I was up at my mom's a couple nights ago. Now, I have a tv but I don't get cable or network programming. It's just something I don't think I need- I'd rather be doing other stuff. But when I DO get to watch tv, I go straight for Spike (Oh, Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, how I've missed you) or Food Network. I've lost all love for MTV and VH1.
I flip on Food Network. Sandra Lee. I detest this woman. Her food is always VILE because "semi-homemade" only means "home assembled" to her. The episode I happened to catch was her Low Fat suite of inedible treats. Vegetables with a broccoli lemon sauce? I'm sorry, you're sauce looked like a cross between hollandaise and whatever dressing Benihana's puts on their salads. Your drinks? Sweetie, I'm all for the mid-afternoon cocktail that turns into several and subsequently passing out by 7pm but that doesn't mean I want to drink gelatin. Your "Berry Amazing Cooler" starts with Jell-O. Jell-No. All the vodka you dumped in was okay (although the big plastic jug made me question the quality of said vodka) and I'm impressed you refrained from taking swings off the bottle (like I know you do when there aren't any cameras around, you little minx!) but I'm so not going to make that drink for any guests I have. They're either going to get Jell-O shots or a mixed drink- not a combination of the two.
Your teriyaki salmon skewers looked all right, though. I'll give you that.
Not being able to stomach any more crappy food, I started flipping through the channels and stopped on CMT to see "Trick my Truck"- the redneck version of "Pimp my Ride". Only Trick my Truck is a billion times better.
1. They work on Mack trucks instead of crappy little beaters. Bigger is always better.
2. The Chrome Shop Mafia guys are way more talented than the West Coast Custom guys. AND they have better names.
3. In particular, I'd like to point out Ryno. On Pimp My Ride, they'll paint the car a solid color and maybe add a stripe or two. Not on Trick My Truck, oh no. The Mack truck is a veritable canvas awaiting the artistic talent of Ryno. In the episode I saw, he painted a wavy American flag that wrapped around the cab and got all shredded toward the back. Then he hand painted an American eagle on the front. (Why so patriotic? The recipient was a former Marine.) He chalks designs on free-hand, then tapes them, then paints them. THEN, get this, in this episode after all the painting is done, the guys decide there needs to be another panel and Ryno's going to have to paint that section to fit in with the rest of the design. Trouble? Not even. He painted it, holds it up in place AND THE DESIGN FITS PERFECTLY.
4. I like that you can tell certain parts of the show are scripted. These guys aren't actors, so when one of them enters the shot and says, "Come on you guys we have a new truck to trick we got a call from so-and-so's wife and they have an 18-month-old daughter with cancer and-" It's like watching a train wreck. It's funny AND it's sad.
5. There is so much they do to these trucks that they can't even show you everything during the re-design. When the driver gets up at the end of the show and opens the door, you're watching it like, "WHOA! Look at that dash! And those petals! The bed! Wow! HOLY COW!" Like, as excited as the guy they did it for. They show you some of the work being done but I'd say they leave 50% until the very end. Which is a nice surprise.
6. I'd go out with any and all the guys on the show. They're funny, good at what they do and aren't too hard on the eyes either.
7. They give the driver a (really nice) loaner Mack truck (which says "My other truck is being tricked" in big letter on the side) so that they can still DO THEIR JOB. I highly doubt they do this on Pimp My Ride.
I could go on and on, suffice it to say that I now loved this show. One guy was retired and wanted to hit the road with his wife so the Mafia made the back of his cab in a home, with a queen size bed, flat panel tv and a fireplace. A fireplace.
Wednesday
[books] G'night, g'night. Leaving is such a downer, I'll keep saying g'night until our next encounter.
Have you been hearing about the most recent "Ah-HA! Gotcha!" book scandal? Girl gets $500,000 two-book deal at the age of 17, writes first one, gets caught plagiarizing, life is ruined forever. I honestly didn't think it was as bad as all that at first but the news is just getting worse and worse. Now the publisher is pulling her book and she lost her book deal. Also, a newspaper she interned at is now going over all the pieces she wrote there, as a pre-emptive strike against any Stephen Glass/Jayson Blair scandal. I assume she won't be invited back to Harvard this fall. She'll probably become addicted to drugs and start pan-handling or prostituting her body. But hey, at least then she'd have something interesting to write about.
# # #
From page 213 of Megan McCafferty's first novel, 'Sloppy Firsts': "Marcus then leaned across me to open the passenger-side door. He was invading my personal space, as I had learned in Psych class, and I instinctively sank back into the seat. That just made him move in closer. I was practically one with the leather at this point, and unless I hopped into the backseat, there was nowhere else for me to go."
From page 175 of Viswanathan's novel: "Sean stood up and stepped toward me, ostensibly to show me the book. He was definitely invading my personal space, as I had learned in a Human Evolution class last summer, and I instinctively backed up till my legs hit the chair I had been sitting in. That just made him move in closer, until the grommets in the leather embossed the backs of my knees, and he finally tilted the book toward me."
# # #
In Meg Cabot's "The Princess Diaries," published by HarperCollins, the following passage appears on page 12: "There isn't a single inch of me that hasn't been pinched, cut, filed, painted, sloughed, blown dry, or moisturized. ... Because I don't look a thing like Mia Thermopolis. Mia Thermopolis never had fingernails. Mia Thermopolis never had blond highlights."
In Viswanathan's book, page 59 reads: "Every inch of me had been cut, filed, steamed, exfoliated, polished, painted, or moisturized. I didn't look a thing like Opal Mehta. Opal Mehta didn't own five pairs of shoes so expensive they could have been traded in for a small sailboat."
# # #
There are many other comparisons, with many other books (including Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie!). I don't have the energy to copy them all here, suffice it to say that I am disappointed. And Viswanathan's weak-ass claim, "I had no idea how much I internalized Cabot's writing", was totally lame.
But hey, I'm writing a book. I just got done writing the first paragraph. It's about the Bush administration:
Things are going really great, things are going really bad. It's a time of intelligence, it's a time of stupidity. Twenty score and ten years ago, our great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- grandfathers were talkin' bout a revolution. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids...
That's as far as I've gotten. It's going to be a coming-of-age story about a small town Vermont girl who gets bored, gets angry and gets even. It's going to be called, "True Confessions from the Secret Diary of Someone Who Read the Da Vinci Code to Become Healthier and Younger Overnight, or Harry Potter and the 30-Minute Meals".
# # #
From page 213 of Megan McCafferty's first novel, 'Sloppy Firsts': "Marcus then leaned across me to open the passenger-side door. He was invading my personal space, as I had learned in Psych class, and I instinctively sank back into the seat. That just made him move in closer. I was practically one with the leather at this point, and unless I hopped into the backseat, there was nowhere else for me to go."
From page 175 of Viswanathan's novel: "Sean stood up and stepped toward me, ostensibly to show me the book. He was definitely invading my personal space, as I had learned in a Human Evolution class last summer, and I instinctively backed up till my legs hit the chair I had been sitting in. That just made him move in closer, until the grommets in the leather embossed the backs of my knees, and he finally tilted the book toward me."
# # #
In Meg Cabot's "The Princess Diaries," published by HarperCollins, the following passage appears on page 12: "There isn't a single inch of me that hasn't been pinched, cut, filed, painted, sloughed, blown dry, or moisturized. ... Because I don't look a thing like Mia Thermopolis. Mia Thermopolis never had fingernails. Mia Thermopolis never had blond highlights."
In Viswanathan's book, page 59 reads: "Every inch of me had been cut, filed, steamed, exfoliated, polished, painted, or moisturized. I didn't look a thing like Opal Mehta. Opal Mehta didn't own five pairs of shoes so expensive they could have been traded in for a small sailboat."
# # #
There are many other comparisons, with many other books (including Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie!). I don't have the energy to copy them all here, suffice it to say that I am disappointed. And Viswanathan's weak-ass claim, "I had no idea how much I internalized Cabot's writing", was totally lame.
But hey, I'm writing a book. I just got done writing the first paragraph. It's about the Bush administration:
Things are going really great, things are going really bad. It's a time of intelligence, it's a time of stupidity. Twenty score and ten years ago, our great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- great- grandfathers were talkin' bout a revolution. In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since. "Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had." As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect. Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids...
That's as far as I've gotten. It's going to be a coming-of-age story about a small town Vermont girl who gets bored, gets angry and gets even. It's going to be called, "True Confessions from the Secret Diary of Someone Who Read the Da Vinci Code to Become Healthier and Younger Overnight, or Harry Potter and the 30-Minute Meals".
Tuesday
[books] Sarah Vowell at Hopkins Center
The book discussion at the HOP on Friday went great- after everyone left. I was surprised how many people were showing up and by 6:30 there were twenty to twenty-five people waiting. The marketing director for the HOP said a few words about this experimental HOP-performance-related discussion and then suggested we break into smaller groups. Then an indignant woman sneered, "Where's Sarah Vowell?" Uh, she's not coming. It's a pre-performance discussion about her b- "Well, we thought she was going to be here! Ugh!" The bitch and her friend threw the discussion questions at the marketing director and stormed out, along with half of the people there. Apparently everyone thought Ms. Vowell was going to be there.
It didn't make any difference to me. To be honest, I had initially thought she was going to be there too but Val told me she wasn't and I let my book group know ahead of time. I was going to the book discussion to discuss the book, not gape at a radio celebrity (which is what the actual performance is for). In the end, the perfect amount of people remained for a nice discussion and I had a great time listening to the other readers. And I've got to give props to the old guy who showed up with his librarian wife, also thinking Sarah Vowell was going to be there, but who ended up staying and enjoying the discussion. He had never read any of Sarah's books but was thoroughly interested in what he was hearing about her most recent one. I guess being a librarian's husband just makes you that cool- hadn't read the book, stayed and listened to what we were all saying about it. I wish everyone who left in a huff had thought to be as open minded. You rock, old man.
The performance itself was meh. Sarah came out, slumped across the stage (she really is a gloomy guss) and started reading a passage I had only just read the night before- only I liked her reading it even less because the voice inside my head isn't nearly as nasally. Having said that, when you hear an author read his or her work, it is generally better than just reading it because they know their work so well and can place emphasis or inflect at just the right spots to make the story funnier. But blah blah, I was bored and seriously considered leaving 10 minutes into the performance. I'm glad I stuck it out though, because she read two New York Time op/ed pieces I hadn't heard before. Sarah is funny, in a self-deprecating yet self-righteous Eeyore kind of way. Prior to the performance I was thinking about what fast friends we could be. Afterwards I realized I wouldn't want to be in her circle of friends because I'd be the dumb one who was always asking, "So, like, what was the Iran-Contra thing about?"
It didn't make any difference to me. To be honest, I had initially thought she was going to be there too but Val told me she wasn't and I let my book group know ahead of time. I was going to the book discussion to discuss the book, not gape at a radio celebrity (which is what the actual performance is for). In the end, the perfect amount of people remained for a nice discussion and I had a great time listening to the other readers. And I've got to give props to the old guy who showed up with his librarian wife, also thinking Sarah Vowell was going to be there, but who ended up staying and enjoying the discussion. He had never read any of Sarah's books but was thoroughly interested in what he was hearing about her most recent one. I guess being a librarian's husband just makes you that cool- hadn't read the book, stayed and listened to what we were all saying about it. I wish everyone who left in a huff had thought to be as open minded. You rock, old man.
The performance itself was meh. Sarah came out, slumped across the stage (she really is a gloomy guss) and started reading a passage I had only just read the night before- only I liked her reading it even less because the voice inside my head isn't nearly as nasally. Having said that, when you hear an author read his or her work, it is generally better than just reading it because they know their work so well and can place emphasis or inflect at just the right spots to make the story funnier. But blah blah, I was bored and seriously considered leaving 10 minutes into the performance. I'm glad I stuck it out though, because she read two New York Time op/ed pieces I hadn't heard before. Sarah is funny, in a self-deprecating yet self-righteous Eeyore kind of way. Prior to the performance I was thinking about what fast friends we could be. Afterwards I realized I wouldn't want to be in her circle of friends because I'd be the dumb one who was always asking, "So, like, what was the Iran-Contra thing about?"
Friday
[amy] Busy Day, Busy Weekend
I was able to finish Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell last night, in time for the book discussion and performance tonight at the HOP (which I won tickets to- sweet!).
Since that's taking up the whole night, I'm running over to Home Depot during the day to get lumber for some (and by some, I mean SIX) 4' x 4' boxes. My mother has "requested" and Dollar and I make some for her, so I'm taking care of getting the lumber, having it cut and getting the screws. He's going to do all the manual labor tomorrow.
Tomorrow I'm going to Ken's moving sale at 10 am sharp with a fist full of cash, ready to buy ALL his books. Not that my library needs a major addition but I know don't have enough Dream and Occult books. Speaking of Occult, I'm pushing back the date for the next uvBookClub meeting because I need more time to read the next book.
Then... what else. I'm supposed to go up to a quilting place in Fairlee tomorrow to have them finish my quilt but they said that it costs around $100 to finish a twin and I know mine is full/queen. I think that's a little pricey, so I want to finish it myself. I've been lurking around the quilting thread at Craftster, trying to get more info on what to do. I've got some ideas, most of which include basting spray. (P.S. Check out the new featured projects on Craftsters front page - I live the glasses!)
Sunday is gaming at my sister's place. She just got Fury of Dracula and I'm excited to try it out. I've heard very good things. I ordered Apples to Apples and Bang! (plus expansions) from Thought Hammer this week. Using the FedEx tracking number they gave me, I've been watching my package making pit-stops all around the state of Texas. Who knows when it'll get to me. Last I heard, it was in Fort Worth.
And knitting-wise, I did cast on for my mom's socks but with Mother's Day only two weeks away, I'm thinking they may end up being ankle socks. I've only knit 5 rows. [sad face]
Since that's taking up the whole night, I'm running over to Home Depot during the day to get lumber for some (and by some, I mean SIX) 4' x 4' boxes. My mother has "requested" and Dollar and I make some for her, so I'm taking care of getting the lumber, having it cut and getting the screws. He's going to do all the manual labor tomorrow.
Tomorrow I'm going to Ken's moving sale at 10 am sharp with a fist full of cash, ready to buy ALL his books. Not that my library needs a major addition but I know don't have enough Dream and Occult books. Speaking of Occult, I'm pushing back the date for the next uvBookClub meeting because I need more time to read the next book.
Then... what else. I'm supposed to go up to a quilting place in Fairlee tomorrow to have them finish my quilt but they said that it costs around $100 to finish a twin and I know mine is full/queen. I think that's a little pricey, so I want to finish it myself. I've been lurking around the quilting thread at Craftster, trying to get more info on what to do. I've got some ideas, most of which include basting spray. (P.S. Check out the new featured projects on Craftsters front page - I live the glasses!)
Sunday is gaming at my sister's place. She just got Fury of Dracula and I'm excited to try it out. I've heard very good things. I ordered Apples to Apples and Bang! (plus expansions) from Thought Hammer this week. Using the FedEx tracking number they gave me, I've been watching my package making pit-stops all around the state of Texas. Who knows when it'll get to me. Last I heard, it was in Fort Worth.
And knitting-wise, I did cast on for my mom's socks but with Mother's Day only two weeks away, I'm thinking they may end up being ankle socks. I've only knit 5 rows. [sad face]
Thursday
[music] New Miss Mash hour
Go to uvMix to download the newest, freshest, most mashiest hour from Miss Mash. If you're not a member, you need to become one (because there are loads of archived shows for you to download as well).
Monday
[tv] Long Way Round
You read in the news that Ewan McGregor and some other guy (Charlie Boorman) were riding around the world on motorcycles: London -> New York City via eastern Europe, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, Alaska, Canada and finally the northern US. Basically: 20,000 miles in 3.5 months.
This documentary is fantabulous. I only have one thing to say: Ewan McGregor should have died on this trip. Something happened where I can't BELIEVE he didn't die. Morbid to talk about, yes I know, but it's a fact. I'm positive his family and everyone who knows him are ecstatic he got through it alive but there was one part where I realized: This trip was no joke. He could have said goodbye to his family, gotten on his bike and never got to see any of them again. Totally scary.
I can't recommend this enough. Way better than anything I've seen in a long time. Plus, you get to see Ewan and Charlie start to lose their minds after so many days on the road.
This documentary is fantabulous. I only have one thing to say: Ewan McGregor should have died on this trip. Something happened where I can't BELIEVE he didn't die. Morbid to talk about, yes I know, but it's a fact. I'm positive his family and everyone who knows him are ecstatic he got through it alive but there was one part where I realized: This trip was no joke. He could have said goodbye to his family, gotten on his bike and never got to see any of them again. Totally scary.
