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Tuesday, April 25, 2006
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I'm updating. I don't have much to say, because work is currently killing me. In fact, as I type, at 11:51pm on Tuesday night, I'm procrastinating doing work. It's like I'm in college all over again, except this is a little early for it to feel so late, and there's no one distracting me on IM right now. I kinda miss the constant IM distractions.
Work should stop killing me after Monday (which will be May, which is crazy). A few days after that, I hope, it will stop being busy, and then I will take a day off. Part of me hopes it's a Monday or Friday, so I'll have a longer weekend (this past weekend, there was no weekend, and this coming weekend there will be no weekend), but part of me hopes it'll be in the middle of the week because there's something almost magical about having a day off in the middle of the week. I hope to get a few things in order and organized, but mostly I'm hoping it's a nice day, so that I can go down to Davis Square and knit outside for awhile, while drinking iced tea from Someday Cafe. It's the little things.
It's the little things.
- Lizzardie, at 11:52 PM
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Friday, April 21, 2006
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Today was supposed to be a good day. Today is the day I paid off my car. That's right, after almost 5 years (loan was taken out on August 18th, 2001, for those that might be curious), I no longer have car payments and official own my beaten up car!
The problem, however, is that Chase made paying off my car into an entirely excruciating process. I hate them. Do not do business with them, as they have screwed me over in every possible way during the last year. And it's not just the car - I had problems with my bank account and 2 credit cards, as well. It took me almost an hour to get a payment through, even though it should have just been a simple online transaction. Their site is painful to navigate and downright lies to you (it both told me I had a different address on file than I actually do - and you can't change your address online - and told me that if I needed my title and lien release mailed to a different address - like maybe the correct one! - then you should call them and they will process your payments over the phone. Once you navigate through a gajillion menus and listen to endless pre-recorded messages, they inform you that you can make payments over the phone but you can't pay OFF your loan. But collections will process your pay off if you pay a $10 processing fee. Totally unacceptable). I am so so so so so happy to be done with all of my accounts with them. I vow now, no matter what happens, that I will never open another account with them again. William Harrison, Jamie Dimon, I hope you're listening.
- Lizzardie, at 12:45 PM
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Wednesday, April 19, 2006
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I was going to post a picture of my new spindle, but I don't seem to have my camera cord. Maybe I will turn it into a 2-parter, with one picture of the spindle and raw wool, and another of my first attempts at making yarn (which are pitiful).
If you think the new knitting/yarn thing is crazy, listen to this: Susan and Kristen work part-time at this craft store called Spark. They sell yarn and paper and beads and all sorts of tools, as well as offer lots of classes. They have several knitters, but none of them really have a desire to knit samples for the store. SO... Susan talked to me about it, and then mentioned it to Amy, the owner of the store - and we're in the very beginning planning stages of having me knit samples in exchange for store credit. Nothing is set in stone - I just emailed Amy for the first time - but it's kind of exciting that my knitting could possibly support the hobby. :-)
Nothing else really to report - work has been.... going, I guess, the way it normally does. As a follow-up to the Good Friday post, I will tell you that I did succeed in not eating meat (other than seafood) all day, but it wasn't easy - after some candlepin bowling with Corinne and her roommate and her roommate's friends, we went to Red Bones. The desire to get some pulled pork or beef brisket was high (Corinne's beef brisket actually looked amazing, I need to try that), but I fought temptation and ordered grilled shrimp and scallops with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli (and corn fritters, can't forget the corn fritters). I need some red meat soon, though!
- Lizzardie, at 10:28 AM
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Friday, April 14, 2006
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Hello, friends. It's been a long week. Between work stress, insomnia stress and life stress, I haven't really been up for talking with, well, anyone. And I know some of this I'm making up in my head, but that's what I do. Today has been a little better. So Happy Good Friday!
I don't talk with people about religion all that often - I find it's a little bit of a touchy subject with most people, though I do have a good curiosity about what other believe and why they believe the way they do. But that does not mean I'm not religious. Of course, I'm not SUPER religious - I don't go to church every Sunday, and I don't agree with every teaching of the Christian faith, but I do consider myself to be a Lutheran Christian. I love going to church on Christmas Eve, because I love the service and I love my Pastor back home. And I try to go to church on Easter Sunday, even though there have been a few I've missed, of course. I am planning on going thi Sunday, even though I did not like the service when I went last year. But I still want to go.
