First things first, I am on a quest to find the best pizza joint that delivers to my neighborhood. So far I’ve done ok, with only one atrocious misadventure. (Q: How do you royally screw up a cheese pie and lose a customer in less than 2 minutes? A: Deliver it vertically, with confidence!) I’m still not convinced I’ve found the best place, but it could just be because I’m just outside South Philly and have a decent grasp on statistics. (If you live near me and have a joint you like, tell me about it.)

A couple of weeks ago, while digging through one of the many bins that are the sum of my belongings here with me (everything else is still in Vermont) to find something to wear I finally snapped and decided to go buy some actual furniture. I’m a long-term temp and not feeling entirely secure in my employment, however, I can’t stand living like a squatter anymore in my big beautiful freshly painted room with the fancy remote-controlled fireplace. I mean, really! Settle down!

So I went a used furniture shop that is either a cool charity or a front for something shady, and bought a great old all-wood dresser and desk. No assembly required — they are solid. They hooked me up with a delivery service that had them in my room in three hours. Ever since, the first thing I do each morning is check to make sure they’re actually there and weren’t just a beautiful dream. (So far they’ve stuck around.)

Here’s a list of things that’ve happened since I last updated:

• Finally saw Black Swan with my girl gang and it was … perfect.
• My crappy phone died freeing me to enslave myself to a BlackBerry. The phone is dead, long live the phone!
• Made a bunch of new friends all because I went out by myself one night. This is not to be confused with a tale of self-confidence and putting-yourself-out-there winning out. More like, when you want a beer, you should go get a beer because good things happen to those who don’t deny themselves the simple things in life… mostly beer. (A theory that requires more testing.)
• I was the most violently ill I’ve ever been for two and a half days straight, and not entirely right for at least a week and a half — probably due to pizza related food poisoning? Still #1 in love with pizza though.
• Caught the World Cafe Live show/taping with Kurt Vile, and was really into it. I like that I’m walking distance to WC and can sneak over during lunch for cool free shows.
• Found some key elements for my personal style goal for 2011, which J so aptly described as “summertime urban goth.”
• My pretend big brother and his girlfriend had a baby girl in February. I’m a fake auntie!
• Finally saw Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure on a big screen. What’s left to do in life, really?
• Changed the layout here while I was upgrading WordPress.
• Saw The Ex at the First Unitarian with J, and we decided it was the greatest show we’ve ever seen and nothing will ever compare to it …so that’s kind of a drag. But no regrets!

This weekend was one of the best despite being cold and ending in a hangover that went next-level three bites into the most delicious brunch. Between all of the good people I got to see this weekend… a birthday beauty and revelers and out of towners and proud-new-cd-releasers (rightfully so, too!) I spent most of it in a super excited daze wondering how life got to be so fucking fantastic. I just want to squeeze all of my friends until they run away like all of the cats I’ve seen lately tend to. (Elmyra forever.)

Do you like my new pic?:  <3_<3

• a karaoke diner
• the cook was ladling sausage gravy all over the place
• birds were flapping around inside, their feathers landing in the sausage gravy mess (also: bird tracks in puddles of sausage gravy)
• no one was wearing shoes or socks
• all of the surrounding conversations were about surgical mishaps
• strangers wearing wool kept bumping into the bare portions of my arms
• at some point I got glitter in my eye
• my wallet fell out of my back pocket and into a toilet (one of my greatest fears)
• my toothbrush cuddling with other toothbrushes
• a drinking fountain filled with milk. “Eco-friendly” recirculating milk.

You know what? I have to stop right there and die a little bit faster.

First, this new Wuthering Heights cover makes my heart hurt:

I can’t even. Just. Really?

Dangnabbit. I lost my entire train of thought and this just became a list.

Things that make me happy, July 2K10 edition:

• almond tea
• all the awesome dogs that live in my town
• finding Kobo Abe’s The Box Man at the used bookstore
• Kate Bush videos on youtube
• the sweet brush in Sally Hansen’s Insta-dry polish (& blazing blue)
• Sebastian Bach as as Gil in Lane’s band on Gilmore Girls

There’s a lot more. I’m in a really good mood lately. I think I am in love with this summer. Is that allowed or is it like when lions lay down with lambs? Fickle, fickle kid, no?

Here, have some tunes –perhaps to fold clothes to. A mostly new wave mix:

And somewhere deep in this hair band graveyard is an even more secret spot where all of my elastic bands ran away to get on like teenagers do –filled with hundreds and thousands and kajillions of these guys from Goodie’s ironically named “Stay-Put Collection” that never ever ever stay where I put them. They’re not in my bag. Or in my desk drawer. Or around my wrist, or the handle of my hair brush. They just leave. I’m certain of it.

Ill-advised pony-tail holders improvised from common office items:

• binder clips
• mangled paper-clips
• chain fashioned out of paper-clips
• pull-chains taken from desk lamps and/or ceiling fans
• Mardi Gras beads from last year’s company anniversary party
• twist-ties pulled from the tangle of cables under your desk

Office supply order:

• rubber bands

Actual Content!

Here’s my semi-monthly list of interesting things! Who is excited? (I am.)

