Incommunicado

My poor computer is dying. It went to the doctor this week and he sent me to a specialist. Anyone interested in selling their old laptop?

The Doldrums

The problem with having start-itis is that, at some point, I have to work on all the things I start. This is not the fun part for me. I seem to be in a place this week where I look all around and see only half-finished (sometimes half-started) projects. The garden is on autopilot. Helping at the yoga studio is settling into a routine. It is too hot to knit, and anyway I am surrounded by socks, sweaters and shawls in progress. My Netflix pile is boring. The loom is waiting for some spinning to get done and the spinning is waiting for a part to return from being missing. We have planned the soap show season and now the soap needs to be made.

Now, in the abstract, I like doing all these things. I am good at them. They make me happy. But when I look at my "to do" list and see what needs my attention - what I have gotten myself into - I heave a heavy sigh and look for time in my day to go play WOW. Part of it is brain chemistry and I have been feeling overwhelmed, irritable and frustrated this past couple of weeks. I think the trick is to tell myself that I get to do all these things instead of I have to do all these things.

In other news (and there are pictures to prove it) I had a great time last weekend. There was a good amount of planning things and then saying "I don't wanna" and making myself do them anyway. And the surprise? I had a great time at all of them and am richer for the experiences. Friday we had a kirtan here at the yoga studio with Dave Stringer. *swooon* He and the band were nice and the music was fantastic. Many cds came home with me since I can't afford to go to the next concert - in Bali. Saturday we had a soap show at the Old Riverside Foundation Restoration Fair. People with restored historic houses put them on a tour and then at the headquarters there is a vendor fair and the final house tour. It was a little quieter than last year, but we managed to have a good time. We had the world premier of our new soaps with the Riverside Raincross on them and everyone thought they were quite handsome. You should buy some. Saturday evening with hosted a second kirtan, this one with Keshavacharya Das. I was wiped out from sitting in the hot soap booth all day, but I wanted to support the artist and went. While the crowd was smaller, the company and the music were second to none. We are so fortunate to have these performers come from all over the country to join us at Inland Yoga. (*thud* off soapbox) Sunday all I wanted was to stay home, but it was off to the Renaissance Faire in Irwindale for the day. I did not get all dressed up, but did remember to apply sunscreen. I had a great time. I bought a floppy straw hat (yay shade!), perused all the booths, said hi to the gang at St. Cuthbert's, had a gyro and a guiness, saw an acquaintance from tatting/ bobbin lace events, and saw part of a couple shows. There was some "I ran out of tip money" guilt and therefore did not watch the all the shows. It was sunny, dusty, hot, dusty, bright, dusty, loud and dusty - all the things that make up faire. I like the new site well enough - there is a little lake that is nice to look at, lots of trees for shade and the occasional water fountain for water bottle refilling. The bath water was pretty black when I freshened up that evening! I filled out the day with a little WOW and all in all it was a pretty perfect weekend.

Wanted: Blog Fodder

The garden is growing. I have had a half dozen extremely flavorful strawberries already. The tomatoes are coming right along. I have been harvesting lettuce leaves every week and have a crisperful now. I hope the lettuces last until the tomatoes are ready! The roses are about done, but they had a good run.

While I have been thinking about / doing yoga office stuff all week, I have been lazy about actually going to class. In fact I am playing hookey right this moment. Tomorrow for sure. I spend a lot of time each day telling everyone how they should come to yoga and about all the different classes and events we have going on in May. I went to slow deep stretch this week, though, and the spot in my back / sacrum that has been bothering me for a YEAR finally popped into place. It was quite a noise, but it feels better now.

I have been playing (far too much) WOW this week and had forgotten how fun it is. Unless I am dying, which was the case this afternoon. Geez, that is frustrating. Mostly playing WOW at the coffee shop makes me long for an internet connection at home. Not until the cat feels better and the job situation is more stable. Or at least until the cat feels better. She has been losing weight over the last couple months and the vet found some elevated levels of bad stuff in her bloodwork, so she got a sub-q shot of cortisone and is on some antibiotics. I have a few choice words for whoever invented giving gritty, cold, nasty tasting fluids to cats. She gets all suspicious when I head for the refrigerator now.

Knitting progress has been slow - mostly I am working on finalizing the "Mermaid" pattern for my lace knitting class. It is in my head and on the notepaper, but not graphed up all nice and neat. Interest in making this project is growing and I look forward to sharing it. Maybe I will even get all fancy and figure out how to make it a download-for-sale. I managed to knit 2 inches too far on both sleeves of the Mirepoix bodice and have ripped them back to the place where the increases were supposed to begin in the first place. I never thought I would love 2x2 ribbing this much. I like the yarn quite a lot - Louet gems sport superwash merino. Especially the superwash part. It makes good tv knitting.

