Arya

On a flight to LA I struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to me, idle chitchat while we waited for the plane to take off. In the air my husband pulled out a book, but the light above his seat was broken. Our new friend in the window seat insisted on loaning him her travel book-light. Shortly after, I pulled out my kindle on which I was reading Everything Is Tuburculosis. It opened on a particularly medical page. She asked if I was studying for med school. I explained what the book is about, and she was fascinated. A minute later she asked "Since I finished my book in the airport and I can't get my phone on the wifi, would you be offended if I read your book with you? I can see from here just fine."

And so for the next 2.5 hours or so this stranger and I quietly read your book side by side. Our reading pace was (thankfully) the same and every now and then she would silently point to something she found especially poignant or whisper a quiet "Wow" or "I never knew that."

For a few hours your book gave a strange sense of human connection to this childless 29 year old from CT on her way to a Bat Mitzvah in LA and a 60-some year old woman from Romania going to visit her daughter in Denver.

At the end of the flight she wrote down "John Green" in the notes app on her phone so she can finish the book, and get a copy for her daughter too.

which contrasted greatly with my own experiences with religion. honestly PC reminds me so much of my own experiences as a teenager deconstructing a faith that was once my whole world only to become crushingly aware of an absence despite so desperately wishing otherwise.

yet i also like the idea of aslan representing wonder and even faith in the irreligious sense. even as life itself. that life does grow bigger and expand into things greater than you could have imagined. even though scarier. something like that cs lewis quote about one day becoming old enough to read fairy tales again.

Gemene bög kanske inte förstår hur mycket av Sveriges HBTQI+ infrastruktur som hålls samman av QX, men det är en stor del. Att prenumerera på QX är att stötta Sveriges HBTQI+ community.

i don’t know if this makes sense. i hope it does. sorry if it doesn’t

I hate that it's a boring, punishing time sink that I can't avoid without punishment too. It sucks to do it and it also sucks to avoid it.

Yes!!!

Here’s a reply from Harvard Health Publishing to the question, “What is the minimum exercise I should do?” Their answer: 15 minutes A WEEK.

“Even the people who did only 15 minutes per week of vigorous physical activity had a 17% lower risk of death from any cause and death from cancer compared with people who were inactive.”

(FYI they define “vigorous physical activity” as just some sort of movement where it becomes hard for you to sing, so like fast walking, jogging, jumping jacks, etc.)

They found the most benefits from “the first 40 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week”, so a little less than 6 minutes a day. After that, there was less benefit per extra minutes.

i don’t know if this makes sense. i hope it does. sorry if it doesn’t

I hate that it's a boring, punishing time sink that I can't avoid without punishment too. It sucks to do it and it also sucks to avoid it.

i don’t know if this makes sense. i hope it does. sorry if it doesn’t

I hate that it's a boring, punishing time sink that I can't avoid without punishment too. It sucks to do it and it also sucks to avoid it.

Make that shit fun too. I've personally got into drag (& in turn dance) recently to help with chronic pain and exercise with artistic purpose! It makes it feel more meaningful when you're Making Something with it (even if it's just for urself, ur doing art!)

Aaaarrrggghhh! The scurvy owner of this 1970 Pirate Ship House in Salmon, ID is selling it himself and just raised the price, when Zillow says it's not worth anywhere near it. 2bds. 2.5ba, 1,200sqft, increased price $49k to $799k (Zillow's est.: $394,100) [$200/mo. HOA]