Sometimes a way to make reality seem less objectionable is to spend less time in it.

There are those of us who daydream more than others, but we all have our escapes, don't we? A radio show this morning prompted listeners to call in with their current favorite releases from reality. Of course it was specifically regarding "these tough economic times" and how people responded in their choice of fantasy worlds, which began the quiet collector's wheels turning. Escapist activities like reading fiction, watching television, going to the movies, playing video games never really experience a major dip in popularity though, do they? Aren't we always doing things like this? Why do we sometimes need to be someone other than ourselves? Do we just need to occasionally leave the shell behind and let the work in progress simmer while we check out and subconsciously contemplate the next move? While our fingers punch buttons moving spaceships across screens or our brains are titillated by visual accounts of a life more luxurious than our own? Surely there is plenty of benefit in such endeavors. One of the drawbacks though, is that we can't leave the shell unattended for too long or else it wilts. Maybe the original statement isn't true. Maybe the longer you spend away from reality, the more objectionable it feels to return.

Don't Forget

I was a wonderful day by myself today until I thought back on it and realized I was feeling lonely and left out. Well, I was not actually feeling this way until I noticed I should. I was working in the basement and I heard all of my roommates laughing and having fun together above me. It was fine until it occurred to me that I had to stay down in the basement now, since I thought they might feel awkward for having fun and not inviting me if perchance I walked past and they realized I was there too. And then I remembered that when I called my mom, my brother and his girlfriend were laughing and having fun together in the background because they were all hanging out. And then I also remembered that Matthias and Leonard and Trevor are laughing and having fun in Berlin together right now. So I thought I'd continue remembering. I remembered when I went to Sweden with Leonard and Joe to escape the hot, sticky German summer and I ate a brownie from 7-11 in the rain wearing a self-made velour minidress in a color that looks terrible on me, because the Swedish 7-11 brownies are actually very delicious, and Leonard and Joe and I laughed and had fun together.

It's a shirt dress...

...made from a dress shirt. I kind of love how it turned out big and baggy like something a classy Japanese girl would rock (somehow they always make things that are too big for them look amazing). Every little bit of this dress comes from one men's dress shirt! Can you find them all?

I'll be right back.

I'm going to Berlin for a moment.

The light bulb in the entrance is nonexistent. Instead an empty socket gapes, wires dangling as if someone has ripped the bulb away and the violence was frozen into a permanent reminder that things are sparse here. Upon penetration into the inky entry chamber encased by two sets of archaic doors twice a person's height or more, a scent of death warmed over and topped with garbage greets your nostrils. I often chose not to breathe until the courtyard, wheeling my clunky pink cruiser through as fast as possible. The darkness is absolute in the passageway. I simply hoped that the slasher of Friedrichshain would never find this secret doorway to lurk in with his bottle, waiting patiently to break it over my head and mutilate my face with the remaining shards. Maybe he did one day, but couldn’t stand more than a minute of the smell and promptly moved on.

If you stand really still...

it might just slither by without bothering you.

Running in place

You can think of this like the little rainbow whirlie on macs or the hourglass on pcs. There has been much to do lately with dance classes in full swing and costumes to design, but don't you worry. One of my favorite holidays is rapidly approaching...VALENTINE'S DAY, and several dresses are on deck. Check back soon!

In the meantime, a few current themes/obsessions:

-manners
-a positive attitude
-nineteenth century pioneers/struggles for frontier survival (ongoing)
-weddings
-my six year-old brother's fascination with/concern about vampires
-Chuck Bass