Archives for March 2005

This is a very weird sickness. Off and on, in a matter of minutes sometimes. I feel fine! Whee! Up to make a cup of tea! And whump. Ick again. Quite, quite annoying. But I’m resting. Really, I am.

I just have to say quickly: There’s a certain type of motorbike, and I’m not sure which kind, that makes a noise when it’s alone on the freeway in the middle of the night that sound JUST like the disaster sirens that are placed throughout the city. At four in the morning, I woke last night, listening to the long whoop and fall of what I thought was the siren and thought, oh, hell. What a disheartening sound. Nuclear attack? Biohazard spill? The end of the world as we know it? Nope, a motorcycle. The relief is great. But the heartbeat is not easily slowed. And I’m not even a very Worried Person.

Now, a bath. I’m having the laziest vacation in the history of the world. (Then I have get up and go to a union meeting/salary vote at work — that bites, does it not? A raise is a good idea, but today? Sheesh. But at least I don’t have to wear a uniform. I don’t even know where my uniform is, for that matter.)

But I’m watching Miyazaki tonight (my first) at Lala’s brother’s house (he’s married to the sweetest nicest girl that has ever lived, by the way. Seriously. You have no idea.) And knitting. Lots of knitting. (I just typed lot’s of knitting. The horror!)

I was just watching Four Weddings and a Funeral — don’t laugh too hard. Everyone knows Andie McDowell can’t act her way out of a speeding ticket. But I wanted something sappy to play in the background while I wove in ends on the cotton sweater I’m making. (Dude, Sugar’n’Cream in red, buck fifty a skein, and I’m doing a top-down cardie — just finished the sleeves, and I’ve miles of stockinette to go to get to the bottom. Good, brainless knitting. But I do like to weave ends in when I attach the sleeves, so that the final finish is a triumphant WOOT! and not an ohshit NOW I’ve got a lot to do.)

That was a long aside. What I meant to say was this: I’d forgotten how good that movie was in terms of showing gay marriage without sermons or moral judgments, without an agenda. Simon Callow and John Hannah are the only truly happily married people in the movie, and it’s never addressed directly because it didn’t need to be. They were just together. It was refreshing and sweet and lovely.

And we’ve gone backwards since 1994, haven’t we? In November, 11 states declined to think of people like me as people who deserve the same right as all Americans.  But a judge in California has the right idea. A proud moment for us. But it’s kind of exhausting, isn’t it? It’s still going to be such a battle, and the fight is ON in the city, people yelling and waving signs for both sides, and nothing will be truly decided for years and years. But one can hope.

And one can make some noise. Or at least a statement. I don’t know where y’all live out there, but I know you live a lot of different places, and you live near people with a lot of different ideas. Say something, will you? The next time you hear that guy talk about fags like that, shoot him a look. The kid behind you in the grocery store who calls his friend gay for dropping the gum on the floor — say something. Shake ’em up.

And those friends of yours who are all about saving the country money? The Congressional Budget Office predicted last year that allowing gay marriage would save the federal government almost one BILLION dollars a year. Don’t the right-wingers want that? Isn’t that enticing? That would totally be way more money to throw at the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell program that the government has spent 200 million on in the last ten years.

Anywho. I found some cool bumper stickers. (Why is iTunes skipping? I hate that.)  I liked this one and this one, and this one is wrong, but it’s hella funny.

Enough rant. I feel sick and tired, and it’s not just politically motivated. Still fighting the sick fight — still haven’t succumbed, but I feel myself weakening. Bah. I want to go to Lala’s when she calls after band practice, but I have those hot eyes, and they’re not the good ones. You know the ones. A little feverish. Just a little. A REAL little. Take THAT, flu. Put ’em up. I’m going to go read a book in the tub. That cures all. Mwah.

https://rachaelherron.com/i_was_just_watc/

The cats are romping and sounding like a million cats instead of just the two that they are. Digit still sleeps on the top cabinet in the kitchen while the dogs are here, so he’s happy to get down and run around when they’re gone. He clobbers Adah with a polydactyl backhand, and she comes back for more, so I let ’em. It’s a companionable house-trashing noise.

The whole magic of Dogs On The Bed keeping away the most annoying cat in the whole world (Adah) has worn off, however. Even people who love that cat admit that she is, in fact, the most annoying. She’s a rescue, and very literally neurotic about being petted. She must be touched, at ALL times, including the middle of the night, and will pat your nose (with claws out sometimes) over and over and over, no matter how many times you fling her off the bed, hoping that you might pet her little head just a bit.

For a while the dogs were a godsend. She slept in the living room and all was peace. But now, she lets herself in* and gets up on the bed. You’ll see that she’s not scared of dogs anymore.

Damn it.

Ah well.

I’m feeling better, I think. I go through stages where I just feel like utter crap, and then I’m fine again after a couple of ibuprofen. I feel like I’m fighting and winning, so THERE. Poor Christy is STILL sick and miserable. This one just knocked her out, but it could have been the jetlag from the Paris trip with Mom….

