FAR Too Late In the Game To Do Much About It

My housemate used to be a business (that just sounds funny), so every once in a while he gets business junk mail. The latest was the STAPLES catalog. As there is absolutely nothing (literally) to look at downstairs as my tea brews, well, besides my baby bootie pattern (Tim has taken it all to Seattle already, you see), I started flipping pages.

I've already vowed to buy furniture when we get a place in Seattle. I mean it! Not just any ol' furniture, but like a desk(!) and a chair(!), maybe even a bookshelf(!!). They don't have to match, that's above and beyond my requirement at this point in time, but I do need something. So the STAPLES catalog had me scanning the furniture section.

That's when it hit me...connections to old and unused synapses are funny things. I used to work at a wonderful bookstore in Santa Cruz... Bookshop Santa Cruz, in fact. I began my stint there as a bookseller and loved it loved it loved it! It was almost as fun as being a librarian, but it involved a cash register, ick. The hours were iffy and not quite enough to make student loan payments, so when the opening in the accounting office came up, I jumped for it. I think it was one of the biggest mistakes in my life.(Even bigger than that whole marriage/divorce thing, really.)

Among all the negative was as positive. My Accounts Payable (AP lady for short) coworker. I loved her! No two ways about it. She was a single mom with two sweet boys and she was so nice!!! Then it all changed. I don't know if I did it, I didn't think so, at the time. I really should have taken all hints and done something about it right away, but I guess that's just it...it took 9 years for me, as I browsed through an office supply catalog, to even see the hints and the whole picture more clearly. (That whole "hindsight" thing.) It's truly sad when something small and stupid can lead to so much grief.

We were moving offices. The head of accounting (HA lady for short) was getting a new desk. I asked if it were possible to get her old desk as the one I was using was literally an old door on two 2-drawer file cabinets, as was that of the AP lady...but mine was delaminating and dreadful because I counted all of the money on my desk. After which a "cleaning ritual" that involved anti-bacterial stuff followed. It was something that had been going on for years before me. I wasn't allowed to even drink coffee during the counting as, unless the cup could be disinfected, HA lady would make me throw away the paper cup, with or without cherished mocha having been finished. Weirdness everywhere, this was Santa Cruz after all. Well, I wanted that old desk gone gone gone cuz, well, just how clean can you get something when all that porous wood is staring right at you? HA lady's old desk was metal and laminate, nothing exposed, really easy to clean. Logic said I should take it.

Office politics were new to me then, I was oh so young and innocent...23 years old? Yup, musta' been. My sweet coworker, AP lady, wanted that desk too. She felt she had "seniority" over me as she'd been there a while. She just about said so when I proposed the desk idea to HA lady. I'd not known before then that AP lady had any interest in the desk, after all her desk was fine! Mine was falling apart.

What I should have done? I should have asked for AP lady's desk instead.

What HA lady should have done? She should have given her desk to the AP lady.

Of course that's not what happened. I got HA's old desk and AP lady kept her old one. It was most logical as that would only involve one person emptying their desk to move to a new desk (not counting HA lady). What also happened was a ginormous amount of tension brewing in our new office. Almost immediately I was called in to meetings about behavior and how much static was in the office. Again, I had no clue. Sides had formed. AP lady got everyone on hers to get ready for the offensive. I didn't know there was one.

About this point in time a teaching job opened in Castroville for a 7th grade ESL teacher. I loved the bookstore, but hated my job at that point. I left, in the nick of time really...shortly there after AP lady left and HA lady was fired.

9 years ago...is this what's gonna happen the older I get? Memories coming to the surface that I can't change the outcome of? Lessons first taught or learned bubbling up to be noted and (HA) accounted for?

I have a bootie to finish, but it's much food for thought, at least for me.

Happy Sunday.

These Dreams Go On When I Close My Eyes...

(Insert deity and or expletive of choice here) I hate Heart. For one simple reason, my X overplayed them far too often, far too into the 90s and then the 00s. Give it a rest!

But my dreams seem oh so vivid when I'm fighting inner ear infections! Yes, I too am joining the masses who are (once again) not quite on their 2 feet. Yesterday, lying in bed I honestly felt like I was back on my sailboat, or my friend Ken's sailboat, as I kept feeling the bed tilt back and forth every so slightly, as my berth on the water had.

So if we go back in time here and back a few dozen posts, you'll know I'm not the most graceful of people to walk the earth. Yet because of my oceanic experiences, and having SURVIVED not one, but TWO very painful and non-sudafed aided ear infections (which led to the popping of one eardrum in the aftermath of Hurricane Kenna 87 miles north of where she hit) ON A SAILBOAT, dealing with one half-hearted infection on land is no biggie. I was able to deal with laundry and today I may just unpack!

Last night, however, my mind, doped up on Sudafed and in its "floating" bliss, had me dreaming of flying to Japan with my parents. I found myself staying on a boat/hotel/cruise ship(?) with my parents and on the phone convincing a US friend that yes, I think I'm qualified to teach ESL to Japanese students. Having been an ESL teacher in the US, I was having problems understanding why he doubted me...then I was on the big Island of Hawai'i, and in charge of three children who desperately needed to get to another island. So we hired a surfboard paddler, who'd tied a dinghy to his board and handed me a paddle to steer with, and we proceeded to leave the safety of the Hilo Bay and go out into open water...but we were too close to the shore and the pounding waves...and then I was on some floating platform...but it was really hard to breath (I think that's when the Sudafed was wearing off), and I woke up.

I usually don't remember my dreams very well unless I actively try, or I tell them out loud to someone else...right, cuz telling them silently to someone else is possible, huh? Did I mention I was ill? Yes, well.

Changing topics...So I see that the Knitting Olympics is gonna be a HUGE thing and it's so big and scary that I'm opting out. I was never much for team sports. I fenced in college; a foilist. So though I was a part of the UCSC Women's Foil Team...ummm, we were all pretty much alone and one-on-one when it came to actually participating in our sport...so I'll just sit back and watch, thanks.

I'll cheer you on, if well, you let me know who you are :)! Good luck everyone! I gotta go find more Sudafed.

P.S.: I've finally started adding pics to my gallery if anyone wants to look...nothing you haven't seen before really, but they're all in ONE PLACE now :).
P.P.S.: I'm also doing this...as I finally figured out how to make one...so I'm slow, what of it? You wanna make somethin' of it, yeah, I thought so...phew...Syblil, go to bed...

Home Again...

But instead of posting:

A Self-tagged meme: Crafty Weasel tagged everyone for this meme.

