A Most Unreliable Narrator Issue #143 irrationally and frightfully stupid
I don't know how to feel if you live in Brooklyn
Welcome to A Most Unreliable Narrator, the slice-of-life newsletter of GenXer around town, Lisa Rabey. I talk about anything and everything with a bit of swears. I’m glad you’re here.
Dear Internet,
Earlier this week I wrote 1300-ish words on something that is irrationally and frightfully stupid. I know it’s irrationally and frightfully stupid; I don’t need anyone to point this out to me. I thought if I puffed up my chest and wrote it anyway because I was annoyed when I found said thing in the wild yet again, I’d feel better.
So, this thing that I am angry about? Writers who love to mention in their bios they are from Brooklyn or went to a fancy college. As if this makes their writing any better or valid. Once you see it in one book, you see it everywhere.
I’m so frustrated by this, to me, phenomenon, I wrote a poem about it. Here’s a snippet:
i wonder if other people
like me
feel we’ll never be good enough
to create art
to make a change in the world
to be someone
to have meaning
in our lives
to be a human
because our zip code
is not 11203
(I know I have issues.)
I play a game when I pick up a book or read the bio on an article. WHO WILL DISAPPOINT ME?? For once, I want someone who went to a community college in the Midwest mention this in their bios. Just as valid! Anyway, I just saved you 1300-ish words on this crap.
You can thank me later for not writing that drivel even though I’m still mad.
Eating and Drinking
J and I have dropped using the meal service, Factor. Because I eat like a bird, it was taking too long for me to finish a single meal and what I wasn’t eating was getting moldy. J was doing fine with his meals, but we ended up going out to eat often since he was able to finish his ordered meals quickly. While going out gave me leftover, true, but I knew if I couldn’t finish it, J would whereas the Factor meals were hit or miss with him.
I’ve got Best Kitty reminding me daily about my protein intake, so I knew I had to get food under control.
We cleaned out the freezer of whatever we could not identify and discovered we had a lot of meat and frozen veg so we’re back to cooking. Friday night we had carne asada which was delicious. J pulled out recipe from the NY Times Cooking site. The marinade had a bit of this and a bit of that. The beef turned out to be super flavorful. Topped with cilantro, cojita cheese, and El Pato, dinner was delish.
We’re also going to have chicken for salads, chicken and veg, pork chops and veg, protein pasta and sauce, and other meals. We got a case of Amy’s chili at Costco a few weeks back because I could split a can for lunch and dinner. J wants coney dogs so that is also on the menu this week.
Most people have veg and fruit drawers, I have a protein drawer. Veggies are hard because I like a slew of them, but I can’t at them fast enough before they rot. Same with fruit. If anyone has any suggestions on how to incorporate more fruit and veg into my diet, and keeping in mind I can eat like 1/8th to ¼ of an apple at a time, please post in comments!
(Plus, not ordering out or going out means saving money!)
Fat girl surgery
I’ve ordered a slew of clothes from ON (their sizing is reliable) and I haven’t tried on a damn thing. I’m waiting until the end of the month / first week in April before I touch that box (yes, a box!) and bags of clothes. It’s a mixture of shorts, sundresses, and bathing suits. I need clothes to wear in Cancun and I’ve lost enough weight that my old clothes don’t fit. I did a fashion show for J the other day with dresses and out of a dozen, I kept four. I also dug up my linen skirts I bought at Marks & Spencer’s when I was in England back in 2012 and not only did those fit but they were a bit loose. (UK size 22 = US size 18) I have linen pants from the same manufacturer and same size that I haven’t tried on yet, but they probably fit.
I fashion myself wearing wrinkly linen this summer with loose t-shirts knotted to the side. Shoes will either be Chucks or my Birks. I’ll have a theme with clothes this summer. Punk rock hippie.
(J commented I’ll need to iron the linen or else it’ll remain very wrinkly. Does he not know who he lives with!?)
Weight continues to fall off and it remains wild. My t-shirts, which were always a bit snug, are now longer, and looser, because there is less belly to fill. It’s so weird.
Lisa writes stuff
A zillion and a half years ago (1996), fueled on Diet Coke, cigarettes, no sleep, as well as being unmedicated (I was just diagnosed that I was bipolar), I wrote a 35 or so, pencil to paper, prose poem-ish about men and love and that bullshit. A year later, I wrote a sequel.
I made both pieces digital roughly sometime after that (before 2000) and they have lived on my website for years. In 2017, I combined both pieces into a single book, and sent it off to get professionally edited, and then put it up on amazon. It sold a few copies. I never promoted it, so it’s been sitting there just hanging out all this time.
The print copy is 70 pages long so a quick read. If you’re interested, it’s on Kindle Unlimited for free or you can do me a solid and buy the Kindle copy for $2.99. I’d also appreciate a review if you want to continue to do me a solid. (A paperback is also available for $10 if you’re into to old technology.)
Introducing: commercial breaks.
Also in writing news, in the last month, I’ve submitted 29 pieces with 10 rejections, 2 acceptances, and 1 withdrawn. It’s such a waiting game.
I attended a few webinars last weekend on various writing topics and one ended up being a series with the last episode was on social media. Now, I’ve been on the internet since the dawn of time and I feel pretty comfortable with social media but I figured one could also learn a new thing.
