The other great episode of Note to Self was about transhumanism.  If you’re not familiar with transhumanism, it’s a movement for using technology to live a better, longer life.  I bet you’re thinking, “Oh, I use apps on my phone to lead a better life.  I guess I’m a transhumanist.”  But slow down, cowgirl.  There’s a little more to the story.

It’s really about using technology to extend your life or capabilities.  It’s about better living, through science, but like really really really through science.  Think about every human limitation: Our need for food and sleep, how quickly we can move, how far we can see.  And then think about addressing that need with science, such as removing our normal, healthy eyes and replacing them with robot eyes that can see miles into the distance.  Or, probably more accessible in the here and now, attempting to extend a person’s life span or cheat death indefinitely.

I’ll admit that while I don’t even cover up my grey to visually extend my youth in an easy, cost-effective way, I am intrigued by the idea of using technology to extend life.  Would I actually participate if it became possible?  I don’t know.  But it’s really interesting to think about.

I guess what it comes down to is this: If a loved one becomes ill, and there is a treatment for their illness, we expect them to do that treatment in order to extend their life — both for their own gain and for our gain, too.  If I became ill, I would accept the treatment not just for myself but because I feel I owe that to Josh and the kids (as well as my parents and siblings).

Would it follow that we would feel we owed ourselves and our loved ones the acceptance of these practices if they became mainstream?  If it was common to replace your heart with a robotic heart at 60, would you do it for yourself or your loved ones, or would you allow yourself to be one of the throwbacks who gracefully ages and dies at what would be — at that time — young?

I can’t say never because I wear glasses that enhance my vision, and if my doctor told me tomorrow that I would die without a mechanical heart, I would take that mechanical heart.  Moreover, I would still feel human even with that mechanical heart.

But I can see from that statement that it’s a field of grey; how much could I replace before I stop feeling like myself, and what if it was just to live better and not live longer?  As in, what if there was nothing medically wrong: Would I take the robot eyes just to see farther?  And since we clearly do things now to live longer, what is the age where we would be okay with death vs. feeling like we need to keep taking these steps to extend life and extend life and extend life.

Your thoughts?

As everyone knows, I love Note to Self.  She recently had Chade-Meng Tan as a guest. He’s a former Google employee who has become a writer and speaker on inner peace.

The entire episode is 24 minutes long.  You can listen to it here.  (Note to Self, I wish you could embed episodes!)

At the end of the episode, Meng gave listeners an exercise.  Every hour, on the hour, think of two people and say to yourself, “I wish for X and Y to be happy.”  Go ahead, try it.  Think of two people you know — or don’t know — and think to yourself, “I wish for Jack and Jill to be happy.”  (Except… you know… fill in their names.  Don’t say Jack and Jill because Jack broke his crown so happiness may be eluding him at the moment, anyway.)

I bet you’re smiling right now.  Maybe not a big, beaming smile, but a small one.  That’s what happened to me when I did this exercise in the car.  I thought of my two people and said the magic words.  And then Chade-Meng Tan pointed out that I was likely smiling, and I was.  It makes us happy to think about making secret wishes for other people; good wishes that may even come true.

Set a timer to go off every hour, and either think of two new people or the same people, and wish them happiness.  You can choose co-workers or family members or friends.  They can be people you’re seeing that day or people you’ll never meet.  They can be complete strangers; just someone you noticed in a restaurant who looks like he/she could use a little extra happiness.

If y’all are okay with it, I may send you a silent, secret happiness wish.

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

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Josh’s co-worker’s church was hit on Sunday.  A sign stretching out in front of the church announcing services in Spanish was defaced with the words “Trump Nation, Whites Only.”  This comes on the heels of a local middle school defaced with swastikas.  As of Friday, there have been 200 reported incidents of “hateful harassment and intimidation.”  So these acts aren’t part of that 200-count since they happened after Friday at 5 pm.

I live in the most liberal of states, and this is the most liberal county in the state.

Let that sink in for a moment.

I want to be writing about other things, really, I do.  I have a short list of non-political things I want to unpack such as robot eyes and this great hourly trick I learned for feeling more kindness during a stressful day.  THAT is what I want to be writing about, not this.

And yet this is what I keep sitting down to type.  It is what I keep unpacking with friends in conversation.  Maybe it is because I don’t feel safe.  Maybe if I was in a different position, I could set it mentally aside.  But I’m not.  So I keep talking about it and thinking about it and reading about it.

How do things feel for you a week down the road?

Tomorrow… kindness mind game.  I kinda sorta promise.

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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.

This blog changed my life.  Ten years ago, I felt so wholly alone as we delved back into treatments to add to our family, and I found all of you.  We haven’t had the exact same experience, and we come from diverse backgrounds and make diverse decisions on how to treat our infertility or loss.  But somehow this has always worked as an informal therapy session between us.

Thank you, blogging.

