Friday, March 31

Tumbleweed

Whew! It's breezier than a flatulent rhinoceros' backside today. I honestly saw a tumbleweed blowing across my back yard as I was getting into my car.

Knitting
Tomorrow is Zib's Flash Your Stash event. The majority of my stash will be in attendance, although six skeins of Knit Picks Sock Garden and eleven skeins of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes regretfully declined. (What? The Sock Garden was on sale. You expected me to pass up a yarn sale? You underestimate me.) This will be my first foray into Knit Picks yarn, and I'm very excited.

Not knitting
I will get to chill with Timmy, who never updates his blog, tonight. I don't know for sure what we're doing — Mongolian food, maybe. Yum. I need some Bath & Body Works action, too.

Wednesday, March 29

Vapid, shallow, self-centered ...

I need to be a little vapid right now, and I do apologise to those who wish to read otherwise.

Yesterday someone came in to pick up a print of a picture that ran in the paper a few weeks ago. He said to our accounts person, who was here balancing and filling up the register, "That rather large girl said she'd call me when my picture was in." First of all, I never said such a thing. Secondly, rather large girl?! I know I'm definitely fluffy — I have no illusions of being svelte. But that's a little bit rude, don't you think? I mean, I was sitting at the computer right near the register.

Some people.

But later at Fareway, where I was purchasing some large curd cottage cheese (large curd cottage cheese!), I saw someone from my graduating class. And you know, everyone from high school that I've seen lately has managed to increase their girth (Evil J, whom I haven't seen for a couple of years, is still fluffy as ever). And I don't feel sorry for them one bit.


Enough about that — I need to do a gauge swatch to see if'n I can make this yarn work for a sock.

Tuesday, March 28

All things

Franklin, whom I mentioned yesterday, posted a link to his first sweater, whose story he told during the podcast. I enjoyed it very much, because the sweater includes my favorite Latin phrase, which is attributed to Seneca: Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura dementia fuit. "There is never great genius without an element of madness" (or, "You can't be a genius without being at least a little bit off your rocker").

My most favorite dead language quotation, however, isn't Latin. I turn to the Greeks (well, just Heraclitus) for my deep and meaningful phrase (sans applicable breath marks and accents): παντα ρει. All things flow.

Because indeed they do.

Monday, March 27

Like a baNAnr

If you have not seen the Simpsons live action intro and are a fan of the dysfunctional-yet-loveable family, turn up your speakers and have a click. It's pretty funny. (Link via Lazylaces.)

I've listened to the latest Cast-On podcast, "The Muggle Show", and I love this week's host. Franklin Habit of The Panopticon is wonderful to listen to.

And you know those little stringy bits on bananas, after you've begun to peel it? Hate 'em. I always have to pull them off before I eat the banana. It's just one of those things, I suppose.

I also bought some yummy natural peanut butter, of the creamy Skippy variety. So far, I like it very much.

Sunday, March 26

Greek dining

Greek food!
Friday night, my mom and I decided to test out a new Greek/Italian restaurant in DSM (on University, a little bit east of the West Lakes Hy-Vee in a little strip mall). It's called Dolce Vita; you'd think they'd have much more Italian than Greek food with a name like that, but it's mostly Greek there.

It's small and café-like, and has Greco-café-ian decor — stuff you could easily do if you went to the trims department in a home improvement store. But I digress. We only had to wait about 20 minutes for a table, and the little Greek woman who was playing hostess was absolutely the sweetest woman ever. Thula might have been her name.

We started with some lovely dolmades — stuffed grape leaves with a delectable sauce — and I was so excited I could barely stand it. I missed their tangy taste. We followed with some tasty Greek salad and fresh bread (I think there was a hint of lemon flavor in the bread). And then the main course came: the spartan's platter. My mom and I split it, and it was a darn good idea. There was so much food. The spartan's platter is a trio of moussaka, pastitio and — my personal favorite — spanakopita, matched with some rice pilaf. After the entree, we went for dessert. Of course. We ended up getting two — the ever-popular baklava and pastry with cold custard, galaktoboureko — because our waiter misunderstood that I was asking which he suggested of two. So we shared them. I have to say that I loved the galaktoboureko a little bit more because it was just a bit unexpected.

We had an absolutely wonderful time — it reminded me of being back in Greece and having hours-long dinners just talking and eating and talking. Oh, and the check? Just over $20 for the two of us. Completely affordable and tasty to boot.

