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

*******

If you liked last week’s word game, you may also like this one.

Every day, you guess a word. The computer tells you whether your word comes before or after the word of the day. For instance, you may guess “milk,” and if the word is higher in the alphabet than “milk,” it will put the word above the blank box. And if the word is lower than “milk,” it will put the word below the blank box.

Then you guess another word and another word. I know it sounds like it will take a million years to guess the word, but it usually takes me about 6 minutes and between 15 – 20 guesses. Which is kind of cool when you think about how you can zero in on the correct word pretty quickly just knowing that it’s before or after a certain word.

*******

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.

Right before news about Omicron heated up, I went back to the theater for the first time in almost two years. I waffled all afternoon, but the reality was that the theater situation (vaccine-mandated and masked) was better than the twins’ school situation (only masked). If we sent them to school, we should also be willing to go into the theater.

I mean, yes, school is mandatory, and theater is a choice. But still.

I expected to feel emotional entering the theater. I went from attending shows several times per month to staying home for two years. Of course it was going to be emotional. But I sobbed as we walked to our seats. I was overwhelmed to be in a space that felt like home.

I didn’t expect to feel so panicked about sitting in a seat. I felt like my nervous system was inflamed from being around so many people. (It was a small theater, but I haven’t been around other humans in almost two years.) It took me a long time to calm down afterward.

And I didn’t expect to cry so hard at the end of the show. We were seeing Hedwig and the Angry Inch — a favorite — and the song “Midnight Radio” gets to me on a normal day.

But this wasn’t a normal day. This was my first time in two years being at an opening night, seeing hundreds of arms stretched up to the ceiling at the same time, swaying in unison. I haven’t missed going to the movie theater because I can recreate watching a film at home. And I haven’t missed eating in a restaurant because I can bring the food home. But I’ve missed having a collective experience with people, feeling the same thing at the same time.

I’m joining the cool kids and getting my booster next week. Unlike last time when we needed to drive an hour away (twice), we have appointments nearby. I’ve cleared a day in case I don’t feel well, have books and television at the ready, and I am prepared to become extra protected.

Though still not taking off my mask. Or doing anything different. But if they’re passing out boosters, I’d love to take a booster.

*******

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

• “#MicroblogMondays: Things I Haven’t Done Since the Pandemic Began” (The Road Less Travelled)

Okay, now my choices this week.

The Next 15000 Days talks about a work friend who knows her story. The woman is experiencing infertility, and she talks about it with everyone except Klara. She writes, “But the interesting thing is that she didn’t want to discuss infertility with me. And I was actually the only person in the group who has experiences with infertility.” It’s an interesting situation—would you want to confide in the person who may understand or the people who probably won’t?

By the Brooke returns with an update post. She explains: “So I’ve hesitated to return here to post… anything. Do I want a dramatic good-bye post? But what if I want to come back? How do I even begin to write a post knowing it would be the final blog post?” It’s not a goodbye, but it is a placeholder post, keeping the space open in case she feels moved to return.

Lastly, Finding a Different Path writes about holiday traditions. It’s an important post to read if you’re feeling lost this season. She writes about Christmas, “It used to be a horrid reminder of all we lost. But, I think about our new house and our new prelit tree and all the ways that we have made the holidays ours, enjoyable for what they are and not what they could have been but weren’t.” It’s lovely and filled with hope.

The roundup to the Roundup: Getting boosted. 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 19 – December 3) 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’s the last month of 2021. I’m going to be honest: I don’t know where this year has gone. I can’t believe we’ve done another full year of the pandemic. Like the pandemic started in 2019 — it’s in the name. How are we going to be in 2022 in 31 days?

And the weird thing is that my life hasn’t changed much post-vaccine. I am still mostly staying in. Still not hanging out with friends. Still not traveling or dining out. I go out a little more — especially when we have a mask mandate — but overall, my life in December 2020 looks a lot like my life in December 2021. So it’s not as if I’ve gotten back in the swing of things and time feels like it’s moving quickly because I’m doing so many interesting new things.

I am not, for instance, making “this year count after a lost year.”

Nor is this year emotionally that different from last year. It is more of the same; the same unknowns and the same questions and the same frustrations and the same gratitude.

Except 2020 felt like it took a long time, and 2021 felt like it took no time.

What about you?

I love a game. And everyone I show it to loves it, too. You can only play it once a day, so our friends text us how many moves it took to win. It’s hard to wait until the game resets the next day.

The game is called Wordle, which… isn’t the greatest name but don’t let that deter you.

You are trying to guess the word of the day. You start by typing any random 5-letter word. The game then tells you one of three things:

• The letter turns green if it is in that day’s word and in the correct space
• The letter turns yellow if it is in the word but not in the correct space
• The letter turns grey if it is not in the word at all

You take that information and make a second guess. It once again tells you how close you are to guessing that day’s word. You win when you guess the word.

My first word above was “boxer.” I learned that “e” and “r” are in the word but not in those spaces. “B,” “o,” and “x” are not in the word of the day at all. I then tried “retry,” getting the “e” in the correct place. That led to trying out “heard,” which gave me three letters (not sure why I skipped using “h” in the next two words considering I knew it had to be in the word). So on and so on.

It is so simple but brilliant. The moment you finish, a timer starts counting down until the next time you can play. That part breaks my heart, but I am so happy this game exists.