A Quiet Life

Hello, dear readers. Last night, I stayed up way too late to finish "The Institute" by Stephen King. I love his work. I can never put his books down. He has a way of creating characters you care about, even when the world they are stuck in is terrifying.  I went into this book knowing the basics: a secret facility where kids with special talents (telekinesis, telepathy) are taken and experimented on. I expected it to be creepy, but I did not expect it to feel so sad and infuriating.  The kids in the story —Luke, Kalisha, and Avery —all of them —felt real. They were brave, vulnerable, and funny in the exact ways real kids are. That made the horrors of the Institute feel even worse. It is one thing to read about monsters with fangs and claws. It is another when the monsters look like ordinary adults in lab coats, justifying unthinkable things. There is also something about the idea of children carrying the burden of saving themselves because the grown-ups have failed them. ...

Hello dear readers, and Happy 4th of July. In the spirit of the 4th of July, I need to say that I have never really liked fireworks. I know they are supposed to be magical-the big booming bursts of color, the crowds gathered in blankets and lawn chairs, the oohs and aahs echoing under the night sky. But if I am being honest, they have always made me feel uneasy. Part of it is just who I am. Loud, crowded, chaotic things do not exactly fill my cup. But the biggest reason is my dog. Every time fireworks go off, my dog goes into full panic mode. He paces. He hides under furniture and becomes very clingy, pants, and shakes. There is nothing I can say or do that makes him relaxed. It is heartbreaking to watch him so scared of something I cannot control. He does not understand that it is just “fun” or “festive”. To him, it is thunder that never ends, explosions he cannot escape. And honestly, I get it. Loud, unpredictable noises that feel like they are right on top of you? I would want to hi...

Hello, dear readers. Online dating feels like an experiment I keep running even though I already know the results. I downloaded Bumble a few days ago, after telling myself I had sworn off dating apps for good. But here I am again, trying to convince myself it is worth the effort. And honestly? It mostly just feels like a waste of time. Swipe, swipe, swipe. Maybe a match. And the ones who do match, you try to start a conversation, and they either never reply or unmatch you. Sometimes I wonder if it's me - maybe I'm not cut out for this digital world of forced charm and half-baked connections. I am an introvert at my core. I crave honest conversations with depth. I'm unsure how to effectively market myself in three to six photos and catchy lines about what I enjoy doing for fun. It's not that I hate the idea of meeting someone—I want that. I want the late-night talks, the random ”thinking of you texts”, the quiet understanding that grows over time. I just hate this proces...