There's a link to my calendar on the left hand side of the page now. Click it any time to check out what I'm up to!
I should start going back to church.
Firstly, THIS IS AMAZING. It's the video for the first single off the new Mountain Goats album set to come out in February. I am a video snob and I think it's amazing. The song? Also fantastic. Their last album was really slow-paced and sad, so I'm excited that this next album looks like it's going to be a lot more upbeat.
I took this picture last week while I was out grocery shopping and I thought it was kind of amusing. HEART BREAKER! (those are candy hearts, hard-of-seeing parents)
Portland has been very, very cold and all of the fountains froze over. This is at the beginning of last week, before everyone chipped the ice out and took it to other parts of campus, leaving ice cubes everywhere.
On Saturday night Rob, Devon, Lizzy L., and I all went to cheap sushi at Sushi Takahashi. This is kind of a not-every-but-several Saturday tradition because most of the sushi is only $1.25/plate.
We all got steamed bean buns. Rob got kind of attached to his.
Devon is but a stalk of bamboo.
Devon and Lizzy, bein' silly.
The next morning Rob, Rachelle, Chelsea and I drove up to Olympia for the 11:00 service at the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation. Our main purpose of the visit was to check out the site (since that's where we're hosting con in April), but the service was so fantastic that had I known, I might have come up anyways with no ulterior motive. The Olympia church has a tradition where at every service they ask if there are any birthdays in the congregation. When they asked if there were any birthdays, Rachelle nudged me and I whispered "not til NEXT Sunday!" and she whispered back "but you're not going to BE HERE next Sunday!" The woman in front of us turned around to us and said "Wait, it's YOUR birthday?" and then announced it to the congregation. They asked me to stand up, wished me a happy birthday, then everyone sang me this song:
Each of us rising from the earth
Seeking love and wholeness from the moment of our birth
May this coming year bring to you
A gift of knowing love and a life that touches truth.
It really was amazing, and I was so glad that Rachelle had made a little fuss. The sermon itself was wonderful. It's theme was "The Committee Meeting in Your Mind", given by the Reverend Joan Montagnes, who was visiting from Bellevue.
After the sermon the four us of walked around, taking pictures to put up on the con website. Behind the church there is a forested area with paths. We did a little exploring and took this picture on the way back up... this is where we're hosting con!!!
Greetings from the CONga Line dean, co-worship coordinator, and registrar!
After exploring the church we stopped at Evergreen to visit a friend, then went for Mexican. I took this picture, mostly for my Budapest friends, as a reference to this video.
These are new shoes I got in the mail last week. Pretty!
Rachelle on the way home, bein' cute.
Chelsea = also cute.
It snowed last night! This is the view from my window.
Same view this morning. Classes were canceled until 10 am, so I didn't have to go to CS 1. Yaaaay snow!
Section Line Drive met for the first time last night and it's going to be an absolutely amazing time, I can already tell. We have so many new voices, so much new music, so much energy... I'm excited!!
Hopefully tonight or tomorrow I'll put a link in here to my calendar, in case people are curious and want to take a look at my incredibly busy life.
Now it's time to go to voting theory, then finish my German Lit in Translation homework, get decorations together for the UU booth at the activities fair, GO to German Lit in Translation, then join Liz N. at the activities fair. Egads. Busy afternoon.
Hungry Girl Friday, January 25, 2008
My eyes could quite possibly have been bigger than my stomach -- looking at my plate right now, I'm not sure my stomach, or in this case my time, could ever hold that much.
Let's take a little look, shall we?
- Planning this damn con (at least it's going smoothly, now that two people causing drama on my planning committee have stepped down/been asked to step down)
- Leading the UU group on campus. I can't let that slide just because I'm focusing so must UU energy into planning the con.
- Section Line Drive. I've missed them so much, and I can't wait to sing with them again... but it's another 3 hours or so a week.
- Working 10 hours a week at IT and another 4 or so grading Yung Pin's stat's class.
- 4 classes, which are all going to require quite a bit of homework, thought and effort. Liz's complex class is going to make me believe in math again, Jeff Ely's CS 1 is going to be hilarious, Roger's voting theory class is by far the most theoretical math class I have ever taken... and German Lit in Translation is going to be far harder than I was expecting... but the focus is VIKINGS. So it's ok.
