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.

oooo-ooooh BLACK DIAMOND (replacements version)

i'm not kidding, guys- school has been the busiest ever the past couple of weeks ! between school work and work work (plus... not doing any school work over the weekend last weekend) the past week has been oppressively brutal. but on the plus side, you really haven't missed anything besides me reading books.

last night was genocide class, which was great as always. we talked about the armenian genocide and watched voices from the lake. there are a lot of totally brilliant people in my class but it sort of bugs me how some of them (even the brilliant ones !) kind of like, fuck off on their laptops and laugh at stuff when we're watching movies about... actual people being slaughtered? kids these days. i love it though, aside from that, and i can't say that there's one person who doesn't contribute positively to the discussion (though the guy who is studying religion and obviously sort of hates muslims is pushing it sometimes).


to avoid posting more grim genocide pictures, here is a turkish van, a cat who is from around lake van in turkey, where the armenians used to hang out

so... i'm excited about genocide. i'd love to study it FOR REAL once i'm ready (like, once i learn how to actually go to school). i'm kind of bummed that i took this class so early in my career because i feel like i'm not really able to engage fully or express my opinions in an intelligent way. every paper i've gotten back has been an A+ with really encouraging notes, but while i'm writing them i feel like a total clueless idiotic idiot. i guess i've been talking about it a lot lately, though, because my coworker printed out an article for me about ratko mladic.


f u ratko

i have to write two research paper proposals this weekend, which means i finally have to read this asinine book for one class and check out a bunch of articles my friend anna (a genocide scholar ! and like, an infinitely valuable resource to me as i'm exploring my interest in genocide) suggested to me and skim a few books (gendercide and genocide by adam jones and gendercide by mary anne warren), plusssss do my regular reading for genocide class and write my response paper for it.

right now everyone is trying to hang out with me this weekend, which is like... a really wonderful problem to have, but i might have to break everyone's hearts and hole up and read/write for most of the weekend.


some other notable heartbreakers

what else? oh, i figured out that i like lattes. i figured this out on our road trip when we stopped at a dunkin donuts of all places and i had what i now realize was a really disgusting latte, but without the context this week has provided, it seemed great. now i've had one every day of this week and have been somber cornholio with loose stools for days.



on that note, i think i'm going to switch to soy lattes next week.

i bought a large H bag from brooklyn industries just now because i need a big bag that fits my laptop and some school books (also i had a $40 GROUPON), but some evidence (testimony of camille cruz) suggests that my laptop may not fit in it.



i'm sorry that all my problems are so fucking stupid privileged. my expensive laptop won't fit in this expensive bag ! i have too many friends ! my completely free college education is stressful !!!!!

what else am i gonna do this weekend? knit baby stuff for helen's baby (i've BARELY had a chance to do this), clean my apartment this weekend (it is horrifying me and stressing me out), go grocery shopping. spend a lot of time actually studying at green line (cause all my stuff at my house is too cool).

okay, i have a bunch of work to do at work right now so i'll TTYL LYLAS.

throw every last care away

ahhhh my back is ruined ! i fell asleep in a crappy position when i was benadrylled out and hurt my back and it's felt crappy for a week ! it's specifically the muscle i use to get up and sit down- so it's fine when i'm up walking around or laying down or sitting (except in my work chair, which is a problem), but having to sit down and get up from a sitting position is torture. TORTURE !


it actually hurts right about where the skeleton is hurt

i had a good weekend ! on friday i intended to do homework but ended up taking a nap, eating dinner, reading a non-school book, dropping my laundry off at the laundromat, and loafing. i managed to finish my outline of a chapter we had to read but i still have an essay to write before my class tonight ! i'm nervous that i won't be able to get it done because all of the material for the writing seminars is poorly written and i don't think i understand the instructions, but i'm sure i can bang something out- it's a first draft, anyway.

on saturday, i got a car and went to the bank and picked up kitten supplies. i got a tiny litterbox, a bunch of (tiny) cans of kitten food, and ordered a broken heart best friends necklace for the kitten and pizza's collars.


i didn't get THIS one cause it was $220

after my errands, mouse, nate, and anna came over to watch the phillies game, which was a total bummer. fuck the mets. we got pizza from ed's buffalo wings and pizza, since they have vegan pizza. the vegan pizza was probably the best vegan pizza i've ever had. the non-vegan pizza was probably one of the worst pizzas i've ever had. the vegan pizza was better than their regular pizza ! probably the best development of the night, though, was that nate and anna decided to come with us to the old timey baseball game on sunday !

