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Ode to Movies: The Holiday
Ignoring the unfinished 2022 reflections document on my computer, it’s Christmas Eve, I’m in the middle of a Christmas movie marathon, and I’m trying to pack for my trip. The other night I watched my favorite movie of the season, The Holiday. Let me start by saying: thank you, Nancy Meyers. It’s been a cool minute since I’ve done an Ode to TV Shows piece (or any piece—look, it was a rough year!), and as I watched, I couldn’t get my mind off of all the reasons I love love love this film. I truly think it’s one of the best Christmas movies out there, sorry to Love, Actually. It…
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Crying at a Gas Station in Commerce – Notes on Grief
Once, when I was in college, my tire blew on the freeway in the middle of nowhere. I drove a car older than my sister, so it was bound to happen. I was going to be late for class and miss a presentation, I was crying to the AAA lady trying to tell her where I was. There wasn’t a discernible landmark in sight. I’m a nervous driver anyway, so I couldn’t contain the whimpering. About three years later, a college friend of mine passed away in a car accident. Her celebration of life was in San Diego, so I left early, early, early on a Friday to get down…
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If Carrie Underwood’s discography was a book: As Good As Dead Book Review
Last year, when I was in a big reading slump, I “picked up” a book (for my kindle) that my booksta pals had been hyping up a bit. A few had read it, and they’d given some great feedback on it. I’d been struggling to find something new (meaning: not a re-read) to get me out of my head. The book in question was A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and holy shit, did it get me to crawl out of my slump. As soon as I’d finished the sequel, Good Girl, Bad Blood (which I reviewed here on the blog), I pre-ordered the third installment, As Good As Dead,…
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Ode to TV Shows: psych, from a psych-o for life
One of my favorite TV shows of all time is psych (2006-2014). And I mean of all time. I still rewatch all eight seasons constantly, and I still laugh every time. Do I know how every episode ends by now? Yes. Does it take the fun out of it? No. Do I cringe that I’m still grossly obsessed with a cop show? Yeah, f*ck them. But I’ll be damned if I am not still fully in love with James Roday (Rodriguez) and Dulé Hill (and Maggie Lawson). When COVID had just begun to take over our lives, I had just gotten back from Paris and had to quarantine. To fill…
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Doesn’t have to be Louis V up on Bond Street: A London Post Pt 4
[disclaimer: as I was traveling alone and am a woman, I chose to post this after I returned from England] You know that scene in Avengers: Infinity War (spoiler alert, but if you haven’t seen it yet, idk what you’re doing?) when Thanos gets all the infinity stones, snaps his fingers, and a bunch of people get dusted? And how one of those people is cute ol’ Peter Parker, and when he’s about to disintegrate, he goes “Mr. Stark, I don’t wanna go, I don’t wanna go” and he’s on the verge of tears? Yes, that’s how I feel knowing I’m about to leave London. My knees, however, are very…
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Notes App poetry is my new medium: A London Post Pt 3
[disclaimer: as I was traveling alone and am a woman, I chose to post this after I returned from England] Not me visiting my work offices in England and thinking I can finesse working my new job but over here!? Anotha day, anotha eleven miles. Anotha gander around some museum or other. Anotha bench I’ve read my book club book on. One of my favorite things so far has been taking my book on field trips around the city. I’m in a Harry Styles book club (because duh), and this month, we’re reading Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time by Rob Sheffield. It’s…
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If I were a main character, this is where I’d be: A London Post Pt 2
[disclaimer: as I was traveling alone and am a woman, I chose to post this after I returned from England] I dunno if you know this, but I took this grand trip to England for my birthday. Let me tell you, what a way to ring in twenty-six! One of my pals from school is getting her PhD at Oxford, and she’s basically living my dream. When I planned this trip, I knew I wanted to try and see her, so when she was free this weekend, it felt perfect. Here’s the thing about my birthday: I don’t tell a lot of people about it. I have several close friends…
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Cheerio, mate: I’m in London!
[disclaimer: as I was traveling alone and am a woman, I chose to post this after I returned from England] So if you’ve seen my Instagram stories post-brief-hiatus (or you know me in real life), you’ll know that I’m currently writing this to you from a hotel room in London, England. Even more fun is that I keep forgetting to buy plug adapters, so I’m writing part of this from the floor right outside my bathroom, since that outlet—for whatever mysterious reason—fits US plugs. Sounds like a tomorrow problem when my brain is a bit more screwed on. I’ll start by saying that there are a lot of restrictions in…
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Pan(dem)ic! at the Disco: Covid Summer 2.0 (an update on my headspace)
Well, well, well, would you look at that, LA County. Reimplementing your mask mandate already? Almost like we shouldn’t have opened up our doors so widely so soon. Here we are, pandemic summer part 2. Not sure how long this go-around will last, but I don’t really mind locking down again. I know so many people who, even vaccinated, are still at risk, and I really like staying home with my TV and my streaming accounts. Especially if it’s going to do a little good for other people. It took me quite a bit of time for the magnitude of constant staying home to hit me. Not because I don’t…
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Keys Like Wolverine Claws, Pepper Spray at the Ready
TW: sexual assault, sexual harassment, rape [I’ve gone through a lot of mental back and forth about this post, but my brain can’t stop thinking about it, so here we are.] Greetings from page 124 of Know My Name by Chanel Miller. I’m 5 chapters into this memoir, and I’m not kidding when I say I’ve cried through most of it. Reading not only through Chanel’s experience with the legalities of the trial and her pain from the assault but her every day experiences she (and every woman I know) has with men randomly catcalling or hitting on her. The way she is over it all, the way she screamed…