New Years' Eve

It's that time again.

I made a few resolutions, but not as big a list as last year. I'll list them, and I'll try and come up with a few more...

1. Get my driver's license
2. Get a job
3. Read lots of books
4. Take some GED prep courses
5. Exercise more
6. Knit a sweater
7. Knit a hat
8. Knit socks
9. Learn fair isle
10. Learn intarsia
11. Put myself out there instead of being the teenage Bridget Jones

I didn't accomplish many of my resolutions this year. For the most part, I kinda forgot about them, lol.

I made a list of the movies I saw for the first time in 2009:

Movies I saw in 2009

In the theatre
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Zombieland

On DVD/TV/VHS

My Neighbor Totoro
InuYasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler
Milk
I'm Not There
Frost/Nixon
Pineapple Express
Shock Treatment
Hair
Labyrinth
The Wrestler
Bolt
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist
Coraline
The Wedding Singer
The Soloist
The Night of the White Pants
Pretty in Pink
The Lucky Ones
Twilight
Capturing Mary
Sixteen Candles
X-Men
The Sky Crawlers
Star Trek
Say Anything
Inkheart
Holiday Inn
The Bishop's Wife

I don't have much else to say...

Scarf knitting... and Spike ;)

At first, when I saw photos of James Marsters as Spike, I thought, "Eh, I prefer Angel."

That is, until I watched part of season two of Buffy today, and saw the first episode that Spike appears in. I heard the voice and went from, "Eh, Spike..." to "Mmmm, Spike!" I now find him delicious. Not sure if I like him more than Angel, though.

I had a really good Spike quote that I wanted to use as my Facebook message under my profile photo, but I forgot it. Blast.

I managed to watch six episodes of Buffy today. I won't get the DVD back to the library in time, though. Unless I sit up here in the Spare Oom and watch Buffy on the little TV, but it's more fun to watch it downstairs on the bigger TV with better speakers. The ones on the little TV are very tinny and toy-like. That TV works in a pinch, though.

Once again, I've forgotten to frog my Zippered Vest. It's on my to-do list.

Oh yeah, scarf knitting... I worked on my Ravenclaw scarf while watching Buffy, and I got almost an entire blue stripe done. I may have to use scraps for the last blue stripe, but I don't have to worry about that yet, because I'm only on my fourth blue stripe. Six more blue stripes, five more bronze stripes.

Wow, it's only a few more days until the House Cup sorting and start-of-term and the new items get added to the library catalogue. Cool.

Christmas Wrap-up

This holiday season has been interesting. I'll start with Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve

I woke up at 7:00 AM to the ringing of my alarm clock. I set it for 7 so that I could shower before me and Dad went to get the cannoli for Christmas Day breakfast. When we got to the bakery, it was around 9:00, and they didn't open until 9:30, so we had to attempt other errands for the half hour. I say 'attempt' because we weren't successful. We stopped at Winners to look for an ornament for Mom, but they weren't open, so we tried Shoppers Drug Mart because Dad wanted to get Mom a Terry's Chocolate Orange for her stocking, but they were cleaned out of the milk chocolate and white chocolate ones. We didn't get her a dark chocolate one because she isn't keen on dark chocolate unless it's mild dark chocolate.

Now that I think about it, we should've seen if the Dutch imports shop in the little shopping mall was still open for business, because they carry a different brand of the chocolate oranges. That mall's being demolished, though, because a SmartCentre is going in.

We did some last-minute cleaning, and then after we had our Harvey's hamburgers I put on It's a Wonderful Life. Katie and Dan got in at around 9:30 PM, and me and Dad helped them haul stuff out of the trunk of Katie's car (she bought a used Toyota recently) because not only did she have her gifts to us, but she also had Dan's family's gifts to him and Katie.

Christmas Day

I can't remember when I eventually got out of bed. I just remember not wanting to get up. I felt kinda sad that morning. Lately I've been feeling sad about holidays. I guess that's why I listen to so many Christmas songs and watch so many Christmas movies - because I'm trying to distract myself from the future and cheer myself up.

It wound up being a great Christmas morning. We ate out cannoli first - Dan gave me the other mini Yule Log, which was nice of him. Normally I think we would open presents first and then eat, so it felt a little odd. And then Katie was like, "Dan, finish your cannoli so that I can give you your stocking!" It was cute. And we put on Bell TV's Yule Log channel, but we muted it so that we could put the stereo on and listen to the CBC.

So, in my stocking, I got:

A bag of red licorice allsorts (because I'm not crazy about black licorice much)
Two Sherbet Fountains
Three little bags of British candy - one of Jelly Babies (which I ate this afternoon), one of Bursting Bottles, and one of Fruit Gems (?)
Two trios of nail polish
A pouch of lip balms
A bottle of anti-frizz hair serum
Two pairs of tights
A nail buffer
A marzipan pig
A bag of coconut truffles (I ate a few)
A bag of toffees
Mini bottles of shampoo and conditioner

From Katie and Dan, I got:

A Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll
Bookends
A CD holder that matches the bookends
Leonard Cohen's first CD

From my parents, I got:

16" circular needles
Woolwash
A pink Namaste bag!!!!
Fleecy pajamas
A fleecy houndstooth-print robe
A sleep shirt
The soundtrack from Juno
Bob Dylan's Christmas album
A self-healing rotary cutting mat
A rotary cutter

After we finished unwrapping gifts, Katie and Dan drove down to Nathan's place to pick up him and Steph (I've been calling them Kurt and Courtney ;p). Nathan actually like the hamburger patty press thing I gave him, because he makes burgers a lot, from what he told us. He and Steph gave me a white shortie fleece robe with skulls on it in different colours - kinda pop art-y. I like it.

I freaked out when I was getting ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's, because I couldn't fit into my pantyhose, and then in a fit of rage I whacked my heel on the underside of my bed and it started bleeding, so Katie came down to see if I was okay, and then got some peroxide and a bandage for my heel and helped me with my clothes. I wound up wearing my black eyelet kneesocks instead of pantyhose, because kneesocks are idiot-proof and look flattering.

I went with Katie and Dan in their car to Grandma and Grandpa's place, and Dad took the food first and then picked Mom up from the house. When I got there, Patti's friend Lorraine was there, talking to Grandma (thankfully, she didn't stay for dinner - probably because Patti wasn't there). Me and Grandma talked a little bit, and then Uncle Brent, Justin and Breanne arrived. Not long after that, Mom arrived. And then Grandma asked us to change the tablecloth on the table in the living room because Grandpa had put down a beige-coloured one with grapes on it, and she preferred the solid white tablecloth. It was funny.

Once everybody was sitting in the living room, Grandpa started handing out gifts. I got two books off my list (Terrier by Tamora Pierce and Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr), a clock radio (which I didn't think I needed, because I have my wind-up alarm clock, but I like it and will probably use it) and a hoodie from Aeropostale. Grandpa even asked me to try it on to make sure it fitted okay, and it did. Breanne and Justin got Aeropostale stuff, too. At first, Breanne told Grandpa that her stuff wouldn't fit, but she tried it on and it fit well. She really liked the green and purple shirt she got. Katie, Uncle Brent and Mom all got these Magic Bullet blenders, Dan got a Transformers DVD, and Dad got a bottle of Jack Daniel's and a case of Dr Pepper - which was really funny, because it's Dad's new favourite drink, and he keeps telling people about it. Justin got a book off his list also, and Katie got the Wilton cake decorating course kit she asked for. She's pretty happy about that kit :)

Dinner wasn't as pleasant. I was at the table in the living room with Katie, Dan, Breanne and Uncle Brent. Brent was being a complete ass, bitching at Breanne about irrelevant things. He wanted her to put on her button-down shirt that she had with her, even though it was roasting in the living room (it got so warm that Grandpa asked people to open the front door for a few minutes). And he even had the nerve to tell her, "Go to your mother's." Now, Breanne was being a little bit of a madam, but she would be keeping to herself and eating dinner and Brent would pick fights with her. It pissed me off immensely. If I wasn't trapped between Dan and the Christmas tree, I would've left the table, I was that mad.

Dessert was a little more civil. I ate my trifle like a jackhammer, though, because I was so mad at Brent, and when I went to grab some cookies and squares from the platter, I sat at the kitchen table with Mom, Grandma, Grandpa and Jack instead. After dessert, we hung around while Brent, Breanne and Justin were leaving (Brent forgot his laundry and hair gel from when he used Grandma and Grandpa's shower 'cause his cistern was empty at home, and he was supposed to take the raw veggies and dip with him, but forgot that too, so Katie grabbed it all and put it in her car).

Boxing Day

I ate a peanut butter sandwich for breakfast. As usual, after I eat, somebody offers to pick up take-out. In this case, it was Katie offering to pick up breakfast from McDonald's. She asked me if I wanted anything, though, which was nice, so I asked for hotcakes. She asked me if I wanted a hashbrown patty, too, so I said yes. I like McDonald's hotcakes. There was no butter in the bag, but that was fine. I just ate them plain.

Katie picked up Nathan at around 1:00. Steph didn't come because she wasn't feeling well, apparently - I'll believe it when I see it. Hey, I wonder if she was... never mind. Not gonna say it. Bad, bad taste.

Anyway. I put on jeans and my red shirt with 'I'm sorry. My fault. I forgot you were an idiot.' printed on it in white. It's another gem from Giant Tiger. I took Blood and Chocolate with me in case I got bored (Mom thought it was rude, but too bad). I managed to read a page, or almost a page, on the way. It was hard to read in the van because it isn't as smooth a ride as the Honda, so my book kept wobbling. It was really soggy outside, but a pretty kind of soggy. The natural light was good for reading, and I wish I'd taken my camera with me 'cause the scenery was really pretty. I saw horses. And cattle. Or maybe they were bulls. I think they were cows, though. But the sky itself was really pretty - very dark and overcast with a little stripe of light on the horizon. It would've been a great shot to use for a book cover for my NaNoWriMo '09 novel.

