world toilet day

Today is world toilet day! When I heard about this, I thought that it must have something to do with sanitation, the spread of disease, or water quality. I then looked at the UN webpage on it and discovered it is about so much more. Roughly 1/3 of the world does not have access to toilets, which means that women/girls often have to use the bathroom in the open, making them susceptible to sexual assault and less likely to attend school. Toilets (or the lack thereof) are a tool of inequality. I didn’t do much to commemorate this day, except read an infographic and tell some people about it.

This week has been a busy writing week. I have a total of twenty-six college letters of recommendation to write. 2-6—it’s a lot to do. I am proud to say that I have done 20 of them (not all this week) and they are all unique. I did not reuse phrasing or sections of letters (though I did reuse adjectives. A lot). I am really nailing it this year in terms of rec writing. It is not that fun for me, and feels sort of like an extra job, but that’s OK because PRODUCTIVITY! My goal is to finish before next Wednesday so I can focus all of my efforts over the holiday to working on fun projects (like reorganizing and cleaning my house—the nesting instinct has begun).

I also got a last minute curriculum project on Monday that is due tomorrow, which I love. I am a person who prefers boggle to scrabble and last minute, frantic projects to slow, long-deadline ones. I think I work best under pressure, or I at least work hardest under pressure. I will never forget the epic history paper I wrote 3 hours before it was due in class in college—I think it was one of my best (I got a B+, if I recall, but given how hard my school was, it was probably truly an A paper, IMHO).

Today, I feel like I truly freed my mind up when I realized that I am an adult, and that means that if I want to buy a Christmas tree THIS WEEKEND (I totally do!), then I can! No one can make me do it after Thanksgiving. There are no rules about these things. It feels right this year—I also got a small, artificial tree for Theo’s room, because if there is one thing he will grow up loving, it is the Christmas tree.