...the old timey baseball game got rained out on sunday, but we all went to delaware anyway and went bowling with kati and alan. i didn't bowl because i'm too competitive and also too bad at bowling, but i knitted and drank a giant fountain coke, so i had a really good time. the bowling alley was blaaaaring like... weird tween music? like a mix of bad teen pop music and... adult pop music being covered by teenagers? also they had cosmic bowling at 2pm.



i like all that stuff though ! after bowling, we stopped at a kind of crappy thrift store (this was like, the most teenagery day ever- bowling and thrift stores !) and went back to kati's, where she and alan made us dinner- sweet potato fries and those veganomicon chickpea cutlets. kati also had cherry cider which was excellent. their house is so cute. they also have a very handsome 3-legged cat named sandy who sort of has a half leg? and the tip of his half leg is hairless and the nub feels like a paw pad ! pretty exotic. he is the cutest and he and anna formed a special bond.



sandyyyyyy. after dinner, we came back to philly and i unwisely took a nap before starting my homework which means i.. didn't really start my homework. i SORT OF finished huckleberry finn, because the essay i have to write is about the end. i'm probably going to write the essay at lunch today. basically i have til 5:30 to cobble something together. i sort of hate this writing class? no one wants to be there so the environment is weirdly hostile and i don't really have a class friend. oh well, i like the professor and it's a good class to take alongside a hard class.

hmm, what else? i started the presto chango jacket for helen's baby. it will look like this but less purple, more red, and cooler with cool faux jet buttons:



i'm going to go find breakfast or something and then get to work on... work.

we are 139

yesterday was my 138th entry ! hayyy.

this morning my eyes were so swollen and i looked like this guy:



christina put zyrtec eyedrops in my eyes, which was super relieving, and i took a zyrtec- the alavert i was taking just wasn't cutting it, and i feel a little better, but i also had to drink a 32 oz iced coffee to combat it and now i feel like, Very Insane.

the bigggggg news is that weirdo's owners found out we had her, so we had to bring her back to them. it was a bummer because she's back outside already. the cat seriously has zero street smarts and is constantly almost getting hit by cars. i guess they'll be sorry when she's dead? we'll miss you, weirdo (and i reserve the right to name any future cat i get "weirdo II" with a silent "II").



at least jeanne got to meet her ! jeanne came over and petted her forever, and then we ordered delicious thai food. i had crazy allergy head/face so i didn't feel like going anywhere, so we hung out at my house and talked. jeanne is coooooooool. after she left, i read some of huckleberry finn. wow, huckleberry finn is a total sociopath ! i remember his exploits sounding a lot more fun and clever when i was a kid and now i'm like, "what a maniac." i'm kind of kidding, but kind of not kidding too. reading nothing but huckleberry finn and a million genocide books and articles this semester is probably going to turn me into an empty shell of a person who eats a lot of corn pone.



i got some yarn in the mail, too, to make baby stuff for some babies ! first, i'm making mouse's nephew scottie a tiny little mailman replica cardigan (using a patch from one of mouse's old work shirts), and this pattern:



and knitpicks worsted swish superwash in dark navy:



and i'm going to make the presto chango cardigan for helen's upcoming baby



with garnet heather swish worsted yarn, which looks a little like this but is more vibrant with black heathering:



and these faux jet buttons from etsy:



i'm pretty excited to do some baby knitting, since it seems like things will knit up fast and i have a little while before i need to finish, but i ammmmmm a little worried about knitting time vs. school time. i barely knitted anything over summer, but knitting in the summer also kind of sucks. oh, i also bought these buttons on etsy, for use with... some other baby thing? maybe a fancy baby sweater?



they seem too beautiful to waste on a baby (i love babies, but they don't know an ornate button from a shit-lined shoe) but they're also super tiny and i think they'd get lost on any kind of adult garment. i just need to meet a really elegant and fancy and worldly baby. maybe a millionaire baby? dannielynn birkhead? hillary swank?



i guess i should get to work- i'm going to read huckleberry finn on my lunch break, and do a little reading for my genocide class. i have to write a response paper for that class, which is intimidating because i don't really know what that is. here's what the professor wrote us:

I encourage everyone to try out a response paper for Thursday. This will help you codify the definitional questions involved in the study of genocide and perhaps clarify some deeper thoughts you have on the subject. It will also give you a chance to see how these response papers work. As I mentioned last Thursday, guiding questions will be posted each week. Feel free to use them as a guide when writing your response paper. I have found that the most successful response papers engage one question or a set of closely related questions in a sustained way. Response papers are semi-formal--please correct spelling and grammar before handing them in! You should also feel free to draw on personal experience, and by all means use the first person.

