latisse! men, infinite summer, labor day, cali

so i got that latisee stuff. the internets say you won't see full results until after week 16. i'm on week 7. so i hadn't taken much stock in my lashes. and i forgot to take a before picture. and then i started working a lot so didn't curl my them or put on mascara for a few weeks. then last week, something crazy happened. i went to curl my eyelashes and i see like 4 crazy lashes on each eye. crazy in that they're a good 2 millimeters longer than the rest. in eyelash-speak, 2 mil. is huge. it's freakish. it means they stick out and look all sorts of mutant-life-formish. so, i guess this stuff works. but now, of course, i'm obsessed with them. i take stock several times a day just to peek at them. checking to see if there are and new developments. also, i like gazing at them. they're pretty.

i've been picked up a few times in the last couple weeks. it's likely due to the luxurious lashes, which are infinitely better than the stubby asian lashes i had before. but both times the guys were cute, smart, successful. but so BLAH. the hottest one (a fine, FINE black man, headed to Stanford Law in the fall) didn't talk to me at all and let his friends chat away while he stood there, silent, for hours. then before they all left HE's the one who asks for my digits. wha? another one was 40 and didn't ask for my number but then found me on facebook. ICK. i like facebook but, come on! you're 40! get some balls and be a man and act like you know what you want and will go after it. don't stalk me on a social networking site. also, he wasn't funny. he made a lot of jokes but they were punny and awful and i can't date someone who isn't funny. all this is more negative than i mean it to be, but just to point out that there are many perfectly nice, reasonable, smart, employed men in this city, it's just that i need something more than that. that is, until the point where i get desperate and lower my standards. it's a point i hope i never reach but i guess you never know...

atrios on infinite jest: I'm a bad critic so I won't try very hard to explain why it's worth the long hard slog. But, short version is... an overly clever and confusing book slowly gives way to surprisingly powerful emotional resolutions. An elaborate word game becomes surprisingly sentimental, nonsensical PoMo gone wild becomes a meditation on contemporary need and desire. And in a way which makes sense. It isn't a cheat. I think someone described Beethoven's 9th as Beethoven chipping away at a bunch of stone until all that was left was the Ode to Joy. While not quite the same, the experience of reading Infinite Jest kind of reminded me of that.

still in this infinite summer dealie. even if i am like 15 pages behind the deadline i was supposed to hit monday. mario and hal incandenza have both risen to the top to become my most favorite characters. things are better if they're in them. the segment on telephonic communication was, really, so great. "just one dento-dermal layer" the thing with DFW is that you can't read too quickly or else you'll miss all the teeny gems he leaves scattered. on the other hand, read too slowly and 1.) you'll never finish and 2.) you'll get just buried in the details. which is why i'm already behind and it's only week 3.

i'm an efficiency queen. i always know where to stand on the subway platform. and now so will everyone else. this USED to be what made me a real new yorker. now i'll have to find something else. pout.

tears for fear on the trail of tears. enough said.

GAH! the cuteness!

labor day has been a bit agonizing. i always go upstate with the gays and gals which i love. but a great friend from law school is turning 30 and wants everyone to go to vegas that weekend. and then colin is throwing a party for work out in vegas the weekend before which would mean i get a free ride out there on the weekend which happens to be my birthday (august 30th. holla!) so i can't do all these things. would it be convenient to go to vegas for my birthday and stay the week to also be with D? yes. would it cost a bloody fortune? YES. would the gays forgive me for skipping their labor day festivities? debatable. GRRRRR.

and other travel woes: this one is my fault. all my fault. i booked my ticket to california from a thursday night to a sunday eve redeye. and in my head that seems like a cute weekend getaway. and then i thought more about where i was going and actually started, you know, planning and then realized, "oh fuck. i need one more day to make this worth it, AT ALL." so i call american. no dice. it's a $150 change fee plus another $100 which is the difference in price of that leg of the flight. i could get a refund of $180, $150 of which goes to a change fee and get a whopping $30 back if i found a cheap flight on another airline. cheapest comes in just under $200. $220 if i don't want a layover in chicago at 5am. and in reality, staying another day (which means seeing sonoma) costs me another night in a hotel and also a day of lost work. i've gotta pick my battles. this, unfortunately, is one i'm going to wave the white flag for. curses. i has a sad.