While we wait for the next seasons of Arrested Development, Battlestar Galactica and Desperate Housewives (that's for me) to come out, I've been trying out other TV shows.
We got the first season of Robot Chicken. I don't know, I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5. I like it but I don't love it. It's kind of dark and man-centric. I *did* like the episode with the big race skit, though. Cuz you know the creators were sitting around going, "What if... pppffft... we did, like, a race... with... ppfft... some Mario Kart characters against... Batman and Robin in the Batmobile against... The Dukes of Hazard and... Oh! And Knight Rider! And the guys from CHiPs! Who else?" "Ppfftt... SPEED RACER!" "SHIT! Speed Racer, yeah!" Everything about the show is a pop-reference and while that's amusing and all, I feel like you can only really enjoy the show if you have ADD and are coked out of your mind.
I put Invader Zim back into my queue. I watched them all and loved the show. I loved Zim and Dib and Gir (Doom doomdoomdoom doom!) and thought Dollar would as well. He thought the first disk was "amusing" but didn't really dig it. Which left me reeling. I wanted to break up with him but I realized that if I drop him because he didn't enjoy a cartoon show as much as I did, then we've got deeper problems. ... But seriously! How can you not love this show?! 5 out of 5 stars!
So now we're watching Entourage. This is another HBO show upholding my claim that YOU CANNOT GO WRONG WITH AN HBO SHOW. They're all funny, smart and well produced. I was on the fence about Entourage but decided to go ahead and get it. It's great! So funny! Of course, it makes me a little sick about Hollywood. It seems to me that it's just one big popularity contest. Like high school all over again, but that's what life is like out there. The popular, pretty kids are making insane amounts of money and everyone wants to suck-up to them. It makes me a little dirty watching it. But Jeremy Piven (who plays Hollywood agent Ari Gold)! Awesome! He's so unapologetically racist, sexist, misogynistic and needy. I love it.
Friday
[movies] What? Wait- What?
Night Watch
There have been Light Others and Dark Others since the beginning of time. After a battle centuries ago, a truce was called and the Light Others became the Night Watch while the Dark Other became the Day Watch. A Seer joins the Light Others to keep the Night Others- wait, I mean Dark Others in check. If you're a vampire and you're hungry, there are forms you've got to fill out to get some dinner. Oh, and there's a prophecy that a female vortex will bring about the apocalypse.
Sound kind of complicated? Yeaaah. I wanted to chalk it up to the fact that this is a foreign film ("It's Russian. Maybe Russians get stuff like this.") but really it's just a confusing film. The bad guys, the good guys, the gloom, the vortex, the owl, the rules, the weird dubbing- it all works together to make for an especially confusing film experience that will leave you asking the question, "What just happened?"
Looks like the paperback just came out yesterday and the story is a trilogy. I'm gonna go get the book.
The movie was really jump-cutty (influenced, I think, from all the commercials the director had previously done) and the music was really electronic-metally (a la Rammstein, Marylin Manson). I'd give it 5/10 stars, but the may go up or down after I watch it a few more times to get a better understanding of what the shit was going on.
Old Boy
Everyone was telling me to watch this. "It's amazing." "It's got the most evil bad guy I've ever seen in a movie." "Oh, you HAVE to see it." So Dollar and I saw it. I was expecting a Korean Reservoir Dogs but really it was more like Memento. Bits and pieces of the mystery are revealed to the audience at the same time that they're revealed to the main character. The only downside to this movie is that Dollar guessed what would happen 3-5 minutes before they actually happened. I can't watch movies like this with him anymore.
I dunno. 7/10 stars. I'm being kind of generous here. I think it IS a total dude movie (there were a few parts I didn't see because I was covering my eyes) and it's twisted. Maybe you either love it (Dollar) or are ambivalent about it (me).
There have been Light Others and Dark Others since the beginning of time. After a battle centuries ago, a truce was called and the Light Others became the Night Watch while the Dark Other became the Day Watch. A Seer joins the Light Others to keep the Night Others- wait, I mean Dark Others in check. If you're a vampire and you're hungry, there are forms you've got to fill out to get some dinner. Oh, and there's a prophecy that a female vortex will bring about the apocalypse.
Sound kind of complicated? Yeaaah. I wanted to chalk it up to the fact that this is a foreign film ("It's Russian. Maybe Russians get stuff like this.") but really it's just a confusing film. The bad guys, the good guys, the gloom, the vortex, the owl, the rules, the weird dubbing- it all works together to make for an especially confusing film experience that will leave you asking the question, "What just happened?"
Looks like the paperback just came out yesterday and the story is a trilogy. I'm gonna go get the book.
The movie was really jump-cutty (influenced, I think, from all the commercials the director had previously done) and the music was really electronic-metally (a la Rammstein, Marylin Manson). I'd give it 5/10 stars, but the may go up or down after I watch it a few more times to get a better understanding of what the shit was going on.
Old Boy
Everyone was telling me to watch this. "It's amazing." "It's got the most evil bad guy I've ever seen in a movie." "Oh, you HAVE to see it." So Dollar and I saw it. I was expecting a Korean Reservoir Dogs but really it was more like Memento. Bits and pieces of the mystery are revealed to the audience at the same time that they're revealed to the main character. The only downside to this movie is that Dollar guessed what would happen 3-5 minutes before they actually happened. I can't watch movies like this with him anymore.
I dunno. 7/10 stars. I'm being kind of generous here. I think it IS a total dude movie (there were a few parts I didn't see because I was covering my eyes) and it's twisted. Maybe you either love it (Dollar) or are ambivalent about it (me).
Monday
[knitting] More Mason Dixon Washrags
The color here is a little washed out from the flash, but I made three and still have enough yellow leftover to make another solid one. 4 rags for $4.40 isn't bad at all.
And here's the back of the two two-colored ones. The back of the solid green doesn't look too different from the front but the wrong side is more noticable on these:
As far as I can tell, no one's posted what the wrong side looks like. It's not in the book and not on the knitalong website. I guess it doesn't really matter but I would have liked to have known.
Is the ugly wrong side going to put me off making more? Nope. I had to go out and buy more Sugar 'n Cream yesterday. Lookit the bright colors! Oh so cheerful!
My next move is to weave in ends and give the rags a good ol' machine wash and dry to see what happens.
And here's the back of the two two-colored ones. The back of the solid green doesn't look too different from the front but the wrong side is more noticable on these:
As far as I can tell, no one's posted what the wrong side looks like. It's not in the book and not on the knitalong website. I guess it doesn't really matter but I would have liked to have known.
Is the ugly wrong side going to put me off making more? Nope. I had to go out and buy more Sugar 'n Cream yesterday. Lookit the bright colors! Oh so cheerful!
My next move is to weave in ends and give the rags a good ol' machine wash and dry to see what happens.
[amy] Planes, Pains and Automobiles
I'm back from Portland. Barely. If I thought my flights OUT to Oregon were crappy, my flights back were- What's worse than "crappy"? Let's just say there were a couple instances where I wanted to throw myself in front of something that would kill me. As I was blissfully crushed to death, I would smile and breathe, "Fuck... you... United... ggllkkk."
4:00 am: Get up, check out of hotel, go to airport. I'll be walking in my front door to my sweet, sweet boyfriend by 6:00 pm.
5:00 am: Find out at airport that my connection in Chicago has been cancelled due to weather. My new route is Portland to San Francisco to Philadelphia to Manchester. I should be home and in the arms of my darling boyfriend by 12:00 am. Leave message for Dollar.
6:00 am: Board plane. Will be in San Francisco by 7:45 am.
8:30 am: Arrive San Francisco after a "Waiting for Crew" delay. Run to catch my connection 8:40 am connection to Philadelphia.
8:40 am: See that my flight is delayed until 12:20 pm. Doing the math in my head, I see that this will mean I'll miss my connection to Manchester. ... NOOOOOO! Go to United Customer Service desk to see about a different flight.
9:40 am: After standing in line, I finally get to an unfriendly woman who says there are NO flights she can get me on. I should just go to Philadelphia and hope that my connecting flight to Manchester is delayed. I say, "And if it isn't? What then?" She says, "We'll put you up in a hotel if it's because there isn't crew. Wait. No, there's isn't any crew because of weather so, No, we won't pay for your hotel." So, I get dinged for weather by proxy? She gives me another ticket to Manchester in case I miss my connections. I leave the line.
9:45 am: Find a place to sit down and look at ticket. Says "Washington/Dulles to Manchester". What. The. FUCK. I'm not even FLYING to FUCKING D.C.!!
9:46 am: Commence tears of frustration. Leave hysterical message for Dollar.
10:00 am: Try to sneak into US Airways terminal with my United boarding pass. They catch me and send me back.
10:20 am: Don't see my delayed flight to Philadelphia on the TV monitor anyone. Wonder if it left without me. Start to hyperventilate.
10:30 am: Realize I was looking at the Arrivals monitor. Departures monitor still says 12:20 pm.
10:35 am: Go to the bar to start drinking.
11:00 am: No one comes to take my order. Fuck this. Fuck the world. Fuck everyone. I want to blow up the airport. Arrest me. Fuck you. Find somewhere at gate to sit and stare at wall.
12:00 pm: Board plane, have seat in 2nd from last row of plane. We're going to be a little late taking off because we're waiting for a pilot. Jesus fucking Christ. You'd think after how many years of doing this that United would have their shit together and be able to doing this thing that they advertise they do (FLY YOU SOMEWHERE), but it's just too difficult.
12:40 pm: Pull away from gate. Sit on runway.
1:00 pm: Sit on runway.
1:30 pm: Still sitting on runway. Crew serves drinks and starts movie.
2:00 pm: Crew tells us that we're going to take off. Please put trays, seats up and let them know if there's anything they can do to be of service. Girl behind me says, "Yeah, you can come out here and kill yourself in front of us." I laugh.
7:00 pm: I'm starving. Food cart finally makes it down to the tail of the plane. Would I like to buy a snack box? Unfortunately all the good ones have been bought by everyone else on the plane. Nevermind I have to pay $5 (fuck you) but now my only choice is the shit box because I'm all the way in the back of the plane. Fuck. You. I buy one and see what tasty treats are hidden inside. Sesame butter (tastes and looks like shit butter), tropical fruit cocktail (allergic), trail mix (shit mix) and a bunch of other shit I can't eat. Fuck, I'm so hungry.
