I'm working on shawl and have about 2 balls of yarn left (why was it the first 3 were done in 2 weeks and the last 3 are taking ages??) Asana is slow going, as I dread picking it up to do boring rows of garter stitch. I'm looking forward to seeing it finished though, so I think once progress becomes apparent (think stockinette) I'll gain a bit of speed.
In other news I "graduated" from the physical therapist who told me that although I won't have anymore appointments I need to keep doing exercises because "unlike humans" I have a freakishly long spine that needs extra support to keep it in line. [insert whip sound here]
Monday, May 30, 2005
Monday, May 23, 2005
Busy
This once a week posting is pretty pitiful, but then, trying to catch up with all the crap at work is pretty pitiful too. Here's some teaser highlights from the past few weeks, I'll add more later:
>Dancing, dining, and travelling in San Francisco and Oakland
>Yoga stretch with Beth "yeah...it's gonna hurt...we'll stay like this for about 3 minutes" Aucoin
>Bubble tea in Oakland Chinatown
>Really great sketches from OldeEnglish.com at 3AM
>Amazing Indian food from Rotti in San Francisco
>Improv Games at Dave's house where I become "Bob the exterminator"
>Getting 12"-15" chopped off my hair in Santa Rosa
>Driving over the Golden Gate bridge costs $5
>SF MOMA
>Writing my cousin's college paper for her with her boyfriend
>Leaving my cell phone in Santa Rosa
>Missing 2 Flights
>Flying into New York without contact with the person I was staying with.
>West Coast Swing, Tango, Lindy and more constantly for 2 weeks!
>Jazz Legend Dawn Hampton "Shakin' it" for a dancer's auction
>Brooklyn Art Museum
>The Bollywood Birthday Song
>Knitting in 3 airports, several trains, 4 cities, and Central Park.
>Seeing Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
>Dancing in front of Lincoln Center
>Shopping in the Fashion District
>Sparkly shoes at the best price in town.
>Cheesecake from Maxie's
>Recognition of my superior shopping abilities "Hey you, with the shoes"
>Dancing, dining, and travelling in San Francisco and Oakland
>Yoga stretch with Beth "yeah...it's gonna hurt...we'll stay like this for about 3 minutes" Aucoin
>Bubble tea in Oakland Chinatown
>Really great sketches from OldeEnglish.com at 3AM
>Amazing Indian food from Rotti in San Francisco
>Improv Games at Dave's house where I become "Bob the exterminator"
>Getting 12"-15" chopped off my hair in Santa Rosa
>Driving over the Golden Gate bridge costs $5
>SF MOMA
>Writing my cousin's college paper for her with her boyfriend
>Leaving my cell phone in Santa Rosa
>Missing 2 Flights
>Flying into New York without contact with the person I was staying with.
>West Coast Swing, Tango, Lindy and more constantly for 2 weeks!
>Jazz Legend Dawn Hampton "Shakin' it" for a dancer's auction
>Brooklyn Art Museum
>The Bollywood Birthday Song
>Knitting in 3 airports, several trains, 4 cities, and Central Park.
>Seeing Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra
>Dancing in front of Lincoln Center
>Shopping in the Fashion District
>Sparkly shoes at the best price in town.
>Cheesecake from Maxie's
>Recognition of my superior shopping abilities "Hey you, with the shoes"
Monday, May 16, 2005
Last Day
Well, today is the last day of my vacation, and I'm going to be sad to go home. I'll have to write up on what I've done, but it's been a wonderfully fun and relaxing time hanging with friends and eating lots of good food.
It has been a bit crazy, with leaving my cell phone in San Francisco, not being able to contact people, and with the absurdity of speed with which plans change in NY. But all in all I've got all my lazy, crazy and fun vacation needs out of me, and theoretically I should be able to go back to work now.
More to come...
