Resurrected!

Well well, so I’m not dead.

M’s surgery went well but required a bit of a hiatus from thinking about writing anything. He’s finally recovered enough to go back to work though, and doing pretty well.  I, also, have gotten a job at least part time. My persistence has paid off with the local florist, and I’m scheduled for about three or four days a week, with hopefully more to come. Working at a florists again is great, although its going to take a bit of adjustment since I’m used to the previous shop and this one is quite different. Plus I’m making a lot more per hour than I thought I was going to! Always nice.

Even though I’ve only been back to work for at most two and a half weeks, I’ve learned more skills in those weeks than I ever did at the last shop where I worked. I still don’t know if I want to ever eventually open my own shop, or just be an arranger working for someone else, but I do know that I really enjoy what I’m doing.

School-wise, things are falling back into place, albeit slowly. The remaining balance from last fall’s tuition has been paid off, and I’ve been told that I can try to get my federal loan back. Now all I need to do is sign up for classes and secure loans for them. If my records aren’t lying to me, then I only have two semesters left until my associates is finished. After that, who knows what I will do!

M. and I have also started dieting, since the “Christmas weight” we gained has turned into “Oh God It’s Spring And We’re So Fat” weight.  We have been doing it for, oh, I don’t know, two weeks or so now? And its going well! My most successful diet yet, perhaps. I’m down about nine pounds. Ideally I’ll lose at least thirty, possibly forty pounds total? I want to at least be where I was last spring.

M. and I have also been doing a bunch of fun things lately, too. We went to go see the new Star Trek as well as the new Terminator movie, both of which were OK. I preferred Star Trek, but M. didn’t care for either of them. Possibly because I started out with low expectations for Star Trek (having never seen or wanted to see any of the old movies or TV episodes) and was pleasantly surprised, whereas M. has seen old episodes and had higher preconceived notions about the new movie. We both thought Terminator was meh. As much as I like Christian Bale, he was not a good John Connor casting.  Plus his deep raspy voice is starting to annoy me.

Last Friday was The National concert at the Factory, and let me just say it was incredible. They put on SUCH a great show, I was in awe. They are one of my all-time favorite bands, and I was in no way let down by their live performance. I would totally recommend them to ANYONE. Also, I was extremely excited to be able to get into the bar section for the first time as well. Nothing improves an already good concert like some beer. Even just meh beer like Yuengling.

I’m sure there’s more to update about, but for the life of me I can’t think of what those things are. They’ll probably come back when I’m sleeping tonight, so I can jump up and blog at like 3 in the morning.

Be still

There are so few things that stop me in my tracks, make me drop what I’m doing and pay attention. But Sufjan Stevens is one of these things. I have no idea what it is, but there is SOMETHING about his music that is just incredible. Like nothing else. Everytime I hear a clip of it somewhere, I just have to stop and listen. Its beautiful.

What Fresh Hell is This?

Its time for a change. It’s got to be.  Its doubtful the aforementioned change will be a big one, so a small one will have to suffice. New hair color, new crafts, new habits, new decorating ideas, new something? Ideally, new job, but so far that’s not happening. Retail therapy would be nice, but there’s no new money. I wonder what I can find that is new, different, and cheap.

This article has inspired me to try to drink more water (again). Every so often I get into water-drinking kicks, but more often than not I’ll turn towards milk, diet soda, something not water. Hopefully, it’ll curb munchy cravings, make my face not so dry, and maybe give me some more energy. So, post-New-Years resolution: drink more water.

In other news, our freezer door has fallen off. M opened it yesterday, and the thing plain just fell off the bottom hinge. It was quite hilarious, actually. The only problem is…a freezer door that does not close does not keep food that should be frozen, frozen. M managed to tape it closed with some heavy-duty clear packing tape, which should work for now, but hopefully the maintenance man comes quickly. In previous experience (toilet leaking fiasco anyone?) you can call all you like, but the maintenance man just never arrives. This is a  problem that can’t be ignored though, so if he does not come today or tomorrow, hell will have to be raised in the leasing office.

