Knitting and Murder

(interesting combination, no?)

Now that the weather is turning cooler, I am in a knitting mood again. It's not easy to knit in the summer... too hot for all that yarn. But fall makes me think of chilly days and bundling up in cozy things, which makes me want to be crafty. This summer, I had an early inspiration - I was going to take on the big project I'd been afraid of - a sweater. I had a recipient in mind and was ready to start searching for patterns and yarn... but alas, the road of life threw me a nasty blind curve, and that project has been scrapped. I still like the sweater idea, but need a person if I am to make one, since I am not ready to put that much effort on something for myself at the moment. I guess I need some inspiration. Anyone have any ideas for a project?

Oh yes. Now to the "murder" portion of the post. I saw the movie Mystic River last night. I had no inclination to see it when it had been in the theatres, even after it was nominated for Academy Awards. Anyway, saw it last night and found it to be very interesting. Basically, it's a murder mystery set in Boston involving three men who had been childhood friends who ended up taking very different paths in life, and how their lives intertwine again through the murder of one man's daughter. I thought it was well done, with some strong performances (Sean Penn and Tim Robbins won Oscars for it, and I thought Marcia Gay Harden was very good as well) and an ending I didn't anticipate. My dad had wanted to see it because it was directed by a favorite of his, Clint Eastwood. I recommend it, but suggest that if you're not a fan of excessive use of the "f" word, you may want to avoid it.

One last thing: almost bought the "Law and Order" book today at B&N. It was on sale for $4.95! Had a lot of interesting stills of crime scenes they created and the making of the series. Maybe I'll go back for it, being the addict I am... like I need another book! (doink doink!)

"...We are fairies down to the feet."

Today was a day-long rehearsal for Iolanthe. Such days are both a blessing and a curse - good, in terms of getting a lot done - bad, in terms of the looooong hours. I came prepared for what I thought would be a lot of "hurry-up-and-wait" time... a knitting project, notecards to be written, the score on CD to practice, etc... only to get to none of it. We didn't even really get a lunch break! They kept us uber busy a large majority of the time. It was a good rehearsal, though - costume fitting, pretty much solidifying the finales of acts 1&2, etc. However, considering the lack of a proper lunchbreak and the overabundance of goodies brought to rehearsal, I must confess that I am guilty of consuming half a bagel, two donuts (chocolate and Bavarian creme), a brownie and coffee (and triscuts and carrots I brought from home). How is one to remain in fairy form with such things around?? (any friends of Atkins would have had a coniption fit!)

However, I became the joke of the day after an incident between my derriere, a bench, and a cup of mint tea. (You're smart, figure it out.) Hey - at least I was minty fresh?

Uy. Yeah, it's time for bed. Night night.

Interesting Observation

I am eons behind in filing any of my 'important paperwork' and discovered some recent cell phone bills in the pile of file-able things. Compare and contrast two bills... August and September of this year:

Plan: 300 general minutes, unlimited nights and weekends.

7/21-8/20: used 223 general, 447 unlimited. (670 min.)
8/21-9/20: used 28 general, 148 unlimited. (176 min.)

...interesting how things change...

vineyard photographic moments

Peter was not as prolific as usual with photos this weekend, but some nice ones can be found here. I like this one of my 'brass ring ride' on the Flying Horses, and this one in Edgartown at the bus stop.

Can't I just go and live there? Or at least hide there for a while? The idea of running away from home is rather appealing these days...

Columbus Day 2004

It was a very good idea to get away for the weekend. With the way that things have been going, some kind of escape was overdue. Here are some tidbits and observations from the past 3 days:

