You're Never Fully Dressed...

Things that make me happy:

• Articles or a series of articles about loving THE City. (Also, on the list of reasons to love NY, this is my Prince Charming: "Because the ultimate sign of chivalry is when a guy looks out for stiletto-heel-gobbling grates for a girl to avoid while walking down the perilous city streets.")

• Reading an article and recognizing a sentence from a friend's away message and, so, knowing that we're reading the same newspaper and the same articles.

• A late Chanukah/later graduation present.

• Boots that give me blisters in a different place than the shoes I was wearing yesterday. (OK happy may be the wrong word for that, but still, it's good that I'm giving my blistered toe a day of relief, even at the expense of my ankles.)

• Getting a free promotional iced tea on the street. Even if it has the unfortunate name "Honest Tea."

Deep Thoughts: The I Woke Up at 4:40 and Now I'm Tired Edition

• Using shopping as a stress reliever is getting very expensive. Though I did buy a gorgeous skirt to wear the wedding I'm going to on Sunday. And I saved $80 on it. Clearly I needed to buy it.

• Reason #582 that I love The Times.

• 4:40 a.m. is the middle of the night. I am a good friend for waking up that early. A really good friend.

• The problem with having business cards and being a copy editor is not having any use for the business cards. Anyone want a business card that says "Eli7: Copy Editor"? Anyone? I have a whole box full and no one to give 'em to.

Deep Thoughts: The Elect Nietzsche Edition

• I just finished the Harry Potter series. I must say I was more impressed than I thought I would be. And even knowing much of what was going to happen, I was still surprised by things. Am a lil in shock now. Yeah, don't know what to say about it exactly except that I am probably the last person on earth to read them, and, well, much to my surprise, I even liked them.

• Good news all around from my friends. I'm so, so happy for them.
  

• My GRE score was almost exactly the same as my SAT score, which means, as far as I can tell, that Columbia did not teach me anything about taking standardized tests.

• It's a small, small world of boys I've dated. (Also of boys who have hit on me but that's a separate story altogether.)

• Also, this is pretty much the best thing ever.
  

Not the Kind of Gal Who Gives a Vacuum as a Gift

I don't like bridal showers, partially because I don't like having to go and buy my friend a totally mundane, boring housewares gift. Now, don't get me wrong, I know how much those things are necessary to start an apartment, and I enjoy seeing friends and wishing the bride well at showers. I just don't like buying boring housewares.

Especially when the friend is not registered. Then how am I even supposed to figure out what the friend wants for her kitchen?

Anyhow, I have just spent a significant amount of time trying to figure out how to wrap a can of cranberry sauce (to go with the baking dish in which to make cranberry crunch because I know she's a fan of my cranberry crunch--recipe will also be included). I settled for three ribbons, which match the wrapping paper on the dish, tied and curled on top of the can. The whole thing is pretty ridiculous looking. I would take a picture if I had a digital camera.

This is what I get for not being the kind of gal who's willing to give her friend a vacuum cleaner or the like.

Quotes That Are Inspiring Me

I've been really stressed out lately--tooth-grinding in my sleep, wake up with a sore jaw stressed out (see this article in The Times)--so below is a list of quotes I find inspiring that are helping me keep my head right now. Or trying to help me keep my head. I'm not sure they're working.

“A poem is never finished, only abandoned.” —Paul Valery [This in my piles and piles of essay drafts.]

“There is a myth at large in the general population, easily quashable yet somehow allowed to persist, that writing comes smoothly, like gas from a pump, or at least unbidden, like tears. This is bull. No decent prose is ever dashed off, especially that which appears to be effortlessly dashing. ... grace on the page has to be earned with infinite sweat.” —Anthony Lane [I'll give you infinite sweat in the revisions I've been doing...]

"But someday we'll all be old/ And I'll be so damn beautiful" —Anna Nalick

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." —Gil Bailie

Poor Taste in Art, Good Taste in Names

I find this article about the push present/baby bauble phenomenon somewhat disturbing. (Now don't get me wrong, when I have a baby one day, I'm sure I will be more than overjoyed if my husband gives me a gift of expensive jewelry afterward--I'm not exactly one to say no to jewelry. But I just think there's something wrong with expecting it as a necessary function of giving birth or something.)

 

But, anyhow, kudos to the baby in the article who has my name. (Though I would note that the metal sculpture the mother got as a "push present" puts her taste into question.)

Conversations With My Parents

This is what happens when I live at home. (The renewed interest in blogging is what happens when I'm bored at work.)

Me: You should make latkes tonight.
My dad: But, um,  it's not Chanukah yet.
Me: It could be like a Chanukah pregame!
My dad: Um...

My mom: Why are you using my "Columbia Mom" mug?
Me: It's a segulah that my kids should go to Columbia.

Design Your Own Everything--Or at Least the Important Things

This is pretty much the coolest thing I've seen today (which may not be saying much considering that all I've seen today up until now are some really awful edit tests and a broken zipper on my relatively new and very crucial bag). Design your own shoes! It even warrants an exclamation mark. Though I would note that I find a guy who owns 60 pairs of shoes at least mildly disturbing. I don't own anywhere near that number, even if you count my eight pairs of flip-flops.

Law School: One; Copy Editing: Zero

This article about perks that law firms offer is, um, crazy. Pet insurance? Candied apples? Sabbaticals for studying classical piano? A nap room? (On a related note, I recently received lip balm from a law firm at work. Lip balm. With a law firm's name on it.)

Also, this Web site written by a twenty-something recent college grad who is doing a different job every week for a year is really cool. The Times article about it is also interesting. "Depending on your point of view, his extreme job hunt either typifies or parodies his age group." Or something.

But I will note, while on the topic of jobs, it is not crazy to want to have a job that you are passionate about it. It is not crazy to change your mind a few times and look for what will really make you happy. That is not crazy. I think it would be crazy not to do that. Just sayin'.