Day 10

Alright, I am just sniffly now, but I am tired of this.

really tired of this sickness bullshit.

But oh well.

I went to an executive board meeting for my union as a guest. I have decided I would rather not ever serve on that board. the Meetings are 5 hours long... eek. I only had to be there for 2 hours or a little less, until the 1st parking meter break. And the reports I had heard from a friend last month were correct, just like a general meeting. Some of the contract information was interesting, and hearing about something being investigated and a rule being changed were good gossip fodder I am not allowed to spread. But mostly a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

There was some confusion about a class I am supposed to take, I got an email, oh, weeks ago about a class on the 26th, but with no day attached, so, I wrote it down on the 26th (Thursday) but I will admit I wonder a tiny bit, as there is a convention around that time, and the teacher for that class is the sort to take all of those calls unless he absolutely can't, but I figured he might know the schedule more that me. In the end though, he meant it to mean today at 2pm, I wasn't sure I could make it, on account of the E-board meeting, and I am guessing a great many people also thought it was this Thursday, since it has now been rescheduled for next Monday. This is very good news, since the class is at the theater I will be working at that day, so, I think I might get double hours, and get paid.

To explain the double hours thing, well, our union organizes seniority by your qualification date (date you finished your 1st 100 hours) and how many hours you work in the last year. Broken up by lists, its complicated so I wont go into that part. But hours spent in apprentice classes count toward work hours, since they don't want you to be too penalized for taking a class instead of work. And work hours count as work hours because... well you get the picture. Since the class is at the Intiman, taught by a co-worker, and I have to be there from 8am to 5pm, plus I have to put in a 40 hour week next week, and I am not going to come in on the weekend to make up for the class. What I would be doing at work is essentially the same as the class (lighting maintenance). I am sure you understand.

I have somethings I want to get done today, so, off I go...

Day 9

I am still sick, this sucks, I am definitely better, but still sniffly and my ear (I know, crazy), my ear is stuffed up.

I have received my new yarn and I have finished the Back of the sweater, and started on the front.
Its so snuggly and soft, I love it, now I have to save up to make a blanket. well, maybe I will finish the other 3 sweaters I have yarn for and have planned... Ravelry is the the best/worst invention ever, imagine getting to search through pictures of millions of patterns, completed by regular people like me!!!

I certainly do babble.

I have some work coming up, a gig at the westin (some convention) (Tuesday and Saturday) and Thomas the Tank engine at Key arena... (Friday and Sunday) I also have an executive board meeting to observe for my apprenticeship (quality knitting time) on Monday, and on Thursday I have a class on lighting maintenance (which I pretty much know anyway). So, I will definitely get out of the house this week.

I also plan to go with my friend Ali to check out stuff at Fryes electronics on Wednesday.

In a way I am sad this next week is busy, its my last official week off before I start at the Intiman, and I wont be free again till the end of December, though there is talk of a week off in August, or September if something or other does not get extended. There are some things I hope I will be able to contrive to do, but all of them seem unlikely. But I would like to go to the Women of Local Fifteen camping trip, Summer Bash in California, and my dad said something about 4th of July in California. Its unlikely I will have more than a few days off here and there, so depending on the schedule (that I don't know) all three of these might be impossible.

Maybe next year.

Day 7

so, still sick but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

My yarn came today, I love it, its less green than I though, more greys and some yellow and blue thrown in, but muted. perfect for a sweater.I have to wind some of it up so I can get started.
I am really close to the end of my first march sock... but, once I do a swatch with the new yarn I will finish the sock... maybe.

I watched North and South (not the civil war drama of the early 80s, but the BBC masterpiece theater English drama, and I now have decided Richard Armitage is hotter than Colin Firth. At least in this one he is, but there is no wet shirt scene. Hmmm, maybe I will have to rewatch Pride and prejudice again, to make sure? Ah.. chick drama...

what else... went to costco, and have begun pricing external harddrives... its the first part of getting a new computer, I know for sure I should have at least 500 gigs, since my ultimate goal is to have the itunes library entirely on the external harddrive. You see, I have a 120g ipod, and my roommate has an 180g ipod, so, if we ever want to even think about filling them we should have a separate thing... I think my plan of action will be to back itunes up on to the external then when I get the new computer not transfer it back, just leave it ... Anyway, it will involve learning more about computery stuff....

speaking of ipods, I also found a cool ipod stereo which you can plug into your tv, so you can play your ipod video on your tv. I have been looking for something like that lately, so if was good to know it is available.

Ali (my shopping friend) and I are next going to go to fryes and see what they have in those two objects to do a little price checking. Its a bit risky waiting on anything available at costco, since, you never know if it will still be around. But then again, checking out fryes, is a good way to find out what might be at costco in about 6 months.

well, enough blather.. I have yarn to wind, and stuff to knit.

Day 6

Well, I do feel better...
I slept through the night, at least 8 hours, the first time in a week.
For that I am extremely thankful.

I haven't got much else to yammer about... I had thought on a Wednesday I could chat about Lost, but freakishly, this last episode was very straight forward.

