really interested in what role these animals play in modern urban life, so it does end up being about humans, but I still insisted on calling this book the pigeon book as I was reading it. 

And boy did I like this book. Friends, I was riveted. Basically, the author noticed that people interacted with pigeons in a park, embedded himself with people who race pigeons (like rooftop racing) in New York City, then traveled to Berlin to embed with some Turkish immigrants who raise tumblers, a type of pigeon that tumbles acrobatically and dramatically in flight. Then he spent some time at the end of the book going to a crazy pigeon race where the prizes are literally millions of dollars. THERE ARE PHOTOS. RIVETING. 

And Jerolmack is a sociologist, so he's really interested in human-animal relations and all roads lead back to that. I think it's interesting that this is such a male-dominated hobby. I think it's interesting that pigeon racing hasn't really caught on outside of a few major cities. I think it's interesting that it's such a communal hobby, even though it appears to be very much a solitary endeavor at first glance. I think it's SUPER interesting how pigeons are treated in different cities and countries. Are they a nuisance who cause a lot of damage? Are they part of a long cultural heritage that should be respected? ARE THEY BOTH?

If any of this is interesting to you (seriously, at least watch the video of the tumbling pigeons!), read this. Sure, it's an academic book, but it's readable and surprisingly accessible for ethnography. 5/5 stars  

Lines of note:

In public places, strangers are often expected to - at most - briefly acknowledge one another and then divert their attention elsewhere. Although strangers may wish to engage in sidewalk interactions, rules of civility dictate that they need an excuse to do so. Erving Goffman observed that dogs are a "classic bridging device" between strangers in public, and studies of urban parks confirm that dogs "facilitate encounters among the previously unacquainted." In public places like Father Demo Square, pigeons too may act as a sort of interactional prop among strangers - in addition to focusing the attention of those already associated. (page 31) 

Because pigeon flying was historically the domain of working-class white men who passed on the practice, and their coops, to their sons, the number of flyers declined precipitously over the second half of the 20th century as many upwardly mobile whites migrated from New York's outer boroughs to the suburbs. But pigeon flying is not dead yet, and by making the four-mile trip to Joey's pet shop, Carmine got to socialize with other elderly and middle-aged Italians who commuted in from more genteel neighborhoods like Carroll Gardens and Bensonhurst. Carmine also mixed with young and middle-aged Hispanic and black men who flew pigeons in the immediate vicinity of the pet shop. These men reflected a newer cohort of flyers that picked up the hobby from ethnic whites as kids when they moved into neighborhoods in transition such as Bushwick and Easy New York. (page 80)

Rather than sitting idle or passively having their life structured by television, these retired men provided their own structure and narrative to their life - the birds and coops required their constant labor and attention. Interestingly, they work of keeping pigeons (e.g., feeding, bathing, and raising them) also has clear parallels to the kind of domestic "care work" that is traditionally coded as feminine. Though none of the flyers framed it this way, pigeons seemed to provide an opportunity for men to perform care work without it posing a threat to their masculinity. (page 102-103)

Most flyers were fascinated by pigeon biology, genetics, reproduction, the homing instinct, and so on. Yet when I asked them if they felt an affinity to nature, I was usually met with a blank look that followed a simple "no" or "not really." I saw no evidence that pigeon keeping was part of, or led to, a more general connect to nonhumans...The men were thus attached to the birds not primarily because they were ambassadors of the wild but because they were products of the men's own hands. (page 105)

...spoke to Ahmet Dede, a pudgy, boyish-looking man in his early 30s from Istanbul, he lamented, "This leisure activity is actually a waste of time. You don't earn money by doing this. I would be happier, for example, if I studied - if I was in your place and interviewed you instead of you interviewing me. I would be a happier person if I studied instead of taking care of pigeons, working in . . . the imbiss, and I don't want my child to pay too much attention to pigeons." (page 126)

This was brought home in the common occurrence of curious Germans, including dog walkers, who happened upon the coops and marveled at the frantic tumbles of the pigeons. Such chance encounters usually resulted in amicable interactions between the Turkish men and ethnic Germans, but in each instance the Germans asked why the men kept pigeons. Every answer the men gave highlighted the origins of the bird or the animal practice. Such discussions were never had about people's pet dogs, as keep dogs is taken-for-granted animal practice. (page 130)

...Turkish caretakers gained satisfaction in their mundane interactions with the birds, through raising them and through the simple aesthetic appreciation of watching them in flight. Some kissed the birds, and Turan tenderly spoke to a sick baby pigeon as he fed it special food through a funnel....Some of the men referred to caring for pigeons as an "escape."...The escape that the tumblers afforded was not a flight from society altogether, but rather a temporary respite from tedious routines and the estrangement of living in a foreign city. (page 130-131)

Things I looked up:

Coca-Cola spelled out its logo in pigeons (page 50) - I mean, I don't think it really looks like the logo, but what do I know? 

