Make The Check Out To...

An interesting tidbit:

My blog is worth $9,597.18.
How much is your blog worth?

~*~

So, my life is back to more or less on track - even if not the track it was on before. M and I have taken the first, hesitant steps toward a friendship rather than a couple-hood, and I think that (given where he is in his life and mindset right now) he made the right choice for both of us. It was a very wise decision on his part, and one that I would have been unable/unwilling to make had it been left to me. I respect him like crazy. (Still love him too, but one is allowed to love friends.)

(Since I have not been posting many details on this here, it may be confusing to those of you who read this blog and not the WordPress version. It has been harder than I had hoped, and the main part of the difficulty did not hit me until the Thanksgiving holiday also hit me. I am better now. For details, go here.)

If you pray and feel like sending them this way, prayers are appreciated. Especially for strength and healing, for both of us. I think this break-up was nearly as hard for him as it was for me.

~*~

And, in the knit-blogger tradition of thanks (for the support during this difficult time) and the holiday season, I am having a contest. Leave me a comment this week with the name of your favorite Christmas carol (or other holiday song, if you don’t celebrate) and I will enter your name into a drawing for a snowflake hand-crocheted by me! I’m not sure which one, as I haven’t finished making all the ones I will need for presents, but since I like them all, I don’t see where that matters. :p I will collect the names next Monday (12/3) before I leave work at 5pm PST, and will try to post the winner and a picture of the snowflake to be sent on Tuesday, the 4th.

Let’s all get into the holiday spirit together, shall we?

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WIP-it Wednesday ~ 11.21.07

So, this will be a picture-heavy post because I am trying to save my words for NaNo. (Plus there’s lots to do today at work before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.)

Snowflake #5 for this year gets started…

Mangotini #2 at the gusset increases, and posing where I do the majority of my sock knitting these days…

And these aren’t WIPs, but they are fun pictures anyway…

A Haunted Mansion (at Disneyland) vanity plate! Yay, how fun!

Prettiness from the car…

Have a happy Thanksgiving tomorrow, everyone! (or at least you US folks… everyone else, um, happy Thursday?)

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A Little Naughty

(Side note - I wonder what my Google searches will look like with that post title?)

My father is sad. He says he has been “replaced by something naughty” - this:

My new niddy noddy. (It’s got some of the pencil roving I’ve been spinning ever so slowly on it right now.) It came with was ordered at the same time as a new ball winder from the Woolery because I was sick of winding yarn by hand. The yarn for the Cabletini socks he was good enough to hold for me while I wound it off into two (relatively) equal balls, one for each sock. He said that he used to act as a swift for his mom, too, and so didn’t mind helping me out also.

But, I guess I wanted the process to move faster (or to have my arms ache less afterwards) and so I bought tools for the job. Yay!

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and life goes on

Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch.
- Orson Welles

~*~

There will not be much of a post today. But here is a short update.

M and I did break up over the weekend. I hadn't wanted to, but I begin to think that it's for the best. I have settled for being satisfied in previous relationships, and have decided that isn't worth it. So, I was thrilled to be finally happy in a relationship, and wanted to make it work. Now, the problem is, I didn't want him to settle, either. And he doesn't feel we have enough in common to really "fit" together. (My dad phrased it well - he said that M has a lot in common with me, but that I don't have as much in common with him.) So, if we were to stay together, I think he would be settling. Which I don't want.

Anyway, this is hard but not as hard as it could be. We are still friends, and we are going to work at a friendship in a while. Need a little time to adjust first, though. (That is a good thing, as I really didn't want to lose him from my life entirely. It is also a strange thing, as I have never had a "good" breakup like this before.) And I did find out (in words for the first time) that he loves me in his fashion but that he doesn't think he can give me as much as I need. So that is bittersweet.

I think what hurts most is that it doesn't hurt enough. For the beginning of the weekend (during the "silent" phase that some of you mentioned, while he was making sure this was what he wanted to do) it felt like my world was ending. But now, it's just a change. A hard change, but one that was perhaps the right one. It was certainly a very brave thing that he did, and I respect him for it.

~*~

And now it's time to catch up on NaNo. I (obviously) didn't get any writing done over the weekend, and while I have a lot of writing to go, I think I can do it.

Thanks, all for the support. And I guess this ended up being longer than I anticipated. Here is a LOLcat picture to end the post on a smile...

