In which Merenwen battles a library self-checkout, her family, and high-sodium food.

For some weird reason, Blogger just posted as I was typing the title the first time. Odd.

So I went to the library to pick up my stuff, and I was having a hard time with the self-checkout machine. It was recognizing a manga as two items, which I don't understand, and then I selected 'finish' by accident, so I had to dig my card out again. I was having the same problem with other items.

And when I got home, my mom started bitching at me because I was supposed to bring two bags for the library stuff we were picking up (she said something about two bags, but she must've been mumbling or something). And then when I told her about my troubles with the self-checkout, she nattered at me to check my slip to make sure it didn't list it as two copies of each item. I told her it didn't matter, and she went into an 'it does matter!' speech. OMG. Seriously?! Duplicate items are the least of my problems! I got an e-mail at 10:49 last night from Stephen telling me that youth group would be cancelled until AUGUST 12TH, because he's in BATON ROUGE!!!

And now, more ranting about family, and a rant about high-sodium food. Because I can.

We went out for Chinese food on Monday with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Brent, Justin, Uncle Brent's girlfriend Heather and her daughter Tegan, Aunt Patti (I flashed her a snide smile when she thanked me for passing her a menu, but I don't think she saw it), Jesse (Patti's son and my cousin), PATTI'S FRIEND LORRAINE (why she was invited, I still don't know) and Grandma's cousin Donna.

And now the rant. WHY THE HELL WAS LORRAINE THERE?! SHE'S NOT FAMILY, AND UNLESS SHE MARRIES A SECOND-COUSIN OR SOMETHING SHE WILL NEVER BE FAMILY! I KNOW SHE DOESN'T HAVE A FAMILY OF HER OWN OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT, BUT THIS ISN'T A HOLIDAY DINNER, IT'S A FAMILY, A FAMILY GET-TOGETHER!!!!!

M'kay. That's done. Oh yeah, there was also the part where Grandpa was being his usual cheap self with the bill and the tip, Patti bitching about there being no shrimp left in the one noodle dish (I got it before her, and had to wait forever for it to come my way, so I figured I was entitled to the last shrimp!) and me having to wait a little while for dishes to be passed to me - I know it wasn't intentional, but a lot of people could see my plate and, thus, see what I had and what I didn't have on it. Oh, and on the car ride home, Dad said something about everybody having to pay for Patti's soup. Must be nice for her. I wanted to get won ton soup, but Grandpa was kind of rushing us, and I should have spoken up, but I didn't want to look ungrateful by saying that I'd like soup, too. But dammit, I should have asked for soup. Patti got soup, and almost everybody else got a spring roll or an egg roll. I hate spring rolls and egg rolls!

The food was pretty good, though. Not as good as stuff you can get at Mandarin, but still decent. But it was so packed with sodium that Mom and I felt like roadkill.

We might be going to Michaels this week. I hope we do, because we have a coupon, and I want to look at circular needles. And they have Vanna's Choice on sale.

Underrated Singers

I was watching an episode of SNL from the third season (1977-1978), and was listening to Leon Redbone sing, and thought, 'He's an underrated singer. I should write a post about underrated singers.' So here it is.

I'll talk about Leon Redbone first.



He has a growly voice that reminds me of Tom Waits. Or Louis Armstrong. And it's hard to define what his genre is: blues? Bluegrass? Jazz? Or maybe a combination of the three? Anyway, I don't know much about him except that he's been on SNL a lot. I can't think of another musician who has been on SNL as much as Leon Redbone. He's like Steve Martin or Buck Henry, always appearing once a season. I'll have to look him up on Wikipedia and find out how many times he's been on SNL. I think he's great, but I had never heard of him until I started watching the first season of SNL. Robert Johnson I'd heard of, Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, but Leon Redbone? Never heard of him until I saw him on season one of SNL.

Another underrated singer is Meatloaf.



A lot of critics hated his debut album, Bat Out of Hell. Why did they hate him? I think the two reasons are: people didn't understand his style, and he isn't a skinny pretty-boy. But I like him. Most of his songs were written by the epic songwriter Jim Steinman - at one point, though, they split due to creative differences, and Meatloaf wrote his own songs. I've never heard those songs, but my mom, a true Meatloaf fan, doesn't like them. I think critics have even said that he 'can't sing', but if he can't sing, then why does he fill stadiums?

Another favourite of mine is Frank Zappa.