1. Four jobs you have had in your life:

Receptionist at a podiatry office
Hair Braider at the “Braids for Maids” booth at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire
“Cook” at an AM/PM mini-mart/gas station
Salesperson in a bookstore

2. Four movies you could watch over and over

“The Princess Bride”
“Labyrinth”
“Wallace & Gromit” shorts
“The Iron Giant”

3. Four places you have lived

Los Angeles, CA
Santa Cruz, CA
Hilo, HI
Kings Beach, CA

4. Four TV shows you love to watch

(I don’t own a TV, so these are things I watch once a year when I go a’visitin’ folks: )
Will & Grace (cuz the reruns are on after 11pm – i.e. once my niece & nephew get picked up)
The Simpsons (as my lil’ bro has them on DVD and my niece and I will watch them ALL)
Family Guy (only the once at Spencer’s house on DVD but my god I still love them)
Power Puff Girls—this was in Mexico, in Spanish no less, but they are super cute.

5. Four places you have been on vacation

Mexico (Guadalajara, Mexico City, Michoacan & pretty much the Western Coast of Mexico)
Hawai’i (Big Island, Oahu, Moloka’i)
Lake Tahoe (Kings Beach—before I moved here)
Yosemite (where I DIDN’T get to go up Half Dome thanks to my Hawai’i vacation wherein I busted my knee)

6. Four websites I visit daily

My blog
BBC
Neopets
Weather Underground

7. Four of my favourite foods

Indian
Sushi
Thai
Mexican (though I forget until I visit my mom’s house!)

8. Four places I would rather be right now

(This is hard as I got ‘Tagged’ while in LA but now I’m back home…)
Visiting with my mom (even if it means going down to LA)
Spending time with my XMIL in San Diego
The Big Island with another adopted mom
Hmmm all of the above are about 30 degrees warmer than where I am so I’ll just say…Australia as they’re having summer weather right now as well.

9. Four bloggers I am tagging

“Only four?? :-) Consider yourself tagged!” Crafty Weasel put it best, so I’m just cutting and pasting.

Why We Call Him Ricky

Hey everybody! (Hmmm, too much Simpsons? Possibility high.)

I'm still in LA la land. Basking in family bliss...and sticky door nobs, toys under foot, wet beds, no internet, 20 viewings of "Sibella (Cinderella), lots of packing...ahhhh, this is life....(to quote Parrapa the Rappa').

Seriously though, or at least closer to serious than before, I'm glad to be visiting my folks. It's nice to see them interacting with their grandchildren, but it's nice to know I leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow too.

I went over to Richard & Steve's house on Monday night for dinner. They live 6 miles from my mom's house. 11 minutes according to GMaps. I GOT SOOOOO LOST! I mean seriously I'm-gonna-cry lost. I had to get "talked in." Cell phones rock.

Now, I've said it before, and it's gonna happen again and again, I do tend to lose my way. I'm not a stranger to that. But Monday night I could not find my way to Elysian Park, which was not and unknown place to me. I just had to get around Dodger Stadium and I'd be fine! I had NO CLUE. I have been away from this place for so long that I could not tell you how to get there. 14 years; they lie heavy on me. It was a fantabulous dinner though. You guys are rad cooks! The cocktail to calm my nerves was just the ticket too.

So back to the title of this post, cuz I've been thinking about it a lot. Richard is a "Hollywood friend." I.e. he works on the little screen and writes a whole lot. Did stuff with movies and is currently writing for a new "Latin" soap opera to appear on American network TV! (I'm bad at explaining, read his blog.) So "Richard," in hollywierd, adopted "Rick" as his moniker. I don't call him Rick. I tried, hard, it doesn't happen. Probably cuz I like the name Richard. But he wanted to know why his house keeper and most of the non-native English speakers around him call him "Ricky."

I don't think it's a throw back to Ricky Ricardo or anything. I've been giving some thought to it and it's gonna break down into three different aspects of Mexicans and their speaking and naming of people.

So part the first, Nicknames: In Mexico everyone has a "sobre nombre," an "over name." It's what people call you that may or may not match your given name or your personality. Hairy men might be called "pelon" (baldy), while fat ones might be called "flaco" (skinny), depending on when and where and by whom they were given their nickname, but nickname you will have. I'm "Nena," which is far easier to pronounce in Spanish than the American name my mother gave me. (No, she wasn't dissing her heritage, she was naming me after one of her favorite nuns.) Richard is a hard one. You end up with Rishard. And I wonder why as there is a "ch" sound in the Spanish language...but when I asked my mom to pronounce Richard's name she tried very hard to soften that "ch" and it came out as that "sh" that people say messican's can't pronounce.

That's where part 2 comes in: I thought about (serendipity here people) the fact that I'd just told Richard and Steve about a little ESL teacher tidbit I'd picked up along the way: "aspiration" in pronouncing the English language. Americans blow out and make their sounds, if not clear, "hard" as they push out air through their mouths when speaking. Go ahead, put your had in front of your mouth and say "push." You'll feel the air with the "p" as well as a little with the "sh." When I first heard of this wonderful trick that gets rid of a whole lot of Mexican accent, I shared it with my mom, who does not like speaking in English because she thinks her accent is too thick. We practiced a little and she HATED it. You spit when you talk if you're speaking English correctly. And we do, my friends, we do, saliva everywhere...

EEeeuuww. Moving on, Spanish is not an aspirating language. It's very soft in relation to the hard hissing and moving of air that is English. So my mom will say "Richard" in a "soft ch way" that melds into an sh...no hard ch's in the middle of a word, that's harsh and might produce too much saliva!

And then there's the third bit: two syllable names. People aren't called Rick or Steve or Todd or Bob in Spanish. They're Kiko and Chato and Pedro and Marco. And I don't know why, I just come up with these theories, you guys can go off and prove them :). This of course blows up in my face when Steve chimes in that Lloyda doesn't call him Steve-y, but as he hasn't said anything yet, we can pretend I'm right for now, 'kay? 'Kay.

So, we combine all of these issues: sobre nombres and lack of aspiration, and we get things like Nena, Api, Chuy, Mari, Ricki (cuz you know it's really with an "i" if it's a Spanish sobre nombre). So Richard, if you're indeed a "halfrican american," your housekeeper and company are just pulling you deeper into the realm of fitting into your new culture. We may want to go from Ricki to something cool and tough, you know, to match the neighborhood. Once they give you a cool nickname, you'll know your in like Flynne (or whatever you white people say :).)

If I Did the Resolution Thing...

It'd probably have to involve something about not procrastinating.

However, as I gave resolutions up for Lent, I guess I'll just have to deal some other way.

I think I'm packed. I guess I'll wake up extra early...um, TODAY to see what I'm missing.

I only go to my folks' house about once a year, give or take a few months. I'm four months earlier than a year this time around. I'm only there for a week. It's amazing how much planning has to go into "what to take." As this is a kind of "fact-finding-mission" into seeing what I will be sending off to Washington and what will go into that guilt free storage I have at my parents' house.

Okay, no more dwelling...

We got another 2 feet of snow today. Walking through it to get to work was less than fun.

So, see ya'll in a week. My parents used to have dial-up, I honestly don't know what they have anymore as my mother only ever emailed me when I was in Mexico and humored me with keeping an email account while I was in Hawai'i. Now that we're in the same time zone I just don't know. So I might be able to post, might not. It's all an adventure.

Toodles.

