Whew! There has been a lot going on the last couple of weeks! I missed last weekend but I’m determined to upload today. In fact, I am currently sitting on the floor of my office because one of the legs on my desk gave out. I’ve applied tremendous amounts of wood glue and I’m typing on the upside of it, the desk legs in the air.
Steve bought this desk for me off of Craigslist in 2016 as a Christmas present for our new house we’d close on the following month. It’s an old desk someone up-cycled with a pale blue chalk paint. He always says that if he knew that would be the desk I’d insist on keeping forever, he would have bought me a different desk. He says this because the legs on this desk have given out quite a few times. I don’t care though - it’s very charming and unique, with a dozen little compartments. I’ve done my most favorite writing on this desk (even upside down) and I’ll be gluing it back together for the rest of my life.
Final New Room Update!
The transformation from dinning room to tv/library room is complete! We are just missing things like the ceiling fan, blinds, and wall decor. But those will come eventually and I will post updated photos along the way. It is the perfect, moody room of my dreams. I cannot recommend color drenching a room enough. (As long as you aren’t dealing with a 100+ year old house, which in that case just burn it down for the insurance money. I’M KIDDING. Sort of.)
This huge antique mirror was a wedding gift from one of our best friends. Her parents collected antiques and I fell in love with this mirror. When her parents began downsizing, they gifted it to us and we planned the whole room around it. Very gothic, very haunting - all the things I want in life.
Currently Adventuring
Last weekend John Gallagher Jr performed an acoustic set down the street from us at Danny Clinch’s Transparent Gallery. Gallagher was in the original Broadway production of ‘Spring Awakening’ in 2007 and also played Jim on HBO’s ‘The Newsroom’ (2011-2015). I’ve loved following his career and all the art he has made along the way. He just finished ‘Swept Away’ on Broadway and is playing a show out in Brooklyn on June 22nd if you’re in the area!
Here is a photo of us at the stage door of Spring Awakening in 2007 - what babies!
Currently Reading
The German edition cover of ‘The Knight and The Moth’
I read 13 books between April and May and as a result I’m in a reading slump. I bought ‘The Knight and The Moth’ by Rachel Gillig on release day (May 20th) and I’m still making my way through it. Not because it’s bad but because the writing is so good that I want to savor it.
Once I do finish it, however, I’m going to take a pause on reading to focus on my reread of my own novel. At this point in my revision process, it’s hard to focus on my story when I’m engrossed in the world of another novel, if that makes sense.
Currently Watching
Due to my reading slump, I have been devouring movies and miniseries the last two weeks. I watched the movies ‘Heretic’ (2024) with Hugh Grant, ‘Anora’ (2024) with Mickey Madison who won an Oscar for this performance, and ‘The Last Showgirl’ (2024) with Pamela Anderson.
I also have watched two Stephen King mini series adaptations: ‘The Outsider’ (2020) staring Cynthia Erivo and ‘Chapelwaite’ (2021) with Adrien Brody and Emily Hampshire (Stevie from ‘Schitt’s Crick’). I was completely obsessed with both shows, binging them faster than I’d like to admit.
Ervivo filmed ‘The Outsider’, starring as King’s reoccurring character Holly, before she filmed ‘Wicked”. I bring this up because I can see the foundation of Elphaba brewing in Erivo in this miniseries. Holly is on the spectrum and lives as an “other” in modern society but uses her incredible skills to be a brilliant private investigator. I’ve seen Eviro’s other film and stage work but the innocent and unyielding desire to do good as Holly undeniably foreshadows her performance in ‘Wicked’.
Currently Listening To
I listened to ‘Somebody Knows Something’ season 9 about the disappearance of Christine Harmon - my first True Crime podcast in years! My anxiety has been higher than usual lately and watching/listening to something scary forces my mind to focus on something else and stop spiraling. I was deep in the true crime podcast trend of 2016 to 2020 but stopped when the pandemic hit. These stories stopped being interesting when actual hell was happening in the present day.
I once discussed my interest in true crime with my therapist and he said something I’ve always held close: “Sometimes you need to be reminded that bad things can happen to good people.” During those years I was processing the abusive relationship I had been in for the first time, and I was using other people’s tragedies to make me feel less…alone? Scared? Dumb? I’m not sure but again, after the pandemic started I stopped listening to the podcasts I followed religiously such as “My Favorite Murder”.
I also have been listening to scripted radio dramas on Apple Podcasts this week! So far I listened to ‘October Children’ (it was okay) and ‘Darkwoods’ (which I thoroughly enjoyed).
I’m ready to continue my Sppoky Summer 2025 so if you have any movies, Tv shows, or scripted podcasts I should check out please let me know!
*title is from the song ‘Lady Liberty Blues’ off of John Gallagher Jr’s album ‘Goodbye or Something”