Take my hand, take my whole life too
I thought today would involve one more trip to some far corner of another borough, but luck intervened and I get to stay home and re-center myself. The past few days have been MADNESS, of the best kind. Friday I went to Manhattan for therapy, and had a good session (I think my therapist finally gets something I've been trying to show her all along, which is that I'm afraid of both jobs and relationships because I don't know how to enforce boundaries when things go toxic, see also). Saturday, I woke up early, intending to get in an hour at MoCCA Fest (in an awkward corner of Manhattan, right by the Hudson and several avenue blocks off Times Square), but it didn't seem worth it to rush up there, rush through the tables and then rush to the Upper East Side for the comics/illustration workshop my memoir teacher and her mother (who chooses the cover of the New Yorker each week, btw) were teaching there. Meeting Nadja was LOVELY, and seeing her and her mother in person added some great layers (and evidence) to her memoir. (I am also EXCEEDINGLY PROUD that I made Francoise Mouly "...hmm" with some of my political cartoon ideas. GO SELF.)
After that, I headed up to a speakeasy hidden in the basement of a bro bar on the Upper West Side, where a whole slew of people I didn't know helped our friend Randy propose to my swing dance girl gang friend Brooke. I'd never participated in or really seen a proposal up close, in person, and it was quite moving. Watching Brooke (who stopped for a burrito before coming by) realize what was happening and become overwhelmed with emotion was just -- contagious. It was such a beautiful moment, and Brooke and Randy are honestly the most perfect, amazing, wonderful couple that a wedding is more of a formality. (They met on Tinder, believe it or not. The first or second time I got everybody from my swing dance class to go out for drinks, Brooke said, "D'you mind if we go to Noorman's Kil [a whisky bar in Williamsburg]? This guy I just had a 72-hour date with is going to be there..." He'd also just asked her to be his +1 at a wedding in New Orleans mere weeks later; she said yes. They've honestly just been having amazing adventures since.) Randy sang "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You" with a band and all of us as backup before he proposed, and I've had it stuck in my head ever since.
Sunday, I got up early again, for breakfast with a friend who works at CityLab (she's edited both my pieces for them); I'd been planning to catch two hours of MoCCA Fest after seeing her for an hour or so, but we were having such a good time that I decided it was better to keep having a one-on-one good time with this great person I rarely see. We walked through Prospect Park for a while, and it was an impossibly beautiful day and we were both so happy to be outside. Then she had to go work on finishing up her master's thesis (!!) and I had a movie date with
theladyscribe, who got tickets for (!!!) a screening of North by Northwest at one of the Union Square movie theaters. I had never seen it before, and I'm a little bemused by how great I found young Martin Landau's creepy sidekick character Leonard. (Landau is still alive and kicking, to my delight!) After that,
theladyscribe had the brilliant yearning for Ethiopian food, and after that, we hit up the good gelato place, where I discovered that pear gelato + cinnamon gelato is actual perfection.
Today I was maybe going to meet up with a grad school friend who's in town, but I was feeling a bit run-down, starting last night, and my friend, who's attending a gala tonight, had a fancy clothes emergency, so I'll be seeing him in Chicago in a few weeks instead. So far my day has been catching up on reading for tomorrow's Things I'm Verbing (good stuff coming!) and making more bread, this time in two loaves instead of one Godzilla loaf. I think it came out pretty well aesthetically, but to be honest, it just doesn't taste like much. It's very much a conveyer for other flavors (strong butter, honey) rather than something to eat on its own (which is what I like best about artisan bread you can buy). I guess I'm still chasing the flavor of my first batch, which had no rise but amazing flavor. For this one, I used up most of the flour I had on hand, so whole wheat, all-purpose white and spelt. The previous mega-loaf used bread flour, and I think even that was an improvement over the all-purpose white, but I also suspect I need to try a different recipe, just to see what happens. I'd love to find one that involves actual kneading -- it's surprisingly difficult, since you come up with so many no-knead recipes in searches. (Anyone have any good links?)
