Oh! Yeah... I guess I draw, too.

Today I:

• had a half a whole wheat English muffin with nutritional yeast and fake cream cheese with a cup of white tea for breakfast
• had a plain bagel with fake cream cheese for Second Breakfast
• am eating left over stir-fry for lunch

I was perusing whip up yesterday afternoon when I came across this woman's blog. I immediately became so jealous I nearly went blind inspired and had to run home and draw something myself. You see, some would say I was an artist.

Okay, I would say I was an artist. Not a very determined one. But I used colored pencils, and I still have them. Lots of them. My pencil sharpener, however, has apparently gone AWOL. I turned the apartment over looking for it, but to no avail. I was so frustrated that I almost didn't draw anything.

But I did. Behold! The Teapot.

Hardly fish coming out a Japanese school girl's belly, but everybody has different muses. I drew it on a paper bag. See?
Then I spent all night unclogging the sink. Yay.

Drawing this has made me realize several things:

• I am simultaneously arrogant and insecure in the area of art
• I typically draw once or twice a year (I am soo rusty!)
• I need another pencil sharpener (This has been an ongoing problem)
• I love paper bags, even if they're not quite archival quality paper
• maybe I should draw some more

Last night, I:

• dealt with plumbing, of course
• had Asian Fusion take out
• drank a Corona with a slice of lime

What do you mean, there's no title block?

I can see it. Why not you?

Oh, wait. Maybe you don't have a mainline to my brain. That could be a problem, considering that's where the title block is currently being displayed. Trust me, it's a pretty knifty title block. It looks a lot like the one I tried to load, but couldn't.

I can't be bothered with things in reality today, they just aren't working out. However, in my imagination they are going just peachy: the kitchen sink isn't backed up with half a foot of black water, I'm not having veggie sushi again for lunch, I didn't show up ten minutes late for jogging this morning because of two faulty clocks, making it pointless to be up at 6 am. Yessiree, things are great in my head.

Which reminds me of the dream I was having before the &%$#@ alarm went off at whatever time it was. I was on a yacht cruising down a river that led to a marina on a fine, sunny, humidity-free day, and three realities co-existed at once. So there were three versions of everyone, sometimes slightly different, sometimes drastically so. For instance, the hero of this dream (my dreams sometimes move along like movies, with plots, shoot-outs, etc. I think of it as free cable.) existed as three people. I was involved in a romantic intrigue plot with all three at once, but not simultaneously. They were two fairly normal guys (one of which I spotted walking along the wharf up river, and another that had just left the yacht) and a merman. That's right! teh highlight of this dream was about a lean, green, and steamy merman. And he was all about terrestrial chicks like me. I hopped into the water.

And then I woke up. And I have no idea how the plot was going to work itself out. Or how a reality like that could exist. Any ideas?

Today I:

• had a whole wheat English muffin with nutritional yeast and fake cream cheese with a cup of white tea for breakfast
• could not brush my teeth at home
• am eating sushi and chips
• need a vacation. Possibly near the sea.

Be Plutonic*

Today I:

• had a whole wheat English muffin for breakfast with a cup of white tea
• mailed off a SP8 package
• am having homemade vegan enchiladas-meets-burritos for lunch

This Mexican-ish food is better than it looks. Why haven't I been making all my lunches? This beats the hell out of microwave burritos.

In Other News

I finally had my 1 year review at work, so now I can decompress. It's looking like a raise, esp. since my Overseer understands the difficulties I encountered last year, seeing that he had them himself. (Difficulty sometimes has a name.) My only other review was about this time last year, when I'd only had 3 months of experience on the job. I was rated Cheerful But Slightly Incompetent Because New to the Job. Now I am a Pleasant and Easy Going Competent Worker Who is Overwhelmed By Demanding Architects, phasing into Less Frustrated Worker Now That Difficulties Have Been Removed and the Project Has Gone Into CD. (Are you following me still?) The nervous breakdown has been abated, everybody can now unfasten their seat belts and roam about at will.

What I can't help thinking about is that I am considered easy going and cheerful. Who knew? I feel like I should send a copy of the report to anyone who ever told me I was onery and moody. (Hi, Mom! Hello, Philadelphia! Hey, ex's!)

Of course I should be laid back. Even if I'm not. After all, I am a California girl. Could I be any more stereotypical than in this photo?

