wax

Post overload yesterday. I guess I thought I was making up for a no-post weekend or something.

Anyway, in getting new teeth, I have to get approved for all this work. And I have this new dentist (Jason) who's really into it, and we're trying to get started this summer.

That's the top half of my mouth. A "before" (I guess it's a "during", I've already had a lot done, actually, so that's what it's like right now) if you will, and an excellent potential addition to the series of medical pictures of myself that I'm trying to collect/print/frame (Holly's idea).

I wish

1. I wish Urban Outfitters and Delias would stop emailing me discounts. But on the shopping front, you should know I'm doing pretty good. Mom was in town, and now I have a new shirt, and a pair of little Chinese slippers like I used to wear to school when I was a kid. But I didn't buy either of them, and this is mostly about having less/spending less, and I'm getting rid of a different shirt, and didn't actually buy anything anyway, she did. Rationalization? Probably.

Shoes aren't banned anyway. Just clothes. I want more/better shoes.

2. I wish I hadn't gotten so deep in arts and crafts yesterday that I forgot about that dance party at the museum. I at least wanted to check it out.

3. Sometimes, I wish I had a moped instead of a scooter.

more q's

Today is so many questions.

How real is this? T says they "know about it" but don't know who it is.

And,
do you apply for really enticing side jobs if you don't live in the right city and can't take good photographs?

What if they'd make you blog using the "editorial we"? It's my least favorite part of my most visited website. Deal breaker?

future nets

A lot of times, Sandro points us to these good articles. One today was pretty much Google vs Facebook.
So then, I arrive at the hypothetical ulitmatum: what do you choose if you have to choose one? For real, if you could only do Google or Facebook, and all your nets were filtered through it or whatever, what do you pick? My loyalties are with Google, but I've only ever had to compare it to...I don't know - Yahoo or something? So I'd say Google. But then the author brings up this point about how, you're trying to learn something about someone - do you get a better picture of them from a Google search, or from a Facebook page? FB.
This wasn't even really what the article was about, just so you know. That's just where I landed.

Also, I hate that businesses are Twittering. BBQ place in the Italian Market? Rustica? No thanks. My boss said we're definitely not going down that route (this is a big question in the fake/online world of IT staffing), and I was so glad. I don't know why I hate Twittering so much, but I do. I guess I just like you more the less I know about you.

oh, and vampires

No. Recent celebrity deaths do not make me feel old. (Somebody asked). Going to the wedding of a kid I used to babysit for makes me feel old. Getting carded at said wedding makes me feel young, so it's kind of nbd.

This weekend was weddings, and hanging out with Mom, and birthdays, and paper mache & glitter, and haunted houses. Coming up is America's birthday, which means Finger Lakes, fireworks, bonfires, boats.

I don't have anything to blog about.

(don't) go West

Riding bikes to and from West Philly is the worst. There's two directions of bad drivers, so many college kids, and those hills.
Andy: I'm glad you're moving(/moved?) East.
Siobhan: I'm glad you have a car.
West Philly is for people with babies or fraternity loyalties.

bear+

I don't need things like dolls in my life, but this girl makes dolls of pretty much what I think of in my mind when I'm working on costumes. In my head.


Let's see...what else. I was going to quit Myspace today. It asks for a reason, and gives you choices, one of which is "Too much drama" - check. But then I chickened out. I'm still on Myspace.

Shopping Pause update:
3 days deep, no new clothes. Applause? Also, I decided I'm quitting jeans for real. I know I don't really wear them a lot, but it's going to be part of this "wear old dresses, make them happen" thing. No jeans & hoodies type outfits for a while. I must be doing okay, because black girls keep liking my outfits. Oh, and I emailed Uniform Project girl and asked her if the pattern was available. She wrote back and told me to write to her gmail address instead. So I did. Keeping waiting.

The zero-calorie, zero-fat bleu cheese veggie dip that's on sale at Acme is not good. Surprise.

bikes

Need a bike?

This is Sarah's old bike. She gave it to me when she moved to Rochester. Now I want to give it to you.

It's cute, it's little, rides like a tank (is that a thing?). This is the bike I crashed on the trolley tracks. Bike survived fine, my face did not. So, this bike is stronger than my face?

Tires are flat, so no, you can't come try it out. It needs tubes (or maybe just air?) and some other amount of love.

