I think I left my phone in the cab last night.



I am so distraught. I feel like I have lost a limb. Oh my god I don't know what I'm going to do.

EDIT: CRISIS AVERTED PHONE LOCATED. I tore apart my bed a few times and the last time I found it hiding in the sheets! :D :D :D

Fun Fact: I made the pattern for this dress! We had a vintage one we liked the shape of, and I made a pattern from it, changing some things here and there. Hooray fashion.

On a related note, I actually bought a piece of clothing from my store the other day, which I don't generally do, as our discount is pretty paltry. We get shipments of reworked vintage stuff from the LA designer just about every week, and the boutique manager Yenna was going through some, and I saw this one adorable top. It's a cap-sleeve silk blouse with a boxy fit, in a soft cool grey, with a light shoulderpad and round gunmetal studs on the shoulders. It is A+ amazing and was seemingly made for me. I am very pleased. (Pictures at some point, I promise)

Last weekend was a lot of fun - one single afternoon/evening involved dinner with one group of friends, karaoke and more food with another group of friends, and then Belgian beer with the second group of friends plus some more friends, and then Mercury Bar with a select few. It was a great time. I had many beer.

Currently I am white-knuckling it till I can go home. I am really running ragged these days.



EDIT: Two things:

1) I saw Scott Ian from Anthrax today on Houston Street. If you ignore the beard situation, he's a good-lookin' dude, especially for 46!

2) I am very much in love with Vince Noir from The Mighty Boosh, which I have been watching pretty nonstop for the last few days. I want to put my mouth on his mouth.

I think I am finally going to learn all of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by heart. I've known parts of it since high school, but I've always wanted to know it all. I think I'm going to work on it again.

In other news, we did something like 25 samples for Urban in about 3 days. I am beyond exhausted. But I now also have my Very Own Intern, which is kind of cool. It's a little weird that she's like 4 years older than me, but whatever.

My apartment is chilly. All I do is work work work. I'm too tired to do anything.

My life is really super boring these days!

Oh yeah, I was a really really unattractive Assistant (to the) Regional Manager for Halloween. The party was fun, too.

Uggghhhhh I feel like I am dying.

One of my coworkers was super sick and stupidly came to work anyway, and despite me Clorox-wiping every damn surface, she still got me sick. I got my flu shot, so it's not that, but boy it kinda feels like it is. I actually stayed home from work today, which is pretty rare for me. I've spent the day dozing on the couch or in a hot bath, watching terrible movies on TV.

I hope I'll feel at least human tomorrow so I can enjoy Halloween. I have a lot to do this weekend, so it will suck royally (though, be seasonally appropriate) if I'm too much of a zombie.

Presenting, Things My Cat Has Left In The Hallway For Me To Find When I Get Home

Just about every day when I get home from work, I open the door to my apartment to find a fun, new object sitting in my previously clean hallway, something my cat has found and put there for me to see. She is best cat.

To begin, the day before yesterday's treasures:


Umbrella, sock.

( More gems behind the cut )


In other news, I am going to be this guy for Halloween:

Today it is my birthday! I am 24! I would've posted this morning, when it would've been more relevant, but I was sleeping over at Krys' place and was too lazy. She graciously invited me over this weekend so we could eat fall goodies and watch movies and carve pumpkins and do silly suburban things like go to Target and Sonic. We had a very lovely time. :D

Huge thank-you to everyone who came to my party-dinner-thing on Friday. I had such a wonderful time, and I really appreciate everyone who came by. I've never really gotten the opportunity to really do a big bday thing since moving here, so it was really special.

Now I'm sitting on a bus with nonexistant shocks and noisy breaks, fighting through traffic to go back to the city. Don't really want to go to work tomorrow, but whatever!

Thank you also to everyone who was thoughtful enough to text or call or tweet me. You know it means a lot. XOXO

So I was having a shitty morning, left late for work, couldn't find anything cute to wear, and had fucked-up hair. I got on the A train and transferred at West 4th like usual, to the F. I'm sitting and feeling my usual-of-late miserable self. Next stop, a guy gets on at the other end of the train car, and I don't see him till he gets closer to my area. He's a younger Asian guy, normal clothes, carrying a big paper bag with something furry in it, and an enormous lifesize replica of the head of Carol the Wild Thing.

He sat down next to me with the head in his lap and I couldn't stop grinning.

I told him I'd be getting off at the next stop, so he could use my seat if he needed it. He said thank you.

Pretty much just what I needed today.

The UPS man finally left the boots today, and they don't even fit. I can barely zip them over my apparently enormous calves, and I don't even like them enough in person to get them stretched or anything.

My paycheck still has not been deposited. Knowing my luck, it probably got lost in the mail.

