I think a lot about how we as a culture have turned “forever” into the only acceptable definition of success.
Like… if you open a coffee shop and run it for a while and it makes you happy but then stuff gets too expensive and stressful and you want to do something else so you close it, it’s a “failed” business. If you write a book or two, then decide that you don’t actually want to keep doing that, you’re a “failed” writer. If you marry someone, and that marriage is good for a while, and then stops working and you get divorced, it’s a “failed” marriage.
The only acceptable “win condition” is “you keep doing that thing forever”. A friendship that lasts for a few years but then its time is done and you move on is considered less valuable or not a “real” friendship. A hobby that you do for a while and then are done with is a “phase” - or, alternatively, a “pity” that you don’t do that thing any more. A fandom is “dying” because people have had a lot of fun with it but are now moving on to other things.
I just think that something can be good, and also end, and that thing was still good. And it’s okay to be sad that it ended, too. But the idea that anything that ends is automatically less than this hypothetical eternal state of success… I don’t think that’s doing us any good at all.
you know what my perfect gift would be? an annotated copy of your favourite book. i don’t just mean a couple of tabs, i mean annotated. i mean highlighted to the ends of the earth, pages black with scribbled annotations, entire pages underlined and captioned ‘THIS’. i want to see tear stains on the pages, corners bent from when you threw it across the room, spine broken because you were too absorbed in the story to care. i want paragraphs of you yelling at characters, i want your witty remarks and sarcastic comments, i want your little doodles in the margins. because then you’re not just giving me a book. you’re giving me a little piece of yourself, and i think that’s the best gift you could give.
It is the famous Palladium Dress designed by Gianfranco Ferré for a 1992 Dior collection.
“I love you. Infinitely and inexpressibly. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night and here I am writing this. My love, my happiness.” – Vladimir Nabokov, from a letter to Vera (January 19, 1925), featured in “Letters To Vera” by Vladimir Nabokov (Russian, 1899-1977)
L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
Does anyone have any tips on what programs I should look into to study French? Also any tips for studying this language. I’m thinking about studying abroad but I want to know the language and not seem like an ignorant dummy.
“Never say no to adventures. Always say yes, otherwise you’ll lead a very dull life.”
— Ian Fleming
“I used to dislike being sensitive. I thought it made me weak. But take away that single trait, and you take away the very essence of who I am. You take away my conscience, my ability to empathize, my intuition, my creativity, my deep appreciation for the little things, my vivid inner life, my deep awareness of others’ pain, and my passion for it all.”
“If you’re reading this, if there’s air in your lungs on this November day, then there is still hope for you. Your story is still going. And maybe some things are true for all of us. Perhaps we all relate to pain. Perhaps we all relate to fear and loss and questions. And perhaps we all deserve to be honest, all deserve whatever help we need. Our stories are all so many things: Heavy and light. Beautiful and difficult. Hopeful and uncertain. But our stories aren’t finished yet. There is still time, for things to heal and change and grow. There is still time to be surprised. We are still going, you and I. We are stories still going.”
— Jamie Tworkowski