Fall Back?

It suddenly dropped below 60 degrees in Texas for the first time in months, and eveyone's flipping out in excitement about it. For me, the change in temperature heralds the return of many things I am NOT excited about (i.e. waking up 15 minutes earlier every day to put on five million different layers of clothing, finals, snow, flu season [which I often fall prey to more than once a season], holiday stress, Christmas guilt, extremely busy days at work with some of the rudest customers you can imagine... and I could go on).

But in an attempt to be less stressed, and to sound like less of a Scrooge, I'm going to find the positive things about this time of year. If some of them feel like a stretch, I apologize.

That extra hour of sleep we gain sometime in October?

Smelling my boyfriend's jacket after he's been wearing it for a while.

Apple cider.

Fires in the fireplace.

Knitting. Hot, sweaty wool in the summer just isn't so fun.

Wearing the things I knit, and seeing people I love wear the things I knit for them.

Hot coffee in the morning that warms up my insides.

Being able to actually use all the blankets I love to collect.

Shopping for Christmas presents.

Warm kisses that warm up your cold ears for a moment or two.

Fewer frappuccinos.

Finally less of a temperature change between inside school buildings and the outdoors. Wearing a jacket in 100 degree weather wasn't so fun.


That's all I got. But it was more than I had when I started. Yayy positivity?

formspring.me

what do you like most about being a barista? :)

The free coffee is definitely one of the major benefits. After that, access to a decent espresso machine is probably the biggest draw for me. I could live with regular brewed coffee, but I'm also addicted to delicious milk foam that I haven't been able to recreate without a well-pressurized steam wand.

I'd be lying if I said I pursued the job because I'm a people person, but it's definitely interesting to meet all the different types of people who become more like your friends than just customers. Also, it's fun to see all the crazies who order ridiculous OCD drinks, like people who want you to add 3 and a half sweet and lows to their lattes...

Another thing - there's a lot more to being a good barista than throwing together the ingredients to a frappuccio and pressing a button on the blender. At my first coffee job, my boss made me spend a month practicing shot tamping (using a metal tamper with exactly the right pressure and motion to compact espresso grounds of a very specific coarseness) before I could make espresso drinks. We had to time our shots at the beginning of every shift to make sure they weren't pulling too long or too short (a few seconds drastically affects the taste of the espresso). The job I'm at now uses completely automatic espresso machines, but the grind still has to be manually adjusted from time to time. I think one thing I really like about working with coffee is making really high-quality drinks for people who really appreciate them. For a simple drink like a latte or cappuccino, there's a pretty big margin for error. The shots could be timed wrong, the shots could have "died" (if they sit for more than 10 seconds without adding milk to them), the milk could be scalded (at 180 degrees), the foam could have bubbles that are too big, there foam : milk ratio could be off...

But even with all my coffee snobbery, I get a kick out of memorizing drinks of regulars and making them exactly how they like them, even if I wouldn't drink it if you paid me. It doesn't take much to make frappuccino-lovers happy - if there's just enough extra whip cream to pop out the top of the lid, they'll just about pee their pants with excitement.

Also, during morning rushes, there's definitely a huge sense of accomplishment after a few hours of working with a steady line of drinks waiting for you. It takes a lot of multitasking, planning ahead, and efficiency to stay on top of things. It's not for the faint of heart.

Oh, and least favorite thing about being a barista? VIA. Employees being forced to accost every customer with a sales pitch just so corporate can try to earn back a little of the money they gambled away on what they hoped would be the next frappuccio in an attempt to drag their stock prices out of the shit hole they're in now. /soapbox.

fries with that?

Save Point

Any twitterers/gamers remember hearing about the Mario Marathon for charity a little while back? A group of hardcore geeks spent days playing through Mario, all the while accepting donations for a charity called Child's Play, an organization that donates toys, books, games and cash to children's hospitals around the world. They ended up raising over $29,000 - geeks are awesome.

