Reëmbootened
Sunday, 13 July, 2008
I probably should spell it “re-embootened” but I love spelling & grammar pedantry so much.
I finally went in to the doctor on Thursday for the fantastic sprawling injury of 4 weeks ago, and all I had to say was, “I was running for the bus in THOSE shoes [pointing to her Dansko clogs] and then I did THAT [pointing to the foot anatomy poster with a little cartoon of a basketball player going for a shot and rolling his ankle same as I did].” She said (paraphrased), “ah yes. Don’t do that. Here’s another boot. Come back in three weeks.” The boot should fix the tendons that are still swollen, assuming they are still swollen because I walk about 2 miles a day with all various forms of public transportation I use — with the boot, the ankle is now immobile and the tendons will not wiggle around and stay inflamed. At least that’s the idea. If it doesn’t work, it’s an MRI to see if there are holes in them (!!) and if there are, it may be surgery with 6 weeks off the leg. Which, obviously, would really suck, a lot.
I meant to post about Baltimore. I liked it, which surprised me somewhat. The conference itself was at a hotel in the Inner Harbor, which was very touristy/conferency and had lots of rich people and that same tourist shop that’s in every city, with the mugs and the tshirts and caps and whatnot. The hotel I stayed in was about a mile away, so it was a pleasant walk through some downtown-type areas. On Friday, the last day of the conference, we skipped the closing plenary and went up to a neighborhood with a name (Mount Vernon?) where we went to the Contemporary Museum, and I saw little tiny exhibits from the Edible Estates guy (he just wrote a book that I always fondle at the bookstore but don’t really need) and one of those crazy avant-garde knitters, Lisa Anne Auerbach. The exhibit was about artists who’ve turned their art* into a storefront or some other form of small business, and hers was the only one that’s in Baltimore, so we went to it. It was called The Tract House, and it was totally awesome. You can (and should!) read PDF versions of all the tracts. Print out your favorite ones and scatter them about in public places!
THEN I went to this AWESOME library that I loved. It was the main branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, a built by a philanthropist who founded the library system, which appears not to be part of any city/county library systems, just its own thing that funds itself (?). Also there was an excellent exhibit of original illustrations from childrens’ books, all depicting specific places. It was a really nicely done exhibit. It looks like Baltimore was the last stop on its tour, unfortunately.
I am always thinking of little things that I would like to post about, but sort of fail when it comes to getting from ideas to documenting things to write, and then again when it comes from documenting to actually writing about them. Any ideas?
*I’m not totally clear on why build-a-veggie-garden-in-your-front-yard man is creating art with that, unless it’s just because it’s subversive, which, yeah.
Posted by Lauren at 4:59 pm |
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In the catalog under travel; library
Am lame, but still here
Sunday, 15 June, 2008
I have been busy trying to get going with farm blog, and even more so, of course, with chores and work, and so neglecting this blog (again). But I have just started a new knitting project so I will be keeping notes on it here!
I have long meant to make the Ribby Cardi — it’s been on my list since I first started knitting; probably even since before I finished my first scarf. Then Megan made it and documented it very well, and I was inspired, though slow, obviously, to get started.
But I am going to Baltimore for the Usability Professionals Association conference, for work, and I needed something to bring. Most recently I have worked on a baby jacket in sock yarn, and a hat for Garth in sock yarn, so I wanted something that was not so fine, and Ribby Cardi was at the top of my Ravelry queue. So yesterday I picked up some Berroco Ultra Alpaca, which is a very soft worsted-weight that’s 50% alpaca and 50% Peruvian Highland wool (whatever that means). In black. I felt sad about choosing black because they had lots of gorgeous colors, but I couldn’t decide, and my black sweaters are starting to wear out, and I want this to be an easy project so that I will actually finish it, actually wear it, and actually have the morale to knit another sweater, ever.
Currently I am swatching and preparing to toss it in with the load of laundry I’m doing in preparation for packing. Taking a red-eye to Baltimore tomorrow night. Whee.