• A look at Isabella Blow by Plumcake at Manolo for the Big Girl. Totally fierce. Totally awesome hats.
• Here is a Shakesville post by Melissa McEwan that sums up why you might’ve found yourself unfriended by me on Facebook or sitting by yourself all fish-mouth after I’ve abruptly gotten up and left our conversation.
• A few of my FB buds hopelessly threw up their virtual hands and wailed “why are all the girls so into Twilight?” the other day, and I almost responded, but thought better of it. It would not have been as articulate as Sady Doyle’s Tiger Beatdown post, The Edward Cullen Underpants Conundrum, in which she deftly points out how no one really questions guys who get excited about female celebrities but when ladies treat a male celeb in the exact same way, it’s unnerving! What is the world coming to? Let us wring our hands! If you are going to read anything about the Twilight franchise, make it that post.
• In Defense of “Douchebag” over a Feministe. Truth.
• Flu Vaccines are safe, even for pregnant women. “There has not been one study that has shown any maternal or fetal complications from the inactivated flu vaccine.” Science-Based Parenting.

Two posts in one day, instead of in one month. I AM ON A ROLL, GUYS.

Here’s a quick and dirty rundown of the past two weeks in movies:

• Waxwork – this was funny because Don kept saying “I remembered this being better!”
• Waxwork II – I enjoyed the Bruce Campbell “Haunting” bit.
• Masters of Horror: Dario Argento’s Pelts – there should be more raccoons in horror movies.
• The Mad Doctor of Blood Island – I am pretty sure this has the same exact ceremonial dance scene as Brides of Blood.
• Beast of Blood – kept waiting for the same dance scene.
• The Machine Girl – great concept, amazing fight scenes, totally sick.
• Tokyo Gore Police – blood-gushing amputated feet as jet pack!
• The Attic Expeditions – like Cemetery Man, I feel this would’ve been better when I was a teenager.
• Hour of the Wolf – I liked this so much more than Bergmen’s Persona.
• Werewolf of London – the drunk ladies take this from great to awesome.

I tried out the Netflix Watch Instantly thing the other night. I watched the first episode of Forever Knight (1992). I liked the viewer and think this would be even better if I had a cable to connect my macbook to my HDTV. Should look into that! Forever Knight was entertaining enough that I’d go ahead and watch the next few episodes. I wasn’t big on Buffy the first season, but my coworkers at the video store assured me that by the third season I would be completely hooked. I’ll give this a similar stab.

I wish Netflix would make an rss feed of your ratings available. That would make a great WordPress widget, wouldn’t it?

Coming up I’ve got:

• Tombs of the Blind Dead (1973)
• God Told Me To  (1976)
• My Man Godfrey (1936)
• Double Indemnity (1944)

Music I’m enjoying lately:

• Teru’ah – in high school I hung out with the John half of this duo. I love it when my talented friends continue to increase their excellence.

I would like more reading time this year and there are some large purchases that I would prefer to not put off any longer. Don and I both need new equipment for our creative endeavors (individual and mutual). It would be lovely to have one of those combination washing machines that also dries the load in the same compartment sort of like a dishwasher. The time saved not going to the laundromat could then go to reading and non-specific projects involving aforementioned equipment. This is intentionally vague as a smart resolution ought to be.

But instead I will participate in the other New Years blogging tradition — compiling lists.

Things I enjoyed in 2008

Doctor Who series 4, up until the last episode which made me die a little inside.

Royal Bitch Reserve Pinot Noir

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (pleasantly surprising!)

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006)

Drinking Skeptically, Steel City Skeptics, & the Pgh Chapter of the Center for Inquiry — making new friends

our metal Chuck Brown Christmas tree

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body, by Neil Shubin

Seeing my Vermont relatives over Thanksgiving holiday and old friends right after Christmas

conquering my fear of driving after an 8 year hiatus and finally being comfortable behind the wheel several hours into our nightmare drive across upstate NY in a snowstorm

unpacking my books — doesn’t feel like home until the books are freed, y’know?

Google Reader + the 90 or so feeds I follow nearly daily. Would have to take up smoking to get through a day at the office without them.

And last but not least –

Don’s homemade pizzas

All in all, not too shabby for a transition-y type of year full of moves and catching my breath. I’m so ready for a new year! Bring it!

I suppose to test the install I should upload an image. Oh! This new uploader is probably the sweetest thing ever. It gives mousover options that I plan on having lotsa fun with. Oh boy! Now I just have to fix some stuff that’s been annoying me about my layout. (Namely, the weird padding issues on floating images.)

What I’m really excited about though is the new BuddyPress project.  It will certainly streamline a lot of the sites I host, incorporating forums, blogs, and social networking stuff under one umbrella. Too bad I have to get this soccer league site together for my uncle before it’ll be released.

Anyway, enough of all that. Here’s a list of the sorry contents of my fridge:

• partial six-pack of Amstel
• several bottles of tonic water
• two bottles of champagne leftover from New Years
• one bottle of shiraz
• pickles, dill
• pickles, hot
• Sriracha
• spicy mustard

Freezer:

• bag of pearl onions
• mixed green vegetables
• ice swan

If you can figure out a suitable dinner from that mess, let me know. In the meantime I’ll be making a trip to the taco joint next door. The Tejano beat and the scent of enchiladas verdes, they call to me!