Boston cosplays as Nebraska

Temperatures consistently below freezing, five or more feet of snow on the ground and more on the way – it’s ridiculous. Snowdiculous*, if you’ll allow the portmanteau.

We’re lucky out here in the suburbs, though. In town there’s about six feet or seven feet of snow and absolutely nowhere to put it. We at least have the space for the 20 foot snow piles and are both fortunate to have jobs that allow us to work from home. We’re also lucky to have personalities such that we’re more likely to laugh at the absurdity of the situation than to cry over it. (This is true most days, and one can certainly forgive us the occasional cry after a week of five hour commutes to and from work.)

We’re also not really susceptible to cabin fever, and as long as the heat and water stay on we can amuse ourselves with books and crafts and be content.

This week’s shop update is all cozy and silly things. When the walls of the trench leading from your door tower above your head and the forecast is calling for more snow in a few days, you may need a fleece blanket that folds into a pillow that looks like toast to cheer you up. If you really need cheering, you may need to get yourself a goofy nose warmer with a tassel. They really do keep your nose warm and they look silly enough to make your crabbiest neighbor smile (as long as you’re wearing it while you help them deal with the ice dams on their roof).

Stay safe and keep warm, New England! Spring is on it’s way. Really.

*Snowdiculous is not my invention. I thank my friend Jamie for that one.

I’m a real BEEEEEEEE!

Yesterday was my first inter-league bout, even if it was just an exhibition, two twenty-minute period event. It was a million degrees in the sun, and still a million in the shade, since the rink is a giant concrete oven. But I didn’t pass out. Nor did I vomit. And I actually had a couple of jammer take-downs, of which I am exceedingly proud (even if this was NH’s first bout ever). I think I may have gloated over one of them, which is pretty funny, since normally I’m all “Oh, so sorry! Are you hurt?” It really is different playing against another league. You’re not afraid of hitting harder and actually knocking people down. I need to learn to hit harder at practice with my own league now. I think it’s a confidence problem, too. The skaters on my league are way faster than I am, so I know I can’t catch up to hit them, and they’re way better than me and blah blah blah. But NH are just as new as I am, more my speed, and I was able to catch them and actually be of some help to my team, instead of concentrating so hard to keep up with the pack and avoid getting knocked down. It was very gratifying to have the training finally click into place and to be effective. (Oh, I don’t remember the score… I think NH had 11 points, and we had 70 or 80 something… not sure. But we did, indeed, “bring the sting,” as they say.)
The festival in general was really fun, too. There were many cool vendors (clothes, jewelry, housewares, books, records, all sorts of stuff), some really great bands and DJs, too. It reminded me a little of how the River Rave used to be at Great Woods. Before the bout I kept thinking that we’d just head straight home afterwards, since I knew I’d be exhausted and heat-stroke-ish and lethargic. Um, quite the opposite actually happened. I did have to drink a million gallons of water, but once the bands and DJs got the party going, I couldn’t help but dance. I don’t really know how I kept going in that heat.

Anyway, sorry I didn’t advertise this better. I think many of you would have really loved this festival, even if it was in the hot hot heat. Next time, Gadget, next time.

Edit to add: I totally forgot to mention the best thing ever! The “Burly Q” burlesque troupe performed an homage to Frank N. Furter last night! They danced to the sweet transvestite song! Sparkly “lips” pasties!! I asked them before hand if it would be ok to do call back lines, and they were all “hell yeah!” so I shouted out a few. It was fun! Man, you all missed out!

This and that

I’ll start with the not-so-good so we can end on a positive note, yes?

