Here's the last of my Christmas socks. Just finished last night. I was cutting it pretty close since I go home tomorrow. I had wanted to finish more pairs, but started knitting too late. I should have started in August. Oh well.
Shoulder is still sore from the accident, but it's a tolerable discomfort (at least for me - I have a really high tolerance for pain). It gets pretty stiff sometimes in the morning, depending on if I slept on it or something. Now that my Christmas knitting is finished, maybe I can actually play some video games or work on Mariposa. I won't be able to for a few days because I won't be at home. I'm pretty excited for Christmas for the first time in quite a few years, since my sister is coming home. Normally I'm only excited for Christmas on Christmas morning, and the rest of the time, I'm a complete Grinch.
December 23, 2009
December 15, 2009
Me - 1, Car - 0
I think one of the biggest moments of my life happened yesterday. And, no. It wasn't a good moment. Yesterday afternoon I got hit by a car while I was walking to the grocery store. Needless to say, I did not get my groceries.
Luckily, the car was turning into a parking lot and wasn't going very fast. Also lucky that I didn't even break any bones. Time sort of stopped, and was looking at the car right beside me, and it seemed like I had plenty of time to move out of the way, and then I was airborne, and then on the ground on my shoulder. I got up right away, though. The girl who hit me was more upset than I was. I was even going to keep going to the grocery store, but then I got dizzy and thought I should really go to the hospital because, while I was pretty sure I didn't hit my head, I wasn't a hundred percent sure since everything happened so quickly.
And, then I had to wait, and wait and wait at the hospital. There was also an old woman there who'd broken her ankle and was waiting for three hours for a cast. Really? A pedestrian hit by a car and an old lady with a broken ankle both had to wait forever. I wonder what the people had that got to go before us. They did x-rays on my shoulder to see if there was a hairline fracture or any ACL damage, but everything seemed fine. My shoulder is sore as fucking hell, but it's all just deep tissue brusing. And, my shins are pretty sore because that's where the bumper hit me. This morning I called into work and said I couldn't go in, because I really would have been useless even though I can still completely use my right arm, and my left is fine as long as I don't have to raise it or lift anything. But, the excuse "I can't come to work. I was hit by a car..." totally seems made up to me. It's in the same ballpark as "a dog ate my homework", because normally if you're hit by a car, you're in traction or dead, not up and standing thirty seconds after it happened.
But, at least I can still knit! Thank god, since I still have Christmas knitting to finish. I also haven't worked on Mariposa in the last few days. School's pretty much all done except for a few final tests and projects that I've had to study for, and then I've been spending the rest of the time knitting. Hopefully I can get some done on it after Christmas. I do still open it and peck away a few paragraphs. But, considering how long my chapters are, that isn't very much.
Luckily, the car was turning into a parking lot and wasn't going very fast. Also lucky that I didn't even break any bones. Time sort of stopped, and was looking at the car right beside me, and it seemed like I had plenty of time to move out of the way, and then I was airborne, and then on the ground on my shoulder. I got up right away, though. The girl who hit me was more upset than I was. I was even going to keep going to the grocery store, but then I got dizzy and thought I should really go to the hospital because, while I was pretty sure I didn't hit my head, I wasn't a hundred percent sure since everything happened so quickly.
And, then I had to wait, and wait and wait at the hospital. There was also an old woman there who'd broken her ankle and was waiting for three hours for a cast. Really? A pedestrian hit by a car and an old lady with a broken ankle both had to wait forever. I wonder what the people had that got to go before us. They did x-rays on my shoulder to see if there was a hairline fracture or any ACL damage, but everything seemed fine. My shoulder is sore as fucking hell, but it's all just deep tissue brusing. And, my shins are pretty sore because that's where the bumper hit me. This morning I called into work and said I couldn't go in, because I really would have been useless even though I can still completely use my right arm, and my left is fine as long as I don't have to raise it or lift anything. But, the excuse "I can't come to work. I was hit by a car..." totally seems made up to me. It's in the same ballpark as "a dog ate my homework", because normally if you're hit by a car, you're in traction or dead, not up and standing thirty seconds after it happened.
