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Something happens after Thanksgiving has passed and I realize that the year is almost done. Normally this sends me into a frenzy of pre-Christmas concerns and end-of-semester gyrations, but this year it also means preparing for the big disciplinary conference (it's good to be on the job market) and a visit to my sister's home to help out with the baby (still waiting...). So all I can say to this mad dash to the end of the year is take that!
The month is coming to a close and I can't help but lament my appalling showing in the NaBloPoMo thing/contest/activity/meme. Oh well--you can't be everything to everybody, and I apparently can't be a daily blogger. Someday, perhaps, I'll manage, but for now I'm going to rest happy in the knowledge that I tried, that I blogged a good bit more this month, and that I thought more about blogging.
Oh for the day when I can direct blog my thoughts...but only after I've learned to tag and sort them lest the really embarrassing ones escape onto the blog!
Thanksgiving was filled with detours (I-10 is a mess), food, family, and wild wedding planning. We met with the priest, the caterer, and several local restaurants for rehearsal dinners. We still need a photographer, which is my next order of long-distance planning business!
I got to see a couple of good friends, one of whom is a new-ish blogger. Say hi to BrickWallViews.
Knitting? Well, I finished a gift for my eagerly-anticipated (and still awaited) new niece/nephew. That was about it. I'll show you pics as soon as it is delivered to the expectant parents.
Back to work for me. We're learning how to duck and cover in my office today:
Surely there's got to be a way for me to get one of these to examine? I mean, after all, I am an English teacher...
Who will be the next great American fashion designer?
Probably not anyone competing on this show, but I'm going to watch it anyway!
Season 4 starts tonight!
I missed a day. It was inevitable and I'm glad that it happened. Now I can blog with no pressure. I'm still going to try to hit the remainder of the days of the month, but if I don't, no big deal, eh?
Too many irons in the fire. I've spent the better part of the evening looking at photographer websites. 6 months--can you believe it?--and we'll be married. I need to get appointments with local photographers for next week. We're meeting with the priest who will marry us next week, and we're having our first marriage workshop this weekend in Atlanta. I've also got to schedule an appointment with our caterer (who apparantly has a connection with a florist...) while we're in Louisiana next week. And then there's the matter of my dress alterations...and getting pics of the location. I'm tired already and we haven't booked a hotel for our guests yet--so much to do!
Other irons? Job search--just waiting right now and sending out a few more applications. I've got somewhere between 5-10 more to get out before we leave next week. Knitting--well, I'm still working on the scarf. Teaching--doing what I've got to do to get through the day and support my students as they work on their final projects. The rest of my job--so much to do!
At times like this I try to convince myself that I'm blessed with work...but it's hard! Still, I'm happy.
I taught class 2 of my sock class tonight--heel flap, turn, and gusset, which is always a fun one. I never get tired of seeing people's faces when they turn their first sock heel. Good times had by all.
Yesterday Steve and I visited some friends of his in the Atlanta area. We had a blast watching the Bulldogs inter Auburn, eating a glorious dinner, and then retiring to their basement movie theatre (with real movie theatre chairs and a popcorn machine) to watch The Bourne Identity (which Steve and I still hadn't seen--quite fun). Again, good times.
Tomorrow I'm back to school. Good times? Tune in tomorrow to find out.
If only I lived in the Central Time Zone. Sigh.
I've had a long and busy day--meeting at 8:30, errands with Steve, dinner and a movie with friends. Not all drudgery, and some good fun at the end of it. I'm just wiped out.
I've thought and thought about what to post, but I can't come up with anything good.
1. I watched NUMB3RS tonight--not a bad show, but I was having a hard time relaxing in the face of its earnest geekiness. I like geek. I sometimes visit the land of geek. But that was Hollywood trying to do geek, which felt weird.
2. The day has been long, but good. I really like my students.
3. I knit a couple of colors on the scarf and hoped that my new niece or nephew could hold off arrival for a little longer. My other projects languish in their basket under the coffee table.
4. I'm really thinking about radical destashing.
5. I want to spin.
See you tomorrow.
