Category — Friday Blog Roundup

This week, I purchased two more sets of tickets so the ChickieNob could see Cabaret for the fourth and fifth time. I took her to see it a few weeks ago — it was her first time seeing the show — and during intermission, she made me promise that we would go again.

I love that it means so much to her because I’ve written before how the show saved me in the 90s. Maybe every generation gets their own mesmerizing Emcee. Mason Alexander Park is her Alan Cumming, holding court on the stage and making your eye follow them as they weave their way around the dancers.

Chickie commented that she didn’t know why watching the show made her so happy when the show itself is so sad, but I think it’s really about connecting with a character who is comfortable in their own skin, even if the world around them isn’t comfortable with that skin. They are leading the party; at least, until the gravity of the situation yanks them down. Who doesn’t want to watch someone who is unapologetically themselves?

I’ve seen a lot of performances of Cabaret–as in a lot of performances of Cabaret–and this one may just be my favourite, even if that Alan Cumming performance in the 90s will always hold a special place in my heart. It could be because Mason Alexander Park is that good, because the whole cast is amazing (especially Mitchell Hébert and Donna Migliaccio but also dancing by Connor James Reilly and Andre Hinds––they are incredible), or because Chickie literally lights up when she talks about the show. I just started playing the trailer so I could embed it above, and she heard it from downstairs and ran into my room like a moth to flame. That girl has some serious Cabaret blood in her veins.

*******

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:

• None… sniff…

Okay, now my choices this week.

Dreaming of Diapers has a post about not being ready to let go and move on from infertility. She writes, “See, this is my ONE life to live… and if by damned I don’t try my damnedest at the one dream I have ever had… to be pregnant and deliver a healthy child, then I wouldn’t be true to myself… and it would haunt me for the rest of my life.” It’s an important post about how we need to know ourselves. We get one life; we’re the only ones who get to live our life. We need to make decisions we’re comfortable with, even if we wish we had different decisions to make. Go give her support.

Life Without Baby has a post about a person leaving their community. It’s not because they’re parenting; it’s because they don’t want to identify as childless anymore. She explains, “She’s leaving because she no longer wants to carry around that label and all the stigma and resentment that can come along with it. She’s moving on, I assume, to embrace her life as a woman, with all its facets.” It’s a great post about identities.

And speaking of identities, The Road Less Travelled has a post about diversifying your identity that fascinated me. In the same way someone may want to diversify their investment portfolio to protect themselves from the inevitable ups and downs of life, people may want to diversify their identity. Head over to read her write up of the article.

Lastly, JewishIVF has a post about how even good change is hard. She has a lot of feelings as she prepares for maternity leave, and she writes, “My biggest issue was feeling overwhelmed with all the changes personally and professionally at the same time.” It IS a lot. Even when you want your life to be turned upside down, it can be overwhelming as you’re flipping over.

The roundup to the Roundup: Every generation finds their Cabaret. 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 September 27th and October 4th) 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.

Happy almost New Year. At least, it is almost a new year in my world. 5780. Which is clearly different from 2019. Though we also have 12 months (except for years that contain a leap month — yes, we get a whole extra month instead of a single day).

It sometimes feels very complicated to straddle two different calendars. Like my brain simultaneously moves through time on a lunar cycle and on a solar cycle.

Rosh Hashanah (translates to “head of the year”) starts on Sunday night. I always associate fall with the start of a new year; much more so than January.

So here’s to new beginnings.

*******

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:

• “Parent Teacher Conferences” (Infertile Phoenix)
• “It’s Okay to Quit” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

No Kidding in NZ has a post about opening a newspaper and finding your reality reflected back to you. Loss is often whispered, but the newspaper contained a two-page spread on baby loss–from miscarriage to infant loss. The article is about a new government website providing information on loss, and she writes, “The name of the website is Whetūrangitia – a Maori word that refers to a person dying as a star returning to the sky to join their ancestors.” It is so important to see your story being told.

