Yeah, um, I'm innocently watching the Sundance Channel, and then, out of the blue, his face appears. Jamie Ponsoldt, as I knew him, was a kid who acted in a play I produced in college. We were almost in the same playwrighting class, but weren't because I felt like it was a class for actors who wanted to do something more than act, and I'm so not an actor.
Anyway, like usual, he makes me think of people I knew eight to twelve years ago. It also depresses me a little, but not for long.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Huzzah!
Breakthrough...
I knew that if I thought hard enough, long enough, I'd find the inspiration for Mick's wedding afghan. All it took was trying out a certain motif idea in tapestry crochet to get a flash of things I had seen, then thinking hard enough about what I think they (Mick and Carrie) would actually like.
So, now, to clean up my person and then sort yarn to see what I have and what I need.
Let me just leave with one word: Korsnas.
I knew that if I thought hard enough, long enough, I'd find the inspiration for Mick's wedding afghan. All it took was trying out a certain motif idea in tapestry crochet to get a flash of things I had seen, then thinking hard enough about what I think they (Mick and Carrie) would actually like.
So, now, to clean up my person and then sort yarn to see what I have and what I need.
Let me just leave with one word: Korsnas.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Choose your Doctor Who geek
News circled a fandom yesterday, and apparently, I might be in the minority when I confess that I am thrilled it happened. The plain facts are that Russell T. Davies is going to leave Doctor Who and is being replaced by Steven Moffat as lead writer and executive producer. My reaction? I nearly bounced around the office with the news (I resisted because I'm already mocked for watching Doctor Who).
But, apparently, there are folks who think that Moffat's writing of the Doctor is out of character. That, of course, makes me wonder:
1) Is remaining true to the character more important than brilliantly written and executed shows?
2) What were these out-of-characters moments?
3) Are these things that obvious?
I can come up with two out-of-character moments, both in the same episode ("The Girl in the Fireplace"): partying with the French while Rose and Micky are roaming a spaceship, and risking being trapped in France and leaving Rose and Micky to fend for themselves on a spaceship that is going to burn up the replacement human parts already in use. Do these break my heart? Hell no. I mean, don't those of us who claim a loyalty to the new Doctors (Nine and Ten) do so because this guy isn't the guy from the past? Would I expect the Tom Baker Doctor to do anything like that? Hell no, but then that Doctor pisses me off more than not.* But I acknowledge that those moments are a bit out of character, but not enough for me to have truly noticed and whined about. Then again, maybe I think damn good stories and solid plots ("Blink" anyone?) are more important. And maybe, just maybe, people act out of character on occasion, or is a minor slip of character not allowed in real people either?
And so, I am damned excited. I love Moffat and that's even if I ignore Coupling. This is not to say that I don't love RTD, I do. But in the grand scheme, it could have been so much worse (if you don't love Moffat), they could have chosen Uwe Boll to replace RTD.
*I am behind on my Doctor Who past, though. I am trying to catch up, but there's only so much I can do.
But, apparently, there are folks who think that Moffat's writing of the Doctor is out of character. That, of course, makes me wonder:
1) Is remaining true to the character more important than brilliantly written and executed shows?
2) What were these out-of-characters moments?
3) Are these things that obvious?
I can come up with two out-of-character moments, both in the same episode ("The Girl in the Fireplace"): partying with the French while Rose and Micky are roaming a spaceship, and risking being trapped in France and leaving Rose and Micky to fend for themselves on a spaceship that is going to burn up the replacement human parts already in use. Do these break my heart? Hell no. I mean, don't those of us who claim a loyalty to the new Doctors (Nine and Ten) do so because this guy isn't the guy from the past? Would I expect the Tom Baker Doctor to do anything like that? Hell no, but then that Doctor pisses me off more than not.* But I acknowledge that those moments are a bit out of character, but not enough for me to have truly noticed and whined about. Then again, maybe I think damn good stories and solid plots ("Blink" anyone?) are more important. And maybe, just maybe, people act out of character on occasion, or is a minor slip of character not allowed in real people either?
