Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #273

It has been an impressively long week. I won’t go into all the details of what happened, but my time has been booked solid with final exams, workshops, plus an important all-day Deaf event and my 39th birthday. Thank you for your patience as I wrote this Sunday Lowdown on . . . Monday mid day.

WHAT I ENJOYED THIS WEEK . . .

  • On Monday, my cohort went to a new sushi restaurant after our final exam. One young woman was adamant that this was her favorite place, so off we went. I was surprised by birthday singing, which I was 100% positive for the student who chose the restaurant, because her birthday was last weekend. IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY PARTY.😲 They all signed the happy birthday song, and I had a banana cream pie with candles. I’m not used to a birthday celebration with people who are not my family simply because everyone leaves the second the semester is over, which typically finishes about five days before my birthday.
This is basically the moment I realized the party was for me.
  • But more birthday joy kept coming! I received a book from Biscuit, though because she’s the mom, she gets to decide that she is going to give me more things when we visit her next weekend.
  • Last year, my birthday was the same day as a Deaf event, so I brought cupcakes. One of the women there must have made note, because this year she gave me a birthday card. 🥹
  • Then, I received a text from my girlfriend Morgan that my birthday present just landed on my doorstep! I got it!
  • Side note: I saved the spider on the ceiling and felt oddly proud.
  • Saturday, Nick and I did a lot of running around to prepare for PTCO, a big Deaf festival in Indianapolis at the School for the Deaf. The Deaf organization I am in planned to sell food, and Nick and I would be there all day.
  • Sunday rolled around and we made the 2.5 hour drive down, spent 8 hours helping, then made the 2.5 hour drive back. It was also my birthday-day. Throughout the morning and afternoon, I received all kinds of lovely texts, which are extra special when you’re not on Facebook and everyone gets that shallow reminder to text you about your birthday. Thank you to EVERYONE who celebrated and will celebrate me.
  • I’m SO proud of Nick. It makes him nervous to go outside of his comfort zone, and what’s more nerve wracking that spending 8 hours assisting someone who uses a language you barely know?? But look at my man-person, working that grill.
One of the sponsorship posters we made.

WHAT I LEARNED THIS WEEK

  • That eating out and stress will make your stomach stage its own civil war.

WHAT I WATCHED THIS WEEK

  • Lisa Frankenstein (2024) — fun Diablo Cody movie with new horror darling Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse, who plays Jughead on Riverdale. Appreciates teen girl sexuality.
  • They Wait in the Dark (2022) — low-budget horror, a bit surprising, has porcupines as the creature in this creature feature.
  • Barbie (2023) — even smarter than I thought it was going to be.

REACTIONS TO MY REVIEW

I think folks were surprised I read a Regency novel, but I just can’t resist a book with “ill-mannered ladies” in the title. Honestly, The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman really gave me a hankering to go back and read Frenchman’s Creek by Daphne du Maurier, so I think I will do that.

FORTHCOMING REVIEW

Next one up is a memoir from a Pakistani-American lawyer —

SHOPPING AT THE LIBRARY IN MY TBR BOX PHOTO WHAT I FINISHED READING

I decided to read the rest of the books I have checked out from the library and work more on reading the books I own for reasons that may or may not involve Nick. Instead, I’ll share what I read, which often includes books that do not get reviewed here. This week was odd, as school finished and I decided to act like I’m 13 again and just read and read and read, finishing a book within 24 hours some days. It was a bizarre feeling to go back to that.

  • Period. End of Sentence.: A New Chapter in the Struggle for Menstrual Justice by Anita Diamant
  • The Doll: The Lost Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier
  • The Hike by Drew Magary
  • Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova

23 comments

  1. You’re a Taurus? How did I not know that? My birthday is May 10. 🙂 Happy birthday!

    Hooray for Nick grilling outside his comfort zone! Hooray for you finishing finals! Hooray for marathon reading! And extra hooray for presents!

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  2. I will wish you happy birthday, but it’s clear that you were. I use parents’ privilege to give presents next time I see them. Good on Biscuit for sending you something as well.

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    • I’ve let anxiety come between me and my reading in the last two decades or so, meaning it was weird to experience a book like it was the only thing in the world I needed to do.

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  4. I love that people from different friend groups celebrated your birthday! I hope it felt nice to be recognised and remembered by people who you were not expecting anything from, those are usually almost the best! 🌸

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  6. Happy birthday! That’s so cool your cohort gave you a birthday surprise! Also, reading about that drive and your 8 hour day and then the drive home made me exhausted! The book you got from Biscuit is on my TBR list 🙂 I hope you get a little break before your summer classes start!

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  8. Happy Belated Birthday! All those special birthday wishes you received are so cute. And that woman remembering it was your birthday a year later? Priceless. What a kind soul.

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  9. So glad to see this post. I visited on Monday morning, my time, and no post from Melanie. Then my week went haywire – busy, including a three-day trip to Sydney.

    Sounds like you had an epic few days too. Happy birthday to you, and kudos to Nick fro helping out so well on the grill. That’s a big day for you two – driving 2.5 hours each way, and 8 hours of activity.

    I always feel sorry for people whose birthday falls in school or public holiday times. ‘Snot fair! I’m so glad you were treated this time.

    Love all the pics. And I love that you got something out of Barbie. I did too. I remember not being sure about the ending, but I really enjoyed it.

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    • I thought the ending was going to be about her finding a new career, which I thought we just got done with when she realizes she doesn’t want to be a ____ Barbie, so I was happy with the ending. It’s got a bit of a wink, too.

      Right now, it’s Saturday night, almost 11PM, and I’m procrastinating on my Sunday Lowdown. I think something needs to change, but I’m not sure what yet.

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