Studying improv, as I’ve related here before, has been a tremendous boon to my life: it’s evolved me in a whole host of ways, and I’m the much better for sucking up my courage and walking up those stairs at the Haviland Club in the fall of 2021 and diving in.

Laurie Murphy’s improv classes are back for a new season starting Monday, January 2, 2023 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Benevolent Irish Society.

I encourage you to try it out, even if—especially if—you turn white at the thought of getting outside of yourself to the degree that improv requires. Laurie is a patient teacher with a great capacity for stretching people. The saving grace of improv, and what makes it possible—indeed, optimal—for introverts is that we’re all in it together: being silly together is nothing at all like being silly alone (or being silly in front of a group, by yourself), and there’s a tremendous feeling of safety that comes from the shared vulnerability of it all.

Classes are $35 each or 5 classes for $150. If you have any questions or concerns, you can ask Laurie.

Krista-Lee starts her post A reason for silence and remembering:

Some things are just too hard to write about when they are happening. When you are in the midst of chaos, heartbreak, survival, and trying to find some order to life, you just can’t put it all into words. Really, beginning last November – but mostly since January – we have been living beside disaster and trauma but not wanting to touch it directly. Writing about it is certainly putting your finger right on it and pushing to see if the bruise still hurts. It does still hurt, but we’ve put enough distance between us now that we can manage this pain when we feel it.

Olivia and I stumbled across Swenn this afternoon, a delightful new shop in the Confederation Court Mall:

In 2017, Kristell Geffroy, an explorer from Brittany (France), criss-crossed the Maritimes in a van. On Prince Edward Island, she discovers herds of sheep, raised in the open air, with fine and soft wool that give birth to an idea. It is there, facing the mysterious and deep waters of the North, that Swenn was born.

Back in Montreal, carried by the salty air that has forged her character since her birth, Kristell decides to launch her brand. SWENN offers « beautiful ocean-inspired clothes made from natural, organic and/or recycled fabrics, in accordance with the principles of fair trade. »

In 2022, Kristell and her family decided to move to Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island. The Swenn adventure now continues on the shores of the Maritimes.

The mall downtown has been so populated by listless phone-it-in retail efforts for so long, it’s remarkable when something so obviously heartfelt and genuine appears. More like this, please.

Parker Higgins, whose path I crossed at SoundCloud more than a decade ago, has become a crossword puzzle constructor. This month one of his puzzles will appear in the LA Times; he’s written a detailed post about the process.

I am an unrepentant fan of Shoppers Drug Mart: as Canadian Tire is to Armor All, so is Shoppers to shampoo, toothpaste, soap: they own the category.

Yet I’d held out until this week on the PC Optimum (née Optimum) loyalty card: my relationship with Shoppers, I thought, was more than that. Deeper. Longer-term. I didn’t need the promise of points to bring me in, as our love was pure, organic.

But I caved. Vertical integration did me in: Shoppers is now a branch of the Loblaw Companies, the parent that owns the Atlantic Superstore. I’ve been shopping there at least some of the time, prompted by their delivery offer, and could only stare at the empty “Enter PC Optimum number” field door so long until I caved.

So I’m in. Loblaws can track my purchases of pubic desiccant as well as my purchases of Ace Bakery baguettes and apply AI to prompt me with tasty offers for fava bean chips.

From the United States Antarctic Program Participant Guide:

Phone calls from Antarctica are routed through Denver, Colorado, and long-distance charges are based on Denver as the originating location. Calls made to the Denver area are considered ‘local’ and free of charge.

New from Beau Miles, The 12 Days of Newness. A delightful idea, delightfully executed.

I took a time lapse movie of yeast proofing in a metal mixing bowl last week; it looks like tiny yeasty fireworks from above.

An it-almost-worked experiment setting type in the round: I just couldn’t find a way to make the type hold (I need some sort of “expands from within” circular clamp, like the opposite of a pipe clamp).

Despite the failure, I was happy that I got this far; the result could have been lovely.

Dave has a new podcast, The Losers Guild. The first episode comes on Wednesday, but you’ll find a trailer there now.

The show notes say it’s “Not approved/endorsed by Wizards,” which seems alone reason enough to subscribe.