Everybody Loves Saturday Night

it's still scarf weather

Living in the northern part of the hemisphere, as I do, it's safe to assume that March 21 does not bring with it an immediate return to warmer weather and that, even into April, the air will bounce between "no jacket required" and "where did spring go," and scarves and perhaps even mittens will still be required gear. So I plugged away at my Silk Garden Variety Scarf (Ravelry link) knowing that I would not need to pack it away until next winter.

Good thing, too, because I looooooooooove it.

And check out how wonderfully it coordinates with my red coat:

I am pleased.

All told, I used a little under six skeins for this extra long scarf: 3 of #88, and 1 each of 252, 71, and 203. I manipulated the 88 at times, mostly when I encountered knots that joined two disparate sections of color.

When it's just around my neck without wrapping, it hangs slightly below my knees.

It's incredibly warm, too, which means that it will serve me well in transitional days when it's too warm for my winter coat, but still chilly enough to need something.

So I managed to finish some stuff this month! In addition to the scarf, I put the final pieces of Starsky together. Haven't sewn the belt on yet, but I'm counting it as a finish. And wow, is this sweater warm. Again, another lovely transitional item. Pictures to follow, when weather allows.

a post with no pictures

Thanks for the birthday wishes, y'all. It was a good weekend, all told.

And rock on with your movie-guessing selves! All but one of the quotes has been attributed, and I'm going to leave it as is for now. But I'm thinking about making the movie quote guessing game a weekly thing, because that was a lot of fun for me.

So anyway, speaking of quizzes, I came across this one today, and I think it's awesome: And Great Lyrics Quiz Rock Roll. It's 50 famous rock songs with all the words (ALL the words) rearranged in alphabetical order, and you have to guess the song. It is a lot harder than it may sound. I got the first one pretty quickly, the second one took more time. You could seriously devote an entire morning to this, so you're welcome.

I finished my striped Silk Garden scarf last night, while watching the last episode of Battlestar Galactica's second season (or season 2.5, as it were). The first disc of season 3 has a long wait on it and I don't think I can hold out for much longer. But anyway, I should be able to take pictures of said scarf tomorrow. It's really long--I can wrap it around my neck three times. I love it.

So now I should get to finishing Starsky. I keep saying that, and I never do it, but I really mean it this time.

37 things i've learned in 37 years

1. Bugs are not for eating.

2. Books are also not for eating. Unless one is talking metaphorically, which I am not.

3. Grandpas are awesome.

4. Cats do not like it when you pull on their tails. This lesson can, and should, also be applied to people.

5. Little brothers make excellent scapegoats.

5.5. Karma is a bitch.

6. It's sorta weird when your kindergarten teacher gives birthday kids "birthday spankings" (in other words, they're fake) in front of the whole class, who all watch with amusement. And it's OK if you're the one kid who refuses to get her birthday spanking. These days you'd be called a visionary, because I doubt such a practice exists today.

7. Kids do not tease other kids out of jealousy. Kids tease other kids because because they are mean. And bored.

8. Halloween in Minnesota kinda sucks, because it's so cold that your mom will make you wear long underwear and a big down jacket under your Dorothy costume, which defeats the whole purpose of wearing a costume with puffy sleeves.

9. Boys maybe aren't so icky.

10. The Beatles are the most amazing band, ever.

11. I will never have a career in sports.

12. Being part of a minority community can be cool, because it makes you special and interesting. But it can also be trying and difficult, because it makes you different and you're left out of a number of things that all your friends are doing.

13. This is life: spending a good deal of time wanting things to happen faster, wanting to grow up quicker than it's actually happening, only to find out that what you've been waiting for is pretty much a pain in the ass. In other words, Judy Blume lied.

14. Teenage girls can be really, really, really cruel.

15. In England, train car doors open from the outside.

16. Complicated things can be easy. Simple stuff can be hard. Case in point: it's possible to nail the parallel parking section of one's driving test, but then fail to notice a stop sign.

17.  Do not discuss sex with your mom when she's driving.

18. When you feel so sick that when you get out of bed you become immediately dizzy and have to lie down again, with a throat so sore that you can't swallow anything, then even if it's the end of the quarter and you have exams coming up, stop working, go to the health center, and take care of yourself.

19. It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife. (I had to memorize that in college.)

20. Girls, though the housing situation in most college towns can be rough, and though you really love (or think you do) the boy you've been dating, think twice before agreeing to move in with him and four of his friends.

