A few years ago, I was walking in Portland…
…when I felt something hit me. It didn’t hit me hard, it didn’t knock me over. It was just enough to notice, something small.
I looked down and saw an M&M on the ground. But I didn’t see anywhere an M&M could have fallen from. So I kept walking, and it happened again.
That’s when I noticed a woman across the street, holding a bag and yelling at me.
I knew what must be in the bag - M&Ms. For reasons unknown, this screaming woman was throwing M&Ms at me for sport. It seems weird to say “this kind of thing always happens to me,” but honestly it does. A woman throwing M&Ms at me didn’t seem that out of the ordinary at all, I just hoped she was ok. I looked at her for a minute, until I realized the random sounds she was screaming sounded like words:
That’s when I remembered I had a huge bag of M&Ms in my pocket.
All the M&Ms on the ground were mine, they’d fallen out of my pocket. The woman was thirty feet away - way too far to throw an M&M. And nothing had ever hit me. That part had just been in my head.
I only have one brain, and we’re pretty close. I count on my brain for all kinds of things. It’s the only one who knows how to make coffee, and it remembers my address and where I hide chocolate to surprise myself for later, and where Boaz hides chocolate to try to surprise me with later. It honestly has great ideas, and I use those ideas to buy chocolate, and coffee, and pay rent.
But, it tells me blatant lies sometimes, for seemingly no reason at all.
Some of them are harmless, and some of them aren’t.
I hope you and your brain enjoyed this newsletter, and that you’re both being honest with each other, or at least kind. Sorry I haven’t sent a newsletter in so long!
A few books I’m reading:
Reading Joan is Okay by Weike Wang made me think I’d like being a doctor. (As soon as I finished it the feeling passed.)
Lucy Cooke is my favorite zoologist, who I also like to pretend is a close friend, and her book Bitch is my favorite kind of animal book:
“Since Charles Darwin, evolutionary biologists have been convinced that the males of the animal kingdom are the interesting ones--dominating and promiscuous, while females are dull, passive, and devoted. In Bitch, Cooke tells a new story. Whether investigating same-sex female albatross couples that raise chicks, murderous mother meerkats, or the titanic battle of the sexes waged by ducks, Cooke shows us a new evolutionary biology”
I’m reading Oldladyvoice by Elisa Victoria about a gross and funny 9-year-old, I’ve only read the beginning so far so I can’t vouch for the last three quarters, but the beginning is so great.
I also saw Murakami’s new book The T-Shirts I Love at our local bookstore last weekend and it seemed like Boaz might buy it for me this summer? I got that vibe. No pressure Boaz. It looked like something I would really like.
I got so nervous when I saw the notification because I WAS EATING M&Ms at that exact moment, so I kinda assumed I accidentally threw one at someone and they were emailing me about it? But then I realized it was you and I’m so happy to hear from you again! What a 🎢 of emotions
I am disappointed to report that (unlike the other commenters) I am not eating M&Ms while typing this. 😔
But my brain enjoyed reading your newsletter!
I ordered the book "Bitch" because of your recommendation on Instagram a little while ago. I was sad that the American version (which I got) had a different cover and tag line (subtitle?) than the British version. If it is as good as I expect it to be, I might have to special order a British version!
My current favorite book series of all time is called "Yotsuba&!" I stumbled across it when I was looking for some good manga series at my local public library branch. The tagline is "Enjoy Everything." It is a slice-of-life comic about a young girl named Yotsuba and the people around her. I want to share it with everyone. But I do think you would like it. In one scene, Yotsuba goes to a yoga class with her teenaged neighbor and it is raining when they leave so she wears her rain coat over her backpack. It made me think of you.