Ink

As most of you may or may not know, I have two tattoos that look like this

and this

and now after seeing a co-worker's newest tattoo I am craving another one. Not that I wasn't before [having a total of 3 tattoos seems like a good number to me] but now I am going through one of my "desperately need to get new ink" phases. This phases always make Kyleman laugh.

So I've been looking around the internet [instead of cleaning my room as proposed: I figured since neither of my works ended up wanting me today, it was a divine sign telling me to clean] for inspiration.

Which happened to be the Beatles.

[I LOVE the Beatles.]


And now I am listening to their entire discography while pretending to start cleaning my room, trying to come up with some divine inspiration of my own that I hopefully won't regret later on in life.

Bring out the red lipstick

So even though I was ready to party in the new year last night [par-tay dress, red lipstick and high heeled up] by the middle of the evening I once again realized why I don't really drink [I'm serious; alcohol and I have a horrible friendship/mild allergy to each other] and started my quest to become sober again.

Which really wasn't that hard since I had had only one drink by this point in time.

Thus instead of getting a cab home and leaving Kyleman's standard car at the party house, we all decided it'd be good practice for me to drive us all home. Much to my relief the drunkies kept their calm for nervous me, and were very much impressed when I got us home safely and only stalling the car once.

And that was the marvelous start to my new years!
Voila!

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.