I have been rethinking my Election Day plans. For one thing, after burning up with energy yesterday morning, I spent the rest of the day glazed and unmotivated. Then I lay awake for three hours before finally falling asleep, and today I am feeling as if I don’t want to commit to cleaning toilets next Tuesday.
Here is what I am considering: Is Election Night one of those situations where I would rather have a sleeping pill than alcohol? I think it might be. I think that might be a sweet relief, to know that at a certain time I will take a pill and then I will GO TO SLEEP. Maybe I want to save the alcohol for when we find out the results, which could be awhile. Plus, when listing alternatives to alcohol, I kind of talked myself into the idea of reading/watching something riveting while eating lots of snacks. I bought actually and literally over 20 pounds of Halloween candy, so we should still have some of that left I guess, and I have most of a bag of mixed snack-size bags of assorted chips, and one of my favorite snacking practices is to sit next to a large bowl of mixed snacks and pick each next snack based on the whim of the moment. (I put any snack I don’t want to finish in a separate little bowl nearby, and it magically disappears somehow, and then I can move guiltlessly on to the next whim.)
AND. And. I have watched the first five episodes of Schitt’s Creek with some of the children, and I think I can talk them into binge-watching that with me, taking breaks between each episode to check in on election progress. It’s a re-watch for me up through the first few seasons (four? I don’t want to check, because I don’t want to get spoilers, but I’ve seen both versions of Simply the Best) (or I guess I should say “two versions of Simply the Best,” since there could be more), but I haven’t seen it all the way to the end; and this is a first watching for the kids. Originally I didn’t want to watch it with them because of all the embarrassing parts, but I changed my mind. We are on Season One, so I say a lot of “Yes, I am afraid this is going to continue, but let’s just power through it” and “I’m sorry, this is about to get much worse, but then we will have seen it and it will be over.” …Maybe I don’t want to associate Schitt’s Creek with the election, though. It is so hard to know. Perhaps a riveting book instead, and keeping Schitt’s Creek as something to look forward to.
But in case you were thinking of joining me for tipsy housecleaning, it seemed important to let you know I am currently leaning more toward media + snacks + sleeping pill.
We are going out to eat, then putting on a movie. Or I might do a puzzle with music on. I can’t bear to watch.
I feel as though you could get away with watching Schitt’s Creek and not have it tainted because you already know you like it.
The day I learned my dad had died, I couldn’t get to sleep, so I went to watch TV and found one of my kids in front of the TV already. I told him I got to pick, and we watched Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He’d never seen it before, and now I have happy memories of him laughing on what was, overall, a fairly shitty day.
I hope no one (especially Swistle) minds but in the interest of getting a good deal on potential Christmas gifts I am totally going to hijack the comments because one of my favourite artists just started a 20% off sale and it only lasts until midnight tomorrow and if ever there was a painter with a Swistle-friendly aesthetic, it is this one. Her name is Janet Hill and she does lovely, whimsical, retro portraits and scenes.
I have bought several of her prints for myself and others and they are always very well received. Plus it might be nice to know there’s something pretty coming in the mail during this stressful time. I have no affiliation whatsoever, I just love her work and it only goes on sale once a year. I’ll link my name to her website if anyone wants to check it out.
Love it! Thanks for the link!
THESE ARE EXTREMELY MY VIBE. I just spent a happy hour browsing. I went into it thinking “I will pick one and BUY IT!”—but there are SO MANY I LIKE. WHO CAN CHOOSE. HOW DO YOU EVER CHOOSE.
I myself just bought 4 small prints. 1 is a gift for my daughter who admired it, and the other 3 are Christmas themed and I plan on putting them up as a trio as soon as they come in, but then swapping them out with other art for January to October next year. (One advantage to being a photographer is I have A LOT of art photography and good family photos to choose from.)
I have Miss Moon Was A Dog Governess. Lesson Fifteen in my home office so I might bring it downstairs for January and February, since it’s good for Valentine’s Day. I also have To Catch a Cashew Thief in my office.
My daughter has Miss Moon Was A Dog Governess. Lesson Twenty in a large print in her room.
I choose based on the combination of colours and subject matter. I love the whimsical ones, I love the blues mixed with splashes of red, I love the dogs and animals. I only barely resisted one of the ones with a red typewriter this go-round.
Oh my goodness these are amazing! Thank you for the suggestion.
I am currently having a guilty little panic because Nov 3 also happens to be my daughter’s 10th birthday and I am absolutely determined not to have the focus of the day be on the news but how could it not be in the back of all of our minds. I am currently planning to try to stay offline until after bedtime but I don’t know if I will be able to resist.
Absolutely NOTHING will happen before your daughter’s bedtime. NOT. ONE. THING.
2 polls close at 6:00 Eastern. The vast majority close at 9:00 Eastern, it will be a flipping MIRACLE if we get full returns from the East Cost states by then. Enjoy her birthday, tuck her in. THEN check.
https://www.270towin.com/poll-closing-times
I am confident that Schitt’s Creek is so good, and its value system so strong and so antithetical to the current climate, that it wIll transcend any association with the election. It is the perfect choice.
