Thursday, March 30, 2006

life taught me to die

12:14am of the day my 6 page paper is due. 20% of my grade in a class I need an A in, to get my 4.0 for the semester. (Yes, I'm a Type A personality.) (and I like parentheses.) I'm on the top of page 5, with one person yet to comment on and then a conclusion to add. 

And somehow, I need to make the introduction fit the rest of the paper, thesis statement in particular. 

In other news, the sock is completed. My very first sock! It looks hand-made, but I'm ok with that. I pretty much made up the pattern as I went along, so I'm not too surprised either. Next time, I'll try a knit 3/purl 1 pattern, rather than knit 2, purl 2 and continue the pattern onto the top of the foot. And maybe try a different toe. But first, I need to knit another sock to match the first one. And maybe finish this paper and go to bed.

Monday, March 27, 2006

Band-aids

If I were smart and hard working, I whould be editing a paper that's due on Thursday.

Clearly, I am not all that smart and hard working.

My family always gathers at my aunt and uncle's house for holidays such as Labor Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day, and Thanksgiving. Last year, my almost-sister Tina brought her boyfriend, Brandon, along for the day. Her mother, visiting from Arizona, also came along. And somewhere in the weeks before that particular trip, Tina had learned to knit from her mother.

She finished one project, started on another. My sister, Tina, Brandon, and I ended up bored - and at Micheal's. (We celebrate holidays early. Something about avoiding traffice and time and a half or double time.) Brandon had decided if Tina could knit, so could he. He struggled all afternoon with US size 4 needles and really crappy yarn (100% plastic). But he eventually figure it out.

Me? I got some awesome soft, fuzzy wool/acrlyic blend and knit me a scarf, learning both knit AND purl from the help of Tina, her mother, my mother, and my aunt.

Scarf curls in on itself, as stockenett stitch seems to want to do. But I knitted it. All by myself. And somehow, there were the same number of stitches when I finished as when I had started.

Then life set in- work, work, more work, sleep, work. Then school. I had brought my yarn and needles to school by mistake, not planning to knit and then stumbled across the Yarn Harlot.

Since then, I dragged a friend to Micheal's (hey, it is near Walmart and he wanted bagels. Plus, I was driving.) Bought some yummy yarn and more needles. Knitted another scarf. Then a cable purse, once I figured out how to cable.

Now, I'm working on a pair of socks. Well, in theory, a pair of socks. As TheBoy would say, I currently only have a heel/ankle warmer, but it shall be a sock. See?














Now, as I'm attempting to figure out what my thesis statement should actually say to reflect what the paper ended up being about (what, you're supposed to write your paper based on the thesis statement? Yeah, right) I was knitting a round on my sock.

And discoverd that my yarn smells like band-aids.

Friday, January 20, 2006

100 Things

1.  I can only wink with my right eye.

2.  I can only snap with my left hand.

3.  I have worn glasses and/or contacts since I was 4 years old.

4.  I started gymnastics when I was two years old.

5.  I quit gymnastics when I was 11 to focus on horse back riding.

6.  I have been riding since I was nine.

7.  I love to read.

8.  When I was little, I'd get in trouble for reading in the car in the dark.  I'd use the light from the headlights of the car behind us.

9.  I also used to stay up late to read. Often under the covers with a flashlight, so I wouldn't get in trouble.

10.  I have one sibling, who is 6.5 years old than I am.

11.  In high school, I was part of marching band and the musical.

12.  I played clarinet for two years in marching band.

13.  Then I switched to color guard for my last two years.

14.  Both times I tried out, I was the second to last person on the list. The list was posted by scores, highest to lowest.

15.  Senior year, I was on cough drugs during tryouts and standing was an issue.

16.  I love long car trips. But only when I'm driving by myself.

17.  I collect glass bottles.

18.  If you looked around my room, you'd think I was an alcoholic by the number of alcohol bottles.

19.  I am a beer snob.

20.  I also really like tequila. Without salt or lime.

21.  I learned to type by playing muds - multi player, text-based games, typically with an element of Dungeons and Dragons.  No graphics, just text.

22.  I am a horrible speller. MUDS kinda helped with that.

23.  In third grade, I was the only person on the level 5 spelling list. No one was on level 4, and only two on level 3.

24.  After my 5th day of kindergarten, I returned home and told my mother I was never going back.

25.  I did the same thing in first grade.

26.  I didn't want to go back because they wouldn't teach me how to read yet.

27.  When I finally did learn to read, I told my mother "I don't need you. I can read to myself" when she came up to read me a bedtime story.

