We’ll watch some of Harry and Meghan’s documentary this weekend. Part of me feels dirty watching it — like reading a tabloid or listening to someone I don’t know well complain about their family (which, I guess, is exactly what this is). The other part of me feels like it’s a counterbalance to hear their voices when you can’t help but pick up on the media’s hot take while scrolling past headlines.

In any case, a decision was made. We’re watching.

*******

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 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. To read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

• “Community and Support Groups” (No Kidding in NZ)

Okay, now my choices this week.

PocoBrat has a post about donations and giving people what they need. It’s a good reminder about food banks: “Giving to food banks is not supposed to be about how it makes me feel. So I’ve been good about cash contributions.” But I think it’s a good reminder about giving in general. When we give, the point is to give the other person what they need or want, not what we want to give. And the best times are when those two impulses line up.

Lastly, Slaying, Blogging, Whatever… has a post about thankfulness. I felt the same way about returning to the theater: “Something about LIVE performances, and being THERE with them as both the audience and the actors/crew putting on the show are in the moment and ENJOYING being there and in the moment. It was like coming home.” Perfectly said.

The roundup to the Roundup: We’re watching Harry and Meghan. 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 November 27 – December 9) 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.

ChickieNob texted me from school to ask about a brass rubbing she made when she was eight years old at St Martin in the Fields at the London Brass Rubbing Center. It fits perfectly with her senior capstone project. I knew exactly where it was, and I told her I’d grab it so she could look at it when she got home.

I ran downstairs and remembered that we had moved the art when we got the new sofa. No worries — all the art would be together, and it was a lot of framed paintings, so it would be easy to quickly locate the tube with the brass rubbings in the storage room.

Except they weren’t there. And then, I started to second guess whether that was where we stored the picture. This launched an on-again, off-again march through the house, opening drawers, returning to cabinets, and searching through boxes. I tried standing on a chair in different rooms to see the space from a different angle. I tried shining a flashlight onto shelves.

I know you can attach a tile to important objects so you can find them, but I need a tile for every item in the house. I know I’ll find the rubbings many months or years from now when I’m cleaning out a random box. But right now, it’s really frustrating to know they are somewhere under this roof but completely inaccessible because I can’t remember where I put them.

My 30th reunion just happened. I would have loved to see everyone, but I’m uncomfortable socializing with the pandemic, and it was in a bar. So I would have had to scream to be heard through my mask while not drinking anything. I don’t know. It just sounded like a bad idea.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what my high school self would think about my current life. She would be shocked that I’m not a doctor. Stunned that some friendships have dried up and other ones she hadn’t predicted would have staying power have continued. She would be thrilled that I’m married to Josh and have boy-girl twins. She would not know what to make of my job. She would be confused why I don’t have an apartment in London with wall-to-wall carpeting. She would be confused why I don’t seem fixated on wall-to-wall carpeting. She certainly spent a lot of time considering it.

She would be happy that I still have guinea pigs. And still wear overalls. And own a lot of books. And am close with my siblings and parents. She would disapprove of the plants.

What would your high school self think of your current adult life?

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

*******

This was going around the internet a few weeks ago, but I’m still learning from it. (For one, I am guilty of perpetuating the Phil Collins “In the Air Tonight” falsehood, most recently to the twins.)

I learned that mapmakers used to write “here are lions” on unknown places on maps. “The classical phrase used by medieval cartographers was HIC SVNT LEONES (literally, “here are lions”) when denoting unknown territories on maps.”

What did you learn?

*******

Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

When the twins were little, we went on story vacations. We’d read a book and then go to the place, imagining the plot line unfolding while standing in the space.

But A Strong Sense of Place wrote about an idea that takes it to the next level: an audio story you can only hear if you’re in the place where it’s set. “To take part in this thrilling adventure, you need to visit Sweden and set off into the Swedish nature. This is the only place in the world where you can listen to the story.”

It’s a geo-restricted story that unlocks when you’re in the place. Think of the desire tourism boards could create, setting up geo-restricted stories, movies, and music that you need to be in the space to experience. You could change it year after year, creating new reasons to go back so you could hear the update.

I once wrote about playing a game like this. It’s a brilliant idea.