andi713

So I got an email from my dad today, reminding my brothers and me that we have much to be thankful for. He is right. So what else could I do but make a list?

What I'm thankful for from the minutia to the grand universe...

• Life, the universe, and everything (duh...)
• My awesome brothers--thanks mom and dad!
• My family who is so supportive
• My friends who rock
• My amazing, awesome, perfect boyfriend
• This raisin cinnamon bread that I'm having for breakfast, courtesy of Abby :)
• Cold brew coffee (thanks Dan and Phreadde!)
• The opportunity to go to grad school and become what I've always wanted to be
• Leonard Cohen
• Books
• The internet (and all that comes with it: podcasts of my favorite NPR shows, free TV, free knitting patterns, Ravelry, IMDb.....)
• Movies (especially Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Charlie Kaufman, Steve Martin, and everyone involved in The Secret Life of Words)

Ok, time to do homework (something I am only tangentially thankful for).
:)

My room is covered in a fluffy blue dust. The aftermath of harvesting yarn from an old sweater. Yes, I have become a cheapskate thrifty knitter!

Thanks from instructions from this blogger, I have successfully taken apart 1.5 sweaters and started to reconstitute the yarn!

Basic Instructions:

1.  Go to Good Will, or some other thrift store.

2.  Find yourself in the oversized men's sweater section (still $5 but lots more yarn!) explaining to your friends that you need to find sweaters with the "right kind of seem"

3.  Choose a sweater with appropriate seems, fiber content, and approximate gauge (if you have a specific project in mind.)  I was looking for worsted weight yarn, preferably wool.  Unfortunately, this was harder to come by than I thought.  I totally compromised my love of natural fibers and got an acryllic/wool blend for one, but did find a ramie/cotton blend for the other (not wool, but still natural).  Deep breaths.  I think I'll be ok.

4.  Take home your booty and start ripping!  Actually...it took a little getting used to, taking apart a sweater.  But I'm getting the hang of it.


What I didn't expect was the next few steps of unkinking the yarn and respinning the yarn (it's all untwisted!!) so, I did my first batch of hanks in hot water to ease the crinkles out.  Here is a picture of my hanks drying :)


  I have ordered a drop spindle in hopes that I will have the ability to retwist the yarn so it's not all coming apart!

I have started knitting with it as-is and it's just fine, but I like the idea of good-as-new yarn to work with.  I also like putting the yarn in hanks because I can get an idea of the yardage of the yarn.  (I wrapped the yarn around my chair...each wrap was about 40"...I counted the wraps.  I did lose count a few times, which is why this is definitely an estimation of the yardage!)

Now I can finally knit my first sweater!  w00t!

A happy summer is hot and fun :)

So far this summer it's not been that hot (finally this week!!) but the fun is ever present with bonfires, a wedding, kayaking trips, birthdays, and cake!


Yesterday: I BOUGHT A KAYAK! It's a fabulous Necky manitou 14. Tracks well and very speedy :) Matthew and I went to New Hampshire to pick it up and then did a couple hours of paddling in Lake Ossipee. There was an island in the middle that we stopped at because I wanted to go swimming. Well, there were piles of duck shit everywhere. So...yeah, no swimming for me. We skidaddled out of there!
A great day and a great adventure. I am so happy to have my own boat! (and it's red!)



what I want out of the rest of the summer:

--more time for creative writing
--more beach days where I actually go to the beach
--more iced coffee
--more frisbee on the prom
--finish my book!
--Go white-water rafting (meeting up with Laura as she finishes the Appalacian Trail!)
--see my friends more (working less and going to class less is going to help that soon!)
--harvesting my beets
--Going on an all-day bender with Richard


happy summer everyone :)
smooches. .andi.

Saturday, July 4:
7:30 wake up. Randy is still packing stuff up. Jason has arrived. My first thought is: COFFEE!

Cold brew is already out on the counter and Randy makes us all breakfast sandwiches. yum.

It's foggy and we're running late (surprise, surprise). It's about 10am when we finally set off towards the east end beach. Since it's the Fourth of July, it's all blocked off and we're not allowed to park down there, but the guy lets us go down and unload.
We pack up our boats as the fog thins and thickens. When we were walking back down from our cars (found parking on Wilson St) Matt L. is feeling uncertain about the weather. Even if the fog burns off, there are still threats of thunderstorms within a couple hours.

