“[…] On the other hand, this also reminds me of the persistent sense of fraudulence I and many others feel, the intimation I have that all around me are real, grounded, directed, engaged, and authentic people, all substantive in a way that I am not.” — (via mills)
Skeeball at Pat’s Tap.
(Source: cornflake, via amneubs)
More people are living alone than ever, as a statistic we met recently with great happiness noted. But — prepare yourself — living alone might be making you weird. In The New York Times’, Steven Kurutz sort of went and ruined that joy with his look at the strange things people do when they live alone.
How weird does it get? A few examples from Kurutz’s piece and our own personal experience:
- Staying up all night.
- Washing vegetables in the shower.
- Examining your pores nightly in a mirror.
- Coming home late at night and attempting to cook things.
- Wearing strange ensembles.
- Never closing the bathroom door.
- Talking to your cat.
- Never eating actual proper meals. Small bag of Doritos for dinner, mayhaps?
- Being weird.
Take the case of Amy Kennedy, a 28-year-old schoolteacher who lives alone in a two-bedroom apartment:
The effects are noticeable, she said: “I’ve been living alone for six years, and I’ve gotten quirkier and quirkier.”Among her domestic oddities: running in place during TV commercials; speaking conversational French to herself while making breakfast (she listens to a language CD); singing Journey songs in the shower; and removing only the clothes she needs from her dryer, thus turning it into a makeshift dresser.
“The entire apartment is your room,” Ms. Kennedy said, by way of explanation. “If I leave a bra on the kitchen table, I don’t think much about it.”
I really take that “the entire apartment is your room” sentiment so far. But for me it’s more like, the entire apartment is my CLOSET. Living alone is the shit.
Yes. Yes, it is, combined with unemployment. VERY weird.
Oh, you’re supposed to live alone to do this stuff?
The Advantages Of Being A Woman Artist, 1988
Guerrilla Girls
Ink-jet print on adhesive-backed vinyl with matte laminate“Working without the pressure of success
Not having to be in shows with men
Having an escape from the art world in your 4 free-lance jobs
Knowing your career might pick up after you’re eighty
Being reassured that whatever kind of art you make it will be labeled feminine
Not being stuck in a tenured teaching position
Seeing your ideas live on in the work of others
Having the opportunity to choose between career and motherhood
Not having to choke on those big cigars or paint in Italian suits
Having more time to work when your mate dumps you for someone younger
Being included in revised versions of art history
Not having to undergo the embarrassment of being called a genius
Getting your picture in the art magazines wearing a gorilla suit”Museum of Contemporary Art || Chicago, Illinois
Maybe life was better
When I used to be a wetter.
- Judith Viorst
[video]