I am now the proud owner of a tiny, small, portable, shiny, lovely little netbook. Did I mention it's small? Did I mention it has a battery life longer than that of my laptop, which is an astonishing thirty minutes? Atrocious, I know. This baby has a battery life of five hours. I am so pleased I could wet myself. Finally, I can take something somewhere without the battery cord!!!
It's little and I love it.
That is all.
(If I had a digital camera, I could show you a picture of it... but for now, I have a Dell Inspiron Mini in black. I wanted one in purple, but I'm impatient and Best Buy was having a sale, so I got this one cheaper than the list price. Not to mention, Boring Black can be remedied by lots. of. stickers!)
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Great Knitathon
I've decided to have a knitathon and knit exclusively until Wednesday. See you then!
Relocation
My grandmother and I have been having very tense relations as of late, and so I'm staying at my dad's for the time being, instead of with my grandmother. I don't know if this is going to last very long... but really, I go away to Bloomington on the 25th of August, so it can't last more than six weeks. Perk? I can get wifi from across the street. That means I don't have to go to a cafe to get wifi.
In the meantime, considering my dad doesn't have cable and I'm broke with no job, I think I'm going to be getting a lot of knitting done. A lot. I think maybe if I actually finish something, it'll make me feel better.
And no, there hasn't really been much progress on anything. I've got the Falling Waters scarf with me, though (still planning on giving it to my grandmother for her birthday, even if I have to mail it to her). Hopefully I can finish that.
Just an update. Not yet dead.
In the meantime, considering my dad doesn't have cable and I'm broke with no job, I think I'm going to be getting a lot of knitting done. A lot. I think maybe if I actually finish something, it'll make me feel better.
And no, there hasn't really been much progress on anything. I've got the Falling Waters scarf with me, though (still planning on giving it to my grandmother for her birthday, even if I have to mail it to her). Hopefully I can finish that.
Just an update. Not yet dead.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Strawberry soup and color revelations
I haven't been knitting much, to be honest (and by much, I mean, not at all). I haven't been home much, either, for the past few days. But! I have been up to interesting activities, and why confine to the parameters of this knit blog when I have other material I could blog about?
Admittedly, I am not a very good cook yet. Mainly because I've never been taught by anyone, anywhere, how to cook anything. So any culinary adventures I have in the kitchen are strictly under the supervision of moi. But, today I made strawberry soup! It's very easy (which is one of the reasons I could make it!). Strawberry soup is meant to be served cold, and is very refreshing on hot summer days. And all you need to do is toss...
2 pints of strawberries (2 normal cases at the grocery store)
2 cups of plain yogurt
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/8 of some sweet spice that goes with baking (our recipe called for cardamom, we used cinnamon sugar... it still tasted delicious)
... into a blender, and puree your heart out. Then pour it into bowls and, ta da! Instant, delicious, yummy, pink, refreshing strawberry soup. The measurements above will fill up a normal sized blender, so if you're afraid that you won't fit everything into the blender, it is safe to put one carton of strawberries into the blender along with the rest of the ingredients, puree, and then drop the rest of the strawberries in. It eased my fears, at least. Legitimately.
----------
So, I'm going to knit the Heroine coat (someday [before October]), and I've been trying to think of good colors that would go with a nice, off-white. "Cloud" is what I think the colorway is, so white, but not a glaring white. I don't favor glaring whites. Anyway. And silly me, I thought, "Red! Red is okay..." and I ordered red yarn. But then, when I was flipping through a magazine today, what did I spy? A woman in a lovely white cabled sweater, with a lovely cabled gray scarf and a lovely cabled gray hat. Gray. The perfect compliment to white.
Not to mention, the gray would contrast perfectly against white for the Anemoi mittens. To go with my coat. And perfectly compliment it.
I'll just have to find something to do with the red yarn, it seems! Maybe my wonderful boyfriend would enjoy something red.
Admittedly, I am not a very good cook yet. Mainly because I've never been taught by anyone, anywhere, how to cook anything. So any culinary adventures I have in the kitchen are strictly under the supervision of moi. But, today I made strawberry soup! It's very easy (which is one of the reasons I could make it!). Strawberry soup is meant to be served cold, and is very refreshing on hot summer days. And all you need to do is toss...
2 pints of strawberries (2 normal cases at the grocery store)
2 cups of plain yogurt
1/2 cup of orange juice
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of white sugar
1/8 of some sweet spice that goes with baking (our recipe called for cardamom, we used cinnamon sugar... it still tasted delicious)
... into a blender, and puree your heart out. Then pour it into bowls and, ta da! Instant, delicious, yummy, pink, refreshing strawberry soup. The measurements above will fill up a normal sized blender, so if you're afraid that you won't fit everything into the blender, it is safe to put one carton of strawberries into the blender along with the rest of the ingredients, puree, and then drop the rest of the strawberries in. It eased my fears, at least. Legitimately.
----------
So, I'm going to knit the Heroine coat (someday [before October]), and I've been trying to think of good colors that would go with a nice, off-white. "Cloud" is what I think the colorway is, so white, but not a glaring white. I don't favor glaring whites. Anyway. And silly me, I thought, "Red! Red is okay..." and I ordered red yarn. But then, when I was flipping through a magazine today, what did I spy? A woman in a lovely white cabled sweater, with a lovely cabled gray scarf and a lovely cabled gray hat. Gray. The perfect compliment to white.
Not to mention, the gray would contrast perfectly against white for the Anemoi mittens. To go with my coat. And perfectly compliment it.
I'll just have to find something to do with the red yarn, it seems! Maybe my wonderful boyfriend would enjoy something red.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
In which I rant of social interaction
I have an acute problem with people, sometimes. I know that I have formerly blogged about my hatred of humanity, but it is still here. And every time I experience what I would deem other people's stupidity, it feels as fresh and damning as if it were the first epiphany.
Except, this isn't good. Hate corrupts and even if my thoughts don't carry into actions, the insidious thoughts are still there, brewing in my mind and causing troubles on other levels of consciousness. I only have a handful, a very few amount of friends, and I like it that way. Being around so much humanity is very trying for me. The reason why it's so trying for me, though, is shameful to admit. My thoughts are: that people are cliché, that no one should air their personal life so blatantly through a social networking site, that whining through Facebook accomplishes nothing and just makes you annoying, and that people posting inane revelations they have are neither new or refreshing. The lack of intelligence that humanity possesses astonishes me.
And while this all may be very true, I think I've been going about this the wrong way. For a time, I've been trying to persuade myself that all of these qualities that I've been fuming about should be accepted. But now, I don't really think that. Those qualities shouldn't be accepted. It is true that people posting inane revelations they have may be revelations for them and not me, but why should I get my feathers in a bunch about it? I think it's annoying and wrong, but it's not to those people.
A part of me thinks that I just have to wait for everyone to mature to the point where I'm at. It's a despicable thing to think, really! Who am I to say that I'm mature? It's certainly not the right opinion for me to have, considering that I've only just wedged my toe in the door of life, I have a millions roads to walk down, a million experiences to shape me, so many lessons to learn and hardships to endure and joys to be had. The path to wisdom should never be started with a goal of an end; the path doesn't have an end. The quest for wisdom is endless, and those who think they've found an end are wrong. There is, however, a difference to those who have stopped looking because they are content with where they are. I know for a fact that some adults will never go very far down the path of maturation, and that (I think I can state this as a fact of life) I will go farther than they. But to be fair, thousands of others will go father than I will.
I swear, when I look at some people's blogs or profiles or other such sites, I get genuinely furious. And I can't see why. It's all fine and dandy for them, and even though I don't agree with it, what's all the pish and tush about?
Now, I just need to act like I don't give a pish or tush. Easier said than done.
Except, this isn't good. Hate corrupts and even if my thoughts don't carry into actions, the insidious thoughts are still there, brewing in my mind and causing troubles on other levels of consciousness. I only have a handful, a very few amount of friends, and I like it that way. Being around so much humanity is very trying for me. The reason why it's so trying for me, though, is shameful to admit. My thoughts are: that people are cliché, that no one should air their personal life so blatantly through a social networking site, that whining through Facebook accomplishes nothing and just makes you annoying, and that people posting inane revelations they have are neither new or refreshing. The lack of intelligence that humanity possesses astonishes me.
And while this all may be very true, I think I've been going about this the wrong way. For a time, I've been trying to persuade myself that all of these qualities that I've been fuming about should be accepted. But now, I don't really think that. Those qualities shouldn't be accepted. It is true that people posting inane revelations they have may be revelations for them and not me, but why should I get my feathers in a bunch about it? I think it's annoying and wrong, but it's not to those people.
A part of me thinks that I just have to wait for everyone to mature to the point where I'm at. It's a despicable thing to think, really! Who am I to say that I'm mature? It's certainly not the right opinion for me to have, considering that I've only just wedged my toe in the door of life, I have a millions roads to walk down, a million experiences to shape me, so many lessons to learn and hardships to endure and joys to be had. The path to wisdom should never be started with a goal of an end; the path doesn't have an end. The quest for wisdom is endless, and those who think they've found an end are wrong. There is, however, a difference to those who have stopped looking because they are content with where they are. I know for a fact that some adults will never go very far down the path of maturation, and that (I think I can state this as a fact of life) I will go farther than they. But to be fair, thousands of others will go father than I will.
I swear, when I look at some people's blogs or profiles or other such sites, I get genuinely furious. And I can't see why. It's all fine and dandy for them, and even though I don't agree with it, what's all the pish and tush about?
Now, I just need to act like I don't give a pish or tush. Easier said than done.
Monday, July 5, 2010
A flit of thought
I realized last night that I have to finish the Falling Waters scarf in order to make my blanket. The needles that would be ideal to use, my 10" bamboo straight, size 6, are currently employed with that scarf right now.
The idea of the blanket is to knit different colored squares and just sew them together in a blanket. Knitting with worsted weight on size 6 needles, in my gauge, will definitely produce a thick enough fabric to see me through the winter months. The blanket is going to fashion as a quilt of some sorts for my dorm bed in college. I really want to get started on it, because how hard is it to knit a square or two when you get bored with a project? Or if I'm really fired up, crank out six or so in a day while I'm reading or watching a movie? It should go by quickly and would be a good project to work on while I work on others.
So if you need me, I'll be knitting on the damn scarf. I messed up a WS row and I have to rip it back. Again. I hate ripping back work. I need this thing finished anyway, though, because it's meant to be a present for my grandmother for her birthday. She'll love it. It's soft and blue and feathery and has a wonderful design, and she tends to go for things that are "fancy." Add the handmade charm, and voilá! Instant success.
If, you know, I could quit yapping and knit the thing.
The idea of the blanket is to knit different colored squares and just sew them together in a blanket. Knitting with worsted weight on size 6 needles, in my gauge, will definitely produce a thick enough fabric to see me through the winter months. The blanket is going to fashion as a quilt of some sorts for my dorm bed in college. I really want to get started on it, because how hard is it to knit a square or two when you get bored with a project? Or if I'm really fired up, crank out six or so in a day while I'm reading or watching a movie? It should go by quickly and would be a good project to work on while I work on others.
So if you need me, I'll be knitting on the damn scarf. I messed up a WS row and I have to rip it back. Again. I hate ripping back work. I need this thing finished anyway, though, because it's meant to be a present for my grandmother for her birthday. She'll love it. It's soft and blue and feathery and has a wonderful design, and she tends to go for things that are "fancy." Add the handmade charm, and voilá! Instant success.
If, you know, I could quit yapping and knit the thing.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Happy 4th of July!
Happy Independence Day to all of my American readers. And apparently in Canada, it's Pride Day. I don't know what Pride Day entails. It sounds like a movement for gay rights. If so, more power to them! If not, it's good to have pride in other things, as well (a Google search has confirmed that my instincts are right).
Most of my Independence Day was spent bonding with relatives, napping, and reading. All in the interests of national pride, of course, because without our dear founding fathers and the efforts of the American soldier to preserve their ideals, I might not have been able to do the things I've done today. It is much appreciated. And of course, some fireworks managed to work their way into my agenda.
Happy 4th!
Most of my Independence Day was spent bonding with relatives, napping, and reading. All in the interests of national pride, of course, because without our dear founding fathers and the efforts of the American soldier to preserve their ideals, I might not have been able to do the things I've done today. It is much appreciated. And of course, some fireworks managed to work their way into my agenda.
Happy 4th!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
I am a bad, bad knitter
In more ways than one.
I started a new sweater. For moi. Because... well, I don't know why. Right now I've got a scarf, two pairs of socks, and a sweater on the needles. Clearly I need to be finishing something. And yet.
Enter the Newcastle Pullover, brought to you on the free market by Lion Brand. Lion Brand is okay... their patterns are average (but their free-ness is nice) and I don't normally knit with acrylic, so I don't generally tend to go their way. But this seems like a very nice sweater and a well-written pattern, so who's to discriminate? Especially when I am being such a lazy knitter.
I made a gauge swatch! I swear! Except instead of the regular 17 sts by 24 rows = 4 inches on size 8 needles... my gauge ended up being 21 sts by 27 rows = 4 inches. I have a tight gauge. Can you tell? Instead of adjusting the pattern, because for once I just want to blindly follow something instead of putting in work to modify it to my needs (when it comes to a sweater, at least). So I'm knitting it in a size large instead of a medium, and I think that it will come out to my proportions. Hopefully. If not, it'll fit someone, at least.
Modifications so far: only two inches of ribbing (three inches seems a little ridiculous, no offense to any designers...) and some waist shaping, because I have an exaggerated version of the classic hourglass figure.
It's been so long since I've knit anything flat that it's a little weird. What is this purl stitch you speak of...? (The Falling Waters scarf doesn't count. Ahem. It's lace.)
OH AND I WANT TO KNIT LACE. After... Jesus, after everything I want to get done this summer (two pairs of socks, two sweaters, that scarf, and a block-by-block blanket...) I am going to knit the Vernal Equinox Shawl, because it is beautiful and I will be using it for a very important purpose sometime next year!
I started a new sweater. For moi. Because... well, I don't know why. Right now I've got a scarf, two pairs of socks, and a sweater on the needles. Clearly I need to be finishing something. And yet.
Enter the Newcastle Pullover, brought to you on the free market by Lion Brand. Lion Brand is okay... their patterns are average (but their free-ness is nice) and I don't normally knit with acrylic, so I don't generally tend to go their way. But this seems like a very nice sweater and a well-written pattern, so who's to discriminate? Especially when I am being such a lazy knitter.
I made a gauge swatch! I swear! Except instead of the regular 17 sts by 24 rows = 4 inches on size 8 needles... my gauge ended up being 21 sts by 27 rows = 4 inches. I have a tight gauge. Can you tell? Instead of adjusting the pattern, because for once I just want to blindly follow something instead of putting in work to modify it to my needs (when it comes to a sweater, at least). So I'm knitting it in a size large instead of a medium, and I think that it will come out to my proportions. Hopefully. If not, it'll fit someone, at least.
Modifications so far: only two inches of ribbing (three inches seems a little ridiculous, no offense to any designers...) and some waist shaping, because I have an exaggerated version of the classic hourglass figure.
It's been so long since I've knit anything flat that it's a little weird. What is this purl stitch you speak of...? (The Falling Waters scarf doesn't count. Ahem. It's lace.)
