Seven Things on a Sunday

Seven Things on a Sunday

Sunday, November 26, 2023

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How was your Thanksgiving? We spent it in Hilton Head, S.C., with my extended family. My aunt and uncle own a vacation rental home there that we have been fortunate to use for the holiday each year. It's always nice to spend time with them... and just as nice to get home and usher in the winter holiday season.

This post is a riff on "Three Things Thursday," a series that Stephany does sometimes, where she picks 10 categories and shares three things that fit into each of them for her right now. It's a fun way to share recommendations, random thoughts, and some life tidbits, though I've instead chosen seven categories because, well, I like alliteration. 

Here goes.

Three podcasts I'm listening to 

1. For Heaven's Sake: Israel at War is a podcast from the Shalom Hartman Institute, hosted by its president, Rabbi Donniel Hartman, with Yossi Klein HaLevi, author of Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor. In this difficult, emotional, traumatic time, this podcast is one of the things that's keeping me grounded and helping me figure out my feelings. 
2. Who? Weekly is a long-beloved celebrity gossip podcast that I somehow didn't start listening to until recently. Wanting to do things right, I started from the very first episode... in 2016. That means I'm still working my way through years-old D-list celebrity gossip; I just hit 2020. 
3. The Unsub Is a White Man is an episode-by-episode recap of the TV show Criminal Minds, hosted by two friends and coworkers who just... you know, recap the show. And make fun of it. And try to decide whether it was ever really any good. 

Three things I’m looking forward to 

1. I've got a few holiday parties to go to this year, all in a row, including my work gathering, Mike's work dinner, and one for alumni of the Rekindle Black/Jewish Fellowship here in Cleveland. I'm also going to go to the Hanukkah menorah lighting on the West Side. 
2. We're headed to Pittsburgh for a weekend, sort of a belated anniversary gift to ourselves and to visit our friends Nick and Susan, who I haven't since since before the pandemic. And we're going to a Home Alone-themed pop-up bar!
3. Mike's family is going to Nashville for Christmas, and though he and I aren't staying for the holiday itself, we decided to go for a few days beforehand. His sister has lived there since 2019, and I've never been to visit, so I'm really looking forward to it. 

Three apps I'm using a lot

1. I've been using Fetch for a few months now to rake in rewards by uploading receipts. You get actual gift cards in return. (Use code 4E9W73 to join and get 500 points free.) 
2. I use the NYT Games app every day to play Wordle, then Connections, then Spelling Bee; every once in a while, I'll go in and play weeks' worth of Crosswords, too. 
3. I still don't feel like Threads has replaced Twitter in any satisfying or lasting way, but I'm also accepting that Twitter is dead. So I guess Threads is helping numb the pain? 

Three books I'm reading 

1. The Night In Question by Kathleen Glasgow and Liz Lawson is the second in a short series of YA mysteries about two unlikely friends who team up to get to the bottom of their classmates' mysterious deaths.
2. How Minds Change: The Surprising Science of Belief, Opinion, and Persuasion by David McRaney is one of the most interesting books I've ever read. It's not an exaggeration to say that it's changing my life. 
3. Radically Content: Being Satisfied in an Endlessly Dissatisfied World by Jamie Varon is half memoir and half self-help book, not the type I would typically read. But I used to know(ish) the author, whose book is being made into a Netflix series, so I wanted to check show some love. 

Three recent purchases 

1. Nike Air Force 1 Wilds were my big Black Friday gift to myself, even though there was no coupon for them. I did get 12% back from using Rakuten to purchase them! 
2. I've been wanting to try faux leather pants, so I grabbed the PU Leather Wideband Waist Leggings from Bloomchic for just $23. I'm always surprised by the quality of their clothes. 
3. Have you ever heard of a Rocketbook? I like taking notes by hand but of course never want to translate them into tye afterward, so I bought myself one of these reusable notebooks, which does it for me.

Three items on my to-do list

1. The trees in our yard are finally almost bare, but I need to rake the flowerbeds before it snows... which is supposed to happen tomorrow night! Woof, home ownership. 
2. I've been cleaning up and trying to get rid of things (a neverending task), and I've got three bags of stuff ready and waiting to be taken to Savers. The sooner I can get rid of it, the better.
3. I  rearranged my office and moved the daybed that had been in here. We're going to move the Peloton in here to make way for a crib in the future nursery and inspire me to start riding again.

Three things I'm proud of

1. Before the holiday, Mike finished the last of our adoption agency applications (for now, anyway), which means we're officially in the thick of the waiting process and hopefully better positioned to become parents soon. 
2. Last week, I was named to the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, which is effectively the board of the organization where I used to work. I'm so honored and can't wait to dive into the work. 
3. I've been doing a lot of freelance writing lately, and I can't wait to see some of my bylines in print! I have three stories in the January issue of Cleveland Magazine, an upcoming piece for Oberlin College and two upcoming food stories for TheInfatuation.com. 

What have you been up to lately? Got any good podcasts to recommend? Or brag on something cool you've done as of late? I wanna hear it! 

