RUN AWAY!

Now that I feel like I don't know my brother at all , my mom is full-on depressed mode, my dad thinks everyone hates him, my other brother is moving to California but first wants to crash at my house for several days with his buddy's, Allen is pissed because this is supposed to occur during Rosh Hashonah, which I guess is an important holiday (or something), now seems as good a time as any to tuck my tail between my legs and make a break for it.

Seattle, here we come.

Many stories and much pictures upon my return. Or, perhaps during my trip. Who can say.

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For......

Well, not really, but I did get several inquiries as to what my news is.

Most of you know or know of my little brother Ivan. Ivan is 20 and a cook at a local restaurant. He's a great guy, very sweet, and I love him to pieces. He lived with Allen and I for a while when he was in between apartments, and all I can say is that he was the best roommate I have ever had. (Of course, if you look at my roommate history, that might not be saying much).

We have been close ever since he was a baby, and he's always been the one family member I felt like I could count on to be "normal". Generally I don't approve of normalcy, per se, valuing instead the quirkiness in others, but in my family, normalcy is in short supply.

Why am I telling you all this? Simply because Ivan totally dropped a bomb on me two nights ago.

Ivan asked Allen and I to pick him up after work (midnight, mind you) because he wanted to see us before we left for our trip to Seattle (Saturday). I thought it a bit odd, but as he had been incommunicado for the past month because he couldn't afford minutes on his damn TRACK PHONE, I had no idea what his deal was.

Turns out he met a girl. (I think really, when you get down to it, 90% of stories start this way)

They've been dating for about a week.

At the end of said week, they tried to get MARRIED but couldn't because the paperwork caused them a problem.

HE BOUGHT RINGS. They've been wearing them around.

Anyway, I felt like I had been punched swiftly in the stomach when I found out that not only did my baby brother almost get married without fucking telling me, but to someone I hadn't even met, and that he had known for such a short time. WTF.

Apparently, he'd been aquainted with her already, so though they've only been dating for a week he had "hung out with her a couple of times before".

THAT made me feel MUCH BETTER.

That was SARCASM just in case you aren't sure.

I think he was a little hurt that I wasn't all excited for him, but I certainly didn't say something like "You're making a huge mistake!!", even though that's what I was thinking.

I just kept asking him WHY??? He just kept answering that he loves her and wants to spend the rest of his life with her, in a "duh" manner. Then later, he privately told me that he felt broken, because he had been with all these girls and just didn't feel anything for them, but this one, he couldn't stop feeling all gooey inside.

I just feel so WEIRD about this whole thing. Now they are apparently holding off on their nuptial plans, but I don't know for how long. I asked him if I could please be involved in some way next time, like, could I come? Or, at least know about it in advance? And he said "of course", but it doesn't really make me feel any better. In fact, I feel like I swallowed a bowling ball.

As my friend Ian would say, isn't it fun having a CIRCUS family!!?

Thursday Morning Diversion (A Bit Late)

So, the Thursday post is a bit late this morning. This is the 3rd time I've tried to post this fucker. I am TIRED. I got some bizarro news last night, which I will share when I am capable of thinking.

For your Safe at Work amusement: I bring you the next in a series of Weirdo-Japanese Flash Games, Grow Cube! You may have already played the original version of Grow, and even Grow RPG, but I think this latest version is the best. Grow RPG is fun, but not as quick as the first or the latest version, thus increasing your chances of a.) getting caught at work or b.) feeling guilty for playing so much at work.

Of course, if you ever feel b.), then you are a giant sissy-pants.

Katrina:The Gathering

Liberal geeks everywhere have to love these cards!

I don't think that they would be much fun to play with, though. Magic is fun because it's Fantasy, this game would just be depressing.

Kind of like that Jack the Ripper Mystery Rummy game I got my friends, who were all so into it that they went to the library to research Saucy Jack, and were all so horrified that they stopped playing.

It's all fun and games until someone cries their eyes out.

Thursday Morning Diversion

Sent to me about a MONTH ago, and I am just now getting around to checking it out.

All I can say is, if these death-by-caffeine calculations are accurate, then even Sidesh0w doesn't have anything to worry about.

(comic via www.toothpastefordinner.com)

Drinker/Thinker Returns

My friend Lizzy's blog is finally back with a very sleek new look, and some excellent design elements (love the photo at the top!) and she PROMISES to enable comments so we don't have to email her every time we want to foist our opinions on her.

In other news: It's almost lunch time. Yee-ha.

A Note on House, M.D.

After a truly excellent epidsode of House last night, Allen and I got suckered into watching a bit of Fox News because there was a Hugh Laurie teaser during the commercial. I expected the whole "Gee whiz, can you believe this guy is British???" thing, but the only other body of work they credited him with was freaking Stuart Goddamn Little, and though I did love the book as a child, and I'm sure Mr. Laurie is excellent in all these films, I was STUNNED that this was the only think that the newscaster mentioned. I mean, I understand that all of us ignorant Americans may not be aware of his brilliance in the Jeeves and Wooster series, as it ran on PBS, a channel that most people seem to think is only there for pledge drives and Antiques Roadshow. And I'm sure that, sadly, most of us are unaware of his brilliant sketch comedy in A Bit of Fry and Laurie, not to mention several runs on Black Adder, but come on! He's been in other feature films! OK, most of them are children's movies. And character roles. In Britain. FINE! I'm taking my ball and I'm going home!