Sadly, he decides to unpack his boat and head home. :( The rest of us head off just as the fog burns off and blue skies greet us on the blue seas.

About two hours into the paddle, We notice the dark clouds following us. We see lightening in the distance and sky darkens. Randy says, "put yours skirts on!" In about the time it took us to secure our skirts, the downpour commenced. For a few minutes we just sat in awe as the dark water around us glistened with raindrops.

Then we look at each other and head to the beach on Long Island, about a half mile away. Dried off, warmed up, fed, and peed, I feel much better :)
Just as we start to relax, we see another thunderhead heading towards us from the southwest. We jump in our boats and go, hoping to outrun the storm. Wishful thinking. It rains again and this time we just keep paddling towards Jewell Island, not much more than an mile away.

We landed around 5pm and started looking for a campsite. We find a great one right on the cliff with enough space for both our tents. Dinner of roasted meat and potatoes was a welcome treat before we venture off to see the fireworks.

The next day was clear and beautiful but a bit windy. We make it home around 2pm, happy, exhausted, and sunburned. :)

It's July and we're in our third strait week of rain, with no end in sight! (Christ, even the Iraq war seems to be progressing towards the end!)

However there are some good points to this:
1. It's a hell of a lot easier to coop up at work or at home doing homework without feeling the pull to eff it all and go outside.
2. Movie time is anytime, not just at night time.
3. My plants seem very happy.
4. My car is clean.
5. My hair is not limp.

hmm...yeah, those don't seem very compelling. I'm still hating the rain.

I hope it lets up for this weekend because I'm going kayaking and camping! Holy shit, andi has discovered parts of outdoorsiness that she actually likes! So, after the bonfire last weekend, my appetite is officially whetted for camping out this weekend. I'm bringing marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate! First s'mores of the summer :)

And then back to reality because summer session B starts next week!

One constant: the rain. Always the rain.

Sunday. Brooklyn. Raining. 57º.

Lovely New York. After countless missed exits, a delightful Beatles sing-a-long, and about 100 home-made cookies, Randy, Philip, Jason and I arrived in Brooklyn Friday night around 11:30pm. We're staying with Randy's friends who took us out to a midnight dinner at a very nice restaurant right down the street. Went to be tired and happy.

Saturday was a little more complicated. Miscalculating the time it took to get there, Randy and I went for a morning run in Prospect Park. To the chagrin of our other theatre-goers, we almost missed the first play. We ran (faster than my morning run)up Broadway from 42nd street to the theatre on 50th st, braving traffic barriers, herds of tourists, and the little lady at the theatre warning us that we had to go in NOW or else we would miss the play. PHEW!

The play was great and next thing we knew it was 10:30 pm and time to head home...but not before grabbing one more slice of pizza for Jason and a big ol' salty pretzel for myself (gotta get something from the street vendors like the good tourist that I am).

And now it's Sunday and I got to sleep in til 9:30 :) then the cat peed on my bed--after I had gotten up, thankfully. There are five cats here! Good grief! It's ok though, most of the house doesn't smell like litter box :)

Philip and I got lost and then walked to Melissa's apartment on the other side of Prospect Park. Good times. More Pizza.

Then we met up with Randy and Jason--who had been doing the five-borough bike tour--and we got some delicious fish and chips at a british shop. Deep fried candy for dessert :) Lovely company, lovely meal.

Then off to ASCAT--FUNNNYYY!

then haagen-dasz and now bed. good night.

Nope,
no more sleeping in! Vacation is over and I'm subbing this morning! More Spanish! Mama mia! (wait, is that italian?)

see? I'm clearly not getting enough sleep.

coffee helps. Cold brew coffee is awesome. There's a small wikipedia article on the coffee toddy here.

But basically it's exactly what it sounds like. It's coffee that never sees heat (until you're ready to drink it later). So you throw some grounds in a big plastic brewer thing (there is a name for this) and then you put cold water in. Let sit for 12 hours or so and filter. Then you have a decanter full of coffee concentrate (kind of like espresso strength) which you can add hot water or hot milk to, depending on your preference.

Why bother? It's delicious! only about a 1/3 of the acidity of regular coffee exists in this fine treat :)

ok, obviously lack of sleep makes me unable to write about anything that interesting.

