First Person Singular by Wendy Braitman

Be Nobody But You

Visual poetry by Anatol Knotek

What Are You Doing for Fun?

Today, a friend and I were discussing the upcoming weekend. “Have you planned anything fun?” I asked. She was going to a comedy club on Friday night and was excited about it. “And you,” my friend inquired. “What are you up to?” After an uncomfortable pause I replied, “not much.” I’m going to have to work on that.

Photo by Nguan

Let’s Get to the Point

Cartoon by Barbara Smaller for The New Yorker

New Favorite Recipe: Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Over the weekend, without much activity on my social calendar, I took to the kitchen. This is almost always a win-win. Cooking gives me immediate pleasure and I get to eat the results. I tried 3 new recipes, and the one standout was the cream cheese poundcake. It’s so easy and delicious. My knees practically buckled taking the first bite. The Cooks County recipe makes a huge amount and that’s the best news. You can give some away and still have leftovers for the freezer.

Spring Awakening

Here’s to making the impossible possible. Happy Easter!

How to Remove a Splinter on Your Dominant Hand When You’re Single

At the wooden ballet barre yesterday, I got a splinter. I winced as it went in. But I’m no wimp. I finished the class, rushed to appointments and soldiered on. The splinter was deep. I tried to ignore it. This morning, there was pus oozing out of the wound, and it was one of those moments when I bemoaned living alone. I’m not good with small tools, and I dreaded digging around the now inflamed skin. Repeatedly during the day, I soaked the finger in hot water, hoping to at least stave off further infection. At 3pm, enough was enough. I sterilized a tweezer, poked around and lifted the wood piece out. My finger’s on the mend, my toilets are fixed, and I’m feeling accomplished.

The New Flapper

Seasoned FPS readers know I’m useless when it comes to home repair. Here’s my latest saga: For the last few weeks, the water in my toilets have been running. This is particularly bad in drought-stricken California. My reliable handyman has been too busy for a house call. I went on YouTube to see if I could fix it myself. (I couldn’t.) My only workaround was to lift the tank cover and manually press the “flapper” down. Yesterday, the handyman finally came over in, tooled around and told me the toilets were fixed. After he left, they were even worse. In a panic last night, I used duck tape in the tank, which stopped the toilets from continually recycling. Today, a bonafide plumber intervened. He replaced both my flappers (now bright red) and everything’s AOK.

When Will It End?

Photo by Aurelien Meunier

You Just Do It

Part of what led me to become a career coach was my own experience with hopelessness. It was the first extended time in my life where I couldn’t seem to find the solution, no matter how much energy and effort I put it. Not having hope is the worst feeling. I would take my dog on long walks, and feel so sorry for myself. But I kept plugging away, and one day, I did find the solution. In my case it was related to work, and as a career coach, I now get to hold the hope for my clients, even when they can’t see it for themselves.

Illustration by Ella Frances Sanders

End of Week Zen

Before signing off this week, I’m going to do some shameless promotion with 2 requests. If you haven’t yet, please check out my new career post. And, if you can spare a moment, join my Facebook page. Many thanks. Happy weekend. Here’s to comfort food.

Photo by The Voorhes