Miscellaneous Tag

It’s easy to always put the blame on your end, to think and assume that every fiasco is because of your doing, to just apologize even when it’s beyond your control. You have grown so attached to the notion that saying sorry will always make up for things, will always restore them back to how they are. I regret to break this to you but no, ‘sorry’ isn’t a magic word you can just blurt out to get things working how they used to be. You have to realize thatRead More

  Record 25: Malibu, Saturday, July 5th, 2014. Day. in the coffee bean today. it’s the afternoon. i don’t feel well. there’s a crumbling that starts in my forehead. it spreads to the back of my skull, and charges down my spine like lightning. i don’t want to lose again. last game was a wrecked train. 42-6. and it was cuz of me. coach said. i remember this and feel upset. today is another day. i drink my venti iced white mocha latte and do my stats homework that iRead More

Phoenix Skylark needs no introduction. As the world’s foremost non-author, he’s made headlines since his first foray into the literary community some 5 years ago. Now, it’s hard to imagine a world without him. Our News Feeds are so cluttered with articles from “10 Reasons Traveling is Right for Your Relationship and You Won’t Believe What I Say” to the “Puppy That Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity” to the tides of BuzzFeed quizzes that the barrage sometimes threatens to overwhelm us. Luckily, pioneers like Skylark have stepped forward andRead More

If you’ve got a peen, you’ve probably sent one. If you’re a human being, you’ve probably received one. From the data I gathered, most dick pics are unsolicited. I can only assume the outcome senders are hoping for, but I’ve got a gut feeling the desired effect does not often become reality.   What the sender expects: It has been made pretty clear that the hopes of  a dick pic sender are to turn on the recipient and hopefully receive a photo in exchange. Three out of ten people who shared their experiences haveRead More

Record 24: Death Valley, Saturday, July 5th, 2014. Day. John Shane sits in a cowboy-cool diner in Death Valley. The sun hangs low in the sky. He knows this, because he can see the sky outside the window. The window has smudges on it. And like a rush, he remembers: this is a dream. This never happened. Nothing is real, except smudged windows and cowboy diners. “Why am I here?” John thought, in his head, where thoughts the coffee shop, the wooden booths and sawdust floor. Slow spinning ceiling fansRead More

Thank you for honoring your oath to protect and serve, and continuing to put on the uniform that sadly has made you a target. Thank you for walking the thin line between life and death to keep our streets, towns, and cities safe. Thank you for doing right by even those who have done you wrong. Thank you for risking your lives to protect ours, and for suffering inconveniences to defend civil liberties. More importantly, thank you for risking your lives for those who misjudge you and villainize you. ThankRead More

I am obsessed with order, symmetry, perfection. I hate gray areas, in-betweens, grounds of ambiguity. Last year, I strove for an all-or-nothing “balance” that I thought would regulate and organize my life. However, what I’ve realized is that balance is not about “extremes” leveling each other out. It is not always about saying a hard yes or a hard no. It isn’t about making a definite decision. Rather, a true balance is about finding the middle ground that I have hated so much. Last year, in an effort to maintain aRead More

I am the biggest sucker for sunsets, and Los Angeles particularly seemed to know that. My first time there was enough to have me stumbling over, in love. The term “takes my breath away” has always been a cheesy one. Walking into the sunset is clichéd. But that was exactly what LA was – sheer beauty – and no other way to describe it. LA punched me, slapped me – enamoured, enthralled me. I gazed with glassy eyes over sunsets brighter, bloodier than any I had ever seen. I stumbledRead More

There’s something about engaging in a (slightly) revolting activity in the presence of an attractive individual that is not preferable. By presence, I specifically mean sitting one inch away from a nice-looking Canadian man on an airplane, and by revolting I mean unwrapping a half-devoured, room-temperature burrito in your lap from a mock “Chipotle” in the Dallas airport and spilling black beans on your shared armrest. Excuse me, sir, care for a luke-warm lentil?  I had four more hours of traveling next to my burrito and this Canadian man andRead More

  Record 23: San Diego. Friday, July 5th, 2013. Day. There was a jacuzzi at the bed and breakfast that no one used. It sat in its faux-plastic glory beneath a stained red awning, shriveled and crusted from rainfall and neglect. The water was the coolest blue you could imagine. Like 5 star hotel swimming pools. You could see to the bottom without debris clouding your vision, or obstructing your view in any way. That’s what Maddie thought. That’s what Maddie told Cool Josh the night before the wedding, inRead More

Dear Mommy,   I’m sorry I don’t write more often, but it’s difficult to put a pen to paper or tap the keys on my laptop at times when I think of you. It’s almost Christmas and that was always your favorite holiday. You decorated the house the day after Halloween before disregarding Thanksgiving went mainstream. You were always ahead of the trends. This will be the third Christmas without you, but the first one that I’ll say out loud, “Mommy’s not coming back.”   I thought about you today.Read More

November and December are more than simple holiday months. This is the time in which the cinematic heavy-hitters step up to the plate. The 2014 movie scene got off to a relatively crappy start, but here are some well-done, indie-ish films that are worth checking out:   Birdman Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu Stars: Michael Keaton, Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton This movie just takes us on a whirlwind adventure. There is literally never a dull moment in this film. I am glad to see Keaton up and at ’em throughout this movie, andRead More

Lunch Break   Blah Blah Blah Change. I notice some loose conversation going on near me. I look up from my tuna salad sandwich that I brought with me for my short lunch break to a harsh realization – it’s almost 2015. This is around the time people start to reflect on the year that they have just survived. It’s around the time where people begin to point out the failures of the past twelve months, usually while cradling a bottle of vodka and sobbing to the music of MarvinRead More

Dear Shitty Parents, I know this is not a polite way to start off a letter, but who the fuck do you think you are?  There is not enough coffee in the world to protect me from your OC superiority complex.  I know I smile a lot.  And yes, I’m pretty damn good at making the Children’s Department look like Disneyland.  However, I did not think it was endearing that you referred to me as a “super nanny.”  I am a stressed out twenty-something trying to make some money whileRead More

Remember when you placed second in that declamation contest back in sixth grade? That supporting role you played during a school event? Or that masterpiece you worked hard day and night for but wasn’t published? You know you won’t let yourself forget all those so-called mediocrities, so you just sulk in your nook and cringe your way through the day trying to convince yourself you’ll never be good enough for anything, for anyone. You get so shell-shocked with all that has been going inside your brain, thinking about every possibleRead More