Crossing Guard

Ooops. As Sian reminded me, I do have a Blogger blog. I've been posting on my WordPress one, but forgetting to cross-post. So. Here is a post on both WP and Blogger...

So, Sian tagged me for the book MEME. The rules are as follows:

Go to the current book you are reading, on page 161, and copy down the 5th sentence:

"Very dead. Asphyxiated."

From Curse The Dark by Laura Anne Gilman. (And I cheated, since the 5th sentence was only one word. That's the 4th and 5th sentence on the page.)

And I guess you're supposed to tag people. I'm going to pull from all over:

Amanda, Tez, Jess, Anois, and Ginger or Wiggley.

~*~

Also, I'm in the moos for another MEME. This one I was not tagged for, and therefore will not be doing any tagging, but I nicked it from Tez:

A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag seven people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it".

Since I was not tagged, I am ignoring B & C. Plus, I like snubbing directions of that kind. Chain letters, too.

1. I skipped kindergarten. (Was reading in preschool, so I guess it made sense.)

2. As a result, I didn't get my driver's license until I was 18. By the time I was 16, getting your license was no longer "the thing to do," so I had no incentive.

3. Also (partly) as a result, I've always dated guys older than me. This ranges from 2 months to 15 1/2 years.

4. Regardless of #3, a large percentage of the guys I find/have found attractive are younger than me.

5. I don't believe in horoscopes. Yet I read them regularly anyway. (They amuse me. Greatly.)

6. I almost never watch a movie (at home) without doing something else at the same time. This could be knitting, scrapbooking, cross stitch, etc.

7. One of my favorite holiday treats has "rat tail" as a part of the instructions for making it. =D I'm going to let you guess what it is. However, the holiday in question is fast approaching, so I'll try to post pictures and instructions soon.

~*~

Have a great Tuesday!

Read More...

Summary only...

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.

Read More...

Summary only...

Monday, Monday

Well, for those that asked, yes I got the costume finished in time. And yes, I have pictures - but not with me. Sorry. I will get them up as soon as possible.

I have noticed, while restocking the candy dish at my desk, that the chocolate always vanishes fastest. And the peanut butter cups seem to go faster than the other chocolates, with the regular milk chocolate mini-bars going last. The Starburst which I also have in my dish (for color, variety, and cost-effectiveness) sit in the bottom until all of the chocolate is gone. And of the Starburst, the yellow (which is incidentally my favorite) gets taken last. I currently have about 14 yellow Starburst, 3 pink, 3 orange, and 2 red in my dish.

Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it.
Laurence J. Peter

‘Huh? Me? Mom, what are you giving me that funny look for?’ ~Suzy

(This is going to be a very random blog day, in case you hadn’t noticed.)

I am still working on all my knitting projects. None of them have new pictures, because frankly none of them have gotten that much progress. I’ve been doing a little bit here, a little bit there, and not much at any one time on any one project. I have been restless lately. I have also been playing Oblivion on the computer. (Mmmmm… Sean Bean as a voice actor…) I know, Oblivion’s been out for quite some time now, but see, I keep starting over and haven’t yet finished the main plotline.

I have been working on my writing projects, too. Making notes for CP (because I don’t want to actually start writing it until November for NaNo) and working on the outline, thinking through my worldbuilding to see if there’s anything that I forgot, or anything that needs to be re-worked to make more trouble for my MCs… I’m also almost done with the edit of AD for Phoenix. Yay! I’m down to about 20 pages in her ms. So I really need to get that done. ASAP.

I really don’t have anything more to say. So I’ll leave you now, and hopefully have some progress and pictures tomorrow. Maybe on Lotus Blossom? I am really liking knitting on a larger scale. I might get some good progress on the tank. We’ll see.

Read More...

Summary only...

You Oughta Be In Pictures

Here's how it works:
1) Go to http://www.google.com/
2) Click on Google images
3) Type in your name and search
4) Repost the picture of the oddest, craziest, strangest, coolest, oldest, etc. person that shares your name. Post multiples if you find a few you like.
5) Pass it on to at least 5 other people.

(I tried using my real name, but got almost exclusively images of celebrities in various stages of (un)dress, and so decided on the username instead.)

Hee hee! Those are fun. The first one is actually where I got this username, so it's appropriate that it was one of the first images to come up on the search.

And since I wasn't actually tagged to do this MEME, I'm not tagging anyone. It's fun to do, so play along if you want! (And may you have better luck than I did with family friendly images...)

