my doctor told me to get bloodwork done on the second day of my period and i scheduled it for tomorrow in hopes it would work out so i wouldn't have to miss ceramics class on tuesday, and can you believe that my period started today just in time . it's important to call out and celebrate one's wins and also add a disclaimer that the following was written and edited throughout a series of cramps.…
after spending a lot of today on trains and out of town, i almost completely zonked out for the night as soon as i got home. fortunately for you, i caught a second wind. fortunately for me, it happened before 10pm. after finishing my latest one several days ago, i wrote about my last few pixel art paintings . i've started my fourth, and i am hoping to not take nearly as long as i did with my last…
over the past several months i've been very slowly working on some pixel art gouache studies based off of figure drawings i'd done of both live models at jc print room and online. if you read my weekly retros you'd have seen some peeks into my work. if not, this post is also for you. and i wanted to share photos of the process taken with my samsung nv10 that i bought myself 20 years ago. i'm not…
after a week of smoke in the air and severe thunderstorms and heat, we got to see a week of blue skies and an atmosphere that doesn't burn one's nose more than it usually does around this car-dominated hellscape. this week we were all outside and it ruled. as i've gotten myself pretty locked into a fitness routine, this week i wanted to do the same for my art. taking time to paint, carve wax and…
this week was one of those weeks where i felt like i was just going through the motions, living in the moment but feeling a bit out of body. i think it was a mix of the heat, the wildfire smoke, my period, and the windup and down of the world cup. earlier this week i shared what i made in my fourth ceramics class . i have been having a pretty good couple of weeks at the wheel, and i feel like i'm…
i had scheduled myself to spend this hour in the ceramics studio, but i didn't want to go all the way there and find that my bisqueware wasn't ready, so i've decided to push that time to tomorrow and instead publish the latest in the what i made in my ceramics class series. i'm currently past the halfway point of my third wheel throwing class, but these are the final pieces from last semester's…
this week began in recovery from the heat wave and being outside so much in the direct sunlight the few days before. i said i didn't want to see the sun for at least 48 hours and it obliged, although we could have done without the massive amounts of rain. with pumagreg over a month out from his surgery - and doing great! - i had the time and space to get into the mindset to be able to make the…
it is presently a cool 84 degrees (F) out according to my laptop as i type this in a well air-conditioned room. don't be mistaken, though, your beloved princess of hating the heat (me) spent a lot of time outdoors despite, and in spite of, a three-day "heat dome" bringing over 100 temperatures to the metropolitan area throughout the 4th of july weekend. i went to a couple tech meetups this week…
this past week was a test for how bad i really want to be off my phone, and the answer is very bad . it's a tough habit to kick though, requiring intentional moves like deleting apps and logging off of web pages, keeping the phone further from me than other things i could fidget with my hands and eyes, and simply going outside. in an algorithmic world, making intentional moves is really hard. i…
when i was in college learning software engineering, my professor told us that there's no way to say with 100% certainty that your software is bug-free. even if everything is working perfectly now, there's always a chance that some kind of race condition or memory leak will rear its ugly head down the line. that doesn't mean you should never celebrate a release, just that there's a level of…
i wrote last week's retro from the floor of my bathroom next to pumagreg as he lay lethargic after pissing blood, and with advice from the animal hospital to see if it clears in the morning otherwise bringing to an emergency room. today, i type this from my couch as pumagreg lays nearby after zooming around looking for food. it's incredible how a good nights rest can heal even the sickest little…
happy june, happy pride. it's also the beginning of what i'd been preparing for weeks, which is a new chapter in my cat's life as a (hopefully) cancer-free tripod. in this weekly retro i talk about some dark stuff but calling attention to the dark makes the light even brighter or whatever. oh, and go knicks! taking care of people, and animals, comes easy to me. what's hard is making sure i don't…