OH AND I WANT TO KNIT LACE. After... Jesus, after everything I want to get done this summer (two pairs of socks, two sweaters, that scarf, and a block-by-block blanket...) I am going to knit the Vernal Equinox Shawl, because it is beautiful and I will be using it for a very important purpose sometime next year!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Goodbye, June
Status update:
(1) I'm quitting my job. There is a multitude of reasons for this, but it is safe to say that there are several things about that job that are illegal. I've had enough. This produces complications, however, because I kind of need a job. Those dorm room items aren't going to buy themselves. The good news, though, is that I've got two job opportunities lined up at Bloomington.
(2) The other good news is that with my new (possibly) restricted budget, I can't buy more yarn to fuel my knitting fantasies. Which means I actually have to use the yarn I have to knit projects I've actually planned. The amount of yarn I have, coupled with my new-found free time, should result in some finished objects around here.
(3) This also means I can't buy more books. This should also result in me reading my bookshelf.
(4) Ryan is still here and tomorrow we are going to Chicago to look at sheet music and visit Myopic Books. It's a wonderful half-price bookstore. He's going to go crazy and buy their entire stock of French books. I don't know what I'm going to do. Until then, I'll be knitting. (Oh! Maybe they have some knitting books?)
(1) I'm quitting my job. There is a multitude of reasons for this, but it is safe to say that there are several things about that job that are illegal. I've had enough. This produces complications, however, because I kind of need a job. Those dorm room items aren't going to buy themselves. The good news, though, is that I've got two job opportunities lined up at Bloomington.
(2) The other good news is that with my new (possibly) restricted budget, I can't buy more yarn to fuel my knitting fantasies. Which means I actually have to use the yarn I have to knit projects I've actually planned. The amount of yarn I have, coupled with my new-found free time, should result in some finished objects around here.
(3) This also means I can't buy more books. This should also result in me reading my bookshelf.
(4) Ryan is still here and tomorrow we are going to Chicago to look at sheet music and visit Myopic Books. It's a wonderful half-price bookstore. He's going to go crazy and buy their entire stock of French books. I don't know what I'm going to do. Until then, I'll be knitting. (Oh! Maybe they have some knitting books?)
Monday, June 28, 2010
Good thing he's not allergic to Happy Socks
Still working on that scarf. I've got about four and a half of the twenty-seven repeats done. At this rate I'll have it done by Christmas. (This is why I say I need to knit more.)
Ryan is here and I'm happy as a clam. I always am when he's here, and I suspect it's probably due to the whole distance thing. He enjoys taking the random French books I have off of my bookshelf and going through them. Sometime he's going to teach me French. Sometime. But Ryan's arrival heralded a fear which I have held ever since my box of yarn came from KnitPicks -- he's allergic to the yarn I ordered. He says it's green, and it kind of is (for those of you who don't know, he's allergic to blue dye [this means anything blue, purple, green, and the majority of the time, grey {what do I expect from a colorway named thyme, at any rate?}]). So I guess I'm going to have to take the thousand-odd yards of yarn I have and turn it into something for myself. Which I don't mind because it's a nice enough color. I could wear it.
I started some socks. It's kind of a recurring theme around here that I never finish anything and always start new things. I'm thinking that a nice, plain stockinette sock with that gorgeous golden yarn I ordered will make me happy. Ryan's not allergic to yellow, so he can have the socks. They're very happy and glowing and sunshine-y. That's why I'm calling them the Happy Socks.
Ryan is here and I'm happy as a clam. I always am when he's here, and I suspect it's probably due to the whole distance thing. He enjoys taking the random French books I have off of my bookshelf and going through them. Sometime he's going to teach me French. Sometime. But Ryan's arrival heralded a fear which I have held ever since my box of yarn came from KnitPicks -- he's allergic to the yarn I ordered. He says it's green, and it kind of is (for those of you who don't know, he's allergic to blue dye [this means anything blue, purple, green, and the majority of the time, grey {what do I expect from a colorway named thyme, at any rate?}]). So I guess I'm going to have to take the thousand-odd yards of yarn I have and turn it into something for myself. Which I don't mind because it's a nice enough color. I could wear it.
I started some socks. It's kind of a recurring theme around here that I never finish anything and always start new things. I'm thinking that a nice, plain stockinette sock with that gorgeous golden yarn I ordered will make me happy. Ryan's not allergic to yellow, so he can have the socks. They're very happy and glowing and sunshine-y. That's why I'm calling them the Happy Socks.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
A pointless post induced by sleeplessness
This morning around 5:15 a storm woke me up. Again. This is the fourth storm we've had in five days. I feel sorry for my sister-aunt, because she's having a yard sale today and she left all of her things outside overnight. At least some of it's covered in garbage bags, and it's not windy.
I can't sleep and waking up sometimes when it's dark and huddling in bed with hot chocolate until you do fall asleep is nice (if you almost never have to do that). Or you could just be like me and wake up and post on your blog, because it's too dark to knit and starting a book at this hour is unseemly for someone like me.
It might be nice if for once I actually woke up early and did a whole bunch of things (laundry and cleaning, actually). But today I have to work a ten hour shift and I'll be damned if I'm doing that on five hours of sleep.
I can't sleep and waking up sometimes when it's dark and huddling in bed with hot chocolate until you do fall asleep is nice (if you almost never have to do that). Or you could just be like me and wake up and post on your blog, because it's too dark to knit and starting a book at this hour is unseemly for someone like me.
It might be nice if for once I actually woke up early and did a whole bunch of things (laundry and cleaning, actually). But today I have to work a ten hour shift and I'll be damned if I'm doing that on five hours of sleep.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Book review
A lot of my family is over at my house right now, frolicking around in my pool. My sister-aunt and my two nephews, my aunt and my two cousins, my cousin's friend, etc. Every summer we always have these days where my aunt brings over chicken and potato wedges and we all veg out on my deck or frolic in the pool. And it's usually a good time. Except this year Abby's not here because she's off to God knows where, and it's kind of depressing for me, so I went into my room. It's cooler in here anyway. I've mastered the art of keeping my room cool without the use of AC.
I was thinking of blogging about The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, by Mark Haddon. I just finished reading it on Wednesday and it is one of the best books I've read in a really long time. The book is told from Christopher's point of view, who is 15 and mentally challenged. Christopher's an idiot savant, I guess you could say, because he's very gifted when it comes to logic, math, and science, but he can't figure out emotions. It's a condition called Asperger's syndrome, which I suspected that's what Christopher had when I was reading the book, but a little research confirmed this.
I think that Haddon writing from the point of view of someone who's mentally challenged is surprising, brilliant, and piercing. It's often controversial when an author writes from a point of view that's not their own and through this he creates a strong message to everyone about the mentally challenged's rights. The last paragraph is Christopher concluding that he did all of these things, and because of that, he can do anything. It's heartwarming. I very much recommend it.
I think that Haddon writing from the point of view of someone who's mentally challenged is surprising, brilliant, and piercing. It's often controversial when an author writes from a point of view that's not their own and through this he creates a strong message to everyone about the mentally challenged's rights. The last paragraph is Christopher concluding that he did all of these things, and because of that, he can do anything. It's heartwarming. I very much recommend it.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Oh, and a note to self:
Note to self: write later about how this is summer and you have no obligations, but you are so used to obligations that you constantly have this ghost of a notion tugging at you that you should be doing something. And it makes your stomach hurt and you don't know why, because you don't have to do anything.
Thoughts that have occurred to me
(1) I really need a digital camera to take decent, color-accurate photos of my knitting to post on here and on Ravelry. I'm not the type to take pictures of life, so the last digital camera I had was given to my aunt. My aunt likes to take pictures of everything. I didn't regret the decision until now.
(2) I don't really stay very true to knitting on this blog. I've been skimming some other knitting blogs recently because the two I regularly follow (the Yarn Harlot and SamuraiKnitter) haven't been posting much and I've been getting the bug to both read more knitting stuff and read other people's perspectives on knitting. And in all of the blogs I skimmed through today, most of it is about knitting. On my blog, however, more of it isn't about knitting than is. Sigh.
(3) I need to knit more.
(2) I don't really stay very true to knitting on this blog. I've been skimming some other knitting blogs recently because the two I regularly follow (the Yarn Harlot and SamuraiKnitter) haven't been posting much and I've been getting the bug to both read more knitting stuff and read other people's perspectives on knitting. And in all of the blogs I skimmed through today, most of it is about knitting. On my blog, however, more of it isn't about knitting than is. Sigh.
(3) I need to knit more.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Storm love
We are experiencing the mother of all normal thunderstorms, here. There was a tornado warning for a town nearby but over where I am the storm's not even severe enough to cause a power outage. In fact, we never get anything exciting where I live. All of the interesting parts of all storms happen in the town nearby and when Chesterton has huge power outages, I'm just sitting cozy in my well-lit house. And yes, that did very much sound like I wanted power outages and tornado-force winds.
I'm located about ten minutes south of Lake Michigan and forty-five minutes from the Illinois border. I was out to dinner with my dad and they had the news on; downtown Chicago is completely blacked out. The storm that hit them was moving our way. Storms thrill me. When my dad and I were driving home, we got to see all the black storm clouds advance and then all of a sudden the cold front came through and it was amazing.
We've been having a lot of thunderstorms lately. And most oddly, we've been having thunderstorms in the morning. Yesterday and today I got to wake up in a very pleasant manner to thunderstorms and rain outside my window. And today, we've had two pretty sizable storms in the space of twelve hours. Not to mention we experienced a huge storm while I was at nationals, and even in Kansas City there were at least two storms in one week while I was there. Love it, love it, love it. The weather should be like this all the time.
Still plugging along on the scarf. I knit at it a little bit when I was at a cafe today, but then my friend told me Charlotte Russe was having a sale on their harem pants and that was the end of my knitting today. I didn't even find their harem pants, either. Feh.
I'm located about ten minutes south of Lake Michigan and forty-five minutes from the Illinois border. I was out to dinner with my dad and they had the news on; downtown Chicago is completely blacked out. The storm that hit them was moving our way. Storms thrill me. When my dad and I were driving home, we got to see all the black storm clouds advance and then all of a sudden the cold front came through and it was amazing.
We've been having a lot of thunderstorms lately. And most oddly, we've been having thunderstorms in the morning. Yesterday and today I got to wake up in a very pleasant manner to thunderstorms and rain outside my window. And today, we've had two pretty sizable storms in the space of twelve hours. Not to mention we experienced a huge storm while I was at nationals, and even in Kansas City there were at least two storms in one week while I was there. Love it, love it, love it. The weather should be like this all the time.
Still plugging along on the scarf. I knit at it a little bit when I was at a cafe today, but then my friend told me Charlotte Russe was having a sale on their harem pants and that was the end of my knitting today. I didn't even find their harem pants, either. Feh.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Status report
Good progress is being made on the Falling Waters scarf, except now I find myself wishing that I wasn't working with something so... fluffy. I'm knitting the scarf in this brushed, soft alpaca. It's absolutely a gorgeous yarn, all light blue and pale lavender, but it's really fluffy. I'm waiting for my box of yarn to get here so I can cast on and knit like a mad scientist (on anything).
On the agenda today: take my sister to the park, complete a load of laundry in time for work, and then work. My life is very exciting (but I prefer it this way).
I'm also set to finish The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time today. It's absolutely beautiful.
I'm also set to finish The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time today. It's absolutely beautiful.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Call me crazy, but...
There's this car. This car has a habit of stopping at my house around 1:30-2:00 in the morning sometimes, and this is the third time I've seen it happen. It always drives up to my mailbox like it's pulling over or something and always come from the same direction. It looks like it could be delivering my newspaper, except our newspaper is delivered around 5:00 AM onto our front porch. The first two times it happened, I had just pulled into my driveway and was sitting in my car, back from whatever I'd been doing that night. But a few minutes ago, I just saw it do the same thing out of my window.
I want to know why this car keeps pulling over at my house in early hours of the morning.
I want to know why this car keeps pulling over at my house in early hours of the morning.
Normalcy... I guess
Today was nice. I didn't do much for Father's Day, considering I never know what to get my grandfather and my father is visiting my other grandfather (the one I don't live with) in Kentucky. Not to mention, the grandfather I do live with was gone half the day, anyway. As was I. But we'll get to that. I want to wish any fathers that might be reading this blog a happy Father's Day, and I hope it went well for you all.
I went shopping at Target again today for odds and ends for my dorm. Mostly because I need something to keep my yarn in; it's all in a pile in between my computer chair and my nightstand, and it keeps getting caught in my chair wheels. Annoying. So I bought a big plastic bendy purple tub today at Target. Oh, and remember the Great Purge? I finally did it today, as far as clothes go. I got rid of 70% of my wardrobe because I never wear any of it... as a result, all of the clothes I did keep are on my floor and my dresser and closet are empty. I'm hoping now that my closet is free of all the clothes I never wear, I can put my yarn in the tub and stick it on top of the trunk I have in there. But they conveniently placed the storage aisle right next to the living odds and ends aisle... and while I was there, I thought, "Oh... I need to get some silverware to go along with my dishes." And then, I saw these cute little caddies to keep your silverware in, and I realized, "Oh! I have nowhere to put these spoons and forks and knives!" So I bought one of those, too. In lime green. It's amazing. I love Target.
My plan is to buy things I need for my dorm little by little, so I don't have to buy it all at once in August when everyone else is. And also because I have to pay for most of it myself, and I don't have much money, so I kind of need to buy it little by little. I need to buy sheets, honestly... but that can wait. I have a whole checklist and for once in my life, I am organized. It's a little frightening!
And then I watched my little sister for the second half of the day, and she was an absolute angel. I love her so much. She is so little, and I love her like I'd love my own kid. Actually, funny I should say that, because I took her to the Dairy Queen today and a kid I knew that graduated last year said to me, "Huh, I didn't know you had a kid." He was serious, and I had to set him straight. You know, a lot of people probably think she's my kid... oh well. Anywho. We also went to see Toy Story 3, and IT WAS SO GOOD. So good. Damn. Everything Pixar makes is totally amazing. Everything. Amazing.
I'm hoping my box of yarn comes tomorrow. When my grandmother's not home. So she won't yell at me for spending more money on more yarn!
I went shopping at Target again today for odds and ends for my dorm. Mostly because I need something to keep my yarn in; it's all in a pile in between my computer chair and my nightstand, and it keeps getting caught in my chair wheels. Annoying. So I bought a big plastic bendy purple tub today at Target. Oh, and remember the Great Purge? I finally did it today, as far as clothes go. I got rid of 70% of my wardrobe because I never wear any of it... as a result, all of the clothes I did keep are on my floor and my dresser and closet are empty. I'm hoping now that my closet is free of all the clothes I never wear, I can put my yarn in the tub and stick it on top of the trunk I have in there. But they conveniently placed the storage aisle right next to the living odds and ends aisle... and while I was there, I thought, "Oh... I need to get some silverware to go along with my dishes." And then, I saw these cute little caddies to keep your silverware in, and I realized, "Oh! I have nowhere to put these spoons and forks and knives!" So I bought one of those, too. In lime green. It's amazing. I love Target.
My plan is to buy things I need for my dorm little by little, so I don't have to buy it all at once in August when everyone else is. And also because I have to pay for most of it myself, and I don't have much money, so I kind of need to buy it little by little. I need to buy sheets, honestly... but that can wait. I have a whole checklist and for once in my life, I am organized. It's a little frightening!
And then I watched my little sister for the second half of the day, and she was an absolute angel. I love her so much. She is so little, and I love her like I'd love my own kid. Actually, funny I should say that, because I took her to the Dairy Queen today and a kid I knew that graduated last year said to me, "Huh, I didn't know you had a kid." He was serious, and I had to set him straight. You know, a lot of people probably think she's my kid... oh well. Anywho. We also went to see Toy Story 3, and IT WAS SO GOOD. So good. Damn. Everything Pixar makes is totally amazing. Everything. Amazing.
