stay golden, Miss Ashu

This morning, while editing one of Dan's posts on Puritan City, I realized I wasn't quite sure if one uses hyphens to connect the phrase "reporter cum singer" (a little rephrasing was necessary, for this example) or not. I figured some research was in order, so I was all prepared to type "cum" into Google...until I realized that might not be the best idea...haha.

Yesterday was pretty crazy, as Bethany and I hosted our friend Ashu's good-bye party (she moves to NYC this weekend, sob!). You might be asking yourself: "But how did you both host? You don't live with your sister." Good question. We started off with dinner at Bethany's place, and then moved the party down the street to my roof deck (which was the originally-planned location) when we realized the imminent threat of thunderstorms wasn't quite so imminent....

So yesterday I ran a few errands at lunchtime and then a few more right after work, and then settled in for an evening of cooking: brownies (from a box), fantastic peanut butter & Snickers cookies, Green Beans Dijon. There was also supposed to be a fritatta in there somewhere, but as I didn't have enough eggs & thus wasn't able to start it until I got to Bethany's apartment (and saw the copious amounts of food already there), we decided it'd be better to scrap that plan. Despite all of that work, I still managed to only be about 1/2 hour late to the party, and joined everyone for pizza fondue, yum. Then we packed up all of our desserts and attempted to finish the party on my roof, although I hadn't prepared at all -- so the chairs were wet & dirty, there were no working lights (the strung lights I had put up there weren't working anymore, damn them), and the candles wouldn't stay lit (but at least that part wasn't my fault, it was the wind's!). Despite all that, everyone claimed to have had a great time, so yay. I was disappointed that we didn't get to play any games (I love board games), but I was so exhausted by the time everyone left & I had cleaned up, that maybe it was better that way!

I ate way too much, of course. And am still consuming the leftovers bit by bit throughout the day. And I'm so going to miss Sunday night My So-Called Life watchings at Ashu's place! Le sigh.

Tonight: Sally's going-away "party" at Amanda's. Gah, why is everyone leaving me?!? Well, at least they're both going to be in NYC, so I can visit them (and a few other friends there) relatively easily ("Fung Wah, $15!" as Patrick would say).

I should get back to work for now, though. xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism AUTHOR: Linda M. Scott
	TITLE: The Glass Castle AUTHOR: Jeannette Walls
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

no. 9?

I am currently enjoying a cup of brown rice tea that the guy at Ueno Sushi pressed on me (as a gift) the other night, when I was eating dinner by myself...I think it's probably the influence of all those cheesy 80's movies, but I have this (not really) suspicion he saw me eating alone & thought he should give me a love potion or something, hehe.

It is helping me feel a bit better, though. Yay, tea.

it'll be all right

Ugh, bad morning. And I'm so behind on everything this week. Blah.

Yesterday was pretty productive, though, hurray. After work I had to rush over to Habitat for Humanity to help them stuff envelopes for a mailing that is going out to solicit donations (I figure since the builds are always so full, at least I can help out somehow...mailers, I can do; phone calls, no way).

After we were done (early! because we were so efficient!), I went back home to cook up some Scallops Au Gratin, with Asparagus & Red Peppers on the side. It was a fantastic (and pretty quick & easy!) dinner. I was pretty proud of myself. I really do love those cookbooks all geared towards few ingredients & little time...heh.

I spent a little time starting a pair of camo socks for Dan last night, and also baked an almond bread & read a chapter in my book. I just felt so good about getting so many bits of things done, but of course I still feel like everything is still hanging over my head. Sigh.

And, despite all of those great accomplishments, I still was cranky last night (sorry, Danny). And this morning has just been shitty from the start! I left the Women's Lunch Place early (thankfully Cheryl is a doll & was so understanding about it), and I so hated to do so, but I just couldn't handle the other volunteers there today. New volunteers should not be telling "veteran" volunteers what to do or how to do it, especially if they've been doing things like that for months. Ugh. (People in general shouldn't tell other people what to do, but that's another thing entirely.)

