you can't save anyone else; we all know this. you can't solve your friends' problems, your family's issues. there's never the perfect thing just waiting to be said - no salve, no magic word. try as you might, wish all you want. you can't save anyon

except for the horrific travel there and back, my trip home for Thanksgiving this year was surprisingly pleasant and low-key. I saw friends I hadn't seen in years, played with their babies, and got to hang out with Meg A a bunch, which is always f

what is it with guys and Husker Du? I mean, like, all of them, across subcultures. I've never heard a girl go rapturous talking about Bob Mould, but get a music guy waxing philosophic about his seminal bands and eventually he'll go dreamy-eyed over

I threw a bunch of my new favorite songs on a CD for the bus ride home yesterday, and I'm glad I did. With the overhead light not working (no reading, no proofreading, no distraction), an inexplicably hostile bus driver (who actually left a passeng

killing time waiting to leave for my bus and catching up on friends' writing - I've missed quite a lot of good stuff lately. like JayX's really funny essay, "The Competition of Non-Competition," which details the musical oneupmanship she a

Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday. the idea of structuring an entire day around a meal makes me antsy and nuts - in my world, food is delicious but eating is something you do in between other things.  add to that the four-hour (plus) bu

another time-wasting internet quiz, this one posted by MegA on myspace. I love these things almost as much as I love procrastination in general. now back to work!A - Age: 29B - Band listening to right now: Ted Leo/RX, Bright Eyes, Plot to Blow Up the

I went to see the Hives tonight (the ticket had been bought before I realized my lack of cash), with the lovely and talented Rogers Sisters opening. I wasn't all about the new Hives album, but seeing Howlin' Pelle in action seemed like something you

last night I did some math to figure out why my bank balance kept getting smaller despite constantly working. this so-called "math" told me awful and unpleasant things I would prefer not to know. or rather, not admit to, since I've felt my

I think it's hysterical that I seriously consider quitting my job at least once a week and living off freelance when I can't manage to stay out of a doctor's office for three months straight. who's going to pay for all those x-rays without insurance?

I was waiting for the subway this morning and realized I hadn't seen the cutest boy in new york in a long time. despite being late as always. It's strange, I thought, how sometimes your timing is dead-on and you can run into a person over and over

I was up until 3am last night, insomniac. the can of caffeinated soda I'd had at 10pm didn't help, or the list of things I had to do, productivity I could be achieving if my body didn't insist on eight full hours. but it was more than that. my bed fe

"What are you doing on Saturday?" Laurel asked me. I said it depended on how broken I was. "Well if you're okay," she said, "We've got to go to this." Chengwin vs. Chunk Homecoming 2004. Good half-chicken, half-penguin v

there wasn't any beer but it was okay.there wasn't any beer and we got started late but the crowd was still appreciative, catcalling insults and support to each team in turn. we practiced on the track for an hour plus, until we were called off and r

sometimes I will be walking down a city street and pass a section of the omnipresent scaffolding that covers every other building and I will be struck with the urge to hang off of it. It is not an urge to show off my "wackiness" or my none

going to see me break myself yet again I hopethere will also be beer, bands, and as-yet-undetermined shenanigans. oh, won't it be fun!luv,penny larcenybrooklyn bombshells #06

last night I went to see the Unicorns and rediscovered joy. I don't think I've ever enjoyed non-sequiters passing for stage banter quite so much. either the band was deceptively clever or they lucked into some funny stuff, but either way they were en

Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last night:"I never thought I'd say this, but I miss the days of voter fraud."and I miss the halcyon pre-election days when my biggest worries were halloween costumes and derby injuries and boys. now it's all w

these little tidbits about Ohio, the election's deciding factor.GOP in Ohio can challenge voters at pollsOhio vs. paperalso, this Black Table article from yesterday neatly sums up a lot of my feelings about how awful the current divisiveness of the c

What the hell are you thinking? Even if Kerry takes Ohio after the provisional ballots are counted and it all turns out differently than it's looking now, that still means close to 50% of America looked at George W. Bush and thought yes. Over 1,000

tonight I went to an election/dia de los muertos party and ate some chips and sat around a t.v. watching Peter Jennings tally electoral votes. one girl was on the literal edge of her seat and full of bile over Bush's lead. during a commercial she tur

this year's halloween had very few shenanigans and not nearly enough people in costume and it would have been a little disappointing if it wasn't for two things. one was that I got to be a pirate (and clearly loved it way too much). two was that Dirt

below is some helpful info for first time voters, culled from a forwarded email from everyone's favorite incendiary left-wing documentarian."The new law says if this is your first time voting you must bring ID with you that matches the address y

I want to be a pirate every single day. I want to walk into my office brandishing a sword--real or plastic, it doesn't matter--and stomping my boots and interjecting deeply felt Arrrrrr's into all my conversations. I want to carry a bag of booty on