Anyways, as I was investigating the claim that EA Games has hinted at releasing a Sims 2 Pet expansion pack, I stumbled upon this from the upcoming EA NCAA Football '07. I was simply impressed with the graphics.
go green!
Friday, June 16, 2006
the future of imagination and time wasting
I was pleased to note the other day that my favorite means of completely wasting time will soon be improved by something I've wanted for a long time. The magnificent product that eats up hours upon hours is "The Sims 2," and they supposedly will be adding a pet expansion to the PC software. !!!!! It's the next best thing to having an actual pet. Er...well, I guess there are other next-best things - like caring for living animals at an abandoned/confiscated pet shelter...or pet-sitting...or helping people take care of their pets when they are ill or cannot get around very well... Okay, so silicon-generated pets are simply a total waste of time, but at least they could potentially be a fun waste of time. And it would come close to meeting my desire to have a dog of my own. For the record, I believe I asked for a dog at every birthday and Christmas until I was 18. I never got one. Now...I am never at home/can't have a dog in my living quarters, so I'm still dogless. But at least I'm able to recognize that I am currently not equipped to properly raise and train and interact with a dog.
Anyways, as I was investigating the claim that EA Games has hinted at releasing a Sims 2 Pet expansion pack, I stumbled upon this from the upcoming EA NCAA Football '07. I was simply impressed with the graphics.
Anyways, as I was investigating the claim that EA Games has hinted at releasing a Sims 2 Pet expansion pack, I stumbled upon this from the upcoming EA NCAA Football '07. I was simply impressed with the graphics.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
and the world marches on
There are many things changing in my world right now, and many things that are making me feel old.
I will be moving in a few weeks to a new apartment in a new neighborhood on a new bus route.
I've been visiting a new church, meeting new people, and planning to go to a new Bible study this evening.
I have been trying to get several new techniques working in the lab, and they work and then they don't and then they do - nothing is constant, it's all about doing and redoing and tinkering around.
The "new" (end of second year) students are in the middle of comprehensive examination time, which, aside from defending one's thesis, is probably the least enjoyable period of graduate school because you can potentially be tested during your oral exam on every detail about everything you might have been taught. And, the day has finally arrived when I'm an "old" graduate student and the younger ones are calling upon me to help them prepare by acting like a tough professor. It's an honor and a privilege, and I hope I can meet expectations.
I will be moving in a few weeks to a new apartment in a new neighborhood on a new bus route.
I've been visiting a new church, meeting new people, and planning to go to a new Bible study this evening.
I have been trying to get several new techniques working in the lab, and they work and then they don't and then they do - nothing is constant, it's all about doing and redoing and tinkering around.
The "new" (end of second year) students are in the middle of comprehensive examination time, which, aside from defending one's thesis, is probably the least enjoyable period of graduate school because you can potentially be tested during your oral exam on every detail about everything you might have been taught. And, the day has finally arrived when I'm an "old" graduate student and the younger ones are calling upon me to help them prepare by acting like a tough professor. It's an honor and a privilege, and I hope I can meet expectations.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
i finally finished something!
Hooray!! Finally this weekend I finished the edging of the Wave Skirt. I woke up on Saturday and said to myself "I am going to finish this today!" and then plunked down on the couch and knit away while watching "Wild America." It was long after that show ended that I actually finished. But - nevertheless - it's done! Here I am modeling it in our kitchen. Don't mind my pasty white legs or the fact that my shirt totally doesn't match. I also must add that somehow this photo got squished as I edited it down to an acceptable size, so...it looks rather squatty - sorry.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
floccinaucinihilipilification
I have been a subscriber to "AWAD" (A Word A Day) for more years than I can remember. It's a service run by a great person named Anu Garg who sends words to the world every weekday. (BTW, my most favorite part of Anu's site is the anagram server. You must check it out!) I started getting this delivered to my email box because of the quotes at the bottom of each email. But I also enjoy the words and their definitions and etymologies.
Today's word is floccinaucinihilipilification. What I appreciate most about this word is that it really is not as complicated as it seems (the fact that it means, in essence, "nothing," is also enjoyable). It's actually just the running together of four Latin words that all mean basically nothing. And being that I was a student of Latin in high school and am still a huge fan, I can remember that.
...One item that troubles me, however, about floccinaucinihilipilification is the first part of the word. "Flocci" (plural, I believe, of "floccus") means "tuft of wool." Hey!! Wool is not nothing. Although, I guess one couldn't make much of anything with simply a tuft. A little bit of thrumming is all, I guess.
Today's word is floccinaucinihilipilification. What I appreciate most about this word is that it really is not as complicated as it seems (the fact that it means, in essence, "nothing," is also enjoyable). It's actually just the running together of four Latin words that all mean basically nothing. And being that I was a student of Latin in high school and am still a huge fan, I can remember that.
...One item that troubles me, however, about floccinaucinihilipilification is the first part of the word. "Flocci" (plural, I believe, of "floccus") means "tuft of wool." Hey!! Wool is not nothing. Although, I guess one couldn't make much of anything with simply a tuft. A little bit of thrumming is all, I guess.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
knitting update
The other great thing about going to Europe is I will potentially have the opportunity to purchase some wonderful yarn! ...Can I think of nothing else??? I'm very much interested in scouting out a place in Munich to score some (cheap?) Regia Canadian Color sock yarn, which I've been coveting ever since I saw it over on Alison's blog.
What have I been doing with the yarn I already own...?
First, I started making this sock using the Retro Rib pattern from Interweave Knits Winter 2004, which happens to be the first IK I ever laid eyes on. I got pretty far (incidentally, I can't figure out how I got this far...the leg was almost done!) but then realized it was waaaaaaay too small. I'm using Brown Sheep Wildfoote, and it's a lot smaller gauge than what the pattern calls for, so I had to improvise. As usual, because I'm so lazy and don't ever feel like making a proper gauge swatch, the gauge I had minimalistically swatched out before beginning the project was wrong, and I really needed to insert an additional pattern repeat or two in order to make the sock be an appropriate diameter. So I ripped apart my sock, wound up my yarn, and am now back to this (oh, I apologize for the cruddy pictures you'll see below; I forgot to have the flash turned on when I took these pics):
Next, the Wave Skirt is a..l..m..o..s..t done. It has this picot edging, and I have never before experienced how heart-wrenching such edging can be. I got to the end of the piece a few weeks ago (...maybe even a month ago!!) and was excited because I was done, and I only had to plunk a little edging on and make a crochet chain for a waist-tie and I'd be done. Only! Yeah - that edging is really taking me a long time. It's 66 repeats of a 8-row pattern. The pattern isn't awful, but the skirt is so big (and, actually, heavy, too!) that I can't drag it with me anywhere, so I have to work on it at home, and I haven't been there a whole lot lately. At any rate, as of today there are only 17 more repeats to do. Hooray!
With the closing of my preferred yarn shop imminent, I stopped in the other one by my house. I had heard rumor that they hosted charity knitting on Sunday afternoons, and so I came to see. I was the sole charity knitter, but they hooked me up with a comfy chair and some big yarn and I whipped out a fairly long portion of a scarf. I was amazed. I don't really do big yarn, but I might just have to try it - the quick results are really quite encouraging. By the way, I did NOT knit the scarf up on the needle those stitches are hanging out on. That's a supposedly size 4 (more like a size 2), but the 10.5 interchangeable I was using I needed the cable for to do the edging of the Wave Skirt. More motivation for me to finish that edging...
I think I particularly enjoyed the big, results-quick yarn because I have been working on this guy for so long:
Honestly, I love it. It's beautiful. ...But it takes so long, and I can't memorize that 16-row pattern... What I need to do is sit down and work solely on it for a couple weeks, and it will be very much closer to being done. ("It", by the way, is a sweater. That picture is the front or back, I don't remember - I'm working on both at the same time.)
And finally...much to my happiness...
It's the finished body of the Starry Night sweater!! It needs some blocking and proper end-weaving-in due to my inability to seek guidance about doing intarsia, but the front and back are done now, and I'm in the middle of the ribbing for the sleeves. THIS is the project I should really devote myself to, not the Aran above, because I have wanted this sweater from the moment I laid eyes on it, and the nights are going to start getting balmy and certainly not sweater-wearing-ish pretty soon around here.
So...that is what I've been doing. Yay, knitting!
What have I been doing with the yarn I already own...?
First, I started making this sock using the Retro Rib pattern from Interweave Knits Winter 2004, which happens to be the first IK I ever laid eyes on. I got pretty far (incidentally, I can't figure out how I got this far...the leg was almost done!) but then realized it was waaaaaaay too small. I'm using Brown Sheep Wildfoote, and it's a lot smaller gauge than what the pattern calls for, so I had to improvise. As usual, because I'm so lazy and don't ever feel like making a proper gauge swatch, the gauge I had minimalistically swatched out before beginning the project was wrong, and I really needed to insert an additional pattern repeat or two in order to make the sock be an appropriate diameter. So I ripped apart my sock, wound up my yarn, and am now back to this (oh, I apologize for the cruddy pictures you'll see below; I forgot to have the flash turned on when I took these pics):
Next, the Wave Skirt is a..l..m..o..s..t done. It has this picot edging, and I have never before experienced how heart-wrenching such edging can be. I got to the end of the piece a few weeks ago (...maybe even a month ago!!) and was excited because I was done, and I only had to plunk a little edging on and make a crochet chain for a waist-tie and I'd be done. Only! Yeah - that edging is really taking me a long time. It's 66 repeats of a 8-row pattern. The pattern isn't awful, but the skirt is so big (and, actually, heavy, too!) that I can't drag it with me anywhere, so I have to work on it at home, and I haven't been there a whole lot lately. At any rate, as of today there are only 17 more repeats to do. Hooray!
With the closing of my preferred yarn shop imminent, I stopped in the other one by my house. I had heard rumor that they hosted charity knitting on Sunday afternoons, and so I came to see. I was the sole charity knitter, but they hooked me up with a comfy chair and some big yarn and I whipped out a fairly long portion of a scarf. I was amazed. I don't really do big yarn, but I might just have to try it - the quick results are really quite encouraging. By the way, I did NOT knit the scarf up on the needle those stitches are hanging out on. That's a supposedly size 4 (more like a size 2), but the 10.5 interchangeable I was using I needed the cable for to do the edging of the Wave Skirt. More motivation for me to finish that edging...I think I particularly enjoyed the big, results-quick yarn because I have been working on this guy for so long:
Honestly, I love it. It's beautiful. ...But it takes so long, and I can't memorize that 16-row pattern... What I need to do is sit down and work solely on it for a couple weeks, and it will be very much closer to being done. ("It", by the way, is a sweater. That picture is the front or back, I don't remember - I'm working on both at the same time.)And finally...much to my happiness...
It's the finished body of the Starry Night sweater!! It needs some blocking and proper end-weaving-in due to my inability to seek guidance about doing intarsia, but the front and back are done now, and I'm in the middle of the ribbing for the sleeves. THIS is the project I should really devote myself to, not the Aran above, because I have wanted this sweater from the moment I laid eyes on it, and the nights are going to start getting balmy and certainly not sweater-wearing-ish pretty soon around here.So...that is what I've been doing. Yay, knitting!
Monday, June 05, 2006
i'm going to amsterdam!
Superb news arrived in late May: I received a travel grant to attend the AIDS Vaccine 2006 scientific meeting in Amsterdam, Holland!!
Being a descendent of Dutch people, I have always wanted to visit the Netherlands, and I was hoping to get the opportunity to go to this meeting on a travel grant. Getting a travel grant is always nice for one's curriculum vitae, but it's always wonderful for the professor for whom one works who would otherwise probably pay the way for his or her student to attend the meeting. Thus, I am happy that I have saved Dr. Gupta, my boss, money!
In addition to presenting a poster about my research at this conference and attempting to sneak out and see some of the city and country, I am looking forward to a whirlwind tour of some eastern European countries. My co-worker Lori and I are going to join up with a Cosmos tour in Munich, Germany. We will then motor around with a group of travelers to visit Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. I've heard marvelous things about Prague and Vienna and know absolutely nothing about Budapest, so I'm ready for an informative adventure.
Now, all I've got to do between now and when I leave on August 20 is...
Being a descendent of Dutch people, I have always wanted to visit the Netherlands, and I was hoping to get the opportunity to go to this meeting on a travel grant. Getting a travel grant is always nice for one's curriculum vitae, but it's always wonderful for the professor for whom one works who would otherwise probably pay the way for his or her student to attend the meeting. Thus, I am happy that I have saved Dr. Gupta, my boss, money!
In addition to presenting a poster about my research at this conference and attempting to sneak out and see some of the city and country, I am looking forward to a whirlwind tour of some eastern European countries. My co-worker Lori and I are going to join up with a Cosmos tour in Munich, Germany. We will then motor around with a group of travelers to visit Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. I've heard marvelous things about Prague and Vienna and know absolutely nothing about Budapest, so I'm ready for an informative adventure.
Now, all I've got to do between now and when I leave on August 20 is...
- pack!
- learn Dutch
- find some books about the places I'm going
- save some money
- find someone to feed Sheamus while I'm gone...
Sunday, June 04, 2006
a poem for rachelle
Rachelle was born in Alaska,
Which town, I don't know - I'll ask her.
