day 2

faulkner. i do not get you. updates soon.

ichi, my cat, does this thing where she jumps at the door several times in order to reach the doorknob, then when she's successful she latches onto it and wiggles around in order to force the door open. it often takes her several tries and the tries sound like this: SLAMMMMM...DRAG....SLAM...DDDDRRRAAAAGGGGG...SSSSSSLAMMM...EEEKKKKK DRAGGGGG. SLAMMM CLING WIGGLE WIGGLE BOOM DOOR'S OPEN.

after she enters she immediately runs up to the bed and stares at my face, and if i don't show signs of being awake she'll start rummaging through my things and either ripping them or hurling them from bookshelves, etc. it's pretty much the most singularly annoying thing that i can endure. this morning we decided to end it. instead of getting up and begrudgingly feeding her, we're going to constantly reinforce positive behavior by throwing her out time and time again. however this doesn't exactly make for a great morning. she's currently on what must be her 5th or 6th attempt, and she makes it in every time, a little bit more hysterical than the last.

i'll let you know how it goes. with ichi and faulkner. the sound and the fury. HAHAHAH!!!

1st blog of my 1 blog a day

Yep, one gem every day for as long as I can remember. So maybe tomorrow. Today is going to be a shit fest, I'm working from 9:00 am (right now) until 8:30 pm (a lot later) and I can already smell the stress and passive aggression headed my way. MMmmm working in education.

On a better note - last night I made tofu with cream of broccoli and scallions as per a suggestion from the potluck on Tuesday (some of which I remember) and it was delicious and as comforting as eating baby food. Even though Dan's comment that it "looks like snotty vomit" rings true. My parents could not have paid me to eat that when I was little.

A quote! I've been reading Hocus Pocus by Vonnegut and I (gasp!) skipped to the last page and read it like the masochist I am but luckily nothing was revealed but the overarching theme of the book, which is, "Just because some of us can read and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the Universe."

things i did while doing my parents' taxes today:

1. called megan
2. ate a greek salad
3. read several blogs discussing things from antoine dodson's current whereabouts to pajama jeans
4. completed a crossword in style
5. stared into space

things i did not do while doing my parents' taxes today:

1. my parents' taxes.
2. consider that the writing of this blog should be on the above list.

origami

sooo i've recently begun to play with paper and turn it into shapes, a la the ancient art of ORIGAMI. i'm just going to put it out there that origami is really sweet and incredibly complex and every time i finish a shape i am amazed that at some point someone invented this intricate series of twists and turns and evoked a completely different beast in the end without ever cutting or gluing the medium. i could go on but clearly the point of this post was to show you THIS

wooo so maybe in a few years this will be your christmas present from that girl who you thought lost her mind and lived with a hundred cats but was really just folding paper into itty bitty feathers to arrange just so the WHOLE TIME.

Super Sad True Love Story

I can’t completely describe what makes Gary Shteyngart’s writing in Super Sad True Love Story so wonderful, but I suppose I should try.

For one, his use of language is unparalleled; his perfectly chosen, vibrant words gleam at you from their place on the page, waiting to become engaged, absorbed, understood, and finally to settle down comfortably in your memory, anticipating their recollection when, with a slight titter, you remember his perfect turn of phrase, his elegant encapsulation of a meaning in neither too scant nor too many words. His sentences are at once unassuming and aggressive, not only uncluttered by superfluous expressions that ordinarily belabor the point of less talented authors, but also poignant and profound in the
ir sharpness, often gnawing at you long after the initial impact.

Shteyngart’s narrative displays such sheer originality infused with undeniable truths about the speeds at which our society’s dependence upon technology hurtles forward that the effect is both delightful and morbid. Shining with illuminations of humanity’s loss of literacy and subsequently reality, his prose details our demise by paralleling it with that of hopeless Lenny Abromov, his protagonist. I don’t want to give anything away from this truly meaningful story, so go read it yourself!

booooo

Style chose to use the 4 x 5 inch space in the back of the paper for more advertising instead of a crossword. It's available online. However, the format is not interactive; you have to print it out in order to complete it. Guess who doesn't have a printer? That's right. This guy. Ugh.

On another note:

days like today

I don't know about you, but extreme weather really brings out the worst in me. On sweltering summer days I find myself ritualizing and trying to appease the gods, something I think I've done since I was little when I would walk down the street chanting that "I'd rather take 4 feet of snow and walk through it naked than be this hot right at this moment, can't you just make it cold?" Of course my prayers would be answered and a few months later I'd chatter through my teeth that I'd rather be burned alive by a thousand suns than suffer any more frost. What is it about humans that makes us so adaptable and simultaneously such pussies?

Rain sucks and I stayed indoors today in my sweatpants until 6 pm when I had to go to work. And here I am blogging about how much rain sucks. Well it does!