I found it!

Years and years ago, I got a book from the library called "Victorian Christmas Crafts." I LOVED that book. Not just for the ideas in it, but for the drawings and writing and general sense of coziness.

Then I moved away, and when I went back to that library one Christmas some years later, the book was gone. Probably purged, probably sold in a book sale.

I was sad. I was thinking of that book again today. And so I decided on a whim to try Amazon. I couldn't remember the title for sure, nor the author, but I knew I'd know it if I saw the cover. So I searched "Victorian Christmas Crafts"....

Amazingly, they had used copies. I found a (hopefully) trustworthy seller. I sprang for "expedited shipping," which raised the price to $15 but hopefully means I will have it before I leave for break.

I just hope it's as nice as I remember it being.

Back knitting again

My knitting mojo is back (which for me, mainly consists of a DESIRE to knit; I know some people who refer to their knitting mojo as being able to execute a patter successfully or choose a yarn that works with the pattern - failing in those seem to be problems I rarely have).

Also, apparently my piano mojo is back; I had a good lesson yesterday and worked through some timing problems I was having in one piece. And I'm getting back to playing by following the music and trusting that my hands will know where to go without watching the keyboard. I guess I should have trusted all those times my teacher said "You sight-read well," meaning that I do have some sense of where the keys are without looking at them. I also guess I need to trust that if I have a bad day or a bad week, that doesn't mean my skill is going down the tubes; it means I'm having a bad day or a bad week and things will eventually get better. (I am too good at taking things as being "symbolic," I think).

I worked some on the Oscilloscope Shawl (which I had worked on a bit over break) last night; I'm almost done with the "increase sections" and then I start the "decrease sections" (it's a big triangle). I really like how the Lustra (which is a merino and Tencel yarn) looks knit up in this. It's not the most fun yarn ever to knit - it's kind of splitty - but it's certainly attractive.

I then switched over to work on the Sockhead hat (this is the one that's very, very simple, just being knit out of sockyarn). I'm finally up to the all-stockinette point, which goes a lot faster than ribbing does. But I have an exam to invigilate tomorrow, so I didn't work too far on this - I think it will make good knitting for that time.

So I cast on for a pair of socks I've been wanting to start for a while. It's one of the free patterns on the Dreams In Fiber blog. (She has quite a few, most inspired by the Harry Potter books). This one is called Hermione's Everyday Socks and like her other patterns, it's a fairly-easily-memorized stitch pattern, but not "boring" to knit like plain stockinette can be.

I'm using a yarn that a fellow blogger sent me - oh, a year or two ago, when I was going through a rough patch. It's a very pretty blend of deep blues and purples and greens. I think it looks a lot like colors Hermione might wear, at least when she's not wearing her wizard's robes. So far I've only done a few rows of the ribbing on them but I like how the colors are working out.

***

I got the knitting mostly worked on while watching the annual repeat of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I wonder if this special - and others of its era - are still cherished by other Gen-Xers like me. (And yes, I know, it came out in 1964, so probably the first viewers were Baby Boomers...) I have great love for all of the old familiar Christmas specials. (For a few years, the Family Channel was re-running all the Rankin-Bass "Animagic" specials in a big marathon some Saturday before Christmas - including some that I only remember having seen as a child, ones that weren't shown every year).

Part of it, for me, is that watching these specials, I can still (just barely, but still) tap into the memory of what it felt like to be a kid waiting for Christmas...I had a pretty happy childhood in a lot of ways (very happy, at least as far as my within-family part of the childhood was; my school days were less happy but that wasn't my parents' fault). Remembering what it was like when your biggest worries were somehow smaller than adult worries are now (though, in retrospect, the worries I had as a kid seemed pretty large). Wondering about whether you'd been good enough to get what you wanted from Santa....

One of the other things about that time? That was before my Inner Critic fully developed. I can remember making art projects and drawing pictures and bedecking things with glitter and making salt-dough tree ornaments and all of that, and looking at them and going "Wow, that's good!" or being happy with them....whereas now a lot of the stuff I do I look at and I mainly see how it could be better. (That might be one of the reasons I knit or quilt; in a lot of cases the stuff turns out well enough to shut up my Inner Critic for a while.)

