It was a cold that night in December when we decided that we’d ring in the new year by watching movies and eating store bought frozen pizza. 2024 had been a year with a lot of ups and down and we just wanted to have something that would make us laugh.

Just something that we wouldn’t mind talking over or missing a moment because it’s would be vital to the plot.

This was the movie we chose and I’m happy that I did.

In between the crass jokes - some that are timeless and others that show that they are of a different time¹ - I found a couple messages that I could really get behind. Messages about being the best person that you can be, accepting others for who they are, and that relationships are something you shouldn’t take for granted.

Overview

Not only is Jessica Spencer the most popular girl in school -- she is also the meanest. But things change for the attractive teen when a freak accident involving a cursed pair of earrings and a chance encounter at a gas station causes her to switch bodies with Clive, a sleazy crook. Jessica, in the form of the repulsive Clive, struggles to adjust to this radical alteration and sets out to get her own body back before the upcoming prom.

One thing of note was I was watching it with my teenage daughters and fighting the urge to constantly explain that it was made at a different time!. But, I think that feeling is overblown. I’m sure this isn’t the first time that they heard a dirty joke and probably not the only time. If anything, I was probably the only one who felt uncomfortable.

I’m thinking that I might need to place the response in a div within my larger post.

For everyone else, I hope that I’m able to write this up and look cool.

I’m thinking that I might need to place the response in a div within my larger post.

For everyone else, I hope that I’m able to write this up and look cool.

This post advertises its Webmention endpoint with an HTTP Link header.

Begin response here

Table of Contents

• The First thing
• The Second thing
• The Third thing
• Figures
• Tasklists
• Tables

The first thing

One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his armour-like back, and if he lifted¹ his head a little he could see his brown belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready² to slide off any moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, waved about helplessly as he looked. “What’s happened to me? " he thought. It wasn’t a dream.

His room, a proper human room although a little too small, lay peacefully between its four familiar walls. A collection of textile samples lay spread out on the table - Samsa was a travelling salesman - and above it there³ hung a picture that he had recently cut out of an illustrated magazine and housed in a nice, gilded frame. It showed a lady fitted out with a fur hat and fur boa who sat upright, raising a heavy fur muff that covered the whole of her lower arm towards the viewer. Gregor then turned to look out the window at the dull weather.

I ought to just try that with my boss; I’d get kicked out on the spot. But who knows, maybe that would be the best thing for me. If I didn’t have my parents to think about I’d have given in my notice a long time ago, I’d have gone up to the boss and told him just what I think, tell him everything I would, let him know just what I feel. He’d fall right off his desk!⁴ And it’s a funny sort of business to be sitting up there at your desk, talking down at your subordinates from up there, especially when you have to go right up close because the boss is hard of hearing. Well, there’s still some hope; once I’ve got the money together to pay off my parents’ debt to him - another five or six years I suppose - that’s definitely what I’ll do. That’s when I’ll make the big change. First of all though, I’ve got to get up, my train leaves at five. " And he looked over at the alarm clock, ticking on the chest of drawers. “God in Heaven! " he thought. It was half past six and the hands were quietly moving forwards, it was even later than half past, more like quarter to seven. Had the alarm clock not rung? He could see from the bed that it had been set for four o’clock as it should have been; it certainly must have rung. Yes, but was it possible to quietly sleep through that furniture-rattling noise?

The Second Thing

Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Several fabulous dixieland jazz groups played with quick tempo. Back in my quaint garden, jaunty zinnias vie with flaunting phlox⁵. Five or six big jet planes zoomed quickly by the new tower. Exploring the zoo, we saw every kangaroo jump and quite a few carried babies. I quickly explained that many big jobs involve few hazards. Jay Wolf is quite an expert on the bass violin, guitar, dulcimer, ukulele and zither. Expect skilled signwriters to use many jazzy, quaint old alphabets effectively. The wizard quickly jinxed the gnomes before they vaporized. THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG’S BACK 1234567890⁶.