I'm hoping my box of yarn comes tomorrow. When my grandmother's not home. So she won't yell at me for spending more money on more yarn!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
All the world is my oyster
I'm just going to gush for a little bit here, so many ideas are swirling around my brain and I just want to blather forth in joy and wonder and sheer opportunity. Again, you don't have to read. It's probably boring.
Okay so I recently finished the book The Friday Night Knitting Club. Most people think I read it because I knit, and while that is some of the reason why I picked it up in the first place, that's not the reason why I bought it. I don't really enjoy the style of writing, it's cliche and appeals to the masses far too much (kind of like Dan Brown), but I read it anyway. The novel has good enough intentions and a heartwarming message, plot issues aside. Especially because after reading this book, I am feeling so high and giddy and excited, ready to burst, with this idea: life is what you make of it.
I can do anything! I can do absolutely anything with my life, whatever I want to do. It's amazing. It is so amazing and whatever I want to do, I can succeed at. I have the tools and the opportunities and just plain sheer youth on my side. Do I want to travel around Europe? I can do it! Traveling on a bootstring, staying in hostels with sleeping bags and whatnot. Living in a country is the best way to learn their language. Hell, my friend's mother supported herself once by street performing with a guitar. She is so prim and proper now, I would never have guessed! If she can do that, I can too. Hell, backpack around the world, even. See the sceneries and landscapes of our planet, discover books and friends and food, buy yarn. Knit. I really should knit more. I want some beautiful knitting needles, honestly. But I shouldn't get beautiful needles until I start actually finishing things! Which I can do! Because I can do anything!
So, yeah. This is me, effusive with glory, aglow with the notion that I have my entire life before me and I can do anything I want. Truly, truly joyful.
Okay so I recently finished the book The Friday Night Knitting Club. Most people think I read it because I knit, and while that is some of the reason why I picked it up in the first place, that's not the reason why I bought it. I don't really enjoy the style of writing, it's cliche and appeals to the masses far too much (kind of like Dan Brown), but I read it anyway. The novel has good enough intentions and a heartwarming message, plot issues aside. Especially because after reading this book, I am feeling so high and giddy and excited, ready to burst, with this idea: life is what you make of it.
I can do anything! I can do absolutely anything with my life, whatever I want to do. It's amazing. It is so amazing and whatever I want to do, I can succeed at. I have the tools and the opportunities and just plain sheer youth on my side. Do I want to travel around Europe? I can do it! Traveling on a bootstring, staying in hostels with sleeping bags and whatnot. Living in a country is the best way to learn their language. Hell, my friend's mother supported herself once by street performing with a guitar. She is so prim and proper now, I would never have guessed! If she can do that, I can too. Hell, backpack around the world, even. See the sceneries and landscapes of our planet, discover books and friends and food, buy yarn. Knit. I really should knit more. I want some beautiful knitting needles, honestly. But I shouldn't get beautiful needles until I start actually finishing things! Which I can do! Because I can do anything!
So, yeah. This is me, effusive with glory, aglow with the notion that I have my entire life before me and I can do anything I want. Truly, truly joyful.
Home again
Here I am, home again. I never thought I'd be so relieved to see Chesterton, Indiana (actually, I wouldn't have minded seeing What Cheer, Iowa, either, but that's another story). I've just been homesick and lonely for my friends which were not on that nationals trip and wanting my other yarns and ideas and needles because I scrapped the scarf and I didn't feel like knitting on the socks. I want to start a garment, damnit, but of course the yarn I ordered from KnitPicks isn't here yet. So I don't know what I'll do. Probably start the scarf over again.
Now... now, I have absolutely nothing to do. No obligations! It feels wonderful. I can do whatever I damn well please for the next two months! Then it's off with school, but I honestly imagine I'll enjoy at least 80% of that. I really super like learning, when it comes to good teachers and subjects I'm genuinely interested in.
I'm hoping I can make the most of this summer.
Now... now, I have absolutely nothing to do. No obligations! It feels wonderful. I can do whatever I damn well please for the next two months! Then it's off with school, but I honestly imagine I'll enjoy at least 80% of that. I really super like learning, when it comes to good teachers and subjects I'm genuinely interested in.
I'm hoping I can make the most of this summer.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Jazzin' it up in KC, among other things
Who knew? Who ever knows, actually. Our hotel doesn't have free wifi -- it has wifi, yes, but you must pay $10 a day for it. One of the high schools where the tournament is being held at (which was the one everyone's elimination rounds were being held at and also policy pre-elimination rounds were held at) has free guest wifi. Nowhere else does. I did pay for one day of wifi, so here I am, blogging. Today I'm just bumming around the hotel because I don't have to do anything! So nice. I've bought more books (thanks to my disease), but more importantly, last night I bought yarn.
My first impulse to buy yarn was centered around the desire to do something nice for my boyfriend, who recently has bought me a lot of gifts. I figured I'd knit him a proper sweater, seeing as the EPS raglan, on forethought, was icky. Not to mention, due to my lapses in attention, it had a few mistakes in it that were very noticeable. It's frogged officially now on Ravelry. I think my next sweater for him will be the Seamless Hybrid, which seems to look nice on a man. I ordered eleven 50g balls of KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Thyme, which I think is a nice muted color and pretty classy for someone who can't wear anything with blue dye.
Also! I bought yarn to make a hat and fingerless mittens for myself to go with the Heroine coat I plan on knitting. I'll get to knitting that coat someday... if I really apply myself, I could knit it in a week or two. It's knit in pieces and then seamed up and felted (shitshitshit)... I had better knit this before I go away to college, actually, because I can't imagine where I'd get the resources needed to felt anything in college. I refuse to do washing machine felting on my first try. I'd like my piece of knitting right where I can see it at all times, thank you!
And I also bought the best sock yarn ever. Wonderful stripes and colors and hues. I love knitting socks. The Blackrose socks are on hold right about now because I left the pattern for them at home and I'm working on the Falling Water scarf right now, and it's just positively lovely.
So yep. That's what I've been doing.
My first impulse to buy yarn was centered around the desire to do something nice for my boyfriend, who recently has bought me a lot of gifts. I figured I'd knit him a proper sweater, seeing as the EPS raglan, on forethought, was icky. Not to mention, due to my lapses in attention, it had a few mistakes in it that were very noticeable. It's frogged officially now on Ravelry. I think my next sweater for him will be the Seamless Hybrid, which seems to look nice on a man. I ordered eleven 50g balls of KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Thyme, which I think is a nice muted color and pretty classy for someone who can't wear anything with blue dye.
Also! I bought yarn to make a hat and fingerless mittens for myself to go with the Heroine coat I plan on knitting. I'll get to knitting that coat someday... if I really apply myself, I could knit it in a week or two. It's knit in pieces and then seamed up and felted (shitshitshit)... I had better knit this before I go away to college, actually, because I can't imagine where I'd get the resources needed to felt anything in college. I refuse to do washing machine felting on my first try. I'd like my piece of knitting right where I can see it at all times, thank you!
And I also bought the best sock yarn ever. Wonderful stripes and colors and hues. I love knitting socks. The Blackrose socks are on hold right about now because I left the pattern for them at home and I'm working on the Falling Water scarf right now, and it's just positively lovely.
So yep. That's what I've been doing.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Hustle and bustle
Things have heated up pretty quickly over in my life and I've been pretty busy. Mostly it's been work [insert frowny face here]. I always seem to pick up people's shifts, which leads to me always being at work. And with Asshole Boss there (well, most of the time he's not, actually), it's not exactly pleasant.
I bought more books yesterday. The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck; Hot, Flat, and Crowded, by Thomas L. Friedman; and Cathedral of the Sea, by (ahahaha) Ildefonso Falcones. What a name! My friend and I were laughing about how serious he is. I bought the last two on the bargain table at Barnes & Noble, so I got two shiny, huge hardcover books for $13. Life is so good, let me tell you.
Maybe at this point I should inform my readers that I have a disease. Little research has been done on this disease, even though it afflicts a goodly number of the planet's inhabitants; thus, it does not have a name. I buy books way faster than I can read them. I haven't read a third of my bookshelf, and I keep buying books! I just love having books! My dorm is going to be so crowded with books. Books and yarn, that's pretty much my life. Oh, and languages. But learning languages doesn't take up as much space as my stash and my library. So, yeah. I buy books when I don't need to buy books. Mostly it's because during the school year, I'm mostly too tired or too occupied to sit down and read for very long, so the only reading I get done is the required reading for school. But now, summer is here, and I am planning lots of days where I sit outside on my porch swing and do nothing but read. I've got half of the Wheel of Time series to get through, for goodness sakes!
Also, next week, I'll be off to Kansas City. The national debate tournament is coming up and we leave on Saturday. The hotel will have wi-fi for sure, but I'm not so certain about wherever the tournament is being held. Who knows when I'll blog next? My partner and I are hoping to at least break at nationals, so we'll see. If we don't, though, I'm not going to be as heartbroken as when I lost state. This is the last debate tournament I'll ever have to do, and I'm kind of looking forward to a week from now when it will all be over. Then I can just sit back and relaaaaaax.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
In for a rough summer
Today I found out that Ryan's not going to be having his phone or computer the whole summer. Which means I can't talk to him unless I write him letters through the postal service. It's going to be a long summer.
So if I suddenly seem like I've gone off the deep end, you'll know why.
So if I suddenly seem like I've gone off the deep end, you'll know why.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Netbook blues
I am here to whine.
I waaaaaaaaant my netboooooooooooooooook now now now now now.
Ahem, that will be all.
I waaaaaaaaant my netboooooooooooooooook now now now now now.
Ahem, that will be all.
Blue fuzzy alpaca from hell (and baby polar bears!)
In the past two hours, I've started a scarf four times. Each of them have been frogged, unraveled, or simply torn off the skein of yarn because this charming, charismatic blue alpaca that taunted me from the yarn store shelf is easily breakable. It's not this beautiful yarn's fault that I've started a damn scarf four times today and that none of those attempts have worked out. Really, it's not.
At least, that's what I've been telling myself.
Sigh. I went to my LYS today to get some more yarn because I'm a fiber head. I already have SO MUCH YARN, but I thought I'd go and get more because there are just some people in my life that I want to knit for. I got this really lovely blue alpaca (from Nashua Handknits -- same people I got that wacky sock yarn from! Amazing!) and some plain old black Lamb's Pride worsted for a friend. The products, I mean, will be for the friend.
But really, I've started a scarf FOUR TIMES ALREADY. Definitely time for some ice cream and Planet Earth. (Oh! Today I was lucky enough to receive Planet Earth as a graduation present from the best boyfriend anyone could ever ask for. He's amazing and I love him and I've got Planet Earth! I've already seen BABY POLAR BEARS!)
At least, that's what I've been telling myself.
Sigh. I went to my LYS today to get some more yarn because I'm a fiber head. I already have SO MUCH YARN, but I thought I'd go and get more because there are just some people in my life that I want to knit for. I got this really lovely blue alpaca (from Nashua Handknits -- same people I got that wacky sock yarn from! Amazing!) and some plain old black Lamb's Pride worsted for a friend. The products, I mean, will be for the friend.
But really, I've started a scarf FOUR TIMES ALREADY. Definitely time for some ice cream and Planet Earth. (Oh! Today I was lucky enough to receive Planet Earth as a graduation present from the best boyfriend anyone could ever ask for. He's amazing and I love him and I've got Planet Earth! I've already seen BABY POLAR BEARS!)
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Graduation and summer
Well, I haven't done much knitting in the past few days due to fear of ladders and working and, oh -- graduating high school. You know.
DID I MENTION I'M DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER?!?!?
Never again will I be forced to encounter huge masses of dumbasses. Never again will I be forced to sit through a class which doesn't somehow pertain to my major. Never again will I have to encounter narrow-minded approaches to education. Hell, never again will I be forced to go to class. In college, if I hate a class, I can just teach myself and show up for the exams. Likewise, if I want to learn about something, I can crash lectures. I won't be forced to adhere to conservative school principles or principals, nor will I be treated like a brain-dead delinquent. I can get involved in the things I want to get involved in without fear of restrictions. I can live on my own. I can be freeeeee!
Commencement was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Mr. Zeck gave a good speech about not settling for some half-ass rate of yourself and achieving great things; he also managed to take a good spin on labels. Taylor's speech was cute and personalized to our class and even though I don't like the guy very much, it made me smile. I thought Mr. Kelly fucking up people's names was hilarious, though in retrospect it was pretty horrible. These kids were graduating and he messed up their names, paused, held up the whole thing, and had to find the right name. I probably only thought it was hilarious because I personally know Mr. Kelly.
After commencement was a little weird though, because I found my family immediately and found everyone I wanted to see immediately, and then after that I wanted to leave. Here's everyone, hugging everybody and their mother, and then here's me, desperately wanting to leave because I really only like about 15 members of my graduating class. I'm such a misanthrope.
Now, on with life. I have a national debate tournament to attend, but after that, no obligations. Now is the time that I can start being everything I want to be. I've got all the time in the world, and I am damn excited.
To kick things off, yesterday I bought the Bhagavad Gita and the most kickass thermos I've ever seen. These may seem like two very minor things, but this book will shape much of my life philosophy, and this thermos will hold my drinks wherever I go to read it. The thermos will keep drinks cold for 4 hours, hot for 1 hour, is double insulated and has the best leak-seal protection I've ever seen. Amazing amazing amazing.
DID I MENTION I'M DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER?!?!?
Never again will I be forced to encounter huge masses of dumbasses. Never again will I be forced to sit through a class which doesn't somehow pertain to my major. Never again will I have to encounter narrow-minded approaches to education. Hell, never again will I be forced to go to class. In college, if I hate a class, I can just teach myself and show up for the exams. Likewise, if I want to learn about something, I can crash lectures. I won't be forced to adhere to conservative school principles or principals, nor will I be treated like a brain-dead delinquent. I can get involved in the things I want to get involved in without fear of restrictions. I can live on my own. I can be freeeeee!
Commencement was actually a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Mr. Zeck gave a good speech about not settling for some half-ass rate of yourself and achieving great things; he also managed to take a good spin on labels. Taylor's speech was cute and personalized to our class and even though I don't like the guy very much, it made me smile. I thought Mr. Kelly fucking up people's names was hilarious, though in retrospect it was pretty horrible. These kids were graduating and he messed up their names, paused, held up the whole thing, and had to find the right name. I probably only thought it was hilarious because I personally know Mr. Kelly.
After commencement was a little weird though, because I found my family immediately and found everyone I wanted to see immediately, and then after that I wanted to leave. Here's everyone, hugging everybody and their mother, and then here's me, desperately wanting to leave because I really only like about 15 members of my graduating class. I'm such a misanthrope.
Now, on with life. I have a national debate tournament to attend, but after that, no obligations. Now is the time that I can start being everything I want to be. I've got all the time in the world, and I am damn excited.
To kick things off, yesterday I bought the Bhagavad Gita and the most kickass thermos I've ever seen. These may seem like two very minor things, but this book will shape much of my life philosophy, and this thermos will hold my drinks wherever I go to read it. The thermos will keep drinks cold for 4 hours, hot for 1 hour, is double insulated and has the best leak-seal protection I've ever seen. Amazing amazing amazing.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Socks and ladders
The blackrose socks are going swimmingly, and I'm loving the yarn. Love love love it. It's both self-striping and variegated, which sounds atrocious but is actually the coolest thing ever to hit yarn, ever.