~*~

moar funny pictures

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Charged

Correct me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t the fine line between sanity and madness gotten finer?
- George Price

~*~

Today will be a hard day for me. Last night was an incredibly emotionally charged night, and while many things were discussed, nothing was resolved. Only, we did at least acknowledge that there were issues to be resolved. (Oh - this is relationship issues, if you wondered or didn’t want to assume.) That’s a start. But when the issues are mainly that he needs to figure out what he wants out of “us” then there’s not much that I can do about it. I know what I want. And I hate the fear that comes of not knowing if he will decide he wants the same thing.

But. Moving on.

There was no writing last night. Nor knitting. And no new pictures. But since I feel sorry for you having to wade through posts with no pictures, here is an old-ish picture of Suzy.

~*~

There’s so much comedy on television. Does that cause comedy in the streets?
- Dick Cavett

~*~

Normally today I would do a Friday Fiver, but it looks like it would be too emotionally charged for me to do while I need to keep my focus up for work. It has questions like “what’s the last thing you threw away?” and “I could have been _____.” So I’m passing on that today.

As a last note on the blog before the weekend, however, I will say that everyone sure seems to take a lot of showers when they have writer’s block! I guess it would be easy to tell whose writing is going well - the people with dirty hair have been typing away while the people who are squeaky clean have been blocked! Heh, at least that made me laugh yesterday. I have a very good group of blog readers.

Thanks, guys.

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Week 46 ~ Darwin's Radio

Week 46 ~ Nov 12-18, 2007

Darwin's Radio
by Greg Bear
(science fiction)

This is a straight sci-fi, something that I haven't read in a while. Even the Stardoc series, while being sci-fi rather than fantasy, had the romance element in it as well to make it more along the lines of "my usual reads." But Darwin's Radio is a sci-fi, and a plot-driven one. If you like character-driven fiction, you will quite possibly find yourself getting very bogged down somewhere in the middle.

The plot itself is interesting, don't get me wrong. It is well thought-out, and though there are some elements of it that I think are implausible, that is one of the hazards of sci-fi. There will always be someone who disagrees on what is likely to happen in the future. I don't have a problem with the parts I found implausible - they were a part of the story, and for the author's vision, they worked. The problem I have is that I felt no connection to the characters. None. There are plenty of places to, as well. One of the main characters nearly dies on the ice, another loses her husband in a rather icky way. The third is caught in a terrorist's bomb, and nearly killed. And I didn't care. About any of it. Not my type of fiction.

I did finish the book, in part to see what happens in the storyline. But I didn't finish it because I cared what happened to the characters. For those who don't care if their fiction is character-driven or not, this is a good book to pick up. But if you want a connection to the characters in order to get caught up in a book, I'd give this one a pass.

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Now On Paper

So I spent Saturday in San Francisco doing a combination of having fun and being in pain due to a PMS headache. (Hate them!) We wandered around, window shopped, and peeked at the beaches. No sign of the oil spill except for closed beaches and caution tape.

Sunday was more productive, and actually saw writing. I got some good stuff in, and yet it seems that all of the good words lately must be written on paper first, the old-fashioned way, before they can be put into the computer.

Read last week:

• The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• Darwin’s Radio - Greg Bear

And other stuff that I got done… I starched my snowflakes. (Sounds silly, yes I know.) They were still drying when I checked them last night, so I will try to take pictures of them again today. (For one reason or another I don’t want to take more pictures of them until they are finished.) Of the 4 I made, one is from a free online pattern and the other three are from a book. I’ll post the details with the pictures.

I think that’s all for today. Hope you had a good weekend!

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Week 45 ~ The Little Prince

Week 45 ~ Nov 5-11, 2007

The Little Prince
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
(fiction, classic)

This book is a classic for me. I loved it when I first read it in high school, and I love it as much now. It makes me cry. It makes me laugh. It makes me think.

This is a book that everyone should read. And it's labeled as a children's book, though children and adults will get different things out of it. It is short, so there should be no problem finishing it.

I cannot say enough good about this book. I just - can not. It is hard to find the words to describe it...

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Plots and Plans and Pompoms

We’ll take the title from the end, and work our way forward. Why not?

Here is a little bit of encouragement for all my fellow NaNo-ers out there:

You can do it! I know you can! (I’m cheering myself on while I’m at it, by the way.)

