Aspirin ROCKS!

I've discovered that aspirin seems to work better for my arm pain that Robaxacet. Huh. My arm is doing great now, and I might be able to start knitting again pretty soon.

So Mom and I had a... well, not exactly a fight, but a... disagreement? She wants me to either wear a dress to Katie's university graduation or to dinner afterwards, even though the only dresses I own aren't comfortable to sit in a car in for an hour and forty-five minutes. So unless my mom's willing to buy me a cotton summery dress, I'm either wearing jeans and a nice top, or a skirt and a nice top, or a pair of my button-tab shorts (with the cuffs rolled down) and a nice top. Either way, I'm not wearing a dress.

I'm almost done reading Full Moon O Sagashite #1 :)

Knitter's elbow and connection loss

First of all, yesterday morning, my computer worked fine. Then in the afternoon, it wouldn't connect to the internet.

I haven't posted in a while because I'm trying to give my wrists a break. I pulled muscles or tendons or whatever in my left arm. I noticed it on Monday, and now it's Thursday and I don't think I'm gonna be able to knit quite yet. And, dammit, I'm used to an ergonomic keyboard! And Firefox! Ugh...

Mom and I watched Shock Treatment and The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Monday, which was fun. Tuesday was boring. Yesterday was youth group, which was okay. Elyssa was there, which annoyed me (I had hoped she wouldn't show up), but Riley also came, which was nice, because I hadn't seen him for a few weeks.

Stripes!

So I did the first set of stripes for my house tie, which makes me happy. My wrists are aching, so I won't be able to knit until later today. Unfortunately, I have no picture of said tie yet. I think I may run out of yarn, so I might have to rush out to Michaels to get some Patons Canadiana in the Bright Royal Blue colourway, which is pretty close to the Eaton yarn I'm using. Maybe not as soft as the Eaton yarn, but very close in colour.

I think I've figured out how the proper measurements for my DADA project. More happy. I might start it today, because it'll be a small project.

I started reading Return to Labyrinth #1 last night, and I quite like it so far. I'll have to send the library purchase requests for the other ones in the series.

I wrote a bit today. I was going to do memoir writing, but then I had a strange itch to write some passive-aggressive letters that will never be sent. Kinda like PostSecret. I think I was inspired by both PostSecret and Don Rickles' book, Rickles' Letters, which is all letters he wished he'd written, or something like that. The first letter I wrote was to my former karate sensei, the second to my Aunt Patti.

I should probably stop writing now, before my hands fall off.

Recap and Mom's Birthday

I haven't posted in a few days, so I'll recap first.

Youth group on Wednesday was, again, good and bad. The good part was that I saw my friends. The bad parts were that we played ultimate frisbee, which I walked out on twice; Elyssa was back from the big youth conference, and Elyssa told me that I 'shouldn't judge people' when I said how pissed off I was about Kristen Stewart (or, as I like to call her, 'Twilight Girl') portraying Joan Jett in an upcoming Runaways biopic. As my dad says, POT CALLING KETTLE BLACK! She is such a friggin' hypocrite! She calls me 'useless' (even though she was supposedly 'being sarcastic', it still stung), and then has the nerve to tell ME not to judge people? Wow, that's pretty cold.

Riley hasn't been to youth group for a couple of weeks. I hope he's okay.

Oh, and another thing that pisses me off - when Riley and his sister Rene's dog was run over by a car a few months back, Elyssa had said something like, "How could a dog be like a brother to you?" I told her that my dog Frisco, a Rat Terrier we had adopted (he died a few years ago) was like a brother to me. Riley's dog wound up having to be put down. We were all pretty sad that day. I couldn't help but cry.

On Thursday, Dad and I went shopping for Mom's birthday. Indigo didn't have any of the knitting books she had put on her list, so we ordered one. I'm not sure when it'll arrive - probably in a week. They'll call us when it's in. So I put the order slip in the card I gave her. I think she's quite happy :)

When we walked through the mall, there must have been at least two - I think I counted three - people that almost walked into us. It's unbelieveable how rude people can be in a shopping mall! Here we were, abiding the usual walking etiquette, and we nearly get bulldozed by some busybody!

Yesterday, Dad took Mom out to get her headphones as his present to her. She got a nice-looking pair. I don't think she told me how they sounded, but I'm sure they sound good. I myself have to get a new pair soon - the left speaker on mine cuts out a lot. I'll probably just get a cheap, $10 pair from The Source or something.

