Whew, it's been a while.

Things have been pretty crazy here in Philadelphia, and honestly I kind of forgot about updating this thing...until I got a really cute Christmas card in the mail from my grandparents (THANK YOU GUYS!) mentioning its existence. So here's a semi-out-of-order list of things that have happened over the past month.

- My iPhone was taken from me in a tragic alcohol-related accident. AKA I left it in a taxi.

- I went to Elizabethtown with Will and Katie for Thanksgiving. It was just the vacation from the city that I needed, for most of November was spent being really depressed for some reason. But Amish country was beautiful and quiet, and the hometown vibe kind of satiated my crippling homesickness. Also Katie's family cat had a litter of kittens a few weeks before, so there was copious kitten cuddle action. Will's friend Malcolm drove me back to Philadelphia with him, and on the drive, we had a long conversation about The Secret, and since then, everything's been going magnificently.

- I've been searching for a second job over Craigslist. I made $25 one night to do some Lady Gaga promo flyering/photo-taking for an hour. And thennnn I sent a resume and a cover letter to a fashion photographer in need of an assistant to help run his photography studio, his modeling/talent agency, and his online vintage boutique. He loved my letter, and I had a really great phone interview. We're meeting this week!

- Two days ago, Andrew (my coworker in the mouse costume from the Halloween entry) gave me a Blackberry Curve that he found (and had tried vigorously to return). I only hope whoever has my iPhone really needed it... Maybe I'm just trying to justify my new phone. So that's fun.

- It's been REALLY sunny and beautiful over the past week, averaging at about 60 degrees. I was kind of jealous of Denver's snow for a bit, but... this sunshine is absolutely wonderful.

- On a whim, Aso came by and took his (my) bed back to Westchester. Luckily Josh and Dave just acquired a new couch and were needing to get rid of their futon. So I was only bed-less for one night. Hooray!

- Our property manager FINALLY had our ceiling repaired, after six months of the upstairs shower leaking into our kitchen.

- I've been going to bed earlier and waking up earlier, reading and writing a lot, and making healthier decisions daily...

So while most of November was pretty lame, it concluded very positively. Every day is a learning experience, and I'm back to my normal self, once again excited about the future.

I'll leave you with some pictures:

Skyping with Mom, she was frozen like this for a good twenty seconds or so. :P

Me and Andrew at the Barbary, taken by Ms. Schotland

I went to COMPULSION2.0, a new monthly (I think/hope) art event in South Philly. I met a lot of really talented people.

This is where we live! On the right is the auto garage that likes to try and drill into our house early in the mornings and on the left is the lovely Indian family who loves to party and expand their pepper garden into our yard.

This is from when Pascal, Will, and I went exploring at Fairmount.

Will and Pascal sitting on a log, eating some giant Reese's cups we got for Pascal in Hershey over Thanksgiving. Pascal (who left us to return to Frankfurt this afternoon, sadly) LOVES Reese's. Half his luggage when he was packing this morning consisted of Reese's Cups, Reese's BIG Cups, Reese's Bells (for Christmas), Reese's Minis, Reese's Wafers, Reese's Bars (yes, bars), and Reese's Pieces. He went to Brooklyn this past weekend and stayed with Scott and Mattia, the CouchSurfers who hosted me in July. I thought that was pretty cool.

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy December, everyone. I love you.

ceremonials

Saturday I improvised a fly costume for work, using Jenny's googly eye-dea and homemade wings, which you cannot see in this photo.

Sunday was Oktoberfiesta at El Camino, which turned out to be a bust. Turns out that even a heated tent can't get people to enjoy music, booze, and barbecue in freezing weather. HOWEVER, most of the staff was dressed like Waldo, so that was pretty entertaining. I worked a double, and it was awesome.

Yesterday was the OddCake Halloween party, at which Will and I were supposed to perform. Will played a brief set, and due to projector malfunction, I wasn't able to do visuals. It was kind of disappointing to me, but otherwise, the party was amazing. The OddCake crew put a lot of work into decorating the venue, and it looked phenomenal. They've got quite a team!

Then The Chain Gang kids came back to Philly this afternoon! They're playing on NPR at a station down the street tomorrow, so they're all sleeping downstairs right now. Adam, Brandon, Katie, Will, and I went to the H-Mart today and bought the makings for an epic Asian dinner. Will put together a shrimp stir fry and a spicy seafood miso soup... I don't know how he can always put together random assortments of ingredients and spices together, and it's ALWAYS successful. After dinner, we tormented Honk.

I have tomorrow off. I plan to spend it reading and listening to the leaked Florence + the Machine album.

I'm still listening to that Gotye song a lot, and further investigation has revealed to me the magic that is Kimbra's solo material. This girl is AMAZING. (sidenote: How are more people obsessed with Alice Glass than Kimbra?)



Anyway. Will texted me excitedly on his way to work early this morning saying, "It's snowing!" I think he sensed it would be much-welcomed news to me since I've been very vocal about missing the Colorado snow... But "snow" in Philadelphia is actually sleet. It's cold rain that accumulates into a thin white layer on roofs of cars and houses. All my Philly friends are updating their statuses on Facebook to say things like, "Is this Halloween weekend or Christmas?!"

