Page Turner's Blog, page 65

I Want It to Be My Fault, So I Can Fix It

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I was a jerk.”

“It’s okay,” I say. “I don’t think you’re a jerk. I didn’t like what you said, but I’m glad you’ve apologized.”

He smiles. “I’m going to work on not snapping like that in the future. Not saying something hurtful I don’t mean.”

“Thank you,”  » Read more

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The Subtle Art of Differentiating Between Self-Imposed and External Pressure

“God,” I say. “I’m so sorry.”

I’m rushing around the kitchen. He’s not supposed to be here yet, but he is. My math was wrong. He’s home a few minutes earlier than I thought he would be. And dinner is not quite ready.

Well, it’s not served at least. It’s just about cooked.  » Read more

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When We Said “Today Is Cancelled,” We Didn’t Really Mean It

Universe, when we were all going around saying “today is cancelled” every time we had a bad day, we didn’t really mean it.

We weren’t being this literal.

But as it turns out, today is actually cancelled. In my life, the entire next week is cancelled. Possibly the next fortnight (we’ll see).  » Read more

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Great Things Can Seem Impossible Before They Happen; Then They Seem Inevitable

It’s dark. We’ve been up later than we should be, considering you have regular banker’s hours to contend with. I’ve heard you settle into your routine. Your breathing changes like it always does as you slip into sleep.

I’m reading a book on my Kindle. I have the screen brightness turned way down,  » Read more

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Women and Men Are About Equally Lonely

Sometimes it’s wild to me how much people try to place on gender. From a very early age — typically at birth — human beings are put into one of two categories, assigned male or female, and once this is done, it starts to be used as a shortcut for who we are. How we’re supposed to behave.  » Read more

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Most Children Do Not Take After Their Parents Politically

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a person say that they want to raise their kids “the right way.” And when they say this, what they actually seem to mean is that they want to raise that child to have their values.

Values can encompass a wide area of socialization.  » Read more

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And They Lived Happily Ever After…

There were no formerly heroic times, and there was no formerly pure generation. There is no one here but us chickens, and so it has always been: A people busy and powerful, knowledgeable, ambivalent, important, fearful, and self-aware; a people who scheme, promote, deceive, and conquer; who pray for their loved ones, and long to flee misery and skip death.  » Read more

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What You’re Doing When You Criticize Yourself In Front of Other People

“Wow, that came out beautiful,” I said. “What glaze combo did you use?”

“You’re kidding, right?” the other potter replied.

“Ummm…. no,” I said. I laughed nervously.

She turned to her friend, started talking with him about everything that was “wrong” with her stunning dishes, pointedly ignoring me.

I sheepishly picked up my comparatively janky little beginner pieces.  » Read more

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What Is Aphantasia?

“I apparently have aphantasia,” I told my friend. “Didn’t know it had a name.”

“Really?!” she said.

“Yeah, I have no visual imagination,” I replied.

“That’s fascinating that you write with that to me,” she said. “Mine is lackluster but not complete lack like aphantasia is.”

I laughed.  » Read more

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The Reasons Nobody Gets to Be a Dating “Expert”

“So what do you do for a living?” they asked me.

“I’m a writer,” I said.

“Ohhh,” they replied. “What sorts of things do you write?”

Everyone always asks this question. It’s interesting to me how reliable this is. Back when I held a variety of other jobs, I found that followup questions were rare.  » Read more

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