We went to a Thai restaurant - or was it Thai and Vietnamese? I don't know. We had to wait awhile, because we didn't think of making a reservation. The food was good, but the service was crap. Dad had to ask for a drink. We had water at the table, but still! I had chicken pho - chicken soup with rice noodles. It was alright except for the chicken. It was almost flavourless. Mom tasted a piece and said it was waterlogged. So, if I have a craving for chicken soup with rice noodles or vermicelli, I think I'll go to the Viet-Thai restaurant downtown.

Mom's cake is fabulous. It's labelled as 'Jamocha Almond'. And to top it all off, Meatloaf and his daughter Pearl were on Don't Forget the Lyrics!!! This was perfect, because Mom's a huge Meatloaf fan. We both sang along to 'Two Out of Three Ain't Bad' :)

ETA: Forgot to mention that we went to the British imports shop. I got my Munchies, as usual, and we got some Walkers crisps, among other things.

My nose itches

I haven't done any writing yet today, so I'll write a blog post.

As the title says, my nose itches. Not the outside, but the nostrils. I reckon it's because of tree pollen, or maybe grass pollen, because I can be around flowers without my nose itching. Unless it's certain flowers in the neighbourhood. Curse ye, springtime allergies!

So yeah. I might take some Benadryl later if this keeps up, because we have no Claritin.

In other news, yesterday was Victoria Day here in Canada, so there were fireworks last night. The folks that live in the house behind us were setting some off in the alley. The one kind they set off spiraled and hissed in the air, which got Smiles excited - she barked and ran around in the backyard. It was so funny!

I worked on my mandrake blanket some more, and it's about nine inches now, I think.

Other stuff

And now, it's time for a proper post.

Church was interesting today. My mind kept wandering during the sermon, I'm ashamed to admit. It was a good sermon, actually. Our guest speaker is from another Canadian Unitarian church, and he was talking about how, even now, racism has not gone away, and how immigrants still don't feel at home in Canada.

Afterwards, I had a cup of strawberry tea while I waited for Mom to do her casserole ministry thing. I spoke to Stephen briefly, too.

I somehow managed to obtain some sort of nick on my bottom lip. It's weird. And, of course, I keep cleaning it with the back of my hand, which makes it bleed and feel weird. Ach.

I'm not sure what we're having for dinner. I don't know if Dad took anything out of the freezer. If not, there's always squash soup, some of which I had for lunch. Dee-lish!

I watched Iron Man while I ate my soup, then I got my Herbology assignment and worked on that while watching the rest of the movie. After two rows I had to stop knitting. Damn circular needle! I'm going to work on the mandrake blanket some more tonight, when I listen to The Legends of Classic Rock.

Here it be!

Below is a photo of my Ancient Runes assignment for HPKCHC :)






The botched part of the border is on the right-hand side, close to the top. You can't really see it well in the photo, though. I'm happy with it :)

I have about 6 1/2 inches of my mandrake blanket done, so I have to get cracking. I have to pick up Frost/Nixon from the library on Tuesday, anyway, so I'll have a movie to watch whilst working on the blanket. The pattern suggests that you work in the pattern rows until it's 33 1/2 inches long. I'll work on it tonight while I listen to The Legends of Classic Rock.

I've been re-bitten by the anime bug!

Yup. anime bug. i haz it.

And it's not just Pretty Cure (which I watched yesterday). I was re-watching an episode of InuYasha - episode 17, Sesshomaru at his most handsome. Well, maybe not his most handsome...

Also, I have to pick up the Return to Labyrinth graphic novel, and I've reserved Full Moon o Sagashite #1. There are other mangas I'd like to read, such as Ranma 1/2 and the two Cardcaptor Sakura mangas that the library has. I wonder if they're still in print - I love the Cardcaptor Sakura anime. I was listening to the opening theme from it earlier. I love j-pop :)

In other news, all I've eaten today is a few graham crackers, I'm still pissed off at Elyssa, the weather's been nice, I have five things to pick up from the library, and I might walk down to said library on Tuesday - they're open today, but I don't feel like going down today.

Oh yeah. I should probably update on my HPKCHC progress. My Herbology assignment is going well - slow, but well. Slow because my size 7 circular needle is so stubborn. It won't stay unkinked. I don't know if I unkinked it improperly, or what, but it's so hard to work with. I didn't have this problem with the size 9 Prym circular that I have. Maybe the size 7 is a cheap one - I don't know which brand it is, because Mom gave it to me without its sleeve/packaging. So for now it's a Mystery Circular. I'm going to ask Mom to send me the photos of my Ancient Runes blanket square, so that I can turn in my assignment and earn points for Ravenclaw. I also have to come up with an acrostic cheer for the Quidditch thread. I'm not participating in Quidditch, but I'm going to try coming up with a clever cheer. And I need to get yarn for my Charms assignment - either that, or try to come up with something with the yarn that I already have. I have no bronze-coloured yarn, though, only tan-coloured. No silver or grey yarn, either. I'll have to drag Dad to Michaels.