I can't recommend this enough. Way better than anything I've seen in a long time. Plus, you get to see Ewan and Charlie start to lose their minds after so many days on the road.
[uvGamingClub] Shadows over Camelot
Saturday the uvGamingClub (comprised of 50% newer and more enthusiastic members) came over to play Shadows over Camelot. Jason had just come back from EconoCon and brought a sweet game he just bought (which I can't remember the name of). He said he played Blokus and Medici there and really enjoyed both.
We played two games of SoC and we won both. We played the first game without a traitor and the second with the threat of maybe a traitor. Even when you deal out the loyalty cards there's still the chance that NO ONE got the traitor card. Such was the case with our second game- in the end no one was working for the forces of evil. Like any overly-suspicious neurotic psycho, I accused two players after I saw them perform what I thought were suspicious deeds. Which makes me think I'm just paranoid. Soon I'll be staring out my window and calling 9-1-1 of I see any "suspicious acts" around the neighborhood. "[gasp] Why is he taking out trash in the middle of the night? ... It must be a dead body!"
We also played a little bit of Munchkin as a filler during a break between the two games. It reminded me a lot of Hack.
I'm going to be offering up two more Saturdays in May and I think the theme is going to be card games. I was talking up Lunch Money. It's fun to say to people, "I grab you and pile drive you. Then I pimp slap you. And how about you eat this punch." Granted it's not as pleasurable as the real thing, but it's close.
We played two games of SoC and we won both. We played the first game without a traitor and the second with the threat of maybe a traitor. Even when you deal out the loyalty cards there's still the chance that NO ONE got the traitor card. Such was the case with our second game- in the end no one was working for the forces of evil. Like any overly-suspicious neurotic psycho, I accused two players after I saw them perform what I thought were suspicious deeds. Which makes me think I'm just paranoid. Soon I'll be staring out my window and calling 9-1-1 of I see any "suspicious acts" around the neighborhood. "[gasp] Why is he taking out trash in the middle of the night? ... It must be a dead body!"
We also played a little bit of Munchkin as a filler during a break between the two games. It reminded me a lot of Hack.
I'm going to be offering up two more Saturdays in May and I think the theme is going to be card games. I was talking up Lunch Money. It's fun to say to people, "I grab you and pile drive you. Then I pimp slap you. And how about you eat this punch." Granted it's not as pleasurable as the real thing, but it's close.
Friday
[comics] Art or not?
Last night I went to the uvScene potluck meeting. Robyn is a vegan so Ken asked people to maybe bring a vegan dish. Turns out EVERYONE brought a vegan dish and supper was fantastic. Homemade pickles, vegetables, rice, couscous and tempeh. I thought vegan food would have to be boring or bland or difficult but it was all very good.
I kind of feel like I was insulting Robyn left and right, though. If you're reading this: I'm not a bitch! I swear. I got to talking about the Cartoon School and how expensive it is and she said, "For an art school, it really isn't expensive." I'm sorry, did you say an "art school"? I thought we were talking about a place where everyone is making cartoons.
Don't get me wrong, I love cartoons and comics and I have a whole bookshelf devoted to graphic novels but... I never really considered it art. Like Monet or Dali or whatever. I think learning about early comics and the infulence politics had on them (comics as propaganda) would be interesting. The history of manga (and things like Buddha/Phoenix vs. more mass market stories like Sailor Moon). Right now I'm dealing with wordless comics (Owly, Sshhh!) and how they tell stories through pictures alone. I think it's all valid and studyable but it's, like... Fun. I don't know, I guess I'm not explaining this right.
By thinking this way, I'm insulting all the author/artists out there: Chris Ware, Marjane, Tezuka, etc etc. "Oh, you're not a real artist because you draw cartoons." Nevermind these people show and tell complicated things like familial dysfuntion, the Iranian revolution and God/Evolution. It's just that it's in the form of a cartoon and that makes it... A joke? Less serious?
Am I a hypocrite? Maybe. But I love comics. The best, most satisfying story I've ever read is The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman (10 volumes of comics).
Whatever, I could go on about this for ages. Maus won the Pulitzer so I should shut up and accept cartooning as a valid art form. Gah! I can't even say that without cringing!
After the food, I left a early to go to Adam's and work on a new hour for uvMix. I got there at 8:00 pm and still didn't get home until 11:45 pm. But it's done. A new hour I mixed all by myself. Ahhhh.
UPDATE
I posed this question over at ILC and promptly got spanked. Ouch.
I kind of feel like I was insulting Robyn left and right, though. If you're reading this: I'm not a bitch! I swear. I got to talking about the Cartoon School and how expensive it is and she said, "For an art school, it really isn't expensive." I'm sorry, did you say an "art school"? I thought we were talking about a place where everyone is making cartoons.
Don't get me wrong, I love cartoons and comics and I have a whole bookshelf devoted to graphic novels but... I never really considered it art. Like Monet or Dali or whatever. I think learning about early comics and the infulence politics had on them (comics as propaganda) would be interesting. The history of manga (and things like Buddha/Phoenix vs. more mass market stories like Sailor Moon). Right now I'm dealing with wordless comics (Owly, Sshhh!) and how they tell stories through pictures alone. I think it's all valid and studyable but it's, like... Fun. I don't know, I guess I'm not explaining this right.
By thinking this way, I'm insulting all the author/artists out there: Chris Ware, Marjane, Tezuka, etc etc. "Oh, you're not a real artist because you draw cartoons." Nevermind these people show and tell complicated things like familial dysfuntion, the Iranian revolution and God/Evolution. It's just that it's in the form of a cartoon and that makes it... A joke? Less serious?
Am I a hypocrite? Maybe. But I love comics. The best, most satisfying story I've ever read is The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman (10 volumes of comics).
Whatever, I could go on about this for ages. Maus won the Pulitzer so I should shut up and accept cartooning as a valid art form. Gah! I can't even say that without cringing!
After the food, I left a early to go to Adam's and work on a new hour for uvMix. I got there at 8:00 pm and still didn't get home until 11:45 pm. But it's done. A new hour I mixed all by myself. Ahhhh.
UPDATE
I posed this question over at ILC and promptly got spanked. Ouch.
Thursday
[knitting] Semi-sock, not socks, socks.
Here is one of the socks I'm knitting for Dollar. They are moving along insanely quickly:
The picture makes it look a quite teal but they are really a manly color of hunter green. All that you see there is probably 5-6 hours of work. Really. I'm never knitting socks on #2 needles again.
Uh... I mean, after I make these:
Railroad socks for ma-mah. I'm too scared to even cast on.
And my completed Creeping Vines socks:
These are the ones I finished a while ago but never posted a picture of. I'm happy with them, but they're delicate so I don't wear them. They're too nice to wear. I don't want to destroy them so they just sit around collecting dust. Siiiiigh.
And because he's the best boyfriend in the world, I have to show these flowers:
He said he picked them all out himself! Awww. Let's see what these flowers mean: White lilies (purity), white roses (I am worthy of you), pink roses (please believe me), and some irises (your friendship means so much to me). Hmm.. this bouquet suddenly got more complicated. I was having a crap-tastic day so he surprised me by taking the day off work. I came home to him waiting with the flowers, a stuffed animal, a new corn-o he picked up at the post office, cookies and drinks for me. Then he took me out to dinner at a place called Tai Shan in Quechee. We'd never been there before but saw it during the drive home on Easter. The food was great. I wasn't so hot on the idea of Asian after my recent food poisoning incident but these food here was easily the best in the Upper Valley. And the bill came to $26 so we've decided to become regulars.
The picture makes it look a quite teal but they are really a manly color of hunter green. All that you see there is probably 5-6 hours of work. Really. I'm never knitting socks on #2 needles again.
Uh... I mean, after I make these:
Railroad socks for ma-mah. I'm too scared to even cast on.
And my completed Creeping Vines socks:
These are the ones I finished a while ago but never posted a picture of. I'm happy with them, but they're delicate so I don't wear them. They're too nice to wear. I don't want to destroy them so they just sit around collecting dust. Siiiiigh.
And because he's the best boyfriend in the world, I have to show these flowers:
He said he picked them all out himself! Awww. Let's see what these flowers mean: White lilies (purity), white roses (I am worthy of you), pink roses (please believe me), and some irises (your friendship means so much to me). Hmm.. this bouquet suddenly got more complicated. I was having a crap-tastic day so he surprised me by taking the day off work. I came home to him waiting with the flowers, a stuffed animal, a new corn-o he picked up at the post office, cookies and drinks for me. Then he took me out to dinner at a place called Tai Shan in Quechee. We'd never been there before but saw it during the drive home on Easter. The food was great. I wasn't so hot on the idea of Asian after my recent food poisoning incident but these food here was easily the best in the Upper Valley. And the bill came to $26 so we've decided to become regulars.
Wednesday
[knitting] Socks
I'm working on a pair of worsted weight socks for Dollar. I'm using Lionbrand Wool Ease because it's machine washable and dryable. I want him to be able to wear and take care of them himself (so I don't have to ask after them, wash them by hand, block them, etc etc etc). The project is moving along fast- I started the heel of the first sock last night.
I'm also going to try to knit a pair of socks for Mother's Day. I have really nice Regia wool/silk in a cranberry color (my mom's favorite). I just hope I can finish them in time (for all y'all that don't know, it's May 14) considering the fact that it took me roughly 7 months to make mine. She may end up getting a bouquet for Mother's Day and the socks for Christmas.
I actually crocheted a blanket for her for Mother's Day a few years ago- using all Manos. Does she ever use it? No. It's "too nice", which could either mean "too nice" or "too ugly". I kind of want to ask for it back so I can rip it and maybe knit a sweater or something. Just thinking about all the Manos lying around makes me sad.
I'm also going to try to knit a pair of socks for Mother's Day. I have really nice Regia wool/silk in a cranberry color (my mom's favorite). I just hope I can finish them in time (for all y'all that don't know, it's May 14) considering the fact that it took me roughly 7 months to make mine. She may end up getting a bouquet for Mother's Day and the socks for Christmas.
I actually crocheted a blanket for her for Mother's Day a few years ago- using all Manos. Does she ever use it? No. It's "too nice", which could either mean "too nice" or "too ugly". I kind of want to ask for it back so I can rip it and maybe knit a sweater or something. Just thinking about all the Manos lying around makes me sad.
Monday
[amy] Easter Weekend
I had an unexpected three-and-a-half day weekend after I ate bad shrimp for lunch last Thursday and got violently ill. I was all better by Saturday but Friday was hell on earth. I was all, "Body, do you want water?" Body rejected it faster than you can say barf. I was all, "Body, do you want juice?" Nope. Body wanted to try to kill me from the inside out.
I was such a wreck that I slept until 11 am Saturday morning. Which is totally unheard of for me. I'm usually out of bed by 9 am (at the latest) on weekends. But I got up, showered the sickness off, and drove to Enfield, where I played an RPG, The Call of Cthulhu, until 9 pm. I got through it just fine (all I had to do was sit there and pretend to be someone else) but I was a little scared afterward when I was driving home through the woods in the dead of night, after playing a game where I drove home through the woods in the dead of night- and ended up dying. So I'm trying to call Dollar on my cell but there's no reception and I'm scared a demon is going to step out into the road... I think I was still suffering from fevered dementia from the food poisoning.
Easter Sunday we ended up going out to western Vermont to hang with Dollar's family. Then we came back home and watched a couple parts of Long Way Round. I wasn't sure if he was going to like it but hey, it's got motorcycles and mafia (two things every guy loves).
And finally, Dollar and I are going to Bonnaroo. It's going to be awesome. Radiohead. Tom Petty. Cypress Hill. Atmosphere Blackalicious Lyrics Born Beck Damian Marley Ben Folds Cat Power and on and on and on. I want to see them all.
I was such a wreck that I slept until 11 am Saturday morning. Which is totally unheard of for me. I'm usually out of bed by 9 am (at the latest) on weekends. But I got up, showered the sickness off, and drove to Enfield, where I played an RPG, The Call of Cthulhu, until 9 pm. I got through it just fine (all I had to do was sit there and pretend to be someone else) but I was a little scared afterward when I was driving home through the woods in the dead of night, after playing a game where I drove home through the woods in the dead of night- and ended up dying. So I'm trying to call Dollar on my cell but there's no reception and I'm scared a demon is going to step out into the road... I think I was still suffering from fevered dementia from the food poisoning.
Easter Sunday we ended up going out to western Vermont to hang with Dollar's family. Then we came back home and watched a couple parts of Long Way Round. I wasn't sure if he was going to like it but hey, it's got motorcycles and mafia (two things every guy loves).
And finally, Dollar and I are going to Bonnaroo. It's going to be awesome. Radiohead. Tom Petty. Cypress Hill. Atmosphere Blackalicious Lyrics Born Beck Damian Marley Ben Folds Cat Power and on and on and on. I want to see them all.
Wednesday
[games] Losing streak
Last night was game-tastic. I got a GameCube- mostly for this game (which won't be arriving on my doorstep until the end of the week). I ordered the Cube, an extra controller and a memory card from Best Buy online; then went to the store to pick it up.
Best Buy is such a joke. The parking lot was empty but there were about 20 employees inside standing around, shooting the shit. Performing cartwheels. Climbing the wall racks. I think one family and I were the only customers. I went up to the customer service desk to ask a bitchy/bored high school girl for my stuff. She acted like I was TOTALLY putting her out. I'm like, "Are you too BUSY? No? Then wipe that face off your head and get my stuff!"
While I was there, I picked up Mario Party 7 to have something to play with Dollar. I also needed to get a Y-adapter cable for a mono TV. Or something. I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to get, so I ended up pulling aside one of the employees (who wasn't talking on his cell phone about an impending drug deal or playing the Xbox 360 on display or just staring at the door). I said to him (and I quote), "I have this TV and it has mono sound... or something. And I need a cable to turn two of the red white yellow cables into, like, one. I'm sorry, I'm not explaining this very well. Let me start over. The TV is from Japan and it's like... The cables, the red yellow and white ones, there's only two holes to plug them in on the TV... so... I need something to, like, fix it."
The guy politely held back his derisive laughter and guided me to the TV department, where he would pass me off to another guy who could decipher what I was saying. In the TV section ALL the TVs were playing the same thing: Barry Manilo, live in concert. 40 regular TVs, 40 flat panel, huge screens, small screens, all of them, ALL MANILO. I told the salesman, "This is like my worst nightmare, dude. Can we move off somewhere else? I'm getting the shakes."
Anyway, I got my Y-adapter thingie and went home. Setting up the Cube was easy (well duh, kids can set it up). Dollar came home and we played Mario Party. He's never played before but he won 90% of the mini-games. I won none. Bastard. We ended up losing to the computer players.
Speaking of losing, I went to bed after Mario Party while Dollar went downstairs to set up Shadows Over Camelot. He liked the game so much on Sunday that he started jonesing to play again as we were pulling out of my sister's driveway. This urge became so strong by Tuesday night that he decided to set up all 7 characters and play them all himself, confident that he could beat the game. He didn't. He came up to bed at 2:30am. I asked, "Did you win?" He said, "No." So sad. I'm telling you, this is a well constructed game.
Best Buy is such a joke. The parking lot was empty but there were about 20 employees inside standing around, shooting the shit. Performing cartwheels. Climbing the wall racks. I think one family and I were the only customers. I went up to the customer service desk to ask a bitchy/bored high school girl for my stuff. She acted like I was TOTALLY putting her out. I'm like, "Are you too BUSY? No? Then wipe that face off your head and get my stuff!"
While I was there, I picked up Mario Party 7 to have something to play with Dollar. I also needed to get a Y-adapter cable for a mono TV. Or something. I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to get, so I ended up pulling aside one of the employees (who wasn't talking on his cell phone about an impending drug deal or playing the Xbox 360 on display or just staring at the door). I said to him (and I quote), "I have this TV and it has mono sound... or something. And I need a cable to turn two of the red white yellow cables into, like, one. I'm sorry, I'm not explaining this very well. Let me start over. The TV is from Japan and it's like... The cables, the red yellow and white ones, there's only two holes to plug them in on the TV... so... I need something to, like, fix it."
The guy politely held back his derisive laughter and guided me to the TV department, where he would pass me off to another guy who could decipher what I was saying. In the TV section ALL the TVs were playing the same thing: Barry Manilo, live in concert. 40 regular TVs, 40 flat panel, huge screens, small screens, all of them, ALL MANILO. I told the salesman, "This is like my worst nightmare, dude. Can we move off somewhere else? I'm getting the shakes."
