Happy Hallowe’en!
If you’re on UNC campus today, and happen to see a teddy bear walking around, well, that’d be me. (Although I don’t really have a lot of errands on campus today, so, I probably won’t be walking around a whole lot.)
This weekend was pretty awesome because Saturday I got to see Greg Klaiber’s Grabass Revue TWICE. First they played the Hallowe’en celebration at the Capitol, which was pretty cool, and was organized by Tiffianna (and her awesome coworker Tara). Then they played another show at the Reservoir. I wore my teddy bear costume, sweated bullets, and had a great time. I also got in some tv-watching (Danny Bonaduce is a douche; Torchwood is the bomb!), some knitting (further on the Oct. Six Sox – but the camera is being poop right now, so no pictures), some laundry, some reading, and some studying for the GRE. And some hanging out with friends. Yay!
I woke up this morning at five, because of a ridiculous nightmare. I have no idea what triggered it – all the upsetting stuff was so far out in left field, who the hell knows. Anyway, after trying to get back to sleep for about forty minutes, I finally gave up, got up, did some more laundry, exercised (gasp! I know, right), and am about to try and make some cookies for a work thingy today. Since I’m up, anyway. And probably hit up the GRE prep book some more.
I’ve managed to fuck up my right knee – it’s creaking and/or popping when it bends, or it’s not wanting to bend at all these days, especially if I’m trying to sit down or stand up. I think maybe it’s the way I usually sit in chairs (with my right foot on my left knee), but I don’t know. I’m not even sure how to make it stop – a knee brace, maybe? Or just don’t sit like that for a couple days and let it sort itself out? I think my body pillow might also be aggravating it, but I don’t think I could sleep as well without it, so…We’ll see. I’m tired of it hurting, though.
The only dookie thing about this weekend, is it was also a weekend of people getting all up in my personal space when they really, really shouldn’t. Like, people I barely know being overly friendly and touchy-feely*, or people I knew once but haven’t talked to in ages and I know the next time we see each other we won’t say anything, so why are we chatting now? I wasn’t trying to be bitchy, and I didn’t want to hurt any feelings – and I think I did a good job of NOT hurting feelings, and whatevs. But I’m really an introvert, and damn, people, I just need a break. How do I establish my personal space or whatever, or establish that I’m not comfortable with whatever assumptions the other person is making about my personal space with relation to themselves, without coming off like a total bitch, or even just way too sensitive? I mean, I can’t think of any really good way to ask someone to either back up or not talk to me without sounding mean and rude, but that’s what I want, so… I guess I could try to up the stand-offish, bitchy factor in general, and then once I’m more comfortable with individuals let it down – so they don’t just get up in my grill from the get-go. But I don’t know, I don’t tend to do generalized bitchiness well – I have to be angry, or have a specific focus, and even then I don’t know that it’s really effective in keeping people at a distance. And even if I *could* do bitchiness well, that might result in me *not* getting to know people I might actually like rather well. I don’t know. I want to be nice and friendly (I mean, I think I *am*) – but I don’t want strangers misinterpreting that and getting overly friendly or in my face or whatever. I think at least some of it also has to do with me being female, and that really pisses me off – like, the assumptions people make about whether it’s cool to touch me when you barely know me, because I’m a girl and I seem friendly. (When I would say I’m a grrl, and that’s a different thing entirely.) I really hate that shit – like, when strangers tell you to smile. What the fuck. Haaaate. Anyways, I thought all the shit in my face, the dye job, the tattoos, the not-shaving, shit like that would make me less approachable, but apparently not. I mean, I want to be approachable, but don’t fucking touch me until I know you better.
*I’m specifically talking about shit that happened while I was *not* in teddy costume. I mean, I *made* the damn costume to be adorable, I’m ready for people to want to hug me or take pictures or even do some mild non-invasive rubbing of the costume (it *is* cuddly polar-fleece, so as long as it keeps to the arms or back, I can handle it). In costume, it’s cool. In my regular clothes, when I’m sending you “don’t touch me” vibes and my body language I think pretty clearly indicates that you need to back the fuck up, so not cool. I almost didn’t want to post this, in case people who didn’t upset me find this and think they did; or even in case people that did upset me find this, because I’m just venting, basically. I don’t think anyone that got too in my grill was *trying* to be dookie, I think it was just a misunderstanding about boundaries, and for whatever reason mine weren’t clear enough. All that being said, this is my blog, and I’m going to vent here.
And now I have cookies to bake and some damn math to fret over. It’s been around twelve years since I had geometry. UGH. It’s coming back, though, so that’s why I’m practicing. Actually, it’s almost seven, so I need to get my ass in gear and get ready for work, so I guess I’ll have to stop and pick some snacky stuff up on the way, because there’s not enough time for cookies. Oh well. That just means when I do make cookies, there’s more for me. Bwahahahaha.
