Bitstrips...

...is fun. 

Word of the Day: Yen (As in, a Desire or Craving)

In my 2010 Despair, Inc calendar, March's theme is bitterness. The accompanying quote is, "Never be afraid to share your dreams with the world, because there's nothing the world loves more than the taste of really sweet dreams." The photo is of a sand castle crumbling as the tide comes in. I love my Despair, Inc calendar because it is very me, i.e., ha ha ha, that would be so sad if it were serious, but it's only a joke...mostly. Remember that Chappelle's Show line, "Oh, this racism is killing me inside"? It's like that. You grit your teeth and you laugh and both gestures are genuine.

As March begins, companies still refuse to hire me, magazines still refuse to accept my stories, I have to grudgingly admit that both BioShock 2 and Mass Effect 2 were ultimately disappointments (more on this some other time, perhaps some other place), and I think there's a mouse living underneath my stove. I think the thing about the mouse not based upon any first-hand sightings, but rather on my cats' behavior. They spend an inordinate amount of time these days staring at the stove. For example:

.

And it's not just Leon. Ada does it, too:

So I can't just discount it as Leon being a dummy.

On the up side, I just finished a new story, which always makes me feel good. And the knitting is going well. I got really, really bored with the leg warmers I was supposed to be knitting next (22 inches of plain black stockinette stitch—what was I thinking? I'm beginning to understand why people end up knitting neon striped sweaters covered in polka dots, reindeer, and ribbons. If I ever sink that low, though, please, someone slap me.), so I started a sweater. And then finished it.

It's thick and warm and looks just about exactly the way it's supposed to, despite my wariness about the circular needle that was required to create the turtleneck. It was weird, like a snake eating its own tail every round, but not difficult. The sweater is rather bulky, though, and obviously handmade, so I doubt I'll ever wear it outside the house, but it's comfortable for indoors, so I consider the endeavor a success.

Meanwhile, there's still 3/4 of one leg warmer technically in progress. In reality, I am now working on a pair of socks, the Blueberry Waffle Socks of semi internet knitting fame. I've been kind of dying to try the waffle stitch since I glimpsed the Waffle Stitch Thermal on Knitty, but I'm nowhere near skilled or patient (a whole sweater on 3 millimeter needles in fingering weight yarn? I can't even begin to fathom how long that would take. Imagine building a log cabin out of dental floss and sticks of pencil lead or something equally ridiculous.) enough for that yet, so socks it is for now.

In other (fictional obsession) realms, Uchiha Sasuke continues to majorly, majorly, majorly depress me; while I enjoyed Darker than Black, I felt just as wtf about its universe at the end of the show as I did at the beginning, so I suppose I'll have to watch the sequel (possibly that was the point all along); Chuck has been invaded by characters from various Superman universes; and I miss Supernatural something awful. Episodes of season five are airing every week, but I missed the first ten, so now I can't watch any until reruns start or the season comes out on DVD. I am in serious withdrawal. I miss Dean.

And Castiel!

And that Sam guy, too. I guess.

Doh well. For now I shall just listen to "Ready for Love" by Bad Company about a billion times and imagine Dean's naked back. I mean...I would never do that. Cus that would be weird. On many levels. Um. Yeah. Bye now.

Goldilocks and the Three Mittens

Obligatory catch-up:

The holidays have come and gone, obviously. Mine were full of six-hour car rides, a village in New York that was approximately a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Canadian border, Rock Band, family (not mine, of course), A Christmas Story, children, delicious alfredo sauce, knitting, cats, cats in cones, a shiny new laptop (which was long overdue; my old lappy practically literally no longer functioned; thanks Clark), painting, book unpacking (finally! I never really feel at home until the books come out), friends, diet chocolate soda, pasta buffet, Coloretto, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Quiddler, Wii Fit Plus, Hoity Toity, Cranium, BeanBoozled® jelly beans, The Little Mermaid: 3-D Under the Sea Adventure Game, multilayered bean dip, air mattresses, ball drops, and The Road.      

