My first job was as a seasonal associate at a used bookshop/vintage costume rental shop/dance studio
An obscenely elderly woman from France named Martin owned the bookshop and I can’t recall the name of her daughter who owned the dance studio but I primarily worked for the other daughter Danielle who owned the costume business.
Danielle was the widow of my dad‘s dearly departed best friend. Every year for Halloween we would go to her shop and pick out a one-of-a-kind historical costume for me to wear—many of these were actually just antique pieces of clothing that had been immaculately preserved over the years.
Flipping through her fat binder of costume photos to decide what I wanted to be was always the highlight and kickoff of my Halloween season. One year I was a flapper; another year I was a saloon hall girl (I was probably 12 this is where well-meaning liberal parents who let you be yourself can go wrong!! Lol); during my edgy goth era I was Lizzie Borden.
During the autumn after I graduated high school Danielle needed cash under the table seasonal help for the Halloween rush so I jumped at the chance to work for her. I mended and organized costumes in the massive backroom (which by the way felt haunted and like I was being watched at all times despite being the only person there, especially after the sun went down) and retrieved them for customers to try on upon their request. I answered phones, kept the shop tidy, and shelved and organized books and antique magazines. I decorated the shop for Halloween!
I bought a few magazines from the bookshop including the one in the below photo, an old paperback copy of Lolita with a weird sticker of a cartoon Native American person on it, and a book of black and white magic spells attributed to Marie Laveau.
I quickly learned Danielle was a miserable person. She had a nonfunctioning vacuum cleaner that was about 30 years old and would yell at me until I cried saying that I clearly didn’t know how to vacuum. Martin would insist that I eat bananas she offered me and would then act gravely offended and lecture me when I declined (yes, this happened multiple times; no, I did not learn my lesson and just take the banana). One day I ate a muffin on my break and Danielle fired me for eating at work so you can imagine how the conflicting instructions gave me whiplash. Anyway Danielle died RIP 🪦 🥀
Honorable mentions after that I was a restaurant hostess, I worked in an old airstream converted into a coffee stand at a farmer’s market, and I helped my dad’s cool dirtbag old friend Fred sell antique jewelry weapons and oddities at gun shows
Apr 13, 2024
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I had a strict self-imposed morning routine starting in elementary school where I would set an alarm to wake up at 5:00 am, get up and go to the backyard where I would do circuits alternating between running laps, jumping rope, jumping jacks, push-ups, and crunches. Then I would sit and watch Pappyland, Golden Girls, and knitting shows until my dad made me breakfast and I would try to get to school very early just so that I could be there before other people were.
I wanted to be a standup comedian when I was four, then a news broadcaster, then an author, to name a few. I wrote a novella in fifth grade and shared it with everyone I could. I loved agility training my dog Holly. I was a voracious reader and checked out every book out in my school library to the point my school librarian started bringing me her own books from home that she thought I would be interested in.
I had approximately one million Barbie dolls and their associated accessories and I liked to make outfits for them and have them act out news broadcasts and murder mysteries. I would take roly polies from the dirt or crickets from the pet store and build habitats for them. I liked gardening with my dad, pulling weeds, propagating cuttings, and planting seeds. I loved going to the zoo and watching movies on TCM with my mom!
My dad is an artist and taught me the fundamentals of art and to use all kinds of different mediums, but my favorite was oil pastel. I enjoyed doing still lives the most. I liked to rearrange and decorate my bedroom—once I made a closet breakfast nook that I was really excited about; I called it Dorothea’s Cafe after my late grandmother and decorated it with her embroideries. I loved Nancy Drew games and other computer games. At night I would take bubble baths in the dark and play whale sounds in my Barbie car that had a built in CD player.
As I got older, I was in youth symphony orchestra (I played viola which is so me), choir, school musicals (wanted to be a Broadway star until I realized I couldn’t dance but also I kept getting cast as a boy), math club, and speech competitions (poetry readings and dramatic readings were my favorite). I liked to write original fiction and comics for my weird goth/emo/scene anime nerd friends to read. I did get into anime and manga at this time and I loved reading nonfiction to learn about as many things as I could.
