Dearest Toasties!
I hope this week was better for you. Mine was, despite (I will not continue with this open thread theme forever, I promise) fennel sneaking itself into a BREADSTICK, of all things.
(Evidence to the left.)
But there are few things a nice glass of rosé can’t fix. And horseradish. So the pairing is rosé with anything and horseradish with anything, especially in the summer.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE LAST FEW PRECIOUS DAYS OF SUMMER? Does it even matter to you? Do you have a year-round job that makes summer insignificant? Do you have August rituals? Tell me everything!
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Tags: cocktail hour, open thread, the bartender
If anyone here is from Nashville, some local Hairpinners are having a meet up at Rosepepper tonight at 6:30pm. Come meet us!
i’m from nashville [well, ok knoxville but my dad grew up in nashville so i spent a lot of time there too] but live in sf…wish i were in nashville to meet up with you all though.
My birthday falls early in the second week of August, so I have a handy marker that whispers “pssssst, it will be fall in a month.”
That sweet whisper reminds me to go to cook-outs, glut myself on farmstand tomatoes and melons, plop fat ice cubes into my glass of wine, take a long walk in the sun, join friends in their gardens for an afternoon, linger at garage sales, and get a waffle cone from the seasonal gelato stand down the street.
It’s also the time of year that family is most likely to visit Maine, so it’s also the month when I’m most likely to tumble on sandy beaches with salt-stung children exhausted by waves, or help a passel of kids crack a lobster, or show someone how to blow enormous bubbles with a wire hanger and a cake pan full of dish soap and water.
I always enter summer thinking how I dread the heat, but by August, I’m happy to lap up the last few days of sun before our long trip through winter begins again.
I’m going to Maine at the end of the month TOO. I hope you eat much delicious food and have deep thoughts while watching waves crash on rocks.
I live here year-round, but this is when my siblings and their kids, as well as our far-flung friends, are most likely to schedule their visits, so I get to play Auntie and have a vicarious vacation.
FOR REALS: my mother scheduled a lobster night for visiting family next week, so there will be ~10 of us sitting around her deck, roasting corn, drinking beer, cracking shells, and cracking jokes. It’s dreamy.
Oh right, now I remember, because you are definitely a witch! Speaking of Maine and beer though, someone recently recommended a Maine brewery called Oxbow. Worth seeking out?
I have come ’round to beer embarrassingly late in life*, so I have no opinion on Oxbow. But a quick glance at their Facebook shows that two of my most beer-savvy local friends Like them, which seems like a good sign.
*So embarrassingly late in life, and with an artless fervor. I keep discovering AMAZING COMBINATIONS of food and beer that are only, ooooh, a millennium old. Pizza and beer, have you tried this? Tacos and beer! Spicy dal and beer! HEY HEY YOU GUYS, cheese and beer, you guys! Has anyone ever tried this since the dawn of fermentation ever even once?
Also, yes, definitely a witch, but not because I live in Maine. I’M SORRY MALLORY BUT YOU ARE WRONG ABOUT THAT, not all of us are witches.
I mean, me, yeah. For sure. But not all of us.
I live in Maine too. After years of living in a place where August was a hellhole of intense heat and humidity, I love how August here is like a siren call to enjoy every last bit of warm sunshine. The nights are cool again, and it’s a reminder that winter is just around the corner, so spend every day you can with your toes in the sand and the sun on your face. Lovely.
God, that all sounds just wonderful.
Oh, Maine. I love Maine! I’ve only been once, and for just a few days, but I’ve been fantasizing about going back since. It’s just one of those places that felt “right” to me.
Also lobster. So much LOBSTER.
Guys, please go read Jia’s amazing interview with Mikki Kendall and Flavia Dzodan about #solidarityisforwhitewomen
http://thehairpin.com/2013/08/solidarity-is-for-h…
I want to put Jia on my shoulders and carry her aloft for this: “Is it possible for the best-case scenario to occur, for this movement to shed him altogether and shift the discussion to a more productive one?” YES one thousand times yes.
I had no idea what was going on until I read that article.
Work has been slow this week, so I’ve been catching up on my Toast readin’ (I missed a week in late July, being out of town).
I also may have just eaten moldy strawberries, so we’ll see what my stomach does in the next couple of hours.
I have recently started running a fortnightly game based on the FAE system for some of my friends. I am a new GM and am finding it fun but challenging.
