ArcaMax

I stood inside 7-Eleven on my way to the office, staring dead-eyed at the drink case and reaching for yet another Celsius to patch in the cracks of exhaustion. A disembodied voice emerged from my left temporal lobe, whispering:

Water.

I bought the dumbest bottle of water. It was Icelandic, or Norwegian, or from some other place ...Read more

I am moving to a new house a few miles away. Apologies to my neighbors who are finding out by reading this. When you live in the suburbs, I suppose the proper thing to do is stand on the stoop a la Tony Soprano and be belly-forward with personal news, but I'd rather disassociate by lining up hoarded hotel shampoos like a glass menagerie. Also,...Read more

We recently received an invitation to a friend's house for game night.

"Great," I told my husband. "Do we have to play games?"

I am not opposed to all games. I'm not opposed to anyone who plays games, game designers, game salespeople, game collectors. I hereby recognize that games bring pleasure to untold humans in an often dispiriting world...Read more

New school year, work your magic.

Bring on the perfectly plaited braids and buns topped with bows, the toothy, spitty smiles, the crinkly corners of eyes. Stuff our souls with smushed sandwiches and sloshing squares of purple juice.

Unearth those adorable, dorky chalkboards. Age: 6. Grade: 1. Favorite food: Noodles. Cupcakes. Goldfish. When ...Read more

As a mere regular person, I don't know how political vetting works. I picture an episode of "Veep." Lots of blazers whirring by, young assistants decoding Gen Z memes, haggard operatives unearthing photos of potential candidates with appendages in light sockets. It was one time! In college!

When laboring over a presidential running mate, did ...Read more

The word "dissociation" gets bandied about in these chaotic times, usually in context of watching forced proximity dating shows or capybara videos. This type of mental clocking out is passable but ultimately unfulfilling. It's numbing at best, doing little to stoke the champion fires within.

The Olympics, though. The Olympics have dropped ...Read more

After hours battling Disney passholder traffic on a Florida highway, I hustled into the theater moments before showtime. It's not a good start, being out of breath at a 4DX movie.

My seat on the end of a cluster of four immediately started jostling violently during a preview. I felt an ominous aura as breakfast bubbled up.

Maybe those theme ...Read more

A-five-six-seven-eight.

A homeowner cracks the front door to retrieve a package. The sodden summer air crashes through the entryway like a wave. The homeowner breathes in, letting the warmth fill her air-conditioned lungs, soaking in sun to combat the stain of blue monitor light. The fine hairs on her arms elevate. She closes her eyes. Big ...Read more

Imagine being George Clooney.

No, really. Do this with me real quick. It will be more fun than whatever you were planning. That cereal bowl you were about to wash doesn't have the same mischievous glimmer as our Clooney abstraction.

Ok, so you're Georgie. You're an A-list movie star, husband to a brilliant human rights lawyer, father to ...Read more

I just returned from a 10-day family trip to Southern California. In some ways, it was three days too many. In other ways, it was just right, the perfect amount of time to force renewed soft feelings for my home state of Florida, a perplexing place locals know far too intimately, a madcap swamp we make Olympic sport of criticizing and ...Read more

At one time, the recent presidential debate carried promise. There would be no hooting frat house audience gassing up their preferred elder statesman. A timer would cut off the microphones of overzealous speakers, which sounds like a charming feature regular people could use when their Hinge dates talk about fishing. Perhaps this would be a ...Read more

I feel most insignificant gazing up at the stars or pondering what happens inside a super massive black hole. Or, you know, reading how Harvard researchers recently said aliens could be on Earth passing as humans, which, correct me if I'm wrong, is the plot of "Men in Black."

Other times, a Jimmy Buffett cruise does the philosophical trick.

...Read more

School is out, the children's brains have begun to gleefully rot and summer vacations are upon us. As I write to you, I am preparing for a glorious two weeks away, heading to Southern California for a classic Griswold family vacation.

I've been weighing the pros and cons of asking friends and acquaintances for restaurant and diversion ...Read more