21. It is vitally important to learn how to kill bugs oneself.

22. Though it is possible, and doctor-sanctioned, to manipulate your period with birth control pills by skipping the placebo week and starting in immediately on week 1 of the next month's pills, doing so may cause migraines so intense that you schedule an MRI to make sure you don't have a tumor.

23. This is what a feminist looks like.

24. You may think you don't have an accent, but you do.

25. It's a strange, almost jarring feeling when theory is thrown into practice, when the political actually does become intensely personal.

26. It is much better to confront a problem when it happens, much better to say what you think, much better to take the time to really think things through and have open discussions, then to let things fester, or wait and see how things turn out, or wait until someone else takes initiative.

27. It should be a truth universally acknowledged that good grades are earned, not gifted.

28. Fire bad. Tree pretty.

29. It is probably not a good idea to get involved with a friend's ex.

30. New Orleans is the best place to spend New Year's Eve.

31. Always do your research before hiring movers.

32. Setting high standards for yourself and for your friends is not a character flaw.

33. Knitting bloggers are the very best of people.

34. Love at first sight does exist.

35. Nephews are awesome.

36. Jobs are like boys, and you should be picky in choosing both.

37. To quote the good Doctor, "There's no point in being grown up if you can't act childish sometimes."

guess the movie

I found this meme floating around and thought it would be perfect to lead into the weekend. Here's the scoop:

1. Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
2. Find a quote from each one (go to imdb.com, or use your memory. Considering how frequently movie quotes find their way into my everyday conversation, I mostly relied on memory, and filled in gaps with imdb.com)
3. Post the quotes here for people to guess--leave your answers in the comments, please.
4. Strike out the quotes when guessed correctly; name the person who got it right and the movie
5. Guessing rules: one movie per guesser, so everyone has a chance. Please don't cheat with Google or imdb.com!

Hard as it was to limit myself to 10, I opted to use lines I find particularly funny, and gave myself leave to use a snippet of dialog as my one quote for a couple movies. I think some of them will be obvious . . . but maybe not? Or maybe they all are? Have at it, and have fun!

1. "Whenever they raise the postage, people need the little stamps." Carole got this right away: it's from Fargo! ("No, just think I'm gonna barf" was my other option.) Yes, it's true--I have many favorite Coen Brothers movies, but Fargo remains at the top of the list.

2. "Ooh, Snickers." Extra quote hint: "May I remind you that it does not say 'RSVP' on the Statue of Liberty!" Pam got it: Clueless! (Hello.) This would be another Jane Austen interpretation that I think totally nailed it.

3. "I now declare this bridge open." Whew! Wendy got this one: It's from A Hard Day's Night. This movie is filled with little non sequitur lines of giddiness and fun, and it's just one of the most joyful movies out there. Sad that the reality of their touring wasn't nearly as fun.

4.  "Well, the universe is everything, and if it's expanding, someday it will break apart and that will be the end of everything."

     "What is that your business?" Jessica got it: Annie Hall. A former litmus-test movie--if you didn't like this movie, I really wanted nothing to do with you. Once I went on a date with this guy, and when we got back to my place my roommate and her boyfriend were watching this. My date watches for a while, then says, "Does that guy ever stop talking?" That was the end of that.

5. "I'd sell my grandmother for a drink. And you know how I love my grandmother." Kathy guessed right: it's Philadelphia Story! Which is, by the way, in case this should come up again, my very favorite movie of all time, ever. At least for the moment.

6. "We find the defendants incredibly guilty." Yay, Iris! It's from The Producers. The original Producers or, in other words, the good one. I think this is one of the funniest movies ever made. Seriously? I could write a whole post of nothing but Producers quotes. When you got it, baby, flaunt it! Flaunt it!

7. "Find a happy place! Find a happy place! Find a happy place!" Strizzy named it: Finding Nemo! This is what the starfish says when Darla keeps tapping on the tank. It has also become a mantra for me, for reasons I don't want to get into right now. Remind me to tell you what my happy place is, though. It's pretty rad.

8. "Why would a guy wanna marry a guy?"

    "Security!"