Though he still has a huge fanbase years after his death in the early 90s, I still think he's an underrated singer. He had a knack for thumbing his nose at authority. Before there was Green Day, there was Frank Zappa.

I love his sound - it's so hard to describe. It's strange, rhythmic, jangly, bluesy... he took bits of jazz, blues and rock and fused them into a whole new genre that is way beyond description. It's difficult to think of another musician who's done something as surreal as this with music. Or with anything, for that matter.

So there you have it. Three singers that people either hate or have never heard of.

edited to fix a 'has' to a 'had' in the bit about Frank Zappa

DUDE!!!!!

Dad got the DVD player to work! It's simple, too.

Now I can watch SNL or Inkheart or The Mighty while Dad's playing poker :D

DUDE?!

Dad still hasn't gotten the DVD working.

I have three DVDs to watch, one of which is seven discs long.

You do the math.

Things I did today

1. I made up the last packet of instant udon, and garnished it with green onion and grated carrot.

2. I watched Rocky Horror. I think it was on Super Channel.

3. I worked on my Irish Hiking Scarf while watching nature programs on Oasis HD.

4. For a minute, I thought my spellcheck wasn't working, lol.

5. I ate dinner.

6. Dad's either going through male PMS or male menopause. I can't tell.

7. I talked to Max for a bit.

8. I ate gooseberries.

That's pretty much it. Mom wants to go to the market tomorrow - not the one downtown, though. She wants to go to the one by our house, and she said we can pop into the library to pick up the weaving book I have on hold, but I said I had stuff still coming, so I may as well wait. I have to get Dad to fix the satellite settings, because he was fiddling with things and now the DVD player won't work properly - well, it works, but I can't get it to switch from TV to DVD, even when the satellite is turned off. Bah.

Bleh

The weather started out cool and rainy, and then the rain stopped and it got humid. Bleh.

I actually woke up at a decent time this morning - just before 9:00. Mom was watching a program on Oasis HD about urban wildlife in Toronto. She told me that Teddy was 'stalking' the squirrel on the TV. I wish I could've seen that! I did, however, see Mouse watching the TV when a program about lions was on after the urban wildlife program. I swear, with this HD receiver, I could sit and watch Oasis HD and National Geographic HD all day - while knitting, of course.

Youth group last night was hilarious. We played this game called 'Honey, I love you', where you have to go up to someone and say, "Honey, I love you, won't you please, please smile?" and the other person has to say with a straight face, "Honey, I love you, but I just can't smile." I didn't really play it, though. Also, Sela, Stone and Micaela were hiding each other's shoes, which was funny. And we locked Stephen out of the loft ;p Actually, I think it was either Sela or Laura that locked him out, but I instigated a little ;)

And I watched about half of 27 Dresses.

Hey, guess what?

I learned how to cable today! I had tried without a cable needle before, but I had no idea what I was doing. But anyway. I started an Irish Hiking Scarf the other day, and today I learned how to cable. I did two of the cable rows today!!!!

...that's all ;P

Mouse hunting

TMI alert!

So my cat had a mouse this morning. About 5 or 10 minutes before 7:00. Grah. I let the dogs out, made sure Smiles wasn't bothering the cat, and then Mom came down. I moved the gate so that it was across the stairs, that way Smiles wouldn't try to get the mouse (I didn't want them fighting over it). I later looked for a body, but couldn't find anything. This means either: a) she ate the whole mouse, b) she ate part of it and hid the rest, or c) it got away. I reckon it's either a or b.

TMI done.

I had a good cry last night - you know, about the whole Max thing. I should've seen it coming, really. He may have been dating her before he met me, for all I know. The good thing is that I didn't ask him out, so I was saved the embarrassment. But I still feel pretty stupid. So last night I put on that Journey CD and cried a bit. I don't feel as bad today, but I still feel pretty stupid.

Mom wants to go for a walk today. Pity the library's closed on Mondays.

I can't believe it...

So I'm talking to Max, the guy I like, on MSN, and I find out in our conversation that he has a girlfriend.

*facepalm*
*headdesk*

DAMN IT!!!

So... yeah. I feel pretty stupid now. But it could've been worse. Imagine if I had asked him out. Boy, would that have been awkward. I know it's not the end of the world. I know there's a chance they might break up. I don't want to hope they'll break up. I'm sure this girl is very nice. I'm trying not to hope for a breakup. But I feel so stupid.

Fruits Basket, music, and youth group

I feel like writing about Fruits Basket. There's some things I want to say about the characters, so...