Also I still have so much to do at work before my boss gets back from LA on Monday that I might have to come in this weekend, which basically ruins my birthday.

MAN, EVERYTHING IS SO AWESOME RIGHT NOW.

You see all the tees on the second row here? Fun fact: I made all of the prototypes for those that got sent to Urban and subsequently purchased and then put into production! I make them for the store, too, though the store ones are a little different and we don't have some of those anymore. I didn't develop with the original designs, but I cut them all by hand and make each one unique, which is pretty cool.

:D

I bought some boots on Ebay, and they arrived in the mail today. They feel okay, but I think they just look too small on me. I always wear a 6.5, but these are a little smaller, because they're vintage (I can do a vintage 7). I decided to take a chance, because they're really cute (have I mentioned how much I'm feeling the early 90's revival?) but I don't know. I feel like, though I'm a small person overall, I'm thicker in the middle, so a shoe that looks too small doesn't balance me out or anchor me. Does that make any sense? Bleh, I dunno. I'm too tired to bother taking a picture. I dunno if I should wear them or not.

I'd also been looking for a new pair of black knee-high boots, and settled on these. When I saw they were on sale at DSW and Piperlime, I noticed they were out of my size, so my mom found them at a DSW near home. She mailed them to me to arrive today, so I left a note for the UPS man on the building door before I went to work, requesting that he leave the box there. Then I got home today and there was a stupid little UPS slip, saying they tried to deliver it, but it "needed a signature," which is bullshit.

In conclusion, I am frustrated by boots right now. And by the fact that, despite mailing it off a week ago today,* my last paycheck still has not been deposited and I am fucking broke. And pretty much everything else in my life, particularly my job, but that's a story for another day.

I'd say I really need cheering up, but I kinda think I'm at the point where I need more than that, you know?





*I'm with USAA - they're great, but they don't have physical banks for depositing, which occasionally bites me in the ass, like now.

I had a really rough day at work and ended up bursting into tears in front of my coworker because I've been a depressed mess for, oh, far too long. As a result, I treated myself to a cab ride home and a piece of pound cake for dessert after dinner. This was probably counterproductive, because I feel super fat these days and that won't exactly help, but whatever, it made me happy.

I finally got some decent shopping done the past few days. I've been seriously needing to redo/update/fill in my fall/winter wardrobe, because I hate most of my clothes, so I was able to do at least a bit of that. At H&M (shopping with Erica and Carly) I got some cardigans and turtlenecks, plus another coat. I still love my heavy winter coat, but I'd like some more inbetween-weather options. Last night I also went to UNIQLO after work, and got some much-needed new jeans, in black and indigo, and another coat, because I'm ridiculous. I was kind of iffy about the H&M one, since it's a little heavier than I really wanted, so I picked up the UNIQLO one, intending to return one or the other... and now I think I might just keep them. We'll see. It is nice to have my own money to spend on clothes, though, so I don't feel like I'm wasting someone else's.

Oh hey, Sunday is my birthday, too. That's cool.

Oh cool, the one concert I really REALLY wanted to go to is sold out, because I was waiting to buy tickets until I had someone confirmed who would go with me.

I feel like I miss out on everything. Goddammit.

I think this is becoming a tradition! Two years ago, I made a "Fall is Starting" playlist that is still one of my favorites, so since then, I've reposted it whenever the weather starts appropriately nudging us into fall. Hopefully there are some new people around who don't have this yet.

I'm just doing it as one big ol' zip file this time, instead of separate songs, but I'm leaving up the images for the tracklisting so you'll know what you're getting. Download and let me know what you think!



( 18 songs behind le cut! )

Man, I guess I haven't really updated this much in a while, huh? I hate to say it, but I've been using Twitter a lot more as a mini-LJ. So if you want to hear stupid bits of my daily life, including real-time cat pictures, check it out!

Otherwise, here's the haps:

1) NYAF happened! Our panel went really well, and we had a good turnout with good questions! I'd really love to do more panels, perhaps with more prep time, so I might have to look into that for upcoming cons. Judging for Yume Cup was a joy - it's super cheesy, but I'm really glad to see that good prizes make people bring their A game. Congrats to everyone involved!

Also, I was Miwako! I really really like this costume, especially since I already owned or could borrow all of it but the hat, scarf, and overalls, which I made in a night. Mondo thanks to Erica and Carly for lending me a wig, Happy Berry accessories, and cute tights. :D (Also I think I look quite fetching with pink hair!)



2) Work was RETARDED CRAZY for the week preceding and the few days after NYAF, as we prepared for an important Urban Outfitters appointment. It, and the weekend basically killed me, so I took Tuesday of last week off, and it did me wonders. Now I am a normal human being again.

3) Speaking of work, HOMEGIRL GOT A RAISE. Finally, I'm almost getting paid what I'm worth! This is very exciting!