In other news, I started knitting a Sackboy! (the character from Little Big Planet...my new favorite video game.) yay.

ok, off to work.

I have planted BEETS!!!

I dreamt that they sprouted...but the ground is still 100% brown and dirty.

soon? I hope. I will take pictures and chronicle the progress of my favorite root vegetable :)

Extra money?

not really. the opposite of that. but a new car!




The Honda Fit. I like it :) It's tiny but feels surprisingly roomy. Plus, it's light blue ;)

And it's not going to break down!

Pretty excited about this, but not about the monthly payments. Oh well...

I'm now on vacation and prepping the garden for some beet-planting! (oh my!)

So my original Blargh post about my car deserves a follow up after what happened Friday. My car started CLANGING from the rear end. AAA towed it to the service place and I'm waiting to hear back. Gearing up to buy a new (new to me) vehicle. Annoying but could be pretty exciting. Possibly going car shopping today...

W is also for work. only 2.5 more days of this Spanish-teaching job!! then a whole week of vacation. W is for W00t!!!

blargh. I have to get my car inspected this month. I wonder if it will pass...

also, i'm supposed to update my address with the BMV. I was told it was free, but the link on the website is dead. Lovely.


just a general blargh post. sorry.

This year seems to be the year of switching phones (better than the last two years that seemed to be the year of switching homes...)

I'm totally undecided!! Today, I think I finally made a decision I'm happy about. The past two days I have become a pro at switching SIM cards from phone to phone as I test out all of Matthew's old models to see if I like them. I don't. And I don't like my Palm Centro anymore, either.

It's a great phone, but it's way more than I need. I realize I only use one "extra" feature: the calendar. And the other day I came to the realization that I didn't even like that. I don't have, nor want, nor need a data plan so most of the cooler functions I can't even use. For some reason I was under the impression that it had wifi capabilities, but it doesn't, so it's useless to me. Hopefully somebody out there will see my ad on craigslist and want to buy it from me.

I just bought a new phone. It's a Pantech Matrix. It slides two ways--one of them opens up a full keyboard, which is the only other part of the centro that I enjoyed. yay! I can text like a mofo now.

Plus, it's red. I've always wanted a red phone. I think it's a leftover from my obsession with getting red converse sneakers when I was a kid (that never happened, either...and now Chucks are like $60 a pair. WTF?)

Anyway. Hopefully I've gone from undecided to Decided with a capital D. I hope that my fickleness will not prompt regret in a few weeks when I realize this was the wrong choice, too.

Yep, about a week ago I got my first tattoo. Yes, it hurt. But not as much as I expected. It felt like a cat scratching me...a lot, and deeply. It was worst on my spine (yeah, big surprise there).

Here's a picture taken the day after it was done.

It's itchy now that it's all scabbing up and healing (yeah, gross sounding). the aftercare is pretty simple, though: wash with unscented soap once a day, put unscented lotion on twice a day. Easy :)

Except I think I had an allergic reaction...my skin is all bumpy around the tattoo (gross!) i hope it goes away soon....

But what is the tattoo of, you ask? The birds were taken from one of my favorite album's cover art: The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place, by Explosions in the Sky. If you don't know them, they are an instrumental rock band (post rockish). Awesome. Check them out.

How to relax after a long week:
1. Take off work clothes
2. Put on something comfy (jammies work just fine for this. Personally i'm wearing a hoodie and my too-big-for-me jeans)
3. Put on good music (in a Dylan mood right now)
4. Eat something delicious (I'm a freak so I had rice and peas. Then ice cream)
5. Check facebook
6. Open a beer
7. Do something mindless while drinking said beer.

Done.

If something is an acquired taste (ie you have to eat/drink it a lot before you like it), who would bother acquiring it?

When did I stop being a kid? More importantly, when did I start being an adult?

Why is it in our biology, as humans, to be struck by the beauty of nature?

If everyone grows up wanting to be a better parent then their own, why aren't we a generation of amazing moms and dads?

Why can't red be the new black?

When did dead babies become funny?

When did Laurel and Hardy stop being funny? (I think they still are...)

What do dreams mean?

Where can I get good Chinese food?

Saint Patrick's Day. Who could forget such an important holiday?