And so, I am damned excited. I love Moffat and that's even if I ignore Coupling. This is not to say that I don't love RTD, I do. But in the grand scheme, it could have been so much worse (if you don't love Moffat), they could have chosen Uwe Boll to replace RTD.
*I am behind on my Doctor Who past, though. I am trying to catch up, but there's only so much I can do.
Monday, May 19, 2008
A moderately productive weekend report:
Saturday - A complete wash. I was a zombie. I crocheted like a fiend, watched more movies than I am proud to admit, and didn't go outside once. But I will claim that I needed a day of nothing with no requirements on my time.
Sunday - Late wake-up, late start, however
- I washed all of my clothes and linens (which I think could potentially count for 3.5 weeks' worth [fieldwork changes my clothing options and means I run out much later])
- I cut up and washed all the fruit in the house
- I went grocery shopping, which is a huge chore half of the time
- I organized the kitchen and it now looks like someone else's home
- I started my version of Eva's Shawl with some yarn from Artfibers
- I am 15 pages from finishing Sense & Sensibility
- I finished my improvised shawl. Once I block it (after deciding how I want to block it), I will report back on whether or not it worked out.
The things I should have done: review boring logs.
And I am just going to add that Flight of the Conchords make Monday mornings tolerable, washing dishes almost enjoyable, and making one's bed a lovely and creative experience. If I ignore the awesomeness of rapping about having tea with their grandma and the strange charm of "Leggy Blonde", there's the Donovan-esque "The Prince of Parties", which among other things contains these lyrics:
"Oh, pretty Prince of Parties, where do you get your clothes?
They're made of snow,
Pretty party clothes crocheted of snow."
When two New Zealanders sing about clothes crocheted of snow, how can you not be charmed even when doing the most menial of tasks.
Saturday - A complete wash. I was a zombie. I crocheted like a fiend, watched more movies than I am proud to admit, and didn't go outside once. But I will claim that I needed a day of nothing with no requirements on my time.
Sunday - Late wake-up, late start, however
- I washed all of my clothes and linens (which I think could potentially count for 3.5 weeks' worth [fieldwork changes my clothing options and means I run out much later])
- I cut up and washed all the fruit in the house
- I went grocery shopping, which is a huge chore half of the time
- I organized the kitchen and it now looks like someone else's home
- I started my version of Eva's Shawl with some yarn from Artfibers
- I am 15 pages from finishing Sense & Sensibility
- I finished my improvised shawl. Once I block it (after deciding how I want to block it), I will report back on whether or not it worked out.
The things I should have done: review boring logs.
And I am just going to add that Flight of the Conchords make Monday mornings tolerable, washing dishes almost enjoyable, and making one's bed a lovely and creative experience. If I ignore the awesomeness of rapping about having tea with their grandma and the strange charm of "Leggy Blonde", there's the Donovan-esque "The Prince of Parties", which among other things contains these lyrics:
"Oh, pretty Prince of Parties, where do you get your clothes?
They're made of snow,
Pretty party clothes crocheted of snow."
When two New Zealanders sing about clothes crocheted of snow, how can you not be charmed even when doing the most menial of tasks.
Friday, May 16, 2008
A list of to-do's
1) Laundry
2) Clean laminate/vinyl/whatever-it-is floors
3) Organize kitchen
4) Hang kitchen basket
5) Find receipts for work
6) Find the top of the dining table and clear area around the table so that it can be used
7) Organize yarn that has spread across the apartment
8) Switch out winter clothes for summer clothes
9) Review boring logs
10) Design afghan for Mick's wedding gift
11) Design afghan for Yoomin's wedding gift
12) Design baby sweater for various friends who insist on spawning
13) Write out shawl pattern
14) Finish angora shawl
15) Start a version of Eva's Shawl by milobo
16) Finish reading Sense and Sensibility
17) Go for a walk each day
18) Vacuum
19) Clean balcony
20) Hang yellow jacket/wasp thing on balcony to keep them away (sister must do the hanging due to my vertigo problems)
Note that the title's apostrophe is meant to separate it from the hyphenate "to-do", but to still refer to it. There's just no good way to make "to-do" a noun and plural. And yes, I am altering the English language, but I am a progressive on language evolution.
