So Here We Are.

When I turned 17, we ordered a cake at the grocery store for my party, as we’d done many times before. If you wanted something written on the cake you’d write it into a section of the order form. We requested, very simply, “Happy Birthday Courtney”. When we went to pick it up the day of the party, this is what we got.

The bakery employees had absolutely no explanation for this. The order form, attached to the box, very clearly did not contain any of those extra names. Whomever had done the writing was no longer in, so there was no one to ask how this had happened. The fact that the name ‘Juan’ is misspelled bewilders me to this day. (I’ve never seen ‘Miley’ without the E, either, but it’s believable that someone might spell it that way.) Did this cake slip in from an alternate universe where I’m one quarter of a set of Hispanic quadruplets? Dyslexic Hispanic quadruplets, maybe?

This cake became the focal point of my party. At least two of my friends regularly called me ‘Courtney Mily Jaun Pablo’ for years to come. My siblings and I still reference it sometimes, eleven years later. It is probably the funniest thing ever to occur at any birthday celebration of my life, and may well remain so for the rest of my days.

No One Like You

now, it took us a while to realise it meant "(there is) no one like you". at first, we all parsed it as a botched "no one like(s) you"

That is incorrect, on several points.

First, if there is a "Joe Rogan of the Left"--i.e. a conspiracy-boosting intellectually incurious man with more media reach than he should have--that person would be Piker's uncle, Cenk Uygur and his "The Young Turks" media company.

jumblr drop whatever you're doing and watch this, you won't regret it

what the fuck

that thing is eldritch

acquired a dark mode version just to see what it’d look like. oh my god. this map is gorgeous

I’m trying to lose weight. I have literally like 200lbs to lose. I’m doing it by calculating how many calories I need to maintain for my size and lifestyle and then eat less than that. And I’m not overly restricting. I went to my bffs house, had a blast with a bunch of friends that I love and ate pasta and pie, and popcorn and even chips. I just don’t eat all that stuff every other day anymore. I’ve lost 16lbs so far and I am fine with my progress. I have goals and a wonderful support system in my husband that is also trying to get healthier, (he packed on weight and now is experiencing some health issues. It woke us both up. While my labs and BP are normal. They’re normal for now. I am dangerously obese.)

And it’s like….I love that to some people on the internet, me trying to healthily lose weight by maintaining a calorie deficit, nourishing my body with minimally processed food (fruit, vegetables, complex carbohydrates, lean meats, healthy fats, prioritizing protein and fiber) 80-90 per cent of the time, and moving my body a little more is extreme. Like no. I’m morbidly obese. I ate myself into this and I’m gonna eat myself out of this.

I don’t wanna be skinny. I wanna be healthy. I wanna grow old with my husband. I want to travel. I wanna hike. I wanna run. And like. I know you can do it fat. And I do a lot of fun shit while fat. But you cannot tell me a 10mile hike is comfy when you’re obese with knee issues.

If you don’t like reading about intentional weight loss, healthy eating, weight related issues, exercise, getting healthier, or it’s triggering, etc then you can block me or block tags like intentional weight loss, healthy journey, healthy food, wellness journey, etc.

Oh I wonder why a Jewish person would be part of a Zionist organization in 1945. /sarcasm

But I’m Jewish. I *must* be in community with other Jewish people to engage with Jewish spirituality. And I am a deeply spiritual person. I need that. And I 100% believe that is why I have felt so disconnected and not spiritual lately. We are a People. And I cut myself off from my People and now I’m feeling shitty.

But I’m Jewish. I *must* be in community with other Jewish people to engage with Jewish spirituality. And I am a deeply spiritual person. I need that. And I 100% believe that is why I have felt so disconnected and not spiritual lately. We are a People. And I cut myself off from my People and now I’m feeling shitty.