I wonder if my sister ever gave her those Old Navy socks.
If not, I have some at my house in a box.
I can ship them to her via USPS.
They have Eskimos, so they are the best.
I drove Rachelle from Pennsylvania to Michigan,
A 12 hour experience in the snow I don't wish to repeat again.
It wasn't her that made it so bad -
It was the five of us girls and all the stuff that we had.
Rachelle reads my blog and missed my point of view
So I wrote her this poem just to say "Thank you!"
Which town, I don't know - I'll ask her.
I wonder if my sister ever gave her those Old Navy socks.
If not, I have some at my house in a box.
I can ship them to her via USPS.
They have Eskimos, so they are the best.
I drove Rachelle from Pennsylvania to Michigan,
A 12 hour experience in the snow I don't wish to repeat again.
It wasn't her that made it so bad -
It was the five of us girls and all the stuff that we had.
Rachelle reads my blog and missed my point of view
So I wrote her this poem just to say "Thank you!"
Saturday, June 03, 2006
what am i doing?!?!
Eeks... Yes, it has been a while since I posted something here. Let's just say I've been really busy. Not an adequate excuse, but...well, it's my excuse.
What have I been up to?
What have I been up to?
- working a lot doing many experiments
- planning MVM Day, the day every year where my graduate program (Molecular Virology and Microbiology) gathers for showing off our work and hearing invited speakers and eating food and trying to have a party outside. It went over fairly well on Friday, May 26
- sort of attempting to start packing my belongings so I can move in July
- knitting now and again
- trying out various churches in my area - I'm trying to find one that's closer to my house than the one I have been going to
- planning a trip (much more in a future post!!)
- pursing true love...er...not really
this is after a week of recovery
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
rider strong
Do you remember this guy? For me and my friends from high school, it's unthinkable that we'd ever forget Shawn Hunter, semi-bad-boy and best friend of Cory Matthews on ABC's Boy Meets World. (Honestly, IMHO, he was the most realistic character... He didn't get everything handed to him in his lap like so many, and he wasn't totally crazy like certain other characters...)
So I had to laugh when I was watching the WB's new sitcom Pepper Dennis with my roommate. (This makes it sound like I watch tons of television. That's not true - BMW, yes, I did watch that faithfully for five years, but nowadays the only intended-for-people-over-the-age-of-13 t.v. exposure I get is what my roommates are watching when I'm in the living room knitting or eating ice cream before bed.) I have a really hard time with identifying actors and actresses, but I knew I knew this person portraying "Chick" (what an awful name...give the guy some mercy, eh?). I asked my roommate, but she had no idea. I decided, thus, that it must be Harry from a kids' PBS show I watch since obviously my roommate would never have seen that (I love kids' shows!! but rarely am home when they're on. When I can, though...). Kind of strange...going from PBS to the WB...quite a jump.
But, of course, I was wrong. When I finally got to watch the credits, I realized...Chick is Rider Strong!! Ohhhhhh! Personally, I feel kind of bad. Rider is so likeable...why does he have to play this poor picked-on guy? So not right. The switch from Shawn to Chick is just as drastic as the conjectural Harry-to-Chick swtich.
Well, I suppose that's the way show biz goes. Rider, if you happen to read this, which I highly doubt: I'm still a fan. And, by the way, I think you used to have a really cool website with poetry and stuff - what happened to it?
This all reminds me of a fun time in college where Amber (she's my oldest, bestest friend) and I saw an episode of The Wonder Years where we saw a kid who, again, we knew we knew. We bugged our eyes out staring at the end credits to figure out his name, but that still didn't help. So then we spent the evening searching for him online (this was before Google and many useful online movie/t.v. databases) until we cross-matched Chad Allen as the actor in both The Wonder Years and...good ol' Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman!
...Oh the amusement that a lack of memory causes...
Also amusing that, probably because I was thinking about writing this post before I went to bed, I had an incredibly strange dream last night in which Rider, who informed me his name was actually Dean and was about 6 inches taller and had a twin brother and looked nothing like the actual Rider Strong when I think about it, and I met while standing next to each other in line for something. While we waited, I had my ear inspected by a very scientifically-savvy Mr. Strong who apparently toted around a hand-held microscope specifically for examining people's earlobes. ????? Yikes! In this case, reality is better than dreams.
So I had to laugh when I was watching the WB's new sitcom Pepper Dennis with my roommate. (This makes it sound like I watch tons of television. That's not true - BMW, yes, I did watch that faithfully for five years, but nowadays the only intended-for-people-over-the-age-of-13 t.v. exposure I get is what my roommates are watching when I'm in the living room knitting or eating ice cream before bed.) I have a really hard time with identifying actors and actresses, but I knew I knew this person portraying "Chick" (what an awful name...give the guy some mercy, eh?). I asked my roommate, but she had no idea. I decided, thus, that it must be Harry from a kids' PBS show I watch since obviously my roommate would never have seen that (I love kids' shows!! but rarely am home when they're on. When I can, though...). Kind of strange...going from PBS to the WB...quite a jump.
But, of course, I was wrong. When I finally got to watch the credits, I realized...Chick is Rider Strong!! Ohhhhhh! Personally, I feel kind of bad. Rider is so likeable...why does he have to play this poor picked-on guy? So not right. The switch from Shawn to Chick is just as drastic as the conjectural Harry-to-Chick swtich.
Well, I suppose that's the way show biz goes. Rider, if you happen to read this, which I highly doubt: I'm still a fan. And, by the way, I think you used to have a really cool website with poetry and stuff - what happened to it?
This all reminds me of a fun time in college where Amber (she's my oldest, bestest friend) and I saw an episode of The Wonder Years where we saw a kid who, again, we knew we knew. We bugged our eyes out staring at the end credits to figure out his name, but that still didn't help. So then we spent the evening searching for him online (this was before Google and many useful online movie/t.v. databases) until we cross-matched Chad Allen as the actor in both The Wonder Years and...good ol' Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman!
...Oh the amusement that a lack of memory causes...
Also amusing that, probably because I was thinking about writing this post before I went to bed, I had an incredibly strange dream last night in which Rider, who informed me his name was actually Dean and was about 6 inches taller and had a twin brother and looked nothing like the actual Rider Strong when I think about it, and I met while standing next to each other in line for something. While we waited, I had my ear inspected by a very scientifically-savvy Mr. Strong who apparently toted around a hand-held microscope specifically for examining people's earlobes. ????? Yikes! In this case, reality is better than dreams.
I thought about putting some pictures up, but I decided to be moral and not swipe them from some site and use them. Copyright laws, I respect you.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
the joy in knitting
Happiness abounds...
Last night while shopping for much-needed groceries I paused by the magazine rack and was astounded to find the summer edition of Interweave Knits, my favorite knitting magazine. I've had that issue's release date on my calendar for a month now, and it's listed as March 16. It even still says that on the website! But...much to my enjoyment, the magazine was there at least a day early, so I scooped it up and even paid full price. I then was able to peruse the many knitted-tee patterns while washing my mountain of laundry into the wee hours of the night.
...I gotta get some more yarn. Hee hee.
Last night while shopping for much-needed groceries I paused by the magazine rack and was astounded to find the summer edition of Interweave Knits, my favorite knitting magazine. I've had that issue's release date on my calendar for a month now, and it's listed as March 16. It even still says that on the website! But...much to my enjoyment, the magazine was there at least a day early, so I scooped it up and even paid full price. I then was able to peruse the many knitted-tee patterns while washing my mountain of laundry into the wee hours of the night.
...I gotta get some more yarn. Hee hee.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
the happy ending
Throughout my looooooooong day Thursday, I (and I'm totally serious here...) kept thinking to myself, "You can do it...just a few more hours...and then maybe when you get home your Sockapaloooza socks will be in the mail!" I was just trying to amuse myself, but...imagine my delight when I got home and found the following items in my mail pile (sorry for the totally cruddy pictures...it was past midnight, and I'd been up at 5a.m.):
Yes, they arrived!! I ripped open the package, pulled off my boring white socks from my exhausted feet, and jumped into the papasan to put on my new socks!
Brynne, my S'ploooza pal, knit me good. Just look...
Brynne's the best. It's amazing to see how much work went into the socks. The colors are gorgeous and happy and spring-like and go with many clothes I have, including my new favorite pink fleece sweatshirt. And I was also presented with some sock yarn to make summer socks, too! Yay!!!
I am afraid I may love my new socks a little too much. I wore them to work on Friday...and then I wore them on Saturday...and on Sunday... Hey, they're nice, okay? And they deserve the upmost care...and love. What better way to love socks than to wear them?
money owed me by the university!
an invitation to ren's wedding!
MY SOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
an invitation to ren's wedding!
MY SOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Yes, they arrived!! I ripped open the package, pulled off my boring white socks from my exhausted feet, and jumped into the papasan to put on my new socks!
feet, meet socks. socks, meet feet
Brynne, my S'ploooza pal, knit me good. Just look...
A beautiful cabley rib, and a heel with slipped stitches - the texture is way cool!
Shaped toes so I know which sock is for which of my different-sized feet.
I don't know what this heel is called, but I really like it.
A shaped calf...very thoughtful!! And look at how the pattern is maintained...excellent workmanship...!!
Shaped toes so I know which sock is for which of my different-sized feet.
I don't know what this heel is called, but I really like it.
A shaped calf...very thoughtful!! And look at how the pattern is maintained...excellent workmanship...!!Brynne's the best. It's amazing to see how much work went into the socks. The colors are gorgeous and happy and spring-like and go with many clothes I have, including my new favorite pink fleece sweatshirt. And I was also presented with some sock yarn to make summer socks, too! Yay!!!
I am afraid I may love my new socks a little too much. I wore them to work on Friday...and then I wore them on Saturday...and on Sunday... Hey, they're nice, okay? And they deserve the upmost care...and love. What better way to love socks than to wear them?
Monday, May 08, 2006
more mischief at work - a chain reaction
Before I begin, let me assure you that this story has a happy ending.
I seem to have acquired a Thursday Curse. For the past month, every Thursday has been incessantly busy at work. I, of course, make my schedule, so I am really the only one to blame. There are other factors - when certain people are available to aid me, when reagents can be shipped to me, and at what times I can use various machines. But truly it's me, and for some reason I seem to have decided that since I don't have anything to do on Thursday evenings, that means I can stay at work for 16 hours and do ridiculous amounts of work. It is thus no surprise that it is on Thursdays (or in preparation for Thursdays) that bad things occur.
Last Thursday was one of those days... I shall present to you the amusements of my life in pictures:
Not as traumatic as a near-fire, but it was fairly amusing and caused many more problems than I had anticipated. However, like I said, in the end there was a happy ending to my long and tiring day at the lab. But that will have to wait for tomorrow...
I seem to have acquired a Thursday Curse. For the past month, every Thursday has been incessantly busy at work. I, of course, make my schedule, so I am really the only one to blame. There are other factors - when certain people are available to aid me, when reagents can be shipped to me, and at what times I can use various machines. But truly it's me, and for some reason I seem to have decided that since I don't have anything to do on Thursday evenings, that means I can stay at work for 16 hours and do ridiculous amounts of work. It is thus no surprise that it is on Thursdays (or in preparation for Thursdays) that bad things occur.
Last Thursday was one of those days... I shall present to you the amusements of my life in pictures:
It all started with this tube.
I put some stuff into the tube, and moments later it transformed into this. This was not supposed to happen. The pointy end inverted into the inside of the tube, and then the pointy part got so disfigured that it broke open, so the stuff I put into it came out.
The culprit - a centrifuge...
...because of this...
...and not this.
Since the stuff I had put into the tube was bacteria, I really needed to clean up everything upon which it had leaked through the pointy-end hole. Fortunately, when you put tubes into that centrifuge, they sit in a bucket, so that meant I just needed to clean the bucket. I washed it out, and then I reached to get a wipe to dry the bucket.
I reached over this.
And then this happened. That meant the water went everywhere. Amazingly, it did not get on me, just the floor. Also amazingly, the glass beaker that I knocked over did not break!
I put some stuff into the tube, and moments later it transformed into this. This was not supposed to happen. The pointy end inverted into the inside of the tube, and then the pointy part got so disfigured that it broke open, so the stuff I put into it came out.
The culprit - a centrifuge...
...because of this...
...and not this.Since the stuff I had put into the tube was bacteria, I really needed to clean up everything upon which it had leaked through the pointy-end hole. Fortunately, when you put tubes into that centrifuge, they sit in a bucket, so that meant I just needed to clean the bucket. I washed it out, and then I reached to get a wipe to dry the bucket.
I reached over this.
And then this happened. That meant the water went everywhere. Amazingly, it did not get on me, just the floor. Also amazingly, the glass beaker that I knocked over did not break!Not as traumatic as a near-fire, but it was fairly amusing and caused many more problems than I had anticipated. However, like I said, in the end there was a happy ending to my long and tiring day at the lab. But that will have to wait for tomorrow...
