Happy birthday, Rhoda May Biddle

Yesterday, July 26th, 2012, marks the one year-anniversary since I first started doing @HipsterFeminist, my once-daily joke Twitter feed. I have missed a few days here and there, as evidenced by the fact that one year later Rhoda has 358 tweets rather than 365, but I've been pretty good about posting something most days-- even if it's not the funniest thing in the world, I try to put up SOMETHING. Lately I've even managed to be topical!

I am currently up to 59 followers, which I think is the highest stable number I've ever had. Sadly the number goes up and down with ad accounts appearing and disappearing, and I lost a handful-- including Holly Pervocracy, alas --I think when I tried to do my first attempt at a plotline, when Rhoda stalks her ex's new girlfriend. I'm just guessing, but I think the humor may have gone to much to the "haha, Rhoda's actually a crazy woman" with that string for some people's taste. I want the joke to be primarily "Haha, Rhoda's doing feminism wrong!" and come off that way rather than implying to anyone "Ha, feminism!" or "Ha, women!" Ah, well, I did my best. But it's made me reluctant to try another plot thread for fear of resorting to lower-grade humor out of the need to keep the story going somehow in the very limited 140-characters-a-day format.

Not sure where I'm going from here. I do plan to continue, as I am enjoying the challenge and that fact that 59 people do in fact find it funny. If you are among the subscribers, thank you very much for indulging my little project. I am always interested in suggestions if you have any, and of course joke ideas. blendedchaitea* suggested I have Rhoda read Fifty Shades of Gray, which could be really funny... except it might mean I have to read it myself. And even for the sake of my art, I'm not sure I could subject myself to that...

My anniversary with Rhoda - six months of Hipster Feminist

I have officially been doing my joke Twitter feed Hipster Feminist for six months now. In that time period I've posted a joke almost daily, missing only a Sunday here and there. I'm up to one hundred and seventy-four tweets. They haven't always been as perfectly hilarious as I hoped they would be, but some of them turned out pretty damn funny, and I'm really proud of myself that I've kept it up. It would have been easy to space on it or get bored and quit, but I've enjoyed it and kept myself to it pretty well. Our girl Rhoda is even up to fifty-one followers now, double from three months ago, so I guess some people are liking it. :-)

I am thinking now about starting to do "storylines," chains of tweets that follow a plot about something going on in Rhoda's life. I'm not sure how feasible that is in the one-hundred-and-forty-character-per-post limit, but it might be trying it might be the logical next step. I do know some details from her life-- she comes from a totally regular, WASPy, upper-middle-class background that she wants strongly to disavow. Her parents are divorced and both remarried, and her hatred of her stepmom often makes her the target of Rhoda's feminist rage. (Which translates to I make her the whipping boy for a lot of the humor, poor woman.) Rhoda's dad is quite well-to-do, so she tries to distance herself from that privileged status while not realizing how much that privilege has shaped her. She has had and broken up with at least one boyfriend during this time. I never did settle on a last name for her, but I feel like it needs to be something dorky-sounding. That's not quite enough for a plot on its own, but I can flesh that out into something worth exploring. You know, as Charles Dickens showed us with the invention of the cliff hanger, creating the desire to find out what happens next in people is often the way to get them to follow your work.

Heh, that's what I need, more writing to work out, what with schoolwork, Tailor, and everything else on my plate. But work on my projects, the achievements I make on them, and the enjoyment of them by others gives me a lot of joy and satisfaction. So I'll take a stab at this. Of course any suggestions are welcome, particularly from those like morethings5* and blendedchaitea* who have offered hilarious ideas that I ended up using in the past.

Five years

Today is my fifth year anniversary with Jared.

Thank you, best friend. <3

Four years

Jared and I have been together for four years today. Four years with my wonderful, loving, brilliant, brave, sweet, fun, fascinating, maddening, complicated, beloved best friend in the world.

I don't believe we've ever actually been in physically the same location on our anniversary before-- hell, we even got together over the phone. But we always just celebrate when we get back. Still, the day itself is worth a mention.

Happy anniversary, love.

First part of my weekend report

Jared and I went out for our anniversary dinner Friday night. We dressed up handsomely and went to Solea, the fantastic tapas restaurant on Moody Street. It was one of the nicest evenings out I've had in a long time. And I made sure to wear my lovely new earrings. He did not wear his new shirt from Express that was my gift to him, because while it looks quite good on him, the collar is a bit too loose to wear with a tie, so he'd like to try a smaller size. Ah, well, I gave it a shot.

Yesterday we went to a very fun production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in the lovely company of Steph, Caitlin, and Plesser. The show had a strange urban jungle feel, which was interesting if not necessarily what I would pick, and Jared's Stage Combat teacher, actor-professor Robert Walsh, played a hilarious Bottom. We actually first encountered him at another Actor's Shakespeare Project show, when he played the title role in Titus Andronicus. Very talented actor; Jared and I enjoyed him very much. It's always fun to see another production of a show you were in with others who were in it with you. It was a really good time.

