Day 1: Give us a quick snapshot of your life right at this moment

A quick snapshot of my life. Well, above is a picture of my face and shoulders, so this is what the top quarter of me looks like. It includes a new pair of glasses.

Basic facts.
I'm about 5'10". There may be some fractions more or less (I think less?) but 5'10" is close enough. My eyes are blueish, with a tendency toward grey. I have boring light brown hair that recently was a glorious blue (and will be again one day). I weigh....shoot, I have no idea. But it's a lot. Probably over 300? idk. I am built with a tendency toward top-heaviness which I inherited from my father's family.

Job facts.
I work for a company called Boostability. They perform SEO work for small businesses. I did not know what SEO stood for when I applied for this job. I had to google it. It stands for Search Engine Optimization. Then I had to google what that meant. It means doing stuff that encourages Google to rank your website on the first page of search results on particular keyword searches that are relevant to you. For instance, my blog would be relevant to a search for, say, "existential rambling blog". I now know how I could convince Google that I am probably the most relevant blog for that term and show up as the #1 result for that search. Though I don't think I'm going to do that. Anyway, I work for Boostability. Specifically, I am the "Onboarding Specialist" for the Sensis team, which means I set up the new accounts and I work with Australians. I work ridiculous hours, which happen to align with Melbourne business hours (Sun-Thurs 3-12). I get called "sweetheart' a lot by the older men I speak to. I find it charming. I also sometimes get hit on by some of the older men I speak to. I find that hilarious. I have a really great team I get to work with. And I have three awesome bosses. I used to have two awesome bosses and one mediocre boss, but then he got "downsized" and replaced with a fully awesome boss. #lifeisharshinthewild

Religious facts.
Ugh. Let's not and say we did. So much work.

Personal facts.
I turned 30 in September. I struggle with the existential angst of someone who grew up being told she has all the potential and who has ultimately done almost nothing with it. I have a cat name Oliver Tesla Tucci who I named after Oliver Platt, Nicola Tesla, and Stanley Tucci (all men that I feel like are completely underrated in their fields). If you don't follow me on facebook or instagram (and if that is case, how did you even find this blog? did you search "existential rambling blog"?) then you haven't seen a picture of him. LET ME FIX THAT RIGHT NOW! (if you do follow me you had to be expecting this)

this is the picture I just used to make my custom case for my new phone. 

this is the picture I almost used for my new phone case. I only meant to upload this one, but google gave me both. Clearly Google appreciates how adorable my cat is and who am I to say google nay. 

As an almost complete shut-in, Oliver basically constitutes my significant other. Yesterday he rode on my shoulders as I danced to this song

which I am currently obsessed with. He enjoys dancing with me, probably because I don't make him do it too often.

I live in a basement apartment with Oliver, a hedgehog named Phoebe, a hamster name Sophie, and the thudding noises of children upstairs as roommates. Currently, all of my plants are dying from lack of sunlight and it is making me very depressed.

Because I work such ridiculous hours, I do not do much socially. To be fair, I didn't do much socially even when I didn't work ridiculous hours. But it's nice to have something to blame that on now. I went on two dates this year with a man I met on Tinder. I can't actually remember his name now, but he was a very tiny man who was very nice and very interested in hooking up with me. After two dates I asked my coworker to send him an "it's not gonna work out text". He handled it very gracefully. I haven't really used Tinder since. I am superlatively bad at dating.

Other things.

Mostly just because I want to write them down and I'm writing right now, here are some of my goals for the coming year.

• I want to be more productive. I don't want to just sit and browse facebook all day every day. I want to create things. Even if they're things that other people could have created better (historically one of my big blocks when trying to create). Some of the projects I would like to complete this year are
• build another book shelf to replace the ugly plastic shelves I'm currently using
• figure out some way to store and display all my beautiful scarves
• take up painting again
• make something to hang over my couch to hide the weird painted shut panel in the wall
• read at least 3 new books I've never read before (not just reread my favorites over again)
• write another story, even if it sucks
• make my bed every morning
• clean the house every Saturday
• Take charge of my life more. I want to actually plan out my days so I don't get to the end of them and realize that I basically didn't do anything at all. Toward this goal I would like to
• every Sunday sit down and write out everything I'd like to accomplish that week and then break that up into realistic daily to-do lists
• use the gym membership that Boostability subsidizes for me (eurgh)
• by the end of the year I would like to not be eating fast food save as a very rare treat. 
• as a first step to this, and part of my previous goal about consciously taking charge of my life, in February I'm going to try creating weekly menu plans.
• write to Danielle at least every other month. Also write to Tori (but first get her address because I lost it)

So there you have it. A basic overview of my life...ish...with an outline of how I'd like my year to progress. If you have a deep burning question about something I did not mention, feel free to comment and ask. The comment section is readable now, with this new blog theme. So that's nice. 