I know I've talked before about "Holiday Brain," where I get to a point where I want to switch over and think more about things like decorating and baking cookies and stuff than the sort of work-stuff I normally consider. I realize few people get that luxury (my sister-in-law, if I remember correctly, has to work up until the end of the day on the 24th). I can do a little bit of it...I can put on Christmas music at home (and in my office: I've switched over to the "Christmas Classics" channel I made on Pandora last year), I can decorate, maybe this weekend I'll bake some cookies for the exam-week Feast of Finger Foods. But I would like to just go get a bunch of craft supplies - beads or sequins or something - and just have an afternoon of cutting and gluing and making stuff that has a fairly short time-span until it's finished (unlike quilts or knit items) and try to get back into that feeling I had as a kid, of just the fun of making.

(I keep thinking that sometime I'd like to try making ornaments like I saw somewhere...you got Styrofoam balls and sequins and small beads and pins, and you covered the ball with sequins, held on by pins stuck through a bead. Kind of 1970s-fabulous, I suppose, but then, I grew up during the 1970s. One thing I love is going to a well-stocked library and looking at Christmas issues of "women's magazines" from that era to see the crafts...and I know my mom still has some of her old books on making your own Christmas ornaments from that era. I guess the 1970s were kind of a big crafting era, even if you weren't a full-on back-to-the-lander, avoiding-corporate-consumption type. And I think that kind of got into my brain and I still carry it around with me...I STILL prefer a Christmas tree with the variety of handmade ornaments to one that's a "theme" that's all one color or all one style....)

Maybe I'll pull out some of my scraps of calico this weekend and do some "cookie cutter shape" sewn ornaments. Not that I NEED more ornaments - my tree is full - but I could do a garland for the wall or over the door of them attached to ribbon. I don't know. Sometimes, for me, thinking about projects I could do is as good as actually doing them.

***

And this is not that much of a surprise (though I think maybe in some ways I'm more like Twilight Sparkle:)

Chronically weak and timid, but with a heart of solid gold, you tend to require and depend on the help of your friends in most situations. You enjoy their company, but also enjoy solitude and time away from your friends where you can enjoy the sounds of nature. Just because you know you're weak doesn't mean it holds you back, because you know you're strong where it counts, with your overabundance of kindness, caring, and compassion.

You're often worried about saying or doing the wrong things and also fear rejection. Speaking of fear, you've got a lot of it, often times letting your fear hold you back from doing even the most simple of things, such as jumping across a cliff. But in that fear, you can often find just enough bravery to stand up for doing the right thing if your friends need you.

You may be naive and innocent, and you're very shy and quiet, but you're also a very good listener and are likely the one your friends blab on about their problems to — and while you may feel powerless to help at times, just listening and cheering them on means the world to them. Yay!

I would respectfully contest that "chronically weak" though...I try to be pretty physically tough and get annoyed when I either can't do something or when I have some kind of medical issue (I'm still dealing with hives - had quite a bad case yesterday - but am now trying a dye-free, fragrance-free detergent to see if that ends them.

However, I totally own up to the "fears rejection" thing.

A new cartridge...

I need to get a new color cartridge for my inkjet printer at home, but as soon as I do, I'm going to print off these ornaments and maybe mount them on cardboard or foam and "laminate" them with clear Con-Tact paper. Or! Make a garland with them threaded onto ribbon...

Because they're too cute. (Fluttershy as "Ghost of Christmas Past"? Squee. Now I can imagine a whole Ponified "A Christmas Carol," perhaps with Discord as the Scrooge figure (Yes, apparently the artist has imagined Trixie as Scrooge, but I like Discord better for that role))

There's also a Derpy ornament by the same artist.

(There's an "official" ornament out there - Pinkie Pie with a snowflake - but apparently it's being sold only at Toys R Us and at K-Mart, neither of which I have anywhere near me. And anyway, it's probably too large and heavy for my tree)

Not *really* done

...but it feels kind of like it.

I taught my last lecture class (a very fast run through of virus reproduction and biotechnology, and I HOPE I hit the points that will be on the common final) this morning. In ecology, the students are giving their presentations, so while I have to listen and grade, I don't have to talk. And in biostats, tomorrow is review and Friday is project-discussion day (they have a take-home final, which they will get tomorrow, so I can't very well teach anything else - and beside, I finished what I wanted to cover by Monday).