*Update* Shortly after I posted, Mister Maintenance came. He is currently fixing the freezer AND de-icing it for us. A miracle!

Originally, when I decided to update this blog more often and acutally use it, I chose to not include pictures, because I thought they cluttered up the overall look. Thats also why I chose a very minimalistic, black and white, no frills theme. I’m a fan of minimalism. But, having reconcidered, I think I’m going to add a punch of color in the layout, or maybe a few photos. Perhaps both if I’m feeling particularly crazy.

Annnd I forgot to do laundry this afternoon. Lovely.

Acomplishment

Normally, the loud buzz of a weed whacker outside of the apartment would annoy me to no end, but (at least for today) its completely welcome. That sound means that it is officially nice enough outside to do yard work, which in turn means is spring! Quite an exciting development; I am totally ready for nice weather for a change.

Since today was so nice, I decided to forgo the Doctor Who marathons I have been indulging in lately, as well as the manic knitting  I have also been doing. Both are nice, but it was time for a break. The apartment was crying to be cleaned and straightened up, so I answered that cry. But what good is cleaning with no background music? So I downloaded this. I have an extreme soft spot for world music of all kinds, but I especially love Brazilian jazz type things. This was perfect. The kitchen is also now cleaned, as well as the rest of the apartment tidied up. It is lovely.

I also took a stroll down to the store to placate my sudden craving for oranges. Snagged five oranges and an awesome mango for $6. I am not sure if it is awesome that this is so thrilling…or just sad?

Also:

#17- M. and I have been looking at bikes for me for quite some time now. Renting one was alright for one time, but after a few it does not really become cost effective. So, investing in a bike seemed like a good idea. And M. would have someone to ride with too! So after shopping around online (and having a HORRIBLE experience with snobby salesclerks at one local bike shop) we finally got one! Its fabulous, rides well, and looks great! I have only taken it out once so far, as the weather has either been blah, we have had events to go to, or it was too late– but I hope to be biking a lot more this spring/summer/forever!

Regret

I just realized that this guy I used to (mildly) make fun of last year at college is actually really cool. This is really saddening. He had this really long, really weird scarf that he wore ALL the time, and it looked totally silly–at least I thought then. But just now, I realized that it was a home-made Doctor Who scarf. Last year I had never watched it, so I didn’t get the reference or understand it, but now that I know what he was wearing I now think that was pretty awesome.

I wish I could go back and apologise to him, even though he probably never knew I made fun of him for it.

Catzilla

Tyler, Destroyer of Worlds, finally got to my plants. I’m shocked it took this long, actually. We don’t have any windowsills to put plants on out of the way, so I have to stick my little sprouts on the table next to the glass door every afternoon. Normally, they get moved by evening back to their (out of Tyler’s reach) home. Yesterday I forgot, so while M. and I were out playing Risk and Phaze 10, Tyler attacked one of my poor zinnias. Dirt all over the floor, its shell half-way across the room, and a poor little sprout laying on the floor. Tragic, really. So now I’m down to four zinnias and five pansies (which have not sprouted yet). Sigh. Ah well. I’ll know better for next time, and Tyler got a nice long punnishment bath last night for it anyway.

I think I need to start looking for a new pot for the Generic Green Houseplant soon, too. Its getting shockingly big, especially since I didn’t think it would last the month when we first got it.

Dressing

My aunt is getting married in a few weeks, and as of this morning I still hadn’t found anything to wear.  I have a semi-casual LBD, but its a bit too casual for a wedding I think. So my mom and I went dress hunting today, and were suprisingly productive! I always hate when you go dress shopping, and for some reason the stars aren’t aligned correctly, and after hours of searching you find nothing. Searching hours and finding a rare gem of a dress that is perfect is totally fine and worth it, but spending hours and getting nothing is just frustrating. So it was suprising to have such good luck today. Lord & Taylor was the first stop, but those prices were way beyond my unemployed budget. My mom noticed there was a Ross up the road, and neither of us had ever been. It was a miracle we went! I got three dresses for $35, and my mom bought me a fourth. This is the largest amount of dresses I’ve ever owned at one time. And they are simply fabulous.

