PICS
Grr. I got a break-up message from a friend this morning, which has led to general mopeyness and record-listening when I should be writing. Shorter days seem to make my mopeyness more pronounced.
I have three birthday gatherings this weekend, and a belated Thanksgiving dinner with friends. I've gone over it and I think I can make it to everything, but I'll definitely be ready to snuggle in bed on Sunday and watch Star Trek. I am, technically, supposed to see a boy on Sunday, so if I can convince him that an afternoon of snuggly sci-fi would be the BEST DATE EVER, I'll go see him...
What else is new? I'm heading to NYC in early January for a week and a half or so, I'm going to be working but I will definitely make time for a visit to the Cloisters and the Donut Plant. I'm supposed to be staying with a friend in the Bronx, but also have somebody in Brooklyn (who doesn't, right? it's like the center of a hipster cyclone) and have realized that taking 30 minutes to get to work instead of 90 minutes would be preferable. Either way, it'll be lovely to take a break of sorts even if it's not anywhere sunny.
Speaking of sunny! I'm looking at both Austin and Hawaii for grad school. There's still a huge part of me that wants to get my PhD, but the MSW is looking better all the time.
Random photo drop:
the "photo booth" the boy set up at my b-day/cancer remission party
i was completely shocked that this braid stayed put. my hair is really slippery, or some more technical term.
the start of my brother's b-day cake: devil's food with mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream ice cream layers. it was yummy, but not as pretty as martha's
after my b-day/cancer party, the car broke down on the way home. I ended up going to bed around 7am. even though i'm tempted to say that i am too fucking old for that shit, it was fine. I slept 'til 10 and felt great the rest of the day.
our booth at pitchfork, from this summer. i don't normally look that cunty, but it was hot as hades and set-up is always kinda a bitch. on the plus side, ya know how you can't ever tell when you're losing weight since you see yourself every day? i was maybe 15 pounds heavier in this picture than i am now, and i can definitely see the difference that i normally don't see.
In other news, I think I'm going snowshoeing next weekend if there's enough snow! I've been wanting to go for years. Tentative ice-skating plans too, but I think that'll consist of me using the railing to go around the rink. Enjoy the start of winter, peoples! For all you know, it could be your last one.
On that bright note...
What else is new? I'm heading to NYC in early January for a week and a half or so, I'm going to be working but I will definitely make time for a visit to the Cloisters and the Donut Plant. I'm supposed to be staying with a friend in the Bronx, but also have somebody in Brooklyn (who doesn't, right? it's like the center of a hipster cyclone) and have realized that taking 30 minutes to get to work instead of 90 minutes would be preferable. Either way, it'll be lovely to take a break of sorts even if it's not anywhere sunny.
Speaking of sunny! I'm looking at both Austin and Hawaii for grad school. There's still a huge part of me that wants to get my PhD, but the MSW is looking better all the time.
Random photo drop:
the "photo booth" the boy set up at my b-day/cancer remission party
i was completely shocked that this braid stayed put. my hair is really slippery, or some more technical term.
the start of my brother's b-day cake: devil's food with mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream ice cream layers. it was yummy, but not as pretty as martha's
after my b-day/cancer party, the car broke down on the way home. I ended up going to bed around 7am. even though i'm tempted to say that i am too fucking old for that shit, it was fine. I slept 'til 10 and felt great the rest of the day.
our booth at pitchfork, from this summer. i don't normally look that cunty, but it was hot as hades and set-up is always kinda a bitch. on the plus side, ya know how you can't ever tell when you're losing weight since you see yourself every day? i was maybe 15 pounds heavier in this picture than i am now, and i can definitely see the difference that i normally don't see.
In other news, I think I'm going snowshoeing next weekend if there's enough snow! I've been wanting to go for years. Tentative ice-skating plans too, but I think that'll consist of me using the railing to go around the rink. Enjoy the start of winter, peoples! For all you know, it could be your last one.
On that bright note...
Dave Eggers started a fucking fabulous organization that does all sorts of readin' and writin' stuff with kiddos. If you've ever witnessed the sad state of English classes for 9-14 year olds you know how completely necessary such stuff is.
Every year they host a big ol' Scrabble tournament to raise funds for the org, and the players get to use whatever they raise to buy "cheats" for the tournament. My boy and his friend throw down every year, and THIS YEAR IS GONNA BE THEIR YEAR!! Or not, who knows? Either way, if you donate it's for a great cause.
