Sunshine nail polish

I had figured when I started reading The Fountainhead that I would fall in love. After the first chapter I knew I'd fall in love with Howard Roark. But now I just don't know. While I side with Howard a lot more than Peter, he is no Mr. Knightley. And now that the library due date is almost past, I'm wondering whether to just give up on The Fountainhead [which I am less than half way through - which is a sign within itself that I am not in love] or risk late fees.

I think it might get pushed aside for a second read of Emma [Oh, how I feel like I need a dose of Mr. Knightley now!] or Super Paper Mario [thank yooooou, mall gift card] for that matter. Or The Sims 3.

[I'm being consumed by technology.]

Anywhos, wish me luck for tomorrow - I'm going in for my new second job orientation, so let's hope I don't screw up.

p.s. has anyone seen the new Rango trailer where they show the production of it with clips of the actors rehearsing? Every time it comes on, I stop to turn and watch it. Amazing.

p.p.s. Rango made me think of Black Swan that's out now, which I saw two nights ago. It is eff'ed up but amazingly brilliant. If Natalie Portman doesn't get an Oscar, I will go into shock. And then cry.

p.p.p.s. the end. I promise.

"You're such a hypochondriac" "You mean kleptomaniac, don't you?" "...Yes."

Christmas is fast approaching for me, and with Christmas comes my birthday four days before. It's pretty exciting if I do say so myself.

As I explained to my step-dad earlier, the joy of having a birthday is that it gives me an actual reason to go out and party [I'm not really a partier on days other than on or around my birthday. Except for the brief few months after I turned 19 and the literal drunken power overtook my sensibility. I got over that pretty fast]. And, I added for good measure, I haven't reached the age yet where I want to hide how old I am turning [Twenty-two].

In other news, I've started reading The Fountainhead because it seems to keep coming up in my life without me ever having read it. So I am reading it. So far I can't tell if I love it or not. The most pleasing part of it so far [oh, naive me] was finding out Ayn Rand was a woman. We'll see how it goes.

Long Distance Writing

One bad thing about working at Value Village is that there are lots of things available to you...at half the price. Including books. Books that are buy four, get the fifth one free.

It is very very difficult for one to walk by without having a gander [oh yes, I said gander] and grabbing one, or two...maybe five books. But really, how can you argue with $3.99 hardcover books?

You can't. That's why I never win.

I almost forgot

With all my jazz about lacework, I completely forgot to mention the actual goal I finished in crochet!

If anyone has seen My Neighbour Totoro, I hope you fall desperately in love with the creature I made in the picture below for my darling Kyleman [who went as ballistic over it as a ten year old on a sugar high].

The link for the pattern can be found here.

lacework

A little while ago, after purchasing a Vogue knitting magazine with many wonderful, wonderful patterns in it, I decided to try my hand at lacework using a semi-easy pattern to create a parachute top. All was going well for my 104 stitches until I realized I forgot to check the gauge properly and calculated I had about 15 stitches too many because of my chosen yarn.

But hey, I thought, it's a parachute top so if it's a bit baggier than what it says, that can't be bad, right?

Except then in an attempt to reduce a stitch in a place where I knew I was an extra stitch, I accidentally moved the entire pattern over a wee bit. Oops. And although I don't think it's totally noticeable unless you a) look really hard or b) are a much better knitter than I am and can otice things like that right off, I figured it's close enough to the bottom that it won't really matter. But I'm still in debate [and utter agony] about ripping it all out and starting again with smaller needles.

If I had shown my gram this, she already would have ripped part of it out and told me to restart [how do I know this? Because she's done that to me before with a sleeve]. Oh, the agony! I'm sure there are plenty of knitters out there who have had to restart monstrous projects before. It's just so....so.....painful.

And so the lesson of the day is always check your gauge before you get too enamored.

Jane Austen book club of one

I frequently get urges to reread favourite books. A lot. There is a certain series [Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen, if anyone really wants to know] by Tamora Pierce, that I am pretty sure I have read at least 4 or 5 times. And those are not small books [just as a side-note: yes, these books are classified as "teen fiction"; I, however, at the great age of 21 find these books to still be deliciously wonderful. Dianna Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle [this book is the inspiration for Studio Ghibli's movie of the same title; which I think of as the one book-to-movie adaptation that was utterly wonderful and didn't positively suck balls] is another example of a book that I've read more than twice.

And being the true English-y, nerdy girly I am, I am rereading all of the Jane Austen books I have read while interspersing the ones I haven't read in between. I am essentially, as the title of this entry says, a Jane Austen book club of one.

