In Which I Die Alone Due To Awkwardness

• Me, at gas station trying to figure out how to screw the cap on: AGH, I HATE MYSELF!!
• (Spots guy with dog)
• Me: HEY, GUY WITH DOG!
• Guy with Dog: Hey.
• Me: Can you come over here and help me? I will hold your dog.
• Guy: Okay.
• Guy fixes car nozzle in twelve seconds
• Me: Ha, I guess I'm not good with cars, I just moved from New York..
• Guy: I love New York, my dog's named Brooklyn.
• Me, thinking this is true love: Oh my god, that's so cute.
• Guy: Where you headed now?
• Me, thinking about to get murdered: Oh, um, to look at apartments.
• Guy: Good luck, that's always hard...(launches into adorable story)
• Me, flustered by his cuteness: Haha
• Guy: Well...
• Me, in one breath: Hahaokaybyehaveagooddaythankyou
• Guy: Yes, you too. Enjoy your day.
• Me: Enjoy your dog! Bye!
• Guy: Errr...okay.

Dan's Favorite Things of 2011! (He's just like Oprah.)

 FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2011

I totally helped Dan do this.

(I cannot believe he didn’t include the members-only fan clup EP that Hanson released.)

Honorable Mentions: The First Day of Spring, Noah and the Whale; The Whole Love, Wilco; Bon Iver, Bon Iver; Rome, Danger Mouse and Danielle Luppi; A Creature I Don’t Know, Laura Marling

10. Pickin’ Up The Pieces, Fitz + The Tantrums

9. So Beautiful Or So What, Paul Simon

8. Whokill, tUnE-yArDs

7. The Harrow + The Harvest, Gillian Welch

6. I Am Very Far, Okkervil River

5. Strange Mercy, St. Vincent

4. Let England Shake, PJ Harvey

3. Barton Hollow, The Civil Wars

2. Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Girls

1. Helplessness Blues, The Fleet Foxes (“We couldn’t get enough of these guys.”)

FAVORITE MOVIES OF 2011 (In Dan's Words)

Time for @UffishL’s + my 2nd annual top 10 films of 2011. (Actually not our 2nd list of 2011—our 2nd annual list. But I bet you knew that.)

Our strict criteria: We had to really really like the films. If we didn’t agree, @UffishL threatened me. Anyway, the list: Honorable mention: Martha Marcy May Marlene; Midnight in Paris; The Way; Weekend; Young Adult

10. Buck 

9. The Trip

8. The Double Hour (La Doppia Ora)

7. Certified Copy

6. Hugo

5. Win Win

4. Higher Ground

3. The Artist

2. Project Nim. 

And our favorite movie of 2011; 1. Tree of Life. (Editor's note: Kelly concurs!) 

It had Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, dinosaurs—and the meaning of life!

FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2011 (In Dan's Words) 

My #top10books is my fave list from 2011, so @julieklam + I have saved for last the list of books that captured our hearts, etc this year:
 

Honorable mention: 1861, by Adam Goodheart; Helvetica and the New York City Subway System, by Paul Shaw; State of Wonder, by Ann Patchett; The Tiger’s Wife, by Téa Obreht; Wonderstruck, by Brian Selznick

10. In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson
 

9. Mr. Fox, by Helen Oyeyemi
 

8. The Wilder Years, by Wendy McClure
 

7. The Psychopath Test, by Jon Ronson

6. The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern
 

5. The Tragedy of Arthur, by Arthur Phillips 

4. Starting From Happy, by Max Patty
 

3. Turn of Mind, by Alice LaPlante
 

2. Zone One, by Colson Whitehead
 

1. Say Her Name, by Francisco Goldman (Editor's note: KELLY CONCURS AGAIN! READ THIS NOW!)

In Which I Brag That I Can Read

Inspired and a wee bit intimidated by Elliott Holt's 2011 reading list, I sat down today in avoidance of a deadline and set upon the arduous task of listing every single book I read in 2011.

