Pop Culture

Function or fashion? Hard call on shoes

Are Shoes Function or Fashion?

Recently, I read an article suggesting a woman should build her outfit by starting with her shoes, claiming it’s a way to fully utilize fabulous footwear. I scoffed. Getting dressed is hard enough, figuring out what clothes fit that day and where I left my pants lying around the house. For me, shoes are the…

The best customer service is at marijuana dispensaries

Customer Service Needs to Visit Pot Dispensaries

On what feels like it should be a Monday, the first email of the morning sets the day off to a bad start. DirecTV is thanking me for the pay-per-view movie I allegedly just rented. Please. If only I could be that person, up early enough to watch a movie before work, I’d probably also…

At that moment, I proudly decided I was a groupie

How I Became a Band Groupie

Even though my trip to Portland has been planned for a number of months, I’ve been uncharacteristically demure about the purpose. When asked, I was embarrassed to tell the truth. I was a band groupie. Then I outed myself on Facebook, sharing a photo of myself meeting the band. “This is kinda becoming a groupie…

Your vote counts so use it

Why You Need to Vote

It feels like things are really getting bad in Texas. That we’re living in a dystopian HBO drama where there is only one flavor of opinion — vanilla. Tolerance is nonexistent, sprinkles aren’t allowed. Don’t even think about chocolate. It’s embarrassing enough that a federal judge has ruled, yet again, that our voter ID law…

Doing my taxes is emotional and a mental beating

Why I Hate Doing My Taxes

Doing my taxes puts me in a really bad mood. It feels like a black-and-white awareness that I suck. True financial recognition that I’m not making the amount of money I thought I would. Or could. Or should. I hate doing my taxes. While finishing is the goal, it means I have to turn around…

My parents want their cable box back

Losing My Free Cable

I’ve been committing what is akin to cinema fraud. Where you go to the movies, pay for one movie and stay for a second. Rarely a third. Never a fourth. I’ll blame that on a bad boyfriend. My home-version of said fraud is cable. DIRECTTV. It’s not “stolen,” in that the service is being paid…

Have to avoid the ER on New Year's Eve

Avoid the ER on New Year’s Eve if You Want to Celebrate

I didn’t set out to hit the ER on New Year’s Eve. But a year-end visit to the chiropractor included a neck adjustment that sent me to the emergency room. It’s hardly a way to celebrate. I tend to not have the best of luck with medical things. I caught poison ivy in downtown Washington…

I got a boyfriend and gained a bunch of weight

The Boyfriend Effect — 17.2 Pounds

One thing loudly Ho, Ho, Hoing this holiday season — aside from Russia, which is having a daily Christmas affair with our politics — is my weight. My clothes are on a permanent vacation from lack of use because they don’t fit. And I’m not talking about the “oh, I’m feeling bloated” saga. Even my…

#NoMakeup to the gym for me

Why I Don’t Wear Makeup to the Gym

Grammy winner Alicia Keys didn’t wear makeup to the MTV Video Music Awards last month. The Twittersphere nearly imploded. World comes to an end. #Bam. The cause of the chaos? Cosmetics. Or lack thereof. #NoMakeup. How dare a celebrity show up on the red carpet with a naked face, lacking the typical two hours of…