You can check out a rather lengthy (and very descriptive) review here, if you want even more detial. As for me, I know exactly what I'm ordering next time: sagnaki (flaming asiago cheese), the gyro platter, which comes with dolmades and spanakopita, and some other dessert.

HoJo, if you ever come back from Georgia, you should visit and we will go. I didn't see and Metaxa products on the menu, though ...

Last night.
KT made some awesome chili last night. It totally rocked my face off. We watched Elizabethtown, too, which I completely enjoyed. (Orlando Bloom, how you entertain me.)

And B and KT found some paint in their house. At first we thought it was going to be a nice "coffeehouse" red (B is somehow obsessed with having the house look like a coffee shop); turns out the color is more of a deep salmon. No matter — I used it to paint one of the walls in my soon-to-be bedroom. And turned the closet door "retro green", which is really a celery color just now.


My, I've been wordy lately.

Friday, March 24

Listen up, punks!


Cwafting.
I've been working on my Princess Bride Swap items. No photos for now, but let's just say I'm using Roxycraft for rodential inspiration.

Family.
My grandpa had surgery yesterday. He had a dual defibrillator / pacemaker sort of thing put in to help him deal with some congestive heart failure, among other things. My mom went to the hospital with him yesterday, and said he did very well. He should be going home sometime today.

Podcasting.
I listen to quite a few podcasts on a regular basis. Some of you might be interested in tuning in, so these are a few of my subscriptions.

Quirky Nomads: The story of a family that said, "If the Republicans get any worse, we're moving to Canada." And then? They really did. It's usually between six and eight minutes long, but today's is 20 minutes or so. Miscellaneous storytelling. I recommend it.
Rubyfruit Radio: Where it's all girls, all the time. Each podcast is usually about 30 minutes long. Heather, the host, recently had an interview with Amy Ray, which was pretty cool. (Episode 34 if you're interested.) I've discovered a couple of songs that I like from bands I've only listened to a little (or albums I don't own), like Sleater-Kinney's "Jumpers" and Amy Ray's "Pennies on the Track".
Cast-On: A podcast with knitting flavanoids; hosted by Brenda Dayne. Brenda's on a little bit of a hiatus right now, and is having some people fill in for her. (Episode 15: Working Up a Sweater was really hilarious, by the way: Dave from the Chub Creek podcast was the temp host.) These are usually 45 minutes to an hour long, and have essays and music mingling.
The Mosh Knit: Are you a punk rocker who happens to knit? This one was inspired by Cast-On, but has punky flair, rather than Brenda's folky tendencies. Sometimes not so work appropriate, but I still like it a lot. Brooklynne, the hostess with the mostess is a lot of fun to listen to. Her shows are getting increasingly longer — this week's is almost 50 minutes.
CraftSanity: mostly interviews with crafty people, which I find myself listening to more as background noise than anything else (though it's still a good podcast). I don't usually have an hour-long chunk of time to listen to interviews, so I only tend to hear snippets. Especially on Mondays and Tuesdays.


Adieu for today, lovers.

Thursday, March 23

The Other Job

Unlike Dustro, I don't mind posting my negative feelings of today.

I really don't like Windows. Maybe it's just the computer I have to use at the Other Job, but it's infuriatingly slow. When I use Publisher or Word (or any of the Office programs), it seems that whenever I have to move text around or delete a line break or something, the text will lose all the attributes that I gave it. That's bullshit. Why should I have to tell it twice? Is it just user error?

Speaking of the Other Job, I have once again concluded that I still dislike the pastor. There's just something about him that makes me vaguely angry and gives my skin that crawly feeling and makes me feel just plain awkward. The worst part is that earlier today he asked if I could give him more time in the office. I told him no, which was the truth. He then said something to the effect of thinking that the other office worker, who was hired to do mostly accounting, and I would be able to cover the office hours; that the arrangement between the two of us was semi-permanent. I remained composed, but my head was reeling. Semi-permanent? Are you kidding me? This was just a temp thing, buddy boy. I cannot possibly spend more than six hours a week in your presence or I will poke my eyes out with those ugly foil-covered pencils on the desk. Sharpened or unsharpened.

Wednesday, March 22

Socks, Gunn, Cookies

Kilt Hose 001 So I started a new pair of socks. Broadripple just didn't work out, as you can see from my lack of progress. So instead, I began to work on John Anderson's Kilt Hose. The yarn is Patons Classic Merino in Leaf Green (or olive or something). Needles are US2 DPNs.

