Tag: personal-essay
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In praise of Ring Fit Adventure (the game that made me swole)
Dear Ring Fit Adventure, It’s been six years, but I still remember the day I met you, way back in January 2020. I was wandering the Bay Fair Target, my Nintendo Switch in my hands and my eyes peeled for new releases. It was in the Returns area that I first saw you, a beat-up…
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Doris: a love story
In the beginning, there was Doris, and it was lit. Sure, I’d had stuffed animals before: ever since I’d told my 10th grade homeroom that I liked them, every Secret Santa exchange, Teacher Appreciation Week, and birthday yielded countless new plushie friends. Sure, some of them endeared themselves enough to earn names and prime real…
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the simple joy of a single bag
I’m sitting at Gate 29 at Oakland Airport, pondering one of life’s biggest mysteries: Why is packing so hard? Why do I, faced with eleven T-shirts, three pairs of jeans, and six variations on the same flannel, waste time waffling between countless permutations before inevitably defaulting to my tried-and-true favorites? Why do I always brush…
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water daily
On a Tuesday in July, Frankie brought change in a cardboard box. He boarded the 7:10am Daly City train and settled in for his daily commute: in his lap, six red Solo cups full of soil and saplings; in his backpack, a Zip-Loc bag hosting a summer’s worth of Buena Mulata peppers. At 8:04am, he…
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writer with a lowercase w (on writing in a life full of limitations)
Last Sunday, my laptop broke for the third time this year. The first time was my fault: I stupidly left a bottle of water unscrewed in my backpack, only realizing my error once I saw my backpack leaking all over the linoleum floor. By the time I pulled out my poor laptop, it was too…
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Loneliness, self-love, and the strength to keep going in Lee Hi’s “HOLO”
I woke up last Wednesday morning with my left shoulder out-of-place. Unable to sleep the night before, I had wrapped my arms around my pillow, conjuring a warm body in its place. There was nobody left when I opened my eyes – just a phantom throb. A reminder of emptiness. It is stubborn, this ghost.…