Imagine, if you will, going to bed with a cute person, who kisses you deeply, grinds against you slowly, and – whips out a deck of cards and starts doing magic tricks.
“Pick a card, any card,” they patter away, brandishing the spread deck at you – as they kiss their way down your body, toward your junk.
Now, surely this is some people’s fantasy… and seeing as I married an erstwhile magician myself, I might even sometimes count myself among those people… but the point still stands: attempting to multi-task in bed is not always the wisest move. It can very well lead to confusion, disappointment, and accidentally getting jizz all over your pricey trick cards from the local magic shop.
All this to say: I admire the ambition behind Sohimi’s Viele dual-stimulation toy, which licks and sucks and vibrates and flaps – but I think the toy would’ve been better if it’d had fewer tricks up its sleeve. Let me tell you about it.
I’ve tried a lot of oral sex simulators over the years, and this one is pretty closely aligned with my own cunnilingual preferences – rare! The Viele’s “mouth” is quite top-heavy, with a thick upper lip that moves up and down in a not-quite-sucking motion (it’s more like kissing, since there’s never enough of a seal formed for it to generate suction). This works well for me; when receiving head I tend to favor a soft sucking technique over direct licking, because the tip of my clit is too damn sensitive for that – and the design and motion of the Viele’s mouth make it one of the closest things I’ve found to that sensation in a sex toy. Don’t forget to apply water-based lube generously to any oral-esque sex toy before using it! (Incidentally, Sohimi might be the best online sex toy shop for cunnilingus enthusiasts – they have more “suck vibrators” and licking toys than you can shake a clit at, many of which I have reviewed here before!)
While each function of the toy has 5-7 presets, you can vary their settings much more precisely by connecting your toy to the Joyhub app via Bluetooth. This was easy and quick to set up on my iPhone. Navigate to “DIY” mode and you’ll be able to individually control each of the toy’s functions using a slider. The app also lets you invite a far-away partner to control your toy, and to sync up your toy with games or videos. I’m glad to see more toy companies offering Bluetooth-controllability via app, especially toys at a lower price point like this one ($39!), especially since long-distance play has soared in popularity these last few years.
The low price is worth its own bullet point, because it’s rare to find a rechargeable dual-stim (or triple-stim) vibe as inexpensive as this. There’s a reason for that, though, as the next section will illustrate…
Like many other mechanical mouths I have tried, the Viele’s mouth slows down significantly when it encounters any pressure – and I do tend to want to apply pressure with it, because it applies almost none on its own: it’s more like gentle kissing than sucking. As such, it’s an enjoyable tease at best, and when I do manage to come from it, the orgasms are underwhelming and unsatisfying.
The movement of the mouth is also inexorably paired with buzzyish vibration. It’s not terrible, but it dims my clitoral sensitivity over the course of a session, which – again – makes for some mediocre orgasms.
The shaft of the toy contains a hollow cut-out, in which there is a long noodle-shaped piece of silicone that flaps back and forth at high speeds when the “flapping” function is engaged. At low-to-medium settings, this feels a bit like some G-spot vibrators I have enjoyed, albeit much weaker… but the sensation is so subtle that it’s immediately drowned out when I turn on any of the toy’s other functions. It also seems to slow down significantly with pressure, like, y’know, my vag muscles squeezing as I become aroused…
I also find that the flapping function sometimes produces a queefy, trapped-air feeling in my vag when used at high speeds, which is not a turn-on for me, to say the least… and the hollow cut-out in the toy is difficult to clean.
The shaft also vibrates, but the vibration is so buzzy and “blah” that I rarely used it, since it generally just made my vag feel a bit tingly/itchy and then slightly numb, as tends to happen with buzzy vibration.
This is quite a loud toy, especially when all three functions (mouth + flapping + vibration) are engaged at once. It can definitely be heard through a closed door.
There’s no good way to use the toy’s “mouth” on its own, as “foreplay” for using the toy penetratively. This annoys me on principle.
