Day 3684: Cool

My COVID fever has come done, which is cool.

Also, I resolved the ticket problem I described in yesterday’s post, which is cool, and it’s VERY cool that my cool husband, Michael, is going to see the cool production of Frankenstein by the extraordinarily cool Manual Cinema with me in February, which is a really cool month in New England for several reasons.

I’m turning 70 tomorrow on what I think is a very cool birthday to have, Groundhog Day. Today is my last day to be in my 60s and I’m completely cool with that.

Do you see anything cool in today’s images?

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On National Baked Alaska Day, I think it’s cool to share that Baked Alaska was my favorite dessert when I was a kid and I had that for the first time in decades this past weekend.

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I thought it would be cool to compare the two versions of “Cool” from the 1961 and 2021 West Side Story films.

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What are your thoughts and feelings about this “Cool” post?

Thanks to all who help me keep my cool every day, including YOU!

Day 3683: Stupid shit

When I try to do things when I’m running a high fever, I inevitably do some stupid shit. For example, last night I noticed that the incredible Manual Cinema, whose breath-taking productions I’ve seen at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, was coming to Boston soon with a short run of Frankenstein (which I missed when I was last in Edinburgh in 2019) and when I tried to buy a ticket in the middle of the night, I did this stupid shit: I bought it for the wrong performance. Rather than beat myself up about that (which is REALLY some stupid shit), I got another ticket for the performance I wanted and let go of any judgment about my mistake.

I assume I’ll be able to get rid of the other ticket and that I’m be over COVID by then because, yes, I have that stupid shit again and during my birthday week, no less, which is really some stupid shit.

Do you see any stupid shit in my images for today?

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This is what I find on YouTube when I search for “stupid shit.”

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Thanks to all who are reading this “stupid shit” post, here and now, including YOU.

Day 3682: Quisquous

I woke up on this quisquous day with a fever and an email about the definition of “quisquous.” Since COVID, fevers are more quisquous, don’t you agree? Also, fevers are more quisquous for me because I have a history of endocarditis, due to my unusual heart.

It’s also quisquous for me to cancel all my patients, especially because I offer an in-person drop-in therapy group on Mondays.

Do you see anything quisquous in my other images for today?

Thanks for that quisquous reminder, Daily Bitch.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “quisquous.”

Thanks to all who help me get through my quisquous days, including YOU.

Day 3681: That’s the story of my life

Yesterday, my husband Michael said “that’s the story of my life” regarding something negative, which I’ve heard a lot in my life.

Most of us have negative narratives (like “I never get what I want”) that cause us to say “that’s the story of my life” when things don’t work out. It’s important to realize “that’s the story of my life” also includes exceptions to those narratives, since the stories of our lives are complexly rich with negatives and positives, too.

I almost said “that’s the story of my life” yesterday when somebody resisted listening to me and made it difficult for me to get what I needed. I felt helpless and beaten thinking “that’s the story of my life” until I remembered a traumatic experience in the hospital many years ago when an anesthesiologist callously refused to honor an easily-granted request from me. After realizing “that was then and this is now” and that I wasn’t doomed to repeat negative experiences, I was appropriately assertive yesterday, got what I wanted, and proved again that “that’s the story of my life” includes good outcomes too.

Yes, “that’s the story of my life” means problems but also solutions, uncertainties but also resolutions, rejections but also loving relationships.

When I look at my images for today I think, “that’s the story of my life,” in a good way.

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Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “that’s the story of my life.”

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Thanks to all who make the story of my life better, including YOU.

Day 3680: Lessons learned

When I write notes for my Coping and Healing groups, the list of topics discussed often includes “lessons learned.”

Last night, I asked a question about lessons learned on Twitter.

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Do you see lessons learned in my other images for today?

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Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “lessons learned.”

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I’m so grateful for all my lessons learned from others, including YOU!