1. I have decided that I really must live near the ocean. I don't care how. It needs to be done. I want a beach house. And I really don't care if it is my only house, either. I guess I'll have to start buying lottery tickets or something... that's the only way it will work, knowing that anything, anywhere with a ocean view is going to cost more than I could ever make in a lifetime.
2. I hate driving by myself. Locally/short distances, fine. Long distances... absolutely not. Especially when you get stuck in endless miles of traffic in Connecticut on the way home. There is no one there to distract you, so instead you go insane. (this must be amusing for other drivers to watch, however.)
3. Went on the Flying Horses on Sunday. Guess who caught the brass ring? :) woo hoo!
4. Next time I go to the Vineyard, (if it is not the summer) I am bringing my Jeep. I'll suck it up and pay the $70. I want to drive around.
5. It really really bites that my closest friend lives over 200 miles away.
6. My favorite mode of transportation really is by boat. It doesn't matter what kind. Rowboats, sailboats, ferries, cruise ships... heck, I'd even love a raft made out of logs. The water and the wind and the salty air are lacking in my life.
7. I really don't like being a third wheel. I got spoiled for a little while, but my old place has returned. Grr... blast and wretch. (B&P, I adore you and do honestly like hanging out with you... please don't take this grumpy girl's words the wrong way!)
8. Forgot to buy some fudge to bring home today, but did eat some. Yum. Fudge and salt water taffy are such 'beachy' sweets.
9. Thank you, Peter, for the books. It was sweet of you to think of them after reading my book post the other day. :)
10. How did the Lowe's know that wallpaper removal yesterday morning would be just the therapy I needed after the craziness of last week? It's amazing how satisfying it can be to rip things off the walls...
11. How much do I really want to just run away from my life and go back and hide here in a lovely blue house called Five Gates ? Especially since I know where they hide a spare key?

Thank you, Lowes and Woods, for a lovely weekend. I really did have a good time, and it was so necessary. Thank you thank you thank you!

Yawn. Time for a hot shower... my bed is calling my name, and unfortunately there is work tomorrow. (at least it is a short week and there is a payday at the end of it... it's the small things.) How many days until the next day off??

Good, Not-so-good...

Good: Today was Lee Denim Day at work. Donate $5 to Breast Cancer Research and get to wear jeans to work. yay. Another good way to do something for Breast Cancer Awareness Month is to click here. Free and helpful to others... definately good.
Not-so-good: I should be watching the presidential debate. I should be trying to educate myself on the political front. I should care about voting for a president. But I really don't have the energy to care... and would just rather move to Canada. Or maybe England. Or maybe start my own country.
Good: Educator Appreciation weekend at Border's. They had a reception today - raffle tickets for baskets of books and things, free coffee and cookies and cake, and a 'goody bag' with a load of promo stuff, a book of poetry, a children's book, 2 CD's, etc. And 25% off books and music. Muy Bueno.
Not-so-good: The fact that in recent weeks my personality has come to resemble that of a favorite children's character... Eeyore. Grey cloud and all.
Good: Columbus Day weekend. No work on Monday. Leaving to go to Martha's Vineyard tomorrow morning. Actual socialization with friends, a big novelty when you find that all of your friends live far away. An escape from the monotony and humdrum existence at home. Very necessary, even if I don't look forward to the long drive by myself.

I could keep this up, but I am dead tired and need to get a good start in the morning. It's been a long week, both emotionally and physically. I dragged myself through most of it rather reluctantly, practically counting the minutes until 3:00 this afternoon. Well, here's to the weekend - and hopefully a better state of mind when I return... which would be good.

Book stuff

Time to update the whole book thing. I decided to add a new catagory of books I've recently finished. Lately I've been doing a lot more reading, for various reasons, and figure I should share. A lot of it has to do with faith and religion and relationships... hmmm. I wonder why. (It's a long post. So beware.) Let me know if any of the links are screwy.

Wrestling With God. This one was excellent. Among other things, it compares The Wizard of Oz, The Matrix, Star Wars (the original ones) and the story of Jesus in the desert (being tempted and tested) - with how we all end up with some kind of crazy catalist in our lives (the "tornado") which spins us into a strange, frightening and lonely place of self-discovery and crisis and questioning (the desert). It's not preachy. I've read other "Christian" books before, and this one is quite different. It inspires you to seek actual faith, not just rely on 'religion' as a crutch.

The Christian Culture Survival Guide. This was amusing, from the same publisher as the one above. It was written by a guy who grew up in a real strict Southern Baptist Bible thumpin' family and has since explored many other genres of Christianity as well. He finds a way to explain things that only the 'church kids' have experienced. Really, the subtitle says it all... The Misadventures of an Outsider on the Inside. (I can relate!) I got this one out of pure curiosity - and it was on sale!

The Dirt on Breaking Up. This one was sent to me by my aunt, who I adore and think is wonderful. It had some helpful information, but was geared more towards a much younger crowd (as evidenced by the website.).