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
what's in the bag
Here's all the objects I crammed into the "bag" I sent to my sockpal. As mentioned before, Pittsburgh Knit and Bead is closing, so...I bought a few things from them to send along. Sockpal, I hope you enjoy!!!!
pictured clockwise, starting from the top: hand-dyed and ??handspun?? merino laceweight yarn made near pittsburgh; the socks made in pittsburgh and baltimore and columbus and colorado and probably some other places; a pen from pk&b; a stitch marker made at pk&b
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
the socks are in the mail
Today is the official Mail-Your-Socks-To-Your-Sockapaloooza-Pal Day. My pal lives across the ocean, so I actually sent the socks a couple days early so they should arrive around the same time that all the domestically-delivered socks do. I have a nice picture of the other stuff I sent along with the socks, but of course I left my camera with the pictures at home today, so...oops. Check back tomorrow!
The other wonderful thing about this being MYSTYSP Day is that...in a matter of days I should be getting socks!!! I hadn't given this much consideration, being way too involved in making sure I got the socks done and blocked and sent. I procrastinated on the blocking, and when I finally did it took forever for the socks to dry because I not-thinkingly left them to dry in our basement, which isn't the best place to try to dry things. After a couple days of waiting, I realized this and brought them upstairs and they finished drying in no time.
...Can't wait for the mail to come these next few days...!!!
The other wonderful thing about this being MYSTYSP Day is that...in a matter of days I should be getting socks!!! I hadn't given this much consideration, being way too involved in making sure I got the socks done and blocked and sent. I procrastinated on the blocking, and when I finally did it took forever for the socks to dry because I not-thinkingly left them to dry in our basement, which isn't the best place to try to dry things. After a couple days of waiting, I realized this and brought them upstairs and they finished drying in no time.
...Can't wait for the mail to come these next few days...!!!
Monday, May 01, 2006
the flowers in my garden
I don't exactly have a garden, but when I moved into my present house, my mom ensured that I get some bulbs and other plants planted. It's quite a meager garden, if I can even venture to call it that. Every year it's an adventure to see what will return. For example, the second spring I lived in the house, I waited eagerly to see if the iris would return - the previous spring our neighbors weed-wacked it when they were trying (very kindly) to help us limit the out-of-control weed problem in that particular flower bed and they didn't notice that I was actually attempting to culture something that wasn't a weed. It didn't.
But...in the same flower bed, I still get these tulips.
Along the edge of the flowerbed are these little violets, which are weeds, really, but are so cute.
On the side of the house along the driveway are the remnants of the daffodils that have come and gone, having bloomed right after the crocus made a very brief appearance (the week I was in Colorado, of course).
There is also another tulip...
I grow lots of this ground cover (weed???) without trying very hard...
...but what I'm super great at doing is getting these guys to sprout:
But...in the same flower bed, I still get these tulips.
they're leaning because they don't get enough sun. tough in the city.
Right next to the tulips is a huge pricker plant. I suppose I should dig that out someday soon.Along the edge of the flowerbed are these little violets, which are weeds, really, but are so cute.
On the side of the house along the driveway are the remnants of the daffodils that have come and gone, having bloomed right after the crocus made a very brief appearance (the week I was in Colorado, of course).
There is also another tulip...
one is the loneliest number...
...and some grape hyacinth.
I grow lots of this ground cover (weed???) without trying very hard...
...but what I'm super great at doing is getting these guys to sprout:
Friday, April 28, 2006
what i did at work
I've been spending way too much time in the lab recently. There's just so many experiments I want to get done, and I want to do them all at the same time, and there's a few deadlines to meet, so I really gotta work hard... I'm overworking. Here's are some symptoms:
I was quite surprised when I did just that yesterday and came back to find that all the water had boiled away, the plastic tube with the PFA solution had melted when it came in contact with the burning empty hot glass beaker bottom, the PFA solution had also evaporated (thank goodness I always make the PFA in the fume hood - PFA is terribly toxic!), and now the plastic was melting to the bottom of the beaker, which was on the verge of cracking under the heat. Some quick reflexes enabled me to process all of this in about half a millisecond. I grabbed the plastic tube - NOT the glass beaker, since my sister has informed me that hot glass looks just like cold glass, but they don't feel the asme - and managed to gently slide the beaker off of the hot plate, somehow managing to not break the beaker.
That wasn't really the end of the story, though, because now the hot beaker was sitting on the absorptive pad lining the inside of the fume hood. In the photograph you will notice a now-distored circle of white surrounded by brown. That would be where I put the beaker, which promptly melted first few layers of the pad. The disgusting brown in the bottom of the beaker represents the ashes of layers, fused securely to the bottom of the beaker. If you look closely, you can also see the remnants of the part of the tube that melted inside the beaker, which stuck to the upper part of the beaker as I used it to steer the beaker away from the hot plate.
Pretty cool, huh? That's what I do at work...
Fortunately (sort of), today my work has come to a grinding halt. I got to work at 7 to start preparing my experiment for tomorrow (yeah, I need to start it going at least 24 hours in advance!), but when I arrived I found that my cells had been contaminated and were now sporting great blobs that are colonies of bacteria. Great... There goes that experiment. Then I figured out that something is not working with a second project, and I'm going to have to take about 10 steps back to figure out what is going wrong. But it's not all that bad - I don't have to work so much on the weekend since the weekend project got destroyed by the bacteria! And, while talking to someone about the non-working project, I was given some pre-made PFA that requires absolutely no boiling.
Somebody is watching out for me and my sanity.
- 1. The majority of my daily liquid intake is coffee-based drinks.
- 2. In the past week I have at least once consumed a sugar-filled drink and counted it as a meal. (And I'm not talking Slim-Fast.) On at least one occasion, this was a coffee-based drink.
- 3. Another meal was a banana split and popcorn.
- 4. The only way to differentiate between my clean clothing and my dirty clothing is that the dirty pile is separated from the floor by a laundry basket.
- 5. In the refrigerator, my only belongings are: grapes, cold cuts, cheese, 2 ounces of Gatorade that I drank most of two weeks ago, and milk that expired on the 25th (note today's date...).
- 6. The average number of hours spent at work or doing work at home per day is a two-digit number.
yum...
I recognize the dangers in these symptoms and am taking care to not stress out too much and to get a grip on reality - life will not end if I don't do that experiment tomorrow, I know. I realize it's really bad when the fact that I was doing three experiments at the same time the other day led to this:
yum, too?
In the picture you see the white top of a hot-plate, upon which the glass beaker on the right was sitting. I was attempting to make one of my favorite recipes - Quick Paraformaldehyde - which involves filling the beaker with water, sticking in a tube of paraformaldehyde powder mixed with high-pH water, and warming the water to conduct heat to the paraformaldehyde (PFA is really tough to get to dissolve - in one lab I worked, I actually spent an entire day making PFA solution. Like, seriously an entire day). After about 10 minutes a few shakes of the tube in the hot water to encourage interactions between paraformaldehyde and water molecules, and you get a nice, clear paraformaldehyde solution. If you're busy, like me, you can cheat on that 10 minutes and leave it there for a while, and when you come back it will all be dissolved for you.I was quite surprised when I did just that yesterday and came back to find that all the water had boiled away, the plastic tube with the PFA solution had melted when it came in contact with the burning empty hot glass beaker bottom, the PFA solution had also evaporated (thank goodness I always make the PFA in the fume hood - PFA is terribly toxic!), and now the plastic was melting to the bottom of the beaker, which was on the verge of cracking under the heat. Some quick reflexes enabled me to process all of this in about half a millisecond. I grabbed the plastic tube - NOT the glass beaker, since my sister has informed me that hot glass looks just like cold glass, but they don't feel the asme - and managed to gently slide the beaker off of the hot plate, somehow managing to not break the beaker.
That wasn't really the end of the story, though, because now the hot beaker was sitting on the absorptive pad lining the inside of the fume hood. In the photograph you will notice a now-distored circle of white surrounded by brown. That would be where I put the beaker, which promptly melted first few layers of the pad. The disgusting brown in the bottom of the beaker represents the ashes of layers, fused securely to the bottom of the beaker. If you look closely, you can also see the remnants of the part of the tube that melted inside the beaker, which stuck to the upper part of the beaker as I used it to steer the beaker away from the hot plate.
Pretty cool, huh? That's what I do at work...
Fortunately (sort of), today my work has come to a grinding halt. I got to work at 7 to start preparing my experiment for tomorrow (yeah, I need to start it going at least 24 hours in advance!), but when I arrived I found that my cells had been contaminated and were now sporting great blobs that are colonies of bacteria. Great... There goes that experiment. Then I figured out that something is not working with a second project, and I'm going to have to take about 10 steps back to figure out what is going wrong. But it's not all that bad - I don't have to work so much on the weekend since the weekend project got destroyed by the bacteria! And, while talking to someone about the non-working project, I was given some pre-made PFA that requires absolutely no boiling.
Somebody is watching out for me and my sanity.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
why i read "moby dick"
Unlike many high school students, I was never required (nor encouraged, for that matter) to read Herman Melville's classic book Moby Dick. I decided to read it about three years ago, after noticing the following sign on the door of a bathroom stall in my building:
After reading this a number of times, I really wondered how much of it was actually in the book. I wondered so much that I went to the library and found the book. I didn't see much of the exact wording on the first page, but I realized...maybe it was tucked away somewhere in the rest of the book. So I read the whole thing.
If you've never read Moby Dick and would like to know the feeling you have once you've finished reading the epilogue, I would liken it to the feeling you're left with after watching the original Ocean's Eleven movie with the Sinatra-Martin-Davis Jr.-Lawford-Bishop Rat Pack. It's highly ironic and semi-unbelievable. I was not impressed. (It was funny with the movie, which I recommend - I laughed for ten minutes straight after the movie ended - but not with the extremely long book.)
And, to spare you the pain and suffering, I will let you know that approximately the only words that are really in Moby Dick out of all of them in that adapted passage are "Call me Ishmael."
you can download these and other great reading materials from the allegheny county health department to decorate your own bathroom!
After reading this a number of times, I really wondered how much of it was actually in the book. I wondered so much that I went to the library and found the book. I didn't see much of the exact wording on the first page, but I realized...maybe it was tucked away somewhere in the rest of the book. So I read the whole thing.
If you've never read Moby Dick and would like to know the feeling you have once you've finished reading the epilogue, I would liken it to the feeling you're left with after watching the original Ocean's Eleven movie with the Sinatra-Martin-Davis Jr.-Lawford-Bishop Rat Pack. It's highly ironic and semi-unbelievable. I was not impressed. (It was funny with the movie, which I recommend - I laughed for ten minutes straight after the movie ended - but not with the extremely long book.)
And, to spare you the pain and suffering, I will let you know that approximately the only words that are really in Moby Dick out of all of them in that adapted passage are "Call me Ishmael."
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
no clothes make the man?
It's amazing to me that one of the world's largest clothing retailers is capable of selling their product with advertisements that contain zero clothing.
I suppose a lot of people have their own personal rants about Abercrombie & Fitch - whether it's about discrimination towards employees, racist messages printed on their clothing, or demeaning females (especially young ones) and probably males. This one by me isn't to jump on the bandwagon by any means. From the moment the store came to exist in my hometown when I was in high school until this very day, I have not once set foot inside the store, nor do I intend to ever. Originally my choice was because friends of mine were asked to leave the store when they entered and weren't wearing the "right" clothes (...wouldn't that be why you go into a store that sells clothing...to buy the clothing they think is best since they're selling it...?), but a lot has changed since then, so the justification list is now quite long. I know lots of people who have been happily employed by the store, many who gladly purchase their clothing, and even a couple who have modeled for them - obviously somebody likes the company, because last year Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (which, in case you weren't aware, consists of the stores/brands Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie, Hollister, and RUEHL - click at your own risk) reported $2.785 billion in net sales. It's a good business, I have to give them credit for that. They're doing what they need to do to get people to spend their money on their products. However, I utterly dislike the way in which they do so.
Sex sells. That should not come as any surprise. I am reminded of this every time I go to church, because on the expressway on the way to church (ironically), I am stared down by an Abercrombie guy. I think A&F has some sort of claim on this one particular building, because for as long as I've driven that way in Pittsburgh (three years), there's been some sort of A&F ad on the billboard affixed to the building's west face. The amazing thing is that in none of these ads - there have been three separate ones - have the models (who are all males) adorned any clothing on their upper body, and the lower body is depicted on only about one-sixteenth of the billboard, if at all. In one there was also a football.
It makes one wonder...what is A&F attempting to sell? I certainly don't sit up in the car and say, "Hey, I ought to go buy a guy I know a shirt, because I don't want him to be like this poor dude on the billboard who is too poor to buy a shirt!" I don't feel motivated to go check out the A&F jeans selection, in case that's what I'm supposed to be awed by in the photographs. Surely, if A&F is attempting to show off their clothing, they are doing a terrible job.
But that's just it - I really don't think that's what they're trying to sell. I don't know anyone who works for Abercrombie & Fitch Co., but I do know someone who works at a similar clothing store, which targets basically the same audience. He is a buyer for the men's clothing, and he tells me that it's not the clothing that is the focus of the product development. Instead, there's an image of a person the company wants to create their product for - this made up guy (who has a name, actually...sort of scary) who has a particular personality and certain types of goals and specific likes and dislikes. And thus, in the development of the product, the buyers and marketers are actually creating an image they are hoping consumers will buy into.
Is that wrong? Not my place to judge, but I know that for me personally I'd rather have my image be based on something or Someone a bit more...reliable and loving than that.