Okay, Vacation review (updated 6/1):
I slept about two hours the night before leaving on vacation, but left at what I considered a good time. Instead, I missed my flight to SanFrancisco and spent the day hanging out in the airport in Chicago. I was totally suprised when the woman at the ticket counter told me I missed my flight as I thought it was at 7:30 and it was actually at 7:00. So...I was totally distraught and the woman waved the $50 charge for ticket change and instead of going home, sleeping and hauling my crap around town two more times, I waited 10 hours for the next flight. I got to San Francisco and took a couple of trains and a bus to the house of the person I was staying with. After getting there the person I was staying with and another of his guests started talking about whether we should rent a car. Of course they determine that the other guest isn't old enough to drive a rental and that really we should get the car from the airport I just came from, entailing a trip back to the airport at around 9:30 that night (I got in around 7). That wasn't all that fun; it also meant missing a large portion of the evening dance, as we didn't get there (someplace in Oakland) until about 10:45. In between though we DID have some marvelous seitan Philly cheese steaks. YUM.
I had fun dancing that night and had Dave's roomie Paulo pimping me out as my dance agent--telling me who I should dance with and introducing me to people. I asked Steven Mitchell (Dance Legend) all on my own and had a decent dance with him. By the end of the dance I was pretty tired and ready to get some sleep before the next day's classes. So of course we went to a "late night" dance that ran until around 4AM. I didn't really like the DJing and wound up dancing with Beth, Haley and ....drumroll....Solomon (the only guy I danced with that late night). I turned down quite a few sleezy looking guys though before passing out on a sofa in the entryway.
I woke up a bit late the next morning and after ditching some bad directions found my way to the classes in Oakland I got there in time to watch the end of the second class and go out to lunch with a group of people. We went off to Oakland's Chinatown and hunted down some vegetarian food and bubble tea. We laid out on the lawn eating and enjoying it for an hour or so. I love the sunshine and stayed a little longer than most.
Afternoon classes included hiphop and tango: both really great classes with amazing instructors. I then hopped on the freeway to sit in traffic on my way back to SanFrancisco. I got there around 7 and we talked for a while about where we would go to eat. We kept talking and not deciding.I was exhausted and just wanted a nap. I was told I couldn't sleep that we had to go instead. I really just wanted 15 minutes of sleep. Finally we went to a sushi place (have I mentioned I don't eat sushi?) yeah.
The owner of the sushi place is friends with Dave and we got a special table normally reserved for family. She might have enjoyed our company a bit much, as our food seemed to take longer than anyone elses' and we didn't leave for ages. I was a bit hazy by the end and exhaustion was really overcoming me. I asked if I could go sleep in the car and was told it wasn't a good neighborhood to do so in. It was around 10:30 when we got back to Dave's place. At this point I was happy that I could sleep on the way to Oakland, but instead Dave decided to leave to pick up a friend of Haley's and I was forced to drive the rental PT Cruiser with 2 other people to Oakland. Thankfully I had my Muppets CD to keep me awake. We "Mnuh Mnuh-ed" our way across the bay bridge and to the dance. We didn't get there until 11 something and the amazing band we had all paid $25 in advance to see only had one more set.
Dancing has some amazing chemistry in me that manages to keep me upright despite my tiredness. Caffine helps too. I danced some really great dances with Jeff Watanabe and with Dave (of NY) and even danced with the former Chicagoan Brian that evening. I spent energy I didn't know I had.
(more tomorrow)
(Added 6/3)
Okay, so after the evening dance was (of course) another late night dance. At this point I declared myself incapable of driving safely. At this point Dave informed me that Haley's car was screwed up and couldn't idle w/out stepping on the gas. This meant having to stop while still holding down the gas and Dave worried that Haley couldn't handle it (but apparently he could). They tried to convince me to drive. I tried to convince them to leave her car and come back for it later. Finally they decided to let her try to drive her car while we followed. We made it to the evening dance, I went and paid my $10 and went back out to the car and slept for 2 hours.
I came back in about an hour before the dance ended, danced a few songs and then crashed on a couch. They woke me up when they were closing. I reluctantly agreed to drive back to SF. We made it back and I crashed.
I missed the morning class the next morning and then took a Zen movement class, a Tango class, a slides class and a "get noticed" class (the last two with Sylvia and Jason, some of my favorite instructors.) I was all set to dash back to SF to pick up the crew when I got a call saying they all had rides and I could stay. I went out to dinner at a little Mexican place with my roommate and two friends who had moved from Chicago to Berkley a couple of years earlier.
