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Least Favorite
I just finished doing the least glamorous, most disgusting part of my job. I spent an hour getting cigarette butts off the sidewalks and bike lanes of my bridge. So many thoughts go through my head while I do this. Smoking is a disgusting habit, compounded by the fact that these butt-throwers clearly have no…
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A New Point of View
Every once in a while it’s fun to shake things up. Sticking to a routine may feel quite comfortable, but it isn’t particularly exciting. So recently I volunteered to trade bridges with a coworker, just for a day. I got to work at Fremont Bridge here in Seattle. It’s been well over a year since…
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What Perishes is Not Real
For the life of me, I will never understand people who don’t like to read. There is so much wisdom out there. Reading is like accessing the brains of millions of other people. There is more knowledge in this world than one brain could possibly hold. Think of books as thumb drives that enhance the…
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Maslow’s Hierarchy Writ Large
I was talking to a friend about my utter lack of success to date on a dating website on which I’ve registered. “I have to say I’ve never felt worse about myself.” My wise and wonderful friend responded, “This is going to sound really bizarre, but your current depression is actually a positive development. For…
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Skydiving at Seventy-Three
When a heavy cloak of depression settles down upon my shoulders, I tend to feel as if life has passed me by. I start to ask myself what the point could possibly be, and when I’m unable to answer that question I give up hope, and start resigning myself to my fate. Why even try?…
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It’s Not the Situation, but How You Cope With It.
A friend recently posted this on Facebook: I had never really thought of this! But it’s true. A potato definitely copes with boiling water differently than an egg does. This is the case with many things: The sun will melt ice but harden clay. If you drop a turtle into a pond it will swim…
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“You Deserve to be Happy.”
I saw that tag line in a Facebook advertisement for therapy, and it made me think of a conversation I had with a friend from Burma. He said, “In the West, you think you deserve happiness, so you get upset, depressed, anxious or bitter if you don’t have it. In the East, we don’t expect…
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Hell Hath its Benefits
When I listen to my coworkers complain about this job, I have to inwardly giggle. They think this job is bad. They think they’re being mistreated. For 13 years I was in a horrible job situation. I worked graveyard shifts and got a one dollar raise every 6 years, and they tried to find ways…
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Momma B’s Mac & Cheese
During my drive across country I came upon a delivery truck for Momma B’s Mac & Cheese, and the face on their logo, which one assumes is Momma B, was so scary I nearly drove off the road. Now, this is not to say that their product isn’t delicious. I have no idea, never having…
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My Favorite Things
When I was a child I used to drink Hawaiian Punch and Tang by the 50 gallon drum. Now I can’t stand the stuff. I also used to eat Cap’n Crunch straight out of the box as a snack. Ugh, the thought of that much sugar makes me feel slightly ill now. No one is…