594th Friday Blog Roundup
It has either been raining or in a state of pre-rain for… weeks. At least, it feels like it has been weeks. Baseball has been cancelled a bunch of times, and I’ve been using up the cheaper hair gel because why bother with the good stuff when my hair is going to frizz anyway?
I’m not a big fan of rain (see above: frizzy hair), but I didn’t realize how much it affected my mood, especially since I consider myself immune to needing outdoor time. Josh always says that when we need to crawl into underground bunkers because zombies are roaming the surface of the earth, I will thrive because I am perfectly content never stepping into the sun.
But we may need to rethink this because every time I wake to another day of greyness, I want to curl up into a ball and sob.
Are you affected by the weather or indifferent toward rain?
*******
My friend and I took our sons to an arcade that had an original Super Mario machine. [Quick trivia question: Mario made his first appearance in this arcade game before showing up in Super Mario Bros. Don’t Google. Put your guess in the comment section.]
I haven’t played in at least 24 years but probably longer. It was amazing to feel the muscle memory kick in the second my hands grabbed the joystick. I wasted a game getting accustomed to the controls, and then immediately started sailing through the boards. I remembered the location of every hidden coin, every portal.
I coached the boys, telling them where to squat down and jump up. The only thing I was missing was a track suit and whistle as I prowled behind them, critiquing their technique. That’s what I want to be when I grow up: an arcade coach.
*******
Stop procrastinating. Go make your backups. Don’t have regrets.
Seriously. Stop what you’re doing for a moment. It will take you fifteen minutes, tops. But you will have peace of mind for days and days. It’s the gift to yourself that keeps on giving.
As always, add any new thoughts to the Friday Backup post and peruse new comments in order to find out about methods, plug-ins, and devices that help you quickly back up your data and accounts.
*******
And now the blogs…
But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week. In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:
- “#StartAsking for Recognition” (No Kidding in NZ)
- “NIAW: #StartAsking Yourself” (Unpregnant Chicken)
- “Perfect Imperfections” (Lavender Luz)
- “#StartAsking About What Causes Infertility” (Searching for Our Silver Lining)
Okay, now my choices this week.
Family Build With a Twist has a post about life long after resolving infertility. As you’ve probably guessed, resolving infertility doesn’t wrap up the experience in a neat package that you can set in a storage box, never to look at again. As she writes, “As the mother of a tiny human well into childhood as opposed to babyhood, I should be over all this infertility stuff, right? I’m not.” Clearly this resonated with me because I feel the same way. (And, yes, I am a glass half empty person, too.)
No Kidding in NZ has a post highlighting the Joy Olympics — the exact opposite of the Pain Olympics in which the person is told that they have no right to be happy (instead of no right to be sad). It’s a bizarre idea; that people believe there is only one path in life in which you can feel joy. And it made me stop and think about all the other places we play the Joy Olympics in life: you can’t be happy if you don’t get married, own a home, go on vacations. It’s a really thought-provoking post that will have you recheck the way you view the world.
Lastly, do you ever get that feeling where you think you should do X without really knowing why, and then by doing X, you end up being in the right place at the right time? Hello, Universe? Our Wish has a post about a day when she was considering taking a day off of work, and what happened when she decided to go in anyway. Trigger warning: a miscarriage is discussed in the post.
The roundup to the Roundup: The rain is bringing me down. Super Mario muscle memory. Your weekly backup nudge. And lots of great posts to read. So what did you find this week? Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between April 29th and May 6th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week? Read the original open thread post here.
19 comments
Donkey Kong?
I don’t love the rain for the same hair-related reasons. Also I don’t love to be wet all the time, while fully dressed. But honestly I find the full, bright sun to be a bit oppressive too. I guess I’m picky but I’d prefer partly cloudy to anything else.
Yes. Donkey kong.
I loved your post on Mother’s Day: https://www.stirrup-queens.com/2016/05/that-day/.
I don’t work nights. Stupid iPhone!
I feel the same way about the rain! blech
Donkey Kong?