Now I have 'Keep Tryin'' by Utada Hikaru stuck in my head.

So anyways. Ancient Runes is done, Herbology is in progress, and I haven't started Charms yet. Last night I watched Spectacle, and almost changed the channel because Dad was talking over it, so I had thought, "Screw it, I'll watch it later". But Mom and Dad made a big stink about it, so I put it back on. Grr...

edited to correct the spelling of Pretty Cure

Wicked weather

So the weather today is pretty wicked. Rainy and windy. I would walk down to the library, but it's too windy. I love this wind - as long as trees or power lines don't come down, I'm content.

Youth group last night was a mix of good and bad. I was the first to arrive, and the back door was locked, so I sat in the car until Stephen came to unlock it. Around the same time that Stephen arrived, Micaela came. Micaela and Stephen made some Five Alive and, because Stephen brought tortilla chips and salsa, put some salsa in a bowl. Stephen heated up a personal pizza for himself - I guess he skipped dinner. Elyssa came next, then Vicky, Stone, Emma and Laura. We had a super-quick record-breaking check-in (Micaela's idea - and a good idea, too), then we went down to the big tables to make a banner for Elyssa to carry at the big UU Youth conference in Thunder Bay.

This is where things got bad.

We were trying to come up with some ideas for the banner, and at one point I said to Elyssa, "It's all what you want to put on the banner, because you're going to be the one carrying it. I'm neutral, I'm Switzerland." She said, "You're useless. Okay...", ever-so-casually. I was so pissed off I almost called Dad to ask him to pick me up. She said later that she was being sarcastic, but it didn't sound like she was. She didn't even apologize, the bitch...

I had fun, though. Emma did a great job drawing on the banner - I'm not sure if she takes art in high school, but she really has a knack for drawing. She did a couple of chalices (the symbol for Unitarianism), and some text. It was pretty neat. I coloured in one of the big 'U's using markers and a mini stamper. Gosh, I love mini stampers...

And then, as I was leaving, Elyssa asked me, "What are you doing next year? 'Cause, you're grade 12 age, aren't you?" I asked her why, and she asked me if I was going to univeersity. I was so pissed off with her that I said something like, "Well, first I have to prove to the government that I'm smart." She said, "I just asked," and I said, "Well, I wish people would stop asking." She knows full well that I have to take either the GED or the CAAT to get into university. I've talked about it before.

So yeah. Elyssa's a bitch.

I had talked to Micaela on Facebook Chat the previous night. At first I was annoyed, because I was playing either Word Twist or Scramble, but my annoyance didn't last very long. I'm glad that I have a friend in Micaela.

edited for clarity

I bruised my foot.

I think I bruised it when I accidentally hit it on the baby gate as I stepped over it - we have a baby gate up across the one doorway to keep the dogs out of the cat litter. It doesn't hurt as long as I don't put pressure on it, and even then it hardly hurts. Last night, though, it stung, as though I had scraped it along the carpet or something.

I forgot to post about my walk to the mailbox last week - I think it was last Wednesday. Mom needed a couple of things mailed, so I walked down to the mailbox. It was a nice walk: I was on my own, and the weather was beautiful. It was a bit of a relief to be on my own for that short time.

Yesterday, Mom and I went outside to take a photo of my blanket square. She took the photo, since she knows her camera better than I do, thus she probably knows how to take a good shot of a handknit object in direct sunlight :) I haven't posted it to Ravelry yet, though, because it's still on her camera.

Did I mention that Aunt Patti is a bitch? Yeah. In a nutshell, she argued with Katie about getting Grandma to Katie's graduation next month. Patti knows very well that: a) Katie has reached the limit of how many tickets she can get, and b) I don't think Grandma cat sit in a wheelchair for that long a time, even if she has an aide with her (which won't work because Katie can only get four tickets), and even if there are wheelchair-access bathrooms. It would probably be too much for her.

Well, that's all. I might skip youth group again, or maybe I'll go. I haven't decided yet. I'm still pretty pissed at Stephen - not just because of the meeting two weeks ago when nobody but me and Stone showed up, but also because he has this attitude that the other members of the youth group come because they want to chit-chat and hang out. And whenever something gets planned, it's at the last minute. And we haven't done much for church-y things except painting and a couple of members selling tickets for something... I don't think Stephen even wants us to do a summer service, because Coming of Age has their service this year. Big deal! So we can't have a service because the Coming of Age kids are doing one? I don't find that fair at all! So what if they're doing a service?! We can do one, too!

