sooooo on friday they announced a major restructuring of my department (basically half of the department- not my half- is being moved to another group, and my half is changing names and taking on some events from a different area) in a meeting that i missed. i didn't have the energy to be anxious about it all weekend but now i'm back at work and everyone is whispering about it and that is making me anxious. we're having a meeting at 11 to "discuss our questions and concerns." my concern is not so much what is happening but like, if i will still have a job at the end of the fiscal year. it's like... 99% likely that i will, but my worry is that my job will change so much that i will hate it. oh well, can't do anything about it now.

i had a very full weekend ! friday was the opening of mike and jeanne's art show at part time studios in fishtown, so mouse and i went down there. their show was sea-junk themed and everything both of them made was absolutely stunning.



i'm really proud of both of them. fishtown is... weird, i basically never go there and didn't even realize this block was there, but there was a little block of galleries and junk (including the fabled coffee shop that biz lives over ! where i... saw two of my coworkers? it was like seeing bugs bunny in real life or something). fishtown is full of weird people who look like aliens who heard tell of earth hipsters and tried to emulate their look without the use of the earth internet, so there was lots of weird flapper clothes, giant feathers in peoples' hair, and slouchy socks. i also saw at least two bolo ties. the gallery was pretty crowded because it was first friday, so i got to very briefly see and barely talk to a lot of people i like. here are my two favorite things from the show:


unfortunately i don't have a full picture of this, but it is a beautiful melusine by jeanne


a leviathan by mike !!!! my actualllll favorite of his was this tiny fiji mermaid but this is my other favorite

afterward, mouse and i went to whole foods and i came home, where i went to bed surprisingly early to avoid cleaning my apartment for company this weekend.

on saturday, i procrastinated so hard i actually played windows solitaire (i use cumulative scoring so i end up in the hole, and always think one more game will get me back in the black), but ended up doing an okay job cleaning my room and getting my laundry together and getting some of my junk off of the couch. my friend brian from connecticut was in town, and luckily was up for a bunch of stationary back pain fun. we got indian buffet and gelato and then watched the naked gun, which i just realized is available on netflix instant !



it kind of fell apart from there because, as you know, there is basically nothing good on netflix instant, but it was fun. i ended up actually going to sleep early, which is sort of a bummer because i go to sleep at 4am on work nights, but i slept for like ten hours, which is unheard of. i think it might be due to the fact that roxy jr. didn't sleep in my room and it was raining so it was like super dark in my bedroom.

oh yeah ! i introduced pizza to roxy jr. on saturday too !



they are not really getting along yet- lots of hissing and growling, though surprisingly pizza seems to be the alpha (do cats have alphas?) and roxy jr. immediately backs down. no real fighting or confrontations, but no grooming and cuddling yet. oh wellllllllll.

on sunday, i met up with brian, christina, nick, and sandi at local 44 for brunch. christina had gone up to nyc to see wild flag with nick and sandi, and then brought them back to see wild flag here. local 44 was kind of disappointing (righttttt after i updated my yelp reviewwwwwwww)- bland bloody marys and the removal of vegetarian disco fries from the menu was pretty heartbreaking. nothing really looked too appealing on the menu, so i chose the new menu item replacing the disco fries with eggs on top that i had last time- weird spicy french fries with eggs on top. i'm not sure why i got this because i'm not really wild about french fries, but it was pretty gross- the fries were super super super super salty, they didn't taste hot at all, and they were pretty dessicated. also the eggs were the size of peanuts.

i tricked everyone into going to cvs with me afterward to get cat supplies, and i also treated myself to some nail polish-


rimmel hot cocoa, purple rain, and steel gray

and then came back home and hung out with nick and sandi while christina napped, and then *i* napped, and then they all went to see wild flag again (i'm bummed that i didn't try to go to this- my back was so messed up when christina strongly urged me to go see them that i thought i'd never be able to go, but it looked fucking amazing and i love mary timony and ahhhhhhhhh). after they got home i had some wonderful drunk bonding with them all, and then watched futurama in bed until it was time to go to sleep- 2am, still pretty early !

so, overall, good weekend. not much on the horizon this week except lots of work, hanging out with mouse, maybe going to ryann's show at the bean if i can make it (the walking junk is still pretty tedious), introducing jeanne to roxy jr, blah blah.

p.s. i love nick and sandi
p.p.s. work is stressful right now

gucci mane

what's up ! hey ! on friday mouse and i went to mike bukowski's art show at benna's !!! it was all monsters inspired by d&d manuals and everything looked amazing. i was basically having an anxiety attack about getting there first to get the owlbear and i'm glad i didn't sleep on it because everyone kept admiring it and a few people were coveting it. i also bought the giant troll. i wish i had some pictures of it but i was too excited ! here are a few that appeared in the interview he just did for denis' bloggggg.