hopefully this all works out and it isn't graded too harshly- we have 13 weeks in class and only have to write 10 papers, so i could skip it, but i want all the feedback i can get, so i'm going to try my best and try not to be too worried about "doing it wrong."

okay cya !

roxy the obscure

somehow i totally fucking forgot my mom was visiting today? like, my mom lives 1000 miles away and i only see her once or twice a year, so it isn't like.. her driving down from the suburbs or something. how did i forget !

i did not update yesterday because we had a meeting from 9am to 3pm. we had our team retreat for work. i'm sort of bummed with the format- my team is split into two halves, and each half would have their own retreat in previous years. my team's retreat was going to my boss' house, eating a ton of delicious food, going over our business plans, and then going home early. i understand the value of having both halves of the team go over our business plans together, but it was just... a six hour meeting in our conference room. totally not fun. other teams got to paint ceramics !



that said, it wasn't too bad and it went by super fast and we got to go home afterward.

yesterday when i got home i took an epic nap (bad form !) and made a card for my craft swap recipient. i'd love to show it to you guys but i'm afraid that she'll somehow see it ! i also did a little more work on my herringbone neck thing:



seriously, most relaxing pattern ever. it looks really cool and it's super easy and knits up really fast. i've probably spent less than an hour on it so far. i also want to marry sheep shop yarn. here are some other colors i'm considering buying when i'm a millionaire:


modern


lilac


royalty


lime


ocean

at $12.50/skein at loop, and with my commitment to not buying yarn without a project in mind, i'm not really likely to buy all of those, but i love them ! and i've read that the yarn is discontinued so if i don't buy it now, when can i ! but i'm a miser and a scrooge and unless i can think up some projects i'm not getting them ! you guys just watched me convince myself of that, by the way.

oh, what else? i got mockingjay in the mail today ! i can't wait to read it and most likely be disappointed by it. i'm currently reading the girl with the dragon tattoo so i can write a scathing review of it a la my twilight reviews, but it is actually too boring and dull to even... scathe.



i'm about 150 pages in and so far all he's done is

- call everyone by their last names and have the characters all each other by their last names 300000000x
- use the phrase "wennerstrohm affair" like 700000x
- describe every single piece of furniture in every room ever
- wrote the most unnatural dialogue? like in an attempt to make the main character seem cool and professional, he actually made him the rudest most socially awkward person in the universe. and yet he writes about how awkward and weird lisbeth salander is but all of her conversations with people are polite and normal?

it's just like... not compelling? at all. i also feel like i'm reading "the socially awkward guy with no defining characteristics" because the aforementioned girl with the dragon tattoo has, so far, sent an email and took a picture of a thing. maybe she shows up more later, but i'm not really that interested because so far she's just a one dimensional character written by a dude who obviously wanted to fuck a thin "goth/punk" woman.

anyway, i have to rearrange my schedule a little because of my mom's visit. i was going to hang out with mouse and kev tonight but i probably shouldn't leave my mom alone on her first day here. i'm still going to see dangerbird and red devil on friday. i may also take off of work monday and tuesday ! the sky's the limit.

i'll leave you with this picture of baby meerkats in honor of my newfound love of meerkat manor



did you know meerkats are under 2lbs and 1 foot tall??? best dudes.

a light so dim

what's up ! hey ! it's monday and i feel refreshed and totally not annoyed at work even though i had to make a stupid powerpoint ! what's up !

on friday, i got out of work at 3 and immediately came home to take a giant nap. afterward i knitted for awhile, and then got ready to go to mill creek to see mouse's band. mill creek is in my neighborhood and is a fairly cheap and large bar with good food, buttttttt they didn't uphold the smoking ban until recently so i tried to avoid it. luckily they actually started to, so i could go there and bring my knitting and not end up stinking. i had a really good time- drinks were like $2.50 and dangerbird was good. i had minimal pleasant interaction with my exbf where we acknowledged that we barely remember dating aside from watching event horizon together and playing video games.



i haven't actually gotten drunk in awhile so i was trying really hard to act serious but everything i was saying was nonsense. also when i drink a lot i can't feel my teeth and christina said i was tapping my teeth constantly. whateverrrrrr. i had a good time, and mouse was unusually funny- i think he had a pepsi or something.