8:30 pm: Drink cart. I get a club soda. I don't want a cup of ice with it, do I? Because she only has one cup left and since I'm all the way in the back of the plane (the butt of the plane), that means I get the butt choices and the butt leftovers and end up having a shittier flight that everyone in the front of the plane. I vow never to sit in the back of the plane again (if I can help it). Drink warm club soda. Cry quietly.
10:30 pm: Arrive Philadelphia. Missed my connection (duh), go to the United Customer Service desk (outside Security Checkpoint) to see about another flight. Girl there tells me there's a 12:50 pm flight. I should run and see if I can get on it. Oh, and since I'm outside Security, I need a special security clearance ticket to get through since all the security officers are gone for the day.
11:00 pm: Show guy at security checkpoint my ticket. He says he can't let me through. I say that the people told me- He says they told me wrong. I say please, I have to- He says sorry (but doesn't mean it). I get on the Airport info phone and ask to me put through to the United Baggage Claim room. Person on other end of the phone say that the United Ticketing Counters are close. I say that I know that- I want to be connected with the United Baggage Claim room, where I know there's people. Person on other end of phone says, "Whatever" and connects me to a phone that rings and rings and rings and rings. I'm sure they've connected me to the Ticketing Counter because they're stupid fucks and I fucking hate this airport. See a guy I recognize (who has the same bogus security ticket as me) with an official looking airport person. I finagle my way through security with this guy, go running to the gate.
11:30 pm: Ask to be put on standby for the 12:50 pm flight.
11:31 pm: Flight delayed until 1:30 am.
11:35 pm: Get booked (for sure) for the 8:20 pm (!!!!!!) flight the next day. I plan on trying stand by for every flight until then, but at least I have a ticket.
12:50 pm: Wait.
1:30 am: No one's boarding. I ask what the hold up is and the woman tells me that they're waiting on Crew (What the FUCK?) to go through customs. They're coming. I say, "Okay. Well, that's useful information. Do you thinking you should maybe make an announcement to everyone else here who's waiting?" She laughs at me and says "No."
1:50 am: Woman announces that the flight has been cancelled due to weather in Manchester. Crowd, who had been waiting patiently up until this point, revolts. They surge toward her, shouting, "I don't believe this!", "I don't believe you!", "Unbelievable!", "Weather in Manchester! How much you wanna bet weather in Manchester's fine!", "This is ridiculous!", "I'm going to rip out your heart, eat it and then piss into your empty chest cavity!" (That was me.)
1:55 am: Leave through security gate. At least I'm booked on a flight. I call the Airport Marriott. I ask about vacancies. Woman says they're booked. I ask about where there might be vacancies around the airport. Woman says all the hotels in Philadelphia are booked and hangs up on me.
2:00 am: Call Dollar, sad and crying, tell him I'm going to sleep on the floor of the airport and that maybe I'll see him at midnight the next day. Or never. So tired. Want to die. Go outside and see man in pink cast I recognize from the same missed flight. He says he and a couple other guys are driving to Manchester because it's just not worth it. Driving? I ask if there's a seat available in the car please please please please? He says he doesn't know.
3:00 am: Other guys return from renting a car (they said a riot was starting to break out and they were lucky to get a car). There IS a seat available. I jump in.
3:14 am: Good bye and fuck you Philadelphia. City of Brotherly Love my ASS.
3:15 am – 9:00 am: Drive with three married businessmen; we talk and get to know one another. By the time we reach Connecticut, I realize I'm in a car with three conservative Republicans at about the same time they realize they're in a car with a dirty Vermont hippie Socialist. I worry they might throw me from the car.
9:20 am: Pull into Manchester Airport. Say goodbye to the guys, run to my car, throw in the luggage, get on the road home. It feels so good to drive and be so close to home.
10:30 am: Pull in my driveway. I didn't call Dollar to tell him I was catching a ride, so this will be a surprise. Run inside and throw myself at him.
10:31: Shower.
10:35: I sleep now.
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. United Sucks Donkey Balls. No one wants to help you and no one gives a shit about you. They won't pay for a hotel for you to stay in because they're going to come up with some bogus excuse to get out of it. All the "crew" delays weren't sufficiently explained to us. They just said "We're waiting for crew, so that we're legal to fly." Well where the fuck was the crew? Why can't you get more crew?
2. Philadelphia Airport Sucks Ass. Everyone there moves at the pace of molasses (seriously) and no one wants to help you. Picture this: You're stranded in a city you're unfamiliar with, it's the middle of the night and everything's closed- Who can you call for help? Information? They'll hang up on you. I would have called 911 just to get someone to come talk to me face-to-face but I probably would have been beaten within an inch of my life just so they could bring me to an emergency room to spend the night.
3. Philadelphia Airport and United Should be Destroyed. Our flight got into Philadelphia so late that the shuttle between terminals was closed. The only way to get from one terminal to another was to leave security, go out, walk down and go back in through security at the other terminal. But guess what? The security people who check your ticket/ID go home at 11:00 pm and NO ONE AT SECURITY is authorized let you go through security. Bravo. That's top notch planning. The only way to get from A to B is to leave security at A but you can't get through security at B because everyone's gone home for the night. You guy deserve a fucking medal for being the world's #1 retards.
4. Everyone at Philadelphia Airport is a Motherfucking Retard. The guys who got the rental car said that the computer was down at Hertz and the women working there had to fill out forms by hand. There were taking forever, writing everything out in block letters, spending 30 minutes to get ONE woman hooked up with a rental car. One of the "Customer Service" people behind the desk apparently got up and said, "I'm going home. I've been here for 9 hours." All 30 people in line said, "But we've been here for 20 hours!" That's what customer service is: a fucking douche-bag who isn't going to help you because she doesn't feel like it.
UPSIDE
Not one to be a Negative Nancy, I just wanted to post the bright side of my whole traveling fiasco: I didn't die. Oh, there were times when I wanted to (because it would have been the easy way out), but the planes didn't crash, the cars didn't crash and I made it home in one piece. There. There's your stupid bright side.
4:00 am: Get up, check out of hotel, go to airport. I'll be walking in my front door to my sweet, sweet boyfriend by 6:00 pm.
5:00 am: Find out at airport that my connection in Chicago has been cancelled due to weather. My new route is Portland to San Francisco to Philadelphia to Manchester. I should be home and in the arms of my darling boyfriend by 12:00 am. Leave message for Dollar.
6:00 am: Board plane. Will be in San Francisco by 7:45 am.
8:30 am: Arrive San Francisco after a "Waiting for Crew" delay. Run to catch my connection 8:40 am connection to Philadelphia.
8:40 am: See that my flight is delayed until 12:20 pm. Doing the math in my head, I see that this will mean I'll miss my connection to Manchester. ... NOOOOOO! Go to United Customer Service desk to see about a different flight.
9:40 am: After standing in line, I finally get to an unfriendly woman who says there are NO flights she can get me on. I should just go to Philadelphia and hope that my connecting flight to Manchester is delayed. I say, "And if it isn't? What then?" She says, "We'll put you up in a hotel if it's because there isn't crew. Wait. No, there's isn't any crew because of weather so, No, we won't pay for your hotel." So, I get dinged for weather by proxy? She gives me another ticket to Manchester in case I miss my connections. I leave the line.
9:45 am: Find a place to sit down and look at ticket. Says "Washington/Dulles to Manchester". What. The. FUCK. I'm not even FLYING to FUCKING D.C.!!
9:46 am: Commence tears of frustration. Leave hysterical message for Dollar.
10:00 am: Try to sneak into US Airways terminal with my United boarding pass. They catch me and send me back.
10:20 am: Don't see my delayed flight to Philadelphia on the TV monitor anyone. Wonder if it left without me. Start to hyperventilate.
10:30 am: Realize I was looking at the Arrivals monitor. Departures monitor still says 12:20 pm.
10:35 am: Go to the bar to start drinking.
11:00 am: No one comes to take my order. Fuck this. Fuck the world. Fuck everyone. I want to blow up the airport. Arrest me. Fuck you. Find somewhere at gate to sit and stare at wall.
12:00 pm: Board plane, have seat in 2nd from last row of plane. We're going to be a little late taking off because we're waiting for a pilot. Jesus fucking Christ. You'd think after how many years of doing this that United would have their shit together and be able to doing this thing that they advertise they do (FLY YOU SOMEWHERE), but it's just too difficult.
12:40 pm: Pull away from gate. Sit on runway.
1:00 pm: Sit on runway.
1:30 pm: Still sitting on runway. Crew serves drinks and starts movie.
2:00 pm: Crew tells us that we're going to take off. Please put trays, seats up and let them know if there's anything they can do to be of service. Girl behind me says, "Yeah, you can come out here and kill yourself in front of us." I laugh.
7:00 pm: I'm starving. Food cart finally makes it down to the tail of the plane. Would I like to buy a snack box? Unfortunately all the good ones have been bought by everyone else on the plane. Nevermind I have to pay $5 (fuck you) but now my only choice is the shit box because I'm all the way in the back of the plane. Fuck. You. I buy one and see what tasty treats are hidden inside. Sesame butter (tastes and looks like shit butter), tropical fruit cocktail (allergic), trail mix (shit mix) and a bunch of other shit I can't eat. Fuck, I'm so hungry.
8:30 pm: Drink cart. I get a club soda. I don't want a cup of ice with it, do I? Because she only has one cup left and since I'm all the way in the back of the plane (the butt of the plane), that means I get the butt choices and the butt leftovers and end up having a shittier flight that everyone in the front of the plane. I vow never to sit in the back of the plane again (if I can help it). Drink warm club soda. Cry quietly.
10:30 pm: Arrive Philadelphia. Missed my connection (duh), go to the United Customer Service desk (outside Security Checkpoint) to see about another flight. Girl there tells me there's a 12:50 pm flight. I should run and see if I can get on it. Oh, and since I'm outside Security, I need a special security clearance ticket to get through since all the security officers are gone for the day.