I've even gotten Kyleman somewhat interested. Ok, that's a lie, but he has made different inquiries to how my book is going - whether to just hear me fumble through a plot description [something I am never good at] or not, all I care is that he will listen to me ramble about Austen and her characters. The main one right now being Emma from, well, Emma.

I had tried reading Emma before and ended up getting a couple pages in, giving up and not touching it again until I had to return it to the library. Then a while ago, I found a copy of it at Value Village and somehow got it into my head to buy it. What can I say, I'm a true lover of Austen and it was Value Village, what was $3 for another potential love of my life?

Sometimes I find I have to give books a little time to settle and me a little time to grow into it and when I try to reread them WHAM! Helloooooo love!

Emma and I still had a little disagreement though. While I was more prepared to dive into it, Emma did not seem that willing to have me. Until WHAM! the middle of volume 3, I fell in love before I even realized it.

And that's one of the best feelings in the world.

K sees dead people

So this morning after getting frightened out of sleep by my cell phone [which was closer to my head than I thought it was] my stepsister, K, who works at one of the local retirement homes bounces into my room and under my covers and says, "ask me how my night shift went."

Now, K's been working 11pm-7am for the last 5 nights so the fact that she is awake this early is enough to trigger me off, but being a dutiful sister I ask how it went.

"I found a dead person," she says. And then proceeds to tell me how and what a dead person looks and feels like.

Thank yoooou, K.

this is what a graduate looks like

Probably one of my favourite and most hilarious photograph from the big day. No, my mum is not grabbing my bum, rather she is trying to hold my hood down because of the wind.

Just call me Alumni.

blasphemy?

After getting told by a close personal blogger to check out the website Letters to Dead People, I perused it falling more and more in love with the idea of it until I came to this particular letter:

I couldn't believe my eyes as my brain tried to comprehend. Did Darcy really ruin everything?

Now believe me when I say I am a devout Austen fan; I mean, sure sometimes her writing is a bit boring [Helloooooo Mansfield Park, I am talking to YOU!] and maybe the idea of Elizabeth and Darcy created the most idealistic, stereotypical romance in the world [I refuse to acknowledge Romeo and Juliet as of right now] and maybe quite possibly over-shawdowed the main message always present in Austen's writings [aka girl power, for all you Austen-virgins out there] but still!

Darcy what did you do to this blogger to create such hate!

Actually, truth be told, Elizabeth and Darcy were my favourites until I read Austen's Persuasion with Anne and Frederick. Sigh. Now there is a love story.

MIA camera cord

After finally finding my camera, I am sad to say I do not know where the corresponding cord is. However, I do know I must not have thrown it out because I always held hope that I would find my camera and eventually need it again.

But as for now I can't find it and therefore cannot for the love of me, figure out another way to load my pictures onto my computer. My old camera was so easy because my memory card fit into this slot on my old laptop. My new camera and laptop, however, do not see eye to eye.

But at least on the good side today, I've decided to spend most of it knitting and crocheting and going over my needlework book [yes, I'm a geek], reading in general and try to enjoy the nice weather.

As of right now I'm working on a giant granny square blanket in this bright multi-coloured yarn and a sleeve on the white sweater I've been working on since....reading week? Yes, reading week. I've also discovered [and tried] patterns for some cute things, such as this hippo that I decided to make for my friend's baby shower, and these little birds I plan on giving to a friend for a wedding present; there is also a blue Totoro that is in my sights to make next. I have such a list of projects that I want to make that I shall be occupied all summer even if I never find a job.

For my reading list, I've just finished reading the Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath for the second time [it really struck with me more this time which made me happy to read it again] and The Castle of Many Ways by Dianna Wynne Jones [who is fabulous]. And now my sights are set on James Joyce's Ulysses, some F. Scott Fitzgerald and quite probably Dianna Wynne Jones's Howl's Moving Castle....for the third time.

Although I love reading and knitting/crocheting, the one thing I hate is that I can't do both at the same time. It's sad.

slight insomnia

I finally watched The Graduate. I really loved the soundtrack and the movie in general. Although I couldn't tell how I felt about the ending; they both looked torn between happiness and a giant bout of "oh shit, what did we do and what do we do now?"

Anyways.

life of a graduate.

My life has become exceedingly boring, busy and stressful all at the same time.

Has anyone ever seen the movie The Graduate? No, neither have I which is why I'm downloading it.