on saturday, christina and i had a wonderful day out. we went downtown to see a movie at the prince music theater. i've seen lots of movies there, as part of the film fest- almost all smart people boring silent movies with organ accompaniment and stuff- but since they are sort of struggling to stay open right now (and will most likely be sold by TD bank soon), they're showing first run movies. soooooo we saw the other guys at the prince !



it was... surprisingly good? it was really really super fucking weird, so of course christina and i liked it. i can't really give an intelligent review of it because it was just a bunch of weirdos being weird for 90 minutes, but it had a surprisingly low incidence of misogynist and homophobic jokes (though it did have a few, but i guess the joke was that marky mark was an asshole). i recommend watching it for free when it's on hbo.

after the movie, we... went to ihop ! i don't think i'd ever actually been to one before, but i felt like a teenager in the suburbs (though in the suburb of my rural shithole, WE used to go to denny's ! and the rich kids went to steak and shake). i want to invent a restaurant where they serve you one half of a pancake because that's all i ever want.


i got these without all the shit on them !

i got the harvest grain and nut pancakes which were pretty good, and they also watermelon lemonade which was cool. after we ate we were stuffed, so we came home to try to entertain ourselves without cable. we watched serenity, which i surprisingly didn't hate (i am Not a Joss Whedon Person) ! it was funny and entertaining, and redbelt from the movie redbelt is in it. he's super handsome and a wonderful actor and i really wish they'd chosen him to be the doctor instead of matt smith (that was a rumor for awhile)



i also finally finished my craft swap scarf ! i even blocked it, which i've never done before. the only thing that makes me feel weird is that like... it emitted a gross sulfur smell when it got wet and i still think it smells weird? anyway, it flattened out beautifully and is definitely long enough (which is what i was worried about). i just have to make a card for it and get it in the mail tomorrow. blocking really makes a huge difference, i feel stupid for never doing it before.


please ignore the dirty underwear and lampshade

on sunday, mouse and i were originally going to swim somewhere, but the weather was shitty, so we went to the mall. i saw two movies in one weekend, which is unusual cause i almost never go to the movies ! we decided to see the expendables because we're both meathead jocks.



what a surprise that my idea of what is cool and sexy does not match up with a 60 year old man's idea of cool and sexy? the women dressed like sylvester stallone got their costumes from kelly bundy's estate sale and the men dressed like... well, old douchebags. lots of the scenes were super tight shots of peoples' faces (rough when the cast is mostly like... plastic surgery disasters whose faces look like the dumpster behind the leather and ham factory) because some of the actors were never in the same room as others (there's a whole scene with stallone, arnold, and bruce willis where it's obvious they were never all in the same place) and the dialogue was full of super awkward one liners delivered poorly by stupid musclemen or thoughtful stallone-written dialogue sputtered out by people whose action movies never required them to learn english.

randy couture (mma fighter) played the crazy one and they kept talking about how crazy he was and how he sees a THERAPIST, but randy couture is like a bowl of oatmeal who can wrestle and was totally bland, but they did put a hawaiian shirt on him to indicate how zany he was. overall, i think this may have actually been a slightly better movie if stallone hadn't tried to shove every action movie star ever into it. the plot was mildly interesting and some of stallone's intelligence and sensitivity accidentally leaked out at some points. i also appreciate that stallone didn't actually get to kiss his love interest because she was super young and gorgeous and he was older than her father (a character in the movie).

speaking of her, what does it say about modern film that when the bad guys capture her, i was relieved when they only waterboarded her instead of trying to rape her? i've never seen a movie with a female hostage or prisoner where she wasn't raped, assaulted, or nearly raped and assaulted, so it was refreshing that they... well, used some other kind of torture? of course like 20 minutes later some prison guards try to rape her, though, but at least stallone saves her (um, spoiler?).

overall it was terrible, of course, but i appreciated that everyone got their moment to shine- randy couture got to wrestle steve austin, jet li got to karate dolph lundgren, mickey rourke gets a sort of touching soliloquy (he's such a good actor, too bad he looks like a hot dog you microwaved too long), jason statham got to beat up 2 different groups of guys, "crews" (the... pepe le pew of the movie white chicks?) got to blow people up with a gun, etc. plus i have a weird boner for dolph lundgren that i've had my entire life, so it was nice to see him wearing sleeveless shirts and picking on people who were smaller than him again. i do feel bad that eric roberts and steve austin were such BAD GUYS though- eric roberts is a soulless businessman who exploits a whole nation because of his greed, and steve austin is a thug who likes hitting women. luckily they both meet an end that involves guns, swords, AND fire (spoilers !!!!!).



