“It's like changing the angle of a bank shot in pool. A little change early on has a large effect down the line.”

“Impacts and explosions are difficult to predict and control. When you're trying to save the Earth, you want them to be both controllable and predictable.”

“You just want to hang there and let the spacecraft gradually adjust the asteroid's course.”

The language of love letters is the same as suicide notes.

I don’t need any plastic in my body to validate me as a woman.

But I stayed up thinking about how I've been lying to him, no less than I lie to myself in my pre-sleep ritual. And I lied to him again just as we were growing more intimate than ever and he asked me about my scar.

He clearly suffers from some past traumas too, so hopefully he'll understand why I was untruthful to him about mine.

Adding to my emotional dizziness on Sunday, I spoke with my sister, who kept noting how amazing Michael is, and what a brave and selfless man he is for having helped as he did.

My past still haunts me when I sleep, although I saw that - much to my surprise- his does as well.

But then, as I looked in the mirror, I became fixated on some hairs near my carotid artery that were still there. I pushed the blade deep against my neck to shave them off, and then blood squirted out.