    Extra quote hint: "Look how she moves...It's like jell-o on springs."  Sonja has correctly identified this movie as Some Like it Hot. I vividly remember the first time I saw this movie, in my friend Justin's dorm room our freshman year. It was one of those "You've NEVER SEEN this movie?!" moments that took us from the cafeteria straight to the video so that this gaping hole in my cinema knowledge could be immediately filled. Thanks, Justin, wherever you are now.

9. "You know, in a situation like this, there's a high potentiality for the common motherfucker to bitch out." The judges are ruling on this one . . . and they find that because The Michael was not present at the time of this post-writing, nor present during any subsequent discussion of said post, credit is due to him for correctly guessing Out of Sight, which I made him watch a year or so ago.

10. "Perhaps Margaret is right. Piracy is our only option." Stephanie got it: Sense & Sensibility, one of the two--no, three--adaptations of Austen that got it absolutely perfect. Somewhat embarrassing factoid about me: I own the published version of this screenplay, which comes with Emma Thompson's diary kept during the shooting. The diary: so entertaining, and not at all in that weird voyeur way.

"cheeeeeeeeeeese!"

I went to Minneapolis last week, and though I've been back for a couple days, my mind is still mostly there. (Thus do I provide the long sought-after answer to Black Francis' question, "Where is My Mind?" It's Uptown, dude. You're welcome.)

Though I was ostensibly there to see my brother perform in King Lear, I think all present were aware that the real reason for my travels was to spend a good chunk of time with The Neph, who is now a whole TWO years old and a monkeysaurus (tm me). Though my presence often made him believe that his parents were leaving, which then triggered a staggering display of tears and wails my brother assured me were fake, most of the time we got on fine. Better than fine.

We watched the cars go by out the window, and pointed out each bus. The Neph likes the buses.

He also loves planes and says, "vrrrrrrooom" when he sees one go by.

When we went out, he would reach for my hand as well as his mom or dad's. (Swoon!) And when we were in, he'd take my hand to lead me over to his favorite book (it has a school bus in it), which he would then read to me. (Though he is clearly a genius, I am using the word "read" rather loosely. I would bet money that he'll be really reading at 3, though. There is a family precedent for it.)

I soon discovered that all motion stops when The Neph realizes there's a camera in the room. Somewhere along the way, he learned that one says "cheese!" when one's picture is being taken. So when he discovered that the shiny thing I held in my hand was a camera, he knew exactly what to do.

Eventually he became more fascinated with the camera itself.

And moved in to take a closer look.

Self Portrait, March 2008

I miss the little guy something fierce right now.

 

D is for De-stashing (in one act)

 
Scene 1. Apartment, interior. Two sets of white plastic drawers off to the right, with the odd skein of yarn popping through. Standing next to them are two smaller bookshelves that hold bags of yarn as well as books. (But mostly yarn.) On top of the bookshelves are two wicker baskets, again with the odd skein of yarn popping through. To the left of the yarn shelves is a closed double-door closet, on the other side of which is a dresser. On top of the dresser: yarn.

Michelle stands in front of the plastic drawers and shelves, in a contemplative manner.

Michelle: Hmm.

Enter Michael, clutching video game.

Michael: Starting a new project?

Michelle: No. Maybe. I don't know.

Michael: Something wrong?

Michelle: It's just that . . . there's all this [vague gesture towards yarn consolidation] and I don't . . . don't know what to do with it all.

Michael: A-ha.

Michelle, crossing to closet: And then I have all this [she opens right closet door to reveal some clothes, but more boxes and bags--one can only assume they hold yarn].

Michael: Didn't you . . .

Michelle: Already go through it and purge what I didn't want or knew I wouldn't use? Yes. Yes, I did. This is what's left.

Michael: Hmm.

Michelle: Exactly.

Scene 2. The same. Sounds of video game coming from off stage. Michelle stands in same position as before.

Michelle: I want to buy more yarn . . . but I honestly just can't justify it right now.

[beat.]

Michelle: What's wrong with me?

Scene 3. The same. More video game sounds.

Michelle: Well, that's settled then--there will be no more yarn-buying.

Michael, off-stage: Oh yeah? Are you sure you can manage?

Michelle: Well, at least until I make a serious dent in all this.

Michael: Uh-huh.

Michelle: And, you know, Maryland doesn't count.

Michael: Thought not.

Scene 4. The same. A small desk center stage, with a laptop computer. Michelle sits at desk and as lights go up, is typing in short bursts, with occasional mouse clicks. The Internet-savvy will recognize these sounds as browsing sounds.

