All of them all of them, all lined up

You might wonder what I've been doing. Well, I will tell you.

Way back at the end of February, I went to a giant party called the Bouquat that happens every year. The theme was Nomadic Neuromancer. The decorations and food were really good. The jacket situation was not so good though, it was just a big pile of jackets, and somehow my keys fell out and I had to wake my dad up to let me in to his apartment to sleep on his couch at 3 in the morning. I called the number on the party invitation the next day, and the girl who answered had found my keys! I went back to Bushwick to get them and realized she was the dorm neighbor of my 1998 boyfriend. So, I stayed to help clean up, and we talked about how we were babies back then and how weird it is to imagine that we've had ten years worth of stuff since we hung out in that dorm (which is above the Blue Water Grill and which is probs luxury loft/condos now).

Then I went to Philadelphia to meet up with Erika and "drop in" on a film studies conference. Who knew about how nice Philadelphia is? Do people who live there really call it "Philly"? I'm skeptical. The conference made me really inspired about the future. (My future, I mean. Not the world's. Although maybe Philadelphia's.) The one minus was that one of my fave professors, who I always have lunch with when I go back to Santa Cruz, was at the conference somewhere, but I could never find her. Don't tell her I was there; she might be sad -- I know I was!

Then I had to come back to New York to go to my mom's memorial service. My dad showed up an hour late, which was especially fascinating given that he'd been super controlling about planning the whole thing. I had static cling on my dress, and I sat through the whole service worrying about what I was going to say when it was my turn to speak, because I had written my "remarks" on the subway and during the musical interlude at the beginning of the service. I ended up accidentally including some minor spoilers for season three of Veronica Mars in my speech, which Nora pointed out to me later, but mostly it went over well, and it made me feel good that people seemed to take comfort in what I was saying.

The next weekend was my birthday, and I cooked birthday dinner at my house with Charlie and Eddie for a bunch of people. It was fun. I realized the downside of hosting your own birthday dinner is that no one buys you dinner! But the upside is that people will just automatically start doing dishes for you! And then at the end of the night, you're already at home!

Then I went to New Orleans with my sister. It was good. I will say, my sister has a fancier system of traveling than me, and I felt like I had one too many $18 "vegetable plate" from a fancy restaurant. Also, I'm just going to tell you: my sister and I fought constantly and horribly. New Orleans is rad, though. I would not have thought to go there had Wendy not spoken so highly of it as a honeymoon destination. I think the best part for me was walking around by myself on Easter Sunday, watching an Easter Parade of fancy-looking southern families on floats dressed up and throwing beads and candy and saying "here you go, baby!" every time they threw something. I went to the Catholic church in the French Quarter and cried a lot about my mom, and then I went and sat next to the river and cried a lot more, and then I saw a tiny lizard, had a cute conversation with a cute anarcho-punk guy, and got iced coffee. Then it was time to go.

Then I came back to NYC and Erika visited for way too short of a time, and we ate some delicious food. And Karen visited, and we had a ladies night birthday dinner at Bonita that included a discussion about being popular in high school that, upon reflection, was sort of embarrassing and unproductive. And also, Nathan visited for many days and, among other things, helped me to dispose of the drug paraphernalia left in my old uptown apartment by my subletter who had announced, back on the day that I left for Philadelphia, that he was moving to London. Except now I'm wondering if "London" is code for "a crack den." It was sad for me to move out of that apartment once and for all, because decorating and organizing my apartment was one of the last major things my mom and I did together before she started getting sick. I kept the extra shelf paper, but I threw a lot of things away. Anyway, that apartment is history now, and I got my deposit back yesterday. And since I have class, which Luann from Real Housewives says is "a way of making other people feel comfortable," that is all I have to say about these matters.

So, now you know.