Last night I had a house full of people watching the L Word and knitting. I tell you what, there’s nothing like entertaining on a small scale, in a small house, to make you feel good. And Lala learned how to cable in between programs. It was great to watch her move from disbelief to faith. Cabling is just one of those things: no matter how many times you tell someone, "No, I’m serious, it’s SO easy. You can’t believe how easy it is," she still looks at you with that "You’ve made a bajillion sweaters so of course YOU think it’s easy but just shut up and show me how EASY this little trick is, you crazy knitter" look. And then you show her how to do it, in one sentence and one demo, and she says, "That’s IT?" Oh, yeah. It’s magic, baby. (I’ll let her tell you what she’s making. Tres cute.)

And a gratuitous yarn shot:

* There isn’t a door in the house that Adah can’t open except for the outside doors, and I’ve caught her hanging from those, her paws wrapped around the knob, swinging back and forth. She’ll get it someday.

Ain’t nothing like complaining about the diamonds on the soles of your shoes, but it’s hot. Really. Hot. Okay, it’s only 78 degrees, but it’s almost 6pm. This is not why I live in Oakland. I like Oakland to be foggy and cool.

I’m also fighting HARD against a particularly nasty strain of flu that had sister Bethany down for two weeks, and sister Christy’s nurse told her it was a good three-weeker. I’m going to win, by the way. I will NOT be sick during my vacation. But I feel crappy and sweaty and gross and feverish and uncomfortable. I’m actually drinking iced water and wearing a wet tee-shirt AND lying under my fan to try to cool off.

Cry me a river. I know y’all are getting snow’n’stuff. Would you consider a house-swap, perhaps? Please don’t mind the germs.

Stay warm (and cool) and knit (or don’t), but love someone up on the weekend, okay?

https://rachaelherron.com/aint_nothing_li/

At the risk of becoming too personal (hey, it’s my blog, right?), I’ll tell you that being a woman can be a pain in the ass. Let’s put it this way: I ain’t pregnant (oh, god! Not that I was trying! I’m just being cute! I should erase this paragraph. I have cramps, that’s all). Erg. Quite miserable, but made happier by reading out on the porch, something I actually hadn’t done since I moved here. It’s really damn loud out there, with the freeway right in front of it, and I wasn’t sure how it would work. Then I realized that it doesn’t really need to be quiet in order to read. Dur. I planted some flowers (in pots) a couple of weeks ago, and I went out to keep the tomatoes and jasmine company. Oh, heaven. It’s sunny but not too hot (sorry, Claudia), and I read myself into a state of bliss. Still rather sun-struck.

Now I’m in the house, listening to iTunes Party Shuffle on my new speakers, running through my new external hard drive. (With PMS comes that frantic Must Scrub Behind The Toilet Oh Must Go To CompUSA NOW manic thing. Do you get that?) I hadn’t realized how nervous I’d been about keeping all my photos and writing and music on my laptop until I dumped it all into an 80gig metal box and breathed a deep sigh of relief. I do keep my writing in online storage, also, and I have the important photos on CD backup. But otherwise, I’m terrible at backing things up, and I’d HATE to lose all my music. I only have two days worth on my iTunes, but it’s good stuff, man.

Short attention span today. Have you been to Iris’s blog recently? Her Moscow posts have been awesome.

And to Greta’s new pose to match her fabby new sweater, The Greta. I’m so going to do this on the next sweater. Remind me, okay?

https://rachaelherron.com/at_the_risk_of_/

I have just discovered the most amazing thing! Did you know your computer has a headphone jack? Really. There’s a good chance that it does. Of course, you, like everyone else, probably already knew that. I didn’t. But did you know that your iPod Shuffle’s earbud thingies fit into it? So that you can Party Shuffle yourself right off to Buffalo. Dude. This is great.

Had a good weekend doing the Travel Thing with Lala and the dogs. You think having a five pound dog attracts attention? Try carrying one that’s wearing an E-collar. One lady yesterday almost passed out, she was laughing so hard. Another woman came up and asked, "What happened?" I wanted to say defensively, "She’s just SMALL," before I realized she was referencing the collar, which I’d forgotten about.

Also: Lala brought her banjo, thinking she’d have some time to play with my dad, but instead the only real playing she did was at the wedding we attended. Gaynelle and Don had a bluegrass band and Dad encouraged her to come up and help. There they are in the back row:

Tell me I wasn’t all dang proud and all.

Man. I’m all distracted, listening to music.

I wrote twenty pages today! I’m exhausted. But good, brain-dead exhaustion.

There. I had to turn the music off. My brain has been too busy today, and listening to Hawksley Workman and blogging at the same time was confusing me.

New duds Tuesday!

Here’s a little something I made out of Wool-Ease, can you believe it? Like twenty bucks for the whole thing.

Pardon the hair, we’ve just cleaned the house. I added some hearts to the sleeve, since that’s where I’ve been wearing mine lately:

Ooh, almost forgot:
Specs:
Pattern: Retro Prep, Interweave Knits, Fall 2002
Yarn: Wool-Ease, pink and some kind of tan/gray, 3 skeins each (with some left over)
Needles: 5US, to gauge

And I wanted to show you my new shirt, from the Y(e)arn Store.

What, you think it’s tacky to wear a black bra with a white tank? Okay. It is. But you can rock it if you try. Oh, yeah.

(relaxing) Mwah!