things i learned in 2017

what a thrilling subject! personal growth! political upheaval! lots of learning! let's talk about my own personal-life takeaways from 2017!

1.    some years are full of baby goats. this was one of them, and it was Wonderful. 
2.  optimism is hard. it's not always natural. but it's w o r t h it
3.  facilitating your own adventures sometimes means you get lost in London in the rain at like 11pm and you're wandering around trying to find your hostel which is actually an old court house and some of the rooms are former prison cells and you're not super sure what your room is but there are bars on the window and it fits 5 bunk beds. you'll find it eventually.
4.  sometimes the best art in milan is the weird portrait of kim kardashian in your hostel
5.  check to make sure you have your notebook with you when you get off the bus!!! 
6.  sometimes your anxieties are correct but guess what!! the world does not end during or after this panic attack. it is okay!! eventually!
7.  if you use a dating app in the south and have a picture of you with joe biden, there's a chance people will report it as offensive 
8.  speaking of joe biden, his advice: "Don't refer to the former vice president of the united states as 'joe'"
9.  my advice: do it anyway
10.  in order to make new friends, find random facebook events that include pumpkin carving with goats and then invite those three people from your english class to go with you. 
11.  brooklyn 99? honestly, a work of Art
12.  you might be jetlagged, but guess what!! you can climb a mountain and then sled down it and still not get frostbite. 
13.  communication is hard and sometimes uncomfortable but ultimately good!
14.  sometimes shitty poetry turns good after you, like, edit it a lot. also mary de rachelwiltz compared me to her friend marianne moore and that's not a lesson that's just me bragging because !!!!
15.  i can look cute in a crop top!! i can look cute! beauty isn't important but self confidence is and this year i have learned to keep my head up. 
16.  your mild obsession with research is something you can monetize in the form of work study and put it to use helping people!! and your note taking is good for being a secretary of a club! and tendency to want to plan things carefully is good for starting a club! 
17.  there are so many good people in the world and i met so many in 2017 and i am thankful for all of you. 

7 Wonderful Things

1. Spinning in the shadows with friends and letting yourself fall over, over and over again. Getting back up and spinning the other direction. Tucking your arms in so that the spin becomes twice as fast before you fall into the grass. 
2. Cats who choose to curl up in your lap even though their owner says they are shy. Thank you for choosing me, cat. 
3. Thrift stores having extremely specific collections of items, such as an entire shelf of Property Brother's gnome sets. Seriously. DM me if you want one.
4. Baby goats! Their little hops! Someone send me a baby goat and a farm to let it live on, please, ASAP. 
5.  Random people who innocuously compliment you on your leaf-patterned shorts. Thank you for your good work in the world.
6. Teachers excited to teach and classmates excited to be in the class.
7. Long hugs with kind people.

tokens from the almost-abandoned mall in south carolina

1. a window display with a skirt, shirt, and Sixteen Candles poster, deflated balloons scattering the bottom. This is not connected to a store. There is no event posted. Your friend will not notice the display.
2. stains on the escalator that you will tell yourself are from cranberries. It may be cherries, or perhaps even an avocado. You aren't great at identifying stains. You should work on that.
3. an empty fountain. There is dust where there should be water droplets, and a cricket jumps into the pumps. 
4. wait, did that window display just move? 
5.  no. That's just Jeremy. Say hello! 
6.  a small, realistic car that you suspect would run if it had either gas or legs. 
7. a single Bluefin Tuna. Watch your back.

The 10 People You Will See in a Coffee Shop this August

1. A man wearing a velvet purple coat despite the heat. He will tell you that Ira Glass and he got into a fight once. You won't believe him until he shows you his microphone-shaped scar on his neck with the letters "TAL" branded into the side.
2. A kid wearing only a baby blue baseball cap and a pair of grinch boxers. He will only sing Justin Bieber's Despacito, which the barista will interpret as a grande mocha latte with extra skim milk. The barista is correct.
3. Someone will be talking about the birds. They will be listening.
4. Your friendly street mime who does not find it funny that you come up to him and pretend to be in a box. He separates his work from his life and does not appreciate you blurring those lines. You should stop that. Like, for real. Boxes aren't even shaped like that, dude.
5. The person who inexplicably carries around the movie Up in their purse. They won't elaborate when you ask why. They have never seen Up. They do not ask, however what is Up. They are aware.
6. The barista with a beard that covers the entire lower half of his face. You suspect he doesn't have a mouth. You probably should not ask. You need to learn ASL.
7. Someone on a computer furiously typing, as though working on an important email. She is not working on an important email. She is working on an important blog post for her four faithful readers for the first time in a year. She recommends the lemon blueberry scone. 
8. The local star of an indie movie who is VERY THANKFUL no one is ambushing him with requests for signatures or photos. Really, usually tons of people come up to him. This break from fame is great. Really great. Yes. Really unexpected that everyone is playing it so cool.
9. Four people wearing teal. This will feel significant. You won't know why until mid-September.
10. The glitter enthusiast. Take her cue. Remember next time to bring your glitter. Maybe mix it in with your face wash. And shampoo. And lotion. This will protect you from Ira. 

how long has it been?

Consider: not being afraid.

So I haven't been blogging in ages, for a multitude of reasons. Partially cause I was afraid of being critiqued for the sole idea of having a blog, and for the writing contained on it, etc etc etc. But this is a blog: this is bird shat. It's not about literature, it's not about edited writing. A teacher once said that blogging requires egotism. But listen, so does anything on the internet, right? You have to believe that what you have is worth reading, even a personal humor blog named after bird poo.

So this is my way of saying bird shat is back. It's small, it's cozy, it's egotistical, but it's back.

backpfeifengesicht and other things that apply to you

backpfeifengesicht: literally means "a face that needs a fist in it." (pronounced back-pf-eye-fen-ge-zeesht)

there you go. your new insult. use it wisely.

some other suggested insults:

1) you're like f. scott fizgerald's screenplays. unknown and unnecessary.
2) your voice sounds like yoda with pneumonia.
3) you are a pumpkin on november 1
4) you tacky bulletin board.
5) you off-brand cheerio
6) you're about as famous as bobby frost
7) are you feeling okay? because i'm not. not after seeing your face.
8) you're that chair that even the cat won't sit on.
9) you broken cassette tape in an attic covered in sawdust and cat piss
10) are you corn? because you need to shut your mouth and consider your ears.

don't have a face that needs a fist in it. until next time.

reasons the world isn't so bad

people doing nice things. glue sticks. mugs of chamomile tea. watching your roommate drink chamomile tea for the first time and shivering because it's a) burning hot and b) it's chamomile. seasonal drinks. nonseasonal drinks. david sedaris. susan orlean. meghan daum. people. empty libraries. full libraries. wonderful librarians that are probably actually the child of a deity. mrs d, who somehow knows how everyone is doing any time of the day. e-readers. paperbacks. hardbacks. book releases. socks. consider the socks, really. socks are so great. thank your socks today. witty comics. dumb comics that make you laugh anyway. videos that make you think. videos that don't make you think. walking. sitting. nutella. peanut butter unless you are allergic. stories. history. linguistics and how poem and history are the same word in german. joke books. siblings who are basically joke books. sisters. support. being happy. crocheting. volunteering. sleeping. doing something. doing nothing. existing. sitting on the steps outside your house when someone you love sits next to you, says, "it's okay. it's okay. it's okay."