Fruits Basket (WARNING: contains spoilers from books 2, 3 and 4!)

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I really like Hatori Sohma. What I've noticed lately is that he seems protective of Tohru. I don't know if it's because she's gullible, or if she reminds him of Kana, but he was very quick to accuse Shigure of using her in book 3. And in book 2, when Tohru slipped on the ice, Hatori could have just let her fall, but he caught her, which caused him to transform. I also think that Hatori respects Tohru, because she didn't laugh when he transformed into a seahorse. And I don't blame him for suspecting Shigure, because he does appear to be scheming something - I just don't know what yet.

And then we have Akito. He's a sly one. I'm only a couple of chapters into book 4, so I don't know the details of what he did to Yuki that makes him fear Akito. I was kinda pissed that he told Tohru she was cute, and then tells Shigure that she's ugly and slow. Okay, so she's gullible, but she's not slow!

Back to Hatori... (and no, I'm not making up an excuse to talk about him... I think. haha.) I'm surprised that he's still on speaking terms with Akito. I mean, the man hurt his eye, making Hatori almost blind in one eye, and Hatori, who is the Sohma family's doctor, still looks after him when he's sick! It's uncanny! I wonder if Akito knows there's a photo of Kana on Hatori's desk...

Kyo's unusually protective of Tohru, too. I guess it's because she has a knack for getting into some kind of trouble - and by trouble, I don't mean that she's a bad person, just gullible and sometimes unaware of her surroundings. Like when a guy at their school goes to chat her up, Kyo stands right next to her and kind of guards her from them, and the guy backs off. No one wants to cross Kyo! Well- except maybe Hatsuharu...

And now I've just reached the part where Ayame turns back into human form. He's pretty, though not as dashing (in my opinion) as Hatori :)

Music

One of the perks of getting the HD receiver is that we're now subscribed to Omni BC. They have a program called Nikkei TV, which is a Japanese-Canadian current events show. The first 15 or 20 minutes is a segment called J-Pop TV. They play a bunch of Japanese music videos, which was how I came across a band called An Cafe. I saw their video for their single 'Aroma', and went looking for info on them on the internet. Wikipedia has their discography up, so I sent in purchase requests to the library for their albums, and found the video for 'Aroma' on YouTube.

Youth Group

Youth group was good last night. Stephen was in India for a few weeks, and he brought us each back a bracelet. He also showed off a rug and some figurines he'd bought there, and told us about his trip. Mom made cookies, so she put some in a bag for me to bring with me. Mark, who was also there, liked the cookies. We also ate up the party mix that Stephen brought a few weeks ago.

I also feel like talking about America's Got Talent.

This season's been good. Piers is a little less grumpy, haha. Some very talented singers have been on. I haven't seen a lot of variety acts that I like, though. There's been some illusionists, dancers, and tumbling acts, but nothing... different. I did like the dancers that were on last night, though - the ones that wore the white gloves. They were really good.

Hey, Aqualung!

I'm listening to Jethro Tull via YouTube, hence the title :)

So Mom and I looked through the local college's catalogues and pages. Man, is it hard to navigate that site! We couldn't find any info on the CAAT, only the GED. But we did find info on the math and English refresher courses :)

The Mighty is in transit for me at the library, so I'll probably go down tomorrow and see if it's there, even if I do have to pay a fine on Macbeth.

I wonder if Mom feels like going to the knitting meet-up at Second Cup...

Aaaaand FINISHED!

I finished my second washcloth! Now I just need to take a photo and post it in the class thread on Ravelry.

Oh, and my mom was nattering at me to install the new version of Internet Explorer because, apparently, there are sites that only work with IE - but it was 'my decision'. So I told the IE update wizard to remind me later ;) Who needs IE when you have Firefox? It's more secure!

So...

I now know how to turn the HD receiver on. haha. No one really told me until this morning, when Mom got up. I let the dogs out at around 8:30 and thought, hey, I can watch early morning anime! But then I realized that I didn't know how to use the HD receiver, so I waited until Mom got up to turn it on.

The Mighty was just on MoviePix, and Mom says it's coming on at 4:00! I already reserved the DVD from the library, but I might watch it anyway, haha.