Saturday night Me, Rob, Devon and Lizzy are going to Sushi Takahashi, and Sunday Me, Rob and Rachelle are driving up to Olympia to check out the location of con. Dev made us a website and it's BEAUTIFUL. I am enamored with it. We made a facebook event, too. 200 people have been invited so far and there are already over 20 "officially attending" RSVPs. This is really happening! It's exciting!
And just to see how funny fate is, I saw a familiar last name among those invited by others, and recognized it from a friend of mine whose family used to attend the UUFC and then moved away when I was in middle or high school. I messaged the person of the familiar last name and asked if she was my friends younger sister... and she was! And she remembered me and my dad! It turns out she's a Mountain Goats fan and is under 21, so me and Rob are going to give her a ride down to the all ages show in Eugene in late February... exciting!
I'm actually going to try to see the Mountain Goats twice while they're in this neck of the woods, because they're so amazing live. I saw them at the Doug Fir on March 3rd last year and this year I'm going to see them in Eug February 27th, like I mentioned, but I'm also going to try to go to one of the shows at the Doug Fir either the 25th or the 26th. I'm going to rationalize this by saying that I don't really go to concerts these days unless they're cheap or free (who am I kidding, I haven't been to a concert in a really, really long time), mostly because the bands I like either aren't touring any more (Elliott Smith, Sublime), I don't like the music they're making now (Fountains of Wayne, Weezer), or I don't want to deal with their typical fans (Bright Eyes, for the love of god, Bright Eyes). Also I've never bought a single Mountain Goats CD, so I've got to support them how I can. The only problem (?) is that Steve gave me a ton of Mountain Goats during break, and I've barely touched it. I NEED TO TOUCH IT BEFORE I SEE THEM.
Speaking of shows, Rob got tickets today for Margaret Cho's new show, Beautiful, which is playing at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall April 17th. It's my early/late anniversary present (our anniversary is March 30/31). Sweet!
I am now going to go watch an episode of Six Feet Under, then go to schleeeep. I'll post pictures soon, promise.
My hands my postcards Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Look at my hands, look at how they are dry and cracked around the edges like something that got left out all night. Look at the blister on my thumb from all the pushpins I’ve been pushing into the wall, pinning scraps of my life so that I can always see, so everyone can see. Photographs of family and friends, mugging and smiling trapped on my wall with a sharp metal spike, tickets to concerts and clubs and metros, posters, quotes from books I read a hundred years ago, postcards I bought on a whim, postcards I made, postcards someone sent to me. I’ve been taking these scraps of me up and down and up and down for four years now and now they’re like my hands, all cracked around the edges, but they’re not because all they want is to keep still and slow down and stay in one place for a year or two. All my hands want to do is move and move and move and craft and crochet and type and text and write and write and write and touch and pet and love and never ever ever stop.
And I saw you, and I knew you saw me too. Thursday, January 17, 2008
I start school on Tuesday. Schwa?
I went to Powell's and returned the crochet stitch book I'd bought; it had a funny binding that I didn't really like, and the layout was really confusing. I exchanged it for The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs, which has patterns for 500 stitches and really clear instructions and diagrams. It was a little more than the other book (and I just discovered it's $10 cheaper on Amazon) but whatever, as long as I'm supporting Powell's I don't care.
Yesterday while Rob was doing his homework and PJ was procrastinating, she decided to get me started on a new TV series I hadn't seen before, Six Feet Under. It's quite fantastic, and now I have 5 seasons to get through. Luckily there's only 14 episodes a season, and PJ only has the first 3 seasons. Whew.
Con planning is finally going smoothly. We had an official date and site (March 14-16 in Corvallis), but enough complaint was made about that being the weekend before finals for schools on the quarter system that we found a site for a weekend in April. So now Spring Con is going to be in Olympia April 11-13. The budget's almost done as far as I know, and once it's approved we can start officially advertising, sending out registrations, etc etc. I'm excited!
Today Ben is driving back through Vancouver; we're going to go bowling again because not only is it cheap night at Hazel Dell Lanes (3 games + shoe rental = $5 each), but Ben wants a rematch because Rob kicked his ass so completely. Tomorrow Rob and I are driving down to Corvallis to pack up all my school stuff and visit my parentals and Micaela and then on Sunday we're moving me back into my apartment at Lewis and Clark. Classes start on Tuesday, barring another day-after-MLK-day snow storm like last year.