Me.

But it's not an important holiday to me. Last year I got drunk. That was fun, but I don't think it was a testament to the day's significance. Probably more like life's insignificance. But I digress.

When you work at a public middle school where you get pinched for not wearing green, you remember quite quickly what day it is. I have avoided being pinched for luck is on my side (the luck of the Irish?) and I accidentally put on green today! Olive green, but green nonetheless.

At any rate, poor Saint Patrick was overshadowed in my mind today but a more important event in my life: My first tattoo. Yep, that's right, I'm getting a tattoo today and I'm super excited.

We'll see how I feel tonight after the ordeal(P might also be for Pain) but right now I am happy and optimistic. Pictures will be posted once the thing has healed up a bit.

I'm getting it done by Danielle at Sanctuary in Portland on Forest Ave. This is the same place where Matthew got all of his done, and the same person who did Laura's. When Laura gets back we're going to go together to get our second tattoos. (already have an enso planned out for my forearm).

So, I leave you with this thought: How do you say "happy saint patrick's day" in Spanish?

My computer is three years old. That is, I got this computer three years ago, but there is almost no part of it that is actually that old. After getting it back from Apple today, the following things have been replaced (since 2006):

--Hard drive
--Logic board
--Optical drive
--battery
--power cord/adapter
--bezel/screen (twice)
--bottom casing
--top casing/keyboard (twice)

Is it the same computer? well, the stickers are still there, so I'd say it's mine.
I'm also happy to say that this last time none of my data was erased so, even though i did back everything up, nothing needed to be. :) yay, good as new :) shinier, cleaner, happier computer!

Now, my applecare runs out in may, so i hope that if anything else major needs to be replaced it happens before May. Maybe it will last another three years...?

At any rate, I think my next computer will not be an apple product.

Another fiber entry! I get really confused by all the different types of fibers out there. I recently made a hat out of merino wool so I decided to look more into it (and other wools and fibers).



Merino sheep! They are known for their soft, fine wool (which is why I chose it for Matthew's hat--an itchy hat is a hat never worn).

Some wooly facts: Australia supplies us with 80% of the merino wool in the world. Other places where it is cultivated (is this a word you would use with "wool?") are Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand and Western United States.

The Rambouillet Merino sheep (aka the French Merino) is bigger than the regular Merino but the fleece can be just as soft. (So says my Aunt) :) The shawl I knit is made from handspun rambouillet. It's very very soft.

Another "M" fiber is Mohair. Now, this is where it gets complicated. Mohair comes from the Anogora goat. Angora fiber generally refers to the stuff you get from Angora Rabbits. Maybe some pictures will help:


big ol' Angora Rabbit. Angora wool (from this type of rabbit) is pretty fluffy, then, as you can see. The fibers are generally thin and soft and felts easily.

Angora Goat! This guy gives us Mohair. With properties like insulating, moisture-wicking, stretch resistant, and flame-resistant, it's no wonder that mohair is a popular blending fiber. It also takes dye really well.

I also want to talk about alpaca. Alpacas are kind of like llamas and they live in South America. It's similar to sheep's wool but it's hypoalergenic! Perfect for my super-allergic boyfriend! The bad news: it also lacks the water-repelling qualities of the lanolin (the part that makes regular wool allergy-inducing).
Ok...one more silly animal picture: (the whole purpose for this entry, really)



Shorn Alpacas!

Thank you wikipedia for the pics! (and much of the info in this post)

Yeah, how could I get around this one? It's fucking valentine's day. So obviously, L is for Love.

And now I leave you and let some brilliant minds of the ages (or the 20th Century...) explain something like Love.


e. e. cummings:

since feeling is first
who pays any attention
to the syntax of things
will never wholly kiss you;

wholly to be a fool
while Spring is in the world

my blood approves,
and kisses are a far better fate
than wisdom
lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry
--the best gesture of my brain is less than
your eyelids' flutter which says

we are for eachother: then
laugh, leaning back in my arms
for life's not a paragraph

And death i think is no parenthesis
_________________________________________________

William Butler Yeats:

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.
__________________________________________________

Leonard Cohen:

I almost went to bed
without remembering
the four white violets
I put in the button-hole
of your green sweater

and how i kissed you then
and you kissed me
shy as though I'd
never been your lover