A LIST OF THINGS MY FAMILY SAYS SCARED ME AS A CHILD

1. E.T.
2. The Bert and Ernie segment in which mummies come back to life but only Ernie can tell
3. Fireworks
4. Trains
5. Balloons
6. Chuck-E-Cheese
7. An audiotape of "Humpty-Dumpty"

PARENTS

(via Hark! A Vagrant)

Everyone knew that the restaurant at Haji Ali, like every other illegal nightspot in town that faked a close, would reopen in less than half an hour. Everyone knew about the bribes that were paid and taken. Everyone knew about the warning phone calls. Everyone profited, and everyone was well pleased. The worst thing about corruption as a system of governance, Didier once said, is that it works so well.

--Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram

Her mother, Elizabeth Jayatilleke, a retired biochemist, said, “Traditionally, in Sri Lanka, girls do not date.”

--Elaine Louie, Arundathi Jayailleke and Michael Gelfand


In middle school I found the Vows section of the New York Times to be really charming and romantic, now it just drives me crazy.

Since I don't talk to a lot of people from high school anymore, when I go home I really go home. This state of affairs used to make me sad, but then I grew up. Did I really used to think that laying on the couch, watching basketball, eating rice and curry, drinking wine, hanging out with my parents, reading, and cuddling with cats was boring? Yeesh.

And oh man--quite the March Madness this year. People are always really confused when they find out how obsessed I am with college basketball ("Didn't you watch a football game for the first time in 2008...on TV? Aren't you the person who has never seen a pro basketball game? You like a sport?!") but March Madness always gets me going. Long live the underdog--unless the underdog is playing OSU, MSU, Duke, or Xavier.

When I was a small child, acting snotty and picky (as small children are wont to do) and unwilling to eat the dishes my mommy placed in front of me, she would often let me indulge in just this: a bowl of buttered jasmine rice with lime pickle. I've eaten it a lot the past week. It's cheap and reminds me of East Lansing, Michigan--therefore it is the perfect meal.

LOVELOVE

My daddy is on the phone with his former principal, the one who, when he found out that my dad had dropped out of school because he didn't have the money to buy even a bus pass, struck a deal with my dad: I buy your bus passes and open an account for you in the cafeteria, you pass your A-levels on your first try and go to college. No problem. My daddy is ending every sentence with "Sir" and learning that his former principal recently had a heart attack and is waiting to get a quadruple bypass done in the spring--a surgery that costs thousands of dollars. My daddy is sending him money to help cover the cost because sending money is how you express your love and gratitude when those you love and are grateful for live on the other side of the planet.

NO GIRLS ALLOWED

Like mother, like daughter (forever the only girl in the room).


Also, facial hair.
Also, chest hair.

FAVE

They had a self-righteousness common to many Indian women of the English-speaking upper-educated, went out to mimosa brunches, ate their Dadi's roti with adept fingers, donned a sari or smacked on elastic shorts for aerobics, could say "Namaste, Kusum Auntie, aayiye, baethiye, khayie!" as easily as "Shit!" They took to short hair quickly, were eager for Western-style romance, and happy for a traditional ceremony with lots of jewelry...They considered themselves to be uniquely positioned to lecture everyone on a variety of topics: accounting professors on accounting, Vermonters on the fall foliage, Indians on America, Americans on India, Indians on India, Americans on America. They were poised; they were impressive; in the United States, where luckily it was still assumed that Indian women were downtrodden, they were lauded as extraordinary--which had the unfortunate result of making them even more of what they already were.

--Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss

IN AN EMAIL TO ME, MY MOM, AND MY SISTER

Got four wallet sized pictures of my internal gut. I saved one for each of you to carry in your wallet.

Love,
dad

A BIG BIG BIG HEARTBEAT

Yeah, I don't really know anything about anything but that is pretty okay because I don't think I've ever really known anything about anything, and everything has worked out pretty well so far. I worry that my parents don't know how crazy I am about them, so if I die and they are sad someone please show them this. I worry about trash islands twice the size of Texas and men standing on hills in Kazakhstan, smoking cigarettes. I worry that you find me boring.

I think with a lot of daughters it's impossible to see your mother cry without becoming overwhelmed with sadness yourself or maybe crying yourself. Because even during periods when you're not getting along with your mother, there's this kind of connection, there's this emotional connection I think a lot of us have felt where it's just...if your mother's crying you can't...you are too. It's like, it's impossible not to.

--Terry Gross in an interview with Ruth Reichel

This is where I worked:






This is how we ate:






This is how they live:










This is Shane's first trip to the ocean:




And his first time feeling unsure about a carnival ride:

WELCOME TO THE INTERNET PT. 2

Trying to Give Tim Visual Proof of My Postcard Happiness (feat. Shane)

WELCOME TO THE INTERNET

We ate dinner outside where the only light came from a motion-sensitive lamp near the driveway. Shane had been entertaining us with song and dance for over an hour, so we decided to kill two birds (the lamp that constantly shut off and the ever-moving child) with one stone and sent Shane to the driveway where he faced the wall and danced hard enough to keep the entire backyard lit.

TODAY > YESTERDAY

How many times in life can we make decisions that are important but will not hurt anyone? Are we obligated--maybe we are--to say yes to any choice when no one will be hurt? We use the word hurt when talking about things like this because when these things go wrong it can feel as if you were hit in the sternum by a huge animal that's run for miles just to strike you.

--Dave Eggers, The Only Meaning of the Oil-Wet Water

I'VE BEEN HAVING GOOD DAYS

This morning was incredibly beautiful, making my walk more pleasant than usual. The barista (babe alert) who I've been chattin' up for a few days got my phone number because we're both going to be at the Dan Deacon + Deerhunter + No Age pool party this weekend. She named me Sam Darling in her phone...gah. Massive girlcrush.

At work I actually felt like working for once, which was wonderful until Katie and I decided to ditch for sushi. Afterward, we just sort of lounged around, watching last night's Daily Show (So You Think You Can Douche = hilarious), drinking some delicious anonymous root beer that some guy in the office was passing around, and eating cake courtesy of Kirk turning nineteen.

Then my parents showed up with a bottle of cognac they'd brought for me from France. And now we're going to eat, drink, and be merry.