Also, see Marilyn's garden?

7

Oh, did you want to know some things I've been thinking about? Here's the easy ones, the accessible ones.

1. I'd really like to have a straight bangs haircut again someday.

2. If someone asks you for a "writing sample", can you just point them towards your blog? With a disclaimer that they might not "get" it?

3. Making Time is at a pool, during the day. The funniest part about the ad is that it says, "See each other in the daylight!". Anyway, Andy got me all excited about going to this, but I know I will not go. Getting to NJ? Expensive drinks? Being hot and so tired by 11pm? Probably not.

4. If one person comments, why is it "1 comments" instead of "1 comment"? It seems like they've figured out most things on the internet, they could get this one under control, too.

5. Remember how so much of that new episode of True Blood took place at Forever 21? That was good. I shop at places for 16 year old vampires.

6. I guess I have plantar fasciitis. Limpy lately.

7. People like Kelly's sister have blogs (www.hiddencupcakes.com). When I really reach the end of the internet, I browse it, and end up feeling grammar-policey.


Here's Nikki and MLB towards the end of Book Swap.

shop pause

So, I think I'm going to do it.
I went to the library today, and on the way thought, "I should really quit shopping, but probably right after I buy one more cardigan." It's a problem.
I have no grand philosophical reasons (I just don't have it in me to boycott consumerism), and I've already noted my influences. So this is pretty much just me, telling myself, quit for a minute. For real, I own like a hundred dresses, one more isn't going to make or break my look, my life, my wardrobe.

Here are my reasons:
I spend too much money on crappy clothes.
I have too many clothes to move with.
Sometimes I shop to make myself feel better.

Hopeful outcomes:
Saving money, spending it on things that are more fun.
Re-discovering old clothes, making new outfits happen from them.
Deciding what to keep, what to pass on.

If I was keeping buying clothes, this dress would certainly make the cut.

It would probably go past my knees, which is why no one should shop online anyway. You just can't tell.

Rules (self imposed challenges must have hard and fast rules, or else they are abandoned):
No clothes. Quit lunch break H&M-ing, Delias.com-ing, and going to the mall with Kelly.
Shoes? Yes. If the right shoe comes along, I am definitely buying it. I think shoes lead to better outfits, and that's a goal, so yeah. I'm still in the shoe game.
One month. Starting today. The 22nd. Maybe it'll be longer than that, but that's a start.

tom

Brian Neville once tricked himself into liking tomatoes, and I want to too.

I'm starting by only taking about half of them off my salad, and pretending the rest are salsa fresca or pico de gallo. Are those the same thing?

-'s, +'s

things I'm not into

Mass texts asking what's good. I think a mass text invitation is okay, but not one where you're just scoping the most fun. You've got to research or invent that.

Mustache-themed arts, crafts, facial hair. I read on AT that this is on it's way out, along with primary color lacquered furniture, and knitted deer antlers.

Sandals. I'm willing to like them, but just haven't found the right ones yet. I've been looking for So Long. Ideas?

People who flake out, including myself, I do it all the time.

things I am into

Birthdays, especially summer birthdays.

Trader Joe's food. Anyone want to go there in a car? Whenevs.

The urban yard sale. Find me on Broad St Saturday. Near Dickinson.

Kneesocks. It's just an idea, but I tried it out last night, and liked it enough to try again. I don't really understand what shoes are supposed to happen with them though?

up, dated

I put a couple new/old pictures on my Flickr - nothing to write home about. How come we don't use Flickr really? I like it. I can see your pictures without having to read all the words or click through Facebook.

Tonight is Marianne on JEOPARDY! Again! Sorry if that was a spoiler, but you were going to find out anyway. She and lucky pony did really well, hopefully they will again tonight, so that the party they're throwing in August really can have one of those "grab the money while it's flying around" booths, filled with tons and tons of nearly worthless rupees. It probably costs a lot to rent one of those.

And finally, bring paper bags if you come over tomorrow, BTB needs them for mailing the books out.
And it's Andy's birthday.

So many posts today. Getting good at it* again.


*blogging. In consistency, not content.

bookswap

Speaking of getting rid of/buying & having LESS:

We're having a book swap tomorrow at our house, 7-9pm, bring a drink if you want to pre-game. Bring books you don't want anymore that you think other people* might like, take home whatever you want. You get how it works.