11:00 pm: Show guy at security checkpoint my ticket. He says he can't let me through. I say that the people told me- He says they told me wrong. I say please, I have to- He says sorry (but doesn't mean it). I get on the Airport info phone and ask to me put through to the United Baggage Claim room. Person on other end of the phone say that the United Ticketing Counters are close. I say that I know that- I want to be connected with the United Baggage Claim room, where I know there's people. Person on other end of phone says, "Whatever" and connects me to a phone that rings and rings and rings and rings. I'm sure they've connected me to the Ticketing Counter because they're stupid fucks and I fucking hate this airport. See a guy I recognize (who has the same bogus security ticket as me) with an official looking airport person. I finagle my way through security with this guy, go running to the gate.
11:30 pm: Ask to be put on standby for the 12:50 pm flight.
11:31 pm: Flight delayed until 1:30 am.
11:35 pm: Get booked (for sure) for the 8:20 pm (!!!!!!) flight the next day. I plan on trying stand by for every flight until then, but at least I have a ticket.
12:50 pm: Wait.
1:30 am: No one's boarding. I ask what the hold up is and the woman tells me that they're waiting on Crew (What the FUCK?) to go through customs. They're coming. I say, "Okay. Well, that's useful information. Do you thinking you should maybe make an announcement to everyone else here who's waiting?" She laughs at me and says "No."
1:50 am: Woman announces that the flight has been cancelled due to weather in Manchester. Crowd, who had been waiting patiently up until this point, revolts. They surge toward her, shouting, "I don't believe this!", "I don't believe you!", "Unbelievable!", "Weather in Manchester! How much you wanna bet weather in Manchester's fine!", "This is ridiculous!", "I'm going to rip out your heart, eat it and then piss into your empty chest cavity!" (That was me.)
1:55 am: Leave through security gate. At least I'm booked on a flight. I call the Airport Marriott. I ask about vacancies. Woman says they're booked. I ask about where there might be vacancies around the airport. Woman says all the hotels in Philadelphia are booked and hangs up on me.
2:00 am: Call Dollar, sad and crying, tell him I'm going to sleep on the floor of the airport and that maybe I'll see him at midnight the next day. Or never. So tired. Want to die. Go outside and see man in pink cast I recognize from the same missed flight. He says he and a couple other guys are driving to Manchester because it's just not worth it. Driving? I ask if there's a seat available in the car please please please please? He says he doesn't know.
3:00 am: Other guys return from renting a car (they said a riot was starting to break out and they were lucky to get a car). There IS a seat available. I jump in.
3:14 am: Good bye and fuck you Philadelphia. City of Brotherly Love my ASS.
3:15 am – 9:00 am: Drive with three married businessmen; we talk and get to know one another. By the time we reach Connecticut, I realize I'm in a car with three conservative Republicans at about the same time they realize they're in a car with a dirty Vermont hippie Socialist. I worry they might throw me from the car.
9:20 am: Pull into Manchester Airport. Say goodbye to the guys, run to my car, throw in the luggage, get on the road home. It feels so good to drive and be so close to home.
10:30 am: Pull in my driveway. I didn't call Dollar to tell him I was catching a ride, so this will be a surprise. Run inside and throw myself at him.
10:31: Shower.
10:35: I sleep now.
LESSONS LEARNED:
1. United Sucks Donkey Balls. No one wants to help you and no one gives a shit about you. They won't pay for a hotel for you to stay in because they're going to come up with some bogus excuse to get out of it. All the "crew" delays weren't sufficiently explained to us. They just said "We're waiting for crew, so that we're legal to fly." Well where the fuck was the crew? Why can't you get more crew?
2. Philadelphia Airport Sucks Ass. Everyone there moves at the pace of molasses (seriously) and no one wants to help you. Picture this: You're stranded in a city you're unfamiliar with, it's the middle of the night and everything's closed- Who can you call for help? Information? They'll hang up on you. I would have called 911 just to get someone to come talk to me face-to-face but I probably would have been beaten within an inch of my life just so they could bring me to an emergency room to spend the night.
3. Philadelphia Airport and United Should be Destroyed. Our flight got into Philadelphia so late that the shuttle between terminals was closed. The only way to get from one terminal to another was to leave security, go out, walk down and go back in through security at the other terminal. But guess what? The security people who check your ticket/ID go home at 11:00 pm and NO ONE AT SECURITY is authorized let you go through security. Bravo. That's top notch planning. The only way to get from A to B is to leave security at A but you can't get through security at B because everyone's gone home for the night. You guy deserve a fucking medal for being the world's #1 retards.
4. Everyone at Philadelphia Airport is a Motherfucking Retard. The guys who got the rental car said that the computer was down at Hertz and the women working there had to fill out forms by hand. There were taking forever, writing everything out in block letters, spending 30 minutes to get ONE woman hooked up with a rental car. One of the "Customer Service" people behind the desk apparently got up and said, "I'm going home. I've been here for 9 hours." All 30 people in line said, "But we've been here for 20 hours!" That's what customer service is: a fucking douche-bag who isn't going to help you because she doesn't feel like it.
UPSIDE
Not one to be a Negative Nancy, I just wanted to post the bright side of my whole traveling fiasco: I didn't die. Oh, there were times when I wanted to (because it would have been the easy way out), but the planes didn't crash, the cars didn't crash and I made it home in one piece. There. There's your stupid bright side.
Tuesday
[amy] Portland, OR
I'm in Portland, Oregon for the week and I really like it so far. It's cool (temperature and mood-wise), green and feels safe. Which is nice after having such crap flights out here. I went from Manchester, NH to Chicago to Portland. Chicago to Portland was the worst- totally full flight, I had a middle seat, neither of my seat-mates would give me an arm rest, the kid behind me was kicking my chair and the man in front of me stank. Ugh. I was ready to kill everyone on the plane.
The upside is that I was able to get a lot of knitting done on the flights:
These Mason Dixon washrags really are easy and addictive. I usually don't like knitting with cotton because there's no elasticity to the yarn but these are a pleasure to knit. They're soft and squishy. I'm nearly done with the contrasting one and want to make another but I don't want to duplicate one I've already made. I'm trying to find out where I can get more Sugar 'n Cream yarn in Downtown Portland but I can't seem to find anything. Which is worrying because now I don't know what I'll knit for the flight back home!
I went for a riverside walk around the Willamette River last night. Here are some photos:
The upside is that I was able to get a lot of knitting done on the flights:
These Mason Dixon washrags really are easy and addictive. I usually don't like knitting with cotton because there's no elasticity to the yarn but these are a pleasure to knit. They're soft and squishy. I'm nearly done with the contrasting one and want to make another but I don't want to duplicate one I've already made. I'm trying to find out where I can get more Sugar 'n Cream yarn in Downtown Portland but I can't seem to find anything. Which is worrying because now I don't know what I'll knit for the flight back home!
I went for a riverside walk around the Willamette River last night. Here are some photos:
Friday
[knitting] Knitting and craft worries
I've started the handles for the French Market Bag. After decreasing for one of the 4 handles, I knew I was going to have to use another color for the grip part of the handles. I went up to the craft room and picked a natural wool that (a) I thought would felt and (b) was close to the same gauge. The off-white is stark but I *am* going to overdye the whole thing and I'm hoping the handles turn out all right.
I got Mason Dixon Knitting in the mail. I like so many of the patterns in here. They seem functional, inexpensive and creative. Check out the knitalong (where the washrags appear to be the most popular item to make). Which is the first thing I plan on making:
And I had to stop by the craft store to pick up some beads to melt:
This is all the rage at Craftster right now. I've been reading some stuff about toxic fumes coming from the oven when you're baking them and toyed with the idea of getting a separate convection oven but... meh, I'm not too worried.
Or should I be?
Yeah, I don't really want to do this in my everyday, "I cook food in here" oven. Maybe I'll get a heat gun and melt the beads on a glass plate out in the backyard. Do you think the heat gun would blow the beads around? What if I actually melt the beads onto the plate? Dang, I'm gonna have to think on this more.
I got Mason Dixon Knitting in the mail. I like so many of the patterns in here. They seem functional, inexpensive and creative. Check out the knitalong (where the washrags appear to be the most popular item to make). Which is the first thing I plan on making:
And I had to stop by the craft store to pick up some beads to melt:
This is all the rage at Craftster right now. I've been reading some stuff about toxic fumes coming from the oven when you're baking them and toyed with the idea of getting a separate convection oven but... meh, I'm not too worried.
Or should I be?
Yeah, I don't really want to do this in my everyday, "I cook food in here" oven. Maybe I'll get a heat gun and melt the beads on a glass plate out in the backyard. Do you think the heat gun would blow the beads around? What if I actually melt the beads onto the plate? Dang, I'm gonna have to think on this more.
Tuesday
[amy] I. Don't. Like. Lightning.
I'm scared of lightning and thunder. Oh, some people love it and ask me, "Why are you such a scaredy cat, you little woosey baby?" Well, I was shocked by lightning when I was in high school. I'd like to stress that I wasn't actually HIT. I was standing in my doorway (on a metal frame, duh, but at that point I wasn't scared) calling to my cat to come in from the downpour. Then the lightning hit the ground in front of the house, oscillated through the ground (so they tell me), into the metal, into my legs and I fell backwards down a flight of stairs.
I know, I know: This probably explains a lot about me. But right after that I would have to hide under a bed if there was a storm. No way could I even be near a window. I'm a bit better now, but I don't like touching doors or windows when there's any sign of lightning or thunder.
Today, this morning, it's bad. At home, I made a mad dash out to my car to go to work. As I drove, I kept repeating "I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful" with growing frenzy (a la 'What About Bob?') as I navigated the roads in a torrential downpour, with lightning flashing and thunder rumbling.
Then lightning hit a telephone a mere twenty feet in front of me. A gigantic bolt of electricity hit the top of the pole and a huge shower of red sparks rained down on the road like fireworks. Thunder vibrated all the windows in my car. I braked and thought, "Should I drive by? What if the pole lands on my car and there are all these live wires and I get electrocuted? Didn't I see something like that in a movie? What should I-? Should I-?" Wanting to get the hell away, I roared away. Bug eyed, shaking, like, "What just happened?"
Whoa. Weird, right?
When I was getting closer to work, I started planning the route I would run from my car to the front door. Then a huge white light exploded in my rearview mirror and I went, "What was-" Then more window-imploding thunder and more red-sparks. Lightning had just hit ANOTHER telephone pole, one I had just driven by.