Today is a crisps-and-icecream day because fuck it. This week has not been so bad, but it’s not been great either.
Also, I have now earned nearly £40 for charity through people sponsoring my Hadrians Wall walk.
I suspect that it’s a might be a pedestrian thing for you, but a Hadrian’s Wall walk sounds really cool to this USian.
ETA: Wasn’t dissing your comment or anything! I should’ve added an exclamation point to the end of that. How long is the walk?
I wouldn’t say pedestrian exactly. More possible, because it’s ‘only’ 3/400 miles from me and I can get a train, but it’s still a long way and requiring lots of expensive prep. I live in a completely different part of the UK with a completely different landscape.
It’s definitely gonna be really cool, though. I’ve never been before, and I’m really looking forward to it. I hope we get to see the Temple of Mithras on our walk, and maybe a couple of the old forts and castles.
Holy shit, that’s far. That is super awesome. I only mentioned the pedestrian bit just because I grew up close to DC, and so other things people come hundreds of miles to see were things that were just a ho-hum weekend visit.
Anyway.. there’s a Temple of Mithras on/near Hadrian’s Wall? goes to wikipedia
I know, right? How cool!
Yep! It’s not a ‘once-in-a-lifetime-thing’ but neither is it a ‘Oh, I’ll just pop down the wall’ thing. I do have loads of stuff in my home county that people come a longish way to see.
And yes, there is! http://www.visithadrianswall.co.uk/things-to-do/t…
Oh, and we’re doing 30 miles of it. Me, my mum, my aunt and a couple of my mums friends are all going for it.
Huh. I might have to look into doing that one day! That sounds really fascinating.
We’re doing it through this company that basically book all the B&B’s for you and take your luggage ahead for you each day, so you don’t have to do the whole walk with all your stuff.
When I get back, I shall bring a yes or no verdict.
Boyfriend’s mum just did this exact thing. Said it was INCREDIBLE. I’m so jealous, have a wonderful time! x
Oh, please do let us know how the experience is! I wish I could ride along in your pocket; this is the next best thing.
Well, I’m updating my training schedule in the exercise post threads, and I shall be sure to keep you updated in the cocktail hour, too.
I think my mum wants me to set up a blog about it for her, too, so that we can all contribute information – writing, pictures etc. So, if that happens I’ll link you all!
Ha ha pedestrian! I’ll tread lightly around that pun.
!! I have wanted to do a hadrian’s wall walk for SO LONG but have never been able to convince anyone to do so with me. Also I am probably not fit enough now.
I’m not really fit enough, either. I mean, I’ve been in training, but there are NO HILLS where I live and LOTS OF HILLS in Northumberland so this chubby girl is gonna be wheezing up the slopes.
But it is a definite have-someone-with-you type gig., I agree.
OMG! I’ve waited my whole life to do a Hadrian’s Wall walk. I’ve done the London Wall walk but it’s not the same.
We’re trying to get the Bergy Bits accustomed to going in the water at the beach.
They HATE IT and scream “Water no getchu!” whenever we try to take them in.
Last weekend, both the Quiet One and the Clown went in on my hip semi-willingly, but their relative happiness was soon shattered upon copping a faceful of seawater.
“Water no getchu!” God, I love toddlers. Some of the time.
Keep trying! I have so many wonderful memories of the beach and swimming in the ocean.
as a little one, i was Not A Fan of the unpredictable waves, but if there was a quiet rocky beach with tide pools, i would be captivated for hours and hours. sandbars and tidepools, A+
I start my six-week diplomat class/orientation in early September, so I am soaking up the end-of-summer nostalgia feelings before I go back to school. I hope everyone notices my braces are off this year and how cute my haircut is and all my friendship bracelets from camp.
DC area people! If you would be interested in some kind of “adventure” meet-up (hiking, paddling, etc.), let’s plan one! Particularly if you are an introvert, a shy person, and/or a bar-averse person. The details can depend on the experience/comfort levels of people involved so that maximal fun can be had. You can e-mail me: wonder and uncertainty (all one word) at gmail
I love this idea! I am petrified of bar meetups but would be thrilled to meet some Toasties while adventuring. Will email!
I’ve actually spent this entire week looking forward to an all you can eat Korean bbq outing with my cousins and then a family picnic with my husband’s grandmother’s mother’s family. It sounds a little silly, but I am super excited. Also, the family picnic is for a side of his family with a really interesting (to me) last name. Their surname is similar to “Motley.”
