Happy Halloween!
This is a day late, but who’s really counting? Halloween was marvelous – I spent it with my friend A. and a bunch of her friends. I leave you with two pictures: one of a bumblebee named Bella and one of myself with a hypoallergenic cat.
The end.
Simon’s Cat
Since I currently live with a cat, I find this clip and the artist’s other works incredibly hilarious.
National Equality March
Yesterday was the National Equality March here in DC. I went down to stay with a friend on Saturday night so I could avoid the morning metro crowds. Pictures courtesy of my friend who brought a camera. It was a beautiful day, no cloud in sight, with sunshine and wonderfully moderate temperatures.
Hangin’ out in McPherson square while the rally was just filling up.
The turnout was absolutely HUGE. By the time we started marching (at noon), the rally stretched back for several blocks. We didn’t stay for the whole thing, but apparently by the time the march reached the Capitol, there was still TEN BLOCKS worth of people.
One of the many funny signs we saw. We didn’t get a good picture of one sign a gal was holding that said, “IF YOU MET MY GIRLFRIEND, YOU’D WANT TO MARRY HER TOO.” We awww’ed a lot.
Someone gave me a sign. I was leaning on it at this point, waiting for the rally to start. Lots and lots of buses went past us and the tourists gaped.
More signs!
Later we went to Adams Morgan and had lunch there. We saw a whole bunch of people dressed in pink and it turned out there was a 60 mile Breast Cancer Walk going on. Among the many things we saw, there were tricked out motorcycles (one dude had put a lot of pink fuzzy stuff on his motorcycle and a pink lace bra), pink fauxhawks on motorcycles. And then there was this guy:
He was dancing to Will Smith’s Wild Wild West. It was bizarre and hilarious.
Saturday Night
Saturday Night at Casa Dani, because my life is exciting. I am hanging out with my BFF. (And yes, I got my hair cut.)
VICTORY IS MINE!
I have conquered the crimp tool. I can now employ crimps, the tool itself and wire in order to make more jewelry.
I have no life.
Hats!
I love hats. A lot. I’ve found that vintage styles seem to work a lot better for me than even attempting to don those shitty things that are known as baseball caps. When my kid sister and I explored San Francisco, we stumbled across the Goorin Brothers’ hat shop.
If you love me, you’ll buy them for me. (Or drool with me.)
Chugging On
I’ve been saved from spending my whole life brooding only because my mother took us to Montreal and then San Francisco. WorldCon was pretty fabulous – I got to see a bunch of friends I hadn’t seen in AGES and that makes me happy. I did not get to talk to Neil Gaiman but I walked within a few feet of him. That will have to suffice. I don’t want to be that dick fangirl who ruins it for everyone else.
Right around that time, I had a pretty enlightening conversation with my friend Alex who has moved to D.C. She’s a year younger than myself and we’d lost touch a bit in between when we met each other and WorldCon, but we were both pleasantly surprised to discover we still got along famously. My mother had talked to someone and mentioned she had a daughter (yours truly) running around con, and the response of said stranger was, “OH! The hot chick!” Alex mentioned that the second she had started acknowledging that she was, in fact, not ugly but actually attractive, people started looking at her differently. There was a lot of negative feedback.
I’ve decided to do the same. After that conversation, I have decided that yes, I am attractive. Yes, I have my share of talents. No, it’s not going to be easy convincing my subconscious that I am deserving of love, respect and, yes, maybe even admiration for being pretty, but that’s not the main point. The fact is that I can’t spend my whole life hiding and being ashamed of who I am, what I look like. I had a friend who loved me unconditionally and the best thing I can do to honor her is to try and transfer her unconditional adoration into something productive, empowering. (Or maybe just a little silly.)
In San Francisco, I spent some “quality” time with my kid sister and looked at houses with my parents, who are 99% sure they want to retire to San Francisco. There is a house on Euclid in Berkeley that looked extremely promising. It was built in 1992 on an “earthquake proof” foundation, is a mile away from the UC Berkeley campus (where I had an interview, hence the formalish dress), is sound-proof and wonderfully located. The feel is similar to our current house in Heidelberg; my parents love it. It had only been on the market for three days when we went to view it. We’re hoping the offer will go through.
I got my hair cut in San Francisco because I decided it was time for a change. I decided this an hour before we went off in search for a stylist with free time on their hands. And then, the same night, I colored it and purchased a supervillain t-shirt the next day while exploring San Francisco and its crappy Museum of Modern Art with my long-time friend Jerri.
I met Meg and her friend Summer, who took me down to San Francisco’s Pier 39 to see sea lions. I love sea lions. I love anything that is basically the nautical equivalent of the retriever brand of dog. They are total hams, very vocal and pretty damn smelly, but extremely adorable. We tried on a bunch of silly hats while I pretended to look serious and classy in mine. I garnered a bunch of compliments for said hat and am sad that I did not purchase that $25 Kentucky Derby style hat that looked absolutely smashing on me. I am making due with my cloche, though.
We arrived back in England around noon today and I finally, FINALLY have a dental appointment for tomorrow morning. With the guy who dismissed my complaints about my tooth, which resulted in me living off painkillers for about two weeks. My tooth, by the way, is still not better. I am going to murder him if he gives me the holier-than-thou shit again. Oh, and my mom will be in the room with me. I think she can hurt him a great deal more than I ever could.
I might try and come up with a more comprehensive summary of my last two weeks, but my mind is blurry with lack of sleep. I decided you guys looking at pictures would be a lot more interesting.
Shiny Time
So, in order to kill some time this week, my aunt and I stopped by Michael’s because they were having a huge-ass sale yesterday. My aunt’s been making a lot of jewelry lately, so I thought I might try my hand at it as well. I am not particularly good or talented at it, but the results are pleasing enough and now I actually have, you know, shit to wear and gifts to give. Onwards!
Update! Adding these two that I made earlier today.
An Act of Kindness
My aunt is a devout Catholic. She is very involved in her church – she goes to mass every Sunday and sometimes even on Saturday, she teaches ESL classes there and cantors Tuesday Novina masses. She sings in both of the church’s choirs, teaches the children’s hand bell choir and the adult bell choir. I hardly see her in the evenings for all this.
So. The Novina mass. She and her accompanist usually are the last to leave the church, which means they need to lock up. Tonight, her accompanist had to leave because she had family in town. My aunt locked up the church.
On her way out, she found a stack of anti-same sex marriage propaganda flyers. She is a good woman. She took them and “put them where they belonged.”
Where that might be?
Our dumpster.
The Life and Times 