Recently, the principles of Feng Shui—an ancient Chinese art which advocates a system of placement within a space to harmonize various energies—became incredibly important to me. (By sheer coincidence, there was an unpleasant job I didn’t want to do, and spending the afternoon rearranging my office seemed preferable.) After some time browsing Feng Shui websites, […]

For years people have asked me if I’ve ever thought about organizing a conference for multipotentialites. “Yeah, I know. That would be awesome… Maybe someday…” Was usually my response. It just sounded like so much work, and I always had other things I was working on. But when Vanessa Tharp, a puttypeep in our community, […]

“Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy.”   Gandhi didn’t say that; neither did Oprah. Tim Ferriss? Close, but nope. One of my all-time favorite role models, Ms. Frizzle, was an eccentric 4th-grade science teacher at Walkerville Elementary School. She drove her students around on a Magic School Bus, where they would sometimes travel back […]

Hi friends! For several years now, I’ve published an annual “looking ahead at the new year” post here on Puttylike. I started calling it an anti-goal-setting post because, as time goes by, I find the traditional notion of “goals” less and less appealing and helpful for me. Instead of having specific, measurable, well-defined goals, I […]

When I was a kid and I heard Margaret Cho complain about her strict, Asian parents, I was bowled over. It was so relatable, and there weren’t many other Asians in the small Texas town I grew up in, so I had no idea this was a shared experience. Generalizations be damned, Margaret spoke the […]

I was super excited about my plan. I was going to write a book, and do software development, and share about anxiety through stand-up comedy. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asked a family member, doubtfully. And that was enough to utterly deflate me. One comment! And not even a harsh one—a simple question. […]

Ho ho ho! ‘Tis Emilie here. Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE the holiday season. But it’s not just the cheer and food and music and family and friends. I also like looking back and reflecting on the last twelve months. I usually publish an annual review on Puttylike–and I’ll be getting […]

This year I’ve experienced a constant stream of setbacks, of varying degrees of seriousness: minor administrative life hassle, major family tragedy, missed career opportunities, painful emotional entanglements, idiotic breakages, unexpected financial demands. At times, it’s felt as if the universe was sending me regular doses of deliberate punishment. Each problem on its own wouldn’t be […]