2.22.2009

I'll let you borrow my four-leaf clover

things are going quite nicely. I'm feeling very accomplished.

I'm making a lot of progress on the things I really want to do. I'm also making a steady income, and saving a decent amount each week. I'm well on my way to moving out and being financially independent.

I've also done a lot of knitterly things in the past week or so. I had the honor of test knitting for the awesome leethal, and helped perfect her new pattern, the Skoodlet. You should definitely check it out - it's adorable and extremely clever. I don't know how I ever survived without it.

I also updated my etsy slightly (added a hat - that counts as an update), and plan on adding more soon. I got my amazing photographer of a sister to take some pictures for my shop and for ravelry... and I think we're going to have a great partnership from now on. I can take decent pictures if I really work at it, but I'm too lazy most of the time. Gibson has a great camera, so all her pictures turn out looking incredible. I <3 her.


Garter Rib Stripe Hat
Horizontal Ribbing Stripey Hat
for sale on etsy.


So You Think You Can Hat
So You Think You Can Hat
raveled.


more later. happy weekend!

2.05.2009

the only steps that matter are the ones you take all by yourself

ladies and gentlemen, life is good again.

oh wait. I haven't written in a while, and you had no idea life wasn't so good for a week or so there. I'll explain.

I quit my job at Escape, and started my new one at Peet's. The new one that pays much, much, better. But I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I'm still not entirely convinced, but I'm getting there. They hired me as an opener, and one of the reasons I was hating my job at Escape was because I had to work so many morning shifts. But... and I never thought I'd see this day, but I've become a morning person. Not really by choice. Now I'm out like a light by 10 every night, and up at 7 or earlier every morning. This has been a little tough to get used to.

One of the worst parts was having a class from 5:30-6:45 that required way too much preperation and participaiton. The professor refused to lecture. Instead, she wanted to do this hippy, "interteaching" thing where you're required to read the entire chapter and basically write a detailed outline of it, then come to class and teach everyone in your small group what you wrote about. Screw that. I'm dropping that class today. I'm not going to spend 2+ hours before every class working on homework. I'm in college. I earned the right not to do that over four agonizing years of daily homework.

So now that class is out of the picture, and I'm instantly 100x happier. Now I have it pretty easy. All I have to do is come to class, take a few notes, write a paper ever now and then, and skim through my textbooks before an exam. Bliss.

And my history professor consistently impresses me. I actually enjoy coming to class every morning. His lectures last 30 minutes (and the class is supposed to be an hour and 15 minutes long), and while you have to be pretty on the ball with notetaking to get everything down, he teaches the material in a way that sticks, and lets you know exactly what to expect for the test. He wins. I'm going to give him a pretty amazing review on RateMyProfessors.com at the end of the semester.

But back to me being a morning person. It definitely puts a little stress on certain relationships - I'll try to hang out with friends or the boyfriend after 9, and I'll end up falling asleep doing whatever we're doing. Movies are rough. I sleep through them all. Then I feel like shit when I wake up, and barely have the energy to drive myself home and crawl into bed. But I'm going to find a way to fix that. Naps might be the answer. Or maybe I'll give polyphasic sleeping a shot.

But everything else is quite nice. I feel like I'm going to have time and energy during the day to do all the things I've been depressed about not being able to do. I've been knitting a bit, and I'll get some pictures of my projects on here soon. I got back my joie de vivre.

2.03.2009

25 things.

1. I try so, so, hard to be as honest as I can. Sometimes it's brutal, and feelings get hurt. But from my experience, I think that consistent, painful honesty garners a lot more respect than occasional, polite honesty. If people know you're going to tell it like it is, bad or good, they're going to listen to you much more carefully.

2. I often shift from total apathy to extreme passion and excitement about something. I guess it's because I'm one of those weird artist types. It gets frustrating when I can't work up the inspiration to do something on a deadline, though.

3. I. love. coffee. It's just ridiculous. And I love sugar, but I don't really like to put much sweetener or flavoring in my coffee, because I love the simplicity of the coffee taste so much. I like strong drip or pressed, straight espresso, americanos, lattes and cappuccinos... I'm also a HUGE fan of well-made milk foam. And... I won't go into detail, but the smell of freshly ground coffee does things to me that I don't think it does to normal people.

4. Up until recently, I've had a very strong aversion to Starbucks. You know, the whole Giant-Soul-Sucking-Corporate-Coffee-Killer thing. Now I'm dating a Starbucks Coffee Master and I visit his store 3-5 times a week. But when I'm just looking for a good cuppa and a nice atmosphere, I head to smaller, local chains or independents.


Store 9993: Home away from home. Wish I'd gotten a picture of the foam on that latte...