I am not much of a gamer, but I do believe the answer re: Super Mario is Donkey Kong. 🙂
As for the weather affecting my moods, absolutely. Particularly when it’s grey & rainy for days on end. :p I grew up on the Canadian Prairies where the temps are often -20C, -30C, occasionally -40C (which is the same as -40F, btw!). The joke was always “but it’s a DRY cold!” — the snow would squeak under your boots — but even though it was freezing, the sky was often clear & blue & the sun shining. Then I moved to southern Ontario where it’s definitely more of a damp cold — which to me often feels a whole lot colder. It’s also grey & cloudy more often than not, & the pristine white snow quickly turns to grey slush. I found/find it horribly depressing. These days, when I get jokes about “Winterpeg” and the cold there, I always respond “yes, it’s cold — but the sun will be shining!!” I do miss that.
I should qualify that those temps I mentioned are during the WINTER, lol. 😉 It can get pretty darned hot (& humid) on the Prairies in the summer. 😉
Donkey Kong!
I like the gray days, because I know there will be plenty of sunny ones soon enough. Plus, it’s always kind of damp here in the land of high humidity.
We tend to NEED rain here, and I do well with it for one day in a row, but after that I get Eeyore-y.
It cracks me up to think of you coaching the two boys like that.
I’m with you. A gray/rainy day here and there is no biggie, but I honestly can’t remember the last time we’ve had sun in these parts. Its starting to get me down—especially since its the time of year when its supposed to be sunny & warm & beautiful! Weeks like this in February would be more tolerable, because what do you expect from February?
We’ve been dealing with similar weather and it reminds me so much of Seattle. When I first moved out there, the topic of seasonal affectiveness disorder was commonly discussed. Those who stayed had to find an outline for the winter/spring blues. And with sunshine came a city riding the high from their vitamin D dose.
Repeating all the above with Donkey Kong.
My second helping is Lori’s post from Monday: http://lavenderluz.com/2016/05/anti-fragile.html
This one from BentNotBroken: http://bentnotbrokenblog.blogspot.com/2016/05/starting-conversations.html?m=1
Finally, a shot out to Leah: http://www.leahcampbellwrites.com/2016/05/06/week-in-review-motherhood-after-infertility/
Oh, yes, the weather affects my moods too. Though if I’m in the right mood, a gloomy, rainy day is absolutely perfect to spend indoors. And I’ve definitely lived places where I think,”oh no, not another hot, sunny day!” Weather. I love it. I don’t know how I’d cope in places where winter lasts months and months though.
Thanks for mentioning my Joy Olympics post. I see Bent Not Broken, and Lori’s posts have already been nominated. I liked Cristy’s post too – perhaps because it was along the lines of mine, of seeking happiness from outside. http://searchingforoursilverlining.blogspot.co.nz/2016/05/microblogmondays-unnecessary-competition.html
Did You Read ready player obe allready? Lots of 80’s arcadegamelove
Loved, loved, loved this post from Mrs. Spit:
http://mrsspit.ca/?p=5722
I’m with loribeth on the winter/cold issue. Growing up on the Oregon coast, rain and damp were the norm. Once I moved to Finland years ago, I learned what dry cold was and while the winters are looong and dark, I definitely prefer that over dampness. That’s not saying that I don’t enjoy a good rain at times, but I hate being chilled to the bone and nothing can warm me up! And you can definitely tell when the sun first starts shining here, everyone is happy and smiling.
Thank you so much for featuring my post. I hope you had a fantastic Mother’s Day Weekend! Also, I love rain. I actually feel better when it’s a little darker out and there is a little rain, and I love thunderstorms at night. I’ve kind of always been like that, some of my best memories as a child is playing in the rain with my friends.
I also loved this Mother’s Day post from Not Quite Old, who is not an infertility blogger per se, but living without children, not by choice:
https://notquiteold.wordpress.com/2016/05/07/not-having-children-2/
I’m ok with rain to a point. I know I’m wishing for it a lot lately as its so dry here. I also am not a fan of spending large amounts of time out in the sun as my skin isn’t a fan. That said it does affect my mood if I don’t see the sun somewhat regularly. I’m mot sure I could ever move back to Seattle.