But here's my problem... So I'm going strong on the heel flap, feeling quite proud of myself for converting a magic loop pattern to DPNs when it comes to making/turning the heel and gusset... considering the instructions are lacking and I've only done it once. Anywho. This happened last time, too, with the Monkey socks -- but when I'm working on the heel flap, and also just plain whenever I'm working on three dpns, I get these huuuuge freaking ladders that crawl up on me. Well, not huge, but when I finally pick up the gusset, it's big enough to look like a generous yarn over.
HOW DO I STOP THIS?
I'm definitely going to wear the socks anyway (if they fit. I have large feet), but for professionalism and the possibility of selling knitwear, I'd like to know how to fix this. I feel an epic journey on the interwebs is in order.
But here's my problem... So I'm going strong on the heel flap, feeling quite proud of myself for converting a magic loop pattern to DPNs when it comes to making/turning the heel and gusset... considering the instructions are lacking and I've only done it once. Anywho. This happened last time, too, with the Monkey socks -- but when I'm working on the heel flap, and also just plain whenever I'm working on three dpns, I get these huuuuge freaking ladders that crawl up on me. Well, not huge, but when I finally pick up the gusset, it's big enough to look like a generous yarn over.
HOW DO I STOP THIS?
I'm definitely going to wear the socks anyway (if they fit. I have large feet), but for professionalism and the possibility of selling knitwear, I'd like to know how to fix this. I feel an epic journey on the interwebs is in order.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Black rose to my socks
I started a pair of socks. The pattern is called Blackrose socks. Then I made a few mistakes (ladders, wrong cast-on, random and inexplicable decreases, skipped a lace row) and scrapped them.
So now I have to start over.
Lovely time in NJ is coming to a close tomorrow. Then I just have finals and nationals, and then I'm done! I shall be working on my blackrose socks whenever I can.
In other news, the yarn I'm using, Nashua's Best Foot Forward in Autumn, is variegated and I absolutely love it. This is staggering, because I hate variegated yarns but this one looks lovely. It also obscures the lace pattern. Who knew.
So now I have to start over.
Lovely time in NJ is coming to a close tomorrow. Then I just have finals and nationals, and then I'm done! I shall be working on my blackrose socks whenever I can.
In other news, the yarn I'm using, Nashua's Best Foot Forward in Autumn, is variegated and I absolutely love it. This is staggering, because I hate variegated yarns but this one looks lovely. It also obscures the lace pattern. Who knew.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Well, here I am
... in Jersey.
I'm actually having a really lovely time. Despite this past week being a week in which I thought I was going to relax but found out otherwise, I have blessedly not been as tired. During this whole week (excluding last night), I haven't gone to bed before 1 AM. Although, last night should count, considering I had to wake up at 3:30 AM to catch my flight.
I nearly died of a heart attack today several times. First of all, the bus to take me to O'Hare was fifteen minutes late. For someone like me who likes to be at the airport in plenty of time, even if the airport bus was spot-on time, it would've been an abnormally tight squeeze. Naturally it wasn't. I got to the airport with forty-five minutes to go before my flight and due to my genius of printing out my boarding pass ahead of time managed to make it to (what I thought was) my gate in fifteen minutes. But wait! There's more! My boarding pass and the boards at the airport told me to go to the wrong gate. F8, they said. If not for the intervention of an extremely helpful gentleman, I would've missed my flight. We were chatting and he was telling me about how you could get text alerts about your flight, and since my phone was already off he decided to do it for me. This was the point where I discovered my gate was actually E7, not F8. I had to book it to the other side of the terminal and managed to make it 15 minutes before my plane left. Phew. (For reference, I usually like to arrive at the airport about two hours before my flight. The earliest airport bus, however, would only take me to the airport one hour before my flight.)
But, here I am, safe and sound. Ryan's family is pretty charming (a lot better than mine, but what's new?) and their house is a genuine menagerie. It's amazing. They have like, eight rabbits, two tortoises, two guniea pigs, three hamsters, a snake, a leopard gecko, and two frogs in the bathroom. Rabbits are really soft and cuddly... just in case anyone wanted to know.
Tomorrow I'm going yarn shopping at some local yarn stores, because if I don't start a new project for me as soon as possible, I'm going to explode. I still haven't ever knit anything for myself. Not to mention, knitting provides daily stress relief in a way nothing else does. Although being in Jersey, not having anything to do, and hanging out with Ryan all day is the best stress relief cocktail I could ask for, I still want to knit.
Time to do some Ravelry cruising.
I'm actually having a really lovely time. Despite this past week being a week in which I thought I was going to relax but found out otherwise, I have blessedly not been as tired. During this whole week (excluding last night), I haven't gone to bed before 1 AM. Although, last night should count, considering I had to wake up at 3:30 AM to catch my flight.
I nearly died of a heart attack today several times. First of all, the bus to take me to O'Hare was fifteen minutes late. For someone like me who likes to be at the airport in plenty of time, even if the airport bus was spot-on time, it would've been an abnormally tight squeeze. Naturally it wasn't. I got to the airport with forty-five minutes to go before my flight and due to my genius of printing out my boarding pass ahead of time managed to make it to (what I thought was) my gate in fifteen minutes. But wait! There's more! My boarding pass and the boards at the airport told me to go to the wrong gate. F8, they said. If not for the intervention of an extremely helpful gentleman, I would've missed my flight. We were chatting and he was telling me about how you could get text alerts about your flight, and since my phone was already off he decided to do it for me. This was the point where I discovered my gate was actually E7, not F8. I had to book it to the other side of the terminal and managed to make it 15 minutes before my plane left. Phew. (For reference, I usually like to arrive at the airport about two hours before my flight. The earliest airport bus, however, would only take me to the airport one hour before my flight.)
But, here I am, safe and sound. Ryan's family is pretty charming (a lot better than mine, but what's new?) and their house is a genuine menagerie. It's amazing. They have like, eight rabbits, two tortoises, two guniea pigs, three hamsters, a snake, a leopard gecko, and two frogs in the bathroom. Rabbits are really soft and cuddly... just in case anyone wanted to know.
Tomorrow I'm going yarn shopping at some local yarn stores, because if I don't start a new project for me as soon as possible, I'm going to explode. I still haven't ever knit anything for myself. Not to mention, knitting provides daily stress relief in a way nothing else does. Although being in Jersey, not having anything to do, and hanging out with Ryan all day is the best stress relief cocktail I could ask for, I still want to knit.
Time to do some Ravelry cruising.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Four different topics
I need to start a new knitting project or I'm going to go insane. Technically, I should finish the EPS raglan and begin on Hope's scarf. Sigh. In truth, Hope's scarf seems daunting to me right now when all I really want to do is knit a nice cardigan or shawl or mittens or something. (Sorry Bree, it'll get done D: )
On a complete tangent, I had a very nice weekend with Ryan and saw him off to the airport yesterday. Bree went with us, and when we were on our way back, we missed our train. We ended up skipping around Millennium Park and hanging around a Dunkin' Donuts... and who should sit at the table next to us but real, genuine hookers? They were really terribly dressed and were talking about "the business." Yeah. We also saw a crazy hobo on Michigan Ave. He was speaking in tongues.
On another complete tangent, I've also been playing on Skritter for awhile. It's a website designed for kanji practice for Japanese... seriously, the most amazing kanji practice site ever designed. It makes learning kanji fun (for me, at least). So fun, I use the verb "play" when I talk about Skritter. I play on Skritter.
Headway on life problems has been made, I think. Waiting for the start of summer for things to really kick off (about a week and a half). Feelings towards AAP are slowly dying down to embers. The release from the emotions he stirred up in me makes me want to cry, it's so good.
On a complete tangent, I had a very nice weekend with Ryan and saw him off to the airport yesterday. Bree went with us, and when we were on our way back, we missed our train. We ended up skipping around Millennium Park and hanging around a Dunkin' Donuts... and who should sit at the table next to us but real, genuine hookers? They were really terribly dressed and were talking about "the business." Yeah. We also saw a crazy hobo on Michigan Ave. He was speaking in tongues.
On another complete tangent, I've also been playing on Skritter for awhile. It's a website designed for kanji practice for Japanese... seriously, the most amazing kanji practice site ever designed. It makes learning kanji fun (for me, at least). So fun, I use the verb "play" when I talk about Skritter. I play on Skritter.
Headway on life problems has been made, I think. Waiting for the start of summer for things to really kick off (about a week and a half). Feelings towards AAP are slowly dying down to embers. The release from the emotions he stirred up in me makes me want to cry, it's so good.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Amazing
Ryan's coming to see me tonight. Expect me to disappear off the face of the earth now that he's here.
Oh, and I finished all of my IB exams! I'M FREE! Now I can start getting off of my ass and maybe doing some things?
Oh, and I finished all of my IB exams! I'M FREE! Now I can start getting off of my ass and maybe doing some things?
Thursday, May 20, 2010
The Trifecta of Depression
WARNING: extremely long blog post about life problems
Sometimes the ginger life ain't so easy. I'm having some problems and I think I can't go to bed with any semblance of peace of mind until I get these thoughts out of my head somehow. I don't like talking to people about it because there's nothing, really, that other people can do to help. In order to overcome these problems, changes are going to have to occur inside of myself. (Of course, others can give moral support and encouragement, which is greatly appreciated.) Not to mention, it's difficult for most of the people I know to relate to my problems. And, I haven't told many people about it yet, so in order for people to get the entire story, they'd be sitting there until next July.
But I'm going to tell you, O Blog Readers of Mine. Not just to tell someone, but so I can get these thoughts organized and presented in a fashion that will help me understand them as well.
The problems in my life either fall under the heading of Arrogance or Sloth or Hate. The arrogance of other people is getting me down; I always feel compared and judged by these people. And sloth because there are changes I want to make in my life, and I know how to do them... it's just that I haven't. There's no reason why I couldn't have done anything. I just haven't. And hate because I can't deal with hating humanity very well.
----------
Arrogance... It's really the arrogance of other people, and maybe some traces of arrogance in myself. I hate arrogance. In my humble opinion, nobody is better than anybody else and everyone is entitled to their lifestyle as long as it doesn't harm anybody (philosophical questions aside). I must admit that sometimes in my thoughts I fall victim to arrogance; many a time there has been when I have imagined myself better than some crude people I know. But I know that on the inside, we're all the same.
What really gets me, though, is the presupposed self-importance that many people carry around with them. I don't like it. It makes me feel a little bit sick to think that they think they're better than me. One person in particular haunts my life with his arrogance and immaturity even though I haven't spoken a word to him since December (who hereby will be referred to as Aforementioned Arrogant Person [AAP]). Every time I'm in his presence, I feel like every action I make should somehow be geared to telling him that I am not the lowlife he thinks I am.
But more than this person, I feel like the things I do in life should be done to tell everybody that I am worthy of high thoughts. Right now in high school, I'm dealing with everybody in my class who has a higher rank than me, higher GPAs than me, better scholarships than mine, more awards, etc., etc. In reality, I don't care that I don't have these things. I don't need them to be happy. All I wanted was to go to IU to study languages and become a translator, and I'm getting that! IU gave me enough financial aid so that I can realize my life goal. I have everything I want set before me, and I'm still suffering from bouts of depression because I feel like I have to prove myself to people. How messed up is that?
I had a realization one day that I live in an extremely competitive society where high achievement -- not happiness -- is considered success. I honestly do not give a flying fuck about achieving as much as possible. I care about achieving what makes me happy. But what makes me happy is not what everyone else thinks goes into the formula for A Good Person. Thus, my happiness goals conflict with the societal image of a person worth thinking highly of. Societal schemas still rubs off on me, though, and I can't help looking at all of the achievements everybody else has made and becoming depressed.
I'm all for achieving a lot in something you're passionate about. I haven't really been achieving much lately, though (see Sloth), and so that might have quite a bit to do with my depression. I want to be involved in humanitarian causes, languages, and religious activities -- all things I'm not doing right now. You should achieve great things in areas you have a passion in, by all means. But I'm not doing that either.
Social networking sites do nothing to help my obsessive comparisons. I look up a lot of people on facebook to see what they're up to way too much. If I weren't so obsessed on what everyone else is doing, then maybe I could get up off of my ass and go do something of my own. I'm making this out to seem like I'm a closet case, which isn't really true at all, but my words do have something to them. I spend way too much time in front of the computer, torturing myself by looking up AAP's profile and becoming so angry with the fact that he is so arrogant... I'm only emotionally beating myself up.
----------
Moving on to Sloth. Admittedly, I am a lazy person and enjoy inactivity. This is destroying me, though, because as mentioned beforehand, I don't get up off of my ass to do anything. There are so many things I want to do, and I'm not doing them. Why? There is no reason why. A mental block, perhaps, but if there is one it is so subtle, I don't even know it's there.
I want to learn six languages, start some knowledge on my midwifery training, knit, lose weight, start on the path to religious realization, start my yoga training, and read. I also have a job and am going to be a college student. All of this is really hard to fit into one life, I know, but it is so doable. I know I can do it. And I don't. I'm not going to lie when I say that I have some problems with my weight. I'm not fat, but I am by no means fit, either. And this bothers me. I want to be fit. I have all the tools before me to become what I want to become, and I'm not doing it. Not doing anything to further my dreams drags down my self-esteem even more. And it makes me even more depressed when I look around at my life and realize that I am not a step further towards my goals today than I was a month ago.
----------
And finally, Hate. I hate humanity, I hate how people mindlessly go about their lives, I hate how I can predict where half of my graduated class will be twenty years from now. I hate ignorance and arrogance and apathy about important things. I hate lies and untruth. I hate war, fighting, and pointless conflicts. I hate atheism, intolerance, propaganda, irresponsibility, being woken up, boredom, and petty-ness. The list goes on and on, but most importantly, I hate AAP.
AAP and I used to be friends. We used to be very good friends, as a matter of fact -- he was one of my best friends. And then he started to change... and become more arrogant. He began to believe that his opinions on everything were better than everyone else's. He laughed at others' stupidity. Sometimes he would sit on the internet, find pictures of people, and laugh at them because they weren't like him. He thought his opinion was the only right opinion to have on naturally subjective matters, like politics and music. Then he found someone who was just like him and had the same arrogance level, and everything magnified tenfold. Now he likes to make fun of people who aren't like him. Eventually, I bitched him out and told him to stop talking to me.
I just can't get over losing him to something I dislike so much. I can't deal with the fact that I hate him. And I don't hate him, per se... but the thought of him makes me sick. I can't wait to get away from him when I go to college, yet I occasionally peek through his tumblr and facebook profile to see what he's up to, and everything I see intensifies my anger and dislike. I find myself thinking about him at least once a day, and I can relate so many things about him that I don't like to almost anything anyone says. It's sad. It's terrible. Because all of his activities or anything he does is just a representation of his arrogance and the pleasure I know he gets from being "different" and "hip" and (shudder) "avant-garde."
I hate all of this, and I can't let it go. His presence is a shadow over my life and there's no reason why it should be, but it is. My prolonged hatred of him is eating away at my spirit, slowly but surely, and I need to find a way out of not only hating him, but hating everything else as well. I need to find a way to deal with everything so that I can find inner peace and not be bothered so much by annoyance from AAP and the world.
---------
I compare myself to everyone and feel lackluster. I don't take the steps necessary to fulfill my aspirations. I am mired in the hatred of humanity and AAP. In short, I've got some problems and need to do something about it.
