feckless nomenclature

С новым годом!

2011-12-31T18:14:00.004-05:00

I welcomed the New Year in what might be an untraditional way (mostly alone, albeit communicating with people far away), but I made sure to do it in the company of strangers.

In addition to witnessing the buildup of the countdown, cheers, well wishes, and dancing (to ABBA, of course), I have also been settling in with this project. I'm quite pleased with how it's turning out, even if I had envisioned being farther into it by the beginning of 2012.

С новым годом, друзья!

Happy New Year, dear friends!

You have meant so much to me this year, and I look forward to spending 2012 with you.

Break in a Five Item List: So now it's Day 8...

2011-12-31T08:47:00.004-05:00

So, around Day 5, I got sick. There's been a lot of:

1. Sleep until heart's content.

2. Drink (tea/orange juice/Coke).

3. Watch Merlin.

4. Don't knit.

5. Spend too much time on the internet.

Haven't done a lot of reading.

Haven't done a lot of shopping.

Haven't done a lot of knitting, frankly.

But I did make a zine.

I did buy a new shirt, vest and tie for tonight.

And I have made some preparations for a 12-hour songwriting marathon tomorrow.

Break in a Five-Item List - Days 3 and 4

2011-12-27T14:46:00.004-05:00

Monday, 26 December:

1. Missed out on a drag show. Fortunately, I got to say hi to all the friends who were on the correct continent and could be there.

2. Knit, and was pleased.

3. Watched Make the Yuletide Gay (and knit). Pretty cute. Even the Minnesota/Wisconsin accents.

4. Skype date!

5. Walked through a windy night to collect B's apartment key and say goodbye/serve as moral support about calling the taxi company. (B: notice that none of those words we looked up helped. You would have been fine without unearthing the dictionary. Confidence!)

Tuesday, 27 December:

1. Knit. (Pretty sure this will be on almost every day)

2. Naps!

3. Visited the bank, about half an hour too late to do everything I needed, but it did allow me to buy groceries.

4. Between the bank and groceries, I sat around and was mopey for a while.

5. Came home, cooked myself a dinner of pasta with ground turkey and broccoli, and started watching Merlin.

We can blame all future interest in Merlin on the fearsome bowler.

Break in a Five-Item List - Days 1 and 2

2011-12-25T16:18:00.008-05:00

For the last few years, I've tried to make a habit of posting five-item lists each day during the month of January. Since I seem to usually lose steam during week three, and I just started a two-week break from work, I figured I'd start the tradition a little early, and use it to add a little structure to my giant window of unscheduled time.

This weekend has been my first Christmas away from home, and so a new experience. However, because it isn't Christmas in Russia until 7 January, it doesn't feel very much like Christmas. I know it is on a conscious level, but I don't feel it very strongly here.

On Christmas Eve, I:

1. Discovered the excitement that is Virtual Choir 3.0. Downloaded and began learning a voice part.

2. Acquired yarn and needles for a hat I promised to a co-worker.

It was super foggy in Vgrad.

3. Ate a pizza from the street stand that I've been intending to patronize for months now.

(Taken while waiting for the pizza.)

4. Left my cocktail selection up to the bartender, which resulted in three very different, interesting, and sugary drinks.

5. Knit and watched Love, Actually, intermittently chatting with Amoeba.

On Christmas, I:

1. Woke up and was promptly invited to a puppet show, which was fantastic.

(L to R: M, Дед Мороз, fecknom, Снегурочка, and B)

2. Finished my co-worker's hat.

(Windscheif, by Stephen West)

3. Bought a grey and purple striped sweater. Thin, but very warm.

4. Ate dinner at the local German restaurant, and engaged in an obnoxious and tiring discussion of women's rights, privilege, victim-blaming, racism, and general giving-a-shit-about-the-world. (This was probably the part of the day that made miss folks from home the most.)

5. Talked to my family, and was thankful: I have no idea how people lived abroad or navigated long-distance relationships pre-Skype.

I'm settling in for another night of movies and knitting. The difference with tonight is that instead of knitting a simple hat, I'll be getting into the meat of this colorwork sweater that I've been planning for so long. It's going to be intense, but a friend reminded me (via blog) of a quote that suits this project well:

"Just don't worry; worry ruins your knitting."

Elizabeth Zimmerman

In other news...

2011-12-03T06:03:00.003-05:00

...I am thankful for some wonderful people!

We have learned this week that large envelopes move through the Russian postal system FAR quicker than packages. According to the package experiences of others, when my friend put a generous assortment of zines in the mail in early November, I expected to see them in early January, at the earliest.

Boy, was I surprised this week.

Zines! Thank you, L!

Aside from the sweater and zine highlights, it's been a rough week here. It's been a busy and stressful one at work, and I've been thinking a lot about a couple of friends/families that are dealing with some tough stuff right now. I'm oscillating between keeping my thoughts with those folks, and thinking about being far away from my family as the holiday season starts. To top it off, Friday night decided to make itself into an aggravated little monster.

I'm incredibly lucky, though, and I try really hard to not lose sight of that. I've been blessed to catch up with a few friends this past week. I'm also talking to this human whenever I get the chance, and those conversations, in all their 6000-mile width, make everything so much easier.

A Rare Enthusiasm Has Struck

2011-12-02T19:04:00.004-05:00

I'm wide awake, and my mind is completely occupied with being a verbose and angry queer, but really, there is this sweater, and I've been meaning to tell you about it all week, and since I'm up and typing, I figure I might as well bang this post out.

Well, there isn't a sweater, so much as there is some yarn and an idea.

And it isn't so much an idea, as much as it's a well-formulated plan that's been kicked about in my brain for, oh, two and half years now. The difference this time is, I'm actually excited about it.

It all starts with this completely other knitting project. I finished a lace shawl a few weeks ago (Vernal Equinox in Iskra). I needed a new project that wasn't the socks I'm inexplicably avoiding, and the mittens I made only kept me occupied for a week. I organized my stash, pored over the lace patterns I currently have access to, and settled on the Firmaments Lace Shawl in Lidiya. It was a little fiddly at the beginning (as it seems most circular shawls are), but since it starting filling out the center of the needle, it's been lovely.

The needles are my new favorites: my Addi Lace needles, size 4. I love, love, love my Addi Turbos, but the plastic cable in the lace ones means I don't have to worry about accidentally kinking the cable, like I do with the metal ones.

Of course, almost immediately after casting-on, I began thinking about this sweater.

Three years ago, during my last year at Oberlin, I bought this yarn. I had used another colorway to make my dad a scarf for Christmas, and had been drooling over the rest of the skeins since. When I graduated, my knitting circle companions presented me with a gift certificate to Smith's, Oberlin's yarn shop (and the site of our knitting circle). I took home the green and dark brown, made a swatch, having planned a simple colorwork pattern to be knit up on 5s and 6s. When I got home to Minnesota, I bought a couple of other colors (the tan and orange) to supplement my yardage.

The plan was to knit an Elizabeth Zimmerman seamless yoke sweater. I swatched and started knitting.

Thankfully, reason stepped in (or rather, tried on the first few inches of the body), and pointed out that this yarn was 100% alpaca, and that alpaca tends to lose it's shape easily (and also that ribbing was a terrible idea and that I had cast on too many stitches). I decided 5s and 6s weren't going to cut it. I agonized for a long time. I had had, in the past, clothing turn out to be far less satisfying than I expected, and this project had some pretty high expectations. Over time, I became afraid that this yarn was doomed to be a disappointment. I set the yarn aside, and it sat for at least a year and a half.

So when I was struck with this sudden optimistic enthusiasm to pick this project back up, I knew I needed to jump on it. The only problem: I had decided, for shape-holding purposes, to knit the project with more colorwork and on a smaller needle. I knew I couldn't take the needle size down too far, but I had settled on 3.5mm circulars.

Which is a US 4. Precisely the needles I had just used to cast on a 1700-yard shawl.

Clearly, as most knitters know, the answer was to buy a new needle. I went to the local yarn shop by work, and inquired about the Addis they had in stock. Sadly, they were low, but they told me they expecting a shipment soon. I came back the afternoon of the shipment (last Thursday), but was disappointed. At the weekend, I found another shop that carried some cheap circular needles, which will suffice. I brought them home, and knit (and blocked!) myself a swatch.

I'm still waffling a little on the size, since I'm aware that the parts with colorwork will have little give, and the parts without will have a lot, which means I haven't cast on yet. I've mostly been doing a lot of math and calculations and rewording the pattern.

I'm inverting EZ's technique for this one. Since the smaller needle size and increased colorwork has me worried about running out of yarn, it seems the logical answer is to start at the neck, instead of at the hems, and we'll see how long the arms get in the end, and how much detail we can insert on the body.

The plans as they look now: Here are the several-month-old Excel colorwork sketches. It's not exactly what I'll knit, since I haven't checked their compatibility with various stitch counts, but it probably won't be too far off from this:

PS. These are definitely adapted from an Alice Starmore pattern book.

October in Volgograd

2011-11-04T20:30:00.008-04:00

I've been in Volgograd for a couple of months, now. I guess I should show you around.

My building.

Local tunnel. Стоматология = dentist.

Local graffiti.

Local corner.

Local ferris wheel (blurry, at night).

This is Sasha, and my wool blanket. These two major things make my apartment feel like a home.

Local monument.

The tramvai.

The wall inside Читай-Город. (Read City, a bookstore's whose name is a play on the Russian version of the name 'Chinatown'.)

Possibly the most fascinating part of my neighborhood. This is in a park behind my apartment, and it appears to be an empty fountain. What or who used to be honored on the platform in the center, I have no idea. I wish I knew.

Here, we have the neighborhood in October.

And of course, the knitting: the lace I've been working on either hasn't been photographed, or has been a source of frustration. So here are the Riverbed Socks that I am designing. I'm not sure there will be a concrete pattern in the end, but I am pleased that I found a stitch pattern that works well with the variegation of this yarn.

Nestling In

2011-10-16T07:29:00.004-04:00

I've been finding it hard to work up the energy to leave the house on the weekends. I operate too much inside my head and I'm conscious of the fact that this could be considered a symptom of culture shock. However, I think I'm going to cling to the idea that I like being holed up in my residence, inside my little den of creativity.

Yes, I should be outside. I should be appropriately dressing for the weather to go watch a Rotor football match. I should be walking around my neighborhood. I should be shopping for tennis shoes. I should be grocery shopping and planning meals for the week. Hell, it's my favorite month. I should be outside pittering around like the amateur photographer I fancy myself to be.

The alternative is that I could stay here, and knit my shawl, and watch the X Files. I could read, or listen to books and music. I could learn to play new songs. I could not interact with anyone until I presumably chat with my love on Skype later.

From the outside, it probably does look like culture shock. But: I did this in Minnesota. I did this during every school break at Oberlin. Why shouldn't I do it here?

I think today, for a change, I'm settle on the medium of going for a walk with my camera, and settling down with my shawl at a cafe. Warm and relaxed, but at least out of the house.

Gender, Moscow, Coffee, Language

2011-08-27T21:35:00.005-04:00

Exciting things happen when Ethan wanders about Moscow!

Friday night, after teaching, several of us hung around the kiosk outside Language Link's building, drinking beers and deciding what to do. Brandon was really excited about this hookah bar he'd been to when he studied in Moscow, and wanted to go again. Belly dancers come out and perform every half hour, and the hookah is good (and well priced, and it lasts). We had meant to visit this place a couple of weekends ago, but didn't reach the metro in time. We decided to give it another go.

Turns out they have gender-neutral restrooms there. The waitstaff directed me to the туалет, where I only found one door. On the other side, there were two sinks, and two more floor-to-doorframe doors, which were individual stalls. The second time I used it (we stayed there for a while), I walked in and got behind another guy in line. When two women came in, he let them go in front of him in line. (He did not extend this offer to me.)

It was odd, and interesting and fun. There have been few moments in this country where I've interacted with people in a way that can give me a bearing on how they interpret my gender. So when the moments come, they're still fascinating.

It's actually not the first time I've seen gender-neutral restrooms. Last weekend, several of us went to a bar/club called Augie (I think?), where the dance floor occasionally turned into a mosh pit. Their restroom was basically the same construction, with the sinks along a small corridor.

Today brought even more fun!

I had met up with some other interns for dinner (we found a sixties-themed American-style restaurant, which surprisingly had normal-tasting ketchup). We were walking toward the metro when Ilya decided to give in to the temptations of Starbucks (which is hella expensive here), so our group went inside. I was feeling dehydrated, and settled on buying a tiny bottle of apple juice, so I waited behind Ilya in line.

When we got to the front of the queue, Ilya ordered his drink, and they wanted to write his name on the cup, so they asked what his name was. His name is Russian, but he's used to people in the US and other places not recognizing the name, so he often uses one of his middle names instead. He then remembered that it's Russia and they get 'Ilya' as a name, and had a short conversation with the woman at the till about where he was from and what he's doing in Russia.

So then, when I got to the till, she asked me about myself, too. The first question, of course, was 'What is your name?'

'Bethany,' I answered, not really thinking much.

'Patrick?' she asked, which is apparently what she heard over the din of the shop.

'Yes,' I said.

Since this was all happening in Russian, I then proceeded to switch all of the past tense verbs I used to masculine endings. It was not as hard as I'd expected. It was quite easy, in fact.

Russian is a much more gendered language than English. In the past tense, you conjugate verbs as either masculine, neuter, feminine, or plural, and many words that describe a person's position (student, teacher, waiter, etc.) are also gendered. I'd given thought to trying to practice using masculine endings, but was worried that it would lead to awkward situations. There's a bunch of things that I know how to say well enough that I can say them without thinking too much, which I say to give myself time to think about how to phrase more challenging things. I was worried that if I started using masculine pronouns and endings sometimes, that I'd start inadvertently saying them when I was with someone who perceives me as female.

Apparently, I'm much more conscious about using gendered language (even in Russian) than I thought.

Anyway, those have been some of the happiest moments of my weekend thus far.

I might find another yarn store tomorrow, which is a whole different sort of happiness.

Week One

2011-08-14T14:51:00.013-04:00

Week one of the four-week training is complete, and I kind of feel like I'm in college again. I hope that feeling goes away soon. I liked college, but it's hard to feel like I'm at my job when I'm in classes (as a student) all day. Real teaching (teaching actual live students!) starts up this week, which I imagine will significantly change the tone of the program.

These weekends in Moscow, it's becoming clear, will be mash-ups of sleeping, gallivanting about with new friends, and staying home and surfing the internet like the hardcore introvert the I am.

First, a few introductory photos of the room in Svetlana's apartment in which I am staying, and the view from outside the window.

Also, the inside of Новослободская (Novoslobodskaya), the metro station by the Language Link Central School. If you stand around this station for more than about five minutes, you'll see a tour group pass through.

Saturday, I met up with some friends at ВДНХ (Vdnkh, the metro station with no vowels), to visit the nearby park, Всеросийский Выставочный Центр (ВВЦ) (the All-Russian Exhibition Centre). It's full of buildings and statues, more than trees and such, but it's still an enjoyable park.

This is the large building near the entrance, in front of which Lenin stands.

I'm not sure what this building is, but I had to take a picture of the rainbow.

"Welcome to the pavilion"!

Many republics have their own buildings. This is Ukraine's.

The Belarus building, I believe.

For a park that puts Soviet culture on display (and is guarded by a giant statue of Lenin), it's become quite accustomed to capitalism. There are kiosks selling kvas and beer and hot dogs, and tables full of souvenirs. You can tool around on a rented bike, or take small children to many attractions that remind me of the state fair.

They also have a ferris wheel!

Before leaving ВДНХ, we walked a bit to go see a large statue that wasn't inside the park. It's quite enormous, and quite well-known. Called 'Worker and Kolkhoz Woman', it was made for the 1937 World's Fair in Paris, and later moved to Moscow.

I don't know one goes about moving a beast like this.

