On the First Night of Freshman Year, Dragon Savant

On the first night of Freshman year, Caitlin was afraid to sleep. She was tired—so, so, so so tired, because she stayed up all night the night before. Packing, worrying, texting, eating. And watching like four hours of Gossip Girl, which she doesn’t even like. And she made herself throw up once, too. Not because she’s bulimic, but for old time’s sake. She was bulimic for a little bit. She’s not actually so flippant and ~whatever~ about it, but she doesn’t know how to talk about being bulimic without being casual because—- Oh, fuck this. I’m Caitlin.

I’m Caitlin, and it’s the first night of my Freshman year (do you capitalize the F? I do). I’m afraid to sleep. I stayed up all night last night, as you know (and who are you? Answer on your own time), because I was packing and eating and etcetera. And then this morning, I woke up at six thirty. I say woke up because I technically slept for three hours. So I didn’t stay up all night. BUT WHATEVER, point is, I’m super tired. And I should be asleep right now, but I’m not for two reasons.

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Ms. Frizzle is a Bad Woman!!!

So, my teacher that took us inside each other’s bodies and into the core of the earth and into outer space and into this weird mansion with vibrating rooms that made us think about how sounds look… that teacher was an asshole.

No man, I don’t give a shit about her intentions. She used MAGIC to teach SCIENCE. I will never have a grip on anything the rest of my life.

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I’ve obviously been reading Dorothy Parker. In that vain: Alright, alright, I’ll go out on the porch, but come with me.

Alright, alright, I’ll go out on the porch, but come with me. I’m calm now. Just one more second… I’m done. I’m fine. Sorry for the scene.

Well look now, obviously it’s not the best way to go about feeling this, this drama brouhaha with the tears and the wists and the sighs of the forlorn.

And the yelling, yeah. And the—I know, but you’ve got to give me some credit. I’m quite well now, and we don’t know what I’ve got lurking under my skin, intertwined with my guts and bones—who knows what disorder or disease came into this world with me!

I could have a very, very severe anxious condition—my genetic sequences got mixed up, one of my parents had defective pea pod aliases. Alleles. Maybe I’ve got the very worst anxious condition and I should be commended for getting myself under control.

If we see a crippled child, wouldn’t we be amazed if he rose out of his chair one day and got his legs to walk? We wouldn’t say, “Well sure, that’s what legs are for, what’s the big idea,” right? Because he was crippled? What I’m saying is, consider if I’ve got this anxious condition. It would be a miracle I’ve gotten myself so calm. If a non-crippled walks, no one cares, but if that cripple takes off, !
What I’m saying is, consider I’m not emotionally non-crippled.

So yes, of course I overreacted, but from the prospective of my alleles, I may have acted quite right. Nevertheless, I so regret the last few minutes, before I calmed down. I so regret you were called an awful, vagrant-y, mean skinny man with bad jeans (called so by me). And I’m sorry you’ve been covered in beer and pants-ed (covered in beer and pants-ed, you know, by me).

I didn’t know my text hadn’t gone through! I though you were ignoring me, and ignoring someone of my anxious condition is as good as pouring gasoline on a match. A lit match.

Imagine it from my prospective—you say to a friend, “what are you doing tonight?” and they don’t respond, so you figure, okay, they’re at work, or their phone’s off. Some people might interpret a non-response to mean you aren’t interested in me, but I think those people are too quick to judge. Being quick to judge is the worst quality a person can have, don’t you think? Like you wouldn’t assume I was crazy, just because I yelled at you and pants-ed you and covered you with beer? Anyway, I didn’t mind at all that you didn’t respond. I didn’t take it personally at all, even though I was tempted to read into it and think you weren’t into me, because I am never quick to judge.

No, I wasn’t quick to judge you just now, when I threw that fit that I may not be responsible for due to pre-existing genetic conditions. That fit was a long time coming. I texted you at 4:50! That’s five hours you could’ve responded, and you didn’t. And then I see you here, drinking a beer, talking to that girl in the blue tank top. She’s like, really pretty.

I am not starting another scene. I’m just saying, I got upset because I thought you were ignoring me, and then I got very upset because I have this genetic thing probably.

It’s perfectly fine for you to ignore me, though, now that I think about it. You got my text, didn’t you? It’s okay; just tell me so I know. Come on! This is so funny.

You did get it. Right. And you didn’t respond because you didn’t want to respond, simple as that! Your prerogative! I just thought, since we’d been seeing each other—nevermind—it’s your prerogative—I sucked your dick, though—whatever, so neither of us is mad at each other—I sucked your dick LAST WEEK how are you allowed to—whatever, so, super. Super.

Yes, it does appear another fit is coming on, doesn’t it? Oh, if only I could help it.

The Hough Residence for the Small

The Hough Residence for the Small. The Hough Residence for the Small was built in 1926, just a year before the famed Barbizon Hotel for Women opened. Erected just down the street from where the famed Barbizon Hotel for Women would eventually stand, The Hough Residence for the Small is not without it’s own story. It is the largest consortium of legally miniaturized apartments in New York City history.

In the 1920s, anybody’s who was anybody got themselves to New York City, and anybody who was small was welcome at the Hough. It was Mickey Mantelle who first christened the Hough “The Half-Size.” Mantelle moved into the hotel in 1928, becoming the first famous Small to call the Hough home. By 1929, when Mantelle moved out to Hollywood to choreograph and serve as Shirley Temple’s dancing double (yes, she had one), the Hough was operating with no vacancies. Not surpising, considering the ole Half-Size wasn’t just decadent; it was specialized. Each room was built to half the scale of a regular room, with short sinks, short toilets, short couches, short chairs, and all things short by both length and width! It was a grand time to be a Small.