What I did learn is that many authors append “writer,” “author,” or “books” at the end of their domain name so that their website floats to the top when search happens. Now, I do append “writer” when I search for an author (“jane smith” writer) but it never dawned on me that others did that too! Old dog, new tricks. You learn something new every day. Etc.
I have a clips page on my primary website but it’s a mixture of all types of published writing. I wanted a website that was just prose, poetry, and chap books so I came up with lisarabeywritesstuff.com.
(Jesus christ, I have written a lot of fucking reviews.)
Bringing lisarabeywritesstuff.com to fruition was pretty easy. I registered at domain on google, get an account at Dreamhost for them to manage my site, installed WordPress, configured the theme, and add the content. Tada! A website is born. It took me 1.5 hours. Probably closer to one hour. Easy peasy.
Bringing back book reviews
I finished The Idea of You the other day and was so annoyed with it, I wrote a review at We’ll Read Anything Once, my book review newsletter. That newsletter hasn’t been touched in nearly a year so I did a soft kickstart. The original goal, and one I hope to keep up to, was 50 – 100 word reviews per book and do a few books an issue. Probably publish 2-3x a month? Anyway, if you’re interested, sign up! (There will be swears, of course.)
Wedding #2 reception
J and I are getting married again on May 4th (the date of our first wedding). We’re not having a reception that day. We’re just taking the day off and eating at a nice restaurant after the ceremony.
What we’re doing in July is having a small gathering in GR for a proper reception. I’ve booked us space at a local brewery for 18 people. We’re picking up dinner and drinks for the first two hours then it’s all breaks loose. I don’t expect people to stay the entire time and I imagine people will float in and out. I also assume we’ll probably move to another bar after we’re finished there or we’ll stay until it closes! Whose to say!
If we’re close besties and you didn’t get an invite, it’s not because I don’t love you. Rather it’s a logistics thing. With the exception of Best Kitty and my niece and nephew, the rest are local. Also, we’re also going to be in GR for a short time. I didn’t want anyone flying out to hang with us only for a few hours considering the next day we’re driving back to the cabin and I can’t take time off to spend with you. Please don’t be angry. (I’m super bummed Brendan, who lives in the Bay Area, won’t be there but it’s for the same reason.)
Social media
Vaguely related, Steph recommended I get a linktr.ee because to spread my presence around so I did: https://linktr.ee/heroineinabook. I’m involved with numerous projects and she thought it would be a good idea to have them all in a single place, and she was right.
My sojourn away from social media continues and it’s been going pretty well. I’m only on for Austen stuff and my writer FB page. Regular FB, Twitter, IG, and Mastodon have been ignored. While I do miss some aspects, like posting pictures on IG and reading #amwriting on Mastodon, it’s been pretty chill. It’s also been a boon to my writing time, so that’s excellent.
Will I go back? Probably but it will be different than before. Just how different, I don’t know.
Olde Tyme
Shutterfly sent an email out that since I have not perished anything (in over 20 years), they were going to close out my account. I logged in to find over 300 pictures from 2001. A whole ‘nother life.
I found this pic of my brother and I. He was 22 and I was 29. We were such babies.
Writing
Yay! My poem, folded, will be published in tiny wren lit in April!
What I’m Reading
This year I’ve committed to read 75 books via the Good Reads Reading Challenge.
Glenarvon Byron’s ex-lover was so distraught about their breakup; she wrote a roman à clef about their relationship
Pride and Prejudice Read this a zillion times but doing a read-a-long for Austen Mondays
If Walls Could Talk Lucy Worsley walks you through the history of the home
Cartographers Nell Young’s father is found dead and she must investigate why
Would I Lie to the Duke (Union of the Rakes #2) “When an ambitious entrepreneur pretends to be a lady of means, she catches the eye—and heart—of a duke”
Waiting for a Scot Like You (Union of the Rakes #3) When Major Duncan McCameron meets sassy Lady Farris, passion and misunderstanding ensues
A Conspiracy in Belgravia (Lady Sherlock #2) Charlotte Holmes is on the case again
Wordslut a feminist guide to taking back language
The Renaissance of Gwen Hathaway This novel about finding your place in the world, learning love is a risk worth taking, and discovering what happens when you take your fate into your own hands.
Not That Kind of Ever After Fairytale meets feminism
The Davenports In 1910Davenports are one of the richest Black families in the city, they move to finding their own place in the world and loving those they are not supposed to
Magic for Liars Ivy Gamble does not have magic but she must use her wits to figure out the gruesome murder that happened at The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages
Check out the media I’ve consumed for 2023!
Wonderful Thing
I don’t know how it started but pre-pandemic I really got into Spelling Bee and Mini Crosswords at the New York Times. I love the fuck out of Mini Crosswords. I think my fastest time was 45 seconds. Spelling Bee I just got back into thanks to Brendan. We occasionally help each other out. Sometimes, I do okay but there are the days, few and far between, where I rock the fucking socks off.
I also really like to play Letter-Boxed.
The NY Times may be transphobic shit heads but do their games rock (along with their cooking site).
lisa x
(Fuck fascists and Nazis!)
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