No Knitting, Too Early

My mind is a curious place to delve into on a Tuesday morning after what feels like no sleep and just before caffeine. Soooo very many things zooming along in there.

So here’s a secret that I’m going to tell the blogging community that I was thinking about this morning:

So I leave for LA in, like, 2 days (had to add in the ‘like;’ after all, I am headed for SoCal!) Going to LA is not the secret, just the premise. So I started to think about my dad. Parents are weird, but that’s not the secret either, EVERYONE knows that. The secret is that I’m divorced. Huh? What are you talking about? Drink your caffeine and step away from the keyboard!

Right. SO more premise required. My dad (and my mom until her retirement) worked at the high school I attended in non-too-shabby West LA. They are/were part of the maintenance crew. That is to say, my mom cleaned toilets and my dad replaces light bulbs, as one of my not-too-delicate classmates described their jobs to me one day. I am the janitor’s daughter. I was the scholarship student. Some days these were hard titles to live down, but most days it just meant that I knew where the secret underground storage rooms were as I’d been learning its secrets since I was three years old, or so, and that my $100 blazer (part of the uniform) most likely came from the “Lost & Found.”

Well, after I was done and gone, my parents were still there, proud that I’d attended, proud that I’d gone off to UCSC, prouder still that I’d done the Stanford thing, proud that the janitor’s daughter was doing none-too-shabby herself. Little weirded out, but proud that I went off sailing for a few years, then ended up in Hawai’i of all places and bought a house and was teaching and living their American dream! Aaaah, they’d done something right!

Well, my mom has retired and so I don’t include her in this big “sin” of pride for me…but I think they’ve had a hard time with me being, oh, HUMAN. I don’t really see it as a sin, mind, just getting into their trains of thought. WELL, what’s that proverb I’m about to slaughter? “Pride cometh before the fall?” I’m not saying they set me up for failure, no, mostly because I don’t agree that I’ve failed. My father must feel it though, or maybe that he failed…cuz the secret? *No one at my hoity-toity-HS knows about my divorce and return to California. I’m not allowed to be anything but the aforementioned “success” of above…

*I’m too lazy to wait until the bottom of the post. I told one teacher this xmas as I’ve corresponded with her since my graduation. But I’ve asked her to keep it a secret too.

I’m a little weirded out that I have to keep it a secret to a place and people with whom I’ve had the longer than traditional 4-year relationship. I think I mentioned it earlier, I was THREE years old the first time I stepped foot onto that campus. Most of the teachers I bonded with have moved on…except for my asterisk’d one mentioned above, and maybe that’s what my dad’s hoping for…that all the people who “knew me when” will be gone before he has to mention that “D” word.

I can’t really blame him…he grew up in a town of what was about 700 people when he was younger. (Now closer to 5000.) EVERYONE KNOWS YOUR BUSINESS. Good or bad, the town will have an opinion about you. My old HS, that is my dad’s world. Those are the people he has to interact with on a daily basis. I can handle that kind of stuff…but I really think, even if he happens to forget to mention my X, he should let them know I’ve moved back to CA. Maybe once I settle down in WA I’ll have them send me the Newsletter (yes, this is the kind of school that sends alumni NEWSLETTERS) there. Then there’ll be questions and he could say, “My daughter has moved to Washington.” It’s amazing how much information that statement holds! To the uninformed it might mean the whole kit and caboodle, including the Irish Rose, have made the crossing to Canada and down the coast to Washington! I may have to insist.

Okay, must get ready for that “W” word…

Winter Wonderland, Take, um, 7?

Dare I mention it is snowing? On a day which, up until late last night after I'd gone to bed, obviously, "partly cloudy" had been predicted, high of maybe 40? HA we're looking at "Snow Showers" and 16 degrees my friends.

No pics, cuz, 'member, I'm not allowed the jinx the "pow pow" this brings unto Tahoe for my snowboarding housemates, but there is snow. Lots of it. I dug a pathway to the end of the driveway and around the 'rolla yesterday and must have moved a ton of snow. Well, figuratively speaking, of course. Were I to show you a picture of what it looks like this morning, you'd all say, "What path? I see no path, I see no cleared off end of the driveway. You get on out there and do it for real this time." That's snow for ya'.

I do have some pictures though. I think everyone does this eventually. I don't know why I didn't do it back in March...in Andy's cabin, he had some whoppers...oh yeah, I remember, I was recovering from a little bout of insanity. That's right, how could I forget? Anyhow, here are pics of the icicles forming outside of Andy's "office" (cubbyhole) window:

I tried my hardest to NOT get the telephone pole in the shot, but that sneaky thing got in the action anyway. Here's a corner shot of the "fat" icicle that will kill someone if it comes crashing down in one piece:
Nice huh? Safety first in everything...can the ends look any sharper? Whoever designed this place really shoulda' thought about the fact that ice and snow are regular visitors.

So that knitting thing:
-- No pictures of the scarf, looks the same, honest. Well, it's officially: (after de-scrunching, mind) 30.5". Maybe by next winter it'll reach the 70" I'm told a scarf should be...read as NOT EVEN HALF-WAY THERE.
-- Sock the first...it's been usurped! Funny, I had the camera out and everything but taking a picture of the cuff just didn't happen...subconscious stuff going on? Quien sabe. But working with sock yarn on itty bitty needles did something to me... so I pulled out what was supposed to be my first pair of socks pattern that I got from Debbie Bliss' Baby Knits for Beginners months and months ago...and knit my fastest creation yet:
Yes, my very first sock! I hope it looks nicer after blocking (cuz no, haven't yet). It's a 2 needle deal and I was almost done seaming the little monster (made from Debbie Bliss wool/cotton colour: 125504/grey) when I thought, "If I had to deal with such a HUGE seam down the middle of the back of my foot, I'd be one crying adult..." so I took it apart sometime around midnight and left the delicate, small as possible seaming job for this morning as I did my bimonthly "mom I'm still alive" telephone call. It's amazing how much seaming/sewing/knitting you can get done while on the telephone. Second only to listening to books on CD (as I don't have a tape player here.)

So now I have to decide if I'm going to make the second one. I'd rather figure out how to make these little booties on DPNs (did I just say that?). I don't want anyone to deal with the seam problem. But as they're baby sock/booties, maybe they're not meant to be actually STEPPED on, as it were. I'll have to think about it. I know it's almost less than useless to ask as people rarely comment on here, but has anyone else had the experience/knowledge with this pattern and little ones' feet? Do they care? I suppose I'll make #2 just to say I've done a pair of socks. Period.

Happy MLK day everyone.

Oops?

January 9-15th 2006

I had absolutely no clue. And now it's over...well, actually I have 14 hours if you count Sunday as the last day....you know, the day NO ONE (but me) is doing the blogging thing.

And it snowed, we're eye-balling it at 12 inches, yes 1 foot, of snow which I am about to go and dig out. It's my turn, you see, as my wonderful housemates did lots of digging while I was sick, and now, as Andy's sick and Tim's out of town, I'll try to do my part.