4) If you haven't already, please please please take a look at my INTARWEB YARDSALE! I just want to get rid of stuff, so feel free to make me an offer for less than I'm asking! Please!

5) Today I journeyed aaaalllll the way up the A line to meet up with the EMC kids (and Erica's parents, who are rad) for the Fort Tryon Park Medieval Festival. It was beautiful weather, and the park is great, but I was a little disappointed, due to the ridiculous crowds and the incredibly long food lines. I left without getting the turkey leg I was so looking forward to. However, it was nice to hang out with everyone and take some pictures of stuff here and there, which I will likely upload sometime soon. After, we went back to the Compound and Erica cooked a delicious dinner of mushroom and beef cavatappi. A+.

6) I know there's something else I should be talking about, but I can't remember, so it's probably not that important!

Oh my god I just discovered that there are like 800 concerts I want to go to in the next two months.

Le Loup - Mercury Lounge, 10/11
The Dodos - Bowery Ballroom, 10/14
Wolfmother - Terminal 5, 11/8
Peter, Bjorn and John - Terminal 5, 11/10
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Bowery Ballroom, 11/17
Royksopp - Webster Hall, 11/23

WILL SOMEBODY GO TO SHOWS WITH ME PLEASE I PROMISE I LIKE GOOD MUSIC

The one I really, really, really want to go to is bolded there. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are kinda like Polyphonic Spree, minus a few members and the Jonestown aspect. Read this bio from the Bowery site and tell me you do not want to see them:

Birthed by Mouth in the year two-thousand and five, young Edward Sharpe had to wait nearly two years before he was to grow his arms and legs and fingers and toes.

Immaculately conceived, his father (a Robot who had magically become a real boy... but that's another story) declared his undying devotion to the creature. He perched the fleshy bust upon a teetering pedestal fashioned from stacked cereal boxes and positioned the display at his window for all the town to see. Young Edward soon proved no ordinary boy.

Though his father had figured him deaf for his unresponsiveness to sounds, he in fact had the universally unique condition of being deaf from hearing too much or, more correctly put, too well. In plain words, he heard EVERYTHING AT ONCE.

At first it proved rather painful like a wretched whining winding all hours, but very soon those who whisper visited young Edward and revealed to him the Tricks and Truths, the Ways and Plays, the Chords and Dischords of the Universe.

He did not need to eat but the color of the sun, which was F#, and moved his bones to grow.

His arms and legs and fingers and toes grew 'til the tower of boxes collapsed and he laughed. He moved thru the door which was C over B# and ran thru the village hearing ALL of its music! The workers and children and painters of buildings and dogs barking madly and trees bristling softly and OH!!

Young Edward could not resist! He began playing the tree which are the chords E and D 'gainst the mice in the grass which are A played with brass and the wooden fence F and then C and repeat with a drone of B Minor to bring in the street and the Birds B to B Sharp with fluttering strings and the sky mostly C unless he wants to bring in the rain and for rain bring the F Chord bombastic with organ's distortion and symbols a'crashin!

Yes, and a music was born.

TELL ME YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS EXUBERANT EXPLOSION. SOMEBODY COME SEE THEM WITH ME.

This is kind of a random question, but how many of you work freelance? As in, you work regularly, but instead of a W2, you file a 1099? What's your situation with taxes? I need to talk to my parents' CPA friend about all of this, but I'm curious to know what you do about taxes.

Also, how many of you pay for your own health insurance? There was a possibility I was going to get it through work, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen, so I'd love to hear what you guys do. I'm tired of not being able to go to the doctor easily.

Any advice/thoughts you can offer are appreciated! I'm still pretty new to this whole "being an adult and working for a living" thing.

So it's been a really crazy, horrible week(s), and that's why I've been pretty MIA lately. To those of you who are buying intarweb yardsale stuff from me, I'm sorry I haven't shipped it out yet - I will as soon as I can!

I guess people are doing that NYAF thing this weekend? I'll be there Saturday - Liz, Erica, Carly and I are doing an Advanced Cosplay Panel at Noon in Panel Room 3, so you should obviously come to that and heckle us or ask us inappropriate questions. Actually, you should come at 11am to see the International Cosplay Panel right before ours, because the lovely Teams Mexico and France from this past WCS are guests! They're adorable and fantastic and you should definitely meet them.

Later that afternoon, Liz and I will be helping the always-fantastic and inimitable Marty Gear in craftsmanship judging for the Yume Cup - I am super excited about this! :D

And then way later we are going to PARTY.

Oh, and provided I feel like finishing it, I'm going to look like this:



Derp derp back to work.

Today I slipped and fell in the middle of Ludlow Street and started crying. It was the second time I cried today. It was that kind of day.