My roommate and I got behind last year with Lost, but with the help of the library and itunes, we are good to keep up on television now... I should program the VCR for the rest of the season, so I don't miss out when I start running shows.

Is Lost in its last year this year, or next year?

Day 5

Illness is running its course, still sick, though, I guess I am feeling a little better, but I did buy orange juice on the way home from a meet and great with the possible new tech director.

Found out the old assistant tech director is gonna be the new prop master, so that will be good, I like him and he is smart. And mellow. so thats good.

I should really be getting my yarn tomorrow or Friday at the latest, Friday will be day 7 of the cold, so, the yarn cure wont work, and even if it comes tomorrow, the results would be inconclusive. I will have to save it for another cold... or sleep day and night in my new sweater next time I get sick.

The only other thing that happened today was Pat and I watched Into the Wild.

Now, I have hippy tendencies, I don't believe patchouli should replace soap, but I have thought about living off the land somewhere... but, having lived a little in pseudo country, and raising both chickens and rabbits for food, and tending a vegetable or two in a garden plot, I know it takes planning, you need to know some stuff. And its work.

This poor kid, I don't know what was going through his head, but he certainly thought if you got out into nature, it would all work out in some kind of harmony, he did have a book on edible plants but what he needed was a survivors guide... And his goal was, what to get away from society? To change society? He should have joined the peace corps or a commune. I don't get it. Plus I thought the narration was a little pretentious, now, it is possible that I think pretension is an early twenties malady only cured by time, but...

maybe I just don't get it, the point of this movie, is this boy supposed to be a hero, a tragic victim to the cruel misunderstanding of his parents, I mean he died - from eating something that looked like something edible, but was really its inedible cousin. But before that his entire Alaskan Wilderness experience was mistake after mistake.

I don't know it seemed like the movie was trying to glorify selfish stupidity, perhaps it was meant as a cautionary tale, but it seemed like a eulogy for bad ideas.

Day 4

so, its day four of the sickness, and the drugs made me very dehydrated, so, I am currently cold medicine free, so, I am stuffy, and runny and coughy...

I finished the February socks, camera is still MIA, not that I have looked for it at all, I suspect in might be in the couch cushions. I have started on the March socks, these are an actual pattern, called the Biological Clock, but I like DNA socks better. I couldn't find a picture on the interweb.

I wish my new yarn was here, its making me sad... it hasn't been that long since I ordered it, but, they are only in West Seattle, they could have driven it over... maybe I should call and tell them I am sick and rolling around on Merino/silk/angora will give me a new lease on life.

I also ordered some sock kitty kits, don't ask me why, I am still not sure, but I think they might make good gifts...

well, I have run out of steam, must go back to my bed, and watch House on DVD and knit.

Sick Day

I am sick, it sucks, its week 2 of sick in a way, but in another way only day 3, have I confused you, maybe its the drugs.

Last week I am pretty sure I got a little food poisoning, although it could have been a 24 hour stomach flu thing, both are likely, I have bad Safeway Chinese food, monday afternoon, and ummm, lost it all later, then felt like crap for 3 days, and started to feel better Thursday, on Saturday I had a stuffed up nose and was beginning to feel run down, I had that beginning of a cold feeling. I like the zyban stuff, so I have been trying to recognize cold symptoms early, but it also means it is harder to live in denial about your cold this way, so its day 3, of sickness number 2, and I probably have at least 2 more days, thats if the zyban does work and shortens the duration of this bastard.

On another note entirely, I am almost done with February's socks, and I plan to move on the March's socks and work on them until my new yarn comes. You see, I am going to make a sweatshirt/sweater, I am very excited, and I want to make sure its done, before I start my new job, or before I start tech at my new job. New Job starts March 2, Load in starts March 16th, and tech for the first show starts March 26th.

Yes thats right, I got the job at the Intiman, I am happy, pleased, vindicated, nervous, and excited. oh yeah, I am also dreading Black Nativity. I have some ideas of things to do at the intiman, some things may not be possible, others will be though, we will see, I have my usual insecurities about my worth, but the worst that can happen is they fire me, and I would be okay. Sad, but okay. No, no, it will be fine.

Oh Back to knitting!!! I signed up for Sock Wars 4 http://www.sockwars.org/ . It is the new regime, so I feel good about it, the original commander had issues and there was a coupe, and I was glad to see it was still in effect. I doubt I will win, you have to be both fast and lucky, and I have neither the last two times, but I got socks out of the deal, so, really what more can you ask for...

I still need to post some pictures of the Jaunary and February socks, but the camera is MIA at present, so you will have to wait

Happy Valentines Day a tad bit late, Love ya!!!

Happy Birthday

To Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln
Both are 200 today!

