Scraps (n. ,fem., singular)

due to illness.

Vacation was great but I woke up with a monster head-cold the day we flew back, so no updates or stories until I feel less like warmed-over-death.

For Christmas specifically, but in general as well. This week has been a race and I’m not exactly winning.

But, at this point, my bags are packed, the two unfinished knitwear gifts are in my carryon to be dealt with on the plane, and what’s done is done. Can’t do more than that.

Things are going well, overall, and I know once I get back from NJ I’m going to have to hit the ground running in order to catch up with the various tasks waiting for me here, but again: it will all get done, eventually.

Now I have to run because I’m already behind the 8-ball this morning.

Have a happy holiday of your choice!

Even if I did want to leave about mid-afternoon on Saturday… it wasn’t the event, it was my stamina. I apparently have none. Noted.

There were tournaments… which I saw none of. There was Art-Sci… which I saw one of (THANK YOU IZZY!!!). There was court… which I saw from under a bus at first, but it’s all good! Mostly, though, there was much socializing and chatting and just being around really fun people for a little less than 48 hours.

Master Octavio’s Pelican elevation was truly something to behold, and I do think some of the pictures I got are quite good. Now I just need to get them OFF of the computer and onto a disc and into the gallery. The non-Vigil the night before was nice and relaxed (again with the socializing and chatting and such) with a nice warm and fuzzy haze provided by MC’s Eggnog… mmmm

Of course, there were several incidences of ‘excuse me, what did you say?’

One was when the word ‘tapas’ was heard as ‘topless’… It was just that sort of weekend.

Probably the best part of the event, for me at least, was realizing that I’m finally starting to click with more than just a few people. For a while now I’ve been working on my ‘ability’ to be around and aware and not only stick to a few people I know best. Basically getting over the wall-flowerish tendencies when sans-wingman. It’s a good thing, and led to several interesting conversations with a variety of people I might not have talked to otherwise. I don’t feel as much of an outsider now (though I never felt excluded or ostracized, just that I wasn’t really meshing with the group as a whole as much as I could have) and I’m learning more and more of what makes the Society tick.

I realize I’m doing a horrid job of explaining the above, oh well, just know that (if you were there and are reading this) the event was awesome on several levels and I was more than glad to be a part of it.

No, you don’t misunderstand, that’s not abundant excitement you hear.

It’s not that I’m not looking forward to this event, it’s just that I really would rather sleep for 48 hours, have a light lunch, then sleep for another 12 or so. Not helping was the overwhelming feeling of ‘ick’ I felt when I woke up this morning. I’m not a good sick person to begin with, eventing while sick I do not see me being any better. But enough whining!

The bags are packed, the baskets ready and the food prepped. Things are ready for me to just toss into the car after work and head out to site. It’s going to be fun!!! (did I convince you?)

In other news, I finally completed my 101 in 1001 list (the list, not the tasks) and now can start ticking them off. Granted, I padded it with a few things I know will happen anyway, but I still have to actually do them/make it there/order them that sort of thing so they totally count. I was hoping to be able to cross off the 2004 reconcilliation one but, uh, yeah… Dec.04 is proving to be a real bitch. Today will be day 3 of trying to figure out why the numbers are not matching the way they should. Joy. But I’ll get there, honest.

My wine cart came into the office yesterday! It’s Mom’s Christmas present to me, a rolling liquor cabinent basically, and I think some of the guys here at the office are going to do the putting together bits for me and I can just take it home next week . Yay for early presents. Obviously this one will NOT be going to NJ with us!

Oh, and speaking of the impending travel. I have found out that the plan is to drive up to NYC Friday night and spend the night actually in the city. Supposedly our hotel is 10 blocks from Times Square, 10 blocks from the Empire State Building, 10 blocks from everything… which is cool! We’ll get to do touristy things that evening and then go collapse with a view of the city. Expect pictures… eventually.

