record high

Monday's 85/86 degree high in Boston was a record, according to weather.com. Thank goodness those temperatures aren't going to be sticking around. I don't think I could handle it.

But I did like the sunshine, that made me feel much better after so many clouds & so much rain! I was so upset to see more rain yesterday. Ideally, we'd have sunny, 60-degree weather all year round. Is that too much to ask? Heh.

Anyway, this week has been busy, because I wanted it that way. Sunday, I had a lovely afternoon at Karen's with Sarah, Jenn, and Lisa. I never get to spend enough time with those awesome girls. Jenn did a Mary Kay demo for us, and we all made some fun purchases. I got a nice sun care set (which includes a sunscreen, an after-sun gel, and a lip balm) which I hope to use a lot this summer! I didn't get out much in the sun last year, and I don't mean to tan, but just to be outside. I suppose the stifling heat didn't help much; hopefully we don't get a ton of that again this year. I'm not sure I could survive another suffocating summer! Yuck.

Monday night, I totally geeked out & attended the Lord of the Rings online release party at the GameStop in the Prudential Center. Before that, we took Bill out for his birthday at Laurel, which was unfortunately a bit disappointing, especially because Bill is a chef himself, so we always hope to find a place he'll really appreciate. Oh, well. I may give that place another shot. It seemed so promising! Perhaps it was because we showed up for a 9:30 meal there, with the kitchen closing at 10.

Tuesday, Bethany & I attended the NARAL ProChoice Massachusetts Chocolate Madness event at the Cyclorama, which was ... all right. I liked the cause that it was raising money for, but I am not a huge chocolate fan. So we sampled some yummy things, but I was thirsty & chocolated-out pretty soon after we arrived. Still, it was a good event. I am thinking of maybe getting more involved with that group in the future, especially in light of the recent Supreme Court decision (ugh!).

Yesterday evening was the Womens Lunch Place Volunteer Appreciation night at the Back Bay Hilton. It was awesome to get to see the Wednesday Crew outside of the kitchen, and not wearing the health-code-required hairnets! Almost all of the Wednesday girls were there (save for Mark, who is our only non-girl anyway), and we hung out and drank complimentary drinks with the Saturday Pancake Boys. I love the WLP staff, too. After the event was over, Maureen & I had drinks with Regina & Jess at Bukowski's next door, and talked a lot about what goes on behind-the-scenes -- the stuff the volunteers aren't always privy to. :)

Tonight, I've got a date with Danny, which I am really looking forward to. We've been doing separate things a lot of late, and so I really love when we set aside a specific night to see each other.

I hope you all are also staying busy (and out of trouble!), and having lovely weeks. xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: The Blind Assassin (audiobook) AUTHOR: Margaret Atwood
	TITLE: The Namesake AUTHOR: Jhumpa Lahiri

the only prescription is more cowbell

I've been trying to keep myself really busy, but I guess it finally caught up with me. Yesterday I suffered from the quickest fever ever: I started getting the shivers & took my temperature, and found that it was normal. An hour later, I was climbing into the high 99s. A couple hours after that (wrapped shivering & crying in a ball on the bed), it was up to 101.7. Bethany came home & brought me Motrin & Gatorade (on the recommendation of Doctor Sarah) & soup. My temperature started going down after that, and by the time I really went to sleep at 11, I was back into the 99 range. This morning, I am in the high 98s, with a lingering sore throat (it really hurts!) and very achy limbs. I don't know if I'll be up for this afternoon's plans with the girls, but I hope I am! I am just worried I'll get others sick if I am not completely well.

I started feeling achy in the back & hips yesterday morning, when I woke up really early for the first WLP shift. Following that, I took the T to Quincy Center to help out at Cradles to Crayons, which despite my aches was really a lot of fun! We sorted, cleaned, & tested donated toys that were to be distributed to low-income & homeless families in MA. I felt like an elf in Santa's workshop. The one problem with that was that the train was a good 10 minute walk from the place, which I hadn't been aware of. So my walk back to the T was a small agony; every step hurt. For most of the morning I had just figured I'd been overdoing it, and I needed to rest; I realized then that maybe I was coming down with something. I went home & took a nap, but waking up, I only felt worse. That's when I knew I had to cancel my evening plans. :(

Well, at least things are slightly better now. I took 2 medications this morning (for the aches & for the sore throat), so hopefully I'll be in better shape in a few hours. Ugh.