Speaking of which, I have been chipping away at the netflix queue. This week is "The Ferrari Experience" (would have been better on fast forward and mute but did have shiny cars) and "Le Mans" (which I tried to watch with Mr. Fixit once, but I fell asleep pretty early on. Not a lot of talking in that movie). Then there was "The Water's Edge" with Nathan Fillion ("Firefly", "Serenity"). If ever you want to holler at the tv, this is the movie for you. Couple with issues moves to scary run down cabin bordering a lake and in the backwoods. Not really drama, not really horror, not really good. Nathan's character is an idiot, but he himself is dreamy. Also in the pile of movies is "Oklahoma" and "7 Brides for 7 Brothers".

Lisa, ver. 29.4

My very, very favorite episode of "The Simpsons" is the one where Homer goes into a mental institution, meets Michael Jackson and brings him home. He and Bart write Lisa a birthday song ("Lisa, it's your birthday, happy birthday Lisa"). My second favorite episode is the one where Lisa is training for the spelling bee. Nationals, I believe.

I only follow one horse race a year (big guess which one) and was totally bummed to miss it this weekend due to sheer forgetfulness. Linda at KNS and I realized it at the same time, tuned in to hear "Big Brown won" and switched it off. This means we missed the announcement of the tragic end of 8 Bells, the only filly in the field. She broke both front legs and was euthanized on the track after finishing 2nd place. It reminds me of the story of Ruffian, another filly who broke both legs during a match race and was put down (in the mid-70s). So sad.

But I had a great time at the knit night / birthday party on Friday, a great time at the veggie potluck on Saturday, and spent Sunday playing WOW. Yes, I mean all of Sunday. It was great. Today (the actual Special Day) I have no plans except to go to bellydancing tonight.

I received yarn for my birthday and promptly cast on for the Mirepoix Bodice from Fall 2007 Interweave Knits. Then I set it aside out of guilt and worked on Mandy's purple sweater. The end is within sight. With a telescope.

It is good to be Lisa, version 29.4

WOW - Whee!

I left the 'puter on all night and it obediently installed 5 hours worth of WOW patches. Then I got to play for a few hours this morning and was happy as a clam (until I started dying). Ahhhh.

Everyone is invited to the Knit Night at Knit 'n' Stitch tomorrow night (see sidebar for address). There will be pizza, salad, drinky-poos, and I heard a rumor about birthday cupcakes*. Bring your crafy project (knitting, crochet, whatever) or just come browse the yarns and find some to add to your stash. They have some lovely sock yarn from Mountain Colors. We will also have "Brigadoon" playing. Every knit night they play a different musical and it is finally my turn to pick again. They ask nicely for a $10 contribution. The fun starts at 6pm!

This week's netflix movies were "Woyzeck" by Werner Herzog and "Crash" (which I have not finished yet). I am not amazingly impressed by either one. Time to watch some more "Weeds: Season 2".

*I may actually have started this rumor.

On The Road

Here I am, at 1:25 am, installed in the hotel room near LAX and I am wide awake. Martena leaves for India in the morning (yay!sob!) and we went over some work and then I will take the car to pick up some LA Yoga magazines and return the car to the house. I had a coffee before we left and a soda on the road (so bad) and have not been this awake in recent memory. Maybe the guy at the mini mart slipped some meth into it. Wait, I made the coffee at home. Dang.

Today was a wicked busy day - by the end my brain felt totally full. When I realized I totally forgot to go to a meeting I knew it was overflowing and important things were leaking out. I had some fun today, though. I went for my first manicure (extra basic) and pedicure this morning. My toes are now Idaho red. It was scary at first and then really fun as soon as I put my feetsies in the massaging footbath. I will have to add it to my list of "special things to do once in a while", along with going to the movies and getting a haircut. I swang (?) by Tar-jhay and found a cute sweatshirt/hoodie with crows on it that I just had to have. Luckily it was drizzly and cool most of the day, so I had an excuse to get it. How can it be 100 degrees yesterday and raining today? Maybe the weather goddess needs some of my mood stabilizers.

As I type the Blizzard patch is downloading so that I will be able to play WOW again someday. The taskbar says I have 4 hours to go. This is better than the 12 hours it said it would take at the library. Here at the Holiday Inn I can just leave it on all night. I do miss playing WOW and if I am going to pay for the subscription I should play the game. I wish (OK not really) that I could spin, weave, knit, play WOW, watch netflix and read all at the same time. And check email. This might be an ambitious goal.

The kitty cat has a date with the vet on Friday. She has been losing weight (but not condition or energy or affection) the last several months and I am starting to worry. I am feeding her wet food on the sly - although the other cats are starting to catch on. I hope she just has something simple like a hurt tooth. Simple = cheap.