It’s not waterproof – and even if it were, I’d probably never use it in the bath anyway because the very presence of water would probably provide enough resistance to slow the toy down substantially.
Final thoughts
It’s rare that a sex toy feels like a downgrade from jerking off by hand, like in olden times – but the Sohimi Viele falls into that category for me, unfortunately! Its mechanics are too weak to stand up to pressure, and so the orgasms it produces are weak, too.
I wrote in my testing notes, “Sure, I came, but at what cost?” – which, to be fair, is also probably what I’d say if that magician got me off and then pulled a Queen of Hearts out of my cunt and said “Is this your card?!” Sadly, with the Viele, I’m just not feelin’ the magic.
This post was sponsored, meaning I was paid to write a fair and honest review of this product. As always, all writing and opinions are my own.
The Hole Punch Fluke is one of my all-time favorite sex toys. In fact, if you told me I was being banished to a desert island and could only take 5 toys with me (you sadistic monster!), here’s what I’d bring, assuming said island had power outlets…
The Magic Wand Rechargeable, for pleasuring all kinds of genitals and massaging sore muscles (actually, maybe the Waterproof would be better for the desert island lifestyle…).
The Fucking Sculptures Double Trouble, because if I have to be marooned at sea then I might as well be able to fuck the shit out of my A-spot and come really hard.
The Njoy Pure Wand, because it’s a G-spot whisperer and reliably induces squirting, which would make it useful for tension relief while I’m stressed out of my mind, foraging to survive on an island. (Am I taking this question too literally?!)
…and finally, the almighty Hole Punch Fluke. Nothing else in my collection is quite like it.
I noticed recently that the Fluke is on clearance sale at SheVibe, currently marked down from $67 to $54 – so it felt like a good time to tell you about some of the many ways you can use this wonderful toy, since I want to tempt as many people as possible to add one to their collection! It really is that good. This deal won’t last, so I highly suggest picking one up while you can! Here are some things you can do with it…
1. Wear it vaginally during masturbation. I often joke that the Fluke is a great toy for lazy masturbators, which is true – once inserted, it presses firmly against my G-spot with zero effort on my part, so there’s no need to bother with thrusting. That being said, laziness isn’t the only reason someone might want a toy like this – folks with disabilities or chronic pain, like myself, might also find the Fluke useful. On a bad flare-up day, I hate having to decide between honoring my body’s limits and stroking the fuck outta my G-spot – and with the Fluke, I don’t have to choose. It significantly intensifies my solo orgasms without me having to do much of anything.
2. Wear it anally during masturbation. Yep, you can do that too! I don’t use my Fluke anally because its 2″ diameter exceeds my current anal ambitions, but its flared head is so perf for G-spot stimulation that I have to assume it’d hit the prostate equally well – or, less directly, the G-spot through the vaginal wall.
3. Wear it while receiving oral sex. Quite possibly my favorite usage! Coordinating oral sex with fingerbanging can be tricky for even the deftest casanovas, but when the Fluke is inserted, it handles the internal stimulation so my partner can focus fully on external stimulation. This makes it a lot easier for me to reach orgasm from oral, which can otherwise be elusive for me – and the orgasms are extra intense because the Fluke presses so firmly against my G-spot. Once in a while, it even makes me squirt, hands-free!
4. Wear it for a while as warm-up. Sometimes my partner will have me insert a plug like the Fluke, either vaginally or anally, an hour or so before sex. It’s not the most comfortable choice for long-term wear, so I wouldn’t recommend it for public play, especially if you’ll be walking around – but it can be fun to slip it in before watching some porn together or somesuch, and it may help relax your hole enough to make any subsequent penetration easier/comfier.