Gary Player (page 196) - a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. Also, he was a supporter of apartheid, so you decide what to do with that information. 

Hat mentions (why hats?):

He regularly wore fingerless gloves, a thick gold chain with a medallion, and a bicycle hat (one said "Brooklyn" on the brim while another was emblazoned with "USA"). (page 91)

Five for Friday, Edition #40: The Random Photo Edition

1) The cat is queen of the house. Have we discussed how Zelda has taken over poor Hannah's kennel? 

2) I'm going to get a new office chair! I was actually given a new office chair (see below), but it turns out they sent the wrong chairs and I'm actually going to get one that's fancier than this one, so now you know just as much about the chairs as I do. I had the use of this one for one entire working day (Wednesday). 

3) Library books! As of Saturday, I only had four library books and I was freaking out because that's the number I had when the library closed because of the pandemic and I'm NEVER going to be unprepared for a library shutdown ever again. I immediately ordered more books from the library than I could ever read. 

Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon - currently reading

We Lived on the Horizon by Erika Swyler - I have started this one twice, but it doesn't hold much interest. It gets one more shot and then I'm returning it. 

We'll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida, translated by E. Madison Shimoda - IRL book club pick. 

 

The Way We All Became The Brady Bunch: How the Canceled Sitcom Became the Beloved Pop Culture Icon We Are Still Talking About Today by Kimberly Potts - I borrowed this to fulfill a Pop Sugar Reading Challenge Prompt, but I'm pretty sure I'm not going to really read it.

Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History by Lea Ypi - This sounds depressing as hell. It might not be a great fit for this time of year.

Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler - Mindless YA? I don't mind if I do.

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum and translated by Shanna Tanj - Cozy Japanese Korean literature? YES! (Thanks to the Anonymous commenter who pointed out this error. I'm sorry. It's not a great mistake to make.)

Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence—and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process by Irene M. Pepperberg - It will not surprise anyone that Pepperberg was on an episode of the You're the Expert podcast, would it? 

Running While Black: Finding Freedom in a Sport That Wasn't Built for Us by Alison Mariella Désir - For a Pop Sugar Reading Challenge prompt. I usually despise running/athlete memoirs, but this has a 4.55 Goodreads rating. Surely it's good? (I suspect I will not read this one, either.)

On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes by Alexandra Horowitz - This book was cited in Humor Me, so I ordered it immediately. 

By the Sword (Valdemar saga) by Mercedes Lackey - I enjoyed the last installment of Valdemar so much I ordered the next one. 

The next couple of photos are brought to you by me trying to document things that make me laugh.

4) Ted and the Giant Carrot - In this sequel to James and the Giant Peach, we try to figure out why the carrots at our grocery store are the size of melons.

Look at those carrots!

5) This dog. If you are ever driving around my town and you see this dog in the terrace rolling around, just know that she is loved and cared for. I mean, look how clean those teeth are. I laughed so hard at her.

Have you read any of those books? What's on your to-read list next? If you had to pick one of my books to read next, what would you read? 

In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard

I listened to In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard because it fulfilled the prompt for a book about teen angst in the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. 

In this book, we have a fourteen-year-old girl growing up in Zanesville, Illinois. We never learn her name, but she shares the name of one of the girls in Little Women and I deduce it is Jo, like the author, but that's me making a lot of assumptions. ANYWAY, this girl and her best friend Felicia (Flea) go on adventures in Zanesville. There's a babysitting fiasco that involves the fire department, sick kittens they're hiding from their parents, and lots of drama about boys. 

I found this book to be funny, particularly the opening babysitting scene. There are concerning parts, mainly centered around our main character's alcoholic father, but nothing particularly violent happened on page. I thought the observational writing was sharp and witty and I found myself nodding in agreement to so much of what it was like to be a young teen. It has a Mary Jane feel to it, although maybe that's just because there are teenage girls in the 1970s and babysitting. 

Oh, I wanted to talk about the narration. Beard reads the audiobook herself and I have to admit that it made me happy. The way she says water (werter) and how it sounds like her tongue gets tangled up in her mouth when she says the word cereal. And how sometimes I just had no idea what she was saying (see my note below on whether it was wide or white). Just such a great representation of how people from southern Illionois speak. Seriously. The narration was perfection. 

I'd recommend it. 4/5 stars

(If you don't want to read this, but want to read a powerfully sad article about a failing marriage, a dying dog, and an event at work that none of us would ever want to live through, click on this link. Jo Ann Beard writes beautifully.)

