Give the right things a chance to catch you.

That list might say things like “Paint a picture. Go birdwatching. Finish that great novel I started reading. Call my grandma. Learn to bake a cake. Visit my sister. Play piano.”

“I should not be struggling this much to do things that I want to do and have the time, space, energy, and skills to do. Actually, when I list it all out like that, I should not be struggling at all to do those kinds of tasks.”

That list might say things like “Paint a picture. Go birdwatching. Finish that great novel I started reading. Call my grandma. Learn to bake a cake. Visit my sister. Play piano.”

“I should not be struggling this much to do things that I want to do and have the time, space, energy, and skills to do. Actually, when I list it all out like that, I should not be struggling at all to do those kinds of tasks.”

One of our Board members has gone on a quest to organize all our materials (and thus earned my undying loyalty). This is our Big Sword rack! But keen-eyed viewers may be saying, “Kay, I notice that one of these swords has been inserted upside down, perhaps by accident?”

Fear not, dear reader. That sword must be placed in the rack upside down because it is Too Fucking Big For The Rack:

I am 5’5”. This sword might be a foot taller than me. I can’t use it, not because of the weight, but because my arms are not long enough.

You’re not the person who’s making the chair, you’re not the person who bought the chair, but you nevertheless end up with all their money, because you’ve been allowed to gouge the buyer for as much as you can extract from him, and then pass on as little of his money as possible to the creator. Which is a lot more than just “an exchange of goods and services.”

It also means a weird, warped, self-defining measurement for “efficiency,” which isn’t calculated by whether the creator built the best chair on the market, which isn’t calculated by whether the buyer got a product that fulfilled his requirements as well as possible, but instead is calculated only by whether the middleman was able to extract the maximum amount of value out of the two of them. (And, in fact, whether the middleman was able to extract at least X% more out of the two of them than he was a year ago: being just as successful as you were last year is considered a failure). Before you know it, parts of society that have nothing to do with markets are now being judged according to that definition, and either get discarded or deformed to the point where they can’t fulfill their purpose anymore.

In the arid Kalahari Desert, where trees are scarce, sociable weaver birds create massive communal nests, often building them on electric poles

These giant structures can house over 100 birds and expand over time, forming true "cities in the sky."

Built from branches, grass, and cotton, they provide warmth in winter and cool shade in summer.