Brent was on his best behavior. I think it was because Heather (his girlfriend) and her kids were there, and Breanne and Justin were at their mom's. If Breanne had been there, he may have even been civil to her, just because of Heather being there and him wanting to impress her. Yeah, Brent, you're sooo Father of the Year. Pfft.

We had ham, green beans, scalloped potatoes (which were really good), sweet potatoes (which were mediocre in comparison to Mom's sweet potato souffle that she made for Christmas Day dinner. That, and Patti brought them.), lasagna (which was soupy and weird - another Patti contribution) corn, and salad. I think my favourite was the scalloped potatoes. It looked like there was onion in them, which was neat.

Heather's girls are adorable. I met Tegan when we went out for Chinese food, but I hadn't met Jenasee until yesterday. Tegan really likes Katie and Dan. Poor Dan became a set of playground monkey bars! ;P

Today

Mom whacked together a blueberry French toast casserole for breakfast last night and baked it off today. It's pretty good. Katie and Dan went out to do some shopping at various places. I'm not sure if they're home yet. This post has taken me a long time to write because Dad has called me down several times to dry dishes.

I'm drinking ginger ale.

I ate the packet of jelly babies that I got in my stocking.

That is all.

Why, no, I'm not stressed! ;)

Did you catch the sarcasm in that? lols.

Yes, I'm still stressed out about Christmas. I'm a little on edge about this whole thing. I feel like I'm waiting for something to go horribly wrong.

All I have to do now is wrap Mom's and Katie's presents. I have to find a box for Katie's though.

Four days until Christmas. Oh dear.

Grease and scarf knitting

Mom and Dad were being jerks because of the bass level on the stereo, so I came upstairs and turned on my computer and the little TV. Our satellite TV provider is giving everyone a free preview of AMC until the 31st, and they're playing Grease, so I'm watching that :D

It's making me want to knit my own Pink Ladies' jacket...

So I'm trying to finish up my Ravenclaw scarf to make room for more projects for when the next term on HPKCHC starts. I have the scarf in a drawer on top of my library book (the first Vampire Diaries omnibus - I probably won't finish it for when it's due back) and CDs, and I have a huge project bag in my wardrobe. I can probably lighten the amount of project in my bag if I take my kerchief shawl out and weave the ends in, and if I take out the small zippered bag (which my Ravenclaw scarf might fit into) and my Calorimetry (which needs a button).

I also have the mandrake blanket in a grocery bag, the bobble pillow in a cloth bag, the baby sweater in another cloth bag, and the mobius wrap in my fair trade tote...

Yeah, it's a lot. I know for sure that I want to frog the Thick & Quick vest because it's way too heavy on my shoulders. It's kinda fugly anyway ;) I wouldn't want to wish something that bad on anybody.

I also want to finish my Irish Hiking Scarf...

I might make socks for the Ravelympics. I probably already mentioned that yesterday... lol! And I have a bag that socks could easily fit into - my mom used to use it for making socks before she gave it to me. I just have to clean out the yarn scraps that are in it. Actually, if I have a small project on the go for the first month of the new HPKCHC term, I can use it for that, too.

So, I picked out one of the nougat things that Mom bought and wrapped it for Dan for Christmas. I hope he likes it. I just have to wrap Katie's present and Mom's present, but Mom told me not to wrap hers' until Christmas Eve because she doesn't want to accidentally guess what it is. Knowing Dad, though, he'll probably wait until Christmas Eve to wrap everything for Mom anyway! lol. He's a goof like that.

DUDE. I just had an idea for a Pink Ladies jacket. I could use the mens' jacket pattern from the premiere issue of Knit.1 and just use pink chunky yarn or pink worsted doubled. I have pink worsted, but it's more of a dark-ish rose pink, not a bright, bubblegum pink. Or I can just find a pattern that uses worsted. And then I could embroider the 'Pink Ladies' think on the back. I think embroidering would look better than duplicate stitch. Hmm...

I should reserve those fashion design books from the library that I have on my booklist thing. The library's site has this 'bookbag' thing - well, they don't really call it a 'bookbag' anymore, they just call it the 'list', but it's so that you can keep track of items you want to reserve later. Mine is over 90 items long, lol ;P Anyway, I have a couple of fashion design books on my list, so I might reserve them soonish.

Okay. This is too freaky. Christmas is five days away. That means on Tuesday I'm going to the library. Thursday I'm going with my dad to the bakery to pick up Christmas Day breakfast. And Friday is Christmas Day. Weeeeiirrrrdddd.

The year's going by too fast. It's not fair.

6 days

It's six days until Christmas.

So, I've decided to give Dan one of the nougat things that Mom bought. They seem like good quality stuff. I'll probably wrap it tonight, maybe while watching The Family Stone. From the library, of course. The DVDs are all overdue now. I might be going to the library today, but now I'm wondering if we should just wait until Tuesday, so that we can have an extra couple of days to watch the DVDs.

I finished Haibane Renmei #1 last night. It was brilliant. I wish the library had the second volume. Hmm, I should check the Chapters Indigo site.

I have to finish some projects before the next term of the House Cup, 'cause I'm worried about not having enough room for projects. I've been working on the mandrake blanket for the cat, but that makes my arms so sore, so maybe I'll work on my house scarf from now on. Or my Irish Hiking Scarf. I like working on the blanket, though...

That reminds me, the Ravelympics are going to be part of the House Cup this term as our Quidditch. Last year it was charity knitting, and this year it's the Ravelympics. I might do Sock Hockey, since I've never made socks before. But I'm worried about not finishing a pair of socks in the two weeks of the Olympics, so maybe I'll do Scarf Super-G instead. Or a hat. I can't remember what the hat event is called...

9 days 'til Christmas...

...And I haven't gotten anything for Dan yet. eep! Mom says we can shop for him Friday morning, because Dad doesn't have work that day.

I went shopping with Dad on Monday, because we needed to buy stuff for Mom. I won't say what we got for her (my blog is linked to my Ravelry page, and though she doesn't snoop, I don't want her accidentally stumbling upon this!), but I will say that we had a good laugh and went out for lunch afterwards at Kelsey's. I had a bacon cheeseburger, which was really good. I had gravy with my fries, and that was good, too. Not overly salty like at Jack Astor's.

I got Nathan a hamburger patty maker thing, and I got Steph a bag of Ghiradelli chocolate squares. I didn't know what else to get him because Nathan was being so difficult. He wanted Warhammer stuff and 'anything nerd or video game related, you know what I like'. Idiot.

Funny thing happened yesterday. I had put bold-point Sharpies on my Christmas list, so Grandpa called yesterday to ask what kind I would like. Who knew that he could be somewhat considerate?

Last night I was barely tired, so I got out the library's copy of the first Vampire Diaries omnibus and read about a page. Mouse was chasing a mouse, so I read while kitty was catching supper. What pissed me off was that Smiles heard her and kept barking. She was so loud that Mom had to yell at her. This was at around ten minutes to two in the morning.

I've done all my shopping except for Dan, and all my wrapping except for Mom and Dan. I might get Dan a scarf from Winners, because I don't have time to knit him one. Unless I make him a neckwarmer. But I'd rather not endure the stress of knitting for someone. The Clapotis has been stressful enough. Not that I wouldn't knit for Dan, it's just too late to do that.

It's cold, man

It's bloody freezing here, but I don't mind too much because it is the tenth of December, after all.

Katie's supposed to be coming up on Sunday. Or Monday. I can't remember, but she's only staying a day because she's buying a car with some money from Angela (my dad's mother - I refuse to call her my grandmother for several reasons...). I'm probably going to be helping take bake sale orders with the other youth group members. Or maybe I'll duck out after church. Or maybe I just won't go at all.

Now Mom's on the phone with Grandpa. Oh yay.

Anyways, I'm going Christmas shopping with Dad on Monday, so that should be fun. I imagine we're going as early as possible, 'cause if we get there at around nine-ish, nobody has been spraying perfume yet. After about eleven o'clock, people come to the perfume counter and start a-sprayin', and Dad starts sneezing really badly if he gets a whiff of too much or too many perfume(s). We also beat the midday rush of mad people if we hit the mall at around nine.

I e-mailed Nathan again, asking him what the hell he wants for Christmas. Hopefully he'll reply this time. According to Katie, he wants 'Warhammer stuff'. Seriously? 'Warhammer stuff'? And where the hell would I find this stuff? And how much does it cost? I'm probably getting him a holiday scratch ticket pack, a gift card, or a pair of gloves.

Boo, rain :(

Normally I don't boo rain, but this rain is melting the snow, so boo! ;P

Christmas dinner is now sorted out, but I'm not happy with what's happening: Mom's cooking two turkeys and she and Katie are bringing side dishes. Why? Because Grandpa guilted everybody into making a decision about Christmas Day so that it got planned. The jerk.

I probably won't get Grandma's Clapotis done in time. I made a mistake in the pattern, and haven't tried fixing it for a couple of days. I may just ignore it until after Christmas and give it to her for Easter.

Youth group wasn't too terrible. There were some new folks there: Maya, Lana and Sooneah - I think that's how her name is spelled; I'm not entirely sure. I've actually seen Maya and Lana at the church before - Lana I saw at the Passover Sedar a few years ago, and Maya I saw at the flower communion service a few years ago, because she and her brother were helping me and Nathan with the flowers.

I also had a weird dream that I was a volunteer dental hygienist.

December 8th, 1980

Twenty-nine years ago today, John Lennon died.



RIP John Lennon, 1940-1980.

IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!

It's not sticking, but it's snowing!!!!!!!

The Clapotis is driving me insane

I have no clue where I am in the pattern, so I might have to frog it and start over. Ah, knitting.