True, I'm not rollerblading in a thong, but you get the idea.

Last night, I:

• had a bowl of refried beans with rice and tomatoes for dinner
• ate a bowl of borsch, too
• drank 1/5 of a glass of wine (Need. More. Wine.)
• tried to get stuff done

*Advice from my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot last night on gettign back to the writing now that I'm decompressing. I think he means it astrologically.

Endless Projects

Today I:

• had white tea for breakfast
• am having veggie sushi, a bag of Fritos, and a banana for lunch
• have had a lot of tea
• am posting twice!

I've taken down the wallpaper until I figure out how to make this blog readable on every system with it up. Until then... I hate my header. *sigh*

Knitting
This is a razor back striped tank top from IK Fall 2002, except I am leaving out the stripes. I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece - it's wonderfully resilient and squishy, reminding me strongly of that colored craft foam kids cut up into letters and animals, etc. - in an aqua color that is not done justice in this photograph. Everything is perfect for this project: the yarn, the pattern, the color. Except.

I am knitting this up on eight 3.5mm (Us #4) bamboo dpns, the extra two I have just hanging about, waiting for emergencies. (This project would probably be easier on circulars, but we won't get into that.) So it's slow going because of the gauge and the needle switch-overs every 20s or so. I have this horrible feeling that diligently plugging away at this tank top will get it done sometime this winter when there's 3 ft of snow outside.

Speaking of winter

I started the red alpaca scarf I've been planning since last year as a X-mas present for one of my sisters. Why now? you ask. Well, I bought that yarn for my mom's X-mas present, which is basically the same idea, and I was itching to get started on it. However, not having a winder or a swift, I was not particularly eager to wind it into a ball.* Fortunately I remembered I had wound two skeins of red alpaca into balls during a Knit 'n Sip. Same project, different color and recipient, why not?

Probably because this project is also tedious. (K1, P1) repeat ad infinitum.

Yesterday, I:

• had soy yogurt for breakfast with white tea
• ate two bean and rice burritos for lunch
• drank a lot of tea
• ate a bowl of borsch for dinner
• had another burrito for Second Dinner
• drank a beer
• watched Casablanca (Conrad Veidt!)
• started reading about Trulli

*If I am going to wind anything into a ball, it should be that skein of Cherry Tree Hill yarn that is hanging off the back of my chair in cat-harassed tangles. But let's not get into that, either.

Another Art Deco facade I see on the way to work.

Summer Reading Project - Book Five

(SRP5) Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams (1992) 218 pgs.
The 5th and final book of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy, wherein dimensions are crossed and identities explored. This book was enjoyable, practically whizzing by in one sitting. This may not be his strongest work, but his light and ironic sense of humor is always a great antidote to the dulldrums. I wish he had lived to write more. A-

Summer Reading Project - Book Four

(SRP4) Baths, Bogs and Basins: The Story of Domestic Sanitation by David J. Eveleigh (2002) 175 pgs.

A quick run-down on the history of bathrooms, primarily in England. Reading this book will grant you an intimate knowledge of toilets, a technological achievement that is often taken for granted in developed countries. I now know the difference between a wash-down water closet and a wash-out water closet, and am confirmed in my belief that sanitation is our friend. (Even if it wastes water. Cholera, anyone?)

Lovely pictures. I would have liked to learn more about bathroom fixture design in the 20th century, but that was largely skimmed over. A-

Today I:

• added wallpaper to the blog. You like?
• had a plain bagel with fake cream cheese with a cup of white tea for breakfast
• then proceeded to have a cup of darjeeling and a mint tea for Second Breakfast
• hope I don't forget about the banana in my filing cabinet
• am having salad with a bag of kettle chips for lunch
• am feeling somewhat chipper

Thank you everyone for your comforting comments about my do. I am now in that somewhat easier head space where I think that only 50% of the people who stare at me are doing it because of my hair, rather than 99.9%. (The other 50% think I am devastatingly attractive. Or just really short.)

This is where I get stared at the most: The Morning Commute.

I am going against this flow of traffic, by the way. I go against it on the way home as well. (Perhaps this accounts for the stares?) For those of you not familiar with Boston, that imposing facade in the background is South Station, where all of these people catch trains, buses, etc. Me? I'm just passing through. It's the most direct route to work from my apartment and vice versa.

