Neck, WIPs, and a meme

My neck is almost totally better. I was able to do the full, hour-long workout this morning and it felt better after the workout than it did before.

One of the little personality quirks I have is that when I'm sick or hurt, I can't quite believe it will ever get better. I have a fear (which I know is totally unfounded, but then again, aren't most fears?) that whatever-it-is will turn out to be something chronic and permanent and I will never be able to enjoy life quite in the same way I enjoyed it before. (I was actually contemplating the other day: "If my neck doesn't get better and I'm never able to exercise again, how will I adjust my diet so I don't gain about eighty pounds? How will I be able to keep from being weak and hungry all the time?" Floor-tile metabolism, folks.)

I finished the first of the blue socks last night and started the second. I didn't actually get home from work + meeting + volunteer work until shortly before eight, and then my mom called shortly after.

thank goodness tonight is another "I can go home when I want to and don't have to go out again" nights. I have fieldwork tomorrow (it could have been this afternoon). It's nice to have a day to contemplate it before having to go do it.

Several folks are talking on their blogs about starting a second Clapotis, or if they've never made one, starting one. Well, I bought yarn for a second one - I ordered some of the Andean Silk blend from KnitPicks (heh. Andean Silk Blend. It sounds like a coffee.). I got the mouline kind, in the color they call "Dapper." (It's brown and blue and cream. I just like it, and I wanted some kind of garment out of it). So I'm tempted to start that, even though I have on the needles:

my mom's giftsocks
the redheadedstepchild* purple socks
the Canal du Midi socks (which are comparatively close to being done, but they're one of those things I can't work on when I'm tired)
the Hiawatha shawl
the simple Prairie shawl out of the cheapie JoAnn's yarn
the Verona stole
the blue scarf that I put aside when it started reminding me of my cousin Tom (and it's too wide, anyway. I should frog it and do something else with it)
the Lion Suede scarf which is a *itch to knit on, but I like the colors.

I also have a couple of projects that are in The Outer Darkness and I don't even include on my usual WIP lists - there's an afghan I started *before I moved down here* and a pair of those Zig Zag socks from the first Vogue socks book. I stalled out on those because colorwork just isn't my thing, and I also realized I'd run out of chart before I ran out of foot, and I just wasn't up to trying to figure out where to pick up again in the chart to knit on that extra inch or so. There's too much work into that sock to be able to frog it. I'm actually considering finishing it as a truncated sock, attaching some kind of a purse finding, and using it as a change purse. But not really seriously contemplating it.

(*redheadedstepchild because I really don't love them as much as I feel I should. They're not my mom's "colors" (in fact, they are the diametrical opposite of colors she likes) so I can't give them to her as a gift. I'm thinking I'll finish these and see if I come to love them, if not, they'll go in a box for charity.)

And the meme:

THREE THINGS I DON’T UNDERSTAND:
1.Why some people think vandalism is entertaining and a "victimless crime." (We had some person or persons unknown steal three golf carts this weekend, tear up some of the plantings with them, bash down signs with them, and then leave the dead carts in the parking lot of my building. It's like the university has SO MUCH MONEY to fix and replace what those idiots damaged)

2. How some folks can agree to do something, and then when it comes down to it, not do it. I'm not talking about people being sick or having family or work problems. I'm talking about someone who says, "Yes, I will do this" and then not doing it because there's something interesting on tv or they feel a little tired. I guess what I don't understand is how they can do that without feeling massively guilty.

3. The kind of blind hatred that some people have for individuals who fit certain categories.


THREE THINGS ON MY DESK:
1. The papers I am grading

2. My flashdisk

3. Piles and piles of paper and books.

THREE THINGS I’M DOING RIGHT NOW:
1. Workin' on the blog
2. Grading papers
3. Trying to think of some kind of "hook" or quick activity I could use in class today (the topic is Microbes.)

THREE THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:
1. See my family's "ancestral home" in Ireland
2. Fall in love for real, and have that love returned
3. Read "In Search of Lost Time"

THREE THINGS I CAN DO:
1. Design and make knitted socks
2. Juggle work, volunteering, research, civic duties and still find a few minutes for myself
3. Suffer fools lightly

THREE WAYS TO DESCRIBE MY PERSONALITY:
1. Humorous to cynically sardonic
2. Giving
3. Probably more loyal than I should be

THREE THINGS I CAN’T DO:
1. Flake out on some responsibility just because I'm tired or there's something I'd rather do
2. Ballroom dance (but I'd love to learn. I see it on television and it looks so wonderful. I hear the music and can IMAGINE myself doing it but I don't know the steps)
3. Sleep during the day unless I'm really sick or have a migraine

THREE THINGS I THINK YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO:
1. Your own thoughts and interior monologue. I think too many people try to drown out what's going on in their heads with constant iPod or radio-news or television
2. Dvorak and the other Eastern European Romantic composers
3. Birds singing. People don't appreciate the nature around them enough. (that's my theme of the week, in real life. we have some kerfuffle going on about online classes and I'm in my hardcore luddite "real reality beats virtual reality every time" mode)

THREE THINGS I DON’T THINK YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO EVER:
1. People complaining about people who are doing volunteer work. Especially when those complaints are minor

2. Ingratitude in general

3. Boom cars that are so loud that they make your fillings fall out.


THREE THINGS YOU SAY:
1. "That's bogus!" or "That's totally bogus!"
2. "Be that as it may"
3. "Yeah, I'll do it (sigh)"
(runner up: "Do you want to hear something crazy?")

THREE THINGS YOU’D LIKE TO LEARN:
1. To play the violin
2. How to spin
3. Ballroom dancing

THREE BEVERAGES YOU DRINK REGULARLY:
1. Water
2. Tea or that Bolthouse Farms "Purely Protein" stuff that has green tea in it
3. Skim milk

THREE SHOWS YOU WATCHED WHEN YOU WERE A KID:
1. The Waltons
2. Zoom
3. The Muppet Show

THREE THINGS YOU WISH PEOPLE WOULD LEARN TO DO:
1. Believe that they are not the center of the universe
2. Not litter, not mess up things that they have to share with other people
3. Treat other people with civility and respect - that includes things like not blocking the aisle at the grocery store while they carry out a 100 decibel conversation on their cell phone with their best friend about what they drank last night.