November 26, 2007
~ scattered paper ~
I am in need of the proverbial vacation. The good news is that all of my overtime will be resulting in some extra spending money for this holiday season. The lame news is that I have no time for spending my hard earned money. I have been consistently arriving at work an hour or two early and leaving an hour or two late, I worked the recent holiday and I worked over the weekend. In addition to feeling as though I spend all of my time in the office, I have not had any interest in spending what little free time I have on school. On Sunday, I got into the office at 6 o'clock in the morning and worked non-stop until some time in the afternoon. For the rest of the day, I felt as though I had spent an extended period of time in the presence of some dementors - - what with feeling as though I would never feel joy or happiness again. I was pretty down. That evening, I watched Hotel Rwanda and had a little dose of perspective.
Over the weekend, I did finally finish my revision of the Nantucket Jacket. While I am not 100% satisfied with the way that it fits, I am very very very satisfied with it. As you may recall, I opted to transform it into a pullover and to make it more fitted. I also installed a different collar and made the sleeves full-length. Here I am modeling it, please disregard the strange buldge in the elbow.
I've finally taken a moment to upload some photos onto flickr. As you peruse them, you'll undoubtely note that they have no rhyme or reason.
November 19, 2007
~ harvesting sunrise ~
Recently, I have observed some remarkably stunning sunrises and sets. This reinforces that I ought to carry a camera with me at all times. Last night, as I was walking home from the YMCA, I had to literally pause in order to not faint after seeing the most beautiful pinkish orange light on the foothills. This morning as I was walking to work in the early moments of the sunrise, I had to pause again to refrain from falling over after witnessing some small flecks of light rippling over the sky.
Today, I have attention deficit disorder and I haven't really accomplished anything. Which I feel 100% fine about.
I have also discovered a blog of someone obsessed with both knitting and cycling. Which is a blog that I anticipate becoming a regular read.
Speaking of knitting, I am very very very close to finishing the revision of the Nantucket Jacket. I hope to post some thrilling photos soonly. But, you know, we've all heard that before.
And I have finally succeeded in persuading some crazy soul to establish a weekly spinning committment. Hooray! I have *always* wanted a workout buddy, I've just never known anyone crazy enough. Crazy people need to stick together, as I always say.
What is exciting is that there is finally some snow falling on the slopes. Why, just this weekend I was fondly contemplating going skiing and snowboarding this winter. Today also seems to be the start of some coldness, as it has arguably been on the warm side (as evidenced by my lack of coat-wearing this weekend). Maybe La Nina is finally kicking in...
And this week is the first time in many many years in which I have been able to officially not have to go to school because of Thanksgiving. One of the draw-backs to studying outside of the US is the lack of Thanksgiving. And while I could give a crap about the actual holiday (as with most holidays), I do rather enjoy having the time off from school. Of course, there are other holidays, such as "Canadian Thanksgiving" but that is besides my point. Anyway, this year I might be killing my family, as I will be preparing a number of dishes to contribute. For those who may have survived my contributions last year, you'll remember my whole wheat biscuits which were not intended to be made with whole wheat flour, and which were a tad on the firm side. Anyway, living is learning, and this year!, I am going to be making some food items that I have actually made before, with success!, and which I have tested on a number of life form entities, with positive results! However, I will not be making anything Thanksgiving-y, as (1) I don't want to, and (2) I am not well-suited for that sort of thing. THE PLAN includes spiced cauliflower, curried rice with cashews, and perhaps some wasabi sweet potatoes. Though, I might nix the wasabi sweet potatoes because things have, in the recent past, gone awry when I have attempted to make too many items in my teeny-tiny kitchen. You should have seen the scene two weekends ago when I made (1) gazpacho, (2) curried mushroom & squash soup, and (3) polenta pie. It would have been perfect had I had better administrative control over the distribution of garlic. Though, Josh seemed to enjoy the polenta pie containing TWELVE garlic cloves. I thought it was a bit strong myself.
November 14, 2007
~ nice fall weekend ~
I had a three day weekend recently, in which I was able to fully enjoy the pleasant fall weather. Amazingly, Josh was also able to have a three day weekend, so it proved to be an all Joshifern all of the time three days. Which was quite lovely.
