The Autumn Star

These are words that I'm pretty sure I created, or that were created with friends. Cake pops (adj) - When something is beyond awesome.  example: This essay on 19th century existential poets is totally cake pops!  Tinkerbitches (n) - Those ex-girlfriends or "just friends" girls who hover around your boyfriend, wreaking havoc and potentially trying to destroy you (or at least your relationship).  example: Your bf's ex keeps calling? That girl is a total tinkerbitch.  Memorygram (v) - When you apply a sense of emotion over a memory, to make the memory more palatable or more entertaining. Most common is the "rose-colored" lens.  example: Last summer's vacation sucked, but when Dad tells the story he Memorygrams it.  Mailencholy (adj) - That feeling you get when you realize all the new emails in your inbox are SPAM or junk mail.  example: A deep sense of mailencholy came over me when I realized the 5 new emails in my inbox were promotions and poli

"A house is not a home without a pet" - Anonymous It was my mom's idea to get a pet. I was living in a dark, dank apartment. I spent most of my days at work or at school, and most of my nights drinking vodka and trying desperately to sleep without nightmares. I was like a threadbare sweater--not so much unravelling as coming apart in huge, gaping holes.  What you need, Mama said, is something to come home to. Something that needs you and loves you.  Leaving a living thing in my care might be an act of criminal negligence, I replied. Or something to that effect. I couldn't even be counted on to brush my teeth. I once fell asleep on a chair in my kitchen trying to put together a manifesto out of magnetic poetry. I read morse code in streetlight blinkings and was convinced my reflection was trying to kill me.  But, Mama is not a woman to be deterred. We drove to Brooksville and I spent the afternoon in the sun playing with kittens. I wanted a pretty fema