Michelle: Let's see what my Ravelry friends are up to today . . . that's cute, very nice, favorite that, queue that, leave comment "didn't you start that, like, yesterday?"

[pause.]

Oh. Oh, my. Those are seriously cute mittens. Let me find out more details . . . Vinterblomster. And it's a free pattern! Queue, please.

[She gets up, walks over to the yarn towers.]

Let's see, though, do I have the yarn to make them? [pause.] Wait, what am I doing? I still haven't finished the Bird in Hand mittens--not even close. Nor have I finished much else that I started a couple months ago. I should really be better about finishing things before I even start thinking about starting something new.

Scene 5. The same. Michelle is sitting at desk, knitting a sock.

Michelle: I like this sock, but I really wish this was a Vinterblomster mitten.

Scene 6. The same. A divan is to the left of the desk. Michelle is online. Browsing sounds.

Michelle: Steph's mittens are so totally cute--I love the blues and grey together. Man, I really want to make these mittens! If only I had red yarn so that they'd match my red coat. But I don't want to buy any more yarn right now--not when I have so much of it already. No, I must conserve! I must be strong! Oh, but I must have those mittens!

[she collapses on divan.]

Michelle: Must my love for Vinterblomster mittens go unrequited? Oh, whatever shall I do?

Scene 7. Minutes later.

Michelle: Let me check my yarn supplies one more time. [she walks over to shelves, selects a medium-sized bag, starts digging through it.] That's right, all this Louet Gems Opal that I bought from the former yarn shop owner when I visited Juno in Trenton a few months back.

Hmm. No red, but I like the way the yellow brings out the green in that taupey-grey color. This looks like early spring to me.

Yes. Perhaps this will do.

Scene 8. The next morning.

Yes. This will do quite well.

untitled

I have noticed that lately job postings in the field of publishing and journalism are making an effort to say "the right candidate will have . . . high ethical standards." Maybe I'm just noticing it now because of the latest untrue memoir scandal, which has been on my mind. I've been wanting to write something about it, but everything feels unformed and half-baked. I've been fighting off feeling worse than I do right now as well, which isn't helping the old thought engine.

I was trying for about 15 minutes to write about this distinction we seem to be making about the value of fiction vs. non-fiction. I can't find the link for this any more, but Margaret Seltzer explained her actions as knowing she had something important to say, and wanting her voice to be heard. As though a book based on facts is somehow more real and has more to contribute to society then a made up book. When did we start devaluing the novel? Since when has fiction lacked the ability to say something real?

Told ya it was half-baked.

a bit of random

1. Wow, Gary Gygax died. And someone thought it would be tasteful to write the headline "Gygax now beyond the scope of healing spells." That hits the wrong note, I think. But I say that as someone who was never a full-on D&D player.

2. Video games inspired by D&D, however, are a different story. And a long one. It boils down to Michael bringing home this game called Oblivion (link is to YouTube trailer. Video games with trailers, I know). I resisted for about two weeks before I found myself spending an hour creating a badass Dark Elf warrior/ninja/mage and setting off to battle goblins, trolls, and zombies (seriously, I am so badass. I'm at the point now where baddies run up to me all "rawr!" and I just flick my wrist to take them down with a shocking spell I have dubbed "ConEd." [I get to name my own spells.]) This game is fun, creepy, hugely entertaining, never boring.

3. Speaking of ninjas, I caught a squirrel scaling our back window this morning.

It took me a minute to realize he was gripping the screen. A minute later I would've been singing "Spider Squirrel" for the rest of the day.

(think of this as "Squirrel Butt 2008")

4. I finally saw The Bourne Ultimatum last night. How often do you get a trilogy that gets better with each installment? Yes, it was suspenseful and all that, but most of the time I was grinning and exclaiming "awesome!" I highly recommend the little extra footage on shooting the car chase scene in NYC, because yeah, we were wondering how they did all that.

5. This is the best Web site ever.

march fo(u)rth!

I've always loved this date which is also a command. It makes me giggle to imagine a conversation in which person A asks, "What's the date today," person B answers "March 4th," and person A gets up and goes.

Well, not giggle too hard. It's not that funny.

This was the sky out of my window at 6:10 AM this morning:

Spring is definitely coming.