On Friday, we ended up riding our cruiser bicycles about 25 miles to and from Eagle. I must say, 25 miles on a cruiser is something else. We took the neighborhoods as much as we could, winding our way along the northern side, at the base of the foothills. And speaking of those foothills neighborhoods, we had a couple of good grunts uphill which afforded us some pretty fun downhills...on a cruiser! We also rode several miles along a canal road which was very similar to, say, a beginner level mountain biking trail. I was elated that we were mountain biking on our cruisers. A very unique and interesting experience. That photo above is us on the canal road (I've got a bit of helmet hair going on). We had to take a bit of a detour through the new Veteran's Cemetary in order to relieve ourselves and then, by the time that we arrived in Eagle, we were both starving and experiencing a low-blood sugar state. We went to the Rembrandt's cafe and shared a weird (but tastey...in a weird way) protein-heavy egg and pasta pie with ham and mushrooms. I also enjoyed an eclair, you know, for the blood sugar. We were planning on spending the whole evening in Eagle which sounded like great fun, but we quickly realized that the setting of the sun would mean a sharp decrease in the temperature, and Josh (due to having spontaneously donated his coat earlier in the day) did not have a coat. So we enjoyed a bit of a walk around the downtown area and then hopped back on our cruisers for the return journey. We were cruiser-mountain biking back along the canal road a little before dusk and it was very very cool. It was dark by the time we made our way into the North End neighborhoods.
We had another fantastic bike ride two days later, on Sunday. I must say, weatherpersons sure can be incorrect about their weather predictions. Saturday, as predicted, was rainy, cold, and lame. Sunday, in full contradiction to the prediction, was glorious. Yes, it was a bit on the chilly side, but it was sunny and beautiful. In the early afternoon, Josh and I decided to embrace the chilly gloriousness and we went on a road bicycle ride. I am not yet fully equipped with proper cold-weather cycling gear, so my fashionable knitted knee high wool socks may have appeared a bit silly with my spandex knee warmers and shorts. But hey, I was plenty warm! I was actually a bit too warm on the upper part of my person, as I was wearing a base layer, a long sleeve jersey, AND my wind breaker. Dressing for chilly weater cycling, I have found to be challenging. As per the obvious, one is always colder at the beginning of one's ride than after one warms up from the physical exertion. And since I am an extreme coldy-pants, I tend to over-do-it with regards to layers. Not that I am complaining, because I would much prefer to be on the a-bit-too-warm side than the a-bit-too-cold side.
November 8, 2007
~ on gloriousness ~
Despite my busyness, recently I've made time for knitting. Months ago, I "briefly mentioned" how I was going to rework the Nantucket Jacket and, well, I'm still working on it. Sweaters can take a bit of work, especially if they have a somewhat elaborate stitch pattern. Anyway, I've become a bit more enthused about my subscription to Netflix (perhaps it's due to the change in weather?) and have been ending the day by cuddling up in my big poofy chair watching some thrilling thing. Last night, I watched the National Geographic version of "Guns, Germs, and Steel" which I thought was very interesting. As I always say, "why read the book when you can netflix the movie." But back to knitting. Sometimes I get a bit stressed out knitting sweaters because there's so much pressure to get the construction and the fit right. At the moment, I'm almost finished with the first sleeve. And for some time, I've been wondering if I knat the sleeve poorly with regards to being able to properly attach to the body of the sweater. In the latest issue of Interweave Knits, which I received in mailbox over the weekend, there's a very interesting article about sleeve construction, which I would recommend to any other OCD knitters. So yea, been thinking alot about sleeves. Last night, while I was being intellectually stimulated about why inequality exists, I decided to attach the sleeve to the sweater even though I was not done knitting the sleeve. For whatever reason, I decided to knit the sleeve, contrary to the instructions, from the shoulder to the cuff. After carefully attaching it to the rest of the sweater, I was pleasantly surprised that it was perfect! So now I can continue knitting the rest of the sleeves without anxiety.
Anyhoot, there is additional cause to celebrate in my world (I know, I know - - I, too, have difficulty believing that there is more to life than knitting, but trust me on this one) because I recently had the very rare experience of seeing the candidates for whom I voted actually win the election. Even though there was never much of a chance that they would not win, it is still very exciting for me because I usually vote for losers. On election night, Josh and I popped by the Basque Center to see all of the Democrats congregating around the mayor and city council members and it reminded me of the night, several years ago, when he and a few other local law makers I had voted for won, and how amazing and wonderful it was. Brings tears to my eyes just to think of how awesome it is when progressive individuals can win elections in such a conservative state.
