My Thought of the Day

Thought of the Day

Can’t catch a Break, it Seems…

L.J. LaBree

I swear either someone has put a hex on me, or the world really does not want to see me move forward in life.

Monday morning was as normal as any other. I woke up and struggled to emerge from my warm blankets, dressed myself while in a sleepy stupor, and dragged myself down the stairs to breakfast before I left for work.

The car was even working normally, too. No lights were on, no noise other than the beautiful gentle hum of my perfectly working engine, and not even a tire pressure light (the bane of my existence). I parked in the normal areas of the parking garage a short walking distance from my office and grabbed my backpack to start another work week.

Who would have thought the vehicle gods would look upon my good mood and decide to make it rain?

The moment I get into the car and turn it on, the check engine light, the general warning light, and the VSA lights all turn on, and the car begins to rock back and forth like a cat threatening to puke on the carpet.

I cannot even begin to describe the wave of anger and frustration coursing through me. I have had that car effectively worked on and off with the mechanic for the last two years. She has a 2-year-old engine put in, a brand-new transmission put in just a few months ago, all four tires either new or less than a year old, and brand new brakes. If I had to guess, I would say I’ve put at least $10k into her since February of ’22. The ONLY thing that is ‘original’ on that car is the frame and paint job. If you think about it, she’s really a ’22 vehicle with classic ’07 vibes.

I honestly don’t know how this could have happened.

I’m sure no one tried to put something in the gas tank – the flap covering the cap locks when the car is locked. Can’t open the hood without pulling the inside lever either. The only way someone could get into the engine is to go beneath, and you’re looking at a tight squeeze without a jack.

So how in Earth’s good green acres did that car go from running beautifully in the morning, sitting in the same spot all day, to threatening to fall apart like dried Play-Doh in the evening?

I’m honestly at my wit’s end. Whenever it seems like I’m able to save money, something happens to that car to take every single cent away.

“Welcome to the ‘Adult-Club’, Leah.” I can hear someone saying.

No, this is not an ‘Adult-Club’ thing. An ‘Adult-Club’ thing is having the occasional car issue, but not breaking the bank. Having major internal work done on the car every other season, thus consistently draining what little savings I have to nil, is not.

I’m just so frustrated that the problems aren’t done. I could trade her in, but I don’t want to. Call me a sentimental fool, but that SUV has been through a lot with me.

That SUV saw me through one of the biggest changes in my life: moving out of Maine and into Massachusetts. She helped me job-hop until I landed in MIT. She saw me through 5 different apartments and she always brought me home in one piece. On the few times she did break down on me, she did so in a way that felt like she cared about my safety and well-being. Laugh all you want, but I am convinced that ol’ girl has a soul.

How can I give up on her just yet? I’m convinced I still have at least two more years left in her. I want to at least see her turn 20. If I can get her there, then I will be satisfied.

So keep your fingers crossed for me and pray it’s only a $100 or less fix.

Thought of the Day

Keep Calm and Keep Pushing Forward…

L.J. LaBree

Hey everyone,

It’s been a while, so I’ll just gloss over a few things that have happened since my last posting. (I think it was back in May??? Yeesh, how time flies!)

I moved… again. I won’t go into a whole lot of details here, but just know that the last place I was living in was detrimental to my mental health, my physical health, and my wallet. Note to self, never rent an apartment that has everything electrical – lights, heating, etc.; It’ll only eat through my savings account like a swarm of locusts through a harvest. Plus, it doesn’t help when the landlord refuses to accept payment other than checks and doesn’t deposit on a regular basis.

I now live in an apartment in Somerville with four other people, but the good news is everyone gets their own bathrooms. I don’t have to share 🥰. The bad news, pets aren’t allowed unless I pay an extra $50 a month (unless they are registered as an ESA – which Spooky is). However, I have to have permissions from all of my roommates in order to have her. One of them is proving…difficult. So until I can get express approval from everyone, Spooky has to stay with my parents. They’re okay with it, but it can be hard at times, especially when Spooky is being a bit of a bully.