I tried to be cool and take a not-too-Myspacey photo of myself in front of it. I ended up with a great shot of Ilya as an omnipotent deity, too.

Then we met up with a few more friends to find a Georgian restaurant. I have no photographic evidence of the delicious khinkali that we ate (if you don't believe me, it's okay, I'm open to eating them again). But these photos are from the little park near the metro. The curly-haired man in the green cape with his hand in his vest is Pushkin.

Moscow: Initial Exploration

2011-08-07T14:42:00.008-04:00

Dorogie druzya!

I've settled in and quit my bitching. I like Moscow well enough, now. Oddly enough, it's easier to enjoy being in a place when you have money, a phone, groceries, and know how to get back to your apartment.

Yesterday included much merriment. I went shopping with Annie, the other intern living in this apartment, and we went to a mall near Kurskaya station. It was my first trip to Rive Gauche! A French name, but only six letters long when transliterated into Russian. As someone who has a hard time taking the pronunciation of French seriously, I think this is hilarious.

Рив Гош is a cosmetics chain that carries many European and American brands. I picked up a few things (shampoo, soap, etc.), rather than shiny makeup, but I still got the fabulous bag.

Young Russian women carry these bags around frequently, using them as tote bags long after bringing home their purchase. (Russian men also will carry them sometimes, as a mark of having a girlfriend.)

After hanging around the mall, I met up with most of the other interns in Вокзал (Vokzal, 'train station'), a cafeteria/bar not far from the Language Link's central school. I met many people that I'd seen poking around the Facebook group, had some quality beer, and decent food.

Today was even more exciting. A couple of friends were heading to Izmailovskii Rinok, this big outdoor market that we tried (and failed) to find on Friday. However, instead of heading straight to the market with them, I decided to make another stop along the way...

...at Московская Шерстопрядильная Фабрика. The Moscow Wool-Spinning Factory.

Russia is an interesting place to buy yarn, in my experience. Thankfully, this store has everything available to be browsed and held and squished. (I didn't think to watch if Russian women squish and fondle skeins the way the yarn lovers I know do. They probably don't.) Some stores I've been to have everything behind a counter. One positive benefit is that yarn seems to be a lot less expensive here. The Russian market hasn't been saturated with indie spinners and dyers, so I only found things made by large companies, but it's quite cheap. There's a lot of acrylic going on, which I'm sure helps keep costs down, but I was able to find things without acrylic for reasonable prices, too.

So, the phrase рукоделия, or handwork, is how most yarn stores seem to be described. This means that embroidery usually has a section, as well, which you can see along the back wall of this picture:

I didn't find any books or magazines I really liked. I'm still not sure about the fashion in Russian pattern magazines. Also, the verb for knitting (вязать/связать), which is related to the word 'to connect', refers to both knitting and crochet. The two crafts are specified either with the appended phrase 'на спизах' (on needles) or 'крючком' (with a hook). So many magazines and books contain patterns for both crafts, which makes them less tempting to purchase.

HOWEVER: I did see a woman with this in her cart, and talked to her about it.

I couldn't find any other copies.

I told her it was my favorite book, and didn't really understand much of her response, but we did have a moment where we bonded over how hard it is to pick out yarn when there are so many good choices.

I came away with 10 skeins.

First, a fine laceweight in teal and purple.

Лидия (Lidiya - 100% wool/1613m/100g)

Next, Australian wool, possibly for another Daybreak shawl, in navy and olive.

Австралиский меринос (Australian Merino - 100% wool/400m/100g)

I was looking for sock yarn, but didn't find much. (Sadly, I realized that my favorite pair of socks is wearing through in the heel, and the yarn to beef them back up is in Minnesota. So I feel like I need to make some new socks.) I did find this, though heavily variegated, will probably work out fine.

Лидия Кватро (Lidiya Kvatro - 50% wool, 50% acrylic/400m/100g).

I found many colors of a nice fingering weight made by Troitsk Yarn, a Russian brand that I'd bought some mohair from when I was in St. Petersburg. I immediately picked up some orange and teal the first time I saw it, and ended up coming back for a bright blue and light gray that will look lovely together.

Люкс (Lyuks - 100% merino wool/200m/50g)

I see colorwork in my future.

Finally, while wandering near the back of the store where they have cones upon cones of lovely soft colors (they're wholesalers, too), I saw this little gem. Perhaps a little obnoxious, a little more glitzy than I usually pick up, but I think it will make a glamorous little shawl for the coming winter.

Искра (Iskra - 40% wool, 40% acrylic, 20% metallic thread/1316m/100g)

The laceweight, sock yarn, and sparkly yarn are all Семёновская Пряжа (Semyonovskaya Yarn), made by the factory connected to the shop.

All in all, the total came to less than $40, which seems at least half of what I'd expect to pay in the U.S. for similar products. So, I decided I had the extra five rubles (about 18 cents) to buy their fancy plastic bag, to carry everything home in.

Честно, я не знаю...

2011-08-05T10:33:00.012-04:00

The Russian bathroom attendant saw my confusion. Oh, if she only knew.

Choosing 'the right' single-gender restroom is hard for me. However, this time, I knew what bathroom I was looking for.

"Женский?!" she asks, slightly incredulously, convinced I should be looking instead for the мужский туалет.

"Да." I respond, still unsure of myself.

Truthfully, it could have been construed as an honest conversation about my gender. In a sense, I suppose it really was.

In another sense, I had forgotten that Russian bathrooms have attendants, and thus might have hours posted. Because sometimes they also cost money to use, and all of the hours that mark time are fairly close to reasonable туалет prices. I was actually looking for the women's room, it just took me a minute to interpret the sign. I thought they might be standing there to collect money. Turns out it was free.

What day is it?

2011-08-04T10:10:00.002-04:00

It's been a day and a half since I left Minnesota, but it just feels like a really long day.

Flight number one: MSP (MN) to JFK (NY): uneventful.

Flight number two: JFK to SVO (Moscow): eventful.

Taxied around for at least an hour before takeoff; I'm not sure why.
Consistent and mysterious stomach pain. I thought I was intensely hungry for a long time, but they eventually brought us food, and that didn't help. Tried several methods of distracting myself; none of them worked well.
Had hopes for a few hours of snoozes; nodded off for about 15 minutes.

I also realized on flight number two that Whitney Houston's Greatest Hits, which I bought whatever night that was before I left (which oddly seems like ages ago, but the departure from Minneapolis seems like a matter of mere hours) contains only a remix of "I Wanna Dance With Somebody". That sort of remix that is different enough that you have to have the original version, too. Needless to say, that's been remedied in the last few minutes.

It didn't hit me that I was really leaving Minnesota (and Amoeba and family and friends)(and Amoeba) until yesterday or today. I've still barely begun to process the fact that I'm actually in Moscow right now, and that the airport didn't just spill out into some part of Minneapolis that I'm unfamiliar with.

Basically, I need to figure out how to make myself a safe space to be who I am in this room that I'm living in (which is the living room of my хозайка's apartment). I'm not sure how I'm going to do that yet.

I think I'm going to start by dancing around to Whitney Houston, though.

Compose. (28-7-2011)

2011-08-02T23:40:00.003-04:00

To.

Pat Kensington (my apparently evangelical co-worker) @ rosevilleschools dot edu

Subject.

Your Gift.

Body.

Pat:

You have injured me with your assumptions and angered me with the 'gift' that you handed me this afternoon.

You do not know me. You do not know that I grew up as a pastor's kid. That I believe in a God that is open and accepting, and am part of a church that thinks that you can believe something else entirely, and that's okay. You do not know how strongly I have considered attending seminary. You do not know how angered I am by a Christian church that contributes so blindly to so much injustice in this world, and seeks to change the behavior of the radical few that are trying to shake the faith up.

Instead of knowing me, you chose to make patronizing assumptions. When I first met you, you seemed to treat me with respect, but I now see that your demeanor toward me is a mockery of kindness. You do not see the good in me; you only see the parts of me you think are disgusting. The parts you think are wrong and morally corrupt. The parts that you, book in hand, can fix.

You think I need saving, and you told me so this afternoon when you handed me the Holman Christian Standard edition of the New Testament.

Your gesture is not only insulting; it violates the concept of appropriate workplace behavior.

In your endeavor to create a workplace that is more in line with your comfort zone and personal preferences, you create a workplace that has no space for me. I will not read your blue book. I will not change to fit your standards. I will not back down in the face of your bigotry.

You have injured me, and you have made me stronger.

Your behavior has been reported to my supervisor. Take your evangelism elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Preparing for Takeoff.

2011-08-02T22:48:00.005-04:00

So I'm moving to Russia tomorrow.

I'm working with a company that teaches English on a 10 month contract. I'll be in Volgograd (which used to be Stalingrad) most of the time. Also, Moscow, but mostly Volgograd. The Moscow part, which is a CELTA crash course, comes first. So tomorrow I'm being all transatlantic and flying to Moscow.

Theoretically, since this will be the longest time I've spent living outside of Minnesota without visiting, the packing process should be the most intense packing experience of my life so far. (They say packing for anything longer than two weeks is the same as packing for two weeks, but that's a complete lie.) It has been that intense, but oddly enough, it has also been one of the least stressful. So, in true fecknom fashion, I give you five things that didn't help the process, and five things that did.

My penchant to take too many books. I bought a nook, which I love, thinking that this would help cut down on the number of printed wordy things that I'm taking. I think the percentage of my luggage that is books still hovers around 10%.
My experience last Thursday. It should have been the beginning of the end of the packing, but I got far too distracted and lost about a day's worth of focus.
Wanting to spend time with Amoeba. This is the first time I've had a partner to move away from, and I've been pretty conscious of how much time this process is taking, and that that's less time with her. Never did get to the Half-Price Books in Highland Park...
My computer, which already had a faulty CD/DVD drive, surprised me when Firefox decided it was never going to open again.
Gender norms in Russia. This has been occupying a large percentage of my thoughts for quite a while now. I'm not going to be surprised if I'm the only queer person at the intern training, and I know among Russians I'm going to have to be closeted. However, I'm facing ten months of living in a culture where gender norms are much, much more rigid. I was stressed about what clothes I could bring that I'd feel comfortable in that wouldn't alienate me from those around me. I'm worried about how the jewelry and shoes and purses and pretty accoutrements of femininity will feel on my body. I'm also worried that I'm going to pull back too far into the safe space I'm creating for myself (with all them books) and not fully enjoy the experience of living in Russia.

Now to the fun list. Things that have made this packing experience awesome. The last few weeks have been so much fun, I added five more things.

I started packing and thinking about packing about six weeks ago. I wanted to be fully packed a month out. Which meant I was mostly packed three weeks out, and only have had to think about details for the last two weeks.
There is an epic list involved in the process that was #1.
I invested in a luggage scale, which has put my mind to rest about overweight baggage fees.
Learning that there's a high likelihood that I'll be taking a train (with compartments!) from Moscow to Volgograd. Which means after I land in Moscow, my luggage can get heavier, as long as everything still fits.
Purchasing the Batmac from Amoeba. (Backstory: she illustrated a children's book that she wrote, and decided it wasn't really feasible on a 13" screen and bought a desktop. Now she has an iPad, too, and doesn't need her laptop for portability reasons, either.) (Other backstory: there was an external hard drive named Robin, and a jump drive named the Batarang.) Computer problems: solved!
Taking breaks by spending time with the fabulous people I met this year.
Searching for children's books to bring. It's been a while since I've spent much time reading picture books to myself, and rediscovered many books I enjoyed as a small person.
I read Dr. Seuss's 'Great Day for Up!' for the first time. It describes my life really well.
Dancing around to songs from Glee!
Zines. I bought many zines today, and plan to steep myself in queer stories while in the company of my happenstance airport associates.

959 Sequins and Sunny

2011-06-28T18:11:00.010-04:00

Day One: Saturday

me waiting for the bus

Amoeba waiting for the bus

Day Two: Sunday

Aids Project

flamingos on bikes

banjo serenade!

Wilde Roast Cafe dancing rainbow cake

I have no shame. I love Chipotle.

I hang out with these guys a lot.

new friend!

a bridge in Loring Park

waiting for the bus again

still waiting

Saturday evening sky

Found online, on Alan Wilfarht's Flickr photostream.

Found online, on the vita.mn photostream.

Sources: Alan Wilfahrt's flickr stream, vita.mn

Precursor to Pride

2011-06-28T16:30:00.003-04:00

To continue with our chronological order, I can't tell you about last Friday until I tell you about the preceding weeks. Pretty much, it was filled with various clothing/craft projects that largely consisted of rainbows.

While wandering through a fabric store, Amoeba and I spotted this ribbon. Add the buckle, and some assistance from my mother, and we have this belt!

It's called a 'parachute buckle'. Like it wasn't cool enough already!

Then, while I spent an obnoxious amount of time sewing 959 sequins onto some fabric, Amoeba was inspired to sew 50 onto a tie.

Onto Friday:

For Amoeba and I, Pride didn't really start until Saturday. We spent Friday afternoon and evening about an hour north of the Twin Cities, in Harris, MN. The primary reason for the trip was a wedding. Casey, the bride, is one of Amoeba's friends from her old church. She hadn't seen her in about seven years; I had never met her. As it turns out, Casey and her husband Chris are wonderful people, and wonderful wedding planners. 15 minutes and classy. I was impressed, and delighted to meet them.

Here, we are, having parked Zorro (the car) outside of the local American Legion.

Amoeba also took me to the Franconia Sculpture Park. It's an artist collective that has residential and work space for artists. Art in a field! So exciting. Here's what captivated me:

Recent Adventures: Photo Recap

2011-06-28T04:46:00.008-04:00

My friends, my friends. Друзья!

It's getting to be the end of June, the end of Pride month, and I haven't managed to post anything yet! So, before I throw sequins at your computer screen, let me give you the non-Pride related photo recap of weeks past:

First off, I'm going to pretend I'm a knitblogger by showing you some socks I've made. They started out as a Cookie A pattern (Devon), but then I realized I didn't want lace near my heel. So I ripped back and recast-on for these puppies.

Pattern: Gentleman Socks, by Kristi Schueler. Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Botticelli, a gift from the lovely Cory Ellen at indie.knits.

/knitting content.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

First, this showed up in the backyard. It felt like spring for about a week, and then it was summer.

Then Linden's brother graduated from Macalester. So, to celebrate, Amoeba and I took his sister out for bowling and drinks.

The ceiling at Midtown Global Market, the night I was confused about which week Game Night was.

Amoeba's birthday: bowling and (mostly) gluten-free pizzas with friends.

Amoeba bought a hat! Twins won; Ethan's 3 for 3 this year at Target Field.

Donated blood and convinced Amoeba that the Red Cross was probably experienced enough to find her veins. Turns out they did! She was dehydrated and lost consciousness for a few seconds, but I'm still very proud.

Baby Storm and Gender-Variance

2011-05-27T03:43:00.005-04:00

Earlier this evening I overheard a replay of a local talk radio show (FM 107). This afternoon, the two hosts discussed (at length) the choices being made by the parents of Storm. Storm is four month-old baby whose sex is not being announced, so that cultural gender norms affect Storm as little as possible.

The show's hosts, Colleen and Reuvers, made arguments that I found incredibly frustrating and fallacious for so many (SO MANY) reasons. So I listened to them again, took notes, composed myself, and emailed them. Here's what I sent:

Dear Colleen and Reuvers,

Your discussion of the baby Storm yesterday was inappropriate and problematic. Gender-variance is misunderstood by many people; I'm going to clarify some information and point out what makes your argument so frustrating.

When You Talk About Gender-Variant People:
1. A baby's genitalia is not a matter of gender; it's a matter of sex. In short, sex is between your legs, and gender is between your ears. Gender is mental, it's an identity, not a physical characteristic. No one, not even Storm's parents, will know Storm's gender for years. Storm may or may not be gender-variant. The info being withheld is Storm's sex.