But, at least I can still knit! Thank god, since I still have Christmas knitting to finish. I also haven't worked on Mariposa in the last few days. School's pretty much all done except for a few final tests and projects that I've had to study for, and then I've been spending the rest of the time knitting. Hopefully I can get some done on it after Christmas. I do still open it and peck away a few paragraphs. But, considering how long my chapters are, that isn't very much.
December 10, 2009
Socksmas
Here's a pic of the most 'recent' pair of socks I just finished. I actually finished these socks a few weeks ago, but was just really lazy about posting that. They were made with Stroll Handpainted sock yarn from Knit Picks, in the colourway Tiger. They're pretty plain in terms of just being in stockingette stitch, but when you have handpainted or varigated sock yarn, I hate how cables and patterns look in them because all the work just gets lost. These are for my sister, and I'll find out in a couple weeks if she likes them.
School is wrapping up for the semester, except a few classes still have tons of work piled on us. Two accounting tests in two classes, and a big marketing project left. Plus, I had to start going to computer classes for the powerpoint sections of the lessons, which sucks.
School is wrapping up for the semester, except a few classes still have tons of work piled on us. Two accounting tests in two classes, and a big marketing project left. Plus, I had to start going to computer classes for the powerpoint sections of the lessons, which sucks.
December 8, 2009
Lucifer's Hammer
Here's the review for the book Lucifer's Hammer that I posted on Goodreads:
*****
The best 'disaster' book I've ever read, and I'm only sorry that I didn't read it sooner. This is a book that I knew about my entire life. It's one of my Dad's favourites, and it was always sitting around our house when I was a child, and it took me 30 years to get around to reading it, too. Though it was written in the 70s, it still actually feels pretty contemporary. We've completely lost interest in space travel, and we're still completely unprepared for a space disaster. I also liked how, despite the time period of the story, the female characters were actually some of the more interesting, though they didn't get as much attention as the male counterparts. Leonilla was a personal favourite, as was the surprisingly brass-balled Marie Vance. The book takes a little while to get going, introducing all the characters before the Hammer actually hits, but it's worth it once all the action happens, because you find you're familiar with the characters and care about them once all the shit hits the fan.
One thing that's also eerily reminsicent even in our time is how quickly we as a race dissolve into anarchy and savagery after a disaster. The whole world, for all our techonolgical advances through the ages, are always only a few meals away from total chaos.
This book should have been made into a movie years ago. I particularly feel that now that 2012 has hit theatres, and was such a wretched piece of empty special-effects. Lucifer's Hammer not only brings intense visuals about the end of the world, but a rich cast of characters who you can actually believe would survive a post-comet apocalypse. Highly recommend!
*****
The best 'disaster' book I've ever read, and I'm only sorry that I didn't read it sooner. This is a book that I knew about my entire life. It's one of my Dad's favourites, and it was always sitting around our house when I was a child, and it took me 30 years to get around to reading it, too. Though it was written in the 70s, it still actually feels pretty contemporary. We've completely lost interest in space travel, and we're still completely unprepared for a space disaster. I also liked how, despite the time period of the story, the female characters were actually some of the more interesting, though they didn't get as much attention as the male counterparts. Leonilla was a personal favourite, as was the surprisingly brass-balled Marie Vance. The book takes a little while to get going, introducing all the characters before the Hammer actually hits, but it's worth it once all the action happens, because you find you're familiar with the characters and care about them once all the shit hits the fan.
One thing that's also eerily reminsicent even in our time is how quickly we as a race dissolve into anarchy and savagery after a disaster. The whole world, for all our techonolgical advances through the ages, are always only a few meals away from total chaos.
This book should have been made into a movie years ago. I particularly feel that now that 2012 has hit theatres, and was such a wretched piece of empty special-effects. Lucifer's Hammer not only brings intense visuals about the end of the world, but a rich cast of characters who you can actually believe would survive a post-comet apocalypse. Highly recommend!
November 30, 2009
Homework... blah!
I told myself that I was going to update more often, and then of course I let it lapse. But, a few days is a big difference compared to my usual long stretches of updating.
