vital functions

[kaberett]

Reading. Slowly: Atomic Habits, James Clear. Decided I didn't want to be beating the paperback up by lugging it around any more than I had to (because I'm intending to give it to a charity shop once I'm done, not because I treasure it myself) so I mostly left it at the hotel I've been staying at this week and progress has been slow, but it's partly also been slow because I hit the point where.

... okay, so, content note for sizeist nonsense, but here. Have an excerpt of two immediately adjacent paragraphs from around page 66.

As you create your Habits Scorecard, there is no need to change anything at first. The goal is to simply notice what is actually going on. Observe your thoughts and actions without judgment or internal criticism. Don't blame yourself for your faults. Don't praise yourself for your successes.

If you eat a chocolate bar every morning, acknowledge it, almost as if you were watching someone else. Oh, how interesting that they would do such a thing. If you binge-eat, simply notice that you are eating more calories than you should. If you waste time online, notice that you are spending your life in a way you do not want to.

I JUST. Sputtering and gesticulation goes here.

MUCH MORE PLEASANTLY, as a result of not lugging Atomic Habits around I helped myself to someone else's non-fiction collection. The Golden Mole and Other Living Treasures (Katherine Rundell) is an absolute delight, including many Important Animal Facts I did not previously know (golden moles are incidentally iridescent!!!). I'm prooobably not going to acquire a copy to leave out on the coffee table, but if we were entertaining more (or, you know, at all) I'd strongly consider it. (... hmm. Maybe I should acquire a copy for Mor Ros, actually. HMM.)

Having finished that I moved on to Dark and Magical Places (Christopher Kemp), on (subtitle) the neuroscience of navigation. So far I am finding it interesting enough to have borrowed all the way back to Enfield; I have had to type crossly about one sentence but only one sentence and I am Hopeful for where it is going next.

Listening. So. Much. Auditory. Input. Good grief. Good GRIEF. (Hotel sang to itself. Radio on nearly constantly. Rediscovered that it's all very well to tell A that of course he can listen to unfamiliar-to-me music while driving, I'll Just Sleep, but what will actually happen is that even if I do doze it'll take me... a bit... to recover from the overstimulation...)

Playing. We took Fluxx. We did not play Fluxx.

Eating. I had cause to eat persimmons for what I think might be the first conscious time in my life (and certainly the first conscious time in my adult life) and I Am A Fan.

Several lunches from Korean Kitchen (FB). Will definitely eat again if I have cause to be in their vicinity. (e.g. have consumed neither their Vegan Home Alone Bowl nor their tteok-kochi, both of which are extremely relevant to my interests.)

Exploring. Some more bits of Southport. Lots of Very Good street lights; charmed by the plaque that explained that the Parisian boulevards are inspired by Southport's Lord Street.

Making & mending. Finished sewing A's cap patch onto his cap. Tacked patch to one pair of trousers. Fell down a rabbit hole of reading about sashiko, transcribed a pattern and worked out how to recreate it (a process involving a remarkable amount of error to go with the trial), and then bottled out of actually starting the more serious repair. But. Home now. Maybe tomorrow.

Growing. Lots of honeysuckle cuttings into ground. Not sure how they'll do, but fingers crossed. Latest batch of rosemary cuttings not dead yet. None of the at-home plants died, except perhaps the physalis, which appears to have really disliked being moved from the greenhouse to the house house.

Observing. Lots of excellent sunsets and early morning light.

Comments

[lunabee34]

My parents have a persimmon tree, and they are indeed very tasty. The persimmons, not my parents.

excess persimmon commentary

[rugessnome]

My late grandmother had one, of the locally native American variety. They have to be very ripe and soft or they will do the astringent furry mouth thing like a very underripe banana. (squat Fuyu persimmons can be eaten crisp without doing that but I have not managed to because the concept was just too weird in my mouth.) I was always told growing up that they would "pucker you up" if too green (which arguably is true), but my only point of reference as a child was like ...lemons, which is not at all the case.

(Sadly the property was sold off after she died and while my mom and her sisters know the family of the people who bought it, I have no idea whether they kept the tree and I don't know them well enough to go asking for persimmons.)

Re: excess persimmon commentary

[fyreharper]

Ha, and I’ve not yet managed to get myself to try a hachiya because I started with fuyus and the idea of having to *wait for it to be moosh* sounds… a bit too weird in my mouth :p

Re: excess persimmon commentary

[lunabee34]

Yes! That feeling is so weird. It's like a drying out and completely involuntary drawing up. It's so hard to explain. But extremely unpleasant to experience (to me anyway). Nothing like the sourness of a lemon.

Re: excess persimmon commentary

[kaberett]

oh <333 I am sorry that Going To Ask is not on the table!

[forests_of_fire]

yes because clearly binge eating is always a matter of needing stronger willpower!

[kaberett]

AND THAT'S DEFINITELY NON-JUDGEMENTAL LANGUAGE

[forests_of_fire]

"Observe your thoughts and actions without judgment or internal criticism."

I WILL JUDGE YOU INSTEAD!

[fyreharper]

Which kind of persimmon did you try? (Pointy-bottomed one that has to be left to blet before eating, flat-bottomed one that can be eaten when merely ripe rather than overripe, some secret third fruit?)

[kaberett]

Fuyus, I understand -- the second type on your list!