At the start of the year, I hoped to read 70 books. A quick look at my Netflix queue might have you guess, correctly, that I failed. I truly believe the list would be a lot longer if I hadn't wasted four hours watching the Kardashian marriage, if "articles about Zac Hanson" counted as books, if I hadn't watched the entire run of Family Ties on Netflix, and if I hadn’t wasted all that time reading Mormon mommy blogs working.

I reread a lot of old books. Some I revisited out of nostalgia; some out of that itchy feeling that I couldn't remember exactly what had happened. I reread a few childhood favorites when I was in the hospital and recovering. (I ordered a Judy Blume set off Amazon when I was sad/drunk one night.) I made quite a few lifestyle changes this year; that should excuse the two self-help books on the list, both by Kris Carr, cancer pioneer.

I’m a firm believer that what we read shapes and changes us; that investing our time in literature and nonfiction not only makes us smarter, but better, too; that we very may well be what we read. (In that case, I’m an adult child who loves depressing memoirs!)

And with that said, I present everything I can remember reading in 2011. The items in bold are my favorite new reads that came out this year or last. The books are listed in no particular order, except the last few that are currently being read.

I command thee to go forth and read!

THE LIST

1. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? Mindy Kaling
2. Henry IV, William Shakespeare
3. The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach
4. Bossypants, Tina Fey
5. Blueprints for Building Better Girls, Elissa Schappell
6. A Good Man is Hard to Find, Flannery O'Connor (reread)
7. Hypocrite in a White Pouffy Dress, Susan Jane Gilman (reread)
8. Everything is Wrong With Me, Jason Mulgrew
9. Half a Life: A Memoir, Darin Strauss
10. Sisterhood Everlasting, Ann Brashares (Don’t judge. I had to see how it ended!)
11. Maine, J. Courtney Sullivan
12. The Long Goodbye, Meghan O'Rourke
13. State of Wonder, Ann Patchett
14. Bel Canto, Ann Patchett (reread)
15. Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Nick Flynn
16. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
17. The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman
18. Truth & Beauty, Ann Patchett (reread)
19. Autobiography of a Face, Lucy Grealy (reread)
20. Say Her Name: A Novel, Francisco Goldman
21. An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination, Elizabeth McCracken
22. Love at First Bark, Julie Klam
23. Great House, Nicole Krauss
24. Just Kids, Patti Smith
25. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan
26. The Family Fang, Kevin Wilson
27. This is Where I Leave You, Jonathan Tropper
28. Love and Obstacles, Aleksander Hemon
29. A Widow's Walk, Marian Fontana (reread)
30. Are You There Vodka, It's Me, Chelsea, Chelsea Handler (Okay, judge me.)
31. Summer Sisters, Judy Blume (reread)
32. Other People We Married, Emma Straub
33. The Ticking is the Bomb, Nick Flynn
34. Crazy Sexy Diet, Kris Carr
35. Crazy Sexy Cancer, Kris Carr
36. The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, Siddhartha Mukherjee (Shit, I read a lot about cancer.)
37. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, JK Rowling (reread)
38. Adrienne Rich's Poetry and Prose, Adrienne Rich
39. Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, Raymond Carver (reread)
40. Blue Nights, Joan Didion
41. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
42. Sag Harbor, Colson Whitehead
43. The Summer Before, Ann M. Martin (I wasn’t kidding.)
44. Fudge-a-mania, Judy Blume
45. Superfudge, Judy Blume
46. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Judy Blume (much better than Chelsea)
47. [sic]: A Memoir, Joshua Cody
48. The Two Kinds of Decay, Sarah Manguso (reread for the millionth time)
49. Complications, Atwul Gwande
50. Swamplandia, Karen Russell (in progress)
51. This is Not Your City, Caitlin Horrocks (in progress)
52. Zone One, Colson Whitehead (in progress)

In Which I Am Thankful

Warning: this is another one of those awful end of the year blog posts. My apologies. There’s a new FAQ section up top that is potentially more entertaining than the following.