Other than those two services, the only other commitment I make is to not eat meat on Good Friday (fish is okay). Now, in theory, this is not much of a sacrifice. There are plenty of days throughout the year when I don't eat meat - and I love seafood. Plus, it's only ONE day. There are plenty of people who give up meat on Fridays during Lent, or all year-round. Plus plenty of people give up SOMETHING for all of Lent, which I have never done. And let's not get started on other religions. But it's funny how hard this is. All of a sudden, on this one day of the year, because I can't have something, I WANT it like you wouldn't believe. Both of the coworkers I sit with got sandwhiches today with lots of beef on them - they looked SO GOOD. And I guess my food was good - earlier in the week, I bought the fixings for yummy veggie pitas, complete with red onions, tomatoes, red bell peppers, cucumbers, sprouts, avocado, tofu and balsamic vinaigrette (this time not of my own making, though I usually do that nowadays) on a whole wheat pita. But... STEAK. So I think I'm going to have to have some delicious meat this weekend. And of course spend the rest of the day thinking about sacrifice, and what it means to give something up, because I guess that's what the point of this exercise is, in the first place.
Happy Easter!
- Lizzardie, at 3:14 PM
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Monday, April 10, 2006
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When I left work on Friday, I had the following plans for the weekend: eat, sleep, knit, work, walk, grocery shopping, cook, clean (not in that order, really, at all, because of course there is knitting and cooking/eating and sleeping mixed in with all of the not-fun activities - so really it was more eat, watch tv, knit, watch tv, sleep, knit, watch tv, work, knit, work, eat, watch tv, knit, clean, etc...). I did eat, and do a little bit of cooking, and there was of course lots of knitting and watching tv (and some sleeping but not nearly enough), but that's where the resemblance to my plan ends.
Friday night started out with knitting and watching tv. I decided that I had no energy to cook, so I just wouldn't eat dinner Friday night. So ambitious after a week at work, I tell you. However, when Herb called me at 7:30 to see if I had eaten and wanted to join him and his coworkers (Elenka and Russ), OF COURSE I was up for that (because I seem to be managing April by doing a lot of work followed by a lot of drinking). There was food, of course, but also lots of alcohol - I count 2 gin & tonics, one Washington Apple shot (no idea what's in that), one Pangalactic Gargleblaster (which was most neon green pint of alcohol), one vodka & tonic, one beer and some scotch - but at least it was over a period of about 5-6 hours (no wine! see, I'm not totally one-dimensional!). It was a nice night out, even if it meant Saturday was spent hungover (duh).
So Saturday, mid-afternoon (when I determined that I was ready to move on from the hangover), I reallocated the rest of the weekend. I was going to go for a walk and then cook dinner and then do some work while watching Law & Order reruns. No problem.... until Susan called. Would I like some cake? OF COURSE I'd like some cake! I don't need to get anything done Saturday night, I'll just do it all on Sunday, like I normally do! I went over to Susan's for cake, where we were also joined by Kim and Jeff and Kristen, making the cake an impromptu birthday cake for Kristen (whose birthday was the day before). The cake was yummy (and the only thing I had to eat all day except crackers, a lot of which were consumed at Susan's), and I also got to hear tales of Jeff's hungover roommates and fill in whatever blanks I could, which was highly amusing ("Herb lost Russ", "I don't know how a bowl of mini-wheats, milk and alcohol got into the freezer", "we did not drink ALL of the alcohol in the bar", etc...).
While I was at Susan's, I found out about plans for lunch the next day (which I have still mysteriously not received the email about). OF COURSE I'll go to lunch. What? It's in NATICK? So I guess it's an adventure (because I didn't really need to get ANYTHING done all weekend). I drove Susan, Kim and Kim's brother Nathan to the restaurant in Natick, Minado, where we enjoyed a nice Japanese buffet. Of course, I couldn't find my way back to the highway, and didn't want turn around, so I decided we'd take the "scenic" route back ("this road goes to Wellesley! I can get us back from there!"), resulting in the trip home being an hour, instead of half an hour... oops. :-) I got home at around 4:30pm on Sunday, which is when I was able to start doing all of the things I meant to all weekend.
So what did I do first? Knit and watch tv! Hehehehe... eventually I got some real work done and cooked dinner and did the dishes. My apartment still looks like a tornado went through it, though, and I'm going to have no clean clothes soon. But no matter, because I had a fun weekend. :-)
On another note, I realize I've been lacking in the visual post department as of late. With the nicer weather, I'm hoping to have some free time (eventually) to go out and take some pretty pictures around Somerville, Cambridge and Boston. Along those same lines, I'm hoping to go through my photographs and find some that I've already taken, so you will not be without something visual for too much longer!