Knitting
Jeanette gave me some very striking advice at the last S'nB about what to do about my new do woes, advice that will live forever in my memory. It truly was the solution to all problems, except the financial. So I followed it.

I went yarn shopping. Red Sockotta, of course. Because yarn for 20+ socks is not enough. I need more.
Light blue Catalina alpaca/silk for my mom's 2006 X-mas present. The violet is finally blooming, so it got included for effect. Not everything is all cats, all the time at Crisis of Praxis. I have houseplants, and they are cute, too.

I also bought yarn for my Top Secret Secret Pal 8 Project #3, but I can't show you that. Rest assured, it is awesome.

Last night, I:

• went to Windsor Button
• had a veggie burger on a bagel for dinner
• knit while watching King Kong
• drank a lot of mineral water
• had money forced on me by my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot for an A/C unit

Blog Appearance

I am messing around with the look of the blog, so please bear with me.

New Do

Today I:

• am becoming reconciled to my hair do
• had toaster waffle with maple syrup and white tea for breakfast
• am having two bean and rice burritos for lunch
• am probably going to add a banana to that

The New Do (and the associated trauma) has caused me to review some of my past hairstyles this week. Particularly the short ones.

Sweet Sixteen and having a party by myself because my mom forgot (Mom, it's true!):

Eighteen and all about the black and the red (with horrible glasses!):
Twenty and bleached out (stuffing my face; still have horrible glasses):
My haircut this winter (The glasses I liked! They broke!):
Followed by a chop in the Spring (the standby transistion shades):
And now this (transition shades now deeply dug in. I wear sunglasses at night.):

This haircut did not come out as expected. I won't go into all the details... Let's just say, I was so upset Tuesday evening after the chop that I called in sick to work. I sat at home, knitting, fretting, and waxing nostalgic about better haircuts I've had, including a mohawk type thing I had in high school. Oh, and the pink hair.

This haircut dances dangerously along the edge of Old Lady Perm Hair and 1970's bobs. Not a 1920's bob. Not at all. Notice the forced smile?

But it will grow, right? Yikes.

Last night, I:

• finished a secret SP8 project
• finished the boyfriend socks (pics soon!)
• had two bags of chips and soy steamer at S'nB
• tried not to think about my hair

Next Installment

Bet you didn't think this would happen, eh?

Without thinking, Kathy-or-maybe-Karen made a beeline for him. She climbed over the mound of snow between two buried cars to the slushy street and called out triumphantly, “There you are!”

The metrosexual stopped and looked up, clearly puzzled. He opened his mouth to say something, perhaps something along the line of “Do I know you?” or “What the hell do you want?” but Kathy-or-maybe–Karen didn’t give him a chance. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all week,” she said, stepping in an ice-crusted puddle in the gutter up to her ankle. She pulled her foot out quickly and stepped onto the curb between some trash, shaking her foot. “That’s my bag.”

Recognition flickered in the man’s blue eyes, and the confusion on his face being rapidly replaced by apprehension. “You lost the bunny ears,” he said.

Kathy-or-maybe–Karen frowned. The hat had been so obvious that he had even been able to see it was bunny during a blackout? How could she have been so stupid? She was beginning to suspect that she was never going to live it down.

“Yes. No more bunny. Can I have my bag back?” She stepped forward, her arm outstretched, knocking over a box of trash in the process. Worn, yellowing paperbacks scattered over the icy sidewalk, the faded, baroque figures that graced their covers gazing at each other and Kathy-or-maybe-Karen and the metrosexual with a repressed longing. Their clothing looked like it was about to burst free under the force of it.

Kathy-or-maybe-Karen hardly spared it a glance. She needed to get that bag.

“Hey!” the metrosexual protested, pointing at Kathy-or-maybe-Karen’s foot. “You’re stepping on them!”

“What?” she said, stepping back instinctively.

The metrosexual dropped the bag of yarn and stooped to pick up one of the books. Kathy-or-maybe-Karen stared in disbelief as he lovingly brushed the snow from it; it might have been his mother’s wedding picture for all the fuss he was making over it. “I can’t believe somebody was throwing this out!” He picked up another book, brushed it off, and flipped it open to read the copyright.

Kathy-or-maybe-Karen took a closer look at the books. “The Devil’s Desire?”

“Oh, that’s here, too?” he said excitedly, picking it up.

