Well, readers, I have some news! After 10 months of living at home with my parents, I finally saved up enough for a modest down payment and I am - drum roll - PURCHASING my own place!!! I do not exaggerate when I say that I have been waiting for this day my whole life.… Continue reading What it’s Like to Become a Homeowner
Author: SusieWittbrodt
Susie is an aspiring writer, poet, and avid Beatles fan. She is best known for coming in 2nd place in the Hillsdale Middle School 6th Grade Spelling Bee in 1999. Her hobbies include long walks on the beach, eating avocados with a spoon, and replacing the empty toilet paper roll when she visits other peoples' houses.
On Tomorrows
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. The other night I found myself reading through my old high school journals, and they all started and ended like that: short, clipped sentences, dense and muscular but starved for context. (I think I was reading a lot of Chuck Palahniuk at the time.) “We lost the football game last night,” one… Continue reading On Tomorrows
SoozCrooz: Day 5
I honestly had no intention of posting a recap of Day 5 – because Day 5’s itinerary (here’s where I pause for dramatic effect) was Los Angeles. I know, I know. I’m sorry for sullying your eyeballs with the very mention of that dreadful excuse for a city – it still horrifies me to think… Continue reading SoozCrooz: Day 5
SoozCrooz: Day 4
Before I start on Day 4, allow me to back up to Day 3 after my last post. Once I was properly dressed and warm, I consulted my cruise directory for my activity options for the evening. These are usually slim, considering that their demographic is the 60+ crowd… but one option was “jackpot bingo.”… Continue reading SoozCrooz: Day 4
SoozCrooz: Day 3
It is way too goddamn cold on this goddamn ship. Granted, the cold would be less bothersome if I wasn’t in a bathing suit, outside, on a deck chair next to a pool, just miles off the coast of San Fran-freaking-cisco where it is a balmy 61 degrees with 30mph winds. This is my doing,… Continue reading SoozCrooz: Day 3
SoozCrooz: Day 2
On the one hand, holy moly this trip is so much different than I expected. There are SO MANY PEOPLE. I don’t even know how to adequately express this to you. There are people everywhere. There is never not a person. Think you’ve found some secluded wine bar that is the ship’s best-kept secret? Just… Continue reading SoozCrooz: Day 2
SoozCrooz: Day 1
What. In the actual. HELL. Was I thinking? I’m standing in line to board a cruise I booked six months ago – when I was a newly single little lamb, fresh out of a six-year relationship and eager to show the world how Absolutely Okay™ I was. In the abstract, this idea sounded invigorating. Empowering.… Continue reading SoozCrooz: Day 1
On Tears, Depression, and Mixing Metaphors
Sometimes I feel it before it comes. Sometimes it builds in me, like a cough does – the way you track the tickle of it up your esophagus. You brace yourself, then; you cover your mouth, you look off into the middle distance expectantly. You give the apologetic one-finger to whoever you’re talking to. It… Continue reading On Tears, Depression, and Mixing Metaphors
On Moving Back in with Your Parents
I mentioned recently that I’m going through a lot of change these days. I moved cities, I'm newly single, I'm navigating a new remote working situation, and perhaps most notably - I, at age 28, just moved back in with my parents. Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, I'm okay. But let's take a… Continue reading On Moving Back in with Your Parents
On Breaking Up
First, a word on change: I've been going through an awful lot of change recently. In fact, my life is different in almost every conceivable way than it was just last month. One month ago, I lived in a tiny apartment in the heart of downtown Portland with my boyfriend and dog - walking to… Continue reading On Breaking Up
The Nutshell Version 