Anyways.

Between job searching and redecorating my room in my parent's house [a task that is actually slightly tedious when it comes to the repainting and taking down wallpaper part. I wish it was all just new bed sheets, curtains and candle holders] I have been trying to fill in the time I have with little things [mostly granny-like things such as crocheting and knitting], reading [Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None was the first book to ever frighten me so much I didn't want to roll over on the couch because I didn't want my back exposed to creeping murderers], and watching old movies [and, slightly shamefully, What Not to Wear and Say Yes to the Dress].

It is tough work being a graduate.

However, the good thing is that I found my camera I thought was lost forever and ever [it was in a overnight bag that had been under my bed. Go figure].

Another good thing is I learned I can knit a slipper in a couple hours. Go me!

stop in the name of pants

Perfect song of today: If She Wants Me - Belle and Sebastian.

One set of my parents and one stepsibling are coming up tomorrow, supposedly with dog in tow even though I've told them it's supposed to rain tomorrow and our downtown area that mum is so excited to walk through, is not especially dog-friendly.

I think she was getting slightly annoyed with me for trying to pressure her not to bring Binner.

Somehow I feel like a big argument is going to happen tomorrow....hmmmmmm......

growing up

The closer I get to graduation, the more I start thinking about what I want in life and if I am truly ready to leave my Alma Mater and/or go on to further education right away.

I feel like this is throwing me into a sort of graduation-life crisis which compels me to want to throw dinner parties, read a vast majority of books that have nothing to do with school and daydream about painting in my garage over the summer with Led Zeppelin blasting.

To go along with this, my mother and I are in talks of redoing my room at home over the summer which has started a great wave of want for a new bedroom set [I've been sleeping in the same bed since I was old enough to have a big girl bed!] and I've become in love with the HEMNES collection from IKEA, specifically this dresser:

ta.

socks

I feel like one of my worst habits is leaving socks all over my room. I keep running across a random sock or two and consider tossing them into my laundry basket but then instead end up only tossing them somewhat close.

In other news, after spending a delightful weekend with my cousin, I now have to settle down and catch up on work I decided wasn't important enough until today. This is a slightly stupid plan, but luckily most of my work can be done on my bed while drinking tea [except I've run out of milk] and watching When Harry Met Sally, my new favourite movie.

rediscovery

I should be studying for my impending midterm tomorrow. But of course, I got distracted and rediscovered an absolutely gorgeous song by the Kooks [I've begun to notice that when I transferred most of my music collection to my external hard drive, that a bunch of songs disappeared - this song being one of them. How sad].

So without further ado, I Already Miss You; make sure you have some kleenex nearby, ladies and sensitive gents.

dear Scott Campbell,

Tonight I discovered the illustrations of Scott Campbell and his work is kinda what I wish I drew like. Here are my three favs thus far:

Show Off 5 because I love Julius Caesar

The Tea Spilling because I would cry if I ever spilled my tea too

Four in Need of Refreshment because the Beatles are awesome.

the question of art.

Before I headed to class this morning, as I was fussily tried to decide what to wear [and consequently missed the first bus] I got the heavy feeling that today was going to be a bad day.

I was wrong.

The most lucky and coincidental thing that happened today was that both my presentations that were scheduled for today I didn't end up doing - one because we ran out of time, the other because my prof realized we were all losing interest and so ended the class early-ish [she, apparently, didn't even have me down on the list! how strange and coincidental].

Also on a side note, I've just discovered Alphabeat's [one of my faaaaaaaaaaavourite bands] new album, The Spell, and their singles are AMAZEBALLS. I do, however, still think their earlier album This is Alphabeat is better - but let me listen to the new one a little bit more and maybe I'll change my mind.

I know I had something else to say but the thought of sitting in bed reading and/or knitting has robbed me of that thought; SO! I leave you with a doodle from night class and an amazing song to end.

Ta!

mcafee vs. nortons

I have a horrible secret: whenever Party in the U.S.A comes on, I secretly dance in my head. Shameful, I know; damn you, Miley Cyrus for being a plague on society. Now though I like to think my new, super-cool ringtone will make up for it [hopefully]. What is that ringtone? It's so super-fly, you'll have to hear it to believe it.

In other news, today is the last day of reading week which really is very sad - it's gone by so fast [as usual] that I can't really believe it and feel like I've done nothing particularly productive but feel ever-so drained from being constantly on the move. Sigh.