Kathy-or-maybe-Karen shot a look across at the street. Gladys, her curiosity aroused, was coming across. “Look, about the bag-”

The metrosexual looked up at her and smiled. His eyes were a very pale, clear blue. “Night Nurse,” he said, holding up one of the tattered books for her to see. On it cover was a nurse in a blond beehive and a crisp white uniform several sizes too small exhibiting what Kathy-or-maybe–Karen considered very unprofessional behavior involving a sultry man with a stethoscope.

“Could you forget the stupid books? I need to talk to you about my bag!”

The metrosexual took umbrage. “These are not stupid books! These are classics!”

“They’re trash. The only Classic these books have even the remotest thing in common with is Moby-”

“Who’s your friend?” Gladys asked, stepping up onto the mound of snow next to the boxes. The older woman eyed the metrosexual, then looked at Kathy-or-maybe-Karen expectantly.

The metrosexual was not to be put off. “That’s a very closed-minded thing to say,” he protested. “I would think that as a woman you would be able to recognize that passion does not exclude depth of feeling and meaning.”

“Sex is sex,” Kathy-or-maybe-Karen said. “That’s all. Love is just something it gets dressed up with to look respectable.”

Gladys glanced apprehensively between them.

The metrosexual stood up. “You don’t really mean that,” he said.

“Like hell I don’t!” Kathy-or-maybe-Karen retorted. She couldn’t believe this guy. First he’s getting all excited over some dirty books, and now he was telling her how she felt about sex! This kind of situation wasn’t supposed to happen with anyone she hadn’t been dating for at least two months.

Apparently Gladys was thinking the same thing. “Would you two like a minute or two alone?” she enquired timidly.

To view the previous episode, click here.
To return to the Index, click here.

Not much going on... but you knew that, didn't you?

Today I:

• am getting my hair bobbed
• ran some
• had toaster waffles with syrup and white tea for breakfast
• had a banana for Second Breakfast
• am having leftover "bird's nest" for lunch
• don't have much to say

I mean, really. Isn't the tidbit about the new do stimulating enough without cluttering this post up with photos and topics? My current knitting project is Top Secret, so I can't go on about that, but I have been writing fiction and I'll be posting the pattern for the crocheted rat toy soon, as per Jeanette and The Bitter Knitter's request after seeing Jameson go bazoinkers for it Saturday. Sorry. You'll just have to live in suspense. But because I am kind (and possibly a little warped?) I will leave you with this link. What do you want to bet that she knitted her own stockings? And with stripes, nonetheless. I am impressed.

Last night, I:

• ate Chinese for dinner ("Bird's Nest": taro bowl filled with fake meat* and real veggies)
• picked up my laundry (Little old Italian ladies do it so much better than me)
• wrote some
• knit some

*the texture of the fake shrimp really creeps me out, strangely enough

Trees and a Book Review

Today I:

• am cursing Blogger
• had vegan toaster waffles for breakfast with maple syrup and white tea
• ate some veggie sushi (I made it!) and seaweed salad for lunch
• am actually getting tired of seaweed

I went to the Arboretum this weekend. I was hoping to get in on the roses, but they were pretty much bloomed out.

There were also trees. Big trees:

And small trees:

The figure in the background is my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot. Don't let the stance deceive you: he likes bonsai.

I was going to post a picture of me, too, but apparently I have been saved by Blogger: it will not upload any more photos for me.

(SRP3) A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle (1973) 203 pgs.

I remember listening to A Wrinkle in Time when I was in elementary school, and at the time it blew my mind. I'm not certain how old I was - the library room I remember was in the school for grades 3 through 5 only - so I was somewhere between 7 and eleven years old. I thought "A Wrinkle in Time" was very original, and the descriptions were evocative. It stuck with me. So when I encountered a L'Engle book last week in Goodwill I decided to test my pre-pubescent reading tastes.

A Wind in the Door was rather original, and the descriptions were rather evocative. The bends it puts a person's mind through are entertaining. However... I found certain other things annoying enough to consider not finishing the book. Being a children's book is no excuse. I've read a lot of children's books - Harry Potter, Anne of Green Gables, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, etc., - and all I usually have to deal with is maybe a tendency to preach, gloss over some realities of life (light fiction, you know), and maybe not go too deep.