Happy Sunday!

Me: Part the Third

51. They tell me I’ll change my mind after knitting with the color for a bit, but my most often worn color is black. Though it’s not my “favorite” color.

52. I must be a closet Christmas-freak…my favorite colors are actually deep burgundy and hunter/forest green. Bring up the brightness and you have xmas…

53. It must have been 4th or 5th grade, I’m thinking of the style of pants I had on that day…my teacher lined me up with a slew of other girls from my class. It was “free dress” day at my little private Catholic school. (I think it was 4th simply because Mrs. Ruth didn’t seem the type to line you up for this). Ms. Gomez asked us all what our favorite color was. NO QUESTION. I was wearing purple pants, and a purple and black striped shirt that my mom had JUST bought me that weekend…

54. Remember “disc” cameras? The kind that had the film in a squarish-flat disk? And the negatives were on a spindle disk? Yeah, I can’t really tell what my friends from grammar school look like as most of the pictures I have come from that grainy little camera.

55. That is, of course, unless you took the picture really up close and personal. As you did of the guys you had the total big crushes on. Aaaahhhh, I still have it, somewhere in the mess that is my “picture box” at my mom’s house.

56. My mom’s house is the repository of all my crap that I’ve not elected to cart around with me. She keeps telling me it’s okay to have it there. Guilt-free storage.

57. I’m a Harry Potter geek as well. I’ve read all the books and seen all the movies.

58. I actually own two of each of the books, except for the last one, due to having my first set stored at my mom’s house and my intense need to read them for the 4th or 5th time.

59. I was in Mexico when the first Harry Potter movie came out. Of course I had to see it! It was dubbed in Spanish, as it was a kid’s movie. (If you already know this trivial fact, sorry to bore you but: kid movies are generally dubbed into the prevailing language of the kids, where as adult movies will have subtitles.)

60. I’m a “sabilotodo” that’s what Professor Snape accuses Hermione of being when she won’t stop raising her hand and trying to answer his questions.

61. I’m not really a know it all, but I do tend to sound like one (I think it’s the “teacher” voice I fall into when dictating information). So if I’m, like, wrong or off, I get pounced on a whole lot.

62. I’m terrified of storms. Well, loud ones. I really don’t like thunderstorms. That’s when I want to crawl into bed with the sheets over my head.

63. In Hilo (HI) it rained a whole lot, but we got very few thunderstorms. Sometimes it rained so hard while I was teaching, that I had to stop talking and wait for it to pass. It never took very long.

64. I don’t think the kids liked thunderstorms much either…well, they were middle schoolers though, and that meant that whatever drama they could cook up, they’d use to their advantage. Thunder and lightning racing across the sky was a good time for them to NOT want to learn English and scream like little kids, IF I’d let them :). I used to let them depending on how my day had gone. Stormy weather does not make good teaching weather.

65. Snow storms I can handle. They’re pretty quiet. It’s not until the snow starts flopping off the trees in big bits that it gets noisy. You don’t even realize it’s stormy out until you open the curtain. WEIRD.

66. I used to freak out during storms when I was living on my boat.

67. Did you know a mast is a great attractor of lightning bolts? I did. I would imagine the bolt hitting my mast and destroying every piece of electronic gear available. So I used to throw the GPS into the oven. I’d have thrown more in, but I had a tiny “easy-bake” sized oven on that boat.

68. When we were anchored near other boats, I used to scope out for a boat, any boat, with a taller mast than mine. If we were it, I’d get rashes if it started raining, cuz, well, we were the tallest thing around. This was rare as most people went cruising on 40’ boats with 45’+ masts. We were itty bitty at 32’ with a 34’ mast.

69. When I lived on the water I had many morbid thoughts about the way I’d end up dying. Most of them had to do with drowning in one way or another. Not the boat sinking, though, never, more often my falling off the boat and swallowing lots of water.

70. On the Big Island, living on land, changed my sick thoughts to dying by getting hit by a car while on my bicycle. I’m not all that morbid, honest, except that I did get into a couple really bad accidents on my bike. Neither of them was my fault, which made it worse.

71. Funny thing, haven’t had those thoughts recently.

72. I’ve been accused of “thinking too much” by my family.

73. Sometimes I wonder if I don’t have such a clear memory about my past because all the new thoughts have kinda squished them away. You know, like the new digital cameras will do to your pictures if you’re getting too close to filling up the memory chip.

74. Or maybe the memory problems stem from the bonks to the head from past accidents? I fell off my bicycle pretty hard when I was younger, you know, PRE-HELMET LAW for kids days? I was almost concussed (but still hit pretty hard) by the boom of my 26’ O’Day sailboat. My current housemate kept me from falling into the water that day. And how well do those bicycle helmets really protect you? I mean, how hard to you have to get hit to damage yourself, really?

75. So if you haven’t realized it by now, I’m not the most graceful of people out and about.

Random Thoughts

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

So, random thoughts today...mostly because I don't really have anything to blog about.

I did begin Saving Fish From Drowning, but something else snuck in last night...yes, I read it in a few hours: Lemony Snickett: The Unauthorized Autobiography. It's an "a-ha" book. No, not the publishers, but it gives you some good grounding for understanding a lot of underlying plot. I hear there's another NON-Snickett written book that tries to answer questions and gives plot spoilers and such. Now that I'm all caught up with the series, I might take a look.

So I'm off to LA...umm, in 6 days. My cousin invited me to her sister-in-law's baby shower. I normally don't share too much info about my family (me, oh yeah, hi, that's what this blog is about), but I generally try to respect other peoples' privacy. But this, I had to share. So this SIL is her only SIL. My aunt and uncle had 5 kids, 4 of them girls. So the ONE boy in the family got hitched and they're now expecting...the very first female grandchild of a currently male dominated grandchild collection. So I told my housemates, "The only boy in the family is going to have the only girl!" I should really say FIRST girl. I'm not into jinxing anyone, and I don't know how many kids they're planning on having, so, you know, it being Friday the 13th I don't want to, you know, whatever.

Some trivial information for ya:
In Mexico, it's Tuesday the 12th people have the itchy icky scary feelings about...but I don't know why... and I never did ask...silly me.

I've been knitting away...I have about 4" of sock and going on 23" of scarf. No pics, that would involve camera and set up and being disappointed with the lighting and etc., so use your imagination and I'll try to get something done later, promise.

Work calls...

It's Who I am on the Inside That Counts...

Right?

But I'm not all that sad about what the My Heritage Beta Face Recognition Program said about my outside :). I jotted down my favorites:

66% Andie MacDowell

56% Mira Sorvino

51% Young Audrey Hepburn

41% Christina Ricci

What do these ladies have in common? Probably the smile and the chubby cheeks, cuz lord knows I don't come at all near looking like them like really, but remotely, yeah, that's me all right! SUUUUUURE.

Thanks Deceptively Packaged! Now I just gotta get a body to match, hmmm, weeeelll, yeah, read any good books lately? (Yes, lightning speed subject change.)