"an Achaierai, a Grell and a Necrophidius"

jeanne also made a really cool vegan axe cake, which mouse cut with a plastic axe. it was pretty awesome because the handle basically looked like real wood and the blade looked like an iced fart. no offense jeanne !!!



after the show, we went to the pope and i had the best vegan meatloaf i've ever had in my life, with mushroom gravy, broccoli, and mashed yams. holy shit. i wish i was eating it right now, and also forever. i also decided to try scotch on the rocks for the first time, to debut my signature drink, and it did not go well. i got a johnny walker black first and it was pretty repugnant- it was also a gigantic glass of scotch (i figured a... whatever, on the rocks would just be a shot on ice? but it was like a full glass of scotch).



mike and jeanne's friend justin g. (maybe my friend too? i'm gonna add him and his gf on facebook RIGHT NOW) suggested that i try glenfiddich 12, which he said tasted like honey, so i got a shot of that with ice. i discovered that... it tasted like scotch, but at that point i was like, 'hayyyy' from drinking a bunch of scotch so i didn't feel betrayed or anything.



after that, the waitress (who was extremely nice) suggested that i try irish whiskey if i wasn't into scotch, so she brought me a tullamore dew, which at that point did not taste perceptibly different to me because the scotch had burned off all of my tastebuds. at that point, she suggested i try tequila instead- not that night, but if i was ever at cantina. she was referring to a local establishment called cantina los caballitos, buttttttttt i thought she was talking about this cantina:



and was like, "why would i ever be there? that isn't even like.. here and now." and felt pretty dumb. i had a great time though, and mike, jeanne, and ryann invited me to come to new hampshire with them this weekend to see a bunch of cool pumpkins and junk !

on saturday, i intended to read and study all day, but early in the day i stood up and something horrible happened to my back. i got a really really horrible not right pain and barely made it back to my bed (i was in the living room). i basically spent 8 hours saturday laying face down on my bed, holding in my pee, totally unable to move. it was really fucking scary- a bunch of people offered to help me, and i really wanted to go to the hospital, but... i couldn't get up to let anyone in.



it was really weird and shitty ! if you aren't a fat person, you may not know that doctors are really shitty to fat people. despite many thin people i know having back problems and having similar stuff happen to them, i know what would happen if i went to the doctor- i have gained weight lately and i'm sure it's related, but what's probably more related is that i have done very little physical activity since starting school- i feel like i have very little time anymore to do anything, and since this side was injured a few years ago, i think i have to be more consistent with doing yoga/walking/riding my bike to keep it from getting reinjured. anyway, i knowwwww i should talk to a doctor (a friend with similar problems suggested sports medicine) buttttttt i don't want to have to deal with it.

anyway, around 9 or so i was able to get out of bed and walk around and take a shower and pet my poor stupid kitten and felt more human almost immediately. by the time i went to bed, my back actually felt pretty good. today it feels even better, though i keep getting an on and off nerve-y pain in my thigh, but my back itself feels better than it has in weeks. i think this is like... when a coconut falls on someone's head and they turn into a sexy version of themselves? and then all that has to happen to fix them is another head injury?


for instance, something that probably happened to all of these women

on sunday, i did some studying (finally), and went to mouse and kati's birthday party at ed's. alan, nate, and anna came and we had the best time. i got a greek salad and it was totally the worst, but all of my friends are so cool and funny i can't stand it? mouse looked particularly sharp in his button suspenders. the only real disappointment was that benji wasn't able to make it, because mouse realllllly wanted to wrestle someone for his birthday. pooooooor mouse. we got gelato after dinner (at my nudging) and i picked up some new cat litter for the kitten (she is not psyched about feline pine, because the granules are bigger than her feet), and came home to do some reading and pet her a little bit. here are some pictures:


weirdo is as bored by this asinine book as i am !





right now i'm reading critical essays about huckleberry finn (i don't careeeeeeeeeeee), that gerald graff book (ughhhhhhhhh), and we wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families by philip gourevitch (hooray). i actually wish i'd opted for a writing seminar with less reading because these books are such a waste of time, and my genocide class requires SO much reading.

