Untitled

Basil at the door, windows, or scattered in the home will increase money.

Lay thorny branches on your doorstep to keep evil from your dwelling.

Eat a pinch of Thyme before bed, and you will have sweet dreams.

Place chips of Cedar wood in a box with some coins to draw money to you.

Carry an Anemone Flower with you to ward against illness.

Hang a bit of Seaweed in the kitchen to ward evil spirits.

Keep a jar of Alfalfa in your cupboards to ensure the prosperity of your house.

Burn Allspice as an incense to draw money or luck to you, as well as speed healing.

Cut an Apple in half, and give one half to your love to ensure a prosperous relationship.

Carry an Avocado pit with you to let your inner beauty shine outwardly. Avocado is also an aphrodisiac.

Strawberries are an aphrodisiac.

Place a piece of cotton in your sugar bowl to draw good luck to your house.

Celery is an aphrodisiac.

Place Almonds in your pocket when you need to find something.

Scatter Chili Peppers around your house to break a curse.

Carrying a packet of strawberry leaves will help ease the pains of pregnancy.

Scatter some sugar to purify a room.

Throw rice into the air to make rain.

Carry a potato in your pocket or purse all winter to ward against colds.

Eat five almonds before consuming alcohol, to lighten the effects of intoxication.

Place a pine branch above your bed to keep illness away.

Chew celery seeds to help you concentrate.

Carry of chunk of dry pineapple in a bag to draw luck to you.

Ask an orange a yes or no question before you eat it, then count the seeds: if the seeds are an even number, the answer is no. If an odd number, yes.

Eat olives to ensure fertility.

Toss Oats out your back door to ensure that your garden or crop will be bountiful.

Eat mustard seed to ensure fertility.

Place Lilacs around your house to rid yourself of unwanted spirits.

Eat Lettuce to drive lustful thoughts from your mind.

Rub a Lettuce leaf over your forehead to help you sleep.

Add Lemon juice to your bathwater for purification.

Eat grapes to increase psychic powers.

Carry a blade of grass to increase your psychic powers.

Smell Dill to get rid of hiccups.

If you place a Dill sachet over your door, those who wish you ill can not enter your home.

Place cotton on an aching tooth, and the pain will ease.

Burn cotton to cause rain.

Place pepper inside a piece of cotton and sew it shut to make a charm to bring back a lost love.

Carry a small onion to protect against venomous animals.

Eat grapes to increase fertility.

Place a sliced onion in the room of an ill person do draw out the sickness.

Place an onion underneath your pillow to have prophetic dreams.

Place morning glory seeds under your bed to cure nightmares.

Walk through the branches of a maple tree to ensure that you will have a long life.

Mix salt and pepper together and scatter it around your house to dispel evil.

Smell Lavender to help you sleep.  (Lavender makes me fall asleep so fast).

Hang a pea pod containing nine peas above the door to draw your future mate to you.

Eat a peach to assist in making a tough decision.

Carry peach wood to lengthen your lifespan.

Me: Go to sleep.

Brain: I’d love to, but don’t you really want to hear the theme from Chips again?

Me: Not really. It’s 1:00 in th morning, and I have to get up at 6:30.

Brain: You know, I wonder why a spoon is called a spoon. Look it up for me. You’ve got your phone.

Me: No! I gave you booze, why aren’t you tired?

Brain: Because I want to read about bread regulations in ancient Rome!

Me: OMG, SHUT UP AND GO TO SLEEP.

Brain: Hmpf. Okay. But right after I make a list of what albums I want to buy before we go to Nebraska. That’s a long plane ride and I’ll be bored without tunes.

David Cain, “Procrastination Is Not Laziness” (via sociolab)

#huh #well shit

I almost failed math three times in junior high / high school

I never passed any AP exams

My SAT scores were mediocre

I was four different majors in college and still didn’t figure out what I wanted to do until I was about 26

Currently:

I have a Masters and am working on a second

I have a job I like in a field I love 

I am conversational in Japanese

I am aiming to save all the homeless queer youths in NYC

In short:

It is okay if you don’t know what you want to do right now

You will figure it out

Sometimes a random job will lead to a career

Sometimes you will only work jobs and never have a career– THAT IS FINE

In the long run, no one cares about your GPA

A good resume is important!!

I will also say that I have read this several times now and it still makes me  cry.

“True story: His Name is Robert Downey Jr.” by Dana Reinhardt

I’m willing to go out on a limb here and guess that most stories of kindness do not begin with drug addicted celebrity bad boys.

    Mine does.

    His name is Robert Downey Jr.

    You’ve probably heard of him. You may or may not be a fan, but I am, and I was in the early 90’s when this story takes place.

