Toasties! Why can’t all drinks have pickles in them? Speaking of pickles, the Pollock forger who misspelled the artist’s name?! Amazing. What hilarious things have happened to you lately?
Tags: cocktail hour, open thread, pickles, the bartender
Toasties! Why can’t all drinks have pickles in them? Speaking of pickles, the Pollock forger who misspelled the artist’s name?! Amazing. What hilarious things have happened to you lately?
Tags: cocktail hour, open thread, pickles, the bartender
On vacation in Croatia. We went to Lipica to see the Lipizzaner horse farm. Baby horses!
We also did our yearly visit to the Dino Park in Funtana. New this year Sea Monsters!
Plus the T-Rex now has vine hair to cover up a rip in its neck.
That T-rex looks like it’s enjoying it’s trip to Hawaii immensely.
ITS trip to Hawaii. Ugh, Friday brain.
T-REX LUAU
Jealous! Croatia is on my short list of places to visit. (It’s also [one of] my motherland[s]!)
My husband’s family is from here. His parents moved back when they retired so we get to visit every summer.
Ahhh, I went to Lipica when I was in Slovenia in April/May! What a great area. I’d love to go to Croatia next time. (Although I kind of just want to move to Ljubljana and live there forever. I loved it there.)
Awesome! I went to Croatia for vacation last year, and it was absolutely amazing.
Croatia! How fantastic!
pickles are delicious. weirdly, one of the things i crave most often is brine. vinegar-y things. pickles, ketchup.
i have been totally absent because i just started a new job and i’m still totally paranoid about reading non-work-related websites at work. i haven’t seen anything non-work-related while peering over people’s shoulders—everyone’s always on task. how? why?
Me too re: cravings. Sauerkraut is also tops. I bet this ~means something about nutrients we should actually be getting….
right? maybe it’s a salt thing? maybe we’re slowly trying to pickle ourselves from the inside, out?
So long as I have either sauerkraut or kimchee in my fridge than I will always eat well.
Pickles are great. I drink a wee shot glass of pickle juice semi-regularly (usually when I feel a cold coming on).
I love pickle juice!
But I’m definitely not keeping 3 jars of pickle juice in the fridge (with no pickles in them). Definitely not.
Pickle juice is great! And apparently this is genetic, as my 4-yr-old has her own jar of pickle juice in the ‘fridge that she gets out and drinks when she wants it.
I was never allowed to do this as a kid. I definitely do not (do) do this as an adult.
i haven’t seen anything non-work-related while peering over people’s shoulders—everyone’s always on task. how? why?
That’s just creepy.
right? i’m telling myself that it’s not actually possible. they must just be really sneaky. right? right?
I think it’s the acid. My dinner last night was a salad with vinaigrette, grapefruit juice and strawberries. My mom would recoil in horror from that much acid, but it just suits me.
Anybody wanna talk about this totally bananas World Cup? I haven’t done anything responsible or useful since the dang thing started because I cannot even tear myself away (one exception: I went to see the lady national team play last night and it was GREAT).
I’m not pulling for any team in particular ( a few I root against ) so I don’t know in depth stats and rosters and such, mostly just enjoying some good sports. Exception for that Cameroon – Croatia game which just fell apart.
That S. Korea – Russia game was so tense, glad it ended in a tie. I was cringing so much when that Korean goal went in off the goalie, that is something I would do and I am a crap soccer player.
Aside from this ogle-fest of hot world cup players ( http://www.papermag.com/2014/06/world_cup_hotties… ) I have been trying to watch as many games as possible this year. I never watch soccer otherwise, but I do enjoy the World Cup. As a non-soccer-fan Mexican-American in the UK, I’m supporting Mexico (aside from general cultural allegiances, they have a player with my surname, so that’s all it really takes). It’s been sort of a tragicomedy to see the highs and lows of England supporters here who both expected their team to bomb, but then were shocked-SHOCKED when things went tits up in the Uruguay match last night. I actually felt for them a bit.
I knew, of course, that my team was not going to win (we’re Cameroon fans) but I would have appreciated them at least trying to look like they wanted to be there vs. Croatia.
Now I think I’m cheering for the Netherlands or Germany.
I feel obligated to root for the US just because I want soccer to be more of A Thing here and doing well in the World Cup would certainly help that, but as soon as we get knocked out I will be all about the Netherlands and Germany. They’re both so fun to watch!
Ditto, and ditto, and ditto! Go European teams! Plus Robin van Persie and Manuel Neuer are ADORABLE.
I was sad for Cameroon, it was a little heartbreaking to see them lose their team spirit but I can’t even imagine how that must have felt.
Oh mannn, this World Cup has been so much fun. I’m still pulling for the US (totally delusional, I know), but I don’t know who I’m going to back once they’re inevitably eliminated. (And most of my favorite players from club football have had a pretty shitty World Cup so far, haha!) Hoping for some good underdog stories, though 🙂
Yay WNT games! I went to their one against Canada in Texas, and it was amazing seeing all the little girls there in their jerseys cheering. I’ve been really turned off of the men’s national team by the bro-ish culture of their fanbase, so it’s nice to support one of the teams without feeling I’ve wandered into a kegger.
Also, I basically always cheer for high-scoring games with upsets and chaos, so this tournament has been GREAT.
Ahhh, right??? The crowd was primarily girls under 15 or so, and it was so fabulous to see. Lots of entire youth soccer teams all there together, too. So cool. GIRL SPORTS FOREVER. I’m super jealous you got to see them play Canada — those games are always exciting and usually a little bit nasty, esp if Sydney Leroux plays.
And I totally agree about upsets and chaos. The Netherlands – Spain game was a DELIGHT, pretty sure I had buggy cartoon-character eyeballs the entire time (sorry Spain).
I saw Team Canada play Team USA last month! Those women are fierce. And thousands of people came out to watch! Although, the American players looked a bit baffled when the Canadian fans lost their damn minds when a Canadian player roughed up an American player. We got excited because body checking.
I’m not even a soccer fan, but I can’t wait for when the women’s world cup is in Canada.
I AM SO EXCITED FOR NEXT SUMMER. I live about 5 hours from Montreal and I’m already planning the ultimate Lady Soccer Vacation.
I can’t wait, either! I live in Ottawa and we have fingers crossed for which games we get to see. (I also live a 5 minute bike ride from the stadium, so yeah!)
When we had the U20 World Cup here in 2007 it was so much fun.
I was one of those little girls once! Well, almost – my whole soccer team drove for 2 hours to see the San Jose CyberRays when I was 11 and it is still one of my fondest soccer memories. I even got my hat signed by Brandi Chastain! It’s one of the sadly few professional women’s sporting events I’ve been to and it made such an impression.
I know it’s mean spirited of me, but I so enjoyed watch England lose to Uruguay yesterday. English football fans are just the worst so I’m sorry but I have to root against them.
I was out with a friend last night and every time someone mentioned England he did the Nelson from the Simpsons “HA ha”, so you’re not the only one.
The Costa Rica v Italy game right now!!! Just caught CR’s goal. I love this world cup.
I saw the USWNT play Brazil last year, it was awesome. Such a great vibe.
AAAAND Costa Rica has won! I like seeing the New World do well.
Yes! I’m pretty much rooting for the CONCACAF teams, so the combination of Costa Rica winning and England getting eliminated with zero points (see my stance on England above) is making me pretty happy.
Gurl I LOVE your stance on England.
Totally bananas! I’m so into it. I can’t stop covertly watching at work, it’s great. I work with pretty much exclusively Germans (the rest are a few Americans), who were losing their minds when Germany destroyed Portugal. My boss was so drunk and giggly. Yes yes I support the US, but let’s be real, I’m pretty much all about Germany. Auf geht’s!!!!!
The current Switzerland vs France is just brutal to watch. Half-time, France in lead with 3-0. I like the French but I have some familial connections in Switzerland, so I’m both happy for France and sad for Switzerland. Football (no, I will not call it soccer, it is football) gives me many feelings.
I’m stuck at work and following along online, sounds like it’s been nuts!
Elsa! I’m sorry I didn’t get in touch, but I had an awesome time in Portland, ME. Hot Suppa is indeed delicious, and they have probably one of the best Bloody Marys I’ve ever had. Allagash is great. The cryptozoology museum is neat, but not worth $7. Acadia is awesome!
On another note, who wants to talk about the Game of Thrones finale?
Glad your trip to ME was great! Damb, it makes me want an Allagash and some blueberry cake re-HEAL bad.
GoT, SO! I’m glad there was less Snow, and Maximum Brienne greatness. After the penultimate episode, I was glad to see some plots movin’ along.
The Brienne/Arya moment was amazing. I also liked how everyone started coming seriously unhinged this episode. I know the internet was up in arms about the Tysha backstory getting cut out, but I was glad. That will spare us from a hundred “Where do whores go?” scenes next season.
I’m still wishing for a Brienne/Arya AU where they go off and have Westerosi adventures. I haven’t checked out tumblr though, I’m sure they’re already all on top of this.
So glad you had a good visit! Man, I love Hot Suppa. If ever you come back this way, we can meet there for a beer and some of their excellent fries.
I didn’t have the fries! Did I miss out?
My favorite moment was when Varys heard the bells tolling and was like “ehhhhh nope, fuck this.” and turned around and got on the ship.
Hot Suppa! I went there on my trip to Portland YEARS ago and I still think about it. They convinced me that I actually like porridge. <3
Q: (book spoliers? maybe?) Are we supposed to think the hound is dead or not? I always thought he died, but am I acting like a GRRM rookie to believe so?
It’s ambiguous in the book at this point too.
As alicia said, it’s ambiguous, but it’s implied that he’s chilling out in the Quiet Isles.
Right! But the show may have killed that idea though.. unless there really was a maester hiding out behind a rock? Or a septon that was mysteriously out of earshot of the epic fight?
I feel there was a time in the past when i also got unreasonably excited about both Game of Thrones and Maine and I will do so now again.
– Hot Suppa brunch is prob freaking phenomenal, I can only imagine their Bloody Marys. Im still not over their $1 oyster HH– they were such QUALITY!
– Finale: I give it an A. There was a certain EPILOQUE I’m still quite shocked was not included, but if its a separate full storyline in Season 5 w the Brotherhood I will calm down. IF IT IS NOT I WILL WRITE AN ANGRY LETTER.
– I thought the Shae “we both reached for the gun” (Chicago! Anyone?) was a nice touch to make Tyrion less culpable and probably less destroyed next season.
– FIGHTING SKELETONS! Where’s Captain Barbosa? Srly though, it was cool; I get it; but no Jojen-paste? DAMN.
– i have no idea what narrative they’re created / plan to create w Jaime/ Cercei. I don’t recognize their character arcs from the book at all. WHY would Cersei ever threaten blow up Tommens claim to the throne? Power is LITERALLY her favorite thing in this universe. Maybe it was a bluff?
I AM SO MAD about that person not being in the finale. Argh. If they cut that person, I will be SO MAD.
I have no idea what was going on with Cersei. I guess she’s over the rape thing as well? And I don’t think Jaime should have given into her, but what do I know.
The finale implies NO JOJENPASTE, which is a fan book theory whose name has amused me for ages, no matter how horrifying the actual theory is.
Jojenpaste is one of my favorite theories as well! I’m still going to hang onto it in hopes that it will still end up that way in the book.
I just bought plane tickets to Ireland…ahhh! My friend’s been working there for a few years now and I’m finally able to visit before she leaves. Does anyone have Dublin recommendations (which I’m sure would help me to feel excited rather than nauseated at the amount I just put on my credit card…)? I would be so grateful to hear about good pubs, restaurants, off-the-beaten-path type stuff, if anyone’s been/from!
Stag’s Head! It’s in a busy, party-ish part of town, but it’s very cool and they serve an excellent Guinness.
Thank you!!
If you’ll be there for a few days try to get out of Dublin. Not that Dublin isn’t great, but day trips are easy and the Irish countryside/smalltowns/coasts are great.
Ooo anyones in particular? If I ever go back exploring the countryside was my #1 to-do
Thanks! I think a day trip is definitely on the agenda – we just haven’t decided which one to do yet.
Surprisingly, the prison museum tour was one of my fav things about the trip. Our tour guide was wonderful and fascinating and there was a pub rt outside that had really good food– actually, all the food I had in Irish pubs was great, where does that “bad food stereotype come from? Was I just lucky? Also, you can drink outside, so one afternoon we just picked up a few bottles of wine and sat in a nice park in central dublin and enjoyed the surprisingly sunny day. Wait, good food + sunshine… was I in Ireland?
Kilmainham Gaol, right? We had a great tour guide too when I was there.
Ooh – good tip about the drinking outside thing. I forgot about that. It’s not just in Paris that you can have wine and cheese in the park! 🙂
I loved literally everything I did in Dublin aside from the taxation museum (which I wandered into accidentally, somehow? it was a very confusing moment, I thought I was walking into a castle but then suddenly there was a museum display on counterfeit Timbaland merchandise) — the Chester Beatty Library was definitely the best thing I did, and admission’s free. I can’t give pub/restaurant advice though, I was so jet-lagged I was in bed by eight every night and so broke I could only afford to eat at Subway. (THAT SAID, Subway’s cheese toasties are surprisingly tasty and cost next to nothing, if you happen to find yourself in a situation where you’ve only got pocket change to feed yourself for a day or two.)
Haha – thanks for the tip about the toasties, pretty sure I’m going to be dead broke by day three so that could come in handy!
The Chester Beatty Library is so so great! I only went because it was recommended to me by a friend but it was my favourite thing about Dublin too, so I feel like I should pass on the recommendation whenever possible.
I had a great lunch at the Winding Stair, which is also a bookshop. Escarole salad and venison shepherd’s pie–I remember it over a year later!
This right here. The Winding Stair is great for brunch. Also, if you’re not down for staying in Dublin the whole time, take a few day trips to places nearby. Vans leave everyday to many spots around the country. Love Glendalough and Blarney Castle. Haven’t made my way to Dingle, but it’s supposed to be gorgeous. If you’re into World Cup matches and a decent crowd, check out Dicey’s Garden (2euro pints on Mondays) or The Bernard Shaw. Staying local, take the Dart up to Howth and hike around the cliffs there, oh! And if you can, highly highly recommend the majestic Cliffs of Moher. Happy adventures!
Thanks so much! Cliffs of Moher was at the top of my possible day trip list, but I’d really love to do Howth too!
Oh oh I was away at a festival this weekend so only just reading this but I live in Dublin (although I’m leaving to move to London in 2 weeks so I won’t be around when you’re there) and have LOTS of recs!
Pubs: Against the Grain for craft beer, Bernard Shaw for hipster watching and decent pizza, Whelan’s for music, The Cobblestone for trad music on Sundays, O’Donoghues on Baggot Street for good craic. I’m sure I’m leaving out some awesome ones.
Restaurants: SO many erm, Bear for steak, Zaytoon for incredible kebabs, Murphy’s ice cream… in fact check out lovindublin.com for reviews of decent places.
Other: Guinness is over-rated IMO but feel free, there’s few places to get a good vista of the city so it’s worth it. Best touristic thing to do is the Viking Splash tour. Guaranteed to be fun and a good way to see other bits of the city (including the docks). I’ve taken everyone who’s come to visit me on it.
Oh and a +1 for whoever gave the shout out for Kilmainham Gaol. Bit of a way out of town but it’s very interesting and rather creepy.
If it’s sunny you could get the Dart along the coast and visit Dun Laoghaire or Dalkey or Bray or something and chill by the sea. Or just walk to Sandymount Strand! Agh why am I leaving this amazing city.
Thank you so so much for all the recs! Gah I want to do them all, may be tricky in four days but of course I can try. 🙂 London has its share of awesomeness too but you sure do make Dublin sound fun.