Homework has really been mental. It's near the end of the semester, so of course we have all our huge projects due at the same time, plus all the tests added on top of that. But, things are going pretty well, and I still haven't gotten a test under 83%. I have a 5 minute presentation on Thursday for Business Communications. I decided to do mine on Water in Space. Let's hope it turns out okay.
Christmas socks are still going, but slowly. Finished another pair the other day, but I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it. Hopefully tomorrow since my economics class is cancelled.
The level of homework has also meant that I haven't had much time to work on Mariposa. I opened it the other day and wrote a few paragraphs. There's still a lot of good stuff coming up, though I guess it might be a little more emotional stuff from now on, and not so much action, though there will be a few big scenes. I guess some people may have noticed that it looks like I'm planning a sequel for Mariposa. That thought would probably, maybe, someday be correct. I could work on that next, but I do want to get back to Durai and work on Capella or The Black Chapel. Capella is the next story chronologically, so I may work on that next. Capella is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, so maybe that will point to what the subject of the story may be. ;) I'm really looking forward to it, because the Heir Electra is pretty fun to write for. He was supposed to be just a very minor character that lasted a chapter or two, but I just couldn't let him go.
Homework has really been mental. It's near the end of the semester, so of course we have all our huge projects due at the same time, plus all the tests added on top of that. But, things are going pretty well, and I still haven't gotten a test under 83%. I have a 5 minute presentation on Thursday for Business Communications. I decided to do mine on Water in Space. Let's hope it turns out okay.
Christmas socks are still going, but slowly. Finished another pair the other day, but I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it. Hopefully tomorrow since my economics class is cancelled.
The level of homework has also meant that I haven't had much time to work on Mariposa. I opened it the other day and wrote a few paragraphs. There's still a lot of good stuff coming up, though I guess it might be a little more emotional stuff from now on, and not so much action, though there will be a few big scenes. I guess some people may have noticed that it looks like I'm planning a sequel for Mariposa. That thought would probably, maybe, someday be correct. I could work on that next, but I do want to get back to Durai and work on Capella or The Black Chapel. Capella is the next story chronologically, so I may work on that next. Capella is the brightest star in the constellation Auriga, so maybe that will point to what the subject of the story may be. ;) I'm really looking forward to it, because the Heir Electra is pretty fun to write for. He was supposed to be just a very minor character that lasted a chapter or two, but I just couldn't let him go.
November 25, 2009
It's MADNESS
Treasure Madness, that is. The other day, I saw a friend on my Facebook list playing Treasure Madness, so I decided to click on it to see what it was, and now I'm completely OBSESSED! You get to complete all kinds of treasure sets and get all the tiles on the islands. I find it way more addictive than games like Farmville (which I barely played before I deleted from my profile), and the other games I play now - Cafe World (which I'm getting kinda bored of), Fishville and Island Paradise. I even befriended someone I've never met before just so I could trade Treasure Madness items with them. But, she's cute and Turkish, so it's all good.
Had my first couple of shifts at McDonalds yesterday and Monday. So far it's going okay. I got a little nervous when my first time on cash happened to be when a bunch of people came in and all wanted huge orders and I didn't know where half the stuff was on the touch-screen. I also purposely don't bring my wallet to work because it's just too tempting to buy food. It's half price too, so it's just doubly evil. Especially when I was practicing making sundaes, McFlurries and cones. Employees aren't allowed to eat free food (considered stealing), so they just sat there, taunting me until they were written off and thrown out.
Almost done my second pair of Christmas socks. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish all the pairs that I inititally wanted to, but if I get one pair for each person done, then I should be happy. The second pair was just gravy, anyway.
Had my first couple of shifts at McDonalds yesterday and Monday. So far it's going okay. I got a little nervous when my first time on cash happened to be when a bunch of people came in and all wanted huge orders and I didn't know where half the stuff was on the touch-screen. I also purposely don't bring my wallet to work because it's just too tempting to buy food. It's half price too, so it's just doubly evil. Especially when I was practicing making sundaes, McFlurries and cones. Employees aren't allowed to eat free food (considered stealing), so they just sat there, taunting me until they were written off and thrown out.
Almost done my second pair of Christmas socks. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish all the pairs that I inititally wanted to, but if I get one pair for each person done, then I should be happy. The second pair was just gravy, anyway.