I really need to get around to doing the actual shopping part of my Christmas stuff soon. Yes, folks, I am supremely unprepared for this holiday and it’s very strange that I’m not more worried. Of course, all my local friends that thing they might be getting gifts from me? Yeah, New Year’s baby. It’s the new Christmas, didn’t you hear? I might even be ahead of the trendsters and extend the fun until 12th Night. Who knows. (seriously… it’ll be after I get back and possibly then some, I’m sorry, think of it as stretching the holidays out

The knitting gifts are, definitely, going on site with me this weekend, and I will work on them whenever I have a free sit-around-and-chat moment. Which could happen a lot or not, I’m still not sure. I’m thinking tonight at least will be mostly sitting on the porch for a while. But I could be very, very wrong. Still, the sweater and scarf will travel in my basket for easy access through the weekend, hopefully adding inches to it as possible. These I really do need to get done by the time I pack on Wednesday night! Don’t ask how many inches are left… I don’t want to think about it!

I know, I did it to myself… but this is how order is kept in the world, no? Things go incredibly well, things go to hell, then we settle somewhere in the middle.

I could go into what happened at work, but it wouldn’t matter. I’ll just say, of one co-worker: that boy’s pasta just ain’t done! (nothing sticks…)

I could bemoan the techinical difficulties, but why? I fixed them, so there’s not a problem now, but at the time it was just one more thing crowding my poor, beleaguered brain.

I really didn’t want to do any of the things I needed to last night, but did them anyway. Once the wheels were turning I did manage to settle down and enjoy part of the evening (especially the 1.5 hour call to Mr SoCal… ‘he makes me laugh’… I feel like Jessica Rabbit…)

Perhaps what is really getting to me is the length some of these projects are taking. I want instant gratification. I want to be able to start something, finish it, and move on to the next. I want to give freedom to all these ideas trapped in my head. But there just doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to do all of what I want. Time management is going to play heavily in 2007 I predict!

I’m sure it will change, after all, this is real life, but for right now: life is good.

Last night palmetto came over to hang out for a bit and I made dinner for us (we even ate at the table like civilized folks!) and then watched the Devil Wears Prada. I knew she’d like it (even against her will as she said afterwards). I also got my Christmas present from her: books! and bath bombs! lol She knows me well.

After she left I caught up with Mr.SoCal on IM and that took me through til bedtime. I slept well, woke up after a pleasantly bizarre dream, and have started my day pretty well. I have great friends, a certain someone who seems to adore me, a good job and it’s almost Christmas. Life is sweet.

Just before sleep last night I started to read another book I picked up yesterday at Borders: 50 Writing Tools (or some such), and it’s actually really good! I’ll have to link to it later when I have more time, but the first ‘tool’ is placing the subject and verb at or near the beginning of the sentence. In this way, even a long-ass sentence of 40 words can be totally coherent and interesting, because the who and the what are established from the get-go. Just from looking over this post, I tend not to do that so much here. I wonder how well I manage that in my NaNovels? The best thing (well, not THE best, but a best? anyway…) is that each Tool comes with excercises to do with it. I love me some tasks, yes I do! It’s like voluntary homework.

(Yes, I’m demented, we don’t have to go over that again.)

…finally!

Last night I formally gave up on finishing the sofa slipcover before Christmas, put those materials away, and dragged out the holiday decorations. I set up my little faux-fir (with the lights still on it from last time) and went to find the ornament tote. Um, yeah…

The studio/abyss/office/2nd-bedroom/place-I-don’t-go-very-often had trapped said tote in the farthest recesses of that room’s closet. Which would be so bad if I hadn’t absolutely stacked everything imaginable in front of and up to the back-half demarcation line of the room. Whoops!

Feeling a bit like a rock-climber operating without a line I carefully surveyed and found footholes in enough spots for me to contortion the tote out. I managed not to break my neck (obviously) in the process and even remembered to retreive a few spare decorations from one of the other totes before I turned my back to that room. Phew! But, yeah, as soon as the current craziness wears off I will definitely be straightening out that unholy mess.

Happily going along I decorate the tree while Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte discuss the ins and outs (sometimes literally) of dating in the background. Then I start to wonder where the wreath is…

Oh, right, the storage room. Holder of empty boxes ready for the next move, camping totes, tarps, and tent, and a chair I need to redo the seat on and refinish. it also holds one small box of Christmas decorations (retreived) and, lo and behold, my Teddy Bear Express! I had forgotten, seriously, that I had this silly thing.

