The Grind
Written By: Ash Catcher

On my days off, although few and far between 
Riddled with milage on the car, and a fuck ton of caffeine. 
Fast paced, only 24 hrs to spare. 
Bought yet another fuckin wicker chair. 

Breakfasts because I have the time. 
Self love, time crunched, literal paradigm.
Days off full of indulgences. 
Travel my ass off until I hit fatigue. 

Howdy Soudy, I guess you’re pretty cool. 
Town as large as a gram molecule. 
On to the next, transient mistress. 
 What is three cortados in one day, shit is so resistless.

But it is the grind I find the most peace. 
Social media, press release. 
Nobody gives a shit about my breakfast. 
Or if my grades were better, I would have been a biochemist. 

In the end it is as real as you make it. 
Your life is your life, you put out what you permit. 
If I give you my time, I would count yourself lucky. 
Borderline semi obsessed with hush-puppies 

At the end of the day I just can't wait to get home to you. 
Parked finally out of everyone’s way the little Kylo Coup.
When it's time for sleep, it comes so easy now. 
Cuddled up to the cat and Cow. 




-Ash

Written By: Ash Catcher 

( Myself in 2010) WAY before tattoos. 


You know what I do not understand, parents who leave their adult child’s room immortalized in time. Like every room I see  is a time capsule of hard 2005 - 2010  vibes. Think Teen Vogue encapsulated in a teenage girl's room, who in reality is married, and a doctor…. Like why my parents could not wait to turn my room into a guest bedroom- or better yet my younger sibling was stoked to get my ensuite bathroom.  I pet sat recently, and I had this weird little realization, you know, staying in a former sorority girls room has it’s weird vibes to it.


 Here were some conclusions I came to during my extended stay: 
This happens any time I go to the suburbs. 

1. You love to shop, I thought I had a lot of clothes. But they are not unique items- you want to fit in like in a box, you want people to like you, you want to be like everyone else. I am waiting to see the designer handbags stuffed under your bed, hmmmm nothing underneath interesting. You have a doctorate, you know how to hide things not in plain sight. 
2. The books you read, when I can find ones that are not for your medical studies are bland and how many copies of Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants does one need really. 
3. I see traces of your college self, I am sure it provides you with the same security that it did in College- you are the type of person to throw money at a problem and hope that it solves it- science right. You pay for friends, I think that is weird. Friends forever, my little my big- my superior, my heart hurts for you that you don't see yourself as equal to other women. 
4. KAPPA DELTA PHI SIGMA SIGMA MU GAMMA all sound like barn animal noises. 
5. The amount of  Teen Fiction that I have come across tonight in addition to copies of The Great Gatsby is absurd. 
6. Why so many trophies? SoftBall, Volleyball, all the balls, it is just plastic, you get validation from plastic people and things. You went to camp for fun, and never had to work and go to school at the same time because I can tell by your room, they gave you everything. 
7. Coach Bags, Tiffany Jewelry, heck this room looks like it belongs to a middle school girl in 2006, everything Is left perfectly as it is, you're oddly clean but you have a lot of things. 
8. Why are you obsessed with smelling so good? Channel, Trussardi, Diesel, Marc Jacobs Daisy, That DKNY apple thing why do I feel like I have slipped into an alternate dimension or at the very least one of those perfume ads with a bit of the product engulfing it. No wonder teen magazines have that nostalgic smell- its capitalism baby. 

 I need to leave this teen vogue scene. 

Xoxo Gossip Squirrel 

I have been all over the place.
Lost track of how many times I have rented a UHAUL SPACE.
I Bought stock in my business, I am no dummy. 
Been around some real sick people all of them are scummy. 

But for some reason the one thing I can see. 
Is this one place I always end up, Umbria had too much Ghee. 
My Kingsley house was a freaking reality show nightmare. 
And my new place is next to a rock, and a dog named Bear. 

But what do you know those last two places have something in common. 
They are softer, quieter, calmer, never waffling. 
Solidified next to stone, this house is more like a home. 
Only downside is I don't have a front yard for your gnome. 