Anyway, I got my Y-adapter thingie and went home. Setting up the Cube was easy (well duh, kids can set it up). Dollar came home and we played Mario Party. He's never played before but he won 90% of the mini-games. I won none. Bastard. We ended up losing to the computer players.
Speaking of losing, I went to bed after Mario Party while Dollar went downstairs to set up Shadows Over Camelot. He liked the game so much on Sunday that he started jonesing to play again as we were pulling out of my sister's driveway. This urge became so strong by Tuesday night that he decided to set up all 7 characters and play them all himself, confident that he could beat the game. He didn't. He came up to bed at 2:30am. I asked, "Did you win?" He said, "No." So sad. I'm telling you, this is a well constructed game.
Monday
[amy] Gaming and Gatsu
I haven't posted in week. Last week was really busy. Of course, I work all day long but the nights were exceptionally busy. Monday night I helped Ken clean his place after the party ("Wash the dishes, Cinderellie! Scrub the floors, Cinderellie!). Tuesday night I had some people over for dinner. Wednesday I brought Dollar supper at work. Thursday night I... I'm not sure what I did. I think I just got right into bed after work and watched many episodes of Six Feet Under (Season 5).
This past Friday night I played Shadows Over Camelot. Guess who I played with? Me, myself, I and moi. I played 4 characters by myself. Am I really so pathetic? Not really. I had the uvGamingClub coming over to my place on Saturday and I wanted to understand the mechanics, rules and flow of the game beforehand. I like to be prepared and I hate it when a game is stop and go: "Okay, so I moved to here, so that means I... What am I supposed to do here?" "Uh, let me look it up in the rules... Okay... You roll the die." "Okay. Two. What does that mean?" "Uh, let me look it up in the rules..."
So Friday I set up the boards, placed all the pieces and played. The point of this game is that everyone has to work together to try to beat the game. It's not easy as it sounds. I lost. To the game. Even when I was playing all four players myself (which means I knew what everyone was thinking and what cards they were holding- because they're all ME).
Saturday the group showed up and we played. And lost. Dude, this game is hard. Sunday Dollar and I went over to my sister's and played with her. Twice. We won one and lost the other (Dollar turned out to be a dirty, dirty traitor). So in three days I played this game four times and lost 75% of the time. We're totally playing again in a couple weeks and I want to get a full group of people.
And in sad news, Gatsu is gone from my home. I brought him over to Barbara's on Sunday. While I won't miss his incessent "MEOW! MEOW! ... MEOW!" at the basement door ("Dude, your litterbox isn't even down there- WHY ARE YOU MEOWING AT THIS DOOR?"), I will miss his cuddling and purring and just having him around. Run free at Barbara's, dear Gatsu. You couldn't ever go outside at my place.
This past Friday night I played Shadows Over Camelot. Guess who I played with? Me, myself, I and moi. I played 4 characters by myself. Am I really so pathetic? Not really. I had the uvGamingClub coming over to my place on Saturday and I wanted to understand the mechanics, rules and flow of the game beforehand. I like to be prepared and I hate it when a game is stop and go: "Okay, so I moved to here, so that means I... What am I supposed to do here?" "Uh, let me look it up in the rules... Okay... You roll the die." "Okay. Two. What does that mean?" "Uh, let me look it up in the rules..."
So Friday I set up the boards, placed all the pieces and played. The point of this game is that everyone has to work together to try to beat the game. It's not easy as it sounds. I lost. To the game. Even when I was playing all four players myself (which means I knew what everyone was thinking and what cards they were holding- because they're all ME).
Saturday the group showed up and we played. And lost. Dude, this game is hard. Sunday Dollar and I went over to my sister's and played with her. Twice. We won one and lost the other (Dollar turned out to be a dirty, dirty traitor). So in three days I played this game four times and lost 75% of the time. We're totally playing again in a couple weeks and I want to get a full group of people.
And in sad news, Gatsu is gone from my home. I brought him over to Barbara's on Sunday. While I won't miss his incessent "MEOW! MEOW! ... MEOW!" at the basement door ("Dude, your litterbox isn't even down there- WHY ARE YOU MEOWING AT THIS DOOR?"), I will miss his cuddling and purring and just having him around. Run free at Barbara's, dear Gatsu. You couldn't ever go outside at my place.
[books] We and what's next
The uvBookClub met at my place last Thursday night. We had a stimulating discussion about Zamyatin's We- we compared/contrasted the story against Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World. Matt was the moderator and gave a bit of 1920's Russian history to put the book into context. Was the story meant as a piece of revolutionary propaganda? I thought so. I took it as a "Fight the power, stick it to the man" type of fable.
Interesting thing: Anthony and James read a different translation from Matt and myself. Not a big deal, right? Well one of the main characters was called I-330 in my book of E-330 in theirs. Significant? I dunno. And there we some discrepancies about whether or not D-503 actually made love to a wooden chair. If I were going to buy a copy, I would get the Clarence Browne translation, which seemed more lyrical.
Supper: caesar salad, steamed asparagus, pan fried chicken thighs, potatoes gratin.
Next time: 2 books- A uvBookClub sanctioned selection and a book to go with an event at the HOP.
Interesting thing: Anthony and James read a different translation from Matt and myself. Not a big deal, right? Well one of the main characters was called I-330 in my book of E-330 in theirs. Significant? I dunno. And there we some discrepancies about whether or not D-503 actually made love to a wooden chair. If I were going to buy a copy, I would get the Clarence Browne translation, which seemed more lyrical.
Supper: caesar salad, steamed asparagus, pan fried chicken thighs, potatoes gratin.
Next time: 2 books- A uvBookClub sanctioned selection and a book to go with an event at the HOP.
Thursday
[knitting] GIR!
This pattern for a knit Gir is awesome. The only thing that could make it better was if you knit a green dog costume for him.
If you don't know what I'm on about, clearly you haven't seen this cartoon.
If you don't know what I'm on about, clearly you haven't seen this cartoon.
Tuesday
[humor] Are they excited... for real?
I don't know. It seems like they're faking it. When the boy screams "Nintendo sixty FOOOOOOOUR", I'm just not buying it. The little girl dry humping the box wasn't convincing either.
[movies] Not a perv
The corn saga continues. We got a Netflix-like subscription to Empire DVD, which has a whole corn section. They send the movies in unmarked blue envelopes (which are much sturdier than the Netflix ones) so the Post Office people don't know to scribble "PERVERT!" all over it before shoving it into your box.
Is it just me, or when you're talking about corn does everything you say sound dirty?
We've gotten several movies now- Some better than others; none as terrible as the first one I got from Videostop.
# # #
KEN: What are you guys up to tonight?
AMY: We're going to watch a movie.
KEN: Anything good?
AMY: It's actually... corn.
KEN: O RLY?
AMY: Yeah. *ahem* Yeah. We saw Oasis Delirium 4 the other night. It was interesting. There was no sound, just soothing music, with slow motion shots of girls rolling around in sand, played in reverse and such... It was mildly artsy. The bonus is that you can watch it as loud as you want and all your neighbors will think you're just listening to soothing music. But I still like the ones with a story. Like, "But I don't want to marry you, Sir Reginald. You are a rake."
KEN: All I can say is- You rock, Amy, and Dollar's a lucky guy.
[THE NEXT DAY]
DOLLAR: Do you want me to send back any of the DVDs?
AMY: I already sent back the first two we watched, when I sent back Battlestar.
DOLLAR: Oh, I didn't know if we should stagger them.
AMY: Well that's what I'm doing. Pirates is still up there since we didn't get too far into it on Sunday night. I kept it in case we actually want to watch it.
DOLLAR: I don't really care one way or the other.
AMY: [silence]
DOLLAR: What?
AMY: I watched it again last night.
DOLLAR: Everybody! Hey everybody! My girlfriend is a corn freak!
AMY: SHHHH!! Whatever. We didn't miss much. It wasn't a very good movie.
DOLLAR: No kidding.
AMY: It had a bunch of the same people from Oasis Delirium 4 in it. The corn community must be kind of small.
DOLLAR: [silence]
AMY: That one guy, the guy playing the pirate hunter, was trying to act. Or, he at least remembered his lines. The girls were like, "Stop this... Hey, what's my line? Oh. Ahem. Stop this charade. You... You... What's my line? You have... nothing... to fear." And that one girl, one of the ones from the brothel, actually said, "You are soooo key-yute!" to him. I mean, hello? It's supposed to be the 1800's. Why are you talking like a valley girl?
DOLLAR: [silence]
AMY: Is it freaking you out I'm so into these movies now?
DOLLAR: Kind of.
# # #
AMY: Oooo, we finally get to watch a movie with Jenna in it! Is that her?
DOLLAR: Yeah.
AMY: I can't tell. She looks like all the other ones. Blond hair, lots of eye make-up, lipstick... I thought she would be distinctive but it's like I forget what she looks like the second she's off camera. You know what I mean? They ALL look the same.
DOLLAR: Yeah but all those other girls are copying Jenna. She was the first one to have the big blond hair, big chest look.
AMY: No way!
DOLLAR: Before that, in the 70's and 80's, everyone in corn was ugly. When is this movie from?
AMY: Whoa! 1996! That's, like, 10 years ago. We were seniors in high school. ... Jenna must be kinda old. ... I want to study the history of corn. How it has developed and evolved since, say, the 1950's.
DOLLAR: Really?
AMY: Yeah. For example: The Bicycle Thief is to Italian Neorealism as what is to straight corn?
DOLLAR: I have no idea.
AMY: I'm just saying. Time to get some more books from Amazon.
DOLLAR: Get a Kama Sutra book while you're there.
# # #
AMY: [folding socks] Jeesh, when is this movie from? It looks old, right?
DOLLAR: I'm not sure... It says 2005 on the sleeve.
AMY: It looks old.
DOLLAR: Yeah, it does.
AMY: It must be the type of film they used. You know how Dr. Who always looked British?
DOLLAR: Yeah, I see what you mean.
AMY: [putting away laundry] I think the editing is the only thing saving this movie. Without all the jump cuts, it would suck. ... Oop, I just caught a continuity mistake. See, the people are standing on the ground but when it switches to Justine's POV... wait for it... See? Back there, they're still on top of the dumpster. Ha ha ha-
DOLLAR: You know we're perverts for watching this stuff.
AMY: [stops] WHAT? [throw a pair of socks at DOLLAR] No we're not!
DOLLAR: Yes we are.
AMY: Well I'M NOT. I'm taking an academic approach to these movies. I'm just...It's a different form of entertainment. These movies have historical value.
DOLLAR: ?
AMY: Look, do you want me to keep watching these with you or not?
DOLLAR: You're not a pervert.
AMY: Thank you.
Is it just me, or when you're talking about corn does everything you say sound dirty?
We've gotten several movies now- Some better than others; none as terrible as the first one I got from Videostop.
# # #
KEN: What are you guys up to tonight?
AMY: We're going to watch a movie.
KEN: Anything good?
AMY: It's actually... corn.
KEN: O RLY?
AMY: Yeah. *ahem* Yeah. We saw Oasis Delirium 4 the other night. It was interesting. There was no sound, just soothing music, with slow motion shots of girls rolling around in sand, played in reverse and such... It was mildly artsy. The bonus is that you can watch it as loud as you want and all your neighbors will think you're just listening to soothing music. But I still like the ones with a story. Like, "But I don't want to marry you, Sir Reginald. You are a rake."
KEN: All I can say is- You rock, Amy, and Dollar's a lucky guy.
[THE NEXT DAY]
DOLLAR: Do you want me to send back any of the DVDs?
AMY: I already sent back the first two we watched, when I sent back Battlestar.
DOLLAR: Oh, I didn't know if we should stagger them.
AMY: Well that's what I'm doing. Pirates is still up there since we didn't get too far into it on Sunday night. I kept it in case we actually want to watch it.
DOLLAR: I don't really care one way or the other.
AMY: [silence]
DOLLAR: What?
AMY: I watched it again last night.
DOLLAR: Everybody! Hey everybody! My girlfriend is a corn freak!
AMY: SHHHH!! Whatever. We didn't miss much. It wasn't a very good movie.
DOLLAR: No kidding.
AMY: It had a bunch of the same people from Oasis Delirium 4 in it. The corn community must be kind of small.
DOLLAR: [silence]
AMY: That one guy, the guy playing the pirate hunter, was trying to act. Or, he at least remembered his lines. The girls were like, "Stop this... Hey, what's my line? Oh. Ahem. Stop this charade. You... You... What's my line? You have... nothing... to fear." And that one girl, one of the ones from the brothel, actually said, "You are soooo key-yute!" to him. I mean, hello? It's supposed to be the 1800's. Why are you talking like a valley girl?
DOLLAR: [silence]
AMY: Is it freaking you out I'm so into these movies now?
DOLLAR: Kind of.
# # #
AMY: Oooo, we finally get to watch a movie with Jenna in it! Is that her?
DOLLAR: Yeah.
AMY: I can't tell. She looks like all the other ones. Blond hair, lots of eye make-up, lipstick... I thought she would be distinctive but it's like I forget what she looks like the second she's off camera. You know what I mean? They ALL look the same.
DOLLAR: Yeah but all those other girls are copying Jenna. She was the first one to have the big blond hair, big chest look.
AMY: No way!
DOLLAR: Before that, in the 70's and 80's, everyone in corn was ugly. When is this movie from?
AMY: Whoa! 1996! That's, like, 10 years ago. We were seniors in high school. ... Jenna must be kinda old. ... I want to study the history of corn. How it has developed and evolved since, say, the 1950's.
DOLLAR: Really?
AMY: Yeah. For example: The Bicycle Thief is to Italian Neorealism as what is to straight corn?
DOLLAR: I have no idea.
AMY: I'm just saying. Time to get some more books from Amazon.
DOLLAR: Get a Kama Sutra book while you're there.
# # #
AMY: [folding socks] Jeesh, when is this movie from? It looks old, right?
DOLLAR: I'm not sure... It says 2005 on the sleeve.
AMY: It looks old.
DOLLAR: Yeah, it does.
AMY: It must be the type of film they used. You know how Dr. Who always looked British?
DOLLAR: Yeah, I see what you mean.
AMY: [putting away laundry] I think the editing is the only thing saving this movie. Without all the jump cuts, it would suck. ... Oop, I just caught a continuity mistake. See, the people are standing on the ground but when it switches to Justine's POV... wait for it... See? Back there, they're still on top of the dumpster. Ha ha ha-
DOLLAR: You know we're perverts for watching this stuff.
AMY: [stops] WHAT? [throw a pair of socks at DOLLAR] No we're not!
DOLLAR: Yes we are.
AMY: Well I'M NOT. I'm taking an academic approach to these movies. I'm just...It's a different form of entertainment. These movies have historical value.
DOLLAR: ?
AMY: Look, do you want me to keep watching these with you or not?
DOLLAR: You're not a pervert.
AMY: Thank you.
Friday
[cooking] Potato Leek Soup
I made this Potato and Leek soup last night. This recipe was so good, I'm going to re-print it here with my slight mods:
# # #
INGREDIENTS:
* 8 potatoes (misc sized round white small – large), peeled and cubed (to the size of large marbles)
* 4 cups chicken broth (2 cans College Inn chicken broth)
* 0.5 pounds bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces (smoked, NOT maple cured)
* 1 bunch leeks, sliced (5 in my bunch, small – large)
* 1 cup half and half
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large saucepan or stockpot, bring potatoes and chicken broth to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of grease and set aside.
2. Sautee the leeks in the frying pan with the reserved bacon grease 8 to 10 minutes. If some of the bacon bits don't come off the bottom of the pan, ladle a little of the chicken stock from the boiling potatoes into the pan to deglaze.
3. When the potatoes are tender, roughly mash them around the pot with the bottom of your ladle. This will make for a thicker, chowder style soup. Stir in the fried leeks, heavy cream and bacon. Stir to blend and remove from heat. Serve hot.
# # #
Usually when I cook something, I think, "It could have been better if I did this. Next time I'll do this. I don't know about this." This soup was awesome. Honestly, you could leave out the bacon, too. For vegetarians, use vegetable stock and sautee the leeks in butter. The chicken stock, though, gives the soup great flavor. No salt and pepper needed. I still can't believe how good this soup was with only 5 stupid ingredients.
