lost and found

About a month ago, I lost one of my favorite earrings. I’d just got my hair cut, and went to Hammersly’s for Tak’s birthday dinner. Carelessly, I’d thrown my earrings in my handbag, and when I went to get my sweater, one of them fell out. Just in case, I left my name, number, and a description of the errant hoop with the very nice hostess. While I was willing to let it go, I was really sad; I’d bought the pair at a cute shop in Brooklyn with my girlfriend, and they represented a time and place that was special, both in meaning and where I was in my life. Plus, I wear them all the time!

Luckily, the earring turned up (Tak had a feeling it would), and we were happily reunited. But it makes me think of my possessions in an interesting way. In Christopher Moore’s book A Dirty Job, people’s souls reside in their objects; when the person dies, a soul collector or Death Merchant takes the item and sells it, making sure it goes to someone new who will love it. For some of the characters in the book, the item is an entire clothing collection, breast implants, or a cigarette case. Sometimes I wonder in what thing of mine would be the lucky object/s that’s holding my soul.

inbetween series

I've caught up with all of the Jim Butcher Codex Alera books, and waiting to borrow the latest Dresden book that just came out, Turn Coat. The next Sookie Stackhouse installment won't be released until late May, so inbetween I just started The Time Traveler's Wife on several recommendations. I like it so far, and (for now) it'll be a good commuting read--something I can put down.

With the lack of obsessive-compulsive reading, I'm trying to organize and de-stash the yarns, playing around with stitch patterns, and swatching. It's nice to get back into the knitting, after falling asleep on the couch for the last few months. For some reason, socks have recently intrigued me. (Like I need another thing to do?) Whilst blog-hopping, I found a link to the Twilight-inspired Vampire Baseball sock yarn at Sunshine Yarns by way of the Blue Blog. It's so cute, although I have to say I like Alice (she's my favorite Twilight character). Knitting will be a great way to hang with the fam all day tomorrow. Happy spring!

series to series

I have been tearing through a couple of fun series lately: the Sookie Stackhouse books (the basis of HBO's True Blood), starting with Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris. Soap opera-y but with vampires, I've seen the show, but love love love the books. One of them I finished on a train ride to NYC, it was so engaging. With a break to read Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (a must-read for every comic book geek), a co-worker lent me Storm Front by Jim Butcher, the first book in the Dresden Files series. It's a great mix of noir and magic; at least two of the books I finished in a day, they are such fun and engrossing reads. Sure, they might get a little predictable, but I still need to know what happens; which is probably also why I've stuck with TV shows Battlestar Galactica and Heroes. Now that Medium is on after Heroes, my Monday nights are couch-bound.

Want a taste? Try Many Bloody Returns, a good collection of short stories edited by Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, and Toni L.P. Kelner. Also included is a short story by Kelley Armstrong, author of Bitten and the "paranormal romances" Women of the Otherworld." Yes, she wrote the short story "Twilight" and no, it has nothing to do with Edward and Bella.

stuffed

literally and figuratively...
We had a great, mellow Thanksgiving, with a lot for which to be grateful. My mom had dinner sort-of catered: all pre-cooked, just needed heating up, and everything but the pies were excellent. Tonight I'm using the cranberry-orange relish on pork tenderloins, which should be yummy.

If there's a lot of typos, it's due to stress & lack of sleep. I've been knitting and doing a couple new paintings for an art/fashion show for Yelp Elites: F.A.M.E. at Via Matta tomorrow night. photos TK, but so far I've done 2 new paintings, knitted 1 clutch, a "necklace," and cranking to finish 2 more bags to felt (or not). These are going to go on canvases (1 down, 1 that still needs to be stretched & gesso-ed) to complement the new paintings, but we'll see how it all looks once it's on the wall; could be really odd looking & need another solution.

For work-work, I still have to finish a chapter to report on at a meeting tomorrow, plus two other meetings. And I won't get to finish the second Octavian Nothing book, since it's due back at the library...also tomorrow!

