Unpacking of the monkey lamp, metaphorically speaking

Ten new and/or improved things:

1. My haircut by Veronica (with a little clipper help from Joe)
2. Sleeping with the quilt
3. A neighborhood basset named Tilly
4. A disciplined writing practice
5. Another wall of bookshelves by Joe
6. An appreciation of autumn
7. Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell's Hawk
8. The tag, "queer" on my blog
9. Unpacking of the monkey lamp
10. A fresh battery in my beloved watch

Deckhands keeping me afloat

This is Monkey, the cat that lives near our new home. Everyday Nukah walks by and tries to eat Monkey's food. Some days he is more successful than others. The important thing is that Nukah never stops trying. We've taught him to be independent, persistent, and to believe in his dreams.

I'm immersed in my first intensive editing process. An essay I wrote is on its way to becoming published and all hands are on deck: Joe, my mentors, my family, and my friends are helping me through this emotional process (the only kind of "process" I know). Tonight, I've sent off my first set of revisions. I can relax and enjoy some rest before the next round begins.

Along with revising, I took in a brow-waxing at Aveda and a visit with my dear friend, Matt B.

Huge shout-out to my father, the best editor any writer can know. Thank you for allowing me to sob, flip out, and flail on the phone today. And thank you for getting me through it.

A song for Joseph:
I'm Into Something Good by Herman's Hermits

Another song for Joseph:
Beast of Burden by the Rolling Stones

Four Year Blog Anniversary

March 7, 2006 I began this blog. A million things have changed since then.

What's stayed the same?

I still try to surround myself with the people I love. Reading, writing, and movies are still my main interests. I still want to live in a houseboat and own a bookstore.


To finish my long weekend in New York, Joseph and I visited Veronica's glamorous "salon."


Nukah said goodbye to the city and his big sister, Nancy for now.


I got a fabulous new hairdo just in time for spring.

Brilliant films we saw this weekend:
The Hurt Locker
The Prophet

Happy Blog-versary to me!

a quaint morning

Another indoctrination at Sweet Sue's.


And guess who got a new haircut?


I could be on the penny with all those sharp features.
Thanks, Veronica. As always, I'm very happy with the new look.

oh so sleepy

Veronica takes care of everybody.


Right now, she's long-term cat-sitting, Rosi for one of Joe's friends.


Joseph got in on the hair-cutting action when we stopped by to hang out.


After cutting our hair, the three of us went out to brunch. Then Joseph and I walked from the Upper West Side to midtown before hopping on the train downtown and walking some more.


By the time we made it back home, my chills were full-fledged. Joseph bundled me up and let me rest. While I slept, he cooked chicken noodle soup and biscuits.

My body needs a break.

Lifted

Today's schedule:

*Wake up early for breakfast at Clinton Street Baking Co. with Mom, Dad, and Joseph.
*Take a family trip to the magical Orthodox Jewish corset shop on the Lower East Side to be fitted and to make some intimate purchases.
*Drop Joseph off at work and walk the High Line with Mom and Dad.
*Stop by 192 Books with the parents before parting ways. Goodbye, Mom and Dad! Thanks for everything. I hope you are home and resting from your trip.
*Visit the UWS to meet with fabulous theater couple (not my parents) and sign lease. The deed is done.
*Back to Brooklyn for an hour of rest.
*Return to the UWS to see my dear friend, Veronica and receive another genius haircut. She refuses to allow me to sing her praises, but I wouldn't know what to do without Veronica, and that's not just because of the killer haircuts. I don't ever want to take my amazing friends for granted.

new things, familiar things

Mom and Dad are back in New York, staying at my apartment, which was my birthday gift to Mom. Before their first play of their trip, Joe and I met up with them for dinner at Westville in the East Village. Not that it's a competition, but I'm sure I won best dinner with my wasabi-glazed mahi-mahi. Then again, we all won with the shared fruit cobbler and vanilla ice cream.

We played around a little with the new camera. I'm trying to be patient and to pace myself while I get to know my new toy.

Just in time for summer, I'm sporting a new haircut thanks to a visit to the fabulous Veronica's apartment. Now if only summer would come and stay for a while.

All my love and congratulations go to Riva, who has just graduated from Graduate School in American Studies. You are truly a master!

Spoiled!

My days at work are all about the most amazing coffee I've ever had. If Counter Culture is a cult, then sign me up. This morning, we're drinking La Golondrina, our second favorite variety from the tasting we had yesterday.


A new, fabulous Designed-and-Cut-by-Veronica Haircut to go with a perfect cup of coffee.

A much-needed visit to Veronica's

My dear friend, Veronica is the only one who is allowed to cut my hair. She had to remind me several times that I am not to take out my emotions on my hair. But she's a realist, and so she showed me how to cut my bangs if I couldn't resist. Sometimes I can't resist.