I did work on the cat's blanket though. But then I dropped the bit of yarn that was left from the skein, so I cut it off and threw it in the garbage, because I have another skein (maybe two - I've lost track). I thinking about making either a poncho, a shrug or a bunch of throw pillows out of my dark green Red Heart - it's so scratchy I don't know if I even want to try making hats or mittens out of it. Then again, it hasn't had the excess dye washed out of it, and sometimes that can tone down the itch factor.

Hmm, SNL should be new tonight. *turns on TV to check*

Yep, it's new. Blake Lively is hosting, and Rihanna's the musical guest. Should be pretty cool.

So... Youth group is now gonna be on Tuesday, starting this coming week. Oh yay. I hate those kinds of changes. Reminds me of when my old dojo got rid of grappling class for a few months. People were pissed. Then they brought it back. Well, whatever, Tuesday still works for me. The only problem is that we may have to move down to the space below the loft, because by moving meetings to Tuesday we have more people showing up (which is the reason for the day switch - so that people that graduated from Coming of Age can make it to meetings), and the loft can only hold so many people. I'm just hoping it won't be a catastrophe like last week.

I still don't know what's going on for Christmas Day dinner. It's become a case of Patti is going to her boyfriend's sister's for Christmas dinner, and the sister of Boyfriend has also invited Grandma and Grandpa, but Grandpa says it wouldn't work for Grandma. There was also talk of Christmas dinner being at Uncle Brent's, but he assumed that he would be having family over for Boxing Day, not Christmas Day, so I don't know WHAT'S going on. If I were Mom and Dad, I'd be planning a dinner for at home - I would at least buy a back-up turkey, anyway.

So, Dad's Christmas present is pre-ordered from Amazon, Katie's is bought (I'm not saying what hers' is, because she knows I have a blog and knows what the URL is - sorry, Katie, you'll have to wait 'til Christmas to find out! ;P), but I still have to shop for Mom, Nathan and Steph. Nathan is probably getting one of those holiday scratch ticket packs, and Steph is probably getting chocolate. I don't know what else to get them because he still hasn't e-mailed me back about what he wants for Christmas. It's been 17-ish days, Nathan! You're lucky I haven't started knitting you some coal! ;)

I already have an idea for a sequel to my NaNoWriMo novel. I haven't even finished my novel yet! ;P It's more like a companion novel than a sequel, though. And I have an idea for a short story, but I don't know how to start it yet.

It's the fifth of December. There are 20 days until Christmas Day. IS THAT NOT SCARY?!

Err, sorry...

Still, I'm kinda freaked out. This means that in 19 days I'll be going with Dad to pick up breakfast for Christmas Day. And Mom will probably have CBC Radio One on loud. Oh dear.

There's snow on the highway...

...But no snow in my yard. Aw, crud.

It is a little chilly, though, and a little breezy. I went downstairs to chat with Ma, and wound up dumping the cat's litter, the bathroom garbage, the kitchen garbage and the laundry room garbage in one big black garbage bag. Pretty odd, how that can happen - you go downstairs to do one thing and wind up doing several.

So, NaNoWriMo is done, and I reached 50k no problem. I think this year's novel is considerably better than last year's. It's not finished yet, though - I want to add more to it. I also have an idea for a short story.

Almost done for the day...

I have a little less than 300 words to write until I reach today's word goal for NaNoWriMo. I have to get my ass in gear, because my sister's catching up to me!!!

In other news, Grandpa's flip-flopping on what the family's doing for Christmas dinner (but hey, what else is new...), I took Grandma's Clapotis out of hibernation, and I'm on my forth stripe of my house scarf.

That's all, folks!

Procrastinating again

Sorry for the lack of posts. NaNo is eating my soul, little by little. Probably with one of those tiny coffee spoons you use for espresso. Or cappuccinos. I can't remember.

So I'm back on my computer for NaNo, because Dad got mad at me for writing on his computer (I don't see why, but whatever). I'll have to back up my files in a little while, though, because the driver is going to go kaput in a few months, from what the guy at the repair shop said.

Aaaaaand I have nothing much to talk about! lols. Umm, Dad's working late this week, so I'll be able to write a lot without much distraction, which is cool. And I started my Ravenclaw scarf. It's not that big yet, but I've done the first blue stripe and I'm about five rounds into the first bronze stripe. Pretty spiffy, I think.

I also have no clue what to get people for Christmas. The year's going by too fast! It's already the 15th, can you believe it? Christmas is roughly 6 weeks away.

Oh dear.

Well, I have some ideas from Mom as to what I should get her. I might get a CD for Dad - I know for a fact that he doesn't own Jethro Tull's Living in the Past album, and he's always asking for new pajamas. I have no clue what to get Nathan though, and I suppose I have to get something for my future sister-in-law, too. Katie says she'll e-mail me a list, so that's cool.

I have 485 more words (roughly) to write to reach my word goal.

Oh dear.

'Scuse me while I procrastinate

I'm roughly 550 words away from reaching my word goal for NaNoWriMo. Which is great, but now I'm stuck on what to write next. I have a good story brewing, though. It just hasn't come up a full boil yet (haha).

So, my computer conked out, went to the repair shop, and came back. The guy said something on the phone about the driver failing, so I'm continuing NaNo on Dad's computer. He told me to wash dishes today, but I woke up and heard Mom starting them, and I was like COME ON!!! I told you last night I'd do them in the morning!!!

All I've had for breakfast is apple cider. I'll eat soon, though :)

In which Merenwen goes bowling, knits a fishnet-like wrap, and eats Halloween candy early

I haven't posted in a while, because my computer is sick. It's at the repair shop.

On Wednesday I went bowling with the youth group. It was pretty fun. I had a headache (I get weather headaches), which was foul, but I dealt with it. We all went in two cars - I was in Riley's mother's car, along with Riley, Adria (Riley's friend), Laura and Peter, who is our new advisor. Or soon will be. What was funny was that we wanted to pass Stephen's car, and when we did Riley rolled down the window and yelled something at them. And we did beat them to the alley - me and Laura even ran to the entrance! ;)

My wrap is done, which makes me happy. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get the pics put up on Ravelry, but I did. Huzzah!

And the other day Mom sent me down to get the Halloween candy (a box of Reese Peanut Butter Cups, Reese's Pieces, and Oh Henry! bars), so we were snacking on a bit of Halloween candy. And me and Mom watched most of Rocky Horror yesterday - we put it on just as Magenta yells, "YOU'RE lucky, HE'S lucky, I'M lucky, WE'RE ALL LUCKY, HAHAHA!" It was greatness. And we might watch Hocus Pocus tonight. Because I have the DVD.

I found him!

So, a few years ago, I was watching the Just for Laughs New Years' Special, and they played some clips of a comedian who plays a guitar while telling jokes. I couldn't remember his name until I searched YouTube, Google and Wikipedia for him. His name is Demetri Martin. I'd put up a clip, but I'm lazy, lols.

In other news, I watched Twilight last night. I thought it was pretty awful, but then again, I'm not a fan of the book. I might try reading New Moon again just because I'm curious about the werewolves - when I first borrowed it from the library, I couldn't finish it by it's due date, so I took it back. But now there's, like, 74 copies and only 5 requests. Hmm.

I should get off of here, I've been on my computer for hours...

I'm getting tired of this.

So I went to Dr. G's for a cleaning and to see how my bone graft is holding up. He referred me to another dental surgeon to have a look at the bone graft, because he isn't sure how to successfully pull it off. Joy.

My left eye hurts. Damn weather.

Did I mention that ladybugs are hanging around the house? I guess it's warm enough for them to stay around. They keep making me jump whenever they fly close to a surface that crinkles. And Mouse keeps watching them. Not pawing at them, like the dogs would do, just watching them. She's odd like that.

I started my wrap the other day, and it looks great. I was worried that it would be too narrow (I had to cast on extra stitches because we don't have a pair of size 17 needles), but I think it'll turn out good.

Oh yeah, and my mom knit a hat in a day, except for the ties. I kid you not.

Hmm, what else... I might try making cover art in Photoshop for my NaNoWriMo story. A lot of people on the forums have cover art that they put in their signatures, and it would be neat if I could do that. I wanted to take a landscape shot this morning, but forgot. I'm going to experiment a little...

I also want to finish a poem or two and send them to a magazine. I also have to finish Grandma's Clapotis in time for Christmas, and I want to knit a hat for myself. Go me ;P

Itching to write

I can't wait for NaNoWriMo '09 to start.

I have a really good story in my head, but the rules of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) say that you can't write any sentences until the 1st of November, but you can write stuff like a synopsis, character descriptions, etc. So I've been taking notes.

I've been cruising the forums on the NaNoWriMo website as well. I didn't read the teen forum much last year, but I'm going to start reading it more this year.

And I might have an idea for Arithmancy :) The assignment is to make something that has two uses, or something that's reversible, or a set of two items that compliment each other, or something made up of two pieces sewn together (I think). And I think I've found a reversible pattern that I love. And I even bought the yarn for it!

I'm currently listening to some music while blogging to see what works best as writing music. I have a writing music playlist on YouTube, but it only had 7 videos before today, so I'm trying to add more to the list for when NaNoWriMo rolls around.

Not sure if I'll get to knit night tonight, because Mom had a sore neck yesterday.

I'm silly...

Yup. I had to mess up some yarn last night. It resulted in me taking it upstairs with me to work on whilst watching SNL, and Mom cut off a couple of pieces to tidy it up. Now I have tangled and untangled yarn. The untangled has bits of dog hair in it, though...

I'm still not sure if I'll use it or my white Patons Astra for my neckwarmer/headband. Either way, I may have to double-strand the yarn. Or use some dark green Red Heart instead. Hmmm.

