The Brass Ring Of Unimaginable Swag, 2025

one of my more unhelpful qualities is that i kind of genuinely prefer getting zero response to a ~bid for connection~ over getting one that feels, like, dutiful and abbreviated and rote

because like. at least in the absence of a response you can kid yourself that a matching enthusiasm will eventually arrive, you know?

(this is of course very much a lesser-of-two-weevils thought exercise because of course really what one always wants is engagement that's both enthusiastic and prompt. however one must recognize that in the adult world Other People Have Lives, &c.)

it also doesn't help that like. i'm very primed Due To My Upbringing to interpret neutral cues as negative and so am very much that stereotype of the young person who wants an exclamation point and can't stand a 'sure,' which—is objectively just a neutral cultural preference, but since i'm not actually gen z or whatever, i always end up excoriating myself for being too much of an immature baby to be appropriately chill about other people's Offhanded Working Person stylings. which is rather a disproportionate pile of bad feelings to be stacking on one maybe-not-even-intentionally snubbed bid!

art by tracy walker; preorder here :)

get ready to see these guys on every envelope i ever mail until i die

A Brazilian opossum being presented to Queen Isabella of Spain in the year 1500 from The Zoogoer v.15:no.1 (1986).

Full text here.

spent almost five hours clearing up my floordrobe and excavating my off-season bins and making decisions abt clothes i don’t wear and i’m not even done 😩

Andrei Tarkovsky, Time Within Time: The Diaries, 1970-1986

[ID: Tweet by kelsey weekman @‍kelsaywhat that reads:

me when i fall short of a goal: agony me when I meet or exceed a goal: ok

/end ID]

cracked open the glossaire érotique (1861) and was immediately floored by the very first word in the dictionary being "abailardiser" (verb). definition: "to leave someone in the state the canon fulbert left abailard" (castrated)

the Guardian

Trump signs executive order on water pressure to ‘restore shower freedom’

White House says order will ‘make America’s showers great again’ and ‘end the Obama-Biden war on water pressure’

somehow this is not an onion article.

Tiny Tuesday

Feeling a little fashionable? You simply must check out this dahling little book! Put on your finest frock, your furriest scarf, and oh, mustn’t forget your monocle! The book is bound with blue snakeskin and the front cover is bordered by seed pearls, with an inlaid gem accenting the second E in in “Erté.” The box is made of sterling silver lined with black calfskin with a tassel attached to the hook.

Published in 1984 by Rebecca Press, Erté Maquettes had 200 Deluxe editions made. According to the colophon, this is copy number 15. It contains a selection of 44 creations by the artist Erté, who drew hundreds of covers for Harper’s Bazaar in the early 20th century without a single rejection, using the style of Art Nouveau. Many of the paintings in this book were never reproduced, however, offering a unique chance to get to know another side of Erté.

SMITH NE2233.5.E77 1984b

--Theo P.

Window bench with wood work that matches the exposed ceiling. Bench aligned with adjacent steps.