But here are some exciting highlights [and lowlights] of the week:

-After much boycotting on my part, Kyle convinced me to go see Avatar....unfortunately the 3D make me nausea and we had to leave near the end so I could express my feelings about it.....into a toilet.

-The good thing about seeing Avatar though was seeing the trailer for the new Clash of the Titans. I think Kyle thought I was got to hyperventilate from excitement. [I am now downloading the original and am tres excited]

-My gram gave me yarn and an easy pattern for a sweater for me to make. Hurrah! She also got me hooked on the idea of going to Frankenmuth, Michigan: a touristy German town, as my mum described it Christmastown, with a World Expo of Beer in May, wine tastings and some other pretty cool/dorky sounding things.

-I almost saw Carmen, the opera, Wednesday but it sold out before Finnegan and Ape could get us tickets

-My dad got engaged to Valerina and I convinced him that I should be best [wo]man.

And with that, I have to go do productive things like finish my essay outline for my midterm tomorrow, bribe myself to work on it by knitting and play with my lovely puppy.

Ta.

he fell asleep and he never woke up.

When I grow up, I want flower pots full of geraniums and alyssums. Apparently you can eat geranium leaves in salads [although from what I remember they don't taste that great].

I am attempting to write a critical term response. So, of course, I am writing a blog entry and doing all

I can in between paragraphs...sentences...to procrastinate. Silly? Yes. Possibly a stupid plan? Most

definately.

But oh god, it feels so good!

Anyways.

Since Windows Media Player is being a doorknob, I've been going through some individual songs I've

had relaxing in my external hard drive's music folder and I have to say I'm quite impressed [and

shocked and/or confused about why I had the song] at some of my music choices.

And thus I leave you with this, as I figure W.E.B. DuBois needs my attention more than any of you

do. Ta.

rufus

Presentations are a somewhat scary thing. Especially when those presentations aren't on some topic that you are not directly connected to but instead focus in on something that you think is absolutely fabulous that you've done only to possible have other people tell you, 'nah. Do something else.'

How do you impress an audience without getting too entirely preachy, english-essay-y and keeping it on a calmer level? It makes me tempted to make two versions and see what everybody else does before deciding on which one to pitch at them.

Two key things to keep your brain was busting: tea in a pretty cup and saucer and Rufus Wainwright's Hallelujah [I think I've been caught in a constant circle and have played it about 4 times in a row now].

songs for your sanity

Here are some songs to help your sanity, whether you're troubled with life, art or grad school decisions.

Added Resolutions

After writing that last post and looking at some other posts from other blogs, I remembered that it is, in fact, a new year and I completely forgot to do anything to celebrate it resolution-wise or reminiscing-wise.

Jess, who I was talking about earlier, and I talked about 2009 earlier today and for her, 2009 was a very exciting year with many great, exciting things and new experiences happening for her. I could not think of a very great, monumental thing that had happened. There were many great and fabulous moments: Kyleman's and my first anniversary together, the birth of Nessa-boop, my fairy goddaughter, and a few other things but all in all, I perhaps consider 2009 to be a pretty tame year. I'm hoping 2010 might take me for a bit more of a ride.

I also don't really have any resolutions. I never seem to; life changes so much does it really make sense to set goals that may seem unreasonable months later when circumstances change and you have to survive the best you can? Perhaps survive is too strong a word.

Forced, my resolutions are these:

1. Be less cranky with Kyle when it's that time of the month
2. Work hard at school to get into grad school.
3. Not have a mental breakdown if I have to move to big, scary Toronto.
4. Eat more salad; learn to use less caesar dressing.
5. Finally put my emergency car kit in Mabel's truck before dire circumstances arise and I curse my forgetfulness.

how to make your car last [almost] forever

Tonight Victoria 2 and I convinced our boyfriends to go see The Princess and the Frog with us. It was fabulous. Personally, I believe Disney needs to give computer animation a break and go back to their old school habits and crank out some more like this movie.

Also, because the day started so shittily, my lovely friend Jess offered me a space on her couch and a cuddle with her baby, my fairy goddaughter. Oh yes, I am a fairy godmother - signed, sealed and delivered. My little boppit and her momma really did make me feel better and thus I have advice for all you crankybots out there: find a baby [mind you, don't just find any old baby - preferably it is a baby already in your acquaintance or at least an acquaintance of someone who can vouch that you are not a baby stealer] and cuddle them, kiss them on the head, heck, smell their head while your at it! and try to make them smile because while you make their little chubby cheeks giggle, you'll start giggling yourself.

True story.