Efficacy, and the perception thereof
May. 31st, 2026 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flexagonMy partners had bigger news this week than I did: in particular it was the bug's birthday, and the bug also started a cool class on how to make documentaries, while the squirrel was announced as interim CEO of his company. (That's an opportunity/trap that came entirely out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, and which I didn't want to mention until it was real, but is now upon us. I'm pleased at the evolution of his thinking about the position, and that he's trying really hard to set a firm repeating date night with Perse, but the whole thing is still wild.)
I modeled for the bug's documentary homework, and got over the last of whatever cold virus was clinging onto me. I listened to a lot more King Sorrow, finished knitting my cowl, and mixed a bag of compost into my little garden bed (everywhere except the three patches where last year's plants are still alive). I found myself sad at this year's tremendous proliferation of black swallow-wort, including in places where I personally spent hours digging the plants up by their nasty little root-balls last year; I guess the May rain was perfectly timed for the stuff. I'm pulling out tall, tall vines with 1/4" diameter stalks. Is any of it even worth trying? Did I do any good, am I doing any good now? When's the last time I even saw a monarch butterfly anyway?
This feeling of my work not doing any good was exacerbated by having to cancel my ropes-course party yesterday, due to a freak storm that brought rain and below-40s temperatures. Oh and then we had a big meteor explode over Massachusetts while I was working out. Everyone assumed it was something local at first, but nope: just the equivalent of 300 tons of TNT going off forty miles over our heads. (I didn't hear it. I was in the gym where thuds and bangs are pretty normal, plus my new Eargasm earplugs, which seem fantastic so far). I was bummed about that party cancellation, but it seems we'll have just as many folks for the fallback date of June 13, and anyway nobody wanted to be shivering/miserable in the treetops. When Saturday came around, I didn't either. There was birthday cake at my ex-coworker's house, and that was enough.
I submitted last week's crossword puzzle. I gridded up a new one that I won't be able to submit for a while. Might be a little obsessed, but I like this better than the months where I wasn't getting any new ideas.
Despite the feelings, accomplishments were accomplished: I got my new rental place de-leaded and have the certificate of lead compliance (woo!), and the boiler is replaced over at the squirrel nest (with minor follow-up drama where the technicians left something turned off and then the tenants didn't have hot water). And I fixed a bathtub drain mechanism myself while I was over there.
Hoping for a little more art and less house this week, but tomorrow morning there are folks showing up to blow more insulation into my attic, so we shall see.
I modeled for the bug's documentary homework, and got over the last of whatever cold virus was clinging onto me. I listened to a lot more King Sorrow, finished knitting my cowl, and mixed a bag of compost into my little garden bed (everywhere except the three patches where last year's plants are still alive). I found myself sad at this year's tremendous proliferation of black swallow-wort, including in places where I personally spent hours digging the plants up by their nasty little root-balls last year; I guess the May rain was perfectly timed for the stuff. I'm pulling out tall, tall vines with 1/4" diameter stalks. Is any of it even worth trying? Did I do any good, am I doing any good now? When's the last time I even saw a monarch butterfly anyway?
This feeling of my work not doing any good was exacerbated by having to cancel my ropes-course party yesterday, due to a freak storm that brought rain and below-40s temperatures. Oh and then we had a big meteor explode over Massachusetts while I was working out. Everyone assumed it was something local at first, but nope: just the equivalent of 300 tons of TNT going off forty miles over our heads. (I didn't hear it. I was in the gym where thuds and bangs are pretty normal, plus my new Eargasm earplugs, which seem fantastic so far). I was bummed about that party cancellation, but it seems we'll have just as many folks for the fallback date of June 13, and anyway nobody wanted to be shivering/miserable in the treetops. When Saturday came around, I didn't either. There was birthday cake at my ex-coworker's house, and that was enough.
I submitted last week's crossword puzzle. I gridded up a new one that I won't be able to submit for a while. Might be a little obsessed, but I like this better than the months where I wasn't getting any new ideas.
Despite the feelings, accomplishments were accomplished: I got my new rental place de-leaded and have the certificate of lead compliance (woo!), and the boiler is replaced over at the squirrel nest (with minor follow-up drama where the technicians left something turned off and then the tenants didn't have hot water). And I fixed a bathtub drain mechanism myself while I was over there.
Hoping for a little more art and less house this week, but tomorrow morning there are folks showing up to blow more insulation into my attic, so we shall see.
