As we make the transition from summer to fall (remember, we talked about this… after Labor Day is fall even if it isn’t really), we are reminded yet again that nothing is as it was this time last year. I have a graduate student upstairs instead of in her campus home, a high schooler waiting until next week to begin (remote) schooling instead of starting as usual the week before Labor Day, and our traditional church in-gathering (we sort of take the summer off, with mostly lay-led services) is virtual, as will be our entire church year. The Before Times are well and truly Before.
As a way of connecting with us, our minister let everyone know he’d be calling to say hi. A real voice on a real phone with no Brady Bunch Zoom format. While he is spending time chatting with each person about whatever was pertinent in the individual conversation, it turns out there is one question he was going to ask everyone. Grab a beverage and hop below the story break with me and I’ll ask you the same question...
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The question he is asking everyone is “What’s bringing you joy these days?”
When he asked me it took me more time than I want to admit before I replied. My initial response was almost a quick “nothing”. The time I spent biting back that reply gave me the space to realize that yes, there are things bringing me joy even in 2020:
- My family. Having everyone home has been stressful in some ways (I had NO idea how much I valued having time in my house with no one else in it, even if we’re all in separate rooms all the time!) but I really do love my quaranteam.
- My Vorpal. She’s getting old, and it shows, but her zeal for life is still wonderful. She’s a joy unto herself.
- My daily walk. I’ve been aiming to get out daily for an hour, and I’m already dreading when winter hits because that hour is precious to me.
- The Daily Dinner Music. Whenever we sit down to dinner as a family (and that is hard to come by right now because of class/sports/work scheduling) we pick a random genre on Spotify and play music. What turned out to be a silly thing one dinner has introduced us to a LOT of music we otherwise wouldn’t have heard.
There are more, but that’s the big four. What’s bringing you joy these days? One person who is always a joy is BeninSC, who’s providing us with the Tops tonight!
Top Comments
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From elenacarlena:
I saw this too late for tonight, I guess, but would like to nominate for tomorrow:
I nominate Bobs Telecaster's comment in " 'I want you to promise not to kill us': A worried liberal writes a letter to his neighbors," by DKos staff member David Neiwert. A dumber idea for getting along with one's neighbors I have not seen possibly ever, and Bobs nails it.
If this really was written by David's friend Barry Mauer, a university lecturer, and is not snark, then he embodies some of the worst qualities of which academics are accused by right wingers. (Editor’s note: the diary to which the commenter was replying has been deleted, so context is a bit lacking. It seems elenacarlena was correct in assessing it!)
From flycaster67:
With this comment, mark schroeder does a masterful job of analysis as if he is a sales staff manager presenting a sales estimate or in this case an election projection. (Editor’s note: Teduardo highlighted this comment for nomination, and was given guidance on submitting top comments by thesphynx, so we thank you all! And this is really an excellent submission, optimistic!)
Highlighted by
List maker NOT List taker:
Is this comment by Hatrax for those who love biologist, chemist, statistician jokes.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, September 7th, 2020, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
Top Pictures
Top Pictures for September 7, 2020! Thanks so much, jotter!