i've snuck onto a "for registration purposes only" computer to say a quick hi =D! from trinity college in DC.

love,

me

All my bags are (mostly) packed and I'm (almost) ready to go...

I'm flying out to Philadelphia late tonight, where I'll be spending a night over at a friend's/team member's place before we drive down to DC on Saturday morning for my Notre Dame AmeriCorps Mid-Year Conference, where I'll be meeting all the other suckers/good-hearteds of NDA from the other national sites.  I'm still trying to decide between my peacoat and my down jacket. 

It's been about 20 years since I've been on that side of the country, so I'm excited.  Hopefully I'll have some time away from all the talks, ice breakers, workshops, and meetings to play the tourist.  I've been told to eat an aunthentic Philly Cheesesteak, visit Westminster, see the Smithsonian & Holocaust Museum, hang out by the Lincoln Memorial, and somehow get into the White House and meet the president.  The only request I'm sure I'll be able to fulfill is "take lots of pictures"; that's why I'm bringing extra AA's for my digicam.

I vaguely remember how the airport and flying works.  The last time I flew was to Vegas a couple years ago with my family and Louie, but that was only an hour or something.  This flight goes over 2 thousand miles and will take 5 1/2 hours.  Whoopee!  At least I get a window seat, but I guess that doesn't matter much when you're flying at night... or does it?  Oh yeah, I must remember to take airborne before we leave.

Things to Occupy the Sick Mind

Prologue:

I made this giraffe for Joel in December.  He named him Geoffrey (but I decided how it would be spelled).  Sadly, Geoffrey passed the way shortly after this picture was taken.

MORE "SICK DAYs" ART

This is a blue mouse with a swollen tail because I was going to attempt to make a teddy bear first, but then I couldn't figure out how the folds went from that not-nubian-friendly package, so I didn't make the tip of the balloon as long as I should have.

This is a pink poodle.  It's a poodle according to the package, but the only real difference between this dog and the "dog" on the package (by package I mean the package that the balloons came in) is that it has longer limbs and the tip of the balloon is part of the tail instead of the nose (which is the tied-off end of the balloon).

This is a lizard that I made up.  I think that's supposed to be it's tongue in the air.

It's needles to say that knitting is my new addiction.  
(pardon that awful joke.  i've been sick the past few days.)

For three weekends and some of this week, I've been venturing into this fine art of stitching.  My first two weekends of knitting were spent on making collars and a lopsided cap with earholes for Basil. 

(this is Basil.  As you can see, he needed a replacement for that orange peel on his head.)

Last weekend, I started to make a practice scarf, but I ran out of poolstick thread, and turned it into a wristband that was custom made to fit Claire's "baby wrist," instead.  (I would've linked her xanga page, but she abadoned it.  I would've linked her myspace page instead, but I don't know her user ID#).  

(This is Claire's wrist, wearing the couture wristband I made for her.)

Right after that, I decided that to make another wristband for Micah (same linking issues as with Claire).  This time I experimented with two colors, which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, though it was kinda hard trying to keep the loose strings separate (I had to keep adding on new pieces because the thread wasn't long enough--with either color).  Louie was eyeing it for a while, but it was two wide (not in circumference) for his wrist, so instead, he's gonna pick out the yarn/thread/whatever and colors for a wristband I'm gonna make for him.

(This is Micah's wristband, and that is Micah's spread-eagle-toes behind it.  He seems to have a thing for his own feet and toes, but that's another blog.)

I also started my first major knitting project, a slit scarf, which ended up at about 2 1/2 or 3 inches on Sunday, but since I've been home sick since Wednesday, it's grown to the following:

(The slit is already in there, and I'm pretty proud that you can't see it.  Hm.. that ball of yarn looks kinda like yak fur or something.)

Do you like my "cow jumped over the moon" pajamas?  This is my almost third day in them (don't worry, I did take a shower last night... or was it the night before?).  I just got off the phone with Yori (Louie & Claire's mom) and apparently I do have the flu.  It's a new strain that isn't really accompanied by a fever, but that does include body malaise (feeling weak, tired, achey) and a scratchy-itchy throat that can lead to hoarseness.  At least I know it's not Mono or CFS (Chronic Fautigue Syndrome) or Hypochondria. 

please won't you please... be my neighbor.
(unless you suck as a neighbor, then don't!)

the apartment/flat below us is
vacant. 
two bedrooms, living room, kitchen.
the living room is a bit smaller,
but the bedrooms are bigger,
and the kitchen is longer.

**Something in me is saying that this ad will be turned into a poem in the near future.  I will post it once I write it =)**

//UPDATE: i think the rent should be the same as my apt., which is $1300.  It's pretty good deal for SF, especially if you live with more than one person. 

on tuesday, i stopped by my church (usf/st. ignatius) after visiting my ex-supervisor.  i lit two candles, one candle for my grandmother--i realized then that it was 18th, and she had passed away on the 18th of november--and one candle for you.  on the bus yesterday, i had a moment of doubt, and i wondered what it would have meant if things didn't turn out the way i found out they did.  it's funny how sadness, fear, and love can all fill your chest to almost bursting--whoever said that emotions were separate entities from our physical senses was beyond wrong.   i guess it makes sense that you feel all three (sadness, fear, and love) in the same place, because they are so intimately connected.  it's calming to have my faith justified.  and i'm happy that you are, at least in comparison to the alternate possibilities, okay.   

confession.

i've come to realize that i can be very vindictive and unforgiving.  when someone hurts me or someone i care about, it's hard for me to forget or let it go.  once it happens, my perception/opinion of and reactions to whoever has done it changes dramatically, and i'm hard pressed to exhibit the same warmth, understanding, and caring that i usually have toward people with whom i develop relationships.  i can still be civil, respectful, even considerate, but i find myself having to fight back the urge to snap back and denigrate every single flaw and annoying idiosyncracy that that person posesses.  i'm usually very patient and more than tolerant, easygoing even, but with these few specific people, the littlest thing can set me off.  i control these urges mostly by spending bits of my free time imagining arguments in which i tell *someone* off or even engage in a little pushing, slapping, even punching.  a part of me feels the tiniest bit guilty.  another part of is saying i shouldn't let people affect me in such a way.  yet a third part vindicates these mock-confrontations because as freud would say, it's okay to have these thoughts; it's only when you act upon them that they become sociopathic. 

friday was the worst day of my life at st. charles.

todays list:

1) woke up @ 6:15 and got up by 6:19am
(i had been getting up at 7:15/7:20ish)

2) ate breakfast (microwave-style poached egg)
& made myself lunch
(turkey, baby spinach, ricotta cheese,
& honey dijon mustard on rye & strawberry yoplait)

3) exercised my
conflict manager skills
between two third grade girls
(discussed the importance
how you say things)

4) taught my first
after-school hip hop class
(which means i also
got an hour's worth of exercise)

Yay me =)!