- Lizzardie, at 3:21 PM
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Wednesday, April 05, 2006
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Note to self: You are not in college anymore. Going out drinking on a Tuesday night makes for a rough Wednesday. Particularly when you already know that you're going to be drinking on Wednesday night, partly because you always do, but also because you're going out with your coworkers BEFORE you go out for your normal night of poker and gin & tonics.
I don't even want to think about how I'm going to feel tomorrow.
In happier news (not that the above is particularly unhappy, since I like drinking, and as I said last night when planning the drinking, I can almost always use a drink), I'm working on a scarf that I'm calling "dead mouse." :-) It looks nothing like a dead mouse, but it includes two colors of yarn - one is called Mouse and the other is called Blood. I wonder if the recipient will be as amused about this as I am.
- Lizzardie, at 12:11 PM
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Monday, April 03, 2006
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Happy April! I was expecting today to be pretty busy, but of course right at the beginning of the quarter, it takes awhile for things to pick up. I should be in full working mode by the end of the week, though (if I'm not, it's really going to screw up the rest of the month for me, that's for sure).
I barely left the apartment this weekend, which I suppose could be seen as somewhat tragic. I did go for a walk yesterday and Saturday (before the rain), which was nice - Saturday early afternoon (because I was not up in the morning) really was nice and sunny and warm. Saturday was also the day of a cooking DISASTER - what did I say about them last week? Thanks to not paying attention to the cooking (I don't have to check on it when it says simmer covered for 1.5 - 2 hours, right?), I will now be eating slightly charred black bean soup (it's like I made it on a camp fire!) with brown rice that, for once, actually came out right (I'm only allowed to screw up one part of the meal, it seems). YUM.
Yesterday I also ventured out to the yarn store (LYS in knitting-speak), Woolcott & Company, in Harvard Square. Wish I had more money to spend in there, because there are a lot of yarns that I would love to try (but what would I make, more scarves?). They're also really nice, which I'd heard, but hadn't really experience, due to the fact that I'm just not friendly. One of the women there asked what I was going to make with the yarn I had in my hand, and when I told her that I was going to make an iPod cozy and I'd heard the yarn I had was good for them (Cascade Fixation, if anyone cares), she wholeheartedly agreed and even had a suggestion on how to add a cozy to gloves for when it's cold outside. I also heard the people in there talking about a blog I'm familiar with related to knitting - it made me feel like I could have jumped into the conversation, if, you know, I liked people. *sigh*
Speaking of knitting, there was knitting on Grey's Anatomy last night! Okay, okay - as Dan said, while it elevated my hobby somewhat, I'm sure, it also implied knitting is a substitute for men. So that's bad. But it provided a GREAT scene at the end, and for that I'm thankful. :-)
There's been an email in my inbox for the past several weeks, from the PSP Alumni Chair. Most of the information they're looking for is simple enough, but one of the questions - Favorite PSP Memory - so I skipped over it and pretty much forgot about the email. I was reminded of it, though, last week, when someone else was also clearly trying to respond to this email, and I've been thinking about it ever since. What is my favorite PSP memory? I really don't know. I absolutely loved my time in PSP, and my closest friends come from there. I'm still involved and helping out, in some ways. Since it has meant so much to me, it's hard to pick out a favorite memory - there were so many good times. On the flip side, a lot of my time the last couple of years at Cornell were spent with so much internal anguish - there were so many events that I went to where I was miserable, but not because I didn't love being with those people or trying new things - that overshadows a lot of events. I keep coming back to that first National Convention in St. Louis - if I could pinpoint one event that truly inspired me, leading to my eventual leadership role in the Chapter, it would be that. But I'm still not sure if that's my favorite memory.
All of this memory searching resulted in me going through a lot of old photographs - I considered choosing one to post, but decided against it. A lot of them brought a smile to my face. Again, though, the darker side has emerged in the past few days, because yesterday when cleaning out my car (it really needed it - still needs to be vacuumed/wiped down), I came across 2 photographs. I'm not sure why they were in my car - certainly not ones I would choose to put in my car (and photos are not things I keep in my car anyway), but I think someone must have given them to me at some point. Each photograph had three people pictured - me, a dear friend, and a person from a broken friendship - all 4 different. Those two broken friendships haunt me sometimes, probably because I just don't have that many of them. I know it has to happen to all of us, because no one is perfect and not everyone is meant to be friends forever, but they both involved such unfortunate circumstances (in which we all share the blame). I guess it's a lesson about friendship, and remembering how to treat people - with honesty, sincerity and humility. Probably other things, too.
- Lizzardie, at 4:24 PM
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