#the worst is anyday can be a horrible day

[ratfc]

And now for the winter transfer window

[themosleyreview]

The Mosley Review: Worst Films of 2022

Well ladies and gentlemen, 2022 has come to an end. Luckily, this year of cinema hasn't had too many pitfalls in quality that infuriated me. Actually, I take that back. There was a few films that truly disappointed me, pissed me off and 1 film that I absolutely despised. That's right people, its time for my pick for the worst films of 2022. Now you may not agree with me on some of them and that's okay. All film is subjective and you can have your opinions, but these are mine. If you want a more detailed review of each film listed, then simply click the title of each film. So, lets get this over.

Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness: I wouldn't say this was the worst of the year, but more of a disappointment.  I happened to like that this was basically an Evil Dead version of the titular character, but I thought it was so inconsistent and lackluster in so many ways. If your gonna have a horror vibe then go all the way and get creepy with it. This film also introduced a new MCU character in the absolute worst way. America Chavez was absolutely useless for the majority of the film even though she has a decent backstory. The last fight in the film was just so bad and the story could've been over in 5 minutes with some simple logic. I wish this had tied into the animated series "What if?" in some sort of way. At least that Doctor Strange arc was more compelling than this.

Black Adam: I love DC. It is my comic book home over Marvel anyday and their heroes are just as important as their villains and anti heroes. When "Shazam!" was a success, it was only a matter of time before we were gonna get his darker counter part and I was excited until I saw the trailer. I knew something was off and I was right. I don't mind when a character's origin is altered a bit to fit with the times, but this was the most bland version ever. Dwayne Johnson can deliver a decent performance when he is challenged and he wasn't challenged at all in this film. This was one of his worst performances as he just delivers emotionless dialogue and floats around for the majority of the film with no sense of character development. The Justice Society of America was just slapped in for no reason and most of the team aside from Hawkman and Dr. Fate weren’t worthy of their names. Hey Black Adam, 2012 called. They want their villain plot and their shitty CGI back. It’s truly sad when the most memorable thing anyone will ever talk about is the post credit scene as being the best part of the film. You deserved better Henry Cavill.

Jurassic World: Dominion: Oh how this franchise has fallen so hard. It had a good, nostalgic and fun beginning that could've led to an amazing finale. What I was hoping to see is an actual world that's over run with dinosaurs. There was a short film released before the film called "Battle at Big Rock" and in that short you got a taste of what the film should’ve been. It had dinosaurs showing up in a camp site and wreaking havoc. It was tense and somewhat violent and everything that Dr. Ian Malcolm described it would be. What we got with this entry was a film about genetically enhanced locusts destroying crops. What the hell does that have to do with the dinosaurs you say? Nothing. How can you call yourself a Jurassic film when the dinosaurs aren't even the star of the film? Don't even get me started on legacy characters popping back up on screen just to have nothing to do but scream and get thrown around. What a disgrace to the franchise name.

Morbius: Do I need to really say anything about this dumpster fire of a movie? Visually the film was okay looking and I liked the ferocity of the character, but man was the rest of the film just horrible. This really didn't do anything to capture even the essence of the famous comic anti hero. This was just another day in the life of Jared Leto to be honest. The plot of the film was so bland, obvious and not even compelling enough to have a sense of fun. The only person I think was having fun as he just went for it in every scene, was Matt Smith. Listen Sony, I know you hold or have bought up all the rights to Spider-Man and all of his rogues, but for the love of all things holy, STOP making comic book movies like these. Outside of the Miles Morales animated films, you have consistently tainted each character with piss poor writing and god awful attempts to connect it to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. You even tried it here and it doesn't even make any sense! I hope you loose all the rights in the future so that the people over seeing the MCU can properly take care of these beloved characters. UGH!

And now we've come to it. The film that I consider to be the absolute worst of 2022 and the one film I hated the most is………..