Despite the fact that I generally loathe people, ritual, and busyness, it was fun times.


Catch-up points worthy of further elaboration:

Cats in cones: Shortly before Christmas, we got our cats neutered/spayed. This was highly desireable because we did not want kittens or to be scarred for life (our cats are sibliings and while this did not stop Leon from attempting to molest Ada about 20 times a day, it was upsetting for us humans to watch, what with our silly ideas about incest and such). Ada left the vet with stitches, so she had to wear a cone for a week to make sure she didn't pull them out (which she would have, there's nothing that cat spends more time doing than licking--herself, Leon, me, clothes, hair, whatever's within her zone of influence). I thought this would be somewhat amusing. But actually it was the saddest, most pathetic thing I've ever seen. She hated the cone. When we first brought her home, she kept bumping into things and trying to shake off the cone. She also wouldn't let us touch her and growled at me for the first time ever. It was rather traumatizing, especially since I already felt pretty bad about the spaying/neutering. I mean, taking away a creature's ability to reproduce, especially just for convenience's sake, seems like one of the most horrible things one being can do to another. Fortunately, Leon, being the big, stupid, incorrigible cat he is, was totally unfazed by his surgery. He was back to climbing onto the counters and knocking over his water bowl in no time.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Although this game can be absolutely rage inducing when playing multiplayer on the normal levels (one person always gets everything that pops out of the blocks, you get in each other's way, you can never time the jumps right so that everyone makes it across those perfectly mario-sized abysses, etc.), turns out the coin battle mode is great fun with multiple people since the whole point is to thwart the other players. For example, if you want all the coins for yourself, what better way to achieve that goal than to jump on a Yoshi, swallow a teamate, then spit her out into a pirana plant?

BeanBoozled® jelly beans: Apparently Jelly Belly thinks it's amusing to create a pack of jelly beans in which a black bean might taste like liccorice or skunk spray, green might taste like pear or boogers, yellow like popcorn or rotten egg, orange like peach or vomit, etc., and you have no way of knowing until you bite in. All I have to say is this: boy, do I never want to taste rotten egg ever again. I heard centipede was pretty awful, too.

Knitting: (Slytherin) scarf,















hat,

and mittens are done.

As you can see, the first mitten was too small, the second mitten was too large, but the third mitten was just right. Then I just had to make another. Sigh. On the up side, I'm pretty much a mitten knitting master now. Next up: leg warmers.

Running Around the Christmas Tree

Today was a day of minor errands, none of which actually involved a tree. Hard to set up a tree in the living room when the living room doesn't yet have furniture...or floor. Everything in its own time.

First, I went to the pet store. One of the cats has been coughing for some time now. It always looks like a gag followed immediately by a swallow. I think he has a hairball he refuses to let come up. I understand. Vomitting is gross. But seriously. Enough is enough. So, I bought some "lubricant for the elimination and prevention of hairballs" to stop the madness (and not because Leon looks so small and helpless when he has a coughing fit or because I'm worried sick about him, of course). I also bought a food mat because Leon insists on batting the water dish around and getting the entire kitchen floor wet. 

I also stopped by the CVS across the street from the pet store. And by across the street, I mean a death-defying mad dash across a big, ugly, six-lane, walk-signal-never-works behemoth callled the Southern Artery. Being me, I jumped, rolled, stood up, dusted myself off, and went on my way, of course. I went in for non-surface-damaging hooks to hang stockings from and came out with an armload of things to shove into those stockings because apparently CVS is the place to buy Christmas crap. Who knew? I mean, really, they had aisle upon aisle of ornaments, collectibles, decorations, candy canes, knick knacks, toys, games, accessories, and present-wrapping aids. I can't be blamed. I couldn't help myself.


At home, I attempted to hang the stockings. There are four because obviously Leon and Ada get stockings (and presents), too. Despite my best efforts, I hung the hooks too close together, so they overlap. Quite a bit. I may be a little out of practice with this Christmas thing.















See what I mean? Doh well. What are you gonna do?

 In other news, one mitten down, one to go.