Have some pictures before I go, though. I love when he sleeps like this:
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Well, I just finished watching tonight’s Doctor Who on SciFi – at first I thought I wouldn’t be into a rehashing of the cybermen, but I really enjoyed it, actually. I’m a little sad it’s a two-parter, because now I have to wait a week to see what happens. (I mean, I could probably find it on the interwebs, but I’ll just wait the week.) And I’m happy with Mickey’s treatment – I’ve always liked him, and I was getting tired of Rose and the Doctor ignoring him. Looks like that might stop now.
Greg got me the prettiest vase yesterday, so I thought I’d share. (He also got me a shirt and a sweater, but I don’t feel like modelling now, and I’m wearing them.) I put it on my bookshelf, and I just love it!
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The dark metal thing next to it is this really awesome lock Susan gave me – I think it’s in the shape of a sort of primitive lion, maybe? It’s pretty awesome. It’s face is a little hard to read – a cat or a lion, I think.
And in case you wanted to see the other half of the top of the bookshelf on my side of the bed – this shelf is where I put books I want to read next, but I don’t pull them off in order, just as the mood hits, so that Laurie Garrett may be up there a while, it’s heavy stuff – anyway, here’s the left half:
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And last but not least, the beginnings of my October Six Sox. I really like the fleur de lys pattern, and the way the colors are coming out:
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More pointy kitties! (I am really glad I’m putting this post up right now, because my sister has asked to me to record Breaking Bonaduce for her – I’ve never seen it before, and this first episode looks like this show is not my type of show. Kind of stark and depressing. Maybe it’ll get better. Anyway, back to kitties.)
for Krista:
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for Cherry Bomb (that’s a cherry bomb on the tail!):
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Man, I really kinda want to see Flushed Away. Oooooh! I know what’ll cheer me up after this Bonaduce mess: Wallace and Gromit and the Curse of the Were-Rabbit!! Hells yes.
Anyway, the wedding was beautiful (congrats, Carol & Brian!), we had a wonderful time! The drive was two hours, and I worked on a log cabin blanket on the way down and the way up. I’ll post pictures of that tomorrow – I think it’s time to bake cookies and watch Wallace & Gromit. (And, um, take care of this little thing called homework.)
Greg and I are driving up to Virginia early tomorrow morning for a wedding. I’m looking forward to it, but I can’t decide what knitting project to take. I don’t think I want to try working on the October Six Sox, because it’s stranded, and I think the two yarns would get impossibly tangled in the car. I also think the pattern should be fairly simple so I don’t get carsick from reading it. (I get carsick soooo easily. Ugh.) I’ve got a couple simple sweaters on the needles (yeah, I said “a couple,” what), but they’re all at the trying on and/or measuring stage, and I can’t do that easily in a car. I’ve got the garter stitch shawl I’m making for my cubicle (so I can just leave it there in case I get cold) – but it’s in Homespun, and that’ll shed all over my dress, and I can’t be having that. I don’t *want* to start a new project (or, at least, that’s what I’m trying to convince myself), but I can’t think of any WIPs I can take with me, so it looks like a new project it is. I wouldn’t mind starting a log cabin blanket, especially since I’d only be working with one color at a time. But I’m really in the mood to finish stuff I’ve already started. And that mood hits me, like, NEVER, so I really ought to take advantage of it while it’s here. Hm… We’ll see.
Well, I just mailed off a second goodie package*, and it should get there by three tomorrow afternoon. (Express delivery is very good when baked things are involved.) So that means tomorrow I can reveal the two pointy kitties I’ve been working on in secret. Muhahahahahhaha.
*I really should have gotten my shit together and mailed it off like a month ago. Ugh.
Can I just say how excited I was for Hiro when he showed up in full badass mode from the future at the end of Heroes last night? SWEET! Hells yes, bring on ass-kicking, kitana-wearing, time-traveling, badass Hiro.
I decided to do the October Six Sox with black as the main color, and the Crazy Color in Crush as the contrasting color. And it was looking pretty good – only of course I didn’t swatch, and it looked a little on the small side. So I have to start again with a larger set of needles, no biggle. I think the smaller one would have fit, it would just be tight. And I know the stranding is supposed to make them stretchy, but they weren’t that stretchy, so, yeah. I’ll put pictures up once I get far enough on the toe that you can actually see something.
And now for more serious stuff that is pissing me off:
This is fucked up: Two young Indonesian brothers attacked by wasps died in a Malaysian state after adults who saw them being chased by the swarm locked them out of a room to prevent getting stung themselves, news reports said Monday. Fucking inexcusable. I hope all those “adults” get the book thrown at them. I don’t know how scary a swarm of wasps is, and I don’t fucking care – there’s no excuse for that bullshit.
And what else is supremely fucked up, is a friend of mine getting held up at knifepoint, at her job. (She’s okay, but I’m still mad that happened.) So, I was all happy this morning because it was raining (and looked like it would rain all day), and now I’m just disgruntled and mad at the world for being so dookie. We all need to stop being assholes to each other, because that’s not cool, and we’ll be a lot happier if we just be nice to each other. So on that note, tonight I’ll be putting together another goodie package of warm fuzzies and cookies and pointy kitty and zine and maybe some honey or spice cake. (I was thinking of trying out a new recipe tonight, but I’m not sure 1-how well it will turn out, and 2-how well it will mail. We’ll see.)