I've been instructed to let this newly cut hairdo grow out so that she can try her next vision on my hair.

As one would expect from hanging around with a scientist, Veronica has endless information. Tonight she taught me about the naked mole rat. Recently, she attended a conference where she learned about aging and cancer. Apparently the naked mole rat does not get cancer, and scientists are unsure why the naked mole rats die. Similar to the queen bee, the queen naked mole rat mates with all of the males in her group. This includes mating with her sons. The queen bee causes so much stress by bullying the other females that they do not try to mate. Isn't nature amazing?

it just keeps getting shorter and shorter

Veronica came over tonight and she cut my hair so I'd be looking my best for graduation. She brought me a rugby shirt and pin from her trip home to Romania.

I'm trying to collect all my photos from her haircuts for my Veronica Haircutting Portfolio in case there comes a time when she needs an alternate form of income. I would happily pay her (if she would let me) and I have many friends who would go to her, too.

too harsh?

The publisher of the book I reviewed for Venus asked me to send her my review. Here's the correspondence:

Gili,

Thanks for this. Not an overwhelming success I can see but I am so completely in your debt for a real frank review!

Best,

M
****
M,

Thanks for responding. I can be a harsh critic, I know. I'm a fiction writer so as a reader, my expectations are generally very high.

Best,

Gili
****
Gili,

Good! Never change.

M
****


And here's pictures from my new haircut and hangout with Veronica. (I feel like I look just like my mom in the picture of me.)

general groan

Yesterday was a big grooming day. On my way to my eyebrow wax at Aveda Institute, I saw the Project Runway guy on the street.

I thought I was in for a good waxing because I got an instructor. She was a brute with tweezers and accidentally ripped off a tiny part of my skin under my brow.


Veronica came over with ice cream and gave me a new cut. As always, the woman is a genius with shears.

I finally treated her to dinner and while we were eating Italian on my block, Caitlin M-T walked by. Tomorrow she is going to Ronna's wedding in Pittsburgh. Ronna went to Interlochen with us, too.

Tonight is Tara's going away party. She's about to move to Kansas City to pursue her MFA.

This week feels like a fluid mixture of past, present, and future. I guess everything in life is, but lately, it feels like I'm running through a maze of intersections.

I'm tired, still grouchy, and still recovering from camping.

Riva is on her way to her new home on the East Coast. I can't wait to have her so close.

Oh, did I listen to that again?: Martha Wainwright's Bloody Mother F-ing Asshole.

A review I wrote of Sarah Schulman's The Child is online on Venus Magazine's website. More reviews to come. Some of the edits seem a bit off, but that happens. I came up with the genius title. (Obviously, since it's my cell phone ring.)

General groan.

Gi Gets Her Haircut (Just Like The Rest of The Dream Team)

Veronica and Gili in the Housing Works basement bathroom, pre-cut
My hairdresser is very important. The haircutting must wait until the conversation in Romanian is over.
post haircut
switch sides, snip a few more hairs.

All My Troubles Have Gone Away

This haircut is different from the last one she gave me. Still adorable and fabulous, but something about it is different. Neither of us could figure out what the change was, so maybe some of you who have seen the two versions can. Veronica is so fabulous and amazing for giving me free/perfect haircuts. I keep telling her that she can charge me, but she does it out of the kindness of her Romanian heart.


Alyssa and I had lunch together again today and then we walked around SOHO and people-watched. The weather has been so ridiculously good that it seems unjust to have to go to work.
Drinking hot water with lemon all day makes me feel like I'm at a spa (except for the fact that my coworkers blast the most annoying radio station, I'm sitting in front of a computer, I work in a basement, and I'm covered in dirt from old books).

*movie of the week: My coworker burnt me a copy of the criterion edition of Robocop because he flipped out when I told him I'd never seen it.
*song of the evening: Heavenly Day by Patty Griffin
*my new ringtone (which corresponds to a certain person's myspace page that Riva might know about): Sugar, Sugar by The Archies

Haircut Happiness

This morning, the bookstore needed my help up front. So I went upstairs and started chatting with this volunteer, a microbiologist from Romania. She also has hair like mine and I loved her cut.

So we ended up talking about hair and she offered to cut mine. At lunch, she cut my hair in the basement bathroom. I love it! It's way cuter than the way the woman on 2nd Avenue cut it, and today's haircut cost me nothing (as opposed to almost ninety dollars on 2nd Ave).

I'm really wishing I had a digi-cam today. (If have extra time in Somerville, I'll get one.)


E told me she's reminded of Mary Tyler Moore throwing up her beret when she reads my blog. From one Minnesota woman to another. (Maybe when I get a digi-cam, I can reenact this picture.)

I leave for Boston for my next residency in two days...

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow?

I couldn't resist the ridiculous title.

Important question, please answer:
Should I cut all my hair off? See before and after.




Thanks.