Monthly Archives: May 2025

Day 4533: Peeved

Posted on May 31, 2025 by Ann Koplow

Even though I try to go for it every day, sometimes I get peeved.

People in my therapy groups vent about being peeved, annoyed, irritated, miffed, nettled, riled, roiled, steamed, and stung about many things, including medical systems these days.

Sometimes, I’m not even sure what I’m peeved about, but chances are it includes technology.

I hope nobody’s peeved that I like sharing my songs here, including this one:

Can you tell I was peeved as I captured images yesterday?

I’m grateful to wake up everyday, but some days (like today) I wake up peeved.

What helps me when I’m peeved? Naming it. Sharing it (like in this blog). Realizing I’m not alone. Recognizing that I’ve been peeved before and this too shall pass.

Right now, I’m peeved that I have to drive a long distance, again, to deal with the fact that I can’t see well out of my new glasses. I’m peeved that I know so little about getting my songs out there. I’m peeved that I get stymied by technology when I try to do many things online. I’m peeved that the current administration is hell bent on taking away fundamental rights from the kind of people who attend my therapy groups. I’m peeved that so many people voted (again!) for an obviously toxic narcissist.

I’m peeved there are so many things to be peeved about these days.

What are you peeved about?

Thanks to everyone who is here for this peeved post, including YOU!

Categories: group therapy, life in the USA, parody song, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: I’m on a diet, May 31 2025, medical systems, pet peeves, sashimi, technology, The Daily Bitch Calendar, Twitter | 6 Comments

Day 4532: Go for it

Posted on May 30, 2025 by Ann Koplow

As I consider what I’m doing with my life, I’m trying to go for it (whatever “it” is) without hesitation or fear.

For example, I reached out to one of the fabulous women performers from Sunday’s Open Mic in Brookline and asked her to be my mentor in the music business. I think she’s going to help me go for it as I try to get my original songs out there.

Yesterday, I watched Joan go for it as I recorded this video:

Now let’s go for it as I share my images for today!

I miss those days too, but I’m still going to go for it!

Here’s the first thing I find when I search for “go for it” on YouTube.

If you’d like to leave a comment, go for it!

Thanks to all who help me go for it, including YOU!

Categories: cats, Music business, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: Blue Q socks, Chispa motivation, clothing purchase, May 30 2025, mentors, Rose White, spinach, The Daily Bitch Calendar, Twitter and Bluesky | 9 Comments

Day 4531: What I’m Doing With My Life

Posted on May 29, 2025 by Ann Koplow

What I’m doing with my life is

Spending more time with people (and other creatures) I love,
Spending less time with people who are soul-sucking,
Doing six therapy groups every week,
Working on my music,
Speaking up for what I believe,
Letting go of fear,
Eating delicious food while trying to stay healthy,
Asking questions,
Staying exquisitely aware of my own (and others’) mortality, and
Blogging every day.

Can you see what I’m doing with my life in my images for today?

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I look for “what I’m doing with my life.”

What are you doing with your life?

What I’m doing with my life includes expressing gratitude every day, so thanks to all who are here, now, including YOU!

Categories: group therapy, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: Charlie Parker’s TED talk, eggplant parmigiana, letting go of fear, Lexington, May 29 2025, priorities, spinach and swordfish, The Daily Bitch Calendar, Twitter, What Should I Do With My Life? | 10 Comments

Day 4530: Fear itself

Posted on May 28, 2025 by Ann Koplow

As Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

I am trying not to fear

the future,
the leaders and certain people in the USA,
anger,
failure,
success,
getting sick (I have a cough and sore throat this morning), and
cats (after reading The Lion in the Living Room) (I’m reading Caleb Carr’s My Beloved Monster as a reparative experience).

Do you see fear itself in any of my images for today?

Here’s what I find when I search for “fear itself” on YouTube.

Now that I think about it, my protest song is about fear itself.

Thanks to all who are here for this Fear Itself post, including YOU!

Categories: cats, original song, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: “You Don’t Scare Me”, Caleb Carr, Franklin D. Roosevelt, May 28 2025, My Beloved Monster, Swordfish dish, The Daily Bitch Calendar, The Lion in the Living Room, Twitter | 15 Comments

Day 4529: Exceptionally Rare

Posted on May 27, 2025 by Ann Koplow

We are all exceptionally rare in that there is no one else exactly like us. At the same time, we share so many things in common that it is an exceptionally rare group therapy session where people don’t feel relief at discovering they are not alone in how they think and feel.

Yesterday, on my train trip home from NYC to Boston, I had an exceptionally rare, illuminating, fascinating, and totally engaging conversation with David (and his ChatGPT/AI “personal assistant” Skye) for the entire ride. David asked Skye how exceptionally rare my heart condition was and Skye responded like so:

It occurred to me that something else about me — that I started writing original songs in my 60s — might also be exceptionally rare, so David asked Skye about that.

I believe that Skye also compared how exceptionally rare that is to being struck by lightening, but apparently I didn’t capture that with my camera.

Here is the exceptionally rare and my wonderful new friend David:

Here is how Skye described our exceptionally rare first encounter:

We are living in exceptionally rare times.

It is exceptionally rare (indeed, unprecedented) that I forget to bring Daily Bitch Calendar pages when I travel, so here are the missing ones from the past few days:

Do you see anything exceptionally rare in my other photos for today?