I must be getting old. I never thought I’d be this excited for family stuff. Then again, all you can eat Korean BBQ. To be followed by a 24 hour banh mi place! A magical place where you can get delicious sandwiches at any time of day.
ALL YOU CAN EAT KOREAN BBQ?? AND 24-hour banh mis? Where is this magical land?
Northern Virginia! No offense to any NoVA Toasties out there, but I think the food is one of the few redeeming qualities about this strange part of Virginia with an incredibly diverse population and incredibly confusing and congested roads.
Agreed! I am visiting NoVA this weekend and Banh Mi is absolutely on the menu. .
Oh and, regarding the rest few days of summer… I’m going to Disneyland at the end of the month! A friend of mine is getting married in LA, so I’m making a long weekend out of it to spend two days in Disneyland. It’s going to be packed because it’s Labor Day AND it’s the Disney half marathon weekend. But I’ll also get to ride the Peter Pan ride and Indiana Jones and Haunted Mansion and Tower or Terror and have breakfast with the princesses.
That will be so fun though! Did you get breakfast reservations? We did something similar once and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the character visits to our table. Which days will you be at the park? I recently learned that the day after a major holiday weekend is usually empty at Disney. So, like, Tuesday after Labor Day Monday should be great.
The end of August brings PARTY WEEK. What is Party Week, you ask? Well, it starts tomorrow with my dad’s birthday, continues with my parents’ wedding anniversary in midweek, and ends with my birthday exactly one week later. So that’s always the end of summer, to me: muggy weather and all of the cake. My family’s actually driving out here tomorrow so we can do a joint celebration, going to the beach and eating lobster and probably forgetting presents entirely.
This week sort of sucked on a variety of levels anyway, but the hope of this weekend and my upcoming birthday got me through.
I’m about to go on a two-week-long road trip with the boyfriend to various places to meet various friends. The potential for some kind of drama to sneak into this trip is medium-high, because some of these people are meeting him for the first time, and we have History with some others, and come on, it’s a road trip, something’s gotta go catawumpus somewhere.
On the other hand. I like traveling with him. We have such good conversations, and he tells me things about himself and what he’s thinking when we’re driving that he doesn’t like to talk about at any other time, and we have similar music tastes, and are dream-castling a future together in one of the cities on this trip, so there is going to be some wandering around neighborhoods to find one we’d like to live in, and checking out schools, and like that.
I’m mostly very, very excited. And buying a massive bag of M&Ms to bring with us. It will be my most prized possession, and will probably take equal priority as the computer in getting it out of the hot car whenever we stop.
I spent this week planning the rest of the year, at least as far as online courses and dental surgeries are planned. I’m excited and nervous about the course (intro epidemiology) and dental things (getting the first part of a dental implant done November 1- they’re extracting an old cracked baby tooth and setting the post that day, then it heals for six months). Please keep any spare fingers you might have crossed that my insurance approves the implant- it’s happening no matter what, but I would really like them to help me pay for it. If you have knowledge about either of these things, do share?
Oh, and today is the day that I found out you can buy gay cuttlefish erotica. (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0087PTMW2/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_ElOdsb1S8HX2C) THE INTERNET!
The amazon link didn’t work for me, but oh internet, never change..
Sending lots of good thoughts your way, and — just in case it’s useful — the thought that got me through my panic-inducing oral surgery: “For me, this is a big deal. For all the medical professionals, this is routine, and they spend their whole day making this go smoothly for patients.”
D’oh. Apologies, HERE is the correct link for “Someone To Cuttle”: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0087PTMW2/ref=cm_sw_r_t…
Thank you! I was tempted to google “cuttlefish erotica” but for some reason, I was hesitating…
Thank you for this, it just helped me cross someones name my future Christmas shopping list.
I had a tooth extracted and an implant put in ummm I guess in 2012? I think the final appointment was February 2013. Anyway.
The first appointment (extraction + post) wiped. me. out. Definitely take at least the next day off work, if you can. Also if you have to write a check, write it before you get to the dentist’s office and are underneath the spell of massive amounts of….I don’t even know what they prescribed me. Otherwise it may or may not be readable. I wasn’t in a lot of pain, just really tired. I came home and promptly went back to bed, woke up and asked my boyfriend “Wait did we go?? Did it happen??” which he (and the blood-drool on my pillow) assured me, it did. Definitely have soft foods on hand already – especially cold ones. They end up filling you AND icing the pain.