So I just finished The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket (Book 12 of The Series of Unfortunate Events Series). I've said it before, it's nice to be able to read a novel in no-time flat. This series is fun, if not terribly depressing because you know these poor kids aren't having much fun, ever. There's only one more to wait for. Funny that it ends at about the same time the HP books will...well, that is, if there's a book in the coming year or two. Snicket is a more prolific writer than Rowling. Then again, he had three of his books turn into one movie...you just don't know anymore.

I'll be tucking into Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan next...that should take me forever to read.

So, over at Snitty, she confessed to her yarn stash total being over 300 balls/skeins of yarn, wow. I had to go out and buy some yarn just so I could say I own more than a dozen, you know, just to keep up! Does it count if the yarn is already a part of a project, I wonder? Cuz if not...eep, they might throw me out of the knitting club, as that would bring me down to, um, about, well, less than 9 balls/skeins of yarn tucked away for a rainy day.

Here's a hint for everyone, married or not, who owns anything WITH someone else. Make a copy of everything the day you get it. Even if you don't think you'll ever need it. Keep that copy ready, you know, just in case. That way if say, you do divorce or break up, or hey, just live in separate states and need the info to file your taxes, you don't have to try to contact anyone who maybe doesn't want to hear from you, or has changed his email, or just isn't responding to your email requesting for a copy of the original escrow number cuz, you know, you can bite him/her/whatever. Cuz yeah, silly you, leaving them all the original documents in case they needed them. Jokes on me, I mean you, or whoever. Fun.

Tuesday Already?

One less thing to pack?

So Panta? She’s too big for my head! I’d swatched and washed and the whole nine yards! I guess my knitting is like my doily-making…I end up gifting all I make…maybe that’s why my vertically challenged scarf is still not finished? I mean, well, I made that little beanie and I tried it on and I said, um, no, this would best suit someone else…and all the hats and scarves of old…and now Panta...

I meant for it to stay with me, measured it with me in mind even, but I gave it to my coworker instead. No, not the one who leant me her needles, but Kay, whom I work with at the KB branch. She gave me a knitting book not too long ago and had asked if I’d make her a hat. What with my moving and all, it’s been put on the back burner for now (i.e. we still haven’t decided the pattern, much less the yarn!), so the headband is a good temporary fix, I think. It looks cute on her and I’ve asked if she’ll pose for a picture so that I can have something other than the metal mixing bowl version. Maybe I can steal, I mean, BORROW Andy’s higher mega-pixel digi.

“Brokeback Mountain”

WOW! Kay and I almost didn’t make it. We’re both REALLY VERY GOOD at getting lost; especially if we happen to be in RENO or SPARKS, Nevada. We planned on the 4:15pm showing. We finally figured out three rights do indeed make a left at about 4:30pm, but were still nowhere near the theater, so we purchased tickets for the 7:15pm and went off to find Target. You’d think we’d know better than to drive away from our destination after the adventure in navigation that we’d just endured, ri-i-i-i-ght.

After almost ending up in Carson City (about 20 miles SOUTH of Reno), and advice from Kay’s good friend who LIVES in the area, we finally found Target. We had just enough time to jet in, jet out, and then catch the movie…except Kay wanted to go into Linens & Things, and then she wanted a snack, and then I couldn’t remember what street to get off on…Hoo boy.

We made it to our seats, popcorn in hand just as the “Feature Presentation” signal flashed across the screen. A-maz-ing!

As was the movie. Only one little bit I’m totally confused by and will have to start digging around and/or asking others who’ve seen it. Maybe you were confused too? It’s the “flashback/dream/vision” that happens when the quiet one is on the payphone? Anyhow, wow, I really liked it.

And before I forget, cuz I should be sleeping now as I have a LOOOOOOONG work-day ahead of me, ha, later today:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHIL!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNY!!!

100 Things, Part Deux

Categories are great aren’t they?

Sailing:

26. I learned to sail when I was 23 years old.

27. One of my current housemates was in the same class (we knew one another before then.)

28. My first sailboat was a 26’ O’Day Daysailer.

29. Due to dissatisfaction with our landlady (also known as our slum lordette), my then husband and I moved onto said boat. Yes, very cramped living.

30. It took us no time at all (one blistery freezing winter in Santa Cruz, CA) to decide we wanted a bigger, more insulated, and sea-worthy boat. So we shopped around until we found “The Irish Rose.”

Odd things about me:

31. I have a “medallion,” well, it’s a box but what would you call it? A charm? Yea, a charm, which I was told has the old Irish pattern of an Irish Rose on it. I got it when I was 18, six years before buying a boat with the same name.

32. I bought the charm and many other wonderful and probably frivolous, as well as overpriced things while I worked at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Southern California one spring.

33. My best friend from high school and I felt it was the best thing to do at the time. And it was, really.

34. I worked at the braiding booth and she worked down the lane at the juggling booth. We had two very different experiences.

35. I was told I had a soft touch, so I braided little girls’ hair all day in intricate patterns and decorated them with dried flowers and they gave me tips of fifty-cent pieces and/or shared their candy with me; my best friend had to teach drunk men how to juggle and keep them from getting too close to her.

36. We met a number of interesting people with whom I’ll bet she might still keep in touch with. I didn’t, except for one, and we stopped speaking recently, my X husband.

37. When I first met him it was at the costume check for the faire. He was in front of us and overheard us wondering what in the world I could get a job doing…he turned around and asked if I knew how to braid hair. My first 30-second impression of him was that he was as gay as the day was long, so it was safe for us to follow him to his “friend’s” booth. His friend was indeed his, a beer-brewer of the name of Pamela.

38. It took me a while to believe he wasn’t gay. I think his trying to get into the pants of my best friend was the final proof. She’d have nothing to do with him. Maybe I shoulda' taken the hint?

39. 12 years later we’re no longer on speaking terms; but it was an interesting experience to say the least.

40. I did get to experience over 6,000 nautical miles worth of sailing, coastal Mexico, a “crossing” and what it is to live and work on the Big Island of Hawai’i. As well as meet some super cool people, cruisers and non. So it definitely wasn’t all bad. I’d have to say the last year was horrendous, and one of 7 years of being married, well, it’ll all average out in the end, right?

41. I still own my very first car, a ’66 Mustang. It lives in my mom's carport in LA.

42. This is my favorite number. I’m a Douglas Adams geek, what can I say.

The Idiosyncrasies of being Mexican in the US:

43. What I was going to say before interrupting myself is, my father hates my 1st car. He does. I think it’s because I bought it without “asking permission.” I’m far too American. I earned the money, I was 18, I thought, “Hey, I can do what I want with my money!” Right? Ha ha ha ha.

44. I was raised in the US by Mexican parents. Sometimes I’m so old-fashioned it hurts, sometimes I’m so “modern” my parents want to disown me. I think it’s messed me up big time.