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In a Parallel Universe...

In a Parallel Universe...

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

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Did you ever read the book Dark Matter by Blake Crouch? I loved most of it, but I hated the ending so much that I gave it a very low rating on Goodreads and still complain about it to this day. But that's not the point! The point is the concept of the multiverse, of alternate universes and lives and stories and versions of us. 

Maybe Matt Haig's The Midnight Library is a better example, in which a woman who tries to die by suicide first experiences all the other possible variations on her life, had she made slightly different choices along the way.

All the Sliding Doors versions of her life, if you will. I guess this is a tale as old as time, huh?

Anyway. Tobia recently wrote a post about all of the jobs she might have and lives she might lead in a parallel universe, which got me thinking about what my own might be. Here's what I came up with.

***

In a parallel universe, I'm a magazine editor. I know, I know, magazines barely exist anymore, but my dream of working for one still does. Every '90s movie seemed to feature magazine editors as the pinnacle of success and prestige, and there's some life in which I am, too.

In a parallel universe, I'm a neuroscientist, studying neuroplasticity and the ways brains work, change and grow. In this life, I'm the opposite of a scientist, with no real understanding of the way bodies function, but there's some version where I put in the work to make this side interest my main focus.

In a parallel universe, I'm a marketing executive, maybe at a nonprofit or at some sort of high-powered company. I work all the time and I'm never too far from my email inbox, and I'm probably proud but not particularly happy. 

In a parallel universe, I'm a court stenographer, capturing every word spoken in the courtroom for the sake of posterity and impartiality. I've turned my curiosity about crime and my love of documenting stories into a meaningful career that impacts people's lives.

In a parallel universe, I'm a rabbi, having turned my passion for helping people and giving advice into a higher calling that allows me to provide guidance on a personal and spiritual level. I'm with them for their highs and lows, their good and their bad.

In a parallel universe, I'm a lifestyle influencer. What lifestyle am I influencing people to have? Listen, I don't know. But in a parallel life, it panned out for me, all the years of blogging and social media use. People know my name, follow my stories, and trust my opinions. 

***

In this universe, though, I'm just me: professional healthcare writer, prolific freelance writer, sometimes-blogger, mediocre social media user, aspiring future author. I'm pretty happy with the life and career I've built for myself, and I can't imagine it any other way. I hope all those other versions of me are enjoying whichever version of our life they're living! 

In a parallel life, what (or who) might you be? What other versions of you could be out there somewhere, in the ether, and what might they be up to? 

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Why I'm So Obsessed with Acupuncture

Why I'm So Obsessed with Acupuncture

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

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The first time I ever got acupuncture, I was living in New Hampshire and experiencing significant back pain. I also happened to have more disposable income than ever before, thanks to the military paying my rent (miss that). I booked an acupuncture appointment on a whim, and I was surprised to find that it was the first thing that ever truly helped relieve the chronic back pain that I’ve dealt with on and off since being diagnosed with scoliosis as a preteen.
  
I eventually left New Hampshire and started paying my own rent, and truth be told, I forgot all about acupuncture and how much I loved it. When I started my current job, though, a coworker recommended a place in Tremont, where I was living at the time. She swore up and down that it was the best acupuncture she'd ever received, so I quickly made an appointment to try it out for myself.
  
Two years later, I can’t say enough good things about the experience of seeing Fern at Acupuncture First. Her schedule speaks for itself, as she's regularly booked out weeks in advance. That’s how good she is; that’s how relaxing it is; that’s how good it feels.
   
If you’ve never had acupuncture done before, you might be a little scared about the idea of it. Needles in the skin? No, thanks! Look, I get it. I used to pass out when I had blood drawn. But acupuncture isn’t anything like that.
 
The needles are solid, not hollow. They're also so hair-thin that, for the most part, you can’t feel them going into your skin. A little bit of a twinge or a tickle every once in a while, maybe, but very, very rarely has one of them actually hurt going in. If it does, Fern quickly remedies the situation by massaging the area or by removing the needle and avoiding that area altogether.

  
Once the needles are in, nothing hurts. I’ve even been known to fall asleep on the table while waiting for her to come back to remove them!
 
When I was dealing with infertility, she focused on my abdomen; when I’m dealing with allergies, she’ll put a few needles in my forehead, or in between my eyebrows. She's helped me with the foot pain of plantar fasciitis and general back pain and plain old stress. Sometimes, if I’m lucky, she’ll add on a little bit of cupping, which feels incredible, even if it leaves me with strange, circular alien marks on my back for a few days afterward. And she always cracks my wrists, which I weirdly love.  
 
This year, I forgot to sign up for a Flex Spending Account, which I used to use to pay for acupuncture. That means I didn't get it nearly as often in 2023 as I did in 2022... because everyone knows that having an FSA feels like having free money. But never fear! I just signed back up for an FSA in 2024, and I'm champing at the bit to get back to acupuncture ASAP.

Have you ever tried acupuncture? And if not... what are you waiting for?!

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