Bad Weather
Current location:
Milwaukee, WI, USA
Reading:
The Heroine with 1001 Faces
by Maria Tatar
Listening:
The One and Lonely
by Carter Ace
(if you have a moment, reply with your own 3-item status)
Bad Weather
I tend to believe the truism, "There's no bad weather, only unsuitable clothing."
Many times I've found myself in the middle of storms, walking through ice-glazed landscapes, slogging along humid paths and beaches, and my enjoyment or misery will be directly correlated to what I'm wearing, or in some cases how I'm otherwise prepared for that scenario.
With a waterproof jacket, hood, and boots, the rain and wind are not just tolerable, but maybe even invigorating.
Properly bundled and layered, the ice and snow and biting cold are brisk and satisfying companions, not skin-shattering, jaw-juddering antagonists.
Sticky, sultry humidity becomes relaxing and restorative when suitably light, breathable, maybe even scanty clothing is draped or donned.
The right combination of gloves or sunscreen or sunglasses or a wide-brimmed hat or scarves or lotion or breathable but effective masks can convert a trying, uncomfortable, even risky scenario into something palatable or pleasant.
We all differ in our preferences and predispositions, so some of us will need more layers than others to tolerate wintery weather, while others (myself included) will require more shade and sunscreen and the breeziest of garments if soupy, shirt-soddening tropical temperatures are going to be anything but miserable.
The same applies to others aspects of life, I think.
Uncertainty is undesirable for most of us, most of the time, but having stabilizing infrastructure in place—economic, interpersonal, psychological, physical—can make it more tolerable and even somewhat enjoyable, in some cases, through some lenses.
Likewise, a deluge of seemingly unintelligible information and narratives cascading into our lives each day can be stressful and bothersome, but the more we know about more things, and the more we're able to connect those things to other things, the greater our capacity to imbue ominous or confounding information with nervousness-neutralizing meaning.
Our capacity to understand what's happening in the world around us can help us filter the emotionally manipulative commentaries from the meaningful data points, which in turn can help us avoid or annul anxiety-inducing agitations that would otherwise taint our informational diets.
By investing in our health, understanding, and the spaces we occupy, we're outfitting ourselves with the optimal attire to recognize and harmonize with the variables influencing our lives.
None of which necessarily changes those variables: that's an entirely different type of (equally important) effort.
This is more about ensuring we're wearing the right coat, the right sunscreen and mittens so that we don't freeze or burn or get drenched to the bone in the meantime.
If you found some value in this essay, consider supporting my work by buying me a coffee :)
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Projects
Select, recent works from across my project portfolio.
Aspiring Generalist: Public Domain Review
Brain Lenses: Defamiliarization
I Will Read To You: Recurrence
Let’s Know Things: Car Accidents
Curiosity Weekly / Daily: Feb 22, 2022 / Feb 21, 2022
One Sentence News: Feb 23, 2022 (podcast version)
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Interesting & Useful
The Epic Wilderness of Greenland, In Pictures
From Inuit hunters to the vast expanses of snow and ice, Danish photographer Carsten Egevang’s images spring from a three-decade fascination with the planet’s least-populated country.
Special Probe lenses and High Resolution Lumix cameras are used to capture the inside of instruments in a way that makes them appear vast and cavernous.
Virtual study and work spaces from around the world.
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Outro
I took a little trip up to Green Bay last week, and it was a lot of fun! A nice city surrounded by other charming (much smaller) towns.
I'm trying to decide where to go this week—I may try to hit some of the museums I haven't checked out here in Milwaukee, but I may also head west, possibly to Madison? We'll see.
This week I hit episode 300 of my podcast, Let's Know Things.
That's a lot of episodes! And since it's a weekly podcast you can trace backward (there are 52 weeks in a year) to get a sense of how long I've been running the thing.
LKT continues to be one of the most challenging and fulfilling things I do, as it requires I learn a whole lot about a variety of things all the time, while also figuring out how to communicate those things to strangers on the other end of an audio transmission.
On top of those 300 episodes, I've done another 30-something bonus episodes for folks who support the show financially: so we're actually approaching 333 episodes, in total, which is another satisfying number considering the amount of work that goes into each one.
The news analysis side of my work is only one facet of what I do, but I consider it to be important and find it to be immensely gratifying and challenging and worthwhile, despite (and probably in part because of) all the work (and sometimes, struggle) it requires.
Thanks very much to everyone who's helped LKT grow over the years! I appreciate your kind words, your financial support (via Patreon or Understandary), your reviews, and just knowing there are interested, interesting people on the other end of the microphone.
Also! Fun fact: Brain Lenses and One Sentence News were formulated as spin-offs of Let's Know Things, as I realized, first, a lot what I was talking about each week could be tied back to perceptual variation—the many differences in how we perceive the world, ourselves, and each other, and the variables that cause those differences—and second, that it might be useful to provide more concise, daily overviews of what's happening in the world for folks who want to expand their situational awareness and fill in some knowledge gaps without being overwhelmed and/or stressed-out by the typical news deluge—hence, BL and OSN (also very rewarding projects to produce).
All of which is a little navel-gazy, I know, but it's fun to have the excuse to share a bit about the connective tissue between some of these projects, as some of them probably don't obviously connect to any of the others from the outside, but to me, everything I'm doing feels like a vital part of a larger whole.
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How's your week progressing? Working on anything you're especially excited/worried/stressed about and/or proud of? Any big plans for March (which I can't believe is almost here)?
Tell me what's up and/or just say hello by replying to this newsletter or writing to colin@exilelifestyle.com. I respond to every email I receive and would love to hear from you :)
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If you’re finding some value in what I’m doing here, consider supporting my work: Become an Understandary member / Buy me a coffee (or: Buy me a monthly coffee)