In high school I gradually retreated into my shell after a series of traumatic experiences, one of which I’m writing about now, until basically I stopped doing all extracurriculars except for Japanese Club (lol). I just really loved my Japanese language teacher and wanted to spend more time with her :-) by that time I would just read classic tones and furiously scribble poetry and drawings by myself. I also liked to collage and do photography and I unfortunately became a Tumblr user. That’s about it…
Oct 18, 2024
But I am kind of a goober with the most boring job on the planet just objectively speaking (luckily it gives me freedom to do other fun things in my spare time like writing and making stuff like a podcast and now YouTube gameplay videos).
You can see a recommended post below this one entitled Well to read about my prior career aspirations. Teen me would probably be disappointed but it’s okay.
I finally own a dog like I wanted. I have clear skin, boobs, and the ability to talk to people now which I never thought would happen. i live somewhere green and rainy instead of the sunny desert!
I did also get to fulfill my attention-seeking childhood dream of being on TV because I’m a hair model for a local salon owner and we did a spot on the morning news (lol). I have very nice hair in general all the time for this same reason which was something I always dreamed of as a reckless serial DIY hair cutter/colorer.
Editing to add that I also wanted to die tragically young of tuberculosis and fall in love in the sanatorium. or to be like Emily Dickinson and live by myself next to a cemetery writing to myself but feared having my imaginary future writing shared posthumously without my consent like Kafka. But look at me now I can’t stop posting so I think I failed at the whole mysterious hermit thing (though I am relatively solitary)
Oct 18, 2024
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In 5th grade i forgot to tell my Mom we were having a Halloween prty and parade thing at school and made her pick me up a costume last minute. She bought me this big orange felt pumpkin costume lol. It was so corny and not cool. I don’t think it was even a jack o’ lantern. All my friends had these really cool elaborate masks like one from the Goosebumps show and i had to walk around as a lil pumpkin. It was really embarrassing. Anyways i think about it a lot.
Anyways, my fav was prob when i dressed as a robot with this cool custom outfit i helped make out of cardboard boxes when i was like 7.
Jun 1, 2024
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My dad teases me about how when I was a little kid, my favorite thing to do when I was on the landline phone with somebody—be it a relative or one of my best friends—was to breathlessly describe the things that were in my bedroom so that they could have a mental picture of everything I loved and chose to surround myself with, and where I sat at that moment in time. Perfectly Imperfect reminds me of that so thanks for always listening and for sharing with me too 💌
Feb 23, 2025
May 28, 2025
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I’ve been thinking about how much of social media is centered around curating our self-image. When selfies first became popular, they were dismissed as vain and vapid—a critique often rooted in misogyny—but now, the way we craft our online selves feels more like creating monuments.
We try to signal our individuality, hoping to be seen and understood, but ironically, I think this widens the gap between how others perceive us and who we really are. Instead of fostering connection, it can invite projection and misinterpretation—preconceived notions, prefab labels, and stereotypes. Worse, individuality has become branded and commodified, reducing our identities to products for others to consume.
On most platforms, validation often comes from how well you can curate and present your image—selfies, aesthetic branding, and lifestyle content tend to dominate. High engagement is tied to visibility, not necessarily depth or substance. But I think spaces like PI.FYI show that there’s another way: where connection is built on shared ideas, tastes, and interests rather than surface-level content. It’s refreshing to be part of a community that values thoughts over optics.
By sharing so few images of myself, I’ve found that it gives others room to focus on my ideas and voice. When I do share an image, it feels intentional—something that contributes to the story I want to tell rather than defining it. Sharing less allows me to express who I am beyond appearance.
For women, especially, sharing less can be a radical act in a world where the default is to objectify ourselves. It resists the pressure to center appearance, focusing instead on what truly matters: our thoughts, voices, and authenticity. I’ve posted a handful of pictures of myself in 2,500 posts because I care more about showing who I am than how I look.
In trying to be seen, are we making it harder for others to truly know us? It’s a question worth considering.
Dec 27, 2024