My sister was here this weekend and we went to see the Old 97s. The Showbox seems to have increased the number of all-ages shows they are putting on, which is fine because it means I can take her. They rocked, as always, and Rhett Miller is, also as always, extremely adorable. He doesn’t seem to have aged since the first time I saw him, which must have been 5-6 years ago. (Apparently I have written at least 3 posts about Rhett Miller and his hips. I also like the thing where he swings his arm around in a circle, most notably on “Barrier Reef.”) Anyway it was fun to take my sister, who had not been to a real show before, I don’t think. Good start.
In other news, I fell spectacularly all over the sidewalk on the Ave on Thursday. My walk to the bus consists of 2 blocks where I cannot see if there is a bus at my stop or not, and I am usually cutting it quite close, so I generally jog. This time I was thinking a bit too much about how silly I must have looked while jogging carrying my bags and coat and with my scarf swinging around, I guess, because I rolled my ankle pretty severely and went everywhere. My things stayed in my bags, and my bags stayed on me, but I think my shoulder bag did a full circle around my shoulder (like you always meant to do on the swing when you were small, but chickened out). My ankle is OK and walkable, though dramatic shades of purple; my other knee is skinned in two places, and very painful. This is, of course, awesome considering that I have to travel this way, and also attend a conference where I was planning to wear sandals and skirts. Classy.
Posted by Lauren at 4:37 pm |
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In the catalog under travel; rock&roll
Kill the stars, shreds and shards
Sunday, 11 March, 2007
Weekend of great yuppiedom: Took a small vacation out to Vashon Island this weekend. G. didn’t know where we were going until we started following the signs to the Vashon ferry, as I had planned everything, which really just involved getting us a little cottage and printing out the directions to the lighthouse, and remembering to pick up a couple of bottles of wine. And given the week I had last week — one full day in Olympia, two late nights (getting off work at ~7pm), and spending 8+ hours on the phone (!), it was wonderful to sit around with no plans.
We spent Saturday morning in downtown Vashon, where we bought a really cute little woodblock print of peapods, and drank some coffee, and went to some garden stores in search of a seed potato for this Saturday’s ceremonial planting. I quite like the art we got, and I am glad we got it, but buying it made me feel conspicuously yuppified, even though I was wearing a comic book tshirt and my hair was all flat from my coelacanth baseball cap. It was an interesting experience.
Weekend of intended vacation and actual work and stupidness: Last weekend I was in Eugene to visit pals, staying with Andi and spending most of my time with her and Shelby. The time that I wasn’t working, that is. I took the day off on Friday to head down, and while I was on the bus on Friday morning, I learned that I would be in Olympia all day on Monday and therefore had to prepare. So I spent Friday bus time, as well as Saturday and Sunday, when I was supposed to be spending time with the girls, working on PowerPoint slides. Boo. I did have a good time, other than that, though, and I managed to go to Rennie’s (which was the only place with free wireless! wtf?), where I ran into Heath — which I hoped would happen, as I didn’t think I had his number — and also met up with Stephanie. I also made it to Roma, where I saw Sho, and we talked about comic books, and Battlestar Galactica, and library school.
In grad school I gave up writing conclusions to my papers. Once, on a not-very-important paper for a class I didn’t care much about, I was tired and didn’t want to finish the paper so I decided not to write the conclusion and see what happened. NOTHING happened. It didn’t affect my grade. After that I wrote very few conclusions. Unfortunately this causes me pain now, as I don’t like ending posts without some sort of conclusion, pref. witty or otherwise punch-line-ish. But I have lost the knack for the conclusion, and I’m not very funny in the first place, so.
(song: “The Old Black Hole,” the Fruit Bats)
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In the catalog under life; travel; nothing
I’ll never dance with another
Sunday, 4 February, 2007
Next weekend is big ol’ sibling reunion time in Madison, Wisconsin. We spend Xmas with my stepmom, as she is the only person in either of our families who cares about the yearly reunion actually being on Dec. 24-25, so we have to make sure to plan to see the other families throughout the year. So we scheduled Madison (G’s dad, stepmom, aunt & uncle, younger brother & sister-in-law & new baby, and grandfather) for February. Next time I might think that through a little more carefully; it’s quite cold there currently. Happily, though, my sister will be coming out to Madison from DC for the weekend, as well. I expect we will do a lot of sitting around and eating good food.
