Day 3626: Bathtubs

As we’re redoing our bathroom, I’ve been planning on replacing the bathtub, since I’ve never used it in the five years we’ve lived here.

However, instead of replacing that old bathtub with a new-fangled and smaller soaking tub, I’ve decided to keep it, realizing that I can escape the pattern of non-use and enjoy it for what it is.

One thing that prevented me from using that bathtub was such a little thing — it didn’t have a stopper for the drain. After two tries, I’ve recently found one that fits.

It occurs to me that something small can interfere with my moving forward and appreciating what I already have.

Time to move forward and share my other images for today!

I’ve spent so much time searching for “bathtubs” online, but let’s see what I can find on YouTube here and now.

Just so you know, that “bathtubs” video has gotten 64 million views, 209k likes, and 3.5K comments in 10 months.

Thanks to all who helped me create this bathtubs post on Bathtub Party Day, including you!

Day 3610: I could care less

Yesterday, I realized in therapy that it would be nice to care less and do nothing every once in a while — instead of being constantly driven to get things done right. For example, I could care less about our shower remodel and all the decisions I have to make about it.

I would also like to care less about what is happening to Twitter now that Elon Musk is being so care-less with people’s lives, feelings, and money.

I could care less that I haven’t yet figured out the music for this new song I’m writing:

I Don’t Want to Write a Song

I don’t want to write a song

I don’t want to right a wrong

I don’t want to move along,

But I guess I will.

I don’t want to do a thing

That is hard and exhausting

I don’t want to play and sing,

But I guess I will.

I especially don’t want to write a bridge

The part of a song that makes me itch

And feel like I’m an amateurish bitch,

But I guess I will.

I don’t want to try and fail,

Spend some time to no avail,

Try to run, but move like a snail

But I guess I will.

I don’t want to finish this

Or anything on my to-do list.

But I guess it’s done.

And, actually, it was sort of fun.

©️Ann Koplow, 2022

I could care less about the images I have to share with you today.

I could care less about individually-wrapped candies.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “I could care less.”

I could care less about speaking and writing properly.

I also care about you reading this I-could-care-less post, so thank YOU for caring!

Day 3600: Inner Peace

Yesterday, on Election Day in the USA, I worked on inner peace from the moment I woke up at 2:30 AM to the moment I fell asleep around 11:30 PM.

Do you see inner peace in my images for today?

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I find inner peace by accepting everything, including assholes, which I wrote about in this song:

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Thanks to all who help me find inner peace, including YOU!

Day 3475: The past, present, and future

In the past, I’ve experienced trauma, fear, sadness, anger, joy, shame, pride, loss, grief, love, friendship, beauty, ugliness, hope, despair, mistakes, lessons learned, the unexpected, the expected, connection, disconnection, injustice, justice, privilege, emotional pain, physical pain, healing, comedy, tragedy, triumphs, disappointments, and many adventures.

In the present, I’m grateful to be writing another blog post for me and for you.

In the future, I’ll be inviting people (including myself) to focus less on the past and future and more on the present.

Can you see the past, present, and future in my images for today?

I see the past, present, and future in today’s National Days. For example, ice cream 🍨🍦is in my future, even if the lottery isn’t.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “the past, present, and future.”

I also find this:

In the present, I’m smiling at one of the comments about that video on YouTube: “Try telling your boss that time is an illusion.”

Thanks to all who read this blog in the past, the present, and future, including YOU!

Day 3352: Herding cats

A manager I know at work sometimes refers to her job as “herding cats.”

Here’s what I find online about herding cats:

Managing people can be like herding cats. Managing thoughts, which can go everywhere — into the future, into the past, miles away from where we actually are, and often to the worst-case scenario — can be like herding cats. People and thoughts are entities which are inherently uncontrollable.

Speaking of entities which are inherently uncontrollable, there’s cats. Yesterday, I didn’t close the front door correctly after we got home after food shopping amongst many unherded people. When the door came open later, our cat Joan (who used to live unherded on the streets of Tennessee with her sisters and lots of kittens) got out. My husband Michael, who was on the phone, noticed the door was open and his unherded thoughts went to disaster (a cat has escaped and is GONE!) but Joan, unherded, walked back in. When Joan jumped up on the sofa next to me, my unherded thoughts tried to figure out why she felt so cold.

We’re all very relieved that Joan didn’t take off — unherded and unheard from again — for warm Tennessee.

Now I’m going to herd my images for today into some sort of order.

I assume that someone on Twitter is going to herd those days into a single celebration, like “I’m going to go to the dentist wearing a dress after getting cavities from eating frozen food, oreo cookies, and white chocolate cheesecake, and getting a medal for finishing all those.”

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

Now I’ve got to go herd my blood-testing equipment into line and check my INR. Feel free to herd any thoughts and feelings you have about this post into a comment, below.

Thanks to all those who help me herd so many things into this daily blog, including YOU.

Day 3284: Roads not taken

All of us have roads not taken. Some of us have regrets; some of us have reached a level of acceptance about the choices we’ve made.

