- Mood:
awake
"Polar bears for Obama." and "Wolves for Obama"
"McFailin"
"You can't win an occupation."
"Hockey dads against incompetence"
"Rednecks for Obama."
- Mood:
bitchy - Music:Oye Como Va
Please.
- Mood:
worried
- Mood:
depressed
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daiserswho stole it from someone else. "What we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish. Here's the twist: add (*) beside the ones you liked and would (or did) read again or recommend. Even if you read 'em for school in the first place."
Personally I can't remember if I read some of these so I just left them alone. There are hardly any books I would read again simply because there are too many books too little time, but maybe just maybe I would read some of the ones I haven't read for a long time like the Grapes of Wrath or Catcher in the Rye. There are many books I would recommend before the ones on this list though. I have tried to start listing my favorites on my google library.
The Aeneid
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
American Gods
Anansi Boys
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
Angels & Demons
Anna Karenina
Atlas Shrugged
Beloved
The Blind Assassin
Brave New World
The Brothers Karamazov
The Canterbury Tales
The Catcher in the Rye
Catch-22
A Clockwork Orange
Cloud Atlas
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
A Confederacy of Dunces
The Confusion
The Corrections
The Count of Monte Cristo
Crime and Punishment
Cryptonomicon
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
David Copperfield
Don Quixote
Dracula
Dubliners
Dune
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
Emma
Foucault’s Pendulum
The Fountainhead
Frankenstein
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
The God of Small Things
The Grapes of Wrath
Gravity’s Rainbow
Great Expectations
Gulliver’s Travels
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
The Historian : a novel
The Hobbit
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Iliad
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
The Inferno
Jane Eyre
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
The Kite Runner
Les Misérables
Life of Pi : a novel
Lolita
Love in the Time of Cholera
Madame Bovary
Mansfield Park
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlemarch
Middlesex
Mrs. Dalloway
The Mists of Avalon
Moby Dick
Neverwhere
1984
Northanger Abbey
The Odyssey
Oliver Twist
The Once and Future King
One Hundred Years of Solitude
On the Road
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Oryx and Crake : a novel
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Persuasion
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Pride and Prejudice
The Prince
Quicksilver
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
The Satanic Verses
The Scarlet Letter
Sense and Sensibility
A Short History of Nearly Everything
The Silmarillion
Slaughterhouse-five
The Sound and the Fury
A Tale of Two Cities
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
The Time Traveler’s Wife
To the Lighthouse
Treasure Island
The Three Musketeers
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Vanity Fair
War and Peace
Watership Down
White Teeth
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
Wuthering Heights
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
Last night I watched QVC[!]and I bought something from the Jay McCarroll clothing line. Last year I promised myself that I would get something of his, I didn't care what it was. This will be a treasured piece of clothing. I wish I still had that Mary Quant dress I bought from Sears back in my heighday. This is 100% silk and it is kind of crazy looking fabric, but I like it.
- Location:work
- Mood:
sad
- Location:coffee break
- Mood:
nostalgic - Music:none
Over the last week of May, first week of June my daughter and I were running around Wilmington, NC doing nutty errands, spending lots of money and getting ready for the wedding or else I was making stuff for the wedding. For three days afterwards I tried to lead a group of disparate people for some sight seeing around Wilmington (unusually thankless job sometimes!) Kind of hard to find things everyone will enjoy or restaurants for everyone, but I think I did rather well. I got to see a lot of new things in the area and we had a beach day, a downtown day and an historically themed day. There are pictures loaded to my flickr site. They are not in very good order yet, and there are more to be added, but you can cycle through the first few pages of thumbnails and get the gist of things. The wedding ceremony was lovely, somewhat more of a religious ceremony than I expected. The minister is the pastor of the church my son-in-law's grandmother has been a member of for years and years. It was a bonus that she happens to be a woman. The two kids each cried at some point and so did I of course. The outdoor setting was beautiful. We decorated with the banners or outdoor bunting that have been coming together since January. My brother and his family, mom, my sister and various friends helped get things together at the last minute. My friend and my daughter's friend pitched in to help me with the flowers and bride's bouquet, a last minute chore and they looked great. The groom's mom and dad hosted the party and provided traditional N. Carolina style food including pulled pork cooked in a smoker, etc. I have to give a big thanks to them all. I'm busy trying to make a few things to send them. So North and South got together after all. There was a slight disagreement and early misunderstanding about the size of the group that had been invited and the difference between informal receptions and unplanned ones, but it all worked out fine in the end. The weather was so hot I believe some people didn't want to be outside for a barbecue reception that afternoon and so didn't show up. My daughter looked very beautiful. Her dad was there and it wasn't as scary a meeting as I had anticipated for so many days. I managed to remain calm and collected for the most part. Weddings are good excuses for families to get together but for many of the participants they aren't exactly good places to relax and get caught up with people you haven't seen for a long time or to meet and have nice long conversations with any of the people you don't know well. Maybe we should all have a nice relaxed get together sometime further down the road. What do you think?
