rain rain rain VIDS rain rain rain

Hullo, friends!
Unfortunately, Chicago has not yet decided to give up and admit it isn't winter anymore, so in a few minutes I get to walk to work in what is now rain and is threatening to turn into snow, given half a chance.
Before I go, though, I have some pretties for you.

shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Well now, lovey, if I were to do that, I would have to say that you

completely destroy my attention span

[Not pictured: Facebook, NPR, tumblr, gmail, and who knows what else is open in my internet tabs]

and today's earworm is...

Some of you may not be aware that I work in a clothing store.

Well, I do. It's a fairly pricey clothing store. Like, $48 t-shirts pricey. To be fair, 100% of our profits go to a Chicago charity, and the pieces are, on the whole, good quality. But STILL. When I spend my workday ringing people up for hundreds of dollars worth of jackets and sundresses and yoga pants and scarves and aviator sunglasses and vegan leather handbags (I promise they're real), the class-consciousness can start itching something fierce.

I listened to this song before I went to work this morning, and it's been stuck in my head ever since. You should listen to it too. And then, for good measure, everything else he's done, because it's all awesome. 

The video's a lot of fun, too...

{insert something clever here}

Good afternoon and Happy Wednesday, people of the internet!

At one point, I drafted a terribly long and thinky and super-seriously overblown blog post meant to reintroduce myself in this space, but then I lost it in an explosion of visitors and overdue paperwork. In the long run, I'm glad I did, because it was so awful, guys. Suffice to say that I'm back, I've got a whole pile of new and exciting and slightly different things I might be writing about, and I will also include the occasional life update, as it occurs to me, because it's been brought to my attention that certain of you would sure like to know I am still alive. Fair enough!

For now, though...because they are definitely more interesting than me rambling on in the abstract about where my head's been lately...delicious links!

AFP being awesome (as per usual)

If we know each other very well at all, you will already be aware of my mad fangirling feels about Amanda Palmer. This is a link to her blog post thanking all the people who helped with her recent TED Talk (which was lovely and you should watch it if you haven't already!), and I am pretty much in love with how she does music, celebrity, vulnerability, people and life in general. Especially in this instance - it's not usually that sexy to talk in detail about all the little random people who have held you up on your way to rockstar-dom (literally or figuratively), but she makes a point of it, and yes, she makes it sexy. Here's the creative process, she says - no, there's no loner genius here; instead it's a hundred drafts and a thousand cups of tea and a million listening, critiquing, encouraging friends. Read her. Listen to her. Love her. Join the movement. You're welcome.

The Middle.

I've been following this blogger named Jamie The Very Worst Missionary for awhile now, off and on, and aside from being a refreshingly Real person (dude, she talks about poop way too much to be a proper Christian blogger; it's great), she occasionally hosts her awesome friends to talk about important things - in this case, God, Jewish holidays, categories, and living in the tension. I'm not Jewish, but I live on the Christianity spectrum, and the philosophy behind this post feels a lot like the places my God And The Universe-related thoughts have been exploring lately.

Vintage.Black.Glamour.

I think the title says it all, really. I could try to come up with something profound about blackness and beauty and portrayals as they change over time, but I think we're all smart enough to just mentally fill that in...

In other news, the show I'm stage managing closes on Sunday (that went fast!), I've got at least two more projects lined up for after that, and life is goooood, if slightly hectic! Thanks for reading, friends. Be back in a bit.

~L

it's only been...what, two months?

Holy crap.
*awkward cough* Well, I have been away for awhile, now, haven't I? Just walked off for the paper one day and never came back. Awkward.

HI GUYS! (If indeed any of you are still reading here.)

So, updates:

1. I am currently in the middle of experiencing my first Chicago winter. Wheeee! Currently, I believe there is less than a foot of snow outside, so that's not so bad, but I think all my boots and pant-hems are going to be salt-stained forever.

2. Am stage managing a show called Body of Water at Redtwist Theatre. Today, I got my comp tickets - six for previews, two for the run. I am secretly hoping my parents can come for the run, but if anyone wants to come to a preview night of my show, come get it!

3. Job searching again. I'm still employed at the clothing store, and it's lovely, but have reentered the market for something better. Aside from the overall cost of living/paying off my loans, I need to start saving up because...

4. I hope to be moving this summer! Not far; still in Chicago and in all likelihood within walking distance of where I am now. But I plan to be sharing an apartment with an old friend. The specifics are super-secret yet, since nothing is really quite planned/worked out. But. It will be REALLY exciting if we can pull it off, and I will most likely not be able to shut up about it.

5. Also (and you must have known this was coming, surely),
HAPPY THOR'S DAY.

Nice hammer, sweetheart.

6. PS Boston was AWESOME.
...
Anyway, I hope to get back to posting, at least off and on. I realized recently that this blog is pretty much the only way half my folks from home still know I'm alive and not, I dunno, starving to death in an alley somewhere (not yet!).
If you're so inclined, you should leave a comment and tell me what's been new and exciting in your lives while I've been away!

the fiiiiinal countdooooown....

Afternoon, friends.
It is one of those days when I can't remember When I am. Like, at all. I woke up convinced it was November, and Wednesday, and about three hours later than it actually was.
So far, I'm blaming the deadlines.

jailbreakin, baby.

Today, the new computer arrived.
Well.
It is a Dell Inspiron from 2006, and it is many things, but 'new' is not really one of them.
NEVERTHELESS.
I can once again exist on the internet, which is a big deal, guys.
Bard, you are my favorite.
That is all.

Source: store.techturn.com via TechTurn on Pinterest

(essentially what is going down in my kitchen right now.)

Ivan returns!

(That ... is an theatre injoke with a very long backstory that most of you may not get and probably do not care about. So let's just move on to the important bit, shall we?)

TODAY IS THOR'S DAY.

...

YOU'RE WELCOME.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming. Further blog updates will, hopefully, be coming soon...my college laptop has fizzled out on me (rest in peace, Jade m'dear), but a friend is sending me her old one (bless her), and I expect it to arrive any day now.

Until then - Happy Thor's Day, boys and girls. Swing a hammer at someone today.

today, from GoodReads

Source: thatkindofwoman.tumblr.com via Lauren on Pinterest

"Love blurs your vision; but after it recedes, you can see more clearly than ever. It's like the tide going out, revealing whatever's been thrown away and sunk: broken bottles, old gloves, rusting pop cans, nibbled fish bodies, bones. This is the kind of thing you see if you sit in the darkness with open eyes, not knowing the future."

(Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale, was born on this day in 1939.)

ALSO.

IT'S THOR'S DAY AGAIN.

Guys, this is probably going to be A Thing. Just so you know. 

If you can't handle that...well, you should probably leave now.

8. book that scares you

[Real quick, guys: I just got off of work and, after a block or two of vacillating, decided to come to Starbucks and do work instead of going home and eating dinner/watching Grey's Anatomy.

I had no sooner opened up my computer than one of the baristas came up to my table and, without a word, handed me a latte.
Sign: accepted!]

*

Hello, friends! Long time, no see.
If you've been following along with this li'l books series, you know by now that sometimes I have difficulty making decisions. Today's post illustrates another situation where, much like the Favorite Young Adult Book post, I'm probably just getting hung up on semantics.

hey, guys. GUYS.

It's Thor's Day.

Let's all get out our gauntlets and celebrate.