the Best Roommate Ever

So, last night, I was fixing my dinner and the Best Roommate Ever was watching TV, waiting for me so we could watch the last DVD in season 1 of Heroes. As I was settling in, the picture went black, and we thought, "Hmm, that's weird. I guess that channel just went out." So she got up to put the DVD in, and we realize: it's all the channels. And the DVD player. We can hear the DVD playing. But we can't see it. Nothing but blackness. Crap.
BRE, brave soul that she is, dug out the manual and called the customer service number. She was on the phone for, I kid you not, at least an hour and a half. She had one customer service guy hang up on her; one who knew nothing, and her supervisor knew nothing and cared even less, and then she spent a better part of an hour getting switched from department to department, with nobody actually being able to give her any information. At one point, I heard her yell, "No wait, don't transfer me, I just came from there- crap!" All she wanted to know was, is this a $20 repair, or a$300 repair? Sadly, no one knew. I knew it was getting bad when I heard her yelling, "I'm trapped in the Customer Service Vortex of Hell." Never a good sign. She was finally able to find an actual repair center, although it wasn't open, so she thought she'd leave a message. Did they have an answering machine? Of course not! By the time this was all over, the throbbing vein in her forehead had subsided and she was laughing, kind of hysterically. Poor BRE. This is why I make her socks.

Yay! I'm one of the cool kids!

Well, the camera has well and truly bitten the dust. It was beyond even my Dad's considerable powers of resurrection. See what happens when you taunt a good camera? Let that be a lesson to us all. So, sadly, there will be no pictures until I can procure a new camera. Fortunately, all my knitting projects are either second socks or completely failing to get beyond one inch of knitting before I have to rip and try again, so you're not missing much. Jaymie has discovered the joys of licking ice cubes, which is massive cuteness, so no cute kitten tongue pictures for a while.
Fortunately, the incomparable Chicken Goddess has tagged me for a meme! One of the cool people thinks I'm cool! Happy dance! Okay, on to the meme.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Hmmm, lessee. Ten years ago I was 17, so I'd have been in, what junior year of high school, just finished with what we all affectionately dubbed "hell year", spending my summer volunteering, visiting colleges, and attempting to repair the damage to my circadian rhythms.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today?
1) Call in sick because my stomach is doing that horrible clenchy thing it likes to do every few months. Check.
2) Blog. Check. (So sad that I have to prioritize this. I've been really bad lately because I was getting sick but didn't realize it yet.)
3) Shower and put on real clothes. Yeah, that'll happen, um, at some point. Maybe.
4) Keep trying to give my stomach food even though it doesn't want it, so I can keep my blood sugar somewhat level. I've discovered that popsicles help to kind of numb my angry tummy a little, before I eat something crazy and challenging like a banana.
5) Pounce on disk 4 of Heroes as soon as it arrives and watch it all the way through while knitting. (The Best Roommate Ever has the day off too, although she is doing actual productive things like laundry. I think she'll be on board for this plan.)

3. Snacks I enjoy: strawberry yogurt-covered pretzels, dried pineapple (tastes just like candy, yet it's a fruit. Genius!), cheese popcorn, edamame (Edamame turns me into the Cookie Monster, I swear. "EDAMAME!!! NOM NOM NOM!!!)

4. Places I’ve lived: Wisconsin, North Carolina, Atlanta, and Tallahassee.

5. Things I would do if I were a billionaire: OK, who has that song stuck in their heads now, "If I Had a Million Dollars"? Sing it with me! "If I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars)!" I'm better now. I would buy my parents a beach house, with lots of porches. And I'd pay off their mortgages and all that so they could retire. I'd probably pay off the Best Roommate Ever's student loans. And I'd hire someone to follow my sister and her boyfriend around and say, "Are you sure that's a wise financial decision?" every two or three minutes. (Lovely girl, but can't manage money for crap.) And then I think I'd travel, see more of the States, and do Europe, and go hang out in Australia for a while. Oooo, and probably go to New Zealand and beg Peter Jackson to let me be involved in The Hobbit, in some tiny little insignificant way. Cuz that would be awesome. I would probably still work, though, once I got home from all this adventure. I'd get too restless otherwise. I'd be organizing the spice rack by color and shaving words into the cats.

Alex says: Just try it. Make my day.