I spent the entire afternoon and evening (pretty much) grading Ecology papers. (There were four that were not handed in. I have received one via e-mail, timestamped 11:24 pm. I am not sure whether to be merciful and not subtract the five points I said I would for "any day late or any fraction thereof" (the paper was technically due more than 12 hours earlier) or whether to be draconian and take off the five points. (Of course, depending on how last-minute the paper was, the five points might not make that much of a difference).

I temporarily misplaced my knitting mojo over break. It might be starting to come back. I think I'll work on something simple tonight - maybe the long-stalled Sockhead hat.

I think part of it is trying to get all the work-stuff wrapped up -get all the last bits of grading done, write the exams, brace for the inevitable "Is there anything I can do to bring up my grade" requests. (I understand the sentiment but I admit the requests bug me. If they come in the third week of classes when I may actually be able to help, great....but in the last week, when I'm already harried, and there really is NOTHING that can be done, no)

Except now, aren't they saying stress is good for you? At least, I heard a snippet about that on the radio news the other day. (I'm not sure I want to live in a world where, increasingly, the things that are pleasant and fun and good are suspect, and the things that we previously hated are supposed to be good for us.)

That said, I may order one of these t-shirts (link courtesy of Lynn.)

It's funny but I totally forgot about "Snowmageddon" in the effort to survive the summer's drought and heat...but yeah, now I think of it, January had the most "snow days" I've had in a college situation - and I attended undergrad in Michigan and grad school in Illinois. (Of course, the amount of snow we got here, they would merely have laughed at in Illinois...)

Oh, and the earthquake. But once I got over the momentary unsettledness, that didn't really affect me. (Still: no more earthquakes that we can feel, please).

Reading over break

Because I came back in to campus to check to see if the four papers that were due at 11 and didn't get handed in had finally come in. (They hadn't) And because I'm procrastinating going back home and reading the last five papers, and then going through all 20 of them again to put comments on them and correct all the awful grammar mistakes. (Some of which I am sure are simply the effect of haste. I really should go to "electronic submission" so I could check the "created on" date of these papers...I suspect some of them of being written in the wee smalls of this morning. This being a paper that was assigned on the first day of classes, back when it was still 110 in the shade....)

I read two books on the train over break. Alas, I FORGOT the copy of "Number, the language of science" which was what I intended on reading. (It was still sitting on the stack of books beside my bed). Luckily, I had two mystery novels (and before coming back, I grabbed a cheap old paperback copy of Little Dorrit that I got for pennies at the Alamo II's used-book sale and left at my parents' house...I was afraid of "what if the train is really delayed and I finish both my books?").

The first one was a Georgette Heyer mystery, "The Unfinished Clue." I admit it, one thing that annoys me about Heyer novels is that the titles often have little to do with the content. On the upside, I LOVE the current paperback editions with their lurid, jazz-age illustrations on the cover (you can see the version I have here). (The illustrations also have little to do with the content, apparently being grabbed from some stock-illustration source, but they're such fun). And the shape of the book - a bit shorter and a bit longer than the standard paperback - is also kind of aesthetically pleasing.

(I admit it: One reason why I would never go to 100% e-books is that I like the physical object-ness of books too well. If the e-book reader is like a sleek, quiet microwave oven, a paper book is more like, I don't know, a gas stove...there's an atmosphere to it and the more some people say it's outmoded, the more I want to cling to it).

Heyer's mysteries are the typical British country-house mystery. She does not seem to have a recurring detective character (unlike most of the other well-known Golden Age mystery novelists). I also find that her books are often a bit slow to get started for me, but once I get interested in the characters, then I get into them.

This book features the Billington-Smith family, consisting of "the General" (the patriarch, and a thoroughly unpleasant man: he blusters, he terrorizes his wife, he's rude to people...), Fay (who is his much-younger second wife), Geoffrey (his son by his first wife - she ran off and left him and he made poor Geoffrey pay for it. Also, Geoffrey is an artistic, rather than military, type, and that bothers his father). And then there's Francis, who is the cousin to Geoffrey, who is a bit of a wastrel but is liked by the General simply because he's "Captain" Billington-Smith: a military man.

In addition, Fay's unmarried sister Dinah is invited to the house party. And a couple known as the Hallidays: him a shattered war veteran, her an on-the-make woman of fairly little moral tone.

And Stephen Guest, a "connection" (business, I suppose, or distant cousin?) of the General who is in love with Fay - but she will not divorce her awful husband to take up with him.

