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Hipstercrite Life

Hipstercrite Life

Uninspired work is the worst kind

Today I am to announce who won the “Everyone Loves Austin” t-shirt giveaway.

I will do that later.

Right now I don’t feel like writing at all. Not even that sentence.

In fact, these past 8 days have proven difficult in writing emails let alone blog posts. Sometimes I don’t even finish sentences while talking. I trail off, confused as to what I’m saying. I switch out words for other words. Left becomes right, north becomes south.

My brain is so cluttered with stuff, I can’t even tell if I’m writing this sentence correctly or not.

When I read these words aloud in my brain, a hundred other voices compete to make themselves known.

All these conversations battling for hierarchy in my head end up sounding like Peanut’s adult talk.

When I try to be creative, I feel my thoughts running immediately up against a brick wall. I start a sentence only to find it struck down by immovable and nonexistent brain matter. I can see the wall, but I can’t see the words. They are a dust (more…)

August 20, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

RIP Sherman, a.k.a. Batman, a.k.a Baby Kitty

I don’t want to write this post, but I feel like I should in order to move on.

The feral cat we took in, Sherman, a.k.a. Batman, passed away eleven hours ago.

In the short time we had him, he filled our hearts with so much love.

Ugh.

I can’t write anything right now.

Maybe another time.

This was his last photo.

 

August 13, 2012 by
20-Something, Hipstercrite Life

10 Steps On How to Stop Dating Douchebags

source

 Dear Women Who Loooove Douchebags,

I’m meeting more and more of you lately. Pretty, smart and outgoing young women who date utter and complete douches- and not in the “vaginal irrigation” sense. More like the “vaginal irritation” sense.

You wonder why the douchebags you date don’t call you, don’t want to be exclusive or never any affection or respect. You ask everyone but the douchebag why he doesn’t want to introduce you to his friends or family, why he insists on having sex without a condom and why he must still talk to his ex every day.

The douchebags always break up with you and you’re constantly left in a state of total despair, crying, “Gosh, there must be something wrong with me!”

You’re right.

There is something wrong with you.

It’s not that you’re not attractive, intelligent, interesting, fun to hang out with or fun to sleep with.

Your problem is that you date douchebags.

Duh.

You suffer from Douchebag Attraction Disorder. DAD for short (I’ll (more…)

August 7, 2012 by
20-Something, Hipstercrite Life

Ladies, Did You Know That Your Birth Control Is Now Free? (and other health benefits available to you)

Awhile back I received a $25 rebate from my insurance provider, BlueCross BlueShield, thanks to the Affordable Care Act. The check was in response to Obamacare’s new 80/20 rule  where “insurance companies must spend at least 80 cents of your premium dollar on your health care or improvements to care”. Since my provider didn’t do that, I got some moola back (friends with fancier plans got more money back).

Shortly after my check, I received a letter from BlueCross BlueShield listing new changes that will affect my benefits.

Fearing I’d find a long list of benefits my provider would no longer be covering, I was surprised to discover the opposite.

As of August 1st, several women’s preventive benefits are available to the insured with no patient cost-sharing (no copayment, coinsurance or deductible).

That list includes:
Well-woman visits (yearly gynecological exam)
Mammograms
Screening for diabetes during pregnancy
HPV testing for women at least 30 years of age
Counseling (more…)

August 2, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life, Writing

The Trouble With Adult Relationships: A Personal Story

source

Awhile back, a NY Times article circled the social mediaz (there are so many lately) that examined the hardships of making friends over the age of 30.

If I recall correctly, the article said it was difficult to develop friendships, like the ones you had in grade school or college, over the age of 30 because individuals typically get their shit together by then and decide to scrape off the loser friends who either a.) still live on somebody else’s couch 2.) repeat the same disasturous dating mistakes for years, constantly ask you for advice and then never take it and 3.) drink every night, but think AA is a vehicle assistance program spend more time with their spouse, kids and co-workers at places like Dave & Buster’s than at bars w/ buddies.

Or at least that’s what I got out of the article.