While eating dinner my legs started to cramp up. My calves were cramping and my quads started forming charlie horses and I would occassionally just stiffen up and have to flex my foot and massage my muscles for a minute or so. When we got back to the dance I tried stretching but could not stretch enough to loosen the muscles. Finally I located my friend Beth --who happens to be an amazing Iyengar yoga instructor. She stretched me out for 3 excruciating minutes until my legs melted. Once my legs were put straight again I was golden and danced the rest of the night with no cramping (unfortunately Beth couldn't provide extra energy and all the strength that was depleated, but everything has its limits).
There was no "late night" dance on Sunday, but oddly I was awake enough at Midnight to tell Dave that I was no where near sleep, and instead we stayed up until about 4 AM watching videos on Olde English cracking up laughing.
As part of our rental cost split agreement I had agreed to drive Brian (Dave's other houseguest) to the Oakland airport on Monday. From there I planned on meeting up with my cousin Adina and doing something.
It has been a bit crazy, with leaving my cell phone in San Francisco, not being able to contact people, and with the absurdity of speed with which plans change in NY. But all in all I've got all my lazy, crazy and fun vacation needs out of me, and theoretically I should be able to go back to work now.
More to come...
Okay, Vacation review (updated 6/1):
I slept about two hours the night before leaving on vacation, but left at what I considered a good time. Instead, I missed my flight to SanFrancisco and spent the day hanging out in the airport in Chicago. I was totally suprised when the woman at the ticket counter told me I missed my flight as I thought it was at 7:30 and it was actually at 7:00. So...I was totally distraught and the woman waved the $50 charge for ticket change and instead of going home, sleeping and hauling my crap around town two more times, I waited 10 hours for the next flight. I got to San Francisco and took a couple of trains and a bus to the house of the person I was staying with. After getting there the person I was staying with and another of his guests started talking about whether we should rent a car. Of course they determine that the other guest isn't old enough to drive a rental and that really we should get the car from the airport I just came from, entailing a trip back to the airport at around 9:30 that night (I got in around 7). That wasn't all that fun; it also meant missing a large portion of the evening dance, as we didn't get there (someplace in Oakland) until about 10:45. In between though we DID have some marvelous seitan Philly cheese steaks. YUM.
I had fun dancing that night and had Dave's roomie Paulo pimping me out as my dance agent--telling me who I should dance with and introducing me to people. I asked Steven Mitchell (Dance Legend) all on my own and had a decent dance with him. By the end of the dance I was pretty tired and ready to get some sleep before the next day's classes. So of course we went to a "late night" dance that ran until around 4AM. I didn't really like the DJing and wound up dancing with Beth, Haley and ....drumroll....Solomon (the only guy I danced with that late night). I turned down quite a few sleezy looking guys though before passing out on a sofa in the entryway.
I woke up a bit late the next morning and after ditching some bad directions found my way to the classes in Oakland I got there in time to watch the end of the second class and go out to lunch with a group of people. We went off to Oakland's Chinatown and hunted down some vegetarian food and bubble tea. We laid out on the lawn eating and enjoying it for an hour or so. I love the sunshine and stayed a little longer than most.
Afternoon classes included hiphop and tango: both really great classes with amazing instructors. I then hopped on the freeway to sit in traffic on my way back to SanFrancisco. I got there around 7 and we talked for a while about where we would go to eat. We kept talking and not deciding.I was exhausted and just wanted a nap. I was told I couldn't sleep that we had to go instead. I really just wanted 15 minutes of sleep. Finally we went to a sushi place (have I mentioned I don't eat sushi?) yeah.
The owner of the sushi place is friends with Dave and we got a special table normally reserved for family. She might have enjoyed our company a bit much, as our food seemed to take longer than anyone elses' and we didn't leave for ages. I was a bit hazy by the end and exhaustion was really overcoming me. I asked if I could go sleep in the car and was told it wasn't a good neighborhood to do so in. It was around 10:30 when we got back to Dave's place. At this point I was happy that I could sleep on the way to Oakland, but instead Dave decided to leave to pick up a friend of Haley's and I was forced to drive the rental PT Cruiser with 2 other people to Oakland. Thankfully I had my Muppets CD to keep me awake. We "Mnuh Mnuh-ed" our way across the bay bridge and to the dance. We didn't get there until 11 something and the amazing band we had all paid $25 in advance to see only had one more set.
