My cat Vajra has a habit of doing what I refer to as “editorial puking.” Like, once she puked on my bed right before I had a date… With a dude who ended up dumping me in a pretty awful way. It’s like SHE KNOWS, I swear to God.

Tonight I came home, and she had, I am not kidding, strategically barfed all over the giant five-part To-Do List sitting on my desk.

Okay, Vajra. I am taking this as a sign that I should maybe pare down the list and chill the fuck out. I defer to you and your superior feline knowledge. You are usually right in these matters, after all.

PORTLAND/SEATTLE/PNW PEOPLES: I will be in Portland on a Writing Vacation from roughly July 10th-August 10th (& probs coming into Seattle for a short fun break-type visit at some point over that month). I’ve got a Pdx house-sit from July 14th-25th. Outside of that, I’m definitely still on the look-out for Portland guest beds, Pdx house & pet-sitting gigs, &/or cheap furnished Pdx sublets with a bed & a desk. I’d be much obliged if you kept yr ear to the ground for me. Thanks so very much, y’all!

PEOPLES WHO MIGHT VISIT SAN FRANCISCO THIS SUMMER: I’m subletting my thoroughly awesome studio apartment from July 10th-August 10th. I live in the heart of the South Mission, near 24th Street. Perks: Fully furnished, full kitchen w/ a dishwasher, luxury shower, free laundry, fruit trees (loquats & figs) & seating in the sunny backyard, a hot pink queen bondage bed for you to frolic in, a writer’s book+music library for you to raid, and a sweet 11 y/o kitty who will love you up. I’m asking $1500 for the month, but am willing to be (somewhat) negotiable on price for the right tenant. Contact me at queershoulder@gmail.com if yr interested in cat-sitting & subletting, please!

Me & Angus made a pinhole camera to watch the solar eclipse this evening. I really like how this shot gets both the eclipse and my “holy” tattoo.

More pix soon. What a lovely evening.

(See also? It is nice to have my beau back in town from the prairie. I missed you, Fella.)

Tonight I am taking a long hot shower, making myself a fancy drink/dessert thing that involves raspberry liqueur* & vanilla ice cream, and reading the second half of Alison Bechdel’s new memoir.

OMG, you guys, NOT WORKING ON A THESIS IS MOTHERFUCKING BOSS.


*Grazie, Marlene.

ATTENTION, Portland, Seattle, and current & former PNW-Affiliated Peoples:

I’m thinking about subletting my San Francisco studio in July &/or August, and coming to either Portland or Seattle for anywhere from 2-6 weeks. This would be a working vacation for me. I want to spend a good chunk of time working on The Record (my novel) this summer. Doing the writing somewhere greener & sleepier than San Francisco sounds hella appealing right now.

I’m leaning towards going to Portland since it is the cheaper & quieter option of the two cities (and then doing a little visit to Seattle to see friends & have some fun). However, if you know of any available Seattle guest rooms or cheap Seattle sublets, please do let me know. I would certainly not knock living in Seattle for a few weeks. :)

Two questions:

1) Could any of you put me up for a period of time in July or August? Or do you have friends with guest rooms who would be down to host a sweet, respectful, big-Italian-meal-cooking, roamin’ queer writer? ;) Or do you have friends who need pet or house-sitters? As I said, my plan is to be writing a lot, so spaces with a desk where I can actually hang out alone & work would be fan-fucking-tastic.

2) Do you know of any cheap & furnished (again, bed + desk is ideal) summer sublets? I live alone and I love it, so I am especially interested in hearing about studios & one-bedrooms. For the purposes of this trip, a room in a (quiet, chill, clean, GROWN-UP, queer & trans & kink & fat-friendly) group house would also be fine. I would esp. love to rent from friends or friends of friends. I’m on a tight working artist/grad student budget, so I would ideally not want to pay more than $500/month (or however much that works out to, pro-rated).

