- kudos:

Going through old files and throwing out notes from a French phonetics class from over a decade ago. I recognize that I don’t need them anymore, but there’s still something hard about it!

- kudos:

Paid a visit to Cincinnati’s Union Terminal today. The building makes for a gorgeous museum, but how cool would it be if it were still the busy train station it was designed to be?

- kudos:

I have been joking since March 2020 how desperately we need a new Stromae album now, but I could have never anticipated how perfect Multitudes is going to be for this moment.

- kudos:

There are worse times than three days before the start of the semester to realize that you were preparing the wrong modality for a course, but not many!

- kudos:

Is it too late to exchange this 2022 for a new one? We’re within 30 days, and this one clearly came broken.

- kudos:

Angry at myself tonight for not noticing spousal abuse perpetrated by someone I worked with regularly while it was happening. Angrier still at those I know who were aware of it and did nothing.

- kudos:

I wish Nintendo would translate the French release of Mario Kart as « chariot de Mario » because it’s very fun to say.

- kudos:

Our school district is surveying parents about moving their spring break to align with my employer’s, and I am SO on board for this.

- kudos:

One confirmed fever in the family the day before we’re supposed to drive to family holiday gathering, just in case anyone was wondering if COVID anxiety still sucks.

- kudos:

I have a professional interest in the far right, follow the news pretty well, and still sometimes forget how bad Jan. 6 was just because life is crazy. Shame on those actively encouraging us to forget out of cynicism and self-interest.

- kudos:

Dreading all the terrible takes about people not deserving federal help because they vote the wrong way. It’s a universally bad position.

- kudos:

We were already planning to watch The Muppet Christmas Carol today, but on such a hard day for the Commonwealth, we especially need some goofy puppets preaching social justice and spreading Christmas cheer.

- kudos:

It breaks my heart to hear from a student explaining they’re going to a funeral and in the same breath asking what documentation they need for it to be officially excused. I know there are bad actors out there, but why do we do this to our students?

- kudos:

Grâce à YouTube, j’ai appris au sujet des « speakerines » aujourd’hui. J’étudie le français depuis vingt ans, et il reste des tas de choses à apprendre.

- kudos:

Initial Dungeons and Dragons pizza plans have fallen through. I have pointed out that there’s a LaRosa’s nearby and am now swelling with an unexpected amount of Northern Kentucky pride.

- kudos:

I traditionally get a mild cold every beginning and end of semester, which has always been a pain but has become anxiety-inducing these past two years.

- kudos:

I am about a decade late to Joanna Brooks’s beautiful memoir, and I know I wouldn’t have appreciated it fully in 2012, but I am so, so glad to be reading it now.

- kudos:

I dream of a world where IP laws are liberalized to the point that libraries can provide their own, publicly-funded streaming services.

- kudos:

Guess who responded to a recent House censure by joining Gab a few days ago?

- kudos:

It has been a long week, and tomorrow is looking just as long, but it’s been a beautiful Sunday that I plan to cap off with the new videos from the French train nerd YouTube channels I subscribe to and maybe even some Stardew Valley.

- kudos:

The more Grammarly ads I see, the more my skepticism of them grows.

- kudos:

There are certainly overblown claims about games and learning, but I don’t know if I’ve seen my kid less failure-averse than when playing Mario Kart or more willing to read than when trying Stardew Valley.

- kudos:

Just finished two phone calls that I’ve been dreading and putting off for weeks, and both were fine. I’m relieved, but it’s also a stark reminder of how high my anxiety has been this semester.

- kudos:

It is flannel shirt, heavy gloves, and balaclava season for this bike commuter, and I couldn’t be happier.

- kudos:

Thanks largely to traveling, I powered through my first Franco-Ontarian novel over the past few days, and it was delightful. Some of the best Francophone books I’ve read have been purchased used for about $5, so hooray for used bookstores.

- kudos:

Just finished Cory Doctorow’s Attack Surface, a few months after reading Little Brother and Homeland. It is the addition to that series we need right now.

- kudos:

Why did no one tell me there’s a new Stromae single???

- kudos:

One of my data science students just did a t-test to demonstrate that evil-aligned monsters in D&D 5e tend to have lower Armor Class than good-aligned monsters. This course demands a lot of effort, but moments like this make it worth it.

- kudos:

grad student, immediately after entering my office: “Wow, you really like Star Wars, huh?” me: “Yes, but have you also noticed all my cool train magnets?”

- kudos:

Two years ago today, I visited a mental health therapist for the first time and immediately wished I’d done it a decade earlier. It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself, and I can’t recommend the experience enough.

- kudos:

Here I am, refreshing local news to get sports updates—not because I care about the game, but because I want to know when my neighbors will stop yelling at their TV.

- kudos:

I feel a lot of anxiety about being a parent, but at the end of the day, I take comfort in knowing I’m trying my best—and that I’ve done my part in introducing the next generation to Queen’s Live Aid performance.

- kudos:

Dreamt that despite having a PhD, I had somehow never finished my BA. Had to explain a lot to employer and was trying to transfer to Centre College to make completing the degree earlier.

- kudos:

On one hand, I am worried about the platformed internet. On the other, I realize that the phenomenon of “in cab” train videos probably wouldn’t exist without a centralized, problematic behemoth like YouTube, and that would make me sad.

- kudos:

It amazes me how many people there are who think it’s acceptable to ride a scooter or a skateboard the wrong way down a bike lane.

- kudos:

What if our collective disdain as education researchers for learning styles is the result of an overemphasis on efficacy and improvement and a corresponding undervaluing of accessibility and equity?