It’s 75 and sunny as I write this atop my roof, staring at mountains and the Los Angeles skyline. It is Thanksgiving weekend, but it feels like July. If I could say one thing about this year, I would say it feels like July. Time has stopped, the weather is hot, there is suntan lotion on my face: it must be July.

But the turkeys doth protest! It is November. The year is coming to a rapid close.

I am ashamed to note that I have been writing this blog for three years, three years worth of billable hours and insomniac ramblings. At the end of each year, I usually say something to sum up the year. "Well, this year sucked but then everything was okay."

An honest disclosure and then an "it's okay", just in case anyone thought I was ungrateful for my good fortune, or that I failed to realize it could all be so much worse.

I wrote that "everything was alright" even if I was unsure I believed it, because I was in denial, and denial is so very cozy.

Hi Denial! So nice to see you. Is that a drink in your hand?

I've been sick since I was ten months old. I actually don't know anything else. But until a few years ago, I had cried approximately three times about the isolating cycle of doctors, specialists, hospitals and extreme pain. I just didn't cry. It wasn't allowed. I didn't even cry to the shrink my parents sent me to at 16, when they discovered pot under my bed. (I still maintain the marijuana was not mine.) 

Instead of crying, or showing normal emotion, I was a secretive mess of anger and sadness. Three cheers for healthy coping habits!


Sicker than I've ever been, I spent much of the past 18 months bitter I could not relate to the easy, loping gait of my healthy friends and peers. I was jealous of what seemed to be an easy existence. I envied the way they walked quickly and without feeling, how they lifted their legs and moved without pain.

I believed that stoicism equaled strength; that crying constituted weakness; that by divulging the secret that illness devastates, I would not be the Kelly everyone knew. I would not be funny, happy-go-lucky, strong.

It sunk me, this anger and depression. It affected my work, my relationship, my friendships. And my Duane Reade, who got a boost in Xanax sales.

I sought to anesthetize. I drank a lot. I said and did stupid, mean things that I am still struggling to understand and apologize for. I nearly ruined friendships that took years to build. I hurt the person closest to me. I was brutal to myself and I see now that I was brutal to others. (This post should actually be titled: “This year, I’m thankful I was forced into therapy.”)

In August, I moved out of my apartment in New York and came home to recover from July's hospitalization. I went on a trip to Colorado, a trip with fellow cancer survivors that quite literally changed my life. A trip that opened me up to the possibility of living a full life with illness, without denying its existence. And that changed everything.
 
Living your life twice is no easy feat. But I guess that's what I am trying to do. To remove myself from the past me--the Kelly who dealt with this illness in a shitty way, the Kelly who used it as an excuse for bad behavior, the Kelly who hid. 

I am trying to live again so I am still myself, but a better version of me, someone who does not run headfirst toward self-destruction.

This year I found a good way to go down in flames and then I turned around and found out how to stay away. And I wouldn't have done that without you.

So as the year comes to a close, I have a lot to be thankful for. I’m thankful I live here in LA, a place I need to be. I’m grateful to Solo Survivors and Tracy Maxwell, who sent me on that trip down the Colorado River. I’m thankful for everyone who reads this blog and for the daily encouragement I get from you. The cards, emails, tweets, gift baskets--I am thankful for the love that sailed me through the sick this year. I’m also thankful for Friday Night Lights, just because of this:

Thank you to everyone who tried to be the change I desperately needed, who saw when I was flailing and calmed me. I hope to pay all this love forward.

Into the brightness we go.  

Couch to BENGAY: In Which I Plead for Help

I've been running* on and off since August, when I was beginning to recover from my last hospitalization.

