If He Likes It Let Him Do It

Oh yeah!

Also at the concert, The Drums dedicated a song to the recent decision of Girl Scouts to allow boyz to join if they want to.  Perhaps they were inspired by Parks & Recreation.  One can only hope.

Enjoy.  Even though this song is definitely one of their ones that kind of creeps me out.

Letting him do it,
Jess

Times Around Town

Last Sunday I went to a concert with Negin from Wash U.  It was for The Drums at the Black Cat.  The opening band was two guys called True Womanhood, and the lead singer was wearing a Fila sweatshirt and glasses.  It wasn't until he took those two articles off that he looked like a front man.  They were good but nearly impossible to understand.  I then got a ginger beer with actual pieces of ginger in it!  (Have I already told you that in Britain, pulp is sometimes called juicy bits?  Well, I guess these were beer-y bits.)
       We were expecting the performance to be kind of hipster and apathetic, but it was basically the opposite!  The front man for The Drums was swaying and almost like a Paul Anka for the "over it" set.  Maybe he's be better likened to Vince Fontaine in Grease.  You can see his retro TV host swag here.  He opened the concert by saying, "Thank you for coming out tonight.  We know Sunday nights can be very relaxing, so we'd like to make sure that doesn't happen here."  It was a good concert, and they performed nearly all of their songs.  But NOT their first single, which was a huge letdown.  (Sidenote: their lack of interest in that music video explains why we thought they would be bored at their own concert.)  But if you had a huge amount of success (I'm talking on the Indie scale here) with a certain song, would you get tired of performing it?  Senior year of college, I went to a concert with some friends, and the lead singer of the band (fun.) had previously been in a different band called The Format.  People started asking him to sing their "big hit."  He responded by saying, "I'm in a band called fun. now."  But then he sang it anyway.  So, the lesson is, GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT.
       Also, The Drums say:
We only write about two feelings: one is the first day of summer when you and all of your friends are standing on the edge of a cliff watching the sun set and being overcome with all of your hopes and dreams at once. The other is when you're walking alone in the rain and realize you will be alone forever.

Last week, I went on a few walks.  During one, had three lovely discoveries.  One was a front garden art exhibit:

Whimsical whimsy.

Found art?

Takes a lot of balls to do something like this

Walkawalkawalka, I passed Ralph Lauren on the high street, where they were putting up Christmas decorations.  Why do people have no respect for Thanksgiving as a legitimate holiday to be recognized and celebrated?  

       When I got into residential territory, I came upon this GIANT caterpillar.

The leaves are to give a size idea. 

And also to make it look like a butterfly.. 

SO GIANT.

On Friday, I went to The Fashion Centre (they think they're British...  Like me.) at Pentagon City.  It was probably the most terrifying mall I've ever been to.  Just too large.  Like Del Amo in Torrance size.  At Del Amo, they have multiples of the same stores.  Is this true at Fashion Centre?  Don't know because I was too scared to run around and check it out.  Anyway, they're on the Christmas bandwagon as well.

TOO SOON.

Look at the size of that tree.  But, more importantly, look at the size of that mall!  And only with one toilet that was practically outside...  But I digress.  

I also went for a run and saw a thing to memorialize Harry Potter.

Too much.

I also went to a Meetup event on Friday because I need to know more people in this strange and wondrous people.  It was fairly successful.  We'll see who I still know in a few weeks, EH?

          Also, in terms of employment, I started with a temp agency and have a phone interview tomorrow.  But who cares about that?

