When you’re stuck on a plane for untold numbers of hours after a long vacation, what is your mind-numbing game of choice? Is it: or… or… or… I have never played sudoku except on planes, and then only the ones in the in-flight magazines. But yesterday, thanks to a gift from an in-law, I played [...]
Archive for the ‘Mind & Brain’ category
Not to be reproduced: New Year’s open thread
Rene Magritte, La Reproduction Interdit / Not to be Reproduced (1937) On January 1, 2011, I was lucky enough to wake up in the home of dear friends, with whom I had joyfully celebrated the night before (at a party complete with bicoastal buddies, disco dancing, and a “gorgeous gateau”). As we eased into the [...]
Mama’s come to jesus
I was waiting in line at Walmart. I had one tube of my favorite Garnier curl sculpting cream gel on sale for $2.00 off. Three families with full shopping carts were ahead of me. They must have been buying their entire Christmas: heaps of toys, clothes, electronics, kids running around, women digging in cavernous satchels [...]
You are getting verrrrry sleeeeeeepy
Has anyone here been hypnotized? Or undergone a past-life regression? I’ve been considering doing either or both for the past few years, but can’t get past the notion that I’d be paying for some scam artist to tell me random things, some of which may or may not press emotional buttons. I’m more convinced that [...]
Crash, Rinse, Repeat
The fence, graffiti, ramps and staircases remind me vaguely of a Sesame Street set. I realize this is not the look they were going for, but the urban edge feels constructed, assembled from pieces of West Side Story and Romper Room. I feel out of place. It is not my age, there are plenty of [...]
Tuesday mishmash: Roshambo edition
1. So, you think you can play rock-scissors-paper with the best of them, eh? You think you have it wired, so you get the exact piece of sushi you want every time? Hm? And does anyone but the West Coast contingent even engage in that particular sushi-restaurant ritual? You may think that roshambo (rochambeau? Experts [...]
How to Try
I am missing the arrogance of my stupid youth. When did I get so embarrassed of making a fool of myself? Why wasn’t I ashamed of myself then? The lack of shame usually works for my college students, in that they dare to say and do all kinds of productive things in my classes. It [...]
Zombie
I just woke up after 10 hours of solid sleep. I passed out while reading with all the lights on and my contacts in. I dragged myself out of bed just to start working, at 5am, and will be working until I fall asleep again tonight. I am barely alive. Yes, it’s the summer session. [...]
Breathing the World Around Us
About a week ago my mother was hospitalized after a rare reaction to the antibiotics she was given for pneumonia which caused her lungs to seize and interrupted her breathing. She was shopping with a friend of hers when she collapsed and had to be rushed to the hospital. Thankfully she’s making a full recovery [...]