It is super fun. My general advice would be if you’re staying on the North side, don’t just stick around there – venture south! And Temple Bar is grand, there are some cool quirky places, but it’s not any local people’s favourite area, so definitely don’t just stay around there either.
Also since this is a cocktail hour thread, some cocktail recommendations – the Vintage Cocktail Club, or the Liquor Rooms which is open very late for all your pickled needs when pubs have closed.
What is that thing with the pickles I will take four. Please.
it looks like a nicely chilled cornichon-garnished martini (of the vodka variety, I hope).
oooh, cornichons make my mouth water…
not a cornichon! a large real pickle!
It looks like one of those dirty martinis they make with pickle juice instead of olive juice. It has a name I’m forgetting right now, but they are delicious.
Statement of intent: I really am going to curtail my relationship with the person who isn’t really there for me when I have problems and wouldn’t let me be there for them either. It was my New Year’s resolution to put energy into people who reciprocate, so no more backsliding! I am worth more than this heartache.
HIGH. FIVE.
Yay! Good for you. I know it’s hard.
Good for you!
I did this six months ago and it is the best.
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I was going to say, “Yeah, your baby seems like a total taker,” but that would be mean. Instead I’ll wish for a clean break and more boomerangy kindness in your future.
Hilarious happenings: My students this week. (I teach ESL to adults)
I teach a group of nurses who work in Urology, and they are total beginners so we only do the very basics of what they need to communicate to patients. The resulting dialogues are hilariously shouty and monotone.
“I’M HUNGRY”
“DON’T EAT OR DRINK”
“I HAVE PEE”*
“NO, YOU HAVE CATHETER”
I also did a unit on small talk with some more advanced students, and after teaching them basic phrases for exiting a conversation, I told them to mingle and chat with each other. Most of them followed the script, with “Well, it’s been nice talking but I have to go” and similar things, but one of them politely informed each student, “I’m so sorry, I have to go find another conversation partner now”. Can this please become standard accepted small talk? It would make life so much easier.
*she forgot the essential “to” every time, and there were many lols.
“I’m so sorry, I have to go find another conversation partner now”
I am ALL ABOUT THAT!
I used to teach English classes to people who were studying for their US citizenship tests, and there was this older Russian dude who used to straight up troll me whenever it was time to practice conversation. Example:
“How old are you?”
“One hundred. Dead. I look good for one hundred and dead”
Oh wow I think you just informed me of my new career
I did this as volunteer work in high school, but the program was called English for New Americans. I know Make the Road in NYC offers similar services, and I’m sure there are several other similar programs/non-profits in other cities!
Oh he wins. Dry old man humor is great.
Anyone who’s got enough of a grip on a language to actually be funny in it has mastered that language, A plus
Hi Toasties,
I woke up at 3 this morning because there was shooting pain all in my right arm. I managed to fall back asleep for a little bit and I am tired and in pain and cranky. Can I work from bed for the rest of the day?
Yes.
No work! But you are approved for the bed part. I hereby prescribe several episodes of Battlestar Galactica and the indulgent takeout of your choice. Then, more sleeping. Love, Dr. Busst.
A guy I’ve been seeing found my tumblr, where I said some not-mean-but-insensitive-at-best things about him and now I feel like A MAJOR ASSHOLE. I’m so embarrassed (I don’t know how he found me!) and mortified that I hurt him.
But, he went looking for me, and then read back like 2 weeks (which is a lot because I post approximately 1000 puppy photo sets a day), and I’m a little miffed that he did that. Like, obviously internet = public and that’s on me, but it still weirdly feels like a privacy violation.
Also I feel like I have new guy drama every week lately and just THANK YOU ALL FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME.
if he can’t handle you at your tumblr, he doesn’t deserve you at your not-tumblr
DEALBREAKER
“I’m sorry, the amazing humans behind The Toast don’t think we should be together. I’m going to have to end this.”
If your man calls out your brother’s name during sex… that’s a dealbreaker, ladies!
If your man owns a diamond necklace that says, “open marriage”…. that’s a dealbreaker, ladies!
If your man has dated your mother in the past… That’s a dealbreaker, ladies!
Nicole, you’re a perfect being.
I dunno, if you didn’t have it linked to your Facebook or anything there is no reason for you to consider Tumblr a wholly public forum (which is weird, since it IS, but very few of my IRL friends know about my Tumblr and I would prefer to keep it that way) and definitely a little creepy on his part. I agree that it seems like something we Tumblr users shouldn’t actually be miffed about but I would feel the same.
ETA Nicole put it like 800000x better than I could
someone i briefly dated went WAY back in mine. like, years. they must have spent several hours just going back. it felt way creepy, to be honest. i only found out because i have a statcounter, they weren’t upfront about it, it was totally creepin’. and like you said, internet=public, so i can’t really complain, but… eh.
Hmmm, hilarious things….my friends showed me a game that involves doing charades UNDER A BLANKET. This was the fourth round of said game and drinks had been drunk, so there was a lot of cursing and laughing so hard it turned into silent convulsions. <3 yay friends
your friends sound capital F Fantastic….
boutros boutros ghali! this is the best and most ridiculous party game i have ever played, thank you for reminding me that it exists!
OMG that was not the name we used but what a great alternative!
YES! That is the best game and I’ve never run across anyone else who plays it. Our version is called, for reasons none of us can remember, the Mallory Family Fun Game (no relation to the esteemed proprietor of this blog…at least, I think not).
It invariably devolves into us shouting lewd phrases at each other for the rest of the evening and I really need to play it again asap.
WAIT this sounds amazing and I have questions. Is only the charade actor under a blanket? Or do you need some giant blanket with everyone underneath, like a charades fort? Apart from the blanket is it different from standard charades?
So this is the basic beginning form of the game: http://twilightme.blogspot.com/2007/11/boutros-bo…
But we had a more involved game with more Rules. The stuff on our paper slips could be anything, so long as it started with 1 letter (to keep things from being entirely impossible to guess in the beginning). Ours was D so we had things like Douchebags, Drunk Girls, Deer in the Headlights, Dolly Parton, Dillon Panthers, etc. There was a standard Taboo round, a Taboo-but-only-one-word round, a Charades round, and then the BLANKET ROUND. By the fourth round you pretty well know all the words in the bowl because you’ve played them three times already. Only the actor is under a blanket, hands may not emerge. It was SO HARD for some things that I frequently wasted half the minute just going “Shit! FUCK! How am I supposed to do this?!?!”
Oh my god this is Salad Bowl but SO MUCH BETTER
YES that’s what we call it! Now I am the friend who will want to play it every time we’re together
We call it Salad Bowl too! I’m going to make my friends play this immediately.
WAIT my friends and I play this too! But we just call it Celebrity (though it has been heavily adapted from celebrity because celebrities make up like 10% tops of our slips) and it is THE BEST THING. you haven’t lived until you’ve seen someone try to act out the Oregon Trail under a blanket.
Toastie Bat Signal to Anne Marie! Did you get my CD?????
I got tired of my dad’s meaningful glances whenever I prognosticate about the next season of GoT, so decided to just read all of ASOIAF, and these are the longest and most poorly-edited and mediocre-ly written books, and I could trim 300 pages from each like THAT.
Book 4 especially was a goddamn slog. Ugh.
So sloggy. At least the show has to be better than the book for the next few seasons.
I like Book 4 better than Book 5, which was also no one doing anything with the added bonus of not even having characters I liked in it.
Dude for real. That shit was originally supposed to be a trilogy, and it SHOULD’VE STAYED THAT WAY.
GRRM is a narcissistic butthole, is the problem there.
thank you for being so wonderful. their re-blossoming popularity is the very worst of all the bad parts of the 90s resurgence. I already didn’t care about them twenty years ago, why do I have to do it again!
here is what I do every time the fellow at work who likes me tries to talk to me about the series and what a neat keen character Tyrion is, I say, “Oh, right, the rapist?” amazingly I have had the opportunity to do this more than once.
And now everyone who watches the show knows he’s also a murderer! What a swell guy!
GRRM is in the WORST NEED of a better, less spineless editor. There are like 600 feasts and 800 random backstories and side characters that we DO NOT NEED.
In fairness it takes talent to make feasts boring, feasts are inherently compelling. I can tell you every goddamn thing Shasta ate in A Horse and His Boy from the flavored ices down to the first time he had butter instead of oil on his bread, but can I tell you anything Jon or Rick or Ed (Edd?) or Steve or, or Jayden or any other godforsaken Worst Fantasy Name Ever ate, even though I read at least two of those things? No, I cannot.
ALL THE FOOD IN NARNIA, FOREVER (except the soya bean sausages and the vitaminized nerve food Eustace ate before he got Narnified).
(Sorry I’m so shouty today, you guys, I’m just very close to being done with a big demanding project and when it’s done I will either light up Boston like a freaking Christmas tree or sleep for a week. Or both.)
Here, you need to read this:
http://archiveofourown.org/works/137185
Unless you hate Anthony Bourdain or fanfic! In which case you probably shouldn’t read it.
I have read that, thanks! It is amazing.
Food in children’s books is the best, though. Currently researching the practicalities of literally doing a post-grad degree in it. Swoon for high teas and holidays.
Midnight feasts in English boarding school books were always my favourites.
I love fantasy feasts. I don’t even care if they move the plot forward – just describe freshly baked rolls hot from the kitchen for me six different ways and I’ll keep reading.
SO POORLY EDITED. And copyedited. I still remember a passage in which someone “heard a football upon the ship’s deck” (obviously supposed to be “footfall”) – and I could go on with these silly mistakes that are a step beyond your average sad-but-inevitable typo.
DECLINE OF THE IN HOUSE COPYEDITOR
(Wait, does that need a hypen? In-House?)
Haha. I think it might!
The other one I remember that was pretty distracting – a mention of some pillagers who were “raping all the village’s windows” (widows) 🙁
When in doubt, hyphenate adjectives.
This is useful to hear, because people keep telling me, “Oh if you get through like the first 400 pages of the first book, you’ll be SUPER into it. They’re so good.”
And I just…I could read two really great, short, engrossing books and have a WAY better time.
Right? I am excited to have some backup on this.
Yes. He needed an editor. His writing makes my head hurt. And there is so much of it!
Oh, THANK YOU, Nicole. I thought I was alone in my “meh…” response to the first (and why I have gone no further in the series).
I just read book 1 after finishing the first 2 seasons of GoT, thinking I might do the same, but GOD DAMN.
I feel like the only cool things I learned were that Winterfell has hot water pumping through the walls (bad ass!) and Rickon’s direwolf is named Shaggydog (this is a hilarious example of what happens when you let a small child name a pet).
True Life: When we got our cats I wanted to name them Sparkle and Jewel. I was three.
And one of my best friends named HER cat at about four and it was called “Cuddles Peekaboo”
We got a cat when I was three as well, and my parents allowed me to name it Gato for some reason.
CUDDLES PEEKABOO THOUGH
CUDDLES PEEKABOO, good god i love it
My 3- year old niece was given the responsibility of naming her grandmother’s cat and she called him KITTY SHA- SHA.
I read the first 3 and got part way (like 60 pages tops) through the 4th before the show became a thing. I like the show better than I do the books, and I am so not sorry. AT LEAST I CAN TELL ALL THESE HORRIBLE PEOPLE APART NOW OKAY.
Oh yes, my name recognition improved 1000% from when I just watched the show. I like to recap with my friend and everyone who appears after I stopped reading is “you know that chick with the red hair and the cool accent?”
Your live-tweeting of your slog through ASOIAF, however, has been extraordinary.
(yes that’s me, i’m the creeper favoriting each of your GoT tweets.)
Any San Diego / Southern Californian Toasties? I’m here for the next few months, and would love a distraction (from studying for the bar).
Not there right now – but lots of fun breweries in San Diego (green flash is a personal favorite), lots of fun ethnic food in Chula Vista, and lots of fun hipster-y stuff in university heights/north park area. i like carnitas snack shack for food and mariscos german seafood truck for the smoked marlin taco (it’s smoked marlin with cheese, and it tastes like bacon with cheese. so good)
I’m way up in the Riverside area, so I guess it depends on how badly you need a distraction …
I just started a Girls Who Like Girls Meetup so if you’re one of those, definitely come check us out!
I don’t live in the US at the mo, but I’m from LA (and San Diego, a little bit)! If I were there, I would so meet up, but I will echo Sam12345 in saying that the breweries in SD county are amazing, and check out El Indio ( http://www.el-indio.com/ )for taquitos and guacamole. They are completely and wholly delishus, and probably the best drunk food ever conceived. I hope you find some toasties there!
I won my first t-shirt toss at a sporting event ever. It was a Pride shirt thrown during the annual drag queens’ softball game.
If I had to attend sporting event, THAT IS THE SPORTING EVENT I’D WANT TO ATTEND.
They call themselves the Bag Ladies and everything about them is pure gold. And it’s all for charity!
Oh gosh, Toasties, I need to vent just a bit. I’ve not been having the easiest few weeks depression/anxiety-wise – starting a new very busy job, off my meds because I haven’t had time to get to the psychiatrist, just blech. It’s 5 weeks in to the new position and I still feel like an awkward outsider, and I know I need to try harder to make friends/fit in and not be overthinking it so much, but it’s just difficult, really. There are lots of little things I really need to deal with in my life that I’m just not, and I feel stuck and anxious and messy, and like there’s a memo everyone else got at some point about how to be an adult and socialize normally with people without turning into a big ball of awkward that I just missed. Urgh. It’ll get better soon, but I do wonder what my life would be like with a brain that wasn’t so chemically out of whack. Thanks for being my online listeners 🙂
i feel your pain…
you are not alone…
you can rest assured it’s not nearly as bad looking at you from the outside as it feels on the inside…
try to rest your overactive anxiety brain if possible. I find that cute pictures of stoats and fart jokes are helpful for me.
<3
Oh honey. Here to be your internet shoulder to lean on if you need it.
I wonder about that, too. Like, there are actually people who NEVER have days where they want to hide under the covers for hours and/or dissolve into inorganic goo. What on earth is that like?!?!
I have no idea but it must be nice.
Oh gosh, I’m just leaving a job and I feel a bit messed up on the inside-brain too. It should get better soon; I’m sorry that it is so unpleasant. You aren’t alone!
That all sounds very stressful! If it makes you feel any better, I definitely missed that memo, too. Here’s hoping you can find the time to take care of yourself and then get around to showing all your new coworkers how awesome you are!
Hugs. Also, five weeks in a new position isn’t that long–you’re still new! Take all the time you need.
Agreed, I think it’s probably fairly normal to still feel like an outsider 5 weeks in! I’ve been at my job for 2 years and recently realized that I finally feel like part of the gang. (I hope this sounds encouraging…)
I know it’s hard sometimes when you’re busy but you really need to get to the psych to get your meds! Will they do phone visits/emergency refills? Mine does. I literally cannot imagine what would happen if I went off mine, so maybe you need a less strong dose…
“…like there’s a memo everyone else got at some point about how to be an adult and socialize normally with people without turning into a big ball of awkward that I just missed.”
Woah. Are you in my head?? I have had this thought SO many times. Like the whole world has an instructional manual on how to be a functional adult and I didn’t get mine!
I’m sorry things are so tumultuous right now. I personally only start to feel better when I set small, manageable goals for myself (pay that one bill I’ve been putting off, say hi and chat briefly with one new person at work). I know a lot of my anxiety stems from being inert when I get depressed, so the only way out from under that mountain is tiny, tiny steps. Hang in there, sister.
I’m 44 and still waiting on that memo myself. You’re definitely not alone. Take the best care of yourself that you can manage (the past six weeks my big thing has been “get in a sleeping bag and cry” because house-hunting blurgh). And everyone’s right that it’s NEVER the wasteland it looks like from inside your head. Good luck!
