Time

Lovely weekend. On Friday, E and I went to J's place. It's right around the corner. So great, as we hardly know anyone our age East of Greenmount. (J is an old friend of E's, and I've known him as long as I've known E.) J's rents in an old house which his friends own and are rehabbing. It's really neat. They made a brick oven in the backyard. J made a vegan curry vegetable pie and baked it in the oven. Mmm, it was so delicious. J's girlfriend and housemates are all really sweet and interesting people. It's been a long, long time since I've hung out with people like them in Bmore. (I'm at the end of my rope with grad students who don't like me. Honestly, it's ruining my life.)

On Saturday night we ate at Iggy's (fresh Neapolitan pizza, spinach salad with pancetta) and then went to C's for the Carolina game. They won, but not as easily as one would've hoped.

On Sunday I attempted to do some projects, but things are still a bit messy since the move. I did succeed in dying a few things, which was fun. Dying makes such a dramatic change so quickly that I want to do more of it. I'm enjoying having a basement again.

Monday at the office sucked. I took a sick day yesterday and finished reading "Grey". (Not that great.) I fixed some of my Etsy pictures and made two kinds of cookies from "Paris Sweets". It became a beautiful day at 1 or so, and I opened all the windows. Then E came home and suggested we walk to Dizzy's for dinner- perfect! I had fish and chips. I am just starting to eat fish. I never liked it at all. I was fine, though the batter could not compare with the Argyle in my hometown.

Sub

I am obsessed with the anti-emo riots in Mexico (and Peru, too, I hear?). I love goths, and of course they amazed me with their press conference.

Is subculture necessarily a pejorative word? It doesn't feel that way to me. This blog may evolve into a list of my pet topics, but here goes anyway: I love combinations of subcultures, especially ones that aren't that related. For example, Portuguese goth culture in Newark, NJ. Being a goth is about youth culture, but being Portuguese in Newark is not tied to age, and it's not exactly a choice. Of course this does not apply to the Mexican "emos" in Mexico, but it reminds me of this all the same.

I'm going to watch the footage and keep my eye on it this weekend. I have no idea what it all means. It just sounds like a Westerfeld novel, and I hope everything turns out as well as it would if it were written by him.

Misunderstood People

Currently reading:
Dracula, via Librivox, at work and while washing dishes. I thought it's be boring, but Lucy's musings on slang, alone, make it worth the time.

Grey, via free download, during lunch hours. It reminds me of Neuromancer and The Diamond Age, although not as good as either.

Queen of Fashion: What Marie Antoinette Wore to the Revolution, via the Enoch Pratt Free Library, "one of the oldest free public library systems in the United States", at home.

I'm a bit shocked that I know so little about Marie Antoinette. I'm sure I'll have more to say later, but I don't want to go too far before I've finished the book.

Excuses

So, here's why I end up not blogging on these un-restricted blogs: I can't decide on my audience, and then I get worried about coworkers, etc. reading. It happened to me before, and it was a blog they never would have stumbled upon had I not left a bookmark on my computer when I moved to NYC. It was awful to think people I was work-friends with were sort of spying me. Thinking back now, they probably didn't realize that it was so wrong. I'm sure I felt caught out there Harriet-the-Spy style for complaining about the IT guy who kept asking me out. (My replacement dated him for years after I had warned her about him.) I didn't know they were reading it until a friend with a linked blog told me about it months after I left. That was strange, too, that my ex-coworkers had been even so bored by their own lives that they read my friends' blogs.

Well, we'll see where this goes. Now I'm off to a doctor's appt. and then to meet up with a potential cat-sitter. (Just a funny note: I think it's appropriate to get the old cat puke up from under the bed in preparation for this meeting, but I'm leaving the porn in the bookcase.)

ENTP

I'm listening to the Buffy musical at work. I've just realized that I may be gravitating towards such melancholy because I have PMS. No harm in it though.

Big news! I think my next step is law school! I won't be able to enter until about a year and a half from now, so I'm just starting to work on the financial side of it. The school I'll go to if I'm still in Baltimore only allows you to work 15 hours a week your first year and 20 hours your second year. Not a lot of hours, not a lot on income, but I suppose it would/will make for a better experience.

I might win the NCAA pool at work, I'm told, and that will be my first deposit into my "Law School" savings account.

Friends with the Shift Key

Two friends have inspired me to start this up again. I'd remembered the old posts as being sort of awful, but they're not that bad, really, so I'll let them be.

E and I are going to the Virgin Islands in May for a wedding. I've been lifting weights and wondering whether we can afford two more bathing suits for me. (I can't get them from Target. Enough said on that topic.) I've also been looking for a cat sitter so Punkin can spend the week under my bed instead of in a little cage. I sometimes fear I seem some sort of cat-obsessed Quixote, but caring for Punkin isn't that bad, and the rewards are plentiful, in my opinion. And once I find a cat sitter, life can go back to normal.

It's 1:30 and I've just burned my finger on my space heater. I will go get lunch after posting this, and mail back the first disc of the first season of Dexter. Those that have known me for a long time will wonder how I can stand to watch it. (I'm scared of serial killers. Isn't everyone?) Those who know me well will recall that I can be sympathetic to vigilanteism. It's a good show. I'll let you know how my phyche reacts.

epfl

aaah, i am back on the enoch pratt free library train. so, so wonderful. i have also uncovered a way of requesting books from other parts of the state via the epfl site. i currently have three books in my possession that by all rights, i should have had to purchase in order to read.

of course, right now i am reading a book that i own. a very, very rare occurrence. it is "the fingersmith" by sarah waters. it's awesome so far. i am still reeling from the effects of finishing "the diamond age, or a lady's illustrated primer" on sunday. i swear to god, i love it so much i want to get a tatoo or something. i want to buy everyone a copy. i am in love.