2. Refer to trans people using pronouns of their preferred gender, when they've specified them (if they haven't specified, ask!). It may have been a slip-up, Colleen, but you, particularly as a media source, referring to Chaz Bono as 'her' is incredibly, infuriatingly disrespectful to him and to other trans people. Your pronoun usage deserves an apology.

3. Reuvers, you were contrasting Storm's parents' choices with your opinion and said, "you need structure and you need a foundation in order to become a decent person." You have suggested that gender-variant children who live outside of traditional gendered structures will not grow up to be decent people. That is dehumanizing, and not okay.

The Science of Gender and Sex:
4. While science acknowledges male and female sexes, science does not support a male-female sexual binary. Intersexed people exist. Chromosomes don't always line up with hormones and bodies like we might expect them to. Not all XX bodies appear female and not all XY bodies appear male. There are people who are XXY, or XXXY. It's not black and white, and the gray areas are more common than we realize.

5. Almost everyone has testosterone and estrogen in their body. What creates distinctive secondary (the ones caused by hormones) sexual characteristics that we associate with men and women is different levels of these hormones.

Also:
6. Not all children fit neatly into gender categories, but even when they do fit, kids still get harassed. Suggesting that the best solution is to not allow the child to express themselves in a way that might trigger harassment is blaming the victim. Blame the bullies, instead.

7. Gender-variant people who weren't allowed to express their preferred gender as children often talk about their childhoods as troubled. A parent trying to have their child conform to traditional gender roles might be protecting their kid in the long-run, but they might be hurting their kid, too.

8. Enjoying and celebrating gender is wonderful, Colleen; you're right. But not at the cost of alienating people who don't fit into one of two gender categories.

9. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm not out to erase 'men' and 'women' as gender boxes. What I want to erase is the binary. I need other boxes to choose from. I need a box that fits me, and boxes that fit my friends.

You may fit into the gender binary just fine, and your genders might align with your bodies, but not all of your listeners can say the same.

Thanks for your time.

Peace,
Ethan

ps. The following article is a good starting point for basic information, and cites many others.

I tried to be as polite and productive as possible. We'll wait and see if there's any sort of response...

In terms of tonight, hearing this show did cause me to have a nice conversation with my dad about some gender stuff. So there's something, right?

The Magic Gender Spell!

2011-04-22T16:22:00.010-04:00

All of the best conversations happen at snacktime.

Yesterday, a third-grader was noticing and telling me about the mannerisms of my coworker (we'll call him Irving). Irving is very flamboyant and a little androgynous. Some days, like yesterday, he looks pretty hipster. Apparently, differentiating between women and gay male hipsters hasn't been covered by third-grade.

So this young girl, with a strong tone of criticism in her voice, begins informing me about Irving's general presence:

-- You see that guy? He dresses funny. He dresses like a girl. He looks like a girl.

Honestly, yesterday wasn't even one of Irving's flamboyant days. He looked like a J.Crew model. (Note: he was not, to my knowledge, wearing pink toenail polish.) My response is something like:

-- Sometimes people dress differently than others. I like the way he dresses. I think he looks good.

She pulls her head back, wrinkles her nose, and raises an eyebrow. She shakes her head.

-- No, he looks like a girl.

Then, she is overcome with an epiphany. She is waving her hands in all directions as she begins exclaiming and explaining:

-- Wait! I know. You and him need to switch! He should turn into a girl and then you'll be a boy! You guys are under a magic spell! We have to switch you back!! We have to fix the spell!

I decide to run with it.

-- Hm. Who can fix the spell?

-- I know, Mr. Jackson! No, wait. I can! [She leans back and waves her arm.] Cadabra bacadbra!

-- Did it work?!

-- Awww, no. It didn't work. You're still a girl.

Her fourth-grade friend sitting with us gives it a shot. The gender-reversal spell eludes her as well. The third-grader is still intent on fixing Irving and me.

-- Okay. I'll have to check my spellbook. But it's at home, so I'll have to wait to fix the spell on Monday.

-- Okay.

-- [Seeing Irving talking to another staff member] See! He even acts like a girl! [gasp] Oh, my gosh! Look at his shoes! Those are girl shoes!

I'm pretty sure they're TOMS shoes. I start in again with my defense of gender-variance.

-- People can dress any way they want. I think those shoes just look like shoes. I like the way he dresses! I think he looks great!

-- You mean you like him?

I roll my eyes and pause, before continuing:

-- You know what, it's probably a good thing the spell didn't work. We should really have asked him if it was okay before we tried it.

-- Why?

-- I think we need to ask him if he really wants to be a girl. He might, but he might not. Sometimes how people dress is different than how they feel inside. We should ask him what he thinks.

-- No, I'm pretty sure he should be a girl.

-- [sigh]

By then, the other third- and fourth-graders were getting a little rowdy and it was time to clean up snack and move to the next activity.

I was excited, because I get excited any time students suggest that I'm actually a boy. I want to be really happy about it, but I don't think I defended my coworker as much as I could have.

The only conversation I've had with Irving about gender happened a couple of weeks ago, after a couple of kindergarteners had asked him if he was a girl or a boy. He was really surprised. It wasn't the first time he'd been asked, but it seemed like it was the first time kids were unsure of his gender. He knows he's a little androgynous, but he's definitely a cisgendered guy.

I'm not sure how much of an inner sense of being in one's body there is before puberty. Gender distinctions at that age largely are wrapped up in clothes. So it's probably unreasonable to expect a third-grader to understand the distinction between gender presentation and gender identity. What I can encourage is asking questions, and asking permission.

I think I'm going to give Irving a heads up and if it comes up again on Monday, we'll walk over to him and ask if he wants to be a girl before trying any more spells.

Poll: "Appropriate"

2011-04-04T23:42:00.003-04:00

Which question (when asked by a third-grader) would you feel most comfortable fielding?

Are you a boy or a girl?

What do you do with your boogers?

Welcome to my day.

Chicago Trip in Photos

2011-03-22T23:48:00.004-04:00

Hello, my name is B(ethan)y, and I like to make lists.

2011-03-22T20:43:00.008-04:00

I got back late Sunday night after spending a week in Chicago. I love Chicago. I love the friends I have there, I love the trains, there are so many local businesses I love supporting. Last week, I saw many friends, rode a lot of trains and buses, and bought entirely too many books. I also made a lot of lists.

Pets That I Met:

Lolette, Alisha and Dan's dog
Meep Meep, Elisa and Ben's cat
Bean, Haymarket House's dog
Socket, Haymarket House's dog
Jengo, Haymarket House's cat

Places I Saw that Are Supposedly, According to the Wiki, Part of Genderqueer Chicago's Trans-Friendly Bathroom Initiative, but Don't Appear to Be Displaying the Corresponding Sticker in their Window

Berlin
Spin
Ann Sather - Belmont location
Potbelly - 924 W. Belmont location
Kopi Cafe
probably some others

Things I Kept Repeating

"I love trains!"
"I'm wearing cowboy boots."

Public Transit Boarded
(#s = buses, colors = trains)

56 - Milwaukee
77 - Belmont
Blue Line
80 - Irving Park
Red Line
92 - Foster
78 - Montrose
54A - Cicero
82 - Kimball
155 - Devon
22 - Clark
81 - Lawrence
Brown Line
Orange Line
11 - Lincoln/Sedgwick
49 - Western

Books Purchased
(most subtitles excluded for simplicity)
(don't let me enter bookstores for the next few months, please)

My Karaoke Choices at Spyner's
("The Western bus runs all night.")

Roam (the B-52s)
Friday I'm in Love (the Cure)
I'll Make a Man Out of You (from Mulan)
Seven-Year Ache (Rosanne Cash)
Manic Monday (the Bangles)
How Will I Know (Whitney Houston)
I Wanna Be Sedated (the Ramones)
76 Trombones (from the Music Man)
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) (the Proclaimers)
Eternal Flame (the Bangles)
Manic Monday (the Bangles) (again)

People Who Deserve Extra Thanks for Making my Trip Awesome
(in approx. chronological order)

Jessie
Alisha and Dan
Elisa and Ben
Kristin
Amoeba
David and Rachael & Haymarket
Caroline & her roommates
everyone at Loopy Yarns
Ethan
Grace
new friends! Gabe, Jen, Meghan and Marie
Erica

Second-Graders and Gender

2011-02-28T21:58:00.016-05:00

I work in a local school district with before- and after-school Title I programming. Since I'm working mostly with the middle range of elementary school (2-4 grades), I'm interacting with an age group that is still figuring out how adults interpret gender boundaries. It's fascinating.

I don't think my coworkers realize it, but I get "Are you a boy or a girl?" a lot, especially when there are a lot of new students. I really strongly feel that a simple answer doesn't do the question itself justice, and doesn't fully represent who I am. I aim for addressing gender honestly and casually when the subject comes up. Through my interactions, I want to teach kids that the answers to gender questions aren't cut-and-dried, and also that gender questions are okay to ask!

I've had many good experiences. There was the second-grader who thought I was a boy for weeks, and didn't seem bothered to learn that most people assume I'm a girl. There was the new third-grader, who called me 'he' when talking to her friend. Her friend 'tattled', and it was pretty wonderful watching this friend realize that I wasn't even the least bit offended. Of course, there was also the third-grader who, when making a paper monster as group activity, was lamenting (loudly) the fact that their monster was a boy but it had long hair. I never managed to persuade him that a boy monster can have whatever kind of hair it wants.

One experience sticks out as particularly difficult: A second-grade boy had asked about my gender, and he said he thought I was a boy, which I told him was okay. A week or so later, when I was out of the room, he and another student asked my coworker (albeit probably not speaking with as much respect as they should have),

"Where'd that other dude go?" "Yeah, where'd he go?"

My coworker got very defensive on my behalf. Taken aback and offended, she asserted,

"You mean she? I don't think her parents would have given her the name they gave her if she was really a boy!"

I cringed inside when my coworker relayed the conversation to me later. I was worried that the boy was going to think I hadn't taken his question seriously, or worse, that I'd lied to him, or had been making fun of him the previous week.

All of these fears were quelled today. This boy came up to me, and asked again, as if it had never happened the first time:

-- Are you a boy or a girl?
-- Most people think I'm a girl. What do you think?
-- I think you're a boy.
-- That's okay!
-- And half girl.

Now if only everyone else in my life could be a little more like this second grader...

Winter and Warmth

2011-02-28T15:43:00.006-05:00

I haven't been posting much recently because there's been a lot on my mind, most of which I don't feel like sharing yet. I do, however, have a lot of photos to share. Mostly of knitting, but I'm sure you guessed that.

As usual, it's been mostly lace that's been occupying my time, with a few smaller objects in between. Some of these projects are brand new, and some of them are merely received some long-overdue individual attention.

But first, a photo of the local park.

Socks for Dad:
Pattern: Gentleman's Socks in Railway Pattern, by Nancy Bush.
Yarn: Jawoll Aktion, purchased at Loopy Yarns, in Chicago, IL.

Orenburg Lace Shawl, by Galina Khmeleva.
Yarn: OnLine Supersocke 100, purchased at Smith's, in Oberlin, OH.

Pattern: Cobweb Lace Stole, by Michele Rose Orne.
Yarn: Pagewood Farm Willow Creek; Colorway: Bird of Paradisa.
Purchased at the Yarnery in St. Paul, MN.

An original vest design.
Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 wool, purchased at the I'd Rather Be Knitting Yarn Studio in Long Grove, IL.

Ethan's Knucks.
Pattern: Knucks, by Pamela Grossman.
Knit in leftover wool yarn from stash, probably Nature Spun.

Pattern: Lehe Square Shawl, by Nancy Bush.
Yarn: Cestari Traditional Wool, purchased at Knits and Purls in Roseville, MN.
Modifications: since I knit this in a worsted yarn, the edges are pretty solid, so I figured I'd axe the lace border.

Andersonville Re-knit Mitts.
Improvised pattern. I made this yarn into an ugly hat, which I frogged. This looks better.
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Andersonville, purchased at Loopy Yarns in Chicago, IL.
The stitch pattern is from the Herringbone Rib Socks, by Kristi Schueler.

Recently, I started attending a UCC church near Amoeba's place. They're really nice, and just had an art show, so I displayed three shawls. The red is my first lace shawl, Laminaria, by Elizabeth Freeman, and the Crown Prince Square and Lehe Square shawls, both by Nancy Bush. The yarns are Skacel Merino Lace, Jaggerspun Zephyr, and Cestari Traditional Wool, respectively.

My current work in progress: the Maikell shawl, by Nancy Bush.
Yarn: Pagewood Farm Willow Creek in Really Red, purchased at Borealis Yarns in St. Paul, MN.

Oh, and I bought this at Borealis, too. I forget what it is, but it shall become something grand.

January in a Five-Item List: Ten Day Recap: the 20-Item Edition

2011-01-16T00:57:00.008-05:00

I've skipped 10! count them! 10 days.

So, instead, a list of 20 interesting things that happened:

1. Blocked the Crown Prince Shawl. I probably bought the yarn for this almost exactly a year ago.

2. Got very angry about pastors making excuses for male God language.

3. Started knitting a dead fish hat.

4. Watched some West Wing.

5. Could have died. (I was on a major highway, in the leftmost of three lanes, hit some ice when traffic in front of me slowed, and spun out across two lanes of AM rush hour traffic and ended up half embedded in a snowbank on the (thankfully very wide) right shoulder, facing oncoming traffic. How no one hit me, I don't know.)

6. Got some hot chocolate, and was joined by Amoeba. Calmed down after the quasi-accident.

7. Learned how to defend myself against children hitting, kicking, choking or biting me, or pulling my hair at Nonviolent Crisis Intervention Training. One of my coworkers decided to quiz me on these new defense skills whenever he feels like it.

8. Went to knitting circle! For the first time in, like, a month. Dead fish hat, go!

9. Hung out with Amoeba, before her departure for Costa Rica for two weeks. (She is posting updates every day on her blog!)

10. Acquired cold.

11. Slept.

12. Drank orange juice.

13. Saw my high school choir director on TV. He was singing in the Univ. of Arizona choir that sang at the memorial.

14. Watched more West Wing, including a very sad episode.

15. Slept.

16. Went to Drunken Knit Night and continued efforts to accustom my taste buds to coffee by drinking Guinness.

17. Cleaned out my inbox. So much more satisfying that cleaning real things.

18. Had lunch with Anna! Food = meh. Company = the best.

19. Made a mental note to self: Someday, make a (maybe punk?) concept album based on the Federalist Papers.

20. Talked to Cory! Walk = cold. Company = the best. And Hooray! for not getting lost while walking around my neighborhood on the phone. Small victories.

January in a Five-Item List: 5-1-11

2011-01-06T01:01:00.004-05:00

1. Told really terrible jokes to sixth graders by having them crack codes:

What do sheep do on sunny days? Have a baa-baa-cue!
Why couldn't the skeleton go to the dance? He had no body to go with!
Where do aliens keep their sandwiches? In a launch box!

And my favorite:

How much do pirates pay for their earrings? A buccaneer!

2. I thought they were funny. No one else agreed. So Peter wrote his own joke in code:

Peter's joke: What's the best thing to come out of Iowa? I-35.

3. Coffee and knitting date with the Amoeba! By which I mean, I drank some hot chocolate.

Also, Amoeba is working on her first sock!

4. Turns out the second, third, and fourth graders in the afternoon didn't think the jokes were that funny either.

5. Modern Family and sock finishing. Amoeba has since turned her heel and is almost at the toe!

January in a Five-Item List: 4-1-11

2011-01-06T01:00:00.000-05:00

1. I woke up feeling absolutely awful about my life and my identity and having to get out of bed and deal with the world. Then I realized I was actually just cranky because I was really hungry.

2. Nonviolent Crisis Intervention training: part one! It was okay, and somehow, half of it was about classroom management. What's that? You only got three and half hours of sleep? Drink a liter of something caffeinated.

3. Wandered around Borders and read for a while.

4. Day one of Central Park Winter TOPS was approximately 27x better than CP Fall TOPS day one. As long as we continue to have enough staff, this is going to be so much better than the fall.