1. Friday was hell: I was running late for work. They don’t plow the road into the train station very well, and I slid down the hill and crashed into the curb on the turn into the parking lot. I did manage to pull into a space and still make my train, because there was no way I was going to deal with that mess while it was still snowing. We borrowed JeT’s mom’s car on Saturday and went back to get our car towed to the shop. Not good news: $1500 worth of damage. Pretty much everything but the axle was busted. We’re waiting on the insurance appraisal, because there’s no way we can pay for that out of pocket. Not after this summer’s transmission debacle (which was also my fault, by the way). Feeling pretty lame. Oh, and during the adventures (see point #2 below) I slipped on the ice and fell on my giant bruise again. Double lame.
2. Friday continued: On the train ride home, JeT realizes that we have to go back into Boston because he has the only set of keys to the med room in his pocket. Luckily, we hadn’t passed Quincy yet, and were able to make the U-turn without incident. I was starving, so we decided to pretend to be tourists in the snow and go get food at Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market. We got Indian food. It was delicious. So, full bellied, we headed home in better spirits. Of course, we didn’t yet know the full damage of the car at this point. Alas.
3. I think I stayed in my jammies all day on Saturday. I can’t really remember.
4. Skipping to Monday, because I want to keep all the crappy stuff together: I did not have a very good practice last night. My knee took forever to warm up, so I only did half of the falling drills (which are actually quite fun). Then, during this one drill where we were practicing being jammers and blockers (alternating, of course) I was having a really hard time keeping up. Turns out it wasn’t just because my legs were aching. Apparently I stopped being able to breathe properly. I pulled over and skated around the outside of the track for a while trying to catch my breath. I could breathe out just fine, but it felt really constricted breathing in. Like in a bad panic attack when it feels like there’s a cave troll sitting on your chest. Well this was as if it was gripping my breathy tubes every time I tried to inhale. It was really freaky, and started to scare me a bit, but I was too angry to really be that scared. I mean, how dare my lungs freak out when I’m trying to learn something new and keep up with the rest of the girls. I hate feeling weak and I hate having to sit out a drill because of weakness. Oh, and while the other girls were learning jammer starts (you know, where you run on your toes for a bit to get up speed) I was still trying to recover my ability to breathe. They got to learn something cool while I had to gimp around the track like a big ball of weakness on wheels. /rant.
5. And I don’t feel at all well today, so I’m home sick.
6. Sunday was pretty awesome though: PRD had a scrimmage against Pioneer Valley Roller Derby. It was the Riveters against their travel team. We won by something like 158 to 21 or something crazy. It was still a really competitive bout, and was tons of fun to watch. Afterwards we went out to a local bar in Naragansett (or something). I rode with Hysterica and her boyfriend Jeff, aka, the Reverend Al Mighty. They were super nice and gave me a ride down to the scrimmage. I shall have to bake them cookies. At the bar, I felt pretty awkward at first. I never do well in crowded situations. Especially at bars. By nature I’m geeky and awkward. Like all of a sudden I’ve grown two extra feet, have eight arms, nine legs, and can’t seem to stand anywhere without being in someone’s way. But after a couple of beers I felt normal again and was able to talk to people like I wasn’t some sort of space alien. In the end, it was quite fun, and I’m glad I went. We didn’t get home until 1:30 in the morning though, so I was a bit of a zombie at work yesterday.
7. We got some great news on Monday: JeT got the job he interviewed for last week! Yay! It’s a step up the ladder at the place where he currently works. He’s very excited to start in two weeks. It’ll be more paperwork and less work with the clients, but it pays more. So, hooray for that. And hooray for JeT! I think we’re going to the Garden Grille before the Battle of the Bands, so if anyone wants to come help us celebrate, you’re more than welcome.
8. Saturday is the Battle of the Bands (see post below) and we need to bring a ton of people. This is a fundraiser for PRD, and you know you want to support your local derby girls, right? It starts early enough that if you wanted to come for a bit but leave before the wee hours of the morning, that would be cool, too!

I can has short rows?

O HAI!

Thanks to all who came to the Winter Super Fun Times gathering on Saturday! Click through to see our poor sampling of photos from the event. Click here for way better pictures from SEA, though I think you have to be one of her contacts to see them. Which is fine by me, since I got one of my, shall we say, “party whims,” and decided it would be great fun to knit a merkin. Many modeled the blue, fuzzy thing and SEA captured the action. (All merkin photos are clean, don’t worry.)