Read More...

Summary only...

Back - I Hope

So I should be back to the BlogWorld now. Yay! This past week has been crazy, but I think the craziness has calmed down. So I should be back. And I'm supposed to have pictures, but I forgot them at home. So they will have to wait.

(Except for this one which I have been saving for just such an emergency.)

I have also been tagged to do the 8 Random Facts MEME, and while I have done 7 random facts already (and could therefore just add one, and call it done) I'll see what I can do. They will probably be short random facts, however.

1. I hate licorice.
2. I don't like horror movies.
3. "Reclaiming" negative words (nigger, ho, bitch, etc) seems pointless and stupid to me, not empowering.
4. I like sweet wines.
5. When I was young, I OD'd on pink clothing.
6. I tend toward depression on a semi-regular basis, but I can only stay depressed for a short time before I have had enough and stop.
7. I don't like sourdough bread much.
8. You don't want to get me mad. I can be super frosty when mad, and I hold a Grudge. (with a capital "g" which rhymes with "p" which stands for pool... sorry, got The Music Man on the brain.)
   

Read More...

Summary only...

New Look!

I decided that it was silly to take nice pictures and not use them. So here's a new template using a picture I took instead of someone else's artwork.

Enjoy!

Read More...

Summary only...

Incoming!

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Courtesy of Maripat and Hanna, though with so many people I know blogging it was really only a matter of time before I got hit with this one. And I really don't mind... it gives me something to blog about this morning. (But remind me later - I have knitting progress pics to show you, too.)

So... eight random facts. Well now, let's see just how random I can get, shall we? Sounds like a challenge to me.

1. When I was little, I wanted to be an author. Specifically, a novelist. Then I let Real Life interfere, and accepted that I would never make a living at it, and so let that dream slip by the wayside. Now, I have determined that even if I never actually make a living at it, I am going to be a novelist. (Some time after college graduation I decided that Real Life was way overrated, and have since gone back to my own personal blend of Romantic Idealism. I'll take that over the dog-eat-dog world any day.)
2. If I had entered college with the knowledge that I graduated with, I would have majored in Linguistics instead of English.
3. I almost made it to the top of Half Dome (in Yosemite National Park), and to this day I regret the sense of vertigo that prevented me from going all the way up. (Yeah? You try hiking up a one-person-wide trail with two-way traffic, lots of gravel, and a very steep drop-off. My poor little 13-year-old mind couldn't handle it.)
4. I am a morning person by choice, but given the opportunity will stay up until all hours. Partly because when you're involved in theatre it's often hard to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Partly because night is when I get new story ideas. Partly because I'll turn on the computer to play a game "just for a half-hour before bed" and next thing I know it's 2 AM.
5. I kicked a guy in the shins once in junior high. He was invading my personal space. Poor guy was probably just trying to get up the nerve to talk to me, or something, but he was being super annoying.
6. I am a firm believer in both fate and free will.
7. I talk to spiders and try to convince them that if they stay outside, I will live and let live. But if they come inside, and get within my reach, I will kill them. This discussion doesn't usually work very well. Perhaps because both M and my dad are the "save the spider" type, and so will carry the crawly things outside instead of letting me kill them. I mean. Really. They are ruining my credibility, here.
8. Books are a not-so-secret not-so-guilty pleasure of mine. I can wander a bookstore for hours trying to decide what I can afford to buy. When I have my bookshelves set up (not at the moment because I am currently living at my parents' home) and all my books out (ditto previous) I can also spends hours re-arranging them so that they are grouped by type, or by author last name, or by genre, or just in a way that looks really cool. And then don't try to put one back in the wrong place, because I will have just spent hours making them exactly the way I want them. I will know.

That was fun. Thanks, Mari!

And now who to tag... Let's see.

1. Sian, who I have been finding out has an insane amount of stuff in common with me, and besides she is the one who made sure I knew I was tagged.
2. Charlie, since she's been absent for so long.
3. Brigitte, in the hopes of getting more stories of the Little Dudes.
4. Crys, since she'll have some things to write about when she gets back from her trip.
5. kendas and
6. springfire, since they have both complained of not having spent time with their flists
7. Also ez_oz and
8. andrea_miccaver who always seem to like MEMEs.

Read More...

Summary only...

Knit This

Since I have no actual content for you today, here is a knitting MEME and a kitty picture…

(Though this is a knitting MEME, I plan to note the things I’ve done with crochet, as well. An asterisk before the name means I’ve done the thing in question with crochet, in addition to any markings that apply to the knitting.)