It’s a train set, ridiculously juvenile and incredibly annoying in its movement and music, that I haven’t been able to put out for at least 3 years because of Abigail. Maybe even longer. I had so forgotten it. So I drug that box out, too.

Of course, I fizzled out after the tree and stuffed animals were set up, the wreaths hung, and a couple of stockings set to decorate a blank wall in the hall. Tonight I’ll deal with the garland and bows and set up the train when palmetto comes over. And we’ll watch a movie that has nothing to do with Christmas: The Devil Wears Prada.

(please read that a second time and notice the qualifier behind the hyphen, y’all… I haven’t changed THAT much)

But I have changed a bit, lately, mostly in that I’m smiling a bit more, not quite as cynical, that sort of thing, and it’s due in large part to a certain someone over on the west coast.

Well, yes, I suppose I could have found someone farther away, there was always Siberia! lol But, well, what can you do? When the Universe shoves someone into your path when you weren’t even remotely looking and then you trip and tumble and find yourself talking to someone who ‘gets’ you, how can you not smile?

He calls me his muse and I’m vain enough (and honest enough) to admit that it sparks a frizzon of a thrill in my spine to be considered as such when I wasn’t even trying! (and believe me, there have been men I would have given my right arm to be considered as such…)

Of course, there is the small matter of the two thousand one hundred seventy-six miles separating us. Yeah. And I’ve never been one for long-distance things, not for long anyway, but then, in the past I was never quite so protective of my independence. I suppose that’s one way of not having anyone ‘interfere’ with your schedule.

I’ve heard of arm’s length but this is a bit ridiculous!

So I suppose we’ll just do a lot of waiting and seeing. If things continue on as they are now, come February I’ll take a few days and go out to visit him. It’s not the all-fired impulsiveness that I might otherwise be prone to, the sorts of things they make movies about, but then my impulsiveness is generally bordered in practicality.

Control Freak? Did I hear my name?

(in other words, the reason for yesterday’s non-post)

Remember way back when I decided to exercise the LMT (liesurely morning theory)? Well, after the first week of getting up early I realized I needed to get to bed a bit earlier, too. Straight forward, yes, but still, it didn’t occur to me immediately. So my bedtime has pretty much been 11pm for that last however long.

Recently, however, post-November projects have demanded a bit more time and energy and my desire to do at least one sketch a night (getting back in the drawing habit, practice makes a portfolio, etc.) have slowly edged my bedtime past its appointed 11pm, sometimes to the tune of 1am or 2am.

This way lies madness.

So it was with horror that I awoke yesterday morning to the realization that I was 45 minutes late for work and my cell phone had just stopped ringing from it’s charger in the kitchen! D’oh!

Scrambling up I stumbled to the phone, called off the watch (they were starting to worry) and plunged into my morning routine. I made it to work an hour and a half late and was teased with a variety of theories.

“I didn’t know the Riverfront was open on Wednesday night” (this from my boss, and it probably is, but I’ve only been there once, on a weekend)

“I thought it was another PMS 186 thing” (from the production supervisor, referencing this incident, PMS is pantone matching system… ink colors, not the other)

and a few other choice theories.

Apparently I should have expected my body to just give up and say, screw this, you’re getting 8 hours of sleep tonight! Oh well, I worked a little late to make up for the half hour (I almost always work through lunch anyway) and alls well that ends well. Was I a good little girl and went to bed early last night? Nope. 1am again…

Oh, well, it was worth it (it always is), I just need to exercise a smidge more discipline I suppose, at least on work nights!

Ohm…

There is very little else that pleases me as much as finding clothes I like, that are flattering, and extremely on sale. Add to that two pairs of shoes that are also awesome, and you have my shopping expedition last night.

Company Christmas Dinner outfit? Check!