November 22, 2009
Should Be Studying
Yes, I should listen to the title of this blog post. Have a Marketing test tomorrow afternoon. I'm not terribly concerned about it, though. My lowest test mark so far was 83, and that was quite a bit lower than my average mark. And, I'll probably be finished in ten minutes. Which isn't actually an exagerration. I'm the first person to finish every test out of my class. The test is mostly just on market segmentation.
So, instead of studying, I'm posting here and watching CSI Miami in the background until The Amazing Race starts. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate CSI, but I actually kind of enjoy the Miami one because it's just so terrible that it's awesome. It's the same reason that I loved watching the soap opera Passions when it was still on. Whenever you turned it on, you felt like you were drunk or high on something. Miami has the same sort of feel. David Caruso's acting is so laughably awful, and you could make a drinking game with how many times he dramatically whips off his sunglasses in the course of one episode.
Tomorrow's also the day that I'm going to try and get a spot in this run of the Gothsocks sock club (they make self-striping sock yarn with black stripes paired with various other colours). Hopefully I can get a spot, but Gothsocks are really, really hard to buy since there's such low numbers and relatively high demand. I've only ever gotten one skein that wasn't a custom order. (oop, he just took off his sunglasses in slow motion!)
So, instead of studying, I'm posting here and watching CSI Miami in the background until The Amazing Race starts. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate CSI, but I actually kind of enjoy the Miami one because it's just so terrible that it's awesome. It's the same reason that I loved watching the soap opera Passions when it was still on. Whenever you turned it on, you felt like you were drunk or high on something. Miami has the same sort of feel. David Caruso's acting is so laughably awful, and you could make a drinking game with how many times he dramatically whips off his sunglasses in the course of one episode.
Tomorrow's also the day that I'm going to try and get a spot in this run of the Gothsocks sock club (they make self-striping sock yarn with black stripes paired with various other colours). Hopefully I can get a spot, but Gothsocks are really, really hard to buy since there's such low numbers and relatively high demand. I've only ever gotten one skein that wasn't a custom order. (oop, he just took off his sunglasses in slow motion!)
November 21, 2009
Grey Warden Lovin'
This evening I'm just sipping some pomegranate white tea and watching hockey while I work on my Christmas knitting. Though, my market gets the Red Wings/Canadiens game, and I don't like either team all that much. Wish I was watching the Leafs/Caps game instead, even if it's just to watch the Leafs lose. Again. And, completely break my heart while doing it, since I'm a Leafs fan for life. <3. I don't know what a broken heart smilie would look like. <$...? My fingers are all taped up like I'm ready to go to a sports bar and get in a fistfight over it, but it's because when I use really small dpns (double-pointed needles for all you non-knitting charlatains!), my right index finger gets a big dent in it from where the needle is pressed to it, and the left index fingertip gets sliced up sometimes from the points. I pretty much only love metal or pony plastic dpns, so it's easier to jab myself. Most knitters love wood only, but I'm completely a Hulk Knit, Hulk Smash knitter, and have snapped every small size wooden dpn or circular that I've ever used, and usually only within an hour. It makes me feel like I'm some sort of giant or ogress.
But, this afternoon, I spent a bunch of time playing Dragon Age: Origins. The characters are kind of fugly, at least compared to the last game I played, which was Uncharted 2. To be fair to Dragon Age, ANY game compared to Uncharted 2 is oogly. Right now I'm rolling a Human Female Templar. I thought that I would wind up romancing only Leliana, but I've totally kind of fallen for Alistair, so I'm cozying up to both of them. I know it's only a video game, but I actually feel kind of bad about this. Even when it's pixellated, I'm totally monogamous. Alistair is just too cute and charming and innocently sweet to be ignored. And, he's got Steve Valentine's voice, which makes him extra adorable. Steve Valentine was also Flynn's voice in Uncharted 2, so I'm getting double his awesomeness. Though, Flynn is nowhere near as adorable as Alistair, and not even in the same galaxy as charming adorability as Nathan Drake. Drake/Elena is totally my other hetslash love pair besides Zack/Aerith right now.