The first thing that bothered me was how naive the oldest child, Meg, who was also the main character, was for fourteen years old. She would have been more believable as twelve. She was a little down on herself about her appearance, but that was the only thing that marked her as being pubescent. Her relationship with her "friend-friend", Calvin, was excruciatingly platonic, even though she had no qualms saying she loved him. I just don't believe any fourteen year old could act that way, even a brilliant one. Maybe that's just me, maybe I was weird at fourteen. Hard to say. Also, while I appreciate the removal of slang from the children's vocabulary, sometimes it was very stilted.

Which reminds me: Is Madeleine L'Engle American? Because she writes like a Brit. Vegetable marrows, village, etc. The whole story stank of Brit trying to write American. Maybe that's just me, too.

Speaking of America, the thing that really almost had me tossing the book down was the blatant "America the Wonderful" propaganda that happened at times. "The height of civilization", a "great democracy"... is this 1950's propaganda, or what? This aspect was wrestling with another annoying thing: the overall Christianess of the story. Practically Narnia, folks.

Then, of course, nothing was really explained, or rational. Yet it was supposed to be science.

Somebody else might really like this book. Me? I am just to jaded, I suppose. Although I loved the Anne of Green Gables series. C+

The Excitement Goes On

Today I:

• had a whole wheat English muffin with fake cream cheese and nutritional yeast for breakfast with a cup of white tea
• am having seaweed salad and a veggie wrap for lunch
• intended to get up early to write
• did not get up early to write

I thought that since I felt so inspired yesterday morning that I should perhaps get up early on days I don't jog to write. However, my body had other ideas. I felt like crap at 6am. Headache, nausea. Kind of like a hangover, but how can that be, when I only had half a glass of merlot last night?

I am weak. I went back to bed.

I pass quite a few Art Deco buildings in the Business District on the way to work in the morning. This one houses a phone company. I especially like the entrance, but there was a park blocking my view, so I couldn't snap a picture.

If think I am showing you pictures of Boston buildings because I am not being very crafty lately, and have really very little to say, then you would be right. So sad, I know.

Have you checked out Conrad Veidt yet?

Last night, I:

• ate the leftover veggie burger mush on an English muffin
• finished off the ginger
• drank half a glass of merlot
• went to bed early

Today I:

• had a whole wheat bagel with fake cream cheese and nutritional yeast for breakfast with white tea
• was up and jogging/walking by 6:15 am*
• am surprisingly alert, nevertheless
• really got the writing bug afterwards... but then I had to go to work
• am having vegan veggie soup, salad, and potato chips for lunch

(SRP1) Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie (2004) 391 pgs. (finished 06/11/06)
Zaftig actuary mets gorgeous man with commitment phobia and a tendency to compulsively make bets with his friends on things, such as asking her for dinner, etc. Could he be doing it for more than the money? I'm betting the next Jennifer Crusie book I pick up will just as good as this one, since so far she has consistently written rounded characters whose motivations actually make sense, a rare phenom. in the Romance genre. It's also a fun summer read. A-

This is actually the first book I completed this month. The initials in parenthesis mean "Summer Reading Program, Book 1", since yesterday's post was technically book two (SRP2). My goal for the SRP is to read 12 books, with a bonus of reading The Worm in the Bud:The World of Victorian Sexuality by Ronald Pearsall. (The book is 672 pages, so that should be a challenge.) I have also given myself the unofficial rule that half of the books need to be nonfiction. Fortunately, I'm already doing alright on that score. There are a lot of books on domestic sanitation out there, just waiting for me to pick them up.

Knitting
That's right, I knit, don't I? Well, not much has been happening this week in that area. I did wind the CTH yarn my Secret Pal sent me into a ball at S'nB last night with the aid of knitcake (who I still can't believe is moving to Seattle this weekend. knitcake, you have to go to Capitol Hill and eat at The Globe for me. I still yearn for their biscuits and gravy. Also, see something at The Paramount. It's a movie palace. I saw a whole slew of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton films there, with live organ accompaniment when a touring group was passing through. They probably have something worthwhile going on.)

Last night, I:

• ate some sauteed mushed up veggie burgers with onions and ketchup (not the evening's highlight)
• had a bag of chips and a soy steamer at S'nB
• watched Hello Again

*in some really weak rain and strong wind.

