Emchap’s Shit from the Internet 12/12/18 🍠
Over the weekend, I went to a Retirement Party for Men. A friend had invited me and I signed up, not realizing that the event was really a networking event for people in the entertainment industry, which I am not. I figured it before I showed up, but figured it couldn't hurt, and it was on the way home from community chorus, so why not.
It was a great time! Partially because it was truly themed as a retirement party, which meant that there was a rolodex of male mediocrity and several varieties of cookie cake, but also because it was fun to be around people whose work lives are totally disconnected from my own.
My friend met up with me while we were there, and introduced me to everyone as a comedian. It's nominally true (the friend and I met when we were on the same comedy show, on which I have now been re-booked to perform comedy about Tree Law), but which I of course feel uncomfortable introducing myself as for any number of reasons including that that was the last time I performed comedy in public this year.
It's not the money part of it (most comics and actors I know supplement with other jobs) and not the frequency exactly (I wouldn't have said I was an improvisor even when I was performing reasonably regularly in Atlanta, sometimes for money). But it's weird to think of myself as anything other than a tech geek even though I've been paid for writing and comedy and all kinds of other weird things. It was an interesting thing to unpack in the middle of the event, and it was a kind thing of my friend to introduce me to folks that way. It made me want to actually try to make things again, which is a habit I've fallen totally out of.
I ate cake and hurt my back standing and my friend ultimately gave me a ride home after we hit Del Taco (#dirtbaglyfe). It was a good time. I'm glad I went.
Shit to read
This story about a family where a child was adopted from Ethiopia and later became pregnant as a teenager is very moving.
I love the seals with eels in their nose.
Buzzfeed killing it with the personal essays, in this case about being in college when your mom is living in her car.
I heard a woman tell her date at a coffee shop that she hadn't heard of Myers-Briggs (which has to be a lie, right? she's a woman who's been on a dating site, based on the interaction I was witnessing) and was reminded by twitter friends of this article about pretending not to know who Slavoj Zizek is.
I am not part of UCB and haven't kept super abreast of their current issues but like theaters who don't pay performers are 100% an improv Thing and I find it hard to disagree with this article in terms of the conclusions that I draw from that.
I found this article about the ways in which black actors get dicked over by bad wig choices a compelling look at something I don't know anything about.
Please go read this article about folks who have realized that the Unabomber had some points about human environmental impact and what they've done with that; it is FASCINATING.
A great and super bummer Autostraddle piece about addiction.
Shit to eat
Buy a pack of what is now known as "soy sauce" ramen at the grocery store.
In an attempt to counteract that choice, get a big-ass cabbage at the farmers market.
Do you have eggs? Get some eggs.
Go home, and when you're ready for lunch, boil a pot of water.
Add some vinegar to it.
Crack an egg into a bowl, pour the bowl into the water, and cover the pot.
Cook for three minutes.
Clean the bowl while you're doing that.
After 3 minutes, scoop the egg out with a slotted spoon or a spider or whatever you have around. Place it tenderly in the bowl.
Dump out the water.
Start a new cup and a bit of water to boil. Add some rinsed and torn up cabbage to it.
Once it's boiling, add half the packet of noodles since that is the actual serving size of a thing of ramen.
Toss in some of the seasoning packet and some soy sauce and sesame oil and some chile sauce.
Cook everything for 3 minutes, with the lid on to help steam the cabbage.
Stir everything, pour the egg temporarily onto the slotted spoon, and dump the pot's contents into the bowl.
Add the egg back on top, take a smug picture for instagram, and enjoy a tasty lunch.
Shit to listen to
After receiving Sufjan Stevens' first set of Christmas albums for Hanukkah as a child (#multifaith), I never ventured out into his significantly weirder set of Christmas albums released as Silver and Gold. This was a mistake, and I have been giggling at the completely fucking weird lyrics to Christmas Unicorn all day.
Shit to buy
I like the idea of these reusable cotton face pads.
I just put in an order for Biologique Recherche P50 because I had the best skin of my adult life while using it; I don't care if it's weird murder poison (it very much is).
I'm going to try to make my favorite Ethiopian dish this week and I am very excited to receive 4 lbs of chickpea flour.