Granted, I buy clothes throughout the year as need and desire dictate, but there are two times of year that I have fun shopping for an ‘outift’: my birthday, and Christmas. Last year I found the wonderfully awesome black with pink polka dots, peeptoe and bow ‘cheesecake’ shoes which totally led me in the direction of that year’s Christmas outfit which ended up doing double duty as there was another party I went to once the business one was finished. I still love those shoes and wear them on occasion.

So this year I figured I would do the same thing: find the shoes and let them lead the way. But there was a wrinkle, of course, I found two pairs I liked equally as much but decided on the suede-like black 4″ pumps with the deathly pointed toes and large strap-like thing (it’s not really an ankle strap, it’s more like a low ankle boot with a vamp cutout? Anyway, they are awesome, so then I went in search of something to wear them with. Instead, after circling one of my favorite bargain haunts I found a tan skirt and a nice, if thin, dark brown tunic top with the embroidery and beads and such that are fairly popular yet also fairly flattering to us larger gals. So back to the shoe aisle I went to pick up the other pair I’d looked at: tan, kitten keel, very pointy toe with some vamp details and an ankle strap; demure but very cute, and just high enough not to irritate my achilles tendon. I ended up keeping the black shoes as well because, well, you just can’t have enough black pumps.

But wait, that was only stage one of the nirvana.

I had what I absolutely needed, but wanted one more shirt for another ‘thing’ coming up so I decided, on a lark, to hit Catherine’s–not a place known for its inexpense. I wander around and debate on a few things, not exactly finding what I really thought I wanted but finding something that will work well, and it’s not overly priced so we’re good. Of course, on the sale rack I did find this amazing skirt that I really lusted over: blonde suede, ankle length, with bronze rivets studding the length (more tasteful than it sounds) but it was only marked down a little bit and, well, I couldn’t justify to myself spending for one skirt what I’d just paid for 2 pairs of shoes, a skirt, and a shirt at the last store.

The saleslady at the register says, ‘well, I’d have told you to wait for tomorrow because we’re going to have a big sale then, but this shirt isn’t on sale.’

 ’Oh, that’s all right,’ I say, appreciating the gesture anyway.

‘But we’ll be having 40% off clearance items–’

‘Wait, 40% off clearance? Really?’

‘Yes, clearance,’ not really seeming to mind that I’d interrupted her.

‘Then I’m coming back tomorrow for that,’ I said, pointing at the soon to be much more reasonably priced skirt I was pining for.

It’s actually being held for me, pre-rung up and everything, all I have to go in and do is sign the charge slip today and take it with me. Now that, my friends, is nirvana!

And, considering how cold it’s looking to be this weekend, I might actually end up wearing it instead of the other, shorter, skirt I purchased last night. It will still go with the kitten heel pumps just fine.

So sayeth I. lol

No, seriously, the TGIO last night for NaNo 2006 was such a wonderful night. We were a small group (nine total), but had a great time just hanging out, chatting about and around writing and such; it was great. The Coffee Pub had just opened either that day or maybe Saturday… but the more I think about it it must have been Monday. Anyway, the atmosphere was perfect, very urban without the decay lol The coffee was tasty and I had no problem getting my caramel latte soy with decaf (I could have even got it sugar free but I detest the artificial sweeteners and take my chances with the real stuff in this instance). The area they had reserved for us (with signs even, how sweet is that? Yes, I know, I’m a dork about some things) which had two tables and a very nice suede couch with extra pillows and it was just so great in there.

I had originally debated about wether or not it was feasible for me to ML again this year but now I’m really glad that I did and am looking forward to next year far more than I have previous. I do hope I can keep up with some of this year’s WriMo’s, keeping up burgeoning friendships and so forth, not abandoning them as seems to always happen as the rest of the year presses in.

Once I finally got home I finished gluing the token pieces together and got the small parts painted while corn chowder simmered on the stove. The small parts are now painted (along with the backs) and this, I think, was a stroke of genius as now, once I get home from Knit Nite tonight, I can hold them by the now-dry protrusions and paint the rest of the front and the sides of the bases with relatively little trouble. Go me! Just leaves the tagging and minor finishing to do Wednesday night then they can be totally taken off of the list.