I can’t wait for my lunch – there is a little forest glen with a koi pond in the middle of my workplace’s campus, in the middle of Philadelphia, and it’s like heaven. One of the fellows in my department calls it “Narnia”. And the duck couple that has taken up residence there has a nest, and the little eggs are about to hatch! I LOVE ducklings omg is there anything more cute than a tiny bit of fluff that looks like something pulled out of your belly button bobbing around on a pond? So I’ll make my way there on lunch to see if we have fluff-bobs yet.
aaaaa ducklings! When I was in grad school there were piles of them outside the Wegmans, so grocery shopping took 4 hours.
No ducklings yet! Hopefully by Monday…
Pictures!!
DUCKLINGS?! If you see a tall weirdo with a sketchbook looking around anxiously because she’s convinced someone will yell at her for setting her non-Ivy foot on exclusive Penn property, it’s probably me!
I think I’ve passed that koi pond, but I usually try to book it through that section of Hamilton Walk so that I don’t have time to convince myself to buy all the food at Wawa.
What is it with Wawas and their strange ability to make any time seem like a reasonable time to eat a hoagie?
I’m having a party tonight! At 29,this is the first party I’ve ever hosted by myself. I’m making stuffed dated wrapped i prosciutto, baked cheese, and champagne cocktails and Pimm’s cup. Here’s hoping people show up!!
Why wasn’t I invited?? Ugh I just want people to bake me cheeses
My short list of things to make was baked brie, baked feta, cheese spread, goat cheese stuffed dates, and French onion dip.
I would show up at your party. It sounds great!
I would show up. I may have to make this exact menu just for myself and my niece tonight. (I will drink her champagne and Pimm’s).
you’ve already won.
It sounds fantastic! I hope it goes really well.
I’m pondering another hair change again. I got my hair dyed red like 6 weeks ago, but I was really disappointed with how much it faded. It’s basically back to my normal color of auburny medium brown now. Though my natural hair color is slightly darker and slightly less red so I still have a bit of root action, though it’s hard to tell.
Anyway, I’m thinking about making a dramatic change and adding blue or purple streaks. I have a short bob/long pixie and I’m thinking of going well and truly pixie and I kind of want my hair to look like this. Except my head is way too cowlicky so it will never actually look like that, but you get the gist.
I’m pretty inexperienced my dyeing my hair. I mostly stick to henna because I’m lazy and nervous about crazy changes. But I’m feeling restless and like the window is closing on me doing crazy things to my hair. But also, I’m lazy and henna doesn’t fade or need lots of touch-ups. And it’s way cheaper.
So Toasties, what are your experiences with crazy hair colors? Give me all the details. If I dye my hair blue will it turn green or grey or something? I’ve heard that unnatural hair colors can rub off on your clothes and things, which does not sound great.
Henna! All the red, none of the fading.
I decided to use vinegar with my last batch of henna instead of lemon juice. Hoo boy was that a mistake! I had vinegar head for a solid week! Way worse than the muddy/wet dog smell I usually get with henna.
I ordered the ginger powder with my next batch of henna. It is supposed to cover the smell. I’d rather smell like ginger than henna. I wonder if it will work.
I have blue/teal/turquoise in the underlayer of my hair and I adore it. It was purple before, but that seemed to have faded faster than this – these are about a month old and still going pretty strong. The first few washes, it definitely stained the towel I was using, but that was blue anyway, so whatever.
Ooooh, that sounds so pretty and mermaidy!
This is when it was freshly done:
are we talkin like you did a bright red with one of the vegetable dyes that have really bright colors? if so, that stuff doesn’t really last 6 weeks, but there are ways to improve it.
the main thing with reds is, you want to open up the pores in your hair, but not over-bleach, because dye will literally fall out if your hair is too processed. what i liked to do on my med-brown hair was buy a level 3 red-auburn hair dye, which would open it up and deposit a nice base. then, over that, mix my bright red [manic panic or the like] with conditioner, apply it all the way through, line my hairline with vaseline & scott towels, put a bag on my head and sit with it like that for hours. that will give you the deepest color for reds.
if you’re doing purple or blue, you will want to bleach lighter [for purple, all the way for blue & green] so you don’t have color conflicts with your hair. again, the longer you leave the dye on, the longer time it has to deposit into your hair. on streaks like that, you’ll want to maintain them every 2 weeks or so with a dye + conditioner application to keep the colors bright.
go for it!
Hi there, person whom I owe a CD to! As soon as my child care disaster is sorted out I will see about doing that!
But this comment is not actually about that, it is about HAIR COLOUR. Because we did lots of crazy colours before kids; plum and red and turquoise and green and a few others, and then plum with green tips which was really awesome. It was a lot of fun & we developed a complicated process which took days but totally worked & the colour stayed in our hair for months and months and months. So I am going to recount it for you with the caveat that this is really over-the-top and I am not actually *recommending* it.
1. Go two-three days without washing hair. (This is hard but it means there is a lot of oil on your hair which supposedly helps with the bleaching.)
2. Bleach hair according to normal directions on a package of the kind of bleach you get at Safeway or Target or some other bigbox store. If you’re doing streaks, use tin foil on the pieces of hair after you put the bleach on, so the bleach stays there.
3. Wash bleach out, and put vaseline on your hairline and ears. This is not strictly necessary but it reduces the number of days you spend with purple or green or whatever skin. 🙂
4. Put on plastic gloves and slather on dye! We always used Punky Colours but I’m sure there are many other kinds which are good. Be generous with the dye! Again for streaks, wrap the sections of hair after you put the dye on — this time in saran wrap first, then in tin foil if you’re worried around the saran wrap coming undone. If you did your whole head, just wrap your entire scalp in saran wrap. Put a towel on top.
5. Leave the dye in as long as you can manage. With saran wrap & a towel, we’d sleep in it overnight, and then wash it out first thing in the morning. The wrap heats up the hair which helps the dye soak in, plus it means you can leave it in without it getting all over everything, and the towel is extra insurance.
6. Wash it out. Take a long time doing it, but don’t expect the water to actually run clean the first time. It always took a few washes for us.
We had really bright hair that didn’t start fading until 3-4 months had passed and did not rub off on our clothes. And when it did start to fade it did so in really gorgeous patterns — the turquoise did fade to green, but it was kind of a 1920s decadent mermaid green, so that was not really a problem. 🙂
It has been something like 15 years since we have dyed our hair but the memories are fond and once our kids are older and there is more time, maybe we’ll do it again. Although the boys will probably complain. 🙂
Hi swap partner! No worries! I’m just glad you got yours 😀
This doesn’t seem that over the top to me at all. But I’m used to leaving henna in for hours too, though I’m terrified to sleep that way. I usually just tie plastic bags around my head, so that’s not exactly leak proof.
Your hair colors sound totally amazing and I kind just wanna go full rainbow now. Although I’m still just nervous about bleach! I know it’s hair and it grows back, but bleach seems so scary and permanent in a way that dye doesn’t.
I understand that! But I encourage you to give it a try, because it really does grow back, and it makes the colours *so* vibrant and amazing.
ugh I was needlessly critical of my betrothed this morning and now it is CERTAIN that he will realize I am awful and leave me
in related news my boss said good night in a weird tone of voice two days ago and this OBVIOUSLY means I am getting fired
Rational me knows these statements are totally stupid but brain is like “heh I’m gonna obsess about em anyway, sucker!”
Right there with you. Why don’t our brains listen?
One of the motivations for me to keep up high-volume endurance exercise is that I can exhaust my anxiety and keep it in check. Otherwise it will wake me up at 3am with Upworthy style alerts:
“5000 things that you have no control over that you Must start worrying about Now”
“Do you remember these 10 things you did in the past? The truth about them will Shock You (spoiler alert: you’re a monster)”
“5 innocuous occurrences that prove utter failure is Just Around The Corner”
But if I work out enough my stomach is louder than my anxiety 🙂
tl;dr “Brains, what’s the deal?”
Yeah, first line of defense is a long run, and if that isn’t enough, ativan and supernatural teen shows until my brain is the consistency of lukewarm jello.
It’s been a long, stressful week & I need a run so bad!
THIS IS ME IT IS THE WORST
I got a dog a few weeks ago and all the care she requires has distracted my anxietybrain more than I think it’s ever been distracted. SWEET RELIEF, relatively.
So what I’m saying is get a dog or have a baby or something?? idk
Aghghhh I wonder if I could get a prescription dog so my landlord would have to let me have one. I am convinced this would raise my quality of life by like 500x
YES you can, my best friend has an emotional support animal (sweet tiny black kitty who I love) and she got her therapist to write her a “prescription” for it-well, the therapist did in fact think it was a good plan so it was more of a mutual thing than that sounds- and her landlord was required to let her have it in the apartment under the ADA. WITHOUT a pet deposit! It’s helped her lots, honestly, I recommend it for anxiety and depression.
This is why I have a framed print on my wall that says “brains make thoughts like butts make poops.”
So now when I say something ridiculous to my husband, like “no one likes me!” He just responds, “brain poops.”
this is GREAT! thank you for this!
The partner’s out of town, and I got 9 hours of glorious, sweet, and more glorious sleep last night, in the middle of the bed. I think I’ve posted something like this every time he’s been out of town, and I miss that nerd, but damn it feels good to have the bed to myself.
OK, but some real talk: I am being a piece of shit with money at the moment. I went and bought some shoes I can’t really afford last week and I loooovvvvve them so so so much, but I just don’t know if I can swing it. They’re fancy, and I don’t need them by any stretch of the imagination, and I can’t wear them at work because they’re heels and I’m on my feet most of the time. But so pretty. I’m eyeballing some stuff to sell on eBay to make up for it, but. Fffffffeh. So, i guess my hilarious thing is how hilariously bad I am with money?
okay, so, I don’t know precisely how appropriate this is, if it is gauche or against some rules or something, but I feel like this is something that people here will be interested in. I am working on this play for the DC Fringe Festival this July about Aphra Behn — history’s most famous female playwright who was also a spy (I think the most famous MALE playwright who was also a spy is probably Marlowe). It is about feminism and spying, and also has a lot of swordfights in it. So, if you are going ot be in DC this July, PLEASE CONSIDER!
https://www.capitalfringe.org/festival-2014/shows…
Also if you DON’T live in DC, or maybe you suffer from crippling agoraphobia and do not ever want to leave your house, but you als owant to see ladies wear disguises and fight with sword, maybe you would be interested in contributing to our fundraiser!
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/empress-of-the…
We are based in Philadelphia, and we’re trying to raise money so that the actresses in the show don’t have to sleep in the street and/or prison while we’re down in the Capital of Our Nation.
This sounds amazing. I will not be in DC, but I wish I were.
Well, I hope you will not consider it too forward if I say that you should move to DC, but only for the month of July so you can see this play, and then afterwards move to probably Philadelphia where you can see it again. I realize that this might not be convenient for you, but think about how convenient it would be for me!
This sounds so cool. Will definitely recruit other DC Toasties to join me next month!
Aw, hooray! I will probably put up another one of these when we are closer to an actual performance; I am having some trouble getting NBC4’s local social calendar to work correctly. 🙁
Aphra Behn is awesome! I wish I was in DC so I could go see the play!
I’m waiting to hear back about a start date for a new job, and it’s making me feel sick. Had to negotiate it a bit, which of course makes me think that because I asked for something they’re just gonna go “FINE WE DON’T WANT YOU ANYWAY,” which is unrealistic, but that’s where I am.
Negotiate every time. You were most correct. Toasties are proud of you.
Negotiation is really scary, so congrats to you for standing up for yourself and asking for what you want/need!
It helps me to think that A MAN would negotiate, and to remind myself that by negotiating I am smashing the patriarchy.
Assuming you are not a man. If you are a man, you should still negotiate.
I’m in the middle of an extended argument with myself about whether I should limit contact with a self-centered relative- they haven’t done anything awful, they’re just someone I find myself constantly having to enforce boundaries with. How have other folks drawn the line between “you’re family and I should stay in contact with you” and “you’re exhausting to be around”?
On a more ridiculous note, I’m doing the Steotchalong this year. http://steotch.com/mystery-stitchalong/ It’s fun- if you’re into cross-stitch, you should join in! Though I cannot guarantee you won’t end up with a gorgeously detailed picture of a dildo.
Many of my kin are on my contact-only-once-a-month list. If these folks weren’t kin, I’d drop them forever.
Ugh, yeah. I feel awful for saying this, but I am just tired of this much older (and theoretically more mature) person expecting me/the world to solve their problems.
I hear you. Ignore the appeals for response. Start training them to expect nothing beyond “Sorry to hear that. How’s the weather?”
Thank you- that’s what I’ve been trying to do. Good to hear confirmation that I’m going the right way. /relieved sigh/ Just gotta keep holding that line and doing things on my terms, I guess.
Yeah, I’ve definitely had to distance myself from relatives. It’s more of a mental distancing, I know how they are going to act and try to anticipate the drama they will bring/cause and try to not engage with it.
The problem is just trying to not get hurt when they do hurtful things. It’s like falling in slow motion, you know what is going to happen, then it’s happening, and then I get upset that it has happened. When in reality it’s just, what did you expect to be different?
what i had to realize was that i was also reaching out to this relative often and that perhaps if i stopped participating as much in the closer, boundary-needing relationship, a natural distance would happen. so, i set limits on how often we talked, how much we emailed, etc., which led to us knowing a lot less of the day-to-day details. that alone led to a lot less boundary-making on my end.
but… some people are exhausting even when you see them infrequently. i guess the first step is, work on less frequently and see how that goes?
I really want to say something useful but I feel like I am a total outlier in this stuff. I really do not understand why shared genetics changes anything in terms of how I will let people treat me — except when it comes to kids who I am responsible for, of course, that is a different story.
I wish you lots of luck in figuring out where you draw your own line. I do not think you need to exhaust yourself for other people unless you *want* to.
With my kin, it’s not shared genetics. Many of us were adopted.
But it’s about having endured one another’s awful years. My drunk, bigoted uncle scooped me up when I was homeless and created space in his home for me. Aunt All-About-Me changed my diapers.
My glassbowl dad was abusive, but he did house, clothe, and feed me. I don’t owe him any effort or attention, but I will see to it that, in his old age, he will be housed, clothed, and fed. Probably I’ll pay someone else to do so.
I rewatched Drop Dead Gorgeous last night for the billionth time. Every moment a gift.
My brother and sister and I still shout, “Help! Hank! Help Hank!” and “I want a big bag of little donuts” at each other a lot.
It is just the best movie. I now need to watch it again.
Have you seen its 1975 foremother Smile? I love it like crazy.
This is an important work about my people. I have actually marched in a parade down the street where the parade scene was filmed. It is one of those films I have to show to all my new friends now that I live on the East coast so they can truly get me.
“The Sin Cities, AKA Minneapolis St. Paul”
“You’d think they’d have the parking lot of America to go with the Mall of America”
“I work here now!”
Gladys Leeman: Oh yeah, sure. I know what some of your big city, no-bra-wearing, hairy-legged women libbers might say. They might say that a pageant is old-fashioned and demeaning to the girls.
Iris Clark: What’s sick is women dressing like men.
Gladys Leeman: You betcha, Iris. No, I think you boys are gonna find something a litle bit different here in Mount Rose. For one thing, we’re all God-fearing folk, every last one of us. And you will not find a “back room” in our video store. No, no, that filth is better left to the sin cities.
Iris Clark: AKA Minneapolis Saint Paul.
“How about a nice cool mint to turn those frowns upside down?”
“Do you think a nice cool mint would help if I shoved your head up your ass?”
