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Jul. 9th, 2004 01:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
d_aulnoyDunno why, but it's taking me a peculiarly long time to settle into the new place ... almost two monthes in, and I'm still unpacking little random sections of my life (this weeks projects: workbench, altar, and bedroom as opposed to study, all done in a fairly satisfactory way, except for the bedroom, which still looks a trifle bare to mine eye, possibly because it desperately requires a rug). This could be due to one of two things: either space or solitude. In the case of the former, I'd attribute it to the fact that I've never actually had TWO WHOLE ROOMS all my very own before ... it's always been a bedroom and some common space that I, a) didn't have total control over, and b) shared with someone that I didn't actually trust enough to leave my crap lying around them for fear of vandelism, petty theft, or careless abuse. So it usually turned into "Incredibly Cluttered/Cozy bedroom," "Impersonal Living Room," and, if I was lucky, "Gross Pit of A Spare Room Into Which One COuld Toss Random Crap Such as Elliptical Machines and Unwanted Books, If One Were So Inclined." Now, it's "Small, Not Quite Crowded Bedroom That's Going to Have to Be Filled With More Knick-Knacks [please all pretend that you missed my three minute attempt to spell "tchotchkes" [sic] correctly before following in the footsteps of Porky Pig and giving up] Before I Really Feel Comfortable There," "Glorious Study Where I Do Everything But Sleep and Exercise," and "Pleasant Shared Living Space." Very weird. In the spirit of "Withnail & I," "I've stumbled into maturity by mistake!" And possibly, I'm not handling it as well as I could. The only other explanation is that, well, frankly, this is the first time in my life that I've moved into a place as a single person, so there's no SO peeking in and providing incentive for me to make like a person instead of a temporary dumping ground, a la LI. And I'm so far uptown - and in summer, when most everybody is away - that there's really no one to come drop by and say, "So. Helen. Big camper in a former life, huh?"
Despite all that, it is, gradually, coming to resemble a domicile rather than an incredibly unconvincing shop window done in the theme of "Graduate Student Chic," otherwise known as "Deco Repugnant." [Side note: during the year that I didn't post, I had the greatest idea: Graduate Student Barbie. She'd come with a little bitty pack of Marlboro Reds, a thermos filled with a convincingly coffee-like substance, a mug with an obnoxiously in-group intellectual slogan - "Derrideans Do It Differently!" (oh, just imagine the accent mark, okay?) - and a miniscule stack of massive tomes with impressively ironic, self-referential titles (Possibilities include _The Beauty Myth_, _The Second Sex_, and _Blonde_). Graduate School Barbie would have huge circles under her eyes, and an idiosyncratic fashion sense unechoed by her Barbie peers - say, a jacket with tweed elbow patches paired with an unconvincingly distressed band tee-shirt. Older Professor Ken optional.] Today, I put up much of the stuff that I got from the folks earlier in the week - the nudes look good in the bedroom, if a bit drab (faded sketches on yellowing paper), but my PRIZE, my TREASURE, won't be going up until later in the week: it's a picture of a cockatoo. Done entirely in a rather unskillful mosaic of semi-precious stones. Weighs a ton (and if you don't believe that getting it hbome from Queens was fun, you're ... right). It's going over the workbench for inspiration.
In other news: have bought two very gorgeous summer dresses that I have had, and, depressingly, will probably continue to have, no opportunities to wear. Ditto a lovely emerald-teal bathing suit with an Empress neckline that looks like I stole it from Rita Hayworth ... but, it's summer, and I'm week, so even if I don't indulge in leisure activities, damnit, I'll shop as if it's a plausible aspect of my life, as yet undiscovered. Received wonderful books for review today: have torn through _The Faery Reel_, _Firebirds_, and _LRRH in the BB City_, all of which are very, very good. The last is particularly fascinating to me because it's definitely done in the style of ED and TW's Fairy Tale Series ... but by men. This comes across in very subtle ways, not so much in the quality of the stories, but in terms of their slant; our LRRH is a cross-dressing male, for example. Will have much fun reviewing these all tomorrow. P.S. - SDN is a GODDESS.
And ... yeah. That's it. I have nothing to report on a social front, 'cause I HAVEN'T SEEN PEOPLE in far too long. Jeez, kiddies, tomorrow's Friday ... somebody know of something good goin' down?