Arrogance will be solved when I manage to adhere to my own principles of happiness and achieve them. Sloth will be taken care of when I start working towards my goals. And Hate will be tossed away when I can manage to start the path towards self-realization and finally not be troubled so much by everything. Someone I know always laughs and is happy she's not like everything she hates; I can't do that. But maybe someday I can work towards it. I don't have to be angry at everything. I just need to learn to let things go.
Easier said than done, but at least I've identified the problem.
Sometimes the ginger life ain't so easy. I'm having some problems and I think I can't go to bed with any semblance of peace of mind until I get these thoughts out of my head somehow. I don't like talking to people about it because there's nothing, really, that other people can do to help. In order to overcome these problems, changes are going to have to occur inside of myself. (Of course, others can give moral support and encouragement, which is greatly appreciated.) Not to mention, it's difficult for most of the people I know to relate to my problems. And, I haven't told many people about it yet, so in order for people to get the entire story, they'd be sitting there until next July.
But I'm going to tell you, O Blog Readers of Mine. Not just to tell someone, but so I can get these thoughts organized and presented in a fashion that will help me understand them as well.
The problems in my life either fall under the heading of Arrogance or Sloth or Hate. The arrogance of other people is getting me down; I always feel compared and judged by these people. And sloth because there are changes I want to make in my life, and I know how to do them... it's just that I haven't. There's no reason why I couldn't have done anything. I just haven't. And hate because I can't deal with hating humanity very well.
----------
Arrogance... It's really the arrogance of other people, and maybe some traces of arrogance in myself. I hate arrogance. In my humble opinion, nobody is better than anybody else and everyone is entitled to their lifestyle as long as it doesn't harm anybody (philosophical questions aside). I must admit that sometimes in my thoughts I fall victim to arrogance; many a time there has been when I have imagined myself better than some crude people I know. But I know that on the inside, we're all the same.
What really gets me, though, is the presupposed self-importance that many people carry around with them. I don't like it. It makes me feel a little bit sick to think that they think they're better than me. One person in particular haunts my life with his arrogance and immaturity even though I haven't spoken a word to him since December (who hereby will be referred to as Aforementioned Arrogant Person [AAP]). Every time I'm in his presence, I feel like every action I make should somehow be geared to telling him that I am not the lowlife he thinks I am.
But more than this person, I feel like the things I do in life should be done to tell everybody that I am worthy of high thoughts. Right now in high school, I'm dealing with everybody in my class who has a higher rank than me, higher GPAs than me, better scholarships than mine, more awards, etc., etc. In reality, I don't care that I don't have these things. I don't need them to be happy. All I wanted was to go to IU to study languages and become a translator, and I'm getting that! IU gave me enough financial aid so that I can realize my life goal. I have everything I want set before me, and I'm still suffering from bouts of depression because I feel like I have to prove myself to people. How messed up is that?
I had a realization one day that I live in an extremely competitive society where high achievement -- not happiness -- is considered success. I honestly do not give a flying fuck about achieving as much as possible. I care about achieving what makes me happy. But what makes me happy is not what everyone else thinks goes into the formula for A Good Person. Thus, my happiness goals conflict with the societal image of a person worth thinking highly of. Societal schemas still rubs off on me, though, and I can't help looking at all of the achievements everybody else has made and becoming depressed.
I'm all for achieving a lot in something you're passionate about. I haven't really been achieving much lately, though (see Sloth), and so that might have quite a bit to do with my depression. I want to be involved in humanitarian causes, languages, and religious activities -- all things I'm not doing right now. You should achieve great things in areas you have a passion in, by all means. But I'm not doing that either.
Social networking sites do nothing to help my obsessive comparisons. I look up a lot of people on facebook to see what they're up to way too much. If I weren't so obsessed on what everyone else is doing, then maybe I could get up off of my ass and go do something of my own. I'm making this out to seem like I'm a closet case, which isn't really true at all, but my words do have something to them. I spend way too much time in front of the computer, torturing myself by looking up AAP's profile and becoming so angry with the fact that he is so arrogant... I'm only emotionally beating myself up.
So when I compare myself all the time to everybody else, I can't help but feel lackluster.
----------
Moving on to Sloth. Admittedly, I am a lazy person and enjoy inactivity. This is destroying me, though, because as mentioned beforehand, I don't get up off of my ass to do anything. There are so many things I want to do, and I'm not doing them. Why? There is no reason why. A mental block, perhaps, but if there is one it is so subtle, I don't even know it's there.
I want to learn six languages, start some knowledge on my midwifery training, knit, lose weight, start on the path to religious realization, start my yoga training, and read. I also have a job and am going to be a college student. All of this is really hard to fit into one life, I know, but it is so doable. I know I can do it. And I don't. I'm not going to lie when I say that I have some problems with my weight. I'm not fat, but I am by no means fit, either. And this bothers me. I want to be fit. I have all the tools before me to become what I want to become, and I'm not doing it. Not doing anything to further my dreams drags down my self-esteem even more. And it makes me even more depressed when I look around at my life and realize that I am not a step further towards my goals today than I was a month ago.
----------
And finally, Hate. I hate humanity, I hate how people mindlessly go about their lives, I hate how I can predict where half of my graduated class will be twenty years from now. I hate ignorance and arrogance and apathy about important things. I hate lies and untruth. I hate war, fighting, and pointless conflicts. I hate atheism, intolerance, propaganda, irresponsibility, being woken up, boredom, and petty-ness. The list goes on and on, but most importantly, I hate AAP.
AAP and I used to be friends. We used to be very good friends, as a matter of fact -- he was one of my best friends. And then he started to change... and become more arrogant. He began to believe that his opinions on everything were better than everyone else's. He laughed at others' stupidity. Sometimes he would sit on the internet, find pictures of people, and laugh at them because they weren't like him. He thought his opinion was the only right opinion to have on naturally subjective matters, like politics and music. Then he found someone who was just like him and had the same arrogance level, and everything magnified tenfold. Now he likes to make fun of people who aren't like him. Eventually, I bitched him out and told him to stop talking to me.
I just can't get over losing him to something I dislike so much. I can't deal with the fact that I hate him. And I don't hate him, per se... but the thought of him makes me sick. I can't wait to get away from him when I go to college, yet I occasionally peek through his tumblr and facebook profile to see what he's up to, and everything I see intensifies my anger and dislike. I find myself thinking about him at least once a day, and I can relate so many things about him that I don't like to almost anything anyone says. It's sad. It's terrible. Because all of his activities or anything he does is just a representation of his arrogance and the pleasure I know he gets from being "different" and "hip" and (shudder) "avant-garde."
I hate all of this, and I can't let it go. His presence is a shadow over my life and there's no reason why it should be, but it is. My prolonged hatred of him is eating away at my spirit, slowly but surely, and I need to find a way out of not only hating him, but hating everything else as well. I need to find a way to deal with everything so that I can find inner peace and not be bothered so much by annoyance from AAP and the world.
---------
I compare myself to everyone and feel lackluster. I don't take the steps necessary to fulfill my aspirations. I am mired in the hatred of humanity and AAP. In short, I've got some problems and need to do something about it.
Arrogance will be solved when I manage to adhere to my own principles of happiness and achieve them. Sloth will be taken care of when I start working towards my goals. And Hate will be tossed away when I can manage to start the path towards self-realization and finally not be troubled so much by everything. Someone I know always laughs and is happy she's not like everything she hates; I can't do that. But maybe someday I can work towards it. I don't have to be angry at everything. I just need to learn to let things go.
Easier said than done, but at least I've identified the problem.
Monday, May 17, 2010
I survived today
Bio exam was moderately well-taken (except for the material our teacher never taught us -- but that's a rant for a day with more free time and energy), debate work was slogged through, and work went all right. I am home and not even dead tired. I have enough energy to write my grade justification essay for my history teacher (i.e., I've known you for four years and I've worked very hard this quarter, so in lieu of having no grades for me, give me an A). It's good.
I survived today!
I survived today!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Side note
I've just read the last few posts I've made recently, and I have to make a side note to apologize for the absolute monotony of everything. I promise I'm not this boring. IB exams and work are just eating my life. This vortex of fatigue should end this Sunday, though, so that's when normalcy shall resume.
Whatever normal is.
Whatever normal is.
Of Mitsuwa and Overwork
I have just a week before things slow down and I can relax. Really, I should have taken this day as a personal day but I chose instead to accompany a few friends up to Chicago to Mitsuwa Marketplace. Mitsuwa is a Japanese department store in Arlington Heights and it sells almost everything; they also have a food court that offers the best udon I've ever eaten (but I haven't eaten much udon). I kind of need a day where I can regather my resources and get everything organized... that was supposed to be yesterday during the morning, but that never happened either. The Great Purge? It's still waiting. It kind of has to happen tonight.
Whenever I get really run down, I always have these urges to just lay around and do nothing so I can recuperate from the world. Trouble is, there's usually all sorts of things I still need to do... so this often resorts in a lot of stuff going undone. My two most challenging IB exams are coming up this week, bio and Japanese, and I really should be studying a lot for them; instead I nap a lot. And eat ramen. And take trips to Mitsuwa.
Tomorrow I have three and a half hours of bio exams to sit through before heading off to a two-hour debate meeting and then going straight to work. With the rate tonight's going at, it'll probably be on six hours of sleep, too. Kill me.
Whenever I get really run down, I always have these urges to just lay around and do nothing so I can recuperate from the world. Trouble is, there's usually all sorts of things I still need to do... so this often resorts in a lot of stuff going undone. My two most challenging IB exams are coming up this week, bio and Japanese, and I really should be studying a lot for them; instead I nap a lot. And eat ramen. And take trips to Mitsuwa.
Tomorrow I have three and a half hours of bio exams to sit through before heading off to a two-hour debate meeting and then going straight to work. With the rate tonight's going at, it'll probably be on six hours of sleep, too. Kill me.
Friday, May 14, 2010
The Great Purge
I feel a little guilty for not writing in this regularly, even though almost nobody reads this. I guess it's the integrity of the matter.
Well, anyway. I really wanted to talk about "Nicole wants to be a conscious consumer." For two reasons, really. One, it's alarming how much stuff that I have that I never use. And two, it is also alarming on how once I spent almost all of my weekend earnings ($75) on food alone. Food. Consumable stuff that I didn't even need to buy and could easily have obtained at home. $75 that might have been able to be put towards a new laptop for college. So, I am feeling like a very mindless American right now and this weekend, the Great Purge shall take place.
I feel that all of the possessions that I have cluttered into my room have also cluttered my lifestyle. It's kind of a bummer to come into my room at the end of a very busy day and just look at all of the stuff, and then also realize that because I have so much stuff, it's really hard to keep my room clean. My laundry gets out of hand because I have so many clothes, my desk gets cluttered because there are so many useless papers, etc. I feel that if I can narrow down my possessions to things I really need, and keep it that way, that ultimately it will make me happier. This also carries some deeper religious undertones... everything in this world has energy, and that energy becomes stagnant when the thing isn't used for its purpose and just sits there. There is a ton of stagnant energy in my room, not only from unused objects lurking in drawers, but from the unbelievable amount of crap blocking energy from moving around my room.
Enter the Great Purge. Anything I don't need will be donated to Goodwill.
Things also need to be organized, so that I can easily determine what will take the trip with me down to Bloomington and what won't. I need a basket for my yarn. Go figure.
Well, anyway. I really wanted to talk about "Nicole wants to be a conscious consumer." For two reasons, really. One, it's alarming how much stuff that I have that I never use. And two, it is also alarming on how once I spent almost all of my weekend earnings ($75) on food alone. Food. Consumable stuff that I didn't even need to buy and could easily have obtained at home. $75 that might have been able to be put towards a new laptop for college. So, I am feeling like a very mindless American right now and this weekend, the Great Purge shall take place.
I feel that all of the possessions that I have cluttered into my room have also cluttered my lifestyle. It's kind of a bummer to come into my room at the end of a very busy day and just look at all of the stuff, and then also realize that because I have so much stuff, it's really hard to keep my room clean. My laundry gets out of hand because I have so many clothes, my desk gets cluttered because there are so many useless papers, etc. I feel that if I can narrow down my possessions to things I really need, and keep it that way, that ultimately it will make me happier. This also carries some deeper religious undertones... everything in this world has energy, and that energy becomes stagnant when the thing isn't used for its purpose and just sits there. There is a ton of stagnant energy in my room, not only from unused objects lurking in drawers, but from the unbelievable amount of crap blocking energy from moving around my room.
Enter the Great Purge. Anything I don't need will be donated to Goodwill.
Things also need to be organized, so that I can easily determine what will take the trip with me down to Bloomington and what won't. I need a basket for my yarn. Go figure.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Things that aren't about knitting
Knitting? What's that? Yeah, I haven't been knitting at all. I worked on the EPS raglan for... about twenty minutes today after I finished my third history exam. Three essays in 2 hours and 10 minutes. Can you say essay fatigue? The AP English kids also had their exam today, so in Japanese absolutely nobody wanted to do anything (but that's not different from any other day, anyway).
I'm kind of glad because today I had a re-surge in my desire to actually learn Japanese. It made me happy and made my college major seem worthwhile. Hooray!
Aaaand, today I went clothes shopping. Again. This is actually more relevant than it seems, because it has ties to "Nicole wants to be a conscious consumer." More on this later though, considering this blog post has been festering in my browser for two hours while I've shopped for laptops, researched processors, and switched from Microsoft Office to Google Docs.
I'm kind of glad because today I had a re-surge in my desire to actually learn Japanese. It made me happy and made my college major seem worthwhile. Hooray!
Aaaand, today I went clothes shopping. Again. This is actually more relevant than it seems, because it has ties to "Nicole wants to be a conscious consumer." More on this later though, considering this blog post has been festering in my browser for two hours while I've shopped for laptops, researched processors, and switched from Microsoft Office to Google Docs.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
It's been awhile
I've been working lots of hours, and my IB exams started this week. Needless to say, I'm pretty swamped. And when I'm not swamped, I either sit and stare into space with a zombie expression on my face or sleep.
I've been knitting on the EPS raglan. Mindless stuff.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Pointless ramblings
Hi. More nothing to report, here.
Most of my week last week was spent trying to hide under a rock. But all was in vain. I was really just depressed about state debate, I think. Last weekend (like, the nine days ago kind of last weekend) was the state debate tournament and... well, I don't really want to brag, but my partner and I have the ability to fucking walk into that tournament and OWN BITCHES. Except, that didn't happen. We got knocked out in octafinals. Jeff and I were a favorite to win state and we got knocked out at octafinals. It was illegit. I don't want to whine so much because it's bitchy and annoying, but sometimes I just can't stop myself. It wasn't because we messed up that we got knocked out... I'm just in policy debate, the most complicated debate event there is, and the people in charge of the tournament decide it's a good idea to have people with NO BACKGROUND in policy judge us. Needless to say, we won the debates (according to policy's standards), but the judges voted us down. It was painful, sad, sickening, tearful, and depressing. So I spent a lot of last week just wanting to stay in bed, because I care about debate quite a bit.
By the way, please read that link. It's the absolutely hilarious and somewhat true explanation of policy debate. I linked it directly to the solar implosion sub-section, but the rest is very entertaining. My debate event is so crazily complicated and just plain awesome that Uncyclopedia has written about it! I laughed so hard when I read this article... It is seriously one of the best internet findings, ever.
