A Fun Blog!

Generalities

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:22:07 -0700

All relationships are just listening to someone and hearing them effectively. Maybe incorporating the things they say into your response. Maybe just storing those things in your heart for safety.

It is nice to go outside at night and not have to wear a sweater. Everyone should have this. Not always, but sometimes.

If someone you know and ostensibly like takes the time to write something to you, it is polite to take the time to write them back.

Aside from the health and environmental benefits, biking and walking are more pleasant than driving for one’s daily commute, particularly if you want to feel like you are actually moving somewhere. They are more active forms of transportation.

Sometime this summer, you should take a book outside and lay down and start to read it in the sun, then gently place it on your stomach/at your side and drift to sleep.

Trusting someone enough to give them a key to your apartment is very pleasant. Being trusted enough to be given a key to someone’s apartment will warm the cockles of your heart.

You should stop by someone’s house and give them something unexpected to eat.

I have a slight toothache today

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:09:42 -0700

the kind of ache that makes me think I’m going to lose a tooth at the age of 23. I’ve reached for my floss four times and just brushed my teeth, even though it’s 3 in the afternoon (and I am a strictly pre-/post-bedtime brusher). I bite down for a moment - it helps, but then I worry that it’s loosening my tooth instead, and later today, it’ll just pop out.

I used to throw up at the dentist all the time. We’d pull up in the car and walk in, I’d sit in the chair & the second my dentist would put her latex-covered hands in my mouth I’d vomit. I still hate the taste of fluoride but I’m able to suppress that impulse now.

Once my sister and I were staying at a house my parents were trying to rent out, but it was in between tenants. Her boyfriend was staying over obviously unbeknownst to my parents. A couple hours into the night, my jaw felt awful, a dull, pounding ache that I couldn’t suppress even by pressing my face to cool tile. We ended up calling my parents and my sister’s boyfriend slid out the door. I don’t know why we called them. For medicine, maybe, or I just wanted my mom.

Right now, I’m biting down on the stick of a lollipop in an effort to alleviate this pain. I don’t remember where they came from, but I’ve had them in my desk drawer for a couple months. I’m not super into lollipops, they’re definitely not my favorite candy, but right now they are providing some relief. Not the intended use.

Some delightful instrumental soul music to brighten up your...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:41:31 -0700

Some delightful instrumental soul music to brighten up your life. Like musical cilantro.

I am still at school at 9:16 pm and I haven’t eaten...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 18:23:57 -0700

I am still at school at 9:16 pm and I haven’t eaten in six hours and I’m picking up the slack on a group project because one of my group members is a fucking enigma. At 11:30 this morning, my house was a mess and I doubt that has changed. I am trying to figure out my feelings and I don’t know what’s happening. I haven’t had a beer in a full 24 hours.

However.

This fucking song.

My friend told me about the Majestic Casual YouTube channel and I’ve been listening to it pretty consistently over the past few days and I am so pleased with it sometimes.

John Darnielle is basically a very specialized wizard whose...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 18:56:06 -0700

John Darnielle is basically a very specialized wizard whose magic is turning me into a huge fucking mess.

I sent Stephanie a gif of a cat.

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:03:00 -0700

I sent Stephanie a gif of a cat.

I just want everyone to watch this & for Anna to become an...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:40:36 -0700

I just want everyone to watch this & for Anna to become an Internet superstar. Is that too much to ask?

Audio

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:24:06 -0700

For future reference--

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 05:50:38 -0700

You deserve someone to like you in full. You are bold and beautiful and hilarious and kind.

Give people chances. Don’t give them so many that they begin to take you for granted.

Know who you are completely. Know when things upset you, know when the negatives outweigh the positives, know when you’re losing sight of who you are. Pay attention to how you’re feeling. Delve into the why.

Basic respect and decency go a long way. Look for people who want the same things. Don’t date people who call dating “the game”. Don’t call dating “the game”.

Fall in love with yourself and stay there.

“What’s the next?” “Boys’ and Girls’ Mixed Animal Potato Race,...

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 17:47:07 -0700

“What’s the next?”

“Boys’ and Girls’ Mixed Animal Potato Race, All Ages.”

This was a new one to me. I had never heard of it at any of the big meetings.

“What’s that?”

“Rather sporting,” said young Bingo. “The competitors enter in couples, each couple being assigned an animal cry and a potato. For instance, let’s suppose that you and Jeeves entered. Jeeves would stand at a fixed point holding a potato. You would have your head in a sack, and you would grope about trying to find Jeeves and making a noise like a cat; Jeeves also making a noise like a cat. Other competitors would be making noises like cows and pigs and dogs and so on, and groping about for their potato holders, who would also be making noises like cows and pigs and dogs and so on—”

LATELY

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 04:31:13 -0700

Even though I’m feeling very overwhelmed, I have to take a moment to breathe & pay attention to the lovely things in my life: sinus rinses and friends who give me hugs and cake and kisses when I’m sad and other friends whose presence is enough to lift my spirits. Hot lemon tea with honey and chili peppers, scorching my throat as I swallow. Some incandescently beautiful mornings. That squirrel I saw yesterday that was eating a baguette. A lot of free pizza, with more to come.

