I keep coming back to Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time as the book to hand out. A bit young for some, perhaps, but it has some very good messages about self-acceptance and family.

wtf. Why did my alarm not go off this morning?? I overslept by an hour! And not in a really good sleep way, I was grinding my teeth and having weird stress dreams. (Luckily my alarm normally goes off 90 minutes before I am supposed to start work and I didn’t have any early meetings, but still!) I don’t think I somehow turned it off in my sleep but not sure why it wouldn’t go off!

And now I don’t want to start work because I’ve only been awake a few minutes.

But yay new doggo, boo insomnia.

Ugh, rough start to the morning, meara. Hate that!

I bought some hair salon alligator clips a month ago -- the kind they use to section hair and hold it out of the way -- because I bought one of those effing FB blowy curling things (it actually works well, but that's not my point).

Those clips are the BEST things I've ever tried for holding a casual twist/bun all day with no pain or slippage! So good, I didn't care that they have some logo printed in them and are so obviously salon clips.

Finally occurred to me that someone probably sells decorative ones. Duh. Just ordered some.

I loved that book Beverly.

What book would you force on random people if you could?

Either The Night Circus or Every Heart a Doorway.

If the Wayward Children series ( Every Heart a Doorway is the first of it) had existed when I was a child/preteen, I would have felt Very Seen. As it is, there are specific books from the series that still make me feel Very Seen.

ION: I ended up with a new manager late last year; she's someone I've worked with before, and a great person. But I am a little worried that because of her somewhat narrow focus on only the specific pillar she's in, I'm going to have to put a LOT more work in on my "Give Jilli a Promotion!" doc. Because my focus and team management extends to five separate software pillars, and she (and her manager) don't quite grasp what's involved with that.

What book would you force on random people if you could?

I wouldn't, only because I hate when people who I already know foist a book on me unasked-for and say "Read this!!"* So I really wouldn't read a book that a random person forced on me. Therefore, if I wouldn't take a book from a stranger, I wouldn't give a book to a stranger. (I realize I am taking this very literally and possibly too seriously, but hey. If we're talking Give Book To A Stranger Whose Tastes I Don't Know At All, my answer is nah.)

*(Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I see you.)

. *(Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I see you.)

I didn't need that repressed memory unlocked, Tep.

(Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I see you.)

Ha!

I didn't need that repressed memory unlocked, Tep.

I wish I could go back in time and tell 21-year-old me "If a dude harangues you to read this so you can 'understand him,' just go find someone else," because WOW, was that dude (and that book) a waste of time and energy.