A New 30 In 30 Challenge!

Oh hey there friends. It appears that I have not posted on my blog since July of last year. That is kind of terrible. On the other hand, I moved into a new apartment in August of last year, and that apartment didn't really get internet until a week or two ago. So there are reasons. I guess. (We're not going to talk about the fact that I wrote a grand total of 3 posts in 2016)

Anyway, here I am again. With a new blog template! Literally the first time I've updated the template since I created this blog in 2010 (7 YEARS AGO??!!).

*ahem*

Two of my work friends invited me to join them in a 30 day challenge in January. One is going to try to paint every day for 30 days. The other is going to bake every day. My goal was to write/post on my blog every day. As it is January 7th, you may safely assume that I got off to a very good start on this. But whatever, I'll just start now. No point fussing.

I did a 30 day blog posting challenge a couple of years ago, as some people might remember. I used a prompt list and by the end I had learned one thing: that prompt list was incredibly stupid. On day 10, in fact, the prompt was so stupid that instead I decided to write my own list. And I'm going to be honest, my beans should be about done cooking by now and I'm really hungry. I don't really want to sit here and try to think of a new list of 30 prompts when I have one ready made. Plus I went back and re-read it and I still like most of the prompts. So....yeah. Gonna just use the old one.

But I'm gonna add a twist. If anyone has anything they really want me to write about (real things, imaginary things, whatever...you know I am good at having opinions about things) they should comment somewhere I'll see it (here, fbook, g+) and I'll add it in to the mix. Maybe I'll replace a post I'm not feeling one day, or maybe I'll just keep on going. And if I myself think of something I'd rather write about, well then I'll write about it. Because I'm the boss of me.

Also, if anyone has any interest in knowing what is coming up, or if maybe you want to take part in my list of blogging prompts yourself and are too lazy to go find it (no judgement, plus I touched this one up) I am posting it below. It was in response to a list of "getting to know you" prompts, so it tends in that direction.

1. Give us a quick snapshot of your life right at this moment
2. Where did you grow up?  Share some memories...
3. What were your top 3 favorite movies growing up?
4. What is your favorite fairy tale and why?
5. What is your favorite non-big-5 holiday (not Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, New Year, or Easter) and why?
6. Which literary world would you pick to live in instead of reality, and why?  Remember, you get alllll the parts of your chosen world, bad as well as good.
7. What books are you most looking forward to sharing with your children and why?
8. What superhero do you wish was your best friend and why?  Are there different versions of this hero? If so, which version of him or her are you choosing?
9. What are the top five most shameful songs in your collection?
10. What always makes you cry? Song/movie/story/commercial/etc
11. If you were to suddenly develop a mental illness, which is most likely for your personality?
12. If you had to have a mental illness, but you got to pick, which would you pick?
13. What are your top 3-5 favorite jokes?
14. What is your dream career (regardless of its actual existence)?
15. What is one random, non-touristy place you want to visit? Why?
16. What are your top 5 secretly favorite features/abilities/attributes about yourself?
17. Is there anything you wish people knew about you?
18. What is your weirdest food eccentricity?
19. What are five fantasy items you'd love to have in your wardrobe if you had the money?
20. What is your best story?
21. Which Disney film is your favorite and why?
22. What's the best meal you've ever eaten and why?
23. What is one skill you wish you had the time/money/resources to learn?
24. If you could instantly change one single thing about yourself what would it be? How do you feel about that?
25. What are your top 5 biggest pet peeves?
26. Is there anything you secretly love/want that you're afraid to admit because you don't think people will think it is "you"?  (does this even make sense?)
27. Where are your top 3 dream cities to live in and why?
28. You showed up to work with a black eye...how did you get it?  
29. You have a time machine. Where is the first place you go?
30. What are 5 songs you love to belt out in the car?

