Emchap's Shit from the Internet 12/6/17 🍠
Tonight I went to the gym after work (to a class that nearly killed me, Jesus) and had the unexpected delight of a friend being enrolled in the same class, and of knowing all the other participants, and of being on good enough terms with them to have one make "oh god we're going to die" eyes at me during it and just in general I felt really good about the whole endeavor.
PLUS afterwards I got to eat dinner at the dumpling restaurant I want to get married to or get married in WHILE chatting to my friend, and I got to cheerfully report back that I have only cried at work ONCE since starting the new job (last Friday morning, which, overwhelming time), and afterwards we discovered a Chinese bakery (named, it appeared, "Good Bakery") that sold me a very large red bean fried sesame bun for $1 and I felt very pleased with myself right up until I had to get on the train, which took forever and involved me getting hit in the torso by a very chatty Russian woman's purse for 40 minutes, because the train exists entirely to expose its riders to small indignities.
Shit to read
This is a BONKERS story about a dude who got scammed by a debt collector and decided that that was not going to fucking happen.
I did not know that Ann Friedman had lived in New York, as I associate her entirely with Los Angeles, and reading her story in this collection of writers who moved to California was really comforting. Plus, if I did my math right, she didn't move there until she was 29, and as I recently had a completely horrific realization that I am now longer the Bright Young Thing in any particular room, knowing that was comforting. (Walking through that particular set of feelings with a friend also revealed that said friend thought I was 24 "because I thought you were 23 but I assumed you've had a birthday." I am 26, and have known him for three years.)
This article about raising a teenage daughter (with insightful annotations from the teen daughter in question) is funny and sweet and sad.
A review of indie lingerie brands that have band and cup sizes that fit me!!!!!!!
My dad recommended this Catapult piece to me (which was a weird experience in and of itself since he does not otherwise read the site) about the one-sided relationships we form with the people we follow online, and the emotional damage that happens when they end.
Shit to eat
After another night of reading weirdly compelling Financial Independence blogs again, decide you will make dinner with what is in your pantry.
Open a can of salmon, and be reminded of the old boss who once laughed at your surprise that canned salmon, unlike canned tuna, has spine in it. Remember this in part because you leave the spine in now, since she told you that's what her mom did.
Drain it, put it in a bowl.
Add two eggs and a half cup of bread crumbs.
Take whatever half-consumed onion is in your fridge, chop it up, add it in.
Salt, pepper, etc.
Mash everything together in the bowl with your hands.
Form patties.
Cook for a few minutes on each side in a cast iron pan with some olive oil in it.
Feel vaguely smug every time you eat the patties and roast sweet potatoes and sour cream/dill sauce for dinner that week, as you are being Frugal in advance of an expensive holiday season.
Shit to watch
Marvelous Mrs. Maisel has been a complete and unexpected delight and I recommend it.
Shit to buy
I finally bit the bullet and bought packing cubes.
One of my cousins is getting 268 glow sticks for Christmas.
Find a place that will sell you a sesame red bean bun for $1 and go to it.