I might be able to knit today. I've been taking a few days off, but I might work on my house tie if I'm not too sore. My second washcloth is close to being done, though :D

A good end to a 'meh' weekend

Today I saw Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. It was great. It was in 3D, so we got the 3D glasses. Unlike the cardboard ones, these ones are plastic, and they look like the sunglasses worn by John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd in The Blues Brothers. We were asked to put them in the glasses recycling box on the way out, but we took ours home ;)

Mom and I were going to go to the local roller derby match last night, but we wound up not going. Damn. Maybe we'll go to their next home game. And maybe I'll bring knitting ;)

Oh yeah - I'm using Dad's old speakers now, because my old Koss ones are pretty much toast. The left one's blown out, and Dad says the wires are all broken up. These speakers are a bit tinny, and they're very quiet, but they work, which is always good :)

GUESS WHAT, GUYS???

I'm back on my own computer!!!

DUDE

So we now have HDTV, and it's fabulous. Turns out Dad didn't really need to move my bookcase, but did anyway. Oh well! Now he can move it back! ;)

The downside of my day is that there is no way I'll finish Macbeth in four days, so I'll have to write down the page I'm on, take it back and reserve it so I can continue reading, because I renewed it twice and just kept forgetting to read it regularly. I feel like a fool.

I took back the book on Gandhi, because I just wasn't in the mood to read it. I picked up Fruits Basket #4, and I also checked out Knit 2 Together by Mel Clark and Tracey Ullman and a Beatles CD.

Swimming in books

I truly am swimming in books.

I had to empty out one of my small bookcases, because we're having someone come over tomorrow as early as 8 AM to install an HD satellie receiver, so my bookcase needed to be moved - meaning I had to take all the books out. The original idea was to put them in a plastic tub, but there were just too many books. Most of the hardcover books went in the plastic tub, and all of the paperbacks were stacked pretty much everywhere. And when Dad moved the bookcase, I saw the source of those ghastly black spiders for myself: a big cobweb with a few spiders about it. UGH. I hope Mom doesn't make me clean it. I never asked to be shunted into the basement in the first place. Dad reckons we'll need to attack that corner with some bleach.

I watched Lost in Austen today, and it was really good - although I've never read any Jane Austen. I want to read Pride & Prejudice, though. Maybe I'll put it on my birthday list for Grandma and Grandpa, because the only copy we have is on cassette.

I also watched a bit of Benny & Joon. I love that movie.

I think I'm going to reserve a bunch of older movies from the library. So far this year I have watched:

Bolt
My Neighbor Totoro
I'm Not There
Milk
Shock Treatment
Frost/Nixon
Hair
Labyrinth


I definitely want to watch:

Sixteen Candles
Pretty in Pink
The Breakfast Club
The Mighty (I've seen it before, but I love this movie so much that I want to watch it again for old time's sake)

Boredom

Yup. iz bored.

Mom's still being bitchy. But that's normal.

I found the name of a movie that was in my head for a couple of days. It's called The Mighty. It's hard to describe, but it's a great movie. And it has Meatloaf in it!

Dad still hasn't put that network card in my computer, so I'm still using his.

I have two burnt-out lightbulbs in my room. I took one out, and then the second one went and I haven't taken it out yet. I can't put new ones in because we have no more energy-saving bulbs left.

I still have to watch my DVDs from the library.

I hate cramps...

Yep, it's 'that time of the month'. The time during which I take painkillers and bitch about there being no chocolate in the house. Except chocolate chips, but I don't think my mom wants me eating them because they're really for baking.

Mom wants to do something tomorrow. I suggested going to see a movie, because I think the independent theatre by our house still has Star Trek. I'll have to see what Famous Players/Cineplex Odeon has on tomorrow. Are they the same company? I don't know. Maybe Cineplex Odeon is still separate from Famous Players. Maybe I'll go on Famous Players' site after I finish this post.

In addition to my cramps, I'm a bit bloated. Maybe my too-big shorts will fit me now! LOL!

Church was good yesterday, except for the fact that Mom was embarrassed about me not saying hello to anyone when we were asked to 'greet our neighbors' during the service. I always hate that part. I hate the big cheery smiles and the "Hello! What's YOUR name?"s. And then there was the time when I was walking up to the loft on a Wednesday night and someone asked, "Can I help you?" as if I were some weirdo rummaging around the church. So my mom proceeded to lecture me TWICE that day about being nicer to people and talking to them and 'you'll never do well in college or university if you never talk to people' and AAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL?! Just because I hate talking to people in church doesn't mean I can't talk to people period! And stop lecturing me about chores and shit! Who feeds the dogs and the cat? ME! Who washes towels when Dad forgets to wash them? ME! Who puts out the garbage and recycles when Dad forgets?! YEAH, IT'S ME! SO LAY OFF!!!!

