The first Harry Potter movie premiered on my fourteenth birthday, and in the years following, the movies typically came out over my birthday weekend. It became a tradition to go see Harry Potter with my friends as a way to celebrate. But my love of Harry Potter started long before that. When I was eleven years… Read More A Few of My Favorite Things, #9: Harry Potter
“It’s true,” she said. “Sometimes I do pretend I am a princess. I pretend I am a princess, so that I can try and behave like one.” —Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess One of my favorite movies growing up was A Little Princess (the 1995 Alfonso Cuarón version). I actually didn’t read the book until I was… Read More A Few of My Favorite Things, #8: A Little Princess
I have never met a tea I didn’t like. Here are my current favorite varieties: I drink Stash Double Bergamot Earl Grey every morning. I love Disney’s Wonderland teas, available in the parks—I took a bunch with me when I left California. They have a lot of flavors, and they’re all really good quality.
A few favorites from YouTube, for your enjoyment… From my fourth year—I was one of the piccolos in the tip of the rocket/moon landing capsule:
I listen to a lot of podcasts. Having something to listen to in the background while I work usually helps me to focus, depending on the kind of task I’m working on. Here are some of my favorites: Human Interest/Storytelling The Moth I started listening to The Moth while I was in college and quickly became… Read More A Few of My Favorite Things, #5: Podcasts
The music of Billy Joel was one of the staples of my parents’ (limited) collection of cassettes and CDs, and thus it had a huge influence on my own musical tastes. I grew up listening to “The Ballad of Billy the Kid,” “Say Goodbye to Hollywood,” and (of course) “Piano Man.” I can’t really pick a favorite… Read More A Few of My Favorite Things, #4: Billy Joel
So this is something I’ve mostly had to give up after being diagnosed with a gluten allergy. But! Applegate does make gluten-free chicken tenders, which I do indulge in fairly often. Growing up, when we would go out to eat, I would order chicken fingers every time. I begged to go to Colonial Williamsburg for… Read More A Few of My Favorite Things, #3: Chicken Fingers
I love reading poetry, and some of my favorite poets are Yeats, Eliot, and Auden. In college I took a class on Modernist poetry and fiction, and I really enjoyed reading some of the World War I–era poetry we discussed, like Isaac Rosenberg’s “On Receiving News of the War” and Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum Est.” The poetry from that period speaks… Read More A Few of My Favorite Things, #2: Good Poetry
In an effort to write more often here, I’m going to come up with 30 short posts of things I love, things that put me in a good mood and help me feel better about life, the universe, and everything. These will be listed in no particular order, just a somewhat-random collection of things that… Read More A Few of My Favorite Things, #1: Flying on Planes
work in progress 