Inspiration

Okay, so, I'm done keeping track of my caffeine addiction. It's rather embarrassing, and it's not telling me anything I didn't already know. Instead, I'm thinking about starting a 365-day self portrait project. Worth going pro on flickr to make a set just for that? Probably. Convince me.

Anyway, I was bored for a few hours on Saturday, and tried to make a dent in my crazy blogroll. It was up to several thousand unread posts (a ton from CRAFT Magazine's Blog, which, by the way, is amazing.), and I got totally inspired. Not a fan of traditional bookmark-it-with-some-ingenious-filing-technique-and-hope-you'll-be-able-to-find-it-again-when-you-want-it techniques, I put my favorites on tumblr. I think I'm going to keep it pretty well-updated (i.e., more so than this blog), so if you're looking for inspiration of a crafty nature, definitely RSS-feed me.

Apologies for the blatant lack of pictures lately; the MacBook doesn't have a card reader, so I would actually have to not be lazy and borrow the one in the computer room to upload some. I do, however have several rather poor-quality PhotoBooth pictures of my most recent knitting project which I refuse to put on flickr because of their lameness, but I will upload to Blogger for your viewing enjoyment. Unfortunately, I am wearing a mustache in all of them.



This is the beret I meant to finish for Gibson's birthday (in March), but ran out of yarn, and didn't get around to buying more until now. Basic, top-down construction, with Cascade 220. I'm considering blocking it with a record to add more of an edge, but I kind of like it floppy too - opinions?

Monday, Bloody Monday

Yesterday, overcome by a random spirit of benevolence and good will towards men (lie. they were giving out free movie tickets.), I decided to donate blood before work. I hadn't had time for more than a muffin and half a latte, but I figured I wasn't some wimp who would faint at the loss of a pint of blood and no food.

Nope. They took the needle out of my arm - I was feeling fine - I got out of the chair and rescheduled and grabbed an XXL t-shirt (the only size available, as always)... then everything started going black. I still managed to grab an orange juice and a package of crackers before I kind of collapsed into a chair. By now, everything was completely black, but I could still hear people's voices clearly. The tech asked me if I was feeling okay, and I murmured "a little bit woozy," in what I guessed was her general direction.

She and another tech started leading me back towards the reclining blood-taking chairs... and suddenly I woke up on the floor to people saying "Catherine, are you okay?" If I seemed confused and disoriented, it was because I was trying to figure out who Catherine was, and why she wouldn't be okay.

They told me I was only out for about 30 seconds, but somehow I had managed to have a long, complicated dream about Bruce Willis. Must have been heaven.

After making me sit in the gross chair for 15 minutes, they made me sign something which I assume was some kind of waiver... I couldn't see very well out of one eye, and my brain hadn't really started being re-vascularized yet.

I remembered that I had a class at 1:30, so I somehow managed to drive through Chik Fil A, get on the freeway, and make it to work. After an hour of trying to get 6-year-olds to glue yarn onto elephants and not barf every time I stood up, I told my boss I needed to go home.

Driving home in the 190-degree Texan heat, I almost fell asleep at least three times, and collapsed on the couch as soon as I walked in the door, then proceeded to sleep for hours.

So. I think I've learned my lesson. Don't let the commies steal your precious bodily fluids.


And now, a caffeine update.

6/20

11:00 am - grande americano (*bux, and not my favorite one. sorry, latte boy. emergency.)
2:30 pm - cuppa PG Tips tea
7:00 pm - mini-can Dr. Pepper

Total: 298.5 mg

6/21

10:30 am - 12:00 pm - almost an entire Moka pot full of espresso

Total: ~ 385 mg

6/22

11:00 am - Oregon Chai latte
7:00 pm - indeterminate amount of Dr. Pepper

Total: ~ 74 mg (wow!)

6/23

11:00 am - half a double tall soy latte
7:00 pm - the other half of the double tall soy latte (sat in the car, so it was still about as hot as it was when I got it)

Total: 154 mg

Running total: 1,909 mg

caffeen adickshun? I has wun.

So, seeing my coffee intake in black in white like this has made me a little self-conscious about it, and I've made an effort to cut back a bit. Plus, paying $3.50 for something I could make myself for less than a dollar goes against my DIYer instincts.

I did, however, go visit my new favorite barista yesterday and introduce myself so I can build our relationship up to the point of me getting free coffee whenever he's working.

Yesterday summed up:

9:30 am- demitasse of home-brewed espresso (about 2 shots)

2:00 pm- double tall soy latte (starbucks)

Total caffeine: 308 mg

Today:

9:00 am- triple iced latte (brewed at home)

5:00 pm- chai latte (home)

Total caffeine: 278 mg

Running total since 06/17/08: 997.5 mg

Bring Me Java, Bring Me Joy

Remember that online history class I mentioned? I've pretty much found an excuse to blow it off every single day since it started. Annnnd there are exactly eight days left until the midterm.

