In other news, I finally got my Secret Pal 6 match.  To the pal who has me, I promise to post the questionnaire tomorrow.

Comments...
Thanks Marian for the link to the David Bowie song.  That's awesome!
Lolly... I'll be in DC on the 24th.
Cordelia... I think it is a general performance anxiety, but I'm not completely sure.  For about the hour to two hours before class I feel very jittery and antsy (it didn't help yesterday that I drank a Red Bull), but as soon as I get into the classroom, I'm fine.

Bon Jovi tickets will be obtained (as soon as they go on sale).  They just announced the tour late last night, so ticket information isn't available yet... but I keep searching on ticketmaster and google constantly for more information.  I WILL pay anything to be there on my birthday.  (If anyone has any tips or knows a good way to get kick ass seats, I'd be eternally indebted to you).



September 14, 2005
OH MY GOD!  BON JOVI IS PLAYING THE GARDEN ON MY BIRTHDAY!!  I MUST GO!!!!

(this joy and anticipation is saving me from posting a vicious rant, which would probably get me in some trouble... let's just say some people need to learn organizational skills)

BON JOVI!! WOOOOOO!!!



September 13, 2005

So I saw this at Lolly's and Jodi's blogs, and seeing how I'm not afraid to post odd pictures of myself (see Sept 11th), I figured it could be fun giving the self-portrait a try (even more so because I'm making my social psych students do a similar project for class).

This picture was in part inspired by the challenge of the week, "body parts," and in part by the fact that there is an enormous tree branch in our backyard right now.  I've always had a weird fear of trees and tree branches crushing things.  When I was a kid, a big old tree was right outside my bedroom window and I would spend many stormy nights imagining that tree crashing through the ceiling and crushing me (it never happened).  This "fear" wasn't helped when a tree fell in a storm last summer while Kevin and I were housesitting and landed on my car (if you're interested in the entire story go into the archives for June 2004 and scroll down to June 22).  Anyway, the tree branch is huge and had a big secondary branch sticking straight up in the air and I guess because I watched Buffy and Charmed this morning I was thinking about being impaled with a stake or something, and viola this picture.

Knitting?  Not so much.  I hate teaching in the evening.  From about 4 until my class starts at 7, I have all of this nervous energy, which makes it hard to knit or concentrate on doing work.  Then by the time I get home around 9, I'm exhausted and knit a little, but mostly want to just stare blankly at the TV.  I'm looking forward to Thursday and knitting with the girls!



September 12, 2005
One sheep, two sheep, three sheep...

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Oh sorry, fell asleep there counting sheep.

I spent a lot of time this weekend knitting.  As you can see from the previous post there was a little work on River.  I even pulled out the languishing Wristers and worked on them.  But after a little while, I got annoyed with working too many patterns that required thought, so I pulled out the blanket squares and actually finished two!  So I have a total of 9 squares and probably 20 more to go.

I finished writing up the pattern for Top Secret Sweater (it will need a better name eventually).  I really want to start working on it and spend all my knitting time on it, but I can't because it is a secret project.  Fortunately, I think I'll have some little pockets of time today to work on it!



September 11, 2005
Just because I'm crazy...

• David Bowie is awesome!  You should watch the show just to see him sing "Life of Mars" accompanied only by a piano.  His voice was amazing.
• Joss Stone should be put on a space ship and launched into the sun.  She performs barefoot, which is 1) gross and 2) I had to wear heels, she should be in some freaking shoes!  I give Destiny Child's and Gwen Stefani lots of credit for not only wearing heels, but for dancing in them.  Moreover, Ms. Stone RUINED White Wedding with Billy Idol and DESTROYED a Tom Petty song with Rob Thomas.  She is my new most hated celebrity.
• The Arcade Fire was pretty cool.  And they performed with David Bowie.  If Bowie thinks they are cool, they must be cool.
• Duran Duran are still HOT!
• Ok... so while we were sitting there waiting for the stage to be reconfigured between performers, they played COMMERCIALS!  Yes, we paid to go to a show and they showed us COMMERCIALS!  It was absolutely ridiculous.  Sometimes instead of showing commercials they would show video clips from the 80s by "fashionable" stars (Madonna, Janet Jackson, Cher, etc).  I enjoyed a lot of the video clips (probably too much) and was also deeply saddened by all of the younger people around us who didn't recognize the 80s stars who weren't Madonna, Janet, or Cher (like Debbie Gibson, White Lion, Fine Young Cannibals).
• Best quote of the night: "Well, that was underwhelming."  Said by Mandy (Kevin's brother's GF) after watching the "surprise" performance by Diddy.