yesterday was saturday and it felt like a sunday. today is sunday and it feels like some other kind of day. i'm coming out of a period fog but things are still a bit hazy. writing, editing, and perhaps showering will cure me. welcome to the 69th weekly retro. i managed to get two of my 3-minute vlogs out into the world in time for this post, last week's and a this very fresh latest one . i enjoy…
this was a week of resetting after doing a lot and before doing even more a lot. finding ways to ground myself is key to plan as i take care of responsibilities ranging from low risk (hosting a karaoke party lol) to higher risk than hosting a karaoke party (preparing the home for pumagreg's upcoming surgery). i've got some new books, a new ryobi vacuum on the way (lmao), and many projects to keep…
i'm starting this post in a great mood because i worked out, showered and got the news that my landlord will be able to put our air conditioners in tonight - in time for a 90+ F heat wave happening over the next 3 days. let's start this retro with all the irises i've "collected" in snapshots over the past beautiful week: somehow this week had a lot of things scheduled. first thing on monday i had…
the other day i was streaming and there was an incredible sounding rain. the chat and i sat in silence and just listened for a bit, it was so nice and refreshing sounding. it was like the earth was getting a nice, clean reset for the season. i hope that's the same for me. this week i've been getting active more, making more art, and writing nearly every day - in case you missed it, i shared my…
i said in my second ceramics class post that i'd be back in early may with a roundup of my third class pieces and, here we are, in early may. i brought my final pieces home on monday and i am so stoked to get to finally show them off. here's what i made during my third ceramics class . this was wheel throwing 2 with an instructor who had a reputation for being really good at getting you to level…
anyone who knows me personally knows i LOVE a reset. it's my favorite word in corporate, it's my favorite part of a new month, and it's also a word that literally means nothing to me but a chance to reflect before moving forward. this week offered me a reset on my ceramics practice. i had been off-routine for a few weeks with pumagreg's surgery and my work trip, so this week i was happy to be back…
this past week was packed with trains, fish, friends i don't get to see often, and pumagreg getting back to his old self. i went to boston first thing on monday by train, which takes a bajillion hours for some reason. this was a session i was facilitating for a company aligned with my values. i got to reconnect with some old industry pals and talk to lots of people who care about privacy and…
"this pussy depressed" - megan thee stallion this week was a rough one, but before i get into it i do want to say i'm feeling a lot better now. i was carrying the post-period lows with bad news, the anxiety of responsibility, and sweat from a heat wave that passed through. there was a point where i hit a vape to set off the air purifier to get circulation in the room without dragging my depressed…
this week was a rough one: the week of pumagreg's surgery to remove the inconclusively-aspirated lump on his hind leg. a lot could have gone wrong: he's at least 13 years old and has a slight heart murmur, but all the diagnostics we had done beforehand cleared him for the procedure. he was in no pain, the lump wasn't hindering his activity, and he had even been enjoying all the treats from the vet…
sometimes my menstrual cycle really is on my team, because the few days ahead of it i feel invincible and i needed that with all the social activities i had going into the week. monday night as my first time this year hosting - the blizzard kept me home from january's. it's alway energizing and inspiring to be at wonderville, and this night's crowd was amazing. we had friends from out of town show…
congratulate me on my first load-bearing gray eyebrow hair — jenn schiffer 🕷️🕯️ ( @jennschiffer.com ) March 29, 2026 at 3:11 PM it's taking everything i've got to write this lol. i multi-tasked too close to the sun and burnt myself out from the computer, but at the end of this file and deployment is a scoop of peanut butter covered in chocolate chips waiting for me. i call it "spoony…
i'm starting to write this after seeing jamie off for his trip to london. he's going to be hosting robot karaoke for an event at the london games festival , which i recommend for any of you in the area. when he gets back, we're both hosting at wonderville together for all of you in the jc/nyc area. we're also super stoked to be hosting a special tax themed robot karaoke at caveat nyc on april…
a couple of months ago i shared what i made in my first (hand-building) ceramics class just as i was getting into my 2nd class (first at wheel-throwing). i'm now in my third week of my third class (second at wheel-throwing) and just brought home my final glazed piece from class two. that means it's time to share what i made during my second ceramics class . two small mugs, one with a matte white…