All I'm saying is that they acted like the guy just showed up on the scene, and wasn't he just PRECIOUS with his little British accent. Which was obnoxious.

I was a little saddened when I read in his imdb profile that Douglas Adams had orignally wanted him to play Arthur Dent. That would have been bloody brilliant.

Out. Of. Hand.

Seriously, this yarn thing is out of control. I finished another hat, that makes 5 hats so far. I started another hat last night, while watching House. (Best show on prime-time TV, IMHO) I ended up dropping a stitch, so I had to tear the whole thing out because I couldn't figure out how to pick-up stitches around a circular needle. I guess I could have pulled out the dpns, but - it just seemed easier to start over.

Anyway, I had found a really good deal on some Noro yarn and made this pretty little rib knit hat out of it (I know I keep promising, but pictures to come) and now I don't want to knit with ANYTHING ELSE EVER. I bought 3 different kinds of their yarn - the hat is made out of Silk Garden, which is a wool, mohair, and silk blend. The colorway is amazing, the colors blend to gether so beautifully and I was shocked to realize that at the end of the project (which used the whole skein) there was not one repeat color!

I started working with a second kind last night, the Kureyon which is 100% wool. I imagine it would felt extremely well, as it was already a little sticky to work with. It's not as flexible or stretchy as some of the cheap-ass yarn I'm used to working with, so it was a little tricky - I kept thinking my tension was the problem, but no.

I just wanted to play with the 3rd kind of yarn, so I enlisted Allen to help me wind a skein of Iro into a ball. This is a chunky wool/silk blend, and though I haven't worked with it so far, I know it's going to be my favorite. It is so gorgeously soft and the COLORS have to be seen to be believed. The skein looked predominately black until we started unwinding it, and even Allen was impressed.

I really shouldn't buy any more right now, as I have a tremendous number of project to finish. I will be good. Now I understand, though, why people are willing to knit themselves $100-$200 sweaters. Because you would want to wear this stuff every day!

And Another Thing

I know you all read Planet Dan, and if you don't you should, but I just had to steal this pic from his site because it makes me SO HAPPY.

Though I would hardly call it breaking news, it is, however, hilarious.

Finally Some Good News!

Looks like Brownie's been yanked back to D.C.

I know he won't ever be held publicly accountable, but it still smacks of "puppy-whacked-on-nose-with-newspaper", and I love it.

Fuck this guy. He's a total waste of space. In fact, I think we should break him down into his constituent atoms and fling them back out into the space from whence they came.

Crafters United

I know it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas shopping, but when all the proceeds go to a good cause, why not?

www.etsy.com is a website for crafty people to sell their hand-made wares - basically, ebay for crafters.

Crafters United is a specific store on this site, to which some folks have contributed some really incredible hand-made donations. All proceeds go to benefit the Red Cross, plus you would get a lovely little something in return.

Basically what I'm saying is, all y'all gonna get presents from this place for Christmas.

Move Over Dagwood

Getting tired of hearing how fat and lazy we Americans are?

Then check out this guy from the UK, via my friend Liz (who's supposedly working on getting her blog back up and running).

Just a little Thursday morning excess to get you through the day.

First Ever Knitted Garment

Here's the first thing I ever made out of yarn that wasn't a long rectangle.

It's basically 2 rectangles and 2 trapezoids instead.

Who says geometry class wasn't useful?

The photo with the hand in it is to give you some perspective. Of course, you don't know how big the person's hand is, so this doesn't help you at all. It, in fact, does nothing but leave you with more questions.

I made it out of Red Sprinkle Lion Brand Wool-Ease, on size 7 and 8 needles, and using the world's easiest Debbie Bliss pattern.

I totally screwed it up when I first tried stitching it together - I didn't have any safety or straight pins, so I held the pieces together with souble pointed needles, which was marginally successful at best. The first sleeve was completely attached to the body before I realized that it was attached entirely to the FRONT of the garment.

Give me a break, it was almost 2am. And I finished the damn thing. And it looks fine now. The baby I made it for (Allen's niece Noa - yes, a girl named Noa, with no 'h', it's cute, shut up) sent me a nice thank you note, so I think she likes it.

Laborious Labor Day

This year's Check-In event, or Opening Weekend, was not too bad. I didn't see too many train wrecks, and until the last day the time really flew. Yesterday dragged on and on for some reason.

I did manage to make a scarf and two hats this weekend - actually, all three have some finishing left, but I'm pretty impressed with myself, I have to say. I made a hat for myself that only half of the people I showed it to thought was dorky, so that's not bad. Hats are inherently dorky, but I have already frost-bit my ears once in my life, and that is enough for me. Friggin' HURTS.

Anyway, I made the hat out of the yarn on the left - The hat more or less looks like the hat on the manequin head there, except a little more knobby around the decreases on the top. Actual real picture to follow, when we purchase the digital camera we've decided to buy for our trip to Seattle. You know, so we can get action shots of the guys who throw the fish in Pike's Place.

I feel kind of awful talking about hats right now. There are so many things going on right now that I want to comment on, but that all deserves a little more time than I can give it (being at work and all). Knitting is very meditative for me and I have had a lot of time to think, but not so much get my thoughts down.