Well, a friend of mine (Lord David of Houck) was inspired by these geeks and decided to have a marathon of his own. And it just happens to start today. And being a bit of a closet geek myself, I'm going to be participating. Not for the full four days, mind you (work and social obligations prevent it - also, don't know if spending four days with a bunch of guys playing video games wouldn't be hazardous to my health), but I'm going to play through at least tonight.



We're called Save Point, and our first marathon will be a play-thru of Final Fantasy VII. I highly reccommend you watch us - with the group we have, there are bound to be some pretty entertaining moments. Also, I've never played FFVII, so you'll get to laugh at me and my n00bness. Our goal is to raise $2000, so if you can chip in a buck or two (and tell your friends about us), we'd be very grateful.

kthxbai.

oh, Life, with your colorful surprises.

so, the whole philosophy of going where life takes you doesn't always work.

you have to make decisions every now and then.

and if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice (wisdom from Rush).


I don't want to, though. I want someone else to decide for me, and for the choice they make to be the right one.


at the very least, I don't seriously regret any of the choices I've made so far.
...but I'm young.

walk along the open road of love and life - surviving if we can.

mmm. I am feeling very at peace with the universe.

feeling so forgiving, I even changed my ex-ex-ex boyfriend's name in my phone book from "Ignorant Slut" to "Loserface." :)

more and more things are falling into place. new job finally came through for me (free coffee is mine once more), I THINK I figured out what I still need to transfer to UTD (just need to get admissions on the phone and apply for scholarships), and post-break-up complications are fading fast.

there was a brief interim of uncertainty on all those points, but just when I was getting worried nothing was going to work out like I wanted, it all turned around. this is why I love life :)

I've been lucky enough to meet some very interesting and inspiring new people lately, and I'm back to teaching artsy kids with the Purple Crayon, so I'm thinking a creative revival is in store for this summer. I threw a few pots on the wheel yesterday (the heat dries them so much faster and makes my lack of bats much less of a problem), and am going to start cranking them out to sell for supplementary income (shoe moneys).

I know I say this every other post, but I really am going to take some pictures of all my crap to shamelessly promote myself in the near future. look forward.


side note: this just solidifies my total geek status, and I'm almost a little embarassed to mention it, but I almost have 50 followers on Blip.fm, and it makes me freaking excited. 48 people appreciate my taste in music. geeeeeeeekgasm.

so long to devotion - you taught me everything I know.

wave goodbye, wish me well.

you've gotta let me go.

//

every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

thanks, marmie.

"you should marry _____ - you two would have really cute kids."

- my mother, a woman who knows what really matters in a relationship.

I can tell that we are gonna be friends.

so funny how things just fall into place sometimes. I'm a big fan.

I like when old friends turn into new friends. especially when it happens almost effortlessly.

that's a big plus for me, because I don't really like to have to work hard to maintain a friendship unless I really think it's worthwhile. selfish? probably, yes.

today was quite nice. karma is still as fair as ever.

I was pretty much out of inspiration, but I think I may have grasped ahold of it again.


also, this is wonderful:

I'd really like to see you.

I'd like to sit with you somewhere shady, quiet, peaceful - and just be.

remind myself we still float somewhere along the same plane of existence.

- you're still you and I'm still me, even though we're no longer us.

I want to still believe we had something that can stay the same

even when everything else is different.

what do you say?

I love you.

My sister made this. she's so beautiful, it makes me cry.

sweet summer sweat.

summer. as soon as the weather starts getting hot and muggy, millions of memories come rushing back to me. some of the best times, some of the worst times. such a change from days in school - so much more life happens. I don't want that to end... but I realize change is inevitable as I get older. so I'm going to try to make this one really count for something. hold me to it.

what sound do bears make?

here's the latest. click to see more. I'd love a name for this guy - leave me your suggestions!