Lines of note:

I have an affinity for anything that has peeled off fur or looks terminal, or, for that matter, for anything that seems to notice me. (timestamp 57:20)

Ha! I was exactly like this as a young person. Sick bird? Let me at it. A rando boy gives me the time of day? Obviously I'm in love. 

Mr. Wilton, the teacher, pays attention only to the first chair musicians and the percussionists, a gang of unruly thick-waisted boys wielding drumsticks, gongs, and triangles. (timestamp 1:41:59) 

YES!! This was band. My band teacher was Mr. Wilson, though. This is hilarious. I didn't know the band class experience was so ubiquitous. 

I'd like to be the kind of person who does something weird and not become weird because of it, but that's out of reach for me. I am what I do at this point and if I do this, I'm done for. Once I march in their parade, I will be in it forever... (timestamp 1:49:45)

I think I am just a weird person. 

One of the more memorable things I ever read back here were the Cliff's Notes for Moby-Dick, which I found in a box of old comic books my mother brought home. It was a gripping story, but also sickening. Mostly what I took from it was that nobody on a whaling ship has much sympathy for a whale. (timestamp 5:05:50) 

Moby-Dick is everywhere!!!!

Hat mentions (why hats?):

little hat I wore in kindergarten that had yarn pigtails and a girl's face embroidered on the back of the head (timestamp 1:09:52)

the hats are hard blue cylinders with a short white brim (timestamp 1:39:14) - I honestly can't tell from accent if it's white or wide, so if I got it wrong, I apologize

First problem: the hat is resting on my ears (timestamp 1:39:34)

The hats are at least eight inches tall (timestamp 1:39:59)

In the hat, she looks at tall as the Empire State Building (timestamp 1:49:27)

our instruments and our hats (timestamp 1:52:14)

under their hats (timestamp 1:55:58)

What about when I was a kindergartner and had on my favorite little hat with yarn pigtails and a face embroidered on the back and a sixth grade boy who I was enchanted with started teasing me by speaking only to my hat?  (timestamp 2:09:47)

paper hat askew (timestamp 2:33:09)

man's grey hat (timestamp 3:15:28)

fishing hat (timestamp 3:23:37)

vinyl Carnaby Street hat (timestamp 4:04:10) 

birthday hats (timestamp 5:07:37)

Easter hat (timestamp 6:19:19)

grey hat (timestamp 6:57:10)

taking his hat out of his pocket (timestamp 7:28:15)

eyeliner and a hat like the one they tried on me (timestamp 8:14:14)

fishing hats (timestamp 8:27:58)

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Does anyone have a disastrous babysitting story from their youth? Did you ever have to call the police or fire department? Do you say the word cereal as if your tongue is all tangled up?

Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy by Chris Duffy

I did a self-reflection and realized it is March, which is smack dab in the middle of the February - March - April run that is, in my humble opinion, the absolute nadir of the calendar year. We're still in winter. Despite the increase in sunlight in the evenings, I'm still mostly outside in the dark. I am exhausted. There is no end in sight. In January, I am still running high on the holiday season and am confident I can persevere through winter. By February, I can tell myself that spring is around the corner. But by March, I have to admit that spring is still months away, I am cold and will never be warm again, and I hate spring anyway because it's unpredictable and muddy and not that warm anyway. For those of you who do not suffer from season affective disorder, I am eternally jealous. 

Anyway, friends, I'm doing all the things. I'm exercising. I'm initiating intimacy. I'm finding gratitude. I'm going outside. I'm putting my cell phone in the other room at meals. I'm meditating. 

But I still can't be bothered to do anything besides what I absolutely have to do. Respond to personal emails? That's not 100% necessary. Vacuum the rugs? They'll still be covered in fur next week. Wash my hair? Surely that can wait for another day. 

So I was relistening to episodes of You're the Expert, an excellent, now-defunct podcast hosted by Chris Duffy, a man who I think is hilarious, and one of the inserted ads in the podcast was for his new book, Humor Me: How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy. I decided that I needed something to help me get through this slog of seasonally dependent ennui. And if Chris Duffy can tell me what that something is, I'm on board. 

This book is about developing your own personal sense of humor and using it to get through difficult times. He has three pillars - be present, laugh at yourself, and take social risks. In this book, he walks through those three pillars and gives a list of homework at the end of each chapter to practice. 

This book was joyful and fun and made me feel like I can conquer the winter blues. 

I'm not going to tell you about all the homework he gave you, but here are three things I'm implementing immediately in the hopes that it will help me make it through May. 

