Living is weary and I can barely see through the fog emanating from the multitude of work-fires. A friend believes it is merely that the people at whose whip-end I saw have discovered the foolproof levers that induce me to move mountains. I saw it proposed last Thursday a Theory of the Little Treat, understanding the spectrum to be horseshoe-shaped:
Anyway, things are going badly; time for a little treat:
Tsubame notebooks. Thick, hefty, lie flat, thick paper. Your Japanese paper importer will have them.
Watercolor painting. Not necessarily on the Tsubame paper though one might attempt it. Any old set will do. The act of placing water and color, waiting for it to dry, and layering is a meditative release for unsatisfying churn cycles.
Dried banana chips. They crunch, it’s nice. My tooth bends irretrievably toward sweet though the unsweetened ones are better.
Squalane oil. Originally derived from shark liver, this thin substance can be used as moisturizer in any number of combinations. I use The Ordinary’s variety.
Using the abductor machine in reverse. An acquired taste and best for when the gym is depopulated. Uniquely satisfying to move one’s own weight and then some.
Red bean daifuku. Another slant-sweet craving. Something about the texture also is appealing. Next on my list to learn how to make myself.
Dior Addict Lip Maximizer in 006 Plum. It doesn’t seem right for my coloring in the tube, but something about it on the lips, I like. A little too bruised and warm.
Because I have barely been able to look at anything that isn’t a screen lately let alone a text, here are a few of my favorite books:
The Unicorn, Iris Murdoch. Impossible to summarize and I won’t try. A questionably religious decadent love story set in Irish wilderness. And more.
Lightning Rods, Helen DeWitt. Perhaps she has worked in an office before? Irrelevant.
People in Glass Houses, Shirley Hazzard. Spotting the neoliberal era coming a mile away.
The Penguin Book of the Sonnet. I keep foisting this on others and having to buy new copies. A thoroughly-used text, indispensable.