Ummm in other blog-worthy news, I worked for fifteen hours this weekend and went to see The Twelfth Night at VU. Dear lord, it was hilarious. I was a tad dubious in the beginning, because I honestly think that actors in plays try too hard... But towards the middle it became extremely entertaining, especially in the scene where Malvolio reads aloud the letter Mariah forged, and Toby and his friend are scrambling around the stage trying to hide from him... it makes me laugh just thinking about it.
You totally understood that last paragraph, didn't you?
Most of my week last week was spent trying to hide under a rock. But all was in vain. I was really just depressed about state debate, I think. Last weekend (like, the nine days ago kind of last weekend) was the state debate tournament and... well, I don't really want to brag, but my partner and I have the ability to fucking walk into that tournament and OWN BITCHES. Except, that didn't happen. We got knocked out in octafinals. Jeff and I were a favorite to win state and we got knocked out at octafinals. It was illegit. I don't want to whine so much because it's bitchy and annoying, but sometimes I just can't stop myself. It wasn't because we messed up that we got knocked out... I'm just in policy debate, the most complicated debate event there is, and the people in charge of the tournament decide it's a good idea to have people with NO BACKGROUND in policy judge us. Needless to say, we won the debates (according to policy's standards), but the judges voted us down. It was painful, sad, sickening, tearful, and depressing. So I spent a lot of last week just wanting to stay in bed, because I care about debate quite a bit.
By the way, please read that link. It's the absolutely hilarious and somewhat true explanation of policy debate. I linked it directly to the solar implosion sub-section, but the rest is very entertaining. My debate event is so crazily complicated and just plain awesome that Uncyclopedia has written about it! I laughed so hard when I read this article... It is seriously one of the best internet findings, ever.
Ummm in other blog-worthy news, I worked for fifteen hours this weekend and went to see The Twelfth Night at VU. Dear lord, it was hilarious. I was a tad dubious in the beginning, because I honestly think that actors in plays try too hard... But towards the middle it became extremely entertaining, especially in the scene where Malvolio reads aloud the letter Mariah forged, and Toby and his friend are scrambling around the stage trying to hide from him... it makes me laugh just thinking about it.
You totally understood that last paragraph, didn't you?
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
A whole lot of nada.
So, I've been doing absolutely nothing.
I've been working on the EPS raglan, and I've been watching a whole lot of Lord of the Rings (Extended Editions, naturally). I started the swatch for Hope's Scarf today. I think my color knitting runs on a tighter gauge than my regular knitting, which is WONDERFUL. But we'll see how it turns out when it's blocked... it'll probably all smooth out. Hopefully.
I haven't even been working. I haven't worked in about ten days. I wish I could get some boring desk job or something, then I could do it at home and make some money.
I should be doing housework. But, hey, who does that? My grandmother's down in Dallas taking care of my really sick aunt, and since she's gone nobody in my house does anything remotely close to housekeeping. Well, I went grocery shopping yesterday... does that count? I need to clean my entire house, ha. But I don't think I'm going to do that today because my sister/aunt is coming over tomorrow with my two nephews and they regularly trash my house, so what's the point of doing it now when I'd just have to do it again? Exactly.
All in all, these past few days, I've just wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there.
I've been working on the EPS raglan, and I've been watching a whole lot of Lord of the Rings (Extended Editions, naturally). I started the swatch for Hope's Scarf today. I think my color knitting runs on a tighter gauge than my regular knitting, which is WONDERFUL. But we'll see how it turns out when it's blocked... it'll probably all smooth out. Hopefully.
I haven't even been working. I haven't worked in about ten days. I wish I could get some boring desk job or something, then I could do it at home and make some money.
I should be doing housework. But, hey, who does that? My grandmother's down in Dallas taking care of my really sick aunt, and since she's gone nobody in my house does anything remotely close to housekeeping. Well, I went grocery shopping yesterday... does that count? I need to clean my entire house, ha. But I don't think I'm going to do that today because my sister/aunt is coming over tomorrow with my two nephews and they regularly trash my house, so what's the point of doing it now when I'd just have to do it again? Exactly.
All in all, these past few days, I've just wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Meh, oh meh.
I should be packing, but instead I'm cruising Ravelry looking for free sock patterns. I'm trying to decide whether or not to start some new socks (bad Nicole!) or take along the EPS sweater. I'm still not certain on what to do with that dropped stitch on the Monkey socks...
That's all for now. See you on Sunday.
That's all for now. See you on Sunday.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Moar knitting (and some mistakes)
I've been knitting for the past few days as solidly as my schedule will allow me... With school, state debate, and just plain old life in general, I can usually only knit for about an hour or two each day. Knitting is stress relief for me, so it's kind of crucial I get it in. Seriously. Holding the needles and going through the familiar movements really calms me down. People usually think the opposite when I end up swearing at my project (which happens quite frequently), but it's just more stress relief.
Here we see my most swore-at work in progress ever, the fabulous Monkey socks by Cookie A (found on Knitty). It's really quite a simple pattern and well-written. I would know because this is my first time ever knitting socks, and I can understand these directions pretty well. It's not the pattern I ever curse at... usually it's my inability to knit correctly. My latest curse-fest? I dropped a stitch somewhere in the gusset. Not making the gusset, but the lacework that forms the top of the sock in the gusset... It's in one of the purl triangles and I just now noticed it after making good headway into the foot. AND I absolutely have NO idea what to do! I'm not stressing out about it too much, but I don't think these socks can be worn by anyone when I finish them. Which is a shame... if I wanted to create a pair of socks that were a wash, I would've been far better just knitting a pair of plain old stockinette socks. I think that's what I'm going to do when I finish this sock. Because I do need to finish something.
Meanwhile, progress on EPS raglan sweater continues. Usually I knit the socks during free time at school (Spanish, personal finance, English, and SRT... all free classes!) and save the sweater for home. That way I can make sure that some progress is being made on both projects everyday. The EPS sweater is easy because I can just mindlessly knit it while watching Lord of the Rings. Man oh man, will there ever be anything more uplifting than seeing Frodo and Sam succeed in saving Middle Earth, Merry and Pippin cheering, Aragorn get crowned king and then sweeping Arwen off her feet, and Sam getting his girl? I just want to cheer and dance around every time I see the end of the movies. Just thinking about it now makes me enormously proud and happy.
I'm proud of hobbits.
Anywho. I've told myself that after I finish both the sweater and the socks, I can start on my blanket. Hope's Scarf kind of falls somewhere in between... I measured a scarf that's the size my friend wants it to be, and the base of the triangle is five feet. I'm scared. And I still need to swatch for it so Bree and I can chart the pattern.
Meanwhile, progress on EPS raglan sweater continues. Usually I knit the socks during free time at school (Spanish, personal finance, English, and SRT... all free classes!) and save the sweater for home. That way I can make sure that some progress is being made on both projects everyday. The EPS sweater is easy because I can just mindlessly knit it while watching Lord of the Rings. Man oh man, will there ever be anything more uplifting than seeing Frodo and Sam succeed in saving Middle Earth, Merry and Pippin cheering, Aragorn get crowned king and then sweeping Arwen off her feet, and Sam getting his girl? I just want to cheer and dance around every time I see the end of the movies. Just thinking about it now makes me enormously proud and happy.
I'm proud of hobbits.
Anywho. I've told myself that after I finish both the sweater and the socks, I can start on my blanket. Hope's Scarf kind of falls somewhere in between... I measured a scarf that's the size my friend wants it to be, and the base of the triangle is five feet. I'm scared. And I still need to swatch for it so Bree and I can chart the pattern.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
New!
Blanket. Bought the yarn for it today. Due to my crappy camera phone, the picture doesn't really do the yarn color justice -- it's really this nice warm toffee color. I have a pound and a half of wool / 1561 yds there, ready to be knit up. I was going to go with six balls, but they were on clearance and something inside of me whispered, What if you run out?So I ran back in and got the seventh ball. 'Cause, you know, I don't have enough things to knit already.
FFXIII: Hope's Scarf
So, my friend and I have this idea. To anyone who's played Final Fantasy XIII, my friend is in love with Hope and wants his scarf. Of course, no one is selling a remake of this scarf, so she turned to the only person she knows who can make clothing - me.
For those of you who don't know what it looks like, here it is. Basically I'd be doing a colorwork scarf of our own design (my friend drew the design, I'll have to chart it). It's triangular in shape. Looks pretty badass, if I do say so myself. Yesterday we got the yarn and managed to match the colors almost precisely.
Today, the gauge swatch will be knit.
I just need to find time to knit everything @_@
Today, the gauge swatch will be knit.
I just need to find time to knit everything @_@
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Hooks and Needles; Un Dia sin Zapatos
So two girls at my school decided to start a knitting and crochet club called Hooks and Needles, meeting every 5:30 on Mondays. (Even though we met today. We decided on Mondays after today.) Four of us came today, plus the teacher who's sponsoring the club, and two more people are supposed to come on Monday. So that'd make seven of us and I am so excited. Everyone's really super nice, and everyone crochets except for me! It's so weird, being in the minority. I know how to do the basics of crochet, and everyone crocheting there made me want to start again. One girl had this pattern book with instructions on how to make all sorts of things out of crochet, and I really want to make these containers. They're made out of kitchen twine, and in the end they look like baskets. Super cool. It really made me think about expanding my textile crafts outwards.
I also taught that same girl to knit. Almost everyone there expresses an interest in knitting, but only Mandy had knitting needles on her, so I taught her how to cast on, knit, and purl. She caught on a lot quicker than other people I've taught, actually, but I suspect that's because she already knows how to crochet. It's basically the same concept, really. Loops through loops.
I was thinking on my way home that I should really start keeping a binder of all of my projects and what I use with each project. Like a knitting journal-scrapbook hybrid. It's a good idea... I'd need a lot of postage tape, though. For laminated pages and whatnot. And glue. But other than that, I'd just need a three-hole punch and some printer paper. A binder would be optimal because then I could put in a table of contents and never have to worry about flipping through pages and pages to find a specific pattern or running out of space in said table of contents.
Now, on to the non-knitting section...
Today is Un Dia sin Zapatos - A Day Without Shoes.
There is a company called TOMS Shoes (TOMS is from tomorrow, ultimately deriving from Shoes for Tomorrow Project). For every pair of shoes you buy from them, they give a pair of shoes to a child in need. There are lots of poor children in Africa and Latin America who cannot afford to have shoes, and the complications that can arise from constantly going barefoot in questionable conditions are serious. They're pricey, but it's because you're essentially paying for two pairs of shoes -- one for yourself, and one for a child.
To raise awareness, every so often TOMS does an event called One Day Without Shoes. The point of the day is to go the entire day, or even just a part of the day, barefoot to raise awareness about what it's like to not have the luxury of shoes. Also, people see you and wonder, "Hey, why are you all barefoot?" and then you get to spread the word about TOMS.
So, the Interact Club from my high school did an event for the Day Without Shoes. Apparently, it's against the health code at our school to go barefoot for the entire day, so we couldn't do that. Instead we hosted a walk to a park about a mile away from the high school and back. Today turned out to be a perfect choice for the day, because today is the one day that the weather was crappy, cold, and rainy! A lot of people were complaining, but I thought that really drove home the purpose of the event. Your feet are supposed to get snagged and hurt and sore. That's the point. People without shoes have to deal with this every day. And since the conditions were crappy, it just made it worse. There are others who have to go through so much more than we do, and the least we can do is sample a little bit of their suffering to really raise awareness. We were pleased. It was a good turn out.
And yes, my feet do hurt. But I'm proud. Help a child in need.
I also taught that same girl to knit. Almost everyone there expresses an interest in knitting, but only Mandy had knitting needles on her, so I taught her how to cast on, knit, and purl. She caught on a lot quicker than other people I've taught, actually, but I suspect that's because she already knows how to crochet. It's basically the same concept, really. Loops through loops.
I was thinking on my way home that I should really start keeping a binder of all of my projects and what I use with each project. Like a knitting journal-scrapbook hybrid. It's a good idea... I'd need a lot of postage tape, though. For laminated pages and whatnot. And glue. But other than that, I'd just need a three-hole punch and some printer paper. A binder would be optimal because then I could put in a table of contents and never have to worry about flipping through pages and pages to find a specific pattern or running out of space in said table of contents.
Now, on to the non-knitting section...
Today is Un Dia sin Zapatos - A Day Without Shoes.
There is a company called TOMS Shoes (TOMS is from tomorrow, ultimately deriving from Shoes for Tomorrow Project). For every pair of shoes you buy from them, they give a pair of shoes to a child in need. There are lots of poor children in Africa and Latin America who cannot afford to have shoes, and the complications that can arise from constantly going barefoot in questionable conditions are serious. They're pricey, but it's because you're essentially paying for two pairs of shoes -- one for yourself, and one for a child.
To raise awareness, every so often TOMS does an event called One Day Without Shoes. The point of the day is to go the entire day, or even just a part of the day, barefoot to raise awareness about what it's like to not have the luxury of shoes. Also, people see you and wonder, "Hey, why are you all barefoot?" and then you get to spread the word about TOMS.
So, the Interact Club from my high school did an event for the Day Without Shoes. Apparently, it's against the health code at our school to go barefoot for the entire day, so we couldn't do that. Instead we hosted a walk to a park about a mile away from the high school and back. Today turned out to be a perfect choice for the day, because today is the one day that the weather was crappy, cold, and rainy! A lot of people were complaining, but I thought that really drove home the purpose of the event. Your feet are supposed to get snagged and hurt and sore. That's the point. People without shoes have to deal with this every day. And since the conditions were crappy, it just made it worse. There are others who have to go through so much more than we do, and the least we can do is sample a little bit of their suffering to really raise awareness. We were pleased. It was a good turn out.
And yes, my feet do hurt. But I'm proud. Help a child in need.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Jump for joy!
I am feeling like a million bucks, I tell you!
No, I didn't get any knitting done... shame. Oh well. It doesn't matter right now! Today I finally got my financial aid letter in the mail from IU. Over the past few months my grandmother has kept hinting about how there was this very real chance I might have to attend college around here and stay at home because she wouldn't be able to dredge up enough money for IUB tuition (which is ridiculously cheap). So I've been worrying my ass off, because if I had to go to some place around here... well. There's not a university near me that even offers my major - let's just keep it to that. But a huge burden was relieved today, because IU's practically giving me a free ride.
I could SING!
I also worked five hours today, took an anatomy test that went well, got rained on, aaaand... yep. I plan on eating a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream to both celebrate and make my day just a little bit better.
... have I mentioned my pile of personal finance, Japanese, and Spanish homework...?
No, I didn't get any knitting done... shame. Oh well. It doesn't matter right now! Today I finally got my financial aid letter in the mail from IU. Over the past few months my grandmother has kept hinting about how there was this very real chance I might have to attend college around here and stay at home because she wouldn't be able to dredge up enough money for IUB tuition (which is ridiculously cheap). So I've been worrying my ass off, because if I had to go to some place around here... well. There's not a university near me that even offers my major - let's just keep it to that. But a huge burden was relieved today, because IU's practically giving me a free ride.
I could SING!
I also worked five hours today, took an anatomy test that went well, got rained on, aaaand... yep. I plan on eating a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream to both celebrate and make my day just a little bit better.
... have I mentioned my pile of personal finance, Japanese, and Spanish homework...?
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Only Tuesday?
I don't know how it can only be Tuesday. Seriously. How is it not Thursday? Then again, part of me should be very glad it's not Thursday... I already have so many things to do, and sitting here blogging instead of studying for a physiology and anatomy test tomorrow certainly isn't helping anything.