Several Peas in my Podcast

This week has been a headlong dive into the world of NPR podcasts.  Previously my engagement with the medium was limited to the occasional Wait Wait Don't Tell Me episode and Serial.  But since Monday they're almost all I have listened to all day at work.  I've listened to all of Invisibilia, and many hours of Radiolab, This American Life, 99% Invisible, and Theoretically Speaking (these last two are technically not NPR podcasts but definitely of the same genus).  I learned about the decline of the American automobile industry, filming on location in LA, infant organ donation (eyes in particular), the international American Visa lottery and consequent process of emigration from Kenya to the US, echolocation and the way it gives literal sight to the blind, the largest animals ever to walk, fly, and swim on earth (the blue whale, btw, is the overall winner of that game and amazingly still exists today), the Mau Mau uprising against British Empire, and the history and importance of the "Freudian couch" to the world of psychology.  These are a few of the things I have learned.  

this, by the way, is the answer to "what is the largest animal to ever fly?"
it is an azhdarchid pterosaur and they were comparable in size to giraffes
and I'm sorry that you won't be able to sleep tonight.

Traditionally I have helped myself pass the time at work with TV shows and movies.  I have been known to blast through entire seasons in one day if circumstances line up right, and I'm ok with this.  Y'all know I love stories.  And I'm sure I'll go back to watching all the different shows I'm working on (Buffy, Blue Bloods, ST:TNG, The Office, Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, Once Upon A Time, Bones, Supernatural, and Criminal Minds, among others) eventually.   

In my initial enthusiasm I tried out several additional programs that I quickly discarded.  I find that what I really enjoy are the shows that pick a specific idea, theme, or item and dig into it.  Though there are only 6 episodes thusfar, Invisibilia has become my favorite.  It focuses on "the invisible forces which influence human behavior".  Every episode was engrossing!

As I've steeped myself in them for the last couple of days, I have discovered that the podcasts I'm listening to are an entirely different experience than my usual TV marathons.  It must be admitted that I view TV passively.  I almost never break a show down and analyze it.  Rarely is my mind sparked by an interesting idea.  On the contrary, my brain has a tendency to simply shut off and I am mindlessly entertained.  In contrast, I have found myself invigorated by the shows I've listened to this week.  

It's a combination of several factors I think.  I have the initial enjoyment of learning something new, often on a topic I'd never have otherwise encountered.  My secondary enjoyment is in thinking further on the ideas I've just learned about--finding my own implications and possibilities not necessarily elaborated on the show.  And lastly, I am rediscovering my own love of information which has been dormant for kind of a long time I'm realizing.  I listen to these shows and I want to make my own.  Pick my own obscure topics to research and report on.  I'm remembering my interest in fairy tales and storytelling mechanics and wondering if I could put together a show about those things.  I'm writing this blog post after two months of blog neglect.

this has nothing to do with anything, but its funny and I couldn't find
a Heart and Brain about going to the gym.

Sometimes I see people on facebook posting statuses about how they've been slacking on their workouts, but they finally got back in the gym, and it feels so great!  I don't think I'm ever going to be one of those people.  Going to the gym will always suck.  But diving into hours of information for the love of information is reminding me that I do love working out my brain. 

And that I've been slacking on that for a while.  

And it feels really really great give my brain a little stretch.

Nesting in the Nest

Well, as it's been just shy of two weeks since I moved into my new place, I suppose it's time I posted an update about it.  I tried to come up with just the right name for it and I was drifting towards "treehouse" but then I remembered that my friend Katie Pilkington calls her place her treehouse and even though I'm sure she wouldn't mind me using the name too (especially since she lives literally all the way across the country), I still felt like a fourth grade copycat.  So instead I've settled on calling it my nest.  And while a part of me rebels against that name as being far too cutesy for me, another, louder part of me says that cutesy can go screw itself because I can use whatever words I want.  So "nest" it is.

And guys, can I just say...I absofreakinglutely love it.  

I never realized just how disconnected I've been from all of my communal homes until I had one that was all mine that I could really invest in.  It actively makes me happy to wash my dishes and to fold my laundry and to do all the other chores I've typically hated.  Because I know that I am doing them for myself, and if I leave and come back home, everything will still be in exactly the same state I left it.  It is seriously unbelievable what a difference it turns out that makes to me.

And part of my love is the specific apartment I've found.  If I was in a generic modern place I don't think I would feel half so happy.  But I'm not in a generic cookie-cutter apartment.  I finally stopped a few days ago and actually looked at the historical plate beside the door.  This building was built at the end of the 19th century.  That's right, not the last century, but the one before.  That is amazing!  And as a person who has always dreamed of living in an old building, I cannot imagine a more perfect place for me.

