Ann Taylor is having a magical 50% off spring styles & sale styles deal, and I am now ~$85 poorer. However, I have a gorgeous dress on the way and don’t even feel guilty because I desperately needed something nice to wear to job interviews. Which--things in that regard are going surprisingly well, too? I have a few semi-promising leads just from doing a bit of networking, so hopefully a decent paying job is on the horizon. Or not too far.
(And if all else fails, I always have the DBA position in Arkansas. ... Not.)
(That moment where you feel more at home somewhere you’ve spent a total of three weeks in vs. somewhere you’ve spent all 23+ years of your life in. Why can’t I just transport all the people I love to the place I love?)
AKA just got back from spending a week and a half in New England. I am struggling to form the words necessary to convey how amazing this last visit was, but here are some highlights:
The New Bedford Whaling Museum, finally meeting @currer-ellis-acton‘s mumsie (despite being wicked nervous tbh), lobster rolls, our new BFF Wilfred the taxidermy seal, and hate watching Fuller House. (We couldn’t make it past one episode, but at least we suffered together.)
Snacks the marshmallow cat, even though she was an asshole and stole my water.
Long conversations about why most people are horrible.
Revisiting Cambridge, spending way too much time in Newbury Comics, CUPCAKES, new books, discovering the delicious chicken salad that lives at Al’s (even if our hands froze as we ate it on the steps in front of the Harvard chapel), and buying friendship teddy bears. They’re named Fitz and Markie Bear because we’re awesome, mature 20somethings.
Finally going to the JFK Library! Jackie’s handwritten notes are hilarious, and were definitely my favorite part. It was also amazing to watch all the footage from JFK’s debates and addresses, and the harbor views were great.
Snarking Picasso at the MFA (sorry Picasso), being starstruck by Van Gogh, and discovering how wonderful John Singer Sargent is. (I am generally not an art person, okay.) Also, establishing head canon about the Lord Byron bust. Don’t ask.
All of our “shady crews” at the aquarium. The creepy sea dragons. The frogfish. The poisonous frogs. The sea lions that really, really did not like each other.
Gorgeous, relaxing jellyfish and adorable turtles.
Eating delicious cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake on a bench near George Washington’s statue in the Public Garden, as a belated birthday celebration for the pride of Mt. Vernon.
Cannolis and champagne cookies from Mike’s, and overpriced (but amazing) chocolate covered strawberries from Modern.
The hilarity that is Primark--like, I don’t even know how to describe our experience there because I feel like everyone will think I’m making it up. The groups of people in business suits. (”And over here, for example, we have $16 jackets! Any more questions on this floor?”) However, despite feeling like we were in a fish bowl, we got some excellent deals. I got a $16 faux leather jacket, a $5 sweatshirt, and $3 unicorn earbuds.
Finally meeting @thenoblestar!!!! (the only reason you’re this far down is because I was attempting to go in order.) Who is sweet and amazing (even if her lack of a Ravenclaw scarf was disappointing) and didn’t hate us for being ~40 minutes late. <3 We rambled about the Marauders in person, ranted about Snape apologists, and had a run-in with a guy who was convinced she had a pet dog in her purse, snapped at me about this, then was “oh sorry, it’s just that someone brought a live squirrel in the other day, and it was dancing on the counters.” Right.
Revisiting the Isabella Stewart Gardner and seeing the new plants in the courtyard, making fun of Whistler (sorry, but his Nocturnes look like chalkboards in gold frames), and coveting everything in the gift shop from macaroon jewelry cases to an illustrated biography of Virginia Woolf.
The Harvard Museum of Natural History! My favorite part was the insect room, and @currer-ellis-acton‘s was the rocks. I thought all the taxidermy would be my favorite, but it just made me sad.
Giggling about eel sauce and avocado salad at midnight, and then texting my sister about eel sauce. Again, we are awesome.
$7 dinners at TGIF!
Many, many inside jokes about Tabitha from Neko Atsume, and dying every time she appeared in one of our yards.
Spending Wednesday (which was gorgeous) on the swings at the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway: rambling, watching the dudebros play Frisbee, and flipping through Washington’s Rules of Civility. (We also did the Freedom Trail that day--or part of it, because we were dormouses and ended up splitting it into two days.)
Developing the term ‘dormouse.’
Dying at ridiculous Take That videos--in particular, one that involved all of them dressed as clowns and riding unicycles. (Or, in Gary’s case, a tricycle.)