Dancing has some amazing chemistry in me that manages to keep me upright despite my tiredness. Caffine helps too. I danced some really great dances with Jeff Watanabe and with Dave (of NY) and even danced with the former Chicagoan Brian that evening. I spent energy I didn't know I had.
(more tomorrow)
(Added 6/3)
Okay, so after the evening dance was (of course) another late night dance. At this point I declared myself incapable of driving safely. At this point Dave informed me that Haley's car was screwed up and couldn't idle w/out stepping on the gas. This meant having to stop while still holding down the gas and Dave worried that Haley couldn't handle it (but apparently he could). They tried to convince me to drive. I tried to convince them to leave her car and come back for it later. Finally they decided to let her try to drive her car while we followed. We made it to the evening dance, I went and paid my $10 and went back out to the car and slept for 2 hours.
I came back in about an hour before the dance ended, danced a few songs and then crashed on a couch. They woke me up when they were closing. I reluctantly agreed to drive back to SF. We made it back and I crashed.
I missed the morning class the next morning and then took a Zen movement class, a Tango class, a slides class and a "get noticed" class (the last two with Sylvia and Jason, some of my favorite instructors.) I was all set to dash back to SF to pick up the crew when I got a call saying they all had rides and I could stay. I went out to dinner at a little Mexican place with my roommate and two friends who had moved from Chicago to Berkley a couple of years earlier.
While eating dinner my legs started to cramp up. My calves were cramping and my quads started forming charlie horses and I would occassionally just stiffen up and have to flex my foot and massage my muscles for a minute or so. When we got back to the dance I tried stretching but could not stretch enough to loosen the muscles. Finally I located my friend Beth --who happens to be an amazing Iyengar yoga instructor. She stretched me out for 3 excruciating minutes until my legs melted. Once my legs were put straight again I was golden and danced the rest of the night with no cramping (unfortunately Beth couldn't provide extra energy and all the strength that was depleated, but everything has its limits).
There was no "late night" dance on Sunday, but oddly I was awake enough at Midnight to tell Dave that I was no where near sleep, and instead we stayed up until about 4 AM watching videos on Olde English cracking up laughing.
As part of our rental cost split agreement I had agreed to drive Brian (Dave's other houseguest) to the Oakland airport on Monday. From there I planned on meeting up with my cousin Adina and doing something.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Update
I'm having fun, but I'm very tired. I thought I'd update with what I wrote while at the airport the other day.
"I'm sitting in the airport reading. Why? because my 7:30 flight was actually at 7am and I've missed it. Next flight=2:15. (7 hours of beautiful, hard-chair filled hours)
After atbout 50 pages or so I get bored with reading, pull out my CD player and WIP bag.
I start work on my ASANA and pop in a CD. Suddenly, I'm beeming. A surreally sublime sense of rebelliousness passes over me as I rock out to The Doors and knit in a very public place with no one walking by having any idea.
I imagine what they think when they see me, what they imagine me listening to. I'm certain none of them would guess correctly.
I look around. No one really notice me, but I'm quite certain I'm the happiest person in a 100 ft radius."
I'll write more when I have time, and sleep on my side.
"I'm sitting in the airport reading. Why? because my 7:30 flight was actually at 7am and I've missed it. Next flight=2:15. (7 hours of beautiful, hard-chair filled hours)
After atbout 50 pages or so I get bored with reading, pull out my CD player and WIP bag.
I start work on my ASANA and pop in a CD. Suddenly, I'm beeming. A surreally sublime sense of rebelliousness passes over me as I rock out to The Doors and knit in a very public place with no one walking by having any idea.
I imagine what they think when they see me, what they imagine me listening to. I'm certain none of them would guess correctly.
I look around. No one really notice me, but I'm quite certain I'm the happiest person in a 100 ft radius."
I'll write more when I have time, and sleep on my side.
Thursday, May 05, 2005
10 hours
Until my flight leaves for SanFrancisco.
I'm really getting into reading this book, and wishing that there were some way for me to knit and read at the same time. In January and February I tore through knitting and books simultaneously as I made frequent visits to the Books-on-Tape section of my local library. Unfortunately this is a new book, and I'm fairly certain it's not out on tape yet, and I haven't the funds to pay a professional actor to read it to me.