The other day I was listening to this & my very French, very...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 17:59:00 -0700

The other day I was listening to this & my very French, very adorable roommate came downstairs and started grooving along with it. It requires a lot of shoulder, but it’s worth it.

DEAR PUBLISHERS

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 18:26:00 -0800

Are you at all interested in a very introspective memoir by someone who hasn’t actually done that much in her life but really likes figuring out how she feels about things? Would you give her enough money to discharge all of her graduate school debt if she wrote it for you? And if she’s bad at deadlines (did you see that article that said that procrastination is a defense mechanism? if that’s true she’s a castle with a moat, drawbridge and crenellations) then will you please just BE COOL with it?

I’ll expect you to contact me shortly, you can do so via poopcats at gmail dot com.

Sunday morning music. Play this one with blintzes readily at...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 16:43:53 -0800

Sunday morning music. Play this one with blintzes readily at hand & sun streaming through the window, warming that gleaming hardwood floor. Find a cat, stick it in a patch of light. Maybe there’s someone sitting next to you and they’ve just sipped some coffee and smiled at you over the brim of their cup. A nipple just popped out of their robe.

Margaret, do you know Gyan?

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:36:52 -0800

Margaret, do you know Gyan?

This is a screenshot from Jens Lekman’s blog, which is...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 20:53:52 -0800

This is a screenshot from Jens Lekman’s blog, which is wonderfully written. It’s like he’s talking to me. I’ve loved his music for a very long time now, he’s one of the first artists I think of when someone asks me who my favorite musician is, he is small and slight in person but his voice is so big. It fills the whole room. It fills all of my heart.

This is a video of Jens covering Arthur Russell’s song “A Little Lost”. When I listen to either version of this song, I want to be in love. Very in love. Irretrievably so.

This is a video of Jens doing a Tiny Desk Concert at NPR—I’m listening to it right now—I’ve heard him tell these stories in person at concerts before. I’ve listened to this entire concert before, probably 3 or 4 times. But his cadence and tone burble along, until I’ve listened to it again. I have no regrets.

I’ve been listening to Graceland by Paul Simon a lot lately. It’s a fucking achievement, that album. Here’s Jens covering my favorite song from it, “You Can Call Me Al”. He also does a cover of “Water Runs Dry” by Boyz II Men and at the very end, in his slow, deliberate drawl, he says, “It was not a guilty pleasure. Just pleasure.” Here it is, if you’re interested. Look at the top of the page for the play button.

Here is a memory I will take with me into the night, here is what I will think about as I fall asleep: my fingers tapping against your ankle in time to this song, your fingers in my hair. A very slight kiss. Putting your glasses on my bookshelf. A long, slow sigh.

This album breaks my heart.

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 06:04:00 -0800

This album breaks my heart.

Hi.

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:11:58 -0800

For some time now, I’ve been trying to practice mindfulness, whatever the fuck that means to me whenever I think it. To be grateful for the things I am doing, to the people in my life, to be able to want tangerines and then immediately purchase them (I mean, if the store isn’t closed). Today was a glorious day. Clear skies. Big sun. Icicles that shattered when I walked by.

Video

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 07:25:20 -0800

Licorice Allsorts.

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:21:00 -0800

That candy always sounds so good in books, but it’s pretty gross in person. One, the flavor’s awful, two, they’re oddly colored, not complementary at all.

Anyway—

Last January, I felt suffocated and stagnant in Los Angeles. As grateful as I am to have grown up there—all the lovely people I know, the food I can eat, my adoring family and fans—I was pretty sad. I didn’t realize it for a while. I would be dissatisfied often. I told myself that I couldn’t be in the same place next year. I was happiest when I was improvising (though that’s something that’s not going to change, I’m my best self when I perform) but I felt dull in between.

I’m not in California anymore. I made a big life change, moved across the country, didn’t know anyone in Michigan but I came anyway. Got to know a new and tiny town. Hugging new people on the daily (well, not so much anymore). I have a lovely group of friends. We make dinner sometimes, giggle a bunch. I’m dating someone. He’s nice. Shoveled snow for me.

I’m pursuing a career in something I deeply believe in and care about. I’m walking slowly in some sort of winter wonderland, I’m buying ladles, I ate a bunch of Cheez-Its today. I felt pretty sick for a while.

I feel better now.

I guess I just wanted to tell you that I’m happy here.