I like the pattern so far, except for the toe decreases. One side looks right, but the other is inside out. Any pointers so that I can do it right on the second sock? (Assuming I get past the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome, of course.)

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Tim Gunn, "You're the one thing I can't get enough of ..." I'm sharing this because, even though this video is meant to showcase the boys of 35D, there's plenty of Tim Gunn in there to keep me members of the Tim Gunn Fanclub happy. As do these following questions from a recent interview:
One thing you have in your house from your childhood: Mr. Wee, a floppy stuffed animal [giraffe-like] covered in the upholstery of our living room couch at that time. Considering that he's my age, it's remarkable that he's only missing a leg.

What would we find in your closet? More Banana Republic than you can imagine.


Now if only those darn Girl Scouts would stop leaving their cookies lying around ...

Tuesday, March 21

Paint

I don't really have a lot to say today, but I figured I ought to post if I spend all day sitting at the computer.

Plans are in the works to move in with B and KT, after their bitchy snotty sassy lying current roommate finishes moving her stuff out (by Friday, I was just told). I'm also going to paint the walls (apple green and light blue?) and air out the room first. The previous occupant smokes like a chimney, and there's a litter box in the closet. Nasty, I know. But the closet is super huge — maybe the same size or larger than Dustro's — and will hold all of my stash and clothes at the same time. I have designs on building a bookcase, too, one that looks like the one here, if you scroll down a bit.

Back to the salt mines.

Monday, March 20

Musics of a Gender Nazi

Good grief. I've been here for more than three hours and I forgot to listen to my new cd. Sing to me, Karen Walker!

Also, I was inspired to take this quiz after I saw HoJo's results ...
What kind of postmodernist are you!?

You are a Gender Nazi. Your boundary-crossing lifestyle inspires awe in your friends and colleagues. Or maybe they're just scared you will kick their asses for using gender-specific language. Either way, the wife-beater helps. Take this quiz!

Unlike HoJo, however, I am not wearing a beater today.

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Fyberduck made a last-ditch effort to get into the Princess Bride Swap and, in desperate anticipation, made a fabulous button.

Also, read this for a laugh.

Sunday, March 19

No stashbusting here

I could not resist temptation. The Princess Bride swap at Craftster wasn't closed yet, and it started calling my name.

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I almost had to buy a storeful of yarn yesterday. I was at Hobby Lobby, and their house yarn is called Yarn Bee. They have tons of varieties, and I kind of like it, despite its occasional acrylic and novelty qualities. And it was half price yesterday. So I thought, hey, good time to buy yarn — half price is your friend! My goal was to pick up some funny yarn that looked like hair and make another wig, this time in turquoise or teal.

But then I saw this (Yarn Bee) yarn called Topkapi, a 100% polyamide ribbon yarn that looks like ladders. I thought, "Wow, that's the name of the palace we visited in Istanbul." Then I started looking at the color names. One of them, a yellow-ish yarn, had a name with an undotted i. I started looking at the other colors: Ankara, Istanbul, Dervish, Aya Sofia, Marmara, the list goes on. There were probably twenty different colors. And then my brain backfired. I must have all of these yarns because I was there and saw them in person! It's a sign! So I picked up about five colors and walked into the next aisle. I needed to calm down.

So I picked up three skeins of cotton, a feather-y eyelash yarn, and two sets of DPNs (baleen) in sizes I didn't have (4 and 6). Truly, this was not an exercise in control.

Then I went back to Topkapi and started looking at the colors. My mom finally came to find me in yarn land. (I thought she had disappeared or something, but it turns out that she'd gotten distracted by a rooster-shaped glass thingy that had mangoes and peppers and vinegar in it. She tilted it to look at the price on the bottom and it started to spill, so she had to go clean off her shoe.) I showed her the yarns, and she was pretty excited about the one I found that made me think of her: Tarsus, with pink, olive green, and brown. She then went on an expedition to find matching ones, because she's interested in trying finger knitting.

I started to come off my Turkish yarn high calm down at this point, and picked out three colors: Ankara, which is a powder blue/periwinkle; Marmara, which is a nice bright teal; Izmir, which is dark turquoise. (Now that I look at them, I thought I had picked up one that was Aya Sofia, but that's fine.) I'm thinking of making a lace-y spring-y sort of scarf-y thing.