This daily blogging thing means I'm open to memes, and this is one I love.
Today's Booking Through Thursday question:
Would you say that you read about the same amount now as when you were younger? More? Less? Why?
My answer? Definitely reading more now.
When I was younger, I read all the time; I was constantly buried in a book when I didn't have something else taking my attention. I read everything--cereal boxes, books, newspapers, magazines (well, I LOOKED AT Tiger Beat--can you really call what you do with that reading?)--and I always wanted more.
I still read constantly--on the screen, in print--and I read more types of things and in different ways. In fact, I'd have to say that because of my maturing and what I do for a living, I read everything; the world is a big book to be savored and examined.
Did you ever have a pain
Drilling straight into your brain
Right into the middle of your forehead?
The only possible good
Is to stop trying to make this rhyme work and head to bed.
Goodnight. Here's some bedtime reading:
What a very long day! I've been trying to do several large-scale projects all at once...never a good idea.
I did, however, make my very first Amtrak reservations. I'll be traveling to visit my sister and brother-in-law in December to help out with the new baby! Can't wait...and I've got to get knitting!
Any seasoned train travelers out there with some advice?
A couple of recent skeins.
First, my latest spindle spinning--1 oz. of grey corridale
And my first effort on a spinning wheel.
I like spinning--very relaxing, meditative. Steve asked me if I enjoyed the process or the product more. I think I like em both, which seems to me to be a great place to start. After all, there are easier ways to get yarn (or a sweater or a pair of socks), so I'd better enjoy the doing as much as, if not more than, the end result, eh?
An elderly woman was wearing a gorgeous knit cardigan. It was in my favorite charcoal grey/deep red combo, knit in wool, a yoked cardigan with little cardinals circling round her shoulders.
I wanted so badly to snatch it off her shoulders when I went up for communion. Heaven help me.
AKG hosted Lily Chin this weekend. I accompanied Ruth to the meeting and finally joined the Guild (hurray!), but the highlight was hearing Lily Chin's talk on color in knitting. I tried to get a good photo, but I was limited by materials (camera phone) and location (wayyyy back of the room). Still, a couple of shots:
A cake to commemorate the occasion--loved the ball of yarn and the needles!
And there's Lily...a grainy, out of focus, far far away Lily. Sorry. Was the best I could do without making a complete ass of myself.
It was a good talk with some basic elements of color design. Lily used examples from her Mosaic Magic book to demonstrate how changes in color value and placement could transform a design. Very nice.
At the end of the meeting, Lily modeled a fab coat in a mohair blend. Sad me that it was mohair (my eyes are itching just thinking about it) but glad me that I found the pattern online! Hurray! We'll see how long it take me to get it going...
It's the first Friday of the month, which means it's Game Night at the yarn shop. We're having bbq (mmm) and salad (mmm) and we'll be playing some something or other after supper.
And that's about all I've got for now. I'll be posting about what I did yesterday tomorrow.
I need to get my blogging groove on--what's the point of finishing my doctorate if it means I don't have time to blog?
I know that doesn't follow, but work with me here.
So this is post #1 in NaBloPoMo for me. I need a topic. Hmm. Let's start with what I'm doing today.
I'm sitting on my couch right now watching disc 3 of Season 1 of Lost. I broke down last week and signed up for the Netflix trial. I'm catching up on the backstory of Lost, which I faithfully watched last season, even when I wasn't entirely sure of the background. It's just good storytelling.
While I'm watching this, I'm alternately knitting on the oldest project in my queue--the Stripeosausus scarf--and doing a spot of spinning on my drop spindle. This is the 4th try with the scarf and I'm quite happy with it. I used a tubular cast on and am working a 1x1 rib--it's squishy and soft and yummy and I'm going to finish this thing, by golly! The spinning is going fine; once I spin up this last bit of fiber, I'll be plying the two small balls of singles together. Great fun.
I started the day with a good bit of work--catching up on email and checking my job search stuff (too much to keep track of). When the dvd is done, I'll be back at work, prepping tomorrow's classes and looking at my schedule.
Gosh, I hope I can find better stuff to blog about tomorrow.