Killian's Blog/Website/Whatever

I made a crazy discovery today. Pre-note: this is not really the most academic post, so don't go citing me or yelling at me for not being scholarly. It's popular to claim that most holidays we celebrate now are appropriated pagan celebrations. But Halloween is super interesting in this sense. Our first impulse is to claim that Halloween--All Hallow's Eve (the night before All Saints' Day, which is the day before All Souls' Day)--was purposefully placed on October 31/November 1 because that's when Samhain took place. Only, wait a minute! The Roman Catholic Church and the Irish Catholic Church were very different establishments back in the day. The Irish Catholic Church--the establishment you might assume would do the appropriating--celebrated All Saints' Day on April 20. So it's pretty much accidental that the two became related. Doesn't that BLOW YOUR MIND? Dia de los Muertos was more intentionally moved--it's related to an Aztec celebration ...

Ah, sweet October, my favorite month. Oddly, Halloween, which is my absolute favorite holiday, has been screwing me over regularly, post-childhood. But, in true Halloween spirit, I refuse to give up. I will decorate my parents' house, I will wear a costume, I will drink apple cider and hot toddys for days, and it will be as awesome as possible, considering the circumstances. Since the beau and I are apart this year, the sexy Lewis and Clark costumes will have to be put on hold (dang), but I promise I'll have pictures of my solo costume invention on the bless'ed day. Now, for some updates! They're not that important, but I'm telling you anyway: 1. For some of you, this one's kind of important: I've changed my Twitter handle from @TalesnTeacups to @killianczuba. I've been debating this change for a while. It seems like a good idea, especially as I start to submit stories. I think Twitter is awesome, and I would love for people to find me on it easily. ...

I went to the beach this weekend--Rockaway, Cannon, and Ecola. The Oregon coast is probably the best coast, not that I'm biased or anything.  It was 65* and absolutely beautiful. And tide pools are the way to my heart. It was a much needed break from Real Life. Ok, business: As you can see, I am still in the states. Daniel is abroad, workin' hard at his awesome new job and impressing everyone with his mighty brain. I am not going to get into why we are in two such drastically different geographical locations, because it's a long and complicated story that makes me grumpy. But  we  are fine. As a unit, we are awesome--and that's really what matters. :) Since I'm not really in a chatty mood, I turned comments off. After this, it should be back to blogging-as-usual. Thanks bros. But, back to distractions, look at this table I painted! It used to belong to my great grandparents. I've always loved this table, but th...

We leave very, very soon. Tomorrow will be a flurry of last minute laundry and errands and packing. If I think about it for more than a second, I get kind of overwhelmed. Instead, here are a bunch of pictures from a trip to the lake like THREE WEEKS AGO! It was a great day--lots of swimmin'--even if I *did* have to spend most of the afternoon on my laptop (I know! I know!) DOING HOMEWORK (OMG I KNOW). So, yep. Lots of errands to run still. I don't want to talk about this whole "moving experience" in too much detail before we get there, because, again, thinking about everything makes me want to vomit. Give me a week or two to decompress (and finish my next grad school packet). Hopefully we'll have new pictures of our flat, too! Though it miiiiiight not be furnished. We may be sleeping in a pile of blankets on the floor for a while. I'm ok with it. It's carpeted! haha. Alright. Now for the obligatory photo of my cat: More pic...

“We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply and slept well and warm together and loved each other.” --Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast.  Repeat.

1. Gravity Falls . 4 Eva. I can't wait until it comes out on DVD so I can buy it and watch it as my pre-sleep lullaby while I'm far away from home in the UK. It takes place in Oregon, you understand. It is the story of my life. 2. Comics. All of them. A few I read this week (as a reward for finishing all my homework): Saga , Prophet , Marceline & the Scream Queens , and Are You My Mother?   (links are to first issues in the run--or, in the case of Alison Bechdel's book, Powell's--in case you want to read them!) 3. Breaking Bad, even though it is stressful and I sometimes have to play bejeweled while I watch because I am bad at handling tense situations (yes, even when they are entirely fictional). 4. The new F. Scott Fitzgerald story  that was in this week's New Yorker. It might be my favorite piece of his that I've read (if you read it, you'll know why). I can't believe the New Yorker rejected it the first time. Haters.* 5. These roasted pot...

Moving. It has been an... experience . Does that sound bitter? Good. It's supposed to. I'm in kind of a bad mood. Let's start with the neutral: --Our schedule over the last week was like this: Pack. Moving Truck. Train back to Seattle. Fly to Philly. Wedding. Fly back from Philly. Move the rest of the stuff to Portland. This all took place over seven days.  The negatives (or: Why I Bave Been So Angry/Tired for Weeks--the short version): --Visa trouble.  --Tons of tiny little hang-ups that have added up to Energy-Draining Pains in my Butt (ex: thinking our cat ran away the day we had to drive down to Portland with a moving van*, having important documents arrive at our old address the day after we didn't live there anymore, Comcast being butts, UPS being butts, the British Consolate being butts, butts just everywhere, SHALL I CONTINUE?) --I have another grad school deadline in 6 days. I'm not as behind as I was last time, but I'm not as ahe...