I also started making a flower  garden using eggshells to start them. One of the zinnias has already sprouted, and hopefully the pansies aren’t far behind. Its a lot of fun, and gives me something to do and take care of while I’m home. What I really want to get is a dwarf lemon tree for the house  so we have a nice supply of lemons, and it will make the room smell nice as well.

Baking and knitting has been going on full force as well. M’s scarf has hit a snag though, and I have to rip out about 50 rows (or one pattern repeat) in order to fix it. I have no idea how, but somehow I managed to add in about 8 extra stitches. The fact that I’m taking a few steps back in the project is making me want to put it aside and find something else for a while, which may be good and may be bad. A break would be nice, but I don’t want to put it down for a bit only to never pick it back up.

Still looking for a job, and even though I’ve sent out more applications than I can remember or keep track of, there have been no offers yet. A few telemarketing companies, pyramid schemes, and other generally undesireable jobs have sent an email, but that kind of thing is definitely not for me. Hopefully something happens soon though, because even though I’ve somehow been able to pay bills mostly month-to-month (with help from M), I don’t know how much longer that will last.

No More Milestones

Happy Birthday to me, I’m monopolizing M.’s Wii…

Revisiting an old friend…sort of.

Having just finished playing Myst on the DS, I felt the need to vent about it, and as M. is currently snoring, this will have to do. (Queue angry blog rant)

When the original Myst came out on for the PC in 1993, I was immediately hooked. It was fun, intelligent, exciting, addictive, and beautiful (for its time and age). I was a fan from the beginning, and played Riven and Myst III no questions asked. I even revisited Myst from time to time, since it was such a fun game. After finding out that they had remade Myst for the DS a week ago, I was thrilled. Ecstatic, even. And, to make it better, they had included a semi-new island. I had to have it. I read a bunch of reviews online about it, but even their semi-negativity couldn’t bring me down. I was optimistic that the PC game love of my childhood life would deliver.

Well, I just finished playing it, and…well, it didn’t quite live up to what I was hoping for. It wasn’t a problem with the game itself, it was definitely in the format. Myst just isn’t suited for the DS. What were once beautiful scenes and puzzles are now very cramped and pixelated, and seeing anything small and detailed is nearly impossible. Thank god they gave me a magnifying glass in my toolbar. The stylus was awkward for the format of the game, where you click to move, change direction, pick something up, and what have you. The notetaking device was meh at best, and obnoxious at worst; I didn’t use it the entire game. I’ll take sticky notes and a pen over that any day. Also, the ending was very anticlimactic with this new island. It was pretty unempressive. One easy puzzle to solve, and no indication that the game was really over. Just…nothing. That was a little dissappointing.

So, all in all, I still love Myst. But its the PC Myst, not the DS incarnation. The DS incarnation is more akin to the family member everyone is ashamed of, and is kept hidden in the attic when guests are over. Or, the plastic silverware as opposed to the fine silver flatware, if you prefer a less controversial human rights example.. Its OK in a pinch, but I’ll take the PC version any day.

Also, I just realized I never played the fourth and fifth games in the series. I MUST GO BUY THESE RIGHT AWAY.

M. told me the other day that, when we first started talking on AIM, he thought I was into draconity (or whatever the noun form is) because of my screen name. This is possibly the funniest thing ever.

I started making the obligatory list for my family of what I wanted for my birthday, and I noticed a pervasive trend. Everything I wanted was in some form craft related, or very close. Knitting needles, yarn, embroidery needles, embroidery floss, embroidery hoop, a dutch oven, panini maker, and other baking things. I am becoming that which I used to loath–Martha Stewart. Urges to make fabulous cupcakes, crusty bread,  delicious delicious scones, embroider hand towels, and knit socks suddenly overwhelm me.

While perusing through blogs today, I also found a really awesome way to grow plants in eggshells. I think I’m going to try that this spring.