Thanks, Thanksgiving!

Dear Thanksgiving Weekend,

Thank you for bringing me so much fun, food, and friend-family-time!

Wednesday:

Roommate L and Roommate's sister M came home to Portland!!!! Sexytimes at Starbucks for the three of us. Almost peed my pants when I saw them waiting for me. Around 10pm Best Friend L came home. Greeted her at her house and drank and watched shitty reality TV with her and her mom.

Thursday:

Woke up late, ate my favorite Nancy's Yogurt, watched National Dog Show, made carrot side dish, went over to grandpa's at 2:30, began eating and drinking at 3:30, drank and played cards with cousins until 1 am. 17 relatives in attendance. This was the night my 10 year old male cousin told me that 23 was too old to have a boyfriend; either I'd have to be married or give up and become a spinster. He also said that you peak at 15. Well, shit, I hope children aren't as wise as people claim them to be.

Friday:

Felt disgusting, watched shitty reality TV with Best Friend L. For the second day in a row went over to grandpa's house at 3, had our traditional Leftovers Dinner, drank a lot, played more games with my cousins, watched new Star Trek movie with my cousins and several aunts and uncles. Enjoyed family time, but was happy to escape to grab drinks with Best High School Friends, K and M. Got pretty sloppy, went to VooDoo Doughnuts to sop up all the liquid in us, went to some dive bar downtown and ran into a ton of high school people, got two free drinks from unattractive yet generous gentlemen, and then didn't have to drive home!!!! Thank god for K having some family shit to do the next morning at 8 and offering to be the DD.

Saturday:

Slept in, massive hang-over, lounged at Best Friend L's until her mother forced us to go pick up the sushi for L's birthday dinner party. FOUND OUT THAT WEST PORTLAND'S WATER HAS E COLI IN IT, ergo did not shower. By this point had not showered since Wednesday*, and probably reek of turkey and alcohol. Best Friend L and I tried to make ourselves look presentable sans water (Jesus H. Christ, are we in Appalachia or what?!!), put on outfits entirely deriving from Forever21, ate a bunch of the sushi before guests came so we got the best rolls, made Lava Lamp Cocktails (pomegranate liquor, champagne, pomegranate seeds--seeds float up and down like a Lava Lamp), childhood friends and all their families attended, which of course meant we drank like fiends, almost puked up birthday cake but continued drinking Cooks, learned disturbing sexual secrets from mothers of childhood friends, drank more to erase those unpleasant revelations, played Yahtzee, picked at leftover cake, drank more, felt relieved when adults left at midnight, put on sweatpants and watched Degrassi with L and two other friends, passed out around 3am for the second night in a row.

Sunday:

Sleep in real, real late. Get woken up by L at 11:30 telling me to get my ass down to her house because her mother is taking us to brunch in NW Portland. Eat scrambled eggs and orange juice because they can't make tea due to the LITERAL SHIT in Portland's water supply. Walk around NW 23rd Ave for several hours. Discover that one of my favorite New York stores, Brooklyn Industries, has its only West Coast location on 23rd. Feel remarkably un-hungover despite, according to L's math, having consumed 2 bottles of champagne by myself. Come home around 4 and nap until 6. Return to L's for dinner. Bum around her house until she has to leave for the airport. Go look at Christmas lights with my parents.

*It is Sunday at 10:45 and I have still not showered. That's right, my friends, 5 days of food and alcohol and no shower. And my hair has never looked better. No joke, totes serious.

My Embarressing Weakness

Forever21

I never feel more self-conscious than when I walk into a Forever21 store because I'm no longer 21. Plus, everyone in there is aspiring to be 21, so I'm like the fucking crypt keeper. I'm terrified of super girly, trendy, popular teenage girls, but I also love Forever21's cheap-ass designer knock-offs, so I fight my crippling shopping anxieties and plow into their rows of sweet, sweet deals.

