stamp 202511151120
We were having breakfast with my husband at a fast food restaurant.
Him: You zoned out again. Your face is a bit creepy when it happens, but I’m happy your brain can just switch off and rest sometimes.
Me: Oh but it didn’t switch off. I’m currently replaying a Handmaid’s Tale scene in my head.
Him: … why. How. Seriously.
Me: I tell you how.
- I saw a woman at the counter in stockings and a dress.
- It came to mind that ultra-conservative Christian women, ie. FLDS women, or Gileadean women in The Handmaid’s Tale, are required to be covered from neck to wrist to toes.
- But covered doesn’t necessarily mean unsexy. Serena Joy Waterford was so sexy when she danced with Fred during a Washington ball, that she turned Commander Wharton’s head and years later, he proposed to her.
- Passion without good communication isn’t good enough tho. Serena had to face this, when Commander Wharton presented a handmaid to her on their wedding night.
- Serena was able to learn the handmaid’s former name just in a few questions. That’s not right. Christina should’ve been more firm on “my name is Ofgabriel, ma’am”, especially in front of a high commander.
- In the first season, June was presented to a Mexican delegation, and she (very wisely) stayed faithful to the rules and insisted that she did have another name indeed, but she doesn’t use that anymore.
Me: … and this was the scene playing in my head.
Me: But I was indeed able to rest, because I didn’t actively think about these. It just… happened.
Him: So you were able to just backseat and watch?
Me: Yes, something like that.
Related
- I need to write down more of these association chain examples, because they are so funny
- When I read Luhmann’s paper on his notes collection, I recognized my chains of association in it. This was one of the most important reasons I became so fascinated with the Zettelkasten.
- Your Zettelkasten is neurospicy.
- Publishing my notes is a way of practicing kindness to my ADHD self. 1c3a-publishing-my-zettels-is-a-kindness-towards-my-adhd-self-about-that-i-felt-insecure-for-long
- Bob Doto wrote to me on Reddit that “Just read through a bunch of your zettels. These are great fun to meander through. Which is not a feeling I often have looking through other people’s notes”, and said in our Zoom call that he finds himself clicking for “just one more” in my notes collection. Maybe I am able to convey this feeling of “backseat and rest” with my notes that I also experience when my chains of association carry me away? That would be cool.
- The strongest and most naturally growing parts of my notes are the “Related” (“Reminds me of”) sections where I often dump more content than into the main body of the note.