I had wanted everyone’s Decemberween presents to be done by Saturday, but that did not happen. I can’t knit on the train anymore, because I take a later train, which is way crowded, and I get all cramped trying to avoid elbowing the person next to me. So, evenings are my only knitting time these days. I kept getting terrible headaches in the evenings the week before the party, so I ran out of knitting time. Finishing the larger items (which shall remain slightly secret, since there is at least one who may read this that still does not know what they are) was impossible, so I decided to just work on the smaller items. But I needed at least 15 of those, and only managed 7. Therefore, only a few party guests got their party favor nose warmer. Alas.

I have decided that one of my knitterly resolutions for this year is to knit things that teach me new skills. For too long have my knitting skills been stagnant. I decided that the first things I would learn would be short rows. I know, I know, I’ve been knitting since I was 13 and I still need to learn short rows? Yes. Well, not really anymore, since I had to learn to do them for the nose warmers. They are essentially the toe of a toe-up sock, with crochet chain ties to secure behind the head. The instructions I used (for sock toes) were pretty good, except they left out certain important elements, such as which side of the work the yarn needs to be on for certain actions. Or rather, it kept leaving out the instruction to put the yarn back after having moved it. I find it very hard to learn new skills from written instructions because there are too many gaps. Without a real person sitting next to me filling in the gaps in instructions, I’m at a loss.

Anyway, after much trial and error, and tears, and ripping the darn things out again, it was midnight on Friday, the night before the day they were supposed to be gifts, and I still hadn’t got it right. I went to bed annoyed, but in the wee hours I had a knitterly epiphany, and as soon as I picked up the stupid thing the next morning, it started to click. I finally had the thrill of learning something new, and stopped swearing at the instructions (and the yarn, and the needles, and myself), and was able to whip them out at a pretty good pace (25 minutes each, including weaving in ends). Now I just have to finish the rest of them, and pop them in the post. Who wouldn’t love to get a nose warmer in their mailbox, right? I do need to figure out who got one and who didn’t, though.

It snowed Monday, and Radcliffe was closed, so I got to finish several things and pop a few in the post, which was rad. Unfortunately, I got sick that day, and then stayed home most of the week. It was a killer cold with a stupid fever and stuff. I had a really long, one day work week. And Monday is a holiday, too. I feel like a bum. But a well rested bum.

We’re going to see Cloverfield tonight. JeT has been following the marketing/hype/propaganda for this film for months, so we’re wicked excited to actually see the darned thing. I’m just excited to get out to see a movie. We don’t get out very often. And tomorrow, I’m going on a shopping spree with other people’s money. I’ve been amassing a fairly large collection of gift cards these last few months, and I’m going to spend them all in one day. A movie and shopping? Super fun consumer times, woot! There will also be a trip to Kam Man market tomorrow for some bento supplies. Hooray!

Done.

Yes, as of Thursday, 12:30 pm I finished the work for my MLIS. Woot! To celebrate, the skies dropped a foot of snow on us. I went to lunch with a fellow graduate, The Spinstah, and another GSLIS student, The Boss Lady. We had lunch and beer at Thornton’s while we watched passers-by stumble in the snow, and drivers sit in the city-wide gridlock.

Walking to the T (and to and fro the restaurant) was a bit of an adventure, because I am wicked smart: I forgot my snow boots at home. I was wearing dress shoes. I might as well have been walking bare foot. By the time we got back to the car (3 1/2 hours later) we had to shovel it out and then drive home on the treacherous roads. We got stuck at one point because the plows cleared (sort of) the main road, but when we turned on to our own road we couldn’t get over the plow pile. Because JeT is awesome, he dug us out (with our emergency shovel, because at least one of us is thinking clearly about winter weather) and we were home very shortly afterwards.

Once I got home it was really weird. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I kept thinking there was something I was supposed to be doing, and I’d get this momentary panic, like “what am I forgetting.” It was kind of funny. Today was wonderful. I woke up at my leisure (7:30, which is wicked late considering we get up at 5 on weekdays) and we watched Saturday Morning Cartoons for hours and hours. I even took a nap. And then made cupcakes. And we’re going to a party later this evening. Hooray for leisure!

I do have to figure out the details of my Christmas shopping list, especially the knitting that I’ve neglected for ages and ages. Shouldn’t be too difficult, considering I’m giving myself a couple of weeks after Christmas to get things done. Some stuff will have to be done before then, as we’re traveling to Maryland to spend Christmas week with my family. It’s going to rule.

