Health and Fitness

Last week, I flew to Massachusetts to visit my 94-year-old grandmother in the hospital. Let me tell you about this amazing woman. Barbara, Aunt Bee, or Gramma to us grandkids, was born in 1930 to first-generation Newfoundlanders. (No wonder I love music ​Alan Doyle​ (and ​The great big sea​), it’s in my DNA!) Gramma has…

I stumbled ​Reddit thread​ This really caught my attention. Someone asked, “What’s the one thing that has made losing weight good for you?” This question received 5,400 answers (and counting). Some answers included environmental changes or changing the way they prepare their food: “Pour the snacks into little molds to eat. Suddenly I ate a…

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this uncomfortable. I spent an empty afternoon last week and saw Speak no evil (​Trailer here​), a horror/thriller film about a family who goes to visit another couple they met on vacation. and ShockinglyThings are not going as expected. If you see ​Episode “Dinner Party”. The office​…

I remember walking up the escalator to the bottom at Macy’s in Cape Cod Mall. My mother, who was calmly riding the escalator up like a normal human being, would say I was going to hurt myself (possible) or make a scene (true) or interrupt people trying to get down the escalator (also true). Sometimes,…

I am currently reading ​Contaminated cup​A fictional detective novel. Think “Sherlock Holmes is set in Westeros.” The main character has this enhancement that allows him to absorb every detail of every interaction and crime scene and then re-read these minute details later. I remember terrifying Black mirror An episode about this very thing: the ability…

In 1933, an exhausted and frustrated woman named Frau wrote a letter to psychologist Carl Jung, asking him “How do we live.” (She didn’t have any Instagram influencers shouting out motivational platitudes at her, I guess.) Jung replied: “Your questions are unanswerable, because you want to know how one should live. Live as one can….

Last December, I sheepishly admitted there was a huge gap in my nerd credibility. I grew up drawing animation, took AP Art in high school, and have always been fascinated by hand-drawn animation… But I had it ​I have never watched a single second of any Studio Ghibli animation​! Studio Ghibli is the Japanese equivalent…

I’m a huge Stephen King fan. I’ve read the entire Dark Tower series, It, The Shining, Doctor Sleep, and my favorite movie is based on his novella. Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption. So, at the request of several friends who told me it was their favorite book, I finally did it ​I started reading…

A few years ago, I attended my friend Nick’s 40th birthday party. As part of the celebration, he hired an improv comedian, us everyone He had to participate in learning improvisational comedy. (I felt the collective shivers of all the introverts reading this newsletter.) We started coming up with fun scenarios and scenes to participate…