Almost Everything I Loved in July
Except for the cat pee.
Recently, I spent an hour laying on my hardwood floor, trying to calm my throbbing lower back and I thought, “Well, this is like an open air coffin.”
The floor was a last ditch effort to find some semblance of relief. I know if my family walked in from doing actual things outside the house, they would slow down for the fleshy speed hump of french fries past and MAC cosmetics before them and ask, “What’s this about?”
I would say, I know this looks existential but it’s the cat. She did this. She’s gone full “Grey Gardens.”
Our cat, the one from the streets, Kitty, has taken up occasionally peeing outside her litter box. Inches from it, in fact. Maybe an arm’s length. A toddler’s arm, for sure. Blessedly for Kitty, the cat box is down the basement. But the ammonia of it still seers the nostril hair in an entirely disgusting way, which requires enzyme spray and then a soaking of Odoban, and the roar of an industrial fan after a good, long while. The first time this happened, I was fine. This was the second.
It was during the Odoban phase, my body bent like a corner in a book, I knew I’d fucked up. “OHHHHHH NOOOOOOO,” I said because I knew, just KNEW, my back would punish me for such a terrible decision. Bending over and squatting! While wiping and squeezing! How dare I clean with such carelessness. At my age? 104, to be exact.
Meanwhile, Kitty was napping upstairs, probably dreaming about new ways to kill me, one torn ligament or slipped disc at a time. Like an asshole.
The basement smells like eucalyptus now, and I’ve started saying to Kitty for all of the 30 minutes a day she is awake, “Try not to piss anywhere.” I don’t think she likes a heckle, but, I mean, the DOOR IS RIGHT THERE, GIRL, BE FREEEEEE.
July is over, but I wanted to share some of the things I enjoyed. I like the idea of wrapping up a month this way, as I continue to work on something longer for us.
Movies I watched:
The Departed, The Manchurian Candidate (’62)*, Superman*, Beverly Hills Cop, Shampoo*, Vertigo,* Cape Fear, Jackie Brown*
* movies I have never seen
Books I read:
One of the most awesome people on the planet gifted me a copy, and I deeply identified with wanting a home that is only yours
My favorite book of the year so far, I can’t even tell you how much I loved this one
Cool shit I Found (While I Should Have Been Sleeping):
A sleeping bag for your phone (so you actually go to sleep)
This french fries art print that says “Hot-to-Go”
These cake plates are full of color and make me smile
A zine called GIRLS TO THE FRONT by The Future is Female; an advocacy collective that amplifies screenings, short-film funding and distribution for women and non-binary filmmakers
5 store-bought cookie doughs you can eat raw
If you used Pocket (the read-later tool for people who are very online), here’s my pick for a replacement
Speaking of Grey Gardens, here is the fashion designer Liz Lange giving a tour. She now owns the estate. The comment section is unnecessarily vicious about her color and textile choices. Did I watch every minute of this? Yes, yes I did.
In China, if you’re 35, that’s too old to get hired anywhere
This embroidery that gets right to the point: “Therapy is not enough, I need to fight my mom”
Celebrating 30 years of the Women’s Prize for Fiction (and now non-fiction)
Pre-ordering: How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy’s Guide to Silencing Women
There’s a new podcast from Variety about River Phoenix’s life and death; featuring interviews with Corey Feldman, Samantha Mathis and more.
The musician Yungblud talking about taking your power back
Alright, Best People on the Internet, that’s it for me. I‘m always curious what other people are watching, reading and listening to so drop a comment if you want to shout something out.
I’ll let The Delfonics take us out:
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Jackie Brown is one of my all time favorite movies
I just watched some of that Grey Gardens video and now in additional to feeling sad, I feel poor.
Also you really loved The Wedding People? I thought it was just OK. I am in a book club with slightly older suburban women and now we are reading the new VC Schwab book. The book club is ruled with an iron fist - very heavy on rules. We have to hold a totem to speak. You would hate it!