Emchap's Shit from the Internet 8/23/17 🍠
My time in Atlanta is at an end (or will be in the next few hours—I'm writing this from my dad's living room before preparing to pack up and head out). I have seen so many people this week who I love so much, and I am at the same time desperate to be back with my cat and to sleep in my bed and to see my office friends.
While I've been here, I've been live-documenting who I've run into and the interconnected webs of folks that caused me to take a geographical step back in the first place (by which I mean I've been live-Slacking a friend updates about people he does not know all week; being friends with me is Fun). In no particular order:
Walking down the street past a gallery where an ex-boyfriend bought me art that still hangs in my apartment and a restaurant where I watched 2 different Democratic candidates lose gubernatorial races, I got a text from an old coworker asking if he'd seen me walking down the street. I asked if he'd be in my old office the next day. He said no, because was going to be doing orientation activities at the tiny two-year college we both attended.
I got drinks with a couple that I find just completely delightful and who I have known one member of for a literal decade. He was the first boy I ever danced with, and in the middle of it he said, "Good. Now pretend your arms aren't dead." I have thought of this approximately every time I've dance since. As we were drinking he and his wife mentioned one of their good friends, a woman I know through them but who used to work at my old office (the one my friend wasn't going to be at for orientation reasons); that friend is on an arts non-profit board with my Last Big Deal Ex.
A man who used to work at my old office (and who then followed me as a volunteer at the theatre where I spent two nights a week for probably the last two years of my time in Atlanta, and who attended my tiny two-year college ten years before I did) invited me to a sketch show. One of the performers was a boy I had a crush on in high school AP Physics, which was a whole disconcerting Thing. My friend drove me to a subscriber party for a blog I was paid to write for for a bit, whose owner is married to another former coworker from that same office. My dad and his date were attending the same party, which I hadn't realized until essentially the morning of. (They subscribe to the blog.)
It is nice, now that I've been away for a year and a half, to realize that the sense of claustrophobia I felt in my last year of Atlanta wasn't in my head—the folks around me really did happen to be connected in a very dense web. New York definitely isn't my forever home, and we'll see if I renew my lease there next year, but at the very least getting to step away from that web has been the breather I needed.
Shit to read
One of my favorite people joked the other week that women have two modes: being told to dump their garbage partners, and telling their friends to dump their garbage partners. Dump your boyfriend if he's a Nazi.
DID YOU KNOW THERE WAS AN EVOLUTIONARY DEAD END GROUP OF BIRDS CALLED OPPOSITE BIRDS.
I am obsessed with bullet journals because they are sort of mesmerizing as a Culture (as opposed to the original "way to list shit if you like rulers"). This gentle poking at men who bullet journal is good.
This is an art project where someone knits costumes for pigeons and it is amazing.
This piece on Dylann Roof is tremendous.
Shit to eat
Drive south.
Find a Waffle House.
In that Waffle House, order hashbrowns.
You'll need to specify that you want them smothered, covered, diced, and capped.
Put some ketchup on there.
Send me a photo and die happy.
Shit to listen to
There is a new song from Lizzo and the video is a fucking treat.
Shit to buy
A friend has asked me to recommend a strapless brawr for the well-endowed here, but I am stymied by the fact that my solution there has just been to Not because life is short and so is my neck in a way that looks bad in strapless. Do you have feelings about this? Please send me your recommendations.
I just bought a smaller version of this R. Land piece; super recommend. (Or just come to my apartment and look at it, if we have that sort of relationship.)
I just ordered a pair of these jeans (they're size-inclusive premium denim; can't vouch for the quality yet). Join me.