Sorry, I won't vent any more than that...I really just want to go back to bed right now, but instead I'm gonna fire up my other computer & get to work.

Wish me luck in getting through today!! Heh.

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism AUTHOR: Linda M. Scott
	TITLE: The Glass Castle AUTHOR: Jeannette Walls
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

dream dream dream

Last night, I had the strangest dream that I was somehow Melissa Joan Hart being wooed by Adrian Grenier or something really strange like that...a couple of high school people (Pete & Michelle) also made appearances. Dreams are such strange things. I'm pretty sure I was dreaming about being MJH because I heard that Adrian Grenier (who I don't actually find all that attractive, but he has pretty eyes) is the lead male in the upcoming The Devil Wears Prada, and, even though I'm not even sure I've ever seen Drive Me Crazy (in which both MJH & AG star), I guess I somehow made all these weird mental associations and came out with the dream I had. So odd.

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism AUTHOR: Linda M. Scott
	TITLE: The Glass Castle AUTHOR: Jeanette Walls
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

"C" meme

Sarah gave me this meme a long time ago, and I have finally gotten around to doing it:

Comment on this entry and I will give you a letter. [Not necessary, even if you comment. Let me know if you want one, that's all.] Write ten words beginning with that letter, including an explanation of what the word means to you and why. Once I give you a letter, post this in your own journal!!!

1. CodePink and the CPBC -- both of which have taken up a lot of my life recently!! But I love it (mostly).


2. Classics -- both books & movies. I enjoy them, and always mean to read/see more. But what exactly is a classic?


3. Cold -- oh, how I wish it was... (Not TOO cold, mind you. Just less than 90 degrees would be nice!)


4. Cards -- I love to send my friends fun birthday cards & letters.


5. Code -- need I even explain this one? A very, very big part of my life. I heart computers.


6. Care Bears -- they're coming back! I've always loved them. I had a stuffed Sunshine Bear.


7. Considerate -- I wish more people embodied this adjective. I try to. I realize it's not always possible.


8. Caitlin -- a good friend, who I don't see nearly enough of.


9. Candide -- a fantastic book -- that I've mostly forgotten, and really ought to read again. "In this, the best of all possible worlds..." (Which also reminds me of being yearbook editor in high school...but only Renee would get that reference.)


10. Candy -- always welcomed, always enjoyed. :)

Okay, thanks for humoring me on that one! xoxo

weekend wrapup

Friday: I have added another movie to my list of favorites: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. Just adorable. (The part where Gary Cooper runs away from Jean Arthur after giving her a poem he wrote, tripping over everything in his path like a nervous little boy, is just priceless. And I love what he decides to do with the money. It made me cry.) Also that night, the shower broke. Yes, again. We are waiting on our landlord, who has been very understanding, but as it was a weekend, there wasn't much that could be done. Sigh. (It's useable, thanks to Danny -- but just barely. We really need to get it fixed.) A little later on, Bethany & Ashu came over to watch Napoleon Dynamite (Ashu had never seen it before, and just loved LaFawnduh and Napoleon).

Saturday: I didn't do any of the things I had planned to do, but I accompanied Dan to his hair appointment at Shag, and later on we joined Ashu & some of her work friends at Caffe Vittoria to watch the Italy vs. USA game. Dan & I had purchased Italy t-shirts (mine is adorable, with rhinestones on each "i" in the word "ITALIA" -- maybe I'll get a picture up here soon). It's a good thing it was a tie game, if only for the people in the cafe with us -- half were rooting for the U.S., and half for Italy. It was quite a back-and-forth game! Later on, Dan & I watched The Boondock Saints (neither of us had ever seen it before; it was fantastic). Wow, I did a lot of movie-watching this weekend....