Not me,

Jess

Cultural Differences

Last Sunday I tried to go to a movie with my friend Matt at this supposedly amazing cinema called E Street Cinema.  I was hoping to see Martha Marcy May Marlene because I wanted to see just how good this Elizabeth Olsen's acting was.  A part of me wonders if people are so amazed at her acting chops because of her family's "special" talents.  (Her sisters are Mary-Kate and Ashley.)  Anyway, there was a communication error and I was in the movie while Matt was standing outside for an hour.  Mortifying but it's a long story, and not entirely my selfish fault.  Anyway, after the show, I was standing outside on the phone talking about my service issues, and a guy standing on the street said, "Service issues?"
       I responded, "Yes.  Service issues!" because I have this idea that if you talk to people who hail you on the street, if you speak back, they'll be stunned into silence.  The rate of success on this project is about 75.8%.  But feel free to record your own results.  In any event, this was a less than successful exercise in response.
       The man on the street said back, "What about booty issues?"  And that, friends, is perhaps the ultimate, lifelong question, isn't it?  He then pulled out his flute and began a sidewalk concert.

To sum up that interaction, I am reminded of Maryse's roommate Cécile.  A group of us were sitting in their salon asking Cécile about appropriate French words to convey our meaning, and the word that none of us could communicate effectively was "awkward."  That word that has come to perhaps define an age group in such a way that I am now proposing that my generation be called "Generation Awkward" as opposed to "Generation Why" and other bestowed monikers.  My generation has used this word to describe situations both organically awkward and forced into being awkward.  It has come to such a point that some of us have to be reminded that things aren't actually awkward unless you pronounce them to be so.  People are awkward, situations are awkward, this liminal space between France and America is awkward, this age of reliance on the internet to communicate is awkward, this phase of unemployment that lasts indefinitely is awkward...  But I digress.  Let me return to my original scene.  Cécile informed us Americans that her French friends who had studied English had started to adopt the word for their own so that when describing a situation, they might be heard to say, "C'était awkward quoi."

Awkwardly,
Juice

Fancy Pants

I've already lamented this situation to a few people (Mom, Dad, Lilly, Stephi).  It's not really lamentable, I'm just dumb.  Anyway, Nana and her friend Jan are fancy pants.  So Jan does PR for the National Women's History Museum, and they are having a fundraiser on November 16.  Here's the link: Click Me.  I'll give you time to look it over.  Done?  Meryl Streep is going to be there.  Meryl!  Only the Prada Wearing Devil herself!  Naturally, I was very excited.  Until I realized I would actually have to be clothed at this event, and then I grew petrified.  And so I went out shopping yesterday looking for something to wear to this shindig.
       It took me five hours of going to Loehmann's, Nordstrom Rack, J. Crew, Anthropologie (also the first Anthropologie Accessories only store I've ever seen), Banana Republic (hoping some of the Mad Men line would still be available), Gap (not with actual belief in its ability to deliver), Talbots, White House Black Market, and Bloomingdales, but I found something.  And now I can quit griping about it.
       On Thursday night, I went to an event about women in media with Nana and Jan at the Sewall-Belmont House, which I had never heard of before.  It's the headquarters of the National Woman's Party, so after the event, which was all about women in the media, I took a walk around the museum fo frizzle.  It's full of artifacts from the women's movement including suffragette things.  MOST IMPORTANTLY, though, it has a Joan of Arc statue.  Best.

     This morning I killed this bug that was chilling on the wall.  It took me about 15 minutes to do so since it was so big and unlike any bug I'd ever seen before.  Look at all of its legs!  I tried to count them before I terminated it.  After the death, I went online and looked up bug with 26 legs (apparently I missed 4 of them) and discovered that it is a house centipede and is actually a very helpful bug that kills heaps of household pests, including roaches.  Too late.
    Very interesting information to be found, though.  Legs can detach. Legs administer venom.  Where would I be without Wikipedia?

Buggering off now,
Jess

P.S. See what I did there?

Happy Halloween to Boo!

See what I did with that title?  Pun!

Last photos appropriate to this autumnal holiday:

On Melrose.  IN MARYLAND.  boom.

Most favorite French sign I've ever seen.  Also in Maryland. 

Great decorations.

Happy Halloween, friends!
Spooky Scary Skeletons (still my go-to Halloween reference),
Jess