hey, wud up?

whydoihaveablog asked: I am super poor right now, but after this week I think I should have some spending money for drinks and gas. :) Do you have a car to meet halfway in Quincy-ish area? If not, I make it into Boston every couple of weeks anyway.

Wow, I completely missed this. I only check tumblr on my phone and am sort of an idiot when it comes to figuring out apps.

I realize that you have now moved to NY to work for Tumblr (congrats!!), so this creepy meetup is likely out of the question. But, if you’re looking for new friends and new places to check out in NY, my friend’ Lindsay’s cousin owns a bar in Greenpoint called Greenpoint Heights. Lindsay works there too, and she is pretty awesome. She is the one you remind me of. Her bar has the best Mac and cheese I’ve ever had, and their pulled pork tacos are so freakin’ good.

That’s all I know about NY cuz it scares the shit out of me. Have fun and good luck!

Oh, and if it is any consolation, I was drunk on a weeknight (wine, man) when I wrote that question. Good excuse for me missing the response?

I just looked at so many things on Tumblr that made me smile. Normal people posting normal things like cats and things about their jobs and pictures of people doing normal things.

I worry sometimes that my life is too normal. That I’m too young for my life to be this normal and average. I’m twenty-five, own a house with my boyfriend of 7+ years that I don’t hate, and pull up pictures of my cats to show everyone whenever I have the opportunity.

I have an 8-5 job that I commute to, and staying out past 11 is a “late night” for me. I bake more than any non-professional baker should bake and I watch more Intervention and Dance Moms than any responsible adult should watch. I spend a lot of time alone. Sometimes I worry about these things. I think that I should be out drinking till 1 and making poor decisions, but I am SO GLAD I am not.

Look, I’ve had those times. But these times? Better. Tonight I drank beer with co-workers and played Jenga and talked about cats and dogs. We discussed debt and loans and gas mileage and I didn’t hate it. In fact, it was great.

Being 25 and employed and fiscally responsible and childless and fucking boring is great.

I would venture to say that this is my favorite age.

The only thing that would make it better? My best friends living in my neighborhood.

Me and Jesse just put an offer in in a house. My bank account is telling me to save as much money as humanly possible over the next few months. My brain is telling me to increase the amount of money I spend on wine because the alcohol will absolutely be necessary to kill the anxiety that this whole process is inducing. But it is exciting! And scary. Really fucking scary.

I have been trying really hard not to hate most things.

Every day, I come home from work, and I have something to complain about. It isn’t always work related. Sometimes it is about the guy sitting next to me on the train who is having a very loud, very gesticulated work-related conversation. Sometimes it is about something I read on the interwebs.

Today, it is about something I read on the interwebs.

The gist of this article was that Zooey Deschanel is adorable, and being adorable is irritating because it isn’t age-appropriate. Polka dots aren’t age-appropriate. Tights and converse aren’t womanly. Jewelry (not from Etsy) is womanly. Dates that don’t involve walks and ice cream, but rather wine and date-like things (although she didn’t specify what those date-like things are) are adult. God forbid you like kittens. I just don’t get it. This woman was basically saying that females have to change after leaving college. You have to “grow up”, not just emotionally but also in how you present yourself to the world. This I get, to an extent. But she goes beyond that. She suggests that you not only have to present yourself like an adult, but you should rid your life of any interests that could be labeled as child-like. No kittens. No ice cream. No walks. No Converse. No music with ukeleles.

No ukeleles?

Why should anyone have to change who they are to become more “adult”? Personally, I think I have done a damn good job of adapting myself to the adult, professional world without having to sacrifice the things that I use to define myself. I have a Masters in chemistry from a pretty good school, and I achieved that in less time than it takes most people. My advisor suggested that my thesis was about 2/3 of what a Ph. D. thesis would have been. I work for a company in Cambridge, using my degree. I’m currently vying for a promotion that would give me a lot of responsibility over a very exciting project, something most people with masters in chemistry don’t really get to do. I am respected by my co-workers and my boss, and my boss’s boss. I make enough money to pay for my rent, my bills, my car, and everything else I want to do. I have a high-yield savings account with more than six moths rent, I contribute to a 401k, I have health insurance, I donate to charities. I am saving for a new car. I also buy dresses, tights, and leggings at Target. I wear silly t-shirts and band t-shirts and science t-shirts, and I wear them to work with jeans, cardigans, and Converse. I don’t straighten my hair or wear more makeup than mascara and eyeliner or wear jewelry, unless it’s my lime green watch or the handful of artsy-type necklaces that I got from Etsy or Forever21. My apartment is covered in pictures that I took, and nothing really matches, and my curtains are made from silly fabric that I bought at Ikea. Most of our furniture is from Ikea or are hand-me-downs. I like music with ukeleles and strong, adorable female singers and cellos and folksy twang. I like understated movies and movies by Wes Anderson and hate most romantic comedies and action movies that are popular and “adult”. Sometimes I like an animated movie. I like walks and ice cream. I really like ice cream. I generally don’t like bars, unless they have a cool vibe or a good band and aren’t playing house music and aren’t crawling with guys who gel their hair and talk with fake Jersey accents. I like having conversations and spending Friday nights playing games. And I’m not going to apologize for any of these things. The day I have to show up for work in generic Express clothes is the day I look for a new job. There are men out there who understand that being a “woman” isn’t something you can define by pantsuits and fine wine. I found one of them. We both sleep with our childhood stuffed animals and we picked out our curtain fabric together. And when he read the article, he was equally infuriated. Why do you have to be boring to be considered “adult”? he asked. And why do you have to change who you are impress men?? I know many men that would take Zooey Deschanel in an instant, if given the chance.