jet li and jason statham were pretty fly too.

after the movie, we walked around the mall for a bit, which was fun because like what the fuck are me and mouse doing at the mall? we gawked at the rich people and how expensive all their stupid shit was, and i got some body butter at the body shop on sale (strawberry, satsuma, and moringa). then we went to su tao, the vegan chinese buffet in malvern. that didn't go that well because neither of us were buffet hungry, but i really wanted to go there cause i haven't been since my... 25th? birthday.


featured: spring rolls, fried vegetables, lemon chicken, some other chicken, steamed dumplings, fried rice

thennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn i came home and was very quiet while christina watched 'true blood' (which was excruciating because i kept wanting to go 'true BLEHHHHHHHHHH' in a dracula voice ! but i didn't !) and started my herringbone neck warmer with the sheep shop one i bought last weekend.



the pattern is super easy and fun to knit- i had a hard time making myself put it down to go to bed ! but eventually i did, and then i woke up and came to work, and now i'm going to eat lunch because it took me forever to write this.

p.s. when these aging action movie dudes get plastic surgery, why do none of them get their broken noses fixed? they all go right for lip plumping.

you're the whole package

mannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn okay my visit with brooke was the best ever ! i actually made an outline for this entry because i don't want to forget anything but i still think i'm going to cause it was so action-packed.

on friday, brooke went out with a friend, and i came home and had my german interview. it feels like it was a million years ago now ! i was nervous, and the person interviewing me was a german woman from GERMANY (or maybe austria or something) !!! she was super super nice and helpful and fun to talk to, and had a really beautiful speaking voice, so that made it easier. at the end, she told me i did really well and that i should continue on with german because i have the potential to sound really nice in german !



after the interview, i finished some other assignments for german and intended to do my final exam, but i re-read the instructions (in german) and realized the exam wouldn't be online until sunday. so i knitted and hung out with brooke when she got home ! brooke, christina, and i had the best time because we are all the weirdest ever.

on saturday, brooke and i went to the benjamin franklin underground museum, which is my favorite museum in the city. it's free, and weird, and so crummy and charming. unfortunately, the (totally stoned) park ranger told us it's closing this year. i'm bummed, because the utter lameness was the best part ! it was especially sad this time because the cool hallway was dismantled- here's a before and after:



we did see this, though, which made our lives:



we are going to start a history blog called COOL THOUGHTS, buttttt that name is taken on every blogging site and is mostly like, a couple of confucious and jim morrison quotes. booooo ! there was also a ben franklin film at the museum and we had to leave cause we laughed so hard that a 9 year old glared at us.

after the museum, we stopped to get some colored pencils. the security guard at rite aid, a middle aged self-described CRAYOLA FANATIC (cutest) suggested we check out k-mart for a better deal, and he was correct. i ended up getting the 50 color box:



we met up with christina after that and went to the girls rock philly camp showcase. oh my god, cutest best coolest most inspiring ever. if you aren't sure what they do, check out their website. the bands were all super good and all sounded like music i already listen to. most of their lyrics were about being strong and cool and smart. my personal favorite was called burrito daydream and they had songs about how awesome food is. like, the power of seeing young women proudly and unabashedly talking about eating and food was almost too much for me, because most adult women i know can't do that.


NOT girls rock philly, but very cute

brooke and i had good talks about this, related to a blog post by jen twigg- this camp is such an amazing thing because women are judged so harshly and made to feel so unwelcome in music that most adult women i know wouldn't feel comfortable doing what these little girls did, and it's a bummer. like, how many dudes do you know who totally suck at their instruments who feel comfortable and entitled to be in bands? and how many women? women are judged so harshly and judgments are made about their gender related to their capability ("i just don't like female voices," "girls suck at guitar") that they basically aren't allowed to have fun and fuck around and make cool music, and it fucking sucks. i hope all these girls are empowered by this experience and somehow remain untouched by all of that.

anywayyyyy after that, we got my broken glasses repaired and went to dinner at singapore, my personal favorite of our 20392093 vegan chinese restaurants, with sarah jane ! i was happy to see her, because she's hilarious and i don't see her enough.



it was especially fun because she and brooke were both raised pretty religious and got to talk about weird religious stuff that is endlessly entertaining to me, like not showing cleavage so you can be a good sister in christ and not be a stumbling block for christian males. p.s. religions are stupid.

