First Person Singular by Wendy Braitman

5 Good Things About This Week

Rain in L.A.
New shoes!
Car no longer leaking oil
Lunch with a favorite friend
Ripe bananas

Have you made your list?

Illustration by Marc Johns

No Regrets

I can write this now because it’s over. For a few months, recently, I was dating. There were a couple of things to recommend the man (e.g. completely at ease in the kitchen), but right from the start, he was lousy at staying in touch. It probably would have made sense for me to have counted to infinity, first. But probably then, I wouldn’t have this dating story to tell.

Image from this isn’t happiness

Do You Take Public Transportation?

1946 photo of the NYC subway by Stanley Kubrick

Balancing Act

After 7 days of car trauma, which included an oil-soaked parking spot, a couple of trips to the mechanic and a lot of money, I was stressed out. But today, at my annual physical, the doctor reminded me of how fortunate I am to be in such good health. I definitely won the week.

Photo by Florent Tanet

How’s the Weather?

Are you having a snow day? (The big news here in L.A. is that it’s drizzling.) One of the handy items I read regarding the East Coast blizzard is a collection of recipes to make from random ingredients in your pantry. And it made me wonder how long I could last with the food that is currently in my kitchen.

Cartoon from The New Yorker

End of Week Zen

Illustrations by Hallie Bateman

Been There

“I find it very difficult to draw a line between what’s sex and what isn’t. It can be very, very sexy to drive a car, and completely unsexy to flirt with someone at a bar.” – Björk

Neon by Patrick Martinez

Car Trouble

The other day, a warning sign flashed on my dashboard in big, red capital letters, that read, STOP. This happened once before and I pulled over immediately and called AAA in a panic. A friend of mine who is good with cars, told me afterwards, that I didn’t need to stop, but should instead drive calmly to a mechanic. So that’s what I did. My car is now in the shop and I’m still freaking out, but tooling around town in a rented VW bug.

Photo from newyorkshitty

Technical Difficulties

The server that hosts my website is having technical problems. They tell me it should be fixed by tomorrow.

Image by Gábor Tóth

MLK, Jr.

“All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be, and you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be.”