I read my horoscope in the paper, mostly because it's printed on the funny pages*. I figure I might as well read it, since I already have the paper open to that page. It's like getting a fortune cookie every day, except I have to share it with everyone else who reads the Dallas Morning News and I don't get a cookie.
Today my horoscope actually managed** to reflect the very things I had planed to do today (stay out of an argument, go bake something). How's that for a crazy coincidence? The paper also said my day was a 5 out of 10, which sounds about right as I'm still unemployed and I have this nasty chest cough which makes me sound as though I'm being savaged by a dying goose***.
Also, I made a new thing today. It's sort of a mini-scarf neck warmer thing that buttons up one side. The yarn is some cheap acrylic stuff I got in Spain, but ended up not using for a Christmas present after all. I hadn't crocheted anything in a while, and that seemed as good a reason as any to start trying to clear the junk out of my stash.
Later,
Ely
*where it belongs [back]
**though the Monkeys on a Keyboard Theory of Shakespeare Composition [back]
***And no, I didn't bake anything today after all. No one wants to eat anything after I've coughed on it. [back]
Friday, February 13, 2009
Monday, February 09, 2009
The Importance of Watching the Super Bowl
My brother informs me that not watching the Super Bowl is the first step to becoming a pinko commie, so it's a good thing I watched the first half, even though my preferred sport is futbol, not football. After the half time show I got board and wandered off to make dinner, but the TV stayed on, which is alomst like watching it. I guess this is my way of saying that I resent the implication that I might be harboring any bolshivik tendencies.
In other news:
-My job search proceeds slowly. I'm told that I picked a really lousy time to join the job market.
-Rewrites on my novel are coming along well. I might have something ready to submit this summer. *crosses fingers*
Later,
Elly
In other news:
-My job search proceeds slowly. I'm told that I picked a really lousy time to join the job market.
-Rewrites on my novel are coming along well. I might have something ready to submit this summer. *crosses fingers*
Later,
Elly
Saturday, January 31, 2009
5 Year Old Humor
I should clarify that this is not a joke that I have been hoarding for five years*, but rather a joke told to me by a five year old kid who has learned about synonyms and puns but does not understand them.
Q. Did you hear about the fuzzy who lost his left side?
A. He's OK now! [cue riotous laughter] Get it? Get it?**
The original telling of this joke occurred somewhere on I-35, while mom and I were taking my brother back to college station. When we finally got the joke, I very nearly fell out of my seat laughing, but I was physically restrained by my seat belt, so I settled for laughing until I cried.
Later,
Elly
*Although I do have a tendency to repeat jokes until I get the response I want. [back]
**Translated into adult-speak, the punch line of this joke is actually "He's all right now." [back]
Q. Did you hear about the fuzzy who lost his left side?
A. He's OK now! [cue riotous laughter] Get it? Get it?**
The original telling of this joke occurred somewhere on I-35, while mom and I were taking my brother back to college station. When we finally got the joke, I very nearly fell out of my seat laughing, but I was physically restrained by my seat belt, so I settled for laughing until I cried.
Later,
Elly
*Although I do have a tendency to repeat jokes until I get the response I want. [back]
**Translated into adult-speak, the punch line of this joke is actually "He's all right now." [back]
Friday, January 23, 2009
And We're Back
I was going to make regular updates over the holidays.
I was going to update at least once a week in 2009.
I was going to write an interesting re-cap of all the things I've done in the past year, especially the things that happened since my last post, such as narrowly avoiding be squished by a tree and teaming up with Mom Lady* to build a gallon-sized graham cracker cathedral.
Unfortunately, I've been stricken with a horrible case of Mañana Fever ** So, instead of doing any of that, I'm going to make an observation about the weather: if this cold-one-day-hot-the-next pattern we've had for the last month or so keeps up, we are going to have some interesting storms this Spring.
That is all.
*her super power is Being My Mommy. This is important. [back]
**Differential Diagnosis: Procrastin-itis [back]
I was going to update at least once a week in 2009.
I was going to write an interesting re-cap of all the things I've done in the past year, especially the things that happened since my last post, such as narrowly avoiding be squished by a tree and teaming up with Mom Lady* to build a gallon-sized graham cracker cathedral.
Unfortunately, I've been stricken with a horrible case of Mañana Fever ** So, instead of doing any of that, I'm going to make an observation about the weather: if this cold-one-day-hot-the-next pattern we've had for the last month or so keeps up, we are going to have some interesting storms this Spring.