THE LIGHTNING WANTS ME. I'm now convinced that it was supposed to get me in high school but never did so now it's going to keep trying until it finally succeeds to electrocute me.
Monday
[recipe] Green Stuffed Green Peppers
1 box couscous
3 green bell peppers
1/3 cup diced green bell peppers
1/3 cup diced scallions
1/2 cup diced zucchini
1/3 cup diced button mushrooms
6 slices cheese
Preheat oven to 375. Cook couscous according to directions on the box. I used 'Near East Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil' and cooked in beef stock and a little olive oil. Cut three whole bell peppers in half lengthwise, clean middle and de-vein. Place up (like little boats) in oiled casserole dish.
In a skillet, saute bell peppers, scallions and zucchini in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until soft. Add mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork, add cooked vegetables, mix and spoon into bell pepper boats. Cover each half with a slice of cheese. I used Cabot Pepper Jack because it comes in nice square burger slices. Bake for 20-25 minutes (the cheese should be browned on top).
NOTES: Dice up and use just about any vegetables to mix into the couscous (yellow squash, asparagus, onions/shallots, red/orange/yellow bell peppers). I was using green bell peppers as boats and liked that my veggies for the filling were white/green. I was going to add diced tomatoes to the cooked couscous but decided that I didn’t want the color red in there. Because I have OCD. The cheese is necessary. If you don’t make a little roof for your bell pepper boat, your couscous is going to dry out in the oven and turn into grapenuts. Use a nice cheese. One of these boats will make a nice side dish, two will make a filling supper.
3 green bell peppers
1/3 cup diced green bell peppers
1/3 cup diced scallions
1/2 cup diced zucchini
1/3 cup diced button mushrooms
6 slices cheese
Preheat oven to 375. Cook couscous according to directions on the box. I used 'Near East Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil' and cooked in beef stock and a little olive oil. Cut three whole bell peppers in half lengthwise, clean middle and de-vein. Place up (like little boats) in oiled casserole dish.
In a skillet, saute bell peppers, scallions and zucchini in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until soft. Add mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes. Fluff couscous with a fork, add cooked vegetables, mix and spoon into bell pepper boats. Cover each half with a slice of cheese. I used Cabot Pepper Jack because it comes in nice square burger slices. Bake for 20-25 minutes (the cheese should be browned on top).
NOTES: Dice up and use just about any vegetables to mix into the couscous (yellow squash, asparagus, onions/shallots, red/orange/yellow bell peppers). I was using green bell peppers as boats and liked that my veggies for the filling were white/green. I was going to add diced tomatoes to the cooked couscous but decided that I didn’t want the color red in there. Because I have OCD. The cheese is necessary. If you don’t make a little roof for your bell pepper boat, your couscous is going to dry out in the oven and turn into grapenuts. Use a nice cheese. One of these boats will make a nice side dish, two will make a filling supper.
[amy] Weekend party and recovery
The weekend was pretty chill. Stayed in Friday night. Went to the party Saturday night. Recovered all of Sunday.
No School was fun. Blabpipe (the band Dollar's in) was really good. I particularly enjoyed screaming "I live you, Phil!" like a rabid fan. Nevermind Phil is the drum machine, I just wanted to see Dollar cry.
During the day there was lots of grilling, beer pong, croquet, bocce and chilling. Once the sun set, the DJ's started mixing it up down in the basement. I had a nice time talking to everyone and meeting new people.
When it was time to head out, I counted up all the croquet pieces and found one mallet to be missing. I went on a hunt around the outskirts of the crowd and finally saw some guy holding onto it. I asked for it back and he gave it willingly. I then informed him that after the arduous journey I'd have to go and throw the mallet into Mount Doom. He didn't know what I was talking about.
Yesterday Dollar and I finished watching season 2 of LOST. Hrm. I think the season started off strongly but about halfway through I started to disbelieve some of the character's actions. They've only been on the island for a couple of months but everyone seems to be suddenly acting differently or inconsistently. Kate was all super-secret to begin with, a bad-ass. Now she's toying with both Sawyer and Jack? You'd think she'd be the type to keep to herself, right? And Claire's all, "Be a father to my baby, Charlie, even though you're a complete stranger. No I hate you. Just kidding, let me hold your hand. Wait, didn't you try to kill my baby? Oh a present? I love you again! You're not still a junkie, are you?" Whatever. I do enjoy all the flashbacks and seeing how everyone's connected. At this point, though, I just want them to be rescued and have the mystery solved.
No School was fun. Blabpipe (the band Dollar's in) was really good. I particularly enjoyed screaming "I live you, Phil!" like a rabid fan. Nevermind Phil is the drum machine, I just wanted to see Dollar cry.
During the day there was lots of grilling, beer pong, croquet, bocce and chilling. Once the sun set, the DJ's started mixing it up down in the basement. I had a nice time talking to everyone and meeting new people.
When it was time to head out, I counted up all the croquet pieces and found one mallet to be missing. I went on a hunt around the outskirts of the crowd and finally saw some guy holding onto it. I asked for it back and he gave it willingly. I then informed him that after the arduous journey I'd have to go and throw the mallet into Mount Doom. He didn't know what I was talking about.
Yesterday Dollar and I finished watching season 2 of LOST. Hrm. I think the season started off strongly but about halfway through I started to disbelieve some of the character's actions. They've only been on the island for a couple of months but everyone seems to be suddenly acting differently or inconsistently. Kate was all super-secret to begin with, a bad-ass. Now she's toying with both Sawyer and Jack? You'd think she'd be the type to keep to herself, right? And Claire's all, "Be a father to my baby, Charlie, even though you're a complete stranger. No I hate you. Just kidding, let me hold your hand. Wait, didn't you try to kill my baby? Oh a present? I love you again! You're not still a junkie, are you?" Whatever. I do enjoy all the flashbacks and seeing how everyone's connected. At this point, though, I just want them to be rescued and have the mystery solved.
Thursday
[knitting] Wedding Afghan
Best knit blanket I have ever seen. Ever. Hands down. I want to find the woman's neice and steal it from her.
[party] NO SCHOOL
What happens at NO SCHOOL stays at NO SCHOOL. This Saturday. Anyone and everyone is invited.
[music] Pictures from Bonnaroo
Here was home. We kept most stuff in the car. The tent, chairs, gazebo and table we would leave out. The gazebo held up really well. At times it got fairly windy and it would sway a bit but it held fast.
It may not look like it but that's a VERY large smoke ring (as big as a house). It's sent up from the "Art of Such 'n' Such" area, which was about a 20 minute walk away.
The only concert I took a picture of: Cypress Hill.
They inflated a great big Buddha on stage (with a pretty flower on it's belly!) and proceeded to sing a song. B-Real was cool as hell, Muggs was awesome but it was Sen Dog that I really, really liked. He sounded so much better live (B-Real sounds the same as on the albums). Sen Dog blew me away. If there had been a roof over the crowd, he would have blown it off.
[knitting] French Market Bag
I started binding off sections of the bag to begin knitting the handles. I'm using the yarn I dyed with Kool-Aid a while back.
I plan on overdying the bag red (in a pot, on the stove) when I'm all done knitting but before felting. I'm hoping the blue will turn purple, the reds will get redder and the purple will turn burgundy. The blue is driving me mad.
Over all, though, I'm happy with the way the color is uniformly mixed. There's a little color pooling at the bottom but that's the bottom of the bag, so no one will see it.
I plan on overdying the bag red (in a pot, on the stove) when I'm all done knitting but before felting. I'm hoping the blue will turn purple, the reds will get redder and the purple will turn burgundy. The blue is driving me mad.
Over all, though, I'm happy with the way the color is uniformly mixed. There's a little color pooling at the bottom but that's the bottom of the bag, so no one will see it.
[amy] Thank you- I mean- them.
[SCENE: Amy comes home from her cousin's wedding to find a bouquet on the dining room table, with a Post-It that says "To Amy, Love Dollar"] AMY: Aww, that's so sweet. What are these for?
DOLLAR: My coworkers gave them to me.
AMY: ... Your coworkers gave you flowers and you're giving them to me?
DOLLAR: No, they got them for you.
AMY: Your coworkers got me flowers?
DOLLAR: They put that note on it. They're supposed to be from me.
AMY: Hang on, your coworkers got me flowers that they signed your name to?
DOLLAR: Yeah.
AMY: That's... nice of them.
DOLLAR: ...
AMY: Do they think you need- Was I supposed to think that you got me the flowers?
DOLLAR: I don't know.
AMY: Well... that was nice of them anyway.
DOLLAR: They got me mini cans of Dr. Pepper.
AMY: You have really nice coworkers.
Wednesday
[amy] Everything bad is good again
It's been another week since my last confession. I'm feeling a lot better and had a nice, long holiday weekend. Didn't really do much 4th of July stuff (BBQs or Fireworks)- it was all LOST all the time. Dollar got all the episodes of season 2 onto a laptop and hooked the laptop up to the tv. I think we watched 14 episodes from Saturday through last night. THE SHOW IS BLOWING MY MIND. What was the first incident? Who are "the others"? Does something on the island heal people? Is it the thing locked away in the bunker? There are just too many questions. It's nice, though, to be able to discuss and speculate on an unpredictable show. Monday night we went out to dinner and spent the whole time talking about the story. Dollar thinks everyone was brought there as an experiment. I think the black smoke is tangible bad luck or fear. But who knows.
I've been knitting the French Market Bag with some of my Kool-Aid dyed wool. I'm at the handles and plan to overdye the bag before felting it. The blue is just really ruining it for me.
I got Wilt in the mail for bookclub, but I also got Crux. Crux is volume #9 in the Lucifer series (which is a spinoff of The Sandman series). Since I don't really remember how Volume #8 ended, I decided to re-read the series. But then I thought I might as well re-read The Sandman series first since it's been a couple years. I'm in the middle of Season of Mists right now. I think Wilt is only going to be read during my Portland trip (rescheduled to take place in a couple weeks).