I sat down on my bed about a half hour ago with the very relaxed notion that my window was open, lovely spring air was blowing in, the birds were singing, and I actually had some free time in order to get a few things done so my life wouldn't resemble the national debt. This morning I had a battle with my bed, and my bed inevitably won, causing me to oversleep considerably and be late for school. The extra sleep is nice, but there's always that little interim when I get home in which I long for a nap. And unless I start doing something immediately, I will inevitably succumb. Today I managed to avoid napping, and it just amazes me how much time there is in the day now!
In other news, I learned how to salsa and meringue today. It was very, very fun. I love dancing.
Hopefully tonight, more sock knitting will be done. I've turned the heel successfully without fucking anything up (hooray!), and so now I just have the gusset to do. Due to life, I haven't had much of an opportunity to knit, so very little progress has been done on my sock. What a shame.
I have an urge to cast on so many things! My next project is absolutely going to be a black, scoop neck vest to wear over a blouse. Since I'm not one to buy patterns, I bet money that I will end up designing this myself. But really. How hard is it to design a simple, scoop neck vest? But first, in order to figure out how the armholes work, I really need to finish the simple EPS sweater that I'm working on for my friend (and also his socks and beret...). And, my other friend is in love with Final Fantasy XIII's Hope, and particularly with his scarf. She's commissioned me to knit it for her, and so the project of designing it and charting the colorwork and actually knitting it will surely be interesting. And did I mention that I am in a bargain for knitting socks for a friend, in return for kitty/dragon smut? Bahaha.
So, things to knit:
1. Finish Monkey socks
2. Two pairs of plain old socks, one blue, one red.
3. EPS sweater
4. Two berets
5. Scoop-neck vest
6. Hope's scarf.
Ohhhhh, I can do this!!!
I sat down on my bed about a half hour ago with the very relaxed notion that my window was open, lovely spring air was blowing in, the birds were singing, and I actually had some free time in order to get a few things done so my life wouldn't resemble the national debt. This morning I had a battle with my bed, and my bed inevitably won, causing me to oversleep considerably and be late for school. The extra sleep is nice, but there's always that little interim when I get home in which I long for a nap. And unless I start doing something immediately, I will inevitably succumb. Today I managed to avoid napping, and it just amazes me how much time there is in the day now!
In other news, I learned how to salsa and meringue today. It was very, very fun. I love dancing.
Hopefully tonight, more sock knitting will be done. I've turned the heel successfully without fucking anything up (hooray!), and so now I just have the gusset to do. Due to life, I haven't had much of an opportunity to knit, so very little progress has been done on my sock. What a shame.
I have an urge to cast on so many things! My next project is absolutely going to be a black, scoop neck vest to wear over a blouse. Since I'm not one to buy patterns, I bet money that I will end up designing this myself. But really. How hard is it to design a simple, scoop neck vest? But first, in order to figure out how the armholes work, I really need to finish the simple EPS sweater that I'm working on for my friend (and also his socks and beret...). And, my other friend is in love with Final Fantasy XIII's Hope, and particularly with his scarf. She's commissioned me to knit it for her, and so the project of designing it and charting the colorwork and actually knitting it will surely be interesting. And did I mention that I am in a bargain for knitting socks for a friend, in return for kitty/dragon smut? Bahaha.
So, things to knit:
1. Finish Monkey socks
2. Two pairs of plain old socks, one blue, one red.
3. EPS sweater
4. Two berets
5. Scoop-neck vest
6. Hope's scarf.
Ohhhhh, I can do this!!!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Happy Easter
This is what I did for about ten minutes today, which is far less time than I would have liked to be knitting:
Happy Easter to all, even though I personally don't celebrate it. But we had lovely time with all the family and whatnot. About three minutes after this was taken, I spent the majority of my time looking after my sister (2 years), my nephew (3 years), and my cousin (5 years). Let the good times roll.
The weather was an absolute DREAM today. It felt just like summer.
The weather was an absolute DREAM today. It felt just like summer.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Fatigued knitting
I've been working on the socks for quite awhile today. Since my cousin managed to get herself into even MORE trouble, I've decided that she doesn't get these; my friend Brie does instead. At my school I'm in the IB program, and there's only nine of us, and we've been in all the same classes together for nigh on two years - needless to say, we're pretty tight knit and like each other well enough to shout at each other and not get offended/angry. And they all (well, I would like to think) affectionately tease me about my knitting, because I knit in school a lot. Today I offered these socks up for grabs, and Brie immediately claimed them. And so, they're hers.
When I finish them. They're supposed to be done by, uh, Friday. But, that's obviously not happening. I took my sock into the guidance counselor's office and told the scholarship lady that this is my talent I'm doing for the scholarship - but it takes time and won't be done by Friday, so could I please send a picture of a work in progress? She okay'd it... thankfully. So I get a week or two extension on these things, and then they get handed over to Brie and I can work on something that I actually want to work on for ME!
It has occurred to me that I have never, ever knit anything for myself in my one solitary year of knitting. Everything has been baby clothes or gifts or a lot of other small, unfinished things. I really should knit my next project for me and me alone... after I finish another pair of socks and a hat for my very best friend in Ohio. -_-;;
Have you ever knit so much in one sitting, and been so tired, that your knit stitches start to seem/feel like purl stitches? I was sitting here, knitting and reading archives of this wonderful, witty blog when all of a sudden I had this panic attack that I was actually purling the stitches I was supposed to be knitting. False alarm, but it sure felt like it to my tired eyes and fingers. Oy vey, I need to go to bed.
This reminds me of the time I stayed up all night playing Guitar Hero, and after awhile my eyes got so abused and tired that the TV screen started swirling in front of me. Freaky stuff. Or the time that I was practicing marching for a parade in the marching band I used to be in, and it was swelteringly hot and after we stopped marching everything in the world got farther away and came back... farther away and came back; repeat. It was odd. Strangely enough, the one time I almost fainted, the only visual thing that happened to me was my vision slowly faded to black. But I was still conscious (and walking, at that - but with help, of course)... it was pretty interesting, witnessing your vision fade away and then regaining it later.
When I finish them. They're supposed to be done by, uh, Friday. But, that's obviously not happening. I took my sock into the guidance counselor's office and told the scholarship lady that this is my talent I'm doing for the scholarship - but it takes time and won't be done by Friday, so could I please send a picture of a work in progress? She okay'd it... thankfully. So I get a week or two extension on these things, and then they get handed over to Brie and I can work on something that I actually want to work on for ME!
It has occurred to me that I have never, ever knit anything for myself in my one solitary year of knitting. Everything has been baby clothes or gifts or a lot of other small, unfinished things. I really should knit my next project for me and me alone... after I finish another pair of socks and a hat for my very best friend in Ohio. -_-;;
Have you ever knit so much in one sitting, and been so tired, that your knit stitches start to seem/feel like purl stitches? I was sitting here, knitting and reading archives of this wonderful, witty blog when all of a sudden I had this panic attack that I was actually purling the stitches I was supposed to be knitting. False alarm, but it sure felt like it to my tired eyes and fingers. Oy vey, I need to go to bed.
This reminds me of the time I stayed up all night playing Guitar Hero, and after awhile my eyes got so abused and tired that the TV screen started swirling in front of me. Freaky stuff. Or the time that I was practicing marching for a parade in the marching band I used to be in, and it was swelteringly hot and after we stopped marching everything in the world got farther away and came back... farther away and came back; repeat. It was odd. Strangely enough, the one time I almost fainted, the only visual thing that happened to me was my vision slowly faded to black. But I was still conscious (and walking, at that - but with help, of course)... it was pretty interesting, witnessing your vision fade away and then regaining it later.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Blog title changed
Confessions of a gingersnap. Because I am a ginger.
And my life goal is to be just like Sam Gamgee. He is such a loyal and wonderful little hobbit.
"I ain't been droppin' no eaves, sir!"
And my life goal is to be just like Sam Gamgee. He is such a loyal and wonderful little hobbit.
"I ain't been droppin' no eaves, sir!"
A smattering of everything (AND a sock!)
It feels a little weird, posting seventy million posts a day and then abandoning this thing for a few days. But, life calls. I went to a college visit thing at Indiana University (where I'm going next year) yesterday and today. I would be cuddled up and sleeping right now, except I can't really sleep. And so, I blog.
IU was awesome. I love it there, and I'm so glad I do, because it is really a super convenient set-up for me. I want to go to college to study East Languages and Cultures (what their major of Chinese/Japanese/Korean things is called), and IU is both near, SUPER cheap, and ridiculously excellent in the areas I want to study. Not to mention IU is a good school overall and has one of the most beautiful campuses EVER. It's gorgeous. Trees everywhere, lots of little cobblestone paths, big buildings that look like Hogwarts (if Hogwarts was made of limestone)... beautiful.
I didn't get very much knitting done. But this is how much I have on my sock:
I use the camera on my phone, which sucks. I know. The colors are all faded and grossly inaccurate; the color of the yarn is actually this wonderful, lustrous, leafy green. The pattern is Monkey by Cookie A, available on Knitty (but I found it on Ravelry).
In other news... I've been thinking about changing the blog title. I would really like to call it "I Don't Give a Shit [subtitle: and neither should you!]," but I think people would be offended by that, even though that's my life's philosophy. Life is so much easier once you stop caring about the little things. And then I could write some blog posts about the things I do care about, like education, philosophy, yarn, books, coffee, food, yoga, religion, and the quality of my water. (I could go on a huge, multi-paragraph rant about how Fiji is the best tasting water ever because it has no taste - and yes, SOME WATER HAS TASTE. I hate it. I hate when I can taste my water. Dasani water is particularly horrible.)
The reason I'm thinking of changing the title is because I don't really blog about knitting all too frequently... it's not like I have time to sit and knit for six hours everyday. Maybe I would have that kind of time this summer, but I seriously doubt it. And so I can't really update on my knitting progress very often. This blog is really just a blog about whatever babble spews forth from my fingers. I don't necessarily consider this a bad thing, but then again, I like to hear myself talk. I think I can even be somewhat witty -- occasionally. I think it comes from being in debate.
So I'm thinking of calling it Gingersnap. My friend thought it up today, and wanted to call me it. I think it sounds positively adorable, as does my other friend.
IU was awesome. I love it there, and I'm so glad I do, because it is really a super convenient set-up for me. I want to go to college to study East Languages and Cultures (what their major of Chinese/Japanese/Korean things is called), and IU is both near, SUPER cheap, and ridiculously excellent in the areas I want to study. Not to mention IU is a good school overall and has one of the most beautiful campuses EVER. It's gorgeous. Trees everywhere, lots of little cobblestone paths, big buildings that look like Hogwarts (if Hogwarts was made of limestone)... beautiful.
I didn't get very much knitting done. But this is how much I have on my sock:
I use the camera on my phone, which sucks. I know. The colors are all faded and grossly inaccurate; the color of the yarn is actually this wonderful, lustrous, leafy green. The pattern is Monkey by Cookie A, available on Knitty (but I found it on Ravelry).
In other news... I've been thinking about changing the blog title. I would really like to call it "I Don't Give a Shit [subtitle: and neither should you!]," but I think people would be offended by that, even though that's my life's philosophy. Life is so much easier once you stop caring about the little things. And then I could write some blog posts about the things I do care about, like education, philosophy, yarn, books, coffee, food, yoga, religion, and the quality of my water. (I could go on a huge, multi-paragraph rant about how Fiji is the best tasting water ever because it has no taste - and yes, SOME WATER HAS TASTE. I hate it. I hate when I can taste my water. Dasani water is particularly horrible.)
The reason I'm thinking of changing the title is because I don't really blog about knitting all too frequently... it's not like I have time to sit and knit for six hours everyday. Maybe I would have that kind of time this summer, but I seriously doubt it. And so I can't really update on my knitting progress very often. This blog is really just a blog about whatever babble spews forth from my fingers. I don't necessarily consider this a bad thing, but then again, I like to hear myself talk. I think I can even be somewhat witty -- occasionally. I think it comes from being in debate.
So I'm thinking of calling it Gingersnap. My friend thought it up today, and wanted to call me it. I think it sounds positively adorable, as does my other friend.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Suffragette style
So, I've only ever had a bad haircut three times in my life: once when I was four, I cut a square into my bangs; twice last summer when some douchefag cut my hair way shorter than I wanted him to and I looked like a boy (at least he got the layers); and thrice, yesterday, when some bitch did not listen to a WORD I told her and decided not only to cut my hair far too short, but to not give me layers, either.
I'm ticked. It is SO HARD to give me a bad haircut, too! I'm not saying this to brag or be vain or anything... It just comes from the fact that my hair is a big, curly, coarse mess and will swallow up most mistakes that hair stylists make. Uneven ends? Awesome. My curls will swallow it up. Messed up the layering? See the last sentence. My hair does whatever I want it to do. Hell, it even grows twice as fast as the average human's does. Most people's hair only grows about a half-inch a month: mine grows an inch a month. A foot a year.
In my case, I'm going to have to wait a month before my hair will even RESEMBLE what the stylist was supposed to cut it like. Ugh. Everyone keeps telling me that they think my haircut makes me look cute; one guy at work even said it made me beautiful, lol. But people flatter. Since my anger has cooled down a tad, though, perhaps I don't look like a dyke anymore -- I'm just rocking a suffragette style.
I'm ticked. It is SO HARD to give me a bad haircut, too! I'm not saying this to brag or be vain or anything... It just comes from the fact that my hair is a big, curly, coarse mess and will swallow up most mistakes that hair stylists make. Uneven ends? Awesome. My curls will swallow it up. Messed up the layering? See the last sentence. My hair does whatever I want it to do. Hell, it even grows twice as fast as the average human's does. Most people's hair only grows about a half-inch a month: mine grows an inch a month. A foot a year.
In my case, I'm going to have to wait a month before my hair will even RESEMBLE what the stylist was supposed to cut it like. Ugh. Everyone keeps telling me that they think my haircut makes me look cute; one guy at work even said it made me beautiful, lol. But people flatter. Since my anger has cooled down a tad, though, perhaps I don't look like a dyke anymore -- I'm just rocking a suffragette style.
Blather
Today I talked to my cousin. It was... strangely normal. She doesn't seem fazed. Meanwhile, I am confused as to why she isn't a wreck.
Progress on sock continues. Pictures up later, for those (no one) who care. Why is using five dpns to knit a sock SO MUCH EASIER than using four dpns? I add a needle, and all my problems magically go away. It's going smashingly.
Firefox, why is smashingly considered misspelled?
Progress on sock continues. Pictures up later, for those (no one) who care. Why is using five dpns to knit a sock SO MUCH EASIER than using four dpns? I add a needle, and all my problems magically go away. It's going smashingly.
Firefox, why is smashingly considered misspelled?
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Curry: results
This is how my curry rice went: runny.
I ended up using too much water in the whole shebang, which really took down the flavor as far as I'm concerned. Due to my Mad Scientist method (looking in the herb cabinet and going, "Ooooh..." and subsequently dumping seven different herbs into the pot), though, it definitely has a flavor kick. Not a very big one like curry is SUPPOSED to taste, but it tastes like the herbs I put into the pot. If I hadn't used so much water, this concoction probably would've blown my head off (which would be a GOOD thing. I LOVE flavor).
So, lessons? Use exact measurements. It's not the knuckle thing I'm spazzing out about, actually, because in reality there wasn't much rice left and so my hand couldn't fit into the small pot and I had to just eyeball it. That was another problem... None of the pots I was using were the size they needed to be. I used this mammoth of a pot for making my curry, and I looked into and thought, "More water. More carrots." (We don't have any onions at the moment.) Result? Too many carrots, too much water. Also, this rice we had sucks. It was "instant" rice. I didn't believe it. That probably was a factor as well.
