The Zoo over Ambuscade Street

Somebody please explain to me why it is exactly that I have songs from Bedknobs and Broomsticks stuck in my head? Srsly, where did this come from?

I think I'm stuck behind some sort of critical no-time Event Horizon. It's not pretty. If you've sent me email, I'll get to it as soon as I can.

GAH NEED MORE TIME!!

Had a weird-ass dream last night, where Neil Gaiman was some sort of supernatural entity with the power to foretell the future. He told me that eating the black jellybeans would spell the end of the world, or at least all light that wasn't from nature. And then, being Neil "Devil's freaking Advocate" Gaiman, convinced me to eat them, because a lack of artificial light really wasn't that bad in the grand scheme of things, right? So I did, because black jellybeans rock (and the only other color was yellow, and who wants to eat yellow jellybeans?), and all artificial light went out, but that included the sun for some reason, which really sucked. Thus the world was ended, not in ice or fire but in jellybeans. The end.

Also, there was kite-flying. A gigantic kickass dragon kite, but I don't remember where that fit into things.

Baby still sick. Ninja sick. Couldn't go to work today. In the meantime, have some crazy!

I'm going to start developing a complex about weekends and days off if this continues...

FUCKITY!! Can the damn violence in Israel hold off from spreading for one more freaking week so I can sleep and stop worrying about my mother getting home safely? For serious?

For a short time, you can get "Tim Tams" at Target. These are, apparently, the most popular cookie in Australia, and Erik and I had no trouble figuring out why. Slamming them makes them ZOMG so much better.

Go forth! Consume chocolate!

Goal: When deciding if to say something or not, determine if it's 1) true, 2) kind, and 3) necessary. If not all three, try (realism here, people!) to not say it.

...At least sometimes. I reserve the right to mock blatant stupidity when it's waved in my face too frequently.

I've decided on a Major Spinning Project for the new year. I'm still going to be doing the challenges - they're fun and, well, challenging - but I'm sending entirely too much of my yarn to new homes, and not keeping much to become something for me. (Memory of Trees is MINEMINEMINE, but...nothing else). So I went through my stash and pulled out a metric ton of fabulous (mostly deep, dark) purple fiber (actually, about two pounds). Most of it in the form of random batts, all different colors and shades and fiber and sparkles. I'm going to spin up all of this purple fiber, and then strongarm persuade somebody by means of cash/barter/flattery/bribes/whatev to turn it into a shawl/ruana for me. A big, blankety one, none of this lacy stuff. Because people look at you funny if you go out wrapped in an actual blanket, no matter how comfy it might be.

I'm likely going to need more fiber, just to be on the safe side - maybe half a pound more? My default yarn, which I'll probably stick with, seems to be a heavy worsted, and I'm getting ~150 (or 120, or 230...this isn't a science) yards/4oz. Most of the patterns I've seen call for anywhere from 800 to 2000 yards, with 1100 coming up frequently. So I'll shoot for ~1200 yards for now, possibly more depending on the pattern. I don't know HOW I'm going to spin this up - each batt/roving as a separate skein? Tear it into random pieces and spin it up that way? Something else? I dunno. But it'll be fun.

So. There you go. Lots of purple yarn.

*PTAH* Good riddance! There were high points, but entirely too many low ones. Happy 2009, all!

[EDIT] *glares at Yellowstone* NO! BAD NATIONAL PARK! YEAR OF HAPPY CALM! NO ERUPTIONS ALLOWED! PROZAC FOR ALL!

This is what I have been doing with myself the past couple of nights - attempting in a futile fashion to get some sleep, attempting to have Gray get some sleep, and trying to finish off some of the WIPs I have, with varying degrees of success:

"Understatement Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry" Boring, boring, boring. I also fell way short of the necessary yardage, so I have to spin up another skein of similar yarn. WOE!! Happily, the second skein is a lamb/alpaca/silk blend, so while it won't look like much, it's going to FEEL amazing.



