Nuggs #1: Petting Pedro Pascal, DIY Therapy, Contemplating Divorce, and More!

What's taking up space in my ginormous brain

I hurt coming out

I came up with “nuggs” a few years ago, mid-Struggle Bus commute, agonizing over how to write for myself. The big stuff intimidated me. I could only ever think of stuff that seemed too little and insignificant to Write About: The funny things that crossed my path. The random memories that wandered by. All the floaty bits taking up space in my giant baby brain. Those aren’t enough, I thought.

But then. Why not collect them anyway? I’d call them nuggs, and I wouldn’t worry about what they were.

Guess what? Chicken butt: nuggs are everything. I log them like a maniac. They’ve been exactly the creative jumpstart I needed.

I begin all my writing classes by asking my students to share a recent nugg; the better you get at nugg collecting, says me, the better you get at noticing. And the better you are at noticing, the easier it becomes to write.

In his fantastic book The Creative Act, Rick Rubin calls them “seeds”: “We’re searching for potential starting points that, with love and care, can grow into something beautiful. At this stage, we are not comparing them to find the best seed. We simply gather them.” I dig that term too.

Okay LECTURE OVER remember the small stuff people, here we go, nine recent nuggs:

1. We’re moving! With only one kid who’s close to graduating college, we realized HEY we don’t need all this yard. We’re downsizing and headed to the city and I am so excited. A fine young family bought our house sight unseen, which apparently happens in this crazy market? As my friend Mary said at dinner last night, “I couldn’t even buy a house unsmelled.”

2. My son got his first dog! His name is Obi, short for Pedro Pascal’s Game of Thrones character, Oberyn. The resemblance is BANANAS:

   

   I went to assist in welcoming Obi and laughed when Ty’s roommate Will gasped, “I can finally say ‘The dog ate my homework!’” To which his other roommate Harper enthusiastically added: “The dog ate my photoshop files!”

3. Holy moly, lots of good reading happening. If you love thinking, “how on earth did someone come up with this I wish I were this weird and good,” I’m in the middle of just that: All Fours. Mere hours ago, this mindbogglingly good piece by

   Laurie Stone
   hit me hard. (And lest you think I’m trying to be all cool and stuff, please know that I am also in the middle of a kids’ book after Paul mentioned “light years” as we were looking at the stars and I nodded like I understood but then a voice in my head screamed “quit lying and read a fact for once in your life.” SO I AM!)

4. I’m also in the middle of some hijinky TV smut, if that’s your thing: Tell Me Lies, season 2. Do NOT watch episode 3 on a crowded plane! Take it from me and my new banned-for-life SWA status.

5. In starting to pack up the house, I found a box in the garage with Paul’s handwriting: “guages.” Guages!!! What kind of self-respecting English major would I be if I stayed with him? Quick poll:

6. I recently met one of my niece’s hilarious friends, E, who’s currently student teaching. I texted E to ask how it was going, and here’s her response: “A 6th grader shit his pants on purpose so he could leave early.” 10/10 that kid’s going places.

7. I have seen an oddly high amount of snakes this summer—all small, but still enough to make me feel like I’m having a heart attack. I’m tired of being terrified, so have started researching “DIY exposure therapy for snakes.” On one of the sites, the first recommended step is to get comfortable looking at cartoon snakes like the one below. I thought it was the most ridiculous tip ever, but then I saw a snake, and I laughed a little thinking about the cartoon version so maybe it works? I simply do not understand anything anymore.

   

8. I had my annual physical and the nurse came in first to ask me a list of questions. “Do you have a preferred arm for me to take your blood pressure?” She says. “No,” I say. “Do you feel safe at home?” She says. I burst out laughing. “Wow, those are two really different questions back to back,” I say. She doesn’t laugh with me.

9. I did it: I deactivated Facebook and Instagram, just yesterday. Not in a high and mighty way at all. For me, they’re the brain equivalent of eating Doritos and saltwater taffy for every meal, which I could consume until I died. In terms of healthy, they’re light years away. Whatever those are! We’ll see how it goes. If you wanna reach me, you can always reply directly to this via email, or contact me: tina@tinaneidlein.com. And if you’re one of the millions I text dumb-good tweets to, don’t despair, I’ll never stop oh look here’s one now:

That’s it! Peace and Dorito grease,

What junk food could you eat until you died? What science do you only pretend to understand? Any tips for overcoming a fear of snakes? Give it all to me:

p.s. 🫶 one last bonus pic of my freckled l’il rescue animal, with his 🫶