And besides that, I don't highly appreciate being duped into buying something because it's what a stranger strategically convinces me I should buy in order to be who I'm supposed to be. They can't fool me, but it's infuriating to me that the target audience of these advertisers isn't so much me but instead malleable teenagers who are seeking to decipher who they are and what they believe and why their existence matters.
I suppose a lot of people have their own personal rants about Abercrombie & Fitch - whether it's about discrimination towards employees, racist messages printed on their clothing, or demeaning females (especially young ones) and probably males. This one by me isn't to jump on the bandwagon by any means. From the moment the store came to exist in my hometown when I was in high school until this very day, I have not once set foot inside the store, nor do I intend to ever. Originally my choice was because friends of mine were asked to leave the store when they entered and weren't wearing the "right" clothes (...wouldn't that be why you go into a store that sells clothing...to buy the clothing they think is best since they're selling it...?), but a lot has changed since then, so the justification list is now quite long. I know lots of people who have been happily employed by the store, many who gladly purchase their clothing, and even a couple who have modeled for them - obviously somebody likes the company, because last year Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (which, in case you weren't aware, consists of the stores/brands Abercrombie & Fitch, abercrombie, Hollister, and RUEHL - click at your own risk) reported $2.785 billion in net sales. It's a good business, I have to give them credit for that. They're doing what they need to do to get people to spend their money on their products. However, I utterly dislike the way in which they do so.
Sex sells. That should not come as any surprise. I am reminded of this every time I go to church, because on the expressway on the way to church (ironically), I am stared down by an Abercrombie guy. I think A&F has some sort of claim on this one particular building, because for as long as I've driven that way in Pittsburgh (three years), there's been some sort of A&F ad on the billboard affixed to the building's west face. The amazing thing is that in none of these ads - there have been three separate ones - have the models (who are all males) adorned any clothing on their upper body, and the lower body is depicted on only about one-sixteenth of the billboard, if at all. In one there was also a football.
It makes one wonder...what is A&F attempting to sell? I certainly don't sit up in the car and say, "Hey, I ought to go buy a guy I know a shirt, because I don't want him to be like this poor dude on the billboard who is too poor to buy a shirt!" I don't feel motivated to go check out the A&F jeans selection, in case that's what I'm supposed to be awed by in the photographs. Surely, if A&F is attempting to show off their clothing, they are doing a terrible job.
But that's just it - I really don't think that's what they're trying to sell. I don't know anyone who works for Abercrombie & Fitch Co., but I do know someone who works at a similar clothing store, which targets basically the same audience. He is a buyer for the men's clothing, and he tells me that it's not the clothing that is the focus of the product development. Instead, there's an image of a person the company wants to create their product for - this made up guy (who has a name, actually...sort of scary) who has a particular personality and certain types of goals and specific likes and dislikes. And thus, in the development of the product, the buyers and marketers are actually creating an image they are hoping consumers will buy into.
Is that wrong? Not my place to judge, but I know that for me personally I'd rather have my image be based on something or Someone a bit more...reliable and loving than that.
And besides that, I don't highly appreciate being duped into buying something because it's what a stranger strategically convinces me I should buy in order to be who I'm supposed to be. They can't fool me, but it's infuriating to me that the target audience of these advertisers isn't so much me but instead malleable teenagers who are seeking to decipher who they are and what they believe and why their existence matters.
currently on the billboard, although with less of the legs
So, what do I conclude as I turn off of the Boulevard of the Allies and onto the Veteran's Bridge with three bare chests (no heads...interesting) bearing down on me? I guess all I can figure is that clothes don't make the man, because these men sure don't have any on, and I can still tell exactly what type of men they are. (That sounds really judgmental - sorry.)
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
goodbye, old friend (hooray!)
It was with mixed feelings that I walked out of Pittsburgh Knit & Bead on Sunday afternoon. This is the only place I've ever bought yarn other than at craft stores (oh, and online once), and nearly all of my double pointed needles originate from this store. It's the store I ran to when I thought my socks had horrid heels, and the shop owner has always been of utmost aid when I needed thoughts on things I don't artistically understand, like colors and beads.
As I left on Sunday with a hand-made stitch marker and hand-painted locally made yarn (both to be added surprises for my sockpal...in case Sockpal doesn't like the socks I made, Sockpal can make some with this yarn!), I was glad that I had managed to purchase both items at a sale price. However, I was sad that the reason these and every other item in the store was on sale is that the store is closing.
On the one hand, it's exciting because all the yarn will continue to get marked down until the store shuts its doors forever in June-ish. On the other hand, where am I going to go for knitting stuff? There's the other yarn store that opened up on the other side of the neighborhood, but they're rarely open past 5 o' clock, and I don't usually get home from work until after 6 when I leave work "on time". Plus, that other store is big, and for whatever reason it makes me feel like I can't just run in and shriek, "This heel looks awful - HELP!" Plus, the other store has...well...different yarn. Not the same style as PK&B. Not bad, just not precisely my type.
And...besides all that, couldn't the store have decided to close after I buy that sofa...? Now I have to make the decision of what to do with the opportunity to stock up on yarn at discounted prices... Life is full of difficult choices, eh?
Anyhow, it occurred to me that I have not shown a picture of the Wave Skirt! So, here it is, with only about 10 more rounds to knit and then the edging to finish!
As I left on Sunday with a hand-made stitch marker and hand-painted locally made yarn (both to be added surprises for my sockpal...in case Sockpal doesn't like the socks I made, Sockpal can make some with this yarn!), I was glad that I had managed to purchase both items at a sale price. However, I was sad that the reason these and every other item in the store was on sale is that the store is closing.
On the one hand, it's exciting because all the yarn will continue to get marked down until the store shuts its doors forever in June-ish. On the other hand, where am I going to go for knitting stuff? There's the other yarn store that opened up on the other side of the neighborhood, but they're rarely open past 5 o' clock, and I don't usually get home from work until after 6 when I leave work "on time". Plus, that other store is big, and for whatever reason it makes me feel like I can't just run in and shriek, "This heel looks awful - HELP!" Plus, the other store has...well...different yarn. Not the same style as PK&B. Not bad, just not precisely my type.
And...besides all that, couldn't the store have decided to close after I buy that sofa...? Now I have to make the decision of what to do with the opportunity to stock up on yarn at discounted prices... Life is full of difficult choices, eh?
Anyhow, it occurred to me that I have not shown a picture of the Wave Skirt! So, here it is, with only about 10 more rounds to knit and then the edging to finish!
also starring in this photo: my shoes and a bag containing the yarn from pk&b
Friday, April 21, 2006
a learning experience
What in the world was I doing up at 1:08a.m. this morning, anyhow?
Do you know what I love about life? Learning. That moment when all of a sudden things begin to click and one can step back and say "A-HA! Now I get it." It's also the most frustrating thing, because usually when you learn something, you realize that you've spent a lot of effort, time, and/or money on other ideas, concepts, or assumptions that turned out to be not accurate or true.
What I mean to say, as I randomly throw out words that jump in my exhausted mind, is that I've been trying and trying to get some things to work here in the lab. I used every resource I could think of. I followed all the steps I knew to be necessary. Yet still no luck. And then...I was informed of one secret ingredient that changes EVERYTHING. I still have to test that secret ingredient myself, but I am quite sure that it will significantly improve not only the quality but also the ease of my current experiment set. All very good things when one has spent multiple double-digit-hour days in the lab.
Of course, the down side is now I see that the efforts I've been putting forth the past three weeks were rather wasteful. I could have made so much more progress had I just known then what I know now. Plus, it would have used far fewer reagents and, thus, money. It's frustrating, too, that I didn't have the information I needed when I first needed it. And it makes me wonder if that's my responsibility - I tend to think it is, and even that fact can be really frustrating, because it means I would need to know that I need to know more than I know when I don't know something. Now that's a profound statement. Seriously, though - how and I supposed to know that I'm knowledge-less??? Perhaps I'm just so conceited and think I know everything already, that I never consider the fact that the aid of another, experienced person would be of any use.
Hm...
At any rate, it's a happy thought that I have finally found some promising leads to improve my research. And...it's also great that, on a FRIDAY!!!, I have some wonderful results that I've been trying to get for quite some time.
If only my head would stop pounding from lack of sleep, I would be a majority of contented.
Do you know what I love about life? Learning. That moment when all of a sudden things begin to click and one can step back and say "A-HA! Now I get it." It's also the most frustrating thing, because usually when you learn something, you realize that you've spent a lot of effort, time, and/or money on other ideas, concepts, or assumptions that turned out to be not accurate or true.
What I mean to say, as I randomly throw out words that jump in my exhausted mind, is that I've been trying and trying to get some things to work here in the lab. I used every resource I could think of. I followed all the steps I knew to be necessary. Yet still no luck. And then...I was informed of one secret ingredient that changes EVERYTHING. I still have to test that secret ingredient myself, but I am quite sure that it will significantly improve not only the quality but also the ease of my current experiment set. All very good things when one has spent multiple double-digit-hour days in the lab.
Of course, the down side is now I see that the efforts I've been putting forth the past three weeks were rather wasteful. I could have made so much more progress had I just known then what I know now. Plus, it would have used far fewer reagents and, thus, money. It's frustrating, too, that I didn't have the information I needed when I first needed it. And it makes me wonder if that's my responsibility - I tend to think it is, and even that fact can be really frustrating, because it means I would need to know that I need to know more than I know when I don't know something. Now that's a profound statement. Seriously, though - how and I supposed to know that I'm knowledge-less??? Perhaps I'm just so conceited and think I know everything already, that I never consider the fact that the aid of another, experienced person would be of any use.
Hm...
At any rate, it's a happy thought that I have finally found some promising leads to improve my research. And...it's also great that, on a FRIDAY!!!, I have some wonderful results that I've been trying to get for quite some time.
If only my head would stop pounding from lack of sleep, I would be a majority of contented.
procrastination
I very much remember learning the word "procrastination." It was either in sixth or seventh grade, and it was in Life Skills class, which is sort of like home economics, except I guess the school people thought it needed a new name and that in addition to cooking and sewing students should learn things like how to keep a schedule and other stuff that would be handy to know even if you didn't spend most of your time at a home. What I learned was following a recipe doesn't always work, cooking goes a lot better when there aren't four of you trying to make the same thing in the same bowl at the same time, and the definition of two words - "commute" and "procrastination."
"Commute" came up when we had to write down what we did all day and how long it took. Wake up...eat breakfast...get ready for school...commute to school on the school bus. My mom told me that riding the school bus wasn't what constituted commuting, and I later learned she was correct.
"Procrastination" was actually in our text book in bold text, which probably means it was also on a quiz or test at some point. I recall that not long after the word was introduced in Life Skills, I added it to my dictionary for Communications class - we had to add 10 words per week with definitions and etymologies. It kept popping up in other aspects of school, too, and pretty soon it was everyone's favorite word because it so exquisitely described something we were all quite familiar with - putting off whatever we possibly could until we no longer could manage.
I believe I had learned this word very well. I am an expert at procrastinating! I have managed to bring myself, at the present moment, to the point where I have a presentation to make for Monday, a paper I really should write and sort of was supposed to be turned in tomorrow (but it's for a class in which I'm not enrolled, so technically I needn't bother at all), and a symposium I'm in charge of in a month's time that still needs a load of things done for it. This is in addition to the normal demands of work, church, friends, and other aspects of life. Eeks. How did I do this to myself?
...Honestly...it was easy. Took no effort at all.
"Commute" came up when we had to write down what we did all day and how long it took. Wake up...eat breakfast...get ready for school...commute to school on the school bus. My mom told me that riding the school bus wasn't what constituted commuting, and I later learned she was correct.
"Procrastination" was actually in our text book in bold text, which probably means it was also on a quiz or test at some point. I recall that not long after the word was introduced in Life Skills, I added it to my dictionary for Communications class - we had to add 10 words per week with definitions and etymologies. It kept popping up in other aspects of school, too, and pretty soon it was everyone's favorite word because it so exquisitely described something we were all quite familiar with - putting off whatever we possibly could until we no longer could manage.
I believe I had learned this word very well. I am an expert at procrastinating! I have managed to bring myself, at the present moment, to the point where I have a presentation to make for Monday, a paper I really should write and sort of was supposed to be turned in tomorrow (but it's for a class in which I'm not enrolled, so technically I needn't bother at all), and a symposium I'm in charge of in a month's time that still needs a load of things done for it. This is in addition to the normal demands of work, church, friends, and other aspects of life. Eeks. How did I do this to myself?
...Honestly...it was easy. Took no effort at all.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
sockapaloooza countdown
I'm all done with my sock for sockapaloooza, so I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the address to which the socks are to be sent. My sockapaloooza pal doesn't have a website, so I decided long ago that I was not going to find out more about him/her via the internet. However, today I realized that I know the person's name, I know the general vicinity of where the person lives, and I know how to use Google. And thus, with a few clicks of buttons, I found my person! I didn't learn much except that this person works in the same sort of field as my dad. If only I'd have known. Then I would have asked Daddy for some suggestions. ...Well, maybe not. But I do think I've made a good choice for the recipient. Perhaps I'll find a little something more to send along in the package, now that I know what career the sockapaloooza pal has.
