: : how to disappear completely : :

It's 60 minutes til party time, and I'm just getting ready to head over there and help Juice Ghost get ready. I got myself a little treat for my birthday morning shower, and I have a ridiculous amount of alcohol in my car for tonight.

Oh, and I wanted to make a correction: While aaronbenedict did give me my first birthday present, he actually didn't give me my first birthday card. That honor goes to lurpy, who gave me a really funny card at sillylilboi's party two weeks ago. I've since gotten another card and present, both from my Aunt Lynne. Her card was really funny too.

OK. Time to get my ass in gear. More soon.

Just as a frame of reference, these pictures were taken on my birthday ten years ago:







Now you tell me: How is it possible that that was ten years ago already? It feels like that just happened!

I've received my very first birthday present and card, both from aaronbenedict. I actually got them on Monday, but somehow managed to slack on posting about them.

He didn't exactly send me an iPhone; he actually sent me a gift card to The Apple Store so I could get an iPhone. Which I didn't realize when I saw the card in my mailbox, and so I sent him a playful text, referencing this Sex And The City scene (the first scene in that clip), saying "wow, that iphone packs up nice." He didn't realize that I hadn't actually opened the card, and called me in a panic, thinking I was mad that he'd sent a gift card instead of an actual phone. I hadn't opened the card yet, so I had no clue. We had a good laugh once I clarified that I was channeling Carrie Bradshaw purely for my own amusement.

Then he started telling me how The Apple Store would try to "upsell" me on all sorts of stuff that I didn't need, so, rather than go running off to The Apple Store by myself, I've made a date to go there with n0thingman on my birthday (which is Saturday -- is it effed up if I spend aaronbenedict's gift card on Shabbos?). n0thingman and I intend to kill two birds with one stone and will also be making use of my free birthday entrée coupon from Mad Mex either immediately before or immediately afterward.

It's funny -- part of why I always loved Mad Mex was because they offered vegan sour cream and vegan cheese there. Now I'm all dairified again. I still love Mad Mex, tho.

http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/madmenyourself/

I've never seen the show (though I know a little bit about it, based on a skit on SNL), but the pictures are kind of cool:

Well *this* will be a very random assortment of pictures.

( Happy Graffiti )

( Being Seated On The Board )

( Tonight at The Co-op )

( The Chinese Flower Dress )

( Daisies are Delicate Flowers )

( Kittens Vs. Gravity )

In a little more than half an hour, I'll be heading upstairs to be officially seated as a member of the East End Food Co-op Board of Directors for the 2009-10 year.

Just feeling the need to share that. :)

I woke up this morning and my bedroom was glowing white light, the sun reflecting off the snow piled up on the big fur tree that rubs up against my bedroom window. I still make myself blind in the winter here because I don't know how to wear sunglasses in December. And I wonder if there is something in the genes that allows you to walk on ice, or not. Midwesterners know how to do it, and Coloradans (who are midwestern, western, Californian which is something else) know. I wear solid boots but I walk around like I'm high-heel hobbled. Crossing the bridge to campus this morning, and elderly man actually stepped aside so that I could hold onto the rail as we passed. Shame. As I walk to the downtown campus from my bus stop, there's this surreal view of amazing, huge, snow-capped, blue-edged mountain ranges in the far distance, and in the mid-distance there's Invesco Field, which (google a picture to understand) has this weird wavy construction -- I think maybe to mirror the mountains -- which makes it look like it's about to topple. And near that the Elitch Gardens ferris wheel. I'm surprised by this every day.

I have been in an anxious, unproductive mood for the past week or so, and I spent most of the weekend worrying. Finally this afternoon I made myself leave my apartment and walk in the snow for a while, and then I took the bus to Target (actually, it's two buses), and that's where I finally got the holiday spirit.



You don't have to shame me; I am already ashamed. But shopping in stores full of ridiculous, cheap holiday crap is part of my heritage. And Target in general is just an embarrassing comfort for me. You can buy anything there. And it is very brightly-lit, and the red everywhere. (I also really like those 24-hour Walgreen's, and the commercials for them, where the whole neighborhood is pitch-black except for the gold-glowing Walgreens with its emergency ice cream and heating pads.) And unlike many people who go to Target, I am totally there for pleasure. Not because I am out of toothpaste. Even when I buy toothpaste, it is in the spirit of pleasure. I look at all the toothpastes very carefully, and think about the strangeness of having all these toothpastes to choose from. Do I want extra-whitening? Do I need more tartar protection? I never thought about it before! Hmm. And this is why everyone hates to go to Target with me, but that's fine. Like going to the movies, Target shopping is an experience best enjoyed alone.

I took the first bus halfway home, then realized I'd have to wait almost 40 minutes for the second one, and it was only two miles more, so I decided to walk. A little bit of an adventure after dark in the snow - most of the sidwalks haven't been shoveled, and the ones that have are packed ice. At one point I got immersed in an interview with Carrie Fisher that I was listening to, and I slipped on black ice; my left leg began to bend in the wrong direction, and now my knee and thigh are still a little throbby, but it is the earned throb of an American consumer on the ides of November. Most of the houses I passed on the way home had their fire places going, and like it almost always does, the smoke smell reminded me of when our house burnt when I was six, just a few days after Christmas, and the house was destroyed but my parents tried to clean up a lot of our toys and books, and they did such a good job that most of the stuff did not look smoke-damaged, but it smelled, oh it smelled; for the longest time, when people mentioned "old book smell," I thought that was the smell they meant. One of the toys I got that year was a ventriloquist's dummy, but I never really learned how to throw my voice. I only practiced it in bed at night when I was trying to fall asleep - I had awful insomnia when I was a kid. But of course it's hard to tell if you're successfully throwing your voice in the dark.

Yaay! My Mom just called and she and I will be seeing The Beatles on my birthday!

OK, maybe not The Beatles, but we will be seeing Classical Mystery Tour, featuring several members of the original Beatlemania cast. Either way, I'm excited.

She is a Monster, I love the way she sang this.

TrekJews

Thank you feministing for reminding me how much I love The Guerilla Girls.

Mostly.

( Cute cats from yesterday )

( Potato berries )

( My new hat )

( Random images from my night at work )