Sunday’s Activities Include: groceries, bank, movie

I took T. to and from a movie today, and in between I got groceries and stopped to get cash at the bank. Which is to say, I decided my neck would tolerate turning to check my blind spot. Yay!

I’m feeling a lot better today — the ringing in my ears is back to fairly normal levels of ringing, and my light / sound sensitivity is much more typical for me. I’m actually getting hungry, instead of eating because I know I need to and because I know I will feel a lot better if I do.

The point of impact on my head still doesn’t look bruised, and it is now really itchy. Driving me nuts. I know, I know — it’s healing. But gah.

Marie Kondo’s Netflix series, season 1

There are only about 8 episodes, so this is pretty easy to binge watch in a single day. My review may be slightly Off because I watched this the day I was in bed after falling and hitting my head on concrete.

I’ve read the book, and I basically like Marie Kondo and her approach of Shinto spiritualism meets Consumerism to Improve People’s Lives and Relationships. The translator, Marie Iido is really awesome as well.

What struck me most — I mean, other than how calm and relaxing it is to watch Marie Kondo introduce herself to a client’s house — was how well this series did representation. Episode 1 leads with a Trad white couple with two little kids, but things really take off after that. There’s an episode with an older couple (grown kids) who have Japanese ancestry, and a house with layers and layers and layers of accumulation. It is really neat when they excavate down to true family treasures, especially watching both the man and the woman really come alive as they work through a lot of avoided decisions. There’s a black family. There’s a gay male couple that is super adorable. There’s a widow, confronting the material possessions of her recently deceased and beloved husband, and wanting to get to a point where she can again contemplate what the future might bring. There’s a _super_ cute black lesbian couple, who Kondo helps get along better by getting them to carve out individual space for their clothes. There’s a Guatamalan-American man and woman, expecting their first baby and wanting their place to have space for the new baby and all the new baby’s stuff that will be arriving. There’s an interracial couple (he’s white, she was born in Pakistan but is very American acting) with two kids and a huge accumulation of stuff interfering with feeling that they could have a third.

Throughout all of these very different family situations, the Maries stay the course: finding the joy in your stuff will help you have better relationships, and getting through the process will get you to a point where the whole family will really enjoy their time together in the home. It is _fantastic_ to see this message reiterated across age, religion, ethnicity, orientation. It made me happy. It gave me hope.

The Maries are also very consistent: this is not about getting rid of everything, this is not about minimalism, this is not about how stuff is bad or gets in the way. It is about making conscious decisions to surround oneself with what gives one joy. That’s such a great message. We could nitpick all day about her process, but what’s the point. The underlying idea is so sound.

Looking forward to another season — I really hope there is one. OTOH, she’s got two little kids of her own, and I’d hate to see her overcommit. I can be patient.