The game itself is pretty fun so far. My Human Templar chica is the nice girl (and ironically her name is Rigel, who when I finally write that story, won't be a nice girl). I have a mage character on deck who's going to be my raging asshole character. I'll probably make him a blood mage. His name is Auriga, naturally. And, he's totally going to sleep with Zevran. I mean... how could I not strive for the hot gay elf sex?! I actually love that the homo aspect of the romances is taken as seriously as the hetero. It's not played as some horrid stereotype or some gross-out joke.
But, this afternoon, I spent a bunch of time playing Dragon Age: Origins. The characters are kind of fugly, at least compared to the last game I played, which was Uncharted 2. To be fair to Dragon Age, ANY game compared to Uncharted 2 is oogly. Right now I'm rolling a Human Female Templar. I thought that I would wind up romancing only Leliana, but I've totally kind of fallen for Alistair, so I'm cozying up to both of them. I know it's only a video game, but I actually feel kind of bad about this. Even when it's pixellated, I'm totally monogamous. Alistair is just too cute and charming and innocently sweet to be ignored. And, he's got Steve Valentine's voice, which makes him extra adorable. Steve Valentine was also Flynn's voice in Uncharted 2, so I'm getting double his awesomeness. Though, Flynn is nowhere near as adorable as Alistair, and not even in the same galaxy as charming adorability as Nathan Drake. Drake/Elena is totally my other hetslash love pair besides Zack/Aerith right now.
The game itself is pretty fun so far. My Human Templar chica is the nice girl (and ironically her name is Rigel, who when I finally write that story, won't be a nice girl). I have a mage character on deck who's going to be my raging asshole character. I'll probably make him a blood mage. His name is Auriga, naturally. And, he's totally going to sleep with Zevran. I mean... how could I not strive for the hot gay elf sex?! I actually love that the homo aspect of the romances is taken as seriously as the hetero. It's not played as some horrid stereotype or some gross-out joke.
November 20, 2009
This Guy Are Sick
After classes got out at lunchtime today, I wound up eating lunch with a friend and eating WAY too much food. A giant plate of nachos and Bailey's flavoured cheesecake (yes, it was as delicious as it sounds). Then, went to the yarn store and was totally good and didn't buy any sock yarn althought I felt up a couple of skeins for a while.
Lately I've been replaying FFVII on my PSP. I tend to play it when I'm on my stationary bike. Obviously VIII is my favourite, or else I wouldn't write so much fanfiction about it, and I wouldn't even put VII in my top three or even top five, but I must like it a little since I've replayed it so many times. Barret's horribly racist and stereotypical ebonics, and all the really bad grammar and translation errors have always irked me, but this time I find that it's the dialog itself that's pissing me off to no end. It's not just the bad punctuation or the spelling - it's the content of each sentence. It's like tangent city! Sentences often don't make sense compared to the one that came prior, even if it's being spoken by the same character. They didn't even take into account that when you translate between languages, you have to actually change sentence structure and context, because they aren't the same damn culture. This game needs a remake so bad. Not because it's the best in the series, which is so isn't, but because it's aged SO TERRIBLY. The graphics look like ass and the script is dated and horribly translated.
I've also noticed that as I get older, I like Tifa less and less. Of course I'll still choose her to be in my party over some of the other characters (if I could, I'd ditch Cloud, and have an all girl party), but when I played it the first couple of times, I thought Tifa was so fucking awesome, and I loathed Aerith. I've really softened on Aerith, but still think that she and Cloud shouldn't be together. Crisis Core made me fall in love with Aerith/Zack (enough that I actually would consider writing a het fic about them). Aerith already has a love, and it's not boring-ass Cloud. Crisis Core actually brought about a huge change in the way I saw a scene in Advent Children. The end where you finally see Aerith's face, and she walks away with Zack into the light of the Lifestream. It's like... they finally got to be together again, and it became my favourite scene in the whole movie, by a huge margin. Though, I don't know if I'd like her as much if she hadn't sacrificed her life. That's the crux of her character. In fact, I liked Tifa so much better that this is the first time that I actually got to see the Aerith date cutscene at the Gold Saucer. I know that's kind of impossible to believe since it's pretty much *supposed* to be Aerith there, but I never used her, and was purposely mean since I was pro-Tifa (I still am in regards to who should be with Cloud, though). I liked how she was so attracted to Cloud because she wanted to essentially be with Zack again. Swoon~! But, Yuffie is still a staple in my party. I told myself that I was going to use Red XIII and Cait Sith more this time, but I just can't bring myself to pull Yuffie out of my party. I'm at the Temple of the Ancients now, and am using Cloud/Aerith/Tifa, and it's actually kind of killing me to not see Yuffie there. Best party member, materia stealer or no!!