1) Embrace a new bathroom state of mind: In your own bathroom, you know what's there and how it's set-up and you just sort of take it for granted. But when  you go to a new bathroom, you notice all the things. Oh, these towels are so soft. This toilet paper is great! Look at how pretty that sink is. I like how they have a 3D printed cat toothpaste dispenser. Have this same state of mind with your ordinary life.  Look at your bathroom with new eyes. Try to notice something on your everyday commute. 

2) Notice what you think is funny. Track it. I have started just jotting down in my notes app on my phone when I laugh during the day. What made me laugh on Friday, you ask?

• Getting a rejection email for a job I applied to in 2023
• Hannah getting very tangled up in her leash while attempting to chew a stick and roll around in the grass
• Mentions of Uncle Kracker and tall bikes, things I hadn't thought about in years
• These funny Stuf of Doom Oreos at the grocery store

3) Talk to strangers. I mean, I already do talk to strangers pretty frequently. But now I'm making more of an effort to. 

If this goes well, maybe I'll have an occasionally blog series in which I write about things that make me laugh. 

Anyway, I found this book hopeful and full of joy. I hope Chris Duffy knows he's doing good work that is keeping this Midwestern lady going. 5/5 stars

Lines of note:

Seeking out humor in a situation doesn't mean denying the uncomfortable or unfunny aspects of reality. Far from it. This is where humor differs crucially from so-called toxic positivity, the pressure to put on a happy face no matter the circumstances. It isn't about finding the silver lining in every cloud. It's about acknowledging the clouds. "I cannot believe how many fucking clouds there are! It's like the sky is JUST CLOUDS!" Humor is a way of addressing reality while shifting our relationship to it. It reverse-engineers despair into hope. (page 10-11)

I like that Duffy addressed toxic positivity. I worry a lot that if I focus on the good and being grateful, etc., I will come off as one of those people who is in denial about (gestures dramatically) the world of 2026. 

Researchers discovered that when you're willing to laugh at your flaws, other people view those flaws as less important than if you'd addressed them more dryly. The study found that "job candidates who revealed their limited math ability in a humorous manner ('I can add and subtract, but geometry is where I draw the line') were perceived as better able to do math than those who disclosed the information in a serious manner ('I can add and subtract, but I struggle with geometry'). (page 52)

STORY TIME!!

We are currently interviewing people for a position on campus and I'm on the hiring committee. I'm being purposefully vague because the form you have to sign literally says "the search committee's findings must be held confidential for eternity," which seems crazy and like it might not hold up in court, but I'm not going to give any confidential information away.

Our first round was a screening round via Webex and it's so stiff and weird and formal and the candidates are so nervous. There was this one woman I was rooting for (I cannot tell you why until the end of eternity), but the start of her interview was rocky. I was supposed to introduce myself and ask the second question, but I sort of forgot the "introduce myself" part until I was halfway through the question! So I stopped and said, "oh no! you don't know me yet!" and introduced myself and everyone on the call started laughing, including the candidate. Then I asked the question and we moved on. And everyone FUCKING RELAXED A LITTLE. 

So I started making snarky comments before I asked my question and it helped the candidates a little bit because they could see I was on their side. I mean, interviewing is so stressful and it sucks and I was just trying to get them to loosen up. My boss mentioned that it was fun having me on the calls for these interviews and I took that as a huge compliment. 

In one hilarious experiment, [Timothy] Wilson asked study subjects to sit alone in a room with their thoughts for fifteen minutes. "The team left participants alone in a lab room in which they could push a button and shock themselves if they wanted to. The results were startling: Even though all participants had previously stated that they would pay money to avoid being shocked with electricity, 67% of men and 25% of women chose to inflict it on themselves rather than just sit there quietly and think." (page 60)

Who are you people who wouldn't take fifteen minutes for a nap?!?! MORE THAN HALF OF THE PEOPLE SHOCKED THEMSELVES. Dude. You could just do some yoga or sleep? I found this SHOCKING (ha ha ha - pun absolutely intended) and it was almost as dumbfounding to me as Donald Trump winning a second term. 

A ton of behavioral science backs up the idea that taking social risks leads to positive results. Among the many studies, hardly any make people quite as skeptical as the one that found talking to a stranger on the train or bus would improve the quality of their day. A typical reaction goes something like "Maybe that works for some people, but not on the buses I take."

In fact, the University of Chicago team that conducted the study found that "those who talked to strangers reported a significantly happier ride than those who kept to themselves - even though a survey of a separate group of commuters predicted the opposite." (page 74)

Okay, but I think we can all agree that talking to people on planes is crazy, right?

Hat mentions (why hats?):

If you're at the mall, a nine-year-old might try on the largest hat she can find. (page 83)

...wore a big cowboy hat to school every day? (page 114)

...put on a fun hat and take a self of us. (page 133)

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What is something that made you laugh out loud recently?