5. Decided to skip knitting circle, because of the 3.5 hrs of sleep.
Plan: eat, check email, do some brain puzzles, read, drink a beer, and go to sleep.
Reality: eat, open a beer, fall asleep.

January in a Five-Item List: 3-1-11

2011-01-05T12:18:00.005-05:00

1. Not only did we play Monopoly, Jr. today at the before-school program, we also played "The Rules are Missing, I Guess We'll Have to Infer Them".

2. Several days ago, I went to Caribou Coffee for the first time in a long while. They were running this deal where you got a sticker for every drink you bought with chocolate in it. Once you collected five stickers, you got a free medium drink. I made it my mission to get a free drink. MISTAKE: the deal ended on 2 Jan, and not 3 Jan. D:

3. Whilst taking a brief nap at home, I missed a phone call... from Target Optical! Went and picked up these babies:

When I'm wearing a plaid green shirt and a scarf that obscures my neck, I think I look like Filbert from Rocko's Modern Life.

4. The after-school program wasn't starting until Tuesday, and so we had Giant Information Meeting of Overwhelming instead. Including the fun realizations that (1) there is no scheduled gym time for 3rd graders, which is Not Okay and (2) the 2-6 graders don't have anywhere to put their backpacks and coats.

5. Dinner at Dino's Gyros, which I do not visit frequently enough. Ate the hummus wrap, and some pita chips and feisty feta. The food was eaten concurrently with journaling and looking over my songwriting book, both of which need to happen far more frequently than they do.

January in a Five-Item List: 2-1-11

2011-01-02T21:08:00.005-05:00

1. Slept on the couch last night, since I am finally blocking this thing I should have blocked three months ago on my mattress. I'll show you a picture, and tell you that it's the Hemlock Ring Blanket made out of ECO Wool, but I won't tell you who it's for, because they don't have it yet...

2. Finished reading Gender Outlaws: TNG.

3. Hung out with relatives in celebration of my aunt's birthday, which was Dec 31. Pizza, cake. Her new porch has a heated floor.

4. When she was in 7th grade, my aunt did a report on the USSR and wrote to the Soviet embassy for information. This is the propaganda they sent her, from 1973.

Highlights of these exercises in creative writing will be forthcoming, but we'll start you off with a picture from 'USSR Welfare'

5. The rest of the evening will be spent starting a book by Max Wolf Valerio, and working on that sock.

Reviving the Tradition: January in a Five-Item List: 1-1-11

2011-01-02T20:11:00.005-05:00

1. Rang in the new year at the fabulous Coale's Bar and Grill in St. Paul. I spent the evening hanging out with the Amoeba and falling in love with drag kings. Note the residual green and orange in my eyebrows in this photo:

2. The Amoeba and I met her parents for lunch. They're both psychologists, which is slightly terrifying. I was kind of (irrationally) worried that they were analyzing my every behavior. (Really, I've probably just been watching too many crime shows.)

3. Several episodes of NCIS and SVU accompanied the knitting of the Devon socks from Cookie A's Sock Innovation. Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Botticelli Red (a gift from the lovely kirinlemon, who is back in the country!). Knit the heel flap, heel, gusset, and some foot. Such progress!

4. My mother made me what might have been the most delicious grilled cheese sandwich I have ever eaten.

5. West Wing, with my dad. (Episodes: Ellie, and Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail.) I freaking love this show.

Overanalyzing the Crayola 64 with the Amoeba.

2011-01-02T20:01:00.006-05:00

So, starting around the time of the release of the seventh Harry Potter film, I've been dating this really great person. We have traveled very different roads in the last several years of our lives, but are in quite a compatible place right now. It's pretty exciting, and pretty fun. We shall call her the Amoeba (because of this post on her blog).

So, because we're both incredibly nerdy people, we overanalyzed her box of crayons. We looked at crayon names and overall color distribution.

Following is our data, and conclusions.

First, we looked at the ROYGBV combinations. I remembered from my childhood that both Red Violet and Violet Red existed. So we looked at all twelve possible matchups, thinking about them in "adjective noun" pairs. Meaning that Red Violet is a shade of violet that's reddish (and thus later categorized as a purple):

We discovered:
- Orange is not an adjective.
- Stoplights (red, yellow and green) are very adjectival.

Then we decided to look at how many crayons there were in each color group. We predicted a lot of browns, and that shades of red and pink, when added together, would have the highest count of any color group. Here's how they all look when parceled out. Asterisks indicate colors whose placement could easily be disputed.

Our conclusions:
-There were not as many reds and pinks as we expected.
-Orange is the most ambiguous color group. We filed two questionable colors under it, and Burnt Orange is not an orange.
-Carnation Pink and Tickle Me Pink are not different enough to necessitate two crayons.
-We're short on yellow choices.
-The cooler shades clearly have the most interesting names.
-Do there really need to be that many browns? Are we going for a range of possible skin tones via arboreal references? Or are there just a lot of browns?
-Purple Mountains Majesty is the best name. Followed closely by Mauvelous.
-Peach is not peach-colored. It's kind of the color of peach ice cream, but not peaches.
-There's a lot of food going on (I count 10, excluding Orange); this is especially true in the greens and oranges (3 foods each).

What are your conclusions and queries?

A conclusion from Linden: Had I thought of this while still at Oberlin, I totally could have done an expanded version and probably used it to fulfill the quantitative proficiency requirement.

The Last Eight Months: an Introduction

2010-11-28T18:33:00.012-05:00

Unexpected Pleasantries

2010-03-03T00:35:00.004-05:00

I do not understand.

So, from the moment I started college, and first owned a computer, my music collection has been largely digital. I can keep CDs organized like nobody's business. But files? That's a different story.

It's been incredibly disorganized for the last couple of years, and has really needed attention. So I had my parents ship the external hard drive to Chicago, and finally sat down to sort things out. What motivated this? My iPod stopped showing up in iTunes a while back. I haven't been able to add new music since Novemberish. It was starting to be a problem.

It was an overwhelming process, which turned out to be easier than I expected. A couple of days later, I'm done. I don't even think I have a lot of duplicate tracks lying around. So I'm all set to restore the little bugger of an iPod that isn't behaving, and lo and behold.

There it is. In iTunes. Pretending it's been there the whole time.

Sometimes technology amazes me.

Cool Stuff Today

2010-02-23T16:04:00.005-05:00

Earl brought into the office this little foam nerf gun. Apparently he has about 200 of them, for some reason. It's a little immature, and very tempting.

The chord progression I was playing while working on songwriting stuff apparently matches up somewhat with "Defying Gravity" from Wicked. So that's stuck in my head now.

Here's something I drew at work yesterday.

'Kittery Tide' would be a Girlyman song, yes.

Parallels

2010-02-09T17:17:00.004-05:00

At playgroup today, there was this little boy named Henry. He really likes the new DuPont race car riding toy that's pretty new. He likes it so much that even when he's had it for a while, and then Sam really wants to play with it, he won't share. So his mom picked him up and forcibly removed him from the toy. Henry got over it (after a while), and Sam got his turn.

Well. There's this country named Ukraine, and a woman named Tymoshenko. She had her turn as Prime Minister, and lost the recent election to Yanukovych. I know it's tough. The Orange Revolution didn't result in the changes that everyone wanted, and she's lost support. But Yanukovych won. He might not be the shiniest future for Ukraine, but he won. There was not evidence of massive election fraud.

THIS IS HOW THE WORLD WORKS. It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter how terrible and horrible and mean the winner is. When you lose an election, you give up your seat, or give up your credit as a respected European leader.

Give it up, Tymoshenko, or I'll send Henry's mom over there.

The Altar Guild Comic Book, and Today's General Adventures

2010-02-04T17:05:00.004-05:00

Exciting current events:

1. My phone was stolen. This has been inconvenient, to say the least.
2. Allie is coming.

In light of #1, the timing of #2 is impeccable. It is not time to fret; it is time to gallivant around the city whilst munching on bagels and discussing theology.

I am now proud to present the first of a few installations of 'The Altar Guild Comic Book'. At church, we are compiling a church customary (or something akin to one), which records how the church functions. The altar guild is in charge of the sanctuary materials and physical preparations for worship. Their handbook reads like an Emily Dickinson poem, with many, many capitalized nouns. Here's what we're learning today:

CPJ Update

2010-02-03T00:49:00.006-05:00

A few minutes' poking around the Committee to Protect Journalists website shows some interesting statistics.

1 journalist was jailed in Russia in 2009.
3 journalists were killed in Russia in 2009.
52 journalists have been killed in Russia because of their work since 1992.
24 more journalists have been killed in Russia since 1992, with unknown motives.

Those four categories, for China:
24 jailed in 2009.
0 killed in 2009.
2 killed since 1992 for their work.
1 killed since 1992 with unknown motives.

So, congratulations China, on not killing lots of people. But you still put them in jail. Let's work on that.

Russia, you and I have had this talk already. On the positive side, one of those tags is no longer accurate, but that's the work of Colombia and the Philippines, not you, Russia. 30 cases of complete impunity? Why on earth do I love you so much, Russia?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

What's been going on in 2010?
Journalists are hiding and the police are raiding newspaper offices again.

General Adventures

2010-02-02T17:59:00.005-05:00

I have been reading a lot of webcomics recently, and I have found it inspiring. So, here are three moments from my day, in comic form.

I have barely managed to stave off tears.

2010-01-18T19:43:00.006-05:00

1. The
2. alpaca
3. sweater
4. isn't
5. fitting.

A brief play. Featuring the Voice of Reason (as played by the hypothetical presence of Cory) and Bethany.

VoR: There, there. Tell me about your gauge swatch.
B: I totally knit one! It was long and skinny, and was on size 6s, I think. It mostly was to test out colorwork patterns. The colorwork goes around the bust, and below that on the body is ribbing. So I knit that on size 5s. I cast on 240 sts. I took the ribbing, and measured the gauge unstretched, and stretched, translated both of those into the body measurement (which yielded 220.5 sts and 262.5 sts). So I picked one in between.
VoR: So you cast on 240 and started knitting. Then what happened?
B: I knit 6.5 inches, and transferred it to waste yarn, to try it on. It looks a little bit too big. It stretched a little, but it could probably stand to be smaller. It should be about 40 sts smaller by the time I hit the waist, but it could be about 20-32 stitches smaller right now, too.
VoR: So, when you say it doesn't fit, you mean it's too big?
B: It's at that point where it might be too big that it looks a little off and I won't wear it much. But it might be okay. I can't tell. I really wish you were here to give me an opinion. Am I crazy for considering steeking?
VoR: You're a little crazy, yeah. It's probably not the best way to handle it, yeah. You should probably fix it, though. It's better to take a long time making it, than to end up with a sweater that you don't like. That's not even the uber-perfectionist in me talking.
B: So I'm going to lose about 40 sts, at least. It's too late to be starting those now. Do you think it would work for me to go back a couple of inches and start them there? Rather than frogging the whole thing.
VoR: That could work. You should be really careful with your measurements, though, and plan the decreases out. If you wing it, you might have to go back again. Since you didn't swatch the ribbing the first time, use this as a swatch, and measure a few times before you take too much of it back.
B: This sweater is going to take forever.
VoR: It won't take forever. Maybe a while. But then it will fit and it will be awesome!
B: I guess.

Thanks, hypothetical Cory, for helping me get through this. You and the theraputic Koolhaas hat are going to make it all okay.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday

2010-01-18T16:54:00.007-05:00

Apparently this weekend happened in the present tense.

Friday:
1. I'm going to leave for Milwaukee sometime between 3 and 4 pm.
2. I'm going to leave for Milwaukee sometime around 5 pm.
3. It's 6:00. I'm totally leaving in a few minutes.
4. 7:00. I leave for Milwaukee.
5. Folk show: John Stano. Then: X Files! Hungry (7x03) and Hollywood A.D. (7x19).

Saturday:
1. I awake, for some reason, at 8:30, and write blues lyrics.
2. Strong desire to play the piano overcome by the fact that it would wake up the entire house.
3. Walk three miles to Fiberwood Studio. Buy 2205 yards of Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight. (50/50 wool/silk).
4. Excursion to mall with David, Zach and Ashley. In perusing Barnes & Noble: learn key phrases in Czech, and brush up on my Python programming skillz.
5. Dinner and X Files with David. By which I mean, delicious Indian food. Also, this animated show that was a lot like the X Files, and Firefly (Ariel). Firefly is almost the X Files, in that it was frequently communally watched by the Danielle/Kathryn/Linden/Liz/Bethany crowd, and prominently features both Jewel Staite and Adam Baldwin, who were both on the X Files.

Sunday:
1. Close, and try to lock the door behind me as I leave the Milwaukee LVC house at 7:00 am. Subsequently realize that I have left my iPod (with the epic two-hour playlist) inside the house. Fortunately, my door-locking attempt failed, and I don't have to call anyone and make them get out of bed to let me in. IPod was retrieved, the door was locked, and I was on my way.
2. Successful Sunday School class. I forget to bring the story, and have to tell it from memory, but the kids get it, and we have a good discussion that relates Shiprah and Puah to Rosa Parks.
3. Bowl-a-thon for the SOA watch with Amanda. The LVCers are cursed with bowling 9s.
4. Game 1: 73. No stirkes, no spares; I bowl 9s in four frames.
Game 2: 78. No strikes, no spares; I bowl 9s in six frames.
Game 3: 154. Three strikes, three spares; I bowl 9s in two frames.
5. General failure to journal for songwriting. Sigh.

Thursday 13-01-10

2010-01-15T00:18:00.003-05:00

Fell asleep, finally, at 5 a.m. What an incredible way to kick things off.

Thursday: food decisions.
1. 11:00 a.m. - Yogurt freezes well. Note to self: it does not unfreeze well.
2. 12:30 p.m. - Lunch: carrot.
3. 4:30 p.m. - Realization: I actually brought my lunch, forgot about it, and thought the carrot was all I had.
4. 5:00 p.m. - Realization: I am very tired and very hungry. It is negatively altering my perception of reality. Really, everything will be pretty okay.
5. 9:00 p.m. - Slight food coma after dinner with Lauren and Peter. Slightly the fault of Amanda, who couldn't decide which dessert to make, and just made two.

Wednesday 13-01-10

2010-01-14T09:06:00.002-05:00

Emotions of the day.

1. Excitement.
2. Frustration.
3. Petty frustration.
4. Excitement.
5. Frustration.

Frustration is about actual things. Petty frustration is about how you walk out of the grocery store and realize you forgot to get one of the two items you went there for. Excitement is about singing the B-52s 'Roam', and recording #4 from yesterday.

Ain't it funny how time slips away...

2010-01-12T23:58:00.003-05:00

Saturday:
1. Breakfast at Ann Sather with Amanda and my dad. Cinnamon rolls the size of hubcaps.
2. Knitting/crochet group at Immanuel. Amanda finished her hat, the superstar that she is!
3. Got to climb on ladders again, in the deChristmasing of Immanuel's sanctuary.
4. Stopped at Borders for the second time of the week(to pick up some issues of Interweave Knits I've fallen behind on).
5. Babysat. After the kid was asleep, WKMT had this really odd set of five or six folk songs that were all about cannibalism. It creeped me out.

Sunday:
1. The grand return of Sunday School.
2. Got sucked into a long conversation with Francisco about politics, Russian literature, and eastern European pop music.
3. Knit.
4. Got bored with sweater.
5. Fell asleep at 6:00 p.m.

Monday:
1. Meh. Monday was Monday. I should have played the Bangles' song to make it better. Let's just skip it.

Tuesday:
1. Staff meeting. Stayed alert without tea.
2. Lunch: сельодка под шубой. Salted herring under scallions under potatoes under beets. Plus, in true Russian fashion, mayonnaise.
3. Played around with my favorite chord (Cmaj7) a bit, and ended up writing about four measures of piano music. I never write piano music.
4. Songwriting class at Old Town! Learned about song form, reviewed basic chord structures, and 12-bar blues. Considered making 'the Guacamole Blues' into an actual blues song.
5. Finally merged my old Google account with the Gmail one. Now when I blog, it doesn't log me out of my email! Partay.

