I'm allergic to the university library

I've got some time to kill before the student services office opens. I'm up the university bright and early in order to beat the insane first year orientation rush of students. Hopefully all my books will be in and I can get my syllabi(buses?) today as well.

And yes Podgy! I am knitting something with cables- and they are making me bonkers! I see people knitting with cable needles like it's nothing, meanwhile, when I knit with cable needles, I always have to drop the yarn I am holding, shift my weight, hold the needles closer to me, possibly elbow someone next to me, and sometimes (just sometimes) I have to swear a whole lot. Oh yeah, and this present (since this person I don't think reads this blog, I won't name them but I will talk about it) is a toque with two different yarns (sooooo pretty- like autumn). I knit the swatch as the cable pattern, figured out my stitches per inch, then I figured out what I needed in order to knit the toque. But you see, what I did was figure out how many inches I needed for the toque, not for the cable pattern. So the cable pattern is 16 stitches, and my stitch count was 184, which is not divisible by 16, so I realized this after I knit an inch of ribbing and just figured out a different way of putting the cables on, and also decided to do less cables so I wouldn't kill myself. All said and done I am doing 7 of the original cables and 7 similar but smaller ones- so it looks quite pretty, I have it in my bag here with me, it's gorgeous. Is it too large? Why yes, yes it really really is. That's what happens when you change the pattern and don't bother to knit up another swatch. I am honestly thinking of sewing then cutting off one of the cable repeats. It might make me throw up in my mouth a little but there is no way this toque is going to fit a woman's head and I'm not giving it to anyone else! Oh, the sewing and cutting is usually only done with sweaters which is shown there by Wendy (this is the woman whom I have quite a jealous knit envy for- you can see why when you read her blog). I'll have the full rundown after Xmas. Crap, they are kicking me out!

-90 minutes later-

le sigh. Well, I got quite a bit done but not all of it was as expected. My literature class is studying the buffy film, not the TV series. What the fuck? Blarg. Other than that, the syllabus isn't that crazy so it shouldn't be a problem keeping up with the readings for that class. And I have all the courses I need and then some to graduate, so that's good. I went to the bookstore to double check my books and good is that my one class has no text and my other class has two which I already have, but the bad is that my text for my science course still isn't in which means I'll probably have to stand in line with all the other students for half an hour to get it. My student fees are mostly taken care of until next week where I will have to go back into student services to give them this green slip of paper which will also require standing in a line but the lady there was so nice and helpful that I can't begrudge that. Thank goodness for knitting eh?

Oh right, and about the title, I am allergic to the university library, but I think it is their air conditioning or something. All I do when I sit in there is sneeze. Very annoying.

-60 minutes later-

Ohhhh.... I got a spiffy locker and I got one of those thingies you can put in your binder of the human skeleton (anterior & posterior) so I'll something to do during my science class! My last science class I drew skulls with bat wings.

And I got gum!

I can hear the distance

I couldn't think of a title so I just threw in one of the lines from the song that has been going through my head for the past hour even though I haven't listened to it for quite a while now (China- Tori Amos).

I have been knitting like mad because I need to get as much done before school starts as possible because knitting productivity goes down once school starts (damn papers). I finished my mother's present and the second part of a three part gift. I also have started two new ones and am still contemplating with to do with my dad's scarf (he doesn't read the blog). I started doing double knitting with maple leafs, so red background and white leaf on one side and a white background and a red leaf on the other side, and then switching in little squares for the length of the scarf but as it turns out, double knitting and following a maple leaf scarf is way more work than I can allot for an Xmas gift but I don't want to frog it because I'm so proud of my one little maple leaf so I'm in a rut with that Xmas gift currently. I do think that I have all the yarn purchased for the rest of my xmas gifts.

School is about a week or so away. I'm taking three courses: Literature of the Fantastic (I get to study Buffy, who's jealous? You? Of course you are!), Physical Sciences (shut up), and methods in social psychology (this class has the potential to go either way, I'll keep you informed). Mostly everything is already decorated with stickers or drawings (Jim did the drawing for my social psychology binder) and all the fun stuff (purple glue!) is purchased and carefully stored (somewhere on my bedroom floor). I'm actually kinda looking forward to school starting now. Just a little, but at least it's there.