I love the Pride Parade, but I am getting a little too old to enjoy being jostled by drunk teens. So this year I am gonna be on (or more likely walking next to, but still) a float! Yessssssssssssssss
I realized that I will be out of town & miss New York’s Pride Parade… but, I will be in the Twin Cities, and THEIR Pride parade is happening. I’m excited to experience some midwestern LGBT pride!
Less jostling, more cheese curds.
Ours was last weekend – I think the average age was about 19. As much as I love glitter, foam machines, and day drinking, I might be getting a little old for it!
Toasties! I got a new job, I gave notice at the old one, and I’m moving to BOSTON Boston Boston Boston. Now all I have to do is sit tight through the week and a half I have left at the old one without messing anything up, and then I will be FREE
I don’t know if anything hilarious has happened to me lately; it’s mostly been stressful and ridiculous what with making relocation happen, but I am still waiting to be able to announce to my coworkers that I am leaving in like ten days. JEEZ BOSS seriously? I know he has to figure out plans before announcing to them that I am going but I am sad that people are assuming that I’m staying and I’m not.
When I got my latest job (within the same company) my current boss waited so long to do the announcement email that my new boss did it instead. I hope my old boss learned from that, but I highly doubt it.
Whoa, congrats! Boston is awesome and you’ll have a great time there.
Where’s your new job?? We are all excited for you to come to Boston!!
Google!
YAY! CONGRATS!!!! These are great thiiiiiiiings!
Yay! Congratulations!
Whoo hoo! Can’t wait for you to get here to our lovely city, especially while the weather is great and not freaking zero degrees.
YAY BOSTON!
I mean, you could probably comfortably mess up a couple things. What are they going to do, fire you?
I’m visiting my parent’s house right now, and I am rediscovering the dozens of notebooks I drew and wrote in from age 5 or 6 till ca. age 18.
When I was around 7 years old, I briefly kept a Harriet the Spy notebook, which, since I live in the middle of the desert and have few neighbors, involved very little spying. Apparently, what was really imprinted on my mind from reading the Harriet the Spy was its end, when everyone turns against Harriet.
A sample of my spy notebook:
“today Nick did somethings I’m going to get him and his friends back for. Im gonna get him bad! He’s a giant butknocker, fartface, noogiebut, Frankfarter. He’s the worst thing in the universe and out of it! Nick, Javier, and Derek are trying to make me get mad by getting into my way!”
Also, IN THIS NOTEBOOK ALONE, there are some great poems, some great stories, some great drawings (including a drawing of this bird on a stage singing in front of a bunch of other birds and one pig — a bird is yelling at the pig, “Hey! You’re not supposed to be here!”), and the beginnings of some strange comic that includes the dialogue:
“We should start by wearing sexy clothes.”
“Great idea!”
“Yea!”
“We should be able to make a living by ourselves. Let’s have sex!”
Please publish this, because it sounds like an absolute GAS!
Butknocker.
FRANKFARTER. Also dying at “let’s have sex!”.
I have a lot of Thoughts about notebooks and personal papers, since I’ve worked a lot in archives and my dissertation work is, in some ways, a biography.
So, one of my thoughts with this, is that it is heartbreaking that I have yet to read a biography that really includes much in the way of children’s drawings / notebooks, since, REALLY, I think you can see the seeds of (at least, my) psychological development in this kind of stuff.
E.g., another notebook has a “List of What I Hate” with only one entry: “Teachers who think they can tell you just what they want to, even if it’s killing yourself” (note: no teacher told me to kill myself).
I feel like that is a pretty apt indicator of my long-standing (I wrote that around age 10) anger / problems with authority…
I love the last comic dialogue so much.
I DID THIS TOO, and I also lived not-in-a-town and had very few neighbors. So my Harriet the Spy notebook entirely consisted of me cataloging the movements of the horses in the pasture next door. And trying to draw them every once in a while.
Hey runner people! Do any of you guys run in the morning? Lately I’ve been trying to run before work instead of after because 1. it’s hot and gross and 2. WORLD CUP, but I haaaaaate it and feel like I’m literally dying the entire time. Is it because I’m not awake yet or because I haven’t had any coffee or WHAT?
Hmm. I actually love running in the morning and feel amazing whenever I do it, but my issue is not feeling crappy during the run, it’s just waking up to get out there.
I know my boyfriend always feels terrible if he exercises without drinking water and eating (not much, like a 100-200 calorie protein bar) about a half hour before exercising. I’m loathe to suggest getting up even earlier when you are already being a superhuman, but maybe that would work?
I was afraid that might be the answer
D:
Yeah, you gotta eat something. I don’t run, generally, but I do an intensive weights-based group ex. glass at my gym a couple mornings a week, EARLY, and I learned the hard way that I need something, anything in my stomach before I do it or I will DIE. If I have time, it’s a small cup of tea and a piece of toast with peanut butter, if I don’t have time it’s 2 spoonfuls of PB eaten directly from the jar. If I’ve got my shit together, I have a batch of these homemade energy bars in the freezer, and they are perfect for a pre-workout nibble.
I have this theory that my body is separately sentient from my brain and is just like “unnnhh fuck you, guy, I’m not opening up the energy pantry, nope” until we’ve been running for half an hour and body says “UGH FINE.” Stupid theory aside I’ve found that it just takes longer to get through that unpleasant warm up period. No explanation other than my body is not a morning person/body.
I live in Tucson, where it’s been .> 100 degrees until sunset the last few weeks, so I’ve been forcing myself to run in the morning even though I am NOT a morning runner. For me, the secret has been to run very slowly for the first mile or so, like way slower than seems necessary. I think it gives your body a little time to get the juices flowing.
As a mental trick, I like to tell myself that no matter how terrible the morning feels, the afternoon would be one million worse. Plus with the run over with, I can eat whatever crap I want for the rest of the day without worrying about it upsetting my stomach for a later run!
I always eat a gel with caffeine and drink a little bit of water about 20 minutes before I go out. That usually gets me going. I still feel awful during the run some mornings, but I feel terrific for the rest of the day.
I also had to be very religious about going to bed early and getting up early for nearly a month before it started to feel better to get up early.
Caffeine makes all the difference. I keep some cold brew concentrate in the fridge and just chug a bit of that. (It’s convenient because you don’t have to do any prep in the morning, but come to think of it, probably also easier on an empty stomach because it’s less acidic than regular coffee.) Without it running is not possible, with it I’m totally fine.
As a bonus(?) eventually your body may get used to having a caffeine hit at that time in the morning and start waking you up in anticipation.
Ohh I love cold brew but I’ve been afraid to drink any before running because it usually spells INSTANT POOP TIME for me… maybe only a little would be okay though?
Poop and then run!
I often can’t eat first thing in the morning regardless of whether I’m running but I do recommend drinking a bunch of water when you wake up. (I have a wee bladder and in the interests of sleeping through the night I often wake up dehydrated.) I did manage to stomach wee date/coconut oil/lemon zest energy bites, and there are lots of similar recipes on the internet.
Also you probably hate it and feel like you’re dying because it’s actually not going as well! Lots of research points to athletic performance in strength- or endurance-based activities like running being best for most people in late afternoon/evening than in the morning (and usually worst early in the morning).
This sounds silly, I guess, but I *have* to hydrate 90 min-2 hrs before serious exercise, or else I feel like crap. It took about a year of experimenting and wondering what the hell was wrong with me before I figured that out. Morning runs are just out of the question. Maybe you’re the same?
I am the exact opposite – I have to go running before my body realizes what is happening to it. If I have ingested any food at all, I immediately get a side stitch, and if I have more than a few sips of water I have to pee the moment I get outside. So it’s the moment I get up or not at all.
I’m not a great runner.
I vote for no pickles but lots of cocktails
Hear hear. The only kind of pickles I ever crave are mustard pickles and I don’t think those go in cocktails.
it doesn’t hurt to try?
Toastish friends, I am super excited for the weekend. NOT ONLY do I get to watch the now-Critics Choice Award Winnner Tatiana Maslany in the season finale of Orphan Black, NOT ONLY do I get to eat soft shell crab and hush puppies BUT ALSO this is the first weekend since basically February where my wife and I are going to just, kind of, relax, with no plans to do ANYTHING with ANYONE but us! It is an honest to god weekend off! I am so excited!
Also, we started watching Inside Amy Schumer this week. That is a very funny lady.
What are your plans for the weekend, Toasties?
I just started and I almost finished season 1! Hilarious. her interviews are great too.
I have to pack things to go into storage because my parents’ house is becoming the setting of a sitcom. (My sister, her husband and their three-year-old are moving in, my husband and I live in the basement, and my nineteen-year-old brother still lives at home too). SO MUCH PACKING.
At least it will give us an edge when we move out this summer (please please please let us move out this summer).
Wow that is a great setting for a sitcom. Like. Full House meets Parenthood? Or something? Anyway, hijinks should definitely ensue.
Ooh, hush puppies!
I organized an outing to a specific neighborhood in NYC that is known for its food carts. I’m hoping that everyone has a good time. I don’t feel responsible for everyone, but I still want it to be fun, ya know?
My office smells like the Aria hotel and Irish breakfast tea.
Exchange overheard between my niece and my father:
“Adelynn, where did you get your brown eyes?”
“Ikea.”
The Purolator guy just came and every time I say “have a nice day” or “have a nice weekend!” as he leaves he says “I’ll try not to.” Is this weird?
Yes, I think it is a little weird, yeah.
I asked my beloved where he got his gorgeous pale blue eyes. He said “I stole them.” I like ’em weird.
When I ask my guy, “What would I do without you?” he always answers, “You’d come find me, of course.” We are weird, and a bit nauseating.
Weird is good. And you’re sweet, not nauseating.
Ikea! Fantastic. And yes, Purolator’s response is weird.
I have to physically restrain myself from posting every hilarious thing she says. Three-year-olds, man.
I found my brown eyes at Ikea too, I’m glad Addie found the eye color aisle, it can be kind of hidden.
(jk jk ADDIE IS THE BEST!!!)
Friday cat thread!
Our interloper cat returned today. I think it has a rota, and fridays are the day it checks our food bowls. It has a collar and looks very well fed, so it’s not a stray. Plus, I saw it sitting inside someones window.
Anne and Bonny have been very snuggly lately, and I love that.
Here’s a picture of the babies as TINY KITTENS.
Do you have kitten pics/stories about your cat
My Julie (1994-2012), wee-est little Meezer. She was a terrific cat.
And I have yet to get a pic of the Outside Kitty, but I’ve decided her name is Maisie, and I’m perfectly fine considering her my part-time kitty. We get together for pets and dinner most evenings.
My 4 kittens are turning 9 weeks tomorrow and the first one is going to her new home on Sunday. 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁
This is one of my naughty cats does every time you try to work out.
She wants to be included in the exercising process and yells at you a lot.
This is the same cat who saw a spider on the ceiling and yelled for an HOUR because we wouldn’t get it down for her to play with. She won’t hunt it. Just obsessively follow it all over the apartment and then cry when it gets away.
She’s spotting you.
Both my orange tabby and my rabbit adore my yoga mat for some reason. The latter has, in fact, chomped wee bits out of it.
Mine wait ti;; I’m doing downward dog then do the same stretch effortlessly
Monsters
The bunny has hopped underneath while I’m holding downward dog more than once, and then his fluffy little self gets smooshed in chaturanga. Sorry, bro.
My cats also love to sprawl and scratch up the yoga mat. If I walk away for a bit, they like to run and jump on it so it slides across the floor. It’s looking pretty ragged actually.
I got an exercise cat too, when I do pushups either she sits on my back to give me extra weight or she stands right between my hands and is shocked every time my chest descends to the ground to crush her. every push-up is a new outrage to her.
& when I do a plank she will walk in and out and around my wrists and rear up on her hind legs to bonk her head against my chin. not to be friendly, just to throw me off.
I bought a catnip plant and potted it all nicely and then left the room for four seconds and my cat was completely faceplanted in it. Had to put it in a hanging basket but now she just obsessively meows at the basket. I think this was a bad idea.
The only story I have about my cat today is that the other day I farted and it scared her.
Last week my husband sneezed and some spit wound up on one of the cats and she got REALLY freaked out and indignant. Apparently cats are just not fans of human bodies.
My friend says that when her dog farts, she looks at her owners in disgust, like, “WHAT DID YOU DO!?” And when they fart she leaves the room.
My cats were called, in chronological order, Theodore and Byron and Oscar and Daisy and Benny and Mac and Bertie and Babybel, and most of them lived in the barn and they were fierce and half-wild and black and fluffy and gorgeous and I miss them everyday.
Toasties! Aah!
I’ve finally come out of my unproductive, unmotivated rut and am picking up steam on working on my writing again and actually getting off my ass and doing things to make myself feel less physically unfit and things are turning around for the better! Finally! The downside to this is that now I’m hugely distracted by plotting in my head when I should be, you know, working, but I’m OK with this development overall.
Also, happy Juhannus (tomorrow) to all of you with even a bit of Finnish in you, and also to those of you that don’t have a whit of Finnish in you but would like to be wished a happy midsummer anyway.
The Finns are a great people. It would be so cool to be in Helsinki tomorrow.
I wish I was Finnish, does that count?
Happy Juhannus! Have fun building a bonfire in the sunlight in the middle of the night and eating strawberries and sausages and whatever, probably at a summer cottage by a lake, in an egalitarian nation where good education is available freely and equally to all, people are generally trusting and honest and cooperative, and you can buy the best kind of licorice whenever you want!
i recently found out that i’m part finnish! apparently, our swedish relatives may have downplayed being half finnish to integrate in their new minnesota community. it’s like having a whole new history! i’ll wish my aunt a happy juhannus, she is the main genealogical detective who found all this out.
Hyvää Juhannusta! I don’t live in Finland anymore (*sob*), but it will always be a holiday to me. Hope you had a great one!
I celebrated by dancing in a park yesterday evening with my belly dance class. So, almost right. We were NEAR a bonfire, anyway.
If anybody wants a mediocre job in DC with questionable pay and an uncertain future, let me know. My office is hiring and we are encouraged to refer friends and acquaintances. You would have to be smart, a fast typist and good and fast with Internet research. You don’t have to be fresh out of college and easily exploitable but it wouldn’t hurt. I would not be directly involved in the hiring decision and you would not have to suffer through the hell of being my direct subordinate..
lol RINGING endorsement 🙂
well you know I don’t like to be immodest so I left the real draw of the job unspoken, which is that you would get to work in a big open-plan office with me. although I built myself a bookcase fortress to simulate a private office and come out of it but rarely, so you would have to get by on just the inner satisfaction of knowing I was there.
I might have a friend and fellow Toastie in mind. Are you in the Hairpinners/Toasties fb group?
Nope, haven’t got a Facebook account. But I did just make a my-toast-username @ gmail.com (should have thought of that before) so you can have them write to me there & I’ll send them the official job posting plus some more insider info.
I might also have a friend of the non-Toast variety in mind. Will be emailing you soon for details! (email is my toast name but with the words flipped)
Hilarity? Husband organized an all-girl D&D group, me and four newbies, and we got together to roll up characters and start an adventure and it was THE MOST FUN. I’m playing a halfling thief named Edwin the Drunk.
And I’m going to my first lesbian wedding tomorrow! For, like, the two best ladies in the world (they are also in the D&D group). I’ll be wearing my junior-year homecoming dress, which must’ve been a sack on me in high school, because I’m forty pounds heavier now. (Actually, I think the secret is the Empire waist.)
PLUS AND NEW HAIRRRRR:
It proved surprisingly difficult to convince them to take clippers to the back. “No, seriously. I don’t need to look like a girl.”