This weekend did not go exactly as planned… it was way less productive than it should have been, but oh well, no point whining about what wasn’t!

Friday night’s show at the dance studio went very well. Though I really did want to murder 3 of the 4 Temple Guards (sacrifice anyone? wait… did the Egyptians do blood sacrifices?) the girls all did fantastic jobs and the party afterwards devolved into watching the birds-eye video of the performance. As it was, I left RailRoad Square at 1am which meant by the time I got home, showered, and unwound enough to sleep it was more like 3am.

This was where the weekend plans went awry.

I had hoped to get up fairly early (for a weekend) on Saturday, work on the Yule event tokens (finish the drilling of the bases), then go into the office for 8 hours. Since I’m out of vacation time I’m working a few Saturdays to make up in advance the time I’ll be gone to New Jersey. I didn’t get up until 1. I got to work just before 2, and worked only four hours before the sniffles and such caught up with me and I went home, by way of the grocery store for juice and soup. The party I had planned to attend that night I did not. I vegged and sniffled my way through a movie, though I couldn’t tell you what I watched. I played on the computer a bit, getting the Linux SL to work, then got stuck on top of a roof somewhere. I gave up and went to bed.

Sunday had been reserved for fiddling around the house, going to a movie with Mom, then hanging out with Palmetto for a while. What really happened was I got up at 9, went to work for almost five hours, then met Mom at the movies to see Happy Feet followed by a supremely lack-luster meal at Garfields. I’m not sure if it was my stuffy nose that inhibited the foods taste, or merely the kitchen staff, but it was decidedly unsatisfying. Oh well. By the time I got home it was almost seven and I was, once again, beat, though I did manage to drill the token bases (yay for the dremel), paint the backs, and get half of the little bits glued onto the bases before the sandman came calling, insistently.

So, another week, another batch of craziness. Tonight is the NaNo TGIO party at the Coffee Pub. I think I’ll bring my knitting so I can have something to show for it, despite the general socialization factor. Tomorrow night is Knit Nite at Borders, and while one may say ‘don’t you have anything better to do?’ I say, I have three knitted gifts to finish, two of them are somewhere between 30-40% complete and one not even started. Besides the event prep (which cannot be done away from home and is, in fact, well begun), no, I do not. Knitting I shall be for the next few weeks.

(i.e. Holy Cow!)

I’m on an emoticon kick right now, but it’s for a good reason: research! (Being super secret, I know, but it’s all in geeky good fun.)

Yesterday’s post was brought to you by a smidge of ennui exacerbated by watching Eternal Sunlight of the Spotless Mind the night before. Today’s post is brought to you by sheer, utter exhaustion. The dress rehearsal (for a one-hour show, mind you) took three hours last night, once we finally got started. Whee! The first half has the majority of the group numbers in it and needed the most arranging of girls, the second half is mostly solos so went so much more smoothly.

But they say, poor rehearsal good performance or some such. And while I really wish I were out there dancing with them, apparently micro-managers such as myself make really good stage managers, lol. I got home some time after ten, scarfed down dinner (see, it’s a good thing I cook enough for several days at a time), checked emails and collapsed in bed. After, of course, packing a small dop-kit of little odds and ends needed for tonight.

Serendipity struck, however, as I was looking for something else completely I came across the tear-drop lapis lazuli earrings I’d been tearing the house apart looking for two weeks ago. Wohoo! They are dangling from my earlobes today and I am quite happy for it. While at the studio I noticed a display of cuff bracelets set with cabs and lo and behold there were several with lapis cabs. I found two that I liked and bought them… They need a good polish and I suspect they were heated and reformed from bits and chips, but I’m not a snob when it comes to lapis. I do prefer deeper shades, it’s true, with some pyrite showing through, but when weighing the relatively small cost for a set of cuffs that will likely be worn with costumes more than anything, I’ll accept a slightly lower quality. She had a lot of turquoise and onyx ones, some malachite, and various other sets, but I’m still on this lapis kick. I’m considering this my reward for finishing NaNo.

Tonight is the show, it should be wonderful, and then a party afterwards.