Friday Favorites

Friday is my favorite day of the week, not just because it’s the weekend, but because it is the day I go to my P.O. Box and to the coffee shop and get my weekly fancy coffee and sweet out. I look forward to it all week. I would love to get a coffee out more than once a week, but it’s part of my budgeting – if you don’t leave the house, it’s a lot harder to spend money, not impossible thanks to online shopping, but a lot harder. Although I do prefer not to leave the house on April Fools Day, I hate this holiday, it’s the only one I’m full of humbug for.

Social Media Favorite: App Time Limits

I decided to set app time limits on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram this week. Those are really the only social medias I use, and I really only use Facebook for Facebook Marketplace and to check on the work stuff that gets posted, so I don’t really need a time limit there, but I took a guess that if I restricted TikTok and Instagram and didn’t also restrict Facebook, I would end up on Facebook, and that’s the last thing I want.

So I set a one hour limit for both TikTok and Facebook, and three hours for Instagram. That seems excessive, but since I don’t sit and scroll on Instagram the way I could sink dozens of hours into TikTok. I am also a true millennial in that Instagram is my truly social social media, I keep in touch with my friends, I use it to message people, make plans, etc. So I didn’t want to run out of time with Instagram and miss out on an IRL social thing.

So far I hit the TikTok one pretty quickly, but have yet to hit the Instagram one. I really noticed on Wednesday how much more time it felt like I had in the evening. It’s a bit of an experiment, but I’m intrigued to see what impact it has.

Movie/TV Favorite: Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrrls

I wasn’t certain if I was going to like this, but I knew I wanted to watch it, just for the representation of it all. Lizzo is looking to find some additional dancers for her performance at Bonaroo (which no spoilers, because it was Bonaroo 2021 which got cancelled due to weather), and her tour. If you’ve seen any of her videos or been to a show, but her dancers don’t have a stereotypical dancer’s body, they are big girls, hence their name, the Big Grrrls. Lizzo solicited audition tapes from dancers it all over the USA, narrowed it down to 13, and then is bringing 10 into the house for an extended audition.

It was surprisingly healing and cathartic to watch. I would recommend it to everyone, but especially anyone who has had body image stuff.

Podcast Favorite: Bone, Marry, Bury

This is a fiction podcast and the last episode dropped this week. This is my first fiction podcast and it is hilarious. Sarah Hyland and Harvey Guillén star as Allie and Gabe, a girl and her gay best friend in Nashville. Allie is crashing on Gabe’s couch after 2021 the worst year of her life, when she was fired, dumped, and evicted in a very short period of time and Gabe tells us the story of how she boned, married, and buried her way through the start of the new year, getting into an unbelievable amount of trouble on the way.

Co-written by Becca Freeman, of the Bad on Paper Podcast, and her friend Rachel King I thought I would like it because I’ve never not liked anything Becca has recommended, but I did not expect to like it this much.

Random Favorite 1: Pomodoro Timer

Another thing that has been helping with my focus lately is this Pomodoro timer, it’s an influenced by TIBAL thing, but it’s really helping. When I’m really struggling to focus I set it for 30 minutes of work, and then when it goes off I’m either in deep enough that I keep going, or I flip it to the 15 and faff about until it goes off. I also use it for my lunch, just flip it to the 60 and then I don’t have to pay attention to what time I sign out, I just log back in when it goes off. It’s working well and it’s cheap.

Random Favorite 2: Align Probiotics

I started taking probiotics about 3 weeks ago now, and I am still a bit skeptical about them overall, there isn’t a ton of evidence that they can make it past the acid in the stomach, through the small intestine, to the large intestine where they do their work. However, I have noticed a big reduction in the amount of stomach discomfort I feel, so maybe that’s the impact they are having for me? They are something, that I don’t think can do any harm, and if they do work, are supposed to be excellent for us, so I plan on continuing to take them.

I can’t find the jumbo packs on Amazon, but I think they are cheaper at Wal-Mart, and you can get the jumbo pack there.