# # #
INGREDIENTS:
* 8 potatoes (misc sized round white small – large), peeled and cubed (to the size of large marbles)
* 4 cups chicken broth (2 cans College Inn chicken broth)
* 0.5 pounds bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces (smoked, NOT maple cured)
* 1 bunch leeks, sliced (5 in my bunch, small – large)
* 1 cup half and half
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a large saucepan or stockpot, bring potatoes and chicken broth to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of grease and set aside.
2. Sautee the leeks in the frying pan with the reserved bacon grease 8 to 10 minutes. If some of the bacon bits don't come off the bottom of the pan, ladle a little of the chicken stock from the boiling potatoes into the pan to deglaze.
3. When the potatoes are tender, roughly mash them around the pot with the bottom of your ladle. This will make for a thicker, chowder style soup. Stir in the fried leeks, heavy cream and bacon. Stir to blend and remove from heat. Serve hot.
# # #
Usually when I cook something, I think, "It could have been better if I did this. Next time I'll do this. I don't know about this." This soup was awesome. Honestly, you could leave out the bacon, too. For vegetarians, use vegetable stock and sautee the leeks in butter. The chicken stock, though, gives the soup great flavor. No salt and pepper needed. I still can't believe how good this soup was with only 5 stupid ingredients.
Thursday
[tv] Undeclared, Gilmore Girls
I finished the one and only season of Undeclared last weekend. It was okay. It brought me back to what college was like. I'd only give it 4 out of 5 stars because the acting was mediocre, the tone was uneven and the story was inconsistent. Had this series been given another year to develop, I feel that it would have been an awesome show. I liked Freaks and Geeks better. If nothing else, you should watch the series for all the cameos- Adam Sandler, Will Farrell, Ben Stiller, Amy Poelher, Kyle Glass, Tom Welling, Sarah Carter (Alicia from Smallville), Geoffrey Arend ("I'm freakin' out, man" guy from Super Troopers), plus loads of actors who were in Freaks and Geeks.
Dollar and I started watching The Shield: Season 1. I've seen Seasons 1-3 and want to get him caught up before I start getting Season 4 from Netflix.
I also started in on Gilmore Girls: Season 5 last night. Rory's turning into an unconscionable slut just like her mom (oh snap!). Who would have thought she'd turn out to be a home-wrecker? Anyway, the best part about the show for me is Sookie. Melissa McCarthy has great comedic timing and does so much more than just reads her lines. In one episode Jackson wins a town election and Sookie is standing next to him, listening. McCarthy does a First Lady smile/nod. She's in the background but still actively acting (if that makes sense).
Six Feet Under: Season 5 comes out March 28. I'm looking forward to that.
Dollar and I started watching The Shield: Season 1. I've seen Seasons 1-3 and want to get him caught up before I start getting Season 4 from Netflix.
I also started in on Gilmore Girls: Season 5 last night. Rory's turning into an unconscionable slut just like her mom (oh snap!). Who would have thought she'd turn out to be a home-wrecker? Anyway, the best part about the show for me is Sookie. Melissa McCarthy has great comedic timing and does so much more than just reads her lines. In one episode Jackson wins a town election and Sookie is standing next to him, listening. McCarthy does a First Lady smile/nod. She's in the background but still actively acting (if that makes sense).
Six Feet Under: Season 5 comes out March 28. I'm looking forward to that.
Wednesday
[humor] Ketchup Effect
In case you haven't seen this yet, WATCH IT! HILARIOUS! AWESOME! I can't stop watching it! ALERT: NOT SAFE FOR WORK
[via DigitalSpark]
[via DigitalSpark]
Monday
[knitting] Cable Scarf
I'd like to make a nice plush cable scarf. The most popular one seems to be the Irish Hiking Scarf- there's a knitalong and everything. The only downside is that it's one sided. The wrong side ain't very pretty, but such is the nature of cables. ... Or is it? Lion Brand just came out with a pattern for a reversible cable scarf. How'd they DO that? I've never seen that before. I want to swatch it up to see how it's done...
Friday
[knitting] I like my kool aid yarn better now
Last night, as soon as I got home from work, as soon as I walked in the door, I grabbed my finally dry yarn and started winding it up. It looks so much better with the colors all mixed together like that (although I still think the blue is too electric). I think using 4 colors was good. If I were to do this over, I'd do it with 2 shades of red and 2 shades of purple. That would be pretty. Although the next time I dye it'll be JUST greens and blues.
Ball and Skein:
Swatch at night:
Swatch in the morning:
Here's the Hobo Camp bag (not that you can tell it looks like anything yet):
And Gatsu, waiting for his breakfast:
Ball and Skein:
Swatch at night:
Swatch in the morning:
Here's the Hobo Camp bag (not that you can tell it looks like anything yet):
And Gatsu, waiting for his breakfast:
Wednesday
[books/movies] Proulx- Robbed at the Oscars? Yes. According to her.
Proulx pens tirade over 'Crash' Oscar
Jo Blo responds with Shut up, you fucking baby!
Bahh hahahahhaa! I haven't see Brokeback Mountain yet, but I have seen Crash. I liked it. I think Proulx is being immature and ungrateful.
Jo Blo responds with Shut up, you fucking baby!
Bahh hahahahhaa! I haven't see Brokeback Mountain yet, but I have seen Crash. I liked it. I think Proulx is being immature and ungrateful.
[knitting] Knit night pictures
Here is the cute yet lethal Gatsu in the middle of one of his 40 daily resting cycles. He's tired from all the physical and psychological abuse I throw down upon him.
Dare I take a step closer? He may awake at any moment and launch himself at my jugular...
Whew. He didn't wake up. He's just curled up there... so sweet... Makes me want to startle him.
As for knitting, I have a couple skeins of cream to brown wool from the Green Mountain Spinnery that a co-worker gave me. The pictures are kind of blurry, so I'm not linking the full sized ones in a new window. I realized when I wound the yarn into balls that the color graduates from cream into brown (rather then cream and brown stripes). I wound one ball with cream on the inside and one with brown on the inside, thinking that I'd knit a hobo bag with them.
I wanted to start the bag with the cream color, graduate into brown, introduce the 2nd ball (starting with brown) and end with cream. Even though the dye lots were the same, the browns were not. I knit half the bag, introduced the new ball and got a line from the lighter shade of brown. See:
What the F? I repeat: the dye lots were the same. Shiat, F, mother- Whatever. I ripped the bag last night at the inaugural knitting club gathering. I'm starting over with brown to begin with, graduating into cream, introducing the new ball with the cream on the outside (hopefully the creams will match better than the browns), then ending with brown.
The knitting club last night was small (three female Oracle programming knitters- it's uber exclusive) but that was cool. I did end up doing some Kool Aid dying-
That's a sausage o' yarn that I nuked in the microwave. It was fairly easy to do- I got sippy cups from K-Mart to mix and pour with precision. I've seen some people mixing dye in mason jars and using turkey basters to apply the dye. The sippy cup method was great because the handle was also a straw, so I only ended up using one container per color. And the cups were cheaper than turkey basters. Plus, the caps were different colors, so I... Well, that doesn't really matter because the cups themselves were see-through so I could see which one was red or blue or purple or pink. I digress.
Here's what the two skeins ended up looking like, using 1 pack of Tropical Punch (red), Grape (purple), Pink Lemonade (pink) and Berry Blue (bloo) each (so 8 packets total):
Looks like the "Oh yeah!" Kool Aid jug guy barfed up some spaghetti, right? Or crapped some out on my kitchen floor. I would have been much happier if I had left out the blue or had toned it down with some of the Pink Lemonade. It's just so friggin' blue. It's very vibrant (as is the red) but the dye didn't saturate all the yarn on that end, so there are some white-ish strands on the inside.
All in all, I'm not disappointed because this was my first time and it was super easy and not too messy. Now I'm just waiting for the yarn to dry so I can knit something with it. I think once I see how it looks knit up, I'll change my dying method.
So... With this "no buying yarn in 2006" crazy-ass pact I've committed myself to (and am still holding to), it looks like I'm out of things to dye. Unless I overdye something in my stash (which may come to pass). Or unless I force my sister to gift me with dyable yarn.
Dare I take a step closer? He may awake at any moment and launch himself at my jugular...
Whew. He didn't wake up. He's just curled up there... so sweet... Makes me want to startle him.
As for knitting, I have a couple skeins of cream to brown wool from the Green Mountain Spinnery that a co-worker gave me. The pictures are kind of blurry, so I'm not linking the full sized ones in a new window. I realized when I wound the yarn into balls that the color graduates from cream into brown (rather then cream and brown stripes). I wound one ball with cream on the inside and one with brown on the inside, thinking that I'd knit a hobo bag with them.
I wanted to start the bag with the cream color, graduate into brown, introduce the 2nd ball (starting with brown) and end with cream. Even though the dye lots were the same, the browns were not. I knit half the bag, introduced the new ball and got a line from the lighter shade of brown. See:
What the F? I repeat: the dye lots were the same. Shiat, F, mother- Whatever. I ripped the bag last night at the inaugural knitting club gathering. I'm starting over with brown to begin with, graduating into cream, introducing the new ball with the cream on the outside (hopefully the creams will match better than the browns), then ending with brown.
The knitting club last night was small (three female Oracle programming knitters- it's uber exclusive) but that was cool. I did end up doing some Kool Aid dying-
That's a sausage o' yarn that I nuked in the microwave. It was fairly easy to do- I got sippy cups from K-Mart to mix and pour with precision. I've seen some people mixing dye in mason jars and using turkey basters to apply the dye. The sippy cup method was great because the handle was also a straw, so I only ended up using one container per color. And the cups were cheaper than turkey basters. Plus, the caps were different colors, so I... Well, that doesn't really matter because the cups themselves were see-through so I could see which one was red or blue or purple or pink. I digress.
Here's what the two skeins ended up looking like, using 1 pack of Tropical Punch (red), Grape (purple), Pink Lemonade (pink) and Berry Blue (bloo) each (so 8 packets total):
Looks like the "Oh yeah!" Kool Aid jug guy barfed up some spaghetti, right? Or crapped some out on my kitchen floor. I would have been much happier if I had left out the blue or had toned it down with some of the Pink Lemonade. It's just so friggin' blue. It's very vibrant (as is the red) but the dye didn't saturate all the yarn on that end, so there are some white-ish strands on the inside.
All in all, I'm not disappointed because this was my first time and it was super easy and not too messy. Now I'm just waiting for the yarn to dry so I can knit something with it. I think once I see how it looks knit up, I'll change my dying method.
So... With this "no buying yarn in 2006" crazy-ass pact I've committed myself to (and am still holding to), it looks like I'm out of things to dye. Unless I overdye something in my stash (which may come to pass). Or unless I force my sister to gift me with dyable yarn.
Tuesday
[amy] Battlestar, We, Dying Yarn
I finished watching Season 2.0 of Battlestar Galactica over the weekend. I love this show. It's probably my most favorite show right now. This was a rather short season (only 10 episodes, I think) but a lot happened. It starts off right where Season 1 ended- Adama is hurt; Laura is locked up; Starbuck is off on a mission; and several of Galactica’s crew are stranded. Basically by the time these stories are wrapped up, half the season is over. After that, all kinds of new shiat goes down. New planes, new people, new problems… If you’re not watching this series, you should be. It’s awesome.
I’ve got Undeclared coming next. I liked Freaks and Geeks and I like Seth Rogan (I’d hit it).
I’m currently reading We by Yevgeny Zamyatin for book club, which is meeting at the end of the month. The new format is having a moderator lead the discussion. People have been asking me who the moderator is but I’m not telling. I think the mystery may draw more people. Anyway, the book is good (I like dystopian novels).
Knitting club is meeting at my place tonight. I may rip out a hobo bag I was working on (it’s coming out looking more like a banana than an orange slice). I’d also like to dye some yarn with Kool Aid. That should be fun. I'll post pictures after...
I’ve got Undeclared coming next. I liked Freaks and Geeks and I like Seth Rogan (I’d hit it).
I’m currently reading We by Yevgeny Zamyatin for book club, which is meeting at the end of the month. The new format is having a moderator lead the discussion. People have been asking me who the moderator is but I’m not telling. I think the mystery may draw more people. Anyway, the book is good (I like dystopian novels).
Knitting club is meeting at my place tonight. I may rip out a hobo bag I was working on (it’s coming out looking more like a banana than an orange slice). I’d also like to dye some yarn with Kool Aid. That should be fun. I'll post pictures after...
Wednesday
[knitting] Finishing unfinished things. Looking for random things.
This whole "no buying yarn in 2006" pledge is starting to take it's toll on me. I'm thinking I might get an umbrella swift and ball winder. I need to buy something yarn related.
I finished the never-ending socks over the weekend. They came out sooooo cute. I'll take a picture soon. This means, though, that there aren't any unfinished projects lying around. Okay, there's one (a bag). Okay, two bags. But I started sketching out Star Wars motifs for Dollar's hat. I felt bad after he noticed me admiring my socks and said, "Those are nice. Really pretty. I wonder... the hat... you said... ages ago..." I'm a jerk. I'm just too scared to cast on for it. What if it comes out crappy? What if it doesn't fit properly? What if it looks stupid?
Sunday night we sat down and talked about what he wants on it. I'm trying to make it more complicated while he's trying to make it more simple. I ask, "Do you want little stars all in the black sky of the hat?" He says, "No." I say, "I'll put some kind of border along the bottom." He says, "Why?" I say, "Do you want the machines shooting at one another?" He says, "They're all on the Empire side, so I don't think they'd be doing that." Really, I don't think it'll be as difficult as I think it'll be. The only tough part will be learning how to knit fair isle with three colors in the same row...
While I figure out how to do that, I may make Lady Spankington's argyle headband to get me back in the swing of fair isle. Or maybe this would be considered intarsia since it's not knit in the round. I dunno.
P.S. Because I decided that my raffia didn't count as a yarn purchase, I've been trolling random stores (iParty, Home Depot, the grocery store) looking for uncommon things I might be able to knit with (rope, ribbon, dental floss). It's... it's getting pretty sad. I imagine I'll start having night sweats and mood swings.
I finished the never-ending socks over the weekend. They came out sooooo cute. I'll take a picture soon. This means, though, that there aren't any unfinished projects lying around. Okay, there's one (a bag). Okay, two bags. But I started sketching out Star Wars motifs for Dollar's hat. I felt bad after he noticed me admiring my socks and said, "Those are nice. Really pretty. I wonder... the hat... you said... ages ago..." I'm a jerk. I'm just too scared to cast on for it. What if it comes out crappy? What if it doesn't fit properly? What if it looks stupid?
Sunday night we sat down and talked about what he wants on it. I'm trying to make it more complicated while he's trying to make it more simple. I ask, "Do you want little stars all in the black sky of the hat?" He says, "No." I say, "I'll put some kind of border along the bottom." He says, "Why?" I say, "Do you want the machines shooting at one another?" He says, "They're all on the Empire side, so I don't think they'd be doing that." Really, I don't think it'll be as difficult as I think it'll be. The only tough part will be learning how to knit fair isle with three colors in the same row...
While I figure out how to do that, I may make Lady Spankington's argyle headband to get me back in the swing of fair isle. Or maybe this would be considered intarsia since it's not knit in the round. I dunno.
P.S. Because I decided that my raffia didn't count as a yarn purchase, I've been trolling random stores (iParty, Home Depot, the grocery store) looking for uncommon things I might be able to knit with (rope, ribbon, dental floss). It's... it's getting pretty sad. I imagine I'll start having night sweats and mood swings.
[knitting] A few things
Here a back shot of the beaded mohair shrug I finally finished:
And the quickie hat:
And the stupid socks that just won't end:
And the quickie hat:
And the stupid socks that just won't end:
Monday
[knitting] Winter Suprises
The surprise patterns are up at Knitty. I don't particularly like Layers but Startsky is quite pretty. I'm not such a fan of belted sweaters but I may want to make this one.
All these patterns I like- And I never seem to make any of them. Well, I'm still working on a pair of socks (that just won't end). Why does everyone like knitting socks so much? It's so boring and tedious. The stitches are so small. It takes forever.
As a break (and for immediate gratification), I knit a hat yesterday using a couple balls from my stash. I'll post a picture later...
All these patterns I like- And I never seem to make any of them. Well, I'm still working on a pair of socks (that just won't end). Why does everyone like knitting socks so much? It's so boring and tedious. The stitches are so small. It takes forever.
As a break (and for immediate gratification), I knit a hat yesterday using a couple balls from my stash. I'll post a picture later...
