Don't be fooled...

SDC10264
Originally uploaded by ahough404

I was totally the best fucking Katamari prince last halloween. Pepper did it too, but... uh, I've got nothin.

A bit about me

PrincessPea tagged me for a survey... I'm honored! I think I've only been tagged to do something like this once before.

1) What was I doing ten years ago?

I would have been just finishing the seventh grade, waiting to turn thirteen, and probably quite miserable.

2) What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today:

Well, the evening is almost up...
- Finish this meme
- Play some Mass Effect
- Set the alarm so I get up to register for fall classes tomorrow morning
- Have a drink
- Go to sleep?

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Unfortunately, I really enjoy sugary things like... Ben & Jerry's cake batter ice cream?

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

- Pay off student loans
- Buy that hot pink Mini Cooper
- Get my mom something nice
- Get some Twinkle Soft Chunky, since presumably I'd be able to afford it!
- Invest enough to live off interest, do some philanthropy

5) Places I have lived:

Manchester, Ann Arbor, Lansing... all in Michigan.

6) Jobs I have had:

Shoe peddler, carpet/blinds/paint peddler, library whore...

7) Peeps I want to know more about:

Meg!
Amanda!
Tracey!
TEH WILKZ! (Maybe? This doesn't seem like her style!)
Zanti!
...and, of course, anyone else who likes.

I'm afraid that wasn't terribly exciting. Maybe I'm just too tired/grouchy/whatever to really get into it. I haven't been into too much lately, actually. The knitting has been relatively sparse, my two summer classes are kicking my ass more than I'd imagined, and nothing I've started knitting has really stuck out as something I REALLY wanted to work on. It's strange.

Oh, not to mention with Grand Theft Auto IV, Mass Effect, and Wii Fit all taking up my time, video games have put knitting on the back burner. Don't worry, folks, I'll be back... Let me go take my GTA girlfriend bowling.

Introspection

Apologies for the lack of knitting related content in advance. This is the kind of thing I'd put in my defunct livejournal, but... eh. Does anyone use livejournal anymore?

The sedentary law school lifestyle has done a number on my once skinny bod, as well as the addition of beer on my "favorite things" list. I get to sit around and read and think and take notes for huge portions of my time. Then when I get home, my favorite activities are knitting and video games. Physical activity is all too easy to avoid; I don't really have to walk anywhere, because the bus stops are just so convenient, and my bike isn't up here with me anyway. I had gotten a lot of walking and physical work in at my job after college graduation, lifting boxes of tile, moving carpet, and running around the store like a headless chicken... But now that I'm up here? Forget it. My weight hit an all time high (170 lbs, if you must know) at the doctor's office where I used to happily be around 135-140.

Time to make some adjustments. This wonderful lady has been one hell of an inspiration.

After class every day, I've quietly started what I fondly refer to as the DDR regimen. For those not in the know, DDR is a fun little game where you dance on a mat on the floor. It's hard work. It seems like it's the perfect solution for a nerd like me, plus I've thrown in some crunches and pushups for good measure. It feels nice to work up a sweat for once. Cross your fingers that I don't go crazy from all the bad dance music...

Something happy

Some days, you just need a pick-me-up. I decided to go shopping today, and the photo below shows all of my lovely acquisitions.



I went to Michael's in search of one of those giant balls of Sugar 'n' Cream, but the only color they had left was my grandmother's favorite, tan with pink and blue specks. Yuck. Luckily the normal-sized balls were 4 for $5, so I picked up some nice ones: hot pink, hot green, tan tweed and chocolate brown to go with it. I was crazy-inspired by Dave's dishcloth deluge, and want to get back into the delicious practical knitting.

I didn't stop there, though. I went into Joann with a gift card looking for fall fabric, and was disappointed that summer is still in full swing. Instead I found 5" clover DPNs in sizes 1 and 2... hopefully this will make my sock knitting a little less bulky! I've been looking for these guys everywhere.

Lastly, it was off to GameStop. I was really, really curious about the newest Pokemon installment, and it's been ages since I've bought a DS game. I came home with Pokemon Pearl. Two hours in, and it's really quite amusing. I haven't lost a battle yet!

But, honestly, I HAVE been knitting lately.



I finished one sleeve to Mariah, and have started the second. I actually have to give props to the designer, Jodi, who sent me a nice two-page errata document when I asked about the existence of an errata page. It's supposed to give a better fit through the yoke and shoulders, and make the hood better. I'll hopefully report back to you all when I see how well it actually turns out. So far, on the sleeves, there have only been a few "WTF?" moments where I had to study the instructions. I just attribute it to the pattern having so much going on at once. As far as the yarn goes, I'm just using good old WoolEase. I mean, let's face it, I wear my sweater cardigans a ton, and I'm not about to use yarn that Steve might ruin by accidentally throwing in the washing machine.

A pair of socks has suffered this way. Steve said he would knit me new ones. He doesn't really know how to knit. I told him I would accept a gift of sock yarn instead. I'm thinking I'd really enjoy some Wollmeise, but alas, no ordering anything until we've settled in to our new address!




I really do apologize for the negativity yesterday. It's a stressful time. I'd rather play video games than pack, and I'm 295th on the Ravelry list. I'm not finishing much of anything.

A secret

I have a secret, fellow knitters. I'm a nerd. This is something that at one point in my life I would have fervently denied. I have grown into a more true version of myself, and that version of me is very nerdy indeed.