Being cramped up doesn't make matters better. At least it gives me an excuse to sit around reading or knitting. I cast on my first washcloth for Charms the other day. Maybe it was yesterday. I can't remember. And I worked on it while watching Bolt.

I'm appalled...

...at how long my house tie is getting. I worked on it a bit earlier - I think I did two sets of stripes. I'm close to running out of blue acrylic, so I may have to run out to Michaels to get a skein of Patons Canadiana. Damn, I wish we had a Michaels within walking distance!

Smiles was chasing the sprinkler today, which was funny. Dad set up the sprinkler to water the garden, and Smiles is crazy about water. I wonder if it's a Jack Russell Terrier thing, because none of the other dogs are this crazy about sprinklers. Or hoses. God, if you so much as rinse out a compost bin with a hose, Smiles won't leave you alone unless you spray her with the hose. It's hilarious.

So, I might start either an Irish Hiking Scarf, or the Mom's Sophisticated Scarf from Stitch N' Bitch Nation, for Muggle Studies. I really want to start another scarf. As much as I like knitting my house tie, it's a bit of a pain to change colours to do the stripes. The house tie's looking cute, though.

I'm not sure if there's gonna be a youth group meeting on Wednesday, because Stephen's in India for work, and last week was cancelled due to Stephen's absence and Canada Day. We were thinking of having the meeting on Tuesday or Thursday, but I guess Jeff was busy. As for my plans tomorrow, I'll probably go to church (we haven't been in a couple of weeks) and go see Grandma.

Knitting and Journey

I've discovered that I like listening to Journey when I knit. Maybe I'll put their greatest hits album (which I'm borrowing from the library) on my birthday list. That'll spice up my iTunes library.

So today I cast off my mug cosy, but I want to block it before I sew on the buttons (it's an adjustable one), because it's mostly stockinette and curls like crazy. Then this evening I worked on my mandrake blanket a little. I only did two rows of that, though, because the rows are long and my size 7 circular needle is a bugger that likes coiling up on me.

Had another... well, not a fight, but a disagreement with my mother about post-secondary. She called me upstairs to show me this article about the local college offering a mechanic program and that women mechanics are in demand. I walked away without saying anything to her, and she flew into a rage about 'trying to help my future', yadda-yadda-yadda.

Other than that... not a lot has happened. I think I'm getting oput of my reading funk, which is good.

In a real finishing mood

Yup. I'm in a finishing mood, probably because I need to free up some needles. I finished my Heart Illusion Dishcloth this afternoon while listening to Journey's Greatest Hits, which I picked up for the library today. It looks pretty neat, although it might be too loose to be a dishcloth, so it might be a nice washcloth. Either way,it kicks butt. I'll have to take a photo of the finished cloth. I have in-progress shots on Flickr - hang on...










I like the flecked white cotton with the peach cotton. The white is Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, and I think the peach is an older skein of Handicrafter, because it's softer and more splitty.

Here's the mug cozy for Divination:





And here's the bobble pillow I started:



So, there you have it. The three projects for June :)

I may only do one class this month, maybe two. Three seems to be a bit much. If I can complete two assignments by the July deadline, I'll be so happy.

Canada Day, which was yesterday, was very boring. We didn't go anywhere to celebrate, which pissed me off. Instead we hung around the house, watching Pineapple Express and assorted TV shows. I didn't even get to see any fireworks, because they were all too far away for me to see out the back door. But, I mean, we could've at least gone to watch fireworks at the park, but no - mom wanted to laze around the house. It was probably the worst Canada Day I've had in a while, if not ever.

So yeah. Didn't do anything significant for Canada Day. Grrr. At least Mom made brownies and ice cream. Chestnut ice cream, which is pretty spiffy.

So tomorrow I might try to finish my mug cosy if my neck and shoulders aren't killing me. Or maybe I'll cast on a scarf for Muggle Studies. Or maybe I'll work on my house tie.

Anyways.

Dad still hasn't put that old network card from the HP into my computer, so I'm still using Dad's - which is fine, except that he refuses to download Firefox, so I'm stuck with the incompetence of Internet Explorer. Grah.

I should ask Dad to burn me a copy of that new Green Day album I got him... which reminds me, he put iTunes on his computer! Yay! Now I don't have to deal with Windows Media Player's incompetence!

edited for spelling