Keep in mind that there were only seventeen days in total before the midterm to begin with, but you'd think I'd have had the wherewithal to start studying a tad sooner.

Not that I haven't tried - but there's always something to distract me. My house is always noisy unless everyone's gone, and that rarely happens for more than an hour or two at a time. So I've started coffee-shop-hopping, even going to Starbucks (evil mega-conglomerate that it is) occasionally. This has proved slightly counterproductive, as most java joints have apparently made it their policy to hire almost solely from the ridiculously-attractive-college-aged-male demographic.

I've also been staying up rather late every night, so I've needed a strong dose of caffeine every morning to get rid of my headaches and jitters. On top of those factors, I just got a second Italian espresso maker, pretty much exclusively invite people to get coffee when I want to hang out, and several of my friends have jobs as baristas.

So now, as I'm feeling a little light-headed and wishing I hadn't accepted that free extra shot from Matt the Latte Boy, I've decided to start recording my daily caffeine intake.

10:00 am - Chai tea (not that significant, but it's still buzzed)
3:30 - Triple espresso
5:30 - Triple grande half-caff americano (they put two shots in a normal one, so by some weird math that I don't quite understand, I'm going to say a triple half-caff is equal to about 1.5 caffeinated shots)

Total shots: 4.5

so assuming a shot has about 77 mg of caffeine (which I know totally depends on the roast, blend, and extraction, but I'm going by *bux's nutrition guide), and the Chai has 47mg...

Total: 393.5 mg

*edit*
I knew I was doing something screwy with that math. I forgot that decaf espresso still has somewhere around 12 mg of caffeine per shot (bah. I get more of a buzz off of water.), so that's an extra 18 mg.

New Total: 411.5

Who knew love could be this caffeinated?

Summer Breeze Makes Me Feel Fiiine.

Hello Knit Blog.

I know you must have missed me.

I'm back. But I have nothing to show for my long absence. Except for the beginnings of a boring-yet-adorable garter-stitch-striped alpaca scarf and two hats (one of which I can't remember where I put for the life of me)I haven't knit a stitch. Nor spun a yard. Forgive me. Things have been hectic.

Okay, I'll be honest. They haven't been too hectic. It's due to a little thing called senioritis. It causes total and complete apathy about everything except graduating. And as of May 16, I's graduated. Please join me in a moment of pure, summery, bliss.

But now that I've got that whole high school thing over with, I'm so very inspired to plan for this summer. So here's a few things I'd like to get accomplished before September.


1) Work.

The studio where I used to teach closed down due to an increase in rent and a shitty air conditioner that the landlord refused to fix, but we're moving our operation to two different rec centers (one five minutes away, the other twenty minutes) and will have to cross our fingers that the people firing our clay stuff don't screw things up horribly.

I just got a raise - (yeah!) but I'll only be teaching about 25 hours a week, so I should have plenty of time to do other things. Such as:


2) Learn.

I already have my classes planned out for this fall, but to get into the C++ class I want to take (yeah, that's right. totally to meet geek boys.) I need to take College Algebra as a coreq. Eww. And before I can take that, I have to take College Mathematics, or maybe my SAT scores will cover it, or I might have to take the TSI again, or I might have to take "developmental courses" to finally learn the math I should have learned in high school, blah blah blah.

But I was lazy, and didn't find out what I needed to do in time for the beginning of Summer 1, so I'm taking History II online. Which means I have about a month to finish the entire course by myself, and nothing is due until the 21st. But half of everything is due the 21st. So I could potentially procrastinate like none other, but I'm going to try not to. I still haven't finished the first chapter of the textbook.


3) Read.

I'm going to keep working on my "101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers" list over the summer, as I'm technically still "college-bound," and I'm sure it'll still be valuable even after I've been college-bound-and-gagged this fall.

I've kind of been on a utopian kick lately (Walden Two and 1984 rocked my brave new world), but a few friends of mine are starting a Jane Austen book club (inspired by the slightly entertaining movie by the same name), so Emma is next on my list. I've seen movies for all the books except for Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, but reading Pride and Prejudice after seeing the movie (even the 6-hour Colin Firth version) makes me think reading the books will still definitely be worthwhile.


I'm also going to get an amazing skin-cancer-inducing tan, visit every coffee shop in Texas, and stay up until 4 at least one night a week.

Oh, and on a side note, the Last.fm widget on the side there is going to be much more in sync with my actual music consumption now that I have a macbook and multiple ipods to update it with. Thank you, graduation moneys.