Wednesday
[beer] EBT: Joe's Garage
It’s been a while since I’ve done any sort of Extreme Beer Tasting. Does that mean I’ve not been tasting beer? Laughably, no.
1. Circus Boy
This is Magic Hat’s Hefeweizen. I like Hefeweizen. UFO? Gimme. Sam Adam’s Hefeweizen? Lemme at it. How does this one compare? Let me take the first sip- Tastes like an ale. I don’t taste the Heffieness about it. The bottle says “Unfiltered and Unfettered. Circus Boy is cloudy by nature, like Burlington, VT itself. Rouse gently to release full flavor.” Let’s ignore the fact that calling Burlington cloudy is going to keep the tourists away (maybe that’s the plan), but ‘rouse’? ‘Rouse’? As in ‘wake up’? Oh I see, there’s a layer of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. So should I have shaken the bottle and then opened it? Is the whole idea of beer a joke to these Magic Hat people? Let me try putting the bottle to my lips and gently tilting it up and down a few times.
Yeah, that didn’t work. Not only did I look like a beer guzzling whore to all my neighbors, but now everything within a 3-foot radius of me is covered in a fine mist of Circus Boy. Let me try to pour most of it into a glass, swirl the remainder in the bottle to release the sediment (which I don’t know why I want so bad but I suspect is the missing Heffer-wizened flavor) and pour that into the glass. Okay, that worked. Now my beer looks like apple cider (they weren’t kidding when they said cloudy). But it still tastes the same.
At the top of the bottle it says “The ancient ritual of brewing a distinctly rich and flavorful beer is nothing short of magic. Our mysterious mix of time-honored ingredients, chaotic chemistry, humble patience, and blind faith age into the secret brew we share in the rousing company of good spirits.” Wait- what? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I got wasted half way through reading it.
Cap Says: “Gus loves it.” Loves what is the pertinent question, I think.
The best part of this beer is the label- it’s yellow with a blue-curtained, old tyme circus car. Off to the side, yet within the circus car is a shadow. With white eyes. And a creepy three-fingered, claw-like hand gripping the last “y” in “Circus Boy”. That’s some creepy ass shit right there, son. He’s got- Why is he in the cage? Is he a freak? What kind of freak? Is he not in a shadow at all; is he literally black as night with white eyes (and grey under-eye circles)? I think he’s got white claws for toenails, too. There are these four white claws gripping the lip of the cart. Hello, nightmares. The only way this could be any more frightening is if the eyes were looking right at me. And if he had horns. And maybe a bloody mouth with fangs. Okay this could be a lot scarier. … I don’t know. The cart says “The Hefeweizen!” Maybe that’s who he is. Maybe he’s a hefeweizen thingie.
EBT Rating: 5 (out of 10) circus freaks.
2. H.I.P.A.
Hippie IPA? Happy IPA? Hoppy IPA? I don’t know, it doesn’t say anywhere on the bottle. It’s got a trippy picture on the label, though. A pretty woman with a big blue bubbley head of hair. With rings around it. She kind of reminds me of a Milo Minera chick.
Yup, tastes like beer. A bit bitter. Let me pour it into the glass I was just using. Fairly light. Not as light as a lager, not as dark as a red ale. Nice and amber. Amber. I wonder if that’s what the chick’s name is. She looks like an Amber. Ssssslut. I don’t generally like IPAs and this one isn’t changing my mind.
Cap says: Buy your Gal Growlers with her Flowers. Does anyone else think that that doesn’t really rhyme? Shouldn’t it say “Buy her growlers with her frowlers?” “Buy her beer, you’re in the clear.” “Get her wasted and she’ll have sex with you.”
This beer isn’t going down as easy as the first one. Must be because it’s the second one. Or maybe because it tastes like papercuts! No, like metal and socks. Wait- I don’t know, that sip tasted pretty good. It tastes like… Bleh, you know I just don’t really like IPAs. But the picture on this bottle looks really pretty.
Hey, did you know that the initials for the months of July through November spell out Jason? I can see the initials for all the months on the back of the bottle (for freshness nothchings) and July, August, September, October and November looks like JASON. Do you think that’s where the name came from? How interesting. And February through May looks like FMAM. Which probably doesn’t make as much sense. So nevermind. Huh… Two M’s, two A’s, two- no, three J’s. One F, O, N and D. Fond. I feel like I’m getting a message here. Do you ever do that? Count the letters in words? I do it all the time when I’m in the bathroom at work and need something to read. I’ll count the letters on the box of toilet-seat-covering tissues. “TO ONSERT ONE BOX, PLACE UP AND DOWN ON THE SPIKES.” Six O’s, three S’s, etc.
But I digress.
Is it normal to be this wasted after almost two beers? Probably if you drank them as fast as I did. But whoa man. Magic Hat beer fucks you up.
Jesus, I can’t wait for this beer to be over. (Notice how I’m still drinking it even though I hate it? Waste not, want not.)
EBT Rating: ***-------. Tasted better the more I drank, but that’s probably because beer tends to do that.
3. Magic Hat #9
I reviewed this beer already, it just came with the variety pack and I want to cleanse my palate before being subjected to the mystery beer. I love me some Magic Hat #9.
Cap says: Enjoy a 9 when you Dine. Well well well, isn’t Magic Hat promoting responsible drinking. [siiiip] Ahhhh, the beer is so good, why ruin it with food?
[NOTE: This is when I passed out. To be continued…]
1. Circus Boy
This is Magic Hat’s Hefeweizen. I like Hefeweizen. UFO? Gimme. Sam Adam’s Hefeweizen? Lemme at it. How does this one compare? Let me take the first sip- Tastes like an ale. I don’t taste the Heffieness about it. The bottle says “Unfiltered and Unfettered. Circus Boy is cloudy by nature, like Burlington, VT itself. Rouse gently to release full flavor.” Let’s ignore the fact that calling Burlington cloudy is going to keep the tourists away (maybe that’s the plan), but ‘rouse’? ‘Rouse’? As in ‘wake up’? Oh I see, there’s a layer of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. So should I have shaken the bottle and then opened it? Is the whole idea of beer a joke to these Magic Hat people? Let me try putting the bottle to my lips and gently tilting it up and down a few times.
Yeah, that didn’t work. Not only did I look like a beer guzzling whore to all my neighbors, but now everything within a 3-foot radius of me is covered in a fine mist of Circus Boy. Let me try to pour most of it into a glass, swirl the remainder in the bottle to release the sediment (which I don’t know why I want so bad but I suspect is the missing Heffer-wizened flavor) and pour that into the glass. Okay, that worked. Now my beer looks like apple cider (they weren’t kidding when they said cloudy). But it still tastes the same.
At the top of the bottle it says “The ancient ritual of brewing a distinctly rich and flavorful beer is nothing short of magic. Our mysterious mix of time-honored ingredients, chaotic chemistry, humble patience, and blind faith age into the secret brew we share in the rousing company of good spirits.” Wait- what? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I got wasted half way through reading it.
Cap Says: “Gus loves it.” Loves what is the pertinent question, I think.
The best part of this beer is the label- it’s yellow with a blue-curtained, old tyme circus car. Off to the side, yet within the circus car is a shadow. With white eyes. And a creepy three-fingered, claw-like hand gripping the last “y” in “Circus Boy”. That’s some creepy ass shit right there, son. He’s got- Why is he in the cage? Is he a freak? What kind of freak? Is he not in a shadow at all; is he literally black as night with white eyes (and grey under-eye circles)? I think he’s got white claws for toenails, too. There are these four white claws gripping the lip of the cart. Hello, nightmares. The only way this could be any more frightening is if the eyes were looking right at me. And if he had horns. And maybe a bloody mouth with fangs. Okay this could be a lot scarier. … I don’t know. The cart says “The Hefeweizen!” Maybe that’s who he is. Maybe he’s a hefeweizen thingie.
EBT Rating: 5 (out of 10) circus freaks.
2. H.I.P.A.
Hippie IPA? Happy IPA? Hoppy IPA? I don’t know, it doesn’t say anywhere on the bottle. It’s got a trippy picture on the label, though. A pretty woman with a big blue bubbley head of hair. With rings around it. She kind of reminds me of a Milo Minera chick.
Yup, tastes like beer. A bit bitter. Let me pour it into the glass I was just using. Fairly light. Not as light as a lager, not as dark as a red ale. Nice and amber. Amber. I wonder if that’s what the chick’s name is. She looks like an Amber. Ssssslut. I don’t generally like IPAs and this one isn’t changing my mind.
Cap says: Buy your Gal Growlers with her Flowers. Does anyone else think that that doesn’t really rhyme? Shouldn’t it say “Buy her growlers with her frowlers?” “Buy her beer, you’re in the clear.” “Get her wasted and she’ll have sex with you.”
This beer isn’t going down as easy as the first one. Must be because it’s the second one. Or maybe because it tastes like papercuts! No, like metal and socks. Wait- I don’t know, that sip tasted pretty good. It tastes like… Bleh, you know I just don’t really like IPAs. But the picture on this bottle looks really pretty.
Hey, did you know that the initials for the months of July through November spell out Jason? I can see the initials for all the months on the back of the bottle (for freshness nothchings) and July, August, September, October and November looks like JASON. Do you think that’s where the name came from? How interesting. And February through May looks like FMAM. Which probably doesn’t make as much sense. So nevermind. Huh… Two M’s, two A’s, two- no, three J’s. One F, O, N and D. Fond. I feel like I’m getting a message here. Do you ever do that? Count the letters in words? I do it all the time when I’m in the bathroom at work and need something to read. I’ll count the letters on the box of toilet-seat-covering tissues. “TO ONSERT ONE BOX, PLACE UP AND DOWN ON THE SPIKES.” Six O’s, three S’s, etc.
But I digress.
Is it normal to be this wasted after almost two beers? Probably if you drank them as fast as I did. But whoa man. Magic Hat beer fucks you up.
Jesus, I can’t wait for this beer to be over. (Notice how I’m still drinking it even though I hate it? Waste not, want not.)
EBT Rating: ***-------. Tasted better the more I drank, but that’s probably because beer tends to do that.
3. Magic Hat #9
I reviewed this beer already, it just came with the variety pack and I want to cleanse my palate before being subjected to the mystery beer. I love me some Magic Hat #9.
Cap says: Enjoy a 9 when you Dine. Well well well, isn’t Magic Hat promoting responsible drinking. [siiiip] Ahhhh, the beer is so good, why ruin it with food?
[NOTE: This is when I passed out. To be continued…]
[knitting] D&G Fall 2006 Ready-to-Wear Collection
Check it out. Time to start getting ideas for next Fall/Winter. I need to stock up on white / off-white / cream / ecru yarn, apparently.
I see lots of pom-poms, cables and bobbles. Some lace, too. Chunky knits. The hats are mostly big, floppy beret/newsboys.
I like the sweater on the left and the hat on the right. The hat rocks. I saw a knit and braided scarf in the most recent Patterworks catalog. Attach to a hat and voila.
The scarf on the left is fun (even though she looks like she's about to start crying). It almost looks crocheted. I wish there were detail shots of the leg warmers and bag on the right, but this is as close as I can get. I don't ever wear leg warmers but those are pretty.
This shrug is kind of weird, I just like the sleeves, which reminds me of namaste.
And now for detail shots...
Lots of knit flowers (with pom-poms and furry bits) were used as embelishments. Nice- those are easy to make. I also like how a chunky boring stockinette scarf can be subtly glammed up with crystals. The white yarn with clear crystals is very cool.
Some pantas on the runway (worn opposite to how most people are wearing them). That would be a fast, easy knit. And knit suspenders, anyone? I like these, I admit it. I like how flat the cable is. If I were going to wear suspenders, I'd wear these.
I see lots of pom-poms, cables and bobbles. Some lace, too. Chunky knits. The hats are mostly big, floppy beret/newsboys.
I like the sweater on the left and the hat on the right. The hat rocks. I saw a knit and braided scarf in the most recent Patterworks catalog. Attach to a hat and voila.
The scarf on the left is fun (even though she looks like she's about to start crying). It almost looks crocheted. I wish there were detail shots of the leg warmers and bag on the right, but this is as close as I can get. I don't ever wear leg warmers but those are pretty.
This shrug is kind of weird, I just like the sleeves, which reminds me of namaste.
And now for detail shots...
Lots of knit flowers (with pom-poms and furry bits) were used as embelishments. Nice- those are easy to make. I also like how a chunky boring stockinette scarf can be subtly glammed up with crystals. The white yarn with clear crystals is very cool.
Some pantas on the runway (worn opposite to how most people are wearing them). That would be a fast, easy knit. And knit suspenders, anyone? I like these, I admit it. I like how flat the cable is. If I were going to wear suspenders, I'd wear these.
Tuesday
[amy] A wedding, a hike and a pair of socks
Whatta weekend. Fer real. I was out Friday (due to an incident involving the cops Thursday night) and spent the day on car issues. Saturday I went to Dollar's sister's wedding. That was cool. I hung out at the wedding with a girl named Katie. I know Katie from various parties and she's Crazy. The wedding itself was at 11am and by noon, we were back at my place, making a pit stop before the reception. Let me tell you, noon is PRIME TIME drinking time. One drink and you're feeling tipsy. I don't know how I didn't know this before. Of course, then you're wasted by 4, passed out by 6 and hungover by 9.
The wedding was lovely. I got to dance to a slow song with Dollar (the first time we've danced together) and meet all his family. I mean, ALL his family. He kept saying, "That's my cousin. That's my uncle. Aunt. Cousin. Cousin. Uncle. Aunt. Grandmother. Cousin..." Too. Many. People. While Dollar and his brother were busy doing groomsman things, Katie and I were working on consuming enough of the weak drinks to get a buzz on. I could see Dollar watching me, thinking in his head about what a bad influence Katie is. He was basically waiting for Katie to climb up onto a table, start gyrating around and getting me to do the same.
Saturday night and Sunday were chill-out times. We watched 40-Year-Old Virgin and more episodes of Battlestar Galactica (Season 1). I've totally got him hooked on this show now. Monday was a holiday and we spent the day running errands and going for a walk up Gile Mt. It was c-c-cold and I wasn't dressed properly. Also, the trail was completely iced over. I think if we go up again any time soon, we're going to need crampons.
I was also able to get a lot of knitting done. I finished the blue mohair beaded shrug! I’m pretty stoked about that. And I picked up a pair of socks that I started ages ago. I’ve been working on the heel flaps and hope to finish them in a couple weeks. I want the needles back to try and make fair isle socks, which I hope will help me find a naturally loose fair isle tension.
All in all, the weekend was splendiferous.
The wedding was lovely. I got to dance to a slow song with Dollar (the first time we've danced together) and meet all his family. I mean, ALL his family. He kept saying, "That's my cousin. That's my uncle. Aunt. Cousin. Cousin. Uncle. Aunt. Grandmother. Cousin..." Too. Many. People. While Dollar and his brother were busy doing groomsman things, Katie and I were working on consuming enough of the weak drinks to get a buzz on. I could see Dollar watching me, thinking in his head about what a bad influence Katie is. He was basically waiting for Katie to climb up onto a table, start gyrating around and getting me to do the same.
Saturday night and Sunday were chill-out times. We watched 40-Year-Old Virgin and more episodes of Battlestar Galactica (Season 1). I've totally got him hooked on this show now. Monday was a holiday and we spent the day running errands and going for a walk up Gile Mt. It was c-c-cold and I wasn't dressed properly. Also, the trail was completely iced over. I think if we go up again any time soon, we're going to need crampons.
I was also able to get a lot of knitting done. I finished the blue mohair beaded shrug! I’m pretty stoked about that. And I picked up a pair of socks that I started ages ago. I’ve been working on the heel flaps and hope to finish them in a couple weeks. I want the needles back to try and make fair isle socks, which I hope will help me find a naturally loose fair isle tension.
All in all, the weekend was splendiferous.
[amy] Corn
AMY: We need to get some corn.
DOLLAR: Uh... Is this a trick?
AMY: Don't you have any?
DOLLAR: I got rid of all mine.
AMY: WHAT? When?
DOLLAR: Right after we started going out.
AMY: Great! Perfect! Now what are we gonna do?
DOLLAR: Rent some, I guess.
[AMY goes to the video store while DOLLAR stays at home to work]
AMY: Hello, I'd like to open an account.
VIDEO GUY: Oh, I remember you from the White River video store.
AMY: Oh. Okay.
VIDEO GUY: Your cousin rents here.
AMY: Really.
VIDEO GUY: And your mom.
AMY: Uh...