last week i had posted a couple of ai-related threads on bluesky and started to feel gross from letting the subject use up so much of my time, time i could have been making something with my hands and brain. it's the same feeling you get when you've eaten too many twizzlers and you're like "i think i do not need to eat another twizzler for a few weeks". you know that feeling, right? right? so i…
on march 13, 2016 i tweeted "i just keep getting hotter and smarter." tweeting was a thing a lot of people used to do and it was often fun and free, but that website doesn't exist anymore, so i can only prove the existence of the post with this screenshot i found on a 2019 post about motivational quotes: i have to thank an old friend, ashley williams, for telling me to tweet that after i said it…
this week was a week of starting new routines to make up for lost ones and keep me mentally and physically well. did i do a good job? well, i was in an active, mild allergic reaction to an edible for 2 days before i realized my throat wasn't swollen because the air is dry lol. that doesn't matter though, i am here now, breathing well, and reflecting on the week. next monday pumagreg gets his…
here we are, a new month. february was a slog and i was hoping it wouldn't be to naive to ask for peace in march, but here we are. you know, i was at recruiting age when the united states invaded iraq - i was anti-war and told i was too young to understand. fast-forward 23 years later and my views haven't changed. it's wild that those in power expect us to be willing to die for them, when they…
i come to you from the first blizzard here in the jc/nyc area in like a decade. it's coming down really hard, and it's going to be quite a week for all of us. local dog owners lower backs are gonna atrophy from another 4 weeks of not picking up their shit — jenn schiffer 🕷️🕯️ ( @jennschiffer.com ) February 21, 2026 at 11:35 AM the week started out quite warm - one of the days was like 50…
birthday weeks are tough because i feel like everyone either puts a lot of pressure on me to enjoy it or they project their fear of aging and dying onto me about it. i very much want to be neutral on birthdays, but i also want to celebrate that i lived far longer than i was told i would or should by adults in my life growing up. here's to 41 years of i lived, bitch , bitch. before my actual…
as i begin writing this, quite late on a very, very cold sunday, i am surrounded by the (organized) messes of my activities throughout the week. some instant film camera stuff in a pile on my desk, staging from my bugs rock product photo shoot, wax scrapings from future offerings in the shop...it reminds me of how much i've made this week and also how i need to be working on three projects at a…
happy february, a month where we hope to celebrate love as well as my 41st birthday. it will also be the month we hit one full year of reading (and i, writing) these weekly retros ! this is my personal "new years" season, and it's opening up with lots of opportunities for change. one of those changes that i know is coming and i'm dreading is my aerial yoga studio permanently closing at the end of…
i'm writing this in the middle of that big snow storm the news has been talking about all week. i'm also watching and hearing the little rice-sized sleet bouncing off the window sill, avoiding thinking about what conditions are going to be like tomorrow when we're all expected to go about our mondays. it was a very cold week, i spent a lot of time at home with the exception of yoga classes and…
back in november/december i took an 8-week course on hand-building ceramics, taught by the very cool and talented nish . i had been playing around with air dry clay and realizing i need some in-person instruction and a place to go away from my desk where i can make things with other people in real life, present and undistracted. this class hit the spot. last week i started wheel-throwing and was…
this week was all about getting back into my routines and i did just that. i reopened the store with what i am calling the core collection, my "classic" egg and sky candles. this week i start making scented candle inventory to come out in time for valentines day (but really my birthday). anyone who wants candles should really just wait until i add those new pieces. up until a couple of days ago…
my body is finally free of covid, but it wasn't until friday that i actually went outside - so you can understand why i don't have any photographs to offer in this retro besides my primary view of the week: jenn nation, this week fucking sucked - pumagreg aside, of course. my body is still healing from putting up quite a fight, and continuing to hold me back from feeling like it's a new year.…
it's a new year! i did a retro on my prior year goals and stated new ones . when i wrote it, i had hopes that i'd make it through the week covid-free, but then i had a rough night and i knew it got me. i come to you a few days later, after a peak that included shivers so violent my entire core is sore and a 103F fever that had me talking to my late grandma. i still feel like total garbagino, but…
