A coping mechanism for each day of the week

[bironic]

I don't even know what to say. You all see what's happening too.

How I've coped this week:

Reading, Watching, Sharing, Doing
I've been taking in as much news as I can handle, which varies by the evening. Since it's all too easy for me to think about things and stop there, I've also made efforts to transform that intake and mental processing into actions. Things like setting up monthly rather than annual charity donations, signing the subset of petitions that have a shot at going anywhere, and building a spreadsheet of local, state and federal representative contact information plus specific issues to thank them for supporting or urge them to oppose. I haven't psyched myself up yet to, uh, actually make the phone calls, but I'm working on it. Still unsure which outreach efforts are most effective when I live in a Democratic state with kickass reps who are already writing joint statements and introducing bills to prevent or reverse the most atrocious developments.

Working
Nobody at our office got anything done the day after the election, but by the next day I was ready to bury myself in work. My monthly productivity is now on track to be one and a half to two times normal.

Vidding
thedeadparrot, stultiloquentia and disgruntledowl came over at various times last weekend for communal laptopping and to talk or not-talk about our government-to-be. I made a festivids treat draft in 24 hours and picked at a few others. Current plan: four Festivids and one Christmas vid. Ha. Ha ha ha.

Cooking
Vidding only worked as a distraction through Saturday. Sunday I tried to sit in the computer desk chair but kept drifting into the kitchen to start some other cooking or baking project. By the end of the day, there was curried pumpkin-apple soup, pumpkin bread, an onion and feta frittata, baked sweet potatoes, roasted vegetable lasagna and lemon-basil haddock with spaghetti squash. It's kept me in leftovers for the entire week, plus extras in the freezer, and one loaf of the pumpkin bread fed my coworkers.

Reading
Not much fiction. Finished the Young Miles compendium -- enjoyed the Dendarii parts, gradually lost patience with the rest -- and am wrapping up Vampire Romance 2. Starting to do proper research into the paranormal erotica short story market. I did go to book club last Thursday despite only having read a few chapters of the book months ago (The Goblin Emperor), and was glad to have done so, for the company.

Writing
Picked up a high school- into college-era (!) orig fic last night and added 1,200 words in 60 or 90 minutes, which, if you've been keeping track, is a lot for me these last few years. Want to try some more tonight and over the weekend. There is a sequence of scenes I daydreamed about back in the day that for some reason resurfaced, matured with time, a couple of nights ago, and I'm trying to get them down on the page. A sort of recovery story, years after the hurt I put the hero and heroine through: probably another form of self-comfort this month to go with the blankets and hoodies and warm drinks and toast.

Watching
Not much besides current events. thedeadparrot and I did go to see Arrival last Friday and it was great; haven't enjoyed a new SF movie that much since Interstellar. Oh, and Westworld. I'm still ambivalent about it but there's more to enjoy than it seemed at the beginning. This week's episode had one particularly delightful scenario and one great twist. Still, laughably Dark and frustratingly male-POV even when it's focusing on Strong Female Characters.

Dreaming
Starting last Tuesday, I went from having never dreamt about politics or politicians in my life to dreaming about them almost every night. Am ready for this phase to pass.

And so another week comes to a close. How are you all holding up?

Comments

[ghost_lingering]

I have the same problem re: outreach to democrats in a liberal state. I'm drafting letters to my new representative and new state senator to congratulate them on winning / let them know my priorities, but I'm not sure how to handle reaching out about specific things to folks, because my senators and representative are usually on top of it before I even know to call. I've tried to see what other people are doing about that, but haven't really seen much.

And you are not alone re: politician dreams. Though I much preferred the one about Michelle Obama, Barbara Bush, and Laura Bush talking about how they all couldn't wait to get out of the White House and stop being First Lady to the one where Hillary Clinton was trying to kill a centipede. Still not sure if that was a nightmare or not.

[jjhunter]

It's been two months since I started my new job; I feel like I've lived a year since the election. I alternate between quiet confidence in my internal resources and wanting all the hugs / blankets / soup / fuzzy things. I don't touch my personal email accounts or non-work stuff at work, so there's this surreal flip-flopping between an environment where there's lots to do, meaningful and often urgent, and lots of competent people working together with me to make it happen, and outside of work where surface normality is skewing drastically toward prologue to YA dystopia territory and yet the sun still rises and winter is coming.

I am trying to find a balance between regular chunks of personal + political action outside of work and not entirely fucking up my sleep and making everything even harder.

[topaz_eyes]

Ahahahaha, November 8 no longer exists on my calendar.

I'm taking online classes for work, and have 3 major exams due next week. So naturally I'm writing comfort fanfic instead of studying.

I'm thrilled b/c my current fandom darling has released new promos for its next season. Which is also its last season, but the clues in the promos are making me all thinky and excited again. If I'm right, it's going to be fantastic.

[grammarwoman]

I look forward to seeing your vids. :)

[chagrined]

I have been the opposite of you dream-wise. Prior to this election I don't think I ever had a politics/politicians dream. Then the 2 days prior I had them both nights. But nothing since. (Well I mean not the total opposite since neither of us had them before this all, just that I had them before the election rather than after.)

[blackmare]

I appear to have hit my limit for today, with Current Events, but I too will be looking for ways to take real action.

I too live in a place where all our representatives are Dems and pretty much on the ball. I still called one of them today to voice encouragement for her opposition to basically EVERY bozo Trump wants to appoint.

Whether or not I'm holding up well depends upon when you ask.