The Inventory

a collection of internet pebbles unrelated to the apocalypse

While I imagine that you’re the sort of person who takes a rough inventory of your personal effects prior to moving houses, as I am, I now find myself a month into our new home with all of my personal effects surrounding me completely uninventoried. We had to skip the part where I made lists and ordered boxes, hired movers and made a plan, and instead the emotional hurricane seems to have fueled my person and inspired him to just move it all, in whatever order and vessel he could.

I’m tremendously grateful.

I also feel like I’m unpacking from an actual tropical storm. The birthday gifts I had purchased for my coworker and boss are still filed under the landslide of things that are not needed on a daily basis. In between question sets and content modules for the MCAT, I unbox a thing or two, but have also elected to forgo the gifting of items to people this year due to personal matters. I’m sorry. I would have loved to purchase the just right thing for you, to be delivered by my new FedEx friend.

Instead, inspired by the cute and whimsical idea that penguins select and gift one another pebbles, I’m sending you these things I’ve uncovered from the internet. I’m not suggesting that you buy them, this is just a little bit of show-and-tell.

The Korean Vegan
I do not know who this woman is, but she has published a cookbook that feels interesting. Not because it is Korean or because it is vegan, but because it is both. While I cannot in good conscious recommend any specific pattern of eating to you, dear reader, I can suggest that vegan meals deserve a spot in everyone’s rotation as they tend to sport vegetables and are handy if you have a friend over for a meal whose dietary needs or preferences are fully within the vegan circle of the Venn diagram. My personal preference is for foods that do not contain fish or fish sauce, which is one reason this particular combination is intriguing.

The other reason is that the author writes some powerful poetry, which she speaks at a camera while she cooks. I’m confident this is findable via your video feeder of choice, so I’ll leave you to that, but encourage you to consider the book, the woman, the poetry, or all of the above.

Whaleshark beach towels
Our new home does not have a dedicated ‘linen’ closet anywhere, which is simultaneously totally fine and very irritating. We own only one set of sheets for our one bed (and another smaller set for the inflatable bed), but we have accumulated sufficient towels to take troops of friends inner tubing on the creek, to wipe down the dog after dog park walks, to have a beach vacation, and to have a clean towel for each shower for a week without doing laundry. The last thing we need is another towel. And yet, ye olde internet tries to sell me these things… and this is one I buy in my imagination.

I would love to be the person who goes to the beach to picnic with the sunset on occasion, and if I did, I imagine I would keep this in my trunk or picnic basket. Plus, whales know things.

Earl Grey Tea
In September, when we were staying in the rat’s mouth, our luxury suite included access to some executive lounge with various nibbles and beverages, and I did my level best to consume my bodyweight in this tea. I’m sure the other varieties are great, but what with my one-woman tea competition, I couldn’t be bothered to hydrate with alternatives.

Ceramics and more for Tea
If at some point we achieve world peace, arrest global warming, level all of the playing fields and feed the everyone, I will spend the rest of my earthly wealth outfitting my home via this local shop…

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And as you may (or may not!) know, I’m in that icky space of grief after the shock and before whatever is coming fills the vacuum created by the profound loss. I have more pebbles for others who are in the land of grief, which is likely all of us as the year draws to a close and we are reminded of things we’ve lost, even if they are just the days of summer….