Not much else to report, except that I had to frog and re-start my Yorick, because somehow I dropped a stitch. At least I got Divination done, though. I might start my frog toy tonight.

Thanksgiving Day Weekend

Thanksgiving was interesting to say the least. Let's start with Friday...

Friday

We did a bit of cleaning because Katie was arriving in the evening. She came just after Dad left to pick up takeout from the local Italian restaurant, so she had a bit of my fettuccine and a bit of Mom's gnocchi. And she gave me my birthday present - Japanese Inspired Knits! I think she went out to meet with friends after dinner, if I remember correctly.

Saturday

This was pretty much Thanksgiving prep day. Mom baked her pumpkin pies, and then I think she and Katie got started on the potatoes. Or was that Sunday morning? I can't remember.

I went to the library to pick up my stuff, and not long after I came home I went back out with Katie to pick up Justin from the bus station, and then we went to a cafe downtown that sells fair trade stuff. I got a hot chocolate, Katie got coffee, and Justin got coffee and a bowl of soup because he hadn't eaten much.

Then we went back home and Katie and Justin went to visit Grandma while me and Mom watched the soccer game, then Katie and Justin came back and hung out, and then we all got hungry so Dad and Katie went to Wendy's to pick up burgers for Katie and Mom and chicken sandwiches for me and Justin. I accidentally took a bite out of Justin's spicy chicken sandwich, but he didn't mind. I had fries and a chocolate Frosty to go with my chicken sandwich, and Katie got a Frosty - not sure if it was chocolate or vanilla - and fries. I couldn't drink my Frosty with a straw so I chucked it out and got a spoon, haha. Then Uncle Brent came to pick Justin up.

Sunday - family dinner day

The morning was pretty calm. We watched Sunday Morning, then Katie and Mom made the corn casserole that Grandma loves (which Grandpa said he didn't want, and pretty much told Grandma she couldn't have it, but whatever). I think the potatoes were made on this day, but it might've been Saturday. Anyways, I put in Pieces of April, because it's a Thanksgiving movie and it's awesome and me and Katie love it and Mom loves it and yeah. Then Katie went to pick up Nathan and Steph, and I fretted over my hair while Mom showered, and I finished watching Pieces of April, and then I got dressed as Katie was coming back with Nathan and Steph. We stopped by the liquor store (where some idiot decided to walk right next to the van as it was moving, and acted like we were dumb or something), then we went to Grandma and Grandpa's (where Brent was being a douche by coming up right behind us and leaving no room for the back doors to open, so Dad had to move ahead). I threatened to stay in the car, but Mom told me to behave myself.

It went somewhat well. Patti was being polite, Grandpa was being a child, and it seems that Jesse has developed a wicked sense of humor. And Patti's boyfriend Kevin's mother kept sticking her oar in - first, with my Christmas list, telling me to unfold it for Grandma, and then asking me if my name was on it. WHAT. THE. HELL. MAN. And then Patti asked me to put pickles into glass dishes, so I filled up the big dish first, and when I got to the smaller dishes I was finding a lot of picked cauliflower, so Kevin's mother was taking cauliflower out of the smaller ones and putting it in the bigger dish, saying something like, "We should have it all evened out." I was like, WTF? Was that necessary? If it was that important, Patti would've asked me to move some cauliflower to the bigger dish.

Dinner was hilarious. There were two tables set up in the living room - one big-ish table and one small card table - and the dining room/kitchen table was set. Grandma sat at the dining room/kitchen table, because it was easier for her wheelchair, and with her sat Katie, Grandpa, Patti, Kevin, Kevin's two kids and Kevin's mother. In the living room we had...

At the big table: Mom, Dad, Justin, Breanne, Uncle Brent and Becca.
At the small table: Me, Nathan, Steph and Jesse.

So you might say I was at the 'cool tables'. We kept cracking jokes that were slightly dirty, and another joke that went back a long ways, back when my mom's cousins were young. Two of these cousins - I think Mom said their names were Leanne and Shelly - would ask for mayonnaise or Miracle Whip to go with their turkey, because that's how they liked their turkey. Well, I guess Grandpa would complain about how they 'shouldn't be eating mayonnaise with their turkey' because 'warm turkey is meant to be eaten with stuffing and gravy, not mayonnaise!" So, Mom told Becca she'd pay her $5 to go ask Grandpa for mayonnaise or Miracle Whip to go with her turkey, but she wouldn't. Dad even offered her $10, but she wouldn't. So, Breanne took the dare, and got a laugh from Grandma (and I think a glare from Grandpa) and $5 from Mom. And when I bit into my leg of goose, I found a beebee! I guess Uncle Brent, who shot and cooked the goose, forgot to run a magnet by it! lol. The turkey wasn't too bad, considering that Patti cooked it.

Grandpa was being very childish. For instance, when I was dishing out the pickles, I had to set my can of Pepsi down. I left the room when Grandpa bitched at us to clear the kitchen, even though Patti had told us to stay still because she thought he was coming with Grandma in the wheelchair. So, I went back to get my can of Pepsi, only to find that it had mysteriously disappeared. So, I got another one from the cellar downstairs. Sometime either before or after dinner he made a public stink about 'someone being wasteful and leaving a half can of Pepsi lying around'. JERK.

Dessert was lovely, but Patti was skimping on the whipped cream as she dished out pumpkin pie, which pissed Mom off because Mom not only made the pie, but also brought the cream. There was leftover whipped cream, so Jesse came out with the bowl and asked if anybody wanted some, and I held my plate out and he plopped a spoonful on my plate and then ate the rest out of the bowl. 'Twas funny.

Monday - today

Today was the day of rest for me and my parents. Katie left at around 11:00 in the morning. When I was up on my computer, Mom suddenly yelled, "Sam! You wanna go see Zombieland?" So, we locked the dogs up and went to the movie theatre and saw Zombieland. It was EPIC. Seriously, it's funny. There's nothing quite like leftover pumpkin pie and zombies on Thanksgiving Day.

Howdy.

My dad is shredding paper, so I'm drowning it out with muzak.

It turns out that Katie isn't coming up until this evening, so there's more time to clean than I thought. I still think that people are dragging their asses, though. Dad put my lamp from IKEA in my room.

I started duplicate stitching on my Virgo wristband, and it's looking pretty neat. Not perfect, but still neat. ARE YOU GOING TO BUFFER, YOUTUBE?! Yeaaaaahh YouTube is being dumb today. Every effing video stops to buffer at the same spot. Ah, that's better - it buffered some more.

I have NaNoWriMo planned out already. And I have badges saved from their site. They look neat. I'm gonna put up a meter on this here blog if I can find a meter. Can't wait 'til the kick-off party!

My nose is slightly itchy.

I bet it's because of leaves drying up. Jerks.

So, my wonderful sister is coming up tomorrow, according to Mom, so we have to do some serious cleaning today. I'm thinkin', after Mom watches EastEnders, we'll put some Meatloaf on the stereo and start cleaning.

Youth group was weird last night. I had to go with Stephen and Laura to Laura's house to pick up some boxes, because Stephen couldn't go with Laura alone because of church regulations, so I went with them. And Laura said she needed to add me to her Facebook friends, so I'll add her sometime soon.

After we got the boxes from Laura's house, we got back into Stephen's car and this Billy Talent song was playing on the radio. HE LISTENS TO BILLY TALENT OH NOES. And Laura was like, "My mom hates this song, she says it's morbid." And I think Stephen sang along. DID NOT NEED TO HEAR THAT. Dad thinks I should tell Stephen that Billy Talent makes you sterile, lol.

The reason why we needed the boxes was because we were decorating them for a potluck fundraiser thing next week that some folks from Coming of Age are doing, which I can't go to because of family stuff, so I need to stay home. And it got nuts. People were crowding around the box that I was trying to decorate, and when I tried to help paper the other box, I felt I wasn't wanted/needed, so I walked out because people were being jerks. Then Riley came and asked where everybody was, so I directed him to the room where people were decorating boxes. It went a little better from there, but I still felt like the black sheep in the herd of perfect white sheep. Grr.

So, today will be a cleaning day. And then tomorrow Katie's coming, and hopefully we'll order Japanese take-out from the new sushi place that delivers. Katie would love that. I also need to start the duplicate stitching on my wristband.

Would an exorcist fix a computer?

That's what I'd like to know, 'cause I'm pretty damn sure my computer is possessed by a demon that likes to screw around with power switches.

So, Thanksgiving is all sorted out. For anyone who is thinking, "What? Thanksgiving isn't 'til November!", the Canadian Thanksgiving Day is in October. A tad confusing, perhaps, but eh. Anyways, it's gonna be at Grandma and Grandpa's house, because Grandpa built a ramp for Grandma's wheelchair, so it's a lot easier than having it elsewhere. Aunt Patti is cooking the turkey (oh noes! bad, bad idea! I will explain in a moment), Mom's making dessert, Katie's making potatoes (using Mom's potato casserole recipe, which Grandpa doesn't like, but too effing bad, it's not all about him!), and Uncle Brent is bringing veggies.

Now, my Aunt Patti is, well, how should I put it... a very mediocre cook. Once upon a time, my parents were over at her place for a brunch of some kind, and Dad took one bite of a biscuit and spat it right out. She said she had put baking soda in them instead of baking powder. WTF. Legend has it that she also 'burnt water' - how she managed that is beyond me, but Mom says it's impossible to burn water. That's why I plan on bringing some chewable Pepto-Bismol tablets, just in case her turkey is many kinds of wrong. I also plan on bringing a book, just in case I get terribly bored. Hopefully Nathan won't get stuck in the kitchen cooking appetizers in the oven again, like at Grandma's birthday party that was also her and Grandpa's anniversary party.

I was thinking of making gyoza to bring, but I don't think anyone would eat them.

I will be very pissed if that Lorraine chick is there.