- Location:work
- Music:none
In news you could use, when I recommend a video or something, you can trust me. Rent "My kid could paint that." It's really good.
- Mood:
hopeful - Music:silencio
Just a few days ago I was so angry that I was ready to knock someone down and beat on them. I saw a woman wearing a special t-shirt that was designed after the shooting. It was red and black and had "huskie" paw prints in the shape of a heart and other NIU insignia on it. (The t-shirts were discontinued after some of the victim's families objected, although profits were going to be put toward a charity for the victims.) The woman was also dressed entirely in red, white and black, with a red hair bow. I thought the outfit trivialized the trauma and grief of this event so much that I could not respond to it rationally. It made me nuts. Then my mom talked me down. She said that it was just a person responding in a way that they thought was appropriate and made them feel better. Each person is different, something I should understand better than anyone. So my rage is almost over. I've finished crying I think. The sick feeling that someone has defiled my community and neighborhood has not quite subsided, but I suppose it will over time.
I believe that sunshine and warm weather will arrive eventually. I hope a memorial garden will be put in the site if they tear down Cole Hall. The NIU president actually mentioned this idea as a possibility, so it may happen.
As I finish writing this, a policeman just walked past my office. Thanks, mister policeman.
- Location:work
- Mood:
contemplative - Music:Arvo Part Tabula Rasa
I've just realised that i can probably order MST3K dvds from Netflix-- and I'm off/
Every year I get spring fever usually around the end of February. The weather here is not conducive to the spring fever At All. We're still surrounded by thousands of pounds of snow. Not even close to melting and it's staying cold for the next several days, so I feel thwarted.
- Mood:
crazy
In happy news, my hot cocoa swap package came exactly on my birthday and it is magnificent! I tried not to eat and drink everything in the package because I wanted to take a nice photo today. I have posted it on flickr with lots of notes. So thank you thank you thank you hot cocoa swap buddy because you did an awesome job putting the package together. I especially appreciate that you made me some banners for this wedding bunting I'm working on and included yarn that I could use to make more. That was very thoughtful. I haven't had time to try everything yet, but I can't wait. SO I'm digging in.
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- Location:library working
- Mood:
calm
Don't read this yet. There's a surprise in it.
I voted today at 6:35 a.m.. There was a guy in line at the polling place sighing loudly and making angry impatient noises directed toward the elderly ladies acting as election judges and at those in line for taking too long. Guess which ballot he wanted?
My favorite food blog is here. Tigers and strawberries has some amazing and diverse recipes as well as links to other foodie blogs. I made Barbara's Moroccan Chicken with oranges, fennel and kalamata olives. It was to die for.
My birthday is this Saturday, so I'm taking Friday off to make some Pear and Ginger muffins, a Mollie Katzen recipe, to take to our knitting group in the morning and I'll be working on my birthday crown, using the book Crowns & Tiaras for inspiration. I collected a bunch of sparkly rhinestone jewelry and glittery stuff to make it and I guess if anyone wants to help me celebrate, I will wear it so that they can laugh at me! Won't that be fun!
The Yarn Exchange held its annual "Super Bowl" 20% off sale and I made off with 7 skeins of Malabrigo worsted weight yarn in a beautiful shade of bottle green.
That's all folks.
- Mood:
complacent - Music:silencio
I'm terribly sad after hearing about Heath Ledger. When he first appeared as an actor, I thought he was breathtakingly handsome. He became a pin-up guy for me for a while. Then I appreciated his acting. He was in a few quite good roles and some forgettable ones, but always performed well. I've added a couple of movies to my Netflix list for movies of his I have not yet seen. I'm feeling so sad for his ex-fiance and child too. Just because you are famous and have plenty of money doesn't guarantee happiness as we've all heard before.
For my hot cocoa swap partner, let me know if you are out there... I hope you are well.
- Location:lunch
- Mood: sad
Here is an entry I discovered while researching something about an ethnic group for a work I was cataloging:
Bulukumba Regency
The kajang tribes under the leadership of ammatoa are one of the existing tourist objects in South Sulawesi. It locates 41 km from Makassar city and just about two hours away from Bira Beach. The people of Kajang are keeping of their traditional life that wears black color everyday. Usually they reject any kind of gift except a black cloth.
That would make gift giving so much simpler wouldn't it?
Is anyone out there?