The feather/eyelash is from Yarn Bee also, and is called Beguile, 100% polyester, in colorway Aegean (you know I can't pass up a name like that), and is gold, cream, and that lovely bright blue/teal color that I've been stuck on. (Um, the very same color that Chloe seemed so stuck on for Project Runway.) The cotton yarn is Omega Sinfonia, 100% mercerized, in two colorways: Matizado Bosque (two skeins of that), which is different hues of green, and Azul Nordico, which is a teal-ish powder blue. The lash is destined for who knows what, and the cotton is going to become socks.

Zib's Flash Your Stash event is coming up April 1, so I'll be showing them off soon enough.

Friday, March 17

Products, please!

Chicago River A piece of advice: Never leave the house without moisturizing just because you think you have no time.

I shall expand on this further: even if you end up making breakfast for three teenage boys, which threatens to make you late for work and you're the only one in the office today.

I have relized lately that if you neglect to moisturize right after washing your face, you will end up having to moisturize at least two or three times more. If this is never the case for you, please suggest some products to try. I'm currently using Dove Foaming Cleanser and Dove Essential Nutrients Day Lotion.

Actually, while I'm talking about products, is there anything that you'd suggest, dear readers, for exfoliating hands? I'm to the point of sticking my hands in a sandbox, if there were one accessible. My mom always tells me to use Satin Hands, because she's a Mary Kay dealer consultant. But I hate it. It's gross and nasty and makes me feel so greazy.


* Chicago River,
originally uploaded by sparkles.

Thursday, March 16

Not Finnish ...

For a couple of years now, we've been jocular about Finns. "At least I'm not Finnish!" we'd say, laughing. Really, it came from being all types of Scandinavian except Finnish.

But irony of ironies, I've joined an Earth Day / recycling swap and gotten a swap partner from Finland.


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I was hoping to trek to the northlands (um, Luther) this weekend with Dustro, but as he's having issues requiring special attention, [When I was younger, just a bad little kid / My mama noticed funny things I did / Like shooting puppies with a B.B. gun / I'd poison guppies and when I was done / I'd find a pussycat and bash in its head and so forth...] and I'm suddenly filling in for my dad this weekend while he's Emeril-ing it up for Jesus, we're not going to be able to make it. I was looking forward to seeing friends again, and the Vagina Monologues as well. Best of luck to all the performers, and to Dustro as he visits the dentist.

Wednesday, March 15

Read the f-ing teleprompter

This is a long-ass post. With no pictures. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Friday
My weekend began on Friday, after returning from Ankeny to see my brother, the one who plays the French horn, perform SCIBA (South Central Iowa Bandmaster's Association) with the high school's concert band. They were pretty good. I was impressed.

About 15 minutes after I got home, which was late because there was shopping and fooding to be had after SCIBA time, I got a call from Supergirl*, who was masquerading as KT, as she called on KT's phone. After she threatened to streak through my house, I went to KT's house, where KT, Supergirl, and Supergirl's friend with curly hair were waiting for B to get home. We were going to Des Moines to chill at someone's house — yet another co-worker of KT et al., who will be called T.

And then we had to go to this so-called "Irish bar" called Kelly's on Beaver (because it's on Beaver Ave.) and retreive some random other co-worker. Supposedly we were just going to be in and out, and then we were just going to have a round of drinks, but sometime around 1:30 we realized that we were going nowhere fast. Though Supergirl had promised we'd be quick, we'd been there for far too long. I mean, honestly, it was the worst Irish bar ever — I'm pretty sure that the only thing that might've made it seem Irish was the abundance of neon clovers and Guinness. And they had horrible drinks. My "sex on the beach" tasted like ass coconut and pineapple and nothing else. Realizing the Supergirl had indeed ditched us for a bunch of loud, piss-drunk straight people, we left for T's house.

We got at T's by about 2 a.m. or so. She ushered us into her living room, where she introduced us to her partner**, turned on some R & B, and told us to have a seat. She has white furniture. And three kids, one of which is three years old. And yet her furniture remains white ... the coffee table strategically placed in front of the larger sofa must be a very good deterrant. We talked for a very long time about nothing in particular, though the conversation always managed to get back to troubleshooting the Blackberry phone (which is their job and hence how they know one another).