What else? oh yeah, the cat is going to the vet (Thursday); Owen's school winter fest is Saturday & we're going to a housewarming party, and both need baked goods. Whee!

book fiend

Now that my commute is solo for at least 30-60 minute stretches, I've been burning up the book list. I was worried that I wouldn't have the resources of a library nearby, but I shouldn't have worried: the Collins branch of the Cambridge Public is right behind my building. It's tiny, but I've been able to find some good reads, and the librarians are super-nice.

Case in point: Devilish by Maureen Johnson. I saw it as a suggestion on the Minuteman Link, and couldn't find it on the shelves. One of the librarians--who'd just read it--heard me, and quickly found it. It's fun: a quirky-smart-punk chick fights a demon who's shown up at her high school in Providence.

Finished the Twilight series (loved Breaking Dawn), and am looking forward to the movie. Working on the second book of the Percy Jackson series--why isn't this the next big thing for Harry Potter fans? And the Martha Speaks show is premiering soon on PBS, which Owen is looking forward to, too. One of my co-workers is also a Neil Gaiman fan, and she lent me an advance copy of The Graveyard Book that a friend of hers found in a used bookshop. It's a really fun read, with echoes of several other books in a very different setting (loved it!).

I've been favoring the Visual Bookshelf on Facebook over Good Reads, just because it's there, it's fairly easy, and I'm starting to get website-d out. I did update Good Reads for now, but should anyone notice the difference, there it is.

Austen-ized

It's almost embarrassing to admit that I got my BA in English without taking Brit Lit. In my own defense, I did take a lot of poetry classes and Development of Western Civilization, but I'd never read any Jane Austen. After watching Becoming Jane and part of the latest Pride and Prejudice, in addition to reading Shannon Hale's Austenland, I figured it was time to catch up.

I got 1/3rd of the way through Pride and Prejudice when I cheated and Netflixed the BBC/Colin Firth version. I finally finished the book, and was surprised how much more I enjoyed it for watching the movie. Also having seen Emma, Mansfield Park and Persuasion, but don't feel the same urge to read the books.

Bride and Prejudice, is the most fun (and takes the most liberties) of all the adaptations. (Thanks for the rec, D!)

Soon, I'll be on to Jane Eyre, after seeing the lovely Charlotte Gainsbourg/William Hurt version on cable. Charlotte Bronte was not a fan of Jane Austen. Why am I not surprised?

i confess

I have been mostly good and have only had one muffin. Of course that doesn't count the lovely homemade cupcakes from my friend Barbara Ann, the orange chocolate K Bliss bars or the 100 calorie Hostess Carrot Cake cupcakes. At least I can still fit into my skinny jeans, but I haven't lost any weight. Oh well. Still haven't joined WW, but I am working out once a week, usually followed by vermicelli bun, or cutlets & anko donut.

Tak & I got out for a night out to see the English Beat (which is really a Red Bull pounding Dave Wakeling & a new band). He still sounds the same, and the show was almost 2 hours full of skanking goodness.

Just finished the sequel to Peeps called The Last Days. One of my favorite things about it was the chapters are named after bands.

we turned out OK

One of the last times I was home, I rescued some of my old books. Among them was this gem that we've been reading a lot. Owen loves it, especially the silly stories. His current favorites are Big Bird's Rhinoceros Rhymes and Pete the Pirate (who's not nasty, but bogus like our good friend Pete always says). It's amazing how progressive it is, with "townspeople" and a woman mayor. How '70s!

Then in the New York Times today is a big article about how the Sesame Street of our day isn't appropriate for today's toddlers. Sure, there's some sarcasm in the article, but there's some seriousness too. Some of it is good, and some of it is people reading too much into things. Heaven forbid anyone smokes a pipe anymore.

It amazes me how much of my job--sanitizing books to a certain degree for children's textbooks--I've absorbed. Those scissors are too pointy! Where's the helmet for that kid riding a bike? Look at the udders on that cow! On the other hand, I read and recommend so many fantasy-based and funky picture books that I know we could never, ever use in the reading program.