45. English is my second language, but I don’t really remember learning it. I’m an absolute whiz at mimicking speech patterns and neutralizing accents, so you really have to listen hard to hear my accent. Cuz you know, Latinos, we’re the only people born in the US that have ‘em. :)

46. I was never allowed to sleep over at anyone’s house unless they were related to me. This changed rather abruptly and the perfect time…I think I was 15 or 16? Maybe it’s because I was going to an all-girls HS on the “nice” side of town and the girls were well known to my parents, WHO WORKED AT THE SAME SCHOOL where I attended. We don’t talk about trusting me though, that would be hilariously sad.

47. My father was opposed to my going to my Junior Prom unless I was home by midnight OR my brother went with me. Not as my date, happily, but he had to be there to, um, chaperone me, I guess. He’s 18 months older than I am; I think I’ve mentioned this? My best friend volunteered to be his date so I could go.

48. My Senior Prom involved an argument where I was called a “whore,” in Spanish, so that it was really bad. My brother actually came to my rescue with a line than could have ruined my future if it’d gone the wrong way, “You’re letting her go to college by herself all the way in Santa Cruz, but you don’t trust her to go to her own Senior Prom?”

49. I did go to my prom, sans older brother. I did go to UC Santa Cruz and got my BA, I went on to Stanford for an MA, and I have not lived full-time at home since I went off to college, 14 years ago now. Let’s just say I’m the black ewe in the family.

50. I woke up on New Years Day this year with the awful realization that it’s been 10 years since I graduated from UCSC…eep.

URGH!

Don't blog when medicated...that should be a rule.
I just erased most of my "non-template" settings when I FINALLY fixed the silly problem of not having the stripey footer at the bottom of the page (somehow it got itself stuck in the sidebar...) SOOOOOO....If this page looks a bit odd/off/WTF, that's the problemito....to repeat URGH!

Seattle Update, an FO, and Gknitting Gnews

So you're on the edge of your seats, right? Wondering where on HWY 5 are Tim and Andy?

I just got an email. 40 some-odd minutes ago they were sitting in front of the garage of Tim's new apartment complex. The place was not yet open for taking new renters in, so they did the only thing these two could think of: use the Mac Store's wireless to contact me and let me know they and the rented Penske Truck were a-okay. Exhausted, but in one piece.

MY FO (Finished Object)!

Panta Headband (Panta = Finnish for Headband, so this is a Headband Headband...)
So I used Cascade 220, but I've lost the little tag so I don't know the color...and I know the yarn calls for US 7 or 8 needles, but I used "almost" 5s. Well, I began with Brittany US5s and then switched to these metal ones I got from that co-worker I mentioned before? I thought the yarn color would be better at NOT DYING MY OVERPRICED WOODEN NEEDLES RED! Which is a big bummer. I need to see if I can somehow turn my Brittanys back to their original shade.

Right, so sorry, no self-portrait. This metal mixing bowl is my friend. It's helped me block my hats with the ease that only a metal mixing bowl can provide. Besides, the last time I took a picture of myself and sent it off, not only was it all fuzzy (thank you fisher-price camera) but the comment I got back was, "WOW, you look like Dad!" As I'm not really in the mood to look like a 60-year-old MAN this morning, I've opted for a mixing bowl model. Besides, it needs to get blocked anyway.

Gknitting Gnews...
I was going to start on a hat for a little one, as I've not heard anything from mom in Wisconsin regarding wool allergies, but then I thought to myself, "Self, you're sick. Would you want someone to make you something, something they keep touching and being around, something they're doing while coughing and with need to blow their noses far too often...i.e. while they were sick?" Right. So, I pulled out my Knit Socks! instead, and am gonna attempt my first sock. Yes, you read that correctly, I'm already not following instructions, I'm only going to do one sock at a time. I'll probably come to regret it, but um, it's a needle problem again. I don't have the requisite number of needles to have two socks going at the same time, as the author recommends. I will survive, I'm sure. Pray tell which sockie? (I LOVE thumbing through this book, you grab the "toes" and flip...fun! Sorry, I did say I was ill, yes? In many ways.) I'ma gonna try out "Classy Slip Up" Page 104. Go for the gold, eh?

Happy Saturday.

Copping out yet again...

Where did that phrase come from "copping out?" Am I using it incorrectly...hmmm, weird sound from next door, I do believe the neighbors just closed the garage door a bit too close to their vehicle...sounded like a bumper scrape.

And here I thought I'd have nothing to share tonight.

But I don't, not really, unless you want me to cough on you. No, not like the creepy "old man" coughing story Crazy Aunt Purl told. More like, I am so ready to be over and done with all the sickness I've been attracting of late. This is what happens when you have allergies and the propensity to pick up colds. Or is it chicken and egg time again? I get colds because of my propensity to get allergic reactions? Whatever. I'm almost done with the sinus bit, but now I've got that "cat hair in the throat" feeling? Yeah, fun stuff here.

I'm all down with NyQuil and an early night.

Tim and Andy should be past the 1/2-way mark on the road to Seattle. They last checked in with mother, I mean me, about 6 hours ago. They'd just passed Redding, but were worried about the weather in the upcoming passes. Yes, these boys so know how to ease my paranoid, ultra-worried self. So thinking happy thoughts toward HWY 5.

I finished the Panta Brazilian Headband! I was going to try to take pictures but it is so not worth it this late in the evening. I will try my hardest to remember to pull out the camera when there is more light.

Happy Noche Buena by the way...I got so stuck with being sick that I missed it all...the nice thing about the holidays? You can always try again next year.

100 Things about me Part I

So…when you can’t think of much to say, it’s great to rely on these old memes and the fact that you’re still weirded out about how much more you’re willing to share with complete strangers or as “She Just Walks Around With It”, Kristy, calls us: ”the Collective Lot of Invisible Internet Friends, or, you know, ‘Cliif.’”

So Cliif, here’s random stuff I’ll share with the world:

Starting with Things About me:

1. I was born on the 12th of March, and have very good friends born the 11th, 13th, and 15th of March, but I have yet to find a March 14th baby and/or friend of said date. Seriously, I was a classroom teacher for FOUR years and have issued library cards for a grand total of almost 5, and no such luck. Ask around, I’m always curious about peoples’ dates of birth! It’s not because I’m into Astrology, nope, just looking for a “full house” or is it called a “flush?”

2. Card games are not my strong suit. When I was much younger, my dad tried to teach my older brother and I Poker, and I never liked it. I think it was the gambling aspect. I don’t gamble. But I love to play for points, like in Rummy or Scrabble.

3. I was an English Major in College and hold a California Teaching Credential in English and ESL, as well as a Hawai’i Teaching License to teach English, and Scrabble is one of my favorite games, but I can’t spell. I used to tell my students that being a good speller was overrated. (Yet, poor things, I still gave spelling tests.)

4. It’s not that I don’t know what letters should be in the words…but I kinda mix them up every once in a while. Spell-checkers are wonderful inventions. I was told in college that it’s part of my dyslexia.