5. Wear it during a spanking or other sadomasochistic scene. Due to subspace and other factors, I’m not always consciously aware of how turned on I’m getting during a spanking unless someone points it out to me – and similarly, the Fluke’s presence makes me achingly aware of each time my cunt clenches in arousal, which helps build more arousal, like a horny feedback loop. Plus it probably looks hot from my partner’s perspective…
6. Wear it as part of a chastity or denial roleplay. While this isn’t necessarily my jam (at least not as a bottom/sub), I can see how it could be fun to use the Fluke as a sort of barricade to your vag or butt – preventing you from getting fucked there and/or denying someone else the ability to fuck you there. The toy itself is still plenty stimulating though, as we’ve discussed, so it’s not like you’re being denied that much – it’s more about the psychological experience of it. Actually, I bet some people could even come hands-free just from squeezing around the Fluke, if they really put their mind to it!
Well, I know what toy I’ll be using tonight… If I’ve piqued your interest, here’s the link to go get a Fluke of your own at a deliciously discounted price! I’ve recommended this fantastic toy to countless people over the years, and that’s no fluke. 😉
I’ve been a sex nerd for decades, have done deep dives into sexual subcultures for books and podcasts, have philosophized with friends about sexuality for countless hours – and this is a question I still come back to, time and time again. Like a koan, it seems less answerable the more that I ponder it.
I think the definition probably seemed more clear-cut to me before my current relationship. Seven years of long-distance taught me that activities like phone sex and sexting can absolutely feel like sex, and can be just as intimate, connective, exciting, arousing, and orgasmic. Occasionally I’ve had phone sex with my partner on the same day as having in-person sex with someone else (what can I say, I’m booked ‘n’ busy) and there were times when the phone sex felt more like “real sex” to me than the IRL sex – because I got more turned on, or stayed in the moment more easily, or felt closer to my partner, or all of the above. These qualities aren’t inherent to everyone‘s definition of sex, but they certainly make sex feel more engaging to me, and thus more “real.”
To that end, a lot of different things can be sex, if you choose to see them that way. A study of over 10,000 cam-show viewers, for instance, found that 19% of them see those cam encounters as “real sex.” I wondered, upon reading this, how many webcam performers think of their shows as being “real sex.” Certainly, the babes of BongaCams.com and other such sites are doing sex work, but I imagine performers’ opinions differ widely on this, and my own dalliances into cam work mostly felt like work, and not like sex.
The asexual community, too, has taught me a lot about the definition of sex – mainly, that it might not matter as much as I used to think it did. We put so much emphasis on sex as a society that it’s easy to forget how fun (and even hot) it can be to connect with people, including lovers/partners, through non-sexual (or not-directly-sexual) activities. That can be anything from taking a bath together, to going on a hike together, to reading poetry to each other, to feeding each other grapes, to mud-wrestling, to hypnosis, to silently meditating in the same room together… all of which might be defined as sex by somebody, and that’s okay too!
So, what is sex? I think ultimately, the answer depends on who you’re talking to, and your definition may need to evolve throughout your life (or throughout your day!) to accommodate for the different spaces you find yourself in. When I tell my doctor I had sex with someone, I mean that bodily fluids were potentially exchanged. When I tell my straight friends I had sex with someone, I probably mean some clothes came off and somebody’s genitals were stimulated; when I tell my queer friends I had sex with someone, I might also mean we did something like dry-humping or spanking. When my wife says to me, “I liked fucking you last night,” or “You fucked me so well last night,” or “We haven’t fucked in a while and I miss it,” I know that she’s including phone sex and IRL sex in her definition – and that an intense and connective kink scene might well scratch that itch, too.
So when you find yourself wondering whether a particular experience “counted as” sex, first ask yourself why it matters – and then ask yourself how it made you feel. Sex can be so much more than “insert tab A into slot B,” and I find that my sex life – and my life in general – feel more vibrant when I broaden my definitions of sex, pleasure, connection, and joy.
This post contains a sponsored link. As always, all writing and opinions are my own.
I love notebooks so damn much. This became extra apparent to me recently when I packed up all my stuff to move to New York. Not only were there dozens of notebooks – both empty and filled – that needed to be transported to our new place, but also I have a bunch of them in current rotation that I needed to bring with me in my carry-on! Oh, the life of a notebook nerd…
I know there are other such nerds who read this site (hi!), so today I thought I’d tell you a bit about my current “system” of notebooks (if it can even be called that): which ones I’m using, and what I’m using them for, along with a nosy little peek into each. Let’s geek out together!