Balls, Buddha, Bananas and Booze Monday, January 14, 2008
This weekend Rob's friend, Michael, came to visit. He's from Port Townsend and grew up there, but somehow the two of them didn't meet until after Rob moved away.
Friday was the waiting day. Rob and I drove to the Amtrak station to pick up Michael from his train, which was supposedly coming in around 2. We arrived around 2:05, walked around, looked for him and saw that he hadn't arrived yet, so we waited by the tracks. Around 12:30 the Coast Starlight arrived, people exited the train, the train left... no sign of Michael. We worked out possible scenarios: "He missed his train in Seattle" or "He missed the Vancouver stop and will be getting off in Portland." We decided the best thing to do would be to get his home phone number from his place of employment, then call his Mom to get the specifics of his travel plans. The problem is that when Rob called said place of employment, he was asked to "hold on a minute". Eight minutes later there was still no word from the manager, so Rob hung up. We sat there for about ten minutes, wondering what to do, when another train pulled up, the Cascades train. "Oh!" we realized, "this must be Michael's train!" And yes, it was his train, and there was Michael.
The three of us walked back to the car, and realized that Rob's keys were in the ignition (off). And mine were in my bag on the floor. And the doors were all locked. Rob and I both have roadside assistance, but both our cards were in the car. The only thing still in my pocket that was of any use was my cell phone, so I used that to call Papa, who gave me the AAA numbers. We called AAA, arranged for a locksmith, then waited another 45 minutes for the locksmith to come save us.
Rob drove us out of the Amtrak parking lot, then we were immediately met by a 100+ car freight train bearing grain.
This was written on the sides of most of the cars. *snicker*
We got back to Rob's. Michael showed us this video, which then inspired them to play with bouncy balls for a good hour or two. This led to juggling after a while.
That evening we went to Winco for food supplies, came home and made GardenBurgers, drank Drop Top, then Rachelle came back with Chelsea and we decided to start drinking in earnest. Rob, Michael, Myself, Chelsea, Rachelle and Taylor (Rob's other roommate) consumed some beverages of the alcoholic variety, then laid our eyes upon this old can of air freshener that no one liked the smell of. Rachelle the Easily Amused decided it would be fun to make an amateur pyrotechnics display on Rob's balcony. But when we sprayed the air freshener on the candle, all it did was make the flame go out :(
We came back inside for more boozing, etc.
Taylor and I practice our best little kid smiles:
Giving koala a kiss:
The Cutest Photo Evar, featuring Rachelle, Chelsea and koala.
Me and Rachelle, showing what we will look like when Nicole and Mark get married someday (hope hope hope)
We played Big Face/Little Face. Guess which face this is?
Little Face!
Me and Rob's Big Face
Our Little Face
These are the people I'm staying with
Chelsea and I skankin'
Rachelle and Chelsea dancin'
We slept in, then went to Hawthorne for breakfast. Our initial destination was Jam, one of Rachelle's favorite spots, but the line was out the door. Next was Cup and Saucer, a place Chelsea knew and liked. Also a line out the door. We ended up at Noah's bagels across the street. Rob bought a banana with the intention of giving it to a random person on the street, but no one would take it on our walk back to the car, so we gave it to Buddha instead.
We saw a GINORMOUS rainbow on our way to breakfast.
We came home and Rob and Michael played with bouncy balls more while I sat and crocheted. At 5 the three of us drove downtown for cheap sushi, stuffed ourselves, ran into two of my old roommates, then walked over to Powell's. Ben was driving through, en route to Port Townsend, so he met up with us at Powell's. I bought a book of crochet stitches with my Christmas giftcard from Laura, Rob bought a "Reading is Sexy" shirt, Michael got a book of found shopping lists and a t-shirt that says "Herbivore" with a picture of a bunny on it, and Ben got two sets of magnetic poetry: Romance Novel and Pick-up Lines. The group of us, now 4, walked from Powell's to Voodoo Donuts.
Michael got the night special: the maple "joint" with complimentary lighter
Rob and I split a gigantic peach fritter with cream cheese frosting.
We came back to Rob's, hung out, I took a shower, we all changed into white and neon clothes, then Myself, Rob, Michael, Chelsea, Ben and Rachelle drove to Hazel Dell Lanes for COSMIC BOWLING!
