Stuff We Hate
Some days you need to focus on good things. Other days you need to fucking complain.
Lake George with White Birch (1921) by Georgia O’Keeffe
This morning I burned myself pouring my tea. I stripped naked and jumped into a cold shower, as repeatedly advised by my mother, but I was too slow and some skin started to peel off. So I stood there in the freezing cold water, crying, for about fifteen or twenty minutes, no exaggeration. (I know I’m stressed out right now because once I start crying, I can’t stop.) And that part felt weirdly good, if I’m being honest. But after that, I had to blow-dry the rest of my body because I have a giant rash on my leg that may or may not be some kind of fungal infection (more answers from this afternoon’s dermatology appointment) and it’s supposed to be very dry before you (reapply!) the antifungal cream.
You know those days where you can’t seem to do the one thing you need to do, because your body is a patchwork of scars and rashes and emergencies? Well, when I tried to get to work on this column, I discovered that my doctor sent me the results of a recent test, but I can’t view the test because it requires logging into yet another patient portal and I’m missing some important code to do that. (HOW MANY GODDAMN PATIENT PORTALS ARE THERE AND WHY DON’T ANY OF THEM LEAD TO THE SNOWY WOODS WHERE A WEIRD QUEEN SERVES YOU TURKISH DELIGHT?)
So listen up, fellow frail humans. I want this newsletter to lift you up. I want it to be a source of inspiration and joy and all of the good shit. Sometimes I back away from writing extremely direct posts that start in the first person because I don’t want you to feel like you’re just getting a page out of my journal. I want more for you than that!
But I also feel like we need more variety around here — more fun, more weirdness, more wandering, more interviews (some good ones on the way!), more experimentation, more conversation and mutual support, and even more darkness sometimes. I mean, why are we even here, if we don’t have any room to be grumpy and complain together?
Hating stuff is not that popular at the moment because there’s already so much bleakness and hatred out there. But it would be nice to have a tiny little safe space to just bitch about some things, big and small, wouldn’t it?
Maybe it’s the uncertainty around the omicron variant. (MABYE IT WILL BE FRIENDLIER AND MILDER! WHO KNOWS? MAYBE IT WILL MAKE YOUR HAIR SOFTER AND MORE LUSTROUS! ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!) Maybe it’s just the uncertainty inside my head. But today, rather than posting another advice column (I do have a few good ones, locked and loaded!) today it seems more fun to talk about stuff I hate and stuff you hate and stuff we hate together.
So please tell me some things that piss you off. Or just complain to me. Or tell me what makes you feel better when you feel like shit. Let’s compare notes on what this fucking variant is already doing to our stressed-out cells, okay?
Now I have to go get my Moderna booster, but I will be back to join the WE ALL HATE SO MUCH STUFF conference in a few minutes. Thank you for your patience, kindness, and bitter complaints!
xoxo
Polly
Last night I came home from work late and tired, having walked home in cute new boots that made my feet hurt from my day at the office in my "hybrid" job where going to the office feels like playacting and just leaves me wrung out. I stopped at the store and picked up fresh bucatini, sauce, meatballs so I could get dinner on the table for my growing 15-year-old (who always requires meals) and came into the house ready to slam it together. He was hovering expectantly in the kitchen I was trying not to be grumpy as I dug through the really awkward and messy pantry nook for the big pasta pot. I shook loose a bag of cocoa powder from the top shelf that flew open and coated the entire pantry nook in cocoa powder and I lost my shit in a string of vicious expletives. I started to clean it up and realized I couldn't deal and asked him to please do it which he did, reasonably well.
Later, after mediocre bucatini and sauce and meatballs, we shared a perfectly crisp, sweet and juicy apple and he told me things were going so well for him at school right now he almost feels overwhelmed. It was the best night.
I hate that I can't like or reply to a lot of these, not sure why! I press Reply and no box pops up. I'm reading everything here nonetheless. Next time I'll use the thread format, even though I don't like it as much. Clearly this hurricane of hate is overloading the system!