Which is not to say that my little nest doesn't have it's...eccentricities.  As I've said several times, the small irritations make the overall enjoyment all the sweeter.  And my little nest does indeed have it's few annoyances.  Mostly these exist in the bathroom, the one aspect of my little home that I find difficult to deal with.  I was going to enumerate on this point, but I decided that if you really want to hear my struggles, you can just ask me.  Otherwise we'll just say...it is an ongoing adjustment, and leave it at that.

Interestingly, a very large part of what I love about my place is all the plans I have for improving it.  Every time I think about this I hear the line in Leap Year when Amy Adams is talking about the apartment she's trying to get and she says "It's perfect, and I already know exactly how I'm going to change it."  But I think the prospect of being able to have home improvement projects is a significant part of the appeal of this place.  All part of that investing I was talking about. 

Anyway, currently, my list of major projects for this place is as follows:

• paint the main room
• build a loft stand for my bed
• either buy a bookshelf or install shelves to get my boxes of books and movies off the floor
• put shelves in the bathroom

The last item is important, but not pressing so I don't really worry about it.  But the first three have been stressing me out since I moved in.  Obvious as it seems, I had to sit down the other night and specifically list out and order my projects so that I could start to come to grips with them.  Simply realizing that I had to paint first before I did anything else was a big deal.  It gives me a place to start and a timeline: I want my dad to help me build my bed stand, and my parents are planning on coming down for a visit in May, so that means I have to get my apartment painted by the end of April.  Ok.

So that is where I am right now.  My plan for tomorrow is to go to the Sherwin Williams next door and pick out the colors I want to paint and bring them 'round for a final sign off from my landlord (if she approves my colors then she will reimburse me for the cost of the paint).  I'm also hoping to start the process of taping everything off tomorrow.  Possibly.  I might just get the colors finalized because baby steps help me not get overwhelmed and just give up.  If I can break the painting task up into micro tasks then hopefully I can actually accomplish it.  But I will say, it is nice to have actual projects that have actual value and discernable results.  One of the perpetual struggles of my life the last few months is an overwhelming sense of "what is even the point of this???"  But fixing up my apartment?  I can definitely see the point to that! 

So...yeah.  That's what is up.  Unfortunately, it's kind of impossible for my place to look clean and neat right now, so I don't really want to post any pictures yet.  Not till they can be the before of the "before and after" series.  But eventually, if you are interested, you shall have some.  

If you're not interested then I have to ask you why you're even here reading this post...?

Thoughts on a night out...

Did you listen to that song?  If not, please stop reading for a second, scroll back up, and click play.  Then you may continue reading.

Tonight I attended the Punch Brother's show in Park City.  The song you should now be listening to was the song with which they opened their set and it was, if you can believe it, even better in person than that recording.

I was able to attend because of the truly magnificent generosity of my dear Matt, who decided that I needed to experience Punch Brothers live and so bought me a ticket as a birthday gift (somewhat prematurely, as my birthday is not till September).

Technically he bought me two tickets, though I intend to repay him for the second.  The goal was for me to bring someone to the show with me.  Unfortunately, it turns out that none of my friends love me enough to come see a band in Park City that most of them have never heard of, which hurt to discover, btw you guys (or, in the case of a few, they HAD heard of the band, they just had lame excuses like poverty or hanging out with their wife's sister who was in town for a short while).

As such, I ended up attending alone.  Which was fine except for the part where all of my witty conversation and observations were wasted with no one to hear and inevitably appreciate them. Which is why I'm sharing them with you all now.

So, without further ado, here is a small selection of the conversations I WOULD have had tonight, had I had anyone to have them with....

....wow...it turns out I did not need to leave nearly so early to get up here.  How shall I pass the hour and 45 minutes until the show starts?  Staring at nothing?  Sounds good....

....these people in front of me literally just pulled out 5 bottles of wine...

....This opening act is so boring that I'm daydreaming about getting a blood clot in my leg from this chair so I can leave to go take care of it...

....HOLY COW I LITERALLY CANNOT HANDLE WHAT AMAZING MUSICIANS THESE MEN ARE!!!....

mostly a picture of the drunk people in front of me, but also of the band all tiny at the front

....dude seriously, this song is so great....