Friday 08-01-10

2010-01-09T00:40:00.003-05:00

Hey, look! It's my dad! In Chicago! Partay!

1. Canceled on my songwriting appointment with myself. (Don't tell Steve at the Old Town School.)
2. More instruments somehow showed up in Casa. Could this have been the entire purpose of my father's visit? Of course, not. That's preposterous.
3. Late lunch at Charlie's Ale House. The New Holland Brewery is a winner. Also, that bartender really dislikes Goose Island 312. "It's the Bud Light of wheat beers." Damn. That's harsh.
4. Knitting circle. Kristy was disappointed at the lack of fauxhawk. But Lynne's sea salt chocolate chip cookies made everything better.
5. Pizza and hootenanny, with photographs of a horn-rimmed Lou Malnati, and Brother Thelonious, respectively. Learned a lot of seventh chords. Probably forgot them, too.

Thursday 07-01-10

2010-01-09T00:28:00.003-05:00

Best part of day: Georgian bakery. It's on Devon & California. 2812 W. Devon, or something like that. You should probably go there.

Obtained items:

1. Хачапури - (Khachapuri). These little cheese pies. Georgian classic.
2. Лоблани - (Loblani). Like хачапури, but with red bean filling. Even tastier.
3. Картошка с капустой - (Pastry with cabbage). Pretty basic, but good for cabbage lovers.
4. Пельмени - (Pel'meni - Russian dumplings). Some beef and pork, some with potato and cheddar.
5. Сельди - (Herring). For Сельди под шубой (Herring Under a Fur Coat, which is layers of herring, scallions, potatoes and beets. Covered in mayonnaise, in true Russian form).

Wednesday 06-01-10

2010-01-06T23:55:00.003-05:00

Today was another day of failing to go to the Georgian Bakery on Devon. sigh

Instead, the adventures of the day included...

1. Buying a new sketchbook.
2. Messing around with Google Groups, Calendar, Docs and Sites.
3. Being impatient in regards to the Clark bus.
4. Celebrating Lauren's birthday!
5. And finally remembering to mention this video.

Tuesday 05-01-10

2010-01-06T03:23:00.004-05:00

Today I:

1. Felt reasonably productive at work.
2. Drew two short comics.
3. Went to my first songwriting class.
4. Briefly contemplated buying a slide for my guitar.
5. Saw Francisco's string quartet play a Shostakovich piece at a pool bar.

Also, I really like writing about people's hands. I wish I could draw their hands, too.

Monday 04-01-10

2010-01-05T01:20:00.003-05:00

1. Culinary activity #1: oatmeal + brown sugar + peanut butter + dark chocolate. Reasonable success. Needs tweaking, but has possibilities for greatness.
2. Picked up the socks that have lain neglected for several weeks. Knit half a row.
3. Tutored a six year old. Made words out of the letters in SNOWMAN and read a book about squirrels.
4. Contra dancing!
5. Culinary activity #2: hard-boiled egg failure. Instead: soft-boiled eggs.

Sunday 03-01-10

2010-01-03T22:59:00.008-05:00

No list for Saturday. Alas, the list for today wouldn't be incredibly exciting. I did at least look up recipes for black bread. Also, Herring under a Fur Coat, which is this incredibly delicious layered Russian salad. Well, incredibly delicious if you like beets. Which you should.

Today, really, the only interesting thing I did was watch Beauty and the Beast. I was probably less than 10 years old the last time I saw it.

Instead of giving you a list, I will tell you, in reverse chronological order, five things I've been thinking about recently that relate to sound.
1. Every time Ms. Potts spoke/sang during Beauty and the Beast, I was reminded of how much I like Angela Lansbury.
2. Some earworms (by certain folk-pop bands) are more than welcome during normal daily functioning. (And, unfortunately, they same cannot be said during bouts of insomnia.)
3. I really want to learn to play slide guitar.
4. I do kind of wish my bass was in Chicago.
5. The Cure, when not bashing around about how Friday is the best day of the week, is fantastic music for falling asleep to.

That being said, I really do have interesting plans for the next few days. I shall, in fact, succeed at doing cool stuff in January. It will happen; I promise.

Friday 01-01-10

2010-01-01T20:45:00.006-05:00

Remember this format from last year? Five item lists! Every day in January! Except maybe sometimes.

Today, among other things, I:
1. Watched X Files with David from LVC Milwaukee at 3 a.m. (Paper Hearts, 4x10) Very sadly, this may be the first X Files episode viewed by me in Casa Romero, possibly the second. For sure the only episode to be viewed in the last three months. (I might have watched one with some friends in September; this is still a pitiful frequency.)
2. Failed miserably at falling asleep, due largely to three Girlyman songs that wouldn't leave my brain alone.
3. Played guitar.
4. Tried to read a book
5. Contemplated testing the yeast in our kitchen fridge (I have all of these aspirations about baking черный хлеб (black bread) this weekend).

2010 doesn't feel much different. I'm still making lists, anyway.

Oh! And I finished Daybreak a couple of days ago. Quite pleased with it.

A post! With lists! The world is in shock.

2009-12-21T01:42:00.008-05:00

I frequently get really excited about many things at once, and then time gets away from me. But chances are, you knew this about me already.

So far, my time in LVC has been spent becoming interested and/or involved in many things, and then having to make thoughtful decisions about how to spend my time. Here are some things I've become focused on during the last couple of months:
1. The local knitting/fiber communities. I attended YarnCon, and have spent many hours at Loopy Yarns. I'm learning more and more about the yarns and designers local to Chicago, too. I'm continuing to obsess over lace.

2. Music. Of course, I have no drum kit to bash around on. But I do have guitars around, and have been writing songs that sometimes don't sound like shit. I'm registered for a songwriting class in the new year that I'm really excited about. Perhaps you'll get more mp3 links someday.

3. Russian. I haven't spent a ton of time working on language skills, but I did find a Russian bookstore and a Georgian bakery. Talked a little. Bought some good music. Bought some bad music. Bought khachapuri. Psyched about almost all of it.

4. Walking instead of giving the CTA my money. It's really not that bad. I spend about 1-2 hours walking each day. I swear guys, Lincoln Square's not that far.

5. Choir. I've joined the Immanuel Church Choir. Singing in a choir feels good.

However, the list of things I'd like to spend more time with is much longer:
1. Reading. I've been reading Moscow to the End of the Line, which I was definitely supposed to read last spring in my Russian Drugs, Sex & Rock & Roll class. It's good. Getting back into the habit of reading for pleasure is hard. I tried Twilight, even. Got halfway through the first book. A self-indulgent author, poor characterization: it sucks.

2. Chess. Someday I will be able to hold my own against someone who isn't Russian. (Note: 'Someday' refers to the very distant future. Possibly decades.)

3. Playing guitar. Writing songs (focusing on the creative, ignoring the technical) is really all I've been doing.

4. Swing dancing. I've meant to go out a few times, but haven't actually done it yet. Also, contra dancing.

5. Playing mandolin. I played it at LVC orientation, and made everyone think I know what I'm doing. I'm totally a poser.

6. Crossword puzzles. The cruciverbalist in me is crying.

7. Local radio. Needs to be appreciated. There is some station that broadcasts in Russian sometimes. Have I listened to it? No.

8. Russian/Georgian cooking. Kapusta i khachapuri. Cooking in general. Granola will happen, one of these days.

9. Photography. I missed my chance to photograph fall leaves. I need to not let winter slip by undocumented.

10. Refining my thoughts on eating environmentally consciously. I'm trying to move beyond vegetarianism as a crutch. It gets back to the reading thing, mainly.

11. Everything on the first list, but more so.

And now for something completely unrelated: I've become noticeably less quiet and reserved in recent months. I used to be extraordinarily quiet and reclusive, but I'm speaking up a lot more, and enjoying the attention that comes with it. I mean, I'm wishing it could have happened about a year and half ago, but it's quite nice, all in all.

Look at that. I didn't even talk to you about knitting hardly at all. Be super impressed by my restraint.

It ain't libel if it's true...

2009-10-13T17:21:00.005-04:00

Seriously?
And yes, Novaya Gazeta was the paper Anna Politkovskaya worked for.

...

Tomorrow: the grandson of Adolf Hitler insists that Auschwitz was all Eichmann's idea.

"I Took the Walk!"

2009-10-13T01:04:00.004-04:00

As part of their social activism, Hanson's been leading walks with fans before each show on their last two tours. They worked on much of their album The Walk in Africa, and became really motivated to contribute to the fight against AIDS. So people show up, walk a mile barefoot, and Hanson donates a dollar to one of five differently focused charities (providing people with shoes, general healthcare, clean water and schools for children, or AIDS medication for pregnant women).

So today, I took the Walk. It was pretty cool. Erin and I were a little late, but we caught the mass of people leaving the UIC quad.

We walked about half of the mile, and then stopped for a bit, while Taylor told us about the concept behind the Walk project, and how with over 30,000 people having taken the Walk, we're working on (the equivalent) a second lap around the world.

He speaks well, and looks quite comfortable with a megaphone. He'd make a good grassroots organizer (which, I guess, he kind of already is).

Then we finished our mile. Some of the time, I walked fairly close to (a few feet away from) Zac, and I got to hear him talk about how much fun he had playing with the guys from Cheap Trick, and how he hopes that after he and his brothers have been playing for as long as Carlos and Nielsen have, that they'll be that good. I love musician-talk, in general, but especially musicians talking about other musicians. He was also encouraging the fans around him to independently organize Walks in their communities.

They even treated us to an acoustic version of "Great Divide"!

The Walk was the perfect ending to my first experience of seeing Hanson live. The concert reminded me of how much I love music, and want it to be a part of my life, but the Walk allowed me to step back from the intensity of the concert, and refocus on the power of social justice. As I've said, Hanson's always been exactly where I needed them to be, and that proved even more true today.

A Song to Sing

2009-10-12T00:56:00.005-04:00

I don't know where to start. So much has been happening, and it makes me want to explode with joy.

So I guess I'll focus on one thing, and we'll start at the very beginning. Not Chicago, not knitting, not the MN Twins and how much I'm beginning to like laundromats. The beginning is music.

There was always music in my house growing up, but Hanson was the first band to whom I really became attached. It was frustrating, because while they were popular for a while, their success was followed by a whole string of boy bands, who somehow managed to convince the general populace that Hanson was a bunch of gay, talentless girls. Well, I heard such bullshit opinions constantly throughout fifth and sixth grade (from two different sets of best friends), and they eventually convinced me to hate Hanson for a while. However, by the release of Hanson's second album, This Time Around, they pulled me along musically, and I grew to love them again.

(Since then, everyone who disparages my musical taste can shut their piehole. I don't take it anymore. (So if you didn't get enough Hanson bashing out of your system 10 years ago, grow the hell up. They did.))

The remarkable thing about Hanson is that they have always been exactly where I needed them to be. This Time Around warmed me to a pop-rock sound I hadn't been completely ready for. And by the time they came out with the Walk, independent labels and social activism was right where I was at.

For some reason, I never made it to one of their shows until tonight. Tonight's been twelve years coming, and it was incredible.

Their set at the House of Blues was preceded by those of three bands: Sherwood, Steel Train and HelloGoodbye. Sherwood was neat. Their lead singer plays bass, which was unusually cool, and their keyboardist has figured out a way to play keys like a rock star. Steel Train was high-energy and fun (they covered Mamma Mia), and their lead singer has more energy than any frontman I've seen play, with the singular exception of that guy from The Legendary Shack Shakers. HelloGoodbye was chatty, but pretty cute, and there was a little mandolin and ukulele action going on.

Sherwood. You can barely see it, but that reddish figure in the middle by the keyboard is having a grand time.

Of course, Hanson played last (and Erin and I even made it on to the main floor for their set), and they played for a long time, about 18 or so songs. Highlights included "Worlds on Fire" (from the new EP, and their set opener), any of Isaac's guitar solos, "A Minute Without You", and "I Want You To Want Me", which was the encore that brought Bun E. Carlos and Rick Nielsen (of Cheap Trick) to the stage.

Left to right: Isaac, the bass player, Zac, and Taylor.

But really, whenever you have three people on stage that are clearly having so much fun, the entire show is memorable. (It was kind of like watching Kirby Puckett play baseball.) The whole thing makes me want to perform music and write songs, and learn to play drums. (It also makes me miss my electric guitar and bass.) These three have always been where I needed them, and they're still fulfilling that role: playing the hell out of their instruments, loving every minute of it, and reminding me of how powerful and joyous music can be.

We didn't participate in the Walk that happened this afternoon, but that was a result of confusion about the time. Fortunately, they're doing another show tomorrow, so I've got another chance at walking in the morning. Which means I should probably head to bed. (As if I can fall asleep after tonight!)

Two portraits and a moment of joy.

2009-09-15T00:58:00.005-04:00

Some friends on Ravelry decided to start a thread for people to post their favorite photos of themselves. A way for us to see everyone's beautiful faces. I've realized that some of my favorite photos of myself are only available through Facebook, so I thought I'd share them with you.

I mean, I kind of need a website to host the photos so I can link to them in the thread, but I really did want to share them with you.

This is the oldest one, taken in Chicago a couple of years ago.

And this, of course, is from an OB-52's show. As if the bouffant and teal shoulder-pad jacket weren't a dead giveaway.

And this is me with Anna, just after graduation.

Pretty soon, I'm going to get a bunch of photos from the Oberlin era in the mail and put them into photo albums. Remind me about it, and I'll share those with you in person some time.

Putin = Sketchier than Bush/Cheney

2009-09-09T00:15:00.006-04:00

An excerpt from this article, by journalist Scott Anderson, which appears in this month's GQ. But not on their website, and not in any of the copies of GQ that end up in Russia.

"One of the odder footnotes to the whole affair was a statement that Gennady Seleznyov, the Speaker of the Duma, had made on the floor of Parliament on the morning of September 13, 01999. I have just received a report, he had announced to legislators. An apartment building in the city of Volgodonsk was blown up last night.

While Seleznyov got the basics right - an apartment building had indeed just been blown up - he had the wrong city; the blast that morning had been at 6/3 Kashirskoye Highway in Moscow. Which put the Speaker in kind of an awkward spot when an apartment building in Volgodonsk was blown up three days later. At least one Duma member found that puzzling.
Mr. Speaker, please explain, he had asked Seleznyov on the Parliament floor, how come you told us on Monday about the blast that occurred on Thursday?"

New City, New Friends, New Song

2009-09-03T10:51:00.004-04:00

I could have told you about two years ago that Chicago was pretty great. But now, I have more evidence.

As many of you know, I'm spending the next year with the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, living in community with other volunteers, and volunteering at a church (most placements aren't in local churches, but mine is). Specifically, I am working at Immanuel Lutheran Church, in Edgewater, as their Youth Outreach Coordinator. I'm working with some after school programs, as well as Sunday School.

My non-work related adventures are brought to you (as always) in handy non-chronological list format:

1. Saw a Cubs game (Thanks for the tickets, Bret's mom!). They actually won.
2. At the Cubs game, found a Blackberry. Housemates and I got it back to the orthopedic surgeon it belonged to, and he bought us a round of drinks.
3. Helped a housemate make a chocolate souffle.
4. In conjuction with other housemates, got the souffle-making housemate hooked on Firefly.
5. Made a tasty eggplant parmesean.
6. Briefly ignored the vegetarianism and had some deep-dish pizza at Giordano's with my dad and brother.
7. Crocheted (!) a bird. Photos later.
8. Took my brother (and dad) to see the bean.
9. Saw a concert in Grant Park. One of the bands tried to be the Decembrists, but failed.
10. Got tix for the Hanson concert in October.
11. Visited my yarn store; bought sale sock yarn. Again, photos later. But they gave me a tote bag, and it has reaffirmed my love for them.
12. Wrote a song. I was thinking about creation (since the first Sunday School curriculum I'm doing with the kids is called 'God Makes a World'). Flipped through my Bible and ran across Psalm 19.

