It really feels great to be back. It’s funny, absence does make the heart grow fonder and deliberately taking a break from the pressure of posting on Substack at the very dregs of 2024 has done me the world of good. Sometimes you have to take a pause or a step back to keep moving forward and I am getting better at accepting that’s okay.
I am still ploughing my way through Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. It’s taking me longer than I thought. I think in general I am slower when it comes to non-fiction and I took a bit of a break from reading altogether over the festive period. So far no real mention of the consequences of sleep deprivation for primary caregivers of babies and children, ahem, women or how to help combat that. But the extent to which sleep aids us in all areas of life has been made abundantly clear. Risks of car accidents from sleep deprivation are on par if not even worse than that of those under the influence. Maintaining cognitive performance becomes more difficult with less than seven hours and jobs including ‘night shifts’ are considered by some as carcinogenic. It’s hard-hitting stuff. I’m also listening to Medea by Rosie Hewlett on Audible. I’m familiar with the story of Medea and Jason and The Argonauts so yet again it’s another great example of a classic story with a retelling from a woman’s perspective.
Unsure why I didn’t decide to start watching Severance until about two weeks ago. Sometimes that happens. Despite being recommended TV shows, or films, or books I have to find my own way there. Luckily for me, I timed it just before the second season is due to be released so unlike everyone else, I only have to wait another 2 weeks to get my next fix after that finale.
I will say my watchlist for new TV shows is completely drying up. I’ve even ventured over to Channel 5. Gulp. It’s probably why I started watching Severance when I did; I’d run out of other things. If you have any recommendations for great TV shows, especially a drama or thriller series then I promise at this time I shall consider them more seriously.
I went to see The Devil Wears Prada on stage a few weeks ago and enjoyed it so much. Afterwards, I had the urge to watch the film back to make comparisons. Emily and Andy absolutely nailed it. Although giving Andy a sleek bob as part of her makeover felt like an odd choice. I hadn’t watched it in ages and I felt so much nostalgia for the early Noughties films where women worked in glossy magazines. 13 Going on 30 is one of my all-time favourite films and god I wanted to work at Sparkle so badly.
I read an incredible piece from Noema the other day on ‘rewilding’ the internet using the teachings of ecology to build greater diversity in the internet’s infrastructure, prohibiting the monopolies we’re currently experiencing. In the rich biodiversity of nature, competition is healthier. While ‘two kinds of everything may be enough to fill a fictional ark and repopulate a ruined world, it can’t run a global “network of networks” where everyone has the same chance to innovate and compete.” (Over 50% of the world’s population have mobile phones from one of two places - Apple or Samsung). Among some, there can be an impulse to “scour away the messiness that makes life resilient” that many conservation biologists call the ‘pathology of command and control.’ The article references Meta, Amazon, Google and Microsoft as being guilty of this, blocking the competition and exerting dominance over the infrastructure of the internet.
“Whoever controls infrastructure determines the future. If you doubt that, consider that in Europe we’re still using roads and living in towns and cities the Roman Empire mapped out 2,000 years ago.”
Anyone who still has their tree or decorations up. Ours have now been down for days and I’m getting the serious ick walking past any house still actively partaking in switching the lights on. It’s 12th night suckers, get rid and don’t mention the C word again for another 11 months.
I’m feeling pretty settled into 2025 already. I’m liking it. I feel good about the things I want to achieve this year. Nothing that ‘tangible’ in the sense of enforcing strict goals and resolutions. More an approach to the mindset I want to take through with me. Tomorrow will be our first Monday of January and of the new year. The official start of everything, let’s be honest. So let’s go get it.