Is that why I feel so restless? I feel like I'm sitting around waiting for something exciting to happen, as though a) I knew what that was and b) I'd already done all I could do to make it happen and now it was up to someone else. This vague feeling that I should be doing something else. No idea what that is, just "something else."

Last week's New York Mag had an interview with Christina Ricci in which she said something about going through seven-year phases or cycles. Is that what I'm going through? I feel like I need some sort of change, but again...to what? Or towards what? Into what? Spare change?

I recently discovered the downside of working from home: I get a little stir-crazy (Michael's response: "Yeah, you do." Thanks, dear.). Scout demands constant attention (he's having a rare quiet moment now, curled up at my feet. Note to self: move cat bed to office). I don't leave the apartment. I'd been expecting a package last week and found myself hoping that the mail carrier would leave me a salmon-colored slip telling me to pick it up at the PO, so I would have an excuse to go out for a walk.

There's something monumentally wrong with that. That I have to go searching for a reason to leave the apartment? As though I feel trapped here? Even though my work is email-based, and I never know when my bosses are going to call to check in, does that mean I'm stuck in one place until they do? Couldn't I take an hour or so to go for a walk, maybe do some shopping? Especially if I'm up early and start working early. Isn't that what "flexible hours" means?

Much as I love the freedom of working from home, is it actually better for me mental health-wise to have a 9ish-5ish job that requires me to be elsewhere? Much as commutes get to me eventually, is it better that I see a variety of random people as I go to and from work, that I feel myself a small part of daily existence? That's what's getting me, I think, this feeling that I am removed from all the glory, and all the crap, that's going on Out There. Despite my occasional tendency to hermit myself away, I could never be a complete recluse.

So I need to remind myself of something obvious and basic--if I want things to change, I need to make it happen. It's no good sitting indoors bemoaning the fact that I don't do things when I have the ability to do them and simply choose not to. I'm not imprisoned here, and I'm not chained to my desk, and as long as my work gets done I have every right to take an hour to run an errand or two. And I don't need to think of these outings as obligations, either, as one more thing that I "have to do" or "need to do."

I think it's a good thing that I'm heading to Minneapolis next week, too, for a quickie weekend to see the Neph (who turns 2 on Thursday!). Oh, and to see my brother in a little play called King Lear.

argh, but also some cool stuff

Computer status is still non-functional. I took Melissa's suggestion and zapped the PRAM, which caused my computer to prompt me for the second install disc. I inserted that, the computer went through the motions, and I actually made it to my desktop. Yay!

And then I went to check for updates, because I had just reinstalled an old version of OS X. I got through all those updates, hit "Restart" as I was supposed to, and . . . I went back to the Black Screen of Panic.

Grrr!

Does this mean the problem is local to the most recent version of OS X?

I can't even think about it right now.

So on to brighter things. Literally. I've been working on the crochet ripple afghan from time to time, and have progressed by several stripes since the last time I put up pictures.

I love the way it's turning out. It feels very graphic and mod to me, the way the neutral and heathery colors work with the bright, almost day-glo colors. I think it's time for a return to heathers, but the next stripe will be red.

And speaking of red . . . true to my intentions, or half of them anyway, I started the $1.50 Cardigan. And by "start," I mean "swatch." I'm going to save the George Eliot for when I start the sweater proper, but I did swatch in front of "The History Boys" (verdict: not a bad movie, would like to see the play, took me forever to figure out that the actor playing Irwin also played Adam in "Bright Young Things.") And once I finally figured out that:

1. "multiples of 3 + 1" does not equal "multiples of 4"
2. the instruction "sl, k2, psso" does not mean SK2P
3. Row 7 is only used when the pattern indicates; the lace pattern simply repeats rows 3-6

I was able to produce a decent looking swatch. And the movie had ended as well.

I'm going to work a couple more rows of the rev st st and then dunk it in water to see how it behaves.

It's not a very good image, but I hope you can make out some of the pattern detail.

Did I finish anything in February? I don't think I did. Except for those quickie crocheted slippers. But the other goals--finishing Starsky, socks--weren't realized. Starsky is almost there, I just need a quiet day to sit and seam. Quiet days are hard to come by at the moment. And socks--I'm just a little bit off socks right now. Not a good thing, since I'm getting holes in my other socks and I could really use new pairs, but there it is--can't motivate myself enough to finish, and don't really want to start any new pairs. What's wrong with me? Surely this illness will pass.