Quote that I was thinking about:

Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it.

Hannah Arendt

New word I learned last week: multipotentialite

Multipotentiality is an educational and psychological term referring to the ability and preference of a person, particularly one of strong intellectual or artistic curiosity, to excel in two or more different fields

Wikipedia entry for multipotentialite

It’s good, probably essential, to be interested in multiple fields:

Most professions, even ones that look wildly different, live under the umbrella of “Understanding how people respond to incentives, how to convincingly solve their problems, and how to work with others who are difficult to communicate with and/or disagree with you.”

Ideas the Changed My Life

More life essentials that seem simple but are hard in practice:

Going out of your way to be around smart people, people that are better than you at something, is simple to remember but really hard to do consistently if you think about it (or have made an intentional effort to do so).

Go out of your way to be around smart, interesting, ambitious people. Work for them and hire them (in fact, one of the most satisfying parts of work is forging deep relationships with really good people). Try to spend time with people who are either among the best in the world at what they do or extremely promising but totally unknown. It really is true that you become an average of the people you spend the most time with.

Do new things often. This seems to be really important. Not only does doing new things seem to slow down the perception of time, increase happiness, and keep life interesting, but it seems to prevent people from calcifying in the ways that they think. Aim to do something big, new, and risky every year in your personal and professional life.

Have clear goals for yourself every day, every year, and every decade.

However, as valuable as planning is, if a great opportunity comes along you should take it.  Don’t be afraid to do something slightly reckless.  One of the benefits of working hard is that good opportunities will come along, but it’s still up to you to jump on them when they do.

The days are long but the decades are short

Some truth about Zoom-learning from Llama Llama:

Llama darts off to build a Lego tower while Mama sneaks away to take a shower.

Under the cleansing spray, Mama catches her breath. Time alone’s more pure than Walter White’s meth.

But poor Mama isn’t on her own at all. Llama and his laptop lurk in the hall.

Llama’s classmates dissolve into giggle fits as camera pans to Mama’s lady bits.

HT to Ben

Llama llama remote learning drama

Many things you do today you won’t be able to do in the future:

Pretty silly video (why is the music so loud?!) but these tidbits made it worth it, as did the fact that the whales are winning. 🐳

Children had conversations and adventures without their parent’s knowledge, and these became the secrets of their childhood.

Think of all the ballrooms and nights out dancing. Surely, if there is one thing we should reclaim from this list, this is it.

Other things I was reminded of, or thankful for, last week:

• Sam asked me whether I get sad while we were going to bed one night this week. I said that I do get sad sometimes and asked him if he gets sad/is sad? He said he does if someone shouts at him. He also added that his teachers never shout at him. I guess that would leave his parents as the only other people that would have shouted at him over the past year in this case. Nice troll Sam. 😬
• Occassionally I get to sleep in and this past week I got the chance to do that and to wake up and go lay in Vivi’s bed with her while she woke up. We talked about her dream, what life would be like withour opposable thumbs, and that we both wanted to do this waking-up-together thing more often.
• Our dog Rubee’s DNA test came back this week and she is mainly a mix of Labrador (37%), German Shepard (25%), Airedale Terrier (12.5%), and Miniature Poodle (12.5%).
• Had a few good little art sesssion this week, kids were focused. for their paintings. Pics below.