November 23, 2025

This week ended up having a lot more time “off” than I’ve had in a while. With the holidays / end of year, I haven’t had as many meetings during the day, which in some ways has given me more flexibility but also means I've started to wander a bit during the day and to catch up on work in the evening. I should stop doing that and keep work during work hours so that I can have clear "on" and "off" time so that I don't feel like I'm constantly "on" (even though I know I'm not – this is all entirely psychological!).

We had another friend come over for dinner during the week, which was fun.
I managed to work on some embroidery and to read and to even write a bit on multiple days.
And I stayed up too late to watch the utterly bananas Vancouver vs. LAFC game. It was so worth it.

In retrospect, the week wasn’t well paced at all — I was either working intensely or not doing anything at all – and, of course, it's better to balance between the two. But the extended periods of down time helped my brain so much. Also reading and writing and making things.

We're keeping the holidays very low key this year – no travel at all. Thanksgiving will be just us. We're cooking the usual meal, and A does the turkey, and I do several sides and desserts, and now that I've realized how I like to cook (unhurriedly), I'll take my time with the pies and such.

I also very easily talked A & M into doing an Icelandic Christmas Eve (Jólabókaflóðið, or the "book flood"), and the plan is to open books (and pajamas) on Christmas Eve and to light a fire and to make some hot chocolate and to have a cozy evening of reading.

I have a lot on my plate in terms of volunteer commitments between now and the end of the year ('tis the season!) – which is good stuff but happening all at once – so I'm trying to arrange some quality quiet time in the future.

On a different note, I think I may want to keep going with Proust next year? I'm debating... I want to read in a more organized way about time (or temporality). I still haven't read Jenny Odell's Saving Time, and I was also thinking of reading Solvej Balle's On the Calculation of Volume. Thematically, In Search of Lost Time fits.