Today was my day! And I blew it! It’s not too late, right? Last night I had one of those “if we’ve only got a couple of hours to sleep, let’s make it count” dreams. I don’t know if I can fully explain it because it was so awful I woke up crying and couldn’t […]
Archive for the ‘Mind & Brain’ category
Rock star from Mars
About 15 years ago, I got a call very late one night from a college friend. She was in graduate school at a VPU, living with her husband in a little apartment off campus. She was in the second year of a 2-year program, getting her master’s in public policy, and she was one of […]
Getting to sleep
I’ve been having trouble going to sleep for the past month, in part because it’s been that long that I’ve been waiting for a potentially life-changing phone call that, with every passing day, becomes less likely to change my life, and more likely to result in me doing precisely the same thing for another year, […]
Tuesday videos: What’s this Internet thing?
For your viewing pleasure today: A 1994 clip of the hosts of the Today Show, completely flummoxed upon encountering an email address. Please note especially Katie Couric’s classic hairdo and Bryant Gumbel’s infuriating arrogance. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nTPX4JW_Ts[/youtube] A 1978 clip of Phil Donahue, that silver lion, interviewing a puckish Ayn Rand. Be sure to watch long enough […]
What’s yer game?
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 […]
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 […]