I know lots of you are posting poetry this month; I just came across this piece, "Neck of the Woods," and it just stopped my heart. I want to write ferocious female friendships like this, especially for my big band witches, and I'm glad of the reminder.Two girls ride ruthlessly
Beside one another-one filthy as a story, the other filthy
As a storyteller.
This was originally posted on Dreamwidth, where it has
comments. I would love to hear from you at DW! If you can see this post, you can comment here using OpenID. Thanks!
After that, I headed up to a speakeasy hidden in the basement of a bro bar on the Upper West Side, where a whole slew of people I didn't know helped our friend Randy propose to my swing dance girl gang friend Brooke. I'd never participated in or really seen a proposal up close, in person, and it was quite moving. Watching Brooke (who stopped for a burrito before coming by) realize what was happening and become overwhelmed with emotion was just -- contagious. It was such a beautiful moment, and Brooke and Randy are honestly the most perfect, amazing, wonderful couple that a wedding is more of a formality. (They met on Tinder, believe it or not. The first or second time I got everybody from my swing dance class to go out for drinks, Brooke said, "D'you mind if we go to Noorman's Kil [a whisky bar in Williamsburg]? This guy I just had a 72-hour date with is going to be there..." He'd also just asked her to be his +1 at a wedding in New Orleans mere weeks later; she said yes. They've honestly just been having amazing adventures since.) Randy sang "I Can't Help Falling in Love With You" with a band and all of us as backup before he proposed, and I've had it stuck in my head ever since.
Sunday, I got up early again, for breakfast with a friend who works at CityLab (she's edited both my pieces for them); I'd been planning to catch two hours of MoCCA Fest after seeing her for an hour or so, but we were having such a good time that I decided it was better to keep having a one-on-one good time with this great person I rarely see. We walked through Prospect Park for a while, and it was an impossibly beautiful day and we were both so happy to be outside. Then she had to go work on finishing up her master's thesis (!!) and I had a movie date with
theladyscribe, who got tickets for (!!!) a screening of North by Northwest at one of the Union Square movie theaters. I had never seen it before, and I'm a little bemused by how great I found young Martin Landau's creepy sidekick character Leonard. (Landau is still alive and kicking, to my delight!) After that,
theladyscribe had the brilliant yearning for Ethiopian food, and after that, we hit up the good gelato place, where I discovered that pear gelato + cinnamon gelato is actual perfection.
Today I was maybe going to meet up with a grad school friend who's in town, but I was feeling a bit run-down, starting last night, and my friend, who's attending a gala tonight, had a fancy clothes emergency, so I'll be seeing him in Chicago in a few weeks instead. So far my day has been catching up on reading for tomorrow's Things I'm Verbing (good stuff coming!) and making more bread, this time in two loaves instead of one Godzilla loaf. I think it came out pretty well aesthetically, but to be honest, it just doesn't taste like much. It's very much a conveyer for other flavors (strong butter, honey) rather than something to eat on its own (which is what I like best about artisan bread you can buy). I guess I'm still chasing the flavor of my first batch, which had no rise but amazing flavor. For this one, I used up most of the flour I had on hand, so whole wheat, all-purpose white and spelt. The previous mega-loaf used bread flour, and I think even that was an improvement over the all-purpose white, but I also suspect I need to try a different recipe, just to see what happens. I'd love to find one that involves actual kneading -- it's surprisingly difficult, since you come up with so many no-knead recipes in searches. (Anyone have any good links?)
I know lots of you are posting poetry this month; I just came across this piece, "Neck of the Woods," and it just stopped my heart. I want to write ferocious female friendships like this, especially for my big band witches, and I'm glad of the reminder.Two girls ride ruthlessly
Beside one another-one filthy as a story, the other filthy
As a storyteller.
This was originally posted on Dreamwidth, where it has
comments. I would love to hear from you at DW! If you can see this post, you can comment here using OpenID. Thanks!