And lastly, there's "La Lola" - Geoffrey's fiancee, a dancer (yes, THAT kind of dancer) who is allegedly Mexican (and the "accent" that Heyer gives her - mainly a sort of syntax that is convoluted and different from the rest - is kind of annoying to read, but whatever. Most "dialect" writing bugs me).

There are also (of course) the servants. And the widow Twinings, who is sort of a leavening influence - she is one person who can comfort Fay and who will stand up to the General. And the vicar and his wife....she winds up playing a larger role than expected.

I think it's not TOO much of a spoiler to observe that the obvious unlikeable character is the one that's done in. But you're kept guessing as to who did it: could it be Geoffrey? Could it be Francis? Could it be Guest? Could it be Halliday? Could it be (no, please not!) Mrs. Twining, who seems to be the sanest character (save for Dinah, who is immediately ruled out of suspicion, seeing as where she was at the time of the murder).

The thing I like about books like this is that they're restful. While the mystery isn't quite a "cozy," it comes close. And the dialog is entertaining though I admit a definite temptation, after reading one of these, to start talking a bit like one of the Bright Young Things (or at least like Dinah, who might not call herself such: she sees herself as a "spinster" (at 25!). And to say things like, "Oh, it's all too ghastly!" or interject "quite" and "rather" into my speech more than I normally do. (It's funny: the other portraits of the minor aristocracy - including the movie called Bright Young Things - makes me think I'd be heartily annoyed by them, because none of them really DO anything other than swan about and drink and play tennis, and I'd get bored by that pretty fast, but the Heyer mysteries make them somehow more attractive. Perhaps it's because she's parodying them just a bit, and turns them into a sort of never-never-land situation).

The other novel was a Hercule Poirot, "Death in the Clouds." Set on an early airplane flight (the book was first published in 1935). It's an interesting re-imagining of the locked-room mystery: the person killed could ONLY have been killed by someone else on the plane (no less: someone in the REAR compartment - presumably the first-class compartment - of the plane). It's a good story, though I admit I mainly read these for Poirot and his commentary rather than for the story or the other characters. This one also has a strong young female character (Jane Grey) who winds up assisting Poirot and (hopefully) winds up with a much happier life than the one she originally had thanks to some things that happen incidental to the case. (Funny how I tend to think of book characters as having a "life" after the story ends - that maybe Jane did go on and go on the archeological expedition with M. Dupont and winds up marrying him).

There are a lot of eccentric characters in this one...the pair of French archeologists (father and son) who seem somewhat excitable, the cocaine-addicted former-showgirl who is married to a member of the aristocracy, a doctor who is planning on chucking his practice, and a crazy mystery novelist with a thing for bananas.

I will say one thing that struck me in both novels - I knew to expect it, knowing a bit of the history of the time, but it's still jarring and unpleasant - is the sort of casual anti-Semitic remarks made. (In the Heyer novel, about La Lola's "manager" - sort of an early Swifty Lazar type. And in the Poirot novel, "M. Antoine" (the owner of the hairdresser's shop at which Jane Grey works) is described as being "no more exotic than his mother being a Jew" or somesuch.) I am aware there was a lot of "casual" anti-Semitism in Britain in the 30s, that it was a whole "they're outsiders" kind of thing, but as I said, it's still jarring. (And makes me wonder what stereotypes we are blind to today that may jar people reading the books of today/seeing the movies of today in the future).

Back home again

Thanksgiving break is far too short for those of us with some distance to travel. (But I think staying home - and I'm far too independent/not-wanting-to-be-a-bother to at all hint to any of my friends or colleagues that I'd want an invitation to dinner....I'd probably wind up making soup or something and just staying home and watching old movies).

But I do continue to travel, even though the break is too short, because I keep in mind a comment from someone I know who recently lost her parents: you will never regret the time you take to spend with them.

The trip up was pleasant and uneventful. It was Thelma and Chris (he of the "My Lady" way of referring to women that I like so much) in the dining car, the young woman (Janice) who was the sleeper car attendant was good and on-the-ball, even if they had her running between the fore and aft sleepers (They have a sleeper on the front of the train - often it's a half-sleeper, half-crew-dorm car, and they have a sleeper on the back of the train. I think that's to make it easier to remove cars at the terminus or at waypoints along the way).

