Becky Ferreira is a Canadian writer, comedian and raptor based in New York. She has been published in Popular Science, Bust magazine, Glamour, TheAwl.com and The L Magazine among others. Her fiction has been published in One Cool Word and flashquake, and she is an Upright Citizens Brigade trained improviser, and one of my closest and funniest friends to boot! This is her website: http://www.beckyferreira.com/ I swear I did not force her to write this post….although it is amazing and entirely true.
- As long as you have the energy to reinvent yourself every 2-3 years and send out a mass email/Facebook message detailing the procedure, you should.
- When you’re an adolescent, the point is to be a poser. Holden Caulfield hated “phonies” because he unconsciously knew he was one. We all have to go through this phase, so while you’re at it, join bike clubs, write terrible plays, run for student council, try out for improv teams, found sushi appreciation clubs, lose a lot, fail a lot, but keep trying on every identity you can to see what fits. If you don’t, you might find yourself wearing boring for the rest of your life (and that shit chafes).
- When you marry someone you met four months earlier, many people will (rightly) assume that you are crazy. But Josh-like folks hear “crazy” with a positive connotation, and you can count on them to officiate your wedding reception on about 1 day’s notice. All hail, Reverend Josh Bowman of the Universal Life Church (with special mention to Chris Andersen who officiated the wedding itself on less than 1 day’s notice).
- If you’re not dancing with reckless abandon, you’re not dancing.
- Life hands us incredible ingredients all the time, and it is up to us to use them wisely. For example, if you have your backyard, an infant you are babysitting, and the knowledge that your mutual friend and roommate Chris Dingwall is going to be home in 10 minutes, you are obliged to create a perplexing tableau.
- Curiosity is the key to happiness. It may kill the cat eventually, but at least it had an interesting life learning about stuff. Kind of a morbid message, and most cats I know have pretty boring lives, but still, you get the upshot.
- Slipping into weird characters and engaging in long, multi-topic conversations as them is a great way to say “you’re a good friend and you get me” without all that gross sentimentality.
- Farts are hilarious. Period. (Periods are also hilarious. Fart.)
- Though I love spontaneity, I don’t think it’s necessarily essential for happiness. However, without it, you can’t make a split decision to bike from Coquitlam to Vancouver at 2 AM with your Josh-Bowman-equivalent, chatting the whole time about pop existentialism, Caribbean culture and duck penises. Do you really want to make that sacrifice?
- Apples are delicious, but it’s not a sin to crave a mango every now and then.
=) Josh, this made me feel like I really know you like a kid I’d met in kindergarten and invited to my retirement party, and it also made me feel like I’d like to hang out with you, and it made me wish I’d seen that BABY TABLEAU for CHRIS!
It also reminded me that I love Becky Ferrari.
That was a great tableau. Chris’ response was amazing too.