T told us about having people over not long ago and how some poor 'mo couldn't function after drinking some Chicago-style "beverages" (read: strong as hell) and when he had to, um, use the facilities, he needed help. Lots. And then after five minutes or so, when T asked if he was done yet, he whined, "It isn't done peeing yet." Or something to that effect. And also kept shouting something about reading the teleprompter.

After half an hour or so, S showed up. (Yes, another troubleshooter of Blackberry-ness.) We shot the breeze for a while, and she decided to call L, who came over at around 3:15.

L is a freaking riot. Everything he said was hilarious and ironic and wonderful. He doesn't know it, but he's now my idol. To be perfectly honest, L reminds me a whole lot of Dustro, except that he's older and much more cynical. (Hard to believe, I know.)

At one point, we realized that it was after 5 in the morning and that we should probably shove off. Of course, the problem with being awake for so long is that you realize you're hungry. So we bid S, T, and T's partner adieu, and L led us to a Perkins, which is near where he lives. We got down with our hungry selves and ordered breakfast while L regaled us with tales of his life, including the time he didn't get any action in Minneapolis (which is why he doesn't like the city now) and had to make up a person so that his friends didn't think he was slacking. His faux lover was Vladimir, who uttered the phrase, "I will break you." I believe he was a hockey player. Five years later, he was helping a friend move, and in the car the friend started talking about Minneapolis and how he was jealous of Vladimir and L said, "Oh, honey, I didn't tell you? I made him up!" And L's friend was mad at him for about 10 minutes.

I got home at 7:45 or so that morning. My mom thought I was crazy (and I'm sure she thinks we were actually out drinking all night and too drunk to drive home. Because really, that's all I ever do anymore. Sheesh, woman).

Saturday
So then Saturday night (you didn't think that's all there was to my weekend, did you?) B and KT and I decided to go to the Ritual Cafe in Des Moines (where Beth and Sarah and I saw Ellis) because we saw that a band would be there and (the best part) there was no cover. So we went to see the Soapbox Prophets. I'd vaguely heard of them some time ago and thought, eh, why not? They're pretty good, it turns out. It's difficult to describe their sound: acoustic but not folksy, rock but not roll, plus one country song.

Little did we know that it was a BYOS*** party. For the most part, they were well-behaved, though there were a couple of them that were just tired of being there. I think that they were just there for the cake, to be honest. It was one of the band members' birthday, and I think that some of his family came to cheer him on. (And who can beat free entertainment on a Saturday night?)

After a while, there was an intermission. I wandered around for a bit, as I'd been sitting down the whole time and knitting (a small pouch for my KO bag). And who did I see? Someone from Luther, of course. A friend of mine from my class, who'd been my friend in about second grade until I moved to W'set, at which point I didn't see her until we both miraculously ended up attending Luther. She was just chilling in town with a friend, back for spring break from Chicago and library science school. Suh-weet!

So we listened to the rest of the band's set, then went home. B decided that we need to start hanging out at the Ritual Cafe more often. I agreed, for a few reasons. It's nice, they have good chai, and it's smoke free. That means I don't end up smelling like an ashtray. Ah, the possibilities.

And that was my weekend in a nutshell.


* My new tequila-loving friend, henceforth to be known as Supergirl.

** I swear, since hanging out with B and KT more, the amount of 'mos I know must have at least doubled.

*** Bring Your Own Shittypants. By shittypants, I mean baby. And by baby, I mean family. And we're not talking the 'mo sort of family here, folks.

Monday, March 13

Holy buckets

I had a pretty exciting weekend. I'll tell more later, when I have time to sort it all out.

I did not buy anything on Amazon just now. Not a single thing.

Thursday, March 9

Thursday's child

Yesterday I discussed the possibility of teaching a beginning knitting class for our local art center. I'd just have to come up with and easy project, and perhaps pamphlets or something. I think a cute and simple item might be geobabe's knitted kitty, which I've made and enjoy. It consists of a rectangle, which is cleverly folded and seamed, a shaped-by-increasing-and-decreasing head, and a tail created with short rows. I think all of these are fairly easy beginner's techniques. Do others have input?

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I watched the finale of Project Runway. Though Chloe deserves congratulations, I was underwhelmed. By everyone's collections, actually.

Daniel V., why hast thou failed me? He seemed to have gotten a lot more cocky and awkward in the last few episodes — ever since he won the Flower Power episode (and that stupid immunity). Perhaps it was the editing, but in the first of the two finale episodes, he actually said, "Like, why isn't he piddling in his panties over excitement?" (Check out the proof from fourfour.) That's not the Daniel V. I know and love.