~*~

So I found out earlier this week that the wedding I had been frantically knitting the Swan Lake Stole for is an uber-casual wedding. As in, I won’t be wearing the dress that I had planned to wear the stole with. And so no need to knit like the wind.

I am still in love with the stole and the way the beads work on it, but if I am not going to be wearing it to a wedding anytime soon I need to focus on making Christmas gifts. So, the stole is not my only knitted object that will be getting some love and attention now. Yesterday I picked up the Hot Cocoa Socks, and am loving the way they are turning out. I just hope they fit M. (Or wait… should I be hoping they fit me instead?)

~*~

And in the NaNoWriMo department, I have been plugging away at my story (as the daily updates will prove). The best part about this is that I have been discovering things about the plot and characters that I didn’t know before. This is always much fun.

Now, I am not one of the writers whose writing method goes something like “and then the characters told me the story and I wrote it down.” I believe that the story is my work, and that I have control over it, in the end. However, I am not opposed to letting my subconscious (otherwise known in writing circles as the Muse) tell me things that it has worked out without my direction. I am quite happy when my brain takes a running head-start on a story, because that means I can be working on both the writing and the knitting (or crocheting, card making, spinning, etc.) and not feel guilty.

So, the end result is that things happen without my having to plan every little detail, and I can be surprised by some of the twists and turns just as the reader is. (If I don’t like said twists and turns, however - and for a writerly reason, not because the reader in me wants a different outcome - I reserve full right to change the ending. (The way some authors claim that they have no control is a rant for another day.))

And, the reason that all of this came up in the first place is that I had one of those twists last night. I was plugging away, trying to get words on my computer and I got nothing. So I pulled out lined paper and made a cup of tea, and ended up giving my hero premonition dreams that he had blocked away for years until he met the heroine and now they’re out of his control again, and…

Well. Yeah. The words kept coming. The only problem was I got tired, and so typed everything in and went to bed. Still - you gotta love when the writing is good. (When the writing is bad is also a topic best left for another day.)

~*~

11.9.07 Friday Fiver:

1. Who do you owe? My parents. I’m not talking money, here - I owe too many people money.

2. What do you wait for? (cue Disney music) … my prince will come … (Sorry, couldn’t resist. That was my first impulse.)

3. What do you disguise? Mushrooms. Otherwise I won’t usually eat them. Sometimes avocado too.

4. Tell us a lie: No thanks.

5. Friday fill-in: can’t get enough of you, baby…. (I’m in a song mood today, I guess.)

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Around The Blog ~ 11.8.07

Here's something I haven't done in a while - a trip around the blog!

1. Paperback Writer is back! And she has a very amusing story about vampire portrayals.
   1. and Joely has dedicated her TT to PBW.
2. Naomi is posting her NaNo progress, and amuses me no end with her “reeking of awesomeness” and “reeking of suckitude” comments.
3. I Can Has Cheezburger has some very funny pictures, as always.
4. Miriam has pictures of a new pattern up, and it’s very lovely. (Go to her site for info on the pattern - I don’t want to deny her the site traffic by linking directly.)
5. L-Squared has a sock inspector.
6. Chris is making her kitties pose in bibs.
7. Ann has up some lovely pictures for her Thursday Thirteen.
8. Jessica is home sick instead of knitting.
9. Sian is an Animal!
10. Melanie is spinning.
11. Nancy (at Romancing the Yarn) did the twist - or at least, her ankle did.
12. Bellamoden crocheted her gramma a lovely scarf.
13. … and to round out the 13, the Yarn Harlot has an unoriginal hat. (Complete with pattern.)

Happy Thursday!

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WIP it Good

Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane.
- Philip K. Dick

~*~

So… since my “Writing Wednesdays” have turned into “Writing Everydays” for NaNoWriMo, I will do something different this month. (Well, the NaNo posts are really over here. And actually, I’m thinking of changing this for good, but we’ll have to see how it works in November.) This month is a WIP Wednesday! And the title is stolen shamelessly from Turtlegirl, who did an awesome parody of Devo’s song “Whip It.”

(WIP = work in progress, for the acronym-challenged.) I have not been knitting anything except the Swan Lake Stole for a few weeks now, but I haven’t shown updated pictures of the other knits, either. So…. we have a WIP Parade today! With not many words to accompany them - I’m trying to get the NaNo word count increased, not the “babble on the blog” word count.