...lol.

It's Halloween weekend, and I work every day. The owner of El Camino has requested that we dress up all weekend, which has proven a challenge. Sunday, we're all going to be Waldo. Yesterday I dressed up as Justin Bieber, to which the universal reaction was, "Where's your costume?" I have no idea how to dress tonight. Hank is going to just be a cow. He's really thrilled about it, obviously.

Since we have four couches in our living room, we decided as a household to start hosting Couch Surfers. Our first CSer arrived on Thursday, an incredibly enthusiastic German fellow named Pascal. He's beginning an internship at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital at the beginning of November, and he arrived early to establish living arrangements before he starts. He made his living arrangements early on, so most of his stay was spent eating and exploring and partying. I was working the past few nights, so Katie and Will were hanging out with him mostly. He left this morning, but we had a really fantastic time while he was here. We're really excited for our next round of Surfers, a girl from Montréal and a guy from Denver, due here the second week of November. They both contacted me separately looking for couches, as they are both attending a ethnomusicological conference that weekend. I've since connected them, and they say they're looking forward to being in good company during their stay. Woooooooo!

xo

hold on

It feels like every night over the past couple weeks has consisted of dreams about my family and friends back in Denver, and it's made for some really rough mornings. Recent events have been tremendously helpful in the homesickness department though, and I'm feeling quite a bit better.

I've talked to a lot of people from home via Skype and phoooone.

I've been bonding with new friends from El Camino.

My mom sent me the most amazing care package ever. <3

Jas sent me some awesome-looking new reading material.

Then yesterday, The Chain Gang of 1974 played at the TLA. Brandon got Will, Katie, and I all-access passes, so we got to hang out with them in the green room before and after their set. Apparently Adam has been playing bass on this tour too, which was a really lovely surprise. They all crashed at our house afterward, and this morning we cooked them an epic breakfast. After living out of their van all month, I think they were excited to have a real place to stay.



..I cannot accurately explain how deliriously elated I was to see friends from home.

I think I'll be okay for a while now.

Here's a song I can't stop listening to:



<3

P.S. I might be getting the photography bug again... You might see less iPhone pictures on here in the future.

fall-adelphia

Captain's log, Stardate 65293.9. The crew and I have been without wireless internet connection for approximately two Earth weeks. While the 3G network may be accessed via my mobile cellular device (RIP Commander Steve Jobs), I have been preoccupied with immeasurable missions in my personal life to transmit data to you on a touch-screen; however, today we procured an ethernet cable, so I have for you, one blog entry. It goes as follows:

Life's felt like a bit of a roller coaster since I last wrote. Er, typed. Where to start, where to start...

Well, the Occupy Philadelphia movement started gaining momentum right around my last entry. We walked down to City Hall about a week and a half ago just to check it out. The crowd was predominantly composed of young people, with a few older folks, homeless people, and transients here and there. Will likes to call the gypsy/crust-punk kids transients. I think it sounds like "transcendent" so I like to imagine that these kids have magical wizard powers, perhaps in their accordions or tattered vests. Everyone was engaged in conversation, making their own picket signs, taking photos, singing songs. It kind of felt more like a festival than a protest, but you could definitely feel that these people had a purpose. It was kind of cool. Then, Will and I returned to City Hall on Columbus Day (like a week later), because we'd heard that the protest had expanded significantly. We picked up a couple pizzas on the way to share with some of Will's friends and their fellow protesting post-grads... And what we found at City Hall was pretty much a giant commune. Most of the college grads had vacated and were replaced with bums. Which, you know, they're totally part of the 99% too and all, but them becoming the majority completely changed the face of the protest. The camp of 70 or so tents outside of City Hall (and various cardboard tent-like contraptions) was impressive from a distance, but upon closer inspection, reeked of urine and was covered in garbage. We gave some pizza to Will's friends, who recommended we take the rest to the food donation tent, since those volunteers hadn't eaten, but in transit, we were accosted by people begging for food. We weren't about to be the assholes refusing to share pizza with people who can't afford to eat, so we gave them some. The boxes were empty by the time we made it to the food donation tent, and the hungry volunteers showed us where we could recycle the boxes. They weren't even mad. They still thanked us for the donation. I guess when we were there, it just felt like people were using this potentially revolutionary protest to beg for food and donations. I get that you are the 99% too. But when you're completely trashing your protest space and pissing in the campsite where you sleep, how do you expect to earn respect from the people who have the power to change things for you? What organized collective can't invest in a Porta-Potty? Or have volunteers to keep the place looking neat? I guess this is all hypocritical since I'm not out there protesting or anything (partially because I'm not a college graduate drowning in debt from student loans, unable to pay them back due to a dismal job market, partially because I don't want to sleep in a moldy commune). It would still be nice to see the power of magnitude work in favor of the people. We'll see. Apparently there are over 300 tents at City Hall today. Also Portugal. the Man and Circa Survive are rumored to be playing there within the next couple weeks. Hmmmm...

