A Renaissance of Vegetables

Sometimes I still dream about the art history class I took in my first year of college. It was at 8 a.m., so I rarely went to it. I don't remember much about it except that there were a lot of assignments due all the time. I don't remember doing any of them, or turning any of them in, or taking any exams whatsoever.
Somehow I made it through the class without incident, so I must have done what I needed to do. But I always fail the class in my dream. I think it's because the only feelings I ever had about it were anxiety at missing class all the time. I guess 18-year-old me didn't realize I could stop that feeling by just going to class.
In my defense, waking up early was hard back then. I couldn't even reliably get up on time to go to the Pizza Hut buffet for lunch. I didn't think I'd still be suffering the consequences a full 18 years later, though.
Poll: Would you rather have this sign in your yard, or let dogs pee there?

A local theater did a showing of Donnie Darko last weekend. My husband and I decided to check it out. I had seen it before (long ago), but I couldn't remember much about it. I know it's a cult classic, but it was insufferable for me on this go-around. We're not doing a Furby rating system around here anymore, but if we were: this movie would emphatically not get a Furby from me.

My BFF is from Romania, where lovage is used a lot in cooking. She was appalled when I told her I'd never cooked with (or eaten) it. So she sent me some, and a recipe for a Romanian vegetable soup (basically this). Was delicious, I recommend it.

The topic of AI has been springing up more in my workplace. My coworkers are writers, editors, graphic designers, and generally creative people whose livelihoods rely on this line of work being valued. We're all against the use of generative AI to do our work, not only because of the obvious loss in quality but because it represents a devaluation of our skills.
At the same time, if using AI is what keeps the company competitive in a tough market... Our livelihoods also rely on that.
I'm not drawing any conclusions on AI at this time. I'm not in support of it and will continue to speak against it at work, but I'm also not as bothered by it as many people I've encountered. It seems inevitable, so it feels pointless to dwell on it. We can impotently rage against it, or we can try to figure out ways to mitigate the negative impact.
What are those ways? I don't know. For me, I will simply not use it. I will also avoid things created with it. I'm open to other ideas as well.

Do you ever just get dissatisfied with the foods available? Often when I grocery shop I wander around the produce section with the desperate hope that they've invented a new type of vegetable overnight. They still haven't, but I am waiting.