back on the chain gang

man. i really want to go get a latte but i keep forgetting and putting on this disgusting minted rose lip balm. i accidentally bought it instead of regular smith's rosebud salve :(



what a weekend ! on friday, christina and i went to south philly to go to target and the pet store to get ready for the new cat. my back was bothering me and we were both exhausted, so it wasn't thatttttt exciting of a trip. i got TP for our bungholes, and dish soap, and a pet hair roller, and some cat food. i'm trying very hard to switch pizza to wet food, specifically wellness brand (when she and weirdo ate this together, her dander and shedding reduced by like 100%), but she hates pate style cat food. i got a few of the wellness pouches to see if she liked them, and she does, buttttttt feeding instructions indicate that she would need five pouches a fucking day !



i think i'm going to try giving her a mix of the wellness wet food and wellness dry food and see if that helps. it will certainly be cheaper than like, $6/day which is more than i spend to feed myself (not counting coffee) per day. i alsoooooooo met up with jeanne's friend jim (MY friend jim now !) who lives on my block and was kind enough to lend me his cat carrier for my trip the next day.

on saturday, christina and i woke up at 6:30am (after both falling asleep at 4:30am) and drove to brooklyn to get my new cat ! we met up with nick and sandi and their friend hanna first at hope and anchor in red hook for brunch. i got a bloody mary (bloody roxy/roxy mary), which was pretty intense (very horseradishy, very strong, pickled asparagus spear, olives, etc !!!!)



but i was pretty disappointed about the other food i ordered. i had a breakfast burrito, which was actually like... 8lbs of breakfast food rolled in a tortilla, which two open ends. it was so gigantic and wasn't meant to be picked up, and it was a big disappointment because i had to basically dissect it to eat it. i also got a root vegetable hash which should have been good, but it was unevenly cooked and underseasoned. i also tried some of their french toast, and it was mediocre. buttttttttttttt i got to see nick and sandi, who are my favorites, and i got to see my old buddy milo, who is just eyes:



after thattttt we went to go pick up my new cat. his previous owners were very nice and gracious and friendly, and seemed sad to see him go (they have toddlers who are just learning to walk, and his personality does not go with that- more on that later). his name was mr. puffins, which... i changed immediately, though his previous owner calling him "puffy" seems to have stuck as a nickname because i keep calling him that ! anyway, meet roxy jr.:



i haven't had a chance to take any good pictures yet, but he's like... the most beautiful animal i've ever seen in person. he has blue eyes (no, he isn't deaf) and the pinkest nose and the longest, silkiest coat. that's the good news. the bad news is that he quite possibly has the world's worst personality? he isn't just getting adjusted or anything, he seems generally pretty comfortable, so i think this is him ! he likes to curl up right next to you and be petted ON HIS HEAD ONLY for less than 10 seconds, and if you touch his body or pet his head for 11 seconds, he starts hissing and growling and swats at you and bites you. this is pretty hilarious because he's wearing soft paws and he only has one tooth. he kind of sadly gums your hand and then gives up.

so far i think it's pretty funny, but i wonder if it will bum me out that i'm now saddled with my dream cat and he fucking hates me. at least he wants to sit next to me all the time? but is that any consolation? because of the forbidden fruit aspect.



i was super exhausted when we got home, so i took a short nap, and then mouse, meesh, and brendan came over to take a look at the cat. he didn't disappoint- he walked around rubbing against everyone's legs and growling like a crazy person !

on sundayyyy, mouse and i went to adobe in manayunk, where i, for some reason ordered a taco pizza? it was pretty rough, i was only able to eat about two of the triangles. i never actually think about what i'm ordering at restaurants and usually end up hating what i get- in this instance, i was like "well i like tacos, and i like pizza"



we had fun, though- he also helped me run some errands (because of my back)- i dropped my laundry off, bought more aleve, and went grocery shopping (this week's breakfast/lunch menu: cherry greek yogurt and granola, string cheese, cinnamon applesauce, carrots, oranges, and bean burritos. baby food !). it was also nice to hang out with him, because i hadn't in a million years.

soooo. yup. my back is still pretty hopelessly fucked- i can get around and stuff, but every morning the pain resets and it takes a lot to get going. i made an appointment last month with an orthopedic guy, but the earliest available appointment was march 24, so i have another month of miseryyyy. it gets worse on the weekends because i sleep more and sit at a desk less (oddly, sitting at a desk really helps), so i'm already feeling a lot better today.

okay, i have to go do some work !!!

p.s. i'm seeing jonathan richman tomorrow, and i totally forgot ! pleasant surprise.

oh god, i'm the worst

i already forgot i was doing this again !!!!

i'm updating my blog from home, which i basically never do because i'm a total baby about typing long blocks of text on my laptop at home? i only really enjoy typing sitting up at a desk, and i uh, don't want to clear my desk off enough to put my computer on it.

speaking of that, i'm going to do some cleaning tonight to get ready for my new cat. i haven't been able to move in quite awhile because of this back thing, and my bedroom is a disaster- my clothes are wherever they landed when i struggled out of them and everything i've dropped in the past 2-3 weeks has stayed where it landed. plus i went on vacation in january and haven't unpacked my suitcase.