I figured I'd post his fb post on here as well. I definitely understand the broke/unemployed thing, but like he says, even 5 bucks makes a difference. Don't foget to donate to The Inscrutables when you click over to the teams page.
Hope y'all are enjoying this goddamn beautiful autumn weather!
THE 5-5-5 PLAN:
*** If I can get just a 5th of my friends to take 5 minutes of their time and donate a meager 5 dollars to my charity Scrabble tournament team, that'd be $500+ in funding for youth literacy and authorship in Chicago! ***
It'd also get me and Eric Gropp enough "dough" to "buy" some great cheats to use in our 3-year quest for the championship cup!
CLICK BELOW, PLEASE - sugar on top and everything! Tax-deductible! Good cause!
Scrabble for Cheaters - the Inscrutables!
Every year they host a big ol' Scrabble tournament to raise funds for the org, and the players get to use whatever they raise to buy "cheats" for the tournament. My boy and his friend throw down every year, and THIS YEAR IS GONNA BE THEIR YEAR!! Or not, who knows? Either way, if you donate it's for a great cause.
I figured I'd post his fb post on here as well. I definitely understand the broke/unemployed thing, but like he says, even 5 bucks makes a difference. Don't foget to donate to The Inscrutables when you click over to the teams page.
Hope y'all are enjoying this goddamn beautiful autumn weather!
THE 5-5-5 PLAN:
*** If I can get just a 5th of my friends to take 5 minutes of their time and donate a meager 5 dollars to my charity Scrabble tournament team, that'd be $500+ in funding for youth literacy and authorship in Chicago! ***
It'd also get me and Eric Gropp enough "dough" to "buy" some great cheats to use in our 3-year quest for the championship cup!
CLICK BELOW, PLEASE - sugar on top and everything! Tax-deductible! Good cause!
Scrabble for Cheaters - the Inscrutables!
Best example of the types of messages you can expect on okcupid:
"hey hi hows u ?? hows life going ??? i m rahul frm india...i m animation web and graphics designer ...... hope u dont mind in talk .....can we have a decent chat ???..and when u came india or i come to ur city...u can roam me or i can roam u ha ha ha ha ???
"
"hey hi hows u ?? hows life going ??? i m rahul frm india...i m animation web and graphics designer ...... hope u dont mind in talk .....can we have a decent chat ???..and when u came india or i come to ur city...u can roam me or i can roam u ha ha ha ha ???
"Wizard World!
This is why I dislike relationships: in addition to my own Required Family Time, I also have piles of Required Pseudo-Family Time, which is where I'll be most of the weekend. I'm only able to get out to Wizard World on Sunday this year, so I will miss Captain Picard. Lucky him, since I was going to ask him to record my voicemail message.
Which is also sorta lucky me, since now potential employers won't get Captain Picard asking them to "engage" if they get my voicemail.
The multi-talented Sonja made this:
new staff member BluMoon will also be there all weekend, and by all appearances she's both a sweetie and awesomely hot, so: plenty of eye candy. Not to mention all the slave Leias that are required at comic conventions.
AND: Bruce Campbell, Gareth David-Llloyd, Levar Burton, Chris Hardwick, and Pam Grier. Come say hi if you're around.
This is why I dislike relationships: in addition to my own Required Family Time, I also have piles of Required Pseudo-Family Time, which is where I'll be most of the weekend. I'm only able to get out to Wizard World on Sunday this year, so I will miss Captain Picard. Lucky him, since I was going to ask him to record my voicemail message.
Which is also sorta lucky me, since now potential employers won't get Captain Picard asking them to "engage" if they get my voicemail.
The multi-talented Sonja made this:
new staff member BluMoon will also be there all weekend, and by all appearances she's both a sweetie and awesomely hot, so: plenty of eye candy. Not to mention all the slave Leias that are required at comic conventions.
