I love what you said about deadlifting. It seems as though different exercises model different psychological states because, well, they change your physical state — your power to meaningfully interact with your environment.
I notice a similar change with improving my running speeds. I feel more confident in expansive physical spaces. Looking around at an open space, or a long trail, seems less unfathomably vast and remote, since I know I could physically pass through that space with increasing swiftness. Looking across a river to the other side of a city looks less distant, less like a separate city, because I could easily envision how I could traverse it in a few hours if I needed to.
well put -- i used to feel this a lot when running and feel it now when cycling, your concept of space and your relationship with the place in which you live changes so much! this was one of the most exciting things about running for me.
It's so strange to be pulled up short by the realization that one's preferences have changed. This is an evocative list and made me want to write my own.
1. Sound effects
I'm feeling an identity shift lately because I'm a mom now. Our son is six months old and he's flatteringly entertained by silly sounds, so I've been getting to dust off my elephant trumpeting and pig grunting and raspberry blowing. It's also fun to watch him bring out this behavior in everyone else, like his grandparents.
2. Singing
I've dabbled in folk music circles before, but having a kid has made singing more practically relevant to my life. It feels quite solemn and meaningful to be part of a tradition passing old songs down to another generation, and I hadn't experienced that feeling before. I've been learning songs and picking up a few ukulele chords to go with them.
3. Communal bathing
We went to a family-friendly Korean spa on a trip to New York and got naked in front of strangers and lounged in pools of various temperatures and it was joyous. It made me feel that my own culture is fallen and impoverished for not having any kind of communal bathing tradition.
4. Car Talk
I've been listening to back episodes of Car Talk while driving, and I can't really explain this one. I don't care very much about cars and the car advice is largely out of date anyway—I don't have a carburetor. I like their rapport and the windows into the lives of the callers through their car problems and the pervasive 90s feeling of a simpler time.
5. Lois McMaster Bujold
I've never been an author completionist until now. I intended to just reread The Vorkosigan Saga but I went from there to her fantasy series and now there are only some odds and ends I haven't read. It's been a nice companion in the early months of parenthood: she's pretty optimistic about humanity and her characters' ability to grow into the fullest versions of themselves.
it was so nice to read this <3 i like how attentive you are to sensory information around you and how you integrate that information into family or community activity. i agree that a lack of communal bathing is a cultural problem, and can't imagine how different it feels to engage with folk music now that you have a child -- it must give you a more robust, personal sense of history and where you stand in it. car talk reminds me of friends of mine who listen to the shipping forecast lol. where would you recommend someone start with lois mcmaster bujold? i feel like you've given me some very good recommendations before, so i would be remiss not to ask this.
as for napoleon, i've really only just started near the end of last year -- my goal is to get a grasp on the facts of his life as a whole before i move into the specifics that interest me the most. i've been slowly reading through a series of very detailed biographies by michael broers and flagging what interests me for later. i REALLY would like to read a good biography of talleyrand and a good monograph on the egyptian campaign that fleshes out the various political and cultural forces that were present in egypt at the time. and of course 19th century centralized reform in rural france is of endless interest. so this isn't really an answer to your question, but maybe i'll be able to give more detail in a future 'five things' if i ever do one again!!
<3 I was unaware of the shipping forecast; sounds hypnotic. From Bujold, I would recommend The Warrior's Apprentice, as it introduces Miles, the slightly manic sawed-off hero of her space opera series. If you're instead in the mood for medieval Iberian fantasy with a focus on numinous experience, try The Curse of Chalion. Speaking of recommendations, a friend just suggested The Wager as a companion piece to Endurance: it's about an arctic expedition with terrible leadership instead.
I didn't know anything about Talleyrand before listening to the Revolutions podcast but it became like a joke how he kept cropping up at critical junctures in world events. Definitely curious for more about him too.