I have tons of pictures to upload: from the Birthiversary party onward. Perhaps I’ll do that tomorrow, since, you know, I don’t have any homework to finish. Ever. Rock!

A crafty weekend

Arrrrrrgh

This weekend was quite fun. And productive. I love it when a plan comes together.

Throughout the entire weekend, I finished M’s bridal shower keepsake book, pictured here. I think it came out quite well. I have to do one repair on it, and let that set, before I can pop it in the post to be sent to its proper owner. I think she will like it.

Click through for more photos of the book, and for photos of all the other stuff (crafty or otherwise) that we did this weekend. The photos have all the crafty details, etc.

Friday evening, MO came over to watch LOTR with JeT and I. During that time, I finished the yellow skirt that I had been planning for ages. (I never did get around to making the green one, nor the apron, that I had wanted to make this weekend, but oh well. Sewing always takes longer than I anticipate.) After I finished (and modeled) the skirt, I worked on the knitted bonnet. I finished the head portion that evening.

Saturday morning was absolutely perfect. I love waking up to crisp, clear, blue skies, and slightly chilly. A little taste of autumn to come. We packed leftovers and went to Massasoit State Park for a picnic and a lovely walk. It took us a while to actually find a trail, because the trails don’t really match what’s on the map. They sort of do, but it’s the difference between the trail going behind campsites, as they appear on the map, or going through campsites (with people camping in them), which was the reality. After several apologies, we found a trail whose relationship with the one depicted in the map was fairly consistent. It was a fun afternoon, though.

That evening, we had a couple of friends over (MO and Rrrrr) for brownie icecream sundaes and a fire. It was quite unplanned, hence only two friends were able to attend, but fun nonetheless. I love building fires. It’s one of my favorite things to do. Luckily for me (and everyone around me) I have a stable enough personality that my fire love doesn’t tend toward the criminal. Pyrophiliac? Is that a word?

On Sunday we had another not-so-secret-anymore meeting to finish the post-wedding gift for M and the Bohninator. We got off to a slow start, so I was able to finish the neck portion of the bonnet, as well as one of the I cords. We have our next meeting tonight, and hopefully that will go more smoothly, now that we kind of know what we want to do. Sunday night I finished the other I cord, and did all the finishing work for the bonnet. I didn’t bother washing and blocking it, though.

I’ve made a list of all the stuff I have to make for Christmas this year. It’s really long. And there are only 18 weeks until Christmas. (Don’t panic.) By my calculations I have to finish at least one or two items each week to make the deadline. And that’s not even calculating shipping times. EEK! Next year, I’m starting in May.

Berries, games, and music

Bountiful harvest

It was another busy summer weekend, hooray! The weather this month has not been horrible, and I’m super excited about that. August usually has numerous stretches of unbearable days, but luckily this year we’ve had several good days in between the icky. Today is possibly one of the nicest days ever.

Saturday was pretty nice, too. JeT and I went with my old college roommate and her parents to pick blueberries at Eastover Farm in Rochester (owned and operated by the Hiller family since 1912). Tons of berries everywhere! We picked 6 pounds and pretty much stayed in the same spot the whole time. (I went back today and picked a few more pounds. In the hour and a half that I was there, I only picked from three bushes.)

Saturday was also M’s birthday party (her actual birthday was Thursday), which was a lot of fun. We played a pop culture trivia game. I am no good with trivia. I don’t know anyone’s name. Under the pressure of the competition, I nearly forgot Alan Rickman’s name for goodness’ sake! It was a super fun game, though. Thanks to The Bohnsternator (I’m trying to come up with blog names for you all) for putting together the questions and for moderating. Rrrrrr (you know, like pirates?) made us all wear hats with our team names on them, and photographs of ourselves, in case we forgot what we looked like. Our team was called The Noblets, after the character Chuck Noblet, played by Stephen Colbert, in Strangers with Candy. (See more photos of that evening here.)