The Third Thing

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, eu detracto senserit vis, ei natum ridens detracto sit. Id iriure prompta vix. Sit ea feugiat invenire similique, etiam solet eleifend cu per. Ea falli nullam elaboraret vis, modo percipitur omittantur at ius, in quo nullam timeam ocurreret. Est ad deleniti corrumpit scripserit, te usu apeirian recusabo oportere, nemore laboramus vulputate te vim. Ea eum mazim iudicabit, harum utroque pri ne.

Per no putant iriure intellegebat. Tamquam maiorum ei eum, ea iuvaret maluisset liberavisse eam, adhuc falli tamquam ius te? Eu amet virtute scaevola est, simul nusquam invidunt duo id, at usu sanctus abhorreant definiebas! Vide ullum quo cu? Ius in forensibus sadipscing, dicant aperiri volutpat et sit.

Veri dicat pro te, an aliquam reprimique cum, et pro commune maiestatis. Nec ex amet eleifend definitiones! An adipisci consequuntur est. In quot oratio vis. Vide nobis aperiam pri ad, et sit dictas adolescens inciderint, pertinacia referrentur consequuntur pri id?

Some more examples

bold and italics

strikethrough and bold

strikethrough and italics

bold, italics and strikethrough

I am going to use the example from the footnote documentation⁷.

Remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.

• Harriet Tubman

Figures and Images

Using Short codes

Here’s another.

Raw HTML

Lillie on the Couch

Images with titles example

Tasklists

• an unchecked task list item
• checked item

A little bit more

• Write the press release
• Update the website
• Contact the media
• foo
  • bar
  • baz
• bim

Tables

A couple examples of a markdown table.

This is a bigger table

The following is from multimarkdown.

I hope the following work as well. It was found on a page showing github markdown.

This is a table with more content. These were taken from https://markdown-it.github.io/ and https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/#table.

Right aligned columns

Centered values

Something else

Hello

Goal for this document

I wanted to make a page that contained most if not all of the different things that you would find in a blog post written in Markdown. For simplicity, I’ll stick to what is found in Python-Markdown as it is the one that I use most.

Basic Syntax

This sentence as emphasied and bold text.

This sentence has emphasis and bold text combined.

This sentence has code written in it.

This sentence has strikethrough written in it.

This is a sentence with a link.

Multiple Paragraphs of text

Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs. Several fabulous dixieland jazz groups played with quick tempo. Back in my quaint garden, jaunty zinnias vie with flaunting phlox¹. Five or six big jet planes zoomed quickly by the new tower. Exploring the zoo, we saw every kangaroo jump and quite a few carried babies. I quickly explained that many big jobs involve few hazards. Jay Wolf is quite an expert on the bass violin, guitar, dulcimer, ukulele and zither. Expect skilled signwriters to use many jazzy, quaint old alphabets effectively. The wizard quickly jinxed the gnomes before they vaporized. THE QUICK BROWN FOX JUMPED OVER THE LAZY DOG’S BACK 1234567890².

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, eu detracto senserit vis, ei natum ridens detracto sit. Id iriure prompta vix. Sit ea feugiat invenire similique, etiam solet eleifend cu per. Ea falli nullam elaboraret vis, modo percipitur omittantur at ius, in quo nullam timeam ocurreret. Est ad deleniti corrumpit scripserit, te usu apeirian recusabo oportere, nemore laboramus vulputate te vim. Ea eum mazim iudicabit, harum utroque pri ne.

Per no putant iriure intellegebat. Tamquam maiorum ei eum, ea iuvaret maluisset liberavisse eam, adhuc falli tamquam ius te? Eu amet virtute scaevola est, simul nusquam invidunt duo id, at usu sanctus abhorreant definiebas! Vide ullum quo cu? Ius in forensibus sadipscing, dicant aperiri volutpat et sit.

Veri dicat pro te, an aliquam reprimique cum, et pro commune maiestatis. Nec ex amet eleifend definitiones! An adipisci consequuntur est. In quot oratio vis. Vide nobis aperiam pri ad, et sit dictas adolescens inciderint, pertinacia referrentur consequuntur pri id?