Can I scream now?

I want to scream. So badly. I am that mad.

My computer won't start, so I'm on Dad's until he or someone else can get it running again. My mom, of course, was all 'I told you so', because I turned it off and tried to turn it back on again so that she could see what it was doing (in case I haven't mentioned this before, the power switch has been working on and off for the past few weeks). So... can I scream now?

Dad's computer is considerably better than mine, but it would suck to have to use his for National Novel Writing Month, because it would eat up his computer time. And Mom'll be on her laptop writing her novel, so I can't use hers'.

Okay, now she says she's got it running. Whatever. It's still a weird computer. I need to buy a new one when I have the money.

Skullses!

There's this pattern on Knitty called Yorick. It's a skull scarf. Pretty awesome. I want to make one for my Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment. Holy crap it's already time to plan for new assignments. Feels like it was only, like, a week since I planned the last assignments. Blah. Pity the hat turned out to be wrong.

For Herbology, I think I'll knit a frog/toad. And call it Jeremiah. All together now! ♪Jeremiah was a bullfrog, he was a good friend of miiiineee....♪

Yeah... I really get into my crafting.

And I plan on actually doing Arithmancy this month. Normally I avoid it because the assignments are math-related, but this assignment is pretty straightforward. One of the options is to make something that has two uses, so I plan on making a scarf that can double as a belt. It'll take lots of swatching and probably a yarn substitution, but I think it'll be worth it.

I have, like, 11 things waiting for me at the library. Madness! And I have one more coming. Actually, it's not that crazy - I mean, I've had 9 or so CDs checked out of the library at once, so this is nothing.... right? And I am taking stuff back - Little Britain USA, Pushing Daisies and the Fleetwood Mac CD I have out have to go back, and I'm going to take a knitting book and a journal-making book back. And probably the big book on trees and forests. Fruits Basket 6 is overdue, but I'll take that back on Tuesday.

!@#$

I had to frog the hat.

Crappers...

My hat is going to be too big for me, because I didn't swatch, but hopefully the extra decreases I started doing will keep it on my head. blech.

I'm on a weird U2 kick now. Mostly their 90s songs, but still... U2 are awesome. I might buy Achtung Baby with the rest of my birthday money. Or knitting needles. I haven't decided. I've been listening to their songs from the 90s on YouTube. And I've also been listening to an unfinished song that was supposed to be on their 1987 album The Joshua Tree, and got finished and released a couple of years ago in a special 20th anniversary edition. It's called 'Wave of Sorrow'. Have a listen...

NOTE: the images in the video show malnourished people, so if you squeamish about that kind of thing, you have been warned.






I love it so much I might put the special edition of The Joshua Tree on my Christmas list. There's several special editions for the album's 20th anniversary, but only two or so are available in North America. One is the album on a remastered CD, the other is the album with the bonus CD, which has 'Wave of Sorrow' on it.

New items get added to the library today! I'm happy. I also have a lot of stuff to pick up from the library, eep!

Sleepy

I'm yawning a lot today. Probably because I woke up twice this morning. I first woke at around 7, and heard dogs running around. Then I heard Mom upstairs, so I thought, 'Okay, I can go back to sleep.' I realized I was cold, so I grabbed the knit afghan I got from Value Village when we went there with Justin, and fell back asleep. I woke up again at around five minutes before 9:00.

Didn't feel like eating this morning, so I had a cup of hot chocolate and read Fruits Basket #6 for a bit whilst watching a program on Oasis HD. Then I put The View on because Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon were on. I ate the last of the chili and watched The View, and was just going to start working on my hat when Mom and Dad came home from the doctor's. They also went to the British imports shop and got chocolate and crisps. Yum. I wonder where they put the bag.

They went out again to look for some more pillows at Sears, and I stayed up here on my computer and watched a video of Anthony Stewart Head (aka Giles from Buffy) performing 'Planet Schmanet Janet' from Rocky Horror. Then I watched the video for a U2 song called 'Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me', which was part of the soundtrack from a Batman movie. I think it was Batman Forever. I've been listening to the song since yesterday, but didn't watch the video all the way through. It's cool. The first line, which is spoken-word, is greatness. I think it goes: "Riddle me this, riddle me that. Who's afraid of the big, black Bat?" That song makes me want to watch Batman movies. The only Batman movie I remember watching is Batman and Robin, and I only saw part of it. It's the one with Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze.

I vaguely remember the various Batman animated series that ran over the years. I used to watch them with Nathan (my brother) occasionally, but I was more into the Spider-Man animated series, because I thought Doc-Oc was boss, lols. Nathan said once that there was a Batman series that got cancelled after one or two seasons because it was dark and slightly controversial for family viewing, but I can't remember what it was called. Nathan said the story was something like Bruce Wayne developed a heart condition. I've got Wikipedia open, and I'm gonna look for it.

...Well, I can't seem to find one Batman series with Bruce Wayne having a heart condition, only Batman Beyond, where Bruce passes the torch to a young crime-fighter-to-be or something. I remember Batman Beyond, it was a pretty good series. Then there was The Batman, which was cool, but pretty dark. The Joker had green dreadlocks, which was pretty neat.

Oh yeah - is anyone else kinda weirded out by the fact that they changed Catwoman to a hero for the movie? She was originally a villain. I remember my mom was like, "That's not right, Catwoman is supposed to be a villain!" when the movie came out. I haven't seen the movie yet, though.

I think I'm going to check the library for movies based on comic books, because I haven't seen any of the X-Men movies from start to finish, and I haven't seen the second and third Spider-Man movies all the way through. And I haven't seen a Batman movie in years.

Oh yeah. I wanna see The Green Hornet when it comes out, 'cause Seth Rogen is playing The Green Hornet. Heck yes :) I remember Book TV used to run the TV series, as well as the live-action Batman series. I miss Book TV...

I'm yawning less now, but I still think I'm just going to focus on finishing my hat and hand in my neckwarmer as unfinished. I don't feel like blocking it and sewing buttons on it today. blech.

Off to the library site...

Knitting photos

I finally got around to uploading my photos, after a yelling match with my mother (don't ask...), and turned in my assignments for the House Cup. Here's my cowl for Charms...




I think I prefer leaving the flash off for photos of knitting and yarn. The end result is much better - less colour-washed-out-argh-my-eyes-hurt-ness.

And here's the Snoopy dishcloth for Herbology...




I love how the photo and the dishcloth turned out. Love the finished cowl, too. That green is my colour, I think. Pity I could only find one skein of it at the tent sale. I should've grabbed more colours, because the yarn is lovely and soft, and has a kind of springiness to it.

I'm currently uploading my mock bento photos to Flickr.

I also uploaded yarn photos from my computer to Ravelry, which saves a lot of space on my Flickr free account. I love that Ravelry has an upload from computer option :)

In other news, I watched the rest of season one of Pushing Daisies. Now I'll have to wait a while for season two to come in at the library, because it's still on order and over 30 people are ahead of me in line.

Now I'm hungryish. Maybe I'll have another bowl of leftover chili.

In which Merenwen yells at her knitting

Me and my neckwarmer are not speaking to each other. I ripped back because I thought I had done a row of purling (I'm knitting the neckwarmer in garter stitch), but then I realized it was just stretched out. Then I screwed up my buttonholes, so I had to rip back again. Now I think I'm going to rip back four rows where the novelty yarn ends and do the first teal-yarn-only row with a k2tog in the middle so that I have an even number of stitches. That way, I can put three buttonholes in.

Aaaaaaaand I forgot to upload my photos again. But, in my defense, my dad went out to get chips to go with chili, and then we ate, and then I got sidetracked. Tomorrow I'll ask Mom to help me with it. Hopefully tomorrow I can cast off my neckwarmer tomorrow - not sure if I'll be able to find the right size buttons, though. If I can, I'll get that done, too. Or maybe I'll just work on my hat. Yeah... hat... I love my hat...

I want to be able to hand in Charms and Herbology tomorrow, though. And upload photos of my mock bentos :) Damn, now I wanna look at bento photos on Cooking Cute...

So, yesterday, I watched Sister Act, Sister Act 2 and six episodes of Pushing Daisies while Mom and Dad were at a pig roast. It rained quite a lot, but I didn't mind. It was refreshing - made me feel like carving pumpkins.

Right now I'm yawning (Dad woke me up early-ish) and half-watching the season premiere of The Amazing Race. I'm glad I finally caught a season from the beginning - I haven't been able to in a while, because something was always conflicting with the date and time of the premiere, and it's not as much fun if you don't catch it from the beginning. Right now it's a Roadblock task in Vietnam, and they're herding ducks into a pen. Then they have to go to a market or something and find a boat.

I'm hungry now. Maybe I'll eat some more chili. Or a bowl of chips. Hmm.

Oh yeah. My mom was badgering me to volunteer for the fall festival at church, and I was like, "Well, I don't know if it's during the day or during the evening." So I didn't. I mean, if they want a couple of folks from the youth group to sell tickets for the concert, then maybe I'll do that, but I don't want to chance not being able to go to the concert. I want to enjoy the concert, not work and half-listen to it. Maybe I'll knit something for the silent auction.

I love book sales

I couldn't find any knitting books at the downtown library book sale - just an old Patons Beehive booklet that didn't really float my boat - but I found five books that made me happy. We went down earlier than last year, so I was able to grab some good teen fiction. I got:

Mister Monday by Garth Nix (I had heard of this one but kept forgetting to get it out of the library)
Firewing by Kenneth Oppel (I haven't read Sunwing yet - I started it and lost track of it - but I figure I'll like Firewing)
Growing Wings by Laurel Winter (one I had borrowed from the library a long time ago - I never finished it, but want to try reading it again)
The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman (I have all three in one volume, but this one's a paperback, which will be easier to carry around. Haven't read The Subtle Knife yet, though)
Squire by Tamora Pierce (This one I've read, but I grabbed it because it's one I know I'll re-read)

Then me and Dad stopped at a coffee shop in the mall where the sale was taking place. Dad got a latte, and I got a strawberry Italian soda.