Seeing my sister :)

So, Katie came up yesterday, which was pretty cool. We went to see Grandma in the afternoon. Grandpa had these two bracelets that they'd gotten during their trip, and let me choose one. I chose the chunkier of the two. Lots of neat-looking squares. Awesome.

I had a stomach ache at the hospital, though. Mom kept yapping at me to not say so in front of a nurse. I know she said that because of the whole swine flu thing, but jeez! Dad and I went down to the Second Cup in the hospital and got coffees and a peppermint tea for me, and Mom gave me a couple of Pepto tablets.

And Grandpa was being really dumb. Like, Katie said that we had time-sensitive plans, and he still stalled us a little. We had time to stop at home to let the dogs out, but it still pissed me off. That, and he told Katie to 'let us know what you decide on for your graduation'. He acted like it was still up for discussion, and it's not.

So we went out for dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. I real, authentic Mexican restaurant. Of course, Grandpa doesn't like this restaurant, because he can't get fajitas. Well, fajitas are tex-mex, and if he wants fajitas, he should go to Mexicali Rosa's!

...end rant.

Anyhoo. Katie's decided to have her graduation dinner at this restaurant next month. And if Grandpa doesn't like it, too bad. So, dinner last night was fab. I even had room for dessert - deep-fried ice cream. YUM. Katie gave Mom her birthday/Mother's Day pressies, and then we went home and watched a bit of The Family Stone while we waited for the NASCAR race to come on. Then Katie left.

In other news, I haven't yet given Mom her present yet. I think I'll wait until after we've eaten dinner. We're going to have souvlaki for dinner :) Oh, and I watched Juno - on Mother's Day of all days ;)

A somewhat productive Thursday

So, I didn't go to youth group last night, because chances are I would have bitched Stephen out for leaving me and Stone stranded last week.

Today's been good. I did some biology - another skull page. But this one's the last of the skulls - next I get to learn about the ribcage and such. I just wish Human 3D would stay functioning - I loved the animations. Mom gave me this biology e-book CD-ROM that used to be Katie's, but I haven't tried running it yet, because the system requirements say Windows 95, so... I'm a little scared :p I'm sure it'll run okay, but still, I want to be careful.

I was going to do memoir writing, but I never got around to it. Maybe tomorrow. I worked on one story a little, but not much. I also read a little bit of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

No math today, but I might start Key to Geometry soon.

This afternoon, before Coronation Street came on, I watched Milk and cast on for my Herbology assignment. Milk was fantastic. Harvey Milk, to me, seemed to me like a Caucasian Martin Luther King Jr. - a powerful speaker. It is a shame, a real shame, that his life was cut short.

The Herbology assignment didn't go too well - my work was too loose, so I ripped it out, and I'm going to start again using a smaller circular needle.

Right now, my wrists are aching, so I should probably give myself a break from knitting and excessive typing tomorrow. Maybe I'll ask Mom to help me block some stuff, including the blanket square. And then maybe I'll borrow her camera and take a photo of the blanket square so that I'll earn points for my house.

I was thinking today that I should not only start geometry, but also physics. I have a physics book, but I'm concerned about what math I'll need for physics. Maybe I'll wait until I've done some geometry, or maybe I'll just go ahead and work through the physics book.

I was supposed to exercise today. Maybe tonight, before bed. I'll probably do some shadow-boxing (basically, shadow-boxing is fighting an imaginary opponent), and some exercises like push-ups, sit-ups, squats, etc.

I might also start a simple roll-brim hat, maybe adapting the pattern from Hip to Knit so that it's in the round instead of knit flat and seamed.

Grah!

I botched the border of a blanket square I made as my Ancient Runes assignment. Blech. At least I'm not bawling over the error now. But earlier, I was a wreck. I hate it when crap like that happens!

And now my back is sore. I don't know what I did to receive this achy back. It's not as bad as when I had that sore back from sweeping, but it's still annoying - like my screw-up on the blanket square.

And my frikkin' mother! Instead of offering some words of support, she offers to help me do some unraveling thing with a crochet hook! But there was no way I was doing that, so botched it shall remain. So there ;)

I have no photo of the square yet, but as soon as I do, I'll put it in my Flickr and post it here. I should probably take pictures of my other projects, but that can wait - I have to take a photo of the blanket square to earn points for my house for HPKCHC. I think I'll start my Herbology assignment tomorrow, but I'll have to de-kink my size 9 circular needle first, because it hasn't been used since Mom bought it for me.