First, the MS3 aka Mystery Stole 3 aka Swan Lake Stole:

And then the Lotus Blossom tank:

Next up, the Cabletini socks (one is finished already; this is the second sock):

And then, the Hot Cocoa socks for M (first sock, third incarnation):

Oh, wait -

What’s this?

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Happy MEMEday!

When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not.
- Mark Twain

~*~

Since I have no real content for you today, have a random picture and a MEME.

This was taken out my window the other day at sunset.

~*~

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be.

1. Who was your best friend?
Susie, I think. I didn't have a "best" friend, really, more a few close friends. But of my close friends, she was the closest.

2.What sports did you play?
Sport? Me? Uh, yeah - NONE.

3. What kind of car did you drive?
I didn't.

4. It's Friday night, where were you?
Home - probably reading, maybe at a Girl Scout event or out at a movie.

5. Were you a party animal?
No.

6. Were you considered a flirt?
No. Didn't know how to flirt.

7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir?
No. (Wish I had been, but no.)

8. Were you a nerd?
Yeah, I suppose so.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled?
Never.

10. Can you sing the fight song?
Did we have a fight song?

11. Who was your favorite teacher?
Probably my humanities teacher. I can't remember names, though.

13. School mascot?
The Seventy-Sixers. Like patriots, only not.

14. Did you go to Prom?
Nope.

5. If you could go back and do it over, would you?
Nope.

6. What do you remember most about graduation?
It was hot. California in June, in the middle of the football field. HOT.

17. Where were you on senior skip day?
I don't even remember if we had one. I didn't cut, if we did.

18. Did you have a job your senior year?
No.

19. Where did you go most often for lunch?
We hung out in our Humanities classroom at lunch. Or in the D-quad (my school had 4 quads). Though I brought my lunch a lot.

21. What did you do after graduation?
Went away to college.

22. When did you graduate?
1994

23. Who was your Senior prom date?
Didn't go, so nobody.

24. Are you going to your 10 year reunion?
Uh... Make that "did you go," and no. Wasn't aware that we had one until after the fact - that's the problem with attending a huge (aka 4000 students) school.

25. Who was your home room teacher?
Don't think we had a home room. Announcements came during second period, I think.

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For the Sheriff

Lorraine, this is for you:

"Suzy, get off my laundry." - me

And for those who aren't insane, NaNo (aka NaNoWriMo aka National Novel Writing Month) is where a bunch of people who "wanted to write a novel someday" sit down and actually do it. The goal is to write 50,000 words in one month - namely, this one. November.

I have done this twice already, once successfully and once less so. It's actually quite amusing.

So, many apologies, but the majority of my posts this month will be about NaNo. I will try to keep the kitty pictures flowing. And the knitting pictures, too. (Speaking of knitting, I am into Chart #2 on the second half of the Swan Lake/Mystery Stole. I do not know why I decided to finish this stole in the same month that I decided to write a huge amount of words, but there you go. Both must be done this month. Pictures to come.)

"Laundry? I don't see any laundry, Mom. Just a nice kitty bed." - Suzy

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For PBW Again

Since PBW (aka Lynn Viehl aka SL Viehl, aka Paperback Writer, and so on and so forth) still hasn’t returned to the blog-o-sphere, here is another Shakespearean knock-off in her honor. It goes with the Romeo & Juliet one I posted at Joely’s urging not long ago…

(ETA: Yes, I have heard that she is probably just really busy and doesn't have time to blog. These are still fun to do.)

~*~

If we mortals have offended,
Think but this and all is mended,
That we have but lurk-ed here
While your blog posts did appear.
And the trolls and spammers seem
But amusing, as a dream.
Lady, do not stay away:
We would cheer you, if we may.
And, as I’m an honest Joe,
If you have unearned woe
Now to hear again your song,
Our prayers will make you well ere long;
Else the Blog abandoned call -
Then, goodbye unto us all.
Give us a word, if you be well,
And all our foreboding dispel.

~*~

Happy Friday, everyone!

In the meantime, here’s a Halloween-themed Friday Fiver:

1. Did you celebrate Halloween? Sort-of.

2. Do you like to dress in costume? Yes. But only if I have time to plan it out.

3. Favorite chocolate? Resees Peanut Butter Cups or York Peppermint Patties.

4. Best scary movie? None. They’re all icky. (Though the original movie The Haunting - based off the book The Haunting of Hill House - is downright creepy.)

5. Friday fill-in: The pain of dying (but not death itself) scares me.

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