Please feel free to pass this along to potentially interested friends, and do let me know if you have any resources to throw my way.

Many thanks,
Gina

Outfit at tonight’s skool party. Such a fun night!

I’m travelling from June 5th-20th, and I’m wondering if anyone might want to sublet my sweet little San Francisco furnished studio and cat-sit during that time. I would prefer to sublet to a friend, or to friends of friends. If you need a sweet place to write or rest or dream on a Bay Area vacation, my place is ideal.

My apartment is a tiny but awesome in-law studio in the heart of the South Mission, near 24th Street. Fabulous perks: Full (but small) kitchen w/ a dishwasher, luxury shower, free laundry in the garage, fruit trees (loquats & figs) & seating in the sunny backyard, a princess bondage bed (no, really), a writer’s book+music library for you to raid, and a sweet 11 y/o kitty who will love you up.

I’m asking $450 for the two weeks.

Interested? Drop me a line at queershoulder@gmail.com.

Please feel free to repost to travelling friends. Thanks, all! ♥

Just call me Master de Vries. ;)

It feels so very good to be done. I am a proud Gina.

(Also, the splotches in the photos were splotches on my cell phone camera lens, not splotches on my actual Thesis!)

Currently putting the verrry finishing touches on my Master’s Thesis. You know, the more I read through this & tweak little bits here & there, the prouder I am, the less anxiety I have about it. I done good, dammit.

1. Ma likes to tell this story: I was maybe 2? 2 & a half? And she went to see Maurice Sendak read, and got “Where The Wild Things Are” signed, and brought it home for me. And I got righteously indignant because she didn’t bring him home from the reading to have dinner with us. I apparently shouted “Mommy, why didn’t you bring him home for dinner?!”

2. Rest in Peace, Maurice. I have always loved your wonderful monsters. They cracked something wide open for me as a kid. They made magic possible & excellent.

My Preliminary Thesis Formatting to be turned in tomorrow is *done*!

And now, it is so pie & ice cream & Downton Abbey o’clock.

Teacup has taken up residence on my shoulder like a parrot. Not even kidding.

*

Had a North Beach adventure w/ Elana today, and now I’m cat-sitting for C&R in Hayes Valley. Tonight I wrote a lot at Frjtz, and then I opted to read Gertrude Stein* over a Manhattan at Marlena’s. Now I am in the giantest of beds, watching the terriblest of crime dramas on the big screeniest of televisions, flanked by old lady kitties.

My thesis is due very soon, but all in all? Life ain’t too shabby.

*Okay, so, is it just me, or Stein kind of *incomprehensible*? I’ve never really read her before this class. She’s a genius stylist, but I was going cross-eyed trying to make sense of her work. Perhaps this is her point?

Apparently, I am not above having “The Final Countdown” stuck in my head the day before a big show. Thanks, G.O.B. Thanks a lot.

1. This would be my “It’s 3 days till showtime, I’m still editing my piece, I have a thesis chapter due tomorrow [don’t worry! it is pretty much done except for minor edits!], and I ran out of clean underwear so I actually really need to do laundry before I keep writing” Face.

2. When the laundromat sounds like a nice respite because it forces you to get off the computer, perhaps you have a workahol problem.

3. How does my hair continue to look so good even when I’m underslept and really stressed out and on my last clean outfit? This is the best haircut I have ever gotten, you guys.

So, I was supposed to have a date this afternoon, and had work to get done before the date, and I somehow managed to push through all of it and get it into a good place (including making major progress on my Girl Talk piece, hell yes!). And then my date had to reschedule, which is fine. But now I am like:

a) Oh, wow, now I have a few hours to just… Relax? Have some alone time? That’s awesome, but also the fact that I cannot remember the last time I just had Enjoyable Chill-Out Alone Time (as opposed to “Alone But Working On Things Time”) is definitely something I am noting. :/
b) So apparently dates are really excellent motivators for me to GET THINGS THE HELL DONE. Duly noted!