I ran for awhile Monday and then I took Tuesday off because I had to work go eat Mexican food and drink margaritas. (They were only a dollar!)

But for the past two days, I haven't had the energy to continue with my routine.

I am aware that it is hard to get back into shape. And the non-denial part of my brain is aware that this may be harder for someone with my, um, colorful medical history.

HOWEVER, I'm extremely competitive and want to be as good or better than everyone else participating in this stupid 5K! Which I am admittedly only running because there's a pancake breakfast at the end.

I mean, I'm so competitive that I once threw a Monopoly board out my second-story window when I lost a game to my cousins. At age 8, I chucked a Ouija board at my sister's head when we failed to bring John Candy back from the dead. I'm basically like Sydney from this week's Parenthood.

In short, I DON'T HANDLE DEFEAT WELL.

And so when I lose a couple of days to, you know, LUPUS and swollen joints and possible kidney problems (more on that later), I get pissed. And whiny.

I need your help, fellow new runners. I need some inspiration. A video of a three-legged dog running a marathon, or a sweet running playlist. (My current one is all Paul Simon, which contributes to the tears streaming down my face, which I lie and say is sweat.)

So please, dear Internet. Gimme what ya got. Show me what runners are made of.

Thanks.

*My 'running' is really me talking/jogging while screaming WHY GOD WHY and SKINNINESS IS THE ONLY WAY TO WIN MOTHER'S LOVE! (JK Mom, love you.)

Things I Said While Watching Beauty and the Beast

1. This was totally my favorite movie as a child. I am sure Walt Disney wasn't a misogynist!
2. Aw, look. Misogyny.
3. Gaston: not bad. I'd hit that.
4. Maurice definitely had Alzheimer's, right? Aw.
5. Do NOT go in the wood, dumbass!
6. Belle had a one hell of a case of Stockholm Syndrome.
7. Wait! The Beast is only supposed to be 21 years old!?
8. THAT is four years younger than me...
9. AND MUCH TOO YOUNG TO MARRY!
10. Man, Belle’s hair is better than mine. Them some chestnut locks!
11. Aw, Chip. I totally had a crush on Chip, A CARTOON TEACUP, as a child...
12. Which explains my current crush on our blender, Bob.
13. Oh God. It’s midnight on a Saturday. The wine store is closed!
14. So Belle just falls in love with him even though he kept her captive. Yeah, that's some Patty Hearst shit right there.
15. This is not as romantic as I once thought--
16. OMG, I LOVE THIS SONG!
17. This is the most beautiful movie ever.
18. You know, aside from the Beast’s mullet, and misogyny, and that really scary tower scene...
19. Oh God. I'm going to die alone.

Four Weeks, One Day: a Non-Poem

Things have changed
so I suppose
I have changed them.
And maybe
I have changed too.
This year's theme might just be change.


The night gets cool here
and smells crisp,
like home.
I'm often without a coat,
because the days are so warm.
I was sunburned yesterday sitting outside,
writing at a cafe,
looking at celebrities.
Or their husbands.

There are a lot of beautiful people here,
but I do not resent the effort it takes to live here,
the way I did in New York.
And it does take effort!
Effort to truck across town,
to wait at a light for twenty minutes.
The traffic here is as bad as they say,
but the moments between moments
are savored.
Forced quiet
forced thought
forced optimism.

There have been bad days,
and last week I was so sick and delirious
I almost booked a flight home.
In the thick of the sick (ness),
I forget life on the outside.
Those days, it doesn't mean anything to me
to feel the burn of the sun marking your skin.
It is forgotten.

But I'm back outside now,
and breathing this different air.
This new air snaking through my body,
whistling and moving.
It feels like my body is
finally settling
into itself.
The house that creaks has history.

I am glad to be here.
Seeing,
hearing,
and feeling
in Los Angeles.

---
That being said, I miss the shit out of NY. Especially after watching this:


A Year in New York from Andrew Clancy on Vimeo.