My sewing is finally improving to a point where I'd be comfortable selling these guys - I'd sell this one, but I screwed up a little with the blind stitching on one of his legs. I have another one done, and more in the works, so stay tuned!

kitteh.

...I'm not very happy with how this turned out. Thick felt is terribly hard to manipulate. And my blind stitching leaves much to be desired. Chalk it up to practice, and this one's going to go to the big sister of the baby I made the bunny for. But again, quick and relatively easy. I'm a fan.

let's pretend we're bunny rabbits...

bunneh already has a home, but now I'm inspired and plan on making more. I think this took me a grand total of about 6 hours at the most. and all done while sitting down. lazy crafting = ❤

bam.

I don't know why I always get the urge to blog when I have tons of homework to do. Grr. Will keep it short.

Things I've done lately:

• unraveled a pretty red angora sweater ($5 @ thirft store!) and navajo plied the resulting yarn to make a beautiful worsted weight (look for a hat made with it soon).

• bought 4, 5, and 6 pyrometric cones so I can do high-firing and have some finished pieces to show you soon.

• got excited when I met a lady at work today who roasts her own coffee beans and decided I'm going to start doing that too (she says to check out sweetmarias.com for resources) - apparently you can use popcorn poppers??

• NOT cleaned my room.

okay, folks. tune in next time for more non-stop bulleted-list action.

we could close the curtains, pretend like there's no world outside

For spring break one year, my family took a vacation to Sanibel Island, Florida. This is an absolutely beautiful and relatively un-commercialized vacation spot (i.e. the beaches aren't totally covered with rich, anorexic spring-breakers every year). It's pretty nice. I had been there before, and I'd go there again.

But for some reason, that one year I brought a half a suitcase full of yarn and various knitting needles, and I stayed in the beach house we were renting and knitted. Constantly. The entire week. And had a blast. I didn't bring any patterns and had no access to the internet, so I created an entire line of hats out of my head.

Looking back, my parents probably spent a good deal of money renting the place, and I probably should have spent more time out on the beach taking advantage of that... but hey. It was a nice vacation.

I think that's the kind of vacation I need to have more often. I can't remember the last time I've done that kind of thing without feeling guilty for "wasting time" or stressed afterward from pushing things like homework or errands to the absolute brink of their deadlines.

That's where I am right now. I have a presentation that needs to be basically done by this evening, and I'm still in the planning stages.

And of course, I'm suddenly full of inspiration to spin, knit, carve stamps, go thrift store shopping, bake, draw, paint, throw pots...


Fuck.

quick clay update!

The weather is gorgeous. It's spring. My knitting inspiration is fading slightly (even though I just bought about 9 oz of roving this week), but all my other artistic inspirations are abounding. I'm considering buying a dyeing starter kit and experimenting with that (or I may try the cheap Kool Aid method... no shame in that), and most excitingly, I've been throwing some pots and attempting to fire them.

Ever since The Purple Crayon shut down and I inherited a wheel and a non-functional kiln, the studio in the barn has been set up. Then last spring we got an awesome deal on a WORKING kiln via craig's list... I've just been waiting for the weather to warm up enough so it's comfortable being out in the door-less barn for hours at a time.

Yesterday I threw a couple pots and did a test bisque fire. It definitely worked (the bowl I had in there is bisqued), but the cone never bent, so I guess I either used the wrong cone (05), or I opened the lid too many times and messed things up... I have no idea. I don't know how to use the kiln-sitter, and I think I'll just end up buying a pyrometer to make my life easier. Also, we don't have any kiln shelves (or at least none that I can find), so I can only fire things on the very bottom and I feel like I'm wasting a ton of electricity on just a few pieces.

So I'm going to glaze my newly-bisqued bowl after classes today and see if I can finagle the temp to do a proper glaze fire. Stay tuned.

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.



Horizontal Ribbing Stripey Hat
for sale on etsy.



So You Think You Can Hat
raveled.


more later. happy weekend!

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.

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.