Not much else has happened, except for the various holidays and the election this week. Halloween/All Hallow’s Eve/Samhain was nice. Got to see a lot of trick-or-treaters, which was especially heart-warming! And speaking of warming, it was an unusually warm night. Even now it’s 64 degrees outside. Unusually warm for November. Makes me nervous for our ecosystem.

Speaking of November, I wanted to talk a little about this past Tuesday.

It was…a hard pill to swallow.

I went to bed after voting that night, thinking that things would be fine. I felt I wouldn’t need to worry about my rights as a woman being in danger, that people would be capable of seeing reason. Or at least feel enough to set aside their differences and vote to progress our country into the future. But that didn’t happen. Wednesday morning, I found there are those who would rather lord a say over my body than give me choice. There are those who would rather judge, and condemn, others based on their looks, rather than by their character. There are those who would rather dictate how others should love, than look into their own hearts and try to heal their own pains.

I was sad, but held it together Wednesday morning. That is, until I read an email from my mother, apologizing for the actions and severity of her generation. My boss walked in on me crying and trying so hard to wipe away the tears, only to have more replace them. She was not the only one who consoled me, nor was she the only one who shared my grief and fears for the future.

My future, and her own child’s future.

It was a quiet and solemn day in the office. Then again, so far this week it’s been quiet and solemn. I suspect it will for a while.

But I suppose that is the will of nature and life. Sometimes progress wins, and sometimes regression wins.

There’s a lot of things I would like to say, but I know I can’t. Not yet, at least. Because I know there are those who would love to take my words, twist them into something more heinous and cruel, and use them to make my life a living miserable hell.

But what I can say is this: This may seem like a big setback in our world, but it doesn’t have to be. That…man and his little crew of degenerates and progress-haters, they’re only a small portion of this country. They may act like they’re gods, but they aren’t. They’re still human. They bleed red just like the rest of us.

How quickly these elected officials forget that when they are voted into those positions, they can be voted out. How quickly they forget that the very purpose, the very existence, of those positions they covet, are solely to serve the masses. Us.

Let’s help remind them of what it truly means to hold such positions.

So yes, let’s take the time to grieve our pains and to lick our wounds. Let us take the time to rest, to take care of our selves, and to take deep breaths.

This is NOT the time to panic. Things are not always as dark as they appear to be.

My grandparents always used to tell me, whether it was baking a cake or learning math, panicking will only get you deeper into trouble. Take a step back, take deep breaths, keep calm, and keep pushing forward. A cake can always be saved, and a math problem can always be solved.

We can get through this. We will get through this.

Sometimes you have to draw the arrow back in order to make it fly forward.

Thought of the Day

Lesson Learned: Don’t Order DoorDash while Hungry…

L.J. LaBree

Most of the time, I’m pretty good at covering my bases and being thorough.

But sometimes, especially when I’m hungry, steps will get skipped by accident.

Today happened to be one of those days.

It was right around lunchtime when my oopsie happened. I went to the mini fridge we keep in the office like I always do, ready to warm up my lunch and chow down. However, when I opened the lid, I found out the mashed potatoes had an unseemly hue of brownish-orange, and the chicken smelled like it needed to start living in a bio-hazard bag. Honestly not sure how it happened – I made the dish just this past weekend as prep. But I guess I didn’t seal the lunch pail tight enough.

Knowing the two chocolate-granola bars and small bag of almonds I keep in my desk wouldn’t be enough, I decided to order some Pad Thai on DoorDash. It’s quick, easy, and opens up a huge variety of foods that I like for a reasonable price. The only reason I don’t order often is because, well, a girl’s gotta keep an eye on the wallet! Bills need to be paid!

Well, just goes to show how often I order on the app! What I didn’t realize when I placed the order, is that the last time I made a purchase, it was for three bags of mandarin oranges for a weekly meeting of scientists called Colloquium on campus. I was out sick that day (Thank you, Covid), and wrote in the delivery notes section to deliver the bag to one of my coworkers who was in the office that day. Keep in mind, this was back in February!

