Friday Reflection #27: Some shares given a mundane week

New name, homemade cookies, & complicated feelings about a book

Welcome to Friday Reflections! A weekly series sharing current life reflections, and 1 thought or thing I loved and/or learned from the week as I navigate rebuilding my life as a late bloomer.

Good afternoon, lovely reader.

I’ve been movin’ like molasses all week this week. How about you? Is this a “fall season” thing??

I reached out to a friend today who’s been in the Israeli army before, to see how he was holding up, and of course he said as best he can.

He and his team have been called to protect the border, and he’s told me it’s a sad and difficult time.

I don’t expect the entire world to halt and speak up about what’s going on in every tragedy that happens (there’s so much we aren’t even aware of on a daily basis!). Honestly, in most cases when I hear saddening news my heart hurts and I wish to send as much love, hope, and help for it to cease as soon as possible.

But things always hit differently when it’s closer to home. When a loved one is involved or it’s something you can personally resonate with, you know?

I don’t always acknowledge everything publically, and I don’t think there’s a right… mannerism for doing so. Nor should everyone be expected to speak up all the time (you never know what’s going on behind the scenes).

But I did wanna mention this especially because I have a friend who is actually in the thick of this, fighting.

It seems self-indulgent because I personally know someone there, and I don’t mean it to be. But I felt wrong not mentioning it KNOWING a friend is risking his life.

Okay, awkward transition in effeeeeect… Now.

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Let’s talk about this newsletter a little bit.

Ideas for it during this messy experimentation phase kinda just left me. Not sure yet where I’m at with this newsletter aside from the name!

Speaking of… thanks to everyone who did the poll last week! Majority of you chose the name I was leaning toward anyway: Living Late(ly). :)

Maybe I’ll work on the visual rebranding of things while I simultaneously try to get back on the creation train; I dunno why it’s been SO. HARD. these past few weeks.

Anyway, this past week has been a pretty normal week otherwise.

I just finished a book (not an affiliate link) that had so many parallels to my own life (caregiving, God-over-everything dismissal, a late bloomer, etc.). But despite that, I don’t feel it deserves quite the raving review I keep seeing it have. Maybe I’ll write on that…

This week I also reached out to someone I talked to briefly years ago to see if we could develop a friendship, and we’ve been talking every day since.

And I successfully made the perfect homemade cookie! And it’s very-selective-and-picky dad approved! (Bear in mind: it’s not my recipe! It’s so good though. I’d just add a bit more salt, and pecans, and take them out sooner next time.)

I also fell into the Amazon sale trap and bought an early Christmas gift for someone, as well as a sunrise alarm clock, and some things to do gel nails at home.

I ran errands and grabbed dinner with a friend on Thursday, visiting my grandma later today…

Okay, I’m sorry but can I go back to the nails real quick? I’m in a slight personal style discovery phase right now and I can imagine myself wearing an oversized sweatshirt, two gold necklaces, and having my nails done to make me feel more put-together.

But this past week I tried doing my nails and it was the WORST I’d ever done my nails! And I know how to do my own nails!

 Not getting the nail stuff right for the first time ever really irked me!

So yeah, I frustratingly bought the nail stuff as part of a redemption arc.

… And this really cute and flattering top from Urban Outfitters that I’ve had my eye on for over a week now.

But okay! Enough about my consumerist consumption.

I wanna share with you one thing that made me laugh… For nearly 20 minutes straight.

This One Thing…

This video…

I’ve watched it every day since I discovered it.

Lemme give you a bit of context:

These two people are playing Minecraft, a building/adventure-like game. They’re playing in real time and indeed, caused a chain reaction of laughing that lasted nearly 20 minutes.

I thought I may have a bit of a bias since I kinda know what’s going on and who these people are (yes the young woman’s voice is her voice. She virtually doesn’t have an immune system and got a bad infection that changed her voice to that pitch), but their laughs really are funny and probably will send you into an infectious fit of giggles too.

Just in case you don’t wanna live out their whole laughing journey (they actually pass it on later in the video), I’ll share my favorite moments in timestamps:

1:35 - a sample of his windshield wiper laugh :)

6:30 - a sample of her cry that sounds like a sob (followed by him laughing at her laugh)

8:34 - my favorite part. They say they’re done but then I start laughing at what he immediately does next

16:36 - It’s spreading!! Now to a French man! 

Tell me if it at least leaves a smile on your face!

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Alright, I think I’m going to spend the next couple of days going over the drafts I do have, and reading others’ work. See if that gets me some inspiration for my next steps.

Whatever I decide to do though, I promise I won’t bombard you with too much nonsense in your inboxes!

Okay, see you next week!