There was sparkling wine, and then I found LF's mascara, followed closely by my inner drag king, who apparently looks like a really fey Aaron Diaz:

Even if I'm not a resident of Asheville anymore, I figure having spent a summer as Cecil's research assistant and several years as a fellow rabble-rouser in the WNC branch of the Progressive Project gives me some footing for being as proud as I am to see him finally make it into office. And I would certainly have voted for him if I could have--I can't imagine anyone better qualified for the job, or whom I'd rather trust with a city I love.

Get the full story here.

And then go say congrats to the first openly atheist member of Asheville's city council.

A kiss-in to protest homophobia in Paris:



Stuff like this makes me believe--really, truly believe--that the world is a beautiful place, and has the potential to become even more so.

Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Imps to Order One of These Days:

Mad Tea Party:
Alice
Dormouse
March Hare
White Rabbit

Ars Amatoria:
Harlot
Queen of Sheba

Marchen:
The Chicken-Legged Hut

Doc Constantine's Pharmacopoeia:
Nostrum Remedium

Bewitching Brews:
Calico Jack
Kill-Devil
Mata Hari
Plunder

EXTENDED EPIGRAPH


So Lancelot and his cousins took their leave, keeping company till they reached Camelot at the hour of terce, and found the king gone to hear mass in the minster with a great retinue of noble lords. As soon as the three cousins arrived they dismounted in the courtyard and made their way to the upper hall. There they began to talk of the youth that Lancelot had knighted. Bors thought he had never seen anyone so like in looks to Lancelot.

"Indeed," he added, "I will never hold anything true again if this is not Galahad, who was born of the Fisher King's beautiful daughter, for he bears an uncommon likeness both to that lineage and to ours."

"Upon my faith," said Lionel, "I think it must be he, his resemblence to my lord Lancelot is truly striking."

They continued awhile in this vein in the hope of eliciting some word from Lancelot, but to all their hints he vouchsafed at that time no reply.

~ The Quest of the Holy Grail


( This heap is a witness. )

January:
I started filling this out yesterday, but it didn't get done.

February:
Eek! February, where did you come from?

March:
Sevvy came into the shelter with his tail all mangled, like someone had tried to cut it off.

April:
It's starting to feel more and more like spring outside, which I am very happy about.

May:
I can't believe it's May.

June:
The following is a slightly revised email sent to a former co-worker.

July:
The current count:
Jobs applied for: 40
Interviews: 2, both of which ended ambiguously ("I like you, but I don't know if I have a job for you right now")
Interviews Promised but Not Delivered: 3

August:
First day at The Rush went well.

September:
Hello, September. Please be kind to me.

October:
I have had the realization that I really need to be patient with myself.

November:
I found this list in an old entry from 2003 and decided it needed updating.

December:
That really isn't like me at all!

My therapist just told me that she feels like she's taking my money for no real reason-- that my problems are practical, not psychological, and that I'm really doing everything she would normally be telling someone to do. This should, I guess, be a good thing to hear, but it honestly doesn't make me feel much better. Because I don't know how to get around the practical problems.

Constantly wishing things didn't have to be so effing hard,
me.

Hey, look! It's a new Inside Out, in which I am grateful to Jen Van Meter for showing the rest of 'em clowns how it's done.

Yeah, you. The one who scratched the fuck out of the back bumper of our rental car while it was parked well within our space in the parking lot last night and didn't bother to leave a note.

FUCK YOU, SO MUCH.

We have insurance, so that's cool, right? What's less cool is the half-a-grand deductible that we will likely be out thanks to your combination of shitty driving and lack of basic fucking integrity and the fact that the car you scratched up belongs to Enterprise Rent-a-Car--which, unlike us, will not be okay with leaving the bumper a little scuffed.

You know, if you'd left a note, and we'd called you, and it had turned out that you were flat broke and about to lose your apartment, or even that you were worried it was gonna be a question of paying for the nicked bumper or Christmas shopping for your kids, we'd have told you not to worry about it. I mean, we can't really afford $500 right now, either, or higher premiums next year, but it's not going to put us on the street or prevent us from pretty much going on with life. It's not the money. It's the principle. And the fact that at a time when *no one* can afford it, you decided to just dump your fucking up in some anonymous stranger's lap and skip off into the sunset.

'Tis the season, I guess.

It's the holiday season, which means someone gave you cookies (or maybe you baked), and you, being the nice person you are, have decided to share them with your co-workers.

Please be mindful of co-workers with food allergies. Ideally, keep your food at home or distribute it individually, but if you have your heart set on bringing that whole box of candies / cookies / fruitcake to work, please consider:
-keeping it in a resealable, airtight container, with ingredients clearly listed;
-keeping it in your own office and inviting others to partake there, rather than leaving it in a public area;
-putting out napkins, plates, or other debris-mitigating stuff with the food;
-not bringing food into areas that anyone needs access to in order to do their job, i.e. meeting rooms, mailrooms, reception areas, etc.
-not pressuring people to take food as a gift or to eat food they've declined when it was offered.

And please remember to wash--really wash, with soap and water; hand sanitizer won't cut it--your hands between eating and handling papers or other materials that will be routed to other co-workers.

The holidays SUCK for people with severe food allergies*: the ubiquity of food and the death-grip interconnection of food and community this time of year are both socially marginalizing and physically hazardous. Please don't make it worse than it already is.

*Not just food allergies, actually. I have a friend who's deathly allergic to that artificial cinnamon shit they spray in all the malls and grocery stores and lobbies and basically every indoor public place this time of year. She's pretty much housebound between October and January. Plus, in general, asthma already exacerbated by cold weather + tons of particles in the air = extra bonus lack of fun.