The 600-page novel I’m rereading right now is one of the cutest texts I ever read. And that’s no mean trick, given that it’s about Basque terrorism. It’s a mega bestseller because of how incredibly cute it is. It took forever to get a paper copy because even with 27 reprints in 2 years it’s still sold out.

Every time I buy a Spanish book on Kindle, I discover I want to work on it and have to buy a paper copy. It’s very annoying because it’s such a waste.

From FB:

I used a behavior chart for my daughter when she was younger. I would write whatever behaviors we were working on on our big chalkboard in their playroom. Example: saying please & thank you, washing her hands after pottying, using words instead of whining, etc. She would get a check mark for the day or a check mark each time she did something correctly. To start with, she’d get a check mark each time I noticed the behavior. As the weeks went on, I would give them more sparingly. If she earned “10” check marks in a week then she could pick a small prize, trip to the park, ice cream, or whatever item you like.

It makes me physically ill to read this kind of thing. And this is from a local FB group, so then this kid is released into the general population right around here.

The analyst says that in ten years or so, when people understand what the ubiquitousness and the obsessive use of smartphones are doing to children, they will dramatically reduce their use. I’d love to believe that but when I see these FB discussions, I simply can’t.

I seriously can’t even reread this quote without getting very nauseous. And nobody did anything like this to me. It’s just that simply knowing that this is being done to a toddler is painful.

German food, for instance, is absolutely delicious. I still remember every dish I ate in Germany. But the problem is, I can’t recreate these recipes here. The ingredients are not the same. I only discovered what asparagus is supposed to taste like in Berlin. Or strawberries. German strawberries don’t taste like plastic. So of course anything you cook comes out tasting better.

By the way, folks. The food at the Indian buffet is not low-fat, right? I want to think it is but I want to avoid another trip to the ER.

That low-fat diet I have to be on turned out to be really great. I sleep a lot better, I’m losing weight again, I have tons of energy. The only problem is that the diet requires me to spend my life cooking because everything needs to be fussed with for ages to taste good. Plus, the food disappears faster because it’s less filling.