In other knitting news, the Wave Skirt continues to get longer. I made the huge mistake last week of not weaving in the end of one strand of yarn for very long - on the next round, one of the stitches disappeared because I had managed to pull the woven-in yarn back so much!! Yikes. I made some creative adjustments, and I think it's okay now. The whole thing hasn't fallen apart yet, so I guess that means it's alright.
In other knitting news, the Wave Skirt continues to get longer. I made the huge mistake last week of not weaving in the end of one strand of yarn for very long - on the next round, one of the stitches disappeared because I had managed to pull the woven-in yarn back so much!! Yikes. I made some creative adjustments, and I think it's okay now. The whole thing hasn't fallen apart yet, so I guess that means it's alright.
Monday, April 17, 2006
needed: fashion advice
Something is quite wrong with me. If you know me at all, your first reaction to my upcoming announcement should be to check my forehead for a fever. Certainly I am going to say something highly uncharacteristic of myself. Here goes...
I have decided that I'd like to dress in more business-y clothes. (How profound - "business-y." That's super mature speaking right there.) The completely-acceptable attire for the lab is jeans and a t-shirt, and that is what I'm quite comfortable in. Always have been. But...something over the past couple weeks has prompted me to venture for a slight change. Maybe it's to prove to myself that I'm actually capable of wearing "nice" clothing. Haha. Maybe dressing differently at work than I would at home will make work more distinct from home (and maybe when I do work at home I'll have to force myself to change out of my jeans...hm...). I don't know, but I'm willing to give it a shot. At least then I'd have more nice clothes, right?
And there's part one of my problem: I don't really HAVE nice clothes. Since the "uniform" at work is jeans and whatever...that's what I have. So I need a few tips from all you wonderful readers out there (there's a ton, I know) about some key elements of nice-style that I should add to my wardrobe. I'm on a tight budget here, folks, so you can't suggest that a mink coat will solve all my troubles. The other thing is, whatever clothing I need to acquire has to adhere to laboratory safety rules, which means my legs have to be covered (obviously so does my torso, but the point is no skirts). I'm also highly lacking in any wisdom about what approrpiately nice tops are. I have a dresser and a box under my bed spilling over with t-shirts, and I know that's not quite right, but what is?
Lemme know! Thanks.
I have decided that I'd like to dress in more business-y clothes. (How profound - "business-y." That's super mature speaking right there.) The completely-acceptable attire for the lab is jeans and a t-shirt, and that is what I'm quite comfortable in. Always have been. But...something over the past couple weeks has prompted me to venture for a slight change. Maybe it's to prove to myself that I'm actually capable of wearing "nice" clothing. Haha. Maybe dressing differently at work than I would at home will make work more distinct from home (and maybe when I do work at home I'll have to force myself to change out of my jeans...hm...). I don't know, but I'm willing to give it a shot. At least then I'd have more nice clothes, right?
And there's part one of my problem: I don't really HAVE nice clothes. Since the "uniform" at work is jeans and whatever...that's what I have. So I need a few tips from all you wonderful readers out there (there's a ton, I know) about some key elements of nice-style that I should add to my wardrobe. I'm on a tight budget here, folks, so you can't suggest that a mink coat will solve all my troubles. The other thing is, whatever clothing I need to acquire has to adhere to laboratory safety rules, which means my legs have to be covered (obviously so does my torso, but the point is no skirts). I'm also highly lacking in any wisdom about what approrpiately nice tops are. I have a dresser and a box under my bed spilling over with t-shirts, and I know that's not quite right, but what is?
Lemme know! Thanks.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
fearing for the future
With the thought that I can likely "soon" graduate (estimated August 2007, which yes, is "soon"!), according to my advisor and thesis committee, I've been thinking a lot about my future these past couple weeks. What do I want to do when I grow up? Where do I want to be? These thoughts have taken me a few very intriguing places.
I love Grand Rapids, Michigan, near the suburb where I grew up. I would adore to return there for good to live and work. I like the schools, I appreciate the surrounding natural beauty, and I long to again be close to Lake Michigan. There's a splendid new cancer research center in Grand Rapids, multiple science-inclusive universities and colleges, and a soon-to-be-launched medical school. I would be happy to be a part of any of those organizations - or something else that I haven't even thought of. And I think that with a little bit of effort, I could achieve that dream. How? The plan: get a good post-doctoral position for a year or a few. Something that would make me highly attractive to cancer researchers or teacher-seeking schools. Perhaps pursue a teaching-oriented post-doctoral fellowship following that first post-doc. Then, move on over to Grand Rapids with my sought-after career secured.
But then I started thinking about how long that would take. Let's say I do the first post-doc for only a year. That's nearly 2009. Then the teaching post-doc...the one I'm looking at down at UNC Chapel Hill is a three-year program! That puts me at not arriving back in Grand Rapids until 2012! Oh my goodness! That's scary. It would be nice to be married by then -
- Wait, married?! And where do I suppose the person I married will fit into this whole picture? Is he magically going to follow me around as I move from place to place? What a drag! Plus, once I get married, I intend to wait not terribly long to have kids, at which point I'll quit whatever career I'm in, and then...it doesn't matter! ...And I might never make it back to Grand Rapids.
...So...is it even worth looking for a guy here in Pittsburgh? If I want to be in Grand Rapids, should I make a big effort to seek out guys there (that's rather humorous, because I never have "made a big effort" to "seek out" guys ANYWHERE)?
And hold on a minute - isn't this all just a tad bit presumptive? Stuff is going to have to work out very well in order for this life I've got planned for myself to really work out.
Thus...where I'm at now is I have no idea what I want to do, where I want to go, whether I care about guys or not. I'm all confuzzled about what's important and what feasible options are, and I wish I had a few more answers RIGHT NOW about little things like with whom I'm going to spend the rest of my life. Because...if that were set, then a lot of the questions about the other issues would be answered. At least...I wouldn't have to be making all the decisions. I could leave that up to my husband, who's supposed to be a decision-making person, after all, right?
Oh, My Future, I do hope you work out okay. I hope I like you and don't mess you up too much by planning for you now.
I love Grand Rapids, Michigan, near the suburb where I grew up. I would adore to return there for good to live and work. I like the schools, I appreciate the surrounding natural beauty, and I long to again be close to Lake Michigan. There's a splendid new cancer research center in Grand Rapids, multiple science-inclusive universities and colleges, and a soon-to-be-launched medical school. I would be happy to be a part of any of those organizations - or something else that I haven't even thought of. And I think that with a little bit of effort, I could achieve that dream. How? The plan: get a good post-doctoral position for a year or a few. Something that would make me highly attractive to cancer researchers or teacher-seeking schools. Perhaps pursue a teaching-oriented post-doctoral fellowship following that first post-doc. Then, move on over to Grand Rapids with my sought-after career secured.
But then I started thinking about how long that would take. Let's say I do the first post-doc for only a year. That's nearly 2009. Then the teaching post-doc...the one I'm looking at down at UNC Chapel Hill is a three-year program! That puts me at not arriving back in Grand Rapids until 2012! Oh my goodness! That's scary. It would be nice to be married by then -
- Wait, married?! And where do I suppose the person I married will fit into this whole picture? Is he magically going to follow me around as I move from place to place? What a drag! Plus, once I get married, I intend to wait not terribly long to have kids, at which point I'll quit whatever career I'm in, and then...it doesn't matter! ...And I might never make it back to Grand Rapids.
...So...is it even worth looking for a guy here in Pittsburgh? If I want to be in Grand Rapids, should I make a big effort to seek out guys there (that's rather humorous, because I never have "made a big effort" to "seek out" guys ANYWHERE)?
And hold on a minute - isn't this all just a tad bit presumptive? Stuff is going to have to work out very well in order for this life I've got planned for myself to really work out.
Thus...where I'm at now is I have no idea what I want to do, where I want to go, whether I care about guys or not. I'm all confuzzled about what's important and what feasible options are, and I wish I had a few more answers RIGHT NOW about little things like with whom I'm going to spend the rest of my life. Because...if that were set, then a lot of the questions about the other issues would be answered. At least...I wouldn't have to be making all the decisions. I could leave that up to my husband, who's supposed to be a decision-making person, after all, right?
Oh, My Future, I do hope you work out okay. I hope I like you and don't mess you up too much by planning for you now.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
the story of last weekend
I'm a little behind on the events of my life... Here's the big news items from the past 8 days:
1. My roommate Ren got engaged!!!!!! Her fiance Matt flew in from Boston and surprised her. It was so sweet. There was a fun party to celebrate. Now it's invitation-preparation time...! (I absolutely love doing things like sticking stamps on envelopes and folding inserts. Very seriously. I'm happy to have a reason to do so. Hooray!!!)
2. My hockey team won the POWHA league championships. You can see a fun Flash video thing about it on their website. I even get special mention because I somehow won the "Outstanding Goalie" award for the season due to having the highest save percentage. Wow - surprise to me! It was very fun to play with this group of gals this season, and I hope to do so again next season. We certainly worked hard to get where we got. Also nice about the tournament this season is that it was in Columbus, so I got to see my brother who goes to school there. Good times.
1. My roommate Ren got engaged!!!!!! Her fiance Matt flew in from Boston and surprised her. It was so sweet. There was a fun party to celebrate. Now it's invitation-preparation time...! (I absolutely love doing things like sticking stamps on envelopes and folding inserts. Very seriously. I'm happy to have a reason to do so. Hooray!!!)
2. My hockey team won the POWHA league championships. You can see a fun Flash video thing about it on their website. I even get special mention because I somehow won the "Outstanding Goalie" award for the season due to having the highest save percentage. Wow - surprise to me! It was very fun to play with this group of gals this season, and I hope to do so again next season. We certainly worked hard to get where we got. Also nice about the tournament this season is that it was in Columbus, so I got to see my brother who goes to school there. Good times.
Friday, April 14, 2006
and...let me also just say
Being that it's Easter weekend and all, I must share a couple of my favorite websites that are associated with this season. One is highly not religious, the other is.
This one is: The Brick Testament's pictoral account of Jesus's resurrection on Easter morning
This one isn't: Peep Research
This is my favorite part of that website: The effects of alcohol and cigarette smoking
This one is: The Brick Testament's pictoral account of Jesus's resurrection on Easter morning
This one isn't: Peep Research
This is my favorite part of that website: The effects of alcohol and cigarette smoking
those who can't knit...
I have not done any knitting over the past week, which explains the lack of a post about knitting on Tuesday. I haven't even run the yarn through those 8 stitches on the mitten to finish it! Why? I don't know exactly, but I haven't felt like it, and I've had a lot of things to do for work, and I had a hockey tournament over the weekend, and I was busy. (I did, however, finally pick up some knitting this morning on the bus - more of the Wave Skirt. I'm liking it, but I should have chosen different colors.)
I have, however, been doing something else that I think is productive in my spare time: writing. You may not have picked up on this, but I really enjoy writing. I always have. One of my childhood friends and I wrote little books instead of playing with Barbies and the like. I believe I began writing my first novel when I was 9. It was a terrible story idea, I didn't get more than the equivalent of a chapter finished, but I had pages upon pages of plans for that book! The planning has always been my favorite part. In middle school I had in fact created an entire series of books, none of which were really ever written (and none of which had much of a plot, as I recall). And so it is today.
The piece I started working on again last week is installment 12 of 15ish in a series of "short" stories (they range from a handful of typewritten pages to 40 pages each) that I first started writing about 10 years ago. It is also one of many plans for the cast of characters I have since fallen in love with (I know where they all go to college, what their jobs are, who they marry, how many kids they have...and the characters are only 15 years old in the stories thus far). It all began back in high school...
I was doing my brother's paper route one afternoon. Delivering newspapers in a suburban neighborhood requires a good set of legs to carry you and a map telling you which few houses don't get the paper. It gives one a long time to think as she tramps across lawns. Somewhere towards the final quarter of the route, I was struck with this idea of a shy girl (...not entirely unlike myself) getting up the guts to talk with a cool guy (...not entirely unlike the guy I had a crush on, who lived at the end of the street I was walking along) and then having something unexpected happen. Not the world's most novel idea, but I went with it. Thus began the world of two best friends in high school, Anna and Tasha, and this guy Chris, whom Anna sets out to change for the better, but who ends up changing her in the end. How dramatic!
It's perhaps not surprising that after having worked on these pieces for 10 years, it's the most developed work-of-fiction concept I have had (also the fact that I was older than 12 when it all started probably helped). But what I didn't mention was that I wrote 3 novel-length collections of stories about these people before I graduated high school. My friends and my mom told me I should try to publish. I needed to put some more work into the stories; I wasn't satisfied with them. Then came college...and the dark abyss of writing creativly. I wrote about proteins and Bosnian history and viruses that infect bacteria and how Schubert spent his last years and why my unknown compound disappeared in organic chemistry lab (although...if that's not creative writing, what is?), but no stories.