So what can we do to make reading fun? Another oh-so-cheery article from the Boston Globe tells us that kids are reading significantly less for fun than ever before. The report points the finger at the media, multitasking, and a disconnect in education between the ages of 9 and 17. The most interesting part from the article for me is was: "The poorest Americans who read did twice as much volunteering and charity work as the richest who did not read," (NEA Chairman Dana) Gioia said. "The habit of regular reading awakens something inside a person that makes him or her take their own life more seriously and at the same time develops the sense that other people's lives are real."

hooked on felting

it's past midnight, UFC is on, my eyes are bleary from finishing Friday Night Knitting Club. i'm typing with my fingertips, not wearing glasses, my brain is fried, and letting run-on sentences rule. instead of talking about all the boring stuff going on, i'll talk about knitting.

i felted my first clutch, and i'm hooked. knitting something in one piece in a day or two with minimal sewing rocks. throw it in the washing machine 3 times (tucked in a pillowcase) and viola! now i have a way to burn through my stash. i used the pattern from one skein by leigh radford, but i'm working on changing it to a top-down instead of bottom up, and playing with measurements for #11 needles for regular worsted; the pattern uses bulky on #15's.

The Knit Picks interchangeable needle set has been intriguing me for awhile, and I've heard a lot of good things about them. Before shelling out a bunch of money for the whole thing, I tried the #11s just to see if I'd like them. They're very sharp and pointy, which I don't like, but they are smooth like addi turbos and the wire doesn't kink. Since I don't really *need* all the smaller size needles, I'm not going to invest in the set, but if I need larger needles they're more economical than the Turbos.

Friday Night Knitting Club was super slow to get into, and to be honest I only skimmed it until the end. The author goes on and on...just tell the story. Probably one of the few books that will be better served by a movie. If you look over in the sidebar, I've added a link to my goodreads page. (thanks, Devon!)

Speaking of books into movies, who knew I'd find something to knit via Neil Gaiman's blog? Someday I'll be worthy of Ysolda's Coraline sweater.

same fight, different day

We have on a UFC fight that we watched last week (the guy in green trunks wins).

Owen has been having problems with transitions which is hard. I go to pick him up at school, and he gives me a hug an then he hits me/bites my clothes, won't go to the bathroom, runs off to the elevator. I try and help him go to sleep and he hits me, headbutts me, unleashes a torrent of poophead talk. (BTW, the word for today was booger.) When I threaten to leave, he begs me to stay and starts crying. It sucks. The situation has been snowballing for the last week or so. Tonight we didn't give in and Tak helped him go to sleep. It's funny, but going to sleep is that last little thing that he really wants me to help him with. I see it as a sign he's really torn about getting bigger. It would be great for him to go to sleep without so many problems, but it makes me sad because it's a kind of weaning.

He's making great strides reading: reading signs, high frequency words like and and the. He finished reading the title of Minerva Louise and the Red Truck; he loved the book and totally has a sense of humor.

Last night I sat in bed and knit: I finished a coaster for my sister (how I love self-striping yarn) and ended up ripping out the cap I'm knitting for my father-in-law. I admitted defeat that not only were the stitches twisted and going moebius, but also that it was going to be way too big. Do over!

wedding countdown

There's a little over a week to my sister's wedding. I still have some things to do (get luggage, clean the house, make appointments, finish husband/son shopping, lose 3-5 lbs.). At least I have my dress, shoes, and some of the little things.

Oddly enough, one of my landmarks to my sister's wedding was the wedding of one of my best friends from high school on Saturday night. Michelle & Darren came to our wedding in Vegas, that's how long they've been together. Michelle looked beautiful, and Darren is so sweet. They make a great couple and I'm so happy for them. They've been dating for almost 10 years and it's nice to see them finally married. Stacy, our 3rd amiga, was there too, and it was awesome to hang out with her. It was also fantastic that my favorite teacher in high school was also there, Ms. V.; I ended up talking to her quite a bit. My parents were invited, and the oddest twist is that Tak & I ended up getting a ride with them, both to and from the wedding.

With the torrential downpour we've had with the Nor'easter this weekend, Morrisey Boulevard was the most flooded I've ever seen it. On even a small rain day, Morrisey Blvd. gets flooded, and walking to Shaw's from the JFK T stop involves navigating puddles that go into a whole lane of traffic. Down by the beach, it so bad they were closing the road off, but were just doing it at 10:30 this morning. Owen & I found out the hard way by suddenly driving into two massive puddles on the way to Ikea this morning. Luckily, our side of the road was farther away from the beach; the other side was completely overtaken by the tide. There was no beach.