Sunday: I woke up around 9 in order that I could meet Karen a couple hours later at the Broadway T stop, so we could go to the South End Open Market. It was so cute; I definitely want to go back! But it was hot, so we didn't last as long as we might have. That, and we are both pretty broke at the moment, heh. So, we headed back to Karen's new place (after a few setbacks with various train-breakdown problems), which is so great. Her roommate has a very fun style, and Karen has a really sweet room. It started off white, and 2 hours later (despite the sweltering heat!), it was a fantastic, cheerful shade of "honeydew melon" (the picture does not do the color justice, sorry!):


We were so proud of ourselves! We definitely earned those beers we had a little later on at Redbones, where we met up with Dan for a fantastic (and very filling) dinner, yum. I think the heat & the day's work had exhausted me, though, because I ended up with a pounding headache on our way back home. I crashed almost right after we walked in the door. Ugh.

Well, I'm feeling much better now, and that's what counts. xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism AUTHOR: Linda M. Scott
	TITLE: The Glass Caslte AUTHOR: Jeannette Walls
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

inconvenient, indeed

So last night after finally hooking up with Kelley & Co. to help celebrate her birthday (hope you had a great day, sweetheart!), Dan & I finally got to see An Inconvenient Truth in its entirety. And what a frightening movie it was! It's so difficult for us (humans, but largely Americans) to wrap our minds around environmental problems because they happen so "slowly" (relative to our lifetimes, NOT to to that of the Earth) and because we're living our lives pretty much as we always have, even as things rapidly deteriorate elsewhere. I wonder what big-scale tragedy it's going to take to wake people up -- even Hurricane Katrina's damage last year didn't really change anyone's mind. The environment has always been a really important issue to me, and I just wish the movie had presented less despair and more suggestions on what to do to make things better. Well no, the despair was good (as a wakeup call, I hope); I just wanted more of a balance of solutions, too. I know my own personal ecological footprint isn't terribly big, but it's big enough that I'd like to make some changes, still. There was a website included at the end of the movie that I meant to check out (supposedly there are suggestions there on what to do, how to make a positive impact on the problems), but I didn't manage to remember it. I'll try to locate it later on.

For now, I've just got the "Inconvenient for you, I'm sorry sir" line from Dazed & Confused stuck running through my head. Hah.

Edit: The website was climatecrisis.net, which is An Inconvenient Truth's official website.

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism AUTHOR: Linda M. Scott
	TITLE: Everyone Worth Knowing AUTHOR: Lauren Weisberger
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

more rain?!?

Last night, I went to see Bus Stop, being shown for free at the North End library branch. On my way out the door, I stopped to pick up the day's mail...and I got 3 more things for my sister! It's been happening a ton lately -- remember how I said my sister graduated from her residency program? Yeah, she's the doctor, not me. Somehow, the AMA put her name and my address together, and for the past few months I've been receiving mail addressed to her, here in Boston! A couple of weeks ago, I called the AMA to sort everything out, and the woman was very helpful -- but, since then, I've been getting even more mail from them! It's ridiculous. I am surprised the P.O. doesn't think anything of it, but then again, we don't have the best postal service around here. (That, and maybe they figure that I sometimes go by "Sarah"?) In any case, it's totally annoying -- we get more mail here for her than for ourselves! The woman told me it would take a few weeks for the mail to sort itself out once the address was changed; I can't wait till it does. Grr.

Anyway, the movie was cute, although the young cowboy -- despite being terribly good-looking -- also got terribly annoying with all his yee-haws and his chauvanistic stupidity. Also, I know I shouldn't have expected much more out of the vapid Marilyn Monroe character, but honestly -- the way the characters' feelings changed at the drop of a hat, seemingly without any consideration given the matter at all, was just unbelievable. Bah, I know it's just a movie. I'll get over it. Marilyn & her cowboy were adorable, in any case.

Last night, I worked on trying to be able to post Google Calendar events through my own website (for CodePink), and so far it's been mildly successful. (Thanks for your help, Dan.) It's been a long time since I've worked in anything besides Visual Basic *shudder*, so it's been a bit slow picking up the ins & outs of other languages. Hopefully, I'll manage it soon!

