Archives for July 2007

SO GRUMPY. Found out yesterday (they only tell you the day before) that instead of a morning surgery, I’m having an evening surgery today, so I don’t go in until 3pm. Why does that make me grumpy? Because I CAN’T EAT or, and in one hour, I have to stop drinking. Bah. It is much better to do this kind of thing butt-ass early in the morning, when you’re going to be grumpy anyway. You know?

So I did it the best way I could figure — went out for a big ole sushi dinner last night, stayed up late, snacking, and then woke up at 7am to eat a piece of toast. Then I went and sat on the porch in my robe and ate the last of the Creme Brulee ice cream. Because I know that ice cream thing is a LIE, people. Preemptive ice-cream strategy, yes. Can’t hurt, says I.

Then I went back to bed and read a while and fell back asleep. Actually managed to doze till almost twelve, so I missed those awake-hungry hours. (I’m one of those who has to have breakfast and a mid-morning snack or my blood sugar drops and I’m miserable.)

And now kittens are eating and Digit has et (and is crawling up the chair to see me now, in fact). Oh, he’s doing so well. Poor thing has to wear the collar for another whole WEEK — the doc wanted him to fully, fully heal from the surgery — with his malnutrition he was having a hard time with that. Every once in a while I take his collar off and let him suck on my clothing, which is SO WONDERFUL, and I mean that, it does my heart good if not my soggy tee-shirts, and then slap it back on as soon as he goes after stitches or staples.

And now I’m signing off, with plans of preblogging photos for y’all in coming days.

Thank for your good thoughts (also putting the condo on the market today — I do nothing by half — will you think good thoughts about that, too? Nothing like a lot of stress all at once!), and maybe I’ll blog under the influence of good strong drugs soon!

Have you finished the new Harry Potter yet? I have to admit that while I have it, I haven’t started it yet. The (second) tonsillectomy is tomorrow (sigh) and I’m saving the book for when I feel better. However, going out on Friday night (the night the books went on sale at midnight) to see a ten o’clock show by my sister Christy and her friend Becky in their band Knockturn Alley, was SO AWESOME.

First of all, it was at this bookshop in the City which had a little outdoor area, seen here. I thought, great! They’ll set up, grown-ups and kids will wander through and listen a bit and then move on. That’ll be neat.

But no. The audience sat and stayed. It was like these kids had been trained to listen to appreciate a band. They were transfixed, and you could just SEE them getting excited when the gals sang about things they knew about (Slitherin, horcruxes, Madame Pomfrey). They were nine years old and their parents were taking them out at all hours to hear music about their favorite book. In their costumes, their faces were glowing.

I liked these two witches, and they LOVED the band. Even requested an encore of one of the songs already sung at the end. Who but a kid would do that?

There were autograph seekers:

and witches asking for advice:

If you haven’t been, go listen to a few of the songs. I swear, Hey Hufflepuff makes me tear up. And Horcruxes NEVER leaves your brain. I guess that makes sense.

And now, me, I’m outta here. I’ll preblog a bunch of picture-days, how’s that? So even while I’m not around, recovering, you’ll have something to amuse you. MWAH!

I’ve been loving this sweater — it’s just right for throwing over a tee-shirt, wearing with jeans or a skirt…..

Specs:

Yarn, GET THIS, is Peaches’n’Cream cotton. I think it cost about nine or ten dollars to make. Yowza!

Pattern, my own. I used the Barbara Walker’s Horseshoe pattern and knitted it from the bottom up, with raglan seams. I swatched, measured how wide each repeat was, measured a favorite sweater and knit it to that. I finished it off with a row of single crochet all the way around, and made up some funky crocet edging for the front. I planned on adding buttons, but I like the hairclip closure….. (No, I didn’t write up the pattern, but I know you can do it. Pick a motif you like, knit bottom up, join the sleeves that you made first, decrease in raglan till it reaches your neck and cast off. Really. Play around.)

The neckline was an experiment, but I like how it turned out:

And from the back:

 

Our camera has this function where you can program it to take 10 rapid-fire pictures. This feature lends itself to hilarity, especially when you go back through them and realize that your wife was standing behind you NOT MOVING, looking exactly like this, for ten shots, and you didn’t know it.

Yep. Good times.

(Cat news: We removed Dig’s pain patch, very sad. But he’s been in the main part of the house now, and he seems to be doing very well. HE DOES NOT LIKE KITTENS. But he tolerates them, which is more than I expected, really.)

I love a good earthquake. The one this morning was a PERFECT earthquake, a nice 4.2 centered right near our house. (Look at that "Location Quality = Excellent." Why yes, Oakland is excellent, thank you.)

I love it when the earthquake starts, and your brain spins for a second, feeling it, waiting. Is this it? Is this the big one? And when you don’t go flying across the room, when you just have to put your hand against the wall to steady yourself, you realize that this is just one you get to ride out and enjoy. And then after the two seconds you’ve spent figuring this all out, you only have about three seconds left to enjoy, but usually I get a whole lot of enjoyment out of that.

(Flashback – I remember living on Saipan and lying on the beach, and watching the sand actually ripple up to us and past, as the little temblors passed through.)

But today’s quake wasn’t that great, though, because I was in the only place I really don’t want to be for an earthquake (besides the obvious, under a great glass skylight on the top floor of an unreinforced ten-story brick building with a jet-fuel line buried underneath the foundation) — I was in the shower. And I was soaping. After I realized the great thump wasn’t the kittens flying off the refrigerator, and I figured out that it was an earthquake, in that that second before I knew it WASN’T the Big One, I pictured myself having to pick through rubble (light, easily repaired fluffy rubble) to get outside where I would be NAKED, me and the neighbor next door who also gets ready at 4:30 in the morning (our bathroom lights glow in friendship although we never speak), and we’d be all NAKED as everyone else ran out wearing robes. Yeah, no thanks. Plus, I had conditioner in my hair, and then it would have run into my eyes, and when it dried it would have been greasy and I would have had to suffer through a disaster with thick, greasy hair and it would have all been horrible.

So I’m glad it was only a 4.2. And oh, brother, the news is playing it up. I’m at work and we’re watching the LIVE BREAKING COVERAGE and seriously, at this moment, they’re walking thruogh a drugstore where some THINGS FELL ON THE GROUND. A few sticks of deodorant, OHMYGOD. There was some glass broken in Montclair! Oh, there was the funniest video shot in a convenience store where a delivery guys walks in, and walks almost all the way out and then pauses. THAT’S IT! They played it over and over and over, until I finally realized that some candy bars fall to the floor at the point where he pauses. CANDY BARS FALLING! RUN!!!

At least HE wasn’t in the shower.

Did I mention that fateful night when Digit came home, I thought he had a major head injury before I realized it was just the bone formation in his head? He was soooo skinny……

Lala has noted that even his ass is somewhat less bony now!

Whee!

I almost forgot to remind you Bay Area Knitters! Come out and knit with us as we watch my sister’s band Knockturn Alley perform their original Harry Potter songs on Friday night! The book goes on sale at midnight, and they’ll be performing at 10pm, at Bookshop West Portal.

Seriously, I saw their dress rehearsal and they are so GREAT. You will love the songs, I promise. (If you can’t come, you can hear some HERE. "Hey, Hufflepuff" WILL get stuck in your head.) And then get yer copy of the book! Yeah!