Chelsea glowing!
Rob was hard to look at because he was so bright.
The boys playing foosball while we waited for a lane to open up
The lanes glowing.
We came home from bowling at 12:30, me, Rob and Michael had GardenBurgers, started watching Blades of Glory, but then discovered that Ben had Transformers in his car, so we had him get it so we could watch it. Rob and I fell asleep before it was over and decided to go to bed, and still ended up going to bed after 3.
We slept in til noon, I dealt with some con drama first thing, then did nothing else for most of the day besides eat and watch Blades of Glory.
In the evening we decided we really wanted to make double decker tacos, so we went to Freddies for taco shells, tortillas, beans, sour cream, salsa, corn and lettuce. We took this pictures on our way out:
Rob and I are going to join the circus
Michael playing guitar
Rob's "reading is sexy" shirt
Me and Rob, acrobalancing it up! Preparing for the circus, you know.
After a delicious dinner I dealt with more con planning drama, then sat, crocheting, while Michael and Rob played guitar. Around 10 we decided we wanted to get Krispy Kreme, so we all loaded up in Rachelle's car and went to Krispy Kreme for a dozen donuts. And what goes better with donuts than milk? And the communal milk back at the apartment was almost out, so we stopped at Winco for milk on the way home. Michael babied the milk on the way home:
When we got home Taylor was just arriving, with a newly purchased copy of Little Nemo's Adventure in Slumberland. We drank some milk, ate another donut, and sat down to watch. Sadly I was interrupted about halfway through with more drama (all this drama is really just about disagreement over the date) that I had to deal with.
This morning I got up as Rob was leaving for school, Michael and I gave him a ride since he'd missed the bus (since it usually hits his house about 9:30 and today it came at 9:25) and then came back to chill. I drove Michael to the Amtrak station at noon for his 12:30 train, then came back to a Rob and Annie's Macaroni for lunch.
Tonight we're going over to Devon's to make dinner with her and Carrie. I haven't seen either of them since before I left for Hungary... I'm excited!
Tonight we're going over to Devon's to make dinner with her and Carrie. I haven't seen either of them since before I left for Hungary... I'm excited!
The loop, let me show you it. Friday, January 11, 2008
Mom's been bitching since I got home from Hungary (full story here) that she feels all out of the loop now that she doesn't have a blog to keep up with. And I have this craft blog I barely ever update, an album of all my hair colors, a creative writing blog I haven't written in since I was across the Atlantic, and a Livejournal that used to be about my day-to-days, but I now rarely update. So here you go, a brand new blog for an almost 22 year old adult, partly for the parentals, since they knew more about my life when I was thousands of miles away in Budapest than they do when I'm 90 miles away in Portland at Lewis and Clark, and party for me. Here it is, your combination crafts/hairdye/day-to-day bitchings/creative writing/con planning/school is hard blog, straight from my fingertips, direct to your computer screen.
Now some entertainment:
This is my hair right now. It is kind of pink-ish/red-ish/purple-ish. I don't know, but I like it.
Saturday Rob and PJ (Rachelle) took me to a Vancouver staple, Ice Cream Renaissance, a sit-down ice cream parlor. They have so many options that they even have an "I'm feeling indecisive" option, available in slightly hesitant, wavering and seriously uncertain (2, 3 or 4 scoops). I ordered slightly hesitant and this is what I got
Rob and PJ in ICR, splitting a brownie sundae. NOM.
Sunday Rob and I had a "date day". We got Burgerville for lunch, went to the mall, went bowling, then came home and watched "Knocked Up" and made dinner. This is Rob showing off his superior bowling technique at Hazel Dell Lanes.
My not-so-masterful bowling technique. Rob beat me every game, but only by 10 or so points each time.
I came down to Corvallis Wednesday and Thursday, just to see parentals and chill. I went out to the Bean with Mic and she ordered the peanut butter fudge pie. The lady behind the counter was lazy, so she gave M 2 pieces instead of 1 because it meant she didn't have to cut it. Micaela was excited.
I've been crocheting so many hats I'm getting a blister on my left hand where the yarn rubs against it. I made one for Alan and my dad for promised Christmas presents, then made one for Rob, then decided to make one for myself too. This is the one I made for Rob. I call them stoner hats because when I wear it I just look like a typical Lewis and Clark Student.
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