End of Week Zen
Enjoy these guilt-free cakes, sculpted from wood, by David Baerwalde. Happy weekend!
What’s Your Dawn Wall?
I’m not good with heights. Changing a light bulb or retrieving a scarf from the upper shelf in my closet, I get wobbly being on the top rung of a step ladder. So it was with incomprehensible awe that I read about Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Ferguson completing their 3000 foot free climb on the Dawn Wall of El Capitan in Yosemite. It took 7 years of meticulous planning for them to get there. Not to mention superhuman courage and ambition. When he reached the summit today, Ferguson said, “I hope it inspires others to find their own Dawn Wall.”
Photo from National Geographic
How to Pamper Yourself
The weekend wasn’t going well. I hadn’t worked hard enough on a social calendar and ended up with too much time alone, and in my head. On Sunday at noon, I suddenly realized the one thing I could do to feel better. Cook a bolognese sauce. I knew it would take at least 5 hours, so I bolted out of the house, walked to a local butcher (how luxurious!!), bought groceries and got busy. By dinner time, I was eating a most divine meal. The nectar of the gods. Cheered me right up.
Miniature by Derrick Lin
Yet Another Study Claiming Married People are Happier
One of the catalysts for starting First Person Singular was the sinking feeling I’d get when reading studies about how happy married people are. How could it be, I wondered, that I was destined to have such a sad, sad life. And then I remembered that in reality, my coupled friends weren’t any more content. So I created a Husband Benefits Pie Chart, in which I outlined the secrets of how to be single and satisfied. Build your network. Know your truth. Dismiss this latest study, please.
Neon by Stefan Brüggemann
JE SUIS CHARLIE
This illustration by Loic Secheresse is one of many responses from cartoonists around the world to the terrorist attack in Paris today.
Hanging in There
Today, I noticed a few stray tourists still wandering around L.A., but most everyone I know has returned to work. It’s a rough reentry. I welcome this visual inspiration from Navid Nuur.
Off to a Fresh Start
On this, the mother of all Mondays, I’ve already fallen short on a New Year’s resolution. My desk, which I’d committed to clearing and cleaning this past weekend, remains a disaster. Oh well. Here’s a way more important goal – to focus on what’s good, and not what’s missing. In light of that, my desk actually looks amazing. What will be your focus?
Illustration by Marc Johns
Archive for January, 2015
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FIRST PERSON SINGULAR is a guide to surviving, thriving and sometimes just getting through a single day. Created by Wendy Braitman (more…)
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