Thor: Love and Thunder: If there's any character in the MCU that has had a full life experience and has become complete by Avengers: Endgame, its Thor. He is my favorite character of the MCU and it makes me so sick to my stomach to see what Kevin Feige and team have allowed Taika Waititi to do to him. Ragnarok was not the epic that it should've been, but it was tolerable once the Russo Brothers fixed the problems plaguing the character from that film. The character was ripped away from progress by Taika and tossed back into his "finding myself" story AGAIN when he already knew who he was! The constant usage of many OUTDATED memes including the stupid screaming goats, was so painful to witness. There was no sense of danger, no sense of compassion, no sense of urgency from any of the heroes. Jane Foster was given a story that could've been so heart wrenching, but it was met with god awful humor and didn't give the powerhouse dramatic actor that Natalie Portman is, anything to work with. Christian Bale was the best part of the film and he only got to shine in maybe 3 scenes that truly defined what this film should've been. This was an SNL sketch that was stretched too far and completely destroys any hope of saving the titular character for the future. When the news came that Taika wasn't gonna do anymore of these films, I rejoiced even though the massive damage had already been done. I truly and deeply hate this dog shit of a movie and in my opinion, it currently holds the number 1 spot of being the worst MCU film ever made.

And there it is ladies and gents! That is my list of the shiniest turds Hollywood crapped out in 2022. 2023 has already started and I hope that this year brings an even shorter list of stinkers. If you hated these films or liked my thoughts on them, let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

[armandismed]

dark chocolate bonbons; victoria sponge cake

dark chocolate bonbons: who is your favorite heroine from literature?

That’s really difficult off the top of my head, honestly (And honestly, and unfortunately, there’s not a lot of top heroines outside of the stereotypical ones, like Hermione Granger, Elizabeth Bennett, etc.) Some childhood favourites are probably Matilda and Nancy Drew, but I wouldn’t say necessarily they’re my favourites of all time.

Probably I’d say outside of enjoying the actual book (because it is a bit of a slog and I prefer the BBC series if I’m being absolutely honest), I do love the concept of Margaret Hale from North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. She’s really the first example of a woman protagonist advocating for change in a system that is cruel and unjust to workers, and basically is a unionist version of Pride and Prejudice, lets be real.

Other than that, I’d say in terms of pure enjoyment reading her character, it’s honestly got to be Miss Marple by Agatha Christie. I went through a huge Agatha Christie phase where I literally read every original Miss Marple book (and some just written in her name), and it’s just such a fantastic concept of this little old lady taking advantage of being a little old lady and not letting her mind ‘die’ like everyone assumes it will when you pass sixty for a woman, and basically outsmarting everyone by just casually playing their grandma and low-key interrogating them. She���s basically everything I aspire to be as an elderly woman xD

I’ll also give a mention to Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs. Although I’m not a fan of where the books actually went (Imagine an elven year old reading the sequels to Silence of the Lambs, and not being turned off by any of the blood and gore, but basically by the fact that Clarice fell in love with Hannibal, just looking up, and being like, DID THIS END IN A LOW KEY SEX SCENE- UGH xD. It’s so much more interesting when they’re playing that cat and mouse game; but I digress). 

I love Clarice so much, and how Jodie Foster played her in the actual film is just as great. I love the cinematography too, which also played on a lot of themes from the inner narrative of the original book from Clarice’s perspective: Guys looking her over like she’s (ironically) a piece of meat, being the one small woman in a field almost exclusively at the time for men, being hit on constantly by weird creeps in the field, and having to keep her cool and composure, look forward, and match wits with Hannibal, all while not letting her traumatic past catch up with her. I looked up to her so much as a child, and still do now.

(Also, honourable mention for Lady Macbeth and the line, “Unsex me here.” Brilliant forever. xD And a low-key mention for Brienne of Tarth, even though I still have not properly read the Game of Thrones books besides skimming the chapters of people I actually enjoy (AKA Brienne). xD

victoria sponge cake: what is your favorite poem?

Okay, I’m going to start this with a bit of a rant, because I never found myself traditionally drawn to poetry (I’m much more of a prose person), but you know who didn’t help with that in doing a double minor in English and German literature and a Classics major?

WILLIAM FUCKING BLAKE.

