Taking My Mind Off it all With a Challenge

I'm so cutting and pasting this one cuz well, I felt like it:

Can you measure the speed of a meme?

Somebody out there is trying.

Scott Eric Kauffman is a grad student working on a project for presentation at an MLA panel, and he needs YOUR help. I've read about this on at least a dozen knitblogs today, and find it fascinating. I am intrigued by the fact that we knitbloggers stymie those who study blogging...let's all participate and blow them away! Plus, you know you wanna help a poor, downtrodden grad student.

All you have to do is:

1. Create a post with a link to the project.

2. Ask your blog readers to participate, please everyone, participate.

3. Ping Technocrati

Stolen from Not Scarlett. As I am such a guilt trip sufferer, I'm about to go let her know I stole her post.

Going About this Whole Life Thing...

BACKWARDS.

I think I've spoken about the whole "changing careers" thing already, right? I'm too agitated to look. Let's just pretend I've linked to something and nod in agreement.

I had a short conversation with the head of HR for the library job I applied to. You know, the one where I bombed the interview far worse than even I feared? Right, that one. There was a mistake in the FORM letter they sent. I get to apply again after November 8th of 2007. How nice. After today's telephone call, however, I'm sure I've been tagged as a "DO NOT HIRE, EVER" or something.

See, I asked what I did wrong. I had to. How does someone like me, with 12 or so years of library experience NOT get into a Library Assistant pool. What more do I have to do? Her response was that it was felt (by the first interviewer, I think) that I get "frustrated" in multi-tasking and fast-paced work environments.

I laughed so hard into the receiver that I think she thought I was a bit insane. (Yes, I am going to say what I think she was thinking, why not, I mean they obviously they feel free to state what I must be feeling (frustrated), so touche', bastards.) I went on to say that I must be some kind of masochist then as certain jobs I've held (Hi, MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER jumps to the forefront) were filled with multi-tasking and making fast-paced decisions that are 10xs as difficult as what I experienced working at any library on my list! In fact that as one of the reasons I felt I could do the job of a library assistant so well!

But no, they didn't think so, thank you very much, enjoy your snow day!
(insert plural expletive of choice here)

I've been on the verge of a migraine all day. This kind of news is not helpful. I spent a few hours sitting in the dark (yey winter with your 2.374 hours of sunlight a day) reflecting on what it is I'm trying to do with my life. And why I am so not wanted in the job market right now.

Then I laughed some more.

You know I'm one of the few number of people I know who became a teacher right out of college? Most of the teachers I know and love and have adopted (or adopted me) were once high level accountants, Longs Managers, SAHMs, Computer Techs/geeks, Novelists, fish packers, factory workers, you name it...they went from a lifetime's career of that to teaching and no one raised an eyebrow! In fact they received accolades and laurel leaves...or something.

All I get are sideways looks and questions up the wazoo. Why don't you want to continue teaching? Why the big career move? What is wrong with you???

Cuz you know, it's okay to do "something else" for lifetime and then become a teacher, but woe and sorrow unto you, teacher, if you decide otherwise. And that just bites, people.

So I'm living my life backwards...why all the flak? So what if I did spend all that time and energy on a degree and credential I no longer wish to use, why do I get persecuted for it?

Please, do not tell me to go look into teaching night school, or adults, or becoming a teaching assistant, or a tutor...what part of the "I don't think I want to be a teacher anymore" do people not understand? Please oh please stop giving me the names and numbers of the private schools in the area as you ignore me when I say, "I'm thinking of looking into something else."

I blew it the other day when I said it was too stressful to teach. I was told that being an executive assistant was VERY stressful, in one of those defensive tones. Not when compared to teaching. The telling pause (I was on the phone), I was about to get it. I had to justify what I had just said. "Dealing with the lives of 160 12 and 13 year olds on a daily basis with the drama and the hormones always on the edge, and then trying to teach them grammar? You've got to be kidding me. How will assisting one executive be worse than 160 drama queens AND their parents?" Laugh, laugh a lot. Laugh it off. Did it break the tension? A little. What it tells people is that I'm a failure. I couldn't make it in the classroom so now I'm looking into trying something else that I will probably fail at as well. Again, my thoughts.