Last night, I took the road of asking this question on Twitter:

My roads not taken include (1) finishing my thesis on the modern movie musical to get my Masters degree in Film Studies, (2) traveling more, (3) getting a dog, and (4) show biz. The first one I’m good with; the others still seem like possibilities to me.

Do you see roads not taken in my other images for today?

The roads I’ve taken include this: I’m revealing my Film Studies road-not-taken on National Short Film Day! Also, the rocky road to chocolate candy might not be taken by me today, even though there’s plenty of it around.

Here’s Robert Frost reciting his poem “The Road Not Taken.”

I’m going down the familiar road of including a Stephen Sondheim song in my blog posts.

The road not taken for me, up to this moment, includes sharing my attempt to do justice to a Stephen Sondheim song with my voice and my new ukulele.

Another road not taken for me includes doing a version of that I’m happy with, which might be further up the road.

As we move on to the end of this blog post road, I’ll take the opportunity to thank all who ease my way along the road of life, including YOU.

Day 3202: You’re only as good as your last _______.

“You’re only as good as your last …” is a phrase I’ve heard completed many different ways. For example:

Personally, I don’t think we’re only as good as our last anything. I think our goodness outlasts and is not exclusively dependent on our most recent activity or accomplishment. As I tell people in my therapy groups, we’re human beings, not human doings. If our sense of worth is irrevocably tied to the last thing we’ve done, we’re never free from self doubt and we never get a respite from constant exertions until we die.

With that in mind, I tweeted this yesterday;

If I’m only as good as my last photo …

… I’m also in trouble, although it does match up quite nicely with the last and good Daily Bitch Calendar:

I’m not only as good as my last blog post, even if the words and images are good.

This is not from Shane Filan’s last album …

… and this is not David Sanborn’s last record …

… but they’re still good.

You’re not only as good as your last comment, but please consider leaving one below.

I’m not only as good as my last expression of gratitude, but thanks to all who help me blog day after day after day, including YOU!

Day 3181: Self Acceptance

Yesterday, I asked this question about self acceptance on Twitter:

Many people responded about the positive and healing aspects of self acceptance. Some people expressed a belief/fear that if they accepted themselves exactly the way they are, they would stay stuck, be settling for less, and would never change.

My observation and experience is that self acceptance is usually the first step to being balanced, present, and more able to see the way clear to taking the next positive and achievable step towards self improvement.

Personally, I find self acceptance freeing and energizing. Do you see self acceptance in my other images for today?

My sense is that the Daily Bitch accepts herself exactly the way she is.

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

What are your thoughts and feelings about self acceptance?

Please accept my gratitude for your acceptance, here and now!

Day 3163: Say Yes to the Mess

“Say Yes to the Mess” is something I put on a t-shirt years ago.

I chose to wear that t-shirt yesterday, partly because we’re all imperfectly messy human beings, trying to deal with the mess we’ve made — climate change, racism, pandemics, wars, etc. etc.

Little did I know that I would be wearing that same t-shirt to the Emergency Room this morning because of the first nosebleed I’ve ever gotten in my life, which started last night at 2 AM and is showing no signs of abating as I’m writing this.

What a mess!

I’ve had no choice but to say yes to many messes in my life. Saying “yes” doesn’t mean I like the messes; saying “yes” means I accept the reality of them and do my best to deal with them while staying positive. It also means accepting the intrinsic messiness of being alive while figuring out the next achievable step to move forward.

Let’s say yes to the mess in today’s images as I wait for a doctor to show up to stop my current mess.

A doctor just came in and we’re figuring out a way to say yes to this mess and to get me home soon!

Say yes to a mess of gratitude from me to you!

Day 3086: betrayed, bewildered

Lest you feel betrayed, bewildered by today’s title, I shall start this post by sharing two tweets I sent last night:

Nobody guessed the answer to my pop quiz but several people felt betrayed, bewildered by the reappearance of a salad bar in Whole Foods at this point in the pandemic.

Here’s who said “betrayed, bewildered” in a 1996 film:

Yesterday, my non-betraying and non-bewildering life-long friend Barbara and I kept using the phrase “betrayed, bewildered” while we were discussing many bewildering interactions we’d had with other people in which we felt betrayed. The reality is that many interpersonal interactions are bewildering and seeing them as a betrayal doesn’t help — when we do that we are personalizing the situation. People are going to be themselves no matter what you do and it doesn’t help to expect “you” from them.

What did help Barbara and me yesterday was to realize we were not alone in feeling betrayed, bewildered and to laugh together about all those interactions that had us temporarily feeling bewildered and betrayed before reaching a level of acceptance and peace.

I hope you don’t feel betrayed, bewildered by my run-on sentences or any of my other images for today.

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Here’s “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered” sung by the incomparable Ella Fitzgerald.

I won’t feel betrayed, bewildered by any comment you might leave about this “betrayed, bewildered” post.

Neither betrayed nor bewildered, just grateful for you.