I always liked stories about eccentric royals doing mad things. Queen Christina of Sweden reportedly had a miniature cannon made for firing tiny cannonballs at fleas in her bedroom. Louis XIV made a proto-reality-show of his daily routines, allowing an audience of courtiers the honor of watching him dress, bathe, and use the toilet. Peter the Great famously returned from […]

When you’re young, making a bucket list – things you want to do before you die — feels like you’re choosing prizes that will arrive in the mail later. I’ll take fluency in Italian, please, a 300-lb bench press, and a swim in the Nile. I’ll definitely want to drive a Ferrari on the Autobahn at some point. How about […]

Last week I had a friend for dinner, and she convinced me to do one of her favorite activities afterward: lie on the grass in the park and look at the sky. I was hesitant because I don’t like to lie down until nighttime, when the only goal is to end the day by losing consciousness. (My friend loves lying […]

When you die, you appear before a studio audience and they give you a standing ovation. The host then interviews you about your great successes and misses in life. One thing you realize, when they review the footage, is that you didn’t really try most of the time. You thought you had tried and failed to learn a second language, […]

The night before you travel somewhere, order your favorite pizza, eat some of it for dinner, and seal the rest in a bag and put it in the freezer. A week later, when you get home unexpectedly late, wiped out and ravenous, you’ll open your fridge to find only eggs, pickles, and condiments. Then, you’ll remember that your favorite pizza […]