In the evening Jared and I then went to the birthday party in_water_writ* threw for 1takejohnny. It was a fun party, full of nice new people, but I'd promised I'd pick Bernie up at the airport that evening. Jared was having a good time, so he elected to stay and took the commuter rail home. I'm sorry I couldn't have stayed, but it was good to have Bernie back.

All in all, Friday and Saturday were excellent days, spent in the company of good friends and my dear love.

Anniversary earrings!

Got Jared safely back to Brandeis yesterday. He gave me my anniversary present, a beautiful pair of earrings consisting of two triangular drops of blue stone set in silver. I'm going to guess that they're lapis. He found them in Ecuador when he was visiting the Galapagos. I really love them, and I'm wearing them today. Expect to see them frequently in the near future. :-) I haven't had a chance to give him his present, I left it in my room and we haven't been back to my place yet, but I hope he enjoys it too.

Trip to Natick and the return of Jared

Escaped to the Natick Mall today to get out of an overcrowded house. Though I usually try not to actually spend any money while I'm there, I mostly just go to have a comfortable place to walk around and think, I got suckered into it this time around.

The first thing I went for was a sample size of a blend of White Ayurvedic Chai and Samurai Chai Mate at Teavana. I like tea in theory and would really like to be able to enjoy it, but most kinds taste so bitter or bland to me lately. I think it may be a combination of the fact that delicious, delicious Oregon Chai Latte Mix is so unbelievably delicious no other tea can ever live up to it, and the fact that I only really have had cheap bag teas. The only kinds I've liked lately have been the good stuff from nice shops like Teavana, which friends like Bernie have made for me from their stashes. So I bit the bullet and bought a little to try out. I tried this blend in the store; it was a sweet, spicy cinnamon flavor. Though the salesgirl tried to talk me into it, I did not buy the German rock sugar or the metal storage tins, but only this little sample, which I have put into a metal thermos I have. I just tried some. I think I brewed it wrong, my tea mugs I think are a lot bigger than the recommended eight ounces, so it came out a little weak. Still, even weak it's kind of nice. If I make it in the right amount of water, I'm sure it'll come out even better.

The second thing I bought was a gorgeous wool camel-colored coat at New York & Company that was fifty percent off. Normally I think of New York & Company as "downscale Express" but this coat is really well-made and beautiful. I probably shouldn't have, but I went for it. It'll go with everything, I know I'll wear it everywhere, and it's nice enough I'll probably have it forever. God knows I can't go out without a coat on unless it's the middle of summer, so it's nice to have a couple different coats so as not to wear any one in particular out. Accessorized with a scarf and complementary gloves, it will work beautifully with just about everything.

On another retail-related note, I hope Jared likes the anniversary present I got for him. Previous years' gifts were the rapier and the beautiful silver pocket watch, which were perfect and clever on my part and which he very much enjoyed. I couldn't come up with anything quite so unique this time, so I went with something he'll definitely use and benefit from but is a lot more mundane. I hope it goes over well. Jared gets back to Boston tonight, and I'm going to be picking him up. I can't wait to see him. Maybe I'll give him his present tonight.

Third anniversary

Today is Jared and my anniversary. We've been together for three years.

I love you, dear.

:-)

Eagerly awaiting his return

Jared comes back from his family vacation to the Galapagos today. He's been gone for ten days, and we haven't been able to talk to each other since he's been out of the country. I eagerly await him calling me when he finally gets in; I'm missing him like crazy and I can't count the number of times over the last week and a half I've gone to dial his number and remembered he can't take calls. Never quite realize just how often I call him or want to call him in the course of a normal day until he's unreachable and I have to stop myself short. He returns to Chicago today, and then on the 18th he'll be getting back to Boston. Fortunately I have that day off for Martin Luther King Day, so I'm pleased that we'll be able to spend all of his first day back together. Tomorrow is actually our anniversary, which sadly we will be apart for, but that's all right, we've agreed to celebrate it a few days late.

Our second

Today is Jared and my second anniversary.

I love you, babe.

Thirty-three years

Yesterday my parents celebrated their thirty-third anniversary. They amaze me, my mom and dad. They are as different as night and day, but they love each other, and they somehow work. They make me smile. I love my parents.

Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad.

Topped!

I thought I wouldn't be able to think of another anniversary present for Jared that was as cool as the pocket watch I got him last year. It was so perfect because of the White Rabbit connection, and 'cause he thinks they're cool. But I have proven myself wrong and found something awesome. He's going to love it. I hope so, anyway. 'Cause I love him. :-)