VIDEO GUY: Your mom rents a lot of movies here.
AMY: Yeah.
VIDEO GUY: Let’s make sure your account is up to date.
AMY: Yeah.
[Later]
VIDEO GUY: Okay, you're all set.
AMY: Super. Could *ahem* Can I be let into the you-know-what room?
VIDEO GUY: They're actually right there. [points]
AMY: Okay.
[Flipping through dirty, dirty movie titles. More people enter the store. AMY grabs one and brings it to the front (cutting off an old couple on the way).]
AMY: [throws picture at VIDEO GUY like a frisbee]
VIDEO GUY: [discreetly puts picture under the counter, retrieves a black unmarked dvd case, rings it in.] That'll be five dollars.
AMY: [hands VIDEO GUY five dollar bill]
VIDEO GUY: Thank you.
AMY: Thanks. [Leaves]
[Back at home, in the driveway, AMY tucks the movie into the back of her pants and goes inside.]
DOLLAR: [Looks up expectantly]
AMY: [Shows hands] I couldn't do it.
DOLLAR: What?
AMY: [Takes off coat] There were too many people there.
DOLLAR: WHAT?!
AMY: It was freaking me out, all right?
DOLLAR: That doesn't seem like you. To chicken out.
AMY: HEY! My mother rents from there!
DOLLAR: I can't-
AMY: Just kidding! AHH haha HAH hahHA- [pulling movie out and thrusts it into DOLLAR's face]- hhhah HAHAhahh HAHAh hAHH!!
DOLLAR: [heaves sigh of relief]
AMY: It's called "I [made tender yet passionate love to] my High School Teacher. Eight."
DOLLAR: That's messed up.
AMY: Tell me about it. I just wanted to grab one and get out of there. But seriously though, my mom rents from there.
[Later, watching the movie.]
AMY: So how is he her high school teacher?
DOLLAR: I don't know, but this is the worst corn I've ever seen in my life. And I've seen a lot.
AMY: The whole set is creepy.
DOLLAR: Really, corn can be so much better than this.
AMY: It's like not even a set; it's a bare white room with a mattress on the floor.
DOLLAR: The only thing on the wall is a thermostat... Aaaand she's about to hit her head on it.
AMY: The dude is gross... Ew!
DOLLAR: You can tell she's just there to get her crack money and get out.
AMY: Is she passed out? ... No, okay, she's awake. Whew. I thought it was roofie time. She's just bored.
DOLLAR: Hahahah hahah haha- This is so bad- Hahahah hahha hahaha.
AMY: Hahahahah- Ew, did you just see that? Hahahha hahah hah.
DOLLAR: Skank.
AMY: Where's- There's no plot. This is kind of sad. You know what, I can't watch it anymore.
DOLLAR: Okay. [Turns movie off] Don't worry. I'll get us some better stuff to watch.
AMY: Something with a plot.
DOLLAR: No, I know exactly what you're talking about. There's this one production company that specializes in unoffensive corn you can watch with your girlfriend-
AMY: Okay I don't care that you know so much about this stuff, I'll just trust you to pick something out.
DOLLAR: Uh... Is this a trick?
AMY: Don't you have any?
DOLLAR: I got rid of all mine.
AMY: WHAT? When?
DOLLAR: Right after we started going out.
AMY: Great! Perfect! Now what are we gonna do?
DOLLAR: Rent some, I guess.
[AMY goes to the video store while DOLLAR stays at home to work]
AMY: Hello, I'd like to open an account.
VIDEO GUY: Oh, I remember you from the White River video store.
AMY: Oh. Okay.
VIDEO GUY: Your cousin rents here.
AMY: Really.
VIDEO GUY: And your mom.
AMY: Uh...
VIDEO GUY: Your mom rents a lot of movies here.
AMY: Yeah.
VIDEO GUY: Let’s make sure your account is up to date.
AMY: Yeah.
[Later]
VIDEO GUY: Okay, you're all set.
AMY: Super. Could *ahem* Can I be let into the you-know-what room?
VIDEO GUY: They're actually right there. [points]
AMY: Okay.
[Flipping through dirty, dirty movie titles. More people enter the store. AMY grabs one and brings it to the front (cutting off an old couple on the way).]
AMY: [throws picture at VIDEO GUY like a frisbee]
VIDEO GUY: [discreetly puts picture under the counter, retrieves a black unmarked dvd case, rings it in.] That'll be five dollars.
AMY: [hands VIDEO GUY five dollar bill]
VIDEO GUY: Thank you.
AMY: Thanks. [Leaves]
[Back at home, in the driveway, AMY tucks the movie into the back of her pants and goes inside.]
DOLLAR: [Looks up expectantly]
AMY: [Shows hands] I couldn't do it.
DOLLAR: What?
AMY: [Takes off coat] There were too many people there.
DOLLAR: WHAT?!
AMY: It was freaking me out, all right?
DOLLAR: That doesn't seem like you. To chicken out.
AMY: HEY! My mother rents from there!
DOLLAR: I can't-
AMY: Just kidding! AHH haha HAH hahHA- [pulling movie out and thrusts it into DOLLAR's face]- hhhah HAHAhahh HAHAh hAHH!!
DOLLAR: [heaves sigh of relief]
AMY: It's called "I [made tender yet passionate love to] my High School Teacher. Eight."
DOLLAR: That's messed up.
AMY: Tell me about it. I just wanted to grab one and get out of there. But seriously though, my mom rents from there.
[Later, watching the movie.]
AMY: So how is he her high school teacher?
DOLLAR: I don't know, but this is the worst corn I've ever seen in my life. And I've seen a lot.
AMY: The whole set is creepy.
DOLLAR: Really, corn can be so much better than this.
AMY: It's like not even a set; it's a bare white room with a mattress on the floor.
DOLLAR: The only thing on the wall is a thermostat... Aaaand she's about to hit her head on it.
AMY: The dude is gross... Ew!
DOLLAR: You can tell she's just there to get her crack money and get out.
AMY: Is she passed out? ... No, okay, she's awake. Whew. I thought it was roofie time. She's just bored.
DOLLAR: Hahahah hahah haha- This is so bad- Hahahah hahha hahaha.
AMY: Hahahahah- Ew, did you just see that? Hahahha hahah hah.
DOLLAR: Skank.
AMY: Where's- There's no plot. This is kind of sad. You know what, I can't watch it anymore.
DOLLAR: Okay. [Turns movie off] Don't worry. I'll get us some better stuff to watch.
AMY: Something with a plot.
DOLLAR: No, I know exactly what you're talking about. There's this one production company that specializes in unoffensive corn you can watch with your girlfriend-
AMY: Okay I don't care that you know so much about this stuff, I'll just trust you to pick something out.
Thursday
[amy] Exercise: For the brain and for the body
The first week in March I’m participating in a Dance Dance Revolution Brain Scanning Experiment. I assume the PhD-ish cats at Dartmouth know what they’re doing. I’m gonna get my brain scanned on a Sunday (wheee!), play DDR for 30-45 minutes after work Monday through Friday, then get my brain scanned again on Saturday. Why am I doing this? For the greater good of science. Hahahah- no. I’ve never played DDR before (part of the requirement) and from what I hear it’s buckets of fun. And good exercise. Plus, there’s money and free t-shirt in it for me, so…
Speaking of exercise, I’m ready to start hiking again. I’ve not been skiing or anything this winter, so I’m ready for fresh air and sweat. I think Dollar and I are going to go up Gile Mt this coming Monday (it’s a three-day weekend) as an easy first hike. I told him that Saturdays from here on out are going to be hiking days, which means we’re going to have to get up and leave before 10 am. I said he can sleep in the car on the way to whatever hike we’re going to and he said that he’s going to hold me to that. I keep telling him how great it’s going to be: “Last summer, after I came down from Lafayette, I was hallucinating, man. Hallucinating. It was awesome.” He said that it was exhaustion after an aggressive five-hour non-stop hike that made everything look all swirly, but whatever. The point is: I was tripping out.
Speaking of exercise, I’m ready to start hiking again. I’ve not been skiing or anything this winter, so I’m ready for fresh air and sweat. I think Dollar and I are going to go up Gile Mt this coming Monday (it’s a three-day weekend) as an easy first hike. I told him that Saturdays from here on out are going to be hiking days, which means we’re going to have to get up and leave before 10 am. I said he can sleep in the car on the way to whatever hike we’re going to and he said that he’s going to hold me to that. I keep telling him how great it’s going to be: “Last summer, after I came down from Lafayette, I was hallucinating, man. Hallucinating. It was awesome.” He said that it was exhaustion after an aggressive five-hour non-stop hike that made everything look all swirly, but whatever. The point is: I was tripping out.
Wednesday
[cooking] Ice Cream and Pizza Dough
How to tell quality Ice Cream without tasting it: Take it to the produce section and weigh it. Brilliant!
Perfect pizza dough. Sounds like a lot of work, but you get 6 pizzas out of it. I've added American Pie and The Bread Baker's Apprectice to my Amazon Cook Books wish list. With King Arthur Flour right down the road, I've really got to learn how to bake stuff. May if there's a class on a weekend, I can get Dollar to come with me...
Perfect pizza dough. Sounds like a lot of work, but you get 6 pizzas out of it. I've added American Pie and The Bread Baker's Apprectice to my Amazon Cook Books wish list. With King Arthur Flour right down the road, I've really got to learn how to bake stuff. May if there's a class on a weekend, I can get Dollar to come with me...
Monday
[amy] Re-arrangements
Well. Well. Well. How did the early Valentine's Day go? How was the movie and dinner? There was no movie. Nothing's playing right now that we wanted to see anyway. The dinner also didn't go according to plan. We re-arranged the deal on who was going to make dinner after Dollar said "Uh..." when I asked him what he was going to cook. In the end, he said he'd make raspberry turnovers and I said I'd make pesto pizza. At the grocery store, I grabbed some pizza dough and asked Dollar if he needed phyllo dough. He stared at me blankly and asked, "What's that?" I demanded to know how he was going to make the raspberry turnovers and he scurried off. He came back with a box of frozen Pepperidge Farm Raspberry Turnovers. I looked from the box to him back to the box to him. He was smiling so weakly and helplessly that I had to deactivate my mega-bitch mode. He enthused that he grew up eating these turnovers and that they're "sooooo good!" Fine. Fine. But now I've made it my personal mission to teach this joker how to cook something. And that something is going to be raspberry turnovers.
We also re-arranged the furniture in my living room. Couches got moved and speakers finally got hung up. Then we watched Deadlist Catch. Note to self: Never eat king crab legs again (too many men die every year trying to get them).
On Saturday night I went to see Lyrics Born at Dartmouth. The show was off the hook. I liked Rousseau, J-Live and Lyrics Born (of course). What surprised me the most was Mike Relm. He was LB's DJ for the evening but performed his own set- which was amazing! Multi-media live mash-ups! This guy can scratch and he had video playing all the while. I was very, very, very impressed and totally forgot to get a cd before I left.
Which reminds me, as I was leaving, a couple cops were standing around the hallway and asked me to start their car for them (to warm it up) since I was clearly on my way out. I asked, "What- Your police car?" They said yeah. I said, "If I start your car, I'm going to take it for a spin around the Green." The assured me that I wouldn't. I said, "Whatever," and left. Those crazy, lazy cops.
We also re-arranged the furniture in my living room. Couches got moved and speakers finally got hung up. Then we watched Deadlist Catch. Note to self: Never eat king crab legs again (too many men die every year trying to get them).
On Saturday night I went to see Lyrics Born at Dartmouth. The show was off the hook. I liked Rousseau, J-Live and Lyrics Born (of course). What surprised me the most was Mike Relm. He was LB's DJ for the evening but performed his own set- which was amazing! Multi-media live mash-ups! This guy can scratch and he had video playing all the while. I was very, very, very impressed and totally forgot to get a cd before I left.
Which reminds me, as I was leaving, a couple cops were standing around the hallway and asked me to start their car for them (to warm it up) since I was clearly on my way out. I asked, "What- Your police car?" They said yeah. I said, "If I start your car, I'm going to take it for a spin around the Green." The assured me that I wouldn't. I said, "Whatever," and left. Those crazy, lazy cops.
Saturday
[knitting] Stuff
I'm wireless, baby! I have to take baby steps: first comes internet, then comes wireless, then comes AI taking over the human race.
I took of picture of all the knitting I've done since the last time I posted a picture (minus all the Christmas knitting):
Clockwise from the top, it's a blue uber-bulky scarf I made for myself using leftover yarn from my stash; a brown fairisle hat (using the flower motif from Handknit Holidays); a couple of pantas; hat & mittens that I never sent to Ram; and everything is sitting on my finished Kiri shawl. I need to weave in ends, block, etc etc etc.
I took of picture of all the knitting I've done since the last time I posted a picture (minus all the Christmas knitting):
Clockwise from the top, it's a blue uber-bulky scarf I made for myself using leftover yarn from my stash; a brown fairisle hat (using the flower motif from Handknit Holidays); a couple of pantas; hat & mittens that I never sent to Ram; and everything is sitting on my finished Kiri shawl. I need to weave in ends, block, etc etc etc.
Friday
[amy] Knitting and an early Valentine's Day
Heyo. This week has gone by fast. Happy Friday. The knitting blogmosphere is gearing up for the Knitting Olympics. I didn't think it was going to be such a big deal but a million people have signed up and it even made the news. What kind of idea is this, anyway? Make something challenging in 16 days? Are you knitters on crack? No? Well you will be by day 14. And speed. And caffeine.
I didn't sign up because I have too many unfinished objects I want to finish (yet I didn't join the UFOlympics) and I'm still burnt out from Christmas knitting. Seriously, people broke their fingers knitting gifts this year, why would they want to stress themselves out again? Maybe some people want/need the pressure. Not me. I don't want to cry over my knitting. I've read horror stories of mistakes made, ripping that had to be done, buckets and buckets of tears. No thank you.
So this weekend I want to make some slippers and maybe block my shawl. Knit something, anyway. I made 1.6 pantas while I was down in DC last week- I'd like to finish the 2nd one.
Valentine's Day is Tuesday but Dollar's going to see a concert that night. That's right, he made OTHER plans. I don't mind, but I like giving him the occasional hard time about it- "Oh that's right, you're not going to be around. I guess I'll cancel the clowns and see if I can't get my deposit back." Instead, we're going to make Sunday Valentine's Day and do something. But what...
AMY: So we should do something on Sunday.
DOLLAR: What?
AMY: I don't know.
DOLLAR: Uh...
AMY: Um...
DOLLAR: Hmm...
AMY: You want me to cook?
DOLLAR: Don't you want to go out? I feel like you cook all the time.
AMY: Hey, why don't YOU cook?
DOLLAR: Uh...
AMY: Not a good idea?
DOLLAR: Well, I'll... I guess... No, I can make something.
AMY: ...
DOLLAR: It's okay, I can make something.
AMY: It doesn't have to be anything complicated. Make whatever YOU feel comfortable cooking.
DOLLAR: ... I can make something.
AMY: O-kay. So we should do something else during the day.
DOLLAR: Like what?
AMY: Uh...
DOLLAR: Um...
AMY: A movie?
DOLLAR: Yeah!
AMY: Should we go see a movie?
DOLLAR: That's a good idea!
AMY: Okay, we'll see a movie, then go grocery shopping, then go back to my place and you can cook.
DOLLAR: That sounds good.
AMY: See, that wasn't so hard. Movie and dinner; it's a good plan. That must be why people do it all the time.
DOLLAR: Yeah.
AMY: What movie should we see?
DOLLAR: Uh...
AMY: Let's just decide on Sunday.
I didn't sign up because I have too many unfinished objects I want to finish (yet I didn't join the UFOlympics) and I'm still burnt out from Christmas knitting. Seriously, people broke their fingers knitting gifts this year, why would they want to stress themselves out again? Maybe some people want/need the pressure. Not me. I don't want to cry over my knitting. I've read horror stories of mistakes made, ripping that had to be done, buckets and buckets of tears. No thank you.
So this weekend I want to make some slippers and maybe block my shawl. Knit something, anyway. I made 1.6 pantas while I was down in DC last week- I'd like to finish the 2nd one.
Valentine's Day is Tuesday but Dollar's going to see a concert that night. That's right, he made OTHER plans. I don't mind, but I like giving him the occasional hard time about it- "Oh that's right, you're not going to be around. I guess I'll cancel the clowns and see if I can't get my deposit back." Instead, we're going to make Sunday Valentine's Day and do something. But what...