Books, Veidt

Today I:

• had a whole wheat bagel with fake cream cheese and ... well, you know the drill
• am having veggie sushi, salad, and chips for lunch
• have drunk (yes, I use this tense) two cups of tea at work
• am sadly disappointed in The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo, so I will not be finishing it
• am still very keen on the silent film The Man Who Laughs, which is by all accounts far superior to the novel *sigh* (SEE: Conrad Veidt)
• have decided I am a complete sucker for German Expressionist films, and their actors

I've signed up for Kat with a K's Summer Reading Program, but I don't think I'm officially in yet. Oh, well. Here's a book review anyway, short and... well, brief.

Tea:Addiction, Exploitation, and Empire by Roy Moxham (2003) 255 pgs.

This is quick read on the history of the relationship between tea, Western Europe, and British Colonialism. Educational without being a drag. The ending was a little weak ("Is that it?") and I am not certain I agree with the author's take on economics, but I would still recommend this book to anyone. B+

Last night, I:

• put four bandages on each of my feet (this was only the tips of my feet)
• had tofu dogs and baked tater tots for dinner
• ate some crystallized ginger and chocolate
• finished the above book

Have I mentioned this man?

Warning: Complaints Below

Today I:

• had a whole wheat bagel with fake cream cheese and nutritional yeast with white tea for breakfast
• am having a bean and rice burrito, a banana, and seaweed salad for lunch
• am being tortured by my shoes

Aren't these shoes cute? I got them for $5 at Goodwill on Saturday, along with a whole slew of stuff I haven't photographed yet.

I really like these shoes. However, they do not like me. I needed three bandages before I got to work, and then had to put on two more an hour ago. Perhaps I should just stick to my Docs, eh?

Since I'm complaining, I may as well mention that it is 72 degrees Fahrenheit outside, bright and sunny, and at my desk I have a heater blasting air onto my legs. Because I am freezing. Open plan offices are a really bad idea where HVAC is concerned. In theory, we should all be gettign the same environment, but in practice, we don't. (Praxis, eh?) I have two large metal ducts hanging over me, blasting me with chilled air. And I left my blankie at home.

Last night, I:

• took my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot out to Cafe Algiers for dinner
• ate some falafel balls, pita bread, fries and salad
• drank some herbal flower tea (name escapes me; it was pink/burgundy, tho')
• ate more chocolate
• drank mineral water
• knit stuff I am going to rip out

SP8 package

Today I:

• had two organic vegan TOASTER WAFFLES for breakfast with organic maple syrup (words can barely express my feelings about this) with a cup of white tea
• wished my boyfriend / partner/ whatnot a happy birthday
• did not give him the socks, but he's tried one on already (appropriate expression of appreciation on his face)
• drank two cups of green tea
• ate a very small banana for Second Breakfast
• had two bean and rice burritos for lunch
• am obssessing over Conrad Veidt

SP8 Package Here!
It arrived Saturday, well ahead of my SP8's ETA.

Everything about this package is perfect. My SP8 must have bizarre psychic powers, because usually it is so hard to find a gift for me that relatives just give me money instead. She sent me a tin of crystallized ginger (I didn't even know I liked this, but the tin is already half empty), a bar of bittersweet dark chocolate (also half gone), a skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in a deep red/black colorway, and two sets of 3.00 mm dpns.

I am especially happy to see the dpns. The past week has been filled with anguish over 3.00 mm dpns*, since that is the size my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot's socks are begin knit up on, and I gave my aluminum 3.00 mm's to Wenders in a fit of loathing. (Loathing the aluminum, not Wenders. I suppose if she didn't like aluminum dpns, it might be a mean thing to do.) That left me with one set of 3.00 bamboo dpns. Which means I could not cast on more socks on 3.00 mm dpns, and I dearly wanted to. Now I have more socks on 3.00 mm dpns and my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot's socks are... well, not going as fast as before.

I have never used Cherry Tree Hill yarn, but it looks good, and it feels good. I have put it in my sock queue and may be able to knit something up with it some time in 2010. Maybe even 2009. (Don't ask me how many socks I have planned, or on the needles: you don't want to know.)

I get a kick out of little things, so I spent as much time being excited by the chocolate tissue paper as anything else. Where does one get chocolate tissue paper? I am keeping this stuff. I can also use the ginger tin to hold buttons. I don't mind ginger-smelling buttons at all. The card was knifty and the box amused me. I'm going to reuse the box**, so I can't tell you why it was funny just yet.