Day 3679: One-off

This blog post is a one-off because no other post of mine has and will use this title. Here’s a definition of one-off:

Here’s a one-off question I asked last night on Twitter:

I assumed I would get very different types of responses to that one-off question and I did. Somebody with PTSD responded with this very helpful chart:

Many of us think something bad is going to happen again, even if it only happened once (and was therefore a one-off). On the other hand, many of us hope for something good to happen again, even if that was a one-off.

I guess we don’t know if anything is truly a one-off if we have more days ahead of us.

Do you see any one-offs in my other images for today?

If I ever meet a truly awful person, I hope that will be a one-off.

Here’s what I find when I search YouTube for “one-off.”

I look forward to one-off comments from you and thanks for reading this one-off post!

Day 3678: Great beginnings

Yesterday, I ended my day by asking a question about great beginnings on Twitter.

Great answers about great beginnings of movies included Raiders of the Lost Ark, La La Land, Jaws, Apocalypse Now, The Producers, Star Wars, Raising Arizona, A Touch of Evil, Double Indemnity, and (last but not least) Up.

Here’s the great beginning of Up.

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Do you see great beginnings in my other images for today?

Saying “sorry” is usually not a great beginning, which is why I often respond to “sorry” with “no need to apologize.”

That reminds me that I always play my favorite board game — Sorry! — on my birthday and I’m looking forward to that great beginning next week with no apologies.

Who wants to begin a comment with thoughts and feelings about great beginnings?

Gratitude makes great beginnings and great endings, so thanks to all who help me start my day with great beginnings, including YOU!

Day 3677: Out of the frying pan

Today’s Daily Bitch has a different ending for “out of the frying pan into the fire.”

It still means the same thing: going to a worse situation when trying to better your current one.

No matter how we phrase it, that’s a fear that can worry us or even paralyze us about taking action — maybe I should stay in this frying pan because if I move, it might get worse!

For example, we stayed with a malfunctioning dishwasher for months (Michael had to bail out the non-draining water every day!) and now that we finally got a new one (delivered yesterday), I’m thinking we were afraid we might be going out of the frying pan into the fire, imagining things like “What if the new one doesn’t work?” “What if the installation people scare Harley so much he gets sick?” and other fire-y thoughts. Instead, now our frying pans can go into a dishwasher that was installed easily and works great. And Harley, as you can see, is neither in a frying pan nor a fire.

Now it’s time to move out of the frying pan …

… into the rest of the images for today.

Because we’re focusing on frying pans and fires today, you might think that “Burns Supper” means something other than this:

Happy Burns Supper Day and because it’s also National Opposite Day, maybe I’ll assume that I’m going out of the frying pan into BETTER situations today.

Here’s what I find when I search for “out of the frying pan” on YouTube.

Thanks to all who accompany me as I go out of the frying pan into other places every day, including YOU!

Day 3676: Shocking

My husband Michael and I have been watching Deadwood, which was considered shocking when it debuted in 2004 for its extremely profane language. I assumed the language wouldn’t be shocking now but, much to my amazement, it still is.

Why is the language shocking to me? I think it’s because of the shocking anger and cruelty of several of the main characters. Somehow, despite all the anger and cruelty around us, it’s still shocking.

While I work towards acceptance and peace of mind, I’m grateful I still find some things shocking — shocked seems better than numb.

Do you see anything shocking in today’s blog post?

Okay, you bitches, here’s Randy Rainbow and his latest masterpiece about shocking behaviors in the USA House of Representatives.

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Thanks to all who helped me create this shocking post, including YOU.

Day 3675: Essential Questions

Yesterday, at a spectacular performance of Life of Pi at the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) in Harvard Square (which raised many essential questions), I saw something about essential questions in the program.

How would you answer that essential question and do you see any other essential questions in today’s blog?

I’ve got an essential question: is that really the Daily Bitch?

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “essential questions.”

Thanks to all who help me pose and answer essential questions, including YOU!