I love what you said about deadlifting. It seems as though different exercises model different psychological states because, well, they change your physical state — your power to meaningfully interact with your environment.
I notice a similar change with improving my running speeds. I feel more confident in expansive physical spaces. Looking around at an open space, or a long trail, seems less unfathomably vast and remote, since I know I could physically pass through that space with increasing swiftness. Looking across a river to the other side of a city looks less distant, less like a separate city, because I could easily envision how I could traverse it in a few hours if I needed to.
well put -- i used to feel this a lot when running and feel it now when cycling, your concept of space and your relationship with the place in which you live changes so much! this was one of the most exciting things about running for me.
It's so strange to be pulled up short by the realization that one's preferences have changed. This is an evocative list and made me want to write my own.
1. Sound effects
I'm feeling an identity shift lately because I'm a mom now. Our son is six months old and he's flatteringly entertained by silly sounds, so I've been getting to dust off my elephant trumpeting and pig grunting and raspberry blowing. It's also fun to watch him bring out this behavior in everyone else, like his grandparents.
2. Singing
I've dabbled in folk music circles before, but having a kid has made singing more practically relevant to my life. It feels quite solemn and meaningful to be part of a tradition passing old songs down to another generation, and I hadn't experienced that feeling before. I've been learning songs and picking up a few ukulele chords to go with them.
3. Communal bathing
We went to a family-friendly Korean spa on a trip to New York and got naked in front of strangers and lounged in pools of various temperatures and it was joyous. It made me feel that my own culture is fallen and impoverished for not having any kind of communal bathing tradition.
4. Car Talk
I've been listening to back episodes of Car Talk while driving, and I can't really explain this one. I don't care very much about cars and the car advice is largely out of date anyway—I don't have a carburetor. I like their rapport and the windows into the lives of the callers through their car problems and the pervasive 90s feeling of a simpler time.
5. Lois McMaster Bujold
I've never been an author completionist until now. I intended to just reread The Vorkosigan Saga but I went from there to her fantasy series and now there are only some odds and ends I haven't read. It's been a nice companion in the early months of parenthood: she's pretty optimistic about humanity and her characters' ability to grow into the fullest versions of themselves.
What do you recommend for Napoleon reading?
it was so nice to read this <3 i like how attentive you are to sensory information around you and how you integrate that information into family or community activity. i agree that a lack of communal bathing is a cultural problem, and can't imagine how different it feels to engage with folk music now that you have a child -- it must give you a more robust, personal sense of history and where you stand in it. car talk reminds me of friends of mine who listen to the shipping forecast lol. where would you recommend someone start with lois mcmaster bujold? i feel like you've given me some very good recommendations before, so i would be remiss not to ask this.
as for napoleon, i've really only just started near the end of last year -- my goal is to get a grasp on the facts of his life as a whole before i move into the specifics that interest me the most. i've been slowly reading through a series of very detailed biographies by michael broers and flagging what interests me for later. i REALLY would like to read a good biography of talleyrand and a good monograph on the egyptian campaign that fleshes out the various political and cultural forces that were present in egypt at the time. and of course 19th century centralized reform in rural france is of endless interest. so this isn't really an answer to your question, but maybe i'll be able to give more detail in a future 'five things' if i ever do one again!!
<3 I was unaware of the shipping forecast; sounds hypnotic. From Bujold, I would recommend The Warrior's Apprentice, as it introduces Miles, the slightly manic sawed-off hero of her space opera series. If you're instead in the mood for medieval Iberian fantasy with a focus on numinous experience, try The Curse of Chalion. Speaking of recommendations, a friend just suggested The Wager as a companion piece to Endurance: it's about an arctic expedition with terrible leadership instead.
I didn't know anything about Talleyrand before listening to the Revolutions podcast but it became like a joke how he kept cropping up at critical junctures in world events. Definitely curious for more about him too.
just sent my mother a copy of endurance for her birthday -- i'll definitely get a copy of the wager!