Oh right, I also handed in my two weeks notice at work. It's bittersweet cause I didn't mind it too much and now I can't say, I work at a comic book store, but oh well. More time to study and volunteer since I will be applying to education programs this year (oooohhhhh scary!).

Away I go to bed! I mean, it's nearly 11 people, ELEVEN!!!

Three bonus points if you can end the phrase to my blog title (contest not extended to either of my sisters because it would be like asking them to point to their toes).

Right! The meme from Drunken Monkey! Okay... won't be as funny as hers but here I go:

5 things in my freezer

1. Frozen fruit popsicles
   
2. jalepeno poppers (I didn't spell that right did I?)
3. Tonnes of salmon (maybe not tonnes, but surely lots)
4. Some alcohol that has been untouched for over a year
5. Ice (I know that's a gimme but I'd have to get up and go look and I'm lazy)

5 Things in my closet

1. 4 inch red satin heels with a silver bow on them, open toe
2. a massive bag of yarn from my Grandma's thrift store that she bought for me that I will one day crochet into an afghan for her
3. sweaters I keep but never wear
4. toys from Wendys
5. three very similar black dresses cause I keep on buying the same one over and over again

5 Things in my car

1. I don't have a car
2. so there's not much in it
3. but if I did have a car
4. it would have the bobble head buddy jesus
5. from some jay and silent bob movie

5 Things in my purse

1. puffer
2. batman keychain
3. loose change
4. 5 dollar bills
5. expired learners licence (shut up shut up!)

5 Things in my school bag

1. swatch for my Grandma's xmas present
2. deodorant
3. work shirt
4. elastic thread
5. cable needle

I should have lied and made it out like I was a serial killer. Now that would be funny.

Goodnight!

School and other observations

Top Ten Reasons Why Going Back to School is Okay; Take I

1. Buying and organizing school supplies! I mean, we already got the largest container of gel pens ever (100 gel pens for 14$!) I still get to decorate my binders, decorate my page dividers, decide on a pencil case (kitties or bears?), put together a portable knitting case (already got the latest Simply Knitting magazine that came with the knitting case, but it wasn't filled), and other fun school supplies oriented activities.
   
2. Getting to see my friends that I haven't seen over the summer because a)they went away and b) I'm antisocial and don't call anyone.
   
3. Once that student loan comes in I'm getting some nice tops that fit well dammit!
   
4. The excitement of getting new books even though they are overpriced and sometimes ridicously boring and soul sucking, they are still books and I do love them so.
   
5. Knowing that I graduate this year!
   
6. That everything changes.
7. New things to preoccupy my thoughts because sometimes I get a little OCD when left on my own.
   
8. Learning stuff so that I don't suck at jeopary as much as I do (thought tonight, did anyone see that 'words of a writer' category that was freakishly easy in the double jeopary round that barely any of the contestents got? What was with that?) Because I still remember when something I learned in biology helped me answer a jeopardy question- that made those hellish four months slightly better in my mind's eye.
   
9. Going back to being considered a 'student' in the opinion of my bank so I can use my debit card again without being slaughtered in fees (grumble).
10. Being in a place that I know well and am comfortable in and feeling good about my future.
    

Other observations as of late

• A good way of curbing how much chocolate you can eat in a sitting is by making each candy, in this case, a singe reeses pieces, dependent upon knitting an entire row of stitches. The trick is to make that row about 80 tiny little stitches, so that in half an hour you've eaten about three. I've now started hoarding candies, so I knit about 12 rows (or about three TV shows worth) and then I get all the 12 candies at once! I got this idea from the Yarn Harlot by the way, well, not the hoarding part, the caaaaandy part.
  
• Even if you don't know if you are losing weight or not, walking every day just makes you feel good.
  
• If you decide to have a conversation with a squirrel in your yard, make sure that your new neighbour isn't also sitting on his porch. Even if you are affectionately calling the squirrel a dirty little bastard.
  
