Thursday, July 1, 2010

Stalling



This dress has been sitting in my closet all summer, for a couple reasons. First, the toggles always do something funky, and the cloth often gets wrinkly and funky. It's also a bit too short (which I tried to remedy with lace bike shorts underneath, see below), and color might just to be too close to my own (summer) skin tone to work. But I'm going with anyway, because I dig the dirndl like elements, and it seems cheerful enough to distract me from what I have to do today.

This is the face of reluctance, and before I rolled up the lace bike shorts

No, it's a good situation to be in. Without giving too much away, this manuscript I submitted to an editor a while back (like before I started blogging), has been taking too much time in the review process and I've been getting discouraged. But I've finally heard from the editor, and he's going to work to get the second review back, but in the mean time, he sent me the first one. It's only 2 pages of recommendations and the editor promised it was "encouraging and positive," but I am so scared to read it. I need to respond to it by the afternoon so guess what I am doing right now? Laundry. (I'll read the report when I am done with the first load). It's nerve wracking, but it's a decent situation to be in. (In my mind, the editor had only kept my manuscript around so he and his staff could have a good laugh every so often.) I don't have anything else to report, but hopefully in a few months I can share more.

Thanks for you thoughts about my anti-budget cut rant yesterday. I know that I can't be alone in thinking this, yet politicians have responded to the state and municipal budget crises in such similar ways, and it's quite disheartening. What makes me madder is that no one raised taxes in NY State or city even during the "flush" times (evidently they did things like mortgaged buildings, borrowed against pension funds, etc.) resulting in short term/adhoc, rather than steady new forms of state revenue flows. What are we, Delaware? I've always wanted to be a public official when I was younger, but abandoned that after I abandoned the Naked Army at age 18. I'd have to cut back on my rage a bit, but maybe someday, I'll ride my "tax the rich, for reals" platform all the way to Albany (or insert some other capitol city here. I think drindl like mini-dresses probably won't be the appropriate uniform).

17 comments:

  1. I think the dress is very cute. I hope the recommendations end up being easy to read.

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  2. I love procrastination. And by love I mean, not so much. Good luck!

    And I like this dress. I had a similar issue with the tan dress I posted from yesterday, too.

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  3. HOW EXCITING! Ooooh, I can't wait to hear more about the book project.

    And glad you gave the dress a chance. Looks like the perfect, flirty, hot-weather frock.

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  4. NO way--dirndls in Albany will prevail. Remember Bella Abzug's hats? Soon we'll all be talking about Rad's dirndls.
    Rad, I'm sure if your editor said the comments were positive, s/he's right. If the review was really crappy, you probably wouldn't be seeing it at all.
    Good luck!

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  5. Like Jesse's yesterday dress, maybe some black leggings or tights?

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  6. Thanks for the encouragement, bloggy buds! It was indeed fairly painless to read, but I've got loads of work cut out for the next many months.
    @Pineapple mint: I've tried this dress with leggings and a cardigan. I mostly like it but the problem is that the dress is VERY light (almost see through) and either I'm cold (dress is too light) or hot (leggings). Darn you, difficult dress!
    @Charlotte: You're too funny! I can never even hold a candle to Ms. Abzug's fashion and political awesomeness but you're right, she really is an inspiration. (And she was in "Manhattan"!)

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  7. I love that dress! It is really cute and it reminds a ton of Anna Sui.

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  8. Yay! I'm so glad that even after the laundry procrastination the comments were easy to read!

    I'm not going to be able to get to my article R&R until August because of pre-deposit revisions and a manuscript I'm co-editing. I realized this afternoon that I'm going to have to put in some long days over this next week if I'm going to escape having to take work on my honeymoon.

    I really, really hope you do end up in Albany (or wherever) someday taxing the rich and wearing dirndles. I'm too angry and say fuck too much to go into politics.

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  9. The dress is cute, difficult as it may b to wear - you do pull it off. When the weather gets hot thin and short is comfy.

    Add congrats on the article. Edits are always so much more painful than writing (at least it feels that way sometimes) But, I'm sure you'll make it through the editing process just fine. : )

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  10. Ah ha! Lace bike shorts! I've been wondering how you savvy skirt-wearing, bike-riding ladies have been looking effortless. I tried the dress+bike deal last week. It did not go well for me. Bike shorts are now on my shopping list.

    Hooray for the project!

    - Anne-Marie

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  11. Congrats on the painless commentary, Rad. That's one reviewer down and just one more (ridiculously slow - why?! why!?) reader report to go! Woo!

    Also, you are, as ever, rocking the short skirt. And I don't mind it with the shorts peeping out. What do you think?

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  12. Thanks Jessphg and La Fille for the compliments on the dress. It's not really my style but my friend (bachelorette) pushed me to buy it a couple years ago, and I always like the dress more when I do wear it.
    A-M: Yep, bike shorts are pretty cool. Lace ones are great b/c they are breathable. I also have a pair of very short ones for even shorter skirts (eek). I however don't usually bike in full skirts (for fear of stuff getting stuck), but stick with slimmer skirts and just hike 'em up. Modesty isn't the hugest priority for me.
    LaHdeM: Good luck on your R&R. Sounds like your plate is full and you're keeping really busy. I should be working more myself, but it's hard sometimes in summer!
    A-Dubs: The second reader just never responded, and finding the replacement might take a while, since the manuscript is over 350 pages. And evidently not as finely copy edited that I thought (according to reviewer one). I don't mind the short peeking out either, since when the wind blows, it's inevitable. I think it works for this dress, because it already has a lace trim?

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  13. I'm glad to hear the review went well! Good luck with all the work ;)

    Love the dress on you! The colors remind me of fall but the cut of the dress is very summery.

    clothed much, a modest fashion blog

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  14. Super cute dress. Looks nice and comfy...sounds like you need something comfy and airy in your hotttt weather lately.

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  15. What a cute dress! I love that it's so close to your skin tone. That's a great summer look. Naked without being naked.

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  16. HOW EXCITING! Ooooh, I can't wait to hear more about the book project.

    And glad you gave the dress a chance. Looks like the perfect, flirty, hot-weather frock.

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  17. Like Jesse's yesterday dress, maybe some black leggings or tights?

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