Much Ado About Nothing has a post about last babies and the feelings miscarriage leaves behind. She explains: “Something has been missing from my life. I’ve been trying to fill it with other busyness… traveling on my own, going to shows, visiting more with friends, various projects of all kinds. It’s all been just a temporary lifting… nothing that sticks. Nothing that lasts.” Let’s just say that it hit very close to home, and I identified with it a lot. Sending hugs.

Lastly, I have Infertile Phoenix’s post down here, too, because I read it last Friday. She writes, “This was my first round of conferences with parents after knowing I will never have children.” What could have been a hard time wasn’t, and she continues: “I write this post to celebrate my progress, and I write this post to share my joy.” Go celebrate with her.

The roundup to the Roundup: Happy New Year! 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 September 20th and 27th) 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.

All week, people have been asking if we’re going to see the Downton Abbey movie. “Going to see?” Try, we’ve already seen it.

The ChickieNob was terrified that there would be spoilers if she waited to see the movie over the weekend. (We gently explained that spoilers aren’t really part of the Downton universe. The rich remain rich. The tea is always hot. Mrs. Patmore is making the same salmon, year after year.) So we went last night. And we bought the tickets the day tickets went on sale several weeks ago.

Not revealing any plot points but suffice to say that it was like hanging out with a bunch of old friends. It’s a show that has zero characters that I dislike, so I was happy with everyone on the screen. It was just a super enjoyable evening all around.

And it made me wonder if this was going to be a new trend: bringing television shows to the big screen a year or two (or three) after they end. I can’t really think of anything else I’d want to see in this way, can you?

*******

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:

• “On Luck” (By the Brooke)
• “Michael Burry Trashes Index Funds – Are We Screwed?” (Mr. Money Mustache)
• “Congrats On Keeping The Kids Alive–I’m The Mom Who Couldn’t” (An Unexpected Family Outing)
• “You Can Have Me” (Mrs. Spit… Still Spouting Off)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Life Without Baby has a post about World Childless Week. It runs through the weekend, so you may have been noticing posts around the Internet. If not, seek them out and support the childless not by choice community.

My Path to Mommyhood has a post about a back-to-school night that left her in tears. Teachers were sharing their personal lives with the parents. She writes, “To be the coteacher who has to follow slides full of extensive family trees with pictures completely devoid of children (look at my husband! my cat! my books! my garden! a trail near my house!) is a little… painful. It feels like an amplified contrast.” It’s a moving post about feeling a sense of Otherness.

Slaying, Blogging, Whatever… has a post about connections (and missed connections) that I loved. She details interacting with various family members throughout the day through the lens of connections or missed connections. It made me see my own day differently.

Lastly, Well-Conceived 180 has a football analogy. I admit that I don’t know football or what a line of scrimmage is… but I loved this totally accessible thought: “Because I’m reproductively-challenged and a foster parent in a family-oriented community, this prickly place is familiar to me. I am constantly deciding whether to speak up, potentially causing discomfort for my friends, or to just stuff it and move on.” It’s about going on the offense or defense (which I get!) when it comes to telling your story.

The roundup to the Roundup: Downton Abbey movie! 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 September 13th and 20th) 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.

It was strange to think on 9/11 that 18 year olds (and, for that matter, even 24 year olds) have no memory of 9/11. A long time ago, it was only small children who had no memory of that day, but now it’s adults, too. The next generation has a totally different outlook when the date rolls around on the calendar, which is true for every major historical event. My parents don’t remember World War II. I don’t remember the Vietnam War. My kids were born well after 9/11.

I felt very tense leading up to the day. The kids did not. I have a hard time explaining how that day felt.

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It’s Friday the 13th. I feel this compulsion to write that every time the Roundup falls on the 13th. Just ignore me.

*******

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:

• None… sniff.

Okay, now my choices this week.

