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October 2014

Back when I was attending Brandeis University in the mid-90’s (cue age-related shriek) I would occasionally walk from Porter Square to Harvard Square. Though they are but one T-stop apart, the walk was of decent length, and perfect for a bit of mind-clearing and contemplation. At that time, there wasn’t much more than a few stores scattered rather far between one another, but since then a number have moved into the space. I walked this stretch the last time I was in town, and stopped at the space seen in these photos.

As can be gleaned, it was a colorfully eclectic collection of objects from around the world – charming bits of wreckage that, taken together, formed an overwhelming sensation of sensory overload in the best possible manner.

Sometimes more is more.

Crepe paper flowers always make me smile.

Cambridge certainly knows how to make a colorful impression.

Today my friends Chris and Darcey are celebrating their wedding. I don’t have all that much wisdom as a married man, but I have a few ideas that might help in their small quiet way (particularly for someone like Chris, who somehow manages to be tardy all the time.)

1. Don’t be late.

2. You may not mean it, but you’re going to have to say ‘I’m sorry’ at some point.

3. There are no right answers to the question, “How do I look?” Sorry. (See above.)

4. When all else fails, it is never wrong to say, “I love you” – and then do it. 

5. Don’t be fucking late.

When I was a kid, the only time I got into trouble at school was for laughing. There would be times when I was laughing so hard my gut ached and tears were streaming down my face. Usually it happened at the most inopportune mounts: quiet reading, moments of silence, or any other serious time when laughter was frowned upon (church was the worst.) Sometimes it would be laughter that built on itself, and the original trigger wasn’t even all that funny. My friend Ann was the best at bringing that out in me, and to this day I can think of a few moments and still fall into deep troves of laughter just at the memory of them.

These days, those bouts of laughter are fewer and farther between, but they still happen, like when I watched this clip of Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. It doesn’t matter what’s so funny, and by the end of it I defy you not to crack a smile or crack entirely up. I had to pause and leave the room because my stomach was hurting so much from laughing so hard.

There’s something so intensely satisfying about a hearty spell of laughter. It changes the world.

She’s crass, vulgar, messy, and downright ornery. She adds tequila to strawberry shortcake and seasons her chicken wings in the kitchen sink. She turns ‘paprika’ into a four-syllable word. She is Auntie Fee, and I absolutely adore her. As the living anti-thesis of Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey, she drops f-bombs right and left, while cussing out her put-upon camera-man if he misses a beat. I’m not sure how I came upon her series of videos, but whenever I need a quick pick-me-up, I check out a new one and laugh like an idiot at her cooking lessons. (Warning: language is NSFW, but most of this blog is NSFW.)

(Skip to 2:14 for the pap-a-rika meltdown!)

I love her spirit, and her candor, as well as her penchant for being such a potty mouth. There’s an exuberance to her cooking style that makes up for its lack of precision (or wisdom, given the fact that she seems to prefer frying above all other forms of cooking). This sense of living for the moment, and living kind of recklessly, has always fascinated me. Coming from a strict and regimented set of parents, where this sort of behavior in the kitchen would have been unthinkable, I find her to be a breath of fresh air.  She’s appeared on Jimmy Kimmel because she’s hilarious, but it’s her homemade videos that show off her own brand of charm.