....Chris Thile!  So nerdy!  So adorable!  Might very possibly be the most awkward dancer in the entire world.  Half the time he dances like Scott Pilgrim, the other half like he just needs to pee reeeeeally bad.  He is an even more awkward dancer than Chris Martin....

....Dear Utah, please stop being so tacky and leaving 10-40 minutes early so you can "beat the traffic"....

....And THAT is how you play a bass solo!....

....My mind is still being blown by these guys.  Totes 100% worth it!....

....WHAAAA????  Is he seriously busting out his Bach right now?!  From memory of course.  And this huge crowd of drunk people is actually digging it?  Aw yissssss....


....they drank all five bottles of wine, one bottle per person.  How are they getting home?....

....SHIRT!....

....Oh crap.  I may never get home.  I am 1000% lost on this mountain.  I will die here.  I wonder if anyone besides my mom will miss me.  Oh, this is the road I'm supposed to be on.  Ok, we're good....

....Dear Heber McDonald's:  You might have very fancy bathrooms and a confusing layout, but you gave me diet Dr. Pepper (so nasty) and onions on my hamburger.  We are not friends.....

....Who knew driving Heber canyon at night would be so fun!  I should maybe slow down?  I'll probably definitely get a ticket if a cop sees me.  And animals?  But...Gypsy Kings are singing "I Did It My Way" in Spanish and my speeds remain marginally safe and if I do crash at least there's no one else in the car to die with me! WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prompt 28: My Favorite Movie

nope.

movies I really like

• The Giant Mechanical Man
• Moulin Rouge
• The Fall
• Ever After
• The Dark Knight
• V for Vendetta
• You've Got Mail
• one BILLION others

Prompt 25: What's In Your Purse?

Though it is, in fact, a pretty large purse, there is really hardly anything in it.

• wallet
• keys
• tiny mirror
• box of tic tacs
• headphones
• partial roll of tums
• if I'm going anywhere, typically my phone is in it as well
• on Sundays I have my journal
• sometimes I have my iPad with me

I'm not good at being one of those people who is prepared for any and everything with their purse.  For that you want Kara.  

Prompt 22: 15 Things About Myself

1. I love twinkle lights.  If I could I would have them everywhere always, especially outside
2. I would rather wash the dishes then put them away
3. I am 27 years old, turning 28 in September.  Somehow I manage to have severe anxiety about running out of time in my life whilst also kind of looking forward to getting old
4. I get what I think are panic attacks, but I'm not actually sure...
5. I did not learn to ride a bike till I was 12 or 13, nor did I get my driver's license till I was 18
6. I actually like a simple McDonald's hamburger now and then (#judgeme)
7. I have a mole right in the middle of my sternum that I share with my mother, my grandmother, and I believe my Aunt Vickie as well...though I think mom got hers removed a few years back.
8. (numbers 9-14 were submitted by Taka and Michelle because that's more interesting than just having me write)Emily has amazing taste in music
9. Emily has the most extensive movie knowledge of anyone ever (this is not true)
10. Emily only washes dishes by hand
11. Emily is very well-read (only sort of true...so many more books for me to read!)
12. Emily can have entire conversations using only movie quotes
13. Emily gives the best commentary during movies (I could find several people to disagree with this statement)
14. Road trips with Emily will inevitably include a Disney sing-a-long (as well as Mika and Queen)
15. Emily cannot handle spicy food (this is 100% true, but on the other hand I can out-sour everyone I've ever met)

Prompt 18: Something I Crave A Lot

Things I crave a lot:

• sleep
• sugar
• cookies
• ice cream
• otter pops
• white rabbit milk flavored candies
• Good'n'Plenty
• various other candy
• milk
• 2%
• chocolate
• random movies/books/songs
• long drives
• meat
• dancing
• movement
• connection
• good conversation
• affection
• alone time
• fall

that seems like a pretty good list for being right off the top of my head...

prompt 16: My Celebrity Crush

This is a really hard question because I have many celebrity crushes and they change often.  For instance, today I put on Law and Order: SVU to play in the background whilst I was at work and, as always happens when I watch that show, I fell deeply in love with the magnificent Elliot Stabler aka Christopher Meloni

look at these babies...so silly

I'll be honest, I don't think you could find a more viscerally attractive man to me than Elliot Stabler.  He's big and strong and about as protective as it gets and I am a total sucker for that.

Then again, as I admitted in an earlier post, I absolutely have a thing for Chris Thile

I find him nerdy and adorable and I have this weird dream of us singing together cause I think our voices would match really well.  And, I'll point out that he's about as opposite Chris Meloni as you can get.

