ChickieNob and I have been busy rewatching the first two seasons of The Crown to prepare for the third season release on November 17th. I love rewatching shows because knowing what happens next frees me to notice the small details, such as the music running in the background of a scene or seeing an infrequent character — such as Porchey — as one of the guests at the dinner table.

At first, we were both upset with the idea of a different cast, but I think we’ve come to a place of peace with it. I think it was smart of Netflix to give us the heads up so we could go into the series knowing the actors would change overtime. Plus, it feels like Olivia Colman is channeling Claire Foy in the trailer, creating a bridge between the first actress and the actual person they’re both portraying. It doesn’t hurt that they’ve gotten an amazing second cast to replace the first one.

But it is bittersweet to spend time with these early versions of Queen Elizabeth or Princess Margaret. To know that in a few short weeks, new actors will slip into the roles and the story will continue.

How do you feel about television shows replacing actors for the same character?

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

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I feel like I’m entering a period of cocooning. I feel myself getting quieter and quieter, standing back and observing without feeling completely a part of things. I don’t feel the impulse to write — instead I have to convince myself that I want to sit down and type up a post. I don’t have an impulse to scroll.

If I let it happen, I know I emerge out the other side feeling more talkative, more engaged, more connected to the people and world around me. I feel a need, once again, to write. A need to check in on Facebook and see what people are doing.

If I fight it, I just feel like crap. So I’m letting myself cocoon a bit and observe. We’ll see what I notice this time.

Do you ever feel yourself pulling back and inward?

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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.

I’ve decided that my dream job is to join the Digital Ludeme Project. I’m not sure what my role would be — digital cheerleader? — but there must be a need for someone who is a passionate lover of ancient games who has zero ability to contribute to the AI aspect of the project?

Oooooh, or maybe an organizer hosting ancient game clubs in various cities once the project fully releases in 2020? Help people set up face-to-face game groups, use the DLP’s work, celebrate the project, get addicted to senet.

All I know is that I wanted in as soon as I heard about it.

I can’t be the only person who is totally geeked out about this project, right?

Memory has clearly been on my mind this week, and it has everything to do with my newfound love of birding. Everyone thinks I’m being sarcastic about birding. But I am really serious: I am going all-in with birding. Like passionately doing everything except waking up early to go on bird hikes. I’m not there yet. I need to be convinced that waking up early is worth it.

So the whole memory thing is that you can watch a bird only until it flies away. If you’ve invested in a great camera, you can capture a close-up of the bird, but most of the time, you’re memorizing things such as the marking patterns and behaviour in a small window of time, and somehow retaining it until you can get to the bird guide.

I am terrible at this.

Number one, birds do not stop moving, even when you’ve asked them to hold still. Also, I tend to only be interested in tiny, cute birds. Tiny, cute birds are harder to see within the foliage and they move around. A lot. And they’re hard to track while they’re moving. So this all points toward a perfect storm of frustration.

I am now attempting to go about it the other way, memorizing birds I may see in my area at each time of year, and then seeing if the bird I’m seeing matches the criteria I’ve kept in my head. That whole memorization thing. See, so thought-consuming.

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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.

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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:

• “La vie sans enfant non choisie, côté face” (Des méandres aux étoiles)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Searching for Our Silver Lining has a post about owning your narrative. This is the post’s main opening: “Each and every organism that walks this earth has its own story to tell. This statement in and of itself isn’t terribly profound, but where it becomes reflective is when a layer is added that often most of these stories are repressed. This repression is often not done to be actively malicious but is a consequence of someone else viewing the sharing of an individual story as being threatening to their own. Despite our individualities, our stories are intertwined. Sharing is often not easy.” Um… YES. I was sucked in from those first sentences, and it only got more interesting from there.

The Uterus Monologues has a post, written in third person, about observing a group of mothers in a cafe. She writes, “She never can resist watching these women. It’s never the same group, but that hardly matters. The group changes, the age of their babies changes, but the way they make her feel doesn’t.” It is such a powerful piece of writing.

Lastly, One Step at a Time writes about a decision. Her husband died one year ago this week. She explains depression, “She talked about ourselves as if we are a bucket. If little stones hit us, we can recover easily. But if something really big happens to us, it leaves a big hole. And that’s when we become susceptible to other things to fill it up.” She has gotten a new therapist and made the decision to move. She writes: “I have many fears about moving. But I am more afraid of standing still.” Sending her many good thoughts as she keeps moving.

The roundup to the Roundup: Birding takes 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 October 4th and 11th) 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.

Memory is clearly on my mind this week. Though this is a little bit of a different take on reality and memory.

I already meditate daily, but I read Dan Harris’s 10% Happier recently and ended up highlighting things out of every chapter. If you don’t meditate, it’s like reading a 300-page blog post on one person’s foray into meditation. If you do meditate, he still has a bunch of really interesting thoughts tucked into the pages.

One of them comes on page 77 when Dan is speaking with his uncle. His uncle is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, and he asks him a question:

“Which is more exciting to you? Reality or memory?” I paused, considered it, and said, “I wish I could say reality, but it’s probably memory.”

Reality, as in the present moment — experiencing something the first time — or memory, as in the recollection of that moment. The winner if you’re trying to live in the present is probably reality. But, like Dan, I also find memory the more precious option. Even if it is unreliable.

If I could really love and drain every last drop out of the here and now, but have no memory of these moments in the future OR maybe not deeply experience each minute but have lovely memories of the overall day in the future, I would probably take more in the future and less in the now. Even if those memories were only partially accurate.

How would you answer?