Emchap's Shit from the Internet 1/31/18 🍠
Guys, I did it! I made it west! And after weeks and weeks of panicking, it turned out... totally fine. The flight was long but the cat was mostly quiet; he has not gone on hunger strike post-plane the way he did last time. I arrived a little early to the Airbnb and startled a cleaning woman, but no one yelled at me. I figured out how to get Amazon to bring me groceries, and I signed up for apartment viewings on my second day here, and today I signed a lease. This weekend, I got brunch with a friend and the food was great (there were migas!!!) and no one tried to sell me on bottomless mimosas.
There are still things to figure out (getting the movers to bring my things to the new place, getting my keys, buying a car), but I can see an end in sight. I've queued up a set of social invitations, and I've done a tiny bit of exploring, and it hasn't been below 60 degrees since I've been here. The food has been great and no one has yelled at me and I bought wine in a tiny juicebox carton from Target, which sells liquor here, which seems fake.
I know I was optimistic about New York in the same way when I moved, and I know I will grow to have complaints the longer I live here, but at least right now I am happy and I feel like I made a good call. When I finish writing this, I'm going to wander down the street for some excellent tacos and read a book and with any luck I'll be in bed by 9. I feel good about the move!
Shit to read
The Wedding Date came out finally! It was fun and very sweet and I enjoyed it.
50 Shades is so dumb and I 100% am going to go be intoxicated in a movie theatre showing it and have the time of my life.
This article talks about a miscarriage's impact on the author's sex life and is a great, hard piece with some really visceral body horror. It is worth reading.
So is this piece on what it means to be alive after substantial damage to the brain, which covers a lot of hard things well and with kindness.
I love BoJack Horseman so much but it does in fact make me uncomfortable that Diane Nguyen is voiced by a white voice actress. This interview with the creator gets into it, and super props to the author for continuing to focus the interview when the creator was kinda weasely.
This piece on Korean identity and a dead father is truly great.
The Racked response to the dumb "skincare is for dumbs, unlike me, who is a smart" piece is my favorite.
Pre-Code lingerie is a great topic for a photo essay so here, have one.
This woman was 100% a scammer, right?
This piece on a survivor of the UT Austin shooting is the best thing I have read all year. It is fundamentally worth your time.
Shit to eat
After a cross-continental flight, realize you are starving even though it is only 4pm in your new timezone.
Contemplate the Seamless options and then swap to Grubhub because you have been told that that is what people use here.
Realize nothing looks good and it is all expensive.
Weighing exactly how hungry you are against your knowledge that your Airbnb host recommended a taco place down the street, decide to venture outside.
Play a human game of Frogger at the crosswalks, and remember what it was like to be in Atlanta.
Wonder why there is such a line at a taco place at 4 in the afternoon on a Saturday.
Order a small horchata, a fish taco, a shrimp taco, and a bean taco.
Take a seat on the patio, which you can do even though it is late January.
Eventually the tacos will be brought to you, and you will eat them while smugly texting photos to your family and an ex boyfriend and several former coworkers.
They will be the best tacos you have ever had.
Go back on Wednesday.
Shit to listen to
My friend recommended "New York I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down" to me and I listened to it for an hour of the plane ride here.
I have been revisiting Monáe's Electric Lady recently, and "What An Experience" has been a soundtrack to a lot of the last week. I may reactivate Tinder just to have someone to play it to.
This episode of a podcast about depression features Rachel Bloom (from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and is fantastic. It was reassuring to hear someone whose creative output is so fucking good talk about how much they hated college, as someone who has 100% carried a chip on her shoulder for many years about not having liked college more than I did.
Shit to buy
Seriously, get on those tacos.
Urban Stems is nationwide now! I have been delighted every time I have received flowers from them. One day when I have gotten my budgeting in order I'll sign up for a subscription from them. (Or go figure out where to buy flowers here.)
What are our feelings on instant pots?