I really did have something more interesting to say but it’s all forgotten now. Oh well. In the future, perhaps.
(song: “Saw Her Standing There,” the Beatles. Oh, little screamy Paul.)
Posted by Lauren at 12:28 pm |
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In the catalog under travel/Wisconsin; people/family
See a little bit clearer
Saturday, 4 November, 2006
The wine in Barcelona was good but the wine in Bilbao and San Sebastian is excellent. San Sebastian is pleasant and easier to be in than Bilbao was. We were frustrated at the hotel in Bilbao and missed our lovely Barcelona apartment, looking out over a courtyard and a delicious restaurant, so when we were making plans for San Sebastian I looked for apartments first and we ended up with a cute little place. Apparently everyone in Spain has excellent and nicely Ikea-furnished apartments that they will happily rent out for half the cost of hotels. It’s wonderful, as is the several-degrees-lower temperature we have discovered in the northern part of the country.
G. is next to me looking at my photos on flickr and making me sad and ready to go home. We miss the dogs, and our house and garden, and the rain.
(Song: “Half Hopin’,” Chuckanut Drive)
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In the catalog under travel/Spain/San Sebastian
One left a sweater sittin´on the train
Saturday, 28 October, 2006
I have, fortunately, not lost anything yet in Barcelona. I did forget a few things — my Spanish dictionary, to send in some paperwork — but on the whole everything is OK. It´s hot here. We have done a lot of walking around and eating and being sweaty. Oh, and drinking wine. That part´s good.
We got an adorable little apartment that overlooks a courtyard. I think it´s one of the smartest ideas I ever had, not to stay in a hotel. It´s made it so much easier, and cheaper too, since we can cook at home.
Internet time is about to run out but I am still alive and I am taking pictures and writing in my journal so there will be more later.
(song: “Margaret vs. Pauline,” Neko Case)
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In the catalog under travel/Spain/Barcelona
Of breathing in the sheets
Thursday, 29 December, 2005
Overheard at SeaTac airport (can you call it overheard if it’s over the PA?) last Friday:
“Uh, passengers on flight [whatever] to [wherever], this is your pilot speaking … I regret to inform you that they found something wrong with the plane during the walkaround inspection, and they are waiting on a mechanic to come check it out. I can’t really give you an estimated time of departure; we just have to wait. I’d really like to give you a time, but I really just don’t know, and if I did tell you a time, I’d just be pulling it out of my … … … uh … um … out of … the back of my head.”
(song: “All is Grace,” crazy Will Oldham)
Posted by Lauren at 9:28 pm |
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In the catalog under travel
She’d had no idea
Wednesday, 12 October, 2005
Oh good, it’s still here!
Several smallish stories piled up over the last … month.
***
Mentally composed on Monday, September 19: I am cranky because last night I organized my life: figured out hours at my new job (which is the same as my old job), blocked out homework time during every day so I can try to keep it out of my free weekend time, made sure to schedule gym time three days a week. I was excited and energetic about my goals and I was going to DO IT, dammit, and today I woke up sick. Now no gym until I can breathe again; no work until I can move without feeling like my head is going to fall off. I get sick so rarely; did it have to interfere with my beginning-of-the-term optimism about getting things done? Now I may never recover.
***
Mentally composed at some point within the last couple of weeks: Yes, it’s definitely fall now and this means it’s time to reread Jane Eyre* and Ahab’s Wife. For some reason — perhaps the fact that they are full of wind and water and darkness — they remind me of fall and fall reminds me of them.
***
Mentally composed at some point within the last several weeks: Seven thousand fifty-eight flying and driving miles, four states, and ten-ish months later, the fourth and final stage of the extensive project that is meeting all the various combinations of divorced and remarried parents is over. We learned that the interaction between my mother and me at Thanksgiving is not a good first introduction to my mother; that Hawai’i is too hot, even in December, that I have become a (or discovered my hidden inner) dog person, and that three days in different states is bizarrely traumatic; that Wisconsin weather is hard on poor Northwesterners, but that Madison would be lovely if it weren’t so sillily flat and if it would just cool down at night (although then there would be no thunderstorms); and that my Reno family is almost too large to be tolerated, but that drinks in Reno are very cheap. It was a fun and adventurous project, the meeting of the parents, but I am happy never have to do it again.
