General
“High in a tower she sits by the hour, maintaining her hair…”
I’m halfway through my National Novel Writing Month project and I am pretty miserable about it. Naturally, I share this with you. I read a lot of reconstituted fairy tales and thought it might be fun to do a re-telling of Rapunzel. 32 pages in, I’m realizing that the reason no one ever rewrites the … Continue reading
The Private Life of Helen of Troy and other stories
I just finished another John Erskine book. As always, wonderful. I found my first Erskine at last year’s library sale. The name caught my eye because of my best friend Anais Nin, who had her first big extramarital affair with Erskine. It was $1, so I figured the Nin connection was reason enough to buy … Continue reading
My Halloween tradition
America has its scary Halloween tradition of overeating and general gluttonizing. The Castro has its scary Halloween tradition of stabbies and shooties. And now I, too, have a scary Halloween tradition of being yelled at by a terrifying Weird Sister who is just as creepy but much less coherent than the witches of Macbeth. This … Continue reading
The Mediocre American Novel
National Novel Writing Month begins next week, and I have signed up. The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November, beginning at midnight on November 1 and ending by midnight on November 30. You don’t get anything, except 50,000 words you’ve written; there are almost no guidelines; and if … Continue reading
Bugville
The heat wave seems to be driving more bugs into the house, maybe because I’m leaving more windows open. Just this morning, for example, I noticed a spider crawling around on the floor near my workspace and neatly trapped it under a glass for Gene to deal with when he comes home from work. Next … Continue reading
Older, if no wiser
Even though I’m choosing to be 27 for one more year, rather than turning 28, there are some undeniable signs that I’m getting older. 1. I didn’t even consider eating my leftover birthday cake for breakfast, instead fixing myself some responsible peanut butter toast. 2. I got all het up over a perceived slight and … Continue reading
Things Mindy Kaling has bought that I love
Mindy Kaling (who writes for and plays Kelly on The Office) co-authors a blog called Things I’ve Bought That I Love which I’ve been really enjoying. As the title suggests, this is an unapologetic paean to consumerist pleasures and I have seized it like a life raft as I float about in the non-consumerist sea … Continue reading
The Corrections
I just finished The Corrections, which I picked up for $1 at the booksale per Sean’s endorsement, even though after reading the dust jacket I felt pretty confident the whole thing would just be way more reality than I wanted to deal with and would consequently depress me. Fortunately, no. The multitude of problems encountered … Continue reading
No one keeps a cow for a friend, and other good advice
We are approaching the season of giving, only partly because my birthday is on Wednesday, and this year, THIS year, I am determined to get my shopping done early. But of course no one but me knows in October what they might want for Christmas (and if you’re my dad, you might not know until, … Continue reading
Gene sets up the third television in our eternally lengthening parade of living room televisions, while I make helpful comments in the style of Michael Scott
GENE: Aha! I do have a cord. Wow, it’s really long, too. ME: That’s what she said! GENE: Hm, wrong gender though. ME: That’s what she said! GENE: I can’t believe we can even fit three of these in here. ME: That’s what she said! GENE: Man, do we even need television with you around? … Continue reading