In other news, Grandpa's being a selfish jerk again! WOO-HOO!!!!

Also, I skipped youth group, because I'm still pissed at Stephen after last week's charade.

And today I was feeling sorry for myself, so I reserved two mangas (Fruits Basket #1 and Return to Labyrinth #1), a Joss Stone CD, and a couple other things from the library. Which reminds me, I checked out a Peter Gabriel CD that was on the CD shelf, because I had no library CDs out. It's called Up, and the first track is really weird and not really Gabriel-sounding. But I like the tracks 'Sky Blue' and 'I Grieve'.

Umm what else? Let's see... I picked up stuff from the library yesterday: Knitting for Good, a book on Stonehenge, Milk, I'm Not There, and a book on John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Montreal bed-in. I looked through the bed-in book, and it looks pretty neat.

...and I just spilled water. Because clearly I couldn't screw up any more today! lol. No big deal, everything electrical is in working order.

What's new

Not a lot is new in my life, actually. I printed off a couple of patterns that I intend to use for Herbology and Ancient Runes. I didn't print of the pattern I want to use for Charms yet, because I don't have the right yarn. That, and I haven't decided whether I'm using that pattern or making something else. I might even sign up for this month's Defense Against the Dark Arts, if I can fit it in.

So, I frogged the opera glove. At first I felt sad, but now I feel kinda relieved, because it was such a pain. I was using Red Heart Super Saver in Light Sage. As much as I love Red Heart Super Saver, I didn't like making the opera glove. Super Saver and eyelets don't seem to mix well. That, and the yarn was kinda bumpy and uneven, and I managed to get loose spots in the glove. The yarn will be used for my Herbology assignment instead. And my size 8 straight needles are free now! :D

HPKCHC has been a lot of fun thus far. I love hanging out in the Ravenclaw common room and looking through the class threads. What makes it even more neat if that I know a few people in the House Cup from other groups.

I came across a cute anime show Friday morning called Pretty Cure. I had been up really early because Mom had to go have bloodwork done at the lab, so I had to get up and look after the dogs. I didn't feel much like watching the morning news, so I flipped through the program guide and saw that Naruto was on YTV. I put it on and realised that it was pretty far into the series, so I did more guide-surfing until I decided to watch Naruto. Then on the other YTV channel, I saw Pretty Cure, and decided to see what it was. Like I said above, it's pretty cute. I didn't catch the end of the episode because Mom and Dad came home, so I flipped it back to the morning news, just in case Mom would tut-tut about me watching kids' shows :p The library doesn't have Pretty Cure, and I looked it up on Wikipedia and clicked on the YTV link to see the episode list. Turns out the season is almost done, so I'm hoping they'll replay it.

Other than that, not a lot has been going on.

Totally forgot to talk about the sorting!

Yup, yesterday us HPKCHC-ers got sorted. I was placed in....

Wait for it...

RAVENCLAW!!!!!

Yep! I got into Ravenclaw! I've already signed up for two classes - Ancient Runes and Charms. I would have signed up for Herbology, but the thread is locked because the assignment isn't up yet. I'm going to start planning for the Ancient Runes assignment tonight :D

I might use a notebook to keep track of project ideas, actually. I'll have to look around my room for a mostly blank notebook :p Maybe I'll use the one with the Degas painting printed on it... I think it's 'Blue Dancers'. Degas sure liked his dancers!

Hah, I just realised that my Degas notebook contains one of Ravenclaw's colours :p

Or maybe I'll buy a cheap notebook at the independent dollar store near my house. They have some nice notebooks for, like, under $5. I got my Degas notebook there, actually.

In other news, I went to an orthodontist appointment today. They wound up taking another impression of my bottom teeth and making me a new bottom retainer. This time it's a retainer that covers all of my bottom teeth instead of the front four, like my old one did. And it's thicker, too, so I won't wear through it like I did with my very first bottom retainer (before the bottom-front-four-teeth retainer). The traffic on the way was horrendous - there was an accident near the hospital where Grandma's staying in now (they moved her back to the first hospital she was at before her 30-day physio at the second hospital). They had a good stretch of road blocked off with pylons, so it must've been pretty bad. That, and the first time I went down to the ortho office (I had to come back in the afternoon to pick up my new retainer), the parking was terrible. It usually is at that office, because the building the ortho office is in has such minimal parking. And when we tried parking in the spaces for the dance studio next door, some guy came up to us and told us that there was 'no parking here'. Jerk...

It's Friday! :D I'm probably going to the library tomorrow to take stuff back and pick stuff up. I might browse a little while I'm there, too.