AMY: So we should do something on Sunday.
DOLLAR: What?
AMY: I don't know.
DOLLAR: Uh...
AMY: Um...
DOLLAR: Hmm...
AMY: You want me to cook?
DOLLAR: Don't you want to go out? I feel like you cook all the time.
AMY: Hey, why don't YOU cook?
DOLLAR: Uh...
AMY: Not a good idea?
DOLLAR: Well, I'll... I guess... No, I can make something.
AMY: ...
DOLLAR: It's okay, I can make something.
AMY: It doesn't have to be anything complicated. Make whatever YOU feel comfortable cooking.
DOLLAR: ... I can make something.
AMY: O-kay. So we should do something else during the day.
DOLLAR: Like what?
AMY: Uh...
DOLLAR: Um...
AMY: A movie?
DOLLAR: Yeah!
AMY: Should we go see a movie?
DOLLAR: That's a good idea!
AMY: Okay, we'll see a movie, then go grocery shopping, then go back to my place and you can cook.
DOLLAR: That sounds good.
AMY: See, that wasn't so hard. Movie and dinner; it's a good plan. That must be why people do it all the time.
DOLLAR: Yeah.
AMY: What movie should we see?
DOLLAR: Uh...
AMY: Let's just decide on Sunday.
Tuesday
[amy] Travel, not yarn, Magic
It's been a week since my last post. I was down in DC all last week for a conference. The talks were interesting and I had a good time. I meant to take pictures and see/do lots of touristy things, but the all-day meetings and talks wore me out. I spent my nights watching tv in my hotel room bed. I don't have network or cable tv at home, so I like watching it all (reruns, commercials, movie previews, etc).
I ended up buying some Chinese plastic raffia while I was down there. I remember a raffia project from my sister's Simple Crochet book and these balls were only 0.85 cents each. Who knows how many yards there are. Does this break my "No buying yarn in 2006" rule? I'm not sure. I say "no" purely because I've decided to keep them. I considered giving them to my sister and forcing her to give them back to me. In the end, I think "yarn" is the keyword. This is plastic. It's not... Look, it just doesn't count.
The weekend was spent with Dollar, playing Magic over and over and over again. I told him that Magic is going to destroy our relationship. I don't think he believes me but take this for example: We played about 8-10 games on Saturday, ALL of which I lost. That's okay, I don't mind losing. Sunday morning, I get up early and make a new white deck. Dollar gets up, we play, and I get my ass handed to me. I lost hardcore- no land, no creatures, nothing. I was slaughtered. What do I do? Cry. That's right- I started crying like a little girl. I tried to hold it in, but I was all hormonal and couldn't help it. So Dollar's like, "Hey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I say, "Sorry? You're sorry? I don't want you to feel sorry for me, I want you to say that we never have to play Magic again and that we can take the cards out back and burn them!" Yes, Magic will destroy us.
I also watched Crash. I was really impressed with the movie, though I thought it was heavy-handed at times. I understand it's about racism, but there was a lot of "I'm not Mexican, I'm Puerto Rican!" "I'm not Arab, I'm Turkish!!" "Chinaman? Chinaman? I'm THAI!!!" I'm rolling my eyes, like, whatever. Let's just call everybody "people" and be done with it. But there were lots of unexpected events that I didn't see coming. It's nice being surprised by a movie.
I ended up buying some Chinese plastic raffia while I was down there. I remember a raffia project from my sister's Simple Crochet book and these balls were only 0.85 cents each. Who knows how many yards there are. Does this break my "No buying yarn in 2006" rule? I'm not sure. I say "no" purely because I've decided to keep them. I considered giving them to my sister and forcing her to give them back to me. In the end, I think "yarn" is the keyword. This is plastic. It's not... Look, it just doesn't count.
The weekend was spent with Dollar, playing Magic over and over and over again. I told him that Magic is going to destroy our relationship. I don't think he believes me but take this for example: We played about 8-10 games on Saturday, ALL of which I lost. That's okay, I don't mind losing. Sunday morning, I get up early and make a new white deck. Dollar gets up, we play, and I get my ass handed to me. I lost hardcore- no land, no creatures, nothing. I was slaughtered. What do I do? Cry. That's right- I started crying like a little girl. I tried to hold it in, but I was all hormonal and couldn't help it. So Dollar's like, "Hey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I say, "Sorry? You're sorry? I don't want you to feel sorry for me, I want you to say that we never have to play Magic again and that we can take the cards out back and burn them!" Yes, Magic will destroy us.
I also watched Crash. I was really impressed with the movie, though I thought it was heavy-handed at times. I understand it's about racism, but there was a lot of "I'm not Mexican, I'm Puerto Rican!" "I'm not Arab, I'm Turkish!!" "Chinaman? Chinaman? I'm THAI!!!" I'm rolling my eyes, like, whatever. Let's just call everybody "people" and be done with it. But there were lots of unexpected events that I didn't see coming. It's nice being surprised by a movie.
Sunday
[games] Magic: The Gathering (Redux)
I pulled out some of my old Magic decks this weekend. I haven't played in a long time and Dollar expressed an interest. I brought my stuff over to his place and let Adam use my blue and red deck while Dollar used his own green and white deck. Now at one point, when Dollar wasn't getting any land and therefore wasn't a threat, I directed all my attacks toward Adam. He had a 2/2 creature out and I played an instant to give it -2/-2, which means that that creature DIES. Here's what happened:
AMY: And I'll play this instant and give your troll -2/-2.
ADAM: [shrugs] Okay.
AMY: So it dies.
ADAM: No it doesn't. That's just affecting it's attack and defense, so it's defense is zero now.
AMY: Yeah, which means it's dead.
ADAM: No it's not. It's just at zero.
AMY: ...
I let it slide, but on the inside I was like, "MEGA-BITCH: ACTIVATED!" I thought that if you brought a creature's defense down to zero (or less), that creature dies. In fact, I am right: "The second number is its toughness; if it receives that much damage in a single turn, it is destroyed, and sent to the graveyard." I spent the rest of the game trying to slaughter Adam and Dollar. Adam even left the game early, I think because I was taking all the fun out of it.
So here's the dilemma: I play as hard and as carefully as I can, whatever game I'm playing. I'm not a sore loser (I think) and will always want to play again. But if I'm so serious about it, is that ruining it for the other players? It's just a friendly game, not the World Championship of whatever game it is. Take this for example:
Angela game over to play Balloon cup. She plays a card that hurts my chances of winning a specific race and I sit, thinking about what I should do next. Angela takes my lack of playing as a sign that it's her turn and plays another card. What I should have said was: "Excuse me, friend. You just played a card and now it is my turn. I apologize for taking so long." What I did was screech: "What are you doing? It's my turn!"
Amy needs to take a chill pill. I think my problem is that I'm more focused on winning than enjoying the game. But I think winning is important, so I want to play right. Which makes me act/sound/behave like a nit-picky bitch. So... So what should I do? Take a valium before every game I play? And when someone asks, "What's the rule about this?", I'll just say, "Whatever man, just, like, do whatever you feel is right." No! There are rules for a reason! AGGH I'm getting stressed out just thinking about it!
I will admit that before the Magic game started and I was looking through my cards, I probably shouldn't have laughed maniacally and said, "You guys are dead. I'm going to kill you guys dead. Dead dead dead. Give up now, it's over."
AMY: And I'll play this instant and give your troll -2/-2.
ADAM: [shrugs] Okay.
AMY: So it dies.
ADAM: No it doesn't. That's just affecting it's attack and defense, so it's defense is zero now.
AMY: Yeah, which means it's dead.
ADAM: No it's not. It's just at zero.
AMY: ...
I let it slide, but on the inside I was like, "MEGA-BITCH: ACTIVATED!" I thought that if you brought a creature's defense down to zero (or less), that creature dies. In fact, I am right: "The second number is its toughness; if it receives that much damage in a single turn, it is destroyed, and sent to the graveyard." I spent the rest of the game trying to slaughter Adam and Dollar. Adam even left the game early, I think because I was taking all the fun out of it.
So here's the dilemma: I play as hard and as carefully as I can, whatever game I'm playing. I'm not a sore loser (I think) and will always want to play again. But if I'm so serious about it, is that ruining it for the other players? It's just a friendly game, not the World Championship of whatever game it is. Take this for example:
Angela game over to play Balloon cup. She plays a card that hurts my chances of winning a specific race and I sit, thinking about what I should do next. Angela takes my lack of playing as a sign that it's her turn and plays another card. What I should have said was: "Excuse me, friend. You just played a card and now it is my turn. I apologize for taking so long." What I did was screech: "What are you doing? It's my turn!"
Amy needs to take a chill pill. I think my problem is that I'm more focused on winning than enjoying the game. But I think winning is important, so I want to play right. Which makes me act/sound/behave like a nit-picky bitch. So... So what should I do? Take a valium before every game I play? And when someone asks, "What's the rule about this?", I'll just say, "Whatever man, just, like, do whatever you feel is right." No! There are rules for a reason! AGGH I'm getting stressed out just thinking about it!
I will admit that before the Magic game started and I was looking through my cards, I probably shouldn't have laughed maniacally and said, "You guys are dead. I'm going to kill you guys dead. Dead dead dead. Give up now, it's over."
Saturday
[knitting] Stash Bust 2006
I've got so much yarn, it's not funny. I've been thinking of issuing a strict stash-busting challenge unto myself: NO BUYING YARN IN 2006.
Crazy? Perhaps. But I think this will help me save money and finish unfinished projects. I'm hoping that by the time I use up all my yarn, I'll find other things around the house to knit with (old clothes or plastic shopping bags cut into long strips). I know I've got enough yarn for at least 3 sweaters and dozens of smaller projects- I'm not worried. Yet.
Crazy? Perhaps. But I think this will help me save money and finish unfinished projects. I'm hoping that by the time I use up all my yarn, I'll find other things around the house to knit with (old clothes or plastic shopping bags cut into long strips). I know I've got enough yarn for at least 3 sweaters and dozens of smaller projects- I'm not worried. Yet.
Thursday
[knitting] See Eunny Knit!
I can't stand this girl - everything she knits is amazing. That vest? So cute. Floral felted bag? Beautiful. Butterfly? Breath taking.
That vest, though, makes me want to do one. She wrote an incredibly comprehensive series on steek. Here's a bit:
* * *
Why bother with a steek in the first place?
To quote, uh, myself: "In practice, setting, knitting, and slicing a steek is just a handy way to knit an entire sweater in the round by creating a bridge of waste stitches wherever a separation would be, i.e. between front and back for an armhole, or between the right and left sides of the neck, or all the way up the front of a cardigan.
Pictures are worth a thousand words. On the left is a stylized image of a pullover body. As you can see, the body could be knitted as a tube up to the armpits, but the front and back would have to be worked back and forth, as would each side of the neck. On the right, you see what a steek allows you to do - by filling in all those openings with a bridge of waste stitches, the entire garment may be knit as a tube, in the round, with all your armscye and neck shapings done in the sweater body.
Why should we care about knitting in the round? For a variety of reasons, stranded colorwork is easier and faster in the round: the knit stitch is quicker to form than the purl stitch; the pattern is always visible, allowing the knitter to read his work; seams are minimized or eliminated altogether. Production knitters favored the method for its speed and ease - as do hobby knitters now.
* * *
See how the vest knitted up before cutting?
This might be a fun, fast, cheap way to introduce myself to steeking (although I may want to make a cat sweater for Gatsu first as a practice practice one).
That vest, though, makes me want to do one. She wrote an incredibly comprehensive series on steek. Here's a bit:
* * *
Why bother with a steek in the first place?
To quote, uh, myself: "In practice, setting, knitting, and slicing a steek is just a handy way to knit an entire sweater in the round by creating a bridge of waste stitches wherever a separation would be, i.e. between front and back for an armhole, or between the right and left sides of the neck, or all the way up the front of a cardigan.
Pictures are worth a thousand words. On the left is a stylized image of a pullover body. As you can see, the body could be knitted as a tube up to the armpits, but the front and back would have to be worked back and forth, as would each side of the neck. On the right, you see what a steek allows you to do - by filling in all those openings with a bridge of waste stitches, the entire garment may be knit as a tube, in the round, with all your armscye and neck shapings done in the sweater body.
Why should we care about knitting in the round? For a variety of reasons, stranded colorwork is easier and faster in the round: the knit stitch is quicker to form than the purl stitch; the pattern is always visible, allowing the knitter to read his work; seams are minimized or eliminated altogether. Production knitters favored the method for its speed and ease - as do hobby knitters now.
* * *
See how the vest knitted up before cutting?
This might be a fun, fast, cheap way to introduce myself to steeking (although I may want to make a cat sweater for Gatsu first as a practice practice one).
Tuesday
[boardgames] uvGamingClub = Fun and Easy
I ordered a couple games from Game Surplus: Balloon Cup and Shadows over Camelot. I used to order all my games online from Funagain, but I just learned that the games at Game Surplus are cheaper than at Funagain and shipping costs are lower. I got the two games and changed my shipping from standard to 3-Day (it was less than a dollar more) and it STILL came to less than just the two games at Funagain (without shipping costs even added). Here's a list of board game stores that I'm bargain hunting through- gotta find the best deal.
Anyway, I've played Balloon Cup before and it's my favorite two-player game. Odin's Ravens can be kind of boring, Lost Cities never grabbed me. Carcassonne: The Castle is good but long, involved and not too portable. Balloon Cup is perfect.
Shadows over Camelot has gotten really good reviews at Boardgame Geek. The description sounds interesting and it can play up to 7 people.
Which brings me to the 2nd meeting of the uvGamingClub- We played Citadels. There were 8 people at my place this past Saturday. I have only 6 chairs in my entire apartment. I sat (or rather, bounced) on my exercise ball at one corner of the table and someone else got to sit (reign?) in a plush armchair (throne?) I pushed from the living room into the dining room. I gotta get some folding chairs. Next month I'm going to have 4 gaming dates, to reduce the number of players- two Thursday nights (smaller group), two Saturday afternoons (larger group).
I like these designated gaming times. It's very casual- and I don't cook! I like to go out of my way and cook something nice Book Club as a reward for people who finished the book. Besides that, a good meal begets good conversation. For the gaming club, it's pretty much: Fend for yourselves. People can walk to the convenience store next door for soda/snacks or down to Big Fatty's for BBQ.
Anyway, I've played Balloon Cup before and it's my favorite two-player game. Odin's Ravens can be kind of boring, Lost Cities never grabbed me. Carcassonne: The Castle is good but long, involved and not too portable. Balloon Cup is perfect.
Shadows over Camelot has gotten really good reviews at Boardgame Geek. The description sounds interesting and it can play up to 7 people.
Which brings me to the 2nd meeting of the uvGamingClub- We played Citadels. There were 8 people at my place this past Saturday. I have only 6 chairs in my entire apartment. I sat (or rather, bounced) on my exercise ball at one corner of the table and someone else got to sit (reign?) in a plush armchair (throne?) I pushed from the living room into the dining room. I gotta get some folding chairs. Next month I'm going to have 4 gaming dates, to reduce the number of players- two Thursday nights (smaller group), two Saturday afternoons (larger group).
I like these designated gaming times. It's very casual- and I don't cook! I like to go out of my way and cook something nice Book Club as a reward for people who finished the book. Besides that, a good meal begets good conversation. For the gaming club, it's pretty much: Fend for yourselves. People can walk to the convenience store next door for soda/snacks or down to Big Fatty's for BBQ.
Thursday
[knitting] Girls, okay? Guys, gay?
Check out this article on a men's knitting night in NYC.
A lot of male Farkers appear to be sexually insecure.
There's also a reference to "shocker mittens" at Craftster. Took me a while to get it...
A lot of male Farkers appear to be sexually insecure.
There's also a reference to "shocker mittens" at Craftster. Took me a while to get it...
Wednesday
[misc] Local Link Dump
[amy] On Weeks and Weekends
During the week, Boyfriend can't get to my place until after midnight. Instead of waiting up for him, I go to bed at my normal time and get up when he arrives. I used to wake up when he pulled into my driveway but I've become such a sound sleeper (or has he become such a stealthy driver?) that now I don't wake up until he's standing over my bed, staring down at me like a murderer. I feel bad that every time he comes over late, we have to go through:
AMY: [startled awake by a malevolent presence]
BOYFRIEND: It's okay, it's me.
AMY: [doesn't understand, starts to whimper and breath heavy, paralyzed by fear]
BOYFRIEND: Hey, it's okay, it's me. It's me. [reaches down toward AMY]
AMY: [kicks foot out directly into BOYFRIEND's groin]
BOYFRIEND: OH! [drops to floor]
AMY: Sweetie? Is that you?