2) Clean laminate/vinyl/whatever-it-is floors
3) Organize kitchen
4) Hang kitchen basket
5) Find receipts for work
6) Find the top of the dining table and clear area around the table so that it can be used
7) Organize yarn that has spread across the apartment
8) Switch out winter clothes for summer clothes
9) Review boring logs
10) Design afghan for Mick's wedding gift
11) Design afghan for Yoomin's wedding gift
12) Design baby sweater for various friends who insist on spawning
13) Write out shawl pattern
14) Finish angora shawl
15) Start a version of Eva's Shawl by milobo
16) Finish reading Sense and Sensibility
17) Go for a walk each day
18) Vacuum
19) Clean balcony
20) Hang yellow jacket/wasp thing on balcony to keep them away (sister must do the hanging due to my vertigo problems)
Note that the title's apostrophe is meant to separate it from the hyphenate "to-do", but to still refer to it. There's just no good way to make "to-do" a noun and plural. And yes, I am altering the English language, but I am a progressive on language evolution.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
A Day in the Life of a Crochet Junkie
5:20 - First alarm goes off, ignore.
5:40 - Second alarm goes off, half-ignore.
6:20 - Finally get out of bed. Evacuate systems, start tea, debate lunch options.
6:30 - Decide to take lunch to work. Eat breakfast.
6:50 - Pretend to work on sister's cover letter. (Pretend because my brain isn't awake yet.
7:20 - Finish tea and juice and decide that today is a no-shower day. (I am one of those people whose skin and hair is all so dry that a shower can be skipped, but my hair is so curly that I still have to dunk my head in the shower to look presentable.) Curse the fact that we are going to hit a record high today. Wish that the Exxon Mobil CEO would just be quiet, he makes me almost as angry as G.W. Bush.
7:58 - Leave for work (luxury of a job without a strict daily schedule). Try to listen to the radio, but decide that everyone is irritating and this discussion of breasts just isn't entertaining, change back to the new The Raveonettes CD (Lust Lust Lust).
8:15 - Get to work. Realize while walking down the hall that my key card is in my car. Decide that I will see how irritating life without a key card is.
8:30 - Receive call from subcontractor. Some asshole!!! tagged my 21,000-gallon water tank that I was renting. If it can't be fixed in the Riverside yard, it has to be shipped to Bakersfield to be painted ($2000). Complain with sub that this drilling project was the worst ever for no good reason.
9:05 - Decide to tackle the invoices I've been ignoring because they make me think of unhappy things. Daydream about a shawl. Consider Afghans for Afghans as the next work yarn-related charity.
12:35 - Realize it's lunch time. Work through lunch. Wish that the Dream in Color Classy order was here already. Continue on with work.
14:00 - Remember how much expense sheets suck to complete. Onward.
16:30 - Get call from sister that she's going to a car museum. Remain confused for hours.
17:20 - Go home with boring logs and swear to work on them tonight.
18:00 - Get home. Eat some snacks that might include honey mustard pretzels and olives (I have an uncontrollable love for olives). Do not review boring logs.
19:30 - Have dinner. Long for a milkshake. Write sister's cover letter. Do not review boring logs.
20:55 - Pick up the crocheted lace shawl and continued. It's over eight feet long, but it's going to be longer. Watch The Office. Do not review boring logs.
21:30 - He'd have to be an ass to destroy my crush, but I totally adore John Krasiniski. Do not review boring logs.
22:00 - Should go to bed. Or figure out what to do to finish this shawl. Do not review boring logs. Somehow watch ER even though I don't really enjoy the show. Discover that most published crochet edges look too loud for what I want.
23:00 - Go to bed.
Follow-up: I did not review the boring logs. I did write a rather impressive cover letter for my sister (goes against the theory and all, but you don't know how much she hates her job and how much I hate her job, and I didn't lie in it, I just made her sound as brilliant as she is [when she wants to be]). My sister did apply for a job. I did not do any of the work-related things I was meant to. And it's damned hot.