In Quest of a Binky Moongee writes about getting together with a friend to celebrate her friend’s 40th birthday. Her friend is thrilled to reach 40 and simultaneously sad that she didn’t hit life goals yet that she had hoped to hit, such as a partner and children. She explains: “It is hard sometimes for her to watch others at her age move forward in one direction while she is going another direction.” She realizes how much she understands based on her own experience with infertility. It’s a reminder of the importance of being there for each other.

No Kidding in NZ highlights an exchange between two US television hosts. One stated “that he thought there was ‘a bigger difference between people with kids and people who don’t have kids, than Red state Blue state’ politics.” I don’t agree, though Mali says things so much better than I do. Everyone should read her answer.

Lastly, Anabegins has a post that I could relate to about coping mechanisms (as a fellow self-distractor and seeker of comfort in easy ways). I liked her first point about how only part of you believes the negative because if you fully believed the negative (and didn’t have a secret nagging suspicion that you’re also sort of okay?), you would make different decisions. It’s an interesting post.

The roundup to the Roundup: Thoughts on 9/11. Friday the 13th. 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 September 6th and 13th) 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.

I’ve been mostly avoiding Facebook this week — not due to the endless back-to-school posts but because I saw something really disturbing on the site. It was the first time it happened to me (stumbled across an upsetting image in a group), and while I intellectually knew that people posted disturbing images (and Facebook employees were emotionally scarred working to block them), I didn’t realize how much being confronted by an image when I least expected it would stick with me for days afterward.

I don’t want to write about the image itself — I reported it, an admin took it down minutes later, and I was able to block the person (not a friend, just a stranger in the same group) so I never accidentally see his posts again because I don’t trust the stranger to exercise sound judgment.

It gave me pause about spending time on the site. Up until that point, I would have said that I enjoy scrolling through my feed. Even if seeing stuff I wasn’t invited to stings, overall, my feed is usually a happy place. I check it once or twice a day for a few minutes. It makes it easy to keep in touch with people I would have drifted away from in another era. It makes me happy to see their lives continuing to unfold. But now I’m really freaked out when I think about the site.

It is, of course, equally possible to see a disturbing image in the newspaper or encounter something upsetting in day-to-day life. But… there was something so unnerving about a person sharing a disturbing image in order to make a joke… I don’t know. It made my heart go out to the people whose job it is to cull those images from the site. And apologies if I miss a bunch of your posts while I avoid the site and read books about magic instead.

*******

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:

• “The Day Before” (Torthúil)
• “Ask the Grumpies: Getting Started with Money” (Grumpy Rumblings) — thank you for this!
• “Living with Anxiety” (My Path to Mommyhood)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Lavender Luz has a post about adoption language at the zoo and why our words matter. Her guest poster explains, “The adoption world has spent decades encouraging adoptee-centered language, even down to the way we abbreviate words, with the purpose of strengthening relationships, empowering all in the adoption triad, and supporting positive views of the adoption experience.” There’s a reason for the word choice. When we ignore it, we’re saying so much more than just the words that come out of our mouths. It’s an interesting discussion on language.

The Road Less Travelled has a post about her very amusing “back-to-school” Facebook post (which I wish I had seen in real time vs. via her post; another thing I missed avoiding Facebook this week). She admits about the back-to-school posts, “I ‘liked’ them all (well, most of them 😉 ) but as the day went on I was feeling more & more fatigued by the onslaught.” Her solution — add something very cute to the conversation. I’m grateful for it.

Finally, FinallyMyLines has a post about grief intensifying as she’s parenting two children. She writes, “What has gone away is the fear and the heartbreak of the possibility of a life without living children … At the same time, I feel my grief has grown, shifted back to something closer to how I felt shortly after my later losses. That’s because I suddenly understand exactly what Alexis, Zoe, and Quinn missed.” It is a beautiful and heartbreaking post about the thin line of loss.

The roundup to the Roundup: Why I’m avoiding Facebook. 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 August 30th and September 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.