Oh, and something very weird happened as well. Mom and I decided to have Wendy's for dinner - Dad wasn't hungry because he'd gone out for wings with some of his coworkers - and I couldn't remember the name of their fried chicken sandwich, so I went with Dad. The guy that got my chicken sandwich and Mom's burger was bugging me to take some ranch sauce for my fries. Now both Mom and Dad think he was flirting. argh.

And after anger and tears and cursing, I switched to a bigger needle size for my hat, as the pattern instructs. At first I couldn't find a 16" circular needle in a US size 7, so I was going to use double-pointed needles, but I found another bag of circular needles, and found a size 7. I'm happy now, because this means I can work on my hat tomorrow while Mom and Dad are at a pig roast. I might start watching season one of Pushing Daisies tomorrow while they're out. I'll have to check to make sure there isn't a soccer match on, though. There may not be one, though, because I don't think Toronto FC made it into the playoffs.

And I must watch SNL tomorrow night. It's the premiere, and U2 are the musical guest!

Oh yeah, I installed my camera software today. I haven't uploaded photos yet, but I might do that tomorrow. What was weird was, when the program tried updating, it stopped responding. I guess it got confuzzled, lol.

I should be eating...

But instead I'm blogging! Funny how that works. ROFLMAO!

I have another pointless orthodontist appointment, BUT, I get to go to the downtown library book sale after! Yay! After that I might ask Dad to help me get my camera software installed before he goes out for chicken wings with guys from work. I think it's guys from work, anyhow, because he doesn't generally go out for wings unless it's with co-workers.

I think I'm done the brim of my hat, which makes me happy. I might have to wait to work on it, though, because Mom doesn't think she has a 16 inch circular needle in a size 7. Aw, shucks, I might just have to go to Len's to buy a circ, and casually sneak over to the final sale yarn to see if there's any Moda Dea left... ;)

But wait - there's more!

My mother is also a paranoid freak!!!

She doesn't think we should shop at Wal-Mart anymore because she's been watching some documentary, and told me "I don't think we'll be going to Wal-Mart anymore, because of the things they're doing..." Apparently, a bunch of murders and attacks or something like that have happened in Wal-Mart parking lots in the United States. We're in Canada. Completely different country, non?

And the bitch of it? I was just saying yesterday that Wal-Mart has their job application form online, and that I might fill it out and drop it off. She can't stop me getting a job there, but I know she'll guilt-trip me. Then again, I don't have to apply there...

I'm still pissed, though.

No youth group tonight, but there's a potluck at church. I don't think we're going, though, because Mom said something about not being able to get Dad to go. Whatever, I'll stay home and watch Glee at it's regular time instead of at 10:00.

I ate a bun for breakfast

I felt like eating something bland :p

So, yesterday I tried on the white short-sleeved shirt I got from the Zellers clearance rack. It made me feel like Chrissie Hynde in the video for 'Brass in Pocket' ;)

And last night my mom traded pillows with me because hers' was uncomfortable. I didn't even TRY my pillow, and now I want it back. Hers' is so uncomfortable. I was trying to get comfortable, even when I was sitting with the pillow between me and the wall while reading, and it was just awful. So I switched to my old, slightly broken up ObusForm pillow. I want my pillow back, dammit.

Mom got me up at 8 to tell me that I need to be up and dressed in case the guy comes to install one of the doors. I get dressed, I go upstairs, and the TV is on FULL-BLAST on PBS. Grrr. I love PBS, but not that loudly.

Ugh, my head hurts. But that may be from loud music, loud PBS and no water. I forgot to drink some water this morning.

Whoa, it got lighter outside.

So, no youth group tomorrow, but in the e-mail Stephen sent, he suggested that we all go to the potluck and NOT hang around the loft and instead sit at one of the tables and socialize, because we might get a new youth adviser that way. WHY isn't Firefox set to Canadian English when I set it over and over to Canadian English?!?!

NOW I'm pissed...

My mother thinks I'm lazy because I haven't made an appointment to talk to a counselor at the local college. Well, DUH, I've been trying to figure out how the hell to write a resume. I haven't tried writing one yet because I don't have a clue as to what I should put down and what I shouldn't. And Mom hasn't offered to help. Bitch.

I might just ask Dad. He says there's a resume template in Microsoft Word '07, but I can't figure out how to set a template. I know there's a business card template. He says he'll have to sit down with me at my computer and help me set the template. At least he's willing to help me. I can also go down to another library in the area, because they have a job searching centre thingy. But if I already have the tools available on Word '07, I can save myself the walk or bus ride to the other library.

Shit, now my throat hurts. I'll have to take a Dequadin lozenge later.

I was looking through the local college's continuing education catalogue, and they have some neat-looking writing courses. I just don't know which ones I'll be able to take. I think I just need grade 12 English or equivalent. They might have me take a placement test to see where I'm at.

Oh yeah, I'm also on a Fleetwood Mac kick. I've managed to find 'Rhiannon' on YouTube, but I think it's slightly edited. It's still nice to listen to. It's a nice, loud video, too. Also, I'm borrowing their Rumors album from the library. I might buy it with my birthday money.

She thinks she's soooooo clever.

So, I went to Value Village yesterday and got a bunch of nice skirts, including three everyday skirts that can go in the wash with t-shirts and such. Two of those everyday skirts are kinda Pretty in Pink-ish, and they're both made by the same company, lol. They're both long skirts, one is yellowy and bluey, the other is mainly red. The third skirt is a short navy skirt with some white print thing on it. The nicer skirts I got were a pink wraparound skirt, a green, orange and black plaid skirt and a black and white summery skirt with a black ribbon sewn on. I also got a cute little black cardigan and a pea-green fooler shirt.

And then today I went to Zellers, and there were clearance racks out front, so I got three shirts - one brown, one blue and white and one white - and a cami (which MOM picked out, but I'll get to that later).

Here's the catch:

Mom and I went into Zellers to catch up with Dad, and she said to me, "You know how you're paying for the shirts?" I was going to suggest that I'd pay, and then she says...

"By going to the leadership course at church."

*Bangs head against wall* I KNEW IT!!!!!

She says that it's $10 for the course because I'm an adherent, and she doesn't have to pay because she's a member. I don't know if she's doing this stupid course or not. Nor do I know how long this stupid course is. And I looked at the church newsletter online, and it's described as a 'spiritual leadership course' for 'spiritual leaders and potential leaders'. 1) I am not a church minister, and 2) I don't plan on being a church minister (bit of a Ferris Bueller reference there ;P). Mom says she's paying for me to go, but still....!$#$!#@# She is such a bitch sometimes. I'll go to this stupid course if she absolutely WANTS me to, but as soon as I get home, I'm blasting some Green Day. Grrr.

Maybe I should fake an illness. Or maybe I can talk my way out of going. Or maybe I can casually schedule a dentist appointment on that day. Wait, I wonder if my appointment at Dr. G's (the dental surgeon who's going to put my fake tooth in) is on that day? *crosses fingers*

I'm just not into all that cutesy leadership shit. All that 'fall backwards and let the person behind you catch you' shit. It's pointless. AND tasteless. And this stupid course is all because of our 'new settled minister'. Gawd. I hope this minister isn't weird.

I think I'm going to ask Dad if he can help me replaces the batteries in my watches. That way I can keep track of time during days of bullshit.

Maybe I'll sign up for the sushi-making course. Or tai chi. Maybe I can convince Mom that tai chi would be better in the long run than some stupid spiritual leadership course (which doesn't sound non-minister friendly ANYWAY).

I have also been trying to figure out how to change the template on Word '07, because my dad says there's a resume template. I'll have to ask him.

Ah, Smokey Robinson. I love this guy. And YouTube.

I also need to install my camera software. And see about getting my computer's power switch looked at.

ETA: oh yeah, I decided to frog my novelty yarn sunglasses case and instead make a scarf with the same two yarns.

My mission...

...is to be the Molly Ringwald of the youth group, a la Pretty in Pink.

Yup, I watched Pretty in Pink today. It's a great movie. Jon Cryer is adorable in it. I now want to go to Value Village and look for some cotton skirts and dresses. I don't plan on altering them like Andie in Pretty in Pink, but I sure do plan on dressing like her.

I started the sunglasses case I've been plotting in my head. It's my Defense Against the Dark Arts homework - "What I fought on my summer vacation". I'm making the case with bulky-weight yarn (I made my first sunglasses case out of worsted, which resulted in the gauge being wrong and the case turning into a knitting supplies pouch) and novelty yarn held together, because I fought novelty yarn on my summer vacation ;) I plan on adding googley eyes, a forked tongue and a pair of fangs. The fangs and tongue I'll make out of felt.

I also painted my nails with this electric blue Cover Girl nail polish. I messed it up a little, but I don't think I'll bother redoing the nails I botched. The nail polish is a bit thick, so I think I'll thin it out next time.

In other news, I wrote a side-story for one of my stories. It sounds interesting. I may work on it for a little while and add it into the main story later.

I took some photos on my birthday camera today. I decided my Vanna's Choice and my novelty yarn needed photographing. I still have to install my camera software, though.

Youth group was good and bad. The rest of the youth decided to doll up the loft and make cupcakes because it was Elyssa's last meeting before going to a volunteer thingy for nine months. I'm glad she's going... Long story short, Stephen had his head up his rear end.

But... it's so addictive!

Chocolate, that is. I keep eating these individually wrapped squares of Swiss chocolate that my parents bought at Costco. They're very nice and very creamy, which makes my throat a bit weird and slimy. Yaaaay seasonal allergies! lol. The tastiness of the chocolate makes up for the throat residue it leaves behind, though. If my throat wasn't aching on and off, I'd probably enjoy it more.

