🙇🏻‍♀️ This morning, I am seeing the stories of my life, through the lens of social media, and the financial aspect of needing to work and have a job. I’ve been feeling like I don’t know how to post on social media. I don’t know what I want to do on social media, or how I want to post on it. I think I need to take a moment, or many moments, to appreciate all the changes since I ~ f i r s t ~ started to use “social media”, even if at the start it was not even called that. And what I liked about it. It was aim chats and online journals (xanga for the West Coast, livejournal for the East Coast). This turned into the very exciting and fun Myspace… which turned into the early facebook… which then branched off into blogging for some, which was then mostly replaced by Instagram, which led to Influencer culture on that platform and also on Youtube. And now, besides the options of Twittter, Threads, Tik Tok (hey, all starting with the letter ‘t’), Tumblr, oh - can’t forget Twitch and Reddit. But also … present day: decentralizd social media. That’s a lot of changes. There are also the personal changes of each individual. In their external life, and internal changes relating to brain development. Starting to use “social media" as a teenager (from middle school! High school… College… ) I thought the “adulting” transition from college to after college was rough and stressful. Highschool and college felt like a lot of experimentation and self-discovery, or self-creation and expression, especially with the various new online spaces (and with its downsides too). Then, after college (with a BA in Psychology) … not knowing what to do. Finding that jobs often feel busy and impersonal. Wondering if it’s just me, like is this just my bad luck or lack of the right skills? And it felt meaningless. I’ve been rediscovering Frozen 2. That is a movie that provides a lot of good guidance to life. Cue song: “Some things never change” (duet between Anna and Olaf - oh actually, Kristoff, and Elsa each sing their own stanza of the song too). With all the personal changes of growing from a teenager to an adult, with technology that *originally* started with Atari computers and very basic internet to … everything that it is, I need to hum that song and think about all the important things that don’t really change. The gist of the song - you will always have people you care about (and people who care about you). That is the ‘you’ that each character holds on to.

Besides the continuing bizarre tweets from “President” Trump … relating to the “12 day war”… which from my perspective, actually felt more like a “1 day war” because I opened Nostr one morning to see Lyn Alden had posted that she finished reading a book, then had checked the news and saw that the USA had bombed Iran’s nuclear sites. The rest of the day was full of anti-war posts and various financial markets going down. Then, by the evening of the next day, another tweet from Trump that - the “war” has ended and Iran and Israel have agreed to stop. OK. What the hell. And all the markets recovered. But the Russia war against Ukraine is still going on. Israel’s government and military is still attacking the civilians of Palestine. My personal instagram account is filled with detailed posts about the violence in Palestine. From medical volunteers and others. It feels like everyone, whether they have a “platform” or not, is speaking out against this, but nothing changes. Instead, Israel just eacalates the violence. It feels like the phrase “nothing stops this train” also applies to this … genocide and war crimes. #FreePalestine

Every country needs to switch to having a Bitcoin reserve, rather than depending on the U.S. dollar’s “fiscal dominance” as the global currency reserve. (this was supposed to be the last part of the previous post … it didn’t get included in the copy/paste from my notes app somehow) View quoted note →

Pencil, ink, and colored pencil is much simpler for me right now. But, still wanna practice with the paints of course (watercolor and gouache), because colorssss. #artstr #pencil

Trying to figure out how this Canson Mixed Media paper can respond well to watercolor … in a way where it doesn’t come out patchy. Kinda an uphill battle. The only way it comes out smooth is if I do it quick enough. 🫤 (Practicing with skin tones on faces cuz that’s always been my favorite thing to draw.) #artstr #watercolor #mixedmediapaper

With all the accumulating news reports about the war activity going on right now (from Russia, Israel, and now America), I thought of the analysis I was reading and hearing about from Lyn Alden, about the relationship between 1) Fiat money (money that has value because the government says it does, not because it's backed by something like gold or silver), 2) National debt, and 3) War. I would summarize the analysis like - as long as the national debt continues to grow as it has over the past 100 years, and as long as money needs to be printed (fiat money = money by government order, not because it has value on its own), then war provides an excuse or a reason for more money to be printed. And in addition to the war being a human rights violation, cruel, sadistic, and psychotic, but then, 5-10 years after, everyone’s savings is devalued/debased.