But really, why else would I not be teaching? Not be pursuing my career? Not be wading through the mounds of paperwork in order to get that Washington State teaching credential and going back into that classroom! Come on! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!

If I can't even land a job as a receptionist, what makes anyone think I will land a teaching gig when HI, I don't think I can do it right now? I have said this before, countless times I think, I don't have it in me. If that makes me a loser, so be it. If I've disappointed you, find someone else to live your life through. This has not been an easy "throw away" decision. I'm not sure why I'm being made to feel like it is. Like I'm wrong, wrong, so terribly wrong.

I never promised anyone I would be anything other than myself. Label me what you will, just don't expect me to live up to who you think I should be.

So Many Finished Items...

...but not for me. See this hat? This is what I've been working on for the last...forever.

Like the background? No, that is not a pin for scale, that would be one strong blade of grass that is fighting the good fight against the SNOW. We got dumped on. Did I mention I live in Seattle now? Did the snow gods get lost? Tahoe is 800 miles SE or so, people....

But where was I? Ah yes, the hat. Or the Barbie dream debutante skirt...or the Hello Kitty Hell Bonnet...which name is actually growing on me. (Whose name is actually growing on me?) I am too OCD for this hat. Really. I have ripped it apart almost as many times as my failed attempts on my older brother's (OB) hat. Not for size issues, either. I thought matching hand-painted/striped socks was bad enough for me...but no, not only do I rip back when I make the stripes too narrow (to my eyes, anyway), I must have the colors in a certain order and the placement of the slipped stitch "dots" has got me drinking chamomile tea and thinking calming thoughts.

I'm not using a pattern, I think this might be my main problem, it's totally on the fly "grab a ball o'yarn" and go for it....well, hi, this is me we're talking about...I don't "fly" that way AT ALL, it seems.

I was about 10 rounds shy of finishing the (insert unseemly word here) thing when I thought that there were too many decreases in the wrong places and really, NO REALLY! that third row of (what used to be) burgandy slipped stitches between the white and the pink should be purple (as you can see, three rings of purple, yes, much much better, make the voices stop!)...that's what I ripped back to this morning.

As for the size? It fits my noggin a little on the tight side, so it should fit my niece's 3 yr old head, I hope.


IN OTHER NEWS:

A finished object.
I finished it a WHILE ago now, but today was the first time I saw my camera in a while...must clean my desk off, soon. The details:
Noro Silk Garden 217 A, X 2 minus 18". I only had to do minor surgery to make sure the colors did what I wanted them to do...I'm not sure if that's OCD or anal retentiveness...either way, it's done.
US size 10 needles.
Pattern: The same one as my dad's scarf...One Row (not) Handspun Scarf

After washing it a second time, this stuff is SOFT. Happy Dance for me...It's been a really really really long time since I had/used a new scarf...we're talking 6th grade here. It's such an easy pattern I might have to make more...but first...Must finish those hats....Urgh.

Kiwi Animated Video

I was shown this a while ago and would like to share it.


But I'm not all that good at embedding YouTube videos so it's here in case all you see is a blank spot up above :).

***
And it's snowing. It's 80-cajillion degrees in Los Angeles, according to my father, but it's snowing in Seattle. Well, people from the Great White North would laugh at what I'm calling "snowing" and "snow." Heck, had I lived longer in Tahoe, I too would be scoffing. But I'm cold and there's crunchy white stuff on the ground that looks kinda like the fake snow on the xmas tree at the mall, and more is falling...well in fits and starts.

Fancy Cooking, Tactless Style...

So you know we're cooking fancy when one of the directions call for "deglazing." I think I pretty much scared Andy out of the kitchen with that one. It also convinced me that any meal that involves such an act should be part of a PBS cooking show. I could host it! I have the perfect chicken apron and matching timer! It could be my trademark, you know like that Sally Jessie lady with the red glasses?

Though before I go planning shows I should make sure I can do other fancy things the, um, right way. So carmelized? That doesn't mean carbonized, right? Didn't think so.
Next year I'll have to cut the onions thicker.

Aside from that, I think things went well.

So it's officially Fat Man season. As Nordstrom has put up their decorations, I guess I should start thinking about what I'm going to do this year. I'm very low key, if last year is any example of it.