Two more on the "Currently Reading" front:

Mere Christianity, by C.S.Lewis. I was required to read it in freshman seminar in college, and honestly remember nothing about it except the title and author. Now, I find it is much more interesting, and appropriate. It's not big in size, but amazingly dense... it argues Christianity and principles/doctorine from an interesting angle - Lewis was a staunch Atheist for most of his life, and then became a man of faith through personal searching, questioning, rationalizing, and through conversations with other intellectual and literal friends like Tolkien. So much of what he has said (so far) resounds with me. I highly reccomend it to both people who agree and who disagree with Christianity... I think it provides interesting food for thought.

Define the Relationship (A candid look at breaking up, making up, and dating well.) Also from my dear Aunt E.. I am still only in the midst of chapter 1, but I will be able to report more at another time. So far, it has started to open the can of worms called communication (or should it be called miscommunication?). I just hope it won't be too preachy... I hate that.

Still reading Things You Should Know By Now (see sidebar for the link) but I will probably put it aside for a while since my dearest pal Rebecca wants to borrow it... and I will see her this weekend, on Martha's Vineyard! :)

(In looking at this post, I see a big need to read some fiction. Any good suggestions as to non-depressing good lose-yourself-in-them-books?)

Answer

Well, congratulations are in order to my mystery comment person... Someone plagued with harpaxophobia suffers from a fear of thieves or robbers (or thievery/robberies).

Anonymous... if you are indeed so smart, then why hide yourself?

strange tidbit

I learned this word at dinner last night...

HARPAXOPHOBIA

Do you know what this is a fear of? Leave a comment if you do. Answer to follow...

Hmm. Kind of scary, if you think about it...

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deson't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

(Yes, this was a forward that I got. I'm sure you've gotten it, too - but it's just so strangely fascinating to me, so I shared.)

Strange combination of stuff...

First subject: I saw the strangest commercial today for an LG Refrigerator. It seems like a nice refrigerator and all, as far as refrigerators go - stainless, sleek look, ice and water in the door, etc.... and a TELEVISION! Who in the name of all that is good and normal needs a &$%@&#! tv in the door of their fridge?!? Oh, wait. That's right. Market a stupid product to the obese Americans!

Next subject: our house. It's leaking. No, not because of the post-hurricane rain we're experiencing today, but internally. Something is terribly wrong upstairs, and the downstairs bathroom and closet and basement ceiling are all wet. The plumbing is the problem, and the super isn't coming until Saturday or Sunday. Meanwhile, we're taking amazingly fast showers and praying that the walls don't come apart. What joy. No wonder our basement has been getting mustier smelling.

Last subject: Back-to-school-night. Remember mom and dad heading out to school one night in September to talk to the teachers and read the cute note you left in your desk for them? Our school's BTSN is tonight. And I so don't want to be there. It's not like anyone cares to come up and speak to a "special area" teacher. You just sit there and eat cookies because you are so bored. And it's raining, which makes the commute and parking issues a joy. Yay.

...I know, I know - I'm all sunshine-and-flowers lately... you may not believe me, but I am trying to improve!

well, at least I know I'm consistent...

This afternoon, being the fine afternoon that it was, my parents decided to get outside and asked me to come along. We ended up going mini-golfing... at a place I hadn't been since May 24th. (yes, I do remember the date I was last there... although not because of the golfing!) Well, my previous visit yielded some sketchy scoring... many retries and quite a few balls ending up on the gravel instead of the 'green'. However, none of that mattered in the least, as it was hilariously fun.

Well, this time I must say that my scores were probably similar to the previous run on the course, had actual scoring come into play. Par for the 18 holes was 47. My score was 59... the loser of the group. However, I came into my own in the back 9, only 2 above par, and the winner of those holes. (being 10 above par on the front 9 is what killed me!)

At least I wasn't the only one in the group that ended up with 'gravel balls'... although I did rack up the most! I guess eye-hand-putter coordination is not a strong suit of mine...

four random thoughts for saturday

1. Happy Yom Kippur. Too bad it didn't fall on a weekday, or we'd have the day off. :(
2. Last night, went to Queens with mom and dad to meet up with a bunch of family for a big dinner (my great aunt was visiting from Georgia). V. nice time.
3. Random poetry I found...
Roses are red, violets are blue,
I'm a schizophrenic, and so am I.
4. Waiting.... waiting... waiting... waiting... a week of waiting! :c/

I'm now off to spend my morning at the supermarket. Oh, Joy! Do Saturdays get any better than this?

regression?

