Long Read

I’ve been in a full-on wrestling match with my Micro.blog theme lately. Had this specific vision: truncated posts on the homepage with a “Continue Reading” link, a nice drop cap at the start of long-form posts, and images that didn’t feel like they were yelling over the text. Simple, right?

Started with trying to add the “Continue Reading” link myself but it didn’t work. Was about to send a support ticket, then thought “nah, I want to figure this out.” Asked Perplexity for help instead, and honestly? Huge help figuring out what I’d done wrong.

You know how some people collect stamps or vintage records? I collect random things. It's honestly my favorite thing - shuffling through the vast web, discovering stuff I never knew existed. So here's what caught my attention lately.

Someone once said, “The more you know, the more you realize you don’t know.” Turns out that’s annoyingly true. Especially when you discover entire personality types you never knew existed.

Ready? Let’s dive in.

You're lying in bed, scrolling. Two hours vanish before you even realize it's happening—until suddenly you do. And there it is: the awareness. Your book's still on the nightstand. Your essay's waiting on your laptop. The puzzle's half-finished on the table. The coloring supplies are untouched.

I catch myself here, too. Not in a guilt-spiral way, but in that quiet moment where you realize: this is finite time, and I’m choosing how it goes. That’s when everything shifts. Because it’s not really about doing enough—it’s about whether I’m actually building something that feels like mine.

So I've been reading about some random stuff lately, and these things have been sitting in my head for a while. You know how it is—you start with skyscrapers covered in forests, end up at the grocery store aisle, and somehow land on Bambi, of all things.

Anyway, figured I’d share. You might find them interesting too.

Buildings with actual forests on them

I love buildings covered in greenery. Walls, balconies, entire facades—just filled with plants. It’s brilliant. I’m a total black thumb—I can kill a cactus—but that doesn’t stop me from appreciating it. I grew up in an Appalachian town surrounded by trees. I’d sit for hours just looking at all that green. There’s something calming about it. Give me a good book and a spot under some trees, and I’m happy. So, when I discovered skyscrapers with literal forests growing on them? I was hooked.

I’m currently hooked on an exhilarating TV series that combines suspense, drama, and unforgettable characters. Each episode leaves me wanting more, making it a total binge-worthy experience!

• City of Shadows Season 1 🍿
  It is a Spanish crime thriller about a suspended Barcelona detective brought back to hunt a serial killer staging fiery public executions at Gaudí landmarks, based on Aro Sáinz de la Maza’s novel El verdugo de Gaudí.
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 2 🍿- It adapts Rick Riordan’s novel The Sea of Monsters, sending Percy back to a threatened Camp Half-Blood where he must sail into the Sea of Monsters to rescue Grover and retrieve the Golden Fleece to save the camp, and I’ve heard that a third season adapting The Titan’s Curse is already on the way, so I need to catch up on the rest of Season 2.
• Bridgerton Season 3 🍿- It focuses on Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton, as Colin’s “confidence lessons” for Penelope blossom into a slow-burn friends-to-lovers romance while her secret identity as Lady Whistledown threatens everything they’ve built. And I’ve heard that season 4, centered on Benedict’s masquerade-ball love story inspired by Julia Quinn’s An Offer from a Gentleman, is already on the way, Bridgerton Season 4
• Cross Season 1 🍿- It is a crime thriller about brilliant D.C. homicide detective and forensic psychologist Alex Cross, who hunts a sadistic serial killer leaving bodies across the city while a dangerous figure from his past threatens his already grieving family.

So I've been doing a lot of writing lately for this new organization I'm working with—[OULDHH](https://www.ouldhh.org) (Organization of Unique Learners for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community). We're pretty informal, just getting started really, but we're gathering resources and information about neurodivergence, accessibility, and education for the Deaf community. **I've been posting new content every Wednesday—sometimes about neurodivergence, sometimes about whatever else I'm geeking out about that week.**

And honestly? Some of these posts hit close to home. Whether you just got a diagnosis for yourself or your child, you’re dealing with school stuff that feels impossible, or you’re just trying to figure out what ADHD or autism or learning disabilities actually mean—I wanted to share what I’ve been working on because I think it might help.

Posted on Substacks on January 9, 2026

Hey folks, I’m experimenting here. I usually put together a monthly newsletter on various topics, but I read about 100 articles a week, and there’s always something that catches my attention and feels worth sharing sooner rather than later. Over the last two weeks alone, I had about 30 links I wanted to share with you—way too much for one newsletter. So I’m breaking them up into a weekly newsletter instead. This one covers genuinely good health news, some overdue reflection on Deaf representation, and tackling my mountain of unread books. Not sure yet if I’ll stick with weekly or go back to monthly—we’ll see how this feels.

Thrift store haul from Pikeville, KY! Yesterday’s adventures led my parents and me through two local thrift shops, and I struck an absolute jackpot in the book section. Found these four gems that I can’t wait to dive into 📚✨ They are very cheap, costing a dollar per book! What a great find, right?

• The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly 📚
• State of Fear by Michael Crichton 📚
• I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes 📚
• Snow Crash: A Novel by Neal Stephenson 📚

Speaking of going analog—there’s something magical about holding a real book, feeling the pages, breathing in that paper scent. E-books are convenient, sure, but they’ll never quite capture that tactile joy. Anyone else with me on this? 📖 Stay tuned for a deeper dive into my analog adventures coming soon!

Published on Substack on 1/26/2026

The Americans with Disabilities Act will turn 36 later this year. In the last thirty-five years, there has been a requirement for accessible hotel accommodations. And yet, NPR just published an investigation showing that wheelchair users are still dealing with the same frustrating barriers that shouldn’t exist after three decades of the law being on the books.

NPR talked to 50 wheelchair users and surveyed over 200 more. The stories were depressingly familiar. You call ahead, you book an accessible room online, you show up… and there’s no reservation. Or the room’s been given away. Or—my personal favorite—the room exists, but it’s not actually accessible.

I stumbled across this photo of Lago delle Baste in the Dolomites and had to share it. The contrast between that deep-blue alpine lake and the golden autumn grasses, with those dramatic Dolomite peaks rising in the background, is breathtaking. Sometimes you need to pause and appreciate something beautiful.