I’ve never been an awesome kick-ass friend. I attribute it to being an only child. And a Gemini. And maybe because I’m a left-handed Jew, I’m not sure. Woody Allen doesn’t seem (more…)

August 1, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life

Nothing

Sometimes I just don’t feel like writing.

Do you ever feel that way?

Like your brain is covered in packing material and you just can’t seem to dig her out?

I got a drawing tablet. I don’t really know what to do with it.

I made this.

It sucks.

July 25, 2012 by
20-Something, Austin, Hipstercrite Life, Pop Culture

I love Texas, but why does Rick Perry have to be such a dick?

 

“My state is #50 in health care! Weee!”

 

I promised myself when I went freelance that I would buy health insurance-  and one of those desk chair bicycles so my backside wouldn’t turn into a butt pancake.

Only one of these things I’ve succeeded at.

With the help of a broker, I found the cheapest insurance Blue Cross Blue Shield has to offer and I took it. Knock on wood, I’m a healthy, non-smoking twenty-something so the plan is somewhat reasonable at $117/month, but it definitely adds to the financial pinch each month. Truthfully $117 is all I can afford.

Through reviewing my policy kit and asking questions to my broker, I learned that the plan covers very little. At least I have insurance if a fleet of angry advanced beings from another planet attack.

Yesterday was the first day I put my insurance coverage to the test.

I became sick over the weekend with a high fever, sore throat and questionable delusions. I spent a lot of Friday night dreaming about cheese (more…)

July 11, 2012 by
Film, Hipstercrite Life

Remembering the Past In Order to Truly Appreciate the Present

I wrote this last month while visiting home. It was a difficult one to write. Did a lot of reflecting…

As the plane descended over the familiar lush landscape that is my hometown, several emotions reacquainted themselves with me. Feelings of joy, sadness, fear and optimism alternated dance steps in my brain.

“Where has all the time gone?”
“What will the future hold?”
“What happened to all the people I loved who have passed?”
“How can I keep moving forward?”

These are questions I don’t ask myself anymore. They’re only questions raised when provoked by the sight of my past, which is something that happens irregularly since I moved away from my home and family eight years ago.

In our attempt to live a fulfilling adult life, it’s often easy to get caught up in the minutia and forget what you’re thinking, feeling. To forget where you came from.

This last trip home wouldn’t let me walk past the flowers without perking my senses.

I was picked up by my beautiful and cheerful (more…)

July 9, 2012 by
20-Something, Hipstercrite Life

Why America’s View of Vacation Time is Wrong

A recent photo of the author ecstatic to be at the beach

Last September I went the freelance route.

Though it’s been paved with stomach-churning scares (“what do you mean my check is arriving NEXT week?!”) and painful boredom (“maybe I should drive down to Whole Foods and stare at people”), career-wise, I’ve never been happier.

Though I’m not rollin’ in it, the most joyous attribute of going freelance is the amount of time off I have to travel.

My last 9-5 job gave me 5 vacation days a year. Those five days included sick and personal time. Since the company decided to place their business almost an hour outside of Austin, that meant one had to add two extra hours of drive time for a doctor’s or DMV appointment. Personal errands that you could only attend to during the business work week took almost all day to achieve which meant one less vacation day a year. Needless to say, I never felt encouraged to go to the doctor when I needed to.

We also had no bookend days off on important (more…)

July 5, 2012 by
Hipstercrite Life, Writing

Anatomy of Writer’s Block

via Three Hundred Pages

Do you ever find yourself staring blankly at the computer screen with a large and heavy brick sitting smack dead in the middle of your right cerebral cortex?

Of course you do. You’re a writer and writer’s block happens all the time.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck ass any less.

The way writer’s block occurs is different from person to person. When many writers find inspiration from any upheaval in their life, I want to retreat into my head and turn away from anything that resembles a blank computer screen or pen and paper. I need structure and normalcy in my life to feel creative, though out of both those things comes nothing remotely interesting to write about. Only in living life do we truly have fodder worth writing.

Having been interested in creating “stuff” my entire life, I randomly find myself in creative ruts from time to time. It often seems that there is no rhyme or reason to the blockages, but I know that is not true. It takes a lot of (more…)

June 25, 2012 by