Bezzie from Random Meanderings reminded me of xmas music I thought I might not have anymore. A few years ago I put together a CD or two for a friend of mine who was pretty much sick of all the xmas music she owned. She owned a fair amount. But she absolutely could not stand Handel's Messiah/Hallelujah/etc. et. al., so I went and spent far too much time wading through the internet until I'd collected as many alternative xmas hits to fill her days. You know, things like: David Bowie and Bing Crosby singing The Little Drummer Boy, or Frank Sinatra and Cindy Lauper singing Santa Claus is Coming to Town as well as things like Dave Matthews' Christmas Song (love the Spanish guitar) or Sound Garden singing Ave Maria (oh that one makes me cry).

So I went "hard drive diving" and I think I may have found them all. Well, at least a hour's worth. Maybe I'll burn that collection up and spread it around this year? It's a thought.

1 Year + 1 Day, and a Turkey

Hi.

So it seems yesterday was my 1 year bloggiversary. See how bad I am
with the dates? Even I didn't remember. Good one, me.

Anywho, today is Turkey day. I'm supposed to whip up dinner so I
best get at it. I'm making green beans for the first time in my
life. Yes, I do this, I experiment with cooking on big occasions.
No biggie, if I flop there's always a plan B. Just what that would
be tonight, I'm not at all sure. I got desert covered...there was
some punk-in pie bakery happening last night. You know, to celebrate
the bloggiversary, yes, that's it. See, I didn't forget, nope, not
me :).

Thanks for reading! Happy T-Day to everyone.

25.5 Inches Around...

Mutant hats.

Yep, that's what I'm gonna have to make.

Does anyone know how often one can rip Dalegan Falk yarn before it just hates you and won't play anymore? I think I might be at that point.

Remember back when I said I had an almost completed hat for my older brother? Ah yes, ancient history that I'm too saddened to link back to. Best forget. Yes.

Did I ever mention that my older brother and I are about the same height? But he takes after my mom's side of the family with the delicate looking ears and high cheekbones I could have killed for as a teenager. The skinny cutely crooked nose I could ignore...at least until I got my first pair of glasses that outlined the honker on my face enough to be yet more proof that I was not the favorite in the house of the almighty.

Anyway, when I went about trying to make my older brother a hat, given his height, delicate-looking features, etc., et. al., what-have-you, I felt rather secure in the knowledge that a hat a smidge bigger than mine would be fine. In the end the Camo-hat I made him last year was a smidge too big for Andy, so yeah, no problem-o! Right?

I've already posted my thoughts about those hats, we shall not speak of them again, we're working on the idea of MOVING ON after all so THIS time, when the call came for some bonnets for the family I decided to make something that would at least LOOK warmer so that they might actually be used. Okay, I'm hard at the "letting go" bit, I think we all realized this a LONG time ago.

So I got the Dalegan Falk and started trying to figure out the best way to fulfill the, "long enough to cover the ears and the back of the neck" request. After some test knitting and lots of ripping I came up with a 4 X 2 rib that I thought would be great! Only it really was looking kinda skinny. Upon closer inspection it turned out that I'd be able to get my head, 22" around, in and it fit me great, but we were looking for a little bigger. Yes, I ripped back. No, I'm not one of those people who believe "it'll fit someone" and just keep knitting on. I don't have the funds to play that game. Especially right now so close to the holidays and being "between assignments" (read as "between paychecks"). So rip back with impunity I say.

I dug around some more (the internet is my best friend) and found a pattern that might work super-well. I cast on to aim for a 23" head...That seemed like a good number... That's when I remembered the Rules. Wasn't there something in there about measuring hands for head sizes? So I emailed my brother and asked for the "palm to tip of middle finger" measurement so I could get an idea how "deep" to make the hat. 7.5 inches. Wow, that'd make it about 9" deep, give or take. That seemed rather deep. So I asked for the "width across" measurement...8.5". Which gives us the 25.5" around. Which makes his head almost 65 cm around...which gives him a US size 8+ head. If I poof up my hair I can fit a 7 1/4 hat. Did I mention we're almost the same height? (My mom insists he's taller, my little brother confirms I am--he should know, he's taller than both of us and can easily eyeball it...)

Where did that head come from??? That was my first thought. My second was: I'll start on my niece's hat. She is only about 4, yet I'm told she's outgrown all the "little kid" hats...I guess she's taking after her dad.