Ugh. I just got back from the practice GRE. It wasn’t too hard – just annoying. Anyways, it’s done with now, so I’ve got like two weeks-ish before the real thing. Not terribly worried, because I’m a good test-taker, and I don’t put much faith in tests anyway.
Yesterday, my sister, Susan, came down after she got off work, and we took her to the State Fair. It was her first time, ever. We all had a blast! Food-wise, we had roasted corn, blooming onions, funnel cake, Almond Tree nuts (the best!), chocolate-covered frozen key lime pie, lemonade, soda pop, water, and Susan had a corn dog. I also got a caramel apple with nuts, and am saving it for later. We saw a couple exhibits, like the flowers, and the cows (which were pretty awesome – some of them had fur that looked like plush velvet, and I just wanted to rub my cheeks on them, but that’s a no-no, so I didn’t). We saw the pig races, which were awesome as always, and Susan got to be the pig-rooter for the last race, the potbellied pigs. Our section got the cutest gray spotted pig. (I always thought pot-bellied pigs were only black, but there was ours, and I think a dark brown one, too.) So of course now I need a pot bellied pig. Of course. Susan does triathlons and lifts weights and shit – she is badass. Anyway, the real point is, since she’s got so much muscle on her, and muscle is heavier than fat, she weighs more than she looks. She looks like a kinda teeny little thing – but she can whoop ass, don’t trip. So of COURSE we took her to one of those guessers – the ones that guess your weight within 5 pounds, your age within 2 years, or your birth month within 2 months – and had him guess her weight. Hooboy, it made me so happy to see him be wrong! And of course Susan got a prize, too! I thought we should make a run on all the guessers in the fair, and just rack up the prizes, but, eh. We decided not to. Greg and I played a fair game where you throw a baseball and try to knock over some blocks – you have to knock all three off the platform, and the closest we got was me knocking two off. Which is fine, because I always assume the games are rigged, and so I only play for the fun of it – and then if you get a prize, sweet! We also played this prize-guaranteed fishing game, and got some cute little plushie toys. Greg went on a flume. All three of us went in a funhouse, on the carousel twice, and on the Quadzilla hunt. (“Where the fuck’s Quadzilla? This is bullshit.”) Yeah, kiddie rides, what. I love ‘em. The carousel was soooo much fun. I can’t believe I had forgotten how awesome they were. On the second ride, we named our horses – I named mine Rose Petal, and Susan named hers Buttercup, and Greg named his Corndog, but then he changed it to “Elmer” – which I didn’t realize until he said so, that it was because the horse was going to become glue when it got old. Groan. (I also told Susan about my idea, which I’d told Greg Friday, to get a finch and name it Atticus. Geddit? And then my second bird could be Gregory PECK. Geddit? Oh me.) And we saw some fireworks. And I think that’s it – it was fucking awesome, though. I love, love, love the State Fair!
I also finished my August Six Sox (finally, right!) just in time to wear them to the fair. Here they are in their busy glory:
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Now I guess it’s time to start on the October Six Sox. I know one of the yarns is going to be solid black – my only problem is whether to make the other yarn solid blue, or this ball of Crazy Colors I like (I think the color is called Crush). I’m leaning towards the Crazy Colors – but then, again, I don’t know whether to make the black the main color and the Crazy Colors the secondary, or vice versa. Yeesh. I might even have to swatch to decide. Gasp! Not swatching!
I love my class. Today we had petites madeleines that the professor baked for us last night (!!!) and they were sooooo delicious. AND I got a recipe. Hot. AND we talked about Proust some more, and all this stuff linked up in my head. Uh, maybe that sounds weird. What I mean is, I really like when things coincide – cleansing bursts of synchronicity, if you will – and today stuff we talked about in class linked up with the Dresden Dolls, Fritz Perls, some other book I’ve been reading that escapes me at the moment, etc, etc. (EA’s green tea madeleines, etc, etc.) Oh yeah! And the professor talked about how for Proust everything was part of this web of connections, and I’ve been thinking about webs of connections (no, seriously) because of this whole grad school thing, and thinking about what’s interconnected (like, what *isn’t*), and how much shit I can cram into my research proposal because, really? I have to narrow my focus for the next four years? But there are so many things I’m interested in learning about. Do you know how sad it makes me that I may not get to take the 4th dimension class? Or any of the bajillion wimmin’s studies classes I want to take? Or African-American, or Latin American, or, or, or. So I’m trying to cram shit together and justify it, so I can study as many things as I want to. Sigh.
Anyway. Also, I don’t think I’ve mentioned my love for Heroes. Love it! Hiro’s my favorite – he’s so cute in his “I am a superhero!” way, which is totally an attribute of one of my favorite D&D characters (Binca), so….yeah. I’m a dork. Whatevs.