Cut to today, where my boss had to escort the poor delivery driver to my office, asking if I had meant to order some Pad Thai for my coworker who was working from home today. I profusely apologized and took the meal to my desk.

I’m pretty sure my boss got a kick out of it though.

It’s one of the things I love about working here – I can either pick up an order from one of the nearby restaurants or have it delivered if I’m too busy. I try not to make it a habit, though. It’s only once in a blue moon when I do decide to buy my lunch instead of bringing it from home. Plus, I like to cook!

Next time, I’m going to make sure I eat something before I place another food delivery order.

Thought of the Day

Somedays I Wish my Brain had a USB Port…

L.J. LaBree

Ever have those moments where you have an epiphany of creativity, coupled with the inability to write the idea down, promising yourself that you’ll remember it later, only to never think of it again?

Yeah, those moments tend to come around in the middle of the night for me.

It’s always around 3am too, right when my cat gets bored that she’s the only one awake in the apartment, in the whole house really, and demands I awake from my deep slumber to keep her company.

For the life of me, I couldn’t tell you what the wonderful idea was – I know it must have been some sort of residual image or story my mind came up with as I dreamt – it’s rare for me to not have a vivid colorful dream of some sort.

What I can tell you is I was so inspired by this dream, I started plotting a story to follow. Of course, I had to placate the furry brat first, but as I was petting her and letting her drool her happy drool on my face (gross!). It was something that was inspiring and worthy of one – no, TWO Oscars for original screenplay and movie adaptation from a novel. I remember smiling and imagining walking up those hallowed stairs, accepting my award from a beaming Emma Stone ( who seems like a real cool gal if you ask me), and just as I was about to give my speech, see my dad quickly bound up the steps, hug me hard, then go back down to sit with my mom… along with my award.

What? Obviously I’m going to bring them to my first award show.

And what did I do while I was imagining this lovely scene? Did I actually rouse myself to grab my notebook next to my bed and write down this wonderful award-winning story?

NOPE.

I fell asleep petting Spooky.

When I woke up again at 6am, the only thing I remember from this story is the fact that I actually came up with a story.

Faaaaantastic.

I ended up taking faaaar too much time that morning wracking my brain, trying to remember even an ounce of my story.

Not even a crumb was remembered.

These are the days when I think life would be so much easier if I had a USB port somewhere on my head and plug in my phone so I can record everything I can see in my dreams. BOOM, no more forgetting stories or plot lines. Just think of all the stories I could remember and save!

Ah well, such is the daydream for writers.

Thought of the Day

I Thought I Was Done With You…

L.J. LaBree

Two weekends ago was supposed to have been fun.

My day should have started early before the sun came up, car packed, and me sipping on a hot matcha latte as I drove the two hours to Portland, where I was supposed to meet my parents and let them spoil me with birthday gifts and chocolate cake.

What did I do instead? I caught Covid-19.

Again.

Imagine my anger, fear, and frustration when I woke up feeling as though my bones were carved from ice harvested from the pits of Antartica, tears spilling without rhyme or reason – including the inability to shut them off, and my head feeling as though I had shoved it inside a volcano.

A quick text to my mother, and I was back in bed with the heated blanket plugged in and turned on the highest number the silver-grey dial could go.

I spent the following 12 hours waking up intermittently, shoving my head into a toilet and emptying what little contents were in my stomach, fitful hallucenogenic dreams, and sipping microscopic amounts of water.

I didn’t even have to wait 15 minutes for the Covid test to work. The moment the snot-solution reached the T section, the whole line turned a bright fire-engine red. There was no mistaking or misreading anything.

I had Covid.

I spent the rest of the week in bed, self quarantining from everyone. There were some days where I could barely even stand.

I’m better now, thank the heavens. Though, I can barely taste any flavors in my food, and I’m constantly smelling god-awful scents that aren’t even anywhere around me, also known as Phantosmia.