AND: Bruce Campbell, Gareth David-Llloyd, Levar Burton, Chris Hardwick, and Pam Grier. Come say hi if you're around.
a coupla years ago the boy and i were dj's at my friend's wedding. they did it super diy style, she knitted her own dress, and it was a really lovely time. i've known her since high school, and her guy was totally perfect for her. somehow they were able to be an obviously happy and contented couple without doing the kinda weird/gross stuff that some couples do in public to sorta prove how happy they are.
he had a rare genetic disease that caused massive amounts of internal bleeding whenever he hurt himself, or sometimes for no apparent reason at all. and he passed away early friday morning. she says they knew it would happen someday, but i can only imagine that doesn't provide any comfort. she's incredibly strong, and smart, and will probably do all the right things, like going to a therapist and not isolating herself, which is what i did when my dad died years ago.
anyway, in a thank you note for the wedding dj stuff, she wrote that life is too short to not hang out more. and it's weird that that's all i can think about now, even though it was more or less a joke on her part.
he had a rare genetic disease that caused massive amounts of internal bleeding whenever he hurt himself, or sometimes for no apparent reason at all. and he passed away early friday morning. she says they knew it would happen someday, but i can only imagine that doesn't provide any comfort. she's incredibly strong, and smart, and will probably do all the right things, like going to a therapist and not isolating herself, which is what i did when my dad died years ago.
anyway, in a thank you note for the wedding dj stuff, she wrote that life is too short to not hang out more. and it's weird that that's all i can think about now, even though it was more or less a joke on her part.
upcoming trip to san jose, of all places:
1. fly out
2. get a two-week amtrak pass with which to explore the pacific northwest
both of which cost roughly the same amount of money upfront...i'm torn. especially since northern california seems like a mythical place that doesn't actually exist.
1. fly out
2. get a two-week amtrak pass with which to explore the pacific northwest
both of which cost roughly the same amount of money upfront...i'm torn. especially since northern california seems like a mythical place that doesn't actually exist.
Russian word of the day: Toska
definition, courtesy of Nabokov: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”
definition, courtesy of Nabokov: “No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”
it's my half-birthday! my people don't live long, we have to celebrate when we can.
in other news, i gave a year's worth of homemade bread to a few family members for christmas this year, due to the constant flow of money into my doctor's pockets. actually, it's more of a trickle, and usually only after they send a final notice, but still...i'm making a garlic potato bread this weekend. i've been mailing them to my indiana family, and giving them to my illinois family when i see them. and, although it wasn't meant as a present for the boy, i usually end up making enough dough for four loaves, so he's been digging the bread situation...
you know how (or maybe you don't, in which case this will be news to you) when you're suddenly sick, or disabled, or dying, people are always saying that it doesn't matter if you can't work or you can't do stuff you used to do, or whathaveyou? i actually get a little offended by that line of thinking. i spent most of 2010 out of the world due to fucked up chronic illness and pain, and i would like to think that the world is a little less for not having me in it, y'know? just 'cause i'm sick doesn't mean i'm not narcissistic. so, while it's meant well, it's really not what i want to hear. in fact, i generally want to hear two things from people visiting me when i'm sick: 'yes i will watch bad sci-fi with you' and 'i brought you a hamburger.' actually, my liver hates on the hamburgers, but christ on a stick they're fucking dee-licious.
on a lighter note, i'm starting a project come may: 29 dates in 29 days. i'll have to plan multiple dates on the same day, 'cause i'm not usually up to multiple nights of going out, but still...i've been out of the loop so long, and i need to shake things up a bit. even if a couple of the dates are actually with people i've already slept with.
in other news, i gave a year's worth of homemade bread to a few family members for christmas this year, due to the constant flow of money into my doctor's pockets. actually, it's more of a trickle, and usually only after they send a final notice, but still...i'm making a garlic potato bread this weekend. i've been mailing them to my indiana family, and giving them to my illinois family when i see them. and, although it wasn't meant as a present for the boy, i usually end up making enough dough for four loaves, so he's been digging the bread situation...
you know how (or maybe you don't, in which case this will be news to you) when you're suddenly sick, or disabled, or dying, people are always saying that it doesn't matter if you can't work or you can't do stuff you used to do, or whathaveyou? i actually get a little offended by that line of thinking. i spent most of 2010 out of the world due to fucked up chronic illness and pain, and i would like to think that the world is a little less for not having me in it, y'know? just 'cause i'm sick doesn't mean i'm not narcissistic. so, while it's meant well, it's really not what i want to hear. in fact, i generally want to hear two things from people visiting me when i'm sick: 'yes i will watch bad sci-fi with you' and 'i brought you a hamburger.' actually, my liver hates on the hamburgers, but christ on a stick they're fucking dee-licious.
on a lighter note, i'm starting a project come may: 29 dates in 29 days. i'll have to plan multiple dates on the same day, 'cause i'm not usually up to multiple nights of going out, but still...i've been out of the loop so long, and i need to shake things up a bit. even if a couple of the dates are actually with people i've already slept with.