Also, I have been knitting. Baby clothes & a stuffed toy & a couple of bags. I'll get to posting those in the next few days, I suppose... xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism AUTHOR: Linda M. Scott
	TITLE: Everyone Worth Knowing AUTHOR: Lauren Weisberger
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

remakes that should never happen

I am not a huge fan of remakes in the first place, but please just don't ever even try to talk to me about "updated versions" of Schichinin no samurai (with Tarantino directing, and George Clooney & Ziyi Zhang starring?!) or Batoru rowaiaru. Really. Do they think people can't handle/appreciate the (subtitled) originals? It's ridiculous.

(See this Seven Samurai article and this Battle Royale article for (not many) more details.)

knitting news

A couple of quick things I've found particularly interesting lately:

1. Australians try to find ugliest sheep (via the Boston Globe)

and

2. This song, "Knitta Please", originally posted by my SP8 on her blog. Hilarious! (But does contain some swearing, so be forewarned....)

(sheep courtesy, as per usual, of Natalie Dee)
Not much going on here, really. I'd post about the weekend, but by now that's old news, and I have to teach myself a lesson about posting earlier. Last night, I attended a Knit for the Greater Good meeting (it's always tons of fun chatting with the girls, and I always come away with a zillion awesome recommendations from Abby -- she and my friend Sally always know of the coolest stuff!) and then a NYMBC meeting at the Kinsale. Good thing I finished Everything is Illuminated just in the nick of time! (Which, by the way, is a book I would very highly recommend.)

Tonight, I plan to kick around the house (Dan'll be out seeing a horror film with some friends; I refuse to go see those with him!), maybe watch a movie, read, whatever. I am looking forward to a night in. xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism AUTHOR: Linda M. Scott
	TITLE: Everyone Worth Knowing AUTHOR: Lauren Weisberger
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

my pretty ladies

Just thought I'd post this photo my father mailed us from Sarah's graduation the other day:

(From left: Sarah, me, Mom, Bethany)
More coming, soon! xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Everything Is Illuminated AUTHOR: Jonathan Safran Foer
	TITLE: Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism AUTHOR: Linda M. Scott
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

my SP8 is great!

Oh, no! I can't forget to thank my SP8 quickly, as I've been meaning to! She sent along an awesome package -- a beautiful gold-foil chocolate box (the detail is hard to see there, sorry)


containing some fantastic Dutch candy (and a postcard)!


Sorry the pictures are blurry; I'd take more, but I've already eaten half of the stuff, hehe. Anyway, on the left are Hopjes, which are these amazingly yummy coffee-flavored hard candies. I can't stop eating them; they are addictive. At first I saw them & thought "hmm, coffee-flavored candies...I like coffee okay, but I'm not sure I'll love the candies..." and I popped one in my mouth...and haven't been able to stop, since! :)

On the right are Dutch black licorice candies, which I have to admit I haven't yet tried (sorry!). I don't love black licorice, but my mother just adores it, and I was thinking it'd be a perfect time to bring her some treats, as she is a first grade teacher, and report-card-writing time is fast approaching! I do fully intend to try one of the candies when she opens them (I'll give everything a fair shake), but I am not usually a black licorice fan. I should have mentioned that in my survey, SP8, sorry! I'll remember that for next time, but really I just love the foreign candies idea -- it's uncanny that you seem to know how much I appreciated (and felt the urge to purchase & bring home) just about every candy that was even slightly different from American candy while I was abroad (both in Europe & in Japan)! You seem to know me well, without ever having met me...I love it! :) (But am I really that much of an open book online? Eep! Haha.)

Anyway, well done. I am already trying to figure out how I might be able to get myself several more bags of those Hopjes!! xoxo

finishing up

Okay, I'll make this quick, because I've been so delinquent!

Sunday I spent with my mother in CT, which was really nice; Dad was away for the weekend, so we got to have just Girl Time. We visited my grandparents for a bit, and then mostly hung out around the house. I had hoped to see some CT friends, but couldn't get ahold of any of them, but in the end I wasn't too disappointed (in that I enjoyed my time with my mom).

