I recently listened to Daisy Jones and the Six and the audiobook was incredible. The book was written as a series of interviews, which worked great as an audiobook. There were definitely times I got a bit distracted but it didn’t impede my understanding too much. It does take a bit to absorb all the characters, so you’d probably want to listen uninterrupted for the first ~hour.

Killers of a Certain Age is another good one. Written about mature women assassins. It’s a fun thriller and an easy listen.

Final rec is any of Ken Follett’s Kingsbridge series as read by John Lee. They’re long as hell, but straightforwardly told. There’s something I just love about how John read them, too.

Absolutely. Good shoes, a good rain jacket, and switching from glasses to contacts made a world of difference for me!

Blundstones. I live in a coastal city that’s wet (but rarely snowy) the vast majority of the year. Having rain-resistant shoes that are comfortable AND durable has been a game changer.

And if I can mention a second: A proper, long raincoat. Combined with good shoes, I’m able to tolerate the weather here much better than when I’d first moved to this city and relied on sneakers + regular jackets.

I love to see this moment mentioned. It was so moving. Even thinking about it now, I have chills.

I’m thinking of Jira right now. October 1 rolls around and a comment from yesterday is suddenly “last month”. Very often not helpful. I just want to see when it was made!

One I haven’t seen mentioned here is familiarize yourself with tenancy laws in the place you want to move to. It is always good to know your rights, and with landlords these days, you have to be as savvy as you can. A lot will come from experience, but knowing what they’re allowed to do or not do is priceless.

Steel cut oats boiled with fruit, sweetened with maple syrup, and served with some type of dairy. I always use cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ground ginger!

Fruit is either:

• Cut apples
• Frozen blueberries or strawberries

Dairy is either:

• A drizzle of milk
• A couple tablespoons of plain greek yogurt

I have regular ole bipolar disorder but I find that I tend to have depressive mood episodes more often in the depths of winter, when it’s darkest and coldest. Before I was medicated, I routinely blanked out basically from December to February.

I have bipolar disorder lmao

I’m learning that second point right now and it is tough.

cries in SaaS

Card almost exclusively, but I keep small amounts of cash on hand just in case. Usually end up using it at farmer’s market or maker mart type situations.

I love that! I may look into this as something fun to try out. Thanks for the inspiration :D

I don’t generally feel as connected to what I type as to what I write, probably because my entire job involves typing all day. Writing by hand takes longer and therefore requires me to slow down and think more.

That’s cool! Is it a cipher you developed yourself? How long did it take you to become proficient?

Hard no for me. People feel way too entitled to bring their dogs everywhere. Your being a pet owner doesn’t mean everyone else also has to love and want to be around your dog. I’m afraid of most big dogs and if I had to routinely encounter them at work, I’d be looking for a different job. I’m also very allergic to them and despite taking allergy meds every day, I’d be miserable with dogs in a shared space I couldn’t escape.

It’s a little funny to me that you asked this question because a few years ago, I remarked to my partner that I don’t like orange cats (in general) and she jokingly called me a cat racist. I felt so guilty about it that I was like I HAVE TO START LOVING ALL CAT APPEARANCES EQUALLY. I still feel a little guilty about it tbh 😂

Anyway, my actual answer is that black and white cats are my favourite. But I can now accept that orange cats have an allure for some folks 😆 I did know an orange cat who was lovely and I liked him a lot. Just if faced with the choice of multiple cats with personalities suited to mine, I’d pick the black and white one first.

I love this! The joy on his face is infectious.

Mantra:

• A former coach used to say to us, “If you cut corners in practice, you’ll cut corners in games. If you cut corners in games, you’ll cut corners in life.” It’s a good reminder to do things right whenever and wherever you can. Every action you take is training your brain!

Product-wise:

• I swear by Dorset Cereals’ muesli lmao. It is such a small thing but I absolutely love all the flavours and recommend them to everyone I know. If I were a different sort of person, I’d be approaching them for a brand deal, what with all the word-of-mouth advertising I do for them 😂

• I also swear by my Blundstones. They’re great for walking, they always keep my feet dry in my very moist city, and they have lasted me really well so far.

I think that’s an ideal setup. I have learned a lot from my partner because we are so different in what we like. :)