Why hello there, Cheshire cats! Welcome to Friday Open Thread, another dimension of consciousness accessed through a rabbit hole or a looking glass or a very large amount of drugs.
I hope you’ll stay and hang out with me and tell me all about your past week, your weekend plans, your joys and sorrows, your new haircut, your old tried-and-true haircut, your latest lifehacks, whatever!
Things are really quite okay in my neck of the woods. I hired a new community organizer at my day job a couple months ago, taking our regional office from two to three employees. She’s smart and fun and hard-working and kicking major ass. It’s energizing to have someone new around the office to plot world takeover with and to share in the joys and sorrows of nonprofit life. Like yesterday when I tripped the circuit breaker by using the microwave and the printer at the same time…
I was warming up my lunch, which, speaking of, I made successful mac and cheese from scratch for the first time this past Tuesday! There was a roux involved!
Being vegan for over a decade and then becoming not-vegan-anymore last year at the age of 32 means that I am still figuring out how to cook basic non-vegan foods. I can whip up a tasty nutritional yeast sauce, but I’ve never made a sauce with real actual cheese. I feel like I missed out on some basic kitchen skills that most non-vegans learn in their twenties. I guess I actually gained really kick-ass vegan cooking skills in my twenties, but it’s just a very different way of cooking. I think a lot of the techniques are actually harder. I’ve just never had a reason to make cheese into a sauce before, is all. Cooking meat is still really weird to me (so I still mostly cook vegetarian proteins at home). Like, how do you know when it’s done? Also, it’s super gross?
How’s the weather where you are? Is it spring yet? Is it another season because spring isn’t a season you’re having right now? It’s sort of spring here. The weather in upstate NY is fantastically unpredictable this time of the year. One day it’s 70 degrees and hazy and the next it’s 35 degrees and raining. Layers upon layers of clothing have been my coping mechanism. I’m a human onion. Every morning I take a gamble on the, “Do I need a coat today?” game. It was actually sunny for a couple days last week and I got to wear flip flops, take a nice stroll along the Erie Canal, see some ducks, and feel sun on my vitamin-D-deficient face.
It’s supposed to be nice-ish again this weekend! What are your plans for the weekend? I’m currently packing a bag because I’m driving five and a half hours to New York City for an Alice in Wonderland-themed dance party at one of my favorite places tomorrow. Should be wild! This is the party invite.
We were resisting yet another road trip to NYC, since we were just there two weeks ago and neither one of us will be getting our ticket’s worth of open bar. The promise of meeting up with friends and the opportunity for grown-up dress-up overcame our better judgement. Waffle wants me to do his white rabbit costume makeup like this:
I relish  applying Waffle’s face for party costumes because he’s never touched makeup in his life and has no idea how any of it works. It’s actual wizardry to him. I feel like I’m a professional artist on Face Off or something. It’s a nice femme confidence booster. We always reach a moment where I have to physically restrain him because he involuntarily flinches when anything comes close to his eyes, which usually ends with actually poking him in the eye due to his jerky head movements and screaming.
I’m preparing for the weekend by listening to my danciest music, particularly Janelle Monae’s discography.
What’s going on with you, kings and queens of my heart? What are your favorite dance jams? What are you doing tomorrow? Did you start your day right with a fiber-filled breakfast? What do you think of Lemonade and how many times have you watched it? Are you staying hydrated? Read any good books lately? How about that local sports team? Pour yourself a cup of tea and tell me anything and everything!
How To Post A Photo In The Comments:
1. Find a photo! This is the easy part. Find a photo on the web, right click (on a Mac, control+click), hit “Copy Image URL” and then…
2. Code it in to your comment! Use the following code, and use a DIRECT LINK to the image. Your image link should end in .JPG or .GIF or .PNG or .CallMeWhateverYouWant even. I don’t care, but it should be an image suffix! KINDA LIKE THIS:
If you need to upload the photo you love from your computer, try using imgur. To learn more about posting photos, check out Ali’s step-by-step guide.
How To Post A Video In The Comments, Too:
1. Find a video on YouTube or Vimeo or WHATEVER and click “embed.” Copy that code, but first make sure it’s for 640 px wide or less. If your player is too large, it will not display properly.
2. Copy the code and paste it directly into your comment.
3. Go forth and jam.