And the biggest news I have is that Dollar got a promotion at work and is now (starting today!!!) working days like a normal person. We went to bed at the same time last night and got up at the same time this morning. Soon we'll start coordinating our outfits and finishing each other's sentences. ... Maybe we won't go that far but it'll be nice to see him this evening, have supper together and watch more LOST. Usually we're only able to do fun things like that on weekends so I think it'll feel like the weekend all the time to me now.
I've been knitting the French Market Bag with some of my Kool-Aid dyed wool. I'm at the handles and plan to overdye the bag before felting it. The blue is just really ruining it for me.
I got Wilt in the mail for bookclub, but I also got Crux. Crux is volume #9 in the Lucifer series (which is a spinoff of The Sandman series). Since I don't really remember how Volume #8 ended, I decided to re-read the series. But then I thought I might as well re-read The Sandman series first since it's been a couple years. I'm in the middle of Season of Mists right now. I think Wilt is only going to be read during my Portland trip (rescheduled to take place in a couple weeks).
And the biggest news I have is that Dollar got a promotion at work and is now (starting today!!!) working days like a normal person. We went to bed at the same time last night and got up at the same time this morning. Soon we'll start coordinating our outfits and finishing each other's sentences. ... Maybe we won't go that far but it'll be nice to see him this evening, have supper together and watch more LOST. Usually we're only able to do fun things like that on weekends so I think it'll feel like the weekend all the time to me now.
[amy] Back and sicker than ever
It's been a week since my last post. I came back from Bonnaroo with some kind of bug that had me spending 6 hours in the emergency room this past Sunday. You name a symptom, I guarantee I had it. After three hours at the hospital, I didn't want to be there anymore and started crying. I asked the nurse to get Dollar from the waiting room. He comes in and sees me in a hospital gown, on a stretcher, hooked up to an IV and crying. Poor guy nearly lost his mind with worry. I told him I was okay, I just wanted to go home. But it turned out I had mad viruses.
So I haven't been doing anything other than feeling a little better, feeling a lot worse, feeling a little better, feeling a lot worse. I missed my high school reunion and a flight for work. I've been having crazy dreams about mushroom clouds, car crashes, cops, cotton yarn and other unsettling things that begin with the letter 'c'.
I did get some new music to help ease my pain. The Streets' The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (best performance I saw at Bonnaroo) and Goldfrapp's Supernature. 'The Hardest Way' is VERY good, 'Supernature' get's a "meh" vote (sounds like all the other Goldfrapp albums to me).
So I haven't been doing anything other than feeling a little better, feeling a lot worse, feeling a little better, feeling a lot worse. I missed my high school reunion and a flight for work. I've been having crazy dreams about mushroom clouds, car crashes, cops, cotton yarn and other unsettling things that begin with the letter 'c'.
I did get some new music to help ease my pain. The Streets' The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living (best performance I saw at Bonnaroo) and Goldfrapp's Supernature. 'The Hardest Way' is VERY good, 'Supernature' get's a "meh" vote (sounds like all the other Goldfrapp albums to me).
[amy] Back from Bonnaroo
Bonnaroo rocked. Hardcore. It was awesome. I am home and filled with post-Bonnaroo depression. We saw Seu Jorge, Damian Marley, Cypress Hill, The Streets, Atmosphere, Lyrics Born, Gomez, Oysterhead. We heard (but didn't actually see) Tom Petty, Bonnie Raitt, Phil Lesh, Soulive. We briefly saw Common, Mike Doughty, Rusted Root. There's more, but I can't remember it all. It was amazing. HOT and amazing. Dollar and I are already talking about next year.
Go to the Bonnaroo website and look at all the pictures. Make sure to check out the 'Atmospheric' pictures under each day- those show you what the whole scene was like. During the day there was lots to do/see. The arcade was cool. HUGE smoke signals (as big as houses) were sent up. At night there were fireworks going off all the time. People spinning fire. It was a good time.
Showers were $10 a pop, so we only took a shower once there. We had to. One evening we got back to the camp site and Dollar pulled off his socks. I said, "Oh! Look at your tan line!" He said, "Yeah, I don't think that's a tan line. I think it's a dirt line." I took out a moist cloth and wiped at it. I was in fact a dirt line. So gross.
Everyone there was cool. The cops patroled on horses but I didn't see them once hassling people. I think there were just making sure no fights or fires broke out. And a helicopter was patroling overhead every couple of hours. Inside Centeroo, it was packed all the time, but people minded their own business and were there for the music. People would pass out under trees, inside the (air conditioned) cinema tent, under bleachers- basically anywhere cool.
I could go on and on about this but I'm still tired. And actually a little sick. It came on Monday while we were driving back. I think my body just wore out but I'm glad it didn't come on until AFTER Bonnaroo was over.
Next year. Next year we'll do it up better and figure out a way to see and do more. I hope you go. I just heard the perfect quote: "To attend Bonnaroo is to suffer happily." For realz.
Go to the Bonnaroo website and look at all the pictures. Make sure to check out the 'Atmospheric' pictures under each day- those show you what the whole scene was like. During the day there was lots to do/see. The arcade was cool. HUGE smoke signals (as big as houses) were sent up. At night there were fireworks going off all the time. People spinning fire. It was a good time.
Showers were $10 a pop, so we only took a shower once there. We had to. One evening we got back to the camp site and Dollar pulled off his socks. I said, "Oh! Look at your tan line!" He said, "Yeah, I don't think that's a tan line. I think it's a dirt line." I took out a moist cloth and wiped at it. I was in fact a dirt line. So gross.
Everyone there was cool. The cops patroled on horses but I didn't see them once hassling people. I think there were just making sure no fights or fires broke out. And a helicopter was patroling overhead every couple of hours. Inside Centeroo, it was packed all the time, but people minded their own business and were there for the music. People would pass out under trees, inside the (air conditioned) cinema tent, under bleachers- basically anywhere cool.
I could go on and on about this but I'm still tired. And actually a little sick. It came on Monday while we were driving back. I think my body just wore out but I'm glad it didn't come on until AFTER Bonnaroo was over.
Next year. Next year we'll do it up better and figure out a way to see and do more. I hope you go. I just heard the perfect quote: "To attend Bonnaroo is to suffer happily." For realz.
Tuesday
[henry] A Love Letter To Ann Coulter
I mentioned last week what a monster Ann is. Henry Rollins (my OTHER boyfriend) writes a love letter to her.
Monday
[amy] Still a bad person
What a busy weekend. Friday night I went out and got most of the remaining items for Bonnaroo. I'd say Dollar and I are 99% good-to-go. I just need to run up to my mom's to get her coolers, pick up some ice and PACK EVERYTHING.
Saturday afternoon I baby-sat for a co-worker. It consisted of me knitting on the couch while the kids slept. I heard the baby talking at one point and instead of letting her go back to sleep, I selfishly said, "Oh okay, you want to get up? Okay. More baby time for me, tee hee." The baby got up, ran around, wanted to go outside. I sat on the couch, thinking, "Maybe this wasn't such a hot idea. I just wanted her to sit quietly next to me and look adorable." So by 6:00 pm, baby was tired from not having slept enough and had a little baby-meltdown. But both kids were easy. The older one helped me translate what the younger one was saying: "Moh gee? Moh gee? What does that mean?" "She wants more juice." "Oooooh. Okay."
Saturday night I... What did I do? Oh yeah, I re-affirmed the whole "Amy's a terrible person" thing. Basically I felt like crap all of Friday. I was going to do some random acts of kindness to make up for it. Saturday night Dollar and I went out to dinner at our favorite Thai place. When the bill came, it was only $26. We've gotten cheap bills at this place before- which is why we like to go there. We remark on how great the bill is and I slur, "An that's wif my Fog Cutter an ev'rythan." Dollar looks for the Fog Cutter on the bill and sees it marked on the back. With the chicken teriyaki. They totally didn't charge us for some stuff. So I'm like, "We should tell them." Dollar laughed. I go back and forth between "tell them... no, it's their mistake, no TELL THEM, no wait, maybe God knows how we have to save our money for Bonnaroo so this is, like, a break or something... no, we have to tell them." So after much Amy-on-Amy debate, which Dollar watching with growing fear, I let him go up and pay the bill (he didn't tell them). I ran out to the truck, threw myself across the front seats and wailed, "Oh I AM and bad person, I AM. This was my chance for a random act of kindness and I pooped on it! WHY?!?! WHY?!?!"
Sunday I went on a walking tour of White River Junction. Very informative and unsettling. Then I went up to my dad's to borrow a 6-gallon water jug. I came home, did some chores and helped Dollar set up a temporary gazebo that we're bringing down to Tennessee. I pulled the table out of the back of my CR-V (which is the rear storage well cover), set up the new camp stove on it and practiced cooking outside. It really is a whole new cooking experience. To prepare, I brought a cardboard box into the kitchen, put all the cooking things I thought I'd need in it and went outside to chop/cook. I only ran inside for a couple things but we were able to have a red and green pepper stir-fry with chourico. No franks and beans on this camping vacation.
Then we stayed outside at the table with a citronella candle burning, enjoying the night.
Saturday afternoon I baby-sat for a co-worker. It consisted of me knitting on the couch while the kids slept. I heard the baby talking at one point and instead of letting her go back to sleep, I selfishly said, "Oh okay, you want to get up? Okay. More baby time for me, tee hee." The baby got up, ran around, wanted to go outside. I sat on the couch, thinking, "Maybe this wasn't such a hot idea. I just wanted her to sit quietly next to me and look adorable." So by 6:00 pm, baby was tired from not having slept enough and had a little baby-meltdown. But both kids were easy. The older one helped me translate what the younger one was saying: "Moh gee? Moh gee? What does that mean?" "She wants more juice." "Oooooh. Okay."
Saturday night I... What did I do? Oh yeah, I re-affirmed the whole "Amy's a terrible person" thing. Basically I felt like crap all of Friday. I was going to do some random acts of kindness to make up for it. Saturday night Dollar and I went out to dinner at our favorite Thai place. When the bill came, it was only $26. We've gotten cheap bills at this place before- which is why we like to go there. We remark on how great the bill is and I slur, "An that's wif my Fog Cutter an ev'rythan." Dollar looks for the Fog Cutter on the bill and sees it marked on the back. With the chicken teriyaki. They totally didn't charge us for some stuff. So I'm like, "We should tell them." Dollar laughed. I go back and forth between "tell them... no, it's their mistake, no TELL THEM, no wait, maybe God knows how we have to save our money for Bonnaroo so this is, like, a break or something... no, we have to tell them." So after much Amy-on-Amy debate, which Dollar watching with growing fear, I let him go up and pay the bill (he didn't tell them). I ran out to the truck, threw myself across the front seats and wailed, "Oh I AM and bad person, I AM. This was my chance for a random act of kindness and I pooped on it! WHY?!?! WHY?!?!"