Sadly, even the Small couldn’t duck the punch when the depression hit. The Hough started renting out the rooms at-cost, but still some Small could no longer afford to stay in the residency. Most notably, the Small stock traders, a notoriously randy gang, relocated en masse to Topeka, KS.

Soon a new crowd settled into the beloved Half-Size. Almost Smalls, men and ladies not over four and a half feet but well over three and a half feet tall, were allowed to live in the Hough from 1929 until 1940. After 1940, when the Hough could once again afford to be more selective, Almost Smalls were declared too big, and the Hough offered assistance in securing them full sized-sized apartments elsewhere. If the Almost Smalls weren’t ready for a regulation apartment, they were sent to a halfway house.

Although the residency policy was strict, guests of all kinds passed though 180 East 63rd Street’s tiny doors. Judy Garland, gals from the Bouvier family, and Chuck Berry are just some of the impressive visitors over the years. The Half-Size even enjoyed a brief period as a sort of secret party spot in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Although the Hough never intended to become so sought out, its especially small entrance led many to believe the residence was especially exclusive, and therefore the “place to be.” The “diamond in the rough” idiom was actually coined right at the dinner table one night when Liz Taylor and several of her Small girlfriends were celebrating her 24th birthday. Her greatest Small friend, Tabitha Enderline (née Bouvier) dropped a diamond right into Liz’s beach themed cake. Hardly one to cause a fuss, Liz simply asked for a tiny spoon, and, digging with the most careful scoops, found the tiny diamond in a mound of sand colored frosting.

Yes, during its hey day, finding a good time at the Hough Residence for the Small was hardly like finding a diamond in the rough.

The genius bus is coming today to take all the genius children away.

The genius bus is coming today to take all the genius children away. The bus comes at the end of lunch recess, and we’re already at lunch. None of us are eating much, of course, since we all ate dinner a few hours ago. The genius kids won’t eat dinner tonight, they’ll be too busy doing genius things, and so every kid in fifth grade eats dinner for breakfast on the fifth of January, just in case of genius.

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Transcription of recorded therapy session between Dr. Dianne Egg and patient Eliza Pen (seven years).

Transcription of recorded therapy session between Dr. Dianne Egg and patient Eliza Pen (seven years). Patient’s parents are worried patient is anxious about the upcoming birth of a sibling. The session takes place at patient’s home, where patient appears most distraught.

Eliza, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Welcome to my bedroom.

Thank you very much. Maybe you’d like to tell me a little about your house? My house is one hundred and two hundred seven years old. It was originally in-ha-bi-ted by a sea captain.

When did you move here? In the fall, in October. We needed a bigger house because my mom is having a baby.

How do you feel about her having a baby? If the wood on these floors was still a tree, it would be very, very tall. The wood on my floor is very, very old.

Do you like your new house? It makes me sad.

I wonder why that is? Our old house was built in the late nineteen hundreds. Only one other family lived in it before us.

Do you miss your old house? This house is much older than that house. Um, my mom said you’re just going to talk with me for a while?

That’s right. Okay. Um, how old are you?

Why do you want to know about me? Because.

Because why? It’s good to be polite.

Yes, it is. But I would really like to learn more about you, listen to you. Can I show you the mirror? This mirror is very old and it was here before my parents moved here. And probably before they were born.

I like this mirror. Very pretty. Your mother told me you’re going to help her name the baby? Yeah, it’s a pretty old mirror. I think it’s older than photographs.

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When you make copies

(When you make copies.) You know what’s worse than dreaming the unquittable dream that that sensual mouse of a woman, Stephanie, will come into the nook and hoist you up on top of the open photocopier machine and have her mouse way with you as photocopies of your butt fly around the office? 


Photocopying your butt alone.

(and then crafting the photocopies of your butt into heart shaped cards and giving them out as valentines the Friday before Valentine’s Day).

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Why did we ask for taffy as a wedding gift?

Why did we ask for taffy as a wedding gift?

Cause we thought it’d be hilarious, that’s why. We registered at Bed Bath and Beyond and Crate and Barrel. Everyone could tell where we registered. We told them. We aren’t some rich eccentric nuts who love candy or anything like that.  In fact, the very reason we thought it’d be funny to write, “We’re registered at Bed Bath and Beyond and Crate and Barrel, but if you really love us, just give us taffy” on our invitations was because we aren’t rich eccentric nuts. Asking for taffy was so ludicrous it made us laugh.  

See, we felt weird writing where we’d registered on our invitation at all. It made the invitation sound like “Hey! Come celebrate us and give us stuff!” and not “We like you, come to our sweet party.” Talking about what presents you want feels uncomfortable. It’s like when you take a taxi, and you have to tip the driver, and you’re definitely going to tip the driver, and you’re more than happy to tip the driver, but you and the driver don’t talk about how you’re going to tip the driver. I like to pretend I’m not going to tip the whole time.

Anyway, we felt stupid telling people right on the invitation where we registered. So on a whim at the invitation place we added a little joke about giving us taffy. Big whoop, right? 

Little did we know everyone we know would take us up on the taffy.

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Young happening men who don’t spell well:

Young happening men who don’t spell well:

The future is now you noodles, 

the written word is back or whatever.

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Derrick the Marketing Assistant Has Plans

“I’ve postponed my trip to Africa,” he tells us, “I was going to go in the summer, but something’s come up, so.”

This is like the fourth time he’s postponed his trip to Africa. He’s really avoiding this Africa. 

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