In other news, during the week I never have time to cook, so I always reheat something or rely on some premade or packaged item (which I feel badly about, but, you know, after doing a thorough pro-con analysis, I figured that it was more important for me to ensure that I exercise regularly, spend time with Josh, spend time knitting, sleeping, working, schooling, homeworking, and whatever else I do to keep my life together, that eating on the fly was the best sacrifice). But, I've made a committment to cook something on the weekends - - as I just find cooking to be such a wonderful experience. I love chopping vegetables, combining spices, etc,. etc. Anyway, so this weekend I made spiced rice with cashews and it was AMAZING!
So, my parents have a new dog. The black lab died about a year ago and the other dog, Chancy, died over the summer. Which was sad, but you know, death happens. I was actually very surprised to encounter this new dog, as I feel that bringing a new dog into the family should be announced like one would annouce a pregnancy or something. Anyway, I really like the new dog. He looks like a small deer, and he leaps and bounds like one too. You'll note that I'm calling the dog, "the dog." And this is because my parents are calling the dog "Chancy," which is the name of my old dog, the dead one. My mother asked me privately if I'm upset that they're calling the new dog by the name of the dead dog, and I'm not, I'm just flabergasted by their lack of creativity. Of course, I'm the one who names everything and spends loads of time coming up with names. I name my car, I've named by bikes, and I feel as though I have given my parents ample suggestions on names for the dog (Reginald, Eisenhower, Otto, Roy) but they insist that they won't remember any of these names and continue to call the dog by the name of the dead dog. (insert, a rolling of my eyes)
November 7, 2007
~ decompressing ~
My plate is overflowing. I have so many huge and small, and very very complex, things to do that I don't even know where to begin. One item that I am now able to scratch off of my list, which is incredibly relieving, is a massive project that I presented in class last night. In my personal life, I don't feel that I got as many pats on the back for this as I deserved (which is honestly something that has really bugged me, but we won't go there), however, in class I received lengthly accolades and my project and presentation were described as "ingenius." And I like that word. Something that I am almost able to find humorous, now that it is all over and that it went very well, is the irony of how I had a huge nightmare about my presentation going awry (and how I literally woke up the morning of my presentation, covered in sweat) and then right before my presentation, discovering that my presentation was corrupted when I plugged my jump drive into the computer, relieved my nightmare, had a stroke, essentially freaked out, and almost passed out from relief when I was able to bring up my presentation correctly on a different computer. Yesterday, I was so overwhelmed with everything, that it was necessary for me to leave work in the middle of the day because I was no longer able to handle anything. It was bad. Now, I just need to come to grips with the notion that *I* know how hard I worked and *I* know what it took to put it together and *I* know how amazing it was, even if the one specific individual doesn't have an ounce of appreciation for it. Which is really challenging for me. I need to just come to terms with the fact that no one's going to get it unless they have to actually do and experience it for themselves. blah, blah, blah.
At work, my to-do list is now spilling over onto three pages and I'm struggling with prioritization. Everyone in the office is freaking out because there is just SO MUCH. Personally, I need to decompress.
In other news, I have been having absolutely glorious weekends. I had been meaning to write all about last weekend, the gloriousness of which continues to make me feel wonderful. Sunday, in particular, was such a great day. And it was nothing in particular...it just FELT wonderful, I was so HAPPY, and walking on air the entire day. Josh and I took a big adventure on our cruiser bicycles and rode up to the Bench and explored all of the neighborhoods. Our exploration led us way away and somehow we found ourselves riding around Southwest Boise and it was the kitschiness (I have no idea how to spell that word) of it that was so thrilling.
This past weekend was also fantastic. Josh's birthday was last Thursday and we had not had an opportunity celebrate it until the weekend because I was working evenings. For some time, I've become rather opposed to buying people gifts. I'm all for knitting something as a gift, or somehow finding a way to create something...but my primary interest in celebrating someone's birthday has become to focus on spending special time with that person and having an experience to share. I think it's much more meaningful to have a special romantic day rather than ...what?...buying Josh a c.d. or some socks. But I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir on this.