My brother hit the nail on the head earlier when he asked me who I wanted to win. I told him that my first choice had been Diana, who was ousted far too early, my second was Nick, who was kicked off a bit before the final three. I chose Daniel V. after Nick was auf-ed, thinking that while I didn't particularly like his orchid blouse, the interpretation was very interesting. MY brother asked me that since everyone else I've chosen has gotten the boot, why shouldn't he? I said, "Well, third time's a charm, isn't it?" Apparently not.

But I'm not too sad, because really my most favorite person on the show is someone who will always be a winner in my heart: Tim Gunn. Does he have a fan club yet?

Tuesday, March 7

Ruby Tuesday

My shoulder still hurts. I don't know whether my pillow (down) is causing neck problems, or if I pulled something. Right now I'm sitting in the front office with a hot rice pack perched on my shoulder like a pirate's parrot. Earlier it hurt so bad I didn't know whether to cry or scream a little. I did neither, instead reheating the rice pack and popping some so-called painkillers. We'll be using a different pillow tonight, and flipping the mattress. Maybe that will help, too.

I haven't made any knitting progress lately due to shoulder problems. I miss my sticks and string. I have plans to make at least one pocket for my bag, which has gotten quite a few replies on Craftster (and is even *gasp* on the Hot New Topics list, which means people love it). The pocket needs to hold all the little things that would otherwise float around the bag — pens, checkbook, ibuprofen, lip gloss, etc. I think I'll probably make a zippered pouch, too. For knitting notions, of course.

I discovered a really cute online shop called piddleloop, which has these fabulous buttons. I kind of wish I'd ordered these, though. They're super cute.

I just heard some thunder, which I love. I hope it pours. Buckets.

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Our ads person is apparently in Chicago today, and none of us knew she'd be gone. That being said, I had better get back to work.

Sunday, March 5

Sunday, bloody Sunday

Knitting Olympics 043 I was browsing some amigurumi photos and I passed one (not on the linked page), and my dad said, "That one, on the lower left, that's kind of cute!" It made me laugh. Maybe he'll get a little funky bear or something. But I'm working on a turtle right now for my mom, since her mom really liked turtles.

I finally managed to finish my KO bag. There it is sprawled on my kitchen floor in all its glory. I'm excited to start showing it off now that it's dry.

My shoulder is not hurting as much anymore, though I really want to knit. Maybe one more day of rest will do it.

Maybe.

Friday, March 3

Agony

Knitting Olympics 037 ...far more painful than yours!

I was in two kinds of such last night. One was putting all of my hard-knit work — my still-not-finished KO Satchel — into the washing machine. Ba ba ba BUM! Certain death! (Guess that movie and me love you long time.)

Last night was my first felting experience. This photo was taken after 8 minutes of washer-induced aggravation. It was in a zippered pillowcase to prevent little fuzzies from clogging the water pump, as I've heard happens sometimes with felting. I was so nervous. I was standing hovering over the washer the whole time. Seventeen minutes of aggravation later, and I was pretty pleased with the size. I took my sopping bag of wool down to the basement, after squeezing the excess water out, and blocked it on a card table. We have a dehumidifier in the basement, so I thought that might help with the drying.

And now I have to wait. And wonder why wet wool smells a bit like hair salons.

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The other agony is this: my shoulder fucking hurts! (Sorry for any virgin ears out there, if there are any left.) It's been hurting since about Sunday. It's also making my neck hurt. I feel like maybe if I just stretch it, then everything will be fine. I can't move it that far without wanting to cry.

I guess playing very bad pool the other night and finishing the strap yesterday weren't exactly good ideas. Maybe I'll be learning to knit continental-style sooner than I thought, if this keeps up.

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Oh, and today's my brother's 17th birthday. He's stuck on a bus to eastern Iowa, where the vocal jazz group, Vox, is set to perform one last time this year at a jazz festival. I gave him a very small pin with Yoda on it, which says, "Do or do not. There is no try." I think he almost smiled.

Thursday, March 2

Celebration

Celebrating my out-iversary was unintentional but quite fun.

Went to a straight bar tonight. Played pool very badly. Claimed that I learned to play in Canada, which is true. Got kissed on the cheek by a hot gay-turned-straight-for-some-reason girl, who also loves tequila. We are soul mates now. Will perhaps see this girl and others again on Friday at a gay bar.