In other less-worldly news...

There have been a few incredibly rough days this past week, including a monetary nightmare courtesy of Wells Fargo, supplemented by a hiccup at work resulting in an even longer wait to receive my first paycheck. It's been an eye-opener in several ways, the best being that I've already managed to surround myself with people (most of whom are little more than strangers right now) here in Philly who care deeply about my well-being and who will do whatever they possibly can to take care of me. Of course I'm too stubborn to accept anything more than free meals at work, but... it feels good to know that there are so many people around who don't fit the paradigm that Philadelphians are rude and self-centered. With some help from home (<3), I feel a lot less hysteric about the situation, and I'm getting it figured out. Slowly but surely.

I got to talk to a bunch of people from home over the phone, as they'd all congregated for TJ's going-away party the weekend before last. I miss everyone so much... And TJ's in Italy now! What're all of you going to do when TJ gets back and is more worldly than you? Lolz.

Other than all that, we've pretty much just been cooking a lot (as usual). Tonight, we made fried calamari, miso soup, and stir fry. I made Thai iced tea, aaaaand we had pumpkin ale because that's all anyone ever drinks around here in October.

Aaaanyway, it's late here and the paragraphs are becoming crappier. Honk is passed out next to me, snoring up a storm... only his snoring is really cute because he kind of sighs a tiny cat sigh with every breath. Also he's a warm, fuzzy, orange blob, which makes him that much cuter.



Tomorrow is definitely a park day. But for now, sleeeeeeeeeeepsssssssssss.

My interwebz is down. Stand by! Have some cat pictures!

"please shut because cat"

October already? WHAT? I guess that makes sense, this past week's forecast was entirely in the 70's, and next week's is all in the 60's. And rainy. Though might I point out the beautiful blue sky to which I awoke this morning? Because it's there, and according to my paint swatches, it's "True Blue Tint". Which is the truest of blues. One thing I kind of took for granted in Colorado is just how expanse the sky is. A blue sky here could be a monsoon without warning because only a tiny portion of the sky is visible at any given time. In Denver, you can watch a storm roll in from the mountains and guess which towns might be spared from its wrath. And most of the time, you're correct!

Katie, Will, and I met up with Kyle and Jeff at Clark Park Tuesday night, where we sat at the flimsy (yet adorable) orange tables so kindly provided by the city. One of those surprise rainstorms showed up, so we migrated to Kyle's friend, Baca's house. His roommate's cat had a litter of kittens, so you can probably guess how socially involved we were at the time. Our household loves cats. And I never use bold.

Will and I went to the Mütter Museum on Wednesday! It was everything I'd hoped for, being the most interesting thing I'd explored in eons. The stories behind all the specimens are what really got me... Every one of us is just a back-story to another potential addition to a museum of medical oddities. Hmmmmm.... That evening, we went over to Chris and Bob's for a dinner party. I made a spinach and strawberry salad and Will made those bacon jalapeño poppers again, then Annie made this PHENOMENAL baked mac n' cheese which they topped with Chris' delicious homemade chili. It was absolutely amazing, and I sincerely hope this dinner party thing becomes a weekly routine. fdlksafjl;sdkjfal;sdkfja;lsdkfjalsdkfjals /wipingdrooloffkeyboard

My mom and I had a Skype date on Thursday, which was undoubtedly the highlight of my week. Yeah, better than kittens and better than chili mac & cheese, if you can imagine. :) That evening, I went to El Camino for my third interview, which ended up with me working my first shift! It went really well; my coworkers are awesome, the atmosphere is awesome, the food is to die for, hostessing isn't the best, but I get to stand outside and watch all the local dogs walk by. I do a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of what I used to do at Pete's, and I get paid quite a bit more. SCORE.

Mom's surgery yesterday went successfully! Yay! I'm really hoping she recovers as quickly and painlessly as possible...

Yesterday afternoon, Will and I went shopping for curtains for my room because I'm sick of staring at our neighbors across the street. We ended up going to Ikea, which wasn't nearly as epic (no parking garage!) or eerily tidy as the one in Centennial. I mean it's still Ikea, but... definitely a South Philly Ikea. It brought back delightful memories of exploring the one in Colorado with Max and Homer before I left. Aww, I miss them... After Ikea, we ventured to Wal-mart to try to acquire an inexpensive HDMI cable. I took a photo of this Wal-mart, because I think it is the most ghetto-looking one that has ever existed. They're doing renovating on half, but it still looks awful. Also they didn't have any HDMI cables for less than $30, nor did they have anything else we were looking for. The place was crowded, and I wondered if anyone was finding what they were looking for. I doubt it.

Ghetto-mart.

Last night I worked my second shift, which was significantly busier, but no less awesome. I'm pretty stoked on this job.

Today will be dedicated to locating a power drill to hang my curtains and my shelves, and to making meatballs. Because I couldn't help myself at Ikea yesterday.


This is the Piazza, the big, fancy apartment/shopping plaza across the street from El Camino.

And here's Honk, just Honking out as usual.