So, Saturday was a striking contrast to Friday's moodiness and self-doubt, even though it began with a 20 min. walk/jog well before 7 am. I am terribly out of shape. I thought the walk/jog would turn my entire day into a wasteland of fatigue and crankiness, but that wasn't the case. I had more energy for the rest of the day, and since I got up so early, I had a lot of day.

Yesterday, I:

• had toaster waffles for breakfast with tea
• ate baked tater tots for Second Breakfast
• made seaweed salad and ate quite a bit of it
• ate some regular salad, too
• had a tofu dog on bread for lunch
• ate a bean and rice burrito
• dug into the chocolate and the ginger
• drank a lot of tea
• knit
• read Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie

*The spell checker tried to make "dpn" be "doping". Heh. That's one perspective.

**Am I cheap? Thrifty? Pragmatic? I like to think pragmatic. And the box is funny.

I see this circle bicycle everywhere lately. Well, everywhere I go, which isn't far, since I don't drive. All I can think is that they're selling rides on this around Fanueil Hall, because it's hard enough to get that many friends together for a drink, much a less a spin around the block in downtown Boston traffic on a bike.

Passion, Commitment, etc.

Sometimes I get a little depressed and frustrated, and it's almost invariably because I feel that I do not have a driving passion that creates something that is a concrete presence in my life. Perhaps that is a little vague.

If I took my craftiness and made marketable designs, I would feel they're a concrete effort. If I ever finished a painting (or a dozen), I would be happy with that, even if they never sold. If I could produce more than one comic 'zine. If the architecture profession still had the power to move me to make sacrifices. If I actually finished a manuscript or a short story. If, if, if.

What I do have going on is a manuscript that has been mutating for close to ten years, a job I could care less about that cost me a ton of debt (school), a whole slew of half-finished artwork, and propensity to cast on more than I can possibly knit. I have been pretty serious about the blog, yet... Well, I haven't spent much time on the formatting, etc., have I?

You can tell what kind of day I'm having, right?

I think this is about how I can't seem to make myself write on a consistent basis. Why can't I do this? My boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot is willing to bend over backwards for me to have the time. And I do have the time. But then I go and knit something or watch a DVD or some other evasive maneuver.

Part of me says this is because I am incapable of being committed to something for very long. My boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot has noted that I go in waves, getting obsessed with a project for weeks or months, and then suddenly lose interest. I ususally come back to it eventually, maybe a year later. Of course by then I can't remember exactly what I was thinking when I started it so I have to reconsider it all.

Another part of me says that if I truly felt passionate about something, if I really cared, it should be easy to stick with it. I suspect this is bullshit, but I can't be certain.

Knit 'n Sip

Today I:

• had a croissant for breakfast (not vegan?)
• am having a cup of green tea before Second Breakfast
• feel like winter is coming, not retreating

Last night was the North End Knit 'n Sip at the usual Irish Pub.

Lissy brought her new 1930's celluloid pig tape measure: And her general purpleness:
Photo I took of Wenders a moment after she took a photo of knitcake.
The pub was incredibly cold, so not only did I have knitcake's fleece pullover on my lap, but near the end of the evening everybody realized I was wearing a sock for a scarf (It's wool! It works! I wore it half the night!). They insisted I post a picture of it on my blog, so here you go:
Not the most flattering photo. I think I may need dental work. Oh, well.

Last night, I:

• had a veggie burger (50/50 chance bun & burger vegan) with fries
• drank two cranberry tonics
• made some plot notes

Beauty

Those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know that my interests are... varied. So you won't be surprised that I spent all afternoon yesterday being alternately fascinated and boggled by this woman. I don't know if she ever lived (Photoshop?), what her condition was called, or how she managed to stand upright, but she is the most beautiful and bizarre creature I have ever seen.

Badness

Today I:

• had a whole wheat bagel with fake cream cheese and nutritional yeast with a cup of white tea
• am having a terrible lunch

Since this new diet regime began I have been rather obsessed with eating things in their proper order - leftovers before frozen burritos, etc. Today I brought a pasta salad dish for lunch under the mistaken belief that it should be eaten up posthaste, lest it rot away in my refrigerator.