Leaving the party was a bit of an adventure. Unfortunately someone’s house a block over was on fire. The streets were filled with police cars and fire trucks. Our car was not parked on the same street as the house fire, but it was just around the corner. Near a fire hydrant. So, we were blocked in. One of the neighbors came over to move her car so I could wiggle out of the space between the curb and the fire truck. I ended up having to back up the hill, maneuvering around the fire truck, and a police car. I panicked a bit because all these people were on the sidewalk watching me. Weird. But I’d rather have to do some awkward driving than have my house burn down, so I’m not really complaining.

Sunday afternoon we drove out to western MA for a Great Big Sea concert. They are from Newfoundland and they rock! We picked up Blake (can’t think of a good name for him), picked up SEA from the Eric Carle Museum where she volunteers on Sundays, got some dinner from this great restaurant in Northampton, and made our way to Look Park, where the concert was to be. We parked and then began the trek to the outdoor theater.

We started walking towards one particular pavilion only to find that there was only a handful of old people listening to Kenny G type music. Didn’t seem like the type of crowd, nor the type of opening act appropriate for the awesomeness that is GBS. So we asked the uniformed folks in the golf cart where we should go, and eventually made it to the correct location.

The concert rocked. They played all the hits. (Or as they say “all the hit.”) I danced until my feet were dirty and sore (no shoes! plushy grass!) They are so much fun, and this venue was a great way to showcase their talents. They fit perfectly in an outdoor place or in a pub. They make me want to go back to Newfoundland. The opening band was pretty good, too: Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers. They did this great pop culture medley set to one of their folky tunes. It ruled.

All in all a fantastic weekend. I’m seriously enjoying this summer. I usually hate summer, and I’ll probably hate it again before too long, once this gorgeous weather goes away. I don’t mind the rainy, overcast days, but hate, hate, hate! the hot, humid ones. Days like today, though, are absolutely perfect.

Better late than never?

Right. So, I’m about three weeks in to the new semester. We started on the 29th of January. Here’s the low down:

• Taking two classes: Oral History and Preservation Management
• I love both professors. If I can get (and keep) my act together this semester I’ll probably learn quite a lot from these two people.
• I’m dealing with mystery illness. Well, not really “illness” I guess, but I’m vaguely unwell. I’ve been feeling vaguely unwell since October. Then I caught the Whoop-like thing. I haven’t quite sprung back to my normal self. I haven’t felt normal since September. It’s weird. I might have a vitamin deficiency or something. I am trying to get a doc’s appointment for this week. I’ll try for Friday. Hopefully I won’t get Dr. Dick-for-a-heart (ew) this time.
• Working on a fun project inspired partly by my Oral History class and by NPR’s sounds thingy. You know, that little segment where you send in sounds of something? Well, I’m recording myself doing stuff. Just whatever’s going on at the time I happen to remember that I want to collect some recordings. It was supposed to be a daily thing, and I’d post it on the blog, but well, um, I have about four so far. Yeah, not doing so well with the daily thing. But hey! It’ll be neat once I get around to posting them, right?
• I’m secretary of SCoSAA (Student Chapter of the Society of American Archivists), but that’s not very much work. We only meet four times this semester, but we have a few neat things going on. A visit to MIT Archives, resume workshops for Archivists, and I’m going to see about a couple of other tours that might be of interest to the group.
• Speaking of SAA, I need to renew my membership. Oh, and join NEA (New England Archivists). I keep forgetting about that.
• Haven’t been doing anything crafty. I haven’t really knit since Christmas. See? I told you I’m feeling vaguely unwell. By the time I get home, I don’t feel like doing anything fun, so my craftiness has fallen by the wayside. I’m able to go to Stich-n-Bitch this semester, so at least I have a reason to keep some sort of project on campus for those evenings. I’ve been reading on the train, instead of knitting.
• Speaking of reading, I’m trying to do 52 books this year. I tried to get ahead in January, and then I’ll pick up the pace again in the summer. I think I’m on book 11 so far. I think that’s a good pace. Most of them are silly YA books, so nothing too taxing.
• I got a new computer. It’s running Vista. I’m not sure I like it. The notebook is near the lower end when you consider hard drive capacity and processing speed, but I hope it will be good enough for school. I need to install a few programs to make it more fun (Photoshop, etc), but it’ll do for now. I think it would prefer I ran XP instead of Vista, but that’s what it came with, and I don’t know if I have disks for XP lying around. We’ll see.
• I want winter. Actual winter. You know, the kind with snow? That would be fun. We were supposed to actually get some last night, but it’s just a dusting, with some ice mixed in just to be a pain in the arse. I miss winter. It’s been cold, though, so at least there’s that.

