Emchap's Shit from the Internet 12/27/17 🍠
I am writing this from an Airbnb in Fayetteville, Arkansas, which is where I was born but did not grow up. I have been spending the last few days in the company of my grandparents and my dad's siblings and their partners and their children and the grandparents' very large dogs and very old cats. I have one more day here before I return home and see my own, much younger, cat again and begin packing in earnest (please buy my furniture from me).
2017 was a weird, hard, awful year and I'm ending it in a state of excitement for myself and nervousness about the future and genuine concern for several beloved friends. My company got acquired! I learned a whole bunch about how stocks work! I listened to my feelings and got a new job even though I was really scared that it might be the wrong call and even though I was going to be tremendously lonely without my friends.
I decided to go back to working from home, and I decided to move across the country, and I still don't know if any of that is a good idea or a somewhat expensive-to-undo bad one. I was frustrated with some friends and undone with gratitude for some others and the Venn diagram of the two is not two totally separate circles. I learned how to deadlift.
I spoke at a conference that I could never have imagined speaking at the first year that I went (as a baby! five years ago!), and it was well-received. I went to DC, Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta, Fayetteville, Miami, San Diego, and Philly, much of it by myself. I saw the Mountain Goats live for the first time.
I hope that 2018 will be a better year, for me and for the people that I love. I haven't settled on what my New Year's Eve plans are yet, but at this point I think I might just do some yoga at home, put some shit in boxes, go to bed at 9:30, and get ready to great the new year with peas and greens and crossed fingers.
Shit to read
I enjoyed this review of Christmas Inheritance, a terrible film that I will absolutely watch in the next four days.
This is a sweet piece about love and identity.
I am fascinated by this very strong man, as the sister of a woman who has a national medal in powerlifting. (She's so strong! It's terrifying!)
This parody of Lin-Manuel Miranda's twitter feed made me howl laughing.
I loved loved loved this piece on the author's parents' divorce.
Have you all read So Sad Today? I received it as a Christmas gift and read it in a day and I want to talk with someone about whether I loved it or hated it or had just some other reaction to it because I still am not entirely certain what I felt about it.
If you haven't read Robin McKinley's fairytale retellings go do so. This last week I read Beauty, which I actually had confused with a different Beauty and the Beast adaptation from my childhood (Fire Rose, which is by Mercedes Lackey) but enjoyed very much. That said, I still think Spindle's End is the best of the bunch, and absolutely makes a pitch for blacksmith as the sexiest vague past occupation.
This list is shorter this week because I have been with my family and so have mostly been reading fanfiction for Check, Please!, and amazing webcomic with a terrible UI that I recommend with my whole trash heart.
Shit to eat
Drive out to Winslow, Arkansas.
Find my grandparents' house.
Ask my grandmother to make you beans.
Also cornbread.
Also greens.
Put the beans in a bowl.
Put the greens on top.
Crumble the cornbread on top of that.
You have had a Good Dinner with possibly the first plants you have eaten in a week.
Shit to listen to
The Pink Martini version of Auld Lang Syne is my favorite and I recommend it for your own end-of-year plans.
Shit to buy
My furniture, if you live in Brooklyn.
I got the Match Stix Trio for Christmas and it is AMAZING, get on that (plus sale at Sephora through the new year).
This jumpsuit is bonkers and I want it more than there are words.