The second appointment and its aftermath wasn’t bad at all, but I took off the next day anyway.
My insurance didn’t pay for any of it, but my oral surgeon’s office was FABULOUS and put me on a payment plan. Don’t be afraid to ask for something that works for you.
This is exactly the kind of information I was looking for, thank you! I’m tentatively scheduled for a Friday for the extraction/post, but with what you say, I’ll keep the next Monday open too, in case I’m still hurting. And good call on the soft cold foods. And on writing the check before they get started. My doc said she’d be doing just a local nerve block, like you’d have for a filling, but I may ask if I can have a little nitrous too so I don’t completely freak out in the chair.
This week my sister was going through some old school books, and when I was five, I wrote this under My Dream:
“I wold in Penrith by a mountain in a litell streem witha warted fall that comes from a small lake with a tree next to it. I will have a path in the in mountain to go for walks and let anmals grase. I will also have a wood for other litell anmals live there.”
I would still like this, a lot. I just got hired permanently (hurrah!) but start-up culture is exhausting, and pretending not to be anxious is exhausting. I wold my wood, and litell anmals. A small, calm holiday, where I could sleep face down in the thyme and mountains.
For a second there, I was thinking “good heavens, she could write Middle/Early Modern English at 5!” Then I realized it was creative small person spelling.
But I wold in Penrith/Argyll/N. Minnesota/N. Wisconsin by a hill in a litell stream, too.
As I live in the Sunset district of San Francisco, I am spending the last few days of summer as I have spent the whole summer – shouting “Jesus God can the fog let up for one fucking day? Please, my clothes are growing mold” at the heavens.
Oh gurl I know, I know. I love the fog, I love our weather – up to a point. It’s been gloomy enough this summer that it’s really affecting my mood. I spent a week last month visiting family in Georgia and I was actually looking forward to heat, humidity, unrelenting sunshine (I hated it when I lived there, but when you’re on vacation, who cares how crazy your hair looks?!) but it turned out to be really rainy and (almost) COOL the whole time. I only managed one trip to the pool and even that was cut short by rain. (Though on the plus side, apparently rainy weather and temps in the low-mid 80’s is great for my skin.)
Maybe September will be extra-nice this year?
I’m gonna need this happy hour I’m going to to arrive more quickly. There’s some bourbon with my name on it.
AMEN.
Hmm, well, I most certainly did not spend my week on or planning to be on the beach eating lobster, unlike the rest of you assholes. {harumph} I’ve been having serious Summer Envy today.
Y’know, after I hit submit on that long lobstery comment, I thought “I am truly The Worst.”
When I lived in a beachless lobsterless land of concrete (I LOVE YOU CHICAGO I’LL COME BACK SOMEDAY KISS KISS), I would make summer in my apartment: I’d put on a flowery sundress, play some Harry Belafonte, mix a summery drink with lots of ice and fruit, and dance around. This was especially effective in January.
Aw, don’t feel bad! It’s not your fault I haven’t been able to get my ass to a beach this summer. Really, I’m glad someone out there is enjoying lobstah and sand and living out my Mainer Beach Fantasy Life.
This is how that Goethe cake turned out if anyone is interested http://firstwefeast.com/eat/goethes-favorite-cake…
Ahh, so brave! I hate vague recipes, because I don’t have enough general cooking knowledge to be like, “oh they probably meant this much”. like if it just says “a medium oven” or something.
There is a Moroccan restaurant here where they wash your hands after you eat with water from a silver teapot and then sprinkle rosewater on your hands.
I have a full-time job but I also do some database stuff on the side and for the first weekend in a while I don’t have any work from that so I’m going to write some stuff I swear to fucking god.
My incredible discovery of this week: champagne grapes. They’re tiny, about the size of a teeny wild blueberry (not the honking fat ones from the grocery store) or a fat pearl, which means they’re perfect for eating iconic-orgy style: by dipping the stem of grapes into your mouth from high above and plucking the tiny, gem-like grapes off with your lips.
