a manatee watches the planetee go round......
Ten years ago today, I celebrated an “independence day” of my own. I was a few weeks into my manatee care internship in Bradenton, FL, working with Snooty the manatee and his tankmates, two rescued manatees preparing to be released. That evening, I walked to a waterfront restaurant and dined out alone for the first time; figured out the tip and everything. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but…
These were going to be Christmas wishes, before I heard we aren’t getting a Christmas special this year. My birthday is in a few days, so I may as well send these wishes out into space now. I wish for a return to 13-episode seasons. Enough time for character arcs, plenty of smaller episodic stories among the bigger ones, and quieter moments amid the excitement. I'm tired of the rushed pace of…
You probably know the ones: they feel sort of suedey when they’re brand new, but they don’t stay new for long. I work in a public library, and believe me, these covers are grime magnets. Today I handled several that had accumulated a sticky gray film all over. They felt revolting (and not soft) to touch. I tried scraping some of the gray yuck off one, but that only made it stickier. No matter how…
There's an autism stereotype that just won't die, and it never stops bugging me. It's the idea that the "default" autistic person is a STEM person, while an autistic person in the arts or humanities is atypical, an anomaly. The "STEM autistic, arts neurotypical" dichotomy isn't as entrenched as it was a decade or two ago (and boy do I remember how entrenched it was), but I still see it floating…
Well. I locked my keys in the car. To be fair, it’s a new-to-me car. I used an automatic key for 13 years and I’ve been using an old-fashioned one for only 3 days. I could use this time to write out my thoughts about the state of the world, the state of the country, the state of Manatee. But lately, my mind is alphabet soup. What can I even say about human rights (and the many, many ways they're…
This post is part of a blog title exchange challenge . I swapped titles with Zachary Kai . The questions were devised by Forking Mad . Do you floss your teeth? Yes. Maybe not as often as I should, but I try to floss them several times a week. Tea, coffee, or water? Water. Evian water that's been slightly chilled in the freezer is a delight on hot days. I've tried to like tea, but so far I just...…
Every December since a roundabout was built near the library, my city has put up a giant Christmas tree in the middle of said roundabout. Twice since then, a car has hit the tree. (How? Even if you're not used to roundabouts, there's like a five-foot radius of pavement and grass between you and the tree.) The tree's misfortune has become a running joke. The Christmas tree is surrounded by…
“What fictional character(s) do you find most relatable?” It’s a solid question. How a person engages with media and what characters they see themselves in can tell you a lot about who they are. For example, someone might identify with Twilight Sparkle because they didn't make many friends until adulthood (one reason I loved MLP in my early 20s is that I too was discovering the “magic of…
That line has lived in my head since I thought it up and noticed it's in iambic heptameter. Not because I know how to put it in a poem (I haven't written poetry since I was a teenager, and it was as bad as you might expect), but because songs and stories that romanticize summer are getting pretty hard to relate to. I started typing this post at the library where I work, dripping with sweat because…
Late last month, my debit card declined at the gas station. When I walked out, I saw a luna moth resting on a poster in the window. Boo to being broke, yay to big pretty moths. The bookstore that has been a third space for me for the past few years has temporarily closed. Life feels a little (or maybe a lot) lonelier since then. I'm still waiting —flippers crossed— for them to announce that…