• How to Nurture Your Jane Austen Obsession. I kind of want the dish towel, of all things. 🙂
• Why It’s Ok to Stay In Tonight. Not that I needed any more justification, but several of these are spot-on for me (the second, and the last two).
• A really scary true story about a woman getting harassed on a train. This just makes me extra glad that I don’t live in a city/have a job where I have to use public transportation.
• Author N.K. Jemisin talks about SFF fandom and its safety/egalitarianism — or lack thereof. Quote: “I both love and despise this genre. I love it because I’ve met wonderful people, and because through SFF I’ve been able to imagine things that I couldn’t have if I’d kept my focus on the here and now. I despise it because SFF is just as flawed as the rest of the world when it comes to bigotry and marginalization — but unlike the rest of the world, SFF thinks it’s progressive.”
• On the Psychology of Swearing. Turns out it might actually be good for us.
• My Skinny Friend and the Women Who Judge Her. I can relate to this. I used to be super skinny back in the day (not that I’m heavy now, but I have some healthy curves these days), and that fact was always being commented on. “Go eat some ham!” was a favorite from my family.
• How to See the Future. A thought-provoking read on how to escape the supposed banality of our current time.
• Possessions as Promises. What are the things you own promising to fix in your life, and are they delivering? Do you really need some ‘thing’ to fix whatever the particular issue is? A good read.
• A Grandma is a Surrogate for her Own Grandchild. Modern medicine is amazing.
• 15 Ways 20-Somethings Ruin Their Twenties. Sigh. I did a few of these. Luckily I can write that in the past tense, even though I’m still in my 20’s.
• A new study from the Carnegie Institute for Science reveals that there is enough wind on this planet to meet our entire energy needs. We just have to harness it a little differently.
• A Message to Women From a Man: You Are Not “Crazy”. Every female person should read this. And males, too, actually, so they can realize when they are doing this. I had an ex that was king of this kind of emotional manipulation.

Things of Note:

 
Not going to lie, I am pretty stressed this week. One of my design clients was supposed to have a sizable paycheck waiting for me when I got back from my trip to Ohio, had in fact directly said as much. Two weeks later, and no sign of said paycheck. No answer to my email last week, no answer to my phone call yesterday. And it’s stressing me out. When I expect to be paid by X date, and client agrees to X date, I then plan my budget/finances around having that money by X date (or at least near it). When it is suddenly not there and continues to not be there, bank account levels can get scary. I am going to call again later today, and every day until I get that paycheck. I hate having to turn into a nag in order to get paid, but if that’s what it takes to get what is owed, I’ll do it.

On a happier note, my new workout plan is still going strong, and I’m actually not getting sore the day after anymore, which is nice. Also, Ian & I had a really good weekend full of friends and good food and doing things outside of the house. And Sienna is, as ever, adorable. So it’s definitely not all Debbie-downer over here. 🙂

How’s your week going?