Time to play catch up. Again.

Evidently, I am blogging again.  I think it has to do with the serious lack of free time.  What better way to actually fix everything in time other than to blog?

Wet kitty. Sad kitty. Cute kitty.

So, quick catch up:

• I moved to Illinois and started grad school.
• School is awesome, I love my classes, library studies was totally the right choice for me.
• My landlord everything that my classes are not.  In short, had serious electrical problems for the first month+ that I was here.  Despite calls every couple of days, they dragged their feet in solving my problems and attempted to make me feel like a jerk for being upset about the fact that out of an entire one bedroom apartment, three electrical outlets worked, along with four lamps.  Those four lamps were only located in two of four rooms, and same with the outlets.  Their solution was to run an extension cord from an outside outlet.  For a month.  And I'm going to stop writing about this cause my blood pressure will soon skyrocket. 

His favorite place to sleep, still.  I'm gonna laugh when he doesn't fit anymore.

• TheBoy and I broke up.  Maybe one day we'll figure out how to be friends, but not right now.  Long distance is tough and it amplified all of our problems and eventually, we got tired of fighting the same fights, dealing with the same problems and never seeming to get anywhere.  So, that's sad and stuff, but it is what it is and then you move on.
• Because I can't do anything the "easy" or "simple" way, my expected graduation date has moved up.  To August 2009.  Which means I will graduate with a masters degree at the age of 23.  Which also means that I'm taking 18 credits this semester.
• Classes include:  Adult Popular Literature; Higher Education and Learning Professionals; Libraries, Information, and Society; Museum Informatics; Medevial and Modern Manuscripts; and Rare Books and Manuscripts.  So far, I love all of them

Second favorite place.  Mostly so he can mess up the computer with those cute little feet.

• I got a kitten.  He's currently about 5-6 months old and very cute.  He also also very much trouble.  His (full) name is Indiana Schrodinger III, or Schrodie for short.  Or Little Man.  Or The Little Shit.  Or Trouble.  He responds quite well to "HEY!" by this point in time.
• Kit hates the kitten.  He doesn't get the whole personal space concept, but they're doing quite well.  They even occasionally curl up near each other.
• Over all?  I am happy.
• I hate winter in Illinois.  Hence the graduation date change.

Orts and Bits

Really, do I ever write anything that is not some sort of random collection of the things floating around in my head? Finished Object posts, you say? Those don't happen all that often anymore, so I'm going to say "not really."

That said, on to the random collection of stuff that is floating around my head:

Sleep: I have gone to bed after 6:30am more times this semester than I have before midnight. This is not cool. This needs to change. (I do not see how this could change in oh, a month and a half.) If I am not asleep by 1:30am, I am considering just not sleeping tonight. I woke up around 2pm, so really, it would only be at the start of a three hour class that I would be awake for over 24 hours - that's totally doable. And then I can nap for an hour on the way to a rock climbing field trip and then climb for three hours. I SEE NO FLAWS WITH THIS PLAN.

School: Ugh. Do not care. I graduate in a month and a half. GRADUATE. They'll give me pieces of paper that make it official and everything! (Fools.) However, there are some ... 55 pages that need to be written between now and then. GAH. On one hand, I want to graduate and not thing about papers or anything, on the other hand? Graduate? Only real people, ready to face the real world graduate. Also, those people have learned something in the last four years or so. Have I learned anything? I do not know.

Ballet: Was awesome. I probably would have gone to that show even if I weren't taking a class that required me to do so. TheUrmily, however, ditched me in favor of BATTLESTAR GALATICA. There is nothing more that I can say here, other than to also mention that she canceled Thursday plans for Mad Mex because it was raining. Just .. fail.

Apartment: In theory, they have mailed the lease to me. I have not yet had it show up in my mailbox, but they most certainly went ahead and cashed the check I sent them. However, we suddenly have a new problem: Any assistantship I might get would start on August 16 - the lease starts August 18th. Tomorrow, I shall beg them to let me move in three days early. They keep claiming that they'll have plenty of time to clean and paint and remodel between July and August 18th, so what would three days be, now really?