Despite all that, it is, gradually, coming to resemble a domicile rather than an incredibly unconvincing shop window done in the theme of "Graduate Student Chic," otherwise known as "Deco Repugnant." [Side note: during the year that I didn't post, I had the greatest idea: Graduate Student Barbie. She'd come with a little bitty pack of Marlboro Reds, a thermos filled with a convincingly coffee-like substance, a mug with an obnoxiously in-group intellectual slogan - "Derrideans Do It Differently!" (oh, just imagine the accent mark, okay?) - and a miniscule stack of massive tomes with impressively ironic, self-referential titles (Possibilities include _The Beauty Myth_, _The Second Sex_, and _Blonde_). Graduate School Barbie would have huge circles under her eyes, and an idiosyncratic fashion sense unechoed by her Barbie peers - say, a jacket with tweed elbow patches paired with an unconvincingly distressed band tee-shirt. Older Professor Ken optional.] Today, I put up much of the stuff that I got from the folks earlier in the week - the nudes look good in the bedroom, if a bit drab (faded sketches on yellowing paper), but my PRIZE, my TREASURE, won't be going up until later in the week: it's a picture of a cockatoo. Done entirely in a rather unskillful mosaic of semi-precious stones. Weighs a ton (and if you don't believe that getting it hbome from Queens was fun, you're ... right). It's going over the workbench for inspiration.
In other news: have bought two very gorgeous summer dresses that I have had, and, depressingly, will probably continue to have, no opportunities to wear. Ditto a lovely emerald-teal bathing suit with an Empress neckline that looks like I stole it from Rita Hayworth ... but, it's summer, and I'm week, so even if I don't indulge in leisure activities, damnit, I'll shop as if it's a plausible aspect of my life, as yet undiscovered. Received wonderful books for review today: have torn through _The Faery Reel_, _Firebirds_, and _LRRH in the BB City_, all of which are very, very good. The last is particularly fascinating to me because it's definitely done in the style of ED and TW's Fairy Tale Series ... but by men. This comes across in very subtle ways, not so much in the quality of the stories, but in terms of their slant; our LRRH is a cross-dressing male, for example. Will have much fun reviewing these all tomorrow. P.S. - SDN is a GODDESS.
And ... yeah. That's it. I have nothing to report on a social front, 'cause I HAVEN'T SEEN PEOPLE in far too long. Jeez, kiddies, tomorrow's Friday ... somebody know of something good goin' down?
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no subject
Date: 2004-07-08 11:41 pm (UTC)I'm still laughing at the "tchotchkes" bit...
What or Whom is the altar to?
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Date: 2004-07-09 11:22 am (UTC)As for the altar? I'm pagan, and I worship the Greek pantheon.
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Date: 2004-07-09 05:03 am (UTC)Does it help if I say that I've been living at Uphill for a 15 months (ghods, I sound like I'm talking about the age of a baby) and I'm still not unpacked and my bedroom still looks like a tornado hit it?
(Okay, in my defense, it's more accurate to say that I moved to Uphill 15 months ago. My stuff's been living there for that long. I, on the other hand, have spent more time in Boise and Herndon, VA than I have in Seattle.)
no subject
Date: 2004-07-09 11:29 am (UTC)I, on the other hand, have no defense at all aside from an ingrained aversion to physical labor and the organizational skills of a chipmunk.
Viva le rodent!
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Date: 2004-07-10 12:14 pm (UTC)The physical therapist talked with me on Thursday about what the options were before they had to think about surgery, told me what's generally in an epidural, how that'll kill the pain enough that I can actually do the stretches and strengthening stuff that will hopefully encourage the disk to suck back into the place where it belongs...
So for now I'm mostly just loopy as all get-out on the meds they've given me.
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Date: 2004-07-10 01:11 pm (UTC)I wish that I had some good advice to offer ... my dad's been avoiding surgery like the plague for a decade with two slipped discs, and I can definitely say *that's* not the answer ... you might try getting one of those heating pad/vibrating blanket-wrap things. They help him out, but I dunno if they'll work for you. I hope so ... Feel better, honey!
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Date: 2004-07-09 10:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-09 11:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-09 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-09 12:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-09 12:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-07-11 09:29 am (UTC)Anyway, I don't think circe has an 'email notify' thing so I'm not sure if she'll get this comment...but yes, I just gave you a call. Let's do something tonight (Sunday)?
And alice...is the upper west side okay? There's no great reason to hang out around here, except for that it's close and convenient for at least two of the potential hangers-out...
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Date: 2004-07-11 09:46 am (UTC)http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/11351761?raid=440587
it almost sounds like a good idea.
i'm looking for cheap here, kids...
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Date: 2004-07-11 09:57 am (UTC)Perhaps we could try 'Yogi's', my favourite imitation-roadhouse-country-western place (on broadway and 74th or so, of all places, the perfect location for a country-western bar). It's a hoot - fake like disneyland. Also, cheap-ish whiskey and PBR. Then again, you're more of a gin and tonic type drinker, right? If so, Yogi's might not be the place...I doubt whether they'd be qualified to go beyong simple opening and pouring.
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Date: 2004-07-11 10:05 am (UTC)oddly, i'm in a beer mood...
fake like disneyland at 7pm?
no subject
Date: 2004-07-11 11:02 am (UTC)