Images

Large image

Images in a paragraph

Yar Pirate Ipsum. Rutters log red ensign bring a spring upon her cable Pirate Round prow fathom. Snow broadside Arr poop deck hardtack lad barkadeer. Cat o’nine tails handsomely fire ship reef bring a spring upon her cable yardarm jury mast. Hang the jib mutiny execution dock cutlass Sail ho furl ye. Barque crimp aye fore nipper yo-ho-ho grog. Crack Jennys tea cup Brethren of the Coast weigh anchor spanker port rutters jack.

Man-of-war tender lanyard piracy yard prow case shot. Bilge brig six pounders loot landlubber or just lubber me salmagundi. Chantey keelhaul Pieces of Eight hail-shot mutiny brigantine barque. Dead men tell no tales American Main parrel code of conduct haul wind hornswaggle Admiral of the Black. Cable no prey, no pay bilge rat swab wherry boom run a shot across the bow. Run a shot across the bow skysail strike colors Sail ho lateen sail wench Barbary Coast.

List

There are two kinds of lists with

Ordered lists

1. First item

2. Second item

   Second paragraph of Second item

3. Third item

A small paragraph before the second list.

4. Forth item - If this doesn’t start with 4 than smart list are not on.

   • Nested unordered list item 1

   • Nested unordered list item 2

   • Nested unordered list item 3

5. Fifth item

6. Six item

Unordered lists

• First item.

• Second item. This second item has two paragraphs in it.

  This is the second paragraph of the second item. (Not confusing at all.)

  Block quote in the unordered list

  Followed by a code block:

  {
    "firstName": "John",
    "lastName": "Smith",
    "age": 25
  }
  

• Third item.

  1. Nested ordered list item 1

  2. Nested ordered list item 2

  3. Nested ordered list item 3

• Forth item.

Footnotes

I am going to use the example from the footnote documentation³.

Block quote

Something simple should go here.

Remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.

• Harriet Tubman

Sometimes you might have nested block quotes.

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

• Wayne Gretzky

• Michael Scott

Tables

This is my tables section. These were taken from https://markdown-it.github.io/ and https://michelf.ca/projects/php-markdown/extra/#table.

Right aligned columns

Centered values

Misc

These are the things that most people don’t really use.

Definitions

Definitions are a great way to show information.

Apple

Pomaceous fruit of plants of the genus Malus in the family Rosaceae.

An American computer company.

Banana

A tropical plant of the genus Musa.

Orange

The fruit of an evergreen tree of the genus Citrus.

Pinapple

A tropical fruit from the Bromeliaceae family.

Mango

A juicy stone fruit (drupe) from numerous species of tropical trees belonging to the flowering plant genus Mangifera, cultivated mostly for their edible fruit.

Complex definitions

Term 1

This is a definition with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus.

Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.

Second definition for term 1, also wrapped in a paragraph because of the blank line preceding it.

Term 2

This definition has a code block, a blockquote and a list.

code block.

block quote on two lines.

1. first list item
2. second list item

Code blocks

import logging
# This line is emphasized
# This line isn't
# This line is emphasized

def func():
    # function body
    someValue = "func called"
    logging.info(someValue)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    func()

Abbreviations

The HTML specification is maintained by the W3C. This example taken from https://python-markdown.github.io/extensions/abbreviations/

*[HTML]: Hyper Text Markup Language

*[W3C]: World Wide Web Consortium

Task Lists

This is fairly new to markdown.

• Write the press release
• Update the website
• Contact the media
• foo
  • bar
  • baz
• bim

You can set dark mode as default by setting params.mode to dark in config.toml or set it to auto which will detect based on your OS and switch to dark mode. For more details refer documentation

Here is how you can switch based on your OS

• iOS
• Android
• macOS
• Windows 10

The end of procrastination is the art of letting go.

I’ve been a lifelong procrastinator, at least until recent years. I would put things off until deadline, because I knew I could come through. I came through on tests after cramming last minute, I turned articles in at the deadline after waiting until the last hour, I got things done.