Finally, for some unknown reason, I dug up the old stories. I remember very vividly thinking, "These have potential, but...they could be a lot better!" So I began to rewrite the summer after I graduated from college. I got pretty far that summer, and then...I stopped again. I somehow got to part 12, and when I pulled it out again last week realized that I had began part 12 in...2004!! That is really sad. My poor characters are stuck in some pretty desperate situations - one's brother is in the hospital, the other's grandma is dying, one of the boys has a bad reputation to counter-act, and one of the girls is recovering from being the victim of the bad reputation. Plus there's all the other everyday concerns of high school, and the fact that the main characters are trying to live Christian lives in a very non-Christian environment (did anyone else go to a high school like that? Didn't think so). I need to write them out of those spots!!! They're depending on me!!
...And then when I'm done, I've got to go back and revise all those rewritten stories again, because, reading them now, they have potential, but...they could be a lot better!
I have, however, been doing something else that I think is productive in my spare time: writing. You may not have picked up on this, but I really enjoy writing. I always have. One of my childhood friends and I wrote little books instead of playing with Barbies and the like. I believe I began writing my first novel when I was 9. It was a terrible story idea, I didn't get more than the equivalent of a chapter finished, but I had pages upon pages of plans for that book! The planning has always been my favorite part. In middle school I had in fact created an entire series of books, none of which were really ever written (and none of which had much of a plot, as I recall). And so it is today.
The piece I started working on again last week is installment 12 of 15ish in a series of "short" stories (they range from a handful of typewritten pages to 40 pages each) that I first started writing about 10 years ago. It is also one of many plans for the cast of characters I have since fallen in love with (I know where they all go to college, what their jobs are, who they marry, how many kids they have...and the characters are only 15 years old in the stories thus far). It all began back in high school...
I was doing my brother's paper route one afternoon. Delivering newspapers in a suburban neighborhood requires a good set of legs to carry you and a map telling you which few houses don't get the paper. It gives one a long time to think as she tramps across lawns. Somewhere towards the final quarter of the route, I was struck with this idea of a shy girl (...not entirely unlike myself) getting up the guts to talk with a cool guy (...not entirely unlike the guy I had a crush on, who lived at the end of the street I was walking along) and then having something unexpected happen. Not the world's most novel idea, but I went with it. Thus began the world of two best friends in high school, Anna and Tasha, and this guy Chris, whom Anna sets out to change for the better, but who ends up changing her in the end. How dramatic!
It's perhaps not surprising that after having worked on these pieces for 10 years, it's the most developed work-of-fiction concept I have had (also the fact that I was older than 12 when it all started probably helped). But what I didn't mention was that I wrote 3 novel-length collections of stories about these people before I graduated high school. My friends and my mom told me I should try to publish. I needed to put some more work into the stories; I wasn't satisfied with them. Then came college...and the dark abyss of writing creativly. I wrote about proteins and Bosnian history and viruses that infect bacteria and how Schubert spent his last years and why my unknown compound disappeared in organic chemistry lab (although...if that's not creative writing, what is?), but no stories.
Finally, for some unknown reason, I dug up the old stories. I remember very vividly thinking, "These have potential, but...they could be a lot better!" So I began to rewrite the summer after I graduated from college. I got pretty far that summer, and then...I stopped again. I somehow got to part 12, and when I pulled it out again last week realized that I had began part 12 in...2004!! That is really sad. My poor characters are stuck in some pretty desperate situations - one's brother is in the hospital, the other's grandma is dying, one of the boys has a bad reputation to counter-act, and one of the girls is recovering from being the victim of the bad reputation. Plus there's all the other everyday concerns of high school, and the fact that the main characters are trying to live Christian lives in a very non-Christian environment (did anyone else go to a high school like that? Didn't think so). I need to write them out of those spots!!! They're depending on me!!
...And then when I'm done, I've got to go back and revise all those rewritten stories again, because, reading them now, they have potential, but...they could be a lot better!
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
two pair
The long-awaited picture of my Sockapaloooza socks is here:
And I also quickly knit up the second of the Hermione mittens while I was riding around in Colorado and flying back (and then watching the Chamber of Secrets DVD after I arrived back in Pittsburgh).
And I also quickly knit up the second of the Hermione mittens while I was riding around in Colorado and flying back (and then watching the Chamber of Secrets DVD after I arrived back in Pittsburgh).
okay, so I need to pull that yarn through the top stitches of the mitten and weave in the ends, but they're mostly finished!!
Hooray!! Two pairs of things are completed.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
i lose again
After arriving back home to Pittsburgh on Saturday, unpacking and repacking on Sunday - and finishing my Sockapaloooza socks!!! - I flew out to Colorado on Monday to attend the Keystone Symposia on HIV for work/school. More about that in another post, but this one is about knitting on the plane.
With the pair of socks done, I decided to get to work on another give-to-somebody project, the poncho that was supposed to be for Christmas. I had swatched last week and decided on a pattern adapted from the Sarah Blanche shawl from Folk Shawls. I decided to do two stupid things, which I discovered on the plane:
1. I chose to use straight needles instead of circulars. Why is this bad? Because when you have to loop the yarn around 3 times in one stitch, as the pattern calls for, that adds 2 stitches-worth of yarn onto your needle...and that doesn't fit on the straight needles I was using. I considered how to fix this problem during my trip...maybe I could steal the circular that is only a size smaller from the Wave Skirt I had also brought along...hm...
2. Before I had spent too much time trying to figure out how to solve this problem, I found another one. I don't have enough yarn. I had sort of wondered this when I first bought the yarn, but my mental calculations told me I should be fine. Since when do I trust my brain in a yarn store??? Not a good idea. I've used up about a quarter of the yarn I'm supposed to have for the front of the poncho, and the poncho is probabably...oh...one-eighth of the size it should be. Ugh.
I decided to accept defeat, not make this poncho for the friend (another example of the benefit of not telling people you're making them something - they won't hate you when you don't end up making it!), and try to make the yarn into a shirt of some sort - it's a cotton, so it would be pretty nice in the summer, although the colors aren't exactly my favorite for me.
Fortunately for me, I was overzealous and had packed not just one (the Wave Skirt) but two alternative knitting projects, just in case I finished the poncho. So, wavey-wave is finally getting some attention as I sit in lectures about HIV, and I cast on for the second Hermione mitten while traveling from one part of the conference resort to the other.
With the pair of socks done, I decided to get to work on another give-to-somebody project, the poncho that was supposed to be for Christmas. I had swatched last week and decided on a pattern adapted from the Sarah Blanche shawl from Folk Shawls. I decided to do two stupid things, which I discovered on the plane:
1. I chose to use straight needles instead of circulars. Why is this bad? Because when you have to loop the yarn around 3 times in one stitch, as the pattern calls for, that adds 2 stitches-worth of yarn onto your needle...and that doesn't fit on the straight needles I was using. I considered how to fix this problem during my trip...maybe I could steal the circular that is only a size smaller from the Wave Skirt I had also brought along...hm...
2. Before I had spent too much time trying to figure out how to solve this problem, I found another one. I don't have enough yarn. I had sort of wondered this when I first bought the yarn, but my mental calculations told me I should be fine. Since when do I trust my brain in a yarn store??? Not a good idea. I've used up about a quarter of the yarn I'm supposed to have for the front of the poncho, and the poncho is probabably...oh...one-eighth of the size it should be. Ugh.
I decided to accept defeat, not make this poncho for the friend (another example of the benefit of not telling people you're making them something - they won't hate you when you don't end up making it!), and try to make the yarn into a shirt of some sort - it's a cotton, so it would be pretty nice in the summer, although the colors aren't exactly my favorite for me.
Fortunately for me, I was overzealous and had packed not just one (the Wave Skirt) but two alternative knitting projects, just in case I finished the poncho. So, wavey-wave is finally getting some attention as I sit in lectures about HIV, and I cast on for the second Hermione mitten while traveling from one part of the conference resort to the other.
Monday, March 27, 2006
we lost...
(I am retroactively publishing this post...)
On Thursday I drove to Buffalo, New York, for the 2006 USA Hockey Women's Senior B National Championships. My team, Central Pittsburgh, had battled strenuously against zero other teams in our area to win the regional title and had secured our spot in the national tournament by sheer paying of the entry fee. Throughout the season many of my teammates moaned about us being in the B Division for the tournament, saying we weren't good enough to be a B team. However, USA Hockey rules say that, unless we can prove otherwise, any team that has any player who ever played Division III or club hockey in college must be good enough to be B.
I think we proved them wrong.
We played our first game at 7:30 Friday morning, which is a really ugly time for a hockey game. We lost 9 to 0. Our second game later that day was lost 13 to 0. Finally on Saturday we scored, and the final score was us losing 12 to 1. You can see all the stats and that stuff on the website, although they aren't exactly correct, because I know that the stats on myself and the other goalie on my team are not correct - the minutes played are incorrect, to begin with, and that messes up all the other stats. At any rate...we obviously didn't do that great, although it didn't feel like were were doing that awful, really - it just felt like tough, good games. I guess I've developed a thick skin from playing on teams in the past that never won any games.
Anyhow...that's how we did. In the end a team from good old Michigan won - hooray for them!
On Thursday I drove to Buffalo, New York, for the 2006 USA Hockey Women's Senior B National Championships. My team, Central Pittsburgh, had battled strenuously against zero other teams in our area to win the regional title and had secured our spot in the national tournament by sheer paying of the entry fee. Throughout the season many of my teammates moaned about us being in the B Division for the tournament, saying we weren't good enough to be a B team. However, USA Hockey rules say that, unless we can prove otherwise, any team that has any player who ever played Division III or club hockey in college must be good enough to be B.
I think we proved them wrong.
We played our first game at 7:30 Friday morning, which is a really ugly time for a hockey game. We lost 9 to 0. Our second game later that day was lost 13 to 0. Finally on Saturday we scored, and the final score was us losing 12 to 1. You can see all the stats and that stuff on the website, although they aren't exactly correct, because I know that the stats on myself and the other goalie on my team are not correct - the minutes played are incorrect, to begin with, and that messes up all the other stats. At any rate...we obviously didn't do that great, although it didn't feel like were were doing that awful, really - it just felt like tough, good games. I guess I've developed a thick skin from playing on teams in the past that never won any games.
Anyhow...that's how we did. In the end a team from good old Michigan won - hooray for them!
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
i won!
Mwahahaha!! I have defeated the evil hole-in-the-ankle! And no, of course I didn't ask for help. I never do that. I'm determined to do everything myself and never make any knitting friends...
After posting yesterday I googled my short row heel with holes problem, and I noted a few good pieces of advice. Then I went home, tinked back to the site of the hole (it was 3 rounds or so...not too bad, but annoying enough), and through a strange combination of all the techniques I read, I managed to prevent the hole. Hooray!
I am still really confused as to why the first time there were no holes, then this time there were. I've got to figure it out sometime...
I forgot to mention yesterday that I managed to make a chunk of my yarn stash disappear over the weekend. Not by knitting with it, though. Saturday night I saw an acquaintance at church hobbling around on crutches. She is recovering from some sort of surgery on her ankle, and she told me she's incredibly immobile even a week after the procedure. I asked her what she did during the days, since she didn't seem to be at work, and she said she's never watched so many movies in her life. I suggested she learn to knit, and she told me she already knew how but she had used up all of her yarn. AHA!! I promised to get her some straight away.
That evening I dug around in my yarn stash and was amazed at what I found. I got inspiration for three garments and still managed to give away the equivalent of 2.5 skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky (left over from last year's Fairly Easy Fair Isle cardigan), So Soft acrylic that I'd used to make the first sweater I ever designed (I obviously over-estimated the yardage sincer there were THREE extra balls!!), a ball of some funky textured yarn that had at one time been destined to be a bear-shaped dog toy until the intended recipient died, and the prize from the Holiday Gift Knitalong - Kid Silk Haze with a scarf pattern. I will probably get blasted by a few folks who think I'm crazy to give away that last yarn, but I had to be realistic...it would be forever and ever before I actually made something out of it, and I didn't know what that was going to be yet. I had swatched with it, so at least I know what it feels like.
Last night, after having pondered the remainder of my stash for the past couple days, I made a list of what I will make with what I have. That's really my favorite part of knitting, I must say. Making lists of what I dream of... I could do it every day, I think. ...Perhaps that's why I never get any actual knitting accomplished. If wishes were horses.
After posting yesterday I googled my short row heel with holes problem, and I noted a few good pieces of advice. Then I went home, tinked back to the site of the hole (it was 3 rounds or so...not too bad, but annoying enough), and through a strange combination of all the techniques I read, I managed to prevent the hole. Hooray!
I am still really confused as to why the first time there were no holes, then this time there were. I've got to figure it out sometime...
I forgot to mention yesterday that I managed to make a chunk of my yarn stash disappear over the weekend. Not by knitting with it, though. Saturday night I saw an acquaintance at church hobbling around on crutches. She is recovering from some sort of surgery on her ankle, and she told me she's incredibly immobile even a week after the procedure. I asked her what she did during the days, since she didn't seem to be at work, and she said she's never watched so many movies in her life. I suggested she learn to knit, and she told me she already knew how but she had used up all of her yarn. AHA!! I promised to get her some straight away.