Nice! And yeah, the most obnoxious part of having short hair is convincing them to get it short enough in back. Like I need some sort of Carol Brady bs back there to preserve my femininity?
Yeah! What, are you worried I’ll get called “sir” from the back? P. sure my ass and hips will take care of that misconception. (I know I’m oversimplifying gender. But I enjoy my recently emerged Lady Booty.)
I think your hair looks great, but your cat seems skeptical,
I would say that’s her default expression, but she also does Crazy Eyes and Full of Wuv.
cute hair fun games nice husband awesome life!
It’s kind of gross, really. Thank goodness for the debilitating chronic illnesses, or I’d worry I was someone’s Mary Sue.
Awesome color!
Beautiful hair!
LOVE your hair!
Today I will make my 500th comment on The Toast! How many comments have you fine people made? What’s your IntenseDebate reputation score? (Mine’s 106!)
OH GOD WE HAVE REPUTATION SCORES? (112, apparently.) Is that good? Is that bad? Does that mean that of my 747 comments, they are….OH GOD THIS GIVES ME NERVES!!!
Reputation scores are silly and I’m asking just for fun!! Especially since the only way yours can go down on a site where you can’t downvote is if you don’t comment for a long time. Also once your score reaches something like 100, it starts increasing a lot more slowly.
I have 362 Toast comments and my score is 95! (It dipped down to 89 and I felt bad about myself).
I did not need to know there was a scoring system. Like, SERIOUSLY DID NOT NEED THIS INFORMATION. I shall now retire to a corner and feel EVEN MORE INADEQUATE.
Edit: I am going to pretend I never learned this information. It’s for the best.
You are not at all inadequate; you are SO ADEQUATE. More than adequate, even!
Ah, this was comment 500!!
Thank you for using your 500th to bolster my flagging self-esteem. Seriously. I’m not being sarcastic.
MARK THIS DATE ON THE CALENDAR YO.
CleverManka, you are amazing and fabulous. And I am far from the only one who sees your awesomeness.
Aw! Thank you!
My reputation is worthless, apparently. 457/84?
I’m at 225 comments and 110 reputation points. Of course it is silly to look at points, since we are all fantastic commenters or we would not be allowed on The Toast.
Exactly, the process by which points are earned is irrelevant to personal worth and also completely inscrutable anyway, I mean look at the numbers people are sharing.
How ARE points earned?!?
I want to know! I’m at 368/96, WHAT ARE NUMBERS
Supposedly it’s a combination of frequency of activity and up/downvote scores, but I think there are other secret factors, possibly involving stock market performance and/or phases of the moon.
The explanation when you click on the points thing is totally useless. I assume it has to do with how many +1s and responses you get. But is that per comment or overall? Because a lot of people here will respond to other people’s comments with “go you!” or “oh, sorry that happened to you” kinds of things that make them great commenters and nice people, but also would not get a lot of +1s and lower their average.
Well, I have no real idea how they calculate it, because as you said their explanations are useless, but I would think comments like that would help your score because you’re commenting frequently and presumably not getting downvotes (and of course you can’t downvote things here, but on other sites that use IntenseDebate I guess you can).
I … think mine is 101, somehow? I’m not that prolific a commenter but I got a ton of upvotes for talking about LeVar Burton and Brandy’s Cinderella, so I am feeling very satisfied since that’s all I ever want to talk about anyway and I like being rewarded for it.
I have 123 comments and my reputation score is 106
I AM VERY POPULAR AND WISE AND WEALTHY HOORAY
Oh goodness I didn’t know we could look at that information (or that we had rep scores? OH GOD) but apparently I’m at 767 comments and 103 reputation? What does this mean?
…other than that I talk a lot, I mean.
365 comments and a score of 113. What does this all mean?
I may or may not have posted cute baby piglets in part to see what it would do to my reputation score. Answer: it has somehow LOWERED it. Pfft. Reputation score, if you don’t like baby pigs, you’re dead to me.
Also you’re useless anyway.
Okay, everyone who is now super insecure about their reputation scores (GUYS I’M REALLY SORRY I SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT THIS THROUGH I THINK YOU’RE ALL WONDERFUL) needs to see this comment, because those piglets were adorable and I guarantee everyone thinks MUCH more highly of you for having posted them.
You guys, my job is verging into flat-out ridiculous. I’m so nervous waiting for this new job application to call me back!!!! It only closed on Monday, and the job isn’t slated to begin until the end of July, so it’s not like there’s a huge hurry, but I keep anxiously staring at my phone and just WILLING it to ring. RING DAMN YOU RING. I would be so perfect for this job, I wrote a banging cover letter, and judging by the terrible resumes that are pouring into my current job right now, I don’t face much competition.
(Actual resume line: “I enjoy weightlifting playing cards and working on the family farm.” Also misspelled the name of our city, his last job, and “responsable.” Glorious.)
Good luck! Keeping my fingers crossed for you. Also wondering what weightlifting playing cards look like.
I’m moving today and it’s all going well but I’m still having The Most stress about it. Are y’all doing anything fun this weekend? ALSO – repost for fun, engrossing beach book recommendations?
This is a long book but it is still fun and engrossing to read over a nice beach weekend, if you like alternate histories and magic and the like- Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke. Imagine if Jane Austen wrote a vaguely Gothic history of magical England and you’ve got the rough idea.
I’m gonna ask a question that makes me feel a little sick to ask.
Say you started a job a month ago and you feel like it’s not the right fit for you — that the way it’s run and your reflections on your room for growth here are giving you pause. You don’t have a backup job. (Hah). What should you do?
i’m in a similar situation (although i started the job about 9 months ago, but i’ve been having reservations for a while…) i don’t really have good advice, just solidarity. i’ve been kind of just continuing to do the work, privately rolling my eyes at all the managerial bullshit, and spending a lot of my free time brainstorming other options for different employment in the long term. it helps to vent extensively to someone every once in a while. hang in there!
🙁 Godspeed, compatriot.
Depends on your industry. In mine, moving around incurs a lot of costs for the employer, so you look like a big risk to hire if you duck out too soon. Figure out what the minimum commitment is that won’t wreck your resume, then start applying to new jobs six months before that minimum cut off. Give at least a month’s notice. Don’t quit until you have a new one.
If the job isn’t crushing your soul, stick around until you’ve got something else lined up.
Start sending out your resume, grin and bear it and take the paycheck until you can find something else. Get super frugal so that if you /have/ to leave, you’ll have a little set by to help.
Thanks. 🙂 It definitely is not the case that I *have* to leave; it’s not really bad or abusive or horrible or anything, thank God. Just some smaller warning signs. . .
Also, you don’t have to put this job on your resume if you are only there for a short amount of time. If you need the money, do the job with the minimum amount of effort while you concentrate on looking for something that’s a better fit for your personality and skills.
Just between us chickens, sometimes I just quit. Then I have major motivation to find something else.
Are you crying at lunch every day? Because then, yes, quit. (I did this after three weeks at the Strand bookstore, which is a delight to browse but several levels of Hell to work at.)
“Toasties! Why can’t all drinks have pickles in them?”
Because then we would all get dehydrated and die, because all our drinks would be tainted with horrible poison?
Official Stance of One Toast Commenter: All pickles are garbage. Ban pickles.
I support this stance.
not all pickles =(
I will take them all for you.
You will help me schlep all the world’s pickles to the incinerator? You are too kind.
Yum deep fried pickles!
OMG, the best/worst thing about having to move to the South: fried pickles. The best because YUM! The worst because I’m already well-padded and have little self-control in the presence of pickles.
Thank goddess I cannot make fried pickles for myself. I’d be as big as a house.
what no
pickles forever
pickles 2016
I’m pretty sure the most hilarious thing of my week is going to happen tonight, when I see Salt-n-Pepa in concert!! EXCITE.
i missed salt-n-pepa once at a county fair and i will never forgive myself for it. they are delightful.
my most annoying (amazing) habit while drunk is to start rapping my way through “shoop.”
I am perhaps most excited to see how Cheryl handles the dirty stuff, now that she is a Respectable Christian Lady.
Shut. Up. I am so jealous.
Toaties! Wednesday is eviction day for my Incredible Uterine Hulk. Wednesday I get a hysterectomy and no longer will my Hulk crowd my lung and lap. I’m actually looking forward to surgery: that’s how uncomfortable I am. I will read The Toast during recovery. Asking forgiveness in advance for commenting while high on pain meds.
I hope it all goes well, and I’m glad it will be a relief for you!
Thanks for your kindness, HotDoom.
Get out of there, Hulk! I hope you have a successful surgery and a quick and easy recovery. Are you planning to read any fun books or watch good TV/movies while you’re laid up?
Got a stack of books. Just gotta remember to pack my reading glasses. (First week post-surgery will be at an uncle’s house. My aunt has won Aunt of the Year.) Thanks for your kind words, sednarea51.
Good luck!
I had fibroids removed a couple of summers ago (not the whole deal, just the fibroids themselves). What kind of surgery are you having? Mine was basically a c-section. Some unsolicited recommendations (if you haven’t been to this rodeo before):
1. Have whoever is your ride home (the next day? I hope they let you stay the night!) bring a pillow for you to clutch over your tummy on the ride home. Bonus: the pillow can also be screamed into if needed!
2. Use maxi-pads for wound care. Just stick one to the inside front of your underwear so it’s positioned up against the incision.
3. Allllllllll the Netflix. All of it.
My hulk is so big it requires 2 belly incisions at a right angle. I will be in hospital 2 nights. Beloved will be with me all day both days. I remember the maxi pad trick from my tubal ligation incision, but thanks for being so thoughtful. Toasties are the best.
Good luck!
Thanks, radventuretime. Your posts make me smile.
Good luck and feel better soon!!
beekay, hearing from you makes me feel better. Thanks.
Good luck and I hope you have a speedy/comfortable recovery!
RK, you’re one of my favorite posters. Many Toasties feel the same. Thanks for your kind words.
Wow, thank you for your kind words, and I hope you’ve been having a fabulous weekend!
We’ll be thinking of you and wishing you a successful procedure and a smooth recovery. And I bet I’m not the only one looking forward to reading your high-on-painkillers comments.
You made me laugh out loud at work. It’s OK. They know I’m a bit odd. But you Toasties know I’m quite odd.
Thanks, everyone, for your good thoughts and well wishes. Toasties are the best.
Good luck!
Bryn, you and your gang make me feel good. Keep commenting and thanks for your kindness.
Oh, you are very welcome! And thank you in turn, from all of us; there was a lot of debate here about whether or not to be up front about our experience and it is a really lovely feeling to be acknowledged like this.
I am also looking forward to your loopy pain-medicated posts. 🙂 We had a C-section with each of our babies, and both times they gave us Oxycodone, which was very entertaining. It is maybe a weird thing to say, but I hope you have a *lovely* time recovering with ample medication so you are not too uncomfortable and your big stack of books and many lovely things to eat once you are in an eating place again.
My period is only three days late but THREE DAYS IS TOO MANY DAYS FOR A PERIOD TO BE LATE COME OOOOOOOONNNNNNN I HAVE AN IUD THIS IS INCONCIEVABLE
In other news, I ate a Mexican fruit salad with cream all over it and made a complete fool of myself because it was so delishus.
heh heh inconceivable
in con THEE vable!
The most hilarious thing that’s happened to me lately is I agreed to bellydance at a show tonight and you guys, I am so out of practice.
I haven’t danced for an audience like this in years. I haven’t performed to actual music in years. I haven’t done what I consider actual dancing (instead of “wiggling for tips”) in years. My only performances in the past three years have been mostly just sashaying around the tables at a show at the KC Renaissance Festival. Where everybody is drunk. And mostly just looking at my boobs.
I was running through the songs last night and I was all oh my god how many times have I done this same fucking movement. how long is this song, anyway. christ the audience is going to be so bored. this is going to be a disaster. WHY DID I AGREE TO DO THIS.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck
And of course there will be other bellydancers there and dancing for dancers is just the worst for me anyway because educated audience and I know I don’t practice very much and I know I haven’t kept up with my dance education and here I am, probably the second oldest dancer of the whole bunch and I feel like such a fucking FRAUD.
Yes I am freaking out, which is really unlike me and then of course that adds to this stupid panic cycle…
At least my costumes look great. UUUUUUUUUUGH. And I get to leave at noon today so I can (try to) nap before I get into costume and makeup and then drive the hour to the show. But I’ll probably just wind up lying in bed. Freaking out more.
Ugh performance anxiety is the worst BUT YOU WILL MAKE IT
I am an uneducated audience member and I am blown away/hypnotized by every belly dancing performance I see, so literally you just could wiggle in costume and I would be all WHOA THAT IS SO COOL. Most of your audience will feel the same way, I’d bet!
I am learning that, for me, performance anxiety is very different from stage fright. Which is…interesting? Also, I am so happy to hear you’re so amazed by bellydancers. I know more than a few people who say that bellydancers scare them or make them nervous (I assume they had a bad experience with an overly aggressive restaurant dancer?) and that makes me sad.
Hurray for people who like to watch bellydancers!
CD Swap!
1sic1 I have received your CDs and they are great! I’m sorry I haven’t gotten yours out to you yet, but I promise it will happen soon.
Yay! Which songs did you like?
Don’t worry about yours: you can send it when you get the time.
Saying “all of them” sounds like a cop-out, but I liked the mix of old and new and the variety of styles.
Specifics:
Frontier Psychiatrist was perfectly weird.
Another Girl, Another Planet reminded me of Ash, which I used to listen to in high school.
Jeudi Pop Pop is very fun and cool.
Something Beautiful was very noir-esque and sinister.
Also I love Jens Lekman so that was a nice surprise.
Thank you again! They’re both great.
How are people doing on their mix CDs, eh? Who’s sent them out? Who’s received one? I want to hear about it!
I sent mine! And loved the one I got from Amanda (whose Toast pseudonym I’ve forgotten but her packaging was darling and made me feel inadequate). I haven’t heard from her, or if she said something I missed it. Sooooo….I hope she got it and liked it?
I have one from rallisauras which looks awesome but my computer has totally lost awareness of its CD drive! So I have to dig up the external drive from wherever my housemate has stored it and find the USB cable and all of that, and then I can finally *listen* to it and also burn hers.
I am really looking forward to this, my musical knowledge stopped somewhere in the 90s so I think I have not heard of a single artist on the CD. I am very excited. 🙂
It’s my biiiirthday! I am going out for dinner with the man, and then drinks with friends, and then baking myself a luxurious cake with strawberry icing tomorrow.
Happy birthday!!
Strawberry icing is the best icing. Happy birthday!
That is an excellent way to celebrate- happy birthday!
Do you make your own strawberry frosting? If so how?
Full disclosure: I do not know if or how Pawnee Goddess makes her own strawberry frosting, but you can just add strawberries to a standard buttercream recipe!
I’m not sure, just planning to wing it! I’ve seen recipes that just say to puree the strawberries and mix it into a regular buttercream, but I want mine really strawverry-y so I think I’ll try making like…a syrup on the stovetop, cooling it, and mixing it into the buttercream.
that sounds brilliant! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
happy b-day!
Happy happy birthday! I hope it’s fantastic!
Today is my last day in my current (hated) job – on Monday I start a newer awesomer more writing-intensive position at my same employer! It feels like the last day of elementary school.
And last week I mentioned that I found my boyfriend’s messages to other women on Facebook and that we hadn’t broken up. We’re still together after a hard week, and I think I made the right decision. It’s a new experience for me to make a choice with so much clarity. Usually my decision-making process is so clouded with guilt and self-judgement and external expectations, but this time I was just like, “How do I want to feel? I want to feel happy. What helps me feel happy? This guy.”
THERAPY WORKS, PEOPLE (also, Danielle LaPorte’s Desire Map.)
