The Other Spring Fever

Spring has finally sprung! Well, it’s actually been here for weeks now thanks to this freakishly warm weather we’ve been having on the East coast. Some say global warming. We say it’s Mother Nature’s way of comforting us after that horrible winter last year.

This season is the time for new dresses, weekend trips with your girlfriends, and seething in annoyance as couples make out in subway entrances. The term “spring fever,” or “love is in the air” are often used to describe those warm, honeymoon feelings one gets at the start of a new relationship. Spring helps everyone shake off the sadness from a gloomy winter and leap into the arms of a new squeeze.

Well, there’s also the other spring fever–the one that no one wants to talk about it when they’re happy and in love. This specific fever describes the slightly crazy things we’ll do for the attention of the ones we love.

We’ve all been there. There’s no way else to say it–lovesickness sucks–especially when Hallmark is telling us to be in love.

Paper Lantern Lit would love to hear some stories about the awful or hilarious, retrospectively embarrassing or even successful things you’ve done for love. For example, I, intern Carla, ran my car into a snowbank after driving through tears to tell my high school ex that we were meant to be! After a humiliating and silent car ride home from him, I decided I’d save my craziness for someone who was, you know, actually worth it!

Comment below, send an email, or post on our Facebook because the best ones will be featured in April’s newsletter! We’ve all lost our senses at one time, so let’s commiserate and laugh together!

~Carla

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb…

Much like March, some of our favorite characters may start out rough around the edges, but ultimately they charm us with their sweetness. Here are some of our top picks for bad-boys-turned-good:

John Bender, The Breakfast Club: He might enter the scene as the scary rebel, but once he makes out with Molly Ringwald, he melts like butter. Who wouldn’t?

Chase Singer, Fury: The stereotypical jock/jerk at first, we love seeing his softer side as the book goes on. Unfortunately, the Furies don’t share our sense of sympathy.

Patrick Verona, 10 Things I Hate About You: Because who wouldn’t want Heath Ledger to serenade you during soccer practice? With a marching band. Beautiful. We miss you, Heath.

Who is your favorite character that gave you the slow win-over? Let us know here or on our Facebook wall.

Buh-bye, Dust Bunnies!

Spring is a time for new beginnings… and, of course, the ritual Spring Cleaning. We’re so ready to get our Martha Stewart on and help tidy up the messes made by certain media outlets this month:

ESPN: The well-known sports network got slammed when they posted a ridiculously racist headline after a Knicks’ loss. C’mon, copyeditors! If you need a lame but at least politically-correct pun, give Billy Crystal a call. He was full of ‘em at the Oscars!

Goodreads: As a site designed expressly for bookworms, this social reading network must have a shocking lack of nerdy friends. Hey guys-next time you need to make a data move that will leave thousands of users picking up the slack, just ask for help. We hear the Geek Squad is great.

Twitter: Everyone’s favorite micro-blogging platform has recently been caught snooping on users’ iPhone address books. Time to do a little sweeping (or maybe a full vacuum?) of those user agreements so we all know what we’re signing up for!

What news item do you think could use a good spring polish?

Or, on a more personal note, are you gearing up for Spring Cleaning? I was going to pare down my shoe collection this year, but then I realized that was just silly.

Talk to us here or on our Facebook wall!

-Beth

Spring Cleaning… or Not

Spring is here! Well, at least in theory it is. Depending on where you live (at least in the US) it’s either too hot for or too cold for Spring (like us up here in NYC! It’s 35 degrees today!). But while the weather outside may be… temperamental, the date on the calendar still says it’s Springtime and that means it’s time for Spring cleaning! See what our authors said they’ll be tossing this year… or not.



Fiona Paul, Venom

I’m an eco-girl so I reuse everything, but I’ll be donating…

1. Pretty much every article of clothing picked out for me by my mother. Tube tops? Hairy sweaters? Were these things ever in style?
2. A slew of 90% cocoa Lindt chocolate bars I received as a present. 580 calories and 55 grams of fat for something that tastes like black coffee. How is that even possible?
3. Several pairs of obscenely pointy high heels, because I just had foot surgery and it was not fun. Also because I’ve decided women who walk around in pain all day just so they can look good are either insecure or masochistic…possibly both.



Ellie Rollins, ZIP

I’ll be tossing out…

1. My boot cut jeans. Sadly I don’t think they’re coming back in style any time soon. Its skinnies for me from now on.
2. All boots, scarves and ugly puffy jackets are going in storage. I don’t care that it snowed just last week, it’s spring, baby!
3. My Seattle phone number. As much as I miss that 206 area code, I guess I am a New Yorker now.



M.E. Castle, Popular Clone

I’ll be parting with…

1. Stacks and stacks of notebooks and loose notes from old classes. I’m going to make a concerted effort to sift through these for the .000001% that I will ever, ever read again, and maybe torch the rest in a May Day bonfire.
2. Articles of old clothing, half-disintegrated. I know I’ve got at least one or two things that are in severe need of tossing. And I’m going to toss them.
3. Little hairs that grow on my face. Every one to three days, I shall clean them off with a bladed implement of some sort. Actually, I already do this, but I figure it’s a good habit to keep up.



Lauren Morrill, Meant To Be

I will be getting rid of…

1. The cheese in the back of my fridge that I think is growing more cheese … or tiny alien people.
2. My 30+ pairs of roller derby tights that are all filled with holes in the…ahem, butt area.
3. My hopes and dreams that it will ever be warm in Boston again.



Elizabeth Miles, Fury

A recent shift to co-habitation forced me to be ruthless about my early-spring cleaning. Among other things, I got rid of (or donated)…

1. A VCR. Now I just have to find a way to part with all my VHS tapes (including the six-volume set of Pride and Prejudice [BBC version, of course] that Lauren and I used to watch on snow days!)… [Ed note: DON’T DO IT, ELIZABETH!!! -Lauren]
2. Red corduroy pants. Maybe someone can pull them off, but that person is not me.
3. Parsnips from the vegetable crisper. They looked more like petrified wooden witch fingers.
4. My cumbersome futon—replaced with my first real adult-life couch! It’s a sleeper!



Kate Ellison, Butterfly Clues

I don’t throw anything away, ever. But if I were going to pretend I might throw things away, those things might be…

1.The amassment of creepy, downy cat hair, sloughed from my roommate’s snarling calico cat and collecting beneath my bed. Why haven’t I cleaned under there? I’ll go with laziness.
2. A sailor Moon baby-t: a relic from my days as a 7th grader who wore anime t-shirts. It sits buried, cold and impossibly tiny, in the bottom shelf of my dresser. Until now. (Or, um, until soon. You know, when I get around to tossing it.)
3. Old sticker collection. Some that sparkle. Some puffy and full of some inexplicable color-changing liquid. Some that are large as small hands, some as small as large ants. Ah, yes. They really do run the gamut, these stickers. Which is why I’m going to burn them, funnel the ashes into a tiny paper boat, and set them to the sea! Where they can travel to new lands, conquer the indigenous peoples, and send me back their riches!! HA! Okay, that’s all ridiculous. And awful. I mean, I would never want a sticker collection of mine to bring any kind of harm to any kind of people, indigenous or no. I would just feel awful about that. Which is why I’ve changed my mind. I’ll keep the sticker collection, where it can do harm to no one. It’s the safest way.


What are you getting rid of this year for Spring cleaning?

Spring Cleaning Ninja!