5. I also can’t tell my right from my left. I wear a bracelet on my left wrist to remind myself. Directions like “east” and “west” or “port” and “starboard”… any directions really, have to go through my brain and get figured out. So telling me to turn RIGHT! HERE! NOW! Bad.

6. Does it surprise you to know I get lost easily? I make it a part of every trip to get lost. I even add about 45 minutes for every 3 hours of a trip to account for wrong turns. It’s part of the adventure.

7. While sailing around the Sacramento River Delta area, I was navigator. Yes, we got lost a whole lot. Even if I'd known my right from my left though, our charts were SO OLD that it became obvious that RIVERS CHANGE in 20 years' time!

8. I’m 100% Mexican, but you wouldn’t know it if you saw me. Most people swear I’m Irish. I guess it’s the brown going on copper curls, pale skin (I glow in the dark), hazel eyes, and proneness to freckles; my mom assures me I came from her, and the postman did not ring twice.

9. I’m 18 years older than my youngest brother, and 18 months younger than my oldest brother. There are only three of us.

10. My mother informed me, after the divorce finalized (March '05), that I married “too young” (23). But now that I’m almost 32 she’s wondering if I’ll ever remarry before I get “too old.”

Some crafty stuff:

11. I learned to crochet when I was about seven or eight. My aunt, my mom’s only full-sister, taught me. When I was nine, I went off to my dad’s hometown in Michoacan, Mexico, and my aunts and cousins there completed my training. I’ve given up most single-needle endeavors except for doilies. I have an unnatural fondness for making doilies. I don’t own any, mind, they all find homes elsewhere…but I have this scary picture/notion/daydream of me, like 80 yrs old, fumbling around my doily covered living room…and I shudder.

12. I first picked up the 2 sticks when I was 12 and a cousin (daughter of one of my mom’s half brothers) was living with us. She implored my crocheting aunt to teach her to knit (because that aunt, she’s crafty to the nth degree. I’d call her the “Mexican Martha,” but she’s also a nun and we respect nuns, or we get our knuckles smashed by their rulers). So of course the annoying little 12-yr-old me so wanted to learn too! She didn’t teach me to cast-on or cast-off, but she taught me to knit and purl. It was SOOOOOOOOO boring that I went back to crocheting my Barbie clothes and blankets with my ghetto yarn in all the fun colors.

13. I didn’t pick up the sticks again until 14 years later when I was in a pinch as to what to give a fellow teacher for a secret-santa xmas present. I had The Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to Needlework, and my cousin’s old needles (she didn’t make it past purling & knitting either). I made the scarf on page 285 using a yummy wool/mohair combo. That yarn ruined me…but I made so many scarves I burned out I think…

14. Small NON-scarf projects are best for me. I finish them. Example one: “Vertically Challenged Basketweave Scarf.” Yes, still unfinished by my bed. Example two: Stripey hat! Done in about 2.5 days! Panta Head-thingy, only a few rows to go!

15. I’ll still crochet with “ghetto yarn,” especially if in Mexico with my aunts and cousins. It’s kinda hard to get anything fancy in little ranch towns. I edit that to note: it's hard to get anything non-acrylic even in the cities NEXT to the ranch towns.

16. I don’t really have a “stash” of yarn worth noting. I think it’s the money issue; as I don’t make much, I can’t really spend it, much less spend it on yarn. I think it would shock most knitters to know exactly how much (little) yarn I keep around.

‘Bout my job(s):

17. I love working at the library. Due to that aforementioned “not making much” I order books from other libraries that everyone is talking about to peruse while at work.

18. I’m the first to tell people that I’m not a librarian, “I just play one on TV.” I'm a Library Page and proud of it! Mostly cuz that means I don't have to answer the really hard research questions :P.

19. I loved being a classroom teacher, and I hope to be again some day, but I really really really could not stand to be called “Miss” by my students in Hawai’i. I’d usually retort, “Do I look like a waitress? I call you by your name, use mine.”

20. My worst teaching moment EVER was being a 22-year-old student teacher and having to tell my 6’ 3”-18-year-old ESL-football player he was not going to graduate if he did not pass my final exam. I thought my life was pretty much over, as in “this guy can crush me.” Instead he started crying. (He did pass, just barely.)

21. One of the reasons I am not teaching right now is that there is a bitter taste in my mouth about it due to my divorce. It was one of the many reasons my X stated we could no longer be together. Something along the lines of my liking teaching more than him. How do you apologize for liking your job? For choosing a career you love? (Edited to note: I mean choosing a career you love, period. I didn't choose it over him, otherwise, um, well, wouldn't I still be teaching right now??? Instead I took a little "crazy break."

22. I hope to teach again. I obviously do it for the money and great bennies. Or maybe it’s just the power trip…yeah, I so love having 160 kids at my beckon call cuz teenagers are just SOOOOOO easy to get along with. (And if you believe a word of this, there’s a bridge I’d like to show you, it’s for sale, cheap.)

23. I did not own a car in Hawai’i. I used to bike to and from school every day, even when it rained (this was Hilo, it rained. All. The. Time.)…unless my hanai mom would call and tell me she could come pick me up.

24. When I got my Raleigh green and silver hybrid bicycle (hybrid = street bike with fatter tires, not electric) all my boys “like try it, Miss, paleeeeeese.” Only if they got A+s and remembered to call me by name…unfortunately that made it nigh impossible.

25. I love reading kids books. I’m on #12 of the A Series of Unfortunate Events. Just like I knit slower than molasses, my reading isn’t gonna break any records. So reading a 200 pg kids book in a couple hours really lifts the spirit at times.

***

Phew, that’s a whole bunch about me that’s none too exciting. I hope you made it through this entry without nodding off. Andy and Tim leave for Seattle tomorrow! Tim and I went to pick up his Penske rental truck and it is filled and waiting for sunrise. Andy’s gonna do some neighborhood recon for our next stage in the plan…where to look for housing.

LOOOOONG day, lights out.

Progress & News...

Panta Progress:
I KNIT SO SLOWLY IT HURTS!
But I'm happy to report that I'm on section 8 of 9 of the headband. Wanna see? I'd like this to come out nice and pretty but we're working with my fisher-price camera. Maybe someday I'll get a second-hand/kickdown from my more technologically advanced friends...or get a real job so I can buy these toys with no remorse. But here it is, in all it's fuzzy and poorly-lit glory:Right, so remember this is that...and yeah, it's not red red, more like a dark merlot/burgundy and black combo. Red red is the yarn I received from Birdsong.

But here's a closeup of my wondrous and magical increases and decreases:It's a better color approximation. Winter does not give the best indoor lighting pictures, that's for certain.

In other news:
It looks like I'll have to change both my header and profile soon...well, soon in Tahoe time can stretch out to a few weeks/months.

A move is in the works. Many of the more technology challenged, but phone enabled already know, as well as those whose xmas cards I wrote (and I'm still writing...) after the plan sprouted from our twisted imaginings at chez Wackylandia. Looking to move to Seattle.