Several iced cookie dough coffees from Dunkin.
Champagne cobblers from the Omni Parker, then possibly accidentally summoning a Lyft to a Margaritaville in CT--which was promptly canceled. But the fact is that someone actually responded to that insane request. (Sorry, Charlotte, but this will forever kill me. I am dying right now.)
Just generally being ridiculous and feeling like nothing is off limits.
ETA: Our belated Galentine’s Day celebration at Max Brenner’s, and delicious crepes. HOW DID I LEAVE THIS OUT.
Bonus worst moment: getting yelled at by a random, grumpy lady at the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway because we were not utilizing the swings properly! We stopped swinging for all of (maybe) two minutes and she came over to snap, “this is a swing! if you’re not going to swing, there’s a bench right there!” She said this over and over, as we pointedly ignored her, because clearly something crawled up her ass and died.
Anyway, that was all over the place because it’s impossible to put everything into words (and because I am still tired), but it was a great visit (probably one of our best), and I am very sad to once again be several states away. But thanks to @currer-ellis-acton for having me, and for generally being there through the shitstorm that has been my life the past ~2 years. <3 SEE YOU SOON, HOPEFULLY.
Leaving to meet @currer-ellis-acton at the airport in THREE HOURS. I can’t believe we’re meeting in real life again for a fifth time, and that we’re going to spend Christmas together of all holidays.
P.S. We met for the first time, on a Baby-sitters Club LiveJournal community (ha), almost exactly five years ago today.
Hamilton meme! Alexander Hamilton, Right Hand Man, Satisfied, and Dear Theodosia.
Alexander Hamilton: What are some things you want more people to know about you?
This should come as a surprise to absolutely no one who knows me, but something that really bothers me is my social anxiety. I feel like (and this could be paranoia more than anything) that upon first meeting me people tend to judge me as either stupid (because I have a tendency to freeze up around new people) or snooty (because I don’t open up easily). I want people to know I’m neither of these things. I could list my faults all day long, but I am not judgmental or snooty; if anything, I feel like struggling with anxiety my entire life has made me more open-minded and accepting. Just—I have to feel comfortable around people to be anything remotely resembling myself, and that takes time. A lot of time.
Also, people can’t walk all over me just because I’m quiet. Almost everyone who knows me well has said “you are the most stubborn person I’ve ever met” to me at least once, and.. yeah, that’s probably true. My anxiety holds me back in many ways, which I am trying to change, but I will fight like hell for the people (and things) I want most. One of those things is proving that I am competent, intelligent, and ambitious—and not a pushover.
Bonus: The results of Harry Potter sorting quizzes I’ve taken recently have been overwhelmingly Slytherin.
Right Hand Man: Who do you look up to most?
Easy: my mom. I don’t even know how to properly type about how amazing she is. She basically raised all three of her younger siblings (my grandmother is amazing now, but struggled a lot with mental illness and wasn’t around the most) and has also been through a ton of hardship because of my dad (who is legally blind + has a chronic illness + has had many close calls recently). And it goes without saying she’s a supermom to my sisters and me.
Most recently, she decided to go back to school after 20+ years to make something better of her life + hopefully find a career she’s happy with. I think going back to school after that long sounds terrifying–change is terrifying–so I really admire her for that.
Satisfied: What has been the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make?
The hardest decision was probably when I was deciding if I wanted to be homeschooled after ninth grade (thanks, depression and anxiety) and then also the summer before senior year when I was torn about going back to public school. Honestly, it’s a decision I regret for the most part; but I made it regardless, and my life would be so different in various ways (I don’t even know if I would have gotten into fandom) if I hadn’t gone with homeschooling.
Dear Theodosia: What’s one nice thing you wish you could say to someone right now?
Things might feel like they’ll never be okay right now–life might feel so different and scary and, worse, just pointless–but you’ll be okay. Somehow. Eventually. And you’ll show the world.
Hard. I tookseveral different “what animal are you?” quizzes for inspiration, and I’m stilltorn. My test results include; a cat; an owl; two hermit crabs; and a beaver. I’m an introvert. I tend to like people too much or not at all. I’m stubborn. I have big goals for the future, but can also go through periods of time where I’m incredibly lazy and put pleasure above the real world.
Matcha: do you prefer sunrisesor sunsets?
I… don’treally care? Maybe sunsets, just because there is very little chance of meactually being awake to see a sunrise.
