Last year, instead of resolutions, I opted for rememberlutions. I got this idea from a Buzzfeed article and thought the idea was pretty neat: “New Year’s resolutions can be energizing and motivating, but they can also lead you to beat yourself up; focusing on the previous year’s failures to figure out where to do better…
Fail Better: Employee Awards I Would Prefer to Receive
It’s that time of year which means businesses are probably throwing holiday parties and handing out awards for “Outstanding Performance” or similar categories. If you’re lucky, the holiday party is during business hours, but your place of business could also be one of those asshats who schedule these parties outside of work hours — as…
Fail Better: What Do I Want to be When I Grow Up?
Right now, I am sitting at the dining table in my new home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, working on one of three things I’m supposed to write today. It’s starting to get cold here, so I’m bundled up and drinking some hot tea. I’m still settling in, so boxes are piled up around me and…
Fail Better: Going Back to School, Roommates, and Chore Charts
I was often the first one to arrive on campus in my dorm room. For a couple hours, I could unpack my things and determine what my ideal living situation would be. I learned a lot about myself in college, but I never knew I had a hatred for messy living spaces, considering I lived…
Fail Better: Folders Full of Chaos
In theory, I ought to be a really organized person. I was raised by a father who still uses the phrase: “There’s a place for everything, and for everything there is a place.” My dad is the definition of meticulous organization. He avoids clutter and can literally count on one hand how many times he’s…
Tokyopop Up Like a Phoenix: The Good Times, The Bad, The Then, and The Now
Now that Tokyopop is rising from the ashes, it’s time to talk about the glory days (and the grotty secrets). Roundtable time!
Fail Better: Cosplay Virgin – Neuroticism May Cause Cosplay Abstinence
I’m a bit of a closet introvert. In my own little element, I thrive — I’m enthusiastic, informative, and energetic. I like to discuss, debate, share, and absorb knowledge on all geekdom. Outside of that box, I am polite smiles and pleasantries, but still reserved and, secretly, mildly uncomfortable. While I can brazenly claim aloud…
Fail Better: Fake Geek Girls BE YOU
When I was younger, I bought into the Fake Geek Girl thing pretty hard. I didn’t know anybody who observably read comics, nobody at all, and to get into my local comic shop I had to take this journey: Down an alley of dilapidated commerce, turn right, into another small alley where you can see…
Fail Better: How Nerd Insecurity Becomes Abuse
You know what they say: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And because of this, I date a lot of nerds of a particular kind. Guess what, nice guys? I have shyly fostered crushes on a ton of you. And you know what I’ve found after a 15-year career as a champion…
Fail Better: (Am I) A Hypochondriac?
I read John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars after my friends and fellow book lovers were buzzing about it and demanded I experience what they were experiencing: “THE FEELS!” “I cried on the bus. Everyone was staring!” “Okay? Okay.” I wanted to quote and be quoted. I wanted to be able to contribute my…
Why We Switched From Trigger Warnings to Content Warnings
The modern world thrives on labels, categories, and vast organizational structures that reduce friction between the billions and billions of us crowding this tiny rock (I blame Aristotle and an assortment of other historic labellers). But more often than not, we humans love labels: introvert, extrovert, endomorph, exomorph, side chick, ride or die chick, and…
Fail Better: On Being Happily Divorced
The first thought I had when my husband of eight months informed me that he had just suddenly stopped loving me and was no longer happy with me and wanted a divorce was “I have to refund all those people who bought us gifts for our wedding.” This seemed a logical thought to me. We…