Sunday I went on a walking tour of White River Junction. Very informative and unsettling. Then I went up to my dad's to borrow a 6-gallon water jug. I came home, did some chores and helped Dollar set up a temporary gazebo that we're bringing down to Tennessee. I pulled the table out of the back of my CR-V (which is the rear storage well cover), set up the new camp stove on it and practiced cooking outside. It really is a whole new cooking experience. To prepare, I brought a cardboard box into the kitchen, put all the cooking things I thought I'd need in it and went outside to chop/cook. I only ran inside for a couple things but we were able to have a red and green pepper stir-fry with chourico. No franks and beans on this camping vacation.
Then we stayed outside at the table with a citronella candle burning, enjoying the night.
Friday
[knitting] Eunny used to be so cool
Eunny knits posh stuff. I bought her vest pattern (but still have as-yet to knit it). Her online tutorial series on steaks and lace have been very informative. Unforch, somewhere along the line something crawled up her butt and made a home for itself. Check out this post. While I rolled my eyes a bit at her beach read (Faulkner? Please. What a coincidence that he's Oprah's summer author of choice!), I took some offense to her fashion snobbery. I run around in clothes that don't match and I love my cheap-ass flip flops that only cost $5. I don't want to spend any more than that because I don't expect them to last more than a summer (trust me, anything longer gets a little smelly).
There's something to be said for getting all gussied up and going out. There's also something else to be said for women who actually have jobs and work 8-10 hours per day, have kids, have to get supper ready, do the dishes, do the laundry, do the vacuuming, attend community meetings, and still try to work in time for ourselves. So it becomes difficult to make sure the bra matches the underwear, the shoes are dead sexy, the bag is to die for, the clothes are fresh off the iron and the hair/makeup/nails are done to perfection. FUCK YOU. SOME OF US AREN'T TROPHY WIVES. I've often thought about what it would take to primp to perfection and you know what? All the waxing, exfoliating, scrubbing, moisturizing, making-up and perfecting would make the daily "getting ready" experience a 2-3 hour routine. Is it so wrong to just shit-shower-shave?
Someone please take this 23-year-old girl, fill her full of tequila, undo her chignon and let her loose at some spring break somewhere. Sister needs to go wild or she's going to regret her boring-ass life later down the line.
UPDATE
I'd like to point out that Eunny posted a comment about this entry. She's right. I don't know anything about her and apologize for my hate comments. The fact that she was able to respond in a civil manner shows she's a bigger person than I (I would have probably responded with "FUCK YOU! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!") In my defense, I have issues with... Well, I just have issues. I talked about what her post meant to me with a co-worker and with my boyfriend when I went home for lunch. I realize that my comments read more like hating-on-someone-I-don't-know.
In an effort to get the negativity out and the positive back in, I need to look at this from all angles. This is just a person who likes to knit and has specific likes and dislikes. Like anyone else. Like me. I can be outspoken and regret what I've said.
This isn't the first time I've put my foot in my mouth. As penance, I'm going to go out and perform some random acts of kindness this weekend. And I'll try not to get so worked up when I read something and take it a wrong way. Valium might help.
There's something to be said for getting all gussied up and going out. There's also something else to be said for women who actually have jobs and work 8-10 hours per day, have kids, have to get supper ready, do the dishes, do the laundry, do the vacuuming, attend community meetings, and still try to work in time for ourselves. So it becomes difficult to make sure the bra matches the underwear, the shoes are dead sexy, the bag is to die for, the clothes are fresh off the iron and the hair/makeup/nails are done to perfection. FUCK YOU. SOME OF US AREN'T TROPHY WIVES. I've often thought about what it would take to primp to perfection and you know what? All the waxing, exfoliating, scrubbing, moisturizing, making-up and perfecting would make the daily "getting ready" experience a 2-3 hour routine. Is it so wrong to just shit-shower-shave?
Someone please take this 23-year-old girl, fill her full of tequila, undo her chignon and let her loose at some spring break somewhere. Sister needs to go wild or she's going to regret her boring-ass life later down the line.
UPDATE
I'd like to point out that Eunny posted a comment about this entry. She's right. I don't know anything about her and apologize for my hate comments. The fact that she was able to respond in a civil manner shows she's a bigger person than I (I would have probably responded with "FUCK YOU! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT ME!") In my defense, I have issues with... Well, I just have issues. I talked about what her post meant to me with a co-worker and with my boyfriend when I went home for lunch. I realize that my comments read more like hating-on-someone-I-don't-know.
In an effort to get the negativity out and the positive back in, I need to look at this from all angles. This is just a person who likes to knit and has specific likes and dislikes. Like anyone else. Like me. I can be outspoken and regret what I've said.
This isn't the first time I've put my foot in my mouth. As penance, I'm going to go out and perform some random acts of kindness this weekend. And I'll try not to get so worked up when I read something and take it a wrong way. Valium might help.
Tuesday
[knitting] Starsky's Back and a Library/Craft Room
I'm almost done with the back of Starsky:
I haven't felt much like knitting it lately. I've been more concerned with my Library. It was basically just a junkpile of books and whatever else I shoved into the room because I didn't have any other place to put it. I never spent much time in there- I would just get a book or put one back. I have since put in a desk and shoved spare yarn into an empty bookcase.
The room is still called the Library, but it will also serve as a craft room. I'll wind balls of yarn here, plan patterns, store knitting (and misc craft) material. I need to tidy some more and maybe add some decorations. The walls are looking a little bare.
I haven't felt much like knitting it lately. I've been more concerned with my Library. It was basically just a junkpile of books and whatever else I shoved into the room because I didn't have any other place to put it. I never spent much time in there- I would just get a book or put one back. I have since put in a desk and shoved spare yarn into an empty bookcase.
The room is still called the Library, but it will also serve as a craft room. I'll wind balls of yarn here, plan patterns, store knitting (and misc craft) material. I need to tidy some more and maybe add some decorations. The walls are looking a little bare.
[knitting] A Quick Hat with Ears
Starsky has stalled at the top of the back. I wanted a quick project to make so I wound a single skein of Colinette Point Five with my handy-dandy new ball winder and umbrella swift.
I cast on 32 stitches onto US size 15 (16 inch circulars) needles, knit all the way up (for a rolled brim) and closed off the top using the kitchener stitch.
Because I didn't decrease for the crown and closed off top straight, there were naturally ear-looking corners. I used spare yarn to define them more and voila.
I cast on 32 stitches onto US size 15 (16 inch circulars) needles, knit all the way up (for a rolled brim) and closed off the top using the kitchener stitch.
Because I didn't decrease for the crown and closed off top straight, there were naturally ear-looking corners. I used spare yarn to define them more and voila.
Monday
[books] Additions to the library
I helped Dollar move in a lot of his stuff over the weekend. My favorite part was last night, after I showered and put on clean pj's, sitting on the floor of the library, starting to go through tubs and tubs of his books. Lots of psychology, criminal pathology and sociology books. I asked him if he sometimes silently profiles me. He assured me he doesn't but I'm not so sure. He's probably thinking, "Clearly the debate between nature versus nurture cannot be better personified by Amy's action of slapping me across the face every time I try to hug her. Her mother probably didn't hug her enough as a child. Either that or Amy's a closet lesbian." Get out of my head!
He has lots of guy books: Stephen King, Tom Clancy, military thrillers/mysteries up that wazoo. The book I chose to bring to bed and read until I fell asleep was Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty & Venus in Furs. The first half of the book was scholarly essays on Masoch and his predilection towards pain. I skipped over it and instead started Venus in Furs. The crux of the book seems to be: Withhold affection and be kinda mean to make someone like you/want you more. I've tested this and it appears to work but it IS kinda mean.
More books to go through tonight. I got some new knitting books (Sexy Little Knits, Alterknits) and went a little crazy at the Dartmouth Bookstore's weekend sale. 50% of bargain books. I got about $200 worth of books for $40. Good deal. As I was hauling my heavy bags back to the car, a man passed me in the parking lot and said, "Oh good, the bookstore's still open."
He has lots of guy books: Stephen King, Tom Clancy, military thrillers/mysteries up that wazoo. The book I chose to bring to bed and read until I fell asleep was Masochism: Coldness and Cruelty & Venus in Furs. The first half of the book was scholarly essays on Masoch and his predilection towards pain. I skipped over it and instead started Venus in Furs. The crux of the book seems to be: Withhold affection and be kinda mean to make someone like you/want you more. I've tested this and it appears to work but it IS kinda mean.
More books to go through tonight. I got some new knitting books (Sexy Little Knits, Alterknits) and went a little crazy at the Dartmouth Bookstore's weekend sale. 50% of bargain books. I got about $200 worth of books for $40. Good deal. As I was hauling my heavy bags back to the car, a man passed me in the parking lot and said, "Oh good, the bookstore's still open."
Wednesday
The adventure is just beginning for Tyler.
This past Monday a friend of mine (and the whole Upper Valley's) died in a swimming accident. Tyler was a great guy and the world is worse off without him. He was a super-peaceful, helpful, gentle, friendly guy. He helped me put in an air conditioner at my place last summer. After we put it in, we went outside to look at the back of it only to see a big handprint laid into the delicate metal gills. We tried as best we could to straighten them out but there's still a Tyler-sized hand print there and there always will be. Which I'm quite happy about now. He was also a member of my book club and it's hard for me to delete his email address from the mailing list. It's hard to think I'll never see him around again. Tyler, where ever you are, I know you have your to-go coffee mug with you. Peace.
UPDATE
Angela just posted this to the uvScene.
UPDATE
Angela just posted this to the uvScene.