5:40 - Second alarm goes off, half-ignore.
6:20 - Finally get out of bed. Evacuate systems, start tea, debate lunch options.
6:30 - Decide to take lunch to work. Eat breakfast.
6:50 - Pretend to work on sister's cover letter. (Pretend because my brain isn't awake yet.
7:20 - Finish tea and juice and decide that today is a no-shower day. (I am one of those people whose skin and hair is all so dry that a shower can be skipped, but my hair is so curly that I still have to dunk my head in the shower to look presentable.) Curse the fact that we are going to hit a record high today. Wish that the Exxon Mobil CEO would just be quiet, he makes me almost as angry as G.W. Bush.
7:58 - Leave for work (luxury of a job without a strict daily schedule). Try to listen to the radio, but decide that everyone is irritating and this discussion of breasts just isn't entertaining, change back to the new The Raveonettes CD (Lust Lust Lust).
8:15 - Get to work. Realize while walking down the hall that my key card is in my car. Decide that I will see how irritating life without a key card is.
8:30 - Receive call from subcontractor. Some asshole!!! tagged my 21,000-gallon water tank that I was renting. If it can't be fixed in the Riverside yard, it has to be shipped to Bakersfield to be painted ($2000). Complain with sub that this drilling project was the worst ever for no good reason.
9:05 - Decide to tackle the invoices I've been ignoring because they make me think of unhappy things. Daydream about a shawl. Consider Afghans for Afghans as the next work yarn-related charity.
12:35 - Realize it's lunch time. Work through lunch. Wish that the Dream in Color Classy order was here already. Continue on with work.
14:00 - Remember how much expense sheets suck to complete. Onward.
16:30 - Get call from sister that she's going to a car museum. Remain confused for hours.
17:20 - Go home with boring logs and swear to work on them tonight.
18:00 - Get home. Eat some snacks that might include honey mustard pretzels and olives (I have an uncontrollable love for olives). Do not review boring logs.
19:30 - Have dinner. Long for a milkshake. Write sister's cover letter. Do not review boring logs.
20:55 - Pick up the crocheted lace shawl and continued. It's over eight feet long, but it's going to be longer. Watch The Office. Do not review boring logs.
21:30 - He'd have to be an ass to destroy my crush, but I totally adore John Krasiniski. Do not review boring logs.
22:00 - Should go to bed. Or figure out what to do to finish this shawl. Do not review boring logs. Somehow watch ER even though I don't really enjoy the show. Discover that most published crochet edges look too loud for what I want.
23:00 - Go to bed.
Follow-up: I did not review the boring logs. I did write a rather impressive cover letter for my sister (goes against the theory and all, but you don't know how much she hates her job and how much I hate her job, and I didn't lie in it, I just made her sound as brilliant as she is [when she wants to be]). My sister did apply for a job. I did not do any of the work-related things I was meant to. And it's damned hot.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Great Shawl Experiment
Because I have my best creative thoughts at work and my best work thoughts at home when I can afford to be creative, I have decided that I am going to do something that for some strange reason is natural to me: overambitious crochet plans.
This year will be the trial. What I am willing to divulge to the ether at large is that it will involve the following:
1) Shawls
2) Question-based style decisions
3) Character-based designs (more than just naming something after a character)
4) Crocheted lace
And my first one will have four planned outcomes, although, I suppose there could be more. My overall plan is to have a total of six versions, although if I'm a good girl, it will stretch to at least ten different versions of this experiment.
Now, off to be productive.
This year will be the trial. What I am willing to divulge to the ether at large is that it will involve the following:
1) Shawls
2) Question-based style decisions
3) Character-based designs (more than just naming something after a character)
4) Crocheted lace
And my first one will have four planned outcomes, although, I suppose there could be more. My overall plan is to have a total of six versions, although if I'm a good girl, it will stretch to at least ten different versions of this experiment.
