New Year

Well, well, well, if it isn't the blog I said I'd write in every two weeks. Happy New Year. Or just New Year, to steal a joke. Every time I start one of these drafts, I have the inexplicable urge to write "damn, daniel." I don't think I've even retained the original meaning of the meme in my usage; it just feels like a more fun way to say damn, more of this stuff, huh?

I've taken my Christmas decorations down, did my annual unfollow of Turtle Creek Lane (sorry, won't link, but you can look her up), and also had to say goodbye to a different Christmas Instagram account for its crime of posting an AI slop image of a fireplace surrounded by roughly 30,000 candles and 200 football fields' worth of garland. gorgeous family room!! Again, won't link.

I am pleased to report, however, that the Swedish pony account I follow recently announced that they do not and will not use AI. gorgeous horse!!

And that's basically it for good stuff that I'm aware of.

I see online that ICE is terrorizing the Costco I used to frequent, the Target, the Home Depot. I feel impotent and far away, which I suppose I prefer to impotent and close by.

I keep seeing people use the phrase "in broad daylight" to describe the recent killing and kidnappings, as if it would be better if they happened in the middle of the night, out of view. As if they should be kept to just the regular social murder that we don't have to see.

I know it's just a go-to phrase, and no one intends that, but I have to live up to the name of this newsletter. We all have little phrases we throw around when we want to make things sound more serious or dramatic. There's lots of talk of "masked thugs" – whereas I, a genius, think they're bad even if we can see their faces perfectly as they harass and murder.

And again, I don't live there anymore, so all I can do is sub-tweet here about strangers on Bluesky and get a little bossy with you all. My advice is to get to know your neighbors now. (I need to do this in my new place too.) Join up with people who are doing stuff. Interrogate your resistance to that. I know it all feels very scary, and that's not a failing. In fact, it sounds like the appropriate response to me! A large segment of the population seems very averse to admitting to being scared. Pretty normal human feeling! Be scared, feel sad, do stuff. Okay, bossy-mode over. Get in touch if you'd like (I would).