Pertinent to my Interests

Documentary reviews, body neutrality, parenting, Jupiter, piano, cats, European history, ghosts, rodents, the collapse of civilization, and if this goes on long enough I'll probably end up cataloguing my entire smushed penny collection.

Category: Uncategorized

  • Kid Casey Was Confused About: Geography

    As a child I was often flummoxed at hearing China and Japan collectively referred to as “The East.” I grew up on the west coast of the United States; China and Japan were very clearly to the west, not the east. Chapter labels like “Eastern Art” led me to expect Roman sculpture or portraits of

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  • How is the media fast going?

    Well, it’s been about two weeks since I shut down my personal Instagram and enacted new rules about watching TV. I’m reading a lot more. The first week was weird. I panicked at least once a day thinking that one of my favorite influencers had stopped posting and are they sick? Are they depressed? Are

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  • What it’s like to play Animal Crossing for a year.

    (If you do not play and are not interested in Animal Crossing I suggest you skip this entire post. I am going to write it as if the reader also plays ACNH.) I’ve been playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons daily for almost exactly a year, like a sucker (who needs a real job). I’ve done

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  • 40

    I recently turned forty years old. Apparently this is a Big Deal and I’m supposed to have a lot of feelings about it. I am not having a ton of feelings. Forty feels about right. When I was a kid I had trouble even picturing myself as a teenager and I interpreted this as proof

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  • Abu Simbel

    Have you heard about the temple complex at Abu Simbel in Egypt? It’s one of those things I get really excited about, and I just read a book about it so I want to talk about it! The temple complex at Abu Simbel is a magnificent set of two temples on the edge of the

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  • She (maybe) chose poorly.

    I went to the gym today, after more than a week away due to illness. It doesn’t take much to keep me from the gym. If I experience even the smallest little bump in the road of life my exercise plans are the first things to be thrown out the window. Had a bad dream?

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  • Fun-sized character studies

    My youngest had a sore throat on Monday, and I ended up taking him to the doctor twice in one 24-hour period. I didn’t used to be this mom. I used to be the mom who let illnesses develop for at least three days before even calling the nurse line. I used to be the

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  • Living deliberately

    I don’t usually listen to podcasts, but my kids’ piano teacher (who blogs over at Midlife Creative) recommended this one to me and I can’t stop thinking about it. The podcast is about a class taught at UPenn, Living Deliberately: Monks, Saints, and the Contemplative Life. Students in this class are asked to live as

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  • M&Ms

    I’m starting to enjoy peanut M&Ms and I am a little embarrassed about it. My natal family is an M&M family. My grandma loved plain M&Ms, my mom loves plain M&Ms. Plain M&Ms were my toddlerhood potty training reward and my little brother famously referred to them as “num nums” for many years. I still

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  • Costco

    Every time I drop off junk at Goodwill I swing by Costco on my way home. The irony is not lost on me. What a horrible warehouse of wonders. I’m not even talking about all their Christmas decorations. The snack aisles alone are enough to make me gleeful (welcome home, giant box of Cheez-Its!). They

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