As mentioned, we are watching our budget in preparation for a project. A home renovation project. Earlier this year, we bought a place that needs work. A lot of work. A huge, expensive amount of work. We have put a lot of work (read: cash, read: every cent we have plus some) into it already,…
Sometimes, I find myself thinking crazy thoughts, like: “Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe there’s not as much gender discrimination as I think there is.” I’ll think: “Do I need to be as vigilant about feminism as I am?” I question it, you know. I don’t want to be this vigilant. I don’t want to be a…
It’s none of my business, it’s really none of my business… But whenever I get wind of other people’s financial problems, I get anxious. Say someone without retirement savings goes on an all-inclusive Cuban vacation: I’ll hear about it, my chest tightens, my heart speeds up, and I need to literally bite my lip until…
You know how I feel about luck. I believe in it; I see it. Of course, I believe in hard work too… But I really believe in luck. I worked somewhere where a quote was pinned to the wall: “Luck Favors the Prepared.” It was attributed to Eisenhower, but it’s actually a variation on a Louis…
The other day, I was talking to a couple of people about the second season of Narcos, which I really enjoyed. “Oh man”, this guy said. “What a personal brand Pablo Escobar had!” I thought the observation was curious – I mean, who watched Narcos and thought: “personal brand”? But the guy was a marketing-type,…
When I started dating Z, one of the things I liked best was how little he hedged. At first, it took me aback: if he didn’t like someone, he’d simply say: “I don’t like that guy.” or: “He’s a jerk.” So straightforward! There was no qualifying, no dancing around: “Well, you know, he’s probably a…
Years ago – more than 10 years ago – in university, I had a frenemy. True story. Let’s call her Amy. We’d met our first week on campus, and we were from the same town and had some things in common. We got along. I thought she was cool, and that we had fun together. Sure,…
Last week, I took on a new task, professionally. I’m usually a confident person, work-wise. I can ask for things, I can say “no” and be firm. But with this new task, I was a little out-of-my-depth. Without even realizing it, I’d been downplaying it – thinking of it as a trivial thing. To do…
The other day, Z caught me watching videos of Simone Biles. What an incredible athlete! We talked a little about what it would be like to do that, to move like that – those high, compact flips. What would it feel like? What does she see? Then I wondered if we were too tall. For a…
Not too long ago, a friend was kvetching about a woman she knew. This woman had low standards: she’d volunteer to do something, like bake cupcakes for a bake sale or do decorations for some party, and would do a terrible job. My friend, who has a serious perfectionistic streak (as do most of my…