(Coming back, it was a crew I wasn't familiar with, and things didn't go quite so smoothly...or at least, the people running the diner seemed unusually harried and short with people. My usual way of dealing with this is to get quiet and uber-pleasant and to try to kill them with kindness. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but getting snappish with people who already seem overwhelmed only makes stuff worse).

While up at my parents, we tried to put the outdoor lights out. And another frustration: the "net lights," as convenient as they may be for some things, they seem to be VERY poorly made. We had several sets bought only last year where only 1/3 of the set would light - and it was all in the same section, so I think it was a wiring thing and not a bulb thing. Very frustrating. They did run out to the hardware and buy new "better" (we shall see) sets. But I suggested boycotting outdoor decorations until some better quality ones could be found (though I don't know how you'd evaluate that). But that's one thing that frustrates me- cheaply made stuff that breaks or wears out long before its time. (The tree lights of my own I replaced this year, I had used for some 15 years before. And I suspect if I had felt up to playing with fuses and checking all the bulbs, they might still have worked, I don't know.

Next year, I am going to suggest LED lights as a replacement; they seem to have longer life for applications like this. And they draw far less power).

Though I suppose cheaply-made stuff that wears out fast is kind of the order of the day, now, and you have to go to really specialty places (and pay a lot more) for stuff you're not sending to the landfill the next year.

We didn't do the Friday shopping thing (the lights were bought Saturday morning) except for a trip to the small local gourmet shop. It was busy, but not hectic or crazy and all the shoppers were courteous to one another. (I bought a tomten for my mantel - they had a bunch of Swedish Christmas decorations - and a bag of those Balsen iced pfeffernusse that I like so much.)

I did finish the hat for my sister-in-law so I think my shopping is pretty well done, other than ordering "family gifts" for each set of uncles (I usually do some kind of food item; I'm thinking of doing Aplets and Cotlets again this year).

And then I came back, through lots of rain (it rained most of the night as I was on the train) and then drove home, got groceries, and then came home and put everything away, washed my hair, wrote an exam for next week and did a bit of leftover grading. And I'm going to go to bed early. I'm getting better at sleeping on the train (considering the extra I pay for a compartment, I HOPE I manage to sleep), but it's still not as comfortable as in bed. I think part of the issue is I am a "flop out" sleeper who likes to stretch out my arms and legs and take up a lot of room, and there's not that much space in the little railroad berths to do that.(I have similar issues with sleeping bags - I don't like the confined feeling - which is just another reason I'm not big on camping.)

This is true.

I don't even know what Rainn Wilson's politics generally are, so I can't say whether I would agree with him in general or not, but I like this statement that he tweeted:

"Here's what's wrong with our culture. In the press there are more articles about "Black Friday" than about Thanksgiving."

(A nod to Charles Hill for retweeting that)

Yup. (And I realize, in some circles, Thanksgiving is now controversial because of certain historical aspects involving Native Americans, and I have to admit that that makes me sad. I think, as a culture, we NEED days when we stop, stop doing what we're doing, and feel THANKFUL for the good stuff we have.)

And even if you don't feel you have many things to be thankful for, you could always be thankful for things you DO NOT have. (I've liked that poem, ever since Lynn linked to it, a couple of years ago. Because I can understand the sentiment - especially after reading lots of history, and especially after hearing family stories about people growing up without running water or electricity, or raising children in an era before the polio vaccine, or being in the trenches during WWI.

Right now, what I'm thankful for? I'm done with classes for a few days, all that stands between me and vacation are sorting my last two soil samples and a pleasant drive through the country to the train station. I'll catch you on the flip side.

"black Friday," no

They're really hyping Black Friday this year. (It is called that, allegedly, because it is - or at least used to be* - the day when stores went from red to black, in accounting speak: when they turned a profit)

(*More likely, I think, it's a leftover from the days when shopping wasn't a hobby, and things like kids ONLY getting toys at Christmas was the norm. I'd be surprised today if stores didn't start turning a profit for the year earlier.)

(Although The Wikipedia gives different etymologies - apparently the "black" term used to deal with financial crashes (And I had learned that in grade-school history, which was why I was confused the first few times I heard Black Friday applied to a big shopping day. And bus and taxi drivers supposedly called the day that because of the headaches it caused them. Interesting)

I suppose the hype is a factor of the bad economy, the fact that everyone's nervous about what may happen (and if you're not nervous, you're probably not paying attention: I try to avoid the news these days in favor of cartoons, and *I'm* nervous about what may happen). And the fact that despite claims of "minimal inflation," those of us in the real world see our grocery bills going up seemingly weekly.