Every time I think of the worst poetry imaginable, I think about William FUCKING Blake and his STUPID poems which I can recite (unfortunately) to this day. How insipid, how twee, how CLOYING (even though I appreciate he was ATTEMPTING to get a social message across). I hate all of it. It’s saccharine and stupid and my favourite fact is that even in his time period everyone thought his poetry was insipid and cloying and ‘eccentric’ and how he wasn’t ‘recognised as a genius in his own time,’ and I’m like, “YES. BECAUSE HIS POETRY IS TERRIBLE AND I LITERALLY HAD TO RECITE ‘TIGER TIGER’ IN GRADE TWELVE ENGLISH, FIRST YEAR UNDERGRAD, SECOND YEAR UNDERGRAD, AND THIRD YEAR UNDERGRAD, WITH WILLIAM BLAKE GETTING AN ENTIRE UNIT IN ALL OF THEM. I HATE IT, I HATE IT SO MUCH. XD

Anyhow, now that I’ve gotten THAT out of the way, let’s talk about a poet who SHOULD be featured over William Blake ANYDAY, and that’s Langston Hughes. The Harlem Renaissance is infinitely more interesting and important in representing the diversity and the ideas that came out of the States any day than William Blake attempting to speak about social politics in the most cloying way imaginable.

I wouldn’t say it’s my ‘favourite’ poem, in that I find it enjoyable, but ever since we covered it in Literature 12 in high school, I always loved “Harlem” by Langston Hughes.

What happens to a dream deferred?

     Does it dry up     like a raisin in the sun?     Or fester like a sore—     And then run?     Does it stink like rotten meat?     Or crust and sugar over—     like a syrupy sweet?

     Maybe it just sags     like a heavy load.

     Or does it explode?

The first line is just so iconic, “What happens to a dream deferred?” And this image of it either shrivelling up like a raisin or this explosion of anger and frustration- obviously Hughes was speaking to the black experience and frustration of the poor in the 1920s in Harlem, but I find myself always quoting that line mentally whenever I find myself in a situation which leads to me suppressing a part of myself or a dream, and knowing that might be my only few options- to let it pucker up and prune inside of me, or to let it explode in anger. I always found it accessible outside of the historical connotations because anyone under the burden of capitalism in modern society can feel these things: Anyone who wasn’t born into affluence, but has smarts, a drive, wit. And like some sort of horrible boil, the last option is that their dream (and the person involved in that dream) can just explode, and then people wonder why individuals under a system which is most often set up to directly negate their success, lash out. It just really says everything, doesn’t it? (I didn’t mean to end this on a ranting downer, but there you go xD)

[lk-mitogen]

mental health rant

A friend of mine had an explosive breakdown at work today, and he got into a lot of trouble for it (he yelled at an R4 and an external doctor, both of which are...wayyyyyy higher up in rank than we are lmao, we’re at the bottom rung or lower). Talking to him and his girlfriend and another friend individually, I got the gist of why he did it -- his parents are divorcing, he has financial issues because of it, he’s lost faith in becoming a pediatrician and now has no idea who he wants to be, we work under insane pressure every day and no one gives a shit except when we fuck up, etc etc -- and I remembered me in my first year and a bit of med school, how I was just like that, because my own parents were divocing and it was hellish, and people came to know me as “that person who’s always fighting with the teachers” because I didn’t give a shit who you were, if you were wrong I told you and gave you twenty citations to back up my opinion, and it was just disruptive and offensive and it absolutely made me no allies.

He wasn’t wrong to get angry, to get irritated, but there are ways of expressing it that are better and more productive, but the reason I can tell that is because I’m in a better place now.

And like, he’s not the only one. My best medical school friend had a prolonged breakdown from last year until very recently, and it manifested as panic attacks and fainting spells and she would literally tell me “I have to get fresh air” and leave me alone in the emergency room with 20 patients because she just couldn’t handle it anymore, and I hated her a little bit for it, not gonna lie, she abandoned me when I really fucking needed someone to help me over and over and over, even in the middle of a goddamn surgery once, but I understood, I got it, and she got help and she’s better now, and she’s an impeccable doctor, whipsmart and attentive, I’d consult her anyday.

And like, this guy’s girlfriend has lately been complaining about nonspecific abdominal symptoms, and she keeps wanting to find a medical explanation for it, but I know it’s psychological, because she’s dealing with the same stress we’re all under PLUS her boyfriend is going absolutely nuts and in a violent way, it’s not the first time he yells at people when he’s frustrated, it’s just the first time he did it to people high enough and emotionally alien enough to him to report the shit out of him for it, and she’s his onlly emotional support, he’s the kind of boyfriend who would say “if you leave me I’ll kill myself”, so good luck with that sort of insane pressure, even if you have enough money to pay for your own transportation and food without difficulties like some other people have.