caught up on news reports about ICE in the US, and the unethical things Israel is doing in Gaza. Read this part - “Thunberg, who said it appeared she was now heading back to Sweden, also hit back at Donald Trump after she was asked about his characterisation of her as an “angry person” and suggestion that she should take anger management classes. “I think the world needs many more young angry women, to be honest,” said Thunberg. “Especially with everything going on right now. That’s the thing we need the most of.” . . . It’s so messed up that Donald Trump, as the President who used “anger” and “rage” so much in his own campaigns and with his style of communication at his rallies, would criticize Greta in that way. To be angry about injustice, violence used to oppress people who are powerless, and human rights violations is normal. To be an angry sounding politician making up racist lies about entire groups of people is a stupid use of “anger”. Literally - everything - can be used as a tool by humans. Including communication, of which spoken language is a part. Every word can be a tool … every type of nonverbal communication (a glance, a smile, a silence, a kiss) … It all depends on what you are using it for and why. #gaza #ICE WTF Stop being racist. Stop targeting people who are financially poor.

Sunny (and hot) days are here again. This photo was taken on yesterday’s morning walk. The day had started out grey and dim. *sigh* Here we go, 6th consecutive cloudy day. The forecast also showed the next day with a dark cloud and rain. ‘Amazing … a whole week of cloudy weather … in mid-June’ I was thinking. But then, about halfway through our walk, as I was noticing this nice clump of mushrooms and appreciating how mushrooms can only grow when it’s moist, I also noticed the surroundings were getting brighter. The sun was coming out, and it was already starting to feel kinda’ hot. I guess these mushrooms will dry up soon. I’m thankful thaaaat … through that 5 day stretch of cloudy, cool, drizzly weather in June, my mood and energy levels were relatively stable and good. Thanks to going to the gym twice a week, keeping up my new tidying habits, and listening to an audiobook for the first time ever, while doing chores and cleaning (Fairy Tale, by Stephen King).

The morning walk today was really nice. It’s the 5th consecutive cloudy day and there was a fine drizzle as usual. More like a misting (毛毛雨）。 After Joey did her potty, I opened Spotify to pick some music. A new recommended one was a “Stardew and Chill” playlist. And wow it was so good, and a great fit for the light drizzly weather, in the lush part of the neighborhood we were walking in. Dare I say a perfect fit! Joey wanted to lay in the grass on some lawn… I was standing in the driveway, and a large van started to turn into it. It’s funny how it feels like it’s only when you decide to pause somewhere that a car decides to turn in. The driver made a frowny face at me and gestured - implying he didn’t like the dog on the grass. I was about to get cranky but then looked around and realized this is the house next to the church, which has a ledge. Joey likes to walk and sit on ledges. So I moved over and she happily followed and stayed in that area. Ha - now the guy can’t complain about the dog being on his property cuz now we’re on church property. And the church is basically deserted on a Tuesday morning. *smug* We watched a class of preschoolers walk by holding onto the colorful rope with rings. A little chorus of “hey look! a dog!” After a while, I prompted Joey to cross the street where the van driver was now parking a different car. At least, I thought it might be the same guy … “Thank you!” He said as we walked past. Yup. Same guy. Nearing our street, a couple with a small dog came up behind us. Joey had sat down to wait for them. I saw that it was the little old dog, Happy. He did his usual timid and cautious approach, gently moving his nose towards Joey’s face. I mentally congratulated Joey on staying still and calm. When they first met, as with meeting every other dog, Joey would charge up excitedly, running zig-zags around. It really scared Happy. With time and familiarity, Joey adjusted to Happy’s ways and now stays nice and mild around him. Meanwhile, Happy’s owner has turned into his cheerleader. “WOW!!! So FRIENDLY! GOOD BOY!” This suddenly struck me as being really comical considering the timid and cautious way Happy is greeting Joey. Her boyfriend helpfully pointed out that Happy was wagging his little stub tail. I need to remember to play “Stardew and Chill” on morning walks. 😌