I need to kickstart my life and as beautiful and fun as Tahoe is...I can't find a REAL (read as full-time, good pay AND bennies) job, I can't afford to buy a house here, and it really is time to move on. I'm not alone in this, I've met really neat people here, all on their way out. They were here for a season or a decade but now want to have only ONE job, and a stable one at that, don't want to work at Safeway or RiteAid, and shock, shock, would like to buy something instead of making their landlords even richer!

So I'm joining that exodus. Many move out of here and go to Nevada or the SF Bay area. I figure a move is a move. Whether it's around the corner or across the country, same difference. Pack up and go. It's lots less daunting since I packed up and went from Hawai'i. That was a move. Seattle is about 900 miles +/- from here; 15-20 hrs of driving, eep. And pretty much straight into the unknown again. Tim is the RECON of our trio. He went, he saw, he got an apartment. He leaves in like TWO days. Andy and I will follow. Tim's all about living near the university, I'm all about living NEAR enough to Seattle to have it on my address, but maybe IN a suburb. I grew up in LA la land...10 min. east of downtown LA. Andy's never lived in a city, period. An adventure to be had by all.

So that's the gnus with tactless gnu...

Lights, Camera...um no action

So lights...
There weren't any, all day. Power out all over KB and who knows how many surrounding areas. Tim got bored at about Tahoe Vista and came back, his search for an open coffee house completely thwarted. And we got to find out lots of things about this wonderful townhome we're currently renting...

When there's no power:
1) No showers. No hot showers that is. "On-Demand" water heater uses 'lectricity.
2) No heat! Woo hoo...did I mention it was snowing outside?
3) You can indeed override the electric solenoid on the fake fireplace and make that go.
4) The pizo ELECTRIC starter for the gas range? Right, that's what lighters are for.
5) No oven, no override either. It's ELECTRIC push-button technology.

Happily power was restored! All was much better at about 2:30 PM. Otherwise I'd not be posting right now but trying to find out how I could light a fire in the house without killing everyone and every thing...or burning down the house.

Camera...
I'm supposed to have like pictures showing progress of items...but my camera isn't cooperating, so picture it if you will, the same red/black yarn I used to accent the little hat of a few posts ago, being used for the Panta Headband. I'm on Section 5 (of 9). I'm okay with increasing stitches. I probably should be using thinner yarn, but I don't really do the "stash" thing very well...It's a money thing, I don't have it, therefore I can't really spend it now can I? Although I did come out in the black this month! $36! Woot woot!

So, short post cuz it's later than I need it to be...and I'd kinda like to finish and USE the Panta tomorrow if possible. I went out to shovel snow and my ears wanted to fall off. I'd use a hat, but, well, I overheat. This is what attracted me to a headband made of 100% wool...we'll see...maybe pictures tomorrow, but no promises.

January 1st 2006

What is it about the new year that makes people stop and think and wonder about their lives and, "how I'm gonna do x, y, or z" differently/new/for the first time/never again???

I kinda wake up and do that throughout the year. Especially after far too much wine :). I guess I'm kinda weird that way, or maybe it stems from all those years in academia? I mean, well, the school year starts in August/Sept and ends in May/June. I think whoever thought up school years musta thought that the holiday break in the middle would be smashingly good; after all, if a kid gave you a crappy present, you had another whole 5-6 months to torture them for it...tee hee, or maybe that's just what I would do...

Moving on...I'm sitting on the friendly side of the window today, viewing the snowfall. Winter's finally started to make her complete appearance in the Lake Tahoe area. I'm afraid to take a picture, though. It seems every time I do, the snow STOPS and MELTS...so live with my description as I'm watching (don'tcha just love touch-typers) the flakes are falling in a heavy diagonal pattern, from right to left...and the wind comes in these moderate intervals to whip it around; it almost looks like a mini-blizzard.

Notice I'm not complaining about the amount, yet. It's New Year's Day and I don't have to go anywhere or do anything until January 3rd, which is AFTER they reopen HWYs 80 & 89 (I hope--closed due to MUDSLIDES) and maybe I'll only have an hour's worth of commute time to the library 9 miles away from me. Yes, you read that correctly, 9 miles an hour...

Xmas week I was stuck in traffic for 1.5 hours, trying to get to work as everyone else was trying to get to Alpine Meadows...fun on a stick. Yesterday I had to desperately get to Truckee to mail off a job application (more on that later). In the tri-county area, Truckee is the only PO that has window service on Saturdays. It had just started to snow as Andy started the car... At this point I must remind myself to remind Andy that the NEXT time his gut tells him "let's not do this," and I say something like, "we don't have to go," that he should listen to both me and his gut.

Right, so, little Corolla had his (yeah, it's a he) studded snow tires on and we made it over Brockway Summit just before Chain control. Truckee was a mess! It took a couple unlit intersections and a train that was not moving for me to wonder why what was going on. Then I noticed the river...wow, I should write RIVER, and was mad I didn't have my little Fisher-Price camera. There were patches of broken banks and no electricity. And I know, I know, I really should know better than to trust the "neither rain nor sleet nor dead of night" or whatever Postal phrase I grew up with (just like "you can always trust police officers"...gosh, I loved Norman Rockwell, didn't you?), I thought to myself, well, at the library we're supposed to stay open even when the lights go out, and if we do, then the post office will too, right? HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!

So, we drove through really bad weather for naught. There was a little post it note with "sorry, no lights" and a HAPPY FACE on the floor of the postal office doors. Someone else had already torn it off the doors and stepped on it before I had a chance to.

And then, we were stuck. No, not in snow, no, not in flood-waters (though I thought we might have been when we drove into a Shell station to put the chains on the car. We drove through all this water and I thought, 'gosh, it sure did rain a lot' (yeah, I say gosh in my head, what of it?). Then I saw the river, RIGHT NEXT TO THE STATION, lapping over the edge of the bank, towards us...fun.) So, um, yeah, chains on tires we decided we'd try 89 S to Tahoe City, closed. 80 E was as well (to Reno), so back to 267 S to Kings Beach, um, closed, accident. STUCK. We did what any "local" would do, we went grocery shopping! We were not even afraid of buying items in need of refrigeration as it was a whole 30 degrees out.

I mean, they HAD to open 267, eventually, it was the ONLY ROAD we could take, anywhere! They did, we got home, I collapsed, and we had groceries and wine to help us get through another new year's eve.

I fell asleep a couple times but DID make it to midnight. And there were bursts and bangs. I think a few were actually shot guns! (Yee Haw!) Richard wrote saying there were only fireworks in Echo Park, I'm so glad. I remember being 11 years old, 5.5 miles away from his new house in my mom's 'hood, and my oh-so-not-even-close-to-being-sober-dad making me (picture his hand over mine pulling the trigger and crushing my index finger) fire his .38 into the sky...I hated New Year's Eve. Thank God for relatives in little towns in Mexico where that noise doesn't happen.

Okay, gonna go enjoy the blizzard, I mean snowfall, cuz you all in the like more eastern parts of the country get REAL snow and REAL cold weather, I know.

Cheers!