The morning after pill
The morning after pill is offered “over the counter” here in Washington state. However, that does not mean you can buy it anywhere like Advil (which I’m not sure you should be able to do, but I wanted to clarify). You have to go through some hoops. First, you need to get it from a pharmacist. And not just any one at the pharmacy–it has to be someone who is licsensed. I learned this once the hard way. As you may know, the MaP is most effective within the first 24 hours of birth control failure. The pharmacy close to my house only has one person who is qualified to dispense the pill and when I needed it she had left for the day and wouldn’t be back for two more days. The woman there kindly called several pharmacies and sent me one that was about a 15 minute walk away. I had people coming over but I didn’t want to delay getting the pill so I decided to run over there.
At the other pharmacy there are signs that say to form a line about six feet away from the counter in order to give customers some privacy but some creepy guy stood over my shoulder the entire time I was filling out the paper work. There is a strange feeling of shame or something when i have to get this pill. It’s embarrassing. You screwed up. And that’s another thing–they don’t just hand you the pill. You have to fill out a form and sign it and then you have a “consultation” where they tell you what to do if you throw up and when you should expect your period. Then you have to hand over about $50–$30 for the pill and $20 for this consultation that takes about three minutes. They offered to run my insurance to see if anything was covered and I believe I got about 1.25 taken off the price. never mind that a pregnancy probably costs them $1000s of dollars. That’s for virtuous women and the MaP is for tramps, I guess.
all in all it took me about $50 and an hour to get the pill last time I needed it. it was stressful and slightly embarassing and I know I have it 100 times easier than a lot of other women. that’s the worst part i think.
Monday, 5/22
Yesterday was a productive, if boring day. I got a lot done at work. At home I experiemented with bacon. This week’s Artists Way instructions include not reading. If I don’t read at work I will probably just have to stare at the wall for nothing better to do since a big part of my day is dealing with copy of all sorts, so I am taking it to mean just no leisure reading. I’ve totally been cheating but last night after checking my email when I got home I turned off the internet. and I did get a ton done–I found a slip I needed to wear under a dress for a wedding this weekend, ordered a present, went grocery shopping, tried some cooking experiments for another present thing, and even wrote a poem. good stuff.
Five Things
I don’t really have a topic I want to write about today so I might just babble. I am not a huge fan of how the Artists Way is organized. She has a list of exercises, and exercises within the chapter too. It makes it hard to use when you have to reference several different sections. That’s what I think.
Here’s some more fun lists we are supposed to make:
Five hobbies that sound fun:
1. photography
2. making web sites
3. rollerskating
4. silkscreening
5. painting
List five classes that sound fun:
1. oil painting class
2. photoshop class
3. black and white photography class
4. web site/programming class
5. wine tasting
List five things you would personally never do that sound fun:
1. skydiving
2. shaving my head
3. jumping into the deep end of a pool
4. throwing a chair through the window
5. dancing on a stripper pole
List five skills that would be fun to have:
1. swimming
2. ruby on rails
3. welding
4. cooking
5. knowing about wine
List five things you used to enjoy doing:
1. drawing
2. rollerskating
3. peanut butter play-do
4. ceramics
5. printmaking
List five silly things you would like to try once:
1. hot air balloon ride
2. skydiving
3. silkscreening
4. holding a koala bear
5. making caramels
Friday, 5/19-Sunday, 5/21
Wow, I totally blew off my morning pages all weekend. Oops. I am still having a hard time doing them. I just can’t get motivated if there is the smallest obstacle, like not waking up in my own bed.
Anyway, here’s a review of the last few days:’
On Friday I went to Erik’s house with a bottle of champagne. I just felt like drinking some bubbly. We went to Shorty’s for dinner and then went back to his place to drink and watch Masculin Feminin, which is a terrific movie. I loved it. We went to bed relatively early and slept in as well.
Saturday was busy! I dashed home in the morning, took a quick shower, and barely caught a bus up to the U-District to see Drawing Restraint 9, the new Matthew Barney project, at the Varsity. I will say it was “worth consuming” just because it was an exeperience, but it was kind of weird and I can’t decide if I actually liked it or not. Lots of petroleum jelly though. Then Erik and I wandered around a bit and got some greasy food and coffee and got in a stupid fight about whether saying you would miss someone is a horrible thing to say or not. Bleh. But then we went back to Cappy Hill and checked on the ducks at the Park. Still not there. 
