This idea started a few days ago with an offhanded comment as I shared a link on Facebook. My friends, of course, responded in kind with their own quippy remarks. “Nachos for Two… for One, Please,” said one, replied to by another with “Nachos for Four…One Fork, Please.” (And so on, and so on…) The thing is, these…
Read MoreBook review – Horrorstör
There are few pastimes in this world that make me happier than reading scary books or watching scary movies. One of those few happens to be strolling through Ikea. I know it’s probably indicative of some sort of psychosis, but I find Ikea very soothing. The second time I moved to Beijing I lived pretty close to one of…
Read MoreA how-to guide for the hibernation enthusiast
Even though the recent solstice means the days are getting longer, it’s still going to be a while before the days are hospitable. Considering the weather around here seems to be either bitter cold or sopping wet, the most inviting place to me right now is inside of my own home (or more specifically, inside…
Read MoreThe hibernation of the mind
I have two basic states of being – creating and consuming – and I’ve found that they tend to be mutually exclusive. The interpretation of either state is relatively broad, but the main constant is that they remain separate. When I was younger, the transition was seamless. I would write feverishly for fifteen minutes, then…
Read MoreThe weaving of a tale
There is a spider who lives in the window over my bed. Her web is strung like a safety net, woven horizontally between screen and glass so that she’s able to perch herself in the joint of the window frame. At the point in the morning when I open the blinds, the sun is at…
Read MoreThe lost art of the letter
There is something inherently magical about a letter. It’s tactile communication – paper touched by the hand of another, tucked into an envelope that traps their air inside and transports it to you. I find it fascinating, and even slightly romantic, that we still lick envelopes to seal them shut. In a sense, peeling a…
Read MoreThe dawn is a blinking cursor
One day last week, I woke up with a line of verse in my head. It didn’t go anywhere, but it also didn’t go away. For days, any time my mind was at a lull, the line would float back up to the surface. I wrote it down, stared at it, willed it to continue…
Read MoreWishful thinking
I have mentally composed a novel. It’s a very good one, full of rich character development and an imaginative plot. I’ve written down some of it, but only a minute percentage of the whole. I always seem to be making excuses as to why it remains in my head and doesn’t make its way to the…
Read MoreOn qualifying interests
I’m going to start out this post with the sentence that drives some of my friends crazy – I don’t watch Game of Thrones. I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in. I gave the book series a chance before the show was even a glint in HBO’s eye. I read the first one,…
Read MoreLost and found
I’m not just a hoarder of books – I’m a hoarder of words. A very well organized hoarder, but a hoarder nonetheless. I have files and boxes full of papers, all with a certain meaning to me. There are reading packets from college courses I found particularly interesting, quotes written on post-its, notes passed back…
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Positively Natalie 