At Hand and on Mind
This morning I figured I’d take a picture of my desk and share it here. And so that’s what I’m going to do. But there’s more! I’m thinking I’ll take a picture of my desk somewhat regularly and discuss what’s there, why it’s there, and maybe speak a bit to what those things on my desk have brought up for me during their tenure in that space. So, yeah, let’s go. Today we have two books and a fish!
My brother-in-law loaned me his copy of Freakonomics a few weeks back and it finally made it’s way to the plate. I know little about this book, other than hearing people talk about it somewhat a decade or so back. I didn’t seek it out; Brother Bear just thought I might enjoy it as an intellectual exercise. I suspect I will. My plan is to read the text and then follow it up with the If Books Could Kill podcast episode that reviews it.[1] So more on that later.
The other book is one from my mom’s library—Poems Bewitched and Haunted—a gift from my dad to her, I believe. I brought it up to use for my yearly Halloween emailing. I share spooky stories with friends each Friday in October, and I thought I’d incorporate some verse as a mood-setter. I have no rhythm, so poetry is often hard for me, but I think some of this group will enjoy the addition.
Flosse, being the plush fish in the background, was a gift from our last exchange student, Lilly.[2] She saw it and connected it to me in some way, so she presented it to me for my birthday last year. And indeed, he makes me smile, and as he reminds me of her (hey, Lills! 👋), you can expect Flosse will be a staple of this series.
You may remember this podcast coming up before in one of Bryan’s earlier posts, aptly titled “If Books Could Kill.” To use an older turn of phrase, this will be my first time tuning in. ↩︎
Flosse is actually a German word that means fin in English. I’m not as creative as I like to think I am, so, yes, to you other Duolingers out there, I got Flosse’s name from that one story lesson. Ich bin langweilig, aber kein Dieb. ↩︎