Welcome to the Hump Day Motivation (HDM), a bi-weekly edition of Gangletown. Hump Day is all about the things that make me happy, hopeful, and horny. So buckle up, and enjoy a mid-week digital wiggle!
The Music: Selfcare (album) by Yours Truly
More juicy and moody punk-pop emo rock music. Most of you have expressed that this kind of music is “not your thing” or “noise,” but that’s not my business. It’s what I’m vibing on.
You can listen HERE:
The IRL: Hobbies and Habits
There is this whole thing that I’m constantly trying to do? It’s called being “more healthy.” I know. It sounds super weird.
Around my birthday, I was being a total Debbie, really struggling to hold onto anything of substance to keep myself grounded. It became apparent that I needed to make some changes if I wanted anything to change.
I thought about some of the ways in which I felt I was struggling to maintain healthy habits, and I settled on three root arenas: mental, physical, and professional. (One could probably argue that “professional” is not the same kind of root as something like mental or physical; for me, though, “professional” takes up a lot of daily energy. It is easily on par with other base human needs in terms of how it can impact the rest of my day-to-day.) To get healthier, I wanted to make a change in each area that would help long-term. Here is what I have chosen to do.
For mental health, I finally found a new therapist and have committed to weekly sessions with her.
For physical health, I quit my old gym, where I had habits that didn’t motivate me to exercise. Instead, I’ve started using the gyms in our building and making more consistent use of the Peloton and Shred Apps. This is more affordable, and allowing the apps to choose the workout routines for me removes the “planning” aspect, making it easier for me to comprehend.
For professional health, I started school again by joining a writing academy. That makes it sound fancy, and it is fancy depending on your POV, but it’s just a good group of people, a curriculum, and a mentor. It’s not really “school,” but it is very much a learning environment.
Again, these are long-term commitments, so I will not say that anything has “worked” or that I am “healed.” What I will say, though, is that the referencable commitments have been beneficial. They function like anchors when I start to drift and guideposts when I feel lost.
The Audio Book: Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most
A new book by Greg McKeown, also the author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. These books are primarily focused on business and take the approach of anecdotes and memoir mixed with business concepts.
Look, if you’re not into like self-help/business books, then skip this. But I’ve come back to the concepts in these books a lot over the last few years. So. It is what it is.
What is Effortless about?
“In Effortless, McKeown offers proven strategies for making the most important activities the easiest ones. For example:
- Streamline your process by mapping out the minimum number of steps.
- Prevent problems later by solving them before they happen.
- Let Go of perfectionism by finding the "courage to be rubbish."
- Accelerate your learning by leveraging the best of what others know.
By making the toughest tasks just a little bit easier, we can accomplish more of what matters, without burning out.”
Effortless on Goodreads can be found here.
The Thirst: Oscar Isaac in Dune
So, last night Tralen and I went to the theater and finally saw Dune. It looked like a cool otherworldly sci-fi movie, so I thought, why not? I had no context for Dune outside of this new film. Never seen the original film, never read the book (books?), nothing. I just knew it was a thing and went for it.
OPINION / SPOILER ALERT INCOMING
Honestly, I think the movie was kind of a mess? Like, the creators had absolutely zero interest in helping the audience buy into the world, the stakes, the characters. They took a strong approach of dropping the audience into an already existing world, jumping around all over the place, and letting us figure it out. They woke up each day on this film and said, “expository story-telling be damned!” I respect the choice, but I didn’t like it.
Also, it’s like, where’s the social awareness? There is a magic coven of women who seem to allow this young white guy to be “the one”? And then there is this truly sandy planet full of Black and POC people, and they too seem to embrace the little white guy as a BFD? I don’t buy it. I guess he has some cute powers and stuff, but…
The whole thing just felt very self-important and overworked to me. I’d be more than happy to argue about this with anyone that loved it! And - for the record - I have a lot of respect for the artists and creators that did the work to bring their vision(s) to life, but I don’t think this was my film.
It just…It doesn’t. You know? It doesn't.
ANYWAY.
I think that many people went to see this movie because of their thirst for #kingtwink, Timotheé Chalamet. I want to say…if that is you, then hey howdy. That’s fab. Love that for you. Personally, I can’t see the sex appeal. I can see the Edward Scissorhands cosplay success story! But the sex just isn’t there for me. I’m sorry. I support you! But it just doesn’t happen for me.
Want to know where I can find the sex appeal?
In the unreasonably thick forest of a beard that Oscar Isaac has on his ruggedly handsome face.
In this movie, where Isaac plays Dzaddy to #KingTwink, I often found myself looking for something to care about. But, because there was so little (or maybe just…too much?) else available to cling to, I couldn’t help but allow my imagination to drift.
Instead of a sea of sand and worms the size of Manhattan, all I could think about was what it would be like for Oscar Isaac to casually just like…put his fingers in my mouth. You know? Like. Just. Go for it. You know? What if his gruff, strong fingers were to wrap around the back of my jaw while his fat thumb just like pressed on my tongue?
Right? What if?
You get it.
And then! UGH! There is a whole scene where Dzaddy is super naked, and that should be sexy!!! Sadly, it wasn’t. Because Dzaddy was nearly dead and splayed out on a chair after being paralyzed by a blow-dart and delivered to the Baron by a traitorous doctor-friend with a head tattoo.
So rude. We’re getting Oscar Isaac naked and even making that not sexy?
DUNE? MORE LIKE DON’T! AmIright?
Anyway. Oscar Isaac, if you’d like to let me lick the sweat off your forehead or something, just DM me.
P.S. Josh Brolin, who is also in the film, could absofuckinloooootely Thanos-snap me in half. I mean, my god.
The Things I Say Out Loud to Help Make Them Real: Commitments
I’m writing a book.
Long-time Gangles may remember that I was experimenting with writing a book last year, and that was a lot of fun. I learned a lot about what it means to start a book and even more about what comes naturally to me and what does not. That project was very much an experiment, and I had no specific goals related to the project, aside from allowing it to be a place to practice and try new things.
Now, I’m making a different commitment. I’m writing a book—a different book than that one (^). I will have a completed draft by the end of May 2022.
Okay, that was scary to say out loud. Bye!