Owen's quote of the day: We read our first few of Shel Silverstein poems tonight. Owen loved the "Ickle me, Tickle Me..." poem from Where the Sidewalk Ends. His reaction: "Is there a silly poem about a froggie and a duck? It's called 'Take me to the water and I'll swim.'"

nature shock

Tonight at my parents' house, a big fox came trotting through the yard, and across the field next door. It was sudden, and had just caught something. Sometimes I forget how closely these creatures live to us. When it snowed Monday night, I saw--maybe it was even this same fox--animal prints close to the house before the tracks went towards the woods. All of us just watched the fox in the twilight.

On an odd note, I have weird memories from childhood--I must have been 5ish--of checking books out of the library where we lived in upstate NJ that had color photos of teddy bears doing stuff outside. Although I might be getting them mixed up with the Leo Lionni books, I feel like some of them may have been mice in the (real) grass.

Owen has been asking for his own library card, but I have to find out what the minimum age is. We are currently reading George & Martha, and he loves them.
I am reading Stolen by Kelley Armstrong, the follow-up to Bitten. Since I'm on my parents' computer, I don't want to download anything that I won't be able to figure out how to delete later. It's amazing how much I've forgotten about using PCs since I've been back on a Mac for the last few years. It was bad enough that I had to explain to my mom what a blog was and that I had to tell her I had one.

We're in the home stretch for my sister's wedding. The shower & bachelorette are this weekend. Should be a treat!

jolly good show

We're finally watching Bridge on the River Kwai. It's fantastic...and long. What motivated us to watch it was Sessue Hayakawa, one of the first Japanese actors to break into Hollywood--in 1915.

Happy Evacuation Day and St. Patrick's Day. We've been invited to a friend's family home in Southie to watch the parade on Sunday. Again, something I've never done in all my years of living in Boston. Maybe it's the insanity of dealing with the yahoos who come in, like on First Night. But this year will be fun, and Owen's first big Irish parade.

Also on Sunday is a new Boston Comic Con, at the Back Bay Events Center. Something to do before or instead of the St. Patrick's Day Parade. People I know who'll be there: Paul Gould, Hannibal King, Mark Poutenis, and Frankie B. Washington

In other comic book geekery, my friend Pete does a fun improv show in NYC called the Comic Book Club at the PIT. Congrats on the show, the website, and interviewing the editor of Captain America. Keep up the good work.

Just finished: Gene Yang's American Born Chinese. It got a lot of hype as being part of the graphic novel wave, and deservedly so. Quick read and superbly done.

Owen and his jingly hippo have stumbled into the room, so it's time to get in the big bed. Good night!

cold snap

Crivens! Winter isn't done yet. It's still ridiculously cold. Finished Wintersmith, though, and liked it better than Hat Full of Sky. It's just a really enjoyable series. Love those Mac Nac Feegles.

Knitted a smaller version of the gift bag on the cover of Last Minute Gifts, but in Malabrigio yarn. It came out really nice, especially as my first time doing yarn overs. Now I just have to figure out what to put in it! Next I'll have to do the gift bag in the yummy Blue Sky Alpaca yarn like in the book.

Finally saw the Departed. Holy smokes. It's amazing. There are very recognizable scenes from Infernal Affairs, but it's also its own film--as it should be. And the language is outrageous. The extras are worth it for the second disc. We also got to check out Letters from Iwo Jima, which was also incredible.

Oh, and remember how I didn't think I'd need another circular knitting needle? I need a 24" size 15 for my next projects, a felted handbag and the Diotoma shell from Webs. Oops. Of course, Michael's didn't have one in 24" (or 32"), but in 29". At least I can return it.

aw, shucks

Thanks, you guys for being so supportive. Really, I wasn't fishing for compliments. I know I am not a bad knitter, and I wish I just had more time to practice.

Where I failed in Police tickets (so far), I succeeded in Loreena McKennit tickets. I'm taking my mom. So psyched.

