Soundtracks for Dark Deeds: The Parlour Trick, “A Blessed Unrest”

I have been on the hunt for music that fits my current aesthetic, and this album is so perfect in that regard that I feel little need to listen to anything else. The Parlour Trick seems to be pretty obscure; you get bupkis if you put them into Pandora. I only discovered them because a couple of months ago, Neil… Read more →

Cheap-ass Vacations for the Perpetually Broke

I must start with a piece of advice for the cheap: don’t try to go on a cheap-ass vacation alone. I’m terminally single, myself, so I know how difficult this can be, but you need friends for vacations to be really affordable. Accommodations are just not priced to be obtained by one person, because the world is against us, my… Read more →

Black Masks and Unheard Whispers

When talking about it with the uninitiated, I have to explain the whole concept of immersive theater before I can begin to describe Sleep No More. But anyone who has been there understands booking a stay at the McKittrick. There’s a legion of devoted fans who spend small fortunes going every weekend, but since I live in the Washington D.C.… Read more →

My walls are naked because money

So I am basically broke now. I’ve got my eye on several possible wallpapers, none of which I can currently afford. I do have a plan, however. Not for getting more money, that’s clearly impossible. For hanging wallpaper without getting any wallpaper paste involved. And without buying removable wallpaper, which is pricey as fuck. I could paint, of course. God,… Read more →

Great day in the morning, victory is mine

Recently I got word that my request to move to part time at my day job was approved. From now on, I’ll work 3.5 days a week there, and have 3.5 days a week to… be productive in other ways that I need to more concretely plan now. It feels like a huge weight has been lifted — the job… Read more →

Faux show

So, fur. I love it. I mean, not fur that’s been harvested from animals bred specifically for the purpose and which we don’t use in any other way — which is to say, most of the real fur you can buy. That fur is uncool. And faux is totally cool with me.* The thing I love about fur, faux or… Read more →

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may

I bought myself flowers yesterday. Roses, no less. This is a thing I’ve always had a weird hangup about: I would only buy flowers for myself if I was in a relationship. If I wasn’t, it felt weird and sad and somehow like giving up. What can I say, the neurosis is strong with this one. Anyway, I was at… Read more →

The Tragic End of Mister Mousie

So I was supposed to write about taxidermy! Hi! I got caught up this week in redesigning this site and making it more blog-oriented (not to mention migrating off of the wordpress.com server and onto my own space), so the actual writing fell by the wayside. IT’S A PROCESS. Not to mention my day job having just expanded by, like,… Read more →

Bring me your rusty old metal crap

So I’m going to the Community Forklift on Sunday. It’s basically an architectural salvage yard in Rockville. I’ve been there once before and it’s like Disneyland for architecture and DIY geeks. I’m going this weekend specifically on the hunt for salvageable steel to work with in my metal sculpture class. This is the second semester I’ve taken the metal sculpture… Read more →