Want to see some pretty yarn?

The new Knitty is posted.  I've seen many other people mention it and gush over the patterns they like, but I've got to admit, I wasn't very impressed.  There was very little that struck my fancy.  And, am I wrong but isn't Samus the same thing as Kepler but with a zipper?  The one pattern I did consider making is Flora because it is simple and uses a tiny amount of yarn and appears to be a quick knit.  Hmmm... brain storm... I have lots of stash yarn that could be used to make A LOT of Floras... maybe I'll go into mass production mode and everyone gets Flora for X-mas (well, not the guys).  Time to go stash diving (argh!!  I really shouldn't cast on for a new project [see list from Sept 1], but I don't have anything small [except Kevin's gloves] and portable [the gloves aren't portable because I'm still on glove 1 and am making him try it on every 5 rows], so I just might have to cast on.)



September 7, 2005
Even though I haven't been blogging, I have been knitting.  Things are hectic with the start of the school year (I have my first class in about 2 hours and I'm starting to feel very ill).  Most of my class preparation the past couple of days has been plotting how to get to the building (well, parking lot nearby) without taking the 3 major roads in the area.  Let's just say that the trial run yesterday on one of the main roads took nearly an hour (under normal [i.e. mild traffic] circumstances it should take 10 minutes, tops).  So I've got a crazy route planned to avoid (bad) traffic... because really, there is traffic in NJ at 3am.  Even though my class doesn't start until 7:15, the parking lot is only gated until 6pm.  Basically at 6:01, there will likely be ZERO parking spaces as all the commuter students and other students on campus zoom into the spaces.  (There's several parking lots that students start lining up their cars outside of at least an hour before the gates go up to get a spot).  So I'm leaving very early and planning to hang out and knit for an hour before class (hopefully that will relax me).  Hopefully,  after a couple of weeks, I'll find a good route and maybe find out that there is at least ONE parking spot after 6, so I don't have leave so early.  I hate when the students come back... it is too crowded and trafficky!

Ok enough ranting.  On to the knitting...

Happy B-day today to my Kevin!!  I had to give him his gifts at 8:30 this morning because we've both been out and busy today and I won't be back from class until late, and I just couldn't wait any longer!  I really ought to start buying gifts at the very last minute because I hate keeping them secret.  Unfortunately there were no hand knitted gifts among the presents (a Mets jersey and a video game), but I am working on gloves for him, and I'd show you a picture, but they are black and don't photograph well.



September 3, 2005

The ball winder was from Herrschners and the swift from Joann's (with 50% of coupon!).  They work beautifully.  I wound all 15 skeins of Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Natural for my knitting class.  Then I wound 4 other skeins I had within reach.  I love winding skeins.  I might wind every skein of yarn I own even if it doesn't need to be!

I'm much happier tonight as compared to last night.  Instead of the EVIL Rebecca pattern for Top Secret, I picked one from Rowan that I think will work.  The only problem is that I was so mad about the Rebecca pattern, I cast on and started without doing another gauge swatch... which is especially bad because I dropped about 3 needle sizes from the suggested size in the Rowan pattern and just decided to make a bigger size and hope for the best.  So, Top Secret project may or may not be back on track.



September 2, 2005
Current mood...

Top secret project is frogged.  Rebecca magazine is dead.  I love the pattern, but the instructions and chart DO NOT add up.  I hate you Rebecca magazine!

I'm off to search for a new pattern for top secret project...

September 1, 2005
Since we have a clean blog page for the new month, let's look at what's on the needles and what is soon to be cast on...

Old Projects
1. Flirty.

This has been languishing with a finished back and a started front.  There are no sleeves, but I can't bring myself to work on it.  All that 3x1 ribbing on size 2s.