I did end up finding the Departed at Borders--a couple days after it came out. Everyone probably bum-rushed the stores in case we got a ton of snow. (We didn't, but it was cold and messy.) We still haven't watched it yet. I know, I know... Infernal Affairs is great, so it's not like I don't know what happens. We are going to the movies on Sunday, and it's still playing in Boston. Or we might see Children of Men (thanks Bob!). Or Letters from Iwo Jima. We'll see.

Taking a break with Terry Pratchett (thanks Liz!), and reading a vaguely trashy British mom lit called Yummy Mummy by Polly Williams. It's awful and totally engaging, like the Shopaholic books. What's even funnier is that I know a Polly Williams, and this is so not her.

Tak is doing a talk tomorrow at UMD, so what did I do? Shop for yarn like an imbecile. Like I need more? Actually, I've been seriously coveting this Lexie B. bag in Baja, and was debating whether to buy it from WEBS or kpixie. I'm hoping kpixie has a store front so I can go look at it, because I am NOT going to Webs (yet). Now I'm just waiting for Owen to wake up to come in the big bed.

Note: links will open in a separate window. Hope that's OK. I lost my sticky note with the code so links do not open in a new window, and I'm too lazy to hunt through blogger's help menu. thanks!

yay librarians!

Well, actually, yay to the supervisor at the circulation desk. I was a dummy and left this photo in the copy of Children of Men when I returned it to the library. After one call to ask them to look for it, and another call to see if they had found it, I was told that it had already gone back. If I wanted to find out more I should come in ask for a supervisor. So I did. Luckily, the really nice circulation desk person got me the supervisor on duty, who was AWESOME, and after looking in several places and checking the computer, came back with it. I think he was going to offer some marriage advice, but was called back to duty. Thank you! Thank you, BPL circulation desk supervisor, for finding a photo of me as a blond and Tak with a mohawk from Halloween '93.

Children of Men was a good read. Took awhile to get into it, but it was very satisfying. I'll see the movie eventually, which I've heard takes some liberties (as most movie versions do). Also saw A Scanner Darkly, and I was surprised how true to the book it was. The animation made it better, too; although I'd be curious to watch the live action footage that was used for the animation. We got a babysitter to check out Pan's Labyrinth, which was amazing. The fairy tale part had the otherworldly quality needed, and the "real life" is gritty. The effects & makeup are incredible.

Yesterday's brouhaha over the Aqua Teen Hunger Force stunt in Boston is all over the news--and I haven't read/watched much of it. Luckily it didn't snarl my commute, but I can't imagine the gigantic inconvenience to those whose day was wrecked.

On a closing note & back to yay! librarians, Lydia, who's a librarian, used to write for the Dig in the early days. Check out her site renegade librarian, which has lots of cool links. She's got a Bengal kitty, too!

bardot? or bettie page?

I took the "which pinup are you" quizilla from Leslie's myspace page, and depending mostly on where I'd like to vacation and what did I with my date's hand at the movies, I was either Brigitte Bardot or Bettie Page.

Speaking of which, a bunch of us met at Match for drinks & I got to see Leslie & Erin, which was great. Match, as Marcie put it, was very New York. But not even really good New York. The slider/mini burger was greasy but good; combined with the massive onion rings it was still yummy. Yet, even worse than Chinese food, I was hungry and hour later and I felt like I'd eaten a package of hot dogs. At least the pricey martini drinks packed a punch, but it was still kind of...eh. The company was the best part of the night! And happy birthday Nicole! ^_^

Took my first morning commute from the South Shore yesterday in the 'van, and it was only 45 minutes. Not too shabby, but definitely not something I'd like to do everyday. I also found that a tape cassette adapter is how I can listen to my iPod over the radio, and the speakers are still in good shape. Not too shabby.

Currently reading: Thanks to William Gibson's blog, I found this neat book about George Appo. He was a famous Chinese/Irish pickpocket in New York in the late 19th century. Of course, the same day I bought it, my request for Children of Men came in for the library. So I hustled through the rest of Blood & Chocolate (easy & fun read, not too sure about the movie).

OK, now I have to figure out what is going on with Battlestar Galactica. I've seen the same episode from different parts, and it's kind of confusing.