Meme of 8

I’ve been tagged by Wildguppy to share 8 random facts and habits about myself.
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their 8 things and post these rules.
3. At the end choose 8 people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget [...]

Where do turkeys go?

I am restless these days. Even more restless than my cute darling of a dog who loves to heave pitiful breaths when she is eager to go on a walk or wants to be fed or wants more attention. This is the dog who hops off the couch every few minutes and drives [...]

fleeting thought

Oh, what girl doesn’t have these thoughts.  But I am thinking and feeling, “Oh gawd.  I am fat.  I have gained SO much fat.”  And yet, I cannot exercise and burn off calories, per doctor’s orders.
UGHHHHHH.

Resuming

I don’t know what to write, really…but I feel compelled to put up a post because I feel compelled to purge my thoughts somehow. It has been quite a week, what with my TIA and hospitalization, and visiting friends, trying to re-engage in normal life.
But in summary: I am, to put it succinctly, [...]

a little detail

I really, really, really, really HATE Lovenox shots, which help thin my blood, a precaution against further clots and stroke. After this week’s omninous TIA and my hospital stay, the doctors are taking no more chances with me. I have to take these awful painful shots.
I shriek like a terrified piglet while my [...]

He is quiet no longer

One of my favorite writers and mentor, Junot Diaz, has seemingly broken his writer’s block. First came a piece in Gourmet magazine’s 2006 summer literary supplement that had me so excited I emailed him the equivalent of a big “high five” in the middle of the night.
Now, comes a story in The New Yorker’s [...]

Impressionism to Reality: The Stroke’s Baby

I know I’m a writer, because I impulsively write and write and write–especially when I’m filled with anxiety and uncertainty. Putting my thoughts down into words gives me great comfort. It must strike a lot of people as odd, to write things down before acting upon them, but that’s what I do, even [...]

must-read

MFA grads and non-grads alike:
Read this Letter to an MFA over at MJ Rose’s Buzz, Balls, and Hype by Joshua Henkin, which addresses shortcomings in the way writers are educated in MFA programs…In this particular post, Henkin addresses the following problem of students who fail to tell a story, who write pieces that could be [...]

Monet’s world

The weirdest thing is happening to my eyesight–I’m becoming nearsighted on fast forward.
Two days ago, my RIGHT eye saw things in a blurry sheen. Was it my contact lens? I thought so–and yet, I was on a trip where I was fully distracted and unable to investigate this weird turn in my sight. [...]

weirdness explained

We’re home–landed at Oakland airport but on a peculiarly different runway. “Aren’t we landing on FedEx’s runway?” I asked my husband, nudging him to look out the window.
Indeed, we were landing on a runway I have never seen used by passenger airlines, the airplane hangars right by us, the main road to the airport [...]

frying an egg

Ahem. So maybe this isn’t a food blog but what the heck. Yesterday, I mentioned that it felt hot enough in Vegas to fry an egg on the sidewalk–and so today, I tried.
I cracked an egg open on some rocks (hey, the sidewalk is well travelled and I didn’t want “environmental interference”). [...]

Hello Hot Desert

Yes. Just two days ago, I was in New York. Yesterday I was at home. Today, I am in Vegas!
Just as I hold my breath for a second when I see the sportscar she was driving when she died, I find myself pausing here on the Vegas Strip–particularly when we pass by [...]