2. Elspeth.

Also languishing.  I really would like to work on this, but I've convinced myself that I can't if Kevin is around.  I need to work on Elspeth when I'm all alone.  Of course, I could easily work on Elspeth's sleeves because there is no lace on them, but I'm not, so she waits.

3. Wristers.

I really ought to just finish off the second one, it is about halfway finished.

4. Blanket Squares.

This is just a long term project, I pick up and knit rows here and there when I need some mindless knitting.

New Projects
5. Gloves for Kevin.  I just started these the other day after finishing Katy and the anklets.  There is no rush on the gloves since it won't be cold enough for them until December, but it would be nice to actually have finished gloves by December.

6. Sheepy Baby Blanket.

This is for one of Kevin's best friends from when he was growing up.  It doesn't need to be finished until January/February, but again, I want to get a jump on it so that I won't be rushing at the last minute.  The yarn is Encore (obtained Tuesday at the Knitting Gallery) and the pattern is from Knit Baby Blankets.

7. Chocolate Cables.

This is a super, top secret project.  Shhhh! (Yarn from Knitpicks [duh!], arrived yesterday).

Soon to be Cast On
8. River Shawl.

I joined the knitalong, I had better knit along!

9. Kepler.

Yarn is in hand (arrived yesterday, this picture is bad, it is more pink than red), but first I need to make adjustments to the pattern to make it a raglan, and maybe figure out a different neckline.

10. Socks.  I have at least 3 pairs for myself waiting to be started and one planned for my mom.

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MEME Time!

10 years ago:  I was preparing to start my junior year of high school.  It would be my first full season on the varsity tennis team playing doubles with my friend Jenny (wow, there’s a lot of stories from that time… playing in a tournament and sliding across the court on my knees diving after a ball… playing in the semi-finals of another tournament… colliding with Jenny on a ball between us, ending her season with a sprained ankle).  It would also be my first (and last) year playing piccolo in the marching and concert band.

5 years ago: I had just moved into my new townhouse dorm room for my senior year of college.  Having just taken my GREs and cramming as many psychology classes as possible into my schedule, I would spend the fall semester filling out applications for graduate school.

1 year ago: I was about to start my fourth year of graduate school.  I was desperately trying to come up with a topic for my quals (as you well know that took almost a year!).  I was about to start what has been my favorite class in grad school—personality psychology.  I was also about to start my least favorite TA assignment.

Yesterday: (This is actually from Sunday since I originally wrote this on Monday) Kevin and I woke up early and went to Barnes and Noble to meet up with some other grad students.  Afterwards we went to Wegman’s for groceries (I hate shopping on Sundays, but we had no food… ok, no good food).  We ate sushi for lunch and watched the Mets game.  I knit as we watched King of the Hill, Family Guy, and American Dad.  I dyed my hair before returning to TV and knitting for Adult Swim’s Sunday Lineup.

5 snacks: pretzels, Utz cheese balls, yogurt, Mr. Goodbar, carrots

5 songs I know all of the words to: (this is the hardest one!  I know the words to soooo many songs, so let’s list artists) Bon Jovi, Ellis Paul, Tom Petty, The Monkees, John Mayer

5 things I would do with $100 million: open a yarn store, travel allover Europe, buy a house with a washing machine and a dryer and a dish washer, buy season tickets to the Mets, save it for a rainy day

5 places to run away to: my bed, Kevin’s arms (awwww), my car (sometimes I just love being alone in my car, blasting music, and singing along badly)… probably some nice private tropical island and a beautiful secluded countryside (I really need to travel more!)

5 things I would never wear: pants with a pattern, midriff shirts, vests, ties, spandex pants

5 favorite tv shows: (we’ll go with current shows to limit the list to 5) Venture Brothers, Arrested Development, Family Guy, Starved, Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia

5 biggest joys: Kevin, knitting, teaching, Kevin, knitting

5 favorite toys: Laptop, all my knitting stuff, uhm… I think I need more toys!

Who to tag?  Wow, this was a hard one.  If you want it, its yours!
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Thanks again for the compliments on Katy and the anklets.  I'm sure you are all correct... my neighbor has probably seen weirder things (he is apparently a theater person) than someone taking pictures of her feet.