Anyway, I feel like Forever21 inspires everyone to be whorish. I would never, ever say to myself, "Hmm, a silver sequined, boobies-bearing, mini-dress with a satin ribbon sash sounds like the PERFECT ensemble for me!", but as soon as I step inside Forever21, I find myself drawn to that exact item. And not only drawn to, but actually convinced of the fact that I'd look crazysexycool in it. Catholic confessional moment: I almost bought previously described whore-dress today. I spent a good ten minutes in the dressing room deciding if I wanted to throw away $27.80 on a dress that would just sit in my closet (although just having it in my closet would make me feel cooler, as every time I would look at it I would think, "I can't wait for the fabulouscoolsexytimes party that will someday occur that I will wear this to", and then fantasize about the hot foreign man who will sweep me away in my cheap sequin dress--I know all this because I already own a silver sequin sheath dress from Forever21 that I always meant to wear for New Year's but haven't and just sits in my closet). They don't have a picture of this sequin dress on the Forever21 website, but here are a few other items that caught my eye, but that I didn't purchase because I was showing self-restraint and was only at the mall to buy my best friend a birthday present and nothing for myself. Actually, I did buy a two dollar black fabric braided headband. Headbands are my kryptonite, what can I say.

Junk That Only Me and The 8th Grade Sluts from St. Cecilia's Like:

Sequin Craze Mesh Tunic: $22.80. I try not to buy items that have "mesh" in their title, but LOOK at this. How perfect would it be...if I were a totally different person who lived in LA and partied in hot nightclubs with slutty celebrities on Tuesday nights, right??! Anyway, it's sparkly and caught my attention momentarily. Forgive me.

Double breasted wool dress: $32.80. OMFG it's a Peacoat dress! I'm sure all of you know that I am obsessed with woolly winter coats, so this is pretty much the greatest fucking dress I could ever imagine. If I had any sort of design sensibility (and sewing dexterity) whatsoever, you better believe this is what I would have come up with. Except maybe in grey.

Fab Shoulder Sequin Dress: $15.50. Wait, what--$15.50 for a dress??? Do you get the whole dress, or just like, the front half? Actually, upon closer inspection, the price makes sense, as I'm pretty sure this is what a young tranny ice-capades skater would wear. Furthermore, it makes skinny-ass model girlfriend look pregnant, so god help any non-13 year old, 87 lbs. Forever21 customer who tries this on. I threw this one onto the list for price and my inexplicable attraction to and desire for any sequined, New Years Eve-style dress.

Ruched Front Knit Dress: $27.80. Okay, first of all, you're not fooling anyone with this dress' name, Forever21. Let's call a spade a spade: this is a Herve Leger knock off, and actually kind of a bizarre one, as the "bandage dress" stops at the waist and then becomes like, an empire waist thing, instead of the low, boobie-alert cut of a real Herve Leger. And yet...me likey. I doubt I would actually look good in this, but it intrigues me. And it's $27.80 for god's sake.

Linen Tank Dress: $22.80. I like it's Maria Von Trapp vibe, and you know that as soon as I got drunk I'd be acting all cutesy and swinging the skirt out in the exact manner of this model.

Symbol DB Coat: $47.80. This is a little steep for Forever21. When the prices get above $25, I tend to think, "Why not just go to Gap and something that costs three dollars more, but will last for longer than 3 nights out?". However, this is a really cute coat. In reality, I look shit in lipstick red, but I always delude myself into thinking I'd look killer in it. Sadly, no. I tried this coat on today and, as usual, looked super washed-out in it. Also, what does "Symbol DB" mean? Is it a reference to the symbology in Dan Brown's thrillers?

Things I Like #13

Art Blogs

The NYT has a great blog by artist Christoph Neimann called "Abstract City": http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/. He has very simple, funny, off-kilter creations made from every day objects one might find in a city, such as leaves.

Here are some of his creations from one of my favorite posts, titled "I Lego New York". Check out the full post; there are so many ingenious Lego-city-creations, and they range from the NYC-specific to the city-universal.

Me and My Cousins

Vampire Weekend just released their video for the new single "Cousins". It's rad. So is the video, despite its somewhat seizure-inducing shots.

La Gaga

I can't stop watching this acoustic version of Poker Face. Lately I've been a little obsessed with Gaga's videos, which totally trump the mediocre-ness of her songs. This acoustic version shows that girl's got some skillz, which are typically hidden far underneath all the auto-tune.

