That 20% gets earned

That's not how it works

You must be a very particular person to have seen or interacted with a celebrity in the wild more than once. Most importantly, you probably live in New York or LA. I love cities like Bethesda, Maryland, but you're probably not going to see Sandra Bullock walking around there. If you work in the entertainment industry, that also helps a lot with celeb spotting. Believe it or not, interviewing actors for media companies will put a lot of celebrities in front of you. Everybody has a different appr…

Teaching is not easy

Money is not an easy thing to manage. It comes and goes so quickly for a lot of us, and it's very difficult to predict how much cash you will need in the future. Chances are, it's a lot. We always need more money than we've got, and when you're in a situation of financial distress, you don't always know which way to turn. If you're lucky, you can ask your parents or grandparents to help you escape a financial pickle. Unfortunately, a lot of people's parents are in just as sticky a financial sit…

Someone who is good at the economy please help him

So many people are weird about age. We've got 20-year-olds telling 25-year-olds that they “look good for their age.” Middle-aged people are catastrophizing about young people killing various industries. Twenty-somethings claim that a 26-year-old dating a 38-year-old is a predatory age gap. If you're spending too much time online, it might seem like nobody knows how to be normal about age. Luckily, the internet is not the real world. In the real world, it is not looked negatively upon to have me…

"This doesn't encapsulate my experience, so it must be bad."

It's their space too

No McDonalds allowed in Calculus

Grocery shopping is not easy these days. Inflation is high, and the prices just aren't what they were two or three years ago. You have to be so strategic to get more bang for your buck, and even when you're careful, you still end up spending a fortune. My local grocery store has it's perks. I can get a box of pasta for $1.99, which is nice. However, there is only one brand of pasta sauce that isn't $11 dollars a pop! I am so loyal to that $4.99 pasta sauce, it's like I'm married to it. Buying s…

It's not that serious

Sure, Jan

There's something to be said about living joyfully in public. I try to be as kind and happy to strangers as possible, both because it's in my nature and it makes people's day. I love to smile at strangers, even though 90% of the time, they look back at me like I'm crazy, but that's just New York City, baby. Smile at strangers in any midwestern city, and you'll get many smiles back. Like everything, relentless positivity can be taken too far. It can become a turn-off when it veers into the realm…

It's not that weird

Polos, khakis, and boat shoes as far as the eyes can see