The result.

Still enjoying the hell out of public transport.

The Tale of Mr. Bedbug

2009-09-02T23:06:00.005-04:00

Made up on the spot, regaled to a friend via Gmail chat, and now shared with you. Capitalized and punctuated for your reading pleasure.

So once, there was a bedbug. Now this bedbug was really friendly and outgoing, or wanted to be, but he was really lonely. He didn't have any bedbug friends!

Mr. Bedbug lived inside the walls of the bedroom of a little girl named Louisa.

Mr. Bedbug didn't like living in the walls. The spiders and other small bugs didn't talk to him, and the old crochety cockroach that lived down the hall scared him a lot.

One day, Mr. Bedbug crawled out of Louisa's wall, and decided to eat himself a little home in Louisa's dresser.

But Louisa's dresser wasn't ideal. He got a little bit of light, but only when Louisa opened the drawer to pull out some clothes. Sometimes, Louisa's mother opened the drawer, to put clothes back in, but somehow, that was never as much fun.

"The clothes!", thought Mr. Bedbug. "What if I lived in the clothes? There's that green sweater that Louisa really likes. If I lived in that, then I would be around Louisa all of the time! I could see the world, and make friends!"

So Mr. Bedbug packed up his nonexistent belongings, and waited patiently.

In a few days, Louisa's mother put the green sweater in the dresser drawer. Mr. Bedbug hopped onto it and nestled in. Living in a sweater was wonderful! Louisa saw and did so many wonderful things every day! But one thing still made Mr. Bedbug sad. Louisa would talk, but every time Mr. Bedbug responded, Louisa ignored him! He really wanted a friend, and Mr. Bedbug thought he was being very nice. But it was like she barely even noticed him.

So one day, he got angry.

And you know what happens when bedbugs get angry.

They BITE!

But Louisa still didn't notice. She said something about maybe being allergic to something and asked her mother about going to a dermatologist. So Louisa's mother set up an appointment. Mr. Bedbug was very sad, and still very lonely.

So the night before the appointment, when Louisa was getting ready for to go to sleep, she took off her green sweater and threw it onto the bed. Mr. Bedbug was feeling quite cynical (and maybe the sweater was starting to smell, or maybe it was going to get washed tomorrow), so Mr. Bedbug decided to leave.

"Anywhere is better that here!", he thought. So he jumped onto the bed.

Nestling down into the bed, Mr. Bedbug heard a noise.

Lots of noises.

Big, noisy noises.

Party noises.

Noises, that kind of sounded like him! Mr. Bedbug went to investigate.

And he found

a GIANT party. Hundreds of other bedbugs! Chatting and eating hors douvres and knocking over the punch bowl. He casually strolled over and introduced himself. By the end of the night he had many, many new friends, who listened to him when he talked, and even talked back to him!

So Mr. Bedbug, Roger, Gertrude, Eugene and Rhonda went on many adventures together and had a grand time.

And Louisa had a terrible bedbug infestation. Once they finally figured out what was going on, the only answer was to burn the mattress, and the dresser and the sweater.

The moral of the story is: Catch bedbug infestations while they're small.

О фильме "Узел"

2009-07-23T01:31:00.002-04:00

Сегодня вечером я смотрела первая часть фильма о Александре Солженицыне. У меня был фильм с средного последного семестра, но не нашла времени смотреть до сейчас.

Вольшинство фильма следит за Солженицын и автор фильма (называется Александр Сокуров) на прогулке в лесу. Иногда, они останавливались и сидели на скамейке, или наблюдали облака и деревьи. Вообще, фильм - разговор между двоими. Несколько интересные суеты.

Солженицын много говорил о возрасте. Он сказал, что в жизне молодых - так много действие, а это значит, что трудно для молодого себя понимает. Но в старосте, у людей больше времени сидеть, и думать. Солженицын сказал, что его жизнь много раз прошла в уме. Но думаю, что он чувствовал, что - жаль, что у России молодое население (что люди там не так долго прожить в старосте), потому-что бы было лучше если молодые видели этот процесс ражмышления.

Другой интересный мысль: они со Сокуровом говорили про ответственноста человека для его поведения. Сокуров предлагал, что лучше, если у него модель для поведения, если он часто видет доброго человека. С моделом, он веден от насилия. Но Солженицын сильно думал, что модель - хорошо пример - но отсуствие модела - никакой извниение для насилия, или другых формов плохых поведеней. Когда это я слышала - я думала о детей здесь в Америке. Может быть вообще не дети, с которами я вырастала. Но может быть дети, с которами я работаю в этом году в Чикаго. Трудно, потому-что я знаю что у много детей нет хороших моделей, или в том, что у них таких много примеров насилия или жадность, и меньше доброта. По мнению Солженицына, у человека ответственность для поведения. А я понимаю, что эта идея важная, чтобы сообшества нормально функционировать. Но грустно, думать, что у многих нет хороших моделов, и их жизни - такие быстрие, что их себя не понимают, но в конце концов, мы даем им эта ответственность.

Во-третьих: Солженицын сказал, что сосни во Вермонте (где он со семей жил лет 20) по-другому. У русских сосен долгие стволи (4/5 дерева) вез веток, а в США у нас очень короткие стволи, и много веток рядом с землой. Он предпочитает русские, а он не писал об американским природе. Было интересно, но я считаю, что предпочитаю сосни как во Вермонте.

Shows, and Show and Tell

2009-07-21T02:06:00.007-04:00

The last few weeks have been pretty splendid, full of good music, a bit of travel, pretty great people, and, of course, knitting, too.

I believe I already mentioned July's earlier excursions to see Rosanne Cash, and Fountains of Wayne. Last night saw another awesome band added to that list. It was my first time seeing the Old 97s live, and also my first show at First Avenue. (It was 18+, so I didn't get to use term 'diaper show', but that's okay.) The lead singer and bass player (Rhett Miller, and Murray Hammond, respectively) each have their own solo careers as well, and they each played a set. So they opened for themselves. My favorite parts of the evening were the parts that involved Rhett. So about 80% of the show. I'm not sure why he isn't an obnoxiously hugely famous rock star.

Also, I saw parts of the old Batman movie before the show and between sets. This was a completely new experience for me. If you haven't seen it, you should. It is IMMENSELY amusing. ("The Drinking Water Dispenser is clearly labeled!")

Earlier in the week, I also took a short trip to Chicago to visit my LVC placement. I met Sarah, who's in that placement now, and went with her and a bunch of youth from the community to the Field Museum. I have lots of pictures of dinosaur skeletons, and I'm feeling more confident and less anxious about next year.

Spindles in the Ancient Americas exhibit.

And so, the knitting. One new project, one new finished object, and a photo of the lace I mentioned last time.

First, the Estonian lace:

I also mentioned the shrug I cast on for as an impulse. Well, I found some motivation on Monday and managed to finish it. I had to use some of the cast-on tail to finish the last two inches of the bind-off. All in all, I had 17.5" of yarn leftover, all of which were cut off from the woven-in ends. Perhaps my most efficient stash-buster yet. And I used a cute button from my tiny, tiny button stash. It fits: perfectly.

Modeled on a friend.

And the socks. I started a pair in Mountain Colors last week, on Bastille Day, when my family and I attended a production of (more or less titled) 'all of Shakespeare's plays in 97 minutes by three guys in tights'. It was hilariously funny, but the sock was pooling in vertical stripes. So when I hopped on the Greyhound to Chicago, I took my Misti Alpaca and started the Herringbone Ribs Socks from Knitting Socks in Hand-Painted Yarn. By Friday, I had about five inches, and it was beautiful. I tried it on, and it didn't fit over my heel. So this weekend, I frogged it, cast on more stitches, and started again.

Things are going pretty well. I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (only once so far), and made some stuffed eggplant and black bread last week. And we've even gotten a little bit of rain. What more can you ask for?

Crafty Developments

2009-07-10T23:19:00.005-04:00

Alas! This is not the post in which I tell you about Laminaria. Tomorrow, maybe.

But behold! The many knittings that have transgressed since we last communed in yarny goodness:

Five FOs! Count 'em.

1. Those teal socks! The Knotty or Knice ones, from Interweave. Cute and done.

2. Commencement Socks: Done. Such a simple, pleasing pattern.

3. Experimental Halter: quite the adventure. Released on Knitty, knit, reseamed to make it fit (it overlaps quite a bit in the back), all in the space of about a week. Not the best thing I've ever made, but surprising in that it kind of worked. Me! In a halter! What a notion!

4. The Gentleman's Half Hose/Lumberjack Socks: Done. Also, simple, yet gratifying. Haven't worn them yet, as it's July. But come October, I shall walk to work and have toasty feet.

5. Knucks: my third set, started on an impulse. I ended up somehow sacrificing a US 4 dpn to the Fearless Knitting ExCo last semester, so I had to get a new set of needles. Then I proceeded to knit them in bulky yarn. On 4s. So they're a little stiff, and I made them in the smaller size, since they were kind of big. There were a few modifications near the wrists. But I'm still head over heels in love with this pattern. I want to make more.

Then I had to decide what to embroider across the knuckles. So I turned to the Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group on Ravelry, and they voted on ПЕРЧАТКИ. Which in Russian means... gloves. Hah!

So, then, Bethany, what are you working on currently? Well, two (stil unphotographed) things.

First of all, as soon as I finished Laminaria, I was itching to cast on more lace. So I did. I'm making this cute Estonian scarf in this delicious bright green alpaca yarn that Kathryn brought me from Chile. I've been amazing the local knitters by working on lace charts in public. It's close to half done, but I'm a little skeptical about how long it's (not) going to be. So I might add some more repeats somewhere.

Then, a couple of days ago, another impulse struck. I had this skein of TLC Lustre that I purchased several years ago at the Ben Franklin in Oberlin. (They have a knack for stocking yarns that get discontinued.) I really wanted to make a little off-white shruggy, thing. I wasn't sure how far one skein could get me, so I stuck to short sleeves, but I poked around online, and my knitting books, and finally found this shrug (Ravlink). I'm working it in a smaller gauge, and I kind of winged the proportions. So it's kind of experimental, too. So we'll see how it turns out.

So, if you've processed all of this correctly, you will notice I have no socks going at the moment. This will soon be remedied. I might cast on a pair to take with me to Chicago early next week.

A note on recent laundry experiences:

The dryer at my parents' new house only has one setting: hot. The halter knit of cheap cotton yarn may have shrunk a bit, which would not be terrible. Unfortunately, the pink/yellow/orange cotton-blend socks that I knit this spring are feeling a little shorter than I'd like them to be.

Two Months in One Post

2009-07-03T19:32:00.007-04:00

The last few months have ranged from obnoxiously hectic to obnoxiously unscheduled, and I've found both ends of the spectrum to be extremely tiring.

Taking into consideration that approximately 50% of all events that take place on Oberlin's campus happen in April (the other 50% happen between the last day of classes and Commencement), and I've been chilling around MN for a month or so, here is a list of:

Things That Have Happened Since My Last Blog Post
1. Jonathan Rundman gave a concert at First Church of Oberlin, UCC. Ecumenical Christians of Oberlin sponsored the event, which regardless of turnout, was quite enjoyable. My friends Marty and Colette saw to it that the UCC hymnal became part of Jonathan's hymnal collection, and there was some geeking out about Scandinavian heritages. Afterward, my friend Anna and I took Jonathan out to dinner at the Feve (om nom nom), and posed for a picture on the newly dedicated Toni Morrison bench near my house.

2. After an OB-52s gig fell through at the 'Sco, Linden and Tyler and I deejayed the Dance Marathon. I seem to recall a reenactment of Zumba class on the 'Sco stage to the tune of the Bangles' "Walk Like An Egyptian".

3. Laminaria. It really deserves it's own special post, so more on that later.

4. The OB-52s had our last show at the Jewish/Muslim students' picnic. There was a pretty decently sized audience, which included a lot of people who hadn't been able to make it to any of our other shows! It was our most relaxed show, though there were a few really memorable moments. "Funplex" somehow ended up at an incredibly fast pace, and Tyler and I started laughing.

5. I received a generous gift from my knitting circle, and promptly realized that they are going to be one of the most missed things about Oberlin. Here is a really cute picture of them:

6. Last day of classes!! My last class was an exam in New Testament/Christian Origins. In retrospect, I must say, that test went pretty well.

7. I went on a really nice walk with Liz. I was feeling pretty ready to leave at a time when it felt like most people weren't. There are things I'll miss about Oberlin, but I was really excited about everything ahead. I think it was about to implode with anxiousness about hearing back about an LVC placement.

8. Special meal at Pyle: I got people to be down with cooking Russian food without feeling like I was imposing my tastes on others! Hooray! Made pirog. Eet was delicious (imho, but then again, I like cabbage).

9. I realized and admitted to myself that I am addicted to lace.

10. Commencement week happened. It was stressful; it was exciting; it was awesome; it was kind of sad. The Piano Extravaganza was amazing, and the dean of the Conservatory has a good sense of humor. The Politics department largely ignored me at their department meeting, but the Russian department was downright lovely, as always. I spent quite a while watching Tim Scholl's dog run around with a small child. I spent time with people at my house, and parties and a barbeque. I dressed up like Kate Pierson for Illumination. The Firecones (and Danielle and Julia) danced front and center at the OSteel performance. This last event was documented on Oberlin's website. Oh. And I graduated.

11. Saw Bruce Springsteen's guitar from Born to Run. It's been retrofitted with new pickups several times. It's his favorite guitar, and so beat up and so cool and he says that it's his only guitar that he can put on and not feel extra weight. It's like an extension of himself. Sooooooo cooooooooooooooooooool!!
Note: In the past, I had written that this guitar had been used on every album since Tunnel of Love. That was another guitar they had. Not as cool as the first, but almost!

12. I saw Jonathan again, and Richard Bruxvoort-Colligan, and Lloyd Garretson, and some other cool Lutheran musicians at this show/worship resource debut thing.

13. I saw the Legendary Shack Shakers for the first time. Also my first time at the 400 bar.

14. I saw Erik Brandt / the Urban Hillbilly Quartet perform at the Gingko Coffeehouse. Tried the Vanilla Black Tea. The drummer recognized me, for some reason, and he also told a really great story about Brer Possum and some toads. (Is it deep enough yet?) There was also an artist who had his computer/drawing pad hooked up to a projector and drew live art during the whole show.

Sidenote for Obies: The Gingko Coffeehouse is one of my favorite places in the Twin Cities. If you crossed the Cat in the Cream (murals, coffeehousey atmosphere, live music) with Java Zone (on a corner, that kind of a menu, neat old tin ceiling), you'd have it. If you multiplied Java Zone by two, that'd be about the size of it.

15. The local cool old theater (the Heights) showed "West Side Story" for a week, and my parents, brother, godmother and I went to see it.

16. I've been cleaning out my room. Basically, you're supposed to clean house before you move and get rid of tons of stuff, but I wasn't around when we moved last summer. So I get to do it now. Hoo boy. Fun times, I tell ya.

17. Aaaaand... I have a list of all of the knitting circles in the general area, and have been frequenting a few. Finished the pair of socks that I started the morning of Commencement (and worked on during the ceremony), and finished another pair of socks today. Also knit a halter top from the latest issue of Knitty. Have generally amazed my new knitting circle cohorts by my ability to knit lace while socializing.

I've also been reading a little, and have watched a few movies. Unfortunately, I've not done that much of either. Hopefully that will change in the weeks to come. However, I am past page 100 in Гарри Поттер (Garri Potter)! Yaaaaaay!

Also, in case this was at all in question, Limenviolet are awesome.

And! In case you don't know this, I'm going to be in Chicago next year! Starting August 23rd. I'll be living on the north side, and doing some youth and outreach programs at Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Oh, and there was a Big Parade and the Weasleys got married, and basically, too much to tell you about at once. But generally things were pretty awesome, and recently they've been a little boring.

