YOU PROBABLY JUST NEED A GETAWAY 👽 

If inter-planetary travel isn't in the cards this week, you can at least amuse yourself with our 2022 winter holiday gift guide. It's full of suggestions more attainable than the over-priced crockery being pushed by Williams Sonoma, and even spicier than the guac you should be enjoying today in honor of National Spicy Guacamole Day.

Buying a loved one something from Boredwalk is really a gift you give yourself, because the look on their face when they unwrap these delectably spicy treats is a reward unto itself. 

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Want a few famous November 14th birthdays and historical facts? Here ya go...

• Born on this day: French impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840), Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker (1975), and comedian/actress Vanessa Bayer (1981)

 

• On this day in 1851 Moby-Dick by Herman Melville was published in the US. Teachers continue to demand kids read it over 170 years later, because teachers love to bore their students.* (I assume.)

• The BBC began its daily radio broadcast from the 2LO transmitter at Marconi House on this day in 1922

• Finally, on this day in 1889, New York World reporter Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Cochrane) embarked on her attempt to surpass the fictitious journey of Jules Verne's Phileas Fogg by traveling around the world in under 80 days. (She ended up completing the journey in 72 days.)

 

*Please no huffy emails about this. It is a joke. I know lots of our dear readers are excellent teachers who assign quality reading material to their students. #NotAllTeachers

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Alright! Scroll on down to learn a bit about fellow Boredwalk fan Michele! If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Monday email (and are a customer with some Boredwalk tees, tanks, hoodies, towels, bags, or books to show off), just reply to this and let us know, and we'll send you some fun questions to answer (along with our undying gratitude)!

 

We'll be back here in your inbox on Wednesday with some more random holidays to observe, historical tidbits to acknowledge, and fun links to entertaining content! Until next time...

 

Peace, love, and seasonal gloom,

 

Meredith

Michele channeling zeitgeist vibes in her Everything Is Terrible ringer v-neck! 

These sweet retro-style tees were part of a limited time flash sale last year, and although we were dying to make them a standard style offering they were promptly discontinued by the manufacturer within months of that sale. So sorry if you missed out, but our Everything Is Terrible design is still available on our standard styles!



1. What's your actual day job and what's your dream day job?

I am a nightshift pharmacist at a local hospital. My dream job is to be a writer. Poetry and horror stories have been my true passion since I was a kid. I got enough trauma to fill an encyclopedia and nightmares that would make Stephen King blush. I better get to it; maybe I'll publish something before I die and become a legend.

 

2. What's your biggest pet peeve?

 

Stickers that don't stick (I mean, you've got one job...), people invading my personal space (even a pandemic state can't teach people to back off), and people writing my name with two Ls (I get. It's confusing. I guess it's better than when people call me Michael).

 

3. What's a book you think the Boredwalk community should read?

 

First book that came to my mind was Orwell's 1984. But I believe in this community, so I'm sure most people have read it already.

 

(Editor's note: you are safe in this assumption.)

4. If you could have any super power what would it be and why?

 

Pyrokinesis. I know, there are way better powers out there.* I've always been fascinated with fire, but never had a chance to set things on fire. My grandma once set a tree on fire to teach my aunt a lesson. My aunt was always climbing trees, and that was frowned upon for a girl at the time. My aunt was on the tree when my grandma set it on fire. Maybe I got my love for fire from my dear grandma.

 

(The family that sets things ablaze together stays together?)

 

5. You can curse your nemesis with a minor annoyance for eternity; what do you choose?

 

A pesky eyelash inside the eye.

6. What experience do you most want to cross off your bucket list?

 

I'm torn between living in a lighthouse and competing in a strongwoman event.

 

Lighthouses seem so peaceful and quiet. Nothing like being closer to the ocean and away from everyone else.

 

The strongwoman idea is fairly recent. Life threw some curveballs at me that left me with a very slim body. I'm working on filling it up with muscle. I've seen what women can do at those competitions and find it inspiring. I'm right in the midst of my midlife crisis at the moment. Lifting heavy weights and doing pull-ups are reminders of how much more I'm capable of. Maybe one day I'll flip a tire or lift a car.

 

(Just as you believe in the Boredwalk community, we believe in you, Michele! I hope you eventually are able to flip the whole damn car!)

 

7. What is something you wish you could go back in time and say to your younger self?

 

"You don't have to be what others expect you to be. Being yourself is enough."

8. Clear up a misconception (about your job, where you are from, or some other topic you know a lot about)?

 

A misconception about my job: as a pharmacist, people think I count pills all day (or night in my case). Some don't even get why I spent so much time in college to do what I do. The truth is, I barely count pills. I work with nurses and physicians to make sure the proper treatment is being chosen and given safely.

Another misconception: just because I'm from Puerto Rico doesn't mean I listen to Bad Bunny.

 

(I can't imagine how many dangerous drug interactions you've had to commit to memory to keep people safe, especially if they have multiple specialists treating and prescribing drugs to them simultaneously for complex illnesses or recoveries! Pharmacists are AMAZING!)

 

9. Where can the rest of the Boredwalk community find you?

 

Even when I'm on Facebook, I'm more active on Instagram. Find me on IG @sisaoydal. Looks fancy, but it's ladyoasis backwards. Oasis is my favorite band and the regular ladyoasis was taken when I opened my IG account.

 

(Missed opportunity to say "someday you may find me caught beneath a landslide in a champagne supernova in the sky," but we'll allow it.)