#for now I’m making nachos and watching a few eps of one piece before I’ll try to actually write something

[superbattrash]

in case we were wondering: no, I did not sleep but I am being very brave about it :3

[nossbean]

@sarahoftarth tagged me ages ago, thank you and sorry it’s taken so long!! So pandemic brain has been doing a number on me the last couple of months (few weeks? honestly time means nothing atm which is probably part of the problem!) but I’ve been getting my energy back up in fits and starts, and I remembered this comfort meme! It seemed like a great time to pull it out and have a go 💕

🌿 Favourite comfort food: rolling around in starch, basically! Bangers and mash swimming in gravy has been my main comfort food since I was a tot, also love pizza and nachos just HEAPED with tasty things and ice cream sundaes with nuts and hot caramel drizzle thank you

🌼 Favourite drink: loooove iced blended matcha drinks. Am trying to figure out how best to replicate these at home. Alcohol-wise, either a Pimms with UK-style lemonade and all the fruity/vegetably bits, or a rosé cider.

🌷 Favourite relaxing activity: long baths with candles and either fiction podcasts, or music and a good novel or fic

🌻 Favourite calming scent: rain, all permutations, by far. 

🌺 Favourite relaxing/uplifting song: hmm the closest I can answer this is by revealing the contents of my ‘in case of emergency’ playlist, best played on shuffle: Mutha’uckas by Flight of the Conchords; Goodnight New York by Vienna Teng; Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman; A Million Dreams from the OST of The Greatest Showman; Across the Stars from the Star Wars OST; and rounding it out, two from Galavant: No One But You and I Love You (As Much As Somebody Like Me Can Love Anybody). 

🍄 Favourite book to get lost in: Oh geez. This is hard for me to answer because I get lost in written stuff a lot. Instead of specifying a fave, I’ll just answer the last book I got lost in, which was All Systems Red by Martha Wells, the first in her Murderbot series. Best summed up as a robot security guard (refers to self as Murderbot) who just wants to be left alone to watch its shows but accidentally catches feelings for the humans it has been contracted to work for. Would v highly recommend, the story is a lot of fun, has great worldbuilding, and is in all ways a romp. Also, pro-tip, Tor.com’s newsletter gives away a free SFF ebook monthly, which is how I got this one (in fact, I’m pretty sure All Systems Red has been their free giveaway at least twice in the last 18 months or so, so a good chance it’ll come around again!)

💐 Favourite chill out TV show: a rotation of Mike Schur shows <3 Parks and Rec will forever be the show of my heart, but The Good Place is a close second, with Brooklyn Nine-nine bringing up the rear.

🍃 Favourite cheering podcast: I’ve added this one because I listen to loooaaads of podcasts and reckon I’m not the only one! That said, feel free to delete as needed! There’s two I’d definitively recommend, starting with The Good Place: The Podcast. Initially it was essentially episode commentaries done in podcast interview format, and now it’s expanded to a bit of additional content (they did an episode on the recent Parks & Rec special, for instance). It’s a really great listen, with lots of talk about all the things that make The Good Place wonderful with the crew & cast. I could honestly happily listen to hundreds of hours of Mike Schur interviewed by Mark Evan Jackson about the philosophical underpinnings of the show. It also has this bonus lovely segment at the end of every episode called, “What’s Good” wherein each guest shares something good in their lives/the world, and I’ve actually pulled that concept into my advocacy meetings because it’s so nice. 

And the other is How Did This Get Made of which I’ve been listening to a lot the last few weeks. They’ve got a long back catalogue, a lot of their discussions go off the rails in the most delightfully cracky and funny ways, and particularly of late, they are a Safe Listen, in that they’re politically conscious and bring that into their discussions which is great because a lot of the films they watch are... hoooo-eeeee. Not. (Note this doesn’t hold for their earlier eps necessarily. They’ve been doing the podcast for 10 years and the hosts have Been On a Journey which is nice in a different way!) Bonus shoutout to The Guilty Feminist for your comedy/serious-discussion-of-feminist-concepts needs, and The Strange Case of the Starship Iris for your radio drama-esque progressive radical rebels in a space ship sci-fi needs (which, honestly, I didn’t know I needed this until I listened to it and fell in love)

🌹 The best advice you’ve ever had: oh gosh. Okay, I’m offering two since I am apparently in a rambling mood this evening! One of a more personal persuasion and then also the best piece of professional advice I’ve received. So personally: try to be gentle with yourself and remember you’re doing the best you can, and that is enough. I’m trying to remind myself of this on the daily, as pandemic brain has taken me the fork out for the last while and I’m feeling behind on All The Things. The compulsive worker in me caveats that there are times when being gentle with myself can be taken too far, but frankly, I’ve found I’ve never been in the brainspace to have that constructive conversation about when I need to push myself a bit, if I haven’t been able to acknowledge the time before has been as much as I can give (that’s a convoluted sentence and I hope it makes some sense!) So in case it’s helpful: you, yes you reading this: you’re doing the best you can. And that’s enough 💙

Professionally and relating to teamwork, as I used to work in a high-pressured and often very time-sensitive field where projects had multiple moving parts, often based out on location, and where teamwork was basically the only thing which could guarantee success: when things go right, celebrate responsible individuals as well as the team on the whole. When things go wrong, tackle it as a team only. (There are caveats of course: ‘go wrong’ holds a whole host. But assuming we mean simple human error as opposed to bigotry, harassment, or malice, then the point is that it does no one any good to point fingers, or pillory any individuals, particularly since sometimes/often it was a collective erring along the way in any case. And if needs be, there can always be a debrief later) In my experience: this works well to getting a team through some of the worst of situations, and creates a more cooperative working environment overall. Also, a related note, is that particularly when the error comes from someone lower on the hierarchy, who is probably overworked and underpaid, this approach is far better for encouraging learning and growth than anything else.

Tagging: @amuserobin @forbiddenfantasies1 @djeli-beybi @brynnmck @beesreadbooks @ajoblotofjunk @fireinthetwilight @twelvemonkeyswere @klingofff @pretty--thief @ilikeblue @ronordmann and truly anyone else who fancies it! Not sure how much this one went around so sorry if I’m double tapping you & would love to see your answers!