Also accepting movies and cd's.
Extra books go to Books Through Bars.

(please skip bringing the worst books ever that no-one wants. Recycle those jawns.)


*or prisoners?

NSaT

In the tradition of No-Meatember, months of no-processed foods, no cutting my hair, and so many other conceptual self-imposed months, I'm considering a little shopping pause.

This is inspired by a few things. Here, a list:

1. Ryan's gf, Lana, who posts pictures of clothes she wants in lieu of buying them. She is in the middle of a year-long shopping ban. I just wrote to her to find out details and her rules (not to copy-cat, just to give myself some ideas about it), so I'm not totally sure how it works yet, but I am SO IMPRESSED.

2. Moving. Providing we pass this credit check thing and everything goes well, we'll be making that up-North (Olde Kensington) move at the end of summer. In preparation, I've been trying to consistently get rid of things, like books, movies, clothes. Clothes are the hardest for me to purge by far. I find myself holding onto things I haven't worn in years, just because I like the print or whatever. It's dumb. I'm trying to get rid of a few more things at this garage sale I'm crashing Saturday morning, but it seems like another good solution to Clothing Sprawl would be to quit buying. I also am going to be poor, and probably won't get the one bedroom with a closet.

3. This Uniform Project thing that Melissa directed me to yesterday.

It's basically this girl who wants to promote sustainable clothing, so she's wearing the same dress for a year, and posts pictures of how she does it, every day.

I do have some problems with it (like that she has SEVEN of this hand-made, especially versatile dress, and more accessories than I could fit in my closet), but I also kind of love it. I don't think I could do it, and am not even really interested in wearing only one dress (which one would it even be?), but I think I could adapt this project, and turn it into "wear clothes you already own for an amount of time", which is kind of the same as "quit shopping".

Don't worry, you can follow her on Twitter, which for some reason, to me, is the antithesis of sustainable clothing.

So, I haven't really "hammered out" the details for myself yet (been too busy with dying my hair, dealing with dramatic boys, and taking trips), but am thinking about doing something along these lines. Would anyone else be into it? Something like an Non-Shop-A-Thon? Doesn't count if you don't really shop.

Maybe I should just quit buying black cardigans. Have to start somewhere.

sleeping

I'm making the Ambien->Lunesta (which makes yr mouth taste like nickles or something?) switch soon (an only for a month, bc it's so expensive!), and sometimes fall asleep at work, and sometimes don't sleep really well through the night. It's not so tragic, and sometimes I get really good ideas for movies when I'm in between sleep and awake.
Like this one, which is loosely based on Everybody's Hero, a kid's animated number starring William H Macy as Babe Ruth's talking baseball. In my movie there is a (talking, animated) disposable razor that decides to help you and your life by shaving your legs and armpits (maybe your face if you're a boy? I haven't really finished this idea yet) when you're too down or discouraged to do it yourself. What's better than fresh shaved legs?


William H Macy will also star as the voice of the razor.

Pelham

We saw The Taking of Pelham 123. The worst part was the review I heard on NPR that I couldn't stop thinking about the whole time. I mean, they were right, in that the movie was bad, but there were things about the actual review that were dumb, so I reviewed the review in my head (and out loud probably) the whole time.
The best part is when we left the theatre and a mom yelled "CHASTITY! GET BACK HERE!"

best and worst

There's a lot of dumb parts about being half deaf (for those of you who don't know, it's not that I'm half-deaf all around, instead, I can't hear at all on the left. Pretty okay on the right).
Obvious things like not hearing you if you whisper in that ear, being the worst person ever to try to talk to at a noisy bar, and the constant ringing.
Also there's this weird directional thing, where I'm standing someplace and can't tell which direction whatever noise is coming from. This mostly manifests itself in the lobby of my building, where I hear the elevator "ding" but have no idea which one it was. I stand looking at the elevator I was expecting, (the Wrong Elevator, always), then have to do a slow spin around til I find the right one.