I was wrong. The pasta salad did need to be eaten. It needed to be tossed out. Not because it was going bad, because in my opinion, it was already bad. I had somehow forgotten that I've hated practically every pasta salad I have ever met. Even microwaving it did not help. *

So I am having a banana, 1/4 of a jicama root, a bag of Fritos and possibly, just possibly, the dark chocolate bar I bought for my Secret Pal yesterday that I found in my purse. Because it turns out it is vegan. And I am hungry, and very, very bad.

Here is some cuteness to offset my badness:

last night, I:

• made myself a seitan stir fry on a bun for dinner
• ate a salad with it
• drank a glass of merlot (whoops!)
• got really wild after that by watching The Cat and the Canary and...went to bed early
  

*Don't look at me like that. This office is really, really cold!

One Sock Down

Today I:

• had a whole wheat bagel with fake cream cheese and nutritional yeast for breakfast
• had a banana for Second Breakfast
• am eating microwave veggie chili (the cornbread has milk and yogurt, but I am hungry)
• am drinking Earl Grey

That's right, I ate the cornbread. This morning's banana was rather small, so I did not have the strength to resist the cornbread's alluring yellow fluffiness.

Knitting

Sunday night I finished my boyfriend/ partner/ whatnot's first sock and cast on for the second sock. (Something, mind you, which has nothing whatsoever to do with lapse in fiction posts lately. I always knit while I write, unless I'm crocheting.)

I have solved my left-leaning decrease dilemma by alternating decrease rows. I have learned that this is what "normal" people do when knitting socks, and it looks like there's a reason for it. I've learned my lesson. Until next time.

Yesterday, I:

• had a bagel with fake cream cheese and nutritional yeast for breakfast with a cup of white tea
• had a banana for Second Breakfast
• ate a vegan meatloaf microwave meal for lunch with a bag of Fritos
• had leftover veggie soup for dinner with a salad of spinach, heart of palms, mung bean sprouts, and shredded red cabbage
• ate a whole lot of chips with guacamole
• had a cup of raspberry sorbet
• watched If Only and Saving Face
  

Alcohol, Coffee, Cheese, Oh My!

I am still on the wagon with everything but potato chips. I won't tell you how many potato chips I ate this weekend (I lost count) but there were a lot.

I have hit a snag with the writing. In other words, I'm thinking too much. This is good and this is bad. We'll see what results it brings...

Better late than never, right?

Today I:

• was thwarted from blogging in a timely manner by Blogger once again
• had a whole wheat bagel with garlic hummus, broccoli sprouts, and nutritional yeast for breakfast with a cup of white tea
• had the below for lunch

All vegan, not all naturally green. Will have to have a salad at home tonight to compensate for the un-saladness of my seaweed salad.

Crazy Woman Project

I have just started crocheting a dress. After all, it's nearly summer.

Hey, at least it's ventilated!

Last night, I:

• made veggie soup with questionably vegan ziti in it
• ate some of it (okay, a lot of it)
• went home early from work out of boredom
  

Let the restrictions begin!

Today I:

• had a cup of darjeeling for breakfast
• am having cucumber/avocado sushi, salad without dressing, and apple juice for lunch
• am wondering if pickled ginger counts as raw food

Lunch is not very different today. I am not going to nit-pick about sugar (refined sugar is not vegan) so I'm going to call this sushi vegan. The salad definitely is.

So. Nearly half of this lunch is raw. Salad = raw, avocado and cucumber in sushi = raw. While neither of these are exactly fresh picked from the fields or organic, they certainly aren't baked salmon. The apple juice is pasteurized, so it's not raw, but I thought it would be a good addition.

I am placing an addendum on the Very Modified Food June rules: potato chips no more than once a week. Ouch, I know. But it's in my best interests. At least, that is what I am going to repeat to myself, over and over again.

Knitting

Imagine a photo of the Opal boyfriend sock, two inches shorter than previously. This is not the Second Sock. It is the First Sock. I was ribbing on the arch of the sole for a better fit, only to realize I was missing the arch. I am actually making relatively good time on this sock so I am not going to cry or tear at my hair about it. (Besides, I'm at work, and they already think I weird enough, what with my Very Modified Food June and my boyfriend that doesn't make more money than me.)

Last night, I:

• had a veggie panini (not vegan) and a soy hot chocolate (chocolate mix vegan? No idea.) at S'nB
• added a chocolate chip cookie to that (definitely not vegan)
• amused witnesses to my sugar overload
• did not throw up or pass out at home, as I half expected to