The notebook:Large ruled hardcover Moleskine What it’s for: Journaling, emotional processing, word-vomiting about crushes, etc.
I’ve been using these specific Moleskine notebooks as my everyday journals since 2007 (!!!) and have filled a few dozen of them in that time. It’s so satisfying to see them all lined up on a shelf, their dates noted in silver Sharpie on their spines.
My journals are where I process unfiltered thoughts and feelings about everything from dating to sex to health to friendships to geopolitics. I don’t usually publish journal entries as-is, but I often refer back to them when writing more polished pieces later on, since they contain raw notes on my immediate emotional reactions to pretty much everything that happens to me.
I always decorate the covers of my journals so each one has its own unique look, theoretically reflective of what I was thinking/feeling/doing during the era documented therein. My current journal has a rainbow heart sticker (happy belated Pride!), an Oliver Hibert skull sticker (I’m obsessed with his art right now, especially his tarot deck), and a “Never Post” sticker that I got at XOXO Fest, which serves as a reminder that it’s usually better to journal your personal thoughts, rather than tweet them. (Do as I say, not as I do…) There’s also an Njoy Eleven sticker on the back of this one, which I probably picked up at the Njoy booth at Woodhull years ago.
Moleskine’s “volant” notebooks are skinny little softcovers that I first started using when I was in journalism school. They could ride around at the bottom of my tote bag, get bent and scuffed, etc. and still hold all my class notes just fine. I like that they come in cute limited-edition colors; I think this kelly-green one was a gift from my brother, who knows me well.
These days, I use volants for work-related process notes, like my detailed thoughts about a sex toy while I’m testing it for a review. I also take notes in here while recording podcasts; it helps me listen better and hold onto the fleeting thoughts/questions that are apt to fly out of my brain if I don’t jot them down immediately. (Above are some of the notes I took during my conversation with masculinities scholar Dr. Kris Taylor about porn addiction and NoFap last year, incase you were wondering why the hell it says phrases like “Chad behavior” and “sex is devoid of pleasure”…)
This elegant white Midori notebook was a gift from my wife; it has gorgeously smooth paper which owes its signature softness to the cotton fiber in its formulation. I normally prefer lined pages over blank ones (that’s how you know I’m a writer and not a visual artist, I guess!), but the blankness is helpful when you’re brainstorming something big – like a romance novel, for instance! I’m a little over 50,000 words into my first (very rough) draft of my first (very rough) novel, and the planning I’ve been doing in this notebook has been instrumental in getting me that far.
Relatedly, I keep a little Field Notes book in my bag when I’m out and about, in which I mostly jot down novel-related ideas that come to me on the subway or whatever – but occasionally I also use it for other random notes as needed, like when I attended a musical improv workshop recently. This particular notebook is limited-edition, made special for attendees of XOXO Fest 2024; its cover is a cyanotype of sunlight peeking through the trees at Washington High in Portland, where the festival took place. Cute!
Another gift from my wonderful and thoughtful wife! I was intrigued by this notebook as soon as I read Blackwing’s announcement about it; they had collaborated with George Harrison’s family to design this songwriting notebook in tribute to him. It’s decorated with a striking image of his signature guitar. The pages are blank, and the notebook comes with a clear plastic insert that acts as a guide if you want to draw a music staff or guitar chord charts, etc. There’s even a pencil loop on the spine of the book so you’ll never lose your writing implement. It’s all quite thoughtful!
Throughout most of my SongAWeek project (I’m on year 3 now!), I would work on songs wherever I could: in my journal, in the Notes app on my phone, on a napkin at my local pub, etc. Still to this day, if I get a good song idea, I have to write it down somewhere immediately, no matter where I am, because of the unforgivingly breakneck pace of SongAWeek – so, songs don’t always start in this notebook, but I tend to do heavy-duty lyric editing in here as I’m finishing a song (or, as Diane Warren puts it, “wrestling that song to the ground”). And by the way, if you’re curious about the lyrics in the above image, they’re from a country song I wrote about period sex!
