Emchap's Shit from the Internet 2/21/18 🍠
This week, I learned that it's possible for a moving truck to flip over.
Good news: learning more about the world! Bad news: my moving truck has flipped over, and it is currently in Insurance Hell with my moving company's insurance, and whether or not any of my belongings have survived remains unknown to all parties. (Plus, like, my bed is in there and I do have to move out of this Airbnb this weekend, so, not loving this entire situation.)
I will be fine, if uncomfortable for a week. A benefit of my job happening entirely on a computer is that I can work more or less anywhere there's wifi, so, once I have that set up in my new apartment I can work from there. Granted, I'll be working from the couch on which I'll also be sleeping, but. It is at least technically feasible.
I spent the first three-ish weeks I was in LA in that weird euphoric state I associate with breakups and quitting jobs. This is, of course, a false feeling—just a trick that your brain plays when you've changed from old frustrating things to new, as-yet-to-be-discovered frustrating things. And, in the case of jobs and boyfriends, a few days to a month of "fuck y'all" euphoria has always been replaced with crying in corners and wondering if every choice I've made has been a mistake.
So, the end of the euphoria period has happened. (I mostly haven't cried!) It probably would have happened anyway, because it wasn't sustainable, but the truck didn't help.
But, things aren't all so grim! I've decided to Do The Thing and have started signing up for volunteer opportunities and DSA meetings. I've been informed of the indie comedy venue near my new apartment. I'm heading out tonight to buy nightstands. I still like it here, very much.
I just, y'know, want my stuff.
Shit to read
It turns out that the way we do gun traces is unfathomably non-digitized. The article is amazing and the people in it are amazing, and if there is a hell the gun lobby will certainly go to it.
An internet acquaintance wrote a parody article on eight ways kink can solve terrorism that could have been written by at least three separate, irritating people I have met. I have not laughed so hard at something in weeks, it is profoundly funny and so completely pitch-perfect. (And caused a friend and I to re-send each other Chris Flemming's "Polyamorous.")
Donna Lynn Champlin is great and I loved this article on her experiences with this season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
This post, which is nominally a (good-looking) recipe for duck breast, is also about cancer and god and making big life changes, and it is really worth reading. (I enjoyed it, don't have cancer, don't eat duck, and don't believe in god.)
The new season of Queer Eye is great! The food guy def doesn't know how to cook, though.
You should read about the first black millionaires.
I am 100% the sort of affluent worker-from-home that Friedman is writing about in her piece for the LA Times, and aside from being vaguely guilty about it I do think she mostly raises good points. (Though the framing device obscures what I think the larger point is, which is probably that LA has—similar to Atlanta and Chicago, I think—basically no rent control and no requirements for affordable housing units in neighborhoods where buildings are knocked down and replaced with luxury units and that that is shitty.)
Mormons are fascinating to me; you should read this article on why they are so common among beauty bloggers.
In the same vein, appreciated this look at our shift over time about what modest clothing is (and the contradictions that are part of luxury modest clothing lines).
Shit to eat
Take two slices of bread, and after momentary struggle with your Airbnb's toaster oven/toaster combo, pop 'em in to toast.
If you misunderstood the toast levels, pop them back in to re-toast so that you don't have to eat warm raw bread.
Spread a hearty serving of ricotta on each.
On top of that goes some cherry jelly. Get the fancy kind if, for example, you just got the news that all of your stuff is trapped in an overturned moving truck in Tennessee.
Eat while still in bed, sulking, and also hiding from the cold in a rather poorly-insulated home.
Shit to listen to
I loved this song from the 50 Shades soundtrack because I am a garbage person. (The soundtrack, by and large, is really good!)
A man built a furby organ, so, you know, enjoy that.
I love the image conjured up by "Miami Garden Club"'s title, and I enjoy the weird, atmospheric song.
"Holy" has been on repeat in my house for like three days; it's great. It reminds me a bit of "The Queer Gospel."
Shit to buy
I signed up for Trunk Club! (I get a referral credit if you use the link, so that's nice.) You fill out a survey and then chat with a stylist for a while and they send you a box of clothes. You get to pull things out of the box if you want to and tell them why, so future boxes are better. I'm interested to see how it goes!
Big Bud Press's store is down the street from my current place, and it is cheerful and colorful and great/weird. I think I might buy one of their t-shirts and I love their jumpsuits, even if I prooooobably don't need to buy one now.
I went to the Time Travel Mart run by 826LA over the weekend, and they have "Fire good ...but also BAD" posters up on the wall and I can't stop laughing at them.
Silvercocoon's jewelry is super pretty and organic looking and I want some.
I read Crazy Rich Asians this weekend and super enjoyed it! Recommend it for anyone who hasn't read it yet who wants something relatively fun and light but not super super short.