Two ways of holding an opinion: Extreme but easily swayed, moderate but deeply entrenched
If you don't realise which type of opinion-holder you're dealing with, conflict will escalate
Messy spot in your house? Put it on a tray.
Junk, like cats, likes a demarcated space. I bet you could just group everything together on an A4 piece of paper and it would look neater.
That time I wrote down every single object I own
Last weekend I did a big declutter and then did the mildly psychopathic thing of writing down everything I own in a spreadsheet.
"Am I overreacting?" Excerpts from Dear Prudence
I read Daniel Lavery nee Ortberg's advice column, and there's a theme that comes up a lot in his answers: 'You are not overreacting, you are reacting.'
Rec for fiction writers who are struggling to actually write
The Couch to 80k 8-week writing bootcamp is a free 20-minute podcast with, and this is the bit that makes it marvellous, timed writing sessions.
"Should I go to that thing or stay home?"
There are three basic phases of life, and we’re constantly cycling between them: Pushing Yourself, Overdoing It, and Resting.
Fake smiles are real smiles: a more complicated view of authenticity
What people usually call a fake smile is a deliberate smile rather than a spontaneous one. I just... so strongly dispute the idea that deliberate communication is less real than instant reaction.
Addictions shape social interactions
Technological progress makes addictive things more concentrated and effective - from opium to heroin, willowbark to aspirin, myspace to facebook.
Which side will your margin of error fall on?
If your plan is based around perfect judgement and no mistakes ever, that is a terrible plan.
Why trouble comes in bunches
So a thing I do pretty often is catch the wrong tram and not realise until I've gone way past the point where the two tramlines diverge, and then have to walk a bunch of blocks across to where my proper tram is. And I swear this always