Mark with bold the things you have ever done, with italics, the ones you plan to do sometime, and leave the rest.

*Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire(I don’ t think I would like this for a very long time, but I’d like to learn)
Shawl - it’s a WIP, but since it’s not finished I guess it’s still a “plan to do”
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting) - this includes mitered squares, no?
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn - Again, this is a WIP. The Tofutsies socks are a soy blend.
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
*Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes - do eyelets for threading i-cords count? I think so.
Knitting with alpaca - homespun alpaca, at that!
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Spinning
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting - I think so. But what exactly counts?
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac - No idea what project yet. But it looks cool.
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
*Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves - They didn’t have fingertips, though. (Fingers, yes. But they stopped at each finger’s first knuckle.)
Intarsia
Knitting with linen - I have some flax to spin, too. So maybe even my own homespun linen.
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers - Since these DON’T have separate fingers, I’m not counting the ones I’ve already made. But there’s other patterns I want to try…
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
*Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair - I planned to spin yarn from my cat fun once, but gave up on that.
Hair accessories
Knitting in public - Absolutely!

Read More...

Summary only...

Goes With The Job Description...

It's funny, but while blogging I've noticed that my knitter-friends post more often than my writer-friends. (In general. This is not counting Actual Professionals like PBW and Holly Lisle.)

I guess writers write on the job, and so lose the interest in doing it for fun.

Makes me scared about the possibility of going into the tech writing field. I don't want to sap all of my creative writing desire out because I'm writing tech stuff for a living.

Read More...

Summary only...

Friday Fiver: Smarter than a…

(Friday Fivers are basically just a series of five questions posted on Fridays that anyone can answer on their blogs. The questions go up here, for any who are curious.)

1. What’s your favorite game show to watch? I only actually watch one: Jeopardy. And then only sometimes.

2. What game show would you like to be on? I’d love to be able to have the quick-recall needed to be on Jeopardy. But as for the “on TV” part, I don’t really want to be on any of them.

3. Do you know anyone who has been on a game show? Not that I know of.

4. What do you think the worst game show is? Honestly? The only other game show I can think of at the moment is “Wheel of Fortune,” yet I doubt that it’s the worst one out there.

5. Bob Barker, Howie Mandel or Alex Trebek? Since I only know who Alex Trebek is, I’d have to vote for him, even though I’m not sure I want to. Then again, I’m not sure what the vote is for (best? worst?) so I guess it doesn’t matter.

Read More...

Summary only...

Too Much Time On My Hands

Stole this from Northcoast Exile... Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a 10 foot pole, put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.

Oh, and I've done some clicking through the "stolen from" list, and haven't been able to figure out why these 100 books were chosen. A bestseller list from somewhere? An Amazon.com listing? Who knows.

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. +The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien)
6. +The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
7. +The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. +Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. +Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling)
    
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. +Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (J.K. Rowling) (OK, so mine was the Americanized version, but still.)
17. *Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. +Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
    
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. +The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
22. +The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. +Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
    
25. The Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
    
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. +The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis)
    
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
    
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (George Orwell)
35. +The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
    
36. *The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. *The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. +the Bible (I've read sections, and am in the process of reading the rest.)
46. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
    
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)
53. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
55. +The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
    
56. *The Stone Angel (Margaret Lawrence)
57. +Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
    
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
    
60. The Time Traveller's Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
    
63. War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) (I mostly want to read it because if I'm going to write in the genre, I need to know this book. However, I've been semi-writing in the genre for a bit now, and not having read it hasn't hurt me yet. I hope.)
65. *Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. +Catch 22 (Joseph Heller)
    
69. Les Miserables (Victor Hygo)
70. +The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones' Diary (Helen Fielding)
    
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje) (Don't want anything to do with it if it's anything like the movie...)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving)
79. *The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte's Web (E.B. White)
    
81. *Not Wanted on the Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice and Men (John Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. +Emma (Jane Austen) (I'm actually part-way through this one, and am having trouble finishing it...)
    
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. +Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
    
88. *The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. *Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. *In the Skin of a Lion (Ondaatje)
92. +Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. *The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. *A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)
     

(For those of you who are wondering, I have nothing against Stephen King. But horror is not a genre I like, especially when written well - as Mr. King does. I like sleep way too much to ever pick up one of his horror novels with the intent to read it.)

And yeah, I decided that some of those I have read I won't touch again.

Read More...

Summary only...