That is all.
*her super power is Being My Mommy. This is important. [back]
**Differential Diagnosis: Procrastin-itis [back]
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
Zuh, What?
It finally clicked in my little head that I'm flying home this Thursday. So, I thought I would refresh my memory and look at my flight information so I could make sure I had a ride home from the airport and all of that.
Can someone please tell me what I was thinking when I booked a seat on a flight that leaves Madrid at 6 a.m.? With only an hour and a half* to change flights in Frankfurt?
Later,
Ely
*That sounds like plenty of time, but really, it's only just enough. EU arrivals are on the opposite side of the airport from international departures, and in between I have to go through two security checks (at which any liquids I may or may not have purchased in the duty free shop and subsequently forgotten will be confiscated) and passport control. I've complained about this before, and you'll probably here about it again.[back]
Can someone please tell me what I was thinking when I booked a seat on a flight that leaves Madrid at 6 a.m.? With only an hour and a half* to change flights in Frankfurt?
Later,
Ely
*That sounds like plenty of time, but really, it's only just enough. EU arrivals are on the opposite side of the airport from international departures, and in between I have to go through two security checks (at which any liquids I may or may not have purchased in the duty free shop and subsequently forgotten will be confiscated) and passport control. I've complained about this before, and you'll probably here about it again.[back]
Saturday, December 06, 2008
Lentil Soup
A staple of dinner here is lentil soup. Despite the fact that none of us actually like it, we have lentil soup at least once a week. I have nothing against lentils in principle, it's just... they're lentils, and when boiled for hours to make the stock for a soup they tend to loose all of their flavor and (paradoxically) make every other ingredient in the soup (from chorizo to carrots) taste like lentils. The end result is a dark brown mush that I have had to eat once a week ever since I got here. Back in September lentil soup was something that I was mostly indifferent to; now I want to call in sick to dinner every time I see Juan or Ana setting out soup bowls.
The rest of the this post is kind of like that soup. This is sort of a grab bag of things which are mostly innocuous on their own but -- taken in combination after four months of exposure -- are really starting to annoy me.
First, I would like to address the club hoppers who make the move from Dreams to Joy between two and three in the morning every damn day. Would you all please shut up? I'm trying to sleep. That goes double at five in the morning when the clubs all close. Whatever you do, stop singing. Your voice is not attractive, and after you've had that much to drink you don't even remember all the words. Just. Shut. Up.
Second, I would like to address whoever is responsible for the civic infrastructure on Calle Arenal. Why does the trash get picked up at 1 a.m.? Why can this not be done at some hour when I am not trying to sleep? And the guys you sent last week to use a jackhammer to remove random paving stones and replace them with un-leveled piled of sand? That wasn't funny. I starting to wonder if my randomly non-functioning knee isn't connected to that time I tripped on the place where you removed a tree and replaced it with a pile of sand. Why are you creating more obstacles?
Third: to the writers of CSI (any version). When was the last time an episode did not include a murder/manslaughter/negligent homicide? I thought the team investigated all sorts of crimes. To the Miami people: the only member of your team I liked was the ME, and she's left the show. Horatio's sunglasses are not enough to get me to keep watching. Please get off my TV. To the Las Vegas people: how is it that you can kill off Warick (who I kind of liked) but Sarah (who I hate almost as much as I hated the Sarah/Grissom relationship story arc) still isn't gone even though she technically left? To the New York people: congratulations, you're the only iteration of the show where I like all the characters. Please keep it that way. Also, the "member of the team has been taken hostage and/or seriously injured plot" has gotten old and stale. If I recall correctly, the only team members who have not been sucked into either of those plots are Sid and Adam, both of whom never leave the lab. Also, I notice that suspects try to run a lot more in New York than they do in Las Vegas. While I enjoy watching Detective Flack tackle people as much as the next fan girl, it's getting kind of old.