5. I have a deep longing to understand everything. I know I can't possibly, but I try anyway. For this reason, I love taking science classes - specifically those involving psychology or philosophy. I feel like understanding people and the really important questions about the meaning of life, etc. are the first steps to understanding everything else.

6. Buying things has great therapeutic power for me, so I have to be really careful when I'm stressed or upset to not blow huge amounts of cash on unnecessary things. Shoes are a big weakness.

7. I'm incredibly persistent (some might say stubborn) about things I really want. I don't consider myself particularly intelligent (though, through no fault of my own, I have an amazing memory), but if I want a certain grade badly enough (and I usually do), I'll get it. Without fail. On the other hand, if I don't care very much about something, I probably won't make a big deal about it, and won't have any trouble giving up on it.

8. My room has been unbelievably messy for over six months now. Probably much longer, but I seem to remember at least attempting to clean it once or twice last year. I like to think of myself as a pretty organized person - I'll clean obsessively for hours when I'm at work (I'm getting paid for it) - but I also really don't like to waste my time on things that I don't enjoy doing. When it's at work, it's not a waste of time; I'm getting paid to be there. When I'm at home, there are an infinite number of other things I'd rather be doing, so the room stays messy. I've honestly forgotten what the floor looks like.

9. I love my sister. She's pretty cool. When we were both younger, I would get mad at her for trying to dress like me or listen to the same music as I did, but now she has her own style and musical taste that I'm pretty proud of. It's not exactly the same as mine, but I definitely borrow her clothes and her music all the time anyway. Kudos, Gibson.

10. I can work hard on homework for hours at a time and get absolutely nothing done. I'm not quite sure how this happens, but I'm going to blame ADD.

11. I used to read books... then I started to work and go to college. I'd kind of like to get back to reading something every now and then. Especially classics. I was working on this list for a while and read some pretty good stuff.

12. I don't like bananas.

13. I go too hard and fast at the beginning, then burn out towards the end. In regards to projects I start in life. I don't know what you were thinking.

14. I appreciate challenges. If something claims to be important, but turns out to be easy, bland, or routine, it can't possibly be worth my time. I'd rather work really hard in a class and learn a lot than barely work at all and still make an A. If I don't put some effort into earning things, I tend to take them for granted.

15. I think people should get a lot more sympathy from work and school when they're sick or otherwise incapacitated. All these "absolutely no late work accepted" policies are ridiculous. Ever heard of a thing called life? It happens. I'm not going to write your stupid paper when I have a 100 degree fever and violent chills. It's a flawed system that leads to a vicious cycle - people come to work or school when they're sick, infect everyone else. If they don't come, however, they not only get a lot of shit from bosses and professors, they also are expected to do all the work they missed while still sick, stressing them out more, and not helping their health improve at all. If people only took off when they were really sick, no one would doubt their stories, and the world would probably spontaneously explode from too much perfection. /soapbox.

16. I won't tolerate drama. Audition for theatre, and leave me out of it.

17. I haven't gotten a haircut in a long, long time. Honestly, I'm afraid to. I'd appreciate it if someone tied me up and dragged me to a good salon and had them go to it. And then paid for it.

18. I love lyrics. Deep, complex, and mystical, or sometimes simplistic and catchy. I'd love to try my hand at writing some, but I think then they'd impress me less. I'll leave it to The Shins and Sondre Lerche for now.

19. I'm weird. And I like it that way.

20. Homeostasis bothers me. Things have to change, or I get frustrated with sameness. And I'd really prefer things to always change for the better. k thx.

21. I think Bruce Willis is the sexiest man alive. Sorry, Hugh Jackman, Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Hugh Grant, Collin Firth, and Gregory Peck. It was a tough decision that involved a lot of soul-searching. Oh, and Matt is pretty sexy, too. Just saying.

22. I can't stand extreme Republicans and Democrats. Both parties seem incredibly closed-minded and intent on pushing their own adgendas. And I don't feel like either of them have the right answers. So far, Libertarians appear to have the ideologies closest to my own. I voted Bob Barr '08 :)

23. I talk a lot about things I don't know that much about. I'll usually give a disclaimer such as "I may just be making this up, but..." or "I'm a compulsive liar with an extremely overactive imagination, but..."
So you can't get mad at me if you believe everything I say and then have your world shattered when you find out I was wrong.

24. The world revolves around me. At least, according to the theory of relativity, it does.

25. One of the things I don't exactly love about myself (and also the reason I didn't do one of these 25 things things earlier even after being tagged a million times) is how I just won't do something unless I have the time to do it well and thoroughly. I guess it's a positive thing to always want to do a good job on something, but the need to do things perfectly stresses me out a LOT. So there it is. I'm a closet perfectionist.