February 2012
13 posts
When Your Number Isn’t Up
After much neurotic advice-seeking and self-examination, it’s official: I’ve accepted a new job. I was very picky this time around, and actively, consistently looked for a job for over six months. Here are some tips that I picked up along the way…
Adopt Will Smith’s work ethic
At 2:56, you’ll hear Will Smith compare his ridiculous, sickening work ethic to working out: “I’m not...
In A Silent Way
You are not allowed to write about butterflies or grandmothers.
I had a poetry teacher in college who opened up the first day of class with that line. I still keep in touch with him, but a year after my grandmother’s death, I am finally ready to break his rule.
Everyone who ever met her fell in love with her.
The first thing to know about my grandmother, Mary, is that she was absolutely lovely....
November 2011
2 posts
HAPPY ENDING?
There are no happy endings.
Endings are the saddest part,
So just give me a happy middle
And a very happy start.
-Shel Silverstein
September 2011
4 posts
A food inventory from Greece
Greek salad, fruit salad, mixed fruit smoothie, Syrah red wine, fried calamri with french fries, grilled feta with peppers and tomato sauce hot off the grill in tin foil, grilled black sea beam, fried red mullet, steamed zucchini, beetroot salad, steamed kale (or something in the kale family), a liter of house white wine, big jello mold with cherries inside and whipped cream and chocolate sauce on...
What you remember and how you remember it
In Babylon 4,000 years ago, it was accepted practice that for a month after the wedding, the bride’s father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because this calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.
You would have to try very hard to have a bad honeymoon. No matter where you go for...
Hurry up, we're dreaming
The irony of working in social media is that all of your own social media falls to the wayside. But I promise to update this tumblr more often, starting with two long, outdated and self indulgent posts!
Every Night
My new barometer for judging women is by how they approach their wedding. It’s very easy to become consumed by the “big day,” but that doesn’t mean you should be given a hall pass to be a total betch for a year.
That said, there’s a reason all of those screwball wedding movies do so well: it really does hit the fan before a wedding. Take ours, for instance. A low key,...
May 2011
1 post
April 2011
6 posts
Trouble Weighs A Ton
The greatest advantage to waking up early on weekdays is the chance that KTLA will air a commercial-free high speed pursuit. It only happens about once every couple of months, but it’s worth sitting through Cali-centric news programming and busty weather women on the off chance that some outlaw will decide to risk his life for your viewing pleasure.
The outcome of these races usually ends in...
“Maybe…you’ll fall in love with me all over again.”
“Hell,” I said, “I love you enough now. What do you want to do? Ruin me?”
“Yes. I want to ruin you.”
“Good,” I said. “That’s what I want too.”
— Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms (1929)
What better place for a bunch of girly tomboys to get together than Hicksville, a trailer park desert oasis?
January 2011
3 posts
It Don't Worry Me
While hosting book club at my house last month, I noticed that I have adapted both of my parent’s styles of entertaining. For the first half of the evening, I was like my mother: sitting at the edge of the table, eagerly attending to guests, engaging in conversation, and defending the book. For the latter half of the evening, I took on my father’s traits: body turned to the side, legs...
Heart of the Country
After spending two days in New Orleans for New Year’s, here is a catalogue of acquisitions that were sampled by my stomach: Wood fired oyster roast, fried alligator with chili garlic aioli, spicy grilled pork ribs with watermelon pickle, deviled crab, Louisiana pork with cracklins, oyster and bacon sandwich, smoked brisket, potato salad, pineapple upside down cake, icebox lime pie, catdaddy...
December 2010
12 posts
His animals talk like wry, depressive humans. →
Death scenes became her stock in trade. →
Get Real Get Right
The eye doctor told me that if I must stare at a computer screen for 8+ hours a day, I should at least make the effort to strengthen my eyes in the process. Every twenty minutes, she said, try to look out the window for a full two minutes at a far away object. So I followed her diagnosis for exactly six minutes out of my 540-minute day on Wednesday. It felt very strange to stop working in the...
Snow and Taxis
A major life lesson that I have struggled with this year is learning not to take everything so personally. I’m of course talking about other people’s opinions, strangers’ antics, and traffic. The goal involves the somewhat meditative process of reaching an unaffected state. This is related to, but not the same as, not giving a fuck.
Welcome to the party of my dreams. →
Abbreviated Book Reviews
True Grit: Far too many western novels are lacking female narrators.
Just Kids: This has the most key component to a satisfying memoir - details.
Mrs. Bridge: Just as good the second time around, pre-approved for book club.
Abbreviated Movie Reviews
King’s Speech: Nice wallpa-p-p-p-er.
Black Swan: My eyeballs just popped out and turned into black feathers.
127 Hours: Hands over face every third frame.
It will eventually dawn on many middleclass types... →
Age of Adz
The Sound Bath in Yucca Valley is about forty miles outside of Joshua Tree National Park on a dusty, meandering road. You can find the details and background here, but I will tell you this: It feels like someone is taking your brain out, scrubbing it on an old timey wash board, and then placing it back into your skull with a newly adjusted shine. Ultimately, I paid $25 for a subterranean nap.
All Day
Another note on community college: it strips away all of the frivolous benefits of college - boys, parties, music - and leaves you with just the core and basic need to learn. This helps bolster concentration levels, but it lacks the intellectual urgency or curiosity of undergrad studies. My mind was voracious in college and I don’t remember sleeping. I only wanted to read and talk and use...
November 2010
1 post
Make sure to rant and rave sporadically throughout... →
October 2010
9 posts
Now fasten your drool cups and ready your vomit... →
All Day Day Light
Having attended a small, private, liberal arts university, the snob in me did not know what to expect from a community college. I envisioned there to be multiple smoke breaks and punky kids who didn’t ask questions. In reality, there are no smoke breaks and the students are all very engaged in the lessons.
Aside from the professor, I am the only other white person in the room. He has been...
Clay Bodies
A clothing swap occurs when each girl dumps the contents of a bag into a pile in the middle of the room. Then the sorting begins. It’s helpful if the girls know each other beforehand so that they can approximate which items will fit their friends based on body type and personal style.
It’s also useful to do this activity with a group that has likeminded taste, although one could argue that...
Tell It to The Willow
Animal Kingdom is the best movie of the year so far. It definitely surpasses the qualities of my two favorite summer blockbusters — Inception (architecture and dreams), Day and Knight (locations and action) — because of its minimalist approach to story telling and suspense.
The movie centers on an Australian family enveloped in drugs and crime. All of the illegal dealings occur off...
Soft Trees Break The Fall
Milwaukee is not the kind of place you visit unless you have a very good friend to plan the weekend around. In this case, I made the journey for my dear friend Franny. But, unlike Franny’s gap tooth, Milwaukee has no outstanding qualities.
It is just flat. In a way, the flatness is stimulating because it gives you the sense that you could walk forever. All landscape seems to stretch on to infinity...
Re: Halloween - Should I go as Hanoi Jane or Calamity Jane?