tuesday, january 1st
pretty good year
2001:a review
where it was at
* dancing around my bedroom to nelly and the people under the stairs with jamil and mahri
* heading into nyc with josh, drinking chai tea on icy sidewalks, and cutting up my words onto beautiful paper from kate's paperie shop.
* having creative writing lessons with a, who floored me and influenced me so much into writing more and more every day.
* having amazing womens studies classes by the lake, and being able to learn about feminism by being taught for the first time in my life. i had always taught myself it all before. kara, our teacher, was a doll, who always handed out sweets and got us to dress up as famous feminists and make ourselves valentines. the girls in that class made me realise that not all soriety girls were the same; that some were just the coolest femuhnists around. i miss the girls in that class a whole lot.
* going to the aquarium with josh during the siren festival which was too crowded and hot. walking into the coolest calmest place and wtaching rays flying through the water. watching all the sassy kids shouting at the fish to 'do somethin cool' but watching their awe as the huge beautidul sharks glided past their noses.
* travelling to california with mahri. just heading out there, on a tiny plane that stopped in the middle of nowhere at six in the morning. meeting jonny and jonny from seattle, feeling the sand between our toes in santa barbara when new jersey was being thrown freezing rain.
* watching s club seven re-runs with rich and staying awake talking all night with christopher.
* coming back to england and seeing all my friends again, including tom who was deciding whether or not to just go and live in australia, which is where he is now. seeing ben's excellent band play live.
people of the year
* luba for being incredibly sorted and sweet to me even after we hadn't talked for a couple of months. for sucking the marrow out of life and travelling around the world with her chum.
* matthew, for being a great confidant and friend, and for sending me the most flooring ceedees and, of course, my who the fuck is stephen malkmus tee, which i am wearing today!
* to leigh, for giving me and josh an apartment to live in philadelphia last summer. a place where we could be together with no distractions, apart from the cockroaches of course. leigh is funny, the coolest american chick i ever met, and really laid back. i really miss this girl a bunch, and am just floored by the fact that she just let us use her apartment from the summer. love her.
* and ben, for taking me out on all those day-trips, including a visit to george orwells grave, when i was missing josh. for making sure i got the new fugazi album, and that i kept playing the guitar. for introducing me to his wonderful chums, who always kept me laughing. thank-you ben for being such a good chum to me when i was feeling so down in the dumps.
* to lucy, who is still my best friend out of everyone else. who never got bored of me talking about josh, who made me laugh when i was down; who posted sweets through my letter-box one morning to wake me up.
* and, of course, mahri. mahri was my roommate and best friend while i was in america. she'd wake up in the morning, climb into bed with me, and light up a cigarette. she is a creative and delightful person to have around. she always has good things to say about people, we could talk for hours upon hours, and i knew that she always had my back. always. i am fiercely loyal to this girl, and consider her to be a soul mate. i miss her more than i can say in words.
* and josh. josh who made my year the most incredible. because of all the stuff we got to do together. driving through the burbs of philly listening to pavement, turned all the way up. dyeing my hair pink, making my creative writing final, taking me to the dentists when i was scared, looking after hello kitty. everything means so much, and i can't write any more about this boy because i actually think i'll cry.
things i did this year that i am proud of
* i made three zines, all called americas dreaming. i sold copies in philadelphia, and sent them all around the world to my chums. i think they got better with time and i am hoping that my next zine will just be even better.
* after reading the excellent book, manifesta, i decided to get some of the really cool writers at bust together, and make a little bustie zine. i spent many days working on the issue, either upstairs in our hot little apt, or outside at the cafe where josh worked, where he'd often stop and bring me free iced chai. i'm sure that when i next drink iced chai, i'll just think of brains afire (the name of the bustie zine).
* i went to california and back with mahri, and we did it all on our own and i just thought we were impossibly brave. we walked through the ghettos of downtown san francisco scared out of our minds when we got lost one evening, but eventually we found a place to sleep. we hitched a ride with a boy called jonny from seattle who drove us to santa barbara.
* i flew out to see josh a couple of weeks after the attacks on the wtc. i have never been cool with getting on planes, so i guess it took a lot of guts on my part to do it.
* i went into nyc all on my own this summer to see the hissyfits and galvinized. both bands were incredible, and meeting lori was a treat. afterwards i sat outside a tree on the burning sidewalk in the village and wrote with all my might.
things i dug in 2001 * iced chai
* sugar shoes
* south street, philadelphia
* the village, nyc
* seventeen magazine
* making and reading and swapping zines
* having pink hair
* roses
* thunderstorms
* airports
* letters
* pop idol
* going swimming
*busties
* gigs
* harry potter books
* shooting stars
music of the year
(the ones i can think of off the top off my lil head, that is)
* stereolab
* preston school of industry
*mogwai
* stephen malkmus
* bjork
* the strokes
* nelly
* nelly furtado
* the avalanches
* smog
* quasi
* kings of convienience
* the haggard
* bitch and animal
* le tigre
* the hissyfits
* galvinized
* fugu
if i write any more my hand will fall off. i had a good year, tho. yeah.
suds at