Now, off to be productive.
Monday, May 12, 2008
while I'm thinking about twine
Is there a way to get rid of the smell of twine? What does one wash/rinse twine in? Does one wash twine? I love the look of the bag, except that I dislike the weird chemical smell, and I'll never use it if I can't get rid of the smell. Any ideas?
randomness
So, now as I sip my coffee (which is an attempt to concentrate more at work, but which is failing because fatigue is winning), I am going to confess my failings...
1) I am terrible at updating.
2) I am rarely interesting enough to update.
3) My sister needs a new job otherwise I will start crying from wear whenever she walks into the apartment.
4) I think Zooey Deschanel might have a better album (She & Him's "Volume One") than indie princess Jenny Lewis. (And although I admire the theory and effort behind Scarlett Johansson's Tom Waits cover album, after listening to one song and seeing the video, I'm not sure that the effort was worth it.) And all of this makes me sort of an indie heathen (or one of those people that the hipsters shun because one hasn't abandoned Of Montreal yet).
5) I love unlikely actors playing superheroes...Robert Downey, Jr. and Tobey Maguire as prime examples.
6) I have to be a maid of honor in October and I am deciding when I need to get the dress, especially considering that I am going to resume my exercise efforts tonight. (I'm wondering if I should copy my sister and take a walking class, not because I don't know how to walk, but because I think a class might force me to actually do it instead of flaking under the stress of work.) It should be noted that exercise efforts stopped because I work too much, was on vacation, and couldn't convince myself to do anything after standing in the sun for ten hours.
On my crochet front:
A. I am working on a sweater (still), a hat (which makes me cry whenever I try to do my something neat with it), a lace shawl, a baby sweater, and a twine bag.
B. I need to block two hats and a lace scarf for gifts that are long overdue (oh so long overdue).
C. I am making another sweater for my grandmother because it turns out that the first one has become a favorite, and I owe my grandmother so much that I can only feel honored that a request was made.
D. I think I might turn Yarn Club at work into a charity project of sorts.
E. I return to my CGOA group this weekend!
F. I am trying to figure out how best to start designing crocheted garments if I have no time to do it. I am beginning to think that I need a schedule.
G. I have lots of bamboo yarn, which I'm not sure what I should do with.
1) I am terrible at updating.
2) I am rarely interesting enough to update.
3) My sister needs a new job otherwise I will start crying from wear whenever she walks into the apartment.
4) I think Zooey Deschanel might have a better album (She & Him's "Volume One") than indie princess Jenny Lewis. (And although I admire the theory and effort behind Scarlett Johansson's Tom Waits cover album, after listening to one song and seeing the video, I'm not sure that the effort was worth it.) And all of this makes me sort of an indie heathen (or one of those people that the hipsters shun because one hasn't abandoned Of Montreal yet).
5) I love unlikely actors playing superheroes...Robert Downey, Jr. and Tobey Maguire as prime examples.
6) I have to be a maid of honor in October and I am deciding when I need to get the dress, especially considering that I am going to resume my exercise efforts tonight. (I'm wondering if I should copy my sister and take a walking class, not because I don't know how to walk, but because I think a class might force me to actually do it instead of flaking under the stress of work.) It should be noted that exercise efforts stopped because I work too much, was on vacation, and couldn't convince myself to do anything after standing in the sun for ten hours.
On my crochet front:
A. I am working on a sweater (still), a hat (which makes me cry whenever I try to do my something neat with it), a lace shawl, a baby sweater, and a twine bag.
B. I need to block two hats and a lace scarf for gifts that are long overdue (oh so long overdue).
C. I am making another sweater for my grandmother because it turns out that the first one has become a favorite, and I owe my grandmother so much that I can only feel honored that a request was made.
D. I think I might turn Yarn Club at work into a charity project of sorts.
E. I return to my CGOA group this weekend!
F. I am trying to figure out how best to start designing crocheted garments if I have no time to do it. I am beginning to think that I need a schedule.
G. I have lots of bamboo yarn, which I'm not sure what I should do with.
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