Another friend keeps sleeping in, she just can’t get up, I keep telling her put!! an alarm!! earlier!!! and she swears she does, but she says she can’t help herself from turning it off, because she “self-sabotages”, and it’s so!! fucking!!! frustrating!!!! because again, she leaves me to handle the 6:45 am handoff alone every. single. day. because she can’t get up and she arrives at 7:20 am with coffee and an apology and I gotta grit my teeth and bear it, because I GET IT, i really really do, she’s under a lot of stress and it manifests as self-sabotage, like, boy do I get it, I’ve been there, so I try to be kind and understanding and patient but. My god. I legit tune her out now whenever she starts apologizing because I’m 99.999% sick of it. And like! She’s a great doctor! Her bedside manner is A++ I admire her so much for it, and she genuinely cares for our patients, even the worst of the lot, I really wish I had her empathy (only not really because that’s where her self-destructive tendencies come from, I think). Basically, she’s a great person, just. Man. Wake the fuck up on time, PLEASE.

And this other guy, another part of our team, is a total flake, he keeps manifesting nonspecific symptoms like MY JAW HURTS I GOTTA GET MY WISDOM TEETH PULLED OUT!! one day and MY ABDOMEN HURTS I CANT COME TO WORK I THINK I HAVE APENDICITIS!!! and fucking shit like this every goddamn week it’s something new, and he’s on so many different medications for depression and anxiety and sleeping and staying awake and he’s gained easily 20 kilograms this year and I feel for him, I really do, his life is spiraling out of control and he’s clawing the walls all the way down to rock bottom, and I can see it, everyone can see it, but he’s too flakey to ever get anyone on his side, and part of me wants to tell him, buddy, take a sabbatical, but the problem is, he already took one so he can’t take another, and he’s burned me too many times and not reciprocated emotionally enough for me to reach out and help him, because I will drown right alongside him at the rate he’s going.

And then my other friend!! Whom I care about! A lot!! she’s also super empathic and kind but. SHE IS. SO GODDAMN SLOW. AT EVERYTHING. In the time it takes me to see 6 patients and write their SOAP notes she’s done one, and she’s not the sharpest tool in the box, she sometimes suggests treatments that are...not the correct ones, and so I gotta go and help her out, talk it through with her so she doesn’t heck it up, and she’s super cool about it! But!!! SO GODDAMN SLOW!!!!! PLEASE! LEARN TO BE MORE EFFICIENT!!! Even though I know it’s all a symptom of burnout, too, even I’m not cold-hearted enough to not realize it.

We’re all just. Shambling through this year, trying our best, and our best manifests in different ways when under stress, sometimes it’s just showing up to work. Sometimes it’s just managing to write the note, even if it takes you hours. Sometimes it’s asking your buddy if they can cover you so you can go cry in the bathroom for five minutes and then come back. We’re all doing our absolute best to be here and attentive and empathic, and I am really proud of everyone, but I’m also really sick of being the most sane person on the team. A selfish childish part of me is like, I WANNA HAVE MY BREAKDOWN TOO DAMNIT!! But I’m too old for it, and I’ve trained myself quite well to handle my meltdowns in efficient ways, productive ways, so I can get back on the horse quickly and in a stable manner. I’m proud of me for that too, but it does get tiring, having all parts of my team leaking anxiety and depression and stress in psychosomatic ways.

So I’m going to give in to my desire right now and have a very condensed breakdown rant and hopefully get all my high octane frustration out in one go, and then parse it out once it’s text.