Before I started watching L&O:SVU, however, I was watching Elementary.  In my defense, I fell in love with Jonny Lee Miller several years ago when I saw him in...Emma and Mansfield Park and Eli Stone.  But this show has not helped with the obsession.  Because tattoos!  And scruff!

But I originally fell in love with him for his eyes.  I mean...look at them (cause those pictures up there are useless except for the tattoos)

Of course, if we're gonna talk about kind of goofy looking British men who I love passionately, you know who must be included

Objectively I can understand that he's not actually an especially handsome man, but that doesn't change the fact that I absolutely love his face and his all of him and would definitely make out with him at a party and try to convince him that we should go out for dinner.

Interestingly, as I'm thinking about all of these, most of these guys, with the marked exception of Meloni, are guys that I find adorable rather than "sexy" (so to speak).  Thus, this next guy fits right in

You literally cannot get more adorable than Lee Pace.  Like...it's physically impossible.  With his sweet grin and gigantic eyebrows and his chucks....he is truly the pinnacle of adorable man-person.

But let's get crazy, cause you know I have some random people on this list...

but only young Gene Wilder...he got scary in his old age

I honestly believe that young Tim Robbins is my celebrity soulmate

this guy won me over when he played young Captain Picard and
if he were taller I would be hopeless

Anyway, I can't think of any more legitimate crushes off the top of my head.  That is, I could come up with an endless stream of guys I think are attractive, but these are the guys I fantasize about meeting by chance and the two of us fall madly in love and get married and defy Hollywood pressures to remain happily married for forever.  Which is not to say that this list is complete.  If I think of any more I'll be sure to come update it.  And I haven't even touched the topic of lady crushes, which is a whole other thing...

next up: Post 17: a photo of me and my family


ATTENTION!

not long after I wrote this I cam across this picture

on this site.

I feel that it is important to include Fass here because, setting aside the issue of height, because I think he's a bit compact....he is kind of a perfect looking man.  I mean.  Really.  Look at his face.  Look at it.  and his shoulders.  and his hands.  and his all of him.  That man is the essence of masculine beauty right there.

Prompt 11: What is in My Makeup Bag

The ratio here seems to be one decent prompt to three incredibly stupid ones.  But I've decided to be more proactive.  Let's see if I can make this post even a little bit interesting, shall we?  Here we go

First and foremost, I'm writing this at work which means that I'm going entirely off memory...so who knows how accurate this is.  Because much more important than what is IN my makeup bag is how often I use those contents.  And the answer to that implied question is: not very often.  About once a week, really, on Sundays when I'm expected to look like I at least tried a little bit.  Sometimes I'll wear makeup during the week...usually to remind myself that I am, in fact, a human and not a slug.  You'd be surprised how often I get confused on that fact.

As for what is in it, I think there are more things that I literally never use than things that I do.  Because my makeup pretty much consists exclusively of eyeliner, mascara, and eyeshadow.  If I am feeling ridiculously extravagant I might use an eyebrow pencil to give myself entire eyebrows, because typically my eyebrows look like this:

I drew this...cuz I'm an artist...or something...

Of those things that I do use, I think I have four or five eyesadows which are simply variations of these colors:

Why?  Because I have blue eyes.  And orange is a complementary color to blue, which means that if I paint orange (or in this case, metallic orange, aka copper/gold) around my eyeballs my blue eyes look even more blue.  That and I just am instinctively drawn to these colors.  Because I have gone to the store several times with the purposeful determination that I will buy eyeshadow that is NOT these colors...and I end up buying yet more coppers/golds.  It's a sickness...

I also have just recently discovered a magical new kind of eyeliner that has revolutionized my entire concept of wearing makeup.  Which is eyeliner that comes in a tiny pot that you put on with a very tiny paintbrush.  It turns out that paintbrushes are better than crayons (what I had previously been using) for creating the very popular "winged eyeliner" look which I have been striving to achieve for some time now.

possibly the most literal interpretation of anything I've ever seen
and therefore utterly awesome

Before the winging efforts, my eyeliner strategy has always included a certain amount of smudging.  I was delighted to discover that my pots of eyeliner also lend themselves to this practice equally well.  I fell like I've been wasting my life up till now...

My mascara is some wretched thing in a violently purple capsule.  I hate it.  But since I paid $8 for it I am forcing myself to use it up.  It's depressing.

so much for the things I actually use.  As for things I don't use, let's see if I can remember any...