So the street I thought I could be, has been broken into several parts. 
I guess it takes a little bit of time to buy a house, when you have a degree in liberal arts.
But I did it and it's done, now I can decorate and have some fun. 
Down the street from some of the best WON- TONS. 

Plants, wicker, and my cat. 
Living here, music blasting- Tonight it is the Fruit Bats. 
Something feels off in this place. 
Purgatory, people, glossing over, big mistakes. 

Can't seem to form a full cohesive sentence. 
I wish I liked the Descendants. 
Milo can go anywhere he wants to, but he is not welcome in my house. 
Tired of the psychic babble, this game of cat and mouse. 
​
-Ash 

​No Hope: All Hallows Eve in New Hope PA
Written By: Ash Catcher 

     Coming off of this past week/ weekends festivus, I brought myself to the conclusion that the day before Halloween does not nearly  get enough recognition. I had a wonderful Halloween, I chose to dress up and go out to eat with my partner and I have to admit it was one of the most magical weekends of my life. I just feel so immensely loved it is at times overwhelming. We don't get to see each other nearly enough but we have traveled a lot together, this past weekend I had the best place in mind to celebrate All Hallows Eve, New Hope, PA  and Lambertville New Jersey. Both our home states are represented, it is always nice to have time together away from work, and the real world. My time was mystical to say the least. I did however half way through the day start to miss my cat, but my brother sent me a picture and I gave him a huge hug when I got home so it was ok. ​

  I am a big thrifter but I know New Hope is full of them, but some of them are just straight up Boutiques in disguise, I had to go pay my respects to Love Saves The Day: a wacky mix and match borderline novelty sex shop, or at least it should be- I haven’t gotten a record since the summer and finally found That Fleetwood Mac album everyone tried to recreate for Halloween this year, $16 bucks it felt criminal, it also looks like an original vinyl so that is even cool, time to collect dust with my other ones, come at me! I also bought two pins, "They say Proud Cat Mom, and Proud Cat Dad'' We both have cats, Orange Boys and love them so so so much! I also love the mannequin graveyard in the back alley of this store. It is very Erie. ​

 I also had the coolest Kava experience at MagiKava, I will be highlighting them in Atomic this week hands down. It was certainly an experience. I felt cool as a cucumber for not eating one once in over a week, essentially a cold brew tea or assorted roots, good Kava will taste a bit like those days when you were left unsupervised as a kid and tried to eat dirt. Don't deny it. Even better Kava will numb your tongue on contact and then boy are you in for it. I was in Tea heaven, and the had homemade candles, and massage oil We picked up some goodies for sure. ​

     Oddly enough I guess the underlying theme of the day was mushrooms, I found a cool place- I normally don't go to places that have a bunch of dried meat but I did find some vegan mushroom jerky. Mushies are some of my favorites, to eat, to trip on, again taste like dirt, but this one had some chipotle and was spiiiicyyyyy as heck. It was a good thing I caved and purchased a fleet of gummy sharks to mask my spicy mushy breath. 10/10 ​

 Finally we needed to end the day across the bridge in Lambertville New Jersey, they take halloween decor very seriously. The one I wanted to see  the most was a house- of course I forgot the street it was on so we grabbed coffee and roamed the streets, my partner is a very good sport, we walk alot and its easy on my joints, work has been murder on my body and I am not working out that much these days. We got a lovely walk in, I exclaimed how cute every other house was, we said hello to strangers who lived there and acted like we lived there, it was the best time and we did end up finding the house, a very cool Tim Burton inspired themed walk through haunted attraction, she makes everything all the clothes of every character, and all walks of life come, I was in front of a group of people speaking Russian and got a kick out of what they were saying. I met my weekly stray cat quota- however he belongs to someone because he had a collar on it that said Theo, he was tiled too, if I tried to tile Banner I most likely would have lost an eye! ​

Side note to the Raccoon who keeps scratching at my door at 4 am, please stop scaring the absolute living shit out of me. ​

See ya next week! 
​
-Ash