Thursday
[books] The Occult Conspiracy
Book Club met at my place last night. I think only two people actually finished The Occult Conspiracy by Michael Howard. It's a DENSE little book for 200 pages- each chapter could have been a whole book! I think I would have preferred something like Inside Secret Societies by Michael Benson, which is more like an encyclopedia. I just want to know what the name of the group is and what their agenda is. Howard's book was too much like a soap opera on fast forward. But it's a good jumping off point to do more research on my own or to at least be more aware of these groups and their influence on everything.
Supper was a maple glazed pork roast, glazed carrots cut on a bias, garden salad, sliced apples and fresh baked ciabatta. The pork and carrot recipes came from a back issue of Cook's Illustrated. This ciabatta recipe is fast becoming my go-to bread recipe. This was the third time I made it and because I was strapped for counter space, I made the mistake of allowing the last rise ON the baking sheet I was going to use. The bread ended up baking onto the sheet. I was able to get most of it off but it looked like a pack of angry wolverines had attacked the bread before I handed it out to my dinner guests.
The next book club meeting won't be until July. A bookclub member suggested something about rainbows and puppies. I'm inclined to agree- I want easy, guilty, fast fiction. Please. I'd have no problem with Walter the Farting Dog, Little Lord Farting Boy or even Pee-Ew! Is That You, Bertie? I just want to read a book about farting.
Supper was a maple glazed pork roast, glazed carrots cut on a bias, garden salad, sliced apples and fresh baked ciabatta. The pork and carrot recipes came from a back issue of Cook's Illustrated. This ciabatta recipe is fast becoming my go-to bread recipe. This was the third time I made it and because I was strapped for counter space, I made the mistake of allowing the last rise ON the baking sheet I was going to use. The bread ended up baking onto the sheet. I was able to get most of it off but it looked like a pack of angry wolverines had attacked the bread before I handed it out to my dinner guests.
The next book club meeting won't be until July. A bookclub member suggested something about rainbows and puppies. I'm inclined to agree- I want easy, guilty, fast fiction. Please. I'd have no problem with Walter the Farting Dog, Little Lord Farting Boy or even Pee-Ew! Is That You, Bertie? I just want to read a book about farting.
Tuesday
[travel] Manchester, TN to Portland, OR
I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling in June. Bonnaroo is mid-June in Manchester, TN. Dollar and I are camping so I'm currently doing all the planning and gathering of the things we're going to need. In fact, there's a list here of what to Bringaroo. I'd say we're 30-40% set. Which makes me a little nervous. A tentative schedule has been put up (check under Artists), but it's acting kind of flakey.
It's going to be an awesome time. We both love, love, love music and can't wait. He's excited for Cypress Hill. I'm pumped for Atmosphere, Gomez and Sasha. We were talking about how much sleep we plan to get and I suggested, "Dude. We should totally, like, NOT sleep the whole time we're there." Dollar agreed with this plan.
Three days after returning from Bonnaroo, I'll have to turn around and head out to Portland, OR for work. Portland seems like a nice, chill place to work and come down off Bonnaroo. I was just talking to a co-worker who recently went and he said, "There's a big bookstore there. Huge. You should go check it out while you're there." Pssht. 'Big bookstore'? I snuck into Book Expo America one year, don't try to tell me about a lot of books in one place. I check online for bookstores in Portland and found the store he was referring to. I ran down to his office and said, "Dude! No way! Shut up! You're talking about Powell's!" Yeah that's the one, he says.
OMFG!11!!! The bookstore, called Powell's City of Books (not an exaggeration), is as big as a city block. Multi levels, multi sections and, holiest of holies, a RARE BOOKS ROOM (with GUARDS and everything!). I am going to find all the books I want that stupid Amazon doesn't carry and FIND them at Powell's. This is... I can't... I'm sorry, I'm crying. Just look at how big the place is. I'm going to be out there a week and the plan is to go through two sections per evening. I'm bringing an extra suitcase.
It's going to be an awesome time. We both love, love, love music and can't wait. He's excited for Cypress Hill. I'm pumped for Atmosphere, Gomez and Sasha. We were talking about how much sleep we plan to get and I suggested, "Dude. We should totally, like, NOT sleep the whole time we're there." Dollar agreed with this plan.
Three days after returning from Bonnaroo, I'll have to turn around and head out to Portland, OR for work. Portland seems like a nice, chill place to work and come down off Bonnaroo. I was just talking to a co-worker who recently went and he said, "There's a big bookstore there. Huge. You should go check it out while you're there." Pssht. 'Big bookstore'? I snuck into Book Expo America one year, don't try to tell me about a lot of books in one place. I check online for bookstores in Portland and found the store he was referring to. I ran down to his office and said, "Dude! No way! Shut up! You're talking about Powell's!" Yeah that's the one, he says.
OMFG!11!!! The bookstore, called Powell's City of Books (not an exaggeration), is as big as a city block. Multi levels, multi sections and, holiest of holies, a RARE BOOKS ROOM (with GUARDS and everything!). I am going to find all the books I want that stupid Amazon doesn't carry and FIND them at Powell's. This is... I can't... I'm sorry, I'm crying. Just look at how big the place is. I'm going to be out there a week and the plan is to go through two sections per evening. I'm bringing an extra suitcase.
[movies] A History of Bad Corn
I watched A History of Violence last night. I thought it was incredibly sad. I knew there was going to be violence but I wasn't expecting so much drama. And crazy sex. I thought it was good but Dollar thought it was awesome. Probably because of the crazy sex. Although... Now it seems suspicious to me that he liked it so much. Take for instance this phone conversation I had last night-
AMY: Hello?
MAN: [gruff voice] Ey. Lemme talk to Tony.
AMY: Tony? I'm sorry but you've got the wrong number.
MAN: No I don't.
AMY: Um... I don't know anyone named T-
MAN: Yes you do. He sleeps right next to you.
AMY: Listen, I'm sorry but-
MAN: He took my eye! I'm gonna kill 'em!
AMY: [click]
In other movies, of the corn variety, we got a superhero spoof that was way, way beyond terrible. One girl had the power of invisibility (but apparently had to become naked before turning invisible), another girl had the power to make men do whatever she wanted (that's not really a super-power, sweetie, that's just called 'being manipulative') and the other girl had the power of fire- which I didn't see her use to an impressive effect because the movie was such crap we had to stop watching.
Another movie featured a quite famous corn star- and her rock star husband. I didn't recognize him but Dollar did. I was like, "Are we going to have to watch this guy do his wife? Cuz, ah ha ha, that's kind of weird." Yeah, we did have to. And it was weird. We also had to see him casually slap her cheek when she wasn't paying attention to the task at hand. It was a light slap but Dollar and I turned to each other, like, "Did you just see that? Did he... Did he just slap her?" Apres the slap, a look came across her face that said What did you just slap me for? So apparently every was surprised by it.
AMY: Hello?
MAN: [gruff voice] Ey. Lemme talk to Tony.
AMY: Tony? I'm sorry but you've got the wrong number.
MAN: No I don't.
AMY: Um... I don't know anyone named T-
MAN: Yes you do. He sleeps right next to you.
AMY: Listen, I'm sorry but-
MAN: He took my eye! I'm gonna kill 'em!
AMY: [click]
In other movies, of the corn variety, we got a superhero spoof that was way, way beyond terrible. One girl had the power of invisibility (but apparently had to become naked before turning invisible), another girl had the power to make men do whatever she wanted (that's not really a super-power, sweetie, that's just called 'being manipulative') and the other girl had the power of fire- which I didn't see her use to an impressive effect because the movie was such crap we had to stop watching.
Another movie featured a quite famous corn star- and her rock star husband. I didn't recognize him but Dollar did. I was like, "Are we going to have to watch this guy do his wife? Cuz, ah ha ha, that's kind of weird." Yeah, we did have to. And it was weird. We also had to see him casually slap her cheek when she wasn't paying attention to the task at hand. It was a light slap but Dollar and I turned to each other, like, "Did you just see that? Did he... Did he just slap her?" Apres the slap, a look came across her face that said What did you just slap me for? So apparently every was surprised by it.
Monday
[knitting] Started Starsky!
I went knit-crazy this past weekend. In preparation for the second season of Deadwood (out tomorrow!), I've been re-watching all the first season episodes. And I've fallen in love with Doc Cochran all over again.
Friday night I cast on for Starsky and by close of business Sunday night, this is how far I had gotten:
It's moving along rapidly on size 10 needles. I decided to use my huge-ass hanks of Eco Wool since the gauge was correct and the yardage is so great. No weaving in billions of ends for me, thank you.
And just to show everything else I'm working on:
Dollar's sock. Need to make another one. And need to figure out how to knit both on two circulars.
Mother's Day socks destined to be a Christmas gift.
Hobocamp bag. I ran out of wool and have to rip it. AAGGHH!! I don't know what to do with this yarn now.
Friday night I cast on for Starsky and by close of business Sunday night, this is how far I had gotten:
It's moving along rapidly on size 10 needles. I decided to use my huge-ass hanks of Eco Wool since the gauge was correct and the yardage is so great. No weaving in billions of ends for me, thank you.
And just to show everything else I'm working on:
Dollar's sock. Need to make another one. And need to figure out how to knit both on two circulars.
Mother's Day socks destined to be a Christmas gift.
Hobocamp bag. I ran out of wool and have to rip it. AAGGHH!! I don't know what to do with this yarn now.
[uvGamingClub] You CAN game easily with eight people!
I had a very nice time gaming this weekend. All eight (eight!) people actually showed up. We started off with Apples to Apples to loosen people up and you know what I realized? It's hard with so many people to get even one green card! You kind of have to play up to the judge. For example, when it was Dollar's turn to judge, the word was "chewy". I throw down the world "amputation". Because it’s the most politically incorrect answer, he choses it. I've learned not to throw down words that make the most sense.
Then we played Bang! With eight people there is one Sheriff, two Deputies, three Outlaws and two Renegades. I was a Deputy and I was the first one out. It got down to one Renegade, one Deputy and the Sheriff. Basically, the Deputy was able to put the Renegade in jail. Then the Sheriff came along, slid his gun between the bars and... Bang! The good guys won.