I don't "do" Black Friday. I'm not one of those people who goes after the "have to have it" gift of the year - I don't have small children clamoring for the most popular toy, I don't have a husband who "needs" the newest electronic gadget (I have a brother, but he's not getting the newest electronic gadget from me). Generally what I like to do for family is find unusual gifts - things they can use but might not necessarily know existed. (Or, in some cases, if I can MAKE a nice gift, I make it.)

But the biggest reason is this: I don't like crowds. I especially don't like crowds when they go into crowd-frenzy and start doing things like acting as if the Special Edition Wii (it's BLUE!!!!!11!!) that is on sale right then - that that will be their last chance to have a blue Wii (heh. Blue wee. You might want to see a doctor about that.) or any kind of Wii EVER. It's the illusion of scarcity and it makes people crazy - even over non-essential things. (It scares me to think what would happen if there was ever a genuine food shortage, if people get trampled and shoved over a video game).

I did Black Friday, oh, years and years ago, with my parents - I was home over Thanksgiving, didn't have anything to do, so I went along with them. Dang near destroyed my Christmas spirit, which is why I never do it again.

(What does it profit a man (or woman), to save 15% but lose his (or her) soul?)

They are promoting something I haven't seen before this year: between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, they're talking about Small Business Saturday: encouraging people to go out and do at least some Christmas shopping at the locally-owned small businesses. And I can get behind that. (I may not do it, not on the designated day, but I will say some of my Christmas shopping this year was done at one of my local downtown places). Because small business owners deserve some love, too - I know my downtown is a MUCH nicer place thanks to the businesses that have come in in the past 10 years, it's gone from mostly-empty storefronts to mostly-occupied stores now.

And while I don't begrudge the big retailers success, I've found that small places, the small locally-run places, if they have what you want, it's less crazy, less annoying, more friendly...you may pay a little more (and that's not that big an issue to me - especially when going to a lot of the larger businesses would involve an hour's round-trip drive for me - the gas and my time are worth something).

But at any rate: I'm saying "no" to Black Friday this year. (And at any rate: my Christmas shopping is done. Because I have exam week to attend to when I get back, and I hate doing stuff at the last minute.)

And at any rate: For me, at least, Christmas is not primarily about the gifts. I'd rather keep my good spirits and sense of the season and goodwill towards others intact than deal with shopping and giving gifts, if it really came down to it.

Gonna make it.

I got ALMOST everything done on my list today (including grading the hugacious biostats take-home exam, and grading an ecology exam). And I bought gas, and got money, and I packed...I have just a few things to toss in my "carry on" (well, both bags are carry ons, you can't check bags at Mineola, but the one I'm calling the "carry on" has my pyjamas and dopp kit and books and knitting and goes into the compartment with me. (And, ahem, the little Derpy amigurumi. Yes, I still feel the need to travel with a stuffed critter. (Another reason I don't fly any more: I'm quite sure the TSA would not understand, and I remember reading stories from WWII of teddy bears - even children's teddy bears - being torn into for fear they contained contraband))

A couple quick photos:

Here's the gift hat for the gift exchange. My sister-in-law's will be identical, only done in navy blue. I think the tighter gauge and smaller size (not so giant and floppy) looks better.



And a couple quick photos (literally: grabbed right before the camera battery ran down) of the Christmas decorations. (With bonus photo of suitcase in the one of the tree:





***

Oh, and speaking of Derpy: here's a silly little .gif animation of her singing. (I take no responsibilities for the earworm that may cause, and have spent part of the afternoon myself singing "Derpy derpy derpy dooo, da-dooo" in my head).

Oddly, it reminds me of an old Warner Brothers bit - the little vulture that was singing about how he was bringing home a baby bumble bee? (I suspect that the old Warner Brothers cartoons are kind of the Shakespeare of the cartoon world: they are "so canon" that there are thousands of references made to them, perhaps even some people aren't consciously making.)

Back to work

I wound up taking the weekend (mostly) off, partly because after last week I was really tired. (And now, I have the to-do list from Hades to show for it. But I've already completed 2 things on it, and have four mostly-completed. And two of the things on the list are to gas up my car and go to the bank).