Another totally wonderful and feel-good show is Ted Lasso, if you run out of Schitt’s Creek too quickly.
I never watch sitcoms, like pass me up with How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory, do you think I would like Schitt’s Creek? I’m mostly a police drama junkie but not so much anymore for Obvious Reasons.
I will cut in front of Suzanne and give my opinion while you’re waiting for hers. I dislike most but not all sitcoms (I could not tolerate either How I Met Your Mother or Big Bang Theory, though I DID like Brooklyn 99), and I don’t generally watch police dramas but I did get sucked into the lawyer drama The Good Wife for a bunch of seasons, if that gives us any kind of feeling for where our TV opinions overlap. I would say Schitt’s Creek has more mockumentary vibes, while still being a sitcom—and in fact the whole premise is wincingly sitcom-y (rich family ends up having to live poor! hilarity ensues!). I would NEVER have made it past the first episode or two if I hadn’t had MANY MANY people say to give it multiple episodes, even a whole first season, before deciding. There is a whole lot of Embarrassment/Awkwardness/Gross-Out Humor, which I haaaaaate, even more than most sitcoms, I had to half-watch it while playing phone games—so I cannot say, I CANNOT SAY how it turned out that I was watching each fresh episode twice in a row (like, immediately re-watching) to make it last longer, and basically happy-weeping through half of it, and rewinding favorite parts, and being absolutely in love with every single person on that show except Roland. I cannot explain it! Which makes it hard to predict if it would happen the same way for you too or if you would invest literally hours of time in it and still hate it.
Thank you for your ever-thoughtful analysis! I feel very similar about embarrassment humor. But I too have had many people say they love Schitt’s Creek. Maybe we will give it a try.
Many years ago a bookstore employee advised me to “give it 100 pages” on a certain popular book and this seemed like a LOT but she was right and it worth it (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, for the curious). Maybe it’s like that.
YES to all Swistle’s comments. While I love sitcoms of all kinds, and so may not be your TV match, my husband is very strongly ANTI-sitcom. He much prefers dramas, like The Sopranos and The Wire and The Americans. I think the only sitcoms he has ever enjoyed were Scrubs, The Office (both UK and American versions), Brooklyn 99, and Schitt’s Creek. I think he also enjoyed Parks & Rec, too. And is Catastrophe a sitcom? If so, add that to the YES list. So I am hoping, based on this small grouping of Swistle and my husband, that you have a better idea of where you might fit on the Schitt’s Creek spectrum.
Personally, I was very skeptical of everyone’s praise for Schitt’s Creek, but eventually gave in and am SO glad I did. Definitely give it at least the first season.
My husband and I just finished watched all of the seasons of Catastrophe, based on your comment! We click all of the “sitcom” boxes! Thanks for mentioning it!
Also dislike Roland the most.
I second Ted Lasso. It was unexpected charming and funny. I highly recommend.
Thirding Ted Lasso. It’s very funny, and the main character’s kindness and empathy are just lovely. And there are so many secondary characters I would watch an entire show about.
Ever since you posted about this, I’ve been happily thinking about snack food and movies. Just now I started thinking about a scoop of ice cream in coffee. It’s been a distraction in and of itself. I very much appreciate it.
So, I was thinking about this just this morning. (This is NOT to criticize anyone. This is strictly about MY mental health as I work on managing depression and anxiety.) My mental health can not be dependent on this election. I can not allow myself to believe that election day must inevitably be stressful. I will remind myself that I made every effort within my power and beyond that the outcome is not mine to control. No matter who is president there will be plenty of work to be done to improve the situation in my community. So, if my anxiety is rising I will do one of the following: make a list of the next actions I plan to take to help, donate to a cause I believe in, take a walk, call a reliable friend, read a book to my youngest, do a puzzle with my oldest, journal and release, drink a cup of tea sitting outside. I will lean in to the self-care strategies I know work for me.
That is an excellent anxiety/depression response plan! I feel like having a list of things to whop the anxiety with is very useful, because it is hard to think of things *when* anxiety is rising. It is not inevitable to be stressed, but when we know that something upcoming is reasonably likely to stress/perturb us, being set up in advance to fight that, somehow, is a very useful thing.
(figuring out what handmade thingies to send to the residents local nursing home for early Christmas decorations, and/or frenetically crocheting them, is now on my list.)
If it was possible/I knew how to post a Schitt’s Creek gif here, I would, but I don’t know how and also I couldn’t pick one, and as I looked they all started to seem applicable…
(this is not a scene from the show, but it reads like one!)
David: “I plan on popping a pill, crying a bit, and falling asleep early”
Moira: “Oh, and what a grand night it will be”
Alexis: “What? Eww!”