I believe there is one shoddy pair of tweezers that I never use because they are ineffective.  There is a strange little tool that my mother gave me years ago that I think is for the...judicious removal of blemishes.  I think there are a couple sample size pots of Burts Bees products because the bag I use was originally a travel bag full of Burts Bees creams and salves.  I think there's a wooden stick for maintaining your cuticles.  And I think there's some various MaryKay products that I was given when I graduated from high school that have been used maybe twice ever.

And there you have it.  I don't think I succeeded in making this stupid prompt a nevertheless enjoyable read, but I got it written.  Next up is prompt 12: a photograph of the town I live in.  psh.

Prompt 10: The Prompt Was Stupid So I'm Making Up My Own....

...and it is to write my own 30 prompts.  Because these ones have been super ridiculous.  I think that next month I'll try this challenge again, but with these prompts because this way I know they'll be interesting (at least to me)

1. Where did you grow up?  Share some memories...
2. How do you best demonstrate your cooking skillz?  If you literally have zero skillz, then what is your best food-related story?
3. What were your top 3 favorite movies growing up?
4. What is your favorite fairy tale and why?
5. What is your favorite non-big-5 holiday (not Christmas, Halloween, New Year, or Easter) and why?
6. Which literary world would you pick to live in instead of reality, and why?  Remember, you get alllll the parts of your chosen world, good as well as bad.
7. What books are you most looking forward to sharing with your children and why?
8. What superhero do you wish was your best friends with and why?  Also, which version of him or her?
9. What are the bottom five most shameful songs in your collection?
10. What always makes you cry? Song/movie/story/commercial/etc
11. If you were to suddenly develop a mental illness, which is most likely for your personality?
12. If you had to have a mental illness, but you got to pick, which would you pick?
13. What are your top 3-5 favorite jokes?
14. What is your dream career (regardless of its actual existence)?
15. What is one random, non-touristy place you want to visit?
16. What are your top 5 secretly favorite features/abilities/attributes about yourself?
17. Is there anything you wish people knew about you?
18. What is your weirdest food eccentricity?
19. What are your five favorite fantasy wardrobe items?
20. What is your best story?
21. Which Disney film is your favorite and why?
22. What's the best meal you've ever eaten and why?
23. What is one skill you wish you had the time/money/resources to learn?
24. If you could instantly change one single thing about yourself what would it be? How do you feel about that?
25. What are your top 5 biggest pet peeves?
26. Is there anything you secretly love/want that you're afraid to admit because you don't think people will think it is "you"?  (does this even make sense?)
27. Where are your top 3 dream cities to live in and why?
28. You showed up to work with a black eye...how did you get it?  
29. The Doctor shows up.  After the obligatory world-saving, where is the first place you'd go?
30. What are 5 songs you love to belt out in the car?  

Some things I like...

I really like when intersecting sidewalks don't meet at the outermost edge of the corner.  It's something you only see on old streets, typically when the walk itself is narrow, rumpled with 20 years of jostling tree roots, and befriended by grass on both sides.  Somehow, taking those extra two steps into the block before you turn to cross the street feels like a microcosm of nostalgic small-town life.  Back when people had the time and the openness to connect even with the unimportant and the fleeting.  They didn't perch on the extreme-most edge of a sea of impersonal concrete, nearer the passing cars than any human contact or living thing.  Maybe it's a lot to read in to a street corner, but it's what I felt tonight walking home.

and then imagine an intersecting sidewalk equally set in to the block

I like The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.  I could probably even say I'm more than a little obsessed with them just now.   They're brilliant and clever and unbelievably well-made.  You can feel and see and otherwise experience all the effort and care that went into them at every turn.  And they made Pride and Prejudice feel like a fresh, new story, which is no small achievement.  I deeply wish there was someone I could discuss them with in the nauseatingly analytic detail I love so much.

please everyone go experience this project.  Google "the lizzie bennet diaries"

I like brick buildings, particularly homes and schools.  There is a comfortable elegance to brick that is unique.  Brick-built schools typically avoid that prison look of so many schools built out of more contemporary mediums.  Brick houses feel warm and inviting and...settled.  It's a beautiful material.

When I go out walking at night it is usually very late.  I love how quiet the city gets and how many secret details, usually masked by the busyness of daylight, you can discover.  But I also like walking in the early evening.  Unlike late night walking, you still hear the noises of people, but the sounds are calmer, homier, and more personal than daytime sounds.