    It was at a garden party for the ACLU of Southern California. My stepmother was the executive director, which is why I was in attendance without having to pay the $150 fee. It’s not that I don’t support the ACLU, it’s that I was barely twenty and had no money to speak of.

    I was escorting my grandmother. There isn’t enough room in this essay to explain to you everything she was, I would need volumes, so for the sake of brevity I will tell you that she was beautiful even in her eighties, vain as the day is long, and whip smart, though her particular sort of intelligence did not encompass recognizing young celebrities.

    I pointed out Robert Downey Jr. to her when he arrived, in a gorgeous cream-colored linen suit, with Sarah Jessica Parker on his arm. My grandmother shrugged, far more interested in piling her paper plate with various unidentifiable cheeses cut into cubes. He wasn’t Carey Grant or Gregory Peck. What did she care?

    The afternoon’s main honoree was Ron Kovic, whose story of his time in the Vietnam War that had left him confined to a wheelchair had recently been immortalized in the Oliver Stone film Born on the Fourth of July.

    I mention the wheelchair because it played an unwitting role in what happened next.

    We made our way to our folding chairs in the garden with our paper plates and cubed cheeses and we watched my stepmother give one of her eloquent speeches and a plea for donations, and there must have been a few other people who spoke but I can’t remember who, and then Ron Kovic took the podium, and he was mesmerizing, and when it was all over we stood up to leave, and my grandmother tripped.

    We’d been sitting in the front row (nepotism has its privileges) and when she tripped she fell smack into the wheelchair ramp that provided Ron Kovic with access to the stage. I didn’t know that wheelchair ramps have sharp edges, but they do, at least this one did, and it sliced her shin right open.

    The volume of blood was staggering.

    I’d like to be able to tell you that I raced into action; that I quickly took control of the situation, tending to my grandmother and calling for the ambulance that was so obviously needed, but I didn’t. I sat down and put my head between my knees because I thought I was going to faint. Did I mention the blood?

    Luckily, somebody did take control of the situation, and that person was Robert Downey Jr.

    He ordered someone to call an ambulance. Another to bring a glass of water. Another to fetch a blanket. He took off his gorgeous linen jacket and he rolled up his sleeves and he grabbed hold of my grandmother’s leg, and then he took that jacket that I’d assumed he’d taken off only to it keep out of the way, and he tied it around her wound. I watched the cream colored linen turn scarlet with her blood.

    He told her not to worry. He told her it would be alright. He knew, instinctively, how to speak to her, how to distract her, how to play to her vanity. He held onto her calf and he whistled. He told her how stunning her legs were.

    She said to him, to my humiliation: “My granddaughter tells me you’re a famous actor but I’ve never heard of you.”

    He stayed with her until the ambulance came and then he walked alongside the stretcher holding her hand and telling her she was breaking his heart by leaving the party so early, just as they were getting to know each other. He waved to her as they closed the doors. “Don’t forget to call me, Silvia,” he said. “We’ll do lunch.”

    He was a movie star, after all.

    Believe it or not, I hurried into the ambulance without saying a word. I was too embarrassed and too shy to thank him.

    We all have things we wish we’d said. Moments we’d like to return to and do differently. Rarely do we get that chance to make up for those times that words failed us. But I did. Many years later.

    I should mention here that when Robert Downey Jr. was in prison for being a drug addict (which strikes me as absurd and cruel, but that’s the topic for a different essay), I thought of writing to him. Of reminding him of that day when he was humanity personified. When he was the best of what we each can be. When he was the kindest of strangers.

    But I didn’t.

    Some fifteen years after that garden party, ten years after my grandmother had died and five since he’d been released from prison, I saw him in a restaurant.

    I grew up in Los Angeles where celebrity sightings are commonplace and where I was raised to respect people’s privacy and never bother someone while they’re out having a meal, but on this day I decided to abandon the code of the native Angeleno, and my own shyness, and I approached his table.

    I said to him, “I don’t have any idea if you remember this…” and I told him the story.

    He remembered.

    “I just wanted to thank you,” I said. “And I wanted to tell you that it was simply the kindest act I’ve ever witnessed.”

