Couple of pieces in the Jan/Feb 2019 issue of David – Mine is called Cellphone Confidential, about the problematic relationship we have with our cellphones and other hand held technology, while Rasa makes her journalism debut with Reading in the New Year, a list of some of the best books from 2018 and a look ahead at 2019.
Enjoy the read!
Well…we went 904 days without breaking the kid.
Today the counter resets.
Let me jump to the end here and say everything is fine, she’s okay (now), and there will be no lasting damage. With that said, today was a scary day.
This morning, Monki was running around, as she is wont to do. I had gone out to run an errand and had just come back home and Rasa was about to go out for an errand of her own and in that in-between time, the little one was running around and having a great time, laughing and yelling and hiding and being her normal self. Continue reading “It’s been _____ days since our last accident”
Living in a foreign country, one where few people speak your language (not just linguistically, but culturally as well) is not easy. It’s certainly led me to bouts of sadness and melancholy, and wishing I were closer to my friends back home. I’ve written about this before, I know, but now Buzzfeed has written a fun article which describes 19 Ways To Stay Close To Long-Distance Friends. Continue reading “19 Ways To Stay Close To Long-Distance Friends”
I know I already posted my 2018 reading post, but I just came across this, over at NovelKnight, and feel, as a proud Hufflepuff, I have to participate as well. Come and join me – earn points for your house! Beat the Backlist 2019 Hogwarts Mini Challenge.
Continue reading “Beat the Backlist 2019 Hogwarts Mini Challenge | NovelKnight”
Another one in the books…
Again, the year was marked with new and exciting things for all of us, including some new travel destinations and some interesting work things.
Check out My 2018 Year in Books on Goodreads.
I didn’t do too bad this year. Originally, I had set my goal at 80 books, then upped it to 100. Eventually, I topped out at over 120.
Now here’s some interesting stats: Continue reading “Jaq’s Year in Books”
With the end of yet another semester upon us, I’d like to give a little gift to all my teacher friends…and all those they teach.
I stole this list from my friend Steve, who is the father of two girls and a boy. It’s a good place to start. I might add more as I learn more or delete some which I disagree with as time goes on. I might even change the order of importance as Monki comes into her own, but it’s certainly a place to at least open the discussions. Continue reading “A few important rules to teach your daughters*”
Well, True Believers, the time finally came. a month before his 96th birthday, Stan Lee passed away. Down the Tubes has a couple of nice pieces: In Memorium by Alan Woollcombe and Tim Quinn’s piece “How to be a Hero.” Both of these pieces, as well as many others, recount Lee’s history, his start as a teenager working for Timely Comics (which became Marvel), and how he, as no one else ever had, came to personify the field and the artform. Buzz Dixon, in particular, speaks of the man and his problematic relationship with the industry Continue reading “Stan Lee (1922-2018)”
A few weeks back, I attended Comic-Con Baltics, a relatively new pop culture convention here in Lithuania. I was there at the behest of Nanook and their NYLA podcast to talk about How Lithuania embraced pop culture. Continue reading “How Lithuania embraced pop culture – NYLA”
Is it octopuses, octopi, or octopodes?
Source: How Do You Say the Plural Form of ‘Octopus’? | Mental Floss
I’ve long been fascinated by Choose Your Own Adventure books. For a long time, I had, if not the complete run, almost all of them. I even have a few ideas to write and update them for the 21st century, but the structure of them has always been a mystery (despite some interesting articles on how to write them). Now, thanks to Atlas Obscura, that’s been sorted. With the article These Maps Reveal the Hidden Structures of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Books anyone can make sense of how these books are put together. Maybe in 2019, I’ll get around to writing one…or two.
So evidently, today, November 1, is NATIONAL AUTHOR’S DAY. While I didn’t even know that was a thing, I’m totally down with celebrating it! So in honor of all my friends who are writers already and those who aspire. Those who are starting NaNoWriMo today and those who write daily, I salute you all! Continue reading “November 1 – National Author’s Day”
People have been loving — and loving to hate — the tricolored candy for more than a century. Vox’s piece, Candy corn: Halloween’s most contentious sweet, explained, gives you the rundown and history of this, one of my top five all-time favorite candy treats (Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are far and away the front-runner with a few others like Twix and Whatchamacallit in there for good measure – straight up chocolate bars are in their own category). And just to keep things even, here’s Atlas Obscura on the subject.
Getting the Hang of Thursdays 