My Snoopy dishcloth is close to completion. I think I have 20-ish rows left. Or maybe it's a little less than 20. Basically, I'm just at Snoopy's sunglasses. I think Buffy accelerates my knitting.

Speaking of Buffy, I finished watching season one today. 'Twas coolness. If I didn't have Little Britain Abroad waiting for me at the library and Pretty in Pink in transit, I'd reserve season two. I think I have another DVD in... oh yeah, I remember. A DVD on Amelia Earhart. Oh, and I have Green Day's first album, Kerplunk!, in at the library, and a book on trees and forests in the US. I might look for The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythology when I go to the library. I didn't get to renew it the first time I had it out, and I would either forget to look for it or I had a lot of books out and didn't want to add more to the load. haha.

I have a lot to take back tomorrow, actually: my two DVDs (Buffy and U2 - I'll watch the U2 one tomorrow), my two knitting books (Bags That Rock and Knitting in the Sun), Bruce Springsteen's most recent album, and I want to take back Fullmetal Alchemist #1, because I don't have time to juggle it, Terrier by Tamora Pierce, and Fruits Basket #6. I might takes U2's most recent album back, too, because it's due back soon. I think I'll listen to the rest of that album tonight. And do my nails. Oh yeah, I think I'll take Super-Cute Crochet back, too. Like I said, a lot ;P

I want to start writing vampire fiction now, but it's a bit difficult to come up with a vampire story that hasn't been written before. I don't intend it to be like Twilight at ALL - I think Twilight was a mediocre book. Too much 'Edward is beautiful and sparkly' and no vampire-on-vampire fighting. I'm not sure if I want to try reading New Moon again - last time I abandoned it because I couldn't finish it by the time it was due back to the library. Note to future Twilight Saga readers: chances are, you won't be able to renew the books if you're borrowing them from the library. That is, unless you're in a small town where the Twilight Saga doesn't have as big a fanbase.

Crap, I'm outta water.

There, I have water now.

So yeah, that's me today.

My hands smell like hand sanitizer.

...from the hospital. I went down to see Grandma, and I even washed my hands when we got home, but they still smell like the hand sanitizer. It's gross, but I can't stop sniffing them. Weeeiiirrdd.

So, my birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa was $25 and a September Happy Birthday CD of nature sounds and stuff. Grandpa said something about how he was going to get me a Chapters gift certificate, but it 'wasn't convenient'. Uhh, there's an Indigo location a half hour's drive away, and unless I'm mistaken, you clean the house, cook and eat, and garden most of the day. And I think he could even order a card online. But, he's kind of a luddite, so him ordering things online would be like my dad knitting (lol). I'm not sure what I'll spend the money on - yarn, a book, or a CD? Or maybe knitting needles? I do need DPNs...

Oh yeah, and Angel = hotness ;) Yup, I was watching Buffy yesterday. Might watch more tomorrow while Dad's at work. I have to watch U2 Live at Red Rocks as well.

edited to fix spelling

Snoopy and Giles are bros

Okay, so that was a rip-off of Doyle's 'me and lactose are bros' line in an episode of Gilmore Girls. Believe it or not, I don't remember that quote.

But anyway. I say 'Snoopy and Giles are bros' because today I worked on my Snoopy dishcloth whilst watching season one of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So far I've only watched the first disc - the first four episodes - but already I love it. I didn't really get to watch it when the first season originally ran on TV, because I was too young. And my Snoopy dishcloth is blossoming. I might have it done by Monday or Tuesday, even. I'm at the belly and back of Snoopy. Sounds weird, but it's true.

So, Buffy. I like. Specifically, I like Willow and Giles. And Buffy. And pretty much the whole cast, lol. I might watch more tomorrow, if possible (i.e. if my parents don't hog the TV), and I'll probably work on the dishcloth some more. Or my cowl. Probably the dishcloth, so that I can say over and over in my head, "Snoopy and Giles are bros." Haha. I just keep grinning because of the awesomeness of that show. And the awesomeness of Snoopy, of course.

Okay, so they're junebugs

Mom says they're junebugs, not cicadas, because cicadas only come every 7 years or something. Whatever, mom.

The door is installed and looks very nice. Smiles loves looking out the window.

I think the power supply is fading away on my computer, but my dad thinks I'm just not pushing the power button all the way in. How he managed to start my computer this morning is beyond me, because I tried and tried and it wouldn't start. Ah well. I still think the power supply is going. After all, the computer is six or seven years old, I think.

So, The Vampire Diaries was good last night. I really liked it. And Big Brother was fab, too, mainly because JORDAN kicked Natalie's ASS in the second part of the three-part Head of Household competition, which means Jordan and Kevin will compete in part three! I really don't like Natalie. She's a troublemaker, and she clung to Jesse like the plague to survive in the game (the plague? is that a good description? ;P).

My cowl is coming along nicely. I might have it done by Monday or Tuesday!

ETA: oh yeah. When I started my cowl, I decided to use the skein of green Berroco Pure Merino Heather that I got at the tent sale instead, because it's softer. The teal mystery yarn is kinda scratchy.

Cicadas are driving me insane

So are wasps. And humidity. And my mother. Oops, did I say that out loud? ;)

The guy FINALLY came to install the door at around ten to two. I could've stayed in my pajamas all day, but noooo, miss Bossy Boots made me get dressed. I might change back into my PJs and robe after the dude leaves. So there.

Actually, maybe I should stay dressed in case we go out later. But the chances of that are very slim. I think I'll change into a pair of pants, though, because there's a breeze blowing through the back window. I dunno, I'm comfortable in my shorts at the moment.

I can't think of anything else to say, aside from ♪LOVE STINKS! YEAAAAH!♪

iTunes is annoying me

SOMEHOW some songs from 21st Century Breakdown skip on iTunes. The only possible reason that I can think of is that the disc skipped when I ripped it. But, I don't remember bumping into my desk or anything! Augh! It did the same thing with a song from Maximum Cowbell, too! Stupid friggin' iTunes! I might have to re-rip the whole disc now!

And after I got off my computer the first time this morning, I went downstairs and said something like, "Wow, the SUN came out while I was on my computer!" and she was all, "You should be dressed for when the guy comes to put the door in! That's why I wanted you up early!" Uh, I was in pajamas and a robe. I was covered. But that wasn't good enough for HER, so I put on my black t-shirt and the green shorts I wore to youth group last night. Screw her. I might go to the park or the library later to escape her constant friggin' CRITICISM. Grrr.

At least the Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack ripped properly. And I do have 21st Century Breakdown on a CD, so that's cool.

We're getting ORGANIZED, DUDES!

Yes. The youth group is finally getting organized and shit. I'm very happy about this.

I'm NOT happy about having to get up at 7 this morning because a dude from Lowe's is installing our new side door SOMETIME this morning. I also haven't eaten, but that's because I felt like shit this morning. It didn't help that I was having a good but strange dream and then my alarm clock jolted me awake and NOBODY was up because Mom was sleeping or whatever and Dad's at work, so I had to let the bratty little dogs out and Lulu of course jumped over the baby gate to bother Mom and the dogs spent, like, 5-10 minutes outside and started wailing to come in, and then I couldn't find Goldie, who turned out to be in Smiles' bed, and Mom was all "See? There was no need to panic!" Whatever, mom.

But yeah. Youth group. Pretty exciting. I was the first to arrive, and then Emma and Seanna arrived after me. Emma asked me if I could help her and Seanna with negative exponents or something like that and I was like, "I haven't done that it a long time, so I'm no help, sorry." And Emma was wearing these glasses that she bought at a dollar store and was like, "My grade is so going up now", which was really funny. And then she was eavesdropping on Jeff and Gail (Gail is a member on one or more of the committees, and she's helping us get organized), and whispered, "They're gona kill us!", meaning that they were going to overwork us with all this structure and order, and I was like, "Well, we need some kind of structure..." And Stone brought this super-strong breath spray and sprayed a little bit in Micaela's mouth and she started coughing. She's fine, though. Riley came too, with his friend Adria. She's pretty cool.

And we went into the sanctuary to run through the chalice lighting procedure, and Gail told us when we had to be at the church. I think I'm gonna bring a book in case I'm early. Anyways. Before the chalice lighting stuff they all played sardines and I went to the bathroom, sat on the steps to the loft and sat in the loft until Gail told us we were going into the sanctuary. We went back up to the loft afterwards and decided on what we were wearing to the service, and we decided we'd just wear whatever we feel like. And somebody (I think it was either Riley or Micaela) said something like, "You watch, Stone's gonna come in a speedo." omg, that would be hilarious if he did. He'd turn some heads.

And before we did the whole playing-sardines-and-then-going-into-the-sanctuary thing, Micaela gave us more info on the volunteer opportunity at the Unitarian church in Toronto, but we'd have no adult supervision and we'd be going by bus and by subway, so Mom pulled her 'I'm-not-comfortable-with-the-idea-of-you-doing-that' BS. Whatever, mom.

And then I watched Glee when I got home, which was greatness.

I certainly like my hyphens today. - - - - - - - .

My arms hurt

But it's not the same kind of pain that I had with my knitter's elbow - it's a mix of muscle pain, two fingers falling asleep, and weird tingling. Advil and Myoflex are working well to ease it, though. In fact, I can take more Advil now.

It sucks, though, because I had a damn good idea for an essay, and I want to work on my Snoopy dishcloth and start my cowl. I might start my cowl in a few days when my arms are better, because the yarn I want to use is a mystery teal-coloured wool-acrylic mix. I know it has at least 50% wool in it, because when I wrap it around my finger and pull, it snaps. But it doesn't snap as easily as 100% wool, so I know it's part acrylic. The colour is lovely, though. When it's made up into a cowl, it'll most likely match my brown coat.