I'm planning a bunch of projects for the daughter's upcoming wedding, I have tons of other projects mouldering away in my home, plus things that need upkeep, books that need to be read, all of this in addition to my actual paid work. So I have started here at least in my internet files to try to corral some of this stuff. I love to make lists just so I can have stuff to cross off of them. This here is my list post. Starting with:
tada-- wedding:
1. Get Print Gocco and make wedding invitations ready to mail by March.
2. Collect vintage tablecloths, fabric
3. Make table runners of grass green allhemp (pattern in Yarnplay at Home)
4. Get divided dishes of melamine from Ebay or some of these new ones.
5. Continue knitting banners for outdoor bunting decoration.
6. Make wedding cake topper ala Flickr picture here.
7. Make table decoration ala Flickr picture here.
8. Make wedding favors (little houses decorated with papers, ephemera, etc., will show sample when completed)
9. Find big paper flowers for decorating tent frame
10. Get vases for flowers.
11. Mexican papel picado banners.
12. ... (I'm sure there will be more)
Then, I'm going to head on over to Ravelry. This is a knitting and crochet community I just joined. It is great spot to keep track of all your knitting projects and yarn stash. It's a beta site, so you'll be testing it out when you join. So far I love it. You can check out who else is making that cardigan you want to make, look at projects by popularity, search for designers, yarn, and patterns. The best part is, it's heavy on the pictures. People add pictures of their projects and stash, offer some of their yarn for sale or trade and give yarn ratings.
I'm going to try to pare down my internet presence a bit. I don't want to be a member on too many things. So I think I will try to stick with this blog, my flickr site, the wedding planning blog my daughter and I share and now, Ravelry. So Ravelry list:
1. Take pictures of yarn stash and organize yarn
2. Collect pictures of future projects
3. Add pictures of completed projects
Next list, things I need to start saving for in the near future:
1. new electronic camera (Canon Digital Rebel XTi Digital SLR camera with 18-55 mm lens)
2. new roof!
3. new couch and comfy chair
4. laptop
5. a good adjustable floor lamp
and later on:
1. new flooring bedrooms, living room
2. new drywall ditto
- Location:break
- Mood:
determined - Music:silencio
Here's a graph to show how far I've progressed on the outdoor bunting/pennants/flags project. Every 10 flags equals about 2.5 yards of bunting so I'm trying to make as many as possible by the day (June 7, 2008)
Maybe I'm really nutty, but I saw some knit pennants called "Summer Bunting" (picture below) at a British yarn shop and thought they would be very cool for an outdoor wedding decoration. I found a pattern for pennants at Green Mountain Mama's blog which I've changed just slightly by casting on 35 stitches at the beginning instead of 25. I also made a garter stitch version and have both posted instructions for both versions below. The idea is that any family or friends that would like to contribute to this project can knit as many pennants as they would like and at the end I will stitch them all together, probably by crocheting them onto a chain. I've used cotton and cotton blend worsted wt. yarns in shades of green (the wedding color), or neutral colors, but the occasional blue color is okay also. It doesn't matter whether they are all identical in size though, so other size yarn is okay, I'll just mix them all together. So what do you think of this idea? It will look pretty nice, I think. Stockinette stitch pennant pattern with garter stitch borders (adapted from Green Mountain Mama pattern)
Worsted wt. yarn and size 8 needles
Cast on 35 stitches
knit two rows plain
Begin Stockingette stitch pattern:
Knit 2 stitches, purl 31 stitches, knit final two stitches. This row and every other row (the purl rows) - Knit the first and last two stitches so the edge is in garter stitch.
Next row: knit all stitches
Next row: K2,P31, K2
Begin decreasing:
Row 1: K2, SSK, K until last four stitches, K2Tog, K2
Row 2: K2, purl to last two stitches, K2
Row 3: K all stitches
Row 4: K2, purl to last two stitches, K2
repeat rows 1-4 until there are three stitches between garter stitch sections. end with Row 4.
next rows:
K2, Slip 1 knitwise, K2tog, PSSO, K2
K2, purl 1, K2
K all
K2, purl 1, K2
K1, Slip 1 knitwise, K2tog, PSSO, K1
next three rows, K all stitches
Slip 1 knitwise, K2tog, PSSO
K1
end.
Garter stitch pennant pattern
worsted wt. yarn on size 8 needles
cast on 2 st
k for 3 rows
k1, increase 1 st by k into front of st leaving st on needle then k into back of st (3 st)
k for 3 rows
k1, increase 1 by k into front of st. leaving st on needle, k into back of st, k1, increase 1 by k into front of st. leaving st on needle, k into back of st (5 st)
k for 3 rows
k1, YO, knit to before last st, YO, k1
k for 4 rows
repeat last 5 rows until there are 35 total stitches on needle
k for 6 more rows
bind off.
Here's a picture of the bunting I saw at Rooster Yarns, available only as a kit though.
- Location:work
- Mood:
accomplished
