Stuff

March 3, 2007 · Filed under arts and crafts, birthday, books, Fun, knitting, Life, Links, reading

I spent all of today enjoying myself. That’s what birthdays are for, right? Im a whole 27 years old today, and thank god Im finally out of the 26s. That was a depressing age to be. Now Im firmly in the 26-34 age range on most surveys, and starting a whole new solidifying, steadying part of my life. I can feel it.

Here’s some thingies I enjoyed today.

I absolutely adore this bubble bath. It smells good, like you would expect lavender scented bubble bath to smell like, and there’s something really luxurious about having a Milk Bath – makes me feel like Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Secretary. Except, ya know, I’m not being filmed. I hope. It also doesn’t turn the water into an opaque white pool of deliciousness, but it makes me skin feel nice and smooth.

Anybody ever heard of a Buddha Board before? I bought one today and its remarkably entertaining. I got a tiny one, about 6 inches square, but it comes with stickers and a cute little paintbrush. Ive been writing on it and watching the letters disappear is strangely soothing. The images stay up for a good three or four minutes, so you cant really do the “write down your worries and watch them disappear” technique because then you have to stare at them for longer than is palatable. Im using it more to do on-the-fly caricatures of whatever topic James and I are discussing on the phone. Ive done cigarettes held in place by pouty lips, different styles of Christian crosses, micro-organisms residing in a soon to be explosive belly, and lots of numbers. I count a lot on the phone.

I also finally got around to reading Stranger than Fiction, by Chuck Palahniuk. Ive had it on my bookshelf for quite a while, and its been staring at me, taunting me, sandwiched between two other books I haven’t opened yet. Ha HA! it said. You will NEVER read AGAIN! Bastard ass book. Darn you, grad school! When I actually did crack the book – sitting at my favorite breakfast stop, waiting for my Birthday Breakfast of eggs florentine, deciding whether or not I should have coffee or a mimosa – it was a lot less mocking and more intriguing than anything. I don’t know how I feel about Mr. Chuck, there. Evidently he’s a nice guy, but he tells a story in the introduction that makes me pause. As research for one of his books, he would call up sex lines and ask the worker to tell him their dirtiest, worst story. A young guy opened up to him, started crying, told him a heartbreaking story about sexual abuse and devastation, and they hung up. Palahniuk took that story, made it a plot line in one of his books, and made how many gobs of money off of that guy’s life. Unless I’m missing something, he didn’t know and didn’t contact the guy again. Anybody else find that exploitive? Still, his writing style is incredibly empathetic, focused on detail, emphasizing the humanity in everybody. I’m enjoying the hell out of it so far.

I got a gift certificate from a local yarn store, so I went poking around in there today. I was incredibly happy to find hand dyed Nepalese yarn! And! It was 30% off! Holy cow. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it yet, but my goodness its soft and pretty. Its surprisingly heavy, too – probably because its some insane length, 150 yards I think. If anybody has any suggestions, let me know. Im still working away on Genevieve’s mittens (hi!), but the year is young.

I had a good day today. Im happy right now.

Good night, everybody.