Sarah Seldom Speaks

Hi! I'm Sarah, this is my place for thinking out loud and posting things I like.

[allamericansbitch]

I always look at albums as chapters in my life, […] I have to be really honest with you about something: I’m even more excited about the next chapter.

[humansofnewyork]

“I first ran for Congress in 1999, and I got beat. I just got whooped. I had been in the state legislature for a long time, I was in the minority party, I wasn’t getting a lot done, and I was away from my family and putting a lot of strain on Michelle. Then for me to run and lose that bad, I was thinking maybe this isn’t what I was cut out to do. I was forty years old, and I’d invested a lot of time and effort into something that didn’t seem to be working. But the thing that got me through that moment, and any other time that I’ve felt stuck, is to remind myself that it’s about the work. Because if you’re worrying about yourself—if you’re thinking: ‘Am I succeeding? Am I in the right position? Am I being appreciated?’ – then you’re going to end up feeling frustrated and stuck. But if you can keep it about the work, you’ll always have a path. There’s always something to be done.”

[micdotcom]

Watch: Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings just hit the nail on the head.

(Especially after last night’s shooting in Minneapolis.)

[thefandomdropout]

WHOA !

[highkey-melanin]

[sarahseldomspeaks]

Hey look, that’s my mayor

I should learn more things about this person

[julebug123]

Guys a few days ago i saw these two guys that were both probably in their early twenties at the store at like nine o'clock at night and one of them was wearing these fuzzy duck sandals that quacked loudly every time he took a step and his friend was pacing away from him as fast as he could going “I don’t know you. We are not friends.” While the other laughed hysterically about his duck shoes.

[carriehopefletcher-deactivated2]

Worldwide Proof Copy Competition!

I have 2 proof copies of ‘On The Other Side’ to give away here on tumblr! Reblog this post and use the hashtag #OnTheOtherSide ! Make sure you read the Terms and Conditions before entering! bitly.com/ontheotherside-WIN

[sarahseldomspeaks]

Cool! I’d love the chance to read this.

[plainstudy-deactivated20160927]

My number 1 studying tip.

[thelittlemerms]

I went to see Hank Green and the perfect strangers and I have a lot of feelings so I’m just going to provide a lot of out of context quotes for ya’ll.

before the concert: “There’s a bird with a feather in it’s mouth…why?” followed by lots of speculation, it pulled it out because it was grey, it’s a gang signal, it’s waving a white flag, and so on. 

Rob:

“he makes beautiful noises”

“I’m going to guitar at you for awhile”

“I thought, ‘eight string guitar, that sounds confusing’ and then I immediately went and bought one”

HARRY AND THE POTTERS OH MY GOSH. I HAVE NO WORDS

Craig:

“everywhere I go, I see john’s face staring at me.”

“this is a new song. now I understand, to some of you they’re all new, but this one’s really new.”

Hank:

“I can’t see you. I can just see all this dementor fog. I feel like my soul is leaving my body,”

“Don’t give me money if you need it. Student loans come first. okay, never saying that at a concert again. Student loans come like, fourth.”

“people don’t like you because you don’t buy alcohol. but that’s not your fault, it’s the government’s.”

“That was good, but it wasn’t you humping things good. You humped no things. four stars.”

“disappointed and appointed. they’re disconnected. disconnected - connected. disappointed - appointed?”

“Did I just say something really uncool? okay great, I’ll remember that for next time.”

“This is the best banter about nothing I’ve ever had.”

and a bonus:

“because Lin Manuel Miranda didn’t have enough to do that week I guess.”

[edwardspoonhands]

Hank Green out of Context needs you go to come to every show. California Dates Still Coming.

[pink-cloudsummer]

This is a long post, but humor me by reading it. In the least, just like it and pretend you read it so I can feel better about myself :)

So Hank Green and a couple other musical youtubers are out on tour right now and I went to their show in Dallas last night. It was $20 so I though, what the hell, I’ll go. Best decision.

I accidentally got there really early, which was fine because I got a spot right in front. The concert was great. I had only heard of Hank and Driftless Pony Club when I went in there. Rob Scallon blew me away with his talent (and I ended up buying a CD which has been on repeat for the past 12 hours). Andrew Huang was hilarious and insanely talented. Harry and the Potters was not what I expected, but in the best way possible. But the best part about the night was meeting some of the guys. I first met Craig Benzine (wheezywaiter). Not only was he signing stuff and taking pictures, but he was actually taking the time to have a conversation with everyone. It felt very genuine and it was a natural interaction that didn’t feel forced or anything like that. It was great.

Then I met Hank. I waited in line for a while and finally got to the front. We took a picture together and then I thanked him for making videos because it got me through a lot of tough shit. And, because I’m awkward, I said “yeah I wasn’t sure I was going to make it”. I could tell in Hank’s eyes he thought I meant like I was lucky to be alive kind of thing. I immediately made a clarification, saying I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to the show. We laughed it off and talked for a little more. But I was extremely humbled by how much concern Hank showed. Sometimes we forget that the people we look up to are just that. People. It was nice to see that he 100% genuinely cared that everyone at that show had a good time and was doing alright.

It was amazing. Thanks to Hank and everyone else who made the tour possible.

( @edwardspoonhands @wheezytumblr @harryandthepotters @robscallon )

[edwardspoonhands]

If you’re in California…you still have time to come visit!