That evening I dug around in my yarn stash and was amazed at what I found. I got inspiration for three garments and still managed to give away the equivalent of 2.5 skeins of Lamb's Pride Bulky (left over from last year's Fairly Easy Fair Isle cardigan), So Soft acrylic that I'd used to make the first sweater I ever designed (I obviously over-estimated the yardage sincer there were THREE extra balls!!), a ball of some funky textured yarn that had at one time been destined to be a bear-shaped dog toy until the intended recipient died, and the prize from the Holiday Gift Knitalong - Kid Silk Haze with a scarf pattern. I will probably get blasted by a few folks who think I'm crazy to give away that last yarn, but I had to be realistic...it would be forever and ever before I actually made something out of it, and I didn't know what that was going to be yet. I had swatched with it, so at least I know what it feels like.
Last night, after having pondered the remainder of my stash for the past couple days, I made a list of what I will make with what I have. That's really my favorite part of knitting, I must say. Making lists of what I dream of... I could do it every day, I think. ...Perhaps that's why I never get any actual knitting accomplished. If wishes were horses.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
me vs. the sock
This post might also be appropriately titled "beginner's luck."
As noted previously, I finished the first of my pair of socks for the sockapaloooza. It's lovely (in my humble opinion).
So...I started the second sock, and it was going along well. There's, again, a tad gauge issue - this sock is a teeny, tiny bit wider than the first one, but not enough to be concerned. I sat down Friday and knit the heel, but...as I was looking at it on Saturday, it just wasn't right. On the first sock, I got the short row heel to turn out fine. I have decided that I did the wraps a little bit wrong, causing for a small weirdness, but even that is okay. No holes. No strange blobs. Short row heels are easy, I had decided. ...But for some reason this second one didn't turn out so well. I don't know what I did wrong, but there were holes at the corners of both sides of the heel. Hm.
So, I ripped out the heel. While wasn't exactly the best of thoughts, because - since I had encountered absolutely no problem with the heel on the first sock, I hadn't put in a lifeline, and I didn't feel like running needles through the stitches to which I wanted to rip - I just ripped and picked up the stitches when I was done. Just a lesson learned - don't rip out your knitting when you're at the intermission of a play. You never know when the intermission will conclude, the lights will go out, and you'll be only halfway done putting stray stitches onto needles. You will then spend the remainder of the play attempting to concentrate but worrying about your poor orphaned stitches, just waiting to fall to pieces. Such was the case with me on Saturday. But, I survived, and all the stitches got back to where they were supposed to be.
I tried to make the heel feel bad by not working on it Saturday night. Instead I finished the Hermione mitten, which wasn't as awful as I thought it would be.
Sunday I reknit the heel. But I had somehow put the wrong stitches onto the wrong needles, so now in addition to there being holes, the pattern from before the heel was all messed up because of the misaligned stitches. So I ripped again. You'd think I would have considered putting in a lifeline, but I didn't. Plus, that would have required finding a needle, and I didn't want to do that. I knit the heel once more. Still not right. The way it stands now, it's semi-acceptable. The one side of the heel is fine, perfect. The other has a small hole.
I am again trying the silent-and-forgotten treatment with the sock. I threw it aside, picked up the Wave Skirt, and continued work on that. Anything but that nasty, stupid sock. I then started reading the fifth Harry Potter book. Bad, mean sock... I also started swatching the new poncho from the old poncho disaster. ...Grr, grr, sock - I'm ignoring you until you become more agreeable!!
I feel like I'm on the brink of some huge knitting revelation. I am trying and trying and trying to figure out WHY the holes appear. I haven't figured it out yet, which is why the holes continue to be there. The plan is (I think), to tink back a couple rounds to the place where the hole is. Then...after I figure out how to rewrap the yarn from the short rows...I WILL make there be no holes.
All the other knitters out there who got offended when I wrote before that short rows were easy...I'm sorry! I don't have the faintest idea how I managed to get my first one to work, but obviously it wasn't because I'm super skilled at it. I'm ready for any suggestions...!!
As noted previously, I finished the first of my pair of socks for the sockapaloooza. It's lovely (in my humble opinion).
see?
I have to admit that if I were to do it all over again, I would not have gone with this yarn (at least not in this color) because the white nylon that's worked into the wool shows through. Some would say it gives a nice fleck of white here and there, but I say it's not supposed to be there and makes an otherwise dark-hued sock have strange white flecks. Anyhow, it's done, and I love how it turned out - I amaze myself.So...I started the second sock, and it was going along well. There's, again, a tad gauge issue - this sock is a teeny, tiny bit wider than the first one, but not enough to be concerned. I sat down Friday and knit the heel, but...as I was looking at it on Saturday, it just wasn't right. On the first sock, I got the short row heel to turn out fine. I have decided that I did the wraps a little bit wrong, causing for a small weirdness, but even that is okay. No holes. No strange blobs. Short row heels are easy, I had decided. ...But for some reason this second one didn't turn out so well. I don't know what I did wrong, but there were holes at the corners of both sides of the heel. Hm.
So, I ripped out the heel. While wasn't exactly the best of thoughts, because - since I had encountered absolutely no problem with the heel on the first sock, I hadn't put in a lifeline, and I didn't feel like running needles through the stitches to which I wanted to rip - I just ripped and picked up the stitches when I was done. Just a lesson learned - don't rip out your knitting when you're at the intermission of a play. You never know when the intermission will conclude, the lights will go out, and you'll be only halfway done putting stray stitches onto needles. You will then spend the remainder of the play attempting to concentrate but worrying about your poor orphaned stitches, just waiting to fall to pieces. Such was the case with me on Saturday. But, I survived, and all the stitches got back to where they were supposed to be.
I tried to make the heel feel bad by not working on it Saturday night. Instead I finished the Hermione mitten, which wasn't as awful as I thought it would be.
Sunday I reknit the heel. But I had somehow put the wrong stitches onto the wrong needles, so now in addition to there being holes, the pattern from before the heel was all messed up because of the misaligned stitches. So I ripped again. You'd think I would have considered putting in a lifeline, but I didn't. Plus, that would have required finding a needle, and I didn't want to do that. I knit the heel once more. Still not right. The way it stands now, it's semi-acceptable. The one side of the heel is fine, perfect. The other has a small hole.
I am again trying the silent-and-forgotten treatment with the sock. I threw it aside, picked up the Wave Skirt, and continued work on that. Anything but that nasty, stupid sock. I then started reading the fifth Harry Potter book. Bad, mean sock... I also started swatching the new poncho from the old poncho disaster. ...Grr, grr, sock - I'm ignoring you until you become more agreeable!!
I feel like I'm on the brink of some huge knitting revelation. I am trying and trying and trying to figure out WHY the holes appear. I haven't figured it out yet, which is why the holes continue to be there. The plan is (I think), to tink back a couple rounds to the place where the hole is. Then...after I figure out how to rewrap the yarn from the short rows...I WILL make there be no holes.
All the other knitters out there who got offended when I wrote before that short rows were easy...I'm sorry! I don't have the faintest idea how I managed to get my first one to work, but obviously it wasn't because I'm super skilled at it. I'm ready for any suggestions...!!
Friday, March 17, 2006
stash vs. sofa
It sounds like a cheesy horror movie. To many a knitter, it would imply that their stash of yarn is taking over all sitting space on their sofa. However, for me it means I have to decide between adding to my stash of yarn or getting a sofa.
I couldn't fall asleep last night. First, I couldn't stop thinking about possible designs for the redoing of the poncho for my friend. But then it got worse - I started thinking about money. I am currently owed around $2400 in reimbursements from my workplace, and, as you may imagine, that doesn't make the bank account balances of this grad student incredibly hefty. I have enough money squirreled away to survive for many a blissful month, especially since my car is now fully paid off (WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!), but there are also several things I'd like to have money for in a couple of months. Being that I've been incredibly not-responsible in my spending since Christmas-time (that season has a tendency to encourage me to spend more for some very strange reason...this year it stuck), I've landed myself in a situation where I feel more than a little guilty about not so much how much money I've spent but on what I've spent my money!
And the big culprit...YARN.
I thought it would never happen, but it surely did. I am addicted to yarn. Yesterday I was feeling stressed about two big writing projects I'm supposed to have completed today, and on the bus ride home I kept thinking, "I'd feel so much better if I'd stop in a yarn store..." That is not healthy. That is, first of all, a sick, twisted mindset the culture of America encourages, and following the culture is never a good thing in my humble opinion. And that is not true, either - going into the yarn store...feeling the yarn...buying the yarn... That won't in any way, shape, or form make me feel better about getting my writing done! Best case scenario: I waste more money on yarn (and can't afford to buy that new printer cartridge I'll need to actually print out the writing). Worst case scenario: I buy the yarn and feel the necessity to knit it into something starting RIGHT NOW, and I spend the rest of the night knitting and getting no writing done.
I decided not to go to the yarn store yesterday, which was really good, because Microsoft Word kept crashing as I was doing my writing, and that obviously put a damper on the speed of my progress. Finally I came to the end of the day, lying in my bed, not able to sleep, and I decided...I really would like a sofa for my new apartment (this one, in fact - if you've never been to IKEA or their website, you should), and I won't be able to afford that if I continue frivolously spending my money, especially on yarn. And I have way more than enough yarn to keep me knitting for a long time (plus tons more yarn that various non-knitting friends have told me they would like to donate to me). So...
It's time for me to decide between adding to the stash or saving for a sofa. Since it would be extremely nice to have a sofa upon which to sit while I use up my stash...I am selecting the latter option. Goodbye, yarn stores, at least for a while! (And judging from the slowness of my knitting and the size of the trunk and closet that hold my yarn...it could be a long while...)
I couldn't fall asleep last night. First, I couldn't stop thinking about possible designs for the redoing of the poncho for my friend. But then it got worse - I started thinking about money. I am currently owed around $2400 in reimbursements from my workplace, and, as you may imagine, that doesn't make the bank account balances of this grad student incredibly hefty. I have enough money squirreled away to survive for many a blissful month, especially since my car is now fully paid off (WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!), but there are also several things I'd like to have money for in a couple of months. Being that I've been incredibly not-responsible in my spending since Christmas-time (that season has a tendency to encourage me to spend more for some very strange reason...this year it stuck), I've landed myself in a situation where I feel more than a little guilty about not so much how much money I've spent but on what I've spent my money!
And the big culprit...YARN.
I thought it would never happen, but it surely did. I am addicted to yarn. Yesterday I was feeling stressed about two big writing projects I'm supposed to have completed today, and on the bus ride home I kept thinking, "I'd feel so much better if I'd stop in a yarn store..." That is not healthy. That is, first of all, a sick, twisted mindset the culture of America encourages, and following the culture is never a good thing in my humble opinion. And that is not true, either - going into the yarn store...feeling the yarn...buying the yarn... That won't in any way, shape, or form make me feel better about getting my writing done! Best case scenario: I waste more money on yarn (and can't afford to buy that new printer cartridge I'll need to actually print out the writing). Worst case scenario: I buy the yarn and feel the necessity to knit it into something starting RIGHT NOW, and I spend the rest of the night knitting and getting no writing done.
I decided not to go to the yarn store yesterday, which was really good, because Microsoft Word kept crashing as I was doing my writing, and that obviously put a damper on the speed of my progress. Finally I came to the end of the day, lying in my bed, not able to sleep, and I decided...I really would like a sofa for my new apartment (this one, in fact - if you've never been to IKEA or their website, you should), and I won't be able to afford that if I continue frivolously spending my money, especially on yarn. And I have way more than enough yarn to keep me knitting for a long time (plus tons more yarn that various non-knitting friends have told me they would like to donate to me). So...
It's time for me to decide between adding to the stash or saving for a sofa. Since it would be extremely nice to have a sofa upon which to sit while I use up my stash...I am selecting the latter option. Goodbye, yarn stores, at least for a while! (And judging from the slowness of my knitting and the size of the trunk and closet that hold my yarn...it could be a long while...)
Thursday, March 16, 2006
no crocus
With spring only a few days away, you would expect that there would be flowers popping up, but I've been surprised. We've had some weird weather this year - really warm, then really cold the next day - and I think it might have messed up some of my plants. For example, the crocuses, which usually peek their cheery buds out of the snow, still aren't out. The green striped crocus leaves are coming out here and there, but this is as far as they've gotten in the way of budding:
Or...maybe the snow is just all gone way earlier this year than it usually is!
poor, sad crocus
Guess I'll just have to keep on waiting. ...Or maybe the daffodils will bloom (there are billions popping up all over the landscaping...er...not billions, but lots) and the crocuses will miss their heyday?Or...maybe the snow is just all gone way earlier this year than it usually is!
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
a concert all about knitting!
Last night I amazingly didn't have any commitments to anything (e.g. meeting, practice, etc., which has occurred essentially every night for the past two weeks). So...I went to watch Harry and the Potters!!
The Potters are a punk/rock duo from Boston, and I heard about them over at Alison's blog. For those who don't know, Alison of "the blue blog" is a big Harry Potter fan and incorporates HP stuff in many a knitting project. She also hosts the Sockapaloooza and other knitalongs I've done. Thus, when I think of the Potters, I think of knitting and socks.
Well...
I was picking up some groceries the other day, and on my way out I saw a flyer for Harry and the Potters coming to play a concert in Pittsburgh! So I set out last night to visit Artists Upstairs, which in and of itself is a unique concept/place - it is self-described as "an educational arts organization devoted to the promotion and development of new works that explore the inter-relationship between movement, media, sound, visual arts and theatre." An example of this: sitting in the warehouse-like huge room (with one wall spray-painted to read "DO NOT DEMO") is a bicycle that has what looks like papier-mach'e dragon parts extending from the front and back. Visual art, right? Well...probably, but I definitely saw one of the people who I think works there (she was wearing wings and bug-looking goggle-glasses) riding it around the room, also.