Fourth, to people who write knitting patterns: is there some sort of law that states that every printed knitting pattern must include at least one typo that will result in me having to frog at least two rows in order to correct? The pattern I'm working from now makes the rather blatant error of giving directions for a stockinette rib stitch instead of a seed stitch. For any readers who don't speak knitting, and have followed the post thus far, the directions to produce something like this:
V - V - V -
V - V - V -
V - V - V -
were labeled as the pattern for this:
V - V - V -
- V - V - V
V - V - V -
Speaking of knitting, I finished Juan's Christmas present. He teased me one too many times about making something for him. If I understood the Juan-ish correctly, he was asking for a gray knee length slip [translator's note: that could mean boxer shorts or it could mean slip, I'm really not sure, and either way, I'm not knitting it] with an American flag on the butt. What I made him is a basket-weave scarf. It's knit from pink acrylic (2 EUR for 200 grams), which experienced knitters will instantly recognize as really, really, cheap. The yarn was thin and the only needles I had on hand are 7mm and solid aluminum, so I doubled the yarn when I made this one. Even after I made the tassels, I still had a ball a little smaller than my fist left over. Take a look if you dare.
On the subject of knitting needles: solid aluminum is a bad choice of material for a large-gauge needle. It's just too heavy, and using these stupid things is about to kill my hands. Why can't I find another option in this city? Surely plastic or bamboo needles exist in this country, why doesn't anyone sell them?
I think I'm done complaining about things that don't really matter now. Thanks for reading.
Later,
Ely
The rest of the this post is kind of like that soup. This is sort of a grab bag of things which are mostly innocuous on their own but -- taken in combination after four months of exposure -- are really starting to annoy me.
First, I would like to address the club hoppers who make the move from Dreams to Joy between two and three in the morning every damn day. Would you all please shut up? I'm trying to sleep. That goes double at five in the morning when the clubs all close. Whatever you do, stop singing. Your voice is not attractive, and after you've had that much to drink you don't even remember all the words. Just. Shut. Up.
Second, I would like to address whoever is responsible for the civic infrastructure on Calle Arenal. Why does the trash get picked up at 1 a.m.? Why can this not be done at some hour when I am not trying to sleep? And the guys you sent last week to use a jackhammer to remove random paving stones and replace them with un-leveled piled of sand? That wasn't funny. I starting to wonder if my randomly non-functioning knee isn't connected to that time I tripped on the place where you removed a tree and replaced it with a pile of sand. Why are you creating more obstacles?
Third: to the writers of CSI (any version). When was the last time an episode did not include a murder/manslaughter/negligent homicide? I thought the team investigated all sorts of crimes. To the Miami people: the only member of your team I liked was the ME, and she's left the show. Horatio's sunglasses are not enough to get me to keep watching. Please get off my TV. To the Las Vegas people: how is it that you can kill off Warick (who I kind of liked) but Sarah (who I hate almost as much as I hated the Sarah/Grissom relationship story arc) still isn't gone even though she technically left? To the New York people: congratulations, you're the only iteration of the show where I like all the characters. Please keep it that way. Also, the "member of the team has been taken hostage and/or seriously injured plot" has gotten old and stale. If I recall correctly, the only team members who have not been sucked into either of those plots are Sid and Adam, both of whom never leave the lab. Also, I notice that suspects try to run a lot more in New York than they do in Las Vegas. While I enjoy watching Detective Flack tackle people as much as the next fan girl, it's getting kind of old.
Fourth, to people who write knitting patterns: is there some sort of law that states that every printed knitting pattern must include at least one typo that will result in me having to frog at least two rows in order to correct? The pattern I'm working from now makes the rather blatant error of giving directions for a stockinette rib stitch instead of a seed stitch. For any readers who don't speak knitting, and have followed the post thus far, the directions to produce something like this:
V - V - V -
V - V - V -
V - V - V -
were labeled as the pattern for this:
V - V - V -
- V - V - V
V - V - V -
Speaking of knitting, I finished Juan's Christmas present. He teased me one too many times about making something for him. If I understood the Juan-ish correctly, he was asking for a gray knee length slip [translator's note: that could mean boxer shorts or it could mean slip, I'm really not sure, and either way, I'm not knitting it] with an American flag on the butt. What I made him is a basket-weave scarf. It's knit from pink acrylic (2 EUR for 200 grams), which experienced knitters will instantly recognize as really, really, cheap. The yarn was thin and the only needles I had on hand are 7mm and solid aluminum, so I doubled the yarn when I made this one. Even after I made the tassels, I still had a ball a little smaller than my fist left over. Take a look if you dare.
On the subject of knitting needles: solid aluminum is a bad choice of material for a large-gauge needle. It's just too heavy, and using these stupid things is about to kill my hands. Why can't I find another option in this city? Surely plastic or bamboo needles exist in this country, why doesn't anyone sell them?
I think I'm done complaining about things that don't really matter now. Thanks for reading.
Later,
Ely
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