The Toast ran my piece you guys! I’m so excited I just can’t hide it. More to follow I hope.
Meanwhile, it’s my last day working at my current job, moving next month and I don’t have another one yet, which I’m trying not to think about.
Leaving this Sunday for a week at Rehoboth Beach, DE, paradise on the Eastern shore.
You piece was SO GOOD. I can’t wait to hear what comes next! Fight the power, teen girls! Have fun at Rehobeth, that’s such a great place.
Thanks!
AH! I just read your piece and it was fantastic! I’m also super-impressed at how bold you were in middle school.
The piece was so great! Can’t wait to read more!
And REHOBOTH!!! Mmm, have fun.
Beau and I decided that while we don’t need to do the whole legal part of marriage, we’re in for a lifetime, and we’ll get some rings, and that will be that. So that’s a big thing that’s pretty awesome.
Can anyone recommend artists/sources for handmade/unique/non-traditional commitment kind of rings?
Wow! Congratulations!
SUPER NEAT congratulation!!!
congratulations! that is an awesome decision!
i’m really into unadorned mokume-gane rings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mokume-gane) because they have a cool wood-grain-like pattern that makes them pretty unique and visually interesting without being garish or flashy or whatever. that said, they’re insanely expensive, but i’ve always thought if i ever end up in a similar situation it might be a good excuse to get one…
Oooohh, I think the beau was already looking at some of these, and now I know what he was talking about! Thanks!
I really love these wooden rings, and the guy can embed gravel or instrument strings if you have a place or music-thing that is dear to your heart.
My plan, when I have the funds to spare for my own lifetime-partner-ring-exchange, is to get a couple of those in woods we like with a D banjo string for me (I play banjo and his name starts with D) and an E guitar string for him (he plays guitar and my name starts with E).
n’awww
I love my ring from this designer: http://www.dawes-design.com/
Congratulations!
This is more of a traditional bands with a secret twist link- the artist was great to work with, will size to quarter sizes and was very accommodating with finishes and metals: https://www.etsy.com/listing/72998108/wedding-rin…
I got street harassed this morning, right in front of my house. By a dude who was openly carrying and drinking a 40oz. At 8:30 in the morning. Fuck the wooooooooorld (but especially that guy).
That’s way too fucking early for any interaction with other humans NEVER MIND street harrassment. Or drinking!
Judging by the smell of him (and that the 40oz was at least half dead) he’d been up all night drinking.
UGH
my new response to this: NOBODY fuck that guy.
How long is too long after a big move to still be homesick (I ask as I check my hometown’s newspaper on my work computer)?
It’s been like, eight months and I thought it was fine but now that it’s warm out it’s back. I want to enjoy this summer but when I think about my free time– all the places i want to visit and people I want to see are in the midwest. I’m getting ready to book a trip back home next month but I can’t make decisions because there’s too much I want to do and if I think about it too much I get all weepy.
Oh gosh, eight months doesn’t seem that long at all! It takes a long time to adjust. When you make a big move, you’re changing everything: all your routines, your home, your job, everything down to where you go grocery shopping. I don’t know what would be too long, but I think everything you’re saying sounds very understandable.
I know exactly what you mean about certain times of year making it seem extra strange to be somewhere else. Where are all my roadside wildflowers in the spring? Or colorful trees in the fall? I still have my hometown library and weather bookmarks and am resisting changing them to more relevant ones. My plan is to get over it by eventually moving back to my native biome.
I moved out of my hometown 16 years ago and still check my hometown newspaper. Mostly for hilarious letters to the editor from the nutjob libertarian conspiracy theorists in my county and the batshit crazy sheriff’s report. Example?
A caller reports finding a possible dead body while metal detecting at a mining claim in the [town] area. Officer responds and checks skeletal remains; they are those of a dog that had been buried for several years. They were reburied.
Oh wow, you grew up in Twin Peaks??
Ha! Here’s another one:
A [town] woman says she believes someone is breaking into her home every night, that she has had her toes dislocated during the night and someone has been stealing things. Officer is unable to contact her by phone and leaves voice message.
This might be weird, but have you gone out of town at all? I always feel way more “at home” in a new place after I’ve left and come back again. I’m so relieved to be with all of my stuff that it cements the new place as home, I think.
Good luck, regardless.
Monday I got a flat. Tuesday my air conditioner broke. Wednesday the guys repairing the A/C tripped a circuit breaker, and we’re in a building where tenants don’t have access to the breaker boxes, so a maintenance guy had to be fetched and it took FOUR HOURS. Yesterday my doctor inexplicably sent my prescription to a pharmacy on the extreme opposite end of town instead of the one I asked her to send it to and then was difficult about fixing it. IT’S BEEN SOME WEEK, Y’ALL.
*deep calming breath*
On the other hand, tomorrow I get to hang out with one of my favorite friends, who I don’t get to see as much as I’d like because he lives 40 minutes out of town. And this week I got official approval from another player in my D&D game for my character to pursue a romance with his character, which should be hilarious. And all of those series of clusterfucks did get fixed eventually. So. Better luck next week, I hope.
All the empathy! I send you all I can muster. Wishing better times for you this weekend. You deserve the best.
OH HONEY.
BUT ALL THE LOVE for cool people who still play tabletop RPGs. Man, if I had the time, that would be the ONE activity I’d reintroduce to my social schedule. Man, I miss playing D&D. Or Shadowrun. Or 7th Sea. Or whatever the hell the Star Wars RPG was called.
Personal finance thread! How is everyone feeling in the run up to summer? We are gearing up for a trip down to the States (from Canada) and are creating the ultimate huge grocery/housewares list to take advantage of low American pricing. I have been waiting to get some of these things for about three months, so I am pretty excited!
Ahh, that sounds like a blast! What kinds of things can you get cheaper in the US? Furniture, certain foods? I am very interested!
I paid a large chunk of my huge doctor’s bill a few days ago, upon which Mint sent me a notice that said “Warning! You just spent an awful lot of money on this!” I KNOW, OK.
On the plus side, I’m sticking pretty closely to my budget in other categories, and I’m actually doing things like auto-deducting retirement money from each paycheck and putting a little in my savings each month, so. Progress. And I’m doing a cheap vacation this summer- going to head to my parents’ place in DC and visit the Smithsonian and go to the zoo. Maybe that way I’ll save enough cash to take a trip to Boston sometime in the fall to see college and Toastie friends.
Almost everything is cheaper in the US, thanks to Canadian taxes and importation stuff. Really, basically everything.
Yeah, everything. We stock up on things we can freeze, pantry staples, spices, things from the little tiendas the dot the I5, the expensive cat food. Everything at Sephora in the US is about $10 bucks cheaper than it is here. We get so much the four or five times a year we go down that our weekly grocery shops here are just veggies and a bit of milk.
We’re doing a mini vacation, too! Seeing the Spruce Goose and the Tillimook cheese factory!
I loved the Tillamook Cheese Factory! It’s so much fun! If you want something a little fancier Blue Heron is really nice.
Tell me more – is it nearby?
Yes! It is very very close! And you must do both, it will be such fun!
It is 1.4 miles away from the Tillamook Cheese Factory, so you could do both in one day if you wished!
Those cheese curds…yummmmmmmmm
Oh Oregon and it’s magical lack of sales tax. Tax is almost 10% where I am so I look longingly northward whenever I have to make a significant purchase.
Tell me about it – I have goggle mapped a number of Sephoras, bike shops, and good restaurants. Sales tax is 13% here, and going out incurs a mysterious liquor tax I try to avoid.
HA I have been feeling awful. I start school in the fall, and realized that my great plan to work at a university has been pointless, since I took a big paycut and have to pay 40% taxes on my tuition benefits, plus some extra costs since my university benefits do not cover everything. So basically I can’t stay above water going to school, and my boyfriend is already taking out loans for his grad program. And I am very OVERWHELMED. Just trying to remember that being behind for a few years will be OK.
For some reason all of this is making me want to spend more money this summer since it feels so hopeless (worst financial attitude I know)
That’s so hard – it’s so easy to feel like tossing your hands up when you feel financially hopeless.
40% taxes on tuition benefits?! Yikes! That suuuuuuucks.
You might be behind financially but you are getting ahead in other ways by going back to school.
All I can do is panic about the higher rents where I’m moving to and realizing I should probably get a roommate and FREAKING OUT about how much I’m stressed out by people and change etc.
I officially will not be able to save anything out of my next paycheck because of all the money I’ve spent this month. Some of it on respectable things (renewing my renters insurance for another year) some not so respectable (so many bar tabs). My sizable retirement contributions will still happen but nothing else.
Despite my best efforts I have a real mental block about saving up for things vs paying off debts. Even doing small ‘snowflakes’ on my mountain of student loan debt is very motivating to me and I will sacrifice other things to make those payments happen. I am very bad about motivating myself to save up for things in advance (like my upcoming vacations) and in fact having that money ‘just sitting there’ even if it is other accounts at other banks makes me spend more freely.
You are familiar with YNAB? It is the sole reason that I don’t spend more freely when I have money ‘just sitting there.’
Right now I have $4,640 in my checking account BUT YNAB tells me I have -$38 in the restaurants category this month, so no brunch for me this weekend (that $4k is allocated to other things, all of which is outlined in YNAB).
It takes some time and dedication to make YNAB’s budget categories feel real, but nowadays I default to thinking about how much money I have in a budget category instead of thinking about how much I have in my bank account.
Do you have the money in other accounts earmarked for something specific? What was really helpful for me was labeling every savings account I have (I go with Tangerine, the new ING). I have RRSP, restaurant meal, vacation, car/bike replacement/repair, clothing/personal care, america shopping (see above), and emergency accounts, and I have a set amount of money that goes to those every cheque. The money ONLY comes out for the correct expense. I find this really helpful, because I can see them grow, and when I need to spend money on say, getting my bike tuned up, the money is just there.
Oh, new development! I was glaring at my cable bill, as I tend to do on a regular basis, and I think I may end up cancelling my cable and purchasing/streaming a variety of channels through my PS3 instead. I actually don’t watch a great deal of TV- mostly Animal Planet and sports, and a couple of talk shows that I should be able to stream through online video. I already pay for Netflix streaming (& watch lots on there), so I’m thinking I may add one more streaming service (probably Amazon VOD) and buy an antenna for local stations. Anyone else tried this? Any pointers or suggestions? It’d be nice not to have to fork over $70 a month to Comcast.
I continue to love my trainer! I am now getting to punch and kick things as well as lift things, and it is SO AWESOME. I feel like Black Widow. A clumsy Black Widow, but Black Widow nonetheless. And I’m really starting to see and feel the muscle in my legs and arms. I love feeling strong. And having killer thighs.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS
How did you go about finding a trainer you liked?
Got lucky, honestly – my husband had starting seeing a guy at the gym we go to, and really liked him. I was somewhat skeptical, but decided to give him a shot. When I said “I don’t want to focus on losing weight, I want to get strong,” and he was fully on board and super-enthusiastic, I figured we’d get along pretty well.
Yay, that sounds awesome for you. (If not necessarily something I can easily replicate.)
Ive had a brain weevils week.
Please tell me about fun things.
Our local shelter is having a kitten adoption event this Sunday, and my mom and I are going in to photograph them soon! I will spam you with little floofy faces and stubby tails tomorrow? (Sorry about weevils. Fierce little motherfuckers.)
please do
(they’re just in there weevling away and everything is exhausting)
I had a great date last night with a dude I like, where we cooked dinner together (for the 1st time, and nobody was injured), colored in a coloring book, and then made out on his couch for hours. So that was pretty fun!
I want to go on this kind of date with my long-time, live-in boyfriend. A++
CD Swap!
heartstillatwar, I got your CD! It made a lovely day-after-my-birthday surprise. Nice selection of tracks, too – it made me realize I had gone more pop than I expected on the mix I made (although we both managed to include Bastille)
Hope you enjoyed what I sent! I realized immediately after checking the playlists post-dropping the package in the mail that I had duplicated a track across the mixes. I’ve really been digging the Todd Terje remake of “Johnny and Mary”, apparently enough to stick it on two discs.
TOASTIES! After last wks mini breakdown– WE GOT AN APT! And it has a DIY balcony! I will now officially be moving in w the bf as 2 working adult people in the same city! The end of 2 yrs long distance is nigh (neigh? sp?) ASIDE: I used to have such expansive dreams for my adult life, but honestly, 2 working adult people in the same city is my zenith– thanks ECONOMY).
From a post a few wks back, some people passed along wisdom about moving in together, and I have already implemented the “Home Fund” idea, wherein we each deposit a % into a joint account for rent / bills / groceries and plan to put it on auto pay so that ish is just done for us. But I’m still keeping my own savings / checkings bc I’m an independent lady and believe in Separate Property. So this is a great intro step. Any other tips?
Or on another note, does anyone else find purchasing bedding to be the most delightful shopping experience? I just got a set of Egyptian cotton but 100% linen is next up in line.
The words ‘DIY balcony’ sound… fairly ominous?
LOL it does! Kinda like a gaping hole that I added plywood and metallic paint to. Rest assured, its a real balcony for DIY projects bc I aim to conquer Pinterest
Hoooray for being together with your loved one in the same city with both of you being employed!! My dude and I were apart for two years while I was in grad school, so I can definitely relate.
I went to get my oil changed this week, and they told me I had about $1500 in repairs needed after I JUST spent $1k on some belt or other to make it be un-broken down. Taking it to another place today to see if they concur, but I guess I’m not taking that vacation to see friends in Baltimore this summer 🙁 Am I doomed to handing over large sums of money every time I see a mechanic? I worry I am being taken advantage of as a young female who knows nothing of how cars work. Any advice?
Can you try to find a way to learn a bit more about cars, so you have a bit more confidence? Maybe a course at a community center, or shadowing a more knowledge friend or family member? Sometimes when my dad is working on a car, I will buy a six pack and make him walk me through things.
I’m definitely going to ask around and get more information online about their recommendations before I go to the next mechanic. I think I’m just going to shop my car’s repairs around to different places and see what the consensus is. Maybe then I’ll find a trustworthy mechanic! Seems like a waste of time at the moment but I’m sure it’ll work out in the long run. Thanks for the reply!
Reputation is your only protection. Ask around. Find that one trustworthy mechanic.
I need to! I’ve been to a few mechanics around the area on different people’s recommendations but haven’t really found one that lived up to their reputation. I’m going to read up on cars before I go to the next place, so I hope my rudimentary knowledge will help me persevere!
I have a mentor at work who used to be a delivery driver and I usually ask him to help me figure out what is a reasonable price. Before I was friends with him, I used to just go to places all around town and ask for estimates. I am also a little shameless.
Yep asking around town is what I’ll be doing this weekend! I hope that gives me a starting point on my car research, so I don’t sound like such a newb when talking to the mechanics. Glad you had your mentor to help!
I have had great results posting on model-specific forums. They’re full of EXPERT hobbyists and some pros, but they’re happy to break things down to beginner levels for you. I have an Outback, so I use ultimatesubaru, but google around and find one for your car. You can search the forum to see if someone has already posted about your issue (which they usually have, US is super extensive) or ask your questions if they haven’t. I saved probably over $800 doing that this year. I also learned to do a lot of work on my own through them/youtube. And I’m a 22-year-old dance major who couldn’t point out the carburetor if her life depended on it, so when I say I was a beginner I really mean beginner. But I learned! Good luck!
I accidentally made one of my men prematurely ejaculate in bed the other night during foreplay then discovered it was probably better that actual sex didn’t happen because I had bled all over the bed and the sheets needed to be changed. All of this happened just after we had both taken half an ambien, so it was a race against the sleep clock to get the sheets changed and everything cleaned up before one or the other of us just crashed.
