So I just spent $150 on shoes. really nice boots, actually. which I needed so I guess it’s okay?

also I’m going to Tahoe this weekend. is this something I should get used to as a San Franciscan? weekends in Tahoe? or is this only something that people who know people who teach the kids of rich liberal parents get to do?

anyway, I took off work and actually spent money on boots entirely in the hope that I get to see some snow this weekend. It’s supposed to be kinda warm, but there might still be some fluff on the ground. plus, it’s up in the mountains and the weather does funny things up there. fingers crossed.

Tahoe, don’t let me down. give papa some snow.

and I have a date next week with this boy, who also inspired this. I can proudly say that I Did In Fact Grow Up some, and I’m 99.99% sure this is actually a date, unlike this situation.

so my life has really been on the up-and-up in the last 48 hours or so.

Go Life!

When G8 leaders sit down in St Petersburg next weekend, the ground beneath them will silently groan with the weight of the dead. Known as “the city built on bones”, St Petersburg’s foundations sit above the skeletons of the press-ganged slave labourers who toiled to erect it. Historians believe the remains of some 100,000 18th-century serfs are buried beneath its wide Parisian-style avenues and grand Italianate palaces.

Drawn from the length and breadth of the then Russian Empire, they expired from cold, from hunger, from disease, or if they were really unlucky, from the wolves. They gave their lives for the glory of then Imperial Russia and what they created, St Petersburg, stands as a monument to the single-mindedness of the Russian state.

When G8 leaders feast on caviar and quaff champagne, perhaps after discussing debt in the developing world, they are unlikely to spare a thought for the unfortunate slave labourers who built St Petersburg.

They should, for if they want to understand Russia and its complexities, once described by Sir Winston Churchill as “a riddle wrapped in an enigma”, they need look no further than St Petersburg’s incredible history. Its elegant palaces reek of European refinement and were deliberately built in a Western style in an attempt to bring Russia closer to Europe.

But more than three centuries later, it is an odyssey Russia has yet to complete, and St Petersburg is a testament to how difficult that journey has been.

(This is a post about me reading books, feel free to skim or skip it as you desire.)

these are the books I’ve started reading the last couple weeks. I’ve been restless in my reading, starting many things and continuing few.

The Book Thief, Ringolevio, Heavy Weather, Defeat, Invisible Cities and Clandestine in Chile.

not shown, but also started: Memed, My Hawk.

I also read and finished Fun Home, The Shadow of the Wind and Chess Story.

I’m certain I’ll finish Clandestine in Chile, I’ll continue Defeat and Invisible Cities, but I might put down Ringolevio and The Book Thief. Heavy Weather I’m sure I’ll read eventually, but it didn’t catch me this time. Memed, My Hawk sounds really great and started strong, but I don’t own it yet and probably don’t Need it right now.

Everyone had put me under the impression that I would love The Book Thief but it seemed really boring for the few chapters I read, I think it was the style and language. It definitely felt like it was aimed at teenagers.

Chess Story was interesting but overrated, it seemed to take itself too seriously (I’m told that all of Stefan Zweig’s writing is like this).

The Shadow of the Wind was really good and it hooked me, up until about a third of the way through I thought it would Definitely be one of my new Favorite Books Ever, but I became disinterested after a while and didn’t really agree with where it went. I’d gladly re-read the first part though, dear god it was great.

that is all.

is an actual aside in the introduction to this book.

every time I sweep my floor it seems that the product is made up entirely of dust and pubic hair. certainly more pubic hair than I remember leaving on the floor and generally more than I feel my body is at all capable of producing.

sometimes I wonder whether someone else is secretly leaving their pubic hair in my room, but I’m pretty certain no one with access to my apartment is that crazy.

the mystery remains.

reading this now. not quite sure what to think of it yet. it’s really long and the writing style just makes it seem longer. but the first chapter was just so good.

Ringolevio by Emmett Grogan

my Tumblr sex dreams are more like Tumblr sexual-tension, sexual-undertone dreams. 

my subconscious won’t let me break the bonds of Tumblr-friendship!

my subconscious really ought to get laid.

I’m quite intrigued by the parallels between the current state of the stories of Sherlock and the Doctor, both shows under the thumb of Steven Moffat.

they’ve both just faked their deaths and gone underground, so to speak, after a period of attracting too much attention and putting everyone around them in danger.

and I’m very excited to see where this takes them in the next series. 

also, I was quite pleased with the use of Nina Simone in The Reichenbach Fall.

that is all.

my opinion of mandatory employee review meetings changed drastically when I realized how nice it is to be sat down by my employers and be told in no uncertain terms that I am awesome and they want me to stick around forever and ever and oh, here is a nice little raise, too.

in fact, I want to have more meetings like these. can we do it once a week?

oh yeah.

So I did this thing where I built these bookshelves which are totally awesome.

I used the router my mum sent me for christmas to set the shelves into the supports and only used glue and nails to hold it together so there aren’t any ugly screw holes. I even rubbed a coat of tung oil into them as a simple finish that didn’t change the look of the wood much.

I deliberately made more shelf space than I had books to fill, so I’d have some space to grow, but now it’s looking pretty daunting and empty. I need some more books.

my room feels so much more complete now! 

I hope you know that all I want from you is sex
to be with someone who looks smashing in athletic wear 

thesouthernbelle:

Tomorrow is My Turn

this is the last track of the Blue side of my personal Best of Nina Simone compilation. which I do believe I’ve finally finished. I’ll get it in the mail soon, Emily. for real this time.

also maybe I’ll put up the tracks here eventually.