Someone drained the pool and now the ducks are gone. Then we went to Linda’s for a quick beer before heading to a barbecue with some friends. It was great fun and the food was excellent. We then tried to head downtown to go to a fashion show but it took us so long to hail a cab that we totally missed it. We hung out at the hotel where the show was for a bit and then went back to Michele’s house with Tom, Michele and Sami. Drank some wine and left around 1:30 I think, where we proceeded to walk in the wrong direction until we were totally in the middle of nowhere–and there were no cabs to be found! I was finally able to hail one with poor Erik half asleep with his head on my shoulder.
On Sunday we went to dim sum with a few friends. It was incredibly cheap. Then we walked over to the Frye and sat through half a boring film lecture. Then we viewed some art and then I went home. Once I was home I lollygagged and wasted a lot of time doing nothing. Bleh.
Five Favorite Childhood Foods
1. Diet pepsi
2. Artichokes
3. French Banana!
4. Chicken Caccitore (sp)
5. Chocolate chip cookies
Five Things I Like About Myself as a Child
1. I draw all the time
2. I care about animals and the enviroment
3. I don’t want to get married, ever!
4. I am not afraid to ride things, jump off of things, explore scary places or touch slugs.
5. I can walk barefoot on gravel and bumblebees.
Five Childhood Accomplishments
1. I was English Student of the Year my senior year of high school
2. In fifth grade my class took a field trip to the Seattle Center. I took some pictures with a disposable camera and my teacher was so impressed with them she asked for some copies.
3. I painstakingly drew several catalogs and designed all the fashions therein and invented a bunch of different models and gave them all personalities. I wanted to be a fashion designer.
4. I used to say I was going to the library after school when really I was going to my friends’ houses or the diner across the street and I always got away with it.
5. In fourth grade I started a club called the Safari Club. The goal was to save the planet. I decided the way to do this was to hold garage sales and send all the proceeds to Greenpeace. I painstakingly drew very elaborate fliers for them. I think I sent Greenpeace $50. I got tons of pamphlets and magazines from them for my club for several years.
Wednesday, 5/17
Yesterday was another busy day at work. I learned all about rights managed images and got to color some floorplans.
After work I loafed around at home for awhile and took a nice long shower. I then went to the Hideout. Tons of people came out and it was very fun. I was in the loviest of lovey moods and wanted to smooch Erik all up. Nothing eventful happened but it was a great day all the same.
Density
Density is something I think about a lot. I work for an architecture firm so I see the word and hear it discussed constantly. I used to be pro-density, because I didn’t really understand it. It makes sense: get more people to live in the city. They’ll commute less and build support for public transportation. They’ll use and encourage the arts and culture scene. They’ll make cities vibrant and livable. Cities for everyone!
Unfortunately what I didn’t really understand, or care to consider, is that density is not driven by well-meaning people who want to make the city a better place–it’s driven by developers, and the market. Right now, the market is all about high-end, luxury condominiums and penthouses that are out of reach for everyone I know. Nobody is interested in affordable housing, because it doesn’t make money and there’s enough people out there buying high-end condos that they don’t need to. In fact, the condo boom has gotten so crazy that many apartment buildings have converted and now there’s a shortage of rental inventory, which means landlords can now jack up rents. Many cities are becoming ghettos for the wealthy, and I think Seattle is poised to as well.
It’s almost kind of funny: a lot of the marketing for these types of buildings encourage city living because it’s hip, edgy, arty, even a little risky/dangerous/sexy. But who makes it that way? Certainly not balding middle age white guys with kids in college. No, it’s the artists and young people they are pushing out with their characterless buildings and high priced furniture. It’s also kind of funny that cities went into decay for so long because of white flight, and now the opposite is happening. Funny until I have to live an hour outside of the city because I can’t afford anything else, anyway.
Tuesday, 5/16
I woke up too late to do my morning pages! So today I will do afternoon pages.
Yesterday was a fun day. Work was a little crazy. I have a lot of little projects to work on. But it keeps me busy.
After work I met some friends at the Honey Hole for dinner. A girl from Get Crafty/Glitter was in town from OC and I got to see Leslie for the first time in forever, which was very nice. I miss her. Then I left to meet Erik and his coworkers for Josh’s birthday celebration. It was very nice and low-key–just drinks at the Hideout. I like those guys. Then Erik, Todd and I went to a new bar on Capitol Hill by the Top Pot called Sun Liquor. It is okay. Then we went to the Summit Pub, then Erik and I drunkenly stumbled back to my place (luckily only a few blocks away). For some reason we decided to take a bath. It was 1 in the morning! Actually Erik decided it. Very silly. Then we passed out. I am very sleepy today.
