Category: Thoughts
-
Kneeling to kiss the ground
My creative energy shifts with the seasons. The past few months I’ve been frustrated that I can’t slow down enough or find the patience to finish anything, whether it be writing, painting, or other random projects. In my darker moments I feel as though I’ve lost my creative energy entirely. But the spring season has…
-
Small Kindnesses
I’m reading through old posts I started drafting but never finished. Some of them contain only titles and subtitles; thoughts I wanted to come back to but never did. (I’m briefly disturbed by one post I apparently started writing on the eve of my 28th birthday, as I’m now 30 and time is a scary…
-
Reflections on Love After Five Years and Four Months of Marriage
-
Leaving room for wonder
After weeks of waking up to dense San Francisco fog, this morning’s sunshine is … hitting different. I go for a short walk before my 8am meeting to bask in the delicious morning light (and stop to take the above photos). I am in such a good mood that I spend $4.12 at the cute…
-
“Why do I have so many thoughts, they are driving me crazy.”
The latest in my series of “Little Things.” 1. I’m going to start this list with a big little thing (both physically and metaphorically) … WHALES! The most success I’ve had seeing whales was two years ago off the coast of Mendocino, and since then I’ve tried multiple times in various places but to no…
-
thoughts & pictures from my morning commute
-
Working Forwards
Yesterday I received an email reminder from my company that it was “time for Quarterly Check-Ins with your manager.” I let out an audible groan, despite being the only person in my house. Time to get asked, yet again, what my career goals are! (Spoiler alert for my manager: I don’t freaking know!!!!! I don’t…
-
insignificant moments / dipping into the ~archives~
“Life is a collection of moments.”– Someone’s Instagram caption, probably, paired with a picture of the back of their head as they look out onto a teal blue sea. Or, a message embroidered on a pillow in a suburban mom’s house that is being meme’d by their teenage daughter on TikTok à la this video.…
-
On Flying
“I would never move to Denver because then I’d have to fly in and out of this airport every time,” declared Thomas last week as we taxied on the runway at Denver airport. He’s convinced that wind patterns over the mountains near Denver make every flight in or out of that airport extremely turbulent, and…
-
Thoughts from the BART on my way to a morning squash match
It’s still dark outside and I’m walking the mile from my apartment to the Ashby BART station. I’m not in a rush – I woke up before my alarm and have plenty of time before I need to be in the city – but I check the transit app anyway to see when the next…
-
Musings on Multitudes
“I contain multitudes,” I say to myself, as I sit at the kitchen table on a Saturday morning, painting a landscape while listening to Meek Mill. Sometimes I want to read a book on data analysis, sometimes I want to binge watch reality TV. Sometimes I want to go for a bike ride, sometimes I…
-
An accomplishment’s an accomplishment, no matter how small.
Does anyone remember the line from Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who: “A person’s a person, no matter how small”? For whatever reason that line often pops into my head (probably because I’ve watched the movie more than a few times). Today, after a difficult week, I found myself thinking, “An accomplishment’s an accomplishment, no…
-
Plum Tree Ponderings
When I was younger I thought of gifts only as things that were exchanged on holidays and birthdays: toys, money, anything that could be bought or sold but that I received “for free.” Now, when I think of gifts, what comes to mind are the less tangible things: time, thought, effort. The things that can’t…
-
Thoughts, 6/18/21
-
My “chill out maddy” Spotify playlist didn’t work as well as I’d hoped.
I spent the weekend trying to relax. I didn’t go for any long bike rides or runs; instead, I went for short walks and took naps. I read an entire book. No, wait – two books. I made a playlist called “chill out maddy” and listened to it for a few hours. I meditated. I…