That is all. I know it's a lot to read in one fell swoop, but divide over the past two months, and I've really concised it up for you. Really. <3

An Unsolicited (but Unsurprising) Review

2009-04-21T01:26:00.005-04:00

The Tinted Windows debut hasn't even been available for two hours yet, and I'm already opinionated. I'm sure this comes as a shock.

So. Poking around a few reviews (Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Spin), and the general consensus seems to be that this isn't a killer, incredible debut, but it's certainly far from the trash that the naysayers (i.e. Hanson-bashers) expected it to be.

First of all, let me say that this is the first full album I've downloaded from iTunes, and I didn't know they came with little digital pdf booklets. That's neat. There's something to be said for downloading an album the moment of its release from the comfort of my own small-town home.

So. The actual music. Unless you have an ear injury, it should be painfully obvious already that 'Kind of a Girl' is pretty spectacular. There are a few songs on this record with a similar intensity: 'Messing With My Head' and 'Can't Get a Read On You' fall into that category. In the middle, there are handful of slightly slower songs that I'll have to listen to a couple of more times before I can say anything intelligent about them, other than that they seem a bit more Ivy-esque than FOW-y. The only dud is 'Cha Cha', which James Iha is responsible for. Part of my problem with it might be my aversion to nonsense syllables. It's executed well, but I don't really like the lyrics, and it's pretty repetitive, so they're repeating something that isn't that great in the first place. It's worth noting, though, that as my least favorite song on the album, it's really not all that bad.

As a long-time Hanson fan, my perusing of critics' opinions sparked some Hanson pride. I've been bothered by how much of the reaction to this band has been along the lines of 'the Hanson kid? the one that looked like a girl oh my gawd mmmbop sucked', but both Rolling Stone and EW singled out Taylor Hanson's single track as 'terrific', and one of their 'best cuts'. Between that and 'Cha Cha', I'm going to defer to whatever critic pointed out that Iha, and not Hanson, is the weak link in this quartet.

Of course, Schlesinger serves us some trusty power-pop, as we've come to expect from him. (He is behind most of the songwriting on the record.) My only request, after listening to 'Take Me Back', which he co-wrote with Hanson, is that he please collaborate more. Churning out hits individually is more tricky, but he blends well with other styles.

It is HIGHLY IMPORTANT to note that, despite the fact I think he co-writes well, Spin needs to stop referring to such an endeavor as a 'collabo'. NOT OKAY.

unfree media = unfair campaigns

2009-04-07T14:53:00.004-04:00

Here's what's up in Moldova. This week I'm going to be thankful that politics in the U.S. really only get rhetorically out of hand.

I guess you could be really cynical and point out that Americans won't get off their asses and protest despicable government behavior, but I'm trying to stay as positive as I can be.

3 down, 47 to go

2009-04-03T11:40:00.006-04:00

Does this mean I can't make fun of Iowa anymore?

Come on, Minnesota. You'd better beat North Dakota, at least.

Again

2009-04-02T13:29:00.000-04:00

headdesk

SB09 Day 7 - A Short Day and a Long Night

2009-03-28T13:25:00.003-04:00

14:11 - Wake up, bum around for a while.
15:00 - Knitting circle at Smith's. Worked on Laminaria. Knit one row, I think.
17:00 - Happy hour/Foxy-Feve-Guy-watching at the Feve with Cory, Linden, Alex, Kelsey, & Segroves & someone else that I recognize but don't actually know the name of. (Sorry!)
20:00 - The Big Lebowski.
23:00 - Cigars & whiskey (& nachos & taste of nirvana) on Alex's porch. Followed by 'the Invasion of the Body Snatchers'.

I need to figure out how to wake up before noon again.

I started the second 'Knotty or Knice' sock during 'the Big Lebowski' and was quite pleased with the couple of inches I got done.

I have no photo for you today.

SB09 Day 6 - It's Thursday Already

2009-03-26T21:05:00.006-04:00

How is it almost the weekend again? I have things I should really be doing...

Here's what I've been doing instead.

!. 11:00: Phone interview with Lutheran Volunteer Corps.
2. 15:30: Much sock progress is made while watching the Lion King with Cory.
3. 18:00: Preparing and eating of...
mustard green fried rice!

4. 21:30: Visited the hedgehog and was introduced (via YouTube) to Devandra Banhart. Was less than totally impressed, to be frank.
5. 23:00:Short margarita tour of Oberlin. Margaritas while watching Foxy Feve Guy play at Agave's open mic night, and then mojitos at the Feve. If we'd been on top of things, we would have gone to Lupita's (the restaurant formerly known as Casa Fiesta) first, but we'll hit that next time.
The Feve gets really empty during spring break...

С днём рождения, мама!

Today also included the formation of a list matching the sock yarn that I already have with sock patterns I would like to knit. I find the creation of this kind of list is endlessly enjoyable.

SB09 Days 4 & 5 - In and Out of Oberlin

2009-03-26T01:00:00.016-04:00

Tuesday:

1. Picked up books of Akhmatova's poetry from Mudd. Not Anna. Raisa. (She's Chechen.)
2. Knitting at Smith's (again). Chuck left us in charge when he went to the bank; Cory signed for a package; some women thought we worked there.
3. A trip to the grocery.
4. Knit along to the documentary 'Mad Hot Ballroom'.
5. Newsies, again, this time with Cory.

Also,
My First Bread: Honey Whole Wheat Bread from the St. Martin's Cookbook

Wednesday:
1. Breakfast (above photo + banana).
2. Mailed some books.
3. Excursion (thanks, Gail and Richard!).
4. Cleaned/rearranged room.
5. Ate dinner; listened to Elvis.

Wednesday: the Photo Narrative

Kirinlemon and me at Fine Points!

Kirinlemon bought Maaaaaaalabriiiiigo (sock yarn)!

Some Koigu KPPPM in it's natural habitat.

4 oz. Corriedale from Louet: my yarn diet is still intact!

Curry and Gyu-don at the Flying Cranes Cafe.

My new hobby: splitting desserts with friends.

A grilled sandwich of the peanut butter and banana variety. Also, milk.

SB09 Days 2 & 3 - Eat, Knit, Sleep

2009-03-23T02:33:00.005-04:00

Александр Панайотов: le Russian pop singer du jour, of the duo that brought you the hit, 'Balabalabalabalalaika'.

Pretty typical, uneventful last couple of days.

1. Knit some lace.
2. Ate some food and watched 'Pleasantville' with Anna.
3. Ushered at church.
4. Knit some lace with Jenny and Nicole.
5. Watched 'Cold Feet' (a 1989 movie with Tom Waits in it, which apparently belongs to someone in my house) and knit some lace.

SB09 Day 1 - A Small Equation

2009-03-21T00:42:00.010-04:00

A. It's been a while, friends. Almost 3 weeks.

B. January's posting habits made me do interesting things.

if
A + B = C

then C =

1. Cardio kickboxing and a New Testament test. As good as can be expected.
2. Listening luncheon with dear band. Mandarin takeout + speakers = new set list plan.
3. Knitting circle. Laminaria is out and about again.
4. Classy dinner with Liz at Black River. Rabbit ragout. Creme brulee. Win.
5. 'The Passion of the Jew' and 'The Coon'. In case it hasn't been mentioned frequently enough, Liz and I have this thing where we watch a lot of South Park. Yeah. It's awesome.

I conked out at about 9:30. Returning to sleep in 5... 4... 3... zz

(Photo credit goes to Eric Gjerde.)

In which Bethany rants and marvels

2009-03-01T15:16:00.003-05:00

First of all, I can't stop talking about this band.

I've been reading a lot of the reviews/criticism of Tinted Windows. Now, it's not really fair to write an opinion piece on the existence of a group, when you haven't heard their single yet. But that's not what ticks me off the most.

Most of what's circulating reads kind of like this: "new supergroup...Tinted Windows...dumb band name...Taylor Hanson? are you kidding me? Mmmbop...what the hell are the Cheap Trick and Pumpkins guys doing in the same band with the Hanson kid...blah blah blah".

1. 'Middle of Nowhere' (Hanson's first album) came out in 1997. I do believe my parents gave it to me for my 10th birthday. THAT WAS 12 YEARS AGO.

2. Taylor Hanson would have been 14. It's obnoxious to claim that someone who is now 25 is producing the same kind of music that they came up with in their early teens. I mean, Hanson didn't sound anything like 'MmmBop' even by the release of 'This Time Around' in 2000 (which was damn near 10 years ago). No one near my age that I've ever met listens to the same thing they listened to a decade ago.

3. Invoking the noun 'MmmBop' is a cop out. Any critic that's going to have anything worthwhile to say about Tinted Windows needs to have gotten all of the Hanson-bashing out of their system first. Alas, that would rid us of about 90% of them.

And then there was the critic who said he didn't really enjoy Fountains of Wayne. Double-u tee f. That sentence just plain doesn't compute.

Now that I've aired my grievances, how about this for interesting?

Friday morning I was reading an article in the Oberlin Review talking about how the local businesses have been dealing with the economic recession. There was some discussion about how shops like Bead Paradise have had to drastically change their ordering/stocking levels, but most of the article was centered on food prices, which affect both grocery stores and restaurants.

The biggest change we've seen so far was the recent closing of Downtown Pizza. Agave has since changed their hours to pick up more of the late-night crowd, and the Black River Cafe made up a dinner menu and is open in the evenings as of a few weeks ago. Just like probably everywhere else in the country, most restaurants and groceries have had to increase their prices. However, the person the reporter talked to at the Oberlin Market said that if she hadn't read about the recession in the papers and heard about it from other people, she wouldn't have known it was happening. Why isn't it impacting her business?

She sells mostly local and organic food. Oddly enough, when you don't use pesticides and don't ship things very far, oil prices don't really raise food costs. It may cost more in the first place, but local and organic food is becoming more competitive with Big Agriculture.

Isn't that kind of neat?

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa

2009-02-24T16:35:00.003-05:00

Junebug has a hard bassline; I should really be practicing if we're going to get it together for Saturday.

MORE IMPORTANTLY:

According to the internet (Billboard and Rolling Stone - so these are like real sources):

James Iha (guitarist from the Smashing Pumpkins)

and

Bun E. Carlos (drummer from Cheap Trick)

and

Taylor Hanson (keyboardist from Hanson)

and

Adam Schlesinger (bassist from Fountains of Wayne)

ARE FORMING A BAND called Tinted Windows.

Now, I'm going to admit that I'm not as conversant in Smashing Pumpkins and Cheap Trick as I probably should be. But Hanson was what sucked me into the music world in the first place, and FoW, well, let's just say that everything monsieur Schlesinger touches is powerpop gold.

The one thing I don't understand is how that happened. I mean, of all of the four of them, who's the one that said 'hey we should start a band'? I mean, can you just walk up to other accomplished artists and say 'hey, guy from Cheap Trick, come be in my band'? Is that, like, normal? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Anywho, I AM SO PSYCHED FOR APRIL. (When their record comes out.)

Go go go go go go go listen to the single.

Google Doesn't Know Everything

2009-02-24T16:27:00.004-05:00

Google says I (or, I suppose, a fellow Bethany) need the following things:

1. Bethany needs a middle name.
2. Bethany needs a new liver - or else she could be dead by Christmas.
3. Bethany needs you!
4. Bethany needs to go home.
5. Bethany needs help with this new venture...

Well, I guess number 3 probably true.

Things Bethany needs, according to herself:

1. Bethany needs a job.
2. Bethany needs to apply for some jobs.
3. Bethany needs to think about grad school.
4. Bethany needs to do some reading.
5. Bethany needs to do some laundry.

Also, figure out what I'm playing at the Ash Wednesday service tomorrow. Ash Wednesday! My favorite holiday! Tomorrow is going to be intense. Whee!

It's fall semester all over again...

2009-02-16T09:24:00.004-05:00

I have this problem with my Russian classes. It's partly due to the fact that I consider my Russian language classes to be most strongly linked to my future since they build concrete knowledge that I plan to use, and partly to them being by far the most challenging classes I've ever taken.

I dedicate too much time to them. Not too much time in the sense that I'm spending more time than is necessary for me to adequately get my work done, but too much time in proportion to the other classes I'm taking. Somehow, everything that has to do with the Russian language gets elevated above my other classes, and I find myself falling behind on reading, or skipping class, so I can better keep up with the pace of a Russian course.

It's a difficult situation to maneuver, because Russian is the hardest class for me to be behind in. Not only does an unhealthy amount of my self-esteem depend on it, but it's much smaller than any other class I'm taking. My Russian course in translation has about 25 students, my New Testament class, about 40. The Russian seminar? 5. If I don't speak in class, it's painfully noticeable to everyone.

My goal for the next semester is to manage my time, such that I don't sacrifice too much else to this seminar. It might be worth it in some sense, but it's strikes me as having too much power over the rest of my schedule. It's only going to control my life it I let it. Therefore, I need to start translations early, and structure my weekends better than this past one.

Then again, I spent part of the weekend being sick. I'm totally convinced that if I had felt better Saturday afternoon, I wouldn't be in this boat right now. Bah.

What do you expect, really?

2009-02-13T11:42:00.003-05:00

It's 9:30 a.m., half the campus isn't even awake yet, and all I can think about is how I'd really like a burrito right about now.

New Adventures

2009-02-09T21:47:00.004-05:00

So I have this friend. Her name is Danielle. Twice now, she has given me gifts that sort of spiral out of control. Well, once. And I'm predicting the second one.

The first gift was an Oxford Russian-English dictionary, in August 2006, for my birthday. The August before I took Winter term, which was the August before I fell in love with the Russian language, and so on and so forth. But I had the dictionary. I had to continue. It leads back to Danielle.

And now, we have the DROP SPINDLE AND ROVING. We kind of all knew that me learning to spin was an inevitable thing. Well, folks. Now it's here.

Hooray!

I watched a couple of YouTube videos and read through the instructions, and have managed to make several questionably usable inches. It's really twisty. I'm going to do some more research and try again later this week.

Hypotheses:
1. Danielle is awesome.
2. Danielle has either incredible influence or foresight. I suppose either of those are cool.

D: Thanks!

New semester, new obsessions.

2009-02-02T20:38:00.004-05:00

Classes got off to a good start this morning. Cardio kickboxing is going to be full of amusingly sped up mixes of American pop music.

Of course, we're covering all the bases. Despite the fact that Altered States (sex, drugs and rock 'n roll in modern Russian culture) mostly musically focuses on Russia's poetic rock, my professor revealed that she has a weakness for cheesy Russian pop music.

Who doesn't, really?

Hey, it's my new favorite song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAf1PnnxDdU

Saturday 31-01-09

2009-02-01T22:57:00.005-05:00

The last list should have gone up about yesterday! But I don't remember what I did, because so much has happened since then! I did watch a CNN documentary about autism, and ate some pineapple upside-down cake. Except I ate half of my piece of cake inverted (then I flipped it over), so I'll refer to it as the 'reversible pineapple cake'.

Most of what has happened today has been the creation of new facebook albums, which cover both the Inaugural Ball, and some more OB-52s history. If you're on the Facebook, you should go look at those. Maybe I'll get bored and post some photos one day, if you're lucky.

So ECO was at our apartment tonight, since Steve and Mary are getting ready to leave tomorrow morning for a Baptist Peace conference in ITALY. Exciting times! We ate fondue and did some planning. As people were leaving, Anna mentioned that she was headed to the 'Sco for a while, where they had the Superbowl on a big screen. I looked at the clock, did a few calculations in my head, and went with her. We had to sit through a good 20 minutes of football before Bruce came on, but it was worth it. Then I came home and tried to play Born to Run and Tenth Avenue Freeze Out on my Telecaster. Have I mentioned that Bruce is pretty much the reason that I picked a Tele? I mean, it should be pretty obvious...