after dinner, we went back to west philly and got gelato with mouse, mike, and benji ! we sat in a park at 40th street and fed swedish fish to rats who were being oddly brave and friendly. i've never really seen rats act like that !



then we went to a bookstore, where brooke got a biography of general sherman and i got... nothing. i got too overwhelmed by all the weird kid and YA books i wanted and just didn't buy anything, which is actually okay because i spent a lot of money this weekend.

on sunday, we met up with lesley, jess c., and sarah jane at abyssinia for ethiopian breakfast. it was great to actually HANG OUT with lesley (i've only met her once, at a bar, when it was loud and i didn't know what was going on) and meet jess, who is the sweetest/cutest. i haven't had foul in awhile (fava bean stew with ethiopian cheese, ghee, jalapenos, tomatoes, and onion, with baguettes) ! lesley got a kind of fitfit that was just baguettes soaked in tomato sauce and it was totally delicious.



then brooke and i went to green line for awhile and knitted while we waited for mouse- eric was working and i forgot how great he is (because i hadn't seen him in awhile). he showed me some pictures of his cat and talked to us about knitting. we met up with mouse after that and saw ben franklin's grave (covered in pennies? "a penny saved is a penny earned" = "please throw a penny on my grave") and finally went to the constitution center. wow. what a beautiful building and what an utterly boring museum. and i say this as the biggest dullest nerd ever.



i had fun though because there were some buttons i could press, and brooke and mouse are funny ! after the museum, we ate at monk's, which was open despite being hit by a SEPTA bus last week.



we got vegan burgers and frites (my vegan burger had blue cheese and leeks :O) and brooke got to have a monk's sour flemish AT monk's ! ooOOooOOoooOOOOOOOoooo. after dinner, we came back home (in a cab, cause i had to poo) and i took my german exam. it was surprisingly easy- things finally clicked for me with cases, and i was feeling confident after my interview on friday.

on monday morning, i checked my grades, and i got As in both of my classes !!! to celebrate, we got breakfast at the green line and went to the mutter museum. i assume most people who aren't in philadelphia have seen the mutter museum on the discovery channel, but it's a museum of medical oddities, old medical equipment, gross models and busts, and pieces of bodies and junk.



i've been there a bunch so i was kind of "over it" but going with brooke was a new experience because 1) she is hilarious and we are the most hilarious (well, after me and mouse) and 2) it was like seeing the museum for the first time through a gross child's eyes. we cracked up at everything, even though i got queasy at the eye infection/injury/anomaly wall (i hateee eye stuff) and kept gagging at all the jars of preserved tissue. i reallllllly hate those because i imagine having to bite them. we decided to get a bff tattoo of this little guy:



then we met up with jeanne for a delicious lunch at citi marketplace. i never went there because the font on their sign sucks



but they had an extensive vegetarian menu with lots of made to order vegetarian and vegan options. also they're a bodega type place so i got to get whatever drinks i wanted and junk ! i'm so glad brooke finally got to meet jeanne- i was so excited for her to meet mouse and jeanne because i've been talking about them for years ! we walked jeanne back to 17th street after lunch, and then headed over to loop. i needed another ball of yarn for my craft swap project and i wanted to show brooke how fucking awesome loop is. i got a skein of sheep shop #1 in "wood":



to make the herringbone neckwarmer for myself, which i'll never wear



we got delicious gelato after that (brooke got tamarind and lime sorbettos and i got dark chocolate and cream cheese gelatos) and stopped in a pet store to pet these kittens. they were siblings up for adoption, and this guy's name was larry !!!!!



he was obsessed with licking our fingers. he was GREAT. when we got home, we relaxed for a little and then jeanne came over to eat thai food and hang out. christina made appearances too but she had to write her paper. brooke and i stayed up super late since it was her last night here (boooooooooooo) and watched legally blonde and shark week stuff and waited until we were super exhausted to the point of delirium to go to bed.

yesterdayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy was her last day. we got breakfast at green line and mostly planned her next visit, and how i want her and julz and max (and sombra) to move here. ahhhh, i can't even really express how much fun we had. i was so happy and proud to show someone philadelphia, and bursting at the seams with happiness to have all my favorite people hang out, and lkasdjlaksd. brooke is like... the funniest coolest smartest weirdest.

i know i probably forgot a million things but i've been super distracted reading heidi montag's wikipedia all morning.

oh yeah, i was accepted to LPS and found out this morning and now i'm going to school in the fall.

p.s. i'll fill in loose ends tomorrow !!!!
p.p.s. eajsdlkasjlfkhg best weekend.