Until I didn’t. It turns out procrastinating caused me to miss deadlines, over and over. It stressed me out. My work was less-than-desirable when I did it last minute. Slowly, I started to realize that procrastination wasn’t doing me any favors. In fact, it was causing me a lot of grief.

But I couldn’t quit. I tried a lot of things. I tried time boxing and goal setting and accountability and the Pomodoro Technique and Getting Things Done. All are great methods, but they only last so long. Nothing really worked over the long term.

That’s because I wasn’t getting to the root problem.

I hadn’t figured out the skill that would save me from the procrastination.

Until I learned about letting go.

Letting go first came to me when I was quitting smoking. I had to let go of the “need” to smoke, the use of my crutch of cigarettes to deal with stress and problems.

Then I learned I needed to let go of other false needs that were causing me problems: sugar, junk food, meat, shopping, beer, possessions. I’m not saying I can never do these things again once I let go of these needs, but I let go of the idea that they’re really necessary. I let go of an unhealthy attachment to them.

Then I learned that distractions and the false need to check my email and news and other things online … were causing me problems. They were causing my procrastination.

So I learned to let go of those too.

Here’s the process I used to let go of the distractions and false needs that cause procrastination:

I paid attention to the pain they cause me, later, instead of only the temporary comfort/pleasure they gave me right away. I thought about the person I want to be, the life I want to live. I set my intentions to do the good work I think I should do. I watched my urges to check things, to go to the comfort of distractions. I saw that I wanted to escape discomfort of something hard, and go to the comfort of something familiar and easy. I realized I didn’t need that comfort. I could be in discomfort and nothing bad would happen. In fact, the best things happen when I’m in discomfort. And then I smile, and breathe, and let go.

And one step at a time, become the person I want to be.

We spend our days filling in every available space, cramming in more tasks, responding to messages, checking social media and online sites, watching videos.

We are afraid of empty space in our lives.

The result is often a continual busyness, constant distraction and avoidance, lack of focus, lack of satisfaction with our lives.

We run from silence. We run from the spaces between tasks and appointments. We run from solitude and stillness. We try to fill every second with activity, with something useful, as if silence and space are not valuable.

But what are we afraid of?

And who would we be if we didn’t have that fear?

We’re afraid of space and stillness and silence because it highlights the uncertainty, instability, groundlessness, insecurity, shakiness that lie underneath every second of our lives. We’re afraid of having to face this instability and uncertainty, of having to feel the fear of it.

Without the fear of all of the uncertainty that is highlighted by space … we become free.

I know in my life, when I allow myself to have stillness, silence, solitude, simplicity and space … it leaves room to face whatever is coming up for me. It gives me room to fully feel any feelings that I’ve been avoiding. It allows me to be more honest with myself, instead of using distractions and busyness to cover up what I don’t want to see.

And in the end, I develop trust that the space is not something to be feared, but rather something to be treasured. A gift, filled with learning and not knowing and shakiness and beauty.

You might try allowing more space to be in your day, without filling it:

• Take some time between tasks for stillness.
• Sit out in nature, in silence, without technology.
• When you notice yourself reaching for your phone, pause. See if you can just be still, just savor some space.
• When you feel uncertainty or instability in your life (hint: it’s always there), let yourself feel it. Be present with it, without needing to run or avoid.
• When you feel fear, be open-hearted with it and allow yourself fully feel it, being friendly with it. Your relationship with fear will change if you become friendly with it.
• Do less, and trust that things won’t fall apart. Or if they do fall apart, you can be present with that instability.
• When you’re in line, driving, eating, walking, exercising … see if you can do those things in silence, without technology, without needing to do something “useful.” Find the value in these spaces.
• Notice who you are without the fear of space.

Savor these spaces, their deliciousness. Savor the groundlessness, as something filled with freedom if we learn not to fear it. Be present with the fear and uncertainty, as good friends not as enemies.

Let your heart be open raw tender and vulnerable, and your mind embracing the spaciousness of the vast blue sky of open awareness.

You have a to-do list that scrolls on for days. You are managing multiple projects, getting lots of email and messages on different messaging systems, managing finances and personal health habits and so much more.