But, at least I've gotten closer in trying to finish all my Christmas sock knitting. I'm still not sure if I'll get it all done in time, but I'm trying. 1.5 socks down! (8.5 to go, but I'm not going to think about that or I'll go insane...)
Lately I've been replaying FFVII on my PSP. I tend to play it when I'm on my stationary bike. Obviously VIII is my favourite, or else I wouldn't write so much fanfiction about it, and I wouldn't even put VII in my top three or even top five, but I must like it a little since I've replayed it so many times. Barret's horribly racist and stereotypical ebonics, and all the really bad grammar and translation errors have always irked me, but this time I find that it's the dialog itself that's pissing me off to no end. It's not just the bad punctuation or the spelling - it's the content of each sentence. It's like tangent city! Sentences often don't make sense compared to the one that came prior, even if it's being spoken by the same character. They didn't even take into account that when you translate between languages, you have to actually change sentence structure and context, because they aren't the same damn culture. This game needs a remake so bad. Not because it's the best in the series, which is so isn't, but because it's aged SO TERRIBLY. The graphics look like ass and the script is dated and horribly translated.
I've also noticed that as I get older, I like Tifa less and less. Of course I'll still choose her to be in my party over some of the other characters (if I could, I'd ditch Cloud, and have an all girl party), but when I played it the first couple of times, I thought Tifa was so fucking awesome, and I loathed Aerith. I've really softened on Aerith, but still think that she and Cloud shouldn't be together. Crisis Core made me fall in love with Aerith/Zack (enough that I actually would consider writing a het fic about them). Aerith already has a love, and it's not boring-ass Cloud. Crisis Core actually brought about a huge change in the way I saw a scene in Advent Children. The end where you finally see Aerith's face, and she walks away with Zack into the light of the Lifestream. It's like... they finally got to be together again, and it became my favourite scene in the whole movie, by a huge margin. Though, I don't know if I'd like her as much if she hadn't sacrificed her life. That's the crux of her character. In fact, I liked Tifa so much better that this is the first time that I actually got to see the Aerith date cutscene at the Gold Saucer. I know that's kind of impossible to believe since it's pretty much *supposed* to be Aerith there, but I never used her, and was purposely mean since I was pro-Tifa (I still am in regards to who should be with Cloud, though). I liked how she was so attracted to Cloud because she wanted to essentially be with Zack again. Swoon~! But, Yuffie is still a staple in my party. I told myself that I was going to use Red XIII and Cait Sith more this time, but I just can't bring myself to pull Yuffie out of my party. I'm at the Temple of the Ancients now, and am using Cloud/Aerith/Tifa, and it's actually kind of killing me to not see Yuffie there. Best party member, materia stealer or no!!
But, at least I've gotten closer in trying to finish all my Christmas sock knitting. I'm still not sure if I'll get it all done in time, but I'm trying. 1.5 socks down! (8.5 to go, but I'm not going to think about that or I'll go insane...)
November 19, 2009
New Blog
First post in a new blog! There was nothing wrong with my LiveJournal account, per se, but I just felt like a change. I also prefer that Blogger has the Ravelry widget, as opposed to LJs 'work in progress' thing.
I hope that since I'm changing where I blog, that means I'll actually try to blog more. And, my first post won't be completely useless. I do have a
new chapter of Operation: Mariposa.
Got a new job, finally. I'll be working at McDonalds. It isn't exactly glamourous, but it's money. Money's always good.
I hope that since I'm changing where I blog, that means I'll actually try to blog more. And, my first post won't be completely useless. I do have a
new chapter of Operation: Mariposa.
Got a new job, finally. I'll be working at McDonalds. It isn't exactly glamourous, but it's money. Money's always good.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
