weapons of massdistraction

I’m on the tail end (I hope) of one of the most awful weekends I’ve had in some time. And that’s saying something. Friday evening plans fell through. Saturday I hauled the boy out to the burbs to celebrate a classmate’s birthday. Thought I’d pop by Mitrebox on the way to pick up a treat for him but I failed to call ahead. When we arrived the vegan cupcakes were all gone. We left empty handed and disappointed then managed to get lost along the way, causing us to arrive a half hour late to the party. In an indoor playground that was jam packed with screeching children. My nerves were shot by the end of the ordeal but I managed to run some errands on the way home. Once home we didn’t leave again. Early this morning I was woken by some asshat who had pulled into the neighbor’s driveway, honking their horn repeatedly. Who honks at 6am on a Sunday? This also woke the lad who, I was dismayed to discover, was feverish and incredibly ill. Been spending the day trying to make him as comfortable as possible. And realizing that maybe we should have skipped the blueberry pancakes (after he hurled them back up). Lack of social contact with other adults isn’t helping my mental state. Some close friends are out of town. Others are entertaining parents who are in town. But I’m still feeling frustrated and pitiful and alone and desperately trying to snap out of it.

Five good things:

• A troublemaking octopus.
• Discovered the work of illustrator Pascal Blanchet after seeing a portrait of him on flickr.
• A must-see video about unicorns.
• An amazingly weird photo of my man Nick Cave, with two small children.
• Not good, but an interesting read about Dubai’s downward spiral.

I stole this post’s title from the new How I Learned Reading Series happening every fourth Wednesday in NYC.

Blaise K brings a new monthly How I Learned series to town, “featuring the best writers, comedians, bloggers, performers, and personalities [it] offers such educational topics as How I Learned About Sex, How I Learned That Everyone Is Against Me, How I Learned My Adolescence Is Over, How I Learned That It’s Not All My Parent’s Fault (Only About 75 Percent), How I Learned We Were Breaking Up, and more. How I Learned strives to share invaluable life lessons against a dimly-lit, self-indulgent, sexually tense and potentially booze-fueled backdrop. It’s education that works.” Tonight’s debut features Mike Albo, Todd Levin, Rosie Schaap and Erin Bradley on the topic How I Learned to Steal From the Liquor Cabinet: Stories About Drinking (…Or Not Drinking).

Sounds like my sort of thing at my kind of place. The hosting venue, Happy Ending Lounge, was an erotic massage parlor in a former life but has since been transformed into a posh two floor club. Next time I’m in NYC I’ll have to drop by - there, the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co and to one or both Red Bamboo locations.