I went to visit Boyfriend at his workplace last Thursday night. His work kind of relates to mine, so I kept a sharp eye out to see if any top secrety secrets were posted around on the walls, but no such luck. Those cunning mapping devils! Actually, work-related espionage was merely item number two on my agenda- I was bringing supper and some extra guacamole and salsa left-over from Book Club. My main mission was to get all of Boyfriend's co-workers to fall in love with me. Well it worked. I heard the next day from him that all his co-workers were raving about the salsa (and asking after the recipe) and now he has become quite popular at work. [sigh] This is just too easy. I cook for him, stock my fridge with the drinks he likes, bring him supper, give him massages, keep my mouth shut when he tells me to, change the oil in his truck, clip his toe nails- He's the puppet and I'm the puppet-master. ... Wait a minute. How do all these favors factor into my goal of dominating his life? ... Dang it! Back to the drawing board.
--------------------------------------------
Saturday was a good day. The first meeting of the uvGamingClub met at my place. It was Dollar, Jason, Ken, Nik and myself. We played Bang! Nik was the only one who hadn't been to my place before and I felt bad when he came to my door, asking where to park since the driveway was full. I recall saying, "I dunno, man. Like, wherever. Maybe on the street. Um... Maybe around the corner, like, along Route 14. You'll probably be all right on the street there, though. I mean, hopefully." Could I have been any LESS helpful? A different group of people are showing up at my place this Saturday for a different game.
Saturday night I went to the Kronos Quartet with Boyfriend. What a great show. They got the oddest sounds to come from their violins, viola and cello. All I really wanted to hear was the suite from Requiem for a Dream. It was amazing. All I could think was, "Wow. They really are amazing musicians. This sounds amazing." And after loving these songs from a CD for so long, to hear it LIVE was moving. It was like someone turned on a faucet in each eye. I honestly couldn't help crying; water was just streaming out of my eyes. Which was so emotionally draining that I fell asleep during the last 15 minutes of the performance. I couldn't help that either.
Sunday was brunch at Gusanoz and lazing about. Monday was a holiday and I pretty much lazed about all day again. I'm getting closer to finishing the Kiri shawl. I'm only 5 or 6 rows (i.e. 5 or 6 HOURS) away from being done.
AMY: [startled awake by a malevolent presence]
BOYFRIEND: It's okay, it's me.
AMY: [doesn't understand, starts to whimper and breath heavy, paralyzed by fear]
BOYFRIEND: Hey, it's okay, it's me. It's me. [reaches down toward AMY]
AMY: [kicks foot out directly into BOYFRIEND's groin]
BOYFRIEND: OH! [drops to floor]
AMY: Sweetie? Is that you?
I went to visit Boyfriend at his workplace last Thursday night. His work kind of relates to mine, so I kept a sharp eye out to see if any top secrety secrets were posted around on the walls, but no such luck. Those cunning mapping devils! Actually, work-related espionage was merely item number two on my agenda- I was bringing supper and some extra guacamole and salsa left-over from Book Club. My main mission was to get all of Boyfriend's co-workers to fall in love with me. Well it worked. I heard the next day from him that all his co-workers were raving about the salsa (and asking after the recipe) and now he has become quite popular at work. [sigh] This is just too easy. I cook for him, stock my fridge with the drinks he likes, bring him supper, give him massages, keep my mouth shut when he tells me to, change the oil in his truck, clip his toe nails- He's the puppet and I'm the puppet-master. ... Wait a minute. How do all these favors factor into my goal of dominating his life? ... Dang it! Back to the drawing board.
--------------------------------------------
Saturday was a good day. The first meeting of the uvGamingClub met at my place. It was Dollar, Jason, Ken, Nik and myself. We played Bang! Nik was the only one who hadn't been to my place before and I felt bad when he came to my door, asking where to park since the driveway was full. I recall saying, "I dunno, man. Like, wherever. Maybe on the street. Um... Maybe around the corner, like, along Route 14. You'll probably be all right on the street there, though. I mean, hopefully." Could I have been any LESS helpful? A different group of people are showing up at my place this Saturday for a different game.
Saturday night I went to the Kronos Quartet with Boyfriend. What a great show. They got the oddest sounds to come from their violins, viola and cello. All I really wanted to hear was the suite from Requiem for a Dream. It was amazing. All I could think was, "Wow. They really are amazing musicians. This sounds amazing." And after loving these songs from a CD for so long, to hear it LIVE was moving. It was like someone turned on a faucet in each eye. I honestly couldn't help crying; water was just streaming out of my eyes. Which was so emotionally draining that I fell asleep during the last 15 minutes of the performance. I couldn't help that either.
Sunday was brunch at Gusanoz and lazing about. Monday was a holiday and I pretty much lazed about all day again. I'm getting closer to finishing the Kiri shawl. I'm only 5 or 6 rows (i.e. 5 or 6 HOURS) away from being done.
Friday
[books] The Library
Last night I started putting my home Library in order. I already had some books shelved together- Literature/Fiction, Children/Young Adult, Graphic Novels- all arranged by author. Pretty much everything else was shoved/piled in no particular order (Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Religion, Philosophy, Non-Fiction, Romance, Mystery, Poetry, Reference, Text Books). I also have too many knitting/crochet books for the little nook where I've been shelving them in my living room. And I've been trying to hold back from going on a cookbook binge.
The nice thing about sorting through the stacks was finding books I wanted but didn't know I had. What a surprise. I was like, "Hey, I've been wanting this book... I have it!"
I like having books because they come in handy. I had a dinner at my place a while ago and the subject of the earth's magnetic polarity flip-flopping was brought up. I got my Earth Science book and found the answer. Some geography question was brought up and I got my Atlas. The question of "sushi-grade" tuna was brought up and I pulled my Gourmet magazine that had a blurb on the subject. There isn't a question you have that a book can't answer.
I wanted something to read while the votes come in for next month's Book Club and chose Milk Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani- One of the "I didn't know I had this!" books I found. So far it's only meh. I didn't realize it's 3rd in the Big Stone Gap series, so there seem to be lots of references to things that have happened in past books (and may explain why characters behave/act a certain way that doesn't make complete sense to me). Anyway, it's Lite reading.
P.S. I need more bookshelves.
The nice thing about sorting through the stacks was finding books I wanted but didn't know I had. What a surprise. I was like, "Hey, I've been wanting this book... I have it!"
I like having books because they come in handy. I had a dinner at my place a while ago and the subject of the earth's magnetic polarity flip-flopping was brought up. I got my Earth Science book and found the answer. Some geography question was brought up and I got my Atlas. The question of "sushi-grade" tuna was brought up and I pulled my Gourmet magazine that had a blurb on the subject. There isn't a question you have that a book can't answer.
I wanted something to read while the votes come in for next month's Book Club and chose Milk Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani- One of the "I didn't know I had this!" books I found. So far it's only meh. I didn't realize it's 3rd in the Big Stone Gap series, so there seem to be lots of references to things that have happened in past books (and may explain why characters behave/act a certain way that doesn't make complete sense to me). Anyway, it's Lite reading.
P.S. I need more bookshelves.
Tuesday
[amy] Double Standard
[ring ring]
AMY: Hello? Hey Guy. Uh [looking at BOYFRIEND], not much, you? Yeah. Um [looking at BOYFRIEND], I don’t know. Maybe. Yeah. Actually I’m kind of in the middle of something. I’ll talk to you later. Okay, bye.
BOYFRIEND:
AMY: That was Guy.
BOYFRIEND:
AMY: He was wondering if I wanted to grab some supper.
BOYFRIEND:
AMY: He’s a fun guy to hang out with. I feel bad that all the girls in the Upper Valley hate him because he’s such a philanderer.
BOYFRIEND:
AMY: I’m- Are you- I thought that- I mean- What-
BOYFRIEND: I’m okay.
AMY: Are you sure? Because I would be jealous if you were going to have supper with another girl. Okay, pretend you’re getting a call.
BOYFRIEND: [holding hand to ear like a telephone] Hello, uh, Kate. Yes. Let’s have supper. Okay. Bye. [puts hand down]
AMY: Who was that?
BOYFRIEND: Kate.
AMY: Who’s Kate?
BOYFRIEND: A friend.
AMY: You’re going to have supper with her?
BOYFRIEND: Um, yes?
AMY: Where?
BOYFRIEND: Out.
AMY: Where?
BOYFRIEND: My place.
AMY: What? I thought you just said-
BOYFRIEND: Yeah, we’re eating at my place.
AMY: Well… How long have you known her?
BOYFRIEND: A long time.
AMY: O-kay. Well, when are you going to eat?
BOYFRIEND: Tonight. I don’t know.
AMY:
BOYFRIEND:
AMY:
BOYFRIEND: Are you mad?
AMY: Well this girl calls you out of nowhere and you’re going-
BOYFRIEND: Okay, the phone call wasn’t real. Okay? It was my hand.
AMY: Whatever.
AMY: Hello? Hey Guy. Uh [looking at BOYFRIEND], not much, you? Yeah. Um [looking at BOYFRIEND], I don’t know. Maybe. Yeah. Actually I’m kind of in the middle of something. I’ll talk to you later. Okay, bye.
BOYFRIEND:
AMY: That was Guy.
BOYFRIEND:
AMY: He was wondering if I wanted to grab some supper.
BOYFRIEND:
AMY: He’s a fun guy to hang out with. I feel bad that all the girls in the Upper Valley hate him because he’s such a philanderer.
BOYFRIEND:
AMY: I’m- Are you- I thought that- I mean- What-
BOYFRIEND: I’m okay.
AMY: Are you sure? Because I would be jealous if you were going to have supper with another girl. Okay, pretend you’re getting a call.
BOYFRIEND: [holding hand to ear like a telephone] Hello, uh, Kate. Yes. Let’s have supper. Okay. Bye. [puts hand down]
AMY: Who was that?
BOYFRIEND: Kate.
AMY: Who’s Kate?
BOYFRIEND: A friend.
AMY: You’re going to have supper with her?
BOYFRIEND: Um, yes?
AMY: Where?
BOYFRIEND: Out.
AMY: Where?
BOYFRIEND: My place.
AMY: What? I thought you just said-
BOYFRIEND: Yeah, we’re eating at my place.
AMY: Well… How long have you known her?
BOYFRIEND: A long time.
AMY: O-kay. Well, when are you going to eat?
BOYFRIEND: Tonight. I don’t know.
AMY:
BOYFRIEND:
AMY:
BOYFRIEND: Are you mad?
AMY: Well this girl calls you out of nowhere and you’re going-
BOYFRIEND: Okay, the phone call wasn’t real. Okay? It was my hand.
AMY: Whatever.
[amy] Misc. Update
I'm back from vacation. Actually, I've been back for a while but things have been busy. My Christmas/New Year break was nice, apart from various apocalyptic disasters that had me contemplating a lifetime in jail.
Christmas was nice. I got nice "JVC 1000W 5.1-Ch. Home Theater System with Progressive-Scan DVD/CD/MP3 Player". Music and movies have never sounded so good, myes. And I got lots of books.
New Years Eve was fun. There's photos here and here. Adam and Dollar's house party was off the chain- It was a night of drunken debauchery, people passed out face down on the floor, strangers conspiring to steal stuff, beds pee'd on, etc. Seriously, I thought the guys were paranoid to lock certain parts of the house up every time they throw a party but now I realize it's because they don't know what sort of unsavory characters are going to show up.
Also, my sister's cat, Gatsu, is living with me now. He's getting used to the place but he was really nervous at first. Boyfriend doesn't like cats and I remember him saying a looooong time ago: "When you buy a cat, you're buying a free-loader." I was nervous how he was going to react, but he considers Gatsu a "made" cat (Boyfriend may be part of the mafia, I'm not sure yet). Actually, it's not like I'm all that great with the cat. We were watching a movie and I said, "Hey, where's Gatsu?" Turns out, I accidentally locked him in my bedroom closet. Ehh... heh heh heh... Um, oops.
UvBookClub is meeting at my place tomorrow night to talk about Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. I've been looking up Mormon recipes to serve for supper but everything I come across is jell-o molds, deviled eggs and "funeral potatoes". I'm SO not serving "funeral potatoes" to guests; that's just asking for trouble. I will, however, offer The Mormon Surprise.
uvGamingClub is meeting at my place this Saturday and next Saturday to play games. Either Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne or Bang.
I'm going to the HOP today to pick up tickets to see the Kronos Quartet this Saturday night.
And I've got some boring, art-house movies from Netflix to watch. I decided to class up my queue (seems all I ever watch is brainless pop culture stuff) but as I was watching one, I said to myself, "This is so boring... No one's talking... Nothing's happening... What's with the subtitles? Am I watching a movie or reading? Jeeze! I HATE THESE PSEUDO-INTELLECTUAL FOREIGN FILMS THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND DUE TO CULTURAL DIFFERENCES!" I'm going back to Smallville, Gilmore Girls and anything HBO.
Knitting-wise, I'm almost done with my Kiri shawl (which I started last summer). I've only got the edging left to do. I knit Jason a Jayne hat for Christmas and my sister a green scarf. I knit myself a blue scarf and my mother a brown hat (my first Fair Isle attempt). Next up, I'd like to knit Gatsu a kitty bed, a pair of slippers for myself and Boyfriend's Star Wars hat.
Christmas was nice. I got nice "JVC 1000W 5.1-Ch. Home Theater System with Progressive-Scan DVD/CD/MP3 Player". Music and movies have never sounded so good, myes. And I got lots of books.
New Years Eve was fun. There's photos here and here. Adam and Dollar's house party was off the chain- It was a night of drunken debauchery, people passed out face down on the floor, strangers conspiring to steal stuff, beds pee'd on, etc. Seriously, I thought the guys were paranoid to lock certain parts of the house up every time they throw a party but now I realize it's because they don't know what sort of unsavory characters are going to show up.
Also, my sister's cat, Gatsu, is living with me now. He's getting used to the place but he was really nervous at first. Boyfriend doesn't like cats and I remember him saying a looooong time ago: "When you buy a cat, you're buying a free-loader." I was nervous how he was going to react, but he considers Gatsu a "made" cat (Boyfriend may be part of the mafia, I'm not sure yet). Actually, it's not like I'm all that great with the cat. We were watching a movie and I said, "Hey, where's Gatsu?" Turns out, I accidentally locked him in my bedroom closet. Ehh... heh heh heh... Um, oops.
UvBookClub is meeting at my place tomorrow night to talk about Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. I've been looking up Mormon recipes to serve for supper but everything I come across is jell-o molds, deviled eggs and "funeral potatoes". I'm SO not serving "funeral potatoes" to guests; that's just asking for trouble. I will, however, offer The Mormon Surprise.
uvGamingClub is meeting at my place this Saturday and next Saturday to play games. Either Settlers of Catan or Carcassonne or Bang.
I'm going to the HOP today to pick up tickets to see the Kronos Quartet this Saturday night.
And I've got some boring, art-house movies from Netflix to watch. I decided to class up my queue (seems all I ever watch is brainless pop culture stuff) but as I was watching one, I said to myself, "This is so boring... No one's talking... Nothing's happening... What's with the subtitles? Am I watching a movie or reading? Jeeze! I HATE THESE PSEUDO-INTELLECTUAL FOREIGN FILMS THAT I DON'T UNDERSTAND DUE TO CULTURAL DIFFERENCES!" I'm going back to Smallville, Gilmore Girls and anything HBO.
Knitting-wise, I'm almost done with my Kiri shawl (which I started last summer). I've only got the edging left to do. I knit Jason a Jayne hat for Christmas and my sister a green scarf. I knit myself a blue scarf and my mother a brown hat (my first Fair Isle attempt). Next up, I'd like to knit Gatsu a kitty bed, a pair of slippers for myself and Boyfriend's Star Wars hat.
[books] A Million Little Lies
The Smoking Gun exposes Frey for what he really is. I'm now tempted to choose this book as next month's fiction choice for uvBookClub.
Which reminds me, we're meeting tomorrow night at my place to talk about "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer. Hoo-boy, those crazy Mormons with their plural marriages and racism and subservient women! How come nobody told me that the Latter-Day Saints are party animals?!
Which reminds me, we're meeting tomorrow night at my place to talk about "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer. Hoo-boy, those crazy Mormons with their plural marriages and racism and subservient women! How come nobody told me that the Latter-Day Saints are party animals?!
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