1. “Take a picture of your to-do list otherwise #1 on your to-do list will be find the to-do list!” - Paris Swenson, Facebook

2. “Break long tasks into manageable segments. For example, you don’t have to ‘Clean your room,’ you have to: 1. Place all laundry in a basket… 2. Clear off desk…. 3. Organize your bookshelf… 4. Vacuum rug… Etc.” - alicegateso

3. “I keep a pad of paper by my keyboard at work. When I have a persistent thought that’s not associated with what I’m doing (I.E. ‘Call the plumber,’ ‘What kind of tree is that outside?,’ ‘I should wear more red.’) I write it down and promise myself I’ll think about it later. This let’s me acknowledge the thought and move on without falling down the rabbit hole.” - Lauren Dodson, Facebook

4. “I keep Word documents on each day and list what I got done so I can go back if I forget/lose track.” - Molly Jane Sisson, Facebook

5. “Have one place for every item that you use every single time. My keys, for example, always always always go on a hook beside the door.” - Chloe Burns, Facebook

6. “If you’re in school, you must invest in a planner. I leave nothing to my memory because if I’m not 100% paying attention during class, I will forget any assignment immediately.” - Chloe Burns, Facebook

7. “Try to block out sensory distractions when you’re doing a task that requires focus. I pick a quiet spot away from windows and monitors when I need to hunker down. Earplugs are helpful, and so is white noise” - snarkastik

8. “I make time each night/week to straighten up my living space. If all of my chores are done and the majority of my apartment is put together, I can think so much more clearly and can focus on more important things.” - zoeo429a8c39d

9. “Those giant desk calendars are great. I like to keep one on my wall and color-code classes/projects.” - Brooke Elise Henry, Facebook

10. “I keep a planner in my bag so that I can jot things down there, then transfer it all to my wall calendar at the end of the day.” - Brooke Elise Henry, Facebook

11. “I put my car keys underneath anything I need to remember to take with me. That way, I can’t physically leave without seeing the item I need.” - Amanda Egert Lee, Facebook

12. “I leave sticky notes on my keys.” - Amanda Egert Lee, Facebook

13. “I have to make it a point to remove all forms of communication from my reach so I know I’m only concentrating on the task at hand.” - andreaquido

14. “When I have a limited amount of time to do something (e.g. getting ready for work), I have a kitchen timer that I have go off every 3 minutes. It doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but you can get a lot done. When the timer seems to be going off too quickly and starts to become annoying, that usually means I’m daydreaming or focusing on the wrong thing.” - pantherkatz

15. “I like to get some time outdoors every day because it helps me find peace. After all, they say ADD brains are the brains of hunters! That’s why they’re always looking all over the place.” - llama7777777

16. “COLOUR CODE EVERYTHING. Bright colours in class notes, on important items, on tupperware lids, whatever. Bright colours are attention-grabbing and seeing ‘purple’ is faster than reading ‘Monday dinner leftovers.’ - Calico Jack Rackham, Facebook

17. “I like to go to productive places if I need to get work done; like the library, coffee shop, or studying with friends. When everyone around me is focused and working, it makes it easier for me to do so as well.” - gabbyh4940993bf

18. “I write notes with a dry erase marker on all of my bathroom mirrors.Things seem to hit me while I’m brushing my teeth or doing my makeup.” - Kristin Hasty, Facebook

19. “I have a 6×9 notebook that I keep with me because I’m constantly writing ‘to-do’ lists.” - Kristin Hasty, Facebook

20. “For remembering to take things with me as I leave, everything has to be by the door so I can’t leave without seeing it. Bonus points if my keys are in the pile.” - Sydney Anderson, Facebook

21. “I always convince myself I have to be somewhere earlier than I do. That way I have a few minutes buffer. If I have to be there at 8:30, I tell myself over and over that I have to be there by 8:15. It helps to have the clock in my car set 6 minutes fast. Even when I’m ‘running late’, I arrive a few minutes earlier than I actually have to be there.” - Cassie Costilow, Facebook

22. “If you have to read something with a due date, separate 10-15 pages with post its and set a time to read it through the day. Let’s say you have to read 90 pages for tomorrow, read 15 pages at 10 am, 12 pm, 2 pm, 4 pm, 6 pm and 8pm.” - stefr2

23. “When cleaning I try to focus on one small task at a time instead of the big picture. Instead of thinking ‘I’m going to reorganize the entire kitchen”, I think “I’m going to reorganize this cabinet.’ It really helps keep me from getting overwhelmed and shutting down completely.” - Cassie Costilow, Facebook 24. “I make it a point to have all my bills (except rent ) due on the same day. This way when the 15th comes, I write down a checklist of what needs to be paid, go through the list, and pay them.” - ltriebl

25. “I used to give myself deadlines for papers in undergrad. If something was not done by 2 a.m. I was not allowed to keep working on it. If the next morning was the deadline, too bad. By my 2nd year I never had to stay up all night, and by the time I got my M.A. it was completely internalized.” - Javiera Reyes, Facebook

26. “I use a massive white board calendar and color code things; blue for my sorority, green for due dates, red for tests, and black for other random events” -mckenziec45e41be03

27. “I schedule one day for cleaning. Everything gets done on that day even if it takes me hours.” - ltriebl

28. “My supervisor and I write a daily to-do list every single day. Instead of asking me to do things, she just writes it on my list. I cross out things as I accomplish them.” - Cierra Kemppainen, Facebook