so, that's about it. my back feels okay, this is going to be a busy week at work, i have a lot of reading to do so i'm going to try not to do anything fun this week, and and and.. i don't know. i have to go because the receptionist is being fucking annoying because she doesn't understand what the job of a receptionist is.

shyness is nice and shyness can stop you

what a wonderful weekend ! friday was jeanne's art show at benna's and it was phenomenal ! jess and laszlo came down from new york to go with us. everything was so beautiful in person and a million billion people came ! unfortunately, kat bought the sirin, but i bought a print of it ! and also bought prints of like.. every other possible thing. christina bought this one:



it was the most fun- jeanne's art looked so great and it was so impressive. there were a ton of people so i kept getting like social anxiety horror feelings, but i made myself stay inside and talk to new people and act fairly normal, though at one point i almost reached out and stroked a girl's hair? we were packed in like sardines and my brain misfired and was like, "if someone is this close to me it means we're on hair petting terms". luckily i didn't do it ! there were a million people there that i know and kinda know, and i got to meet nate's brother (finally) which was exciting !

after the show, we tried to go to the pope and were REBUFFED, so we went to the pathetic adobe which is always empty. i split a pitcher of apple margaritas with someone and got instantly hammered. p.s. apple margaritas taste like garbage. i actually got to talk to labuda for awhile, which is a feat (since i never leave my house) and got to talk to ryann and ned (ryann, ned, and kat are the friends of jeanne's that i'm trying to pokemon) !



on saturday, jess, laszlo, christina, and i tried to go to mi lah (not to be confused with my lai), a vegetarian restaurant in center city with a really amazing looking brunch menu. we got there at 2:30 (brunch is from 10-3) and.. were told that the kitchen was closed. we ended up going to monk's since we were already on 16th street, and we had a good time. i wish they lived here, but i'll have to settle for emailing jess and getting a weird al bro tat with laszlo.



when we came back, there was a beautiful stray cat on our porch and we petted her before dropping jess and laszlo at the bus station. then we went to whole foods, where i got a vegan carrot cake for carol's party that night ! when we got home we couldn't resist the beautiful stray anymore and i decided to take her ! so, if everything works out with her health / her relations with pizza, i'm going to keep her. her name is weirdo and she's really super tiny (like 6lbs) and very sweet and nice and has big eyes and a teeny mouth !



god she's great ! she's so soft ! and tiny ! after getting her situated in christina's room, mouse picked me up and we went to carol's house. i only got to see carol for a little bit, but i got to pet three great cats and hang out with jeanne and look at all of carol's stuff in her bedroom- she's the only person i know who has a kurt russell action figure.



i also saw her lil wayne - the carter record's spine and thought it was a tia carrere album about wayne. everyone was hanging out on the roof, and i was wearing a dress and didn't really know anyone and didn't feel comfortable like, awkwardly climbing out there and showing everyone my vagina so that was sort of a bummer. we left around 10:30 and went back to my house and tried to find videos of dusty's love on the internet (dusty's love being a saturday night live thing mouse is obsessed with, about a blind girl played by sarah michelle gellar who is in love with a disgusting alien who eats horses?). SURPRISINGLY, we came up empty-handed !

on sunday, i tried to do some reading for that social contract class but it was so oppressive and uninteresting that christina and i cleaned the livingroom as a distraction. after assessing the reading for the class, though, i decided that that class would be too hard to take in conjunction with my genocide class, and i dropped it. i signed up instead for a mandatory writing seminar (which i have to take at penn- no previous composition or english course i took can be used to fulfill that requirement) about huckleberry finn.


i'm your huckleberry

What is a literary education good for, anyway? What makes a Great Book? In this class we will look at the debates and crises that have shaped literary study over the twentieth century. Our entry point into these controversies will be Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which has been alternately celebrated as a “Great American Novel” and trashed as a childish, racist, and outdated relic. As a critical community, the class will engage with debates over this novel and reflect on our own literary educations—what they have been and what they should be. Students will write, peer review, and revise several short essays throughout the semester. They will also keep a class journal, in which they will write informally both inside and outside of class.

the class meets on monday and wednesday, but only for 1.5 hours, which shouldn't be toooooo bad. hopefully i can handle it with the genocide class !

oh, mouse came over to to meet the kitty and to copy some good music from christina (i also might do that soon). tonight is my first meeting of the aforementioned writing class and i'm nervous and excited. i hope i can do it !

okay talk to you later.