For the past 10 months I’ve lived through the best and worst of people. I’ve given folks CPR to the point where their ribs break under my hands, I’ve had to fist a lady’s inverted uterus back into place in the most body horror moment of my life, I legit feared for my life when this dude going through withdrawal physically threatened me, I’ve delivered an extremely deformed baby with gastroschisis manually and their guts were spilling over my hands and though it didn’t die in my arms it died about ten minutes later in mom’s and it was sad as FUCK, I’ve had 13 12 11 and 10 year old girls delivering babies because their brother cousin uncle foster dad abused them and abortion is illegal in my stupid fucking hyper catholic state and this is a never ending cycle cause mom was 14 when they had them and on and on and on, and this other time I was the only fucking doctor at a public hospital once during an overnight shift and I had to suture this guy’s toes back on having 0 prior experience suturing ANYTHING and they fell right off the next day because I didn’t know what the FUCK I was doing and I still feel fucking awful about that, and at that same fucking hospital some IDIOT put formaldehyde in a saline solution bottle and this poor surgical nurse accidentally poured it into some poor patient’s open abdominal cavity IN FRONT OF ME and the fucking suction didn’t work because that public hospital is a piece of SHIT and that patient totally died and the resident told the family it had been something else and I WAS THERE and it was BULLSHIT, and COUNTLESS other horrible, truly horrible, absolutely horrible things, and I’ve tried to take all of that shit and learn something from it, make something good come out of so much, so much, SO MUCH awful, and I’ve patiently, patiently, patiently tried to tolerate my collegue’s breakdowns, and their eternal lateness, and the residents yelling at me, and the external doctors telling us we’re never going to be anything worthy, and I think I’ve been doing a good job of it, to be honest, at this point I feel like I’ve become this politely smiling shell of myself to survive it, because a part of me feels like I’m living in an alternate dimension where morality and ethics and laws no longer exist, because they simply do not apply anymore, someone has just taken all of that important stuff and dismissed it to be kindergarden stuff, and I gotta nod and go with it or else I’m going to be my friend saying “i need air” and leaving, or “i self sabotage like this” and sleeping in, or “i think my wisdom tooth is aching” and taking the day off or just, simply, EXPLODING at everyone until they kick me out, and like

a big part of me is MOURNING the fact that I’ve become like this, that THIS is what becoming a doctor means in my country, that THIS is the type of formation they require of us. This horrible automaton of a person, that is a symbol of so much goodness but underneath it it’s all lawless shit, it’s all under the water shit, it’s all cover everyone’s fuck ups type shit. I hate it. I hate what I’m becoming. This person that can talk about all this and kind of go “yeah, I guess it’s objectively awful, but have I told you about [this even more awful event]?” because if you play that game there’s always a worse story, there’s always lower, and lower, and LOWER.

I’ll always be glad I chose to study this career, for all it’s morphed me into something I never wished to be. Because I can wade in these muddy rotten waters and help my friends and my family navigate it, I can help strangers and underprivileged people navigate it, I can help all of them from my insider privileges, to make their experience better than it would have been without me, more efficient, more smooth, more right, correct, lawful. I can’t help everyone, and I’m human and I’ll fuck up now and again too, because I’m learning, but I know, firm in my heart, that wherever I go it will be better that I was there than if I wasn’t.

Even if it’s just because the bar is so fucking low it’s difficult not to do better, believe you me, a lot of my colleagues are so fucking burnt out that they somehow still do it worse, and I’ve seen it in external doctors as well.

I’ll take all of these horrible awful no good experiences and I’m going to do better, I’m already better, I will make people have a better experience when they are going through the worst parts of their lives. Even if I had to mess myself up a lot to survive it, I think it’s worth it to spend this one life of mine doing this. I really really do.

[aspiringminimalist]

10 days, 10 items: An Experiment

I jumped on the bandwagon for Unfancy + StyleBee’s “10x10 Winter Capsule Challenge.” The premise being: pick 10 items, and wear those for 10 days, and see what happens, what you learn. For me, as a chronic shopaholic, I was looking forward to some lessons.

The pieces above are what I chose. I didn’t choose them in advance. I didn’t choose them with much care. I just got dressed with an intention of looking and feeling good. Except on yoga days, when I got dressed with an intention of getting sweat all over everything. :) I defined “my 10 days” as “every day I left the house” and “my 10 items” as “everything but outerwear, shoes, and accessories.”

My Pieces:

        1x basic long sleeve scoop-neck tee

        1x basic long sleeve v-neck tee

        1x basic short sleeve tee

        1x chambray tank blouse

        1x chiffon tank blouse

        1x yoga pants

        1x jersey maxi skirt

        1x high-waisted mini skirt

        1x long-sleeve wrap dress

Oops, that’s 9. As Caroline would say, “how fascinating!” Haha. I guess I kind of lived in my white waffle knit zip-up sweater, so we’ll call that #10.

