Starting at square one

I'm not the sort to remember quotes from the books I read, but every so often, one will strike a chord and it'll stick with me for years. One such passage comes from my literary idol, Stephen King*, in his autobiography-slash-how-to manual On Writing. I can't remember it word-for-word (and am gonna have to look it up now), but he basically says that…

Transformation

So I wasn't entirely truthful in my last post. Yes, reading is important to me, probably THE most important thing when it comes to my mental health and well-being. But it's not the ONLY thing. There's something else that has become utterly vital to keeping me centered and grounded. I'm also a runner. It's taken…

My zen

Some people meditate as a means of finding their zen. Some people hit the gym, practice yoga, or go for a long hike through the woods. Some cook, some paint or sketch, some write. But the way I find my balance has always been through reading. It's my first love, the thing that best defines me and makes…

Just breathe…

I've been going non-stop for about two weeks straight now. Traveling, driving, not sleeping, getting sick, long, busy days at work. I'm tired, run down, craving the silence and solitude I can't find when I'm surrounded by people throughout the day. But the weekend is (finally, with glacial speed) coming. I have no plans except to let myself…

Don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing

Normally after a show, I binge on the music I just heard. Depending on how good the show, the binge can last anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks (or, in one particular instance that my husband would just as soon forget, months) until something else catches my interest. However, in the…

Pirate shanty punk rock. Or something.

My sister and I survived our jaunt to Philly to see Lucius (barely, no thanks to a car that didn't want to start and, once it finally got started, the worst rain/hailstorm I've ever had the displeasure of driving through), so after a scant five hours of sleep, I got to do it all over again. This…

Worshipping at the feet of goddesses

So about last weekend. Remember, that whole "three shows in four days thing"? I'm pretty sure that running on so little sleep for almost a week is what made me catch the mother of all illnesses, since I've been laid up with a fever ever since I got home. But man...it was worth it. The festivities began…

A bit of background

I kind of alluded to this in my last post, but I love music. One of my favorite memories as a kid is sitting in front of my parents' record player, looking at the pictures on the album sleeves and reading the lyrics. So it's not terribly surprising that, as I got older, live music became pretty important…

The difference two years makes

Philadelphia is a city with a bit of a reputation: gritty, hard-scrabble, rough around the edges. Its residents are plain-spoken with low tolerance for bullshit. Its nickname, the "City of Brother Love", is used with heavy sarcasm by anyone who lives within the city's media market, because we all know that if there isn't bad news, there's no news. Philadelphians throw snowballs…