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!