The canonical answer. For the rest of us, it is a bit more complex. I worried about this question almost constantly when I was a child. Should I strive for intellectual grandeur? Should I try to get political or physical power over others? Should I find someone who loves me in return, or just try [...]
Archive for the ‘Life’ category
Yea or Nay?
1. Fingertoe shoes: Orthopedically sensational invention that cool people wear? Or fashion disaster? 2. X-Men: Moving allegory for discrimination in our nation’s history? Or goofy comic-book franchise? 3. Anthony Weiner: Resign? Or stay? 4. Lance Armstrong: Doper? Or unfairly maligned champion? 5. Edible gift for Father’s Day? Or… a tie?:
Turkey seems to turn out poorly
This site, the OECD’s “Better Life Initiative,” lets you rank how important different components of the good life are to you, and then it ranks the OECD countries according to your weighting of the various factors. Apparently I should live in Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, or Canada. I haven’t traveled abroad so much that it’s [...]
The Reverse Magoo
I’m not sure why, but for the past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about an incident that occurred nearly 28 years ago, the night of my high school senior prom. It’s the night I did some stupid things and one really reckless thing. It’s the night that someone was killed. The reckless thing [...]
2,841 and counting
I was straightening clutter in my front room the other day when, at the fluke edge of my eye, I saw a piece of cardboard wedged behind a cabinet. The color of the paper seemed vaguely familiar but I couldn’t quite determine what it was. Frustrated from trying to flatten my hand behind the back [...]
It’s time to hate on NYC!
Last fall, when everyone was posting this (admittedly horribly true) Onion article, I was pretty irritated about it. I still live here, damn it. And it happened to come at a time when it seemed like everyone I know was leaving me to go do something else with their lives. (Looking at you, Dave.) Just [...]
Pausing to reflect, and a time for getting on with it
Student life here at VPULS is a peculiar mix of slow and fast. Slow is when you have to read an 80-page law review article for one class meeting (and that’s setting aside the two other articles the professor said weren’t as essential). Fast is when you have to read it all by 10 a.m. [...]
Favorite things
The flu with a subsequent hacking cough. An endless job transition. Another day of 39 degree Spring. Summer clothes that are now strangely ill fitting after a long winter of eating chocolate and hibernating. Other irritating events that cannot be posted without libel. And when in the hell is Easter? Ever had one of those [...]
Quelque chose de scintillant est dans votre avenir.
It hadn’t occurred to me beforehand that when you go out for Chinese food in Montreal, your fortune cookie will be in French. But there it was (and still is, tucked inside my wallet from just a few nights ago): “Something sparkly is in your future.” Sparkly. It’s the word I use to describe a [...]
Knitting a muffler
I should have cleaned my bathroom this week. I should have answered work email, gone to the gym, attended a choral boosters meeting at the high school, brought my dog to get her nails trimmed or finished the last of my thank you notes from Christmas. Instead I spent most of my limited free time [...]