I feel like I got hit by a truck today – I didn’t realize the week had been so long! – but I’m inching towards the end of my day, thank God. And then tomorrow afternoon we’re sending the kiddo to her grandparents’ for a sleepover and my husband and I are going to dinner and a play and then have delicious breakfast plans for Sunday morning. It’s been a rough few weeks at our house, and we need this.
BOX OF WINE AND WATCHING THE NOTEBOOK FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. FOR RESEARCH PURPOSES.
Beware the choking sobs.
Ooh I have a question – if you buy a book mentioned here via a click-through does it bestow tangible reward upon our dear Toast? Because I generally just go straight to iBooks (laziness/instant gratification) or to my Local Independent Bookseller (coffee/moral imperative) but I was wondering about this today.
Yes, it does! Nicole clarified this on a post a while back (Only works for peeps in the US, though, I think?)
Ooh, I didn’t know that! Glad to know now, I’ll start clicking through for book buys.
Yes, and now I will be using those links to make ALL my amazon purchases. (Enjoy the pectin/Foucault kickbacks, guys.)
I must confess that summer is insignificant to me. I almost feel as though summer can be worse only because I am not doing fun things, but working full time. So I’ll just drink beer and eat pizza, like I do in fall, winter and spring!
I am… very stressed. I had my last day at work last Friday and have pissed this whole week away instead of, you know, packing and shit. I move in one week. My boyfriend has been down in Washington (I’m in Alaska) for the last two months, so while I have a place to land once I get there, I’ve been doing a lot of the finishing up by myself up here. I have had a tension headache for about three days straight now.
Oh, and we’re going to a wedding next week. Oh, and my boyfriend is the best man, so we’re realizing that he’s going to have to be there for a lot longer than me and my car will already be in the hands of the company sending it south on a barge, so we need to hit up some of his friends to give me a ride to the venue and then the reception. I’m kind of wondering if I’ll even get to sit with him at the reception, since I’m not part of the wedding party. Hooray.
Also I have terrible social anxiety about making phone calls and while I have a massage gift certificate I need to use up before I leave Alaska, I’m being too scared to make the appointment. I think I used up my phone-bravery for the morning on making an appointment to get a health certificate and updated shots for my corgi.
Alaska is beautiful and it has given us a lot over the last two years, but Juneau is smotheringly small and literally impossible to leave except by sea or air, so I am really looking forward to living in civilization again, even if civilization just means “more than one restaurant with a drive thru.”
Anyway, I’m done panic-rambling for now and need to go get myself some lunch.
Aw, good luck with everything! Remember with packing: throw shit out. Really.
Also, in regards to the wedding stuff: don’t sweat it! There are always significant others/awkward plus ones/the one rando friend from like 3rd grade that need a ride to and from venues. You’ll have no problem finding people to tag along with. And it’s true you might not be able to sit together at the reception, but people always get up and mingle, sometimes even before the main entree gets there. Plus, that’s what wine is for!
The most important thing I’ve learned from the Bustle hullabaloo: all the other great true feminist websites.
I met the OKC woman I’ve been conversing / skyping with for some weeks for the second time and she is still continually forthcoming with compliments and future plans, so I guess I’m seeing someone? Or on the cusp of seeing someone? I don’t know, but I’ve met people who are just interested in hanging out and being friends and she is not one of them.
I probably sound more trepidatious than I am. I’ve talked a bit about the scripting that I do in order to manage unusual social situations and this is part of that. When I was a kid I lived close enough to the mountains that I was given cursory instruction on what to do if caught in an avalanche, and I was taught that the most important part of preparedness in the face of sudden and unstoppable danger is the ability to act properly in a reflexive way, and since you can’t really practice these things, you have to make a script, and go over it and go over it so that when the snow starts coming down your terrified mind will be able to seize upon it and act.
So I’ve applied that principle to unfamiliar social situations, given their numerous similarity to avalanches. Years ago I was bewildered at the notion of even asking someone out. When I improvise conversation there’s a spinning loom of words inside my head and the rate at which it produces them is painfully inadequate when I’m in the vicinity of a person and can tell they expect engagement. Beyond pleasantries I’m often left speechless (contrast this with text conversation, which usually allows room for composition and thought). Scripting allows at least a loose blueprint of interaction through which I can look normal-ish.