Yesterday I got together with my interactive fiction club, and it immediately launched into an informal therapy session about the election.  It’s not that I haven’t had that in other spaces over the last few days, but this conversation was exactly what I needed at the exact time; to remember that there are caring individuals out there who are going to do the hard work of offering protection to groups of people and organizations that need it over the next few years, even when they are going to need protection, too.

And then last night, we turned on SNL to watch Kate McKinnon sing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as Hillary Clinton.  I started sobbing — just as I’m doing now, writing this — on her added stanza:

I did my best; it wasn’t much;
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch.
I’ve told the truth; I didn’t come to fool you.
And even though it all went wrong,
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah.

I woke up the kids and brought them into our room to watch it a second time and told them that Mr. Roger’s “look for the helpers” advice rings true.  Look for the people who are supporting you and have your back.  Support them and have their back in return.  Gravitate towards those who are publicly, loudly, and clearly denouncing the swastika graffiti that has sprouted up across America this week — like on our local middle school — as well as the racist, homophobic, and misogynistic sentiments that have come from the mouth of our president-elect and his supporters.

They’re out there.  You just need to focus on those people in the larger crowd.

Thank you, Kate McKinnon.

I’m done crying, and I’ve moved on to the take action part of recovering from the election.  There are a lot of groups and causes that could use your energy right now.  Don’t boo… work?  Protect?  Aid?  Let me know if you are looking for outlets for your energy.  I would love to connect you with like-minded people.

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I thought I would tell this story in a how-sweet-is-life post on Wednesday, but that clearly wasn’t to be, so I’ll put this here.  Before we left the house to vote, the twins and I spent a few minutes practicing filling in a third of a bubble at the kitchen table.

We got to the polling station and did our usual song-and-dance in the voting booth, and then we brought our ballot to the machine.

Election Worker: I think it’s so sweet that the three of you do this together.  Just feed your card into this machine, dear.

Wolvog: Let’s all hold the paper together.

Me: Yes, wait, is everyone holding on?

ChickieNob: Yes.

Wolvog: Yes.

Election Worker: Just feed it into the machine.

Our three-headed election monster attempted to feed said floppy piece of paper into the machine.  We continuously missed the slot.  Each time we missed the slot, we started nervously giggling which made us miss the slot again.  And again.

Election Worker: Just feed it in there, dear.  Just do it.

Me: We didn’t practice this.  We only practiced the bubble.

Election Worker: Please.  Will you just feed the paper into the machine?

Wolvog: How could we have practiced?

Me: We could have made a fake machine out of LEGOS with a narrow slot and then tried to feed paper into it.

ChickieNob: I don’t think we have enough LEGOS.

Me: Well, it wouldn’t need to be this big.  We would just need to make a realistic slot…

Election Worker: THE BALLOT.  JUST PUT IT IN.

Not so sweet now, is it Ms. Election Worker?

We finally got it into the machine and realized WE HAD TO DO IT A SECOND TIME FOR THE SECOND SHEET.  The woman definitely didn’t love that I involved the kids in this democratic process by the time we got our I Voted! stickers.  But you know what, it was really important that we all had our hands on that ballot, that we all felt involved.

Because my kids own this election.  They feel the results of this election.  They are ready to take action after this election.  They are ready to roar.

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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:

• “#MicroblogMondays: A Halloween Blessing” (Searching for Our Silver Lining)

Okay, now my choices this week.

Normally these posts are all about infertility, adoption or loss.  But… this week is a different week.  Clearly the election is on everyone’s mind.  So election thoughts from Iffers:

Anabegins has a post about the upside down, which is fitting in so many ways this week. (Demogorgon!)  She writes, “This is OUR job. WE are the grown ups. We need to stand up, speak up, and fight for what we believe in… for ourselves and for our children. We are donating money, we’ll be calling/emailing/writing our state and local representatives frequently. We are brainstorming places to volunteer our skills and time. We know we want to be more involved with the process than just showing up to vote next time.”  Yessssssss.

A+ Effort combines her words with the words of her husband.  Read the whole piece, but this ending says it all: “As I walked back to my car with shame, sadness, and remorse in my eyes, I caught the glance of a Hispanic father dropping his children off for school. He gave me a nod, as if to say ‘it’s ok.’ Probably, because this is nothing new for him. He has come to expect it of America. Whereas I have only shouldered this burden for 4 years, 8 months, and 10 days–the day my African-American daughter arrived home.”

Lastly, Magpie Musing’s letter to her daughter filled me with tears and hope.  “Hillary’s defeat is saddening, it makes us angry, it makes us scared. But we are stronger than that. Stronger together in our little family, stronger in our little town, stronger in our conviction that all people need to be lifted up, that all children deserve an education, that all people need good and affordable health care, that no one should live in poverty.”  Go over and read her empowering words.

The roundup to the Roundup: Don’t just be angry: Take action.  The downside to doing everything together.  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 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.