i started by taking down our christmas tree when i got home. well, sort of- i can't physically move the tree, but i took down the ornaments and lights and packed them up. i loved having it up, but immediately after bringing it indoors in december i discovered that i am horribly allergic to christmas trees. i was miserable for a few weeks and then it leveled off, but tonight (when the branches were breaking off and the needles were falling everywhere) it came back full force. lord. i feel like my head is stuffed with cotton. mouse came over to keep me company and entertain me and he got stuck taking the lights off of the tree. i did let him watch my expensive cable though (we saw an episode of 'good times' that confused both of us a lot).



this is my first week back at work after being out forever and ever, and it was pretty rough. i did non-standard hours most days so i could catch up without having everyone in my face, and that worked out okay. my sleep schedule is so screwed up from back pain/back pain medicine/no morning obligations so i've felt like a zombie all day. also i think i'm going blind from pain or medication, based on the fact that my vision was blurry today. i mean, other than that, i'm doing okay, but i'm definitely a cranky zombie who is going to blind and is going to die of blindness and pain.



maybe i'm being melodramatic. i have to keep in mind that being in pain and being stuck laying on my side on my couch with my cat walking on my face, watching the food network, was actually worse than going to work (i love my job and my team but i hate like, putting real clothes on and sitting in an office all day).


hey, it turns out that i spent like two hours procrastinating about writing this and now it's like 10:30 and i don't want to clean. bummer. i'm not even going to advertise this on facebook because it's so boring.

heroinnnnnnn, be the death of me !

okay, i'm going to give this a whirl again. i'm NOT going to catch you guys up on the months i haven't been updating, because that would be annoying and i don't want to, but i'll fill you in on SOME stuff.

i was out of work for like one billion weeks recently because i gravely injured my back. i have an old injury, and i mysteriously reinjured it a few weeks ago. it was rough- i couldn't get out of bed, i couldn't stand up, and laying in bed was making it way worse. i ended up getting a prescription for vicodin, which i was reluctant to take, but a regimen of vicodin and aleve (and sleeping on my side on the couch) got me to a point where i can like... mostly walk around. it really hurts if i stand still for a long time, but walking isn't too bad and sitting up isn't too bad and sleeping isn't too bad.



i'm back at work now, but as a result of laying around for like 2 weeks in my livingroom, basically unable to do anything, a few things happened:

1) i finally learned how to use the appletv and started... watching television. i have a tough time paying attention to television or really WATCHING any show because i just tune it out, but there were entire days where i could literally do nothing but lay on my side facing the telvision. i watched all of parks and recreation, which i loved- actual feminist main character who identifies as feminist, and only ONE JOKE in all 3 seasons that has disappointed me ("on a scale of one to chris brown, how mad is he?"). i was cautious watching the first three seasons because i figured it would turn into a moronic rape joke bonanza like 30 rock, but so far it's smart and funny without selling out women. oh and uh, i also watched top chef.



2) there was a wasp or hornet in my livingroom and it made me insane. it was a baby, and it landed on me several times without stinging me, so... i decided it thought i was its mother and that it would never sting me. i spent days feebly trying to prevent my cat from attacking him and i named him rodney, and then i leaned on him by accident and he stung my elbow. after four hours of deliberation, i flushed him down the toilet, and i've never felt so guilty. the sting didn't leave a mark for the first two days, but then became so itchy and inflamed that i thought it was infected. it seems to be clearing up now though. alas poor rodney.



3) i spent a lot of time with biz, my middle school best friend who coincidentally also lives here. she kept me company while i was immobile and dirty and complaining constantly.

toward the end of the week, i was actually able to move a little bit, so i made myself a pair of those stupid twilight mittens :( i'll be done with them tonight, probably. i bought a red/blue/white plaid jacket that only has half sleeves, so i decided to make a pair of red mittens to keep my arms warm.




in berocco vintage in sour cherry

i also made myself another star-crossed slouchy beret (also berocco vintage, in 'tidepool') but i'm never going to wear it because i hate how i look in hats !



hmm. what else? i dropped all of my classes for this semester (i am just too anxious lately and i need some time off to take a breather and reorient) and i really, really need to finish my genocide paper. i just completely choked like i never have in my entire life, ever. i've been doing lots of reading and have my research organized, but the longer i put this paper off, the less i want to do it. i recently got to hang out with my friend natalie (another friend from middle school, who is also great) and she very very sternly chided me about how i need to get this done and not let it hang over my head for the rest of my life (or at least the rest of my school career), and she's totally right. so, maybe soon i'll take a weekend to work on the paper.

not this weekend, though- this weekend, i'm going to brooklyn to adopt a beautiful white fluffy dreamboat cat. i'm sufficiently healed, i think, after weirdo's death from kidney failure, and i'm ready for the cat of my dreams. there's a few things i have to do this week which may be difficult (lots of cleaning and rearranging, which is going to hurt my back) to get ready for the cat, but i think it's worth it.



his current name is mr. puffins buttttt i'm going to change it. he's 10 years old and only has one tooth and is a big fluffy dreamboat and he's beautiful and i already love him. he's basically my dream cat- his m.o. is to curl up next to you and sleep and is into a LITTLE petting but isn't a petting maniac like my current cat. i'm excited and can't wait to get him and can't wait for him to be best buds with pizza and to put on a fancy dress and pet him all the time and eat out of a goblet with him.

this is a little harried because i have to get back to work, but i swear i'll write much more thorough and better entries in the future. if i keep this up, which i may not.