“Wake me up when September…” oh, it’s over.

And so, a list of things I did in September:

• Started school– It took me a while to get into the groove, but I think I’ve got a good routine going. I’ve just got to get over this whole procrastinating during the weekends thing.
• Went to my first Red Sox game– We lost (duh) but I got wicked drunk and had a fantastic time! Woke up with some really disturbing bruises.
• Fun with apples– Apple/Peach festival, apple picking, eating more apples than should be allowed. Apples, apples, apples!
• Roller Derby– TWICE! Super fun times. Though, I’ve been called a “Southie Rat” I don’t think there’s anything wrong with drinking beers, cheering, and doing the “clap-clap, clap-clap-clap” thing. Oh, and I can’t wait for Olivia to have her baby. She’s going to be one rokkin kid.
• Started my internship– I’m at the Concord Free Public Library, and it looks like my project will be pretty straightforward, but with some interesting challenges. I think I’ll enjoy my time there and learn a lot. I picked up some brochures from the Concord Visitors’ Center and will explore the town.
• Life is Good Productions— getting ready for Creative Sugar (November 4th), working on songs, DJeT is in the play, making time for the website, etc.
• Joined Netflix– Watched “Walk the Line” and have been singing Johnny Cash songs for a week. Next up is “Akeelah and the Bee.” I won the (I think) 6th grade spelling bee with “onomatopoeia.”
• Went to Boston’s Knit Out! (and Crochet, too)– I competed in the fastest knitter competition and lost, taught DJeT to knit (he’s getting really good, and wants to make stuff!), said high to Peta (from GSLIS SNB) at her Yarn Safaris booth. I also need some light up knitting needles.
• Started working out again– Even though I swear at her and curse her perkiness, I’m doing “Turbo Jam” regularly. Four days a week is about all I can manage with my schedule. I find that I do better when I have a million other things to think about. It’s not THE thing I’m doing, but one of many, so it’s easier to fit in, if that makes any sense. It’s just part of my routine now.

Happy ROCKTOBER! Today is the first day of Halloween, and I have begun writing a song: “On the first day of Halloween, my true love gave to me: A spider in a spooky ol’ tree.” Stay tuned for more hauntingly fun lyrics. Mayhap I’ll perform it at the BlogSEA spooktacular at the end of the month. DJeT’s birthday is Friday. He didn’t want anything big planned, so we’re just going to do dinner next weekend. I think I’ll convince him that he deserves Grasshopper. Still haven’t gotten him a gift, yet. I’ll get on that. I’m loving the weather, even today with its rain. I love it when I’m not sweating.
If I don’t pop in for a while, it’s because I’m up to my nose in school work. Slip me some halloween candy, and I might poke my head out for a visit.

August approaching

Normally, I don’t hit my worst Summer Slump until August, but this year it appears to have come a bit early. I hate the heat. I’ve got to move somewhere that doesn’t have temperatures above 80 in the summer or below 30 in the Winter.

Luckily, though, we’re going to Canada for a couple of weeks in August. We’ll be in Newfoundland for most of the trip, but we’re driving, so we’ll see a little of Nova Scotia as well. I’m still waiting on my passport. We called, and they’re a bit behind schedule, but they’ve been mailed out, so we should get it soon.

I’ve been making felt bowls for the Life is Good Productions art auction: Art is Good. It’s on the 19th in Hopkinton. You should go. More info at the LIGP website. I’ll be in Canada during that time, but I’m donating the bowls to be auctioned. I hope they come out as I’m intending them to. That’s the funny thing with felt: sometimes you get surprised when it comes out of the washing machine. I plan on hand felting it so I have more control over the process. We’ll see. The first one is rather large, so hand-felting might be tiresome.