"Don't Drink the Eggnog" Actually finished this one about two weeks ago, don't remember if I posted it or not. It makes me happy, but the colors are all off in this picture (actually, the colors are all off in all of the pictures, because I suck like that)



"Memory of Trees" For the Dec Spindler's challenge, finished JUST in the nick of time. There are not words for how delighted I am with this - I've been forcing everybody to play "pet the yarn" because it's so soft and squooshy



"Emo Poetry" Another commission, also short on yardage, so I'm spinning up some deep green now to set it off. This was like spinning sandpaper - NOT my favorite. But it's OMG pretty in real life.



This leaves me with four current WIPs - the aforementioned deep green; a crazy patchwork called "Nightbird's Noon Appointment" that's half crazy random batt with different colors and sparkles and fibers and is pretty much the epitome of random and half merino/silk in a pale, variegated purple; the lamb/alpaca/silk mentioned above; and one I'll actually be starting tomorrow called "Claimjumper," for the January Spindler's challenge. Oh, wait. And two others - one called "Festival of Balloons" that's ready to be plied whenever I feel like plying again (when I have to drive somewhere?), and "Grandmother Crow," which I need to get back to - the spindle and I just didn't get along when I started that one, but I think we could cooperate at this stage.

Once THOSE are finished, I have two small bits of fiber I want to spin up just for the hell of it, which shouldn't take particularly long. Then I have some purple fiber I want to spin, destined to eventually become a shawl for me, because I want one like whoa. And, really - I'm making all this yarn, I should have something for myself out of it, right? Frighteningly enough, all of this but three of my WIPs have been claimed by various folks for various things. Once those go out, I'm not letting anything be claimed until I'm done with it, because I don't really like the pressure when I'm this short on time. Blah blah blah babble babble babble - back to spinning now! Or maybe napping...napping sounds good, too.

WUT. Are you freaking kidding me!?! How to describe this...how...oh, how about this:

Lloyd Webber says: “It is set on Coney Island. He started in one of the freak shows there but, by the time we meet him, being the Phantom he has become the most powerful operator in Coney. He's pulling the strings and running the island.”

It is a sign of how far gone I am at the moment, but all I can come up with in response to this is LOLWUT. The Phantom as the Lord of Coney Island, are you kidding me? We don't need that leap second anymore, because Gaston Leroux is spinning in his grave enough to balance things out for us.

As an aside, the last time I saw Phantom performed, the guy playing the Phantom set his hair on fire. While he was singing. He calmly took his wig off, stepped on it, and kept on singing the entire time, without missing a single note. Quite possibly the most impressive performance I've seen in my life.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I don't know why this amuses me so much. But it does.

Also, dear self: Just finish your damn December challenge yarn already, because you're running out of December.

EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! As I was sitting and spinning and watching the sunrise over the ocean, a gorgeous huge red fox came trotting into view - I got to watch him play on the beach for a while. SO COOL!!

Scientists: Attempting to Answer the Questions that You Never Saw the Point of Asking In The First Place Since the Beginning of Time

Really, I'm torn between "WTF!?" and "Hey, neat! Are there lasers?" on this one.

Here, have some awesome.



PLANS FOR THE WEEKEND!! Which will probably fail, and is four days away anyway.
-Finish the second Festival of Balloons single and wind it into a two-strand ball for plying, so I can have my plying spindle back
-Ply and finish Emo Poetry yarn
-Spin both Understatement Means Never Having To Say You're Sorry singles, wind into ball, ply, and finish
-Take pictures of both skeins
-Work on Memory of Trees (December challenge) and Nightbird's Noon Appointment (already claimed) yarn - attempt to finish at least one single for each. Probably won't happen.
-2-3 reviews
-Package and ship Lots of Stuff
-Wrap Christmas presents.
-NOT BE AT WORK

Musical folks: help requested. I want to print out some blank music paper for somebody as a surprise, but, uh - there are apparently lots of different sorts of music paper, and I can't figure out what kind she needs. She plays flute/recorder. Help please?

More awesome:



The rest here.

I'm not writing about Breaking Dawn. I'm...not. No. *twitch*

On the day that Breaking Dawn was published, a million geneticists woke up in screaming agony, and had no idea why. I'm just sayin'...

Here. Have some Awesome.

The hell? I'm sorry, but Obama really doesn't make a very compelling Batman. And WTF pancakes? Artists are weird.

...The tension wire one is awesome, though.

Um... Can we at least get the guy in office before stuff like this? For serious?