#11: Man, I love my friends - May in review
Between flying all over the country to visit friends, looming grant deadlines, and an unexpected flurry of commissions, I've barely had time to do my dishes, much less put together a newsletter. So this one is coming a little late, and it’s also being written at 1am, so we’re getting a little in our feelings! Feel free to scroll down to the divider if feelings aren’t your jam.
It’s a little ironic how much time I spend away from New York, given my insistence that God herself could not drag me away from here. I’ll actually be traveling again in a couple of weeks, to my 10-year high school reunion. It’s gotten me reflecting on all the things I wish I could say to my 16-year-old self.
So many things seemed impossibly out of reach to 16-year-old me, to the point that she created a Bucket List of Pipe Dreams one sleepless night, which included such unattainable goals as getting a tattoo and eating cake from the box. The Bucket List itself is a story for another time, but it represented this unfathomable idea: that you could want something and simply fulfill that want, without having to lie and justify and jump through hoops.
There’s a lot I could say to her that I know she wouldn’t believe. But there are also things she wanted to believe so badly, that I’ve had the ineffable joy of watching become reality. Things like someday she’d be able to buy expensive chocolate just because, or someday she’d write something that was actually good.
I could fill a journal with the things I’d like to say to 16-year-old me, but the thing that’s at the fore of my mind right now is: someday she’ll discover that the stars have spent millennia aligning just right to enable her to hug a baker’s dozen worth of friends all in the same month. How incredible, that this is no longer a pipe dream but an immutable truth?
Anyway. I love y’all. Thanks for being my friend.
A while ago, I stumbled across some beautiful Natasha Pulley-inspired linoprints on Tumblr. When I inquired about purchasing them, the artist informed me she didn’t sell her art.
However, she said, she was always open to doing an art trade. And would you look at that, she was a Doctor Who fan, so would I be willing to trade some Gallifreyan art for a linoprint or two?
Fast forward a few weeks, and I’m now the delighted owner of these 2 prints, and dohrnaira is the proud owner of like a dozen postcards and stickers. I think we both feel like we’ve gotten the better end of the deal, which is an undeniable mark of a successful trade.
What I’ve been reading:
Pride and Prejudice
by Jane Austen
⭐⭐⭐⭐
I finally got with the program and read this classic. And yeah, okay, I get it. My God do I get it.
There’s nothing I can say about this book that hasn’t already been said, so I’m not going to bother. I’ll just add another voice to the throng encouraging you to add this to your TBR posthaste, so that you, too, might delight in that climactic moment wherein Darcy’s pride and Lizzy’s prejudice finally clash.
Buy it for less than $10 on Bookshop
P.S. Of course I then immediately watched the 2005 movie with Keira Knightley. And yeah, okay, I get it. I’m never going to emotionally recover from Mr. Darcy emerging from the mist the way he did.
Events I’ve got coming up:
July 25-27: Time Traveler’s Weekend: a mini convention
📍 Billie Creek Village, IN
🎫 Tickets start at $25 for the weekend
‼️ UPDATE! Tickets are now a full 50% cheaper than they used to be! There’s also a hotel available onsite if you don’t want to camp. If you want to come, let me know so we can coordinate travel and maybe go in on a hotel room together.