Take, for example, my Christmas gift to myself:



That's right, a black MacBook. I had been running on a Dell Insprion since 2002, which was only beginning to annoy me; I decided that the solution to my issues would be to upgrade the RAM. As it turns out, in order to upgrade the RAM I would have had to rip the entire computer apart. No thanks.

Now my problems were solved! 160 gig hard drive, 2 gigs of RAM all in a pretty package! OSX is a great system, and I'm just getting used to it...

Then I get into law school last week, and discover on the site's technology requirements page this handy statement:

Beginning with the entering Fall 2007 class, MSU Law requires each student to own a Windows-based laptop/notebook computer ... The Law College, as well as the legal community at large, uses some software that will only run on Windows. This includes the software the Law College uses to let students take their essay exams and print to network printers. Law College does not support Apple based computers and does not guarantee all the software you will need will work on an Apple.

Well, kiss my grits! What a load of crap, I initially think. And would I even consider getting rid of my beautiful new lappy? Hell no!

But then a solution arises: I can go to Boot Camp and get myself a dual-booting system that supports more than one operating system! Just now, I have successfully installed it on my system and partitioned out my hard drive so that my system has both OSX and Windows XP! How cool is this? I can install all these law-like programs to the Windows partition and all the rest of my life onto the OSX partition.

In a nutshell, it can do this:



Yes, this makes me feel really badass. I only did this with TWO nervous breakdowns where I thought I killed my computer, mind you.

This dual-booting business isn't where my nerdiness ends, however; please be noted that I am also a video game nerd. I have an NES, SNES, PS2, DS, Xbox 360 (sadly broken, a lamentation best left to another post), and a Wii. My old bosses at the yarn shop advised me to knit more and game less, but so far this has not really come to pass...





And yes, I did frog the vest. Sort of. I pulled the needles out and started Eiffel, leaving the work somewhat intact for now.

Oh Wii...

I waited a whopping twenty minutes out in the cold today to get one of sixty Wiis headed for my local Target. They were all accounted for at opening; I got number fortysomething. Whew.

Still no nice light for a tubey photoshoot. Now I'm probably going to be trying LESS as this Zelda game is way too cool.

If any of you knitters out there want to add me to your Wii registry, I'm 0757 0471 8955 2652. :-)

A Video Game Vacation

First off, a HUGE thanks to Lorinda for the awesome prize package she sent me - Kureyon, sock yarn from To Knit Perchance to Dream, and a cute little card.

I was just having way too much fun playing video games and working on random knitting projects over the holiday break that I really didn't accomplish a whole lot of knitting.

Or blogging.

Or sewing.

Or many of the things I intended to do.

You see, this post is mostly going to pertain to video games. I knew for a long time that my mother was getting me a black Nintendo DS for Christmas.

My boyfriend has been wanting one for ages, and we knew his parents weren't getting him one. He wanted a pink one, so I took up the challenge. For the two weeks prior to Christmas, I was going in and out of stores that sell video games looking for the elusive pink DS. I refused to pay the exorbitant prices being charged for them on eBay; asking $250 for something that retails at half that just doesn't seem at all ethical to me.

I had pretty much given up the search once Game Stop, Meijer, Target, and Sears were all sick of hearing from me. On Christmas Eve, the boyfriend and I were at Meijer getting groceries or something. I joked about stopping by the toy section, and he said, "I don't even WANT to look anymore." I made him walk across the store with me "just in case." Sure enough, there were six pink DS systems sitting in the case, along with a few white ones. I pretty much screamed when I saw them, and (since it was late), went frantically looking for a red shirted employee to help...

The video game talk would be over, except for one small detail. A couple of the boyfriend's co-workers have Wiis. I had little interest in a Wii - until I played theirs (drunken wii bowling). Now I need one, and have the money set aside from graduation. The only problem is, I'm running into the same problem as I had with the pink DS: you can't find them ANYWHERE at retail! I know one day I will have my Wii, but until then, I'm doing pretty much the same thing I was before Christmas with the DS.

If any of you have been thinking about a DS, I highly reccommend them, along with Final Fantasy III, New Super Mario Bros, Kirby Squeak Squad, and Nintendogs.

I spent many days just sitting there and playing for hours until my rear end was sore.

It's truly a shame that my favorite things (video games, knitting, reading, sewing) are all sedentary pursuits; I'm going to be fat before I know it.

Boyfriend's roommate has an Xbox 360, and has been playing Gears of War. What a gory game! The graphics are so good that the blood and guts can literally give me chills; it's THAT good.



Click on the image below so it blows up to a fullscreen one, and just imagine how detailed it looks when that man rips your character apart with that chainsaw gun. (Yes, a chainsaw gun.) Go on, imagine it!

He's been playing a lot of matches online, which is something I actually wouldn't mind trying. He says he rarely runs into female players on there (they talk to one another wearing headsets while playing the game), which makes me want to play even more. I'm all about freaking out teenage boys. "OHMIGAWD, I'm playing against a GIRL?"




Fine, I'll mention knitting. I'm working on Tubey, and it's definitely the fastest sweater I've ever had the pleasure of working on. I'm working on the sleeve/shrug part, and I'm almost DONE! I cast on less than a week ago! It's a lot of stockinette in the round, so it mindlessly flies by. Perhaps the body "tube" will be a little more engaging. I'm using KnitPicks Andean Silk, which is really soft and lovely. I just couldn't spring for the Debbie Bliss that the original calls for...