Today also marked me getting impatient and giving housemates Christmas presents. Liz is going to knit a couple of nice skirts, which will help amp up her post-graduation wardrobe.

Also awesome on the clothing front: today at the Fava gallery, there was a runway show featuring all of the garments made in the weaving winter term. Ondrea took it this year, and made a snazzy red and gray winter coat, which I'm really excited to see her wear. Pictures might be coming soon (I'm guessing) at her blog.

Aaaaaaand classes start tomorrow! It looks like I'll have almost everything on Mondays and Wednesdays, which is pretty sweet.

No new progress on knitting. Took a lot of photos of knitting today, but haven't processed them yet.

Friday 30-01-09

2009-01-30T20:00:00.003-05:00

1. Борщ (borshch) making.
2. Knitting at Smith's.
3. Purchase: rechargeable batteries (+ charger)!
4. Beer bread making. (It's like bread, but using beer gives it flavor and takes the yeast out of the equation.) Борщ + beer bread eating = happy tummy.
5. Dance party.

Thursday 29-01-09

2009-01-30T11:27:00.004-05:00

1. More job searching. More not much success.
2. Received a package in the mail that contained, among other things, Anne Lamott's Grace Eventually, which I started reading.
3. Went to the Oberlin Public Library with Liz. Looked at knitting books; got some movies.
4. Apollo excursion to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. $2 to see a great film. What's not to love?
5. Danielle made a quiche and rosemary lemon cupcakes. Nom nom nom.

St. Leninsburg

2009-01-29T13:15:00.003-05:00

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/01/29/contemporary-city-ph.html

Read the paragraph, and then click on the link and see the photos. Incredible.

Wednesday 28-01-09

2009-01-29T09:50:00.004-05:00

1. Peters Hall: Chatted with Sara Stefani for a while. Then the college shut down for the day at noon and everyone went home.
2. Java Zone: The Great Job Search. Have I stepped aside recently and mentioned how thankful I am for the internet?
3. Smith's Furnishings and Yarns: Knitting with Ondrea and Holly. A color card came in for the Joseph Galler Superfine Alpaca 3-ply, and IT'S GOING TO COME IN COLORS NOW. I have new yarn to dream about.
4. the Psychomantium: Knitting with Liz, while watching South Park.
5. the Psychomantium: Knitting with Liz and Danielle, while watching The Fellowship of the Ring. (!, I know.)

It's worth mentioning that I started a new knitting project. I'm in love with it and it's challenging in new ways and I'm hoping to have it done by this weekend. It's going to be a surprise, unless you give me a call and hang out and knit with me in the next few days. Which would be totally okay.

Friday Pie Blogging: The Tuesday Pirog Edition

2009-01-28T10:36:00.009-05:00

1. Last day of class! Watched some Чебурашка (Cheburashka) and familiarized my class with the "delicious taste of Choco-Pie". Sent them an email full of links to various interesting Russian things on the internet, a list of which X Files episodes contain spoken Russian, and forgot to include my dumb little song about the Megabus (Для Мегабуса). Which goes as follows:

Где автобус?
Я хочу автобус.
Я не вижу автобус.
Автобус сейчас!

That last line doesn't make any sense, so anyone singing and not playing an instrument has to pound their fist in a demanding manner, and suddenly, the meaning becomes clear. A couple months later, I wrote a second verse. The first can be repeated indefinitely, but the second verse is meant to be sung only once:

Где автобус?
Там автобус!
Я вижу автобус!
Автобус здесь сейчас.

Maybe if you're lucky, I'll make a lo-fi recording of that someday. I have the feeling that it would be like giving the world blackmailable materials, though.

2. In order to foment the end of her Urban Aran Cardigan (she's on the last sleeve!), I made Ondrea come to my house and knit while we watched Firefly (Jaynestown). She also helped me make dough...

3. ...for my пирог! (pirog!) (it's like a pie!) (but savory, in this instance!). I finished making the pirog (which contained a little fresh cabbage, but mostly the sauerkraut that's been fermenting on my porch for the last few weeks) and it was a success. (As in most of the people who ate it don't normally like sauerkraut but liked my pirog.) Still have a small ice cream bucket full of sauerkraut, and a little pirog left for lunch on Wednesday!
4. Watched the X Files and ate pirog. (Red Museum)
5. Watched the X Files and worked on my матрёшка mittens. (Blood, Sleepless)

Monday 26-01-09

2009-01-28T10:29:00.002-05:00

1. Went to IGA to pick up food and batteries. Came home with AAAs instead of AAs. Made of fail.
2. Stretched a jar of salsa twice as far by mixing it with a can of diced tomatoes. Two days later, it's still almost gone, but hey, tomatoes are healthy. Made of success.
3. South Park and knitting.
4. Karaoke at Lindsay's, with Schmindsay, Schmulia and Schminden.
5. Joan of Arcadia, season 2, (on YouTube) and correcting homework.

Sunday 25-01-09

2009-01-26T00:59:00.004-05:00

1. A peaceful, contemplative morning.
2. Peanut soup, act II, scene II.
3. An intense afternoon: lower body workout and many long sighs about Russia.
4. Peanut soup, act II, scene III.
5. An evening of knitting, Firefly, X Files (Chimera), hot chocolate and Bananagrams with Ondrea.

Russia Needs a Dark Knight

2009-01-25T15:44:00.004-05:00

So, Gotham's got issues, and among the worst are the intense levels of corruption in the criminal justice system, which prevents people from acting independent of the controlling forces (in Gotham's case, organized crime). And due to his mysterious identity, Batman is able to fight the corruptive forces, and be a figure that is either trusted or blamed, depending on what people need at the time.

Can Gotham lend him to Russia for a while? They've got intense levels of corruption, and it appears that their criminal justice system isn't on the best road, now that controversial lawyers appear to be riding in the same boat as the journalists.

CPJ confirms that of 41 journalists killed for their work in 2008, two were killed in Russia (they also acknowledge two unconfirmed cases). 49 journalists have been killed in Russia since 1992.

Well, we're not even out of January, and one Новая Газета (Novaya Gazeta) journalist, Anastasia Baburova, has been killed already, in conjunction with the murder of Stanislav Markelov, a defense attorney known for representing anti-Kremlin parties (like journalists, Chechen civilians and suspected terrorists - the sort of people who otherwise would not have a fair trial), who was "shot dead in broad daylight in downtown Moscow on January 19" (RFE/RL "Are Russia's Lawyers in the Crosshairs?, 25/01/09). Way to kick off the new year.

I think part of the reason that I love Russia so much is that I love the spirit of their people. It is incredibly inspiring that even while Russia keeps killing it's journalists because of their work, Russian reporters keep on reporting.

Saturday 24-01-09

2009-01-25T11:42:00.001-05:00

No list today.

Friday 23-01-09

2009-01-24T14:37:00.004-05:00

1. Learned about my eyes. Turns out I'm so near-sided that my vision with contact lenses will be slightly over- or under-corrected. When the St. Paul Eye Clinic people have said 'you have slight astigmatism but not enough that you should be able to notice a difference', what they really meant was 'dude, you are so near-sided, it's probably not the astigmatism that bothers you'. Turns out they were wrong, and that's why I don't like my left lens so much. So we'll be trying an astigmatism lens in that eye. Also, every time I type 'astigmatism' I keep forgetting the 'g'.
2. Last minute decision to go the yarn store with Mary, Linden and Julia. For the sake of my budget and my sock yarn stash, I probably should have just stayed home. Two skeins of Panda Soy and a skein of Sockotta later, I have an announcement:

BETHANY WILL KNIT FIVE PAIRS OF SOCKS BEFORE PURCHASING ANY MORE SOCK YARN.

Hold me to this, guys. Even you, Cory, even when I tell you I really want to buy it and need enabling.

3. Happy hour at the Feve and dinner at the Mandarin with Linden, Julia, Becca, Connor, and a couple of other folks who I can't remember at the moment. (Sorry, people I'm forgetting.)
4. Contra dance in Fairkid basement. Embellished with one figure of an Irish set dance. Fun times.
5. Fun times with piano, guitar, fiddle and mandolin with some awesome contra people.

ALSO ON FRIDAY: The most amazing email from a professor ever.

ALSO: Not a concise list at all. Here's the concise version.
1. Eye doctor.
2. More yarn.
3. Drinks and dinner.
4. Dancing.
5. Music.
Isn't it more interesting with the details?

Thursday 22-01-09

2009-01-24T14:32:00.004-05:00

1. Lunch of pretzels and homemade sauerkraut.
2. Knocked a significantly large ice chunk off the overhang near our door.
3. Collaged a cover for my journal.
4. Watched 'Kitsunegari' with Linden and Liz.
5. Fell asleep before blogging.

ETA: Kitsunegari is an X Files episode from season 5. Robert Patrick Modell, part two.

Wednesday 21-01-09

2009-01-22T15:30:00.002-05:00

1. 20 minutes of cardio before class.
2. Showed friends the Petersburg photos.
3. Cleaned my room. Reorganized a bit. Moved my keyboard.
4. Began the transition from iTunes to Songbird.
5. Cross stitched the Obama logo. Freehand (counted cross stitch, but I made up the chart). On a whim. Not really sure what I'll do with it.

Tuesday 20-01-09

2009-01-21T02:40:00.003-05:00

1. Walked to Mt. Zion Baptist and watched OUR NEW PRESIDENT speak. Cheered at appropriate moments and waved goodbye when Senor Bush left in the copter.
2. Checked at the book store to see if the three remaining Russian textbooks had come in. Guess what came in just recently? NACHALO BOOK 2. THE BOOK THEY NEED FOR SPRING SEMESTER. Guess who's slightly frustrated with the bookstore, and is also a master of the Peters copy machine, when she shouldn't need to be?
3. Led my Russian class in an innovative experiment in the Pictionary World of Science, when Натан suggested that we try to draw sentences. So we picked sentences from the dialogue. (Like 'Is the heat working?' 'I play rock music and jazz.' 'She's an unpleasant woman.') Made Pictionarical scientific leaps of progress.
4. Guac prep. The avos that Danielle bought a week ago went bad. Which we realized at about 4:45. So I walked to IGA and got three. And made avocadically-intense guac. And then it didn't taste right, and I though 'Oh. I'll just add more cumin.' (shake shake shake the cumin canister) and a couple hours later Danielle pointed out that it wasn't that spicy and maybe I could add more cayenne and FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I FAILED TO ADD ENOUGH CAYENNE PEPPER TO A FOOD ITEM. But it was still tasty.
5. INAUGURAL BALL. Photographic evidence to come. Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

Part of me thinks I should correct tests right now.
Part of me wants to clean my room.
Part of me wants to sleep.

Guess which of those is going to happen right now?

Monday 19-01-09

2009-01-19T16:43:00.005-05:00

1. Copious amts of sleep.
2. Copious amts of dumplings!
3. Copious amts of Joan of Arcadia.
4. MLK service at Rust UMC.
5. Beautification of one High School Musical poster in our hallway in anticipation of tomorrow evening's festivities.

Sunday 18-01-09

2009-01-19T02:01:00.005-05:00

1. Slept in. Realized that as much as waking up Sunday morning is great, if there was something like the Well in Oberlin, that'd be kinda convenient for my schedule.
2. Hung out with Nicole and Jenny (listened to Stash & Burn). Worked on the Knotty/Knice socks. Made a silly mistake, but I'm not fixing it. Added 2 rows in between cable repeats (for a total of 8), for future reference.
3. Started making a macrame-y kind of yet-to-be-determined jewelry. Could be a bracelet, could be an anklet. Might just get attached to a piece of luggage.
4. Sat around with Danielle and Liz compiling playlists for Tuesday evening.
5. Tank party to celebrate the end of the Bush regime.

Bonus: Fact of the Day: Part of the scientific name for the cacao plant is theobroma, which means 'food of the gods'.

Extra bonus: Fact of the Day (reprise): If you switch the Os and As in cacao, you get cocoa. Isn't that awesome (Y/N)?

Thanks again Wikipedia for the fact of the day! Also, thanks to Bethany's brain and that one young adult book she read from the library that one time that prominently featured anagrams and influenced her paying attention to the arrangement of letters in words, which she actually probably already payed attention to anyway, but we'll give you some the credit anyway just to be nice, unnamed Y/A novel.

Saturday 17-01-09

2009-01-17T15:13:00.003-05:00

1. IGA trip numero tres to acquire ingredients for Tuesday night's menu
2. Made eggplant caviar with no sliced open fingertips or really weird coincidences. Doesn't taste like the eggplant caviar I've had in the past. Tastes kinda like guacamole made with eggplant instead of avocados. Looking at the ingredients, I shouldn't be surprised by this.
3. Clean(er) room! Hooray!
4. Managed to stay warm despite heating issues in the house. I'm not sure if I have this entirely correctly, but I think a pipe froze and broke, and was leaking on lower levels of the house. They fixed it, but as the house has a radiator system, they had to bleed the heating system and restart it. I think it's only going to get warmer at this point... I should probably go turn off the burners that are going on the stove. Hey, at least our water is running, unlike the water at my parents' house.
5. Made a cover for my journal, which has gone coverless for the 5.5 months it has existed. Still undecorated, but maybe I'll take care of that at the next crafty Mod Podge session.

I realize that I originally meant to make a rather concise list, and I'm straying into several-sentence paragraph territory. I hope you don't mind.

Friday 16-01-09

2009-01-17T11:45:00.003-05:00

1. Introduced genitive singular.
2. Knit at Smith's for a few hours. Turns out Holly just started Laminaria, on size 8s!
3. Wrote short messages to some of my host family on vkontakte.
4. Baked cookies with Liz.
5. General hanging out in Linden's room. Linden and Emily did crafty things. I did crafty things and corrected some homework. Liz studied for the MCAT.

Thursday 15-01-09

2009-01-16T02:50:00.003-05:00

1. Actually ate lunch (cous cous & peanut sauce) during the lunch break between classes.
2. Discussed Inaugural Ball menu, music and decorations with Danielle.
3. 5.25 miles on the elliptical.
4. Dinner and coquitos with Colette and Marty Buck and their neighbor Marisol, who surprised us with the news that she is moving to Buenos Aires in May/June.
5. Watched Beach Party with Linden and Lindsay. Was amazed.

Wednesday 14-01-09

2009-01-15T01:06:00.003-05:00

1. Purchased decoration for the upcoming Inaugural Ball.
2. Jumped around in a bus shelter waiting for the bus to come to take Linden and me back to Oberlin from Elyria, where we spent 1.5 hours at a craft store. Did not buy the owl pendant.
3. Ate a delicious dinner of варенные пельмени. Вкусно!
4. Compiled Russia prints and postcards and other prints into my new photo album, purchased at the aforementioned craft for on sale for $7. I could have gotten one for $1, but this one is pretty classy.
5. Corrected Russian tests/observed craft time/conversed with 5 other people in Linden's room.

Tuesday 13-01-09

2009-01-14T02:12:00.004-05:00

1. Cooked (and ate) a potato.
2. Potluck dinner at Peace Community Church, followed by a Mormon film, 'Baptists at Our Barbeque'. I never knew such a self-depricating side of the Mormon community.
3. Started Knotty or Knice socks (from Fall 2008 IK) with Knit Picks Palette in the colorway Calypso Heather. Pretty. Fortunately, they're toe up, so I can make sure they fit...
4. Went to 50 cent beers at the 'Sco to support Franny's first night as a DJ. It was pretty great. Danced a bunch, saw some folks, heard 'All the Single Ladies'.
5. Decided to write a euro pop song with Linden, which will be entitled, 'Tonight (Move it to the Rhythm (of Love))'.

Bonus: Fact of the Day: Aqua is the best-selling Danish band ever.

Bonus: Follow-up Fact of the Day: The judge in the Mattel vs. Aqua lawsuit (Mattel had issues with the song 'Barbie Girl') dismissed the case in 2002, saying 'The parties are advised to chill.'

Fact du jour credit goes to that reliable source of all wisdom and truth in the universe. Thanks, Wikipedia.