29. “I always feel my pockets to make sure I have my phone, wallet, and keys before I leave a building or room. This has saved me more times than I ever thought.” - Adam Gottlieb, Facebook

30. “I carry my meds in my school backpack all the time. It’s great if I sit down in my first class and all of a sudden realize I didn’t take them.” - Adam Gottlieb, Facebook

31. “Because my motivation is so low with ADHD, my therapist told me the best thing to do to get things done is do them right when you think about them or else you’ll never do it. It may be obvious but it’s actually really helpful when there are important things to do.” - amandaz42502c3e2

32. “I write everything, EVERYTHING, down. When it comes to things people ask me to do, I write them down. Before we leave our meeting, I repeat all of their requests back to them. When they agree with each, I check it off. Once I complete the tasks, I cross them out twice. It’s tedious, but it definitely works.” - Adrienne Brooke, Facebook

33. “I tend to lean on people I know I can trust to help me remember things. I can rely on them without worrying about judgement.” - whitneyb19

34. “Crossing things off has become a sort of reward. When I notice I’ve crossed off more than three things at once I give myself a Buzzfeed break!Or Facebook, or Gchat. Just something to help blow off a little steam before I dive into the next task. It’s the best feeling seeing a list of 47 things all crossed off at the end of a stressful workday.” - Colleen Daniel, Facebook

35. “I always make lists in threes. Anything more than that and I end up losing focus of what I’m supposed to be doing, or hyper focusing and can’t switch tasks.” - keilande

36. “I also find that I’m more interested in keeping my personal life organized if it looks pretty, so at home it’s fun to do DIY projects that will actually create a more organized environment.” - Colleen Daniel, Facebook

37. “Laundry is a passive chore, so I’ll wash dishes while the machine is running. Two for one!” - bryanpb

38. “Break down your tasks! If you have a paper due in three days don’t just try to write the whole thing in one day, make a goal to finish a part of it each day.” - Brontë Ratcliffe, Facebook

39. “Try to only focus on one task at a time. It’s really tempting (REALLY REALLY TEMPTING) to do millions of unimportant things before you get to the one thing thats actually important. Think of your activities as if they are all contained in little boxes. Only open one box at a time and make sure that it is fully shut before you open the next box.” - Amy Langiano, Facebook

40. “Take lots of notes. In meetings I take diligent, detailed notes. I almost never refer back to them because somehow, just writing out the thought helps it stick in my mind, but the notes are there if I do need them later.” - gabriellao47ba20033

41. “Writing things down with a pen or pencil instead of typing them in computer and phone strengthens my memory of them.” - bobc409eb4106

42. “When I get ready for work in the morning, I set the alarm on my phone to go off every 10 minutes to help with time management. I have no concept of time if I don’t.” - Mallori Kraemer, Facebook

43. “I write up schedules even if I don’t use them perfectly. Just writing it down makes it stick better.” - katerg

44. “Prioritize what needs to be done by writing it all out and writing how long you estimate each task will take. That really helps me order things in a way that works for me.” - gabrielleca

45. “I make schedules for myself delineating how much time I anticipate each activity will take. Then, I build in 15-20 minute buffers on each to allow for the anticipated distractions and a couple of breaks. Works like a charm!” -emilyf4c854bde4

46. “I’m an introvert. So I tell friends and family to inform me of plans and events as early as possible. I need time to plan out my activities as well as make sure I have the mental energy to engage with others.” - pantherkatz

You have instructions written down. You don’t need them, but you check them anyway. Somehow they’re different from what you remember. Have they changed since you tucked the paper in your pocket? 

You realize that you’ve lost your train of thought. You can’t remember what you were thinking before. There is only your present thought, now a loop of panic at your lost memory. 

You stop in the middle of a room. Why are you here? Which room did you come from? You leave the room and remember what you were going to do. You walk back into the room. Why are you here? 

You bring up an inside joke with a friend. They look at you blankly. They do not remember this joke. But you were there when I made it, you argue. They were not. They are not the friend you are thinking of. You realize it was your other friend, from work instead of high school, with blond hair instead of brown, tall instead of short. You do not know how these two friends are so similar in your mind. 

You refer to every experience as happening “the other day.” Was it three years ago or yesterday? You try to remember context clues. Time is not real. 

Someone asks you for an important piece of information. You have not thought about it since you saved it on your computer, labelled very clearly. You search through your files. It is not there. You find it days later by accident, labelled with a cryptic set of codes. You don’t know why you would label it this way. No one else uses this computer but you. 

You are running late. You are always running late. 

You have lost something. You check everywhere. You check everywhere again. Someone tells you to think of when you last had it. You don’t tell them that is the problem.