I’ve hit a point where I can no longer script, because I have no real frame of reference for what should happen or how I should act. Years ago I couldn’t ask anyone out because that road ended in a precipice, I didn’t know how to proceed, how to go on a first date, how to present myself to someone new. A year in New York taught me how to initially meet and date people without collapsing, but the opportunity never arose to continue into that strange, dark place of in a relationship that was never sensibly conveyed by the books I read or the films I saw. Initiating a relationship, and ending one, are scenarios that are well-defined, with linear progressions that lead to new states of affairs, but there’s never been an accounting of how one successfully navigates the liminal space. And the liminal space is the entire object of pursuing a relationship, right? I find myself at a loss. I guess I could just go with the flow but this woman is doing a lot of heavy lifting (which I immensely appreciate) and I don’t want to appear disinterested or callous due to my bewilderment. I wonder if I can’t produce a few week-long sketches for partnership interaction and cycle through them, so that it doesn’t feel as overwhelming.
So uh, moral of the story is, interest from a woman brings out the raging autistic in me. And of course it’s possible that I’m way off the map in any event, what with the lack of signposts in this area. But it feels like this is moving in a direction, and I’m unsure of how to move correctly.
Hmm. Setting aside the question of how to proceed or how you feel about what’s happening, how do you feel about her?
Honestly? She’s great, she’s very attractive and smart and sweet (and tall), but I don’t know if I’m ready, BUT I’m such a timid person that I think that about any sort of thing that’s new to me, even things that I end up liking and excelling at. We’ve enjoyed ourselves together, and given how I’m bewildered in the short term, gauging long-term prospects seems even more rash to me.
But I know that she likes me, she’s okay with my strangeness and that she’s comfortable with asserting herself and not relying on my weird self to dictate what’s happening. The latter especially is absolutely crucial if I’m to have any romantic success in my life at all. I’m becoming increasingly skeptical of the notion that I can just meet someone and know that it’s right. My mind doesn’t really work that way. So I’m putting aside my dissonance and I’m going to see what comes of this.
Well, I don’t have any concrete advice for you, but I will say that even the most poorly socially adjusted of my friends at Nerd College eventually ended up paired off. Some ended up with partners as quiet and introverted as they are, and others ended up with super-outgoing, cheerful extroverts.
I will also say that I spent the first month I was dating my now-husband looking for excuses NOT to date him, because I was TERRIFIED to be in a situation where I a) was emotionally invested and b) had no idea what I was doing. He, it turns out, was feeling pretty much the same. So take heart: she may be as over her head as you are.
Have you read the Hairpin’s Interview with a virgin: Ben. I sort of think that from the way you speak about scripting maybe you are that person? Anyway does she know that this is new territory for you? I think that is what my next move would be: “I like you, but I’m not sure how to do this next part.”
Ben?? I don’t know any Ben, and I certainly haven’t parlayed any “Ben Interview” into sure-to-be-lucrative freelance internet writing gigs. I know what people are saying and they’re wrong.
And yes, that’s pretty much exactly what I did! Last night she messaged me sensing ambivalence in my diminished capacity for texting back and forth, but I assuaged her fear and we hung out today. She said “is this a date?” and I said “I guess it is” and I told her what I was feeling and we agreed that we liked one another. Then we walked through campus and she asked if it was alright to touch me, so I said yes and we held hands. I did not botch the end of the date though, we did a mutual cheek-kiss thing and she seemed quite happy with it, she stated that our mutual awkwardness made us a match. So we’re getting together again this coming week.
So we’re dating now. A first kiss is surely imminent. This is all still very surreal to me.
(Psst. I have replied to your comment on the FOT at the Hairpin. I’m not sure if you get notifications from the ‘Pin. I haven’t been lately :(. Anyway, I’ll be in Denver from the 1st to the 8th, but I’m not sure of my friend or my cousin’s work schedules. Probably while they’re at work I’ll just be living in the Tattered Cover.)
Hey!! So weird that I never got a notification, they’re supposed to be on. But yes I was hoping we could organize a smaller mini-meetup or just hang out before I go, since this has been planned for so long.
I will e-mail you when I figure some details out. My friend is coming to NYC first and then we’re flying to CO, so he probably won’t get many days off while I’m there. But we usually go camping for a least a night in Breck, and I’m hoping we’ll still be doing that. But basically yeah, I will probably e-mail you sometime next week and I will most likely be able to grab a drink or something sometime that week!
Otherwise we will be like Pin Ships passing in the night in two different cities.