I like the feeling of solitude surrounded by communal strangers.  To be aloof, sitting alone at a table, while still engaging in the loosest possible network of unknown people who shared your thought to come to this specific place is a very particular kind of experience that is worth having and paying attention to.  Historically, giving one's hospitality and the act of eating together created a bond of peace that was nearly sacred.  I think society retains the slightest vestige of that mentality today in a subconscious kinship with those around us in a public place like a restaurant.  Or perhaps that is just me.

alone at a table somewhere in that group

And finally, I like this sentence:

"I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from Perdition."

I like that sentence more than I can say and maybe more than it deserves, coming from a cheesy horror show on The CW.  However, regardless of its origins and despite having rather a more Protestant flavor than many Mormons are comfortable with, it feels like the most perfect answer that was ever given to the question "Who is God?".  And as a bonus, it is a phenomenally well-crafted sentence; it is in perfect trochaic meter, it has a beautiful and evocative linguistic flow, and the word choice is just unusual enough to catch your attention without crossing the line into pretentiousness and distracting you from the overall impact of the idea.

Gratitude and stuff...

Things for which I am grateful:

• My hair
• That I have it

• That it is long enough for me to braid, both in the French style and the notFrench style

• That it is in moderately good condition and doesn't look like Yetti hair

guys, the Yettis had warrior's wolftails!

• My car
• It does run….most of the time
• It plays the music
• It gets gas mileage
• My laptop
• The fan no longer makes an angry noise
• The internets
• Pinterest
• Blogs
• webcomics
• The technologies
• Paper
• For to draw
• For to write letters
• For to make origami
• For to light fires
• For to make into a wad

• Massages
• Do you really require more words about this?
• Food
• Sleep
• Sometimes it happens
• Sometimes it doesn't
• My job
• My boss
• That he's one of my best friends

• That he has a very generous concept of personal property

• That he is very very good at bossing and usually doesn't get impatient or annoyed (visibly) with me

• That he willingly helps me with projects like fixing my laptop
• My coworker Zack
• My ever-so-flexible schedule

because sometimes all you can do is lie in a puddle on the floor
but really....this is how flexible my schedule is

• The money I make

• The fact that I don't ever have to deal with anyone but Caleb and Zack…no customer service whatsoever!

• That I have one
• The innumerable perks of working in a house
• Kitchen
• Laundry
• Daylight
• Climate control
• Walk-shoveling opportunities
• Laundry
• The opportunity to drive and not feel guilty
• The SCIENCE!
• My house
• Roommates
• My own room
• Crazy dance party!!!

• Bathroom shared with only one other person
• House!
• Very reasonable rent
• Roommates!
• Ward
• People are my age
• Nice people
• New people
• Dancing
• Connection

fun fact: I know these people!  sort of...their names are
Ben and Gretchen and they're phenomenal dancers
(this picture was found here...yet again this guy is blowing me away with his
blues photography)

• Activity
• Connection
• People
• Music
• New music
• Happy music
• Cathartic music
• Life soundtracks
• Moment appropriate music
• Books
• Always and forever in every way

• Movies
• To pass the time
• To entertain
• To inspire
• To stimulate
• Fall
• The intoxication of crispness
• Winter
• Snow
• Playing in it
• Sitting inside watching it exist
• Hot chocolate
• Delicious food
• Scarves

one of Gingerhaze's feral sweater boys

• Hats
• Christmas!
• New Year's!
• Life

no, a wholelife

• People
• Family
• Moms, dads, aunts and uncles, nieces, grandparents, siblings, cousins
• The friends
• Roommates
• Old!

• New!

• Perpetual, regardless of actual location
• Pseudo-boyfriends
• So. many. of. them.
• Ex-boyfriends
• Not mine

can't let these things go to waste

• Domestic goddesses

• The slightly damaged (most often in the brain, but I'm not picky)

• The listeners

• Smarts
• Not being in school
• Independence
• Memory
• Real
• Not as real
• Eyes
• Even ones that work as poorly as these ones

• Things that make my defective eyes work correctly

• science
• Cars
• Airplanes
• Microwaves/ovens
• Toothbrushes
• Teflon
• Google

for science!
please look at all the other things here

• Beauty
• Silliness

because ridiculous word play is what makes life worth living

• Feelings
• Humor
• Privacy
• Singing
• Writing