On an entirely different note, we went to see Grindhouse this past week, and I have to say, I was quite disappointed that the scene of an Austin street (which Sally & I watched them shoot when we were there last August) was disappointingly short! They were working for quite some time there (while we ate breakfast across the street), so I had thought there would be a bit more to it. Oh, well. C'est la movies! Anyway, I enjoyed the first film (Rodriguez's) much more than the second (Tarantino's) initially, but they both had their merits. Very well done in the campy aspect. Fun to watch, despite the 3.5 hour length.

Well, I am going to go lay down again, for a bit. I think I need some more rest. xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: The Blind Assassin (audiobook) AUTHOR: Margaret Atwood
	TITLE: The Namesake AUTHOR: Jhumpa Lahiri

a hell of a town

I just spent 3 days in NYC and 2 in CT. It's been quite a week. I don't know what I would do without my amazing friends. You all are so wonderful to me; I don't deserve such nice people in my life.

I stayed at Sally's Wednesday night through Saturday night; we had quite the time, is all I can really say about that! We got a ton of work done, watched some Friends, had yummy smoothies, joined the Sea of People, stopped at the Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting show (sorry, North End knitters! we were right there & I couldn't pass it up, as Sally tats), hung out at a bar with Stifler, ate Spiderman pizza, and had a ton of fun with a bunch of her guys. We also got a lot of rest, and talked about a zillion different things. I think we both needed a "break" like that, even though we were both swamped with work (me with programming, she with law school finals). I was so reluctant to leave on Sunday morning! I even love the city now more than ever before. It was the first time I could actually see myself living there, if I had to. Sally lives in a great little area of Brooklyn, and I actually took the train all by myself (!) for the first time, when I went to meet up with Luis and Ashu for dinner on Friday.

I took the train alone again at 3am on Sunday morning (by then I was an old pro, heh), and caught at 4:30 bus to CT. My sister picked me up, and I spent a lazy Sunday at my parents' house, socializing a bit with Sarah's friends (she was having a clothing swap & potluck get-together), but mostly just sitting on the couch & knitting the back of a baby sweater:


(I also got a lot done on yet another Odessa hat, which I have decided is my favorite traveling project -- and, the more of them I knit, the more requests I get for them! So I just keep churning them out. Luckily, I am traveling a lot these days, so it works.)

While in CT I also got to see 2 of my most favorite people, Jen and Marsha! It was really nice to catch up with both of them. They are two of my oldest friends (but not quite my oldest; Chandra holds that title). And I got to have a nice dinner with my parents & grandparents before heading back in to Boston.

I don't know how I managed to get myself asked out by the bus driver (a very cool guy, but he's 35) on my way home, but that's a story for another time. Maybe. xo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: The Blind Assassin (audiobook) AUTHOR: Margaret Atwood
	TITLE: The Namesake AUTHOR: Jhumpa Lahiri
Recently Read:
	TITLE: Rose of No Man's Land AUTHOR: Michelle Tea

blah

I barely slept a wink last night, so I'm afraid I'm going to be pretty unproductive today. The few minutes I was able to nap, I had nightmares, and pretty bad ones at that. Ugh, I hope this isn't indicative of how the rest of my week is going to be.

I got a new pair of pants yesterday (the ones I bought with you Karen; they've been hemmed), but I am not sure I love them. I guess we'll see. I haven't bought new jeans in ages, so I definitely needed something. But I have such a hard time doing any clothes shopping, because so little looks okay on me.

I did get a lot done on the project I had to rip back half of. I have caught back up to where I was, and I'm a few pattern repeats past that now. Phew.

Meh, sorry this is a kind of lame entry. Blame that whole insomnia thing. xo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: The Blind Assassin (audiobook) AUTHOR: Margaret Atwood
	TITLE: Best Friends AUTHOR: Martha Moody

phone tag

I am enjoying this daily posting thing! I hope I am not getting too boring.