Mutant hats, I tell you.

You'd Think I'd Blog More...

With all this time off, I mean.

It was actually SUNNY today, but I'm starting to feel under the weather, so I hid until almost nightfall.

So what comes first?  Feeling down cuz you're sick, or feeling sick cuz you're down?  I think I might need to dwell on this a little more.

I have two Finished Objects to show...but that would require taking pictures and the like.  I can't get motivated to take pictures with a camera that is well, actually, buried somewhere under all the junk I picked up off the floor and TEMPORARILY placed on my desk (that's cleaning for you).  I feel terribly disorganized right now.  I think it's the upcoming holiday trauma.  Even if it isn't, I feel like blaming it rather than no one, or worse, me.  I tend NOT take it out on my friends that way.  Combine that noise with feeling pathetic and underemployed and we have such a recipe for disaster.  Good thing there's knitting to keep me away from all the ingredients to make high explosives.

Yes, I've been watching MacGyver DVDs again.  I swear, that man loves blowing things up!  All you need is a little solvent and talcum powder, or something.  Which is truly funny, who keeps that stuff around anymore?  I'm getting feelings of inadequacy in the carcinogenic household items department.  If that show happened today all he'd have to work with would be biodegradable cleaners and water.  Oh, and maybe Desitin.  I wonder how flammable baby butt cream is, really?

I need to go lie down now.

Pissed.

No, not in the good drunk way either.
Observe:

This would be the Yarn Aboard box I mailed off last Thursday. Seeing as it's heading out of country I thought I'd get right on it. Proof of mail date:
And yes, that's what it cost to mail the sucker out.
Yet behold, it was returned for one very important reason:
I know, it's fuzzy, I'll reprint it:

We regret that your mail is being returned to you because of heightened security measures. All domestic mail weighing 16 oz or over, that bears stamps and all international military APO/FPO mail weighing 16 oz or over MUST be presented to a retail clerk at a post office. Postage that is affixed to the returned mail may be used for remailing the items.

Urg. Heightened security? I mailed it off through work and filled out all the required paperwork, but nope, no dice. The lovely lady behind the counter said it wouldn't have mattered what paperwork I filled out (I had to fill 2 different customs forms for her), it still required her taking it. Her magic hands were the special security needed to fulfill the box's trip, or something. I got to spend some fun time at the ole P.O. In line. JOY! Great use of my time since it's not like I'm updating my resume or applying for jobs or anything. Urg.

So THAT's Why They Fit Wrong

Ahem, yes, I am a dumb ass. I am a big enough person to admit it, this time :).

So, um yeah, remember those footies I was working on for forever that became my CWP (Computer Waiting Project)??? Well, I'd been wondering why, if I just lost 7 lbs, they seemed to be awfully tight little socks. (Well, one awfully tight sock, another 3/4ths tight.) I thought maybe they'd loosen up with the blocking magic or something...

Tonight, as I finished my Noro scarf as well as the muppet experiment (okay, there's still some weaving/blocking/trimming of muppet fur to go, but the needles are put away so I consider it almost picture-ready) I took out my Trekking XXL and decided to try starting a pair of socks for me again. Believe it or not, I swatched this time! I know, shocking! In perusing which needles to try next, I noticed that my US 00s were not in their pocket. I looked ALL OVER. How could I misplace a whole set? It was bad enough when I couldn't find one missing needle, but 5? That's just wrong.

I found them, they were hiding in plain sight...in my 3/4's done footies. My best guess is that at some point I must have needed my US 0s and used the smaller needles as "place-holders." I think I can almost make out where the finished footie starts looking a bit thinner than normal. What really stands out is how the second footie is just that much smaller than its brother, as I apparently used the 00s from the start. Urgh. Why didn't I notice this earlier???

I guess it's a good thing I'm more interested in winter socks right now. I have months to go before I will want footies. Yet, the idea of ripping out what I have done makes me sad, but it's not like I'm the first to have to deal with such trauma. It was bound to happen. A sign really. Time, maybe, to change the CWP, or something. Sigh.

Progress...

When did I become such a multi-project knitter???