[sarahseldomspeaks]

I was also at the Dallas show, and I totally second all of this (of course, insert different interactions, but same vibes). Such a cool experience and so great to have a chance to realize how REAL these humans are.

[teddys-posts-deactivated2020060]

This picture is the cognitive triangle, and is the basic concept underlying cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). The idea is that your thoughts, feelings, and behavior make up your mind and your moods, and that they all influence each other. So your thoughts affect your feelings and behavior, your feelings affect your thoughts and behavior, and your behavior affects your feelings and thoughts.

CBT works under the idea that if you change one or more parts of the triangle in a positive way, then the rest of the triangle will also be positively influenced.

The tricky part is that feelings are really hard to change directly. We can’t really wake up and decide that we’re going to feel happy or sad. But what we can do is change our thoughts and our actions, and if we choose positive thoughts and behaviors, then our feelings will also improve.

[future-sarah]

an unpretentious grouping in honor of #worldbookday

[future-sarah]

Click below the cut to read about these books. It’s been too long since I’ve given a book report.

Keep reading

[litany-of-excuses-deactivated20]

Friendly reminder to check you’re not holding tension in your body. Let your shoulders drop, unclench your hands and jaw. Take a deep breath. Much better.

[laurakvstheworld]

I’m 24-7 doing this. I clench my teeth constantly. take this advice.

[kpfun]

[future-sarah]

Michaels has gotten to me. I found cute paper and twine and stamps, and I’m making little hand-bound notebooks as party favors (because my best friend won’t let me make my own birthday cake). 

[sarahseldomspeaks]

This is so cute and perfect, omg

[powells]

Books about Girls who Rescue Themselves

May B by Caroline Rose

Pennyroyal Academy by M.A. Larson

Nooks & Crannies by Jessica Lawson

Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman

The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell

Night on Fire by Ronald Kidd

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

Umbrella Summer by Lisa Graff

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

Wildwood by Colin Meloy, illustrated by Carson Ellis

The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

[heartbreakhur]

[sarahseldomspeaks]

I often have a hard time going to sleep because sleeping makes tomorrow come faster. I don't know why I so badly want to avoid starting a new day, but I always do.

[b00kstorebabe-deactivated201709]

Recommendations for #readwomen Pt. 1 - The Classics

Middlemarch by George Eliot

Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

My Ántonia by Willa Cather

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

The Awakening by Kate Chopin

There are so many other amazing classics written by women, but here are just a few of my favorites.

[sammy-nickles]

Pain & Poor Descriptions of it

You would think an 18 year old girl would know nothing of pain. After all what could she really know besides nails, cell phones, and highschool courses. Maybe I’m being exagerative (if that’s a word), but that’s how it feels living in the world side by side with adults who can only see me as a shallow teenager. I feel misunderstood…not misunderstood like the teenager who wants to get a strange peircing and whose parents are less than willing to accept it. Misunderstood in the way that is like, people expect me to be imature and airy just because I’m stuck in an age group of morons (at least a lot of morons). 

Anyway, back on subject.

I know what pain is. Pain is what makes you want fentanyl…because everything is better with fentanyl and that is precisely the reason they should not give you fentanyl at hospitals. It was a lot better than morphine though…..Don’t go on drugs kids. But the fact that I even know about fentanyl means I know pain. The two are twins. The comic book type of twins, one evil and cruel and the other all nice and flowery until he gets beat up by the bigger badder of the two. Cain and Abel like twins. I know pain. My only problem is I don’t know how to describe pain. The doctors have a long list of terms that are acceptable pain describers. None of them describe my pain. That confuses them. Being the people pleaser that I am I think long and hard about how to describe my pain and when I stumble on the perfect solution it usually goes something like this; “It feels like my washing machine.” the doctor of course is more confused by that than pretty much anything else I could have said. So I continue, hoping to make him understand. “More like the sound the washer makes when it first starts up. It starts out really slow like it’s trying so dang hard and then it quits for a second, like to catch a breath. Like an oval wheel that rolls so tediusly sluggish and than all at once.” The doctor can’t even at this point. I think I broke him. I try a different tactic, “Or maybe it’s like an old-time train when it first starts to move. huuuuuuu-ch huuuuuu-ch huuuu-ch. Then it gets faster, but the pain in my stomach doesn’t get faster. It just keeps going I-think-I-can, I-think-I-can, but it never does.” Yep. Doctor Broken. Were the sound effects to much? Maybe that’s why I’m such a medical mystery. I don’t fit in their abc system. I call their syptomology the abc system because it fits. A lot like a washer describes my pain, the abc system describes their brain (YAY RHYMING!). In my book store (the one I work at) often times I forget for a moment that R comes before S or Q is toward the very end of the alphabet, so while I’m guiding a customer to find their book you can sometimes hear me singing my abc’s very softly to myself. I’ll look at the shelf and see scrambled letters, buuuuuuuuut follow along with the abc’s  and suddenly “h-I-j-k-l-m-n-O aha! JRR Tolkien! Right after Mr Timmons.” Doctors ask you to describe your pain and while you do it they sing their alphabet to themselves. Aching, Burning, Crippling, Dull etc. When you use modifier’s with certain terms in the abcs BINGO! They know what’s wrong with you. For example slow and burning together are magic. My doctor was quite happy when he got that one out of me. Then sad, of course, because it never means anything good but at least the system worked. Unfortunately that was the only time the abc’s worked for me. So I conclude that I must be the worst describer of pain in existence.