Can I just tell you how bad I am about checking my messages? I just spent 10 minutes cleaning out 11 messages from my cell phone's voicemail. I am not a big phone person, so between my not always wanting to pick up the phone & then my not wanting to check my messages (and the more I get, the less inclined I am to spend time checking them all!), I'd have to recommend to everyone that if you really need to get ahold of me, email might actually be better. (I've always been much more of a computer person than a phone person, anyway.) That, or just keep calling, over & over & over again. I'll get the message! (Pun intended, yes.)

Luckily for me this time, none of the messages were really time-sensitive (although I do have a friend I have to get in touch with about hanging out soon, because apparently I keep missing her invitations!), but still. I made a resolution this year that I would be better about phone messages, and for a while I really was! I also made myself be better about picking up the phone when it rang. But I've let myself slip, pretty badly. It's not that I don't want to talk to the person who is trying to reach me! I adore every single person who I heard on the messages I cleared off today. It's just that I have this phobia of talking on the phone (seriously), and that combined with how when I am in the middle of something I am reluctant to stop what I am doing to answer, makes for a really bad phone friend.

So, to all of you out there who I've shunned, I am sincerely sorry. It wasn't that I was intentionally avoiding any of you. I have actually considered not having a cell phone at all, so I wouldn't have to deal with the phone ever, though. That is how bad it is.

And the fact that I've talked to you on the phone at any point means I really do care. Honestly. Sometimes it can be an effort to make that call, especially when I am calling someone for the first time. I get very anxious about how to interact with someone over a phone line. I worry we won't be able to understand each other, or what I'm saying will be taken the wrong way, or ... I worry about just about everything. Believe me, it's no picnic. I wish I weren't that way. It would make lots of things a hell of a lot easier.

Ah, now that I've let you all stare into the depths of my psyche (scary!), I should get back to work. I just wanted to send out a mass apology to everyone I've ever been bad about the phone with. xoxo

If you want to talk about this with me, I suggest emails. Heh.

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: The Blind Assassin (audiobook) AUTHOR: Margaret Atwood
	TITLE: Best Friends AUTHOR: Martha Moody

my suspicions were correct

Yeah, I just had to rip out 54 rows of knitting. Of colorwork knitting. Because I realized much too late that I was doing the pattern repeats backwards.

Good thing the pattern is really simple, and the yarn is easy to work with. But still: AAARRRRRRGGG.

I was so ready to be done with this piece. I was actually feeling like I was close to being finished. Sigh.

This might have to get relegated to the WIP pile for a while... xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: The Blind Assassin (audiobook) AUTHOR: Margaret Atwood
	TITLE: Best Friends AUTHOR: Martha Moody

holiday knitting, part...4?

I realize that this is incredibly late, as it is already April, but I finally got some more pictures of knitting I did for the holiday season! What's funniest is that I've already started knitting next year's batch of presents (I know, you knitters out there are going to hate me, but I was just eager to get going on some projects. But don't worry; I'm sure I'll still be feeling the holiday crunch come December!).

Anyway, here they are, in finished order:

I knit my father a pair of socks, because we always ask him what he wants for presents, and he always says "I could use a nice pair of socks!" while we roll our eyes at the boring response. But this year, I figured I'd take him up on the suggestion, and I knit my first of what may become a traditional pair of socks. Unfortunately, there was a washing mishap at the parents', and they were a little bit unintentionally felted, but my father says they are still wearable. (It's my own fault I didn't take a picture before gifting them!)


pattern: TechGuy Socks
yarn: Brown Sheep NatureSpun Sport in some grey shade (it's been a while, sorry!)
photo credit: Dad (thanks!)
Next up is the bag I knit my sister Bethany -- still unfinished, eep! I have yet to get in gear about finding someone who can help me sew in the lining on the bag (see that lovely star-printed fabric?). It'll be so cute...if it ever finally gets done!


pattern: a mixture of my own, and something I found online, but I will have to locate that later; it's late
yarn: I think it was a Red Heart Supersaver
Lastly, you've got the socks I knit for my friend Toni, who lives out on Long Island. I haven't seen her in ages, but hopefully she enjoyed this fun pink pair:


pattern: Knitty's Hedera
yarn: STR Apple Valley Road
Well...it's really late, or I'd have more witty commentary for you here, but I really need to go to bed for now. It's good to finally get these pieces up, though! It makes up for all the others I can't currently post about, heh.