• I want a wedding like Jill's wedding. It was small and in the park outside with great willow trees and pretty flowers and all green and lush and she wore blue with gold highlights and a blue long veil and was sooooo beautiful and had a bouquet of full bloom scarlet red rose with babies breath and he wore a maroon dress shirt and it was family for the wedding with lots of babies and the reception was at the house on the porch with the best salmon and chicken and veggies with dip and caesar salad and cupcakes in a tower and there was a great cake (mocha) and lots of charming people to talk to and even more babies and conversations about travel and how marriage changes how you feel about people (I didn't really have anything to contribute to that conversation but I liked listening to it) and people asked about Spike and some people knew Jim and Jenn and oh yes, there was wine and I had a glass (red) and fyi, my hair looked great, which is something I would also like at my wedding, and it was, without a doubt, the best wedding I have been to, and the bride and the groom are so great and wonderful and yes, it was a good day.
  
• Left to my own devices, I will eat so much watermelon that I have to have a nap.
  
• Sheena's comment on my last blog entry made me laugh so hard that I will get the day to day sex position journal.
• School will be okay.
  

quasi-insomniac

Did I spell that right? Anyhoo, I've been having odd bouts of insomnia lately, it was really bad last week, and it kicked in again last night. Before I dose myself with gravel, I find I come up with lots of good ideas for blogs and I either a)forget them b)realize that's actually a stupid idea for a blog, or c)for some reason or another they just aren't blogged. Some of the good ideas that I haven't blogged about are

• how the Bears take good care of me when I wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare (which have been on the increase along with the insomnia so I would really like to have a conversation with the PTB about this all) and how comforting they are. Spike the Bear and I had a whole conversation about this when I woke up at 3am with a nightmare and he came to sleep with me but I couldn't sleep so we chatted and I can't remember much but I wasn't scared so it was all good. I love the Bears.
  
• how I saw the university route city bus the other day and kinda threw up in my mouth a little. I need to realize that there are good things about school starting and blog that.
  
• what I should do with the incredibly, incredibly fine linen yarn that was given to me by a lovely friend but is so fine I have no idea what I could knit with it. I came up with all these ideas and was going to ask opinions but I can't remember now.
  
• why it is that in the space it takes me to knit a bloody dishcloth somebody else can knit a several pair of socks -or even better-in the space it takes me to knit ONE sock somebody can knit a fair isle sweater on needles the same size as mine. Bitter people, I'm bitter.
  

Some bad ideas were

• different types of veggies to put in tuna casserole (I had a whole list and different combos to put out to you all in a survery)
• if I should get the 'position a day' sex calendar for 2007 in a journal form or a day to day calendar; again, I had a whole blog entry about this

And now, I am going to bed. Is it bad that I don't care about my grammer on my blog?

Hi there, Cowboy

So... I've been back for a week. I heard a funny story about a very organized woman at the knitting store today and I laughed more at myself because I haven't unpacked yet. Some things, yeah. The first thing I did when I really was at home (technically, I got home at 6am, showered, went to bed, got up at 930, went to work at 1030, so this is when I got home from work and wasn't a complete wreck) was open a package from Brooke which was this beautiful yarn! As you can see, the Bears like it lots too! From left to right, that's Spike the Bear, Daphne Rose, and Mosaic. Mosaic is one of my Bears, not a New York Bear in case anyone got confused. We are all very excited! There are many things we are thinking of knitting with it, like this, or this, possibly this if we are feeling advantegeous. (if you don't feel like clicking on those links, they are all just knitted sock patterns from Knitty) In other news, this household has started their first puzzle! It's a photomosaic puzzle of a bear on a bookshelf that I got Jim for Christmas. If you recall, my family tried to do a photomosaic puzzle of the Starry Night painting by Van Gogh and we ended up not even nearly completing it in time because it was so bloody difficult. Luckily this puzzle is much more manageable, but still very challenging. We have a special mat we put it on to keep it from getting kitty bites on it.
And oh yes, another reason to blog is for me to announce that I want to lose ten pounds this month. I'm not going to list my current weight or measurements, not out of vanity or shame or anything, I just find it annoying when skinny people do that and while I'm not skinny, I think it would be hypocritical of me to do so. So if I figured if I blogged about this that I might actually lose some of the weight. I know I've blogged before about exercise and all that, but if it helps even a little, then it's worth it. I actually did have a weight loss goal for the summer, and I did really well in June, but July is a month of shame (it's fun when you name a month a writeoff before the month is over because that meant that going out for hamburgers and a root beer float on Sunday was perfectly legit).
I still haven't taken any photos of the yarn I got in Kelowna but I will soon. And yes, shout it from the rooftops, I knit a pair of socks!!!! Me! Wheeeeeeeeeee!