I also have to write up some kind of resume. I don't know who would count as a reference, though. I might ask Stephen if I could put him down as a reference, or maybe Jeff.

I also want to work on my pre-existing stories really badly. But, alas, it'll have to wait.

Well, I guess I'll take more Advil now. Toodles!

Epic win, I do declare

The cake turned out really well. The brown sugar icing got really thick and fudgy, but I didn't mind. I got to eat it off the beater :)

Mom forgot to bring down another pressie, so I got a very nice purse this morning. It's pink, but not overly girly pink. I love it.

Dad has this habit of playing with every single electronic device that someone in this family acquires. It's a tad annoying. Without asking me, he got my camera's battery and battery charger out of the box and started charging the battery yesterday afternoon. And then he went to play poker with the neighbors, so the battery was forgotten until the evening when me and Mom realized that it was still charging, so I unplugged it. I was going to bring it downstairs, but Mom told me to leave it up there, so I handed the case and floating strap (for underwater photos) to her and she put them on the coffee table.

Anyways. I had cake for breakfast, and we might be going to Indigo, because we need to go to PetSmart to get dog treats, and Indigo is in the same plaza.

I'm hungry. What to eat? Besides cake. Um... we have lunchmeat. Huzzah! And there's still a brownie-cookie-thing in the fridge.

My mother insists...

...that I have a cake today, because she forgot to buy one. God, I love her.

So I'm trying to decide where to work while at the same time telling myself, don't panic. You'll find a job you love. I'm thinking Value Village or Shoppers Drug Mart, because both are within walking distance. I may cruise the mall and hand out resumes to places like Coles, Hallmark and Old Navy. I want to work somewhere fairly quiet, because I have a feeling that if I work in a noisy environment, I'll go insane. I couldn't deal with noise and crowds as a kid, and even now I get edgy if things get really loud, or crowded. It was worse when I was a kid, though. For instance, I used to yell whenever I heard a bus or truck coming down the street. And my mom said that I couldn't handle walking through the mall during Christmas shopping season when I was little. So yeah. I wanna work somewhere quiet. I'll probably stop at Value Village and Shoppers first.

I also have to get my beginner's driver's license. It shouldn't take me long to read through the handbook - it's a skinny handbook, and only about two thirds of it are related to driving a car. The other third is off-road vehicles and the like.

I have to go to the library today, actually. The Wedding Singer is due today...

It's my birthday :)

I started off the day with loud music. Green Day, to be exact. I wasn't very happy about my birthday. I don't know why. Well, maybe I do. Anyway. Dad had a dental appointment, and came home talking funny because his face was numb from the fillings he had done. Yikes. He bought half a dozen Sicilian cannoli at our favourite bakery for breakfast, but I still hid upstairs and cried. After Mom asked me what was wrong and pretty much told me 'don't worry, be happy!', I went downstairs and ate some cannoli. Dad had a hard time eating his because of his numb mouth - I wasn't trying to be mean at all, but I couldn't help laughing. Even drinking coffee was a challenge for him.

For dinner we went to Mandarin, which was where I went last year. I was going to go to a new Japanese buffet restaurant, but I didn't know how busy it would be because it only just opened about a week ago, so we went to Mandarin instead. I think Mom felt bad because she forgot to buy a cake, but I didn't mind too much. I almost cried when Mom was asking me "Do you want some of this?" a lot at the dessert table, she was so sweet.

I got a camera, an SD card and ten skeins of Elann Sonata variegated in a cute black, pink and white colourway called 'Licorice Allsorts'. I cried again, because I felt like everything still went wrong. But I was happy nevertheless. Still am.

So tomorrow I might bake a cake with Mom, and watch The Soloist, which is due back to the library tomorrow. I have to go to the library, actually, because Coraline is overdue.

Oh yeah. After ripping out my Snoopy dishcloth three times, I restarted it in some of the red Peaches & Creme that I got from Juli as a prize from the 600 party in the teen group on Rav. So far it looks lovely.

It's humid.

I just thought you needed to know that :) lol.

So, youth group was fun last night. We're supposed to participate in the service the weekend after labour day, but I'm not sure if I'll be there. Mom said something about going to see my sister soon, but I'm not sure if and when that's happening.

I watched a concert on HDNet today. A Heart concert. And guess what??? THERE'S GONNA BE A MEATLOAF CONCERT ON SUNDAY. And I think True Blood is going to be a repeat, so my TV viewing won't be interrupted by that (I don't watch it, but my mom does).

I screwed up my nail polish, though. It's not that bad, but it annoys me. But, it is hot pink nail polish. heck yes.

Big Brother's on tonight! And it's eviction night!

Quick post before I leave for youth group...

I watched The Wedding Singer today, and it was awesome. Adam Sandler is so cute in it, with that curly mullet! And BILLY IDOL has a cameo in it. He's amazingly gorgeous. I was close to having a crazy-screaming-fan-girl moment.

Also, I started a Snoopy dishcloth for Herbology. I started it while watching The Wedding Singer, but ripped it out and started again because it looked weird on the wrong side. What a fussbudget I am.

She caught another one

Yup. Mouse caught another mouse. I woke up at 7AM-ish to see her (and hear her) chasing a mouse, and after telling her to 'just eat it, already' several times, I fell asleep.

Then I had two dreams in one. In the first one, I was in some kind of hospital ward in an evil headquarters, like something out of Metal Gear Solid. I managed to escape, and then me and my comrades were all lines up by these elevators with a menu screen, like a video game, and some of my 'characters' were 'locked'. Me and two women went onto an elevator and exited onto a circular hallway. Or maybe the circular hallway came after I escaped. And there was a woman. Evil woman, blond hair done up in a bun, white lab coat, like an evil scientist.

Then, I was back at my old dojo, only it wasn't like it used to be. I can't remember what we did in 'class', but we did go up against the wall to do an exercise of some kind (can't remember what it was), and I seem to remember green electrical tape on the floor. After class, we all sat around and drank pop. Peter from Coronation Street offered me a coke, but I said no thanks, because I 'brought a Fruitopia'. Then I sat with my sister and we relaxed and drank our pop.

And now I remember there also being a place in my dream, an all-female residence in Toronto with green blinds. WEEEIIIRRRDDDDDDDD.

I wonder if I'll have a dream about Rocky, because I saw bits and pieces of it on TV last night. Oh noes.

Welcome to paradise.

Well, not really. The title is completely drenched in sarcasm.

Something's up, and people aren't telling me what or who or how or why. It's pissing me off. And eventually I'm gonna get to the bottom of it. I think it has something to do with Angela - my estranged grandmother on my father's side. I've talked about her before. She's the one who sent my siblings and I birthday cards and stickers (yes. stickers.) once every few years, and when we got older it would be a card and money (usually, like, $15). Something about Grandpa wondering why Dad won't talk to Angela. I don't know. But it's pissing me off.

Also, my birthday is days away. I'm not happy. I don't really want to do anything on my birthday except go out for dinner. That's it. I want to stay in my room all morning with some books, magazines (knitting magazines, of course), CDs and knitting close by. And I know Grandpa's going to be a dick in some way, shape or form. I just know it. He has a talent for being an asshole.

I can't wait for the fall HPKCHC classes to start so I have something to keep me busy - not that my preexisting knitting projects aren't keeping me busy, it's just that I think that if I have a deadline to meet, it'll take my mind off the bullshit that is my extended family (and immediate family, at times). I also can't wait for youth group on Wednesday, where I'll be around sane people. And then there's knit night tomorrow. Hopefully I can go. I couldn't go last week because Mom wasn't feeling well.

I think I'm going to start reading The Folk Keeper again. I started it and lost track of what was going on, so I have to re-read it. It's a good book. I highly recommend it.

I also want to read Coraline. I watched the movie yesterday. Mom was being a total bitch about it - she wanted to watch it in 3-D, so I thought, okay, let's give it a shot, even if I have to wear my 3-D glasses while knitting, even if we have to have all the lights off. Well, then she starts fiddling with the TV settings to get it just right. I can't watch a movie if someone's fiddling with settings! She's as bad as Dad sometimes! So I said we should just watch it in 2-D, and she got all huffy and 'maybe I'll make you watch it on the little TV!' and all that shit. Honestly. I just want to watch my frikkin' movie. When did MY library materials become HER library materials?! It's like when I had The Wrestler out of the library. I had to watch it when SHE wanted to watch it because 'Dad's going back to work tomorrow and won't be able to see it'. Um... he's got a library card. So does Mom. It's not rocket science to reserve a DVD.

I miss kickboxing, dammit.

A little shaky.

I'm a little shaky today - not so much now, but at dinner my hands were shaking. Mom thinks it's because of my period, but I've never had that happen before. Huh. She also thought it could be low blood sugar.

I was also ravenously hungry at dinner. Just as Mom was getting the roast ready to go in the oven, I ate up the last of the pretzel sticks and drank a Coke while watching Toronto FC's match against the Seattle Sounders. Boy, were Seattle playing dirty. And the referee was being a complete jerk, too. Like when one of our players got elbowed by a Seattle player, and the ref didn't give him a yellow card! What the hell?! It was a 0-0 tie game, anyhow.

Oh yeah, I finished my fun fur scarf yesterday during my MTV binge. Weaving in the ends was a bit tricky, but once I got used to it, it went fine.

I went to the library today and picked up The Soloist, The Wedding Singer, Super-Cute Crochet and U2's newest album No Line on the Horizon. I also cruised the manga section and grabbed volume 1 of Fullmetal Alchemist. When I went to renew my card, though, they told me I needed a piece of ID other than a piece of addressed mail, which was what another librarian told me, so next time I have to bring my health card. They changed the status of my teen card to an adult card, though.