Tagging: The Mad Crocheter, Treats for Breathing, Gotta Knit!, Rereading Proust, Knittin' Mittens for Ma Kittens, and SouthBork.

Note to self.

Just because it's in my mailbox does not always mean that it is mine. Sorry, Mr. Neighbor-person, for reading your entire Discover magazine before realizing the mail carrier put it in the wrong box. My bad.

hey, remember when I used to knit?

Or, more accurately, remember when I used to actually blog about my knitting? Hedera #1 was finished the night before I left for Tallahassee.



This is a very sexy little sock pattern. I'm very pleased. And I've already started making it a friend.

It's actually grown a lot since this picture was taken, but SOMEONE hurt my camera's feelings and now it won't take pictures anymore. My camera gets taunted and two days later it breaks. Coincidence? I think not.

The Crusoe socks are also coming along.

Because of the whole slipped-stitch pattern thing, the stockinette foot of the sock is longer than the patterned top, which makes this sock practically self-heeling.

I finished the heel on sock #1 two nights ago, but again, no pictures until the camera gets fixed. It's a little on the snug side, but most of my socks end up being slightly too big, so I think it will be fine.

. . . and it's a long way to Tallahassee and back . . .

Almost as soon as I got to Tallahassee, I had to turn right back around and scamper home, because there are only two of us who work on Sunday, and management's solution to this problem is that neither of us can ever have a Sunday off. Good thinking, management. So 9 AM on Saturday saw me leaving town again, approximately 36 hours after my arrival.
I was told that the kitties missed me while I was gone.

Can't you tell?

I hadn't seen any of my Tally folks for five years, and I missed them more than I realized. It was so good to spend some time with people who know me and know that I'm crazy and love me anyway. Working with the guys I do is very wearing on the ego (especially considering that THREE of them have told me that my tummy is too fat. Creeps.) It was nice to just soak up the love for a while. Sometimes life is harder than it should be, and I'm against it. I feel bad that I let people get so out of touch, but I guess the take-home lesson is to do better in the future.

There's nothing like looking at your own history in the faces of your friends . . .

This week I had the great good fortune to go down to Tallahassee to see my freshman college roommate get married and hang with a whole slew of people I haven't seen in five years. (I'm trying hard not to think about the "five years" thing too much. It's making me feel old. Aging is happening to me! My youth and cuteness are passing me by! But not my coolness. Because, as any of my friends will tell you, I've never been cool.) Anyway. Wedding pictures!


The bride being walked down the aisle by her mom and dad. Very sweet. And a very bad picture. She's much prettier than this picture would suggest. (Sorry, Em!)

Taking the vows. It was a very simple, low-key sort of ceremony, which was fantastic. Also good for the group of us, because none of us have ever really been able to behave properly in public for any stretch of time. To get this picture, I had to lean WAAAAY over into the lap of my "date" (we both came alone, and we matched. And may I just say that I think he's one of very few straight men who look good in purple pinstripes.) So as I'm trying to take this picture between the heads of those in front of me, he's whispering in my ear, "Hey, 1997 called; they want their camera back." Shut up.

And the bride and groom, happily united in wedded bliss, until they DIE. Good luck to you, my dears. Your babies will be heart-breakingly cute.

It was so good to see everybody. Tallahassee is a butt-numbingly long drive for me and I'm a really bad penpal, so I have had absolutely no contact with almost everybody for like, half a decade. (Not thinking about it, not thinking about it . . . ) Everybody is pretty much . . . exactly the same. All the married couples seem so happy, and those that have reproduced have the most astoundingly precious and well-behaved kids. And everybody who has been stricken with cancer since graduation is doing well, although having three friends get cancer in their early twenties is definitely making me worried that there was something in the water. I've never been a hypochondriac, but I'm thinking a full-body-scan is in order here. Although, I have to say, the one guy I thought would be doing something bizarre like a counter-terrorism agent in the special forces or god knows what? He's a librarian. Weird.

I turn my back for one second . . .

I swear, I leave the wardrobe door open for one minute, and when I turn around, this is what I see.


Notice what the little monster is resting his furry butt on.


Why yes, that is the handknit lace shawl that took me months and months to finish. So glad it's comfy.


Specs: Convertible from Knitty, in Plymouth Royal Bamboo.