The best part of being so completely half deaf is times like this weekend, basically sharing a space with 5 other people, and trying to sleep. Good ear into the pillow, and then everything is SO QUIET. It almost makes it worth it, for real.

hitch

This weekend was "camping" at Letchworth State Park (the "Grand Canyon of the East", but more forresty, and less deserty, and not as grand). We got all the way there in a car with no bumper that doesn't play cds. We campfired like crazy, bought a case of Blue at the Fillmore grocery store for 7.99, and saw some old-Houghton get married.
There was a medium amount of gaming, so much junkfood, and the most obvious wildlife. I got to see a lot of people I like.
I forgot to take pictures, and didn't even think of it until someone broke the toilet and flooded our cabin's bathroom as we were locking up to leave.
For now, see some pictures on Elizabeth's Flickr, more to come on Love Me Do(Carina and Amanda's site), and hopefully, a really good video of a groundhog will surface on youtube soon, compliments of Fred Brown.

vb

Some guy on the street today told me I looked like Victoria Beckham.

She is eleven feet tall, weighs 90 lbs, wears shoes that don't have heels, and looks like she is from outer space.



So...thanks (not).

doc

Been seeing a lot of doctors (again) this week.

While I was in the neurosurgery waiting room, I read this magazine "WebMD" which is pretty much just the most obvious things from the website. I learned some things. First, that people lie to their doctors, and doctors know this. Marilyn and Andy and I were just talking about this, and Andy was so surprised that it's true. Anyway, one of the things people lie most about (according to this article) is alcohol consumption. These doctors think it's a pretty safe bet to double the drinks per week that any patient tells you. So really Andy, maybe you should be lying, because they're going to assume the worst anyway.
Yikes.

My other doctor (my otolaryngologist) has me gargling with hydrogen peroxide to combat this gross throat thing. Sounds scary, is awesome. It makes the back of your throat all foamy and burny in the good way. Try it.

I guess that's it.
Camping tomorrow. Fake camping.

always&never

Lana wanted me to do this thing:

These things are always okay.

big deal sunglasses, summer dress(es), colored tights, minimal bras, and headbands (lately).

These are things I never do.


weird bras, sexy clothes that accompany weird bras, Uggs, stilettos, highlights.

(addition)
These are things I try to do occasionally.


Sneakers, maxi dresses, jeans, jewelry, heels.

Now I'm supposed to tag 3 people? Sarah/Siobhan/Andy?

Will Smith

Yesterday was the best kind of summer day, and the best kind of any day starts with McGriddles, and sometimes it really shocks me that it's not everyone's favorite food.
Then there was a mini pool party which involved a certain rotation (laying out in the chair, pool, hottub), and a summer feast with all the summer food you ever wanted to eat.

A little sunburn, like a white, skin bikini. NBD. I realized yesterday that I have this mentality about tans, which is that it's a really easy way of saying "yesterday, and maybe so far this whole summer, I've been having more fun than you". This obviously isn't true, but I've been operating under this mindset for a million years.
I do want you to know that I bought sunscreen this year though, and used some yesterday. Health!

At night I just wanted to be in the air conditioning, and the best place to do that is at the movies, so Crowleys and HZ and I went and saw the Hangover, which was actually pretty funny for a bro-movie.
I think that's all I'll say about it.

Today is dentists and doctors, and tonight is dates (not for me...just for some people) and the Clint Eastwood at the Troc.

dark

Night at the Museum II was another one of these movies that seemed to take place slower than real time.

I get really mad at myself for thinking of plot faults and continuity errors in movies in this genre/of this quality, so I'm not going to list them. Mostly I couldn't believe that there were so many actors from the Office in this movie and it was still Very Bad. Even Marilyn only laughed a few times, and she thinks the dumbest things are funny. Anyway, surprise-surprise, Night II was Bad.

The good news is that we got to see a new Preview for HP6, which is keeping looking awesome. Midnight showing, right? Sarah, I'll miss you at it, but you know that.

keeping planning

Lostume is over, the Season of Drink Fountain is over (it started making a terrible noise, but if you think you can get over that, come and get it, it's in front of our house). So many things coming up though:
camping in Letchworth State Park
holidays in the Fingerlakes
and


(artful, right?)
a book swap. You're invited to some of these things.

4, 8...

Everybody did really good at Lostume.


I'm bummed I quit so early.

secret

Don't tell Lulu or Amber, but I think I'm making the move. The move I've been hating for 5 years - and I don't really have any hesitations about it.

Yard, deck, 3 regular sized bedrooms and a craft room? A basement without mushrooms growing in it? A cat door?
Starting this fall: bbq's, badmittion, movies outside again.