Running: After trying to be nice and offer someone an onion ring, I have been roped into a weight loss challenge. Apparently, the goal is to lose 9lbs by the end of April. That's about 21lbs a week, which I think is pushing it a bit. I think I have talked the rules committee into accepting a weight loss goal of 7lbs for me, which I fee is much more reasonable and also, healthy. But, if by the end of the month, you have not met your goal of 9lbs, you owe $5 per pound remaining. Those who do make their goal get to split the pot. (Also, I find it interesting that a) I am the only female involved and b) this is a challenge set up to work best if some fail and some don't fail. We don't like it when everyone succeeds, it would seem.) So far, I have no idea how this is going, as I have eaten chocolate in some form or another every single day. And on Monday I had a milkshake.

However, in hopes to not owe $45 at the end of the month, I have started the Couch to 5K program.  Someone else has already done all the thinking, I just have to follow instructions.  To help me do so, I purchased an Eddie Izzard show in CD and have been running to that.  I will admit, it is somewhat difficult to run when you are laughing, but it is much more fun.  Also, you get great looks as you jog along, giggling merrily to yourself.  As you pass all the frat houses.  Ah, college towns.

Knitting:  Oh, right - the theoretical point of this blog.  I stopped by the yarn store the other day to purchase what I THINK are the correct size needles for the ill-fated Eagle's Flight Socks.  Only, they didn't have them.  No, seriously- they did not have them.  WTF, world?  Apparently, US2, 2.75mm, have been on backorder for some time.

So I came home and very carefully redisprited the tail I had left myself during my cast on.  And now, I can wear the sock without cutting off circulation to that foot.  I am still debating if I want to rip out the toe and reknit a slightly longer toe, so that the foot will be the correct length.  I think I will end up doing so, I just can't face the idea of messing with that sock anymore.

I am also currently turning the heel of the second KnitPicks sock that I am knitting for Klunk- that one should be done in a week or two, and then I get to play a new pair of socks!  I am excited.

Time to wrte another to-do list.  I write a mean list - pity I rarely manage to cross anything off.  And I can't even add things like "eat chocolate" to my list anymore.

Random Monday

Really, if I change the day of the week of my random posts, that means nothing, right? Right.

• Downtown is DEAD. And it is AWESOME. I love State College without all the people. Sadly, classes have begun and there are some more people around now, mostly those who will be freshmen in the fall and I'm remembering why freshmen are annoying. But oh well.'
• I've been knitting. A lot. I finally started the second Bayerische sock and am at the point where I need to start looking at charts again. Hopefully this one will be faster than the first, so long as I can dedicate time just to this sock. Maybe one hour of tv three nights a week shall be for this sock? I'd like to finish it uh, soon.

• I finished one sock with my awesome Claudia's HandPainted yarn. I am SO TOTALLY in love. The colors rock, the yarn rocks... Oddly, this is the first time I have EVER gotten 8sts/inch for a pair of socks. It seems very weird to hit gauge. I'm using Cookie A.'s "Monkey" pattern from Knitty. I really like it with this yarn. However, I'm in the middle of a swatch altering her pattern.. If I like that, I might use it for my Sockpalooooza pal socks. I can't decide if it is "overly lacey" though. Any input?

• Oh, yeah. I think I finally found a yarn for my sock pal. Now I just need to wait for a pay check to be able to buy the yarn. She likes very deep, saturated colors and I tend more towards pastels and the like. Picking a color has been HARD.
• I've decide to take only the Bayerische socks, the second monkey sock (I'm halfway done the cuff already) and the Branching Out Scarf home. Not that I ever have time to knit, but you know. That way I'll HAVE to knit on Branching Out. And then I might finish it.
• I went to the library today. Main Campus libraries don't have anything by Neil Gaiman, yet branch campuses have Nora Roberts. WHAT IN THE WORLD? Tomorrow, I'll stop by the library downtown, which actually has a contemporary fiction section.
• I got Guilliver's Travels, a couple of Jane Austen books, Weithering Heights by one of the Bronte sisters, I can never remember which one, and a few Philip Roth books, which for some WEIRD reason, the library actually had. I find it amusing that my "pleasure" reading includes books the average person would never think to read.

• And that's all, folks. Bed time for me.