I am 2 days off from Communists in the Funhouse, and I just had a Poptart PB&J which is a thing now that they make Peanut Butter Poptarts.
Feeling extra dickish today at everyone at work, and I can barely keep my shit together to even look like I’m doing work.
So sick of this week. So sick of last week.
So, I think Poptart PB&J will have to be the thing that gets me through the last 2 hours of today.
I am skipping straight to the end to say that university orientation is next week and oh my god I am not ready for a new school year. I did not accomplish any of my research/writing/organization projects this summer because somehow every week got eaten up by tiny whatsits I had to take care of. And yet the deadlines for those summer projects still loom! I will have to do all those things while doing regular things! How will I ever succeed!?
Also, this summer I found a gin I like, so I will be closing out summer by drinking a lot of gins & tonics with cucumber garnishes. And I’d forgotten how this town has the very best August weather imaginable, so I’ll be basking in the last of that.
Toasties, I just ran a mile in under ten minutes for the first time since fourth grade. And this morning, I was groaning with menstrual cramps and crying out for pizza delivery, so I am extra proud! (Also, I love The Toast because I can share fitness accomplishments that are by most human standards not even accomplishments, and feel so comfortable and good.)
Congratulations!! I ran a mile in under ten minutes for the first in a long time about a year ago….and haven’t really run much since. Keep it up! What’s your next big goal??
This is awesome!! It took until adulthood for me to be able to run a mile without stopping or walking, and when I hit the ten minute mark, I was ecstatic for a month. (and I still haven’t hit the 9 minute mark though I maaaaybe could if I really pushed myself)
Today I recognized while trying to squeeze in a run on what was supposed to be a rest my legs day that my legs really, really, really needed that rest and were burning in a not at all good way. and I walked home and did some stretching and foam rolling and worked on some other things. and so far have not freaked out with compulsive exercising need. Which is also achieving a fitness goal (and, yeah, something that people talking fitness on most non-toast sites would probably not understand)
yes, I completely feel you on not freaking out with compulsive exercising need as a fitness goal in its own right. the mad pendulum mood swings between ‘lazy half-assed workouts’ and ‘i will do push-ups three times a day or i am UNWORTHY’ are not conducive to being a beast in life.
good for you and here’s to the toast 🙂
Aaaaaagh this can’t be normal. The landlord’s electrician came to fix a broken bathroom light fixture while I was away at work, and he was shocked that my apartment is still fairly unmodernized and has the type of ceiling light that has a cord you pull on, instead of a light switch. So he spontaneously decided to rewire the bathroom and left behind great big gaping holes in the wall?
Three of the holes are neat and circular, but there is a big crumbly one right behind the light switch that the switch only partly covers, and you can see into the wall and its cobwebs and mysterious dark spaces that probably have mice and silverfish and plaster dust and insulation and probably asbestos too. And it’s the weekend. My uncommunicative semi-absentee landlord is not legally allowed to leave it like this, is he??
It’s perfectly timed not just for the weekend but also for Mallory’s post about the cave entrance to hell because it looks like I have a mini-one right here in my bathroom.
I am not a lawyer, and it depends on where you are, but if things (like your lights) aren’t working, it’s possible that the landlord can’t legally leave it like that (where I am, they’re required to fix major issues like no running water within like 24 hours, and they have a bit longer to fix non-essential but still important things). Even if he’s not required to fix it, I hope it works out!
thanks for the kind words! I will be a squeaky wheel until it gets fixed. Now that there are holes in the wall, I can see that the lower layers of the wall were made with horsehair plaster, so there are these long black horse hairs sticking up out of the wall, and that is probably where 80% of my grossed-out-ness comes from.
That and the fact that my kitchen sink and dishwasher got completely clogged at around the same time (while a subletter was staying here), so I am also washing dishes in the bathroom on a temporary basis this weekend — it is just lousy! But will pass.
le toast, I have just moved to northwest ohio. my town is nice. But there is like 1 person my age here who has no children. 1. how does a single lady make friends with ladies with kids? I enjoy children, but understand that people who have them have a very different schedule and different priorities. 2. do any of you live near me? 3. could you recommend things to see/do?
this is a late reply, but your comment resonated with me because of past experience, so I thought it would be worth putting in my two cents!
