IntenseDebate - auroarer

7 years ago @ The Toast - "We would have paid he... · 5 replies · +58 points

As someone whose 2 main leisure activities are writing and distance running, let me also say that, assuming that writing is a side hustle/hobby for many of us, it's pretty difficult to balance serious artistry with serious body maintenance while working full time (to say nothing of also trying to make family, social, and romantic time work out). It's like the old analogy of the stove with a broken burner; which pot, so to speak, doesn't get cooked? I love running, but if I'm in a good writing groove, I typically want to keep that going, so I might skip a workout in favor of writing. And, tbh, it's pretty easy for one peanut butter cup to turn into 20 if the words are really flowing.

I am not naturally thin; my normal body state is small-boned but, let's say, cuddly. So the trade off is quite real if I'd rather write a few days a week than hit the gym.

7 years ago @ The Toast - Link Roundup! · 0 replies · +6 points

I would also encourage you to seek out a United Church of Christ O&A (Open and Affirming) congregation. No guarantee that they'll be 100% on point, but identifying as O&A is a long, congregation-driven process that means the community pledges to welcome and support diversity, mainly as it applies to LGBT individuals, couples, and families. Might be a useful barometer for openness to frank discussion about race and class also.

8 years ago @ The Toast - Raised on Radio: Reque... · 1 reply · +5 points

Between this essay and the post office essay earlier this week, The Toast is feeling very cozy and nostalgic this week.

The small town where I grew up still has a pretty good college radio station, and a few others within tuning range. I dig it when I'm home visiting the family. One of them used to play "The Boy with the Arab Strap" by Belle and Sebastian constantly, for some reason. I used to go with a friend of mine, who DJed her own metal show, to another one sometimes and she would let me read the PSAs on the air.

If you enjoyed this essay, pick up Sarah Vowell's Radio On, also.

8 years ago @ The Toast - More Than the Mail: A ... · 1 reply · +8 points

First of all, thank you. This is lovely. It reminds me a bit of the book Railways and the American People, with space devoted to railway stations, the customs of the station agent, and the strange things that would sometimes happen on trains, like fashion shows (this is a thing that really happened). This is a book I strongly recommend to people who liked this essay, even if you think you don't really care about trains. Railway stations and the station agents functioned, in many small communities, as post offices, both literally and more metaphorically.

Second of all, this dredged up all of my antipathy for New York City post offices, which are almost uniformly terrible. (Cadman Plaza is borderline acceptable, along with 4th Avenue; Fresh Meadows in Queens is the only one, in my view, that qualifies as somewhat pleasant, though I haven't been there in years). Many New Yorkers seem to have developed a stoic detachment from zany ideas like "postal employees shouldn't actively steal your packages" and "when you get a notice from the post office asking you to pick up a package, that package might, theoretically, be at the post office address printed on the notice."

8 years ago @ The Toast - Friday Bargain Bin · 3 replies · +2 points

I'd love some panty recommendations. (Cotton or otherwise.) Basically tell me where to buy high-waisted boy shorts that will cradle my potbelly and look cute on my bubble butt.

8 years ago @ The Toast - Levels Of Purse Anxiet... · 0 replies · +5 points

I historically remember to remove my Swiss Army Knife from my purse before I go to the airport, but I keep having to leave it with security at random government buildings. As a civil servant, I go to a lot of those.

8 years ago @ The Toast - Levels Of Purse Anxiet... · 0 replies · +3 points

Yup, that first one is my life.

8 years ago @ The Toast - Levels Of Purse Anxiet... · 0 replies · +6 points

The Sponge for My Powder Compact is Soaked in Naked Juice Smoothie Oh That's Because It Just Spilled All Over My Purse

8 years ago @ The Toast - Paintings Of Saul And ... · 0 replies · +7 points

+1 for Futurama reference!

8 years ago @ The Toast - Characters I Have Inap... · 1 reply · +3 points

My 2 favorite Prop Joe moments:

"Ain't easy civilizing this motherfucker."

"For real, I'm living life with some burdensome n***as."

IntenseDebate Comment System

Connect with auroarer

People I'm following

auroarer