I'm so excited!!!! I can't wait to be in San Francisco!!! I'm far too into exclamation points!!!
I'm really getting into reading this book, and wishing that there were some way for me to knit and read at the same time. In January and February I tore through knitting and books simultaneously as I made frequent visits to the Books-on-Tape section of my local library. Unfortunately this is a new book, and I'm fairly certain it's not out on tape yet, and I haven't the funds to pay a professional actor to read it to me.
I'm so excited!!!! I can't wait to be in San Francisco!!! I'm far too into exclamation points!!!
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
My First Knit-a-long
I joined the Asana KAL today. It's my first knit-a-long, and I'm feeling a bit like a joiner. I'm totally against trends, hate fads, never was into sororities or being popular, and always liked that what I create (paint, sculpt, knit, cook, etc.) is my own and no one else has one quite like it; so I'm not "excited" per se by a knit-a-long. I am looking forward to asking questions that people can actually answer and one day showing pictures of a finished project that makes sense and doesn't make people say "that's nice...what is it?"
I started reading the book "I'm Not the New Me" by Wendy McLure (a fellow Chicago blogger @ www.poundy.com) and am cracking up at her awesome sense of humor. I also thought it was cool that she works for Bust Magazine--the same place as Debbie Stroller of Stitch n'Bitch fame. Check out imnotthenewme.com for more info, and let me know if you like the book!
Oh, and I'll be in San Francisco in 30 some hours!!! Yipee
I started reading the book "I'm Not the New Me" by Wendy McLure (a fellow Chicago blogger @ www.poundy.com) and am cracking up at her awesome sense of humor. I also thought it was cool that she works for Bust Magazine--the same place as Debbie Stroller of Stitch n'Bitch fame. Check out imnotthenewme.com for more info, and let me know if you like the book!
Oh, and I'll be in San Francisco in 30 some hours!!! Yipee
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
:)
two days until vacation!!! *picture me bouncing up in down in my seat with all the excitement and overanxious anticipation of an 8 year old who's waiting in an hour long line at Disney World*...*and imagine that 8 year old also has to go pee (it adds to the drama)*
Monday, May 02, 2005
Asana in Azure
Yoga Bag was finished, (all but the strap) and when I seamed it up and put my yoga mat in it, I found it was too big, and I wasn't happy with it. I ripped the entire thing out. That's my first big project ripped. But it was a quick project, and I'm fine with re-doing it. It was a good "do a swatch" lesson.
I've started my Asana yoga top from the most recent Knitty. I'm using a mercerized cotton (with a bit of sheen) in a beautiful blue that seems something like a light azure/turquoise/cyan color. I love it! The color alone makes me happy.
I'm a little concerned about sizing as the garter rib they use is pretty stretchy and my fabric seems to be happy at anywhere from 15-20 stiches/4" (Yes, I swatched) I'm guessing that since it is cotton it will loosen up more, and I should be okay with the fact that my 160 stitches looks like 33 inches instead of 42. At the worst I would just use some kind of hook at the ends of the tabs (which are supposed to overlap and velcro together). I'm a little iffy on the velcro as it is, as I have a hard time imagining it being invisible, and would hate for my top to have that "tossed together" look.
I'll be visiting with friends with digital cameras, so I might even be able to post progress pics while I'm on vacation.
3 Days until Vacation!!!!!!!! YAY!
I've started my Asana yoga top from the most recent Knitty. I'm using a mercerized cotton (with a bit of sheen) in a beautiful blue that seems something like a light azure/turquoise/cyan color. I love it! The color alone makes me happy.
I'm a little concerned about sizing as the garter rib they use is pretty stretchy and my fabric seems to be happy at anywhere from 15-20 stiches/4" (Yes, I swatched) I'm guessing that since it is cotton it will loosen up more, and I should be okay with the fact that my 160 stitches looks like 33 inches instead of 42. At the worst I would just use some kind of hook at the ends of the tabs (which are supposed to overlap and velcro together). I'm a little iffy on the velcro as it is, as I have a hard time imagining it being invisible, and would hate for my top to have that "tossed together" look.
I'll be visiting with friends with digital cameras, so I might even be able to post progress pics while I'm on vacation.
3 Days until Vacation!!!!!!!! YAY!
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