I finished the gift-hat Saturday afternoon (picture to come later) and started on the version for my sister-in-law. And I broke the stall on the Tea Time socks and turned the heel and started the foot of the second sock. (The pattern requires attention, so I hadn't been working on it for a while, because it always seemed that I was tired or else had little time to pick up the knitting of late).

I also cleaned up my living room and did my Christmas decorating. I know, it's still early, but I will be gone this weekend and then the last week of classes is super-hectic, so if I'm going to do it at all (and it would make me SAD not to do it), I need to do it the weekend before Thanksgiving.

I wound up having to run out to Lowe's and buy new lights...the lights I had been using for some 15 years (first, as a strand running around my bedroom walls and later on my little tree) mostly wouldn't light this year. So I went and got a new one and found one with Random Twinkle Lights. Every fifth light on the strand randomly flickers on and off, which gives the nice twinkle-light effect like on the big tree my parents always had. (We had the C7 bulbs on that tree, some were the twinkle lights, some were bubble lights, after the manufacturers started re-issuing bubble lights - my dad remembered them from his childhood and "had" to get some.)

I also found some new window candles. (The battery operated ones I got last year were junk. These are a name brand, so hopefully they're a bit better). They have LED bulbs, which should mean the batteries last longer (one of my complaints with the ones I had last year) and they have a built-in timer - so the first time you turn them on, they stay lit for six hours, then turn off for 18 hours, then light back up at the same time the next day. (And the LED bulbs are the "flickering" kind, so they actually look quite a bit - at least, from a distance - like real candles).

I admit that I looked at the bigger trees at Lowe's and contemplated it. My tree is a little, 3 1/2 foot tall or so artificial tree. I set it up on a coffee table so it looks a little more impressive. But I keep looking at the 6' tall artificial trees, especially the pre-lit ones. Maybe not this year, but someday...(as long as I can figure out a place to store it). Of course, then, I'd have to make or buy more ornaments, because the tree would be almost twice the size of what I have now....

I'm so ready for it to be the holiday season. I'm so ready to focus on things like baking cookies and decorating and Christmas music and the silly sappy movies that Hallmark Channel puts on and which I am not too sophisticated or cynical to cry over (there was one yesterday where the spirit or angel of a family's dead son (died while in military service) comes back, they don't recognize him, but he makes them happier and a "family again" and it's only at the end that it's revealed to his father who he really is). And I admit - any other time of year, or any other theme, I'd be rolling my eyes a little over the sentimentality, but somehow, for me, at Christmas, it's okay.

And now I have to get to my research work for the morning....

A little success...

Last night was the Advent Workshop (for children) at church. This was the event for which I was making the Chrismon templates. The plan was that the "Chrismon station" would be there for the older kids while the younger kids did simpler crafts.

The oldest of the kids (high school) didn't show, but I started out with a group of middle schoolers. I have to admit I was apprehensive because when I've assisted the minister's wife in her class with this crew, a couple of them are disruptive and kind of difficult to keep on-task.

But I guess glitter glue and pearlescent beads have a powerful allure, because even the mouthiest of the kids was quiet while constructing the Chrismons. (Incidentally: the tradition with these is to do them all in white and gold, one site detailing them is here and the patterns I used came from here. A tree full of these - my parents' church does Chrismons on their tree with small white lights - is beautiful and impressive).

As the older kids were finishing up, some of the younger kids drifted over, because they'd finished their crafts. Although the Chrismons were technically for the older kids, I asked the younger ones hanging around if they wanted me to help them make them. (This involved tracing the shape onto the craft foam - I had white foam and gold glitter foam - this is kind of a nice craft product for kids, it comes in rectangles like felt but is thicker and stiffer and sturdier than felt, and you can glue stuff to it). Then I handed them their shapes and let them decorate them.

Okay, that involved a lot of beads winding up on the floor, which I swept up (And I'm sure I didn't get them all, and I'm sure I will hear from Certain People that there was a Mess left in the fellowship hall, but whatever. I wasn't going to turn the younger kids away).

It was kind of a relief, after this week, to do something like this. The expectations of me were lower than what I thought they would be. I just had to sit there and kind of supervise, and occasionally help a younger child cut out their Chrismon or look at one that one of the kids had finished (I had forgotten how much kids depend on adult acknowledgement of what they've done). There were no arguments or backtalk or anything - just happy kids cutting out crosses and doves and putting glitter and beads on them.