All in all though, it's gooooooood. I'm trying this again, soon.
Herbs that I tossed into the pot: mustard, cumin, thyme, sage, paprika. I don't even know what any of those taste like except for thyme. I remember hearing thyme and sage used together a lot, and paprika, cumin, and mustard all sounded Indian, so in they went!
I ended up using too much water in the whole shebang, which really took down the flavor as far as I'm concerned. Due to my Mad Scientist method (looking in the herb cabinet and going, "Ooooh..." and subsequently dumping seven different herbs into the pot), though, it definitely has a flavor kick. Not a very big one like curry is SUPPOSED to taste, but it tastes like the herbs I put into the pot. If I hadn't used so much water, this concoction probably would've blown my head off (which would be a GOOD thing. I LOVE flavor).
So, lessons? Use exact measurements. It's not the knuckle thing I'm spazzing out about, actually, because in reality there wasn't much rice left and so my hand couldn't fit into the small pot and I had to just eyeball it. That was another problem... None of the pots I was using were the size they needed to be. I used this mammoth of a pot for making my curry, and I looked into and thought, "More water. More carrots." (We don't have any onions at the moment.) Result? Too many carrots, too much water. Also, this rice we had sucks. It was "instant" rice. I didn't believe it. That probably was a factor as well.
All in all though, it's gooooooood. I'm trying this again, soon.
Herbs that I tossed into the pot: mustard, cumin, thyme, sage, paprika. I don't even know what any of those taste like except for thyme. I remember hearing thyme and sage used together a lot, and paprika, cumin, and mustard all sounded Indian, so in they went!
CURRY RICE
So I don't forget. Also, writing/typing things helps me remember.
My friend and I were trying to do mochitsuki over Christmas break, and we ran into quite a few obstacles along the way. In the end it was a total disaster, but I remember we figured out from a website how to make rice without a rice cooker. It came out PERFECTLY. Trouble is, I can't find this website anymore, so I'm going to have to try to re-piece this method from other information and from memory.
So. To Make Rice Without a Rice Cooker:
- Wash and rinse your rice a few times.
- Dump your rice in a pot and fill with water. I use the knuckle method.
--- THE KNUCKLE METHOD: place your hand on top of the rice and fill the pot with water until the water level comes even with the second knuckle on your index finger.
- Cover pot and cook rice until water boils.
- At boiling point, immediately turn the heat on low. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Turn off heat and allow rice to sit COVERED for at least five minutes.
CAUTION: I have not actually tried this. Do not repeat until I give the go ahead!
On a similar note, we have a recipe for curry rice:
INGREDIENTS: chopped onions, chopped carrots, thyme, 1 tsp curry powder/paste, 1/4 cup butter, 3/2 cup water, 1 cup rice, etc. Maybe some chicken, but eh.
Saute veggies with butter and herbs, then add your water and bring to a boil. Once it boils, turn the heat down to low and allow the veggies to cook for about 15 minutes (covered). Then gradually add your curry and wait until it's all nice and blended (this recipe says about 10 minutes), and VOILA! Dump over rice.
My friend and I were trying to do mochitsuki over Christmas break, and we ran into quite a few obstacles along the way. In the end it was a total disaster, but I remember we figured out from a website how to make rice without a rice cooker. It came out PERFECTLY. Trouble is, I can't find this website anymore, so I'm going to have to try to re-piece this method from other information and from memory.
So. To Make Rice Without a Rice Cooker:
- Wash and rinse your rice a few times.
- Dump your rice in a pot and fill with water. I use the knuckle method.
--- THE KNUCKLE METHOD: place your hand on top of the rice and fill the pot with water until the water level comes even with the second knuckle on your index finger.
- Cover pot and cook rice until water boils.
- At boiling point, immediately turn the heat on low. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- Turn off heat and allow rice to sit COVERED for at least five minutes.
CAUTION: I have not actually tried this. Do not repeat until I give the go ahead!
On a similar note, we have a recipe for curry rice:
INGREDIENTS: chopped onions, chopped carrots, thyme, 1 tsp curry powder/paste, 1/4 cup butter, 3/2 cup water, 1 cup rice, etc. Maybe some chicken, but eh.
Saute veggies with butter and herbs, then add your water and bring to a boil. Once it boils, turn the heat down to low and allow the veggies to cook for about 15 minutes (covered). Then gradually add your curry and wait until it's all nice and blended (this recipe says about 10 minutes), and VOILA! Dump over rice.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
The advent of the run-on sentence
That title alone should scare you.
This always happens when I get off on some break from school and then my whole sleeping schedule turns itself inside out in THREE DAYS, and before you know it, I'm up until 3 and in bed until noon. What a drag. I'm musing on this because it's 10:30 at night, and I've yet to do another day of Jillian Whoever-the-fuck, shower, make DELICIOUS CURRY RICE!, put away dishes, start on that infuriating sock for a third time... and other things.
My sister-aunt is at her friends house and therefore skipping a day of Jillian, I bet. What a wimp. (Watch. She'll have done it with her friend -- or better yet, have taken the DVD with her and left me Jillian-less). My legs really hurt today. God damn you, Lactic Acid.
Today I started twice on a sock. I really hate working anything on three double-points, because for some reason it always creates ladders that spiral out of control and leave me looking bewildered at the pile of yarn that used to be a sock. Four dpns are much safer. Unfortunately, due to my step-mother being in the hospital, I was stuck at my dad's today watching my little sister (she's two). Now, I love watching my sister and don't mind doing that at all, but guess how many dpns I brought with me today -- yep, four. Not five. I bravely tried to soldier on, thinking that thousands of women have knit socks using four dpns. Why can't I? But in the end I gave up. So tonight will be Attempt Four at Beginner Sock. Hopefully the CURRY I bought today will soothe me.
Did I mention that I bought CURRY today for making DELICIOUS CURRY RICE? Curry, curry, curry!
This is almost enough cause for excitement to distract me from the fact that Abby will be home tomorrow. I don't know what I'm going to do...
This always happens when I get off on some break from school and then my whole sleeping schedule turns itself inside out in THREE DAYS, and before you know it, I'm up until 3 and in bed until noon. What a drag. I'm musing on this because it's 10:30 at night, and I've yet to do another day of Jillian Whoever-the-fuck, shower, make DELICIOUS CURRY RICE!, put away dishes, start on that infuriating sock for a third time... and other things.
My sister-aunt is at her friends house and therefore skipping a day of Jillian, I bet. What a wimp. (Watch. She'll have done it with her friend -- or better yet, have taken the DVD with her and left me Jillian-less). My legs really hurt today. God damn you, Lactic Acid.
Today I started twice on a sock. I really hate working anything on three double-points, because for some reason it always creates ladders that spiral out of control and leave me looking bewildered at the pile of yarn that used to be a sock. Four dpns are much safer. Unfortunately, due to my step-mother being in the hospital, I was stuck at my dad's today watching my little sister (she's two). Now, I love watching my sister and don't mind doing that at all, but guess how many dpns I brought with me today -- yep, four. Not five. I bravely tried to soldier on, thinking that thousands of women have knit socks using four dpns. Why can't I? But in the end I gave up. So tonight will be Attempt Four at Beginner Sock. Hopefully the CURRY I bought today will soothe me.
Did I mention that I bought CURRY today for making DELICIOUS CURRY RICE? Curry, curry, curry!
This is almost enough cause for excitement to distract me from the fact that Abby will be home tomorrow. I don't know what I'm going to do...
Monday, March 22, 2010
I changed my mind.
I'm going to knit these instead.
I'm working on a deadline. I hate deadlines. So I'm ditching the two color approach. I will learn how to knit socks with one skein, and then proceed to knit the above socks with the other skein. It will work.
I'm working on a deadline. I hate deadlines. So I'm ditching the two color approach. I will learn how to knit socks with one skein, and then proceed to knit the above socks with the other skein. It will work.
Oh, and...
socks.
I fucked up the jacket I'm knitting. The pattern motif is off by ONE STITCH. When did I make this mistake? At the beginning of a round. When did I realize I made this mistake? At the end of the round. I just don't have it in my heart to rip back 258 stitches and knit the round again any time soon, so I give up on trying to knit this garment on a deadline.
I'll just knit fair isle socks for the damn scholarship. Just as colorful, just as "wow" to non-knitters, and small. Small enough to finish in a few days. Except...
have I ever mentioned I've never knitted a sock before?
Ha. Still, if I spend a few days knitting, I should be able to pull off finishing these before April 2nd. It's totally doable. I've got a few yarn balls in my stash that I can use to learn how to make the sock, and then today I nipped out to my local, little yarn store and bought two skeins of Cascade sock yarn. One in green, on in a soft gold-yellow. I intend to work these colors in a pattern for these. They look neat-o. And then at the end, I'll have cool socks!
I fucked up the jacket I'm knitting. The pattern motif is off by ONE STITCH. When did I make this mistake? At the beginning of a round. When did I realize I made this mistake? At the end of the round. I just don't have it in my heart to rip back 258 stitches and knit the round again any time soon, so I give up on trying to knit this garment on a deadline.
I'll just knit fair isle socks for the damn scholarship. Just as colorful, just as "wow" to non-knitters, and small. Small enough to finish in a few days. Except...
have I ever mentioned I've never knitted a sock before?
Ha. Still, if I spend a few days knitting, I should be able to pull off finishing these before April 2nd. It's totally doable. I've got a few yarn balls in my stash that I can use to learn how to make the sock, and then today I nipped out to my local, little yarn store and bought two skeins of Cascade sock yarn. One in green, on in a soft gold-yellow. I intend to work these colors in a pattern for these. They look neat-o. And then at the end, I'll have cool socks!
Jillian Whoever-the-fuck's 30 Day Shred
So, my sister-aunt roped me into doing this 30 Day Miracle Workout. The conversation went like this:
Sister-aunt: Hey, want to do Jillian Whoever-the-fuck's 30 Day Workout with me?
Me: Sure.
Today we tried the first day. I kind of regret this decision because have I ever mentioned that I don't really believe in killing yourself to lose weight? A lot of this comes from my reading of yoga and yoga philosophy, which states very bluntly to love and listen to your body. In my opinion, workouts that make you collapse do not fit the definition of loving your body. And, admittedly, some of this may come from the fact that I am a comfort schmooze and I don't enjoy being uncomfortable. I think exercise should be something you enjoy, not something you dread. Exercise should be difficult, yes, but not to the point of you wanting to collapse. You should come out of a work out feeling strong and energized, not like falling into a pile of human mush and lying there until your dying day.
But oh well. It won't kill me to give up 20 minutes of my day to Jillian Whoever-the-fuck for a month. I can do 20 minutes a day, certainly. Ideally, you're supposed to lose about 10 to 15 pounds if you keep at it everyday. I would like to lose weight, so I guess I'll just stick through it.
If you need me, you'll find me on the Lose Weight for Summer Bikini Weather Band Wagon.
Sister-aunt: Hey, want to do Jillian Whoever-the-fuck's 30 Day Workout with me?
Me: Sure.
Today we tried the first day. I kind of regret this decision because have I ever mentioned that I don't really believe in killing yourself to lose weight? A lot of this comes from my reading of yoga and yoga philosophy, which states very bluntly to love and listen to your body. In my opinion, workouts that make you collapse do not fit the definition of loving your body. And, admittedly, some of this may come from the fact that I am a comfort schmooze and I don't enjoy being uncomfortable. I think exercise should be something you enjoy, not something you dread. Exercise should be difficult, yes, but not to the point of you wanting to collapse. You should come out of a work out feeling strong and energized, not like falling into a pile of human mush and lying there until your dying day.
But oh well. It won't kill me to give up 20 minutes of my day to Jillian Whoever-the-fuck for a month. I can do 20 minutes a day, certainly. Ideally, you're supposed to lose about 10 to 15 pounds if you keep at it everyday. I would like to lose weight, so I guess I'll just stick through it.
If you need me, you'll find me on the Lose Weight for Summer Bikini Weather Band Wagon.
Totally irrelevant whining about mosquitoes
Today is going to be my day where I just huddle in my room and read and knit. It will be good. I might get some laundry done today, but you never know. I have been meaning to do laundry for the past two weeks, after all.
So I'm reading this book: Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's charming, she's charming, it's a good read, in my opinion. So, towards the middle of the book, she's talking about problems she has with meditation. So she decides to try Vipassana meditation, which is where you meditate in complete stillness - no mantra, no moving, nothing. She sits in a garden in the evening and then she realizes she's going to get eaten by mosquitoes if she stays put. But she does it anyway and rides out the discomfort, achieving her little euphoria, etc. She stays there for two hours.
At the end, how many mosquito bites does she have?
TWENTY. TWENTY FREAKING MOSQUITO BITES IN TWO FREAKING HOURS. HOW IS SHE SO LUCKY?
Okay, some explaining. This may not be a big deal to anyone, but this is kind of a big deal to me, considering that mosquitoes must consider my blood to be gourmet or something. If I had meditated without moving in evening - in India, where, quoth Richard from Texas, the mosquitoes are "big enough to rape chickens" - I'd be drained of blood. I'd lose a pint, at least.
Let me put this into perspective for you. I once went to a bonfire about a year ago towards dusk at the end of summer. I had on jeans and a hoodie to protect myself, plus a lot of bug spray. The mosquitoes bite me on my neck, on my hands, THROUGH MY CLOTHING - totally disregarding the smoke from the fire and the spray. I spend about an hour there before I get fed up and leave. In the morning, how many mosquito bites do I have? I counted them. EIGHTY-SEVEN.
HOW CAN SHE SIT IN INDIA AND ONLY GET TWENTY MOSQUITO BITES IN TWO HOURS WHEN I ALWAYS GET EATEN ALIVE?
AAAAAAAAAAAAH.
So I'm reading this book: Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's charming, she's charming, it's a good read, in my opinion. So, towards the middle of the book, she's talking about problems she has with meditation. So she decides to try Vipassana meditation, which is where you meditate in complete stillness - no mantra, no moving, nothing. She sits in a garden in the evening and then she realizes she's going to get eaten by mosquitoes if she stays put. But she does it anyway and rides out the discomfort, achieving her little euphoria, etc. She stays there for two hours.
At the end, how many mosquito bites does she have?
TWENTY. TWENTY FREAKING MOSQUITO BITES IN TWO FREAKING HOURS. HOW IS SHE SO LUCKY?
Okay, some explaining. This may not be a big deal to anyone, but this is kind of a big deal to me, considering that mosquitoes must consider my blood to be gourmet or something. If I had meditated without moving in evening - in India, where, quoth Richard from Texas, the mosquitoes are "big enough to rape chickens" - I'd be drained of blood. I'd lose a pint, at least.
Let me put this into perspective for you. I once went to a bonfire about a year ago towards dusk at the end of summer. I had on jeans and a hoodie to protect myself, plus a lot of bug spray. The mosquitoes bite me on my neck, on my hands, THROUGH MY CLOTHING - totally disregarding the smoke from the fire and the spray. I spend about an hour there before I get fed up and leave. In the morning, how many mosquito bites do I have? I counted them. EIGHTY-SEVEN.
HOW CAN SHE SIT IN INDIA AND ONLY GET TWENTY MOSQUITO BITES IN TWO HOURS WHEN I ALWAYS GET EATEN ALIVE?
AAAAAAAAAAAAH.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)