It all keeps piling up, and it can feel overwhelming.

How do you keep up with it all? How do you find focus and peace and get stuff accomplished when you have too much on your plate?

In this primer, I’ll look at some key strategies and tactics for taking on an overloaded life with an open heart, lots of energy, and a smile on your face.

The First Step: Triage

Whether you’re just starting your day, or you’re in the middle of the chaos and just need to find some sanity … the first step is to get into triage mode.

Triage, as you probably know, is sorting through the chaos to prioritize: what needs to be done now, what needs to be done today, what needs to be done this week, and what can wait? You’re looking at urgency, but also what’s meaningful and important.

Here’s what you might do:

• Pick out the things that need to be done today. Start a Short List for things you’re going to do today. That might be important tasks for big projects, urgent tasks that could result in damage if you don’t act, smaller admin tasks that you really should take care of today, and responding to important messages. I would recommend being ruthless and cutting out as much as you can, having just 5 things on your plate if that’s at all possible. Not everything needs to be done today, and not every email needs to be responded to.
• Push some things to tomorrow and the rest of the week. If you have deadlines that can be pushed back (or renegotiated), do that. Spread the work out over the week, even into next week. What needs to be done tomorrow? What can wait a day or two longer?
• Eliminate what you can. That might mean just not replying to some messages that aren’t that important and don’t really require a reply. It might mean telling some people that you can’t take on this project after all, or that you need to get out of the commitment that you said you’d do. Yes, this is uncomfortable. For now, just put them on a list called, “To Not Do,” and plan to figure out how to get out of them later.

OK, you have some breathing room and a manageable list now! Let’s shrink that down even further and just pick one thing.

Next: Focus on One Thing

With a lot on your plate, it’s hard to pick one thing to focus on. But that’s exactly what I’m going to ask you to do.

Pick one thing, and give it your focus. Yes, there are a lot of other things you can focus on. Yes, they’re stressing you out and making it hard to focus. But think about it this way: if you allow it all to be in your head all the time, that will always be your mode of being. You’ll always be thinking about everything, stressing out about it all, with a frazzled mind … unless you start shifting.

The shift:

• Pick something to focus on. Look at the triaged list from the first section … if you have 5-6 things on this Short List, you can assess whether there’s any super urgent, time-sensitive things you need to take care of. If there are, pick one of them. If not, pick the most important one — probably the one you have been putting off doing.
• Clear everything else away. Just for a little bit. Close all browser tabs, turn off notifications, close open applications, put your phone away.
• Put that one task before you, and allow yourself to be with it completely. Pour yourself into it. Think of it as a practice, of letting go (of everything else), of focus, of radical simplicity.

When you’re done (or after 15-20 minutes have gone by at least), you can switch to something else. But don’t allow yourself to switch until then.

By closing off all exits, by choosing one thing, by giving yourself completely to that thing … you’re now in a different mode that isn’t so stressful or spread thin. You’ve started a shift that will lead to focus and sanity.

Third: Schedule Time to Simplify

Remember the To Not Do list above? Schedule some time this week to start reducing your projects, saying no to people, getting out of commitments, crossing stuff off your task list … so that you can have some sanity back.

There are lots of little things that you’ve said “yes” to that you probably shouldn’t have. That’s why you’re overloaded. Protect your more important work, and your time off, and your peace of mind, by saying “no” to things that aren’t as important.

Schedule the time to simplify — you don’t have to do it today, but sometime soon — and you can then not have to worry about the things on your To Not Do list until then.

Fourth: Practice Mindful Focus

Go through the rest of the day with an attitude of “mindful focus.” That means that you are doing one thing at a time, being as present as you can, switching as little as you can.

Think of it as a settling of the mind. A new mode of being. A mindfulness practice (which means you won’t be perfect at it).

As you practice mindful focus, you’ll learn to practice doing things with an open heart, with curiosity and gratitude, and even joy. Try these one at a time as you get to do each task on your Short List.

You’ll find that you’re not so overloaded, but that each task is just perfect for that moment. And that’s a completely new relationship with the work that you do, and a new relationship with life.