Johnny: “I don’t like your tone”
Can someone talk me into Schitt’s Creek? We are most of the way through the first season and I am sticking it out because SO many people I love and trust (and tons of folks I don’t know at all) have raved about it so I am really really trying, but I am not loving it. How much longer do I give it to fully GET the hook? I have liked moments here and there, but so much of it is just kind of cringey for me and if that’s how it will be forever, I don’t think I can do it.
Stick with it because it really does get better with every episode. I watched the whole thing and then made my 13YO daughter watch it with me… she spent a lot of the first season or so on her phone but slowly got more and more into it. I feel like it gets much less cringey as it goes on too.
The more invested the characters get in the town, the more invested I got in them. It’s SO cringey, though.
Try and stick it out to the end of Season 2. I struggled with Season 1, but somewhere in Season 2 I fell in love and by the end of Season 3 I was practically frantic for more.
Going to our other house in a more rural area. We have no TV nor phone reception. Gonna make a good dinner and have lots of alcohol with it. Gonna take a super dose of melatonin and a Benedryl and sleep through the night (hopefully). My husband will be on his computer all night. I couldn’t even do 2008 and 2012. I knew Trump would win in 2016 by 8P Eastern. God please oh please oh please
Oh Swistle, hugs from up north. We are all so hopeful for a peaceful transfer of power for our American friends. My husband said last night, what if the current president is not re-elected, and responds by saying “I never wanted this job anyway, Worst Job Ever” and then leaves the office in a huff, which is not outside the realm of possibility and also seems like the best case scenario. A sleeping pill might be a good idea, but who knows when the results will be final, so maybe think of it like a marathon rather than a sprint over the next week. Lots of love and hope from up here xoxoxo
I live overseas so I will be waking up right about when the East Coast polls are closing. In some ways this is nice because I don’t have to spend the whole day anxiously waiting for the polls to close and start seeing results come in. On the downside, in 2016 it also meant that i had most of the day to freak out about the election results before getting the sweet relief of going to bed. With that in mind I’ve got the following planned:
– a long morning walk with a friend
– socially acceptable forms of alcohol to drink in the morning. Right now I’ve got Bailey’s for my coffee and/or Bloody Mary mix depending on my mood.
– I think I have also decided on Schitt’s Creek as my soothing TV watch. I found this list of the best David + Patrick episodes that I will use as my guide to restore my faith in humanity of needed. https://www.google.com.sg/amp/s/www.popsugar.com/entertainment/david-patrick-cutest-moments-on-schitt-creek-47238952/amp
– I have some crafting materials ready in case I need something more hands-on as a distraction.
I thought I was tapped out on giving donations but this week I am giving to some of the close senate races and a little more to Biden. I am just praying that we have a decisive win so this doesn’t become a legal battle. Ugh….wake me up when it’s all over. I don’t know if my nerves can take much more.
I’m planning to get groceries on Monday so I will plan some comfort snacks. My daughter has fencing on Tuesdays so, depending on her homework load for that night, I will probably be there for the evening hours when the polls start closing. I may rewatch an episode or two of the 2009 Emma with Jonny Lee Miller and Romola Garai. I find it comforting and compelling enough that it will keep me off Facebook while my daughter fences. If I’m at home, I will probably be helping with homework so that will be distraction enough The problem is later. How long do I hold out before looking to see where things stand? If things are close or Dear Leader is ahead, I may have a glass or 2 of wine to help me fall asleep. I think Wednesday is going to be tough, too. The kids’ have school so that will be a distraction.
I feel like I’ve been holding my breath for the last 4 years. But I also don’t feel like I can exhale until someone other than Trump is sworn in as President. Let me re-phrase that — until neither trump nor another Republican is sworn in as President.
So sorry to double-post, butI forgot to mention that in a fit of hopefulness I ordered some American flags to display should Biden win. I ordered a pack of the small flags on sticks that you wave in a parade and a large flag to hang outside as a symbol of pride to our international neighbors. I’ve hidden them in the closet out of fear that the simple act of ordering such a thing for such a reason will jinx the election results and I will be punished for being so bold as to think the polls could be right this time. If things go badly you now know who to blame.
Also, thank you Shawna for posting about Janet Hill! Her artwork is so lovely. I’m definitely going to order some prints.
I, too, am double posting. I meant for this to be a part of my first post. Anyway, in response to Swistle’s post about Natural Consequences, I wanted to mention the United Church of Christ pastor that is running for US House of Representatives as a Democrat in my district — Bryan Berghoef (https://www.bryanberghoef.com). 538.com sees my district as solid R so I’m not expecting Bryan to win. I’m trying not to get my hopes up. But his is the first campaign sign I’ve ever put in my yard. Hopefully my disappointment for Bryan will be off set by the Democrat keeping the Senate seat. 538 has that race as Likely D. I would feel much better if it were Solid D.
If you haven’t seen it already, this bee shop might be a nice distraction.
https://liliuhms.bigcartel.com/
I saw them on Twitter and thought of you.