***
Composed today: I did recover from the cold, physically and in terms of optimism as well. I started going to the gym again last week, finally, and though I couldn’t make it last Friday, I went today, and it’s already getting easier. School is well underway and I am actually getting stuff done. I am almost done with my portfolio; pending a few changes, my advisor will pass it and it will be on the randomly-chosen secondary reader. I got to see my sister last weekend, and we drove to Astoria to take her to her orthodontist appointment. That meant we also got to go to the beach and Shannon’s favorite restaurant and a wonderful fishmonger. I saw Serenity again and everyone else should go see it, too, even though J.W. ruined all my hopes and dreams. Today I applied for a really exciting job that I’m actually qualified for, even though I’d have to be in school full-time and working full-time through December. It might be the perfect job, though, so I am willing to sacrifice those six weeks to misery. In about a year an honest woman will be made out of me. I plan to wear a red dress. So maybe not that honest.
(song: “Question,” Old 97s)
* I love Project Gutenberg. Everyone should use it all the time.
Posted by Lauren at 7:55 pm |
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In the catalog under school; life; list; reading; watching; travel; nothing; mood/sick; people/family
But it’s just a ferryboat
Monday, 25 July, 2005
In Madison, the water tastes funny, and going outside is like walking into a teensy bathroom with no windows or fans where someone has just used up all the hot water. (I would’ve said it was like a sauna, but everyone says that, and plus I’ve never been in a sauna so I don’t know if it’s like Madison.) It is like Eugene (except for the hot bathroom factor), but with better food and more rich people. And corn.
Home is nice because here it is cool at night, and there is sushi and a good dog. It is pleasant even though there is class and I have to read articles and chapters in silly books about management.
(song: “Big Boat,” M. Ward)
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In the catalog under travel/Wisconsin
eager to fly now
Saturday, 25 December, 2004
more normal tourist things: drove around the island and went to the blowhole, where a lava tube at or below water level has a hole in the top of it too, so waves that come inside it at the right angle, or something, come out the hole in the middle of the rock and it looks like a little geyser, or, yes, a blowhole. i think we drove around most of the island that day; we also had lunch at a little shack where they cook pigs in the ground and plan to do so until the health department comes to shut them down. i had squid in taro leaves and coconut milk thingy, which was quite good; the rest of the group had pig that had been cooked in the ground. there was also poi which was very interesting, and some yummy salmon thingy that shall be discussed on foodblog eventually.
i also had dim sum for the first (and later the second) time ever in chinatown. it was really good. i can’t believe i had never had it before.
the bishop museum, which was part of the geeky section of the trip, was really neat. i was wrong about the scienceness of it; it was mostly a hawaiian/polynesian culture and natural history museum. which was very cool.
oh, and a major part of the geeky section was sitting around reading. i read the last samurai which has nothing to do with the movie and which my pal jeanne recommended; i quite liked it. i read most of wicked, which i also liked but did not get a chance to finish before i left for reno, which is where i am now. but i did not bring it with me because i was too close to the end; instead i brought fingersmith, also recommended by jeanne. i like it; she is good at recommendations.
christmas was relatively unstressful, considering. my stepmom & her husband (not my father; long story that you prolly all know) are having the kitchen and dining room redone so there is no sink, no countertops (just plywood), no stove or oven, and no fridge in the kitchen (though there is one in the garage). fortunately, christmas eve dinner, which is held here, consists of soup cooked in a crock pot and caesar salad with meat grilled on the barbecue. dishes were washed in the bathroom sink, which was a fun adventure, but the whole thing was easier than we could reasonably expect given the utter lack of kitchen appliances.
i did not, alas, get an ipod, though i was not surprised since i did not ask for one. but i might buy one. i am having serious lust. it’s pretty bad.
i get to go home tomorrow. this is good.
(song: “the only living boy in new york,” simon & garfunkel)