We’re calling the whole incident “The Best Hand Job Ever”.
Sex is SO WEIRD, right? (Also, did you get my text?)
I did get your text. I was almost asleep, and then forgot to reply in the morning due to a dude tiny fight.
It’s no problem. My parties seem to be always at times that are bad for 2/3 of the people I invite, and I’ve gotten used to it.
We’re having another one soon for movie night, so I’ll invite you to that. 🙂
Sweet. (also, I have this thing where when I take advil pm I have lots of vivid dreams but they’re all very, very mundane, so I actually dreamed you replied (something like, “that’s too bad, see you soon!”) and when I woke up I had to check my phone to see if it was real or not)
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! That’s the greatest!
All my extremely vivid dreams lately have involved pregnancy and babies, weirdly coinciding with my changing perma-birth controls. I wish I could just have dreams that people text me back.
I have a very silly question for all of those who shave their legs and I feel like I’m too old to not know the answer.
Mainly, how do you do it and how often??? If I shave my legs in the morning, they are prickly again by nightfall. Do I have crazy fast-growing hair? Am I doing it wrong? Is there something I can do better? Do people who maintain shaved legs actually do it DAILY? Because that seems unsustainable and so boring to do every day.
I guess basically I want the feeling of hairless legs but without having to do very much work for it. I also refuse to go get them waxed or any other painful method. And I am almost 30 years old and haven’t figured this out yet. Please help.
Hmm…I guess I’m pretty lucky in that I shave maybe twice a week. It usually takes two days to be noticeably stubbly, so no point in doing it sooner. And I never really need to do knees or above. I only started shaving all the time in the last 10 years or so, don’t know if that makes a difference.
I only shave above the knee if I’m REALLY trying to impress someone.
Fast-growing hair here. I wear pants to work. Shave the morning before an evening in a skirt. Then shave again after work just up to the knee. Often quickly done in a coffee shop bathroom, shave and change clothes.
Ugh so it’s not just me! I don’t think I have ever shaved outside of my own bathroom, but I also can barely be bothered to do it at my house too. I commend your commitment!!
Ours grows really fast too. So I shave like once every six months when I feel like it and the rest of the time I’m a hairy-legged women’s libber. 🙂
Just jumping on this thread to concur–shave in the morning, porcupine by the afternoon.
I guess I am learning that leg-shaving is a BS conspiracy. But I still don’t really want to give it up entirely.
Epilate. hurts like a motherfucker the first x times, but then your nerves withdraw from the scene in abject terror and after a few months/years (no longer remember) it doesn’t hurt at all. Lasts a week or 6 depending on how fussy you are. I went from being a twice a day shaver to a twice a summer epilator over the course of 20 years. Disclaimer: How much of that was due to the technique and how much due to the apathy of long-term marriage and general hippy-fication, I’m not sure.
YOUR NERVES WITHDRAW IN ABJECT TERROR
I love this. I’ve considered buying an Epilady, but have never wanted to invest the money. Your sentence makes me inclined to try it once I’ve used up all my razor blades.
NOT EPILATE or if you do be very careful. I used to epilate and I had to stop because it completely messed up my hair follicles so much that I’m still getting ingrowns two years after quitting. I know other people who’ve had similar issues dispite having perfect technique and a good epilator so…proceed with caution.
So, I have very coarse body hair and on my legs it grows straight out. So when my leg hair first started really growing in during puberty (before I had ever shaved) it was super itchy (I have sensory issues, this reaction probably isn’t normal) which meant when I started shaving I did it every day. I did that for, well 8 years maybe and then decided to try growing it out because people had told me it gets softer if you let it grow out. This wasn’t true for me but I don’t like shaving it every day and my skin is crazy sensitive so now what I do is shave it on Sundays only. They are prickly by Monday morning but honestly, I’ve been trying to deal with it and hopefully it will go away or maybe I’ll be able to afford laser hair removal eventually.
Also I only shave up to the knee, always have. Above the knee it lies flat so it doesn’t stick out and bother me.
This is me, too! I have super sensitive skin, so what’s I’ve done is vow only to shave every other day, always use a ton of lotion after-shower, and invest in a good shaving cream and decent razors. Even though I am prickly by nightfall after shaving in the morning, at least my skin is happy!
I also recommend shave oil! I use this one and it has made a big difference in how my skin feels after shaving. It also lasts forever, I use like 2-3 drops for legs because it’s so moisturizing.
Also, coconut oil is great for shaving!
Ooh I haven’t tried that! I bought it for my hair (on my head) but it really messed it up and made it feel like straw so I threw the bottle away in fury! I’m excited to know it has other uses (besides food) because it smells so good.
I shave every other day because while only actually smooth for half a day, my legs still give the appearance of being smooth for 2 days. And that’s good enough for me!
I actually found waxing to be less painful that I was expecting (damn expensive though) but YMMV.
same here, the stubble comes back rapidly but it’s not super visible for another couple days so it’s just a matter of how much I care.
but also, if I shave regularly it takes less time to do it each time, just quick lazy swipes on each leg.
Thirding this. Stubble by early evening, but it’s not noticeable for the second day. Shaving daily is not a huge deal for me though because while my leg hair is fast-growing, it is also sparse. So a few swipes take care of it. Also, I have short legs.
Dittos. And if anyone (MEN) complains about the stubble, they can fuck right off.
Key to longer lasting smoothness: Brand new razor, as many blades as possible. But I’m not willing to invest that kind of time or money when I actually don’t care that much.
Do you use shaving cream or gel or something? That tends to help me get a closer shave. I use Aveeno Positively Smoothe shave gel, which is supposed to inhibit hair regrowth. It has made a bit of a difference for me. But most days, I’m just rocking stubbly/ hairy legs.
You can use cheapy-cheap hair conditioner for a nice shave, too
yup, that’s what I use – a good way to use up those endless bottles of conditioner, too!
You are an adult and have considered your choices and specifically targeted this question to people who shave, BUT I am choosing to butt in anyway and say that not shaving is an aces life choice for me, and maybe you??? I thought I would get wayyyy more shit for it than I ever have (maybe two negative comments in six years), I save so much time, and it makes me be brave about my body in ways that ripple out to the rest of my self-image.
I’m going to the NHL Draft next week and I CANNOT WAIT TO BOO BETTMAN IN PERSON.
That is so exciting!!! I’m a hockey fan but have never watched a draft. Is there anyone you’re excited to see?
You guys I saw Belle last night, and of course I had Deep and Interesting Thoughts about race relations in England in the 1700s, but also I thought about how glad I am that I don’t have to put on a corset and a big poofy skirt just to eat breakfast, jesus.
Also: isn’t fascinating how Malfoy manages to be a dick even as a muggle?
Suuuuch a diiiiiiick. I’m also so used to seeing him in Malfoy makeup that whenever I see him playing a different character, he looks, like, grimy. (I had the same problem when Spike showed up on Torchwood)
When I went to see Belle, a dude in the theatre yelled “FUCK OFF, MALFOY” during that scene where he gets super gross and insulting and grabby with her. I wanted to find that guy and give him a high five.
Good new is I’ve only been working 12+ hour days this week, yay! And we (probably) get the weekend off, YAY! Next week is gonna be horrendous with 16 to 18 hour days, and not having a day off until the 4th of July. I swore last year that that was going to be my very last fiscal year end at this shithole, but nooooooooooo, job leads fell through and I *need* something lined up before I quit. On the bright side, if it’s anything like last year, the 160+ hour paycheck will fully fund my summer weekend travel plans with nice-ish hotels, if not fancy.
the 160+ hour paycheck
o_O
Required, mind you. And not against any sort of federal regulations. We’ve checked.
ahh i feel you. working this weekend so 12 days of work in a row for me… regular hours though at least. best of luck to you for making it through!
Toasties, I am so glad you are part of my life now. You are all so smart and funny & coming here every day gives me such a lift.
I am having Angsty Teenager Feelings about my fwb situation but let us leave that for another day, shall we?
I am trying to get over the profound mortification of throwing up all over the bathroom at work yesterday afternoon. There is STILL an out-of-order sign on the door.
I went out to lunch with some coworkers, to a very nice restaurant, and proceeded to get food poisoning. By the time I got back to my cubicle I felt feverish and had full-body chills.
Normally I’m the type who doesn’t take sick leave unless a limb is actually falling off. But when I found myself thinking “It would be so soothing to lie down on the nice, cold bathroom floor for a while” and then ACTUALLY DOING IT I realized I had to go the fuck home.
(The lying on the floor happened BEFORE the vomiting all over the floor. Just in case you were wondering.)
Oh no! Hope you are feeling better.
I was away for work all week and I have missed you all. On Saturday I’m going to see Maleficent in a theater that serves cocktails with a good friend and I’m reasonably sure there will be more cocktails and misandry following that. So pleased about this.
Are there any Toasties in Seattle? I’m moving out west in a month for a job and would love to meet some people. Also if you have any advice on how to pin down a goddamn apartment from out-of-state, please help, because NO ONE is responding to my e-mails about Craigslist postings.
Recently just pined down an apt from out of state! First, try Padmapper, which is curated-craigslist and absolutely love (recommended by another Toastie when I started looking!) If you know anyone you can trust in Seattle you can have then do a walk through and take pics. But ultimately what worked for us was going w a more corporately run apt complex that is used to people moving from out of state, that had floor plans online, and had the experience to deal w the situation. I found a lot of independent landlords were more reticent to commit to someone they hadn’t met or interacted with in person. Good luck!
Yes!! I have been wanting a Seattle-area meetup. Let’s do it! Where’s your job located?
Right downtown, a few blocks south of the Seattle Art Museum. I’ll be starting in mid-July, and would love to set something up for later in the month or maybe sometime in August!
This is the OP: my comments seemed to be stuck in moderation, so I sucked it up and created a commenting account.
My job’s downtown, a few blocks south from the Seattle Art Museum. I’ll be moving in mid-July, and I’d love to set up a meetup for later that month or sometime in August!
Oh, nice. Yes, let’s do a meet-up. Is the comments the best place to organize that? or is there something else? There’s a Hairpin Seattle group, but it’s pretty quiet.
I would also check apartments.com, that’s where I found ours two months ago.
If you are not too intimidated, my husband and I do a game night/movie night rotating once a month that’s like a drop in thing. Let me know if that sounds like a thing you’d be into and we can swap info!
Oh man, what sort of games? I’m really into board games (I went to GenCon a few years ago, which was a very Special Experience) and I’d love to hang out!
Where’s your job? Close to downtown? (I work downtown and live in lower QA)
Yeah, it’s right downtown, a few blocks south of the Seattle Art Museum. I’ve been looking around the lower QA and Capitol Hill neighborhoods for places to live, but I haven’t been getting any responses to my inquiries.
I have new baby pigs as of Wednesday morning!
Piglets! Little wriggly guys, awwww.
Sooooooo cute!
So cute!! This just the pic I needed to see. So many tiny ears!
they are so WEE! How cute!
BABY PIGGIES!!!!!!!! 🙂
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So cute, wow!
omg this is everything I never knew I needed. So little!!
So my roommate who moved out early and has been unsuccessfully looking for a sub-letter brought a random dude over to be our sub-letter last night at 10. I was not home I was still working in the lab. And my other roommate (who is an undergrad) was not happy. So I called male roommate and left a message. The situation sounded sketchy so I brought a friend home with me from lab. When I got home former roommate and dude were gone, but they returned at midnight (After my friend had left, although he only lives a few blocks away). We chatted. He was clearly high, and also had no personal possessions. He is apparently a student and has been crashing in various buildings. Former roommate douche-ly asks me if I feel comfortable. And I try to explain to him why bringing a random dude to my house at 10pm and announcing he’s moving in is not ok. Tries the same on Undergrad and she goes off on him. Undergrad gives dude an air mattress, I get him a towel and shampoo Former roommate left around left around 12:30. Undergrad said “I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at male roommate” to the dude. I agree. Undergrad left for a friends. Undergrad’s mother was very worried about me staying at the house with dude. I brushed this off. And then I can’t sleep. And I’m up until 3 thinking Was this a mistake? Should I have just gone to sleep in my office? I fell asleep at 3. The dude SEEMED ok. The dude was high. Dude has keys to my house now.
I just don’t really know how to proceed. Former roommate really sucks, and I’m glad he moved out, but now I don’t know how to proceed. My former roommate has the right to sublet his room. I don’t like assuming that every male is a threat. But this does not feel great.
DOES he have the right to sublet his room though?
Dude is probably fine but the whole situation is weird. How disrespectful they both are being!
You are correct! I’m so silly! I just sort of got caught up in the previous plan. (And my rental company is TERRIBLE) but I have a very serious voice. But I called them and they are on the case.
Oh, yay. I hope they are responsive. Yay for it being someone else’s problem.
I would tell him exactly everything in the last paragraph. You have a rt to be comfortable in your home.
I would look through the terms of your lease to make sure he has a right to sublet his room. And if he does I would reach out to the landlord and just let them know he subletted the room to a sketchy character who showed up high and you are worried about [insert something that would matter to them like property damage or nonpayment of rent] and let them take care of it with former roommate.
Please send good vibes to my fridge. I think she is struggling. Soon I will have to call someone to come repair her. She is no longer keeping things cold, despite the best efforts of her conjoined twin, the freezer.
IT IS OK! Just needed a manual defrost. THANK YOU GREAT GODDESS OF REASONABLY NEW APPLIANCES!
Toasties, I need help figuring out my “next move” and I think I want to try living in another city for a while. The whole process of moving just seems so scary and complicated though, and I’m not even sure how to begin other than to get on an airplane with a smile and a dream and rely on my plucky and winsome charm to see me through. For people who have packed up and moved away- how??? how does this happen?? where does the money come from?? And jobs??? Ugh how do I even life.
If you figure this out, please let me know! I’ve contemplated this but the whole “how do you get a job?” thing has held me and my husband back. Also, we would both like to have jobs at the same time.
Husbands are the worst.
[actually, he’s okay I guess]
Ugh, yes. I have been consumed with thoughts of moving to Portland (Maine) from Boston, but yes with the job-getting and the money-having thing. Fortunately, I live close enough that husband and I could (in theory) job-search and apartment-hunt on a noncommittal basis, and could just stay put if it doesn’t look like it will work out.
I’m bad at decisions and am extremely risk-averse, though, so we’ll see.
My only successfu lout-of-state move happened this way: Husband got in to grad school, so we had about 6 months’ notice. We hustled and scraped together some moving money in non-traditional ways. Yard sales, parties with admission fees, etc. We saved about $10K (we moved to NYC, you could probably get away with far less in other cities) so when we moved, we were able to get into an apartment and live off of savings until I found a job. I lucked out and found a great job in a month, but that obviously fluctuates.
I tried to hunt for jobs from out-of-state, but it just didn’t seem feasible. So my advice is to start saving money any way you can and go from there!
This is pretty much exactly my plan for September (less the husband)! What a relief!
I attempted long distance job hunting before and was told by more than one hiring manager that if I really wanted to work in a city, it’d be best to move first and job hunt once I got there… was really considering it at the time but chickened out mostly because I didn’t feel I had enough savings to do so. Of course this depends on what kind of work you do, how far your city is from the city you want to move to (mine was in a different country), etc, etc. BUT the upside is, exploring a city you’ve always wanted to live in is awesome and adventurous and lots of fun. It’ll take work but is definitely doable. Good luck!
Dear hiring manager: I am moving to your city soon and will be available next month for interviews.
Send that to every city you’re interested in.
Does anyone have advice for getting rid of stuff while moving? My mom is a big packrat and I feel like I have a lot of those tendencies, but I have boxes of crap that I haven’t unpacked in like, two years, through two moves. How do you get rid of things and pare down?
