(no subject)

Will Self on urban walking as political is what I thought of as, yesterday, I hiked up into Fort Tryon park towards the Cloisters. Because, you know, being somewhat more than three kilos overweight, clearly it was impossible for me to navigate the half-mile of winding upward steps. (I will admit I had to check my glowing multifaceted jewel to tell me where to go; the signage was not particularly good.)

I value my savoir-faire in getting around in the city, with more reference to the sun than to GPS for directions; and I think there is little better in the world than walking home after midnight slightly drunk, breathing in the darkness and the night air, when you can do it without getting hassled.

But -- meh. Skeptical, as always, of establishing one's personal values as universal political ones. And twice skeptical of pinning the blame for suburbia on some kind of stereotype of someone who doesn't like to walk because they're a whole shocking three kilograms overweight. (It would be nice also if he didn't ignore people who aren't able to walk because of disabilities!)

Ain't no sin to be glad you're alive

PolyphonYouTube: the combination of sounds that you get when you close down a browser full of a million tabs, only to restart it and get Tom Lehrer, Leonard Cohen, and Cornershop brilliantly failing to harmonize.

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Pursuant to various weekend conversations about fashion, I tried looking at clothes. And promptly realized why I always wear Uniform. (Uniform is a brightly colored Uniqlo shirt with black khakis. I do not have an actual uniform, but this is what I wear about 90% of the time.) You don't have to be rich to have nice clothes, and you don't have to be skinny, but if you're not either then you'd better be a little bit patient and canny and creative and not so lazy that you refuse to buy anything dryclean-only. My clothes-shopping tolerance is the same as it was when I was four, about fifteen minutes, and sadly I no longer have the option of just getting whatever my sister gets in a different color.

And then I'm always like "Hey! I could sew my own clothes!" which is... a lot of work. And tends to work better if you have more storage space to work with than I do. Someday I will have a sewing machine again! Someday!