I also keep a big long list in here of ideas for songs, or potential song titles/taglines/etc. Previously they were all scattered across multiple mediums, and I can’t even tell you how helpful it is to have them all in one place instead – it means I have something to start from every week, instead of just a blank page staring back at me. This is the exact kind of thing I mean when I say that writing tools (like notebooks) aren’t magic, and won’t make you a better writer in and of themselves, but they can inspire you to write more often, and can help you organize your thoughts better, which often leads to better writing. Or at least more writing… some of which will be good, surely!
Possibly my favorite notebook at the moment. It has super-smooth paper, comes in fun colors, and fits easily into most purses and pockets. I love the versatility of a reporter-style notebook, too: their hard cover and vertical orientation makes it easy to write in them whether you’re sitting at a desk, reclining in a movie theatre, or walking down the street.
I take notes in here on many of the movies and TV shows I watch these days. It helps me pay attention better, and is useful if I want to remember my impressions of a certain piece of media while writing about it later on, or talking to a friend about it, etc. The notes pictured in the image above, for instance, were taken while watching the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral (adorable; love Hugh Grant!) and then some episodes of Kevin Can F**k Himself (low-key a modern feminist masterpiece). Invariably, my notes aren’t just about the media itself, but about my reactions to the media – so this notebook arguably contains just as many personal insights as my journal, albeit expressed differently!
I also sometimes take notes in here while on phone calls/Zoom calls/etc. with friends or partners, because (as mentioned) the reporter-style form factor lends itself well to impromptu note-taking regardless of where I am. Notes on conversations can be useful to refer to when I’m journaling later, among other things. And these notepads conveniently have a built-in table of contents near the front, so when I need to find a specific thing, I always can. Gosh, aren’t notebooks a great technology?
What’s your current notebook configuration? Feel free to share in the comments! 🤓
My friend Dan is a karaoke fiend (as am I), but our go-to joint was no longer doing karaoke nights, so for his birthday we tried out the one at Owl’s Club. The vibe is very “church basement” but in a way that’s kinda quaint? Seemed like there’s a great community of regulars who come back week after week – lots of dancing, laughing, and general merrymaking!
I got a disproportionate number of compliments on this outfit for how simple it was… Pretty sure the Doc Martens make me look a hell of a lot cooler than I am!
What I’m wearing: • Black T-shirt with “W” logo – sent to me by some sex toy brand whose name I can’t recall; I like it because it appears to be Wikipedia merch, even though it isn’t 😂
• Denim shorts – the Gap; you will see a lot of them in this post!
• Black leather 10-hole Doc Martens
• Black leather jacket – Danier Leather
• Rainbow earrings – 3Delightfulshop on Etsy
• Red heart-shaped bag – Kate Spade
June 8th, 2025
I wore this to do a musical improv show with my troupe. I’m still adjusting to the sudden hard pivot I made from dressing mostly femme to dressing mostly androgynous upon re-joining the improv community last year – partly for practical reasons and partly just because I felt like a different person. This shirt and pants are both recent acquisitions as I’ve gradually updated my wardrobe to fit my current vibe. The loud Nikes and heart-shaped glasses, on the other hand, are older items which somehow fit right into my on-stage aesthetic. They’re like psychological armor for me at this point! (And that night, I sang about grapefruit cunnilingus and the mortality of autumn, incase you were wondering.)
What I’m wearing: • Blue & red striped cropped T-shirt – the Gap (so great, makes me feel like the adult host of a children’s television show in the ’90s)
• Black ponte pants – the Gap, a gift from my mama (stretchy, comfy, perf improvwear)
• Pink/red/blue custom Nike Air Force 1s
• Heart-shaped prescription glasses – Zenni
• Black leather belt – the Gap
• Apple Watch with navy leather Hermès band – both gifts from my wife
June 12th, 2025
Some friends of mine were performing in an improv show at SoCap, and it was really hot out, so I put on this semi-unhinged little outfit to go watch them. They were excellent, and then we went out for a late-night dinner at the Edmund Burke before going over to a friend’s house for some silly late-night intoxicated musical improv over YouTube-sourced backing tracks. Improvisers are strange and wonderful people.
