The Pigeon Had an Agenda
June fourteenth. There was a pigeon on the fire escape this morning and I watched it for a long time. Not because it did anything. It did almost nothing, a slow quarter-turn, one…
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34 entries tagged #apartmentlife.
What the Box Became
August twenty-first. I published the post this morning before the coffee was gone, which is probably the right order of operations for something that short. It was maybe four para…
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The Bookcase Had Other Plans
February fifth. The text came in Thursday evening: 'Saturday free? I need another set of arms.' I said yes before I read the second part, which was 'bookcase, second floor, no ele…
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Nothing Has to Happen Next
August fifteenth. The cord has been sitting on the counter since I tied it off last month. I haven't moved it. I'm not sure what I'm waiting for, maybe just to see what it looks l…
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The Same Paragraph, Four Times
March twenty-fifth. There is a system on this table. I need you to know that. The highlighters are color-coded. There is a specific section for things I've finished and a specific…
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The Earring Was Always Going to Be a Whole Thing
September twenty-first. I want to be clear that I was not the one who made us late. Simone texted around ten to say she was coming by to grab something small, I assumed she meant…
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The Jury Summons Was Always Going to Be in There
July twenty-eighth. There was a pile. I want to be honest about the pile before anything else, it had been on the kitchen table for approximately three weeks, migrating occasional…
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Resting or Finished
December tenth. The question I keep not asking myself is: is it done, or is it just quiet? The windowsill has had the same five things on it since April 2016. The collapsed bowl.…
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The Sunday That Asked Nothing
November eighteenth. There's a version of a day off where you have a list, errands, emails, at least one thing you've been putting off since October. And then there's a Sunday lik…
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The Group Chat Incident of October 2019
October twenty-seventh. I was trying to text a perfectly reasonable message about whether the climbing gym would be crowded on Tuesday, and my phone, my phone, which I trust, whic…
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The Elevator Was Out
February twenty-seventh. My neighbor knocked on my door at six-forty Wednesday evening with the expression of a person who has just done math they didn't want to do. The elevator…
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The Study Session That Wasn't
September fourth. Simone arrived with her course packet, two highlighters, and the confident energy of a person who had made a plan. I had cleared the kitchen table, which felt li…
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The Lid Was Right There
August twenty-fourth. The tomato soup was Simone's idea, which I am not saying to assign blame, I am saying it because she brought the tomatoes, she found the recipe on her phone,…
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Four Pages, Seven Years
February eighteenth. The sketchbook has four drawings in it now. That sentence still catches me a little when I read it back. I photographed it Tuesday evening right after I finis…
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Forty Minutes of Pigeon Diplomacy
November eleventh. There was a pigeon on the fire escape this morning and I did not move for forty minutes. I noticed it when I got up to refill my coffee, just there, on the ledg…
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The Floor Was Right There
October thirty-first. I got home at eight-fifteen, set my bag down next to the door, walked into the kitchen, and lay down on the floor. Not on the couch. The floor. There was no…
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The Shelf That Required Two People (Technically)
September sixth. The context: our neighbor on the fourth floor asked if anyone could help her move a bookshelf up from the lobby, where the delivery guy had left it because, and I…
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The Thing the Room Is Waiting For
August twenty-sixth. I've been standing in my apartment at odd moments, between coming home and putting my bag down, between boiling water and the kettle going off, and noticing t…
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What the Paper Knows
April twenty-seventh. The workshop costs what it costs. I have known the number for three weeks, it was on the flyer at the gear shop, printed in small type at the bottom right co…
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What Sunday Mornings Know
November thirteenth. The call came in at eight forty-seven. I know the time because I was still holding my coffee and the screen lit up and I recognized the number and, before I'd…
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The Cracker Debrief
June first. Here is what happened: I hung up from a family call at eight forty-five, stood in my kitchen for approximately thirty seconds, and then texted Simone something that wa…
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Everything Moved and I Did Not Ask
September twenty-fourth. The phone updated itself overnight. I know this is how it works, I clicked something, agreed to something, probably at eleven-thirty when I was tired enou…
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It Pivots, We Were Told
April first. For the record, I am writing this with arms that feel like overcooked pasta, and that is a completely honest description of my current physical state. Simone texted m…
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The Thing I Agreed To Before I Saw It
January sixteenth. My neighbor knocked at around two in the afternoon and asked if I had twenty minutes. I said yes, because it was Wednesday and I had nowhere to be, and because…
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What the Comment Said, Specifically
December twenty-fifth. The apartment is very quiet in a way that is distinct from regular quiet. Christmas quiet has a different texture, fewer cars, the radiator doing its interm…
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Thanksgiving and the Toast Situation
November twenty-second. I want to be clear that I was not attempting anything ambitious. No pie, no biscuits from scratch, no elaborate casserole with three components. I was maki…
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The Tree Did Not Ask Permission
April sixteenth. The cherry tree outside my window bloomed overnight without any warning, which feels on-brand for a tree. I noticed it this morning when I went to check if it was…
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The Photo I Haven't Done Anything With
March third. There is a photo in my camera roll from three weeks ago that I have not done anything with. It is a flyer. It is for a letterpress workshop in April, one Saturday, co…
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The Coat Was Right There
Thirty minutes. I want to be precise about that. Not five minutes, not a quick confused moment at the door, thirty minutes of standing in the hallway, sitting on the bottom step,…
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Low Heat, Apparently
Eggs. I have been making scrambled eggs since I was maybe fourteen. I have made them fast, over high heat, pushed around the pan aggressively until they were done, or what I thoug…
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July Fourth, Accounted For
The holiday landed on a Monday this year, which gave the whole weekend a slightly unresolved feeling, like a sentence that ends with a preposition. I watched some fireworks from t…
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Soup, Basically from Scratch
Thursday morning, mid-October, and I woke up cold in a way that felt like a decision had already been made for me. Not a run decision. A soup decision. I had half a bag of carrots…
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What I Did With May
There's a bowl in my sink right now that had cereal in it approximately forty-five minutes ago. That was dinner. I'm telling you this upfront so we're calibrated. I planted zinnia…
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Thanksgiving Eve, and I Only Dropped One Thing
The butter is on the counter. The flour is everywhere. I have a saucepan that needs stirring every four minutes and I keep forgetting about it until it starts making a noise it sh…
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