I was on a flight from Mexico that was going through a storm. There was insane turbulence—the kind where everyone is screaming and crying and praying. I was panic sobbing, gripping my arm rests for dear life, when the Mexican teenage boy next to me held out his hand for me to hold. I was so touched. I gripped his hand for the last 45 min of the flight as we were tossed around in the air and the pilot made crazy maneuvers and I seriously considered texting my family that I love them just in case.
When we finally landed I was so grateful for this little act of kindness and said muchas gracias and the kid gave me a little smile and said “tienes Instagram?” lmao. We still follow each other on instagram.
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In 2026 I had taken a bit of a pilgrimage to see the Ghent Altarpiece because I was obsessed with the van Eyck brothers. I saw it a few times. Then one morning I woke up very early to fly out from the Brussels airport.
It was 5:00 AM. I was so tired and it was so foggy and dreary. Especially near the cathedral where I was staying.
As I was waiting for the trolley to catch a train to the airport, I looked across the street and the most beautiful old woman was having breakfast. Her hair was a perfect streakless white and the juice in front of her was such a vivid orange–almost red. I stared, and was caught in the moment for just a few seconds too long. I missed my train, was delayed, and had to wait for the next one.
As I finally approached the station, there was a smashing sound. I looked out the window and saw smoke rising from the airport. Then the train started running backwards to Mechelin where everyone had to get off because they had shut down all transportation in the region.
It was the 2016 Brussels Bombing. And I realized, I stood in a coffee shop to call my friends, that that woman had saved my life. If she hadn’t been there, I would have made my train and been in the terminal when and where it happened. In the moment, and sometimes after, she feels like God, or at the very least an angel. My mom, of course, pointed out that I didn’t see her drink the juice and angels do not need to eat.
Apr 28, 2024
Shortly after 9/11 my family and I were going on our first flight together to Alaska. My dad and I went through security and went into the clam chowder restaurant at the end of it. But for some reason my mom and brother were still held up. We sat down and kept waiting until my mom screamed “HE HAS A KNIFE!!!!???????“. My dad went to investigate but my brother and mom were swarmed by the military and they told my dad he couldn’t come closer. So then he came back to the restaurant (there was a big window in the front of it where I could see everything unfold) and he was panicking and pacing saying that we were gonna get put on the no fly list. I just sat there calmly amongst our luggage while absolute chaos was unleashed before my little 9 year old eyes. This was not my first rodeo. My mom was still screaming and causing a scene and my brother was being taken away by troops. I can’t remember where my mom went next.. or where my dad was anymore. I just remember sitting there calmly and waiting to learn what my fate was. Apparently the men with the AK47s questioning my brother were very nice and felt bad for him cause he was so scared (probably more scared of my mom then them tbh). What happened is that he had packed his own luggage and decided there were three very important things to take with him.
1: a cup and balls Magic trick, which was three metal cups stacked on top of each other and encased in a purple velvet pouch
2. His clear game boy advance AND charger. The issue was that in order to save space, he wrapped the charger (still connected to the game boy) around the magic trick pouch.
3. A switch blade. Cause we were going to Alaska and what if he needed it?
Unfortunately it DID look like a bomb and a knife going through the scanner. They let him keep his magic trick and the game boy, but they confiscated the knife.
Anyways this pic is of me after we were reunited and weren’t put on the no fly list. ready to go to Alaska with my arctic animal tee.
Mar 10, 2025
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got into a severe car accident many years ago where my family and i were in the middle of nowhere on the way home from a wedding in san fran! the closest hospital was another 3 hr. drive so the ambulance took me to the nearest airport and from there we got helicopter lifted to the hospital and got there in 20 mins. i was hospitalized for 2 nights, but nonetheless, a wild experience!
Apr 26, 2024
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Spring always brings it out of me. The buds on the trees! The breezy warmth! The tulips appearing where there was once only a small patch of dirt for dogs to piss on! Everything is incredible and awesome and absurd and I’m always so grateful for the moments I can get past my own relatively small problems to stand in awe of the world :,)
Apr 12, 2024
you choose a decade and a country and it gives you obscure music from that time and place. built from the private collections of djs and crate diggers all over the world, there are so many gems on here. bonus roadtrip game–play a song and make your car mate guess the country/decade
Feb 20, 2024
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I have lots and generally stopped overthinking them after my first one. In theory, permanently marking your body is seen as an eternal commitment that carries a ton of weight, but I’ve really benefitted from flipping that on its head and using tattoos as a practice to remind myself of the impermanence of life and of my body (we’re all going to die :)). Now I give them to myself with needles from amazon, I let friends tattoo me, I get them on a whim when I’m traveling. I think a lot of people are scared of carrying physical markers of all the different people they’ve been (myself included), but I think doing so is actually a great practice in self acceptance—carrying all those versions of you, on you, all the time, baring them for others to see. The ones I got 4 years ago that I wouldnt get today don’t bother me even though I no longer resonate with them; they’re a personal history of sorts. And because of the whole death thing, all tattoos are temporary :)
Mar 25, 2024