Most everyone left and it was just Dollar, Terry, John and myself hanging about. We decided to play Bang! again with one Sheriff, one Deputy, one Outlaw and one Renegade. I killed Terry pretty quickly and pulled out the rules for ghosts to play. That’s the sucky part of Bang!- When you’re dead, you’re dead. You’ve got to sit there and wait for everyone else to be eliminated. Filler games are good for the odd people out but I like these special rules that allow your character’s ghost to still influence play. It worked out pretty well.
We played regular Bang! with the Dodge City expansion (to allow for eight people). All the new cards (Iron Plate, Sombrero, Tequila) are really cool.
Then we played Bang! With eight people there is one Sheriff, two Deputies, three Outlaws and two Renegades. I was a Deputy and I was the first one out. It got down to one Renegade, one Deputy and the Sheriff. Basically, the Deputy was able to put the Renegade in jail. Then the Sheriff came along, slid his gun between the bars and... Bang! The good guys won.
Most everyone left and it was just Dollar, Terry, John and myself hanging about. We decided to play Bang! again with one Sheriff, one Deputy, one Outlaw and one Renegade. I killed Terry pretty quickly and pulled out the rules for ghosts to play. That’s the sucky part of Bang!- When you’re dead, you’re dead. You’ve got to sit there and wait for everyone else to be eliminated. Filler games are good for the odd people out but I like these special rules that allow your character’s ghost to still influence play. It worked out pretty well.
We played regular Bang! with the Dodge City expansion (to allow for eight people). All the new cards (Iron Plate, Sombrero, Tequila) are really cool.
Friday
[humor] Overheard in New York
Hahahaha, hahahha, HAHH hahahha, oh my God this site is so funny.
"Old man to dog: You ain't never goin' to heaven if you keep pullin' this shit!
After noticing other people listening: Well someone's gotta say something!"
"Old man to dog: You ain't never goin' to heaven if you keep pullin' this shit!
After noticing other people listening: Well someone's gotta say something!"
[amy] What to do.
Well, we did get a couple not-too-rainy days here this week. Yesterday was downright pleasant. The rain is back though and here to ruin the weekend.
Tomorrow I've got the uvGamingClub coming over the play Bang! and Apples to Apples. I think it's going to be a full house with 8 people.
I've been looking at sweater patterns non-stop. I want to dramatically reduce my stash but whenever I'm at home, I never feel like starting anything. I think I've got to actually put something ON the needles and go from there.
A couple movies came in the mail from Netflix yesterday. Dollar watched A History of Violence last night when he got home from work. I asked him this morning how it was; he sleepily smiled and slurred, "It was awesome." I want to read the comic first but I think I'm going to end up seeing the movie (tonight) before I get a chance to read it.
Anyway, I'm still slowly working my way through The Occult Conspiracy. Freemasons, the Knights Templar, Rosy-crustaceans. Paganism, Christianity, Caballa. Too much information, man. There's only so much room in my head. It's like a computer and there's only a couple Mbs of space available. I've got to delete a bunch of crap I might need (birthdays, song lyrics) to make room for all this secret history stuff. It better be worth it.
Tomorrow I've got the uvGamingClub coming over the play Bang! and Apples to Apples. I think it's going to be a full house with 8 people.
I've been looking at sweater patterns non-stop. I want to dramatically reduce my stash but whenever I'm at home, I never feel like starting anything. I think I've got to actually put something ON the needles and go from there.
A couple movies came in the mail from Netflix yesterday. Dollar watched A History of Violence last night when he got home from work. I asked him this morning how it was; he sleepily smiled and slurred, "It was awesome." I want to read the comic first but I think I'm going to end up seeing the movie (tonight) before I get a chance to read it.
Anyway, I'm still slowly working my way through The Occult Conspiracy. Freemasons, the Knights Templar, Rosy-crustaceans. Paganism, Christianity, Caballa. Too much information, man. There's only so much room in my head. It's like a computer and there's only a couple Mbs of space available. I've got to delete a bunch of crap I might need (birthdays, song lyrics) to make room for all this secret history stuff. It better be worth it.
Thursday
[healthcare] Forever Pregnant
Check out this news article. "New federal guidelines ask all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves -- and to be treated by the health care system -- as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon."
So just because I menstruate I should start taking folic acid and quit binge drinking? I don't think so.
Here's the actual report, which I didn't read. Note all doctors from Dartmouth Hitchcock. That's just up the road here.
A couple people have commented on this.
So just because I menstruate I should start taking folic acid and quit binge drinking? I don't think so.
Here's the actual report, which I didn't read. Note all doctors from Dartmouth Hitchcock. That's just up the road here.
A couple people have commented on this.
Monday
[weather] Rain, rain, go away
Wow. Just... wow.
So it's been raining for like 4 or 5 days now and it looks like there's plenty more to come. There are flood watches and evacutations. I think I'm good, although there were a bunch of DPW folks outside my house this morning, doing something to the sewers. The fact that they were literally right outside my door had me a little worried for my basement.
All the rain didn't stop Dollar and I from going to the Sheep & Wool Fest. And guess what? It suuuuuuucked!! It sucked so hardcore. I was totally sopping wet by the time we were walking back to the car, after having only spent ONE HOUR there. I didn't even have a particularly good time due to the fact that I was all wet and didn't really want to handle the vendor's nice yarn. It was just a bad scene. If I was a two-year-old, I would have thrown myself down into the mud and started having a mega-tantrum. There's not much worse than walking around in soaked clothing, freezing. My rain slicker was a piece of crap that let 30% of the water through and slid the remaining 70% down onto my jeans.
But, Dollar was a trooper and we stayed long enough to see a sheepdog demo. He loved it. I must admit, the dogs were pretty smart. Back at the car, he told me that it's really bad to leave cold wet clothes on and that I should probably take my pants off. Somehow this made sense (I just wanted to get WARM) and we drove home in our underwear with the heat on max. I don't know what other drivers must have thought but I didn't care because I was toasty warm.
UPDATE
Other soaked NH Sheep and Woolers here, here, here and here.
So it's been raining for like 4 or 5 days now and it looks like there's plenty more to come. There are flood watches and evacutations. I think I'm good, although there were a bunch of DPW folks outside my house this morning, doing something to the sewers. The fact that they were literally right outside my door had me a little worried for my basement.
All the rain didn't stop Dollar and I from going to the Sheep & Wool Fest. And guess what? It suuuuuuucked!! It sucked so hardcore. I was totally sopping wet by the time we were walking back to the car, after having only spent ONE HOUR there. I didn't even have a particularly good time due to the fact that I was all wet and didn't really want to handle the vendor's nice yarn. It was just a bad scene. If I was a two-year-old, I would have thrown myself down into the mud and started having a mega-tantrum. There's not much worse than walking around in soaked clothing, freezing. My rain slicker was a piece of crap that let 30% of the water through and slid the remaining 70% down onto my jeans.
But, Dollar was a trooper and we stayed long enough to see a sheepdog demo. He loved it. I must admit, the dogs were pretty smart. Back at the car, he told me that it's really bad to leave cold wet clothes on and that I should probably take my pants off. Somehow this made sense (I just wanted to get WARM) and we drove home in our underwear with the heat on max. I don't know what other drivers must have thought but I didn't care because I was toasty warm.
UPDATE
Other soaked NH Sheep and Woolers here, here, here and here.
Friday
[amy] NH Sheep and Wool Festival, new uvMix
Dollar and I are heading down to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival tomorrow. Should be fun; I had a good time last year. The only way I could talk Dollar into coming was to say, "Sheep Dog herding demonstrations."
I've got a (mostly) new hour for the uvMix this week. Become a member to download.
I'm plodding along through The Occult Conspiracy. It's chock 'o block full of information but I keep on getting caught up on the smaller references. The tower of Babel and King Nimrod. I read that and had to go, "Huh huh. Nimrod. How much would it suck if you did sometime so stupid, they made your name synonymous with the word 'stupid'?"
I've got a (mostly) new hour for the uvMix this week. Become a member to download.
I'm plodding along through The Occult Conspiracy. It's chock 'o block full of information but I keep on getting caught up on the smaller references. The tower of Babel and King Nimrod. I read that and had to go, "Huh huh. Nimrod. How much would it suck if you did sometime so stupid, they made your name synonymous with the word 'stupid'?"
Monday
[movies] MI3
I went to see Mission: Impossible III yesterday. It was awesome! I went mostly because J.J. Abrams was directing and I love, love, love LOST. I heard that because Abrams is from tv, he knows how to keep the pace up throughout the story and give the viewers multiple blocks of exciting mini-resolutions (instead of one huge disappointing pay-out at the end).
There were lots of characters, but they were only around for a short while and history was shown through flashbacks. Keri Russell did a great job. So did Billy Crudup and Laurence Fishburne. 90% of girls under the age of 18 are obsessed with Jonathan Rhys Meyers but I'd never seen him in anything before. Both he and Maggie Q did exceptional jobs as unemotional, get-the-job-done IMF agents. And Philip Seymour Hoffman? Chills. Chills, I tell you. I had had a dream with him in it about a week ago (he wanted me to help him build glass stairs, then proceeded to get a little handsy). I think I'm going to have nightmares now. Ving Rhames is always good.
And Tom Cruise, it goes without saying, is always perfection. Say what you want about couch jumping and snacking on placenta, he always gives 125%.
This movie has ZERO bathroom allowance. Make sure you empty your bladder beforehand because if you get up to go, you're going to miss something spectacular.
There were lots of characters, but they were only around for a short while and history was shown through flashbacks. Keri Russell did a great job. So did Billy Crudup and Laurence Fishburne. 90% of girls under the age of 18 are obsessed with Jonathan Rhys Meyers but I'd never seen him in anything before. Both he and Maggie Q did exceptional jobs as unemotional, get-the-job-done IMF agents. And Philip Seymour Hoffman? Chills. Chills, I tell you. I had had a dream with him in it about a week ago (he wanted me to help him build glass stairs, then proceeded to get a little handsy). I think I'm going to have nightmares now. Ving Rhames is always good.
And Tom Cruise, it goes without saying, is always perfection. Say what you want about couch jumping and snacking on placenta, he always gives 125%.
This movie has ZERO bathroom allowance. Make sure you empty your bladder beforehand because if you get up to go, you're going to miss something spectacular.
Friday
[tv] Sandra Lee still sucks, Trick my Truck is awesome
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.
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.
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