Memories

I find that tiny bits of movies float around in there, giving me grief.
Little fragments whose origin I cannot remember...
In a way, I spend quite a bit of time searching them out.
A scene passes through my mind of two little girls learning a part in a play, and one turns her back to the audience and is chided not to do it until she can learn to act with her back. I can't remember much more than that about it, but I search for it. Almost a hopeless task, but I was hopeful that I had found the movie in The Ballet Shoes, and really I am not sure that I am wrong.
I just watched a version that had a very similar scene to the one I just mentioned, but it wasn't quite right. Now I am off to search imdb to see if there is an earlier version. I know there is a later version, but it would be too recent for it to be just a fragment.
I was like this for a long time about a horror movie I had watched as a child, all I knew was there was a girl and her boyfriend who visited the home a crypt of a witch who looked just like the girl, and the witch came back to life by draining the girl of blood through her finger tips. My friend Brian helped me identify it. It's Maschera del demonio, La (1960),
or Black Sunday.
Well, imdb, says its either that version or not that movie, but it does tell me, it was shown in 6 parts on television, so, maybe I just watched a tiny bit of one episode, back in '75.

Now if I could only find the name of the childrens book where the boy becomes a cat for a while.

Baby Surprise Jacket

I couldn't find my camera this morning, so, no picture of the finished BSJ in blue.
At least until, I get a picture from Sabine.
I didn't sew up the seams at the top of the arms, and I now recommend giving this particular gift without sewing it up, it caused a lot of excitement as folks tried to make sense of it. For those that don't know, the Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket is knit flat, but with decreases and increases so it literally folds up into a cardigan. But unfolded it resembles a flattened out corset.

It was a study in my ability to procrastinate, that jacket, I finished the last row at 4am, and wove in the ends and cast off on the bus on the way to Bellevue. Sabine also got some socks in both pink and blue, (the baby's sex in unknown) and a Winnie the pooh hat and mitten set, which is really for a one year old.

Job interview

well, it went as well as it can go, she will let me know next week.

I guess there is someone coming in to interview who might be a rock star.

a chance remark, made me bristle, and rethink everything, but I might be over analyzing, it makes me mad.

and very unrepentant... I would elaborate, but the internet is not private.

Its sad this comment effected me so much, because it ruined the whole feel of the interview after for me, but it really wasn't a big deal during the interview.

Another day

I have a list of things to do, but I would rather blog about it than do it.

I had an apprentice class last night, first one in a few months, and it was Excellent. The topic was Fall Restraint, and we talked about harnesses, and fall protection plans, and all sorts of stuff. Plus there were snacks.

I tend to be timid about things I don't fully understand, and while I can't say I am afraid of heights per se, its that I have had very little exposure to having to work for long times at unprotected heights, and there have always been other people more experienced to do it. So, I don't get more experienced. I get paralysed by not fear of the actual situation, but that I won't know what to do when I am up there and I will let someone down. So, it isn't the heights necessarily, its what I am supposed to do while I am up there, so consequently I haven't got a lot of experience and that makes me more nervous.

So have a class about the elements that keep you from falling out of the sky while working, handy since it demystifies some things, and might encourage me to try to do the other things that cause you to be up in the air in the first place.

I wouldn't hold my breath though. I'm still a chicken!

My job interview got moved to today, at 4:30, so, stay tuned. Before then I need to twist a few arms, to get one more volunteer for Friday... It would be easier if it could just be me, but its a growth thing, I guess to make me learn to talk people into volunteering for me?

I have some chores to do at home today as well, we a drowning in recycling, no excuse really except, we use a bunch of shit!!! I think the recycling and or waste is the number one reason to quit getting the newspaper everyday, except I do like getting it, but maybe it could evaporate or something after 24 hours? I should invent that.

I also have to look into the no room in the fridge situation, I have gone insane recently and we have no more room in the fridge, I don't understand what catastrophy I am stocking up for, but I must reorganize in there, its a little unfair to the roommate who has no place to keep his food.

Well, I guess, I have wasted enough time, I really need to get my crap together, and reorganise that fridge.

Did I promise pictures?

These next few photos are of the Stagehand party. Here we are lining up for the food!




some members, Jason (works at the opera) Brian (worked at the intiman, is a stagehand at large, also the webmaster). Then Laurel (our local's ex president, master stage carpenter at the 5th) Liz Martin (stagehand at large, and all around cheerful person) and Phil, (stagehand at large, and one of our hippies)
Here we are trying to stand still to have our group picture taken, I am not helping by turning and getting this candid shot!
Now - on to the knitting!!! My January socks! Noro silk garden, I made them a bit loose I think, but they are sooooo pretty!

February socks to be. I didn't think about it until just now, but they are red (wine) for valentines day maybe? I think I might start them over though, since, they might be too tight. It's like the 3 bears house with these socks I guess.
So, I am making two baby surprise jackets for Sabine, the beauty of the pattern is only the gauge changes the size, so, this one above and below, will be smaller. I am using some cascade handpainted yarn, its varigated, and I am making stripes. I had planned to use these buttons, but they might be a pain in the Ass, so, while they are perfect, I might just use some that wont get stuck in the fabric all of the time.

The other BSJ is monkey colored... I mean isn't this the international color of monkey.
Monkey Socks!

Next we have pretty pictures of Seattle. International Fountain at Seattle Center.

Seagull and a little bit of fountain rainbow

Crushed flower petal

Foggy Costco parking lot at twilight

Fog and blue skies

Contrasting views of the space needle

New memorial for August Wilson

Random Street Art, my favorite.

Trixie, and my ipod - some of my favorite things

I have no idea what this is.