last year, I moved to a small town in a rural part of Canada that sounds a bit like your town – few young people, those that are there have families, etc. I did spend a lot of time alone (read a lot of novels on my reading list!) but also was able to make friends. first, I found a cafe to make my own, and went there two or three times a week just to have a coffee or tea and read. I never made friends there but it was nice to have a familiar place that wasn’t my apartment. I also took swimming lessons at the community centre and met a fellow young single lady and we became friends. I volunteered at a local alternative-economy organization (perhaps not every small town will have one!) but it was a great place to meet people from all over the social map and gave us something to do while we were getting to know one another.
finally, I know this is common sense, but give it time! building community takes a long time, but you will make it happen 🙂
Guys! I took a really important test this week for my future ~career~ and I passed!! I should add this should have been taken like a month ago but I put it off because failing by default is better than trying and then failing right?! There are still other tests and things to do but it feels really good to have this one step done!
i just ran 9.5 miles!! Just needed a place to brag.
I started reading The Summer Prince on my way home from work and it is full of sexy neo-Brazilian teens and sexual fluidity and a society built on matriarchy and man-murder by which I mean IT IS THE PERFECT BOOK.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Summer-Prince-ebook/dp/…
Okay I’m in Australia, so it’s still winter here, but this weekend it looks like it will be nice! The sky is an amazing blue and there’s a slight warmth in the air.
I think I only need to get through a couple more weeks, and then I can start wearing T-shirts, bare legs, and drink gin and tonics. I’m so excited, I love Summer!
I’m in Sydney too, and I refuse to wait til summer to drink gin and tonics. Gin and tonics all year round!
Any other Toasties in China?
Wah I was there a few weeks ago. Back in Tokyo now.
My mom asked me today, “Are you going to visit your Aunt soon?” and I realized I have been talking about visiting her since JUNE (she lives a 45 minute $11 bus ride away from me, I have no excuse). How do I fit in everything I want to do this summer in the last three weeks before school starts? Trick question: I work two jobs so it is impossible.
BUT I start my very first clinical for nursing in October (we have a month of lab to learn the basics first) and I just got my clinical placement. ALSO I found out a friend of mine is going to my school for hir master’s, so we’ll totally be able to eat lunch together all the time which is awesome, because I’ve seen hir ONCE since ze got married last year (they live so far away!). This is someone who visited me in the eating disorder residential unit I was in, and in the hospital after I attempted suicide (and brought me a stuffed animal for cuddle purposes; this is a good thing to bring someone who wants to die FYI). I am a bad friend for not trying to hang out more with hir, but now that ze’ll be on campus we can hang out all the time!
I still eat exclusively from the salad bar at school but that’s only because I find ordering food from the food stations too confusing (what if I do it wrong)
This week I started Mission: Impress My Childhood Self and enrolled in a kung fu school! I have only been to one class so far because of my work schedule, but it was awesome, and I’m committed to going again on Monday night.
That is kickass!
Yesterday I made/canned my first ever batch of jam (blueberry)! The ping-ping-ping of the cans sealing was probably the best instant gratification I’ll receive all year/maybe ever (I’m starting a PhD program). This weekend is for: 1) getting a library card 2) hoping my new bank info arrives in the mail today 3) trying to make my own yogurt 4) bills bills bills 5) catching up on all the Toast I’ve missed since moving 6) watching all of the tv.
Making jam is SO fun, and that jar ping is the sound of accomplishment. I haven’t made any yet this summer, but I’m hoping to make some blackberry jam soon, because it’s my favorite. I made nectarine/vanilla a few years ago and it was the best, it would be great with peaches; I also made a great apricot/chipotle that came from a peach/chipotle recipe. And having extra jam around makes great hostess gifts around the holidays.
I have spent two of three august weekends COTTAGING and will be spending the next one doing the same. At three different cottages. A man is blessed. First weekend/week of september is my FIRST! EVER! ONTARIO! CANOE TRIP! I am majorly pumped about it. I want to see a moose. GONNA SEE A MOOSE.
Also, the ex (as in, let’s go to the ex!). And getting ready for the Great American Cross Country Road Trip that will land me in Whistler,BC October 1st.
ALSO doing accounting. Here and there. But not really cuz, I’ve clearly got better things to be doing.
Hey!! So weird that I never got a notification, they're supposed to be on. But yes I was hoping we could organize a smaller mini-meetup or just hang out before I go, since this has been planned for so long.