Such was my impression of the venue, but I was really there to see the Potters. First I had to watch the opening band, called Uncle Monsterface. This band is really not my style, but there were a couple redeeming factors. First, any band that has a keytar is worth giving a bit of respect, and they certainly do. Second, they play some really awesome (although somewhat...disturbing) digital video in the background (you might be able to see it in the below really awful picture...I am so not able to take pictures!). And third - the best! - they have a sock-puppet show going on the entire time.
fans were invited on stage to "rock out" with blow-up guitars, sock puppets, and a cowbell.
a sock puppet with lead singer marty. i asked for a picture with a sock because i knit socks. he looked at me weird. hey, i'm not the one wearing a whistle around my neck!
Hooray for socks! In light of the fact that I'd discovered the Potters at Alison's place, I brought along my sock to work on before the show and between sets.
a sock puppet with lead singer marty. i asked for a picture with a sock because i knit socks. he looked at me weird. hey, i'm not the one wearing a whistle around my neck!
and old lady and her knitting... oh, did i mention that most of the crowd was in high school? most of the rest were their parents.
Finally it was time for the Potters!! Many of the fans were decked out in some sort of Harry-Potter-esque garb - scarves (not many authentic ones...and none from PoA...this knitter knows way too much about HP scarves now!!), ties, grey sweaters, robes, even a guy who looked a lot like Snape and who carried around a wand. The Potters, who are brothers, came out dressed like Harry - they play the part really well, explaining that they're Harry Potter Year 4 and Harry Potter Year 7, and giving a little blurb about what was going on when they (as in Harry) "wrote" each song. They also did an excellent job of getting the crowd involved, and truly were a good live show to watch and experience! I was glad that there weren't any injuries (see their March 4 entries on their tour diary), and I had to laugh when I saw that they are now selling toothbrushes along with shirts and CD's on their merchandise table!After the show, I convinced Harry Year 7 (aka Paul) to pose with me and my sock. (Again, crappy photo...I need to figure out the modes on my camera better...)
rockin'!
It was a fun, fun night. And the knitting-ness wasn't over, for once I left the show and was walking through downtown to get to my bus-stop, I took a wrong turn and ended up in front of a yarn store that I had heard existed but had never seen. Ooooh. Now I'm going to have to go downtown and get lost again so I can visit it!Yay for Harry Potter and knitting!!!!
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
gimme a break
Well, this is funny. I took pictures of my sock and the Hermione mitten and intended to post them last Friday, but I ran out of time/motivation, so I didn't. And then this morning I was running out the house and made a mental note, "I have my camera in my purse, right, to get pictures off of and post to my blog? Yes, I certainly do." I certainly didn't. I certainly hope that my camera is safe at home somewhere.
So...alas, no pictures, but I can tell you that I am happy with my knitting. Here's what's news:
And finally, my sweet, super-secret-sockpal just informed me that she(or he)'s tried six patterns and hasn't come up with a good one for me yet. Awwww! Sockpal, I'm going to find my tape measure when I get home and tell you all about how big my feet are. And the fact that one of them is a little shorter than the other doesn't really matter - just make 'em both the bigger size (that's what I've gotta do with shoes!). I'm so not that high maintenance! Whatever you knit for me will be WON-der-FUL!!! ...I'm just impressed that you haven't started yet, because if it were me...they wouldn't be done by May if I had to start now. I slow.
So...alas, no pictures, but I can tell you that I am happy with my knitting. Here's what's news:
- Sock 1 of the pair is DONE!!! I even pulled out the lifelines, which must mean I'm happy with it.
- Sock 2 hopped on the needles sometime over the weekend, and it's...going.
- I'm almost done with the first Hermione mitten. I have run into a bit of a snag: my hand is too long. I suspected this going into it, but I didn't bother to care much. It's all good, though, because now I've gotten to the part in the pattern where I'm supposed to decrease to finish off the top of the mitt, I know exactly how short the thing is, and I can just knit some more in the established pattern. The pattern has a cable that snakes back and forth across the mitten, and the extra that I need to knit will get me to basically the "opposite" side of the cable I was supposed to end on. With a little bit of brain power and some luck, I think I can modify the decreases simply by just reading the pattern chart backwards. That probably makes absolutely no sense... See, this is why I need my camera: pictures really help.
- I forgot to mention that I'm even making this, but I'm going to try my hand at felting by creating some decor for my new apartment. "New apartment??" say you? "Yes," say I. Not until July/August, but it's now time for me to move on from the wonderful home that is Our House. I've been thinking about it for a long time, and all the roommates know now - I was scared about hurting their feelings or something, but when I finally told them...they all said they were wanting to move too. Perfect! (It's not that we don't like each other, it's just...time. Things are changing in our lives. Heck, one of them is getting married this summer, so I hope she'd move out!) Anyhow...back to the knitting. I picked out some colors for my very own living and dining rooms of the near future, and I'm going to make some felted pot holders and coasters to coorinate, following the pattern from Knitting at Knoon, which happens to be from my hometown! I saw the pattern in the wonderous Pattern-a-Day calendar my sis gave me for Christmas. I finished my first potholder in denim blue and lime-ish green, and I'm waiting to finish some more before I felt.
And finally, my sweet, super-secret-sockpal just informed me that she(or he)'s tried six patterns and hasn't come up with a good one for me yet. Awwww! Sockpal, I'm going to find my tape measure when I get home and tell you all about how big my feet are. And the fact that one of them is a little shorter than the other doesn't really matter - just make 'em both the bigger size (that's what I've gotta do with shoes!). I'm so not that high maintenance! Whatever you knit for me will be WON-der-FUL!!! ...I'm just impressed that you haven't started yet, because if it were me...they wouldn't be done by May if I had to start now. I slow.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
almost famous
I have a long mental (and also somewhat written down) list of things I'd like to do at some time in my life. Once upon a time "knit a sweater" was on this list - and I did that a year and a half ago. A couple weeks ago, I checked off another item from my "to do" list: I was in a movie!
I've wanted to be an extra for several years. Not so I can break into Hollywood or anything extravagant like that. I just always wondered what it was like to make a movie. I know it's not all that people dream it will be like - it's not fun all the time (and, according to some, not fun most of the time). Yet, I wondered what exactly it was like. I've considered contacting Someone (I once knew who this was...don't now) in the Pittsburgh area who had Some Connections and helped find extras for motion pictures being shot in the are. I never did.
Then, a movie needing extras landed in my lap! My roommate Ren shot me an email saying a friend of hers was looking for extras for his independent movie. I kept being out of town every weekend when they needed people, but finally one Friday night in February, I was around and they needed people for their evening shoot.
I drove to the set location, which was an apartment building in an area of town called Shadyside, my car filled with various clothes that fit the description the costume manager had requested - business casual in neutral colors. Being the very non-good-dresser I am, that meant I had no idea what to wear, so I basically threw in half of my closet. What I should have done was to put all of those clothes on, because I spent the majority of the bitterly cold evening standing outside waiting for some instruction, and I was C.O.L.D!
The movie is entitled "Grace" (at least for now) and is a murder mystery with what sounds like a lot of twists. I got to see two scenes being worked on in front of the apartment building - one of which I was in! The things that struck me most about the shooting of the scenes were 1) the lighting - how detailed it had to be - how lights in the wrong places made bad glare in the wrong places or ugly shadows in the wrong places. And there were SO many people holding lights and probably other things, too, like microphones or something; 2) the repetition...each scene took about 20 shots. This wasn't so surprising, but the fact that each time the actors acted out the scene in each of these shots, it had to be similar, if not identical. My job was to walk down the stairs inside the apartment building and go out the door, down the steps, and to the sidewalk past the acting couple standing outside. I was praised for doing it the same way every time. ??? I guess I have skill; 3) the discomfort - it's a lot of standing around...waiting...listening to the directors and camera people and other individuals discuss the best way to do something, what they didn't like about this or that, what to do next - my legs got tired, I got tired, and it was really cold. I felt especially bad for the actors who had to look like they were mildly appeased even though they had on no hat and it was 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
Despite all the non-glamour, it was fun, and I'd definitely do it again, although preferably inside as opposed to out. The thing I was happiest about was that I managed to get my knitting into the shot - I wore a hat and mittens I had knit, and I actually carried my red bag o' knitting with me as I sauntered out the door and down the steps. Yay, knitting!
I'll let you know if and when the movie ever comes out. Then...look out - I'll be FAMOUS! (not really).
I've wanted to be an extra for several years. Not so I can break into Hollywood or anything extravagant like that. I just always wondered what it was like to make a movie. I know it's not all that people dream it will be like - it's not fun all the time (and, according to some, not fun most of the time). Yet, I wondered what exactly it was like. I've considered contacting Someone (I once knew who this was...don't now) in the Pittsburgh area who had Some Connections and helped find extras for motion pictures being shot in the are. I never did.
Then, a movie needing extras landed in my lap! My roommate Ren shot me an email saying a friend of hers was looking for extras for his independent movie. I kept being out of town every weekend when they needed people, but finally one Friday night in February, I was around and they needed people for their evening shoot.
I drove to the set location, which was an apartment building in an area of town called Shadyside, my car filled with various clothes that fit the description the costume manager had requested - business casual in neutral colors. Being the very non-good-dresser I am, that meant I had no idea what to wear, so I basically threw in half of my closet. What I should have done was to put all of those clothes on, because I spent the majority of the bitterly cold evening standing outside waiting for some instruction, and I was C.O.L.D!
The movie is entitled "Grace" (at least for now) and is a murder mystery with what sounds like a lot of twists. I got to see two scenes being worked on in front of the apartment building - one of which I was in! The things that struck me most about the shooting of the scenes were 1) the lighting - how detailed it had to be - how lights in the wrong places made bad glare in the wrong places or ugly shadows in the wrong places. And there were SO many people holding lights and probably other things, too, like microphones or something; 2) the repetition...each scene took about 20 shots. This wasn't so surprising, but the fact that each time the actors acted out the scene in each of these shots, it had to be similar, if not identical. My job was to walk down the stairs inside the apartment building and go out the door, down the steps, and to the sidewalk past the acting couple standing outside. I was praised for doing it the same way every time. ??? I guess I have skill; 3) the discomfort - it's a lot of standing around...waiting...listening to the directors and camera people and other individuals discuss the best way to do something, what they didn't like about this or that, what to do next - my legs got tired, I got tired, and it was really cold. I felt especially bad for the actors who had to look like they were mildly appeased even though they had on no hat and it was 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
Despite all the non-glamour, it was fun, and I'd definitely do it again, although preferably inside as opposed to out. The thing I was happiest about was that I managed to get my knitting into the shot - I wore a hat and mittens I had knit, and I actually carried my red bag o' knitting with me as I sauntered out the door and down the steps. Yay, knitting!
I'll let you know if and when the movie ever comes out. Then...look out - I'll be FAMOUS! (not really).
Monday, March 06, 2006
paralysis
Have you taken a look at the world lately? Not even the entire world, with its oppression, exploitation, poverty, civil war, and brokenness - but just your world, the world around you. There's been a push recently at my church to get out and do something for the uneducated children, homeless adults, and troubled youth in the "inner city" (it's not what I call the inner city...it's what I call "home"! The suburbanites don't see it like that, though.) of Pittsburgh. It's a noble goal, and I am looking forward to what will be done, but in the midst of it all I have found myself feeling utterly paralyzed.
Paralyzed why? ...Because when I think about one example of need, more come rushing to my head...then I get asked by someone by the bus stop if I can give them some money, and then I get upset that so many panhandlers are making more money than I or anyone in my household are by asking for handouts, and then I wonder how to discern to whom to give my money, and I wonder if my giving has an impact, and I realize how bad the problem is.
Paralyzed how? ...I can't figure out where to start if I'm going to make a difference. Which problem to tackle first? Even if I had a clear vision of what needed to be done, how would I decide which was the most important? I feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the combination of issues.
Yet...and I know this has been said eloquently by many a famous, witty, individual...doing something is a lot better than doing nothing. I can't do everything, but I can do something (I think that one actually is a quote from someone). I can't agree to be paralyzed by my confusion and woe. I need to step out and do something.
Paralyzed why? ...Because when I think about one example of need, more come rushing to my head...then I get asked by someone by the bus stop if I can give them some money, and then I get upset that so many panhandlers are making more money than I or anyone in my household are by asking for handouts, and then I wonder how to discern to whom to give my money, and I wonder if my giving has an impact, and I realize how bad the problem is.
Paralyzed how? ...I can't figure out where to start if I'm going to make a difference. Which problem to tackle first? Even if I had a clear vision of what needed to be done, how would I decide which was the most important? I feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the combination of issues.
Yet...and I know this has been said eloquently by many a famous, witty, individual...doing something is a lot better than doing nothing. I can't do everything, but I can do something (I think that one actually is a quote from someone). I can't agree to be paralyzed by my confusion and woe. I need to step out and do something.
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