G'night, everyone. xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: The Blind Assassin (audiobook) AUTHOR: Margaret Atwood
	TITLE: Best Friends AUTHOR: Martha Moody

not much

Hey,
I don't really know why I'm posting; not much to say, here. I just wanted to say hello. Things are luckily way less hectic than they were the past several weeks. That's definitely a plus. I hope the trend continues!

I am mostly just working these days, and in the evenings trying to do stuff mostly for myself. I actually got to go to SNB this week, and it was really very pleasant & fun. Thursday, I went with Caitlin to see Mon Oncle Antoine; it was showing as part of a Harvard film series. It is supposed to be one of the best French-Canadian movies ever made, and while I enjoyed it, I was surprised by that title. It had an interesting plot, but nothing I would ever rave over. I was mostly preoccupied with how much French I was able to recognize -- I might have been able to watch that movie without subtitles (I almost just wrote sans sous-titres, heh), which I was surprised at, because I always hear that quebecois and the French spoken in France are wildly different, and that a native speaker of one can almost barely understand a native speaker of the other. Perhaps it wasn't so difficult for me because I'm a native speaker of neither. Who knows.

Friday I spent a really nice, quiet night at home, getting some work done and watching part of Ben-Hur. Ugh, what a religious movie! I did find the film to be fascinating: very well directed & acted, with an interesting storyline and fantastic scenes (and well it should have, as it cost $15 million in the 1950s), but I wasn't quite as drawn into the religious context (I've heard it was the only film the Pope has ever blessed). I didn't hate it, but I did find Charlton Heston to be pretty off-putting, which unfortunately ruined the film for me because he was supposed to be the hero I should have been sympathetic to! But, at least the infamous chariot race scene (in which an actor died, I hear?) lived up to the hype. It was certainly thrilling! And quite impressive, especially for and older film where special effects weren't digital.

Saturday, Dan & I (with a quick visit from Bethany) spent the early afternoon wandering around Downtown Crossing, the Common, and Newbury Street/Back Bay. I had all these errands in mind to run, but it was not my lucky day; the only one I managed was a successful stop at the library, to pick up a few books (including 2 knitting books! -- the BPL has quite the "craft" section; I am so impressed) I needed. Otherwise, I couldn't locate any of the things I had gone out shopping for. But we had a good time, and I ended up picking up a couple of shirts that will hopefully be good for wearing to work come June. (It's so weird to think that I'll have to really start considering what to wear on a daily basis!) We were tired by midafternoon and headed back to the apartment. Later on that evening, Dan went out with his friends & I met up with Christine outside of the Haymarket T, and then we wandered around looking for the location of this Vassar "reunion" gathering they were holding at some pub. We finally found it, and it turned out to be the smallest bar I've ever seen! I hadn't wanted to go (some of my old housemates had talked me into it), but it turned out really great -- I saw my old Student Fellow (Vassar's equivalent of an RA, kind of) and my entire townhouse was there (that's 5 of us), as well as a few fellow computer science majors and some other kids I am familiar with. It was interesting because the concept is G.O.L.D. -- Graduates of the Last Decade. So there was quite the mix of people, considering there weren't a ton of us (I am sure NYC gets a much larger crowd!). But I had some beers and chatted with several people (some of whom I plan to hang out with soon), and a small group of us ended up drinking some wine on the roof deck of our apartment before we called it a night.

Today, I get to visit the MFA with Karen! I am really looking forward to that; I plan to bring my journal, if I can locate it (eep!). And later on this evening, I had promised Dan I'd take him to the Middle East to see Immortal Technique, one of his favorites. It looks like a fun (and pretty pleasant, weather-wise) day! I am looking forward to it.

Have a good one, everyone.
xoxo

Currently Reading:
	TITLE: The Blind Assassin (audiobook) AUTHOR: Margaret Atwood
	TITLE: Best Friends AUTHOR: Martha Moody