Just Some Things from February
A Recap
It’s Friday afternoon, and I am in my nest.
To passerby, it would look like I’m in a convalescent situation. Around me, I have any number of comforts: my ridiculous-though-beloved (and engraved.) Stanley water bottle, an Emma Bridgewater mug empty bar dregs of earl grey tea, colored pencils, planner, iPad, hand cream, laptop, and the piece-de-resistance, my handy lap desk, a memory-foam wonder that allows me to make any bed, couch, or floor my office.
It's Friday, I am in my nest, and I have nothing poignant to offer the Internet today.
It’s Saturday evening, and I am on my couch.
I have perhaps even less to offer this evening than I did when I attempted this piece yesterday afternoon, but if you know me, you know I have recently converted to the dual Gospels of the Wonderland 222 A5 Weekly Planner and The 12 Week Year protocol. And both of these theologies require I get out one Blotting Papers per week, so here we are.
As you know by now, one of my personal goals in 2025 is to be more intentional with my time, energy, and attention. Less mindless scrolling, less mindless rewatching, more cultural exploration, more presence. January was a bit of a write-off, as Januaries tend to be, but I am delighted to report – on this final Sunday of the month – that February has been much more successful. Okay, it’s a short month, but still.
And so – with less and less to say as the minutes tick towards the end of the day – I give you: a monthly recap.
Considering
This was my first month “tracking” my media consumption. I always note the books I’ve read, and I’m getting better at recording movies-watched, but in February, I also made a point to fill the gaps in my day with articles and video essays.
Some of my favorites:
“The Difference Between Anxiety and Fear” by Elise Loehnen; Pulling the Thread – an interesting read on the difference in mind-body response to anxiety and fear.
“A dive into Georgia O’Keefe’s curated wardrobe” by Sasha Zavyalova; Your Offer Has Been Sent – exploring the famous artist’s favorite pieces and designers, inspiring me to approach dressing as Georgia did: “on [the garment’s] appealing visual qualities”
“drowning in entertainment: the age of distraction” by OliSunVia – baby’s first video essay! Where have video essays been all my life? I watched this over a lunch break and am sure to come back to this later at some point on this newsletter, but in the meantime, this is a look into how contemporary audio-visual media is formatted to be entertainment, and what that means for our interaction with the world at large.
Reading
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova – you can read my thoughts in last week’s BP
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind– TBC!
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah – my second-ever-audiobook! I just started this evening while I was folding laundry (remember the whole intentionality thing?) and will keep you updated, but we know I love a story of A Woman On the Plains
Watching
White Lotus S1 – I know, behind the times. I watched S2 as it aired, but glad I finally conquered Hawaii before Sunday’s Season 3 premiere (and are we not all loving the True Detective to White Lotus Woody Harrelson love interest pipeline?...that’s a really specific pipeline.)
A Real Pain – 5 Stars. Jesse Eisenberg has been entirely re-endeared to me. Kieran Culkin…I’d like to see him be someone besides Roman Roy, but loved his performance nonetheless. That last shot?! In the airport?!
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – The Return of Feathers McGraw. I love anything Aardman Animation produces – yes, even the ill-fated Flushed Away.
Companion – Ex Machina meets Kill Bill. Plus, great outfits.
Feeling
Overall, one solid month into this…experiment? Recalibration? Whatever it is, I feel good. Good implies you can always feel better, best, but one of the best things about spending my time more intentionally in February is the realization that energy is best spent on a continuum, not on a project-basis.
My version of intentionality doesn’t mean perfection, it doesn’t mean completion. Take a habit I’ve been aware of and half-heartedly attempting to break for pretty much my entire adult life: scrolling-while-watching.
Yes, that’s simultaneously watching TV and endlessly perusing Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest. It’s sound, color, movement, aspiration, character development, Buldak Ramen hacks, all at once and you can only imagine the soup my brain ends up in after a mere 10 minutes of this activity. I’m rewinding to catch the dialogue I missed every 5 minutes, only to miss it all over again because it’s nose-first back down into the phone. It feels…fucking horrible.
Enter: Zentangles.
Thank you, Zentangles.
A Zentangle is a repetitive doodle, like a checkerboard or Sgt. Pepper-esque ever-expanding paisley. Though I am new to Zentangling, I am a woman changed. Now, instead of also scrolling when I listen to a podcast or watch Gilmore Girls, I Zentangle.
It’s not multi-tasking as such; it’s more keeping my hands busy, while still allowing myself to listen and follow a plot line (I don’t really want to talk about what it means for my brain cells that I wasn’t able to focus on a Gilmore Girls plot line before Zentangles. Thank God for neuroplasticity, am I right?).
The point is, my Zentangles needn’t have a point. They are an enjoyable experience for enjoyable experience’s sake – tactile, colorful, mind-numbing without brain-melting. This is what intentionality is bringing me: awareness that habits don’t have to be broken cold turkey, that not every minute has to be optimized or productive, or that I have to be ridden with guilt when it’s not.
It's just liking the things you do – big and small.
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