Monday morning I ran some errands, and then that afternoon we headed down to Bridgeport to take the ferry over to Port Jeff. Sarah's graduation from her residency program at Stonybrook was really nice; it was held in an event hall that I'd guess was normally used for proms & weddings, and it was decorated very nicely. Apparently they even used the same caterers as a wedding Bethany & Kevin had just been at the day before! The food was good, although for some reason I wasn't all that hungry, and the ceremony itself was very sweet -- very personalized, because there were only about 20 people graduating. We got back to CT late that night, and everyone promptly went to bed.

Tuesday morning, Marsha & I caught a bus from Hartford back up to Boston; she was on her way to catch a flight out to California (I'm so jealous!). So we traveled over to the airport together and spent a lovely morning catching up. Oh, how I'll miss her! (Even though I only got to see her for half a day...) I hope CA + Marsha = a success!

Otherwise, this week has been pretty low-key (which is good, cuz I'm almost totally broke, hah). Last night I watched Murphy's Romance (it was cute) and knitted up the rest of a baby sweater


that is, apparently, 14 rows (!) short somehow. (But I still think it looks okay. I plan to knit another one, so I'll see what went wrong in the pattern.) Dan & I also made some more pasta sauce (because the tomatoes I had bought at Haymarket were starting to go bad!), which is always some of my most favorite time -- cooking in the kitchen together. Unfortunately, I didn't start until about 10pm, so it ended up running kind of late, but I transferred it to the crock pot and since then it's been bubbling along merrily.

Tonight I've got a book club meeting, which is unfortunate because I'm only about 18 pages into the book. Oops! Good thing it's non-fiction, so I don't have to worry about someone spoiling the ending for me... :) Mostly I just go to join in some good talks with the girls about feminist-y things, which are always really energizing.

But for now, it's time for me to hop in the shower. Have a good day, everyone! xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Everything Is Illuminated AUTHOR: Jonathan Safran Foer
	TITLE: Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism AUTHOR: Linda M. Scott
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

Sweet Wednesday

A-ha! You thought (hoped?) I had disappeared, hadn't you? But, never fear, I am always here! Just sometimes more here than others....

It was a busy past weekend; I'll recap quickly:

Friday night, we went to see An Inconvenient Truth at the Coolidge. About 20 minutes into the showing, the fire alarm went off. People (finally) slowly herded out the door -- into the rain, of course. After about 15 minutes of standing around getting wet, they told us all to retain our ticket stubs, and that we'd be able to redeem them for another showing in the future. Not sure when that'll be yet, but I do fully intend for that to happen -- it was looking very promising, so far!

Saturday, I had a fun breakfast with Jess, but unfortunately the library's book sale had been rained out (postponed till next weekend -- when a zillion other things are happening!). I spent the morning watching Saving Face on Vongo (I thought it was a great movie) and knitting, which distracted me enough that I didn't look up until about noon...and we had reserved discounted tickets to see The Break-Up for 12:15! So we cabbed over to the theater (effectively nullifying the free ticket I had gotten us), but managed to catch the movie, which was cute but left me pretty cold...I felt like I didn't take anything from it, no lesson or anything.

I'll add more later about Sunday-Tuesday! For now, stay dry! xoxo

p.s. I received an awesome package from my SP8 this weekend! I'll post photos when I have my camera (which is also my phone) back...(more on that, later!). Thanks, though, SP8! :)

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Everything Is Illuminated AUTHOR: Jonathan Safran Foer
	TITLE: Nobrow AUTHOR: John Seabrook
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford

well, here it is.

I'll admit that I still haven't woven in all of the ends, but I do consider it done. I love this pattern, it's gorgeous -- I'm just so tired of it! The blanket (pattern here, for anyone interested) is about 40" by 30", knit on #7 needles. Believe me, it took some patience....

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: Everything Is Illuminated AUTHOR: Jonathan Safran Foer
	TITLE: Nobrow AUTHOR: John Seabrook
	TITLE: The Art of Interactive Design AUTHOR: Chris Crawford