I think this coming week of under-employment should, maybe, possibly, force me to work on started and semi-abandoned projects:
My brother's hat. Yes, it looks REALLY long, but it's ribbing (4X2), so it's not. I'm working in colors from his kid's hats. It was rather hard to figure out how to NOT use pink or purple to represent my niece's hat, so I threw in some cream and dark/Burgundy-esque red instead. I just have to remember to work in the same red in the kiddie hats.

Then there's this guy:
Mom's stripy socks. As she really liked the cotton/wool socks gifted to her earlier, I went with more cotton. I have come to the realization that I can't stand cotton. But forge ahead I will if my mom likes them. Hmm, more ribbing...3X1 I think, maybe I'm into ribbing right now. I just LOVE the way the socks are striping though. Easily amused? OH YEAH.

I wanted to include a few more "on the needles" pics, but it is dark and dreary...just know that my scarf is a little longer now. I'm on the second skein of the Noro silk garden...it's not going to be a long scarf, I see that now. There are also bits and pieces of other projects that I should buckle down and finish...like the basketweave black scarf I started FAR TOO LONG ago...or a muppet-fur scarf I was fiddling with. You really can't rip that stuff back very well...so I should finish or burn it...ick, the thought of burning muppet doesn't appeal. Then there's that sweater I started last winter, for Andy. I stopped as it just got too hot...well, hello 45 degrees...I guess I can start it up again, eh?

Yep...stuff...

*****
So I did blow that first interview enough to not get selected for the Library Pool. I don't know how much of a form letter I got, but they did say I could re-apply for the next pool. I just have to start ALL OVER again. Fun times. Good thing I kept a copy of the original application. Now I just have to suck it up and do it again.

Changing careers is not for the meek, okay people? My xMIL and I were talking about this last night; really, most people don't know what they want to be "when they grow up." You fall into something when you're young enough and BAM, 30 years later you're retired and was it really what you wanted?

My mom cleaned toilets, emptied trash cans, and vacuumed millions of miles of carpet for 27 years. I honestly don't think she did it cuz she wanted to, you know? I highly doubt her little girl dreams were to become a janitor at a ritzy high school...I don't think my mom thought of her job as anything else but a way to earn enough money to buy a house (or two) and see that her kids got everything they could get. We weren't exactly rolling in the dough on maintenance and janitor salaries, people, but I was fed, housed, and educated.

I think I've been pretty lucky. I went to school and then went on to use my education for what it was originally intended. I went to school to become a teacher. I was a teacher.

But I don't want to be a teacher anymore. At least not right now. I don't have it in me. I have no patience for departments of education and their little dramas and inner politics.

I think I've said this before, several dozen times maybe, but you really DO NOT want to be teaching if you DO NOT WANT TO BE TEACHING. You will suck. The kids will know. Hell, the kids could easily tell when I was teaching something I felt so-so about or just didn't like. "A Raisin In The Sun" comes to mind. Or the dumb ass "Peer Pressure" Life Skills lessons that had NO basis on reality. Or anything to do with Social Studies. I love history, I really do, but past students will tell you that I have ABSOLUTELY NO BUSINESS trying to teach it. Facts, dates, and important figures get jumbled in my head. And that jumbled mass of chaos gets passed on to the kids...it's a bad scene, man, really bad.

Moving on?

I'll probably go back to teaching when I can have an ESL classroom or three where I teach both Language Arts and Literature, and the goal is, GASP, for the kids to LEARN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE! Not take a stupid federal test where they fail and fail and fail because, HELLO? They don't know the language??? I think Special Ed teachers would back me up on this one. They are running into the same brick wall. How do you expect a "Special Needs" kid to compete with Joe-average student? Or to be judged by the same ratings category? You don't! Yet they have to take the same federal required tests and "pass"/improve buy the same number of points, learning disabilities be damned!

Cleaning toilets sounds like a less frustrating and more satisfying job at that point.

FO: Dad's Scarf

My father's birthday is coming up. I think I may have mentioned that a few-many posts ago. As he is still a "workin' man" (my mami has been retired for a about, wow, going on 4 years now I think...) I decided he should have something for the nippy LA mornings on his way to work. Go ahead, laugh. Their blood is thin, living in the global warming cesspool that is LA, I know, I know, 90 degrees in November, but still, it's chilly in the early AM, what, about 65? 70? So I present you:

Dad's Scarf

I shamelessly stole it from the Yarn Harlot. One Row (NOT HANDSPUN) Scarf in Cascade 220. I used US 10 straights. Here's a close-up:
I liked the pattern so much, I'm making one for myself:
It's being made from my very last purchase at Jimmy Bean's Wool in Truckee, CA before I moved from that neck of the woods to this one... It's true what they say, you know, yarn bought as a souvenir does hold that memory, much more than I thought it would. Noro Silk Garden.