My mom also is a packrat, and I have also been trying very hard (semi successfully) to not become one myself. One thing that helps me is to give stuff away to people who really need it or who will really use it. My mom finally gave away a bunch of old stuff on Freecycle, and she really liked giving it to people who were stoked about dollhouses for their kids or her old garden equipment or whatever. Much better and more motivating than just dropping off stuff at Goodwill.
Oh! That is a good idea! I’ll try and see if I can put some of the bigger things up there, but most of m y stuff will probably need to just go straight to Goodwill. I’m under a BIG timecrunch.
You invite me over and let me get rid of all your stuff!
Barring that IDEAL scenario, get rid of everything that you haven’t used in the last year (if it would be expensive to replace, be honest about whether you’re going to use it in the next, say, to years. And then get rid of it).
Seriously I am thinking about who would be a good person to help me get rid of stuff but sadly my friend who would be Best at this lives three hours away 🙁
Can you recruit that friend to come visit anyway? My friend who is best at that is definitely willing to travel!
Advice for psychologically letting go of stuff (and not about where to take your things): When I had to pack up my childhood home, there was a lot of stuff that had sentimental value but wasn’t in good shape, or just stuff that I know someone else could use but I was reluctant to give away. Taking pictures of stuff really helped me to release those items. It sounds silly but I felt like if I had a picture of the beat up cabbage patch kid or my Dad’s old radio then I didn’t have to hang on to it anymore. I was able to get rid of a lot of stuff semi-painlessly that way.
Agreed, this worked for me, too, in a recent move.
The trick (for me) was to make sure to then get the photos off my phone right away and store them someplace, because having them only on the phone just served to transform the PHONE into the item I was emotionally hanging on to. Once the photos were in Dropbox I could really let go of the thing. And hopefully can also let go of the phone when it’s time for a new one.
Yes! Free the photos! I made an old school photo album and included pics of big random stuff that I couldn’t take with me (house itself and the trees my grandfather planted in the backyard)
I will try this for things that have sentimental value! Some of the stuff is just stuff my mom gave me though, that is not otherwise important. I don’t like getting rid of gifts but I get pointless stuff anyway :/
Wow, that is a wonderful idea. Two moves too late for all my crapola, but still, so smart.
Just start mass-dumping stuff you never take out? It’s tough at the time but if you’re anything at all like me I can virtually guarantee that this will be the last time you ever even think of that junk, you will not be sorely missing your shirts you haven’t worn in five years at your new place, and the more time you spend opening boxes and sifting through possessions in detail the less you will actually get done.
If it weren’t for regular moves and last-minute, semirandom purges of the 90% of my crap that I don’t need even a little I would quickly become buried in obsessively hoarded crap like the rest of my family. BUT WHAT IF SOME DAY I REALLY NEED THAT PARTIAL COMPUTER FROM 2004???
Agreed. Those boxes you haven’t opened in 2 years and multiple years? Take them straight to Goodwill, do not open them. You will not miss them. Unless they are full of objects with sentimental value. But you still might not miss them…
If they had sentimental value outside of moving time you’d be dealing with them outside of moving time!
Also I should add that what you definitely should not do is leave your stuff to anyone you know. My family did this, too, for a long time, and all it accomplished was setting up a thriving garbage economy in “sentimental” items from like high school that were only of remotest interest in that instant when you saw them in someone else’s house and absolutely had to have them back right now
You are my hero.
Hilarious thing from this week: a girl brought a 6 week old Pomeranian puppy into the library and it was adorable and ran around in circles but then it pooped on her hands.
It’s the end of the quarter. We’re all exhausted. Here’s hoping all the problems that have cropped up during the past 2 weeks get ironed out during the 3 week break.
And pickles. Yes. I love things that are salty/spicy/sour/bitter… like my soullll.
Good ol’ Steve-o Crane has a poem for that…In the Desert.
Yesssss. My friend has the last two lines tattooed on her torso.
A coworker of mine lost her long struggle with breast cancer this week, and the office is a wreck about it. She was our HR manager and she was wonderfully well-liked, and though I wouldn’t say she was my BFF, she was definitely a bright spot.
Her wake is this afternoon – well, going on as I type, I suppose – but I felt really inappropriate going as I had never met her family and like I said, we weren’t super close. For me, wakes have always been about being there to support the family and I would genuinely feel hella awkward being there (not to mention my crippling fear of dead bodies) so I have opted to sit this out. The notice that was sent out to the office said that in lieu of flowers, they were requesting donations for her son’s college fund. I feel like this is the best way to express my gratitude and sympathies. I just…man, cancer is the fucking worst.
On top of that my mom had to get something in her breast aspirated because of “something suspicious” showing up on her last mammogram…can I get some good vibes heading her way?
I hope everyone else is having a better Friday than me!!
Cancer IS the fucking worst, I’m so sorry. A coworker of mine passed away a few years ago and it was a little weird not knowing what to do. But the whole office was invited to the funeral, and about half of us all went together, so we could all be a little awkward together.
Sending all the good vibes to your mom! I hope it’s good news.
So many good thoughts to your and mom.
Oh, wow. I’m so sorry for all of this hitting you today. Ugh. You have all my good vibes, bb.
Many, many good thoughts going out to you. Cancer really is the worst!
Best of luck to your mom and condolences to you. I freaked out this week over some new lumpiness that showed up when I am completely unequipped to do a damn thing about it (couch-surfing, no coverage until I get housed, etc.), but have resolved to be calm and affirm for housing, from whence all shall be solved and smoothed out. I will keep a good thought for your mom while I’m grinding my teeth and meditating.
I’ve had chest lumpiness at times of extended stress when combined with abusive amounts of caffeine. I know you’ll see a doc as soon as you get coverage, but meanwhile, cut back the caffeine? And try to think of the lumpiness as temporary and benign. Maybe the lumps will get the hint. Best wishes, Heather.
This week I sent my book proposal to a Toastie (she liked it) and booked my flights to go to Rome to visit another Toastie (we have never met) and cut all my hair off and bought lipstick in homage to a third Toastie (<3ubergie) so I guess KEEP IT UP TOAST AND TOASTIES.
Also, I did not get a job I desperately wanted.
Now I’m reading Martin Waddell’s entire back catalogue (incredible picture books) and weeping while I make pizza.
Also, if you like to read good children’s books (Joan Aiken and Susan Cooper and Nina Bawden and everyone, obviously), I think I am setting up a Children’s Book Book Club, where we will read books on the internet and if you are in London, eat cake, so if that’s your thing, er, say hello and I’ll put you on the list?
please sign me up (for the on-the-internet parts.) for Joan Aiken sign me up twice.
queenofbithynia at g mail
children’s books >YA forever
Hello! But oh I wish I was in London, I would love to get the cake too.
I am super interested in this!
I would love to join the internet part, please! (Beckie, gmail)
Ooh! That sounds great! I love good children’s lit.
I’m in!
oooo yes plz! (internet part) squidnotes gmail.
I am really craving hushpuppies. That’s all I really have to say today.
Toasties, I am cranky, because our kids were going to start their awesome new Montessori summer program this week (leaving us with 11 free hours a week to: go to the DMV and the court clerk’s office and enroll our daughter in kindergarten and go to the dentist for the first time in way too long and also to the doctor for our annual check up and then /after that/ we would have time to like, write and draw and stuff and start to remember that we are actually a bunch of interesting creative people instead of just parents/partners/caregivers) — and INSTEAD the program couldn’t open this week because of stupid licensing issues.
So I am both cranky because I had both kids at home with me every day all week (since we had pulled our daughter from her sketchy preschool as of last Friday) AND all of these huge time-consuming errands are not getting done and the clock is ticking, AND now I do not really trust this new program because they are not behaving professionally about the licensing stuff but are whining about how horrible and awful the state is.
Ugh, ugh, ugh. I love my kids but parenting 12 hours a day every day is not my thing. And my partner is being a total jerk about it because he says he would LOVE to be home all day with the kids instead of working his crazy demanding job and why don’t I just get a job so he can stay home? As though the past SIX YEARS we have put into our family have had absolutely no professional cost and we can just waltz out there and get a job that would be economically equivalent.
MISANDRY FOREVER.
“And I would LOVE to conduct a job hunt without having to refer to the 6 years I spent gestating, birthing, and raising YOUR children. But not only will I have to refer to it, I will have to defend it, again and again. And that gap in my resume will cost me untold opportunities.”
Sorry, I’m not feeling charitable toward your partner just now.
If you need me to burn your partner to the ground for you, just let me know.
Also, all cocktails cannot have pickles in them because the vinegar would curdle anything made with cream.
30% of cocktails become something like a cement mixer?
eeeeep about to have a phone interview with google eeeeep
good luck! Google might be taking my best work pal 🙁
Can somebody please remind me which fairly recent post included a discussion of thinning hair in the comment section? People were suggesting tests to get (thyroid?) and products to use. I thought I’d bookmarked it but apparently not. I’ve looked at the hair extension post from June 4 but I don’t see the comments I thought I’d read. Am I losing my mind? Does anyone remember? Thank you!
There was an article further back about a person with thinning hair …. here! http://the-toast.net/2013/10/24/thin-hair-line/
I have thinning hair and all my blood test come back fine. If you figure something out, holler at me
Oh goodness there are things to do about this instead of just being upset? I must read this right now.
I got good news this week and it’s made my crap job slightly more bearable because I see an end in sight. The good news comes with a lot of logistics to work out first, so I’m not celebrating just yet, but… soon.
(This is bonus good because I found out today that a new coworker is convinced that fluoridated water is a conspiracy to keep the population complacent. I don’t even know.)
And then my dad texted me earlier to tell me that there’s a bear out roaming around our part of town, so I should keep the cat inside when I’m at home. I dunno, I figure if said black bear can cross a whole bunch of busy roads and then find our specific yard (fenced yard!) to crash, it’s probably earned the cat in exchange. Right?
It’s been just over a year at my job, so today the whole office (4 other people) took me out to lunch and literally spent the whole time just going around the table saying nice things about me. I held it together the whole time but I did start crying a little bit when I gave my ‘closing statement’ at the end about how much I like working here. So I am feeling quite warm and magnanimous at the moment. Also, it’s Friday afternoon! Woohoo!
This week was INTENSE and will probably keep me in anecdotes for (fictional) dinner parties for the rest of my life.
I travelled to Italy for work (omg business class), which was amaze and SO HOT and nerve-wracking all at the same time. I was in Florence (museum business, yo), and the fact that I speak almost no Italian made the whole thing molto difficult. I made friends with a tiny French bulldog called Fabio, and got to Florence in the middle of the Pitti Uomo menswear fashion week, so I was surrounded by Well Tailored Dudes With Fashionable Beards.
THEN I found a wad of cash ($450, or about £250 British Pounds for British People) stuffed in the lining of my hotel safe, with no traceable owner.
THEN, after being back at work today, I was cycling home and almost ran over the Archbishop of Canterbury. I AM NOT MAKING ANY OF THIS UP.
Wow. What did the Archbishop of Canterbury DO? It is like a Trollope novel but your life!
Well. I was waiting at a red light, but as it changed to green I noticed a pedestrian stepping out into the road, so I dinged my bell and he stepped back quickly. Thing is, I often get a bit short-tempered with people not looking where they’re going in the road, so it was lucky that I noticed Who It Was before yelling a rude word.
You guys, I almost called the Archbishop of Canterbury a cunt.
“Canterbury cunt!”
You should’ve, it’s got a nice ring to it.
Is he in the British papers a lot, or what? I might recognize The Pope by sight, but probably only if he was wearing his hat.
He (the one I avoided turning into an Archsquishop) actually retired last year, and technically there’s a new Archbish, but the OG Archbish was/is very recognisable and often on TV. His name is Rowan Williams, and though I’m not religious I do think he’s a pretty good dude – very progressive, outspoken on social justice, and did a lot of work trying to reconcile more conservative clergy to gay ordination and women bishops. Aside from his poor traffic-judgement skills, he definitely doesn’t deserve to be called names by a lady whizzing past on a bicycle.
So late to the thread, augh. Minor hilarity: Trying on glasses with my aunt at the dollar store and she complained they were uncomfortable…because she’d put both nose-grips on one side of her nose, side-saddle. When she looked in the mirror she cracked up & said, “They’re for my third eye.”
Less hilarious: Running out of time here at my couch-surfing safari and finding absolutely nowhere to go. How do incompetent poor weirdos find housing? When is someone going to buy an apartment building and create The Toasty Arms condo complex? I am so there.
Uuuggggh western blots. *flips table, gets on motorbike, smashes through lab window, departs*
There has been a terrible news story all over my Facebook this week, because I’m friends with too many animal rescue people. Usually the bad stuff doesn’t bother me on a personal level, but this one does, so my own pets have been getting desperate hugs that may be baffling to them. I love gross, humid, stinky garbage summer in my town, except for how violent people get. I am too pregnant for this. I need to be eating sandwich cookies and watching dumb tv, for the sake of my unborn son, not feeling feelings!
Hello Toast,
If you or someone you know is looking for a place to live near downtown Denver by July, get at me. $825 or so a month, great location. AND I’m pretty desperate.
This might be too late for anybody to see, BUT. I am going to Honolulu next week for a work trip and will have free time one afternoon/evening and intend to do some exploring. I’m thinking of driving up to the North Shore to see the waves. Any specific recommendations?
Toasties! I passed my comprehensive exams. I’m legitimate in my program now!
Yay! Congrats!
Croatia! How fantastic!
I believe that's the very same duck pond into which a neighbor kid pushed me when I was a wee toddler in Philadelphia. (Our mothers had taken us to the park. I was fine, but very indignant.) I also vaguely remember some incredibly bold and greedy geese that would come up and grab the bread right out of your hand.
Toasties? Toasties? I made an account long ago & now I’m back becauseeeeeeeeee reasons HI
Welcome back.
Work issues, just need to vent (anonymously as my handle could identify me). My boss is a family member who owns a business. It’s very busy and should be doing well, but FM is terrible at fiscal management. I do the daily bookkeeping stuff so I butt up against this regularly, and it is wearing me down. To their credit, FM has taken some steps to fix ongoing big issues; however, they can’t seem to grasp how better control of day-to-day stuff can prevent big problems. FM does listen to concerns and every so often will issue an “I am changing this procedure” edict – and will then be the first to break the new rule. Add in some under-the-table transactions (because local small-town economy, “everyone does it”) that make my document-everything accounting brain cringe, and I really don’t want to work there anymore.
I have started quietly job-hunting. My gut feeling is that trouble is coming and I need to get myself out now with my reputation intact. I would really like to be honest about why I’m leaving and what makes me uncomfortable about the job, but past experience shows it won’t make a difference to business operations and might negatively affect our relationship outside of the business. I like FM very much as a person and don’t want to see them fail or get in trouble. I just don’t think there is anything more I can do to open their eyes to these very real possibilities.
¡Viva Chile, mierda!
LOVE your hair!
Congratulations!! There's a company called Brent and Jess, I think, who do fingerprint rings, and I hereby present Links I Have Found Helpful (both the initial posts and the comments sections):
http://apracticalwedding.com/2013/07/non-diamond-…
http://thehairpin.com/2013/03/ask-a-jeweler
http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/45-engagement-rings…
http://www.maxandchloe.com/fine-jewelry?filter=ty…
http://thehairpin.com/2013/06/ask-a-jeweler-shady…
omg this is everything I never knew I needed. So little!!
My cat has asthma too. Where do you get her inhalers? (They are people inhalers, right?)
there is a cat inhaler from Amazon that has like a mouthpiece thing like a nebulizer, and then the medication is available w prescription and I got it from 4 Corners Pharmacy, an online pharmacy from Australia (I think?) that has better prices than here.