Gay Easter Parade in New Orleans, Louisiana
On miracles. I caught a fistful of beads—with my left hand, no less—before they flew past and hit someone else in the face. French Quarter Journal/Melanie...
Getting Caught in the Rain
On being prepared. Shit, I thought, looking at the blue-grey clouds rolling in. Left my umbrella at home. Rain Landscape, Wassily Kandinsky/Wikimedia Commons...
Daylight Saving Time
On the future. Because of the time change, the sun was blasting right in my face. Going west on the Pike, riding the bus home from work. On top of that, one...
The Weather in Other Places
On user experience. I don't know why Apple won't let me have the one thing I want: to know the weather in every place I've ever been. It's windy in Edinburgh...
120 Film
On waiting and seeing. I accidentally put a roll of black-and-white 120 film through the scanner at the airport. Do you think it will still come out? I asked...
Accidentally Stealing $8 Worth of Pizza
On misunderstandings I would like to formally apologize to the new-ish pizza place in Harvard Square, which my friend S. and I visited for the first time the...
Guy on the Bus Bringing Home Flowers on Valentine's Day
On labors of love. Roses were always so much work. They shipped in a long, skinny box—all the flowers did, and it was my job to unpack them at my part-time...
Liquid Nitrogen
For medicinal purposes It's never good when someone says, This might hurt. In fact, it's usually a good indicator that whatever it is and whoever is saying...
The Stairs Outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art
On souvenirs I kept getting annoyed at the people in front of us. Every couple of steps, they would stop to turn for a photo that someone below was ready to...
Dance Dance Revolution
On High Scores I kept missing the arrows, which I blamed on the shoes I was wearing—my big, hideous Sorel snow boots that, for a weekend in January in...
Eating Alone at Yume Ga Arukara
On getting it perfect. Is this technically a restaurant review? The other night, after getting a haircut, but before getting home, I needed dinner. The...
Hanging Out with a Cat at the End of His Life
Hanging Out with a Cat at the End of His Life On the in between. By the time we arrived, just before Christmas, Moose’s interest in food had already waned....
2023 in Enthusiasms
If my long-neglected embroidery-in-progress is any indication, it is not always easy to keep up with a creative project. But in 2023, I have come here...
$12 Milk Frother from Williams Sonoma
The mega-yacht owners of the world would have you believe that luxury is a rarity reserved only for those who can afford it, but I am here to tell you that...
Waking Up From a Nap To Find out Henry Kissinger Died
When I was in Hanoi, I went to the Vietnam Military History Museum, where, for the first time, I encountered what was true: the United States had lost. I...
Walking Through a Little Pile of Leaves
On the days I work from home, I do my little stomp around the neighborhood to maintain a sense of well-being. caption... Just the other morning, I passed a...
MBTA Commuter Rail to Providence
I thought the train left at 7:00 a.m., so I set my alarm for 5:00 and, somehow, was still asleep at 5:48 when the cats woke me up instead. Twenty minutes and...
Halloween
I think I have dressed up as something for a solid 97% of Halloweens, minus the few lost years between the ages of 11–14 or so, when everything else about...
Flipping the Record Over
I gotta say, the amount of terrible things that happen in and in the name of the United States makes this project feel silly sometimes. But, I think, for me,...
Popping Your Ears
No one really tells you how many indignities you’ll suffer on account of having a body. These are just things you learn, living in the body you have. I hate...