Things I Like #12

New (Old) Friends

I've been trying to make more friends in P-town, because although I have some good ones here, there's always room for more, right?! This weekend my friend Kayla was in town for a goodbye party. Because everyone in Oregon knows each other, she's like BFFs with a girl I was friends(ish) with in high school. Much of the night was spent recalling who was a cokehead in our graduating class, who is failing at life, and which kids turned into huge(er) sluts when they hit college. She went to UofO, so she has much more access to fellow alumni, and therefore has lots more post-prep school gossip. Anyway, a large group of us took on Portland and explored NE Alberta St, which I like a lot, but don't spend much time on. Kind of 12th Ave meets 15th Ave vibe. Then we tried not to die in Chinatown. Then we got VooDoo donuts and several free drinks at this place called Valentine. Portland men are much friendlier than Seattle men, I have found. Or perhaps they were just more amorous because we were at a place called Valentine.

AND I got two Friendship phone numbers. Score! Friendship phone numbers, I have found, are almost more difficult to obtain than LoveInterest phone numbers. It's very awkward to ask for a Friendship number. The timing has to be just right, you don't want to seem too pushy, you can't use it right away, and you have to be kind of jokey about it--otherwise the Passive-Aggressive, Shy Northwesterner will become very anxious about why you've asked for their number. Does anyone else have this problem?

Anyway, new friends and new-old friends are fun, and a thing that I like. Keep 'em coming, all ye Friendship Gods!

You Want to Show Me Your Fox-Tail?

...Oh, you mean your LITERAL fox-tail.

I've heard snippets about Furries for the past few years, and I've even seen a few at the Video Game Arcade Conference thing in Seattle this summer, but never before has it been so well-explained and layed-out for me as in this article.

"Who Are the Furries"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8355287.stm

Choice quotes:

I consider myself "fursona" to be a mixture of a Lion and a Bunny, these are traits of my personality and emotional states that I identify with... I was introduced to the wider fandom though Second Life, and have progressively developed my "fursona", I have found true warm accepting friendship within the furrie community unbound by normal constraints

"Fursuiters", as they are called, bemoan society's inhibitions and look admiring at the animal kingdom where creatures have more freedom to be expressive. Touching, petting, hugging and "skritching" (lightly scratching and grooming) is common at social gatherings.

Very disturbing. I am generally tolerant of people's sexual inclinations and desires, but it just freaks me out that people want to TAP THIS ASS:

Thanks for Wolf-Dogging Me This Weekend

Thanks to all who made my weekend in Seattle bomb.com.

Festivities included:

• Multi-hour happy-hour @ Moe with many of my favorite Ladies and Gentlemen.
• The birth of the WolfDog.
• People mingling at Redwood. And eating lots of their peanuts.
• Extreme weather!
• Booze.
• Snuggles with the Roommate.
• Watching Discovery Channel with the Roommates.
• Presse!Soup!Semets!
• Pumpkin ice cream with roommates and friends.
• Neighbs.
• DEEP FRY ACTION: poutine. mozzarella balls. Home-made gravy. Sexy, sexy times.
• Losing at card games. But I lost to excellent people and with a custom-made cocktail!
• Smith!Glo!Roommate!Frenchtoast!

Rating: A+. High degree of urban excellence!

Thanks again. I love you all, and I have missed you so much! See you in December for my 23Run.

Northwest Film & Video Fest

Here is the promo for the NW Film & Video Fest taking place in P-town:

Those animals take such great direction.

Halloweekend '09

--Watching Hocus Pocus with Kelsey, Cara, and Emily

--Chillin' like a villain with Cousin Claire, back from NYC for the week, at her at her family's house

--Eating copious amounts of candy that, as my mother kept reminding me, "Is for the trick-or-treaters!". But who can resist mini-Reese's???

--Answering the door for the neighborhood's kiddies who started showing up around 5 to steal my delicious candy away. It's my precious!

--Heading over to SE Belmont with Katie for Halloween night at La Calaca Comelona, http://www.lacalacacomelona.com/AboutUs.html, which has a Day of the Dead theme, perf for Halloween boozing!