My Outfits:

You can see the outfits I made with them on my brand new Instagram account: @aspiring.minimalist

        Day 1:  2+8

        Day 2:  9

        Day 3:  1+6

        Day 4:  5+7

        Day 5:  5+8

        Day 6:  4+7

        Day 7:  1+2+6

        Day 8:  3+7

        Day 9:  2+4+8

        Day 10: 4+9

Takeaways:

1.  I am not a planner. Even for a challenge where 1,500 other people made lists and mapped out outfit formulas, I still woke up every morning and pulled together some random shit. And it totally worked for me.

2.  I hate pants? Maybe because the weather was pretty mild (35-50°—unheard of in January in Boston) but I gravitated towards skirts & dresses more than usual, and fleece/sweater tights proved totally adequate! It actually gave me confidence about maintaining my femininity as winter sets in, which I always feel like I lose when the cold sets in and I want to hibernate in flannel forever.

3.  Accessories are key. For maintaining winter warmth, layering is key; but for maintaining winter sanity (e.g. not feeling like the aforementioned style-less blob person), having an array of accessories makes me feel put-together and gives my style fluidity, even when I am bundled up, or just wearing basics. With Outfit 1 as an example, that outfit would be so blasé sans my golden bling.  Also that scarf-as-turban on Day 8 was so dope. Channeling my inner Badu!

I will never again forsake, or forego buying, colorful scarves, wild headbands, statement necklaces, bold cuffs, sparkly earrings, or chunky rings. 

4.  Not everything has to match in a capsule. I would never mix my tomato red tee with my heather slate blue maxi. Ever. And that’s ok, becauseit mixes with other items in my closet. I was watching this video by Hilary Rushford and after years of comparing myself to the “niched and narrowed” dressers of the world (people like Caroline of Unfancy, who was running this challenge), for the first time, felt really validated to not fit into that box:

“[SJP, Lupita N’yongo, and Emma Stone] have really diverse and eclectic styles: they can do tomboy or whimsical or modern or vintage, and really play—and often times will surprise you—with what they’re wearing. Neither way is better or worse, it’s just the choice that you want to make. You can have a style that’s really honed in and well-curated, or one that’s really diverse—and be equally fashionable.”

5.  Overdressed kicks underdressed’s butt anyday. Unlike Caroline, I am not so “unfancy.” Day 1 I was feeling can’t-get-out-of-bed-level-horrible, but as soon as I put on every gold accessory I owned, I was ready to take on the day. I wore my date night wrap dress and miniskirt on days I had to babysit—not because it was practical, but because it wasn’t impractical, and it made me feel good/confident. The first day I had kids, Day 3, wearing just a scoop tee and yoga pants and no jewelry? I felt like a slob, and when the kids raged, I didn’t have energy to meet them with authority—I can’t help but attribute that in part to my haphazard dress. But my schmance has limits: the only thing I won’t do is wear fancy footwear to do casual things. Ain’t nobody got time fo’ foot pain. 

Best & Worst: 

The outfit that got the most compliments was definitely Outfit 8. It was simple, but the seaming on the maxi, and the side knot on the tee, made it fashionable. Thank you, Pinterest. And two different MALE friends told me, “You look really great today. Your clothes match your eyes.” Which made me feel really great.

The outfit I felt worse in was far and away Outfit 3. I’m just not a casual kind of gal. And that is ok. Also the proportions of short person + flare pants and large bust + shapeless shirt were not the best. My tried-and-true skinny jeans got a huge rip last month, so my wardrobe has felt a bit “off” lately. It took me 10 years to try skinny jeans, and now i have no idea why I ever wore anything else. I will be so thankful when my Girlfriend Collective leggings come!

Is This Minimalism?

Who knows. It certainly “proved” I can live with less, but it didn’t make me want to. I still wanted to wear my new clothes more than my old clothes. Fashion is a form of self-expression for me, in the same way music is, so I enjoy having a lot of tools to do that. But I do think the challenge of finding new ways to combine things made me realize that old things can feel new when you mix ‘em up. Or, accessorize them. My newfound appreciation for accessories give me hope for escaping wardrobe boredom! 

But Hilary Rushford’s 1st video in her Style Series is I think a better way, maybe the best way to push and challenge yourself and get out of that “rut” feeling.

I’ve been feeling in a “boredom rut” about various parts of my life, and turning to shopping as a quick-fix. Maybe the next post will discuss that?