I'm a little further along as I took these pictures, and others for future posts, on the last sunny day before the flooding started. Yes, yes, I'm fine. I live in the city. That I know of there are no creeks, streams, or rivers nearby. As I'm posting I'm obviously still alive.

And for those who have been on the edge of their seats?
No word from the library, but word from the place where I'm temping...they found their Receptionist, and it's not me. My last day? Friday. So much for the two weeks notice the one HR person promised...as she's on extended leave it's a bit hard to hold her to her word. All of my virtues were "recognized" at a meeting I had this afternoon. Thanks. Really. No, really. I'm just finally glad to finish the assignment at this point. Maybe, gasp! I'll take a week off??? What a trip and a half that'll be.

To celebrate? Sushi!

CAR!

Great time to move here, eh?
Yet, yesterday the sun actually shown for a little bit:


Now we just need a name...

But first I must see how well I can drive through the "urban flood plains!" Ah weather is such a fantastic phenomena.

YARN ABOARD 2 POST!

Guess who showed up at my doorstep late Friday night?

All the way from Portland, Oregon! Wow Deb! I'm, I'm, wow...WOW! Interjections! Thank you!
I wish I had been more patient when I opened the box...I started looking immediately and then when I remembered, OH YEAH, TAKE PICTURES...it was all out of the box and um, yeah, how did she fit it all in??? Magic! Elves! Yarn gnomes!

So in the box:
Wildfoote in Tom Cat! Which I love working with...NEW yarn: Dicentra Designs in Mazarbul as well as Crown Mountain Yarns in Opal. So cool.

YUMMY chocolate from Vivani...never had, can't wait to rip into them. A matching Lady and the Chocolate magnet...so cute!

Here Be Dragons Sock pattern!!! So fun! Yes!

And tea for both the brain and the body! Foxfire Tea and "A Warming Bath" Tea Bag.

You have no idea how spoiled I feel.

Okay, now I have to figure out the magic used to fill the box beyond capacity for Chris's next stop!

My Mother? I'll Tell Ya About My Mother...

-Leon, Blade Runner

 

The interview yesterday went about as well as that one...well, the first one anyway. 

 

Well, okay, I didn't blow her away from under the desk with my hand laser revolver or anything, nor am I a replicant, that I know of, but I might as well have been as aware of what was going on with the interviewer as ol' Leon.

 

She "broke the ice" by talking about sailing.  However, it wasn't until she was pointedly ready to move on to the real questions that I realized she was not on the same side as I on the whole sailing/motoring fence.  Oops.

 

Then there were the questions, where the goal was to only speak about my current position.  That was distressing.  I mean, really when I'm trying to answer something about the "most fulfilling thing" I've done here?  Ummmm, I'm a temporary receptionist. (Sigh.)

 

Interviewer #2 just jumped into the questions and I was happy to oblige with answers.  After realizing I had more library experience than the two listed in front, he was happy to hear about all of them.  Our connection/ice breaker happened sometime during the questions when he realized I went to high school across the street from his university.  Small town feeling even in the megalopolis I grew up in.

 

~~~~~

 

It's about as rainy and dreary as the setting for Blade Runner so I've opted to wait on pictures until it's not so wet that my camera will drown.  And it really is such a lovely feeling to turn the key in the ignition and not have the "will it start today" feeling.  Or rev the engine on the freeway and not wonder if the timing chain will decide now is the time to kill all the humans...

 

Ah the little things.

 

Happy Friday!

Have Car, Will Travel

So, super-fast no picture post cuz not only do I have to get ready
for work...I'm prepping for an interview...

But no worries about driving out to Outer-Mongolia for that interview
today, as I picked up my BRAND NEW CAR on Halloween night!

No kids, none. Our street must be full of evil old men like in
"Monster House" or something (fun movie by the way.)

Okay, gotta run, more later, promise.