On Nothing to Fear Day, I’m realizing that my young friend David is an exceptionally rare person who helped me believe yesterday that there is nothing to fear.

Here is what I find when I search for “exceptionally rare” on YouTube.

Thanks to all my friends who are here for this exceptionally rare post, including YOU!

Categories: group therapy, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: 8 Signs You Have an Extremely Rare Personality, bumper stickers, cats, living with cctga, May 27 2025, Nothing to Fear Day, NYC, Psychology Scholar, The Daily Bitch Calendar, the South Shore of Boston, Twitter | 14 Comments

Day 4528: Geeking out

Posted on May 26, 2025 by Ann Koplow

Yesterday, on Geek Pride Day, I was at an Open Mic where people were geeking out about unusual instruments, like a folding guitar that stays in tune. Together, we were all geeking out about each other’s songwriting and performing skills.

I was too busy geeking out to record a video of my performance, but I believe people were sincere when they were geeking out about how much they liked my protest song and “Everybody’s Somebody’s Asshole.”

I was geeking out about the impressive-looking camera somebody was using to take photos of all the performers, and she kindly sent me this picture of my performance at Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn (which people geek out about being the best Open Mic in NYC).

I was geeking out about two other women’s performances (in a group of mostly men, as usual) and I suggested to them that we release an album of original songs with a women’s perspective. I don’t know how many people would geek out about such a concept or, more importantly, buy it.

I wonder if there will be any geeking out about my other images for today.

I was geeking about this plant-based ramen at Beyond Sushi, with faux brisket and a fried egg!

Here’s what I find when I search for “geeking out” on YouTube.

For anybody who might be geeking out about trains, soon I’ll be taking a train back to Boston, where I’ll be geeking out about my husband Michael’s fabulous culinary concoctions.

I was too busy geeking out to take a steady photo of a Thank You sign at Pete’s yesterday, but I hope you still accept my thanks to you for being here, now, for this geeking out blog post.

Categories: original song, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: antique Fiat, Beyond Sushi, Gareth Donkin, Geek Pride Day, May 26 2025, Pete’s Candy Store, scenes of NYC, songwriters, Twitter, women’s perspective | 11 Comments

Day 4527: Something for everyone

Posted on May 25, 2025 by Ann Koplow

In New York, New York (a city so nice, they named it twice) there is something for everyone.

When I saw the incredible Stephen Sondheim revue Old Friends (with old friends Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga), there was something for everyone.

Because I miss the late Stephen Sondheim so much and because he has given me so many something’s throughout my life, I cried pretty much throughout the whole show.

I hope there’s something for everyone in my images for today.

I hope there’s something for everyone in today’s Open Mic in Brooklyn (although I doubt there will be tap dancing).

Thanks to everyone who is here for this something-for-everyone post, including YOU!

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism, theater, travel | Tags: Bernadette Peters, Broad Nosh Bagels, favorite musicals, Hell’s Kitchen, Lea Salonga, May 25 2025, Pete’s Candy Store, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, Twitter | 6 Comments

Day 4526: Success!

Posted on May 24, 2025 by Ann Koplow

Success! I made it to NYC and some people I met on the train said they would attend my Open Mic tomorrow in Brooklyn. I’m going to feel like a success even if they can’t make it because we had so much fun connecting yesterday.

I used to believe that success needed perfection but I believe this blog post will be a success even though I forgot to take pictures of the Daily Bitch calendar for today (and for Monday). Also, I mistakenly took the my ukulele without the strap, but I think I can still be a success tomorrow even if I’m sitting down when I’m singing “Everybody’s Somebody’s Asshole” and my protest song.

And I feel like a success because I got a ticket to see the very successful Sondheim review “Old Friends” today!

Do you see success in my images?

Here’s what I find when I search for success on YouTube.

Thanks to all who help me feel like a success, including YOU!

Categories: original song, personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: "Everybody's Somebody's Asshole", arancini at Il Punto, cats, NYC, protest song, strangers on a train, the Arlo Hotel, The Daily Bitch Calendar, The School of Life’s “What is Success?”, Twitter | 10 Comments

Day 4525: Another day, another _______.

Posted on May 23, 2025 by Ann Koplow

Another day, another blog post.

Another day, another headache.

Another day, another heartbreak.

Another day, another song lyric.

Another day, another awful act of the USA administration.

Another day, another cartoon.

Another day, another cat photo.

Another day, another adventure.

Another day, another list of holidays and observances.

Another day, another Daily Bitch Calendar.

Here’s what I find when I search for “another day, another _____” on YouTube:

How would you complete the phrase “another day, another ______”?

Another day, another expression of gratitude for people like YOU!

Categories: personal growth, photojournalism | Tags: acts of Congress, Adam Douglas Thompson New Yorker cartoon, Another day another dollar, cats, headaches, May 23 2025, relevant song lyrics, The Daily Bitch Calendar, things to see in NYC, Twitter, Wynn Stewart | 10 Comments

Day 4524: I have no idea

Posted on May 22, 2025 by Ann Koplow

I have no idea whether I’ve told this story before in my four thousand, five hundred, and twenty-four days of blogging.

When I was a social work intern working at a psychiatric hospital ward, a psychologist who specialized in group therapy had an interesting response whenever a patient there said “I have no idea.” He’d reply, “You must have some idea” and would wait for the patient to say more, which they always would.

I actually have some idea whether I’ve told that story before — I think I have, but it was a long time ago.

When I write that I have no idea how