28.  I hate reading out loud in a group.

29.  Whenever I compete at a horse show, I either sing or hum "Jingle Bells" to myself.

30.  I learned to cross-stitch in 5th grade.

31.  My family did not have cable TV til I was a senior in high school.

32.  I grew up watching tv on a black and white television.

33.  In middle school, I'd watch 20/20 every Friday night.

34.  I didn't get out of the house very often back then.

35.  I still don't always get out of the house that often now.

36.  I love photography, but regularly forget to take my camera with me.

37.  For a graduation present, I was given a two week trip to Europe.

38.  My dad and I visited Crakow, Prague, Vienna, and Budapest.

39.  I did not really like Vienna.

40.  I refuse to give a present to a friend just because it is their birthday or Christmas. They'll get a gift when I find the right one.

41.  I work best under pressure.

42.  I have always had a cat.

43.  I like my meat on the rare side. "Crippled and beaten past the fire," we call it.

44.  I buy the majority of my clothing at Good Will.

45.  I have known my best friend since Kindergarten

46.  Yet, we have no idea how, exactly, we met.

47.  I learned how to shoot a rifle in college. It was probably a little TOO much fun.

48.  I love to cook, but hate cooking just for myself. Because then I have to clean up, too.

49.  I love to have my hair played with, brushed, shampooed...

50.  Since 4th grade, I have had at least one peanut butter sandwich a week, if not five.

51.  I don't like jam or jelly on my peanut butter sandwiches. Or cheese.

52.  I love tomatoes. And cheese. With basil and olive oil.

53.  I have been 5'6" since 6th grade.

54.  Jeans have to be the most comfortable pair of pants on the planet.

55.  I try very hard to never end a sentence with a preposition.

56.  I drink a beer every time I sit down to write a paper.

57.  I rarely write papers on campus.

58.  For a reason I can't figure out, I don't like wine. But I think it has to do with my dislike of grape juice.

59.  As a baby, I once slept only 30 minutes a day for ten days straight. I'm surprised I am still alive.

60.  I love camping and fishing and being outside and getting dirty.

61.  I also love really good food, the ballet, and Dali.

62.  I am always cold. Friends call me Grandma as a result.

63.  I drive a station wagon. More importantly, I decided I wanted to drive a station wagon.

64.  For a very long time, I hated the taste of toothpaste.

65.  I do not like Chinese food.

66.  I hate ketchup and think it is an evil thing, plotting to take over the world.

67.  I love seafood.

68.  I have food issues.

69.  Patience is not my strong suit.

70.  However, I am a very determined person.

71.  In high school, I took AP calc so I wouldn't be bored.

72.  I was not bored that year. But I ended up really liking calc.

73.  I love puns. The worse the pun, the more I like it.

74.  I love to run.

75.  I almost always have a game of solitaire or free cell open. So I have something to do when I wait for pages to load.

76.  I love the smell of clean laundry.

77.  I want a pickup truck. And a pony.

78.  I do not find humor such as Reno 911 amusing.

79.  Eddie Izzard, however, is hystrical.

80.  I think I might be thirty before I own a horse.

81.  During all breaks, I get up at 7:30am and go to the barn to help out for the day.

82.  I do best on 7 hours of sleep. Everything else messes my sleep cycle up.

83.  I am addicted to Dr. Pepper.

84.  I make my bed every day.

85.  I badly sprained my ankle in high school, during gym class. It was first period on a Monday morning and we couldn't get ahold of my parents. Eventually, I asked if I could go to class cause I was bored of the nurse's office.

86.  I have driven a stick shift for the last 5 years and get confused when I have to drive an auto.

87.  I hate orange juice with pulp.

88.  I don't turn on the TV unless I know there is something I want to watch. I'll check TVguide when I'm bored.

89.  I continued knitting because it gave me something to do while reading for class.

90.  I use Opera as my web browser and have since I was a sophomore in high school. It had ads back then, but was a thousand times better than IE. In fact, it still is.

91.  Match Game was the best game show ever. Bad 70s style clothing and hair included.

92.  I almost never wear makeup.

93.  I live in jeans, a fitted t-shirt, and a hoody. In the summer, I wear shorts and a tank top or t-shirt.

94.  Even though I knit, and knit mostly socks, I have to do laundry when I run out of socks. I'll still have underwear, bras, pants, and shirts, but I always run out of socks.

95.  I have a Pentax K1000 film camera. I love it, but miss working in the darkroom.

96.  I currently own 17 pairs of shoes. 5 of those shoes I wear only to the barn.

97.  I have a tendency to pick expensive hobbies - Riding, photography, knitting..

98.  My favorite/lucky number is 8.

99.  I research just about every random question that pops into my head.

100.  I am a very fast reader.