Bathroom Company

I have had reliable and minute companionship in my bathroom for the past several months in the form of this insect who lives under a plastic Ziploc^® bag in a dusty corner of the room. This graceful spindly-legged creature is mostly motionless, probably hibernating, but turns around periodically to face the toilet and then face the wall. I warn any visitors who need to use the toilet that this special guest is inside. Lovely, don't you think?

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

All of our family acquaintances have followed the same path: their youth spent trying to make the most of their intelligence, squeezing their studies like a lemon to make sure they'd secure a spot among the elite, then the rest of their lives wondering with a flabbergasted look on their faces why all that hopefulness had led to such a vain existence. People aim for the stars, and they just end up like goldfish in a bowl. I wonder if it wouldn't be simpler just to teach children right away from the start that life is absurd.

- Muriel Barbery