When I announced to a group of friends my plan to move to a small university town in Germany in the midst of winter 2011, my Swiss friend gravely informed me “German winters are gray and dark and terrible.” Clearly she was skeptical my years on the sunny central coast of California, and hot, hot … Read More →
Since junior high I’ve had a fear of attic spaces. I blame this all on Virginia Andrews, whom many of you will recognise as the author of the supremely terrifying and twisted Flowers in the Attic (shout out to Eve, also still haunted by this book). Given the number of horror movies centering around scary … Read More →
It’s only Wednesday, and yet some movie I saw three years ago has popped into my head three times this week. Is that an omen? Is it three times lucky? Is someone giving birth? At first it was a positive remembrance, a frivolous daydream of how lovely it would be to have my own little … Read More →
I don’t want to blow your mind. But, I am a Super Taster. For real. You may have read training your palate is as simple as practicing, and sure you can develop your taste perception to a certain extent. The reality is though, not everyone can be the Superman of Sampling. Before you go getting … Read More →
On 17 November, 2013 Batman Bananaboat (my baby brother) turned 30 1/2. And he ran his first 15km. In the oldest city in the Netherlands. In butt freezing temperatures. I’m taking 92% of the credit for this stroke of brilliance. Why? Rewind 7 months. I am not perfect at remembering birthdays, but when I do, … Read More →
The ‘ol blog has been a dry gully these past few months. You may have thought it was abandoned. Yet, the river of posts has flowed freely in my head, even if the overflow has not spilled out onto the keyboard, onto the screen, for your weary eyes to read when you should be writing … Read More →
I’ve often felt like summer flows by like a quiet river ending in a raucous waterfall of jubilant activity that Fall carries in with the wind. If you try to brace yourself properly (i.e. plan, prepare and schedule), you miss the moments to reflect and appreciate the scenery. Nonetheless, the notion we were nearing the … Read More →
If you’re browsing around Pinterest, it is statistically impossible not to see at least one stellar DIY lamp redo. I’ve often wondered where everyone finds all these diamond in the rough fixtures in need of a brilliant vision and a little spraylack. Countless hours have I spent scouring Flohmarkts and Vintage Shops for a light of … Read More →
Linguists are having a helluva week. A new language was discovered in a remote village in Australia and Duden Dictionary updated the sophisticated German’s official vocabulary to include Shitstorm. The latter had me wondering about the correct article for this noun, which it turns out is “der.” For correct usage of this new word auf … Read More →
Blog. The word makes me simultaneously cringe and giggle. In 1999 when that Peterme guy came up with this spectacular addition to our vernacular, there were only a few thousand web logs in existence. Today there are approximately 160 bajillion blogs in the whole webiverse. There are no less than 6 million sites with top … Read More →