What I’m wearing: • Black heart-print modal romper – MeUndies (some would say this isn’t the kind of thing you should wear out of the house… and they would be wrong about that)
• Rainbow cardigan – ModCloth many years ago (don’t shop from them these days, though – last I heard, they were taking payments without ever shipping orders out!)
• Black leather Frye harness boots
• Black leather vintage Coach Station handbag
June 13th, 2025
Told you I’ve been dressing more androgynously lately… This is probably the closest thing I’ve ever worn (and will ever wear) to a suit! I wore this out for a solo dinner at my beloved local pub, the Queen & Beaver, during which I read from David Rees’s deceptively hilarious book How to Sharpen Pencils.
What I’m wearing: • Black blazer – thrifted many years ago and worn to a handful of job interviews in my twenties
• Orange-red tank top – the Gap
• Black ponte pants – the Gap
• Custom Nikes
• Vintage Coach Station bag
June 14th, 2025
Something I haven’t mentioned thus far in this post is that I spent most of June preparing to move to New York. Needless to say, packing up your entire life to move to a different country is an absolutely exhausting endeavor! There were some bright spots, however… like when I hauled a bunch of old clothes over to my local thrift store to donate them, and happened upon these jeans.
As I mentioned in my last outfits post, my body has changed size recently due to some medications I’m on, and so a lot of my clothes don’t fit me very well at the moment. I didn’t have any great-fitting jeans at this time, for example, but was wearing jeans to my improv shows nearly every week, so I needed a pair that actually fit! And although the surly goth manning the thrift-shop counter told me morosely that there weren’t any fitting rooms, I had a feeling these were meant to be mine, so I bought them, took them home, tried them on, and… knew I’d never loved a pair of jeans more in my entire life. I then proceeded to wear them obsessively for weeks on end, when weather allowed!
What I’m wearing: • Greyish-blue tank top – some generic chain store; probably more of a bralette, to be honest with you!
• Blue skinny jeans – thrifted; they are the “Lola High Rise skinny” style by Denim Forum (a Canadian brand, incidentally!)
• Eevee socks that were probably a gift from my mama
June 16th, 2025
Not my most inventive ensemble, but here’s what I wore to have drinks at Civil Liberties (best cocktail bar ever) with a couple of kinksters I know from the internet who’d recently moved to Toronto! Always good to chat with fellow pervs over excellent bevs.
What I’m wearing:
• Cropped pink T-shirt – the Gap
• The aforementioned magic thrifted Denim Forum jeans
• The also-aforementioned custom Nikes, vintage Coach Station bag, and Danier Leather jacket
• Raspberry-pink heart-shaped leather earrings – Unicorn Collaborators
• Prescription sunglasses – Zenni
June 20th, 2025
Here’s what I wore to host my going-away party! I was really nervous, not being much of a party hostess (especially not since 2020!!), but I had such a fun time with my hilarious pals. It was a group of about 20 of us – roughly half were from my present-day improv troupe, while the other half were from other sectors/eras of my life, which was kinda trippy. But I guess that’s what parties are for, huh?
Because of my weird-ass job, I had amassed dozens of new-in-box sex toys that I had no particular use for, plus 48(!!) Tenga Eggs, and so I laid all of those out at the party and invited my guests to take whatever they pleased. I am thrilled to announce that nothing was left by the end of the night. And then we went to Comedy Bar karaoke for the after-party, and then went to Pizza Pizza for the after-after-party, and then moved to the Pizza Pizza parking lot for the after-after-after-party. I didn’t get home until nearly 4 a.m., which I’m pretty sure has not happened since I was an energetic young thing circa 2012…! (Thanks, low-dose naltrexone!)
What I’m wearing: • Pink jumpsuit – Le Chateau
• The aforementioned Nikes, Coach bag, Apple Watch and Unicorn Collaborators earrings
• …& let’s not forget my fabulous Bailey Hikawa phone case, which delights me daily!