Recently, I was reminded of something I used to say in college. It is funny, sure, but also perhaps holds a bit of sense in it as well. One can never be too careful, you know...

Boys are dumb, and we should throw rocks at them.

Is it obvious that it's not a good day? Grr.

100 things

A very long time ago, Becky made a list of 100 things about herself. (I forget where the inspiration came from.) I was inspired by this... and thought that it would be an interesting thing to do myself. Well, I started one once, and found it again recently. I had to change some things, but I still am only up to 61! I'll have to keep working - it's harder than you think to come up with 100 random facts about yourself. Here are a few from my list....

9. I was 'dethroned' from my position of Supreme Queen of "The Club" on 04/30/04.
18. One of my apartment-mates in college was born on exactly the same day as me. (yay for Flag Day babies!)
26. I want to learn to tango.
29. I also want to learn how to fence. (yay for swordfighting!)
39. I crave triscuts.
41. I can fold my tongue in three. (like a W.)

I know. More than a little random... but I'm scrounging for something to post about. (shrug)

hello, space cadet...

This is sad. Really really sad. Yesterday was one of those days with a lot of deep thinking and stressing and obsessing and worrying and whatnot... which is awful, since it was also a day off from school (yay for Jewish holidays!). Anyway, my brain was swirling with so many things as I drove to rehearsal last night that I missed a turn and ended up getting lost. LOST... on the way to a place I'd driven to twice a week all winter and spring, and several times already this fall!!! How incredibly awful is that?! And it made me late! Grrr.

(at least I was able to figure myself out and actually get there... but not before pandemonium ensued!) Stupid girl! :/

odometer milestone and books

Yesterday, on my way to rehearsal, I happened to look down at the odometer of my Jeep and was happily surprised to observe a milestone (palendrome, really) - 011110. (you can now ooh and aah appreciatively...) I know. I'm a dork. Whatever.

Thought I'd update the "currently reading" catagory as well, since I have found a new book... actually, several. Things You Should Know By Now is a lot like Quarterlife Crisis, but lighter and funnier. It has chapters with titles like "First Dates are Hard, Except on TV," "Financial Procrastination Will Eat You For Lunch," "How To Buy Groceries," and "How To Cook Eggs a Bunch of Different Ways." I have a few others in the pipeline as well, (has anyone ever known me to actually read just one book at a time?) but thought this one might be worth sharing.

Remember

On days like today, we realize that so many of our own personal concerns and problems seem almost petty and unimportant when we remember that others have had such amazing tragedy enter their lives. I'm not downplaying the fact that we all have valid problems and concerns in our lives, because we do. It's just that I think there are some things that supercede us all.

Reflections like this make you so thankful for what you do have - the people in your life that you care about, the opportunities that you have, the ability to love and laugh and learn and give. Count your blessings. Be thankful. Remember to tell people that you love them. Don't take things for granted. We can't let tragedy corrupt the human spirit and only bring us down... use it to find the good, to learn from it instead of being destroyed by it.

So my friends, I leave you with this - I love you and am thankful that you're a part of my life.

Grumble.

First day of school. Pouring rain, like the shower. All day. Crappy schedule for the year. Two lunch duties and line duty. An 8-minute prep one day. Principal switch at the two schools. (how many days are left????) Health insurance claim chaos letter in mail. Lawyer letter for car accident in mail. Damp. Tired. Grumpy. Angry. Disappointed. Lonely. Heartbroken. Frustrated.

... so, how was your day?

Labor Day Weekend 2004

Hope you all have good plans for the holiday – I don’t. I can’t believe that the summer is over. It was, honestly, the best summer of my life. I played, I had great adventures, I lived life fully, I fell in love. The past two weeks, though? Well, the highest highs go with the lowest lows, I guess.

I hate to say this, but I fear that the hope I’ve been clinging to is slipping away from my clenched fists. I hoped and prayed that this week maybe things could start to mend, or at least questions be resolved… but silence proved me wrong. I will continue to hope, continue to pray… but as hard as it is I need to try to scrape myself up and try to plug along as best I can, try to figure myself out – who I am and who I am meant to become.

I still hurt… I still hope... I still pray… I still love.