The End of an Airline Era
It was a good run for Southwest Airlines
It might not surprise you that I had a special place in my heart for Southwest Airlines.
I found their boarding process and lack of assigned seats to be egalitarian. Every seat was the same. No one got extra legroom (unless it was an exit row or the front seats). It felt like an example of the way society should be. Yes, you could pay more to board earlier, but you still got the same choice of seats.
Now, Southwest will be giving everyone seat assignments and will be charging more for seats with extra legroom.
“Southwest said it would give more details about its plans for extra legroom seats in late September. About a third of the seats on each flight would offer extended legroom, the airline said.”
Let me guess… the extra legroom will come OUT of the cheaper seats? Because where else would it come from?
With this change, I will consider other airlines more often because now they’re all the same. This was the thing that distinguished Southwest Airlines for me.
🦩 Everyday Adventures
Magical Moves
I have been sitting on my ass a lot lately for two reasons. First, I’m writing this damn book and trying to get it published. My time spent on my ass is either at my desk or on my couch. Second, it’s scorching and humid out, so taking walks is often very unpleasant (and sometimes triggers a headache). Sadly, it will be that way for at least another … *checks calendar* … two to three months. *murmured sobs*
All this sitting without much exercise makes my IT bands super tight. Your IT band goes up the outside of your leg and around the middle of your ass. If you sit a lot and you’ve had a massage therapist work in that area, you might have been shocked at how much it hurt. It’s a pain that sometimes gets lost in my body… until it doesn’t.
The result of intense IT band pain is that I cannot get comfortable in bed to sleep because both hips ache under any pressure. One night last week, I was switching sides every two minutes, trying to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep. I tried to stretch my legs out while lying there in bed, but I only ended up pulling a muscle behind my thigh.
I realized this half-ass stretching wasn’t working, so I got out of bed in the middle of the night, switched on the living room light, and did my hip exercises. These things are nothing short of miraculous and gave me enough relief to go back to bed. After I got into bed, I thought to myself, “Gosh, I should’ve done three sets.” But even the one set was enough to get through to the morning.
These exercises are on my list of things I should do daily, but of course, I get off track. I am committing to doing them every day for the rest of the summer while I get less overall exercise.
Here are the instructions as a PDF, slightly modified by me from the original given to me by my chiropractor.
Posture Migraines
Like me, many of you may work at a computer. I’ve noticed in the last couple of years that, instead of looking at the monitor through my glasses when I’m doing something that involves a lot of detail, I will take my glasses off and lean forward to peer closely at my monitor. (I’m near-sighted.)
The problem is that when I’m done looking at that detail, I stay hunched over like that instead of putting my glasses back on and sitting back in my chair.
Lately, I have to ask myself why I do that instead of, you know, making what’s on the screen bigger so I can see it with my glasses on. Why?! Why don’t I do this?
When properly seated, my desk situation is very ergonomic. But when I stay hunched over for too long, all the muscles in my shoulders and neck get pulled very tight and affect my eyes, skull, jaw, and forehead. And many times, I end up with a splitting tension headache as a result.
I’m committing myself to keeping my damn glasses on and adjusting whatever else I can so I can stay seated properly in my chair.
Couch Work Station
Because I sit at my desk a lot for my “job job,” I like sitting on my couch to work on book stuff. I know it's silly, but it mixes things up.
I like working on my big tablet for this newsletter, but unfortunately, I have to use software for my book that only works on my laptop. I was using my tablet atop a round pillow in my lap, but the laptop got too hot with the bottom pressed against the pillow.
After looking at many different options, I bought a lap desk.
That didn't entirely solve the heat issue, though, so I also bought this ingenious little device that will raise the back of your laptop at one of three different heights. You know I love creativity, and this thing is clever. It weighs nothing and could easily travel with me.
So now I have an excellent setup for working on my couch.
📑 Project Updates
How to Find Joy in a Capitalist Hellscape
I'm still in the editing phase, with not much new to report. I should have a bunch of it done in about a week.
I've seen the first interior illustration and like the direction that it is going.
And I'm working to get the book's landing page up on our before August 1st so I can start collecting email addresses from people interested in keeping up to date on this and future book launches.
You’re a Nice Guy, But You’re Bad in Bed
This is now my guinea pig book that I’ll use to learn more about how to deal with my full-length book. I got this book uploaded fine to Amazon in both formats (ebook and paperback) and got a great-looking preview copy from them. Both formats are now available for purchase on Amazon, and I am awaiting five copies of the final book so I can take some cool photos out in the world with them.
However, after I uploaded the paperback version to IngramSpark, my illustrations looked a little wonky in their proof PDF. I think they used some process to reduce the file size, so that must be what affected them. I hope we can get it straightened out because the full-length book will also have illustrations. I cannot order a preview copy from IngramSpark, and their proof PDF is not printable, so I can’t tell if it’s just the PDF.
I’m happy to be able to go through this process with a different book before I need to do it with the more important one.
I’ve also placed an Amazon ad for this book to see how that works out.
⏰️ Currently
🟦 Feeling blue about the traveling I’d like to do but can’t (unless I put it on a credit card and worry about it later).
☯️ Feeling grateful for the relative stability in my life that is allowing me to pursue my creative projects.
🛜 Sending positive thoughts out to people looking for employment and affordable housing. There's a lot of pain out there right now.