it is new years eve as i start this, around 9:30pm. i'm sitting on the couch alone in quasi-silence - my upstairs neighbors are blasting music and there's the typical commotion outside during holidays. one of us in this apartment is getting over covid and it's not me. we'd like to keep it that way, hence me being alone on a couch. pumagreg is making his rounds of crawling all around me to see…
this is the hardest time of the year to keep track of the days. even when i wasn't making my own schedule, these last several days of december are special and chaotic and slow all at once for so many people. but as the clock struck 8:25pm i shot up from my horizontal position on the couch, watching youtube on my phone, and exclaimed "holy shit, it's sunday, i need to write my retro!" happy sunday,…
welcome to my retro, and in case you didn't know, there is a livelaugh.blog rss feed , and also a mailing list to have my blogs sent straight to your inbox . wait, don't close the tab! you haven't even finished your jocko molk! i have to start with the end of the week, today, when we spent 50 minutes trying to pick up my pituitary medication. this particular cvs i go to is in such bad shape, they…
this week i worked on being intentional with my routine and fitting in movement and rest in healthy doses, while also managing consequences of the last few months of chaos. most days this week started with me packing bugs rock orders, walking them to the ups drop-off point, and then going to the gym to walk and read. i finished connie chung's memoir , reading most of it during the slow intervals…
sometimes it's not until sunday when i can connect my exhaustion to the fact that it was a chaotic week. it happened again tonight. the week started off with me busting my ass on candle stuff, but also beating myself up for being some fake idea of "behind schedule." i felt i was dropping the ball in every aspect of my life. dramatic! there was a nice moment on tuesday where i was on the subway…
i, a woman who was born to eat sweets and go on the computer, am getting pecan pie all over my laptop as i type this. welcome! that photo was sent to andy by his pal. i love pals! this week was dominated by deep cleaning our home both in preparation for hosting our pals, phil and celeste, but also it's just a tradition of mine to deep clean this time of year. and coming off of that cold and my…
i closed my retro last week with "i have a bit of a cold right now that i hope goes the fuck away after a good night's rest. i just need to work on the good night's rest part." well, she did not get a good night's rest and the cold did not go the fuck away . in fact, it knocked me off my ass to the point that i missed all my aerial and ceramics classes and couldn't visit my dad. it wasn't the…
someone posted somewhere that no one blogs, then someone tagged me. the thing is, i don't blog...i write blogs. welcome to my weekly retro. first thing on monday i had a dentist follow up. for the time being, teeth are good and no work is necessary! i love this art in the office building hallway. ai could never. later that night we had a robot karaoke show at wonderville. kor from the first season…
this week was so weird. i got a lot done and experienced and felt a lot, but i also did not melt a single ounce of wax. it's almost like life is more than work, ok, i guess! it's finally feeling like november with the chill in the air, the sky going dark way too early, and the fallen leaves getting wet and slimy on the already treacherous blue stone sidewalks. i may never own property but if i…
happy november! this week brought a new month along with other new things and, after a couple of days of bad post-menstrual anxiety exacerbated by the senseless consequences of our government shutdown, i am feeling renewed and ready for november. work-wise, it was a chill week as the bugs rock halloween drop came to a close and i was able to start going heads down on what's next for the shop. one…
yesterday i finally caved and turned the heat on, started this retro, and then abandoned it as i suddenly had the urge and momentum (the edible hit) to design some candles for the holiday season. it's just crossed over from monday morning into monday afternoon, time for some retro closure. this was my view as i was getting a brutal deep dental cleaning one week ago, today. i inherited challenging…
huge news, jenn nation: this is just one studio, my "main studio". i actually started my aerial yoga journey in manhattan in 2017 where there is a great studio, it's just inconveniently located for me. also a bit pricy. anyway, the majority of these 150 classes were from between june 2023 and now. in june my job was driving me 🍌 bananas 🍌 and i knew i needed to anchor myself to something…