Photos by my mama
June 22nd, 2025
Another improv show outfit! Improvising in shorts and a crop top is not ideal as far as wardrobe malfunction risk, but good lord it was so fucking hot out on this day, so I layered with tights and a bralette as appropriate and hoped for the best! Someone told me this look reminded him of Bart Simpson, which feels like a compliment.
What I’m wearing: • Orange tank top – the Gap
• Denim shorts – the Gap
• Turquoise opaque tights – Hue
• Black leather Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers
• The aforementioned Zenni heart-shaped glasses and Unicorn Collaborators heart-shaped earrings (hmm… it would appear that I like hearts!)
June 26th, 2025
A couple of my friends were performing in a prom-themed improv show at Comedy Bar, complete with costumes and incredible makeup + hairstyling. It was a hoot! I had already packed most of my dresses for the upcoming move at this point, and this slinky little number was one of the only dresses still hanging in my closet, so I threw it on to go drink an IPA while laughing riotously at my friends’ scenes.
What I’m wearing: • Green polka-dotted dress – thrifted about a decade ago when trying to decide on a Feminist Porn Awards outfit
• Raspberry-pink lacy bralette – Aerie (just barely peeking out, and yet, notice how it matches my lipstick and my phone case… gawd I love being a femme)
• Black leather Doc Martens
• Vintage Coach Station bag
Middle photo by Tess
June 29th, 2025 (day)
Another way-too-hot day! My schedule was pretty packed: in the morning, I took the subway across town to attend a 4-hour musical improv intensive at Comedy Bar, taught by the lovely Devon Hyland, who is an insightful and hilarious teacher. We learned a lot about how to come up with a comedic premise for a song on-the-fly, which is somehow both easier and harder than it sounds… Those 4 hours really flew by!
After that, a friend and I took the subway over to the gayborhood together, because it was Pride Parade day! We walked around people-watching, talking, and soaking up the sun. Perfect day, tbh! And then later I had to change my outfit for my troupe’s final improv show (see below) – boooo!
What I’m wearing: • Red tank top – the Gap
• Denim shorts – the Gap
• Blue opaque tights – Hue
• The aforementioned custom Nikes, Apple Watch, vintage Coach bag, & rainbow earrings from 3Delightfulshop
• Rainbow bandana – thrifted in high school
June 29th, 2025 (night)
After the Pride Parade, I raced home and had just enough time to shower and change for our last show! Basically the same outfit as above, except with a few key items swapped out… so in fact, I won’t even go into detail on this one, except to say that the pink tank top is a different colorway of the same red one I wore above, and the heart-print tights were probably a gift from my mama in like 2013! Oh yeah, and the bag I always take with me on show nights is this orange leather Coach Poppy satchel that I found on eBay.
July 2nd, 2025
Originally my plan was to move on July 1st, but then some friends pointed out to me, “You’re leaving Canada on Canada Day?!” and suddenly it occurred to me: I should move on July 2nd instead, so I could spend my last night in the country watching the fireworks with my mom and brother like we do every year. It was a really special night and I’m so glad I stayed for it.
This was the next day, my actual moving day. Going into it, I was more stressed and anxious than I’ve felt about anything in a looooong time… but I was blessed enough to have a lot of amazing people helping me out, and so it went more smoothly than expected. As I’m writing this nearly a week later, I haven’t actually received my stuff from the movers yet, so we’ll have to wait and see how that goes… but overall, I’m really glad it’s done, and so happy to be living with my wife in Brooklyn now. Definitely feeling a lot better than I was when I took these moving-day photos, where the stress and trepidation (not to mention sweat) are palpable on my face!!
What I’m wearing: • Turquoise cropped T-shirt – the Gap
• The aforementioned thrifted Denim Forum jeans, Frye harness boots, and Apple Watch
• Blue leather Tori Burch bracelet – a gift from my love; sometimes I wear it when I want to feel like she is with me 💙