One of the younger boys is borderline Asperger's and sometimes isn't so comfortable with working with people he doesn't know well, so when he walked up to the table and I saw his mom wasn't busy, I asked him if he wanted his mom to help him, and he nodded, so I got her over to make one with him.

I'm surprised how well it went. I have little experience working with kids, and so all I figured to do was to speak softly and gently and see the Chrismons they made with "their own eyes" so to speak and to say they were "pretty" even if they had more beads or glitter than I would have used. I don't know if this would be true across the board, but I found it easier to be patient with these kids than I am with some adults...

While I'm not going to smugly conclude "good with animals; good with kids" on the basis of this one situation (I really think all the craft supplies had a big effect on keeping the kids behaving well), still, I'm glad I did the workshop now; I think the kids learned and enjoyed it.

Embarrassing to admit...

...but what the heck. File this under the "ways in which I am a bit of a nutcase" heading.

Last night, when I got done with everything I "had" to do (some grading, my piano practice, dinner), I sat down to watch television for a few minutes. But first, for some reason, I went and got the little amigurumis of Fluttershy and Derpy Hooves and sat with one tucked up under each arm while I watched.

I'm embarrassed to confess how comforting I found that. It's totally illogical, but there you are. I think the "critters" I keep hanging around are sort of pet-substitutes for me; I'm not home enough (I think) to have a real cat or real dog (And as nice as stuff like fish are, for me, a pet has to be warm-blooded), and also, the way my allergies have increased in the past year, I don't know that a furry pet is a wise idea for me. (And at any rate, with my luck, if I got a cat, it would be one of the aloof kind that never wanted to be near me).

I don't know. Maybe other adults have their own sorts of "security blankets" and they just don't admit to themselves that that's what they are...maybe some of the expensive cars or fancy gadgets or jewelry or whatever are a sort of security blanket, but because they're expensive and typical grown-up trappings, we're able to fool ourselves into thinking they're something different from that. I don't know. But I do admit to the fact that I need "security objects" around me...usually in my case they are not fancy or expensive, however.

Four more sleeps

That's what remain until I get on a train to go for a few days to see my family.

The break will be VERY welcome. Even the long train trip, because that means I can sit in my quiet little compartment and just read. (Fluttershy may be my favorite Pony, but I'm probably most like Twilight Sparkle.)

I'm going to bring that Numbers: the Language of Science book that I'm reading on. Because it's FASCINATING but I don't think I'll finish it in the next few days. (I checked to see if it was translated - Dantzig WAS Latvian - but there's no reference to a translator, so I guess I'm reading his original words. Well, I have to say, he wrote in a very lively and interesting way and makes the subject enjoyable. Although I never know how much of my enjoyment of a book like this comes from the fact that I'm naturally curious about the subject and want to learn about it - I remember I used to think highly of certain professors that other students rolled their eyes over and said " Oh, S/he's SO BORING!" I didn't find them boring, I found them organized and giving good detailed information and all that.

So I do wonder how much of our perception of someone or something (like a book) being boring or interesting is based on what we bring to it. If you're a naturally curious person, maybe you find more stuff interesting than someone who is less curious.)

I THINK I may be getting my piano-playing mojo back. I've been forcing myself, these past few days of practicing, NOT to look at the keyboard - what I'd typically do, early on in lessons, is memorize the stuff I was playing and then watch my fingers, so I kind of developed the 'crutch' of seeing where I was going, and haven't developed as good a "feel" for the keyboard. (It's difficult for me, for example, to find a sixth interval solely by feel).

I think two other factors came into play on the EPIC FAIL on the Bourree: First, I was trying to play it too fast. I just have to accept that I cannot play as fast as some people, maybe not even as fast as the composer intended. Or that maybe, it just takes me longer to master something than a younger person and I thought I had the piece mastered when I had not.

And second: I think I had too much stuff to work on. Too many pieces. Now that it's been suggested I shelve the Bourree for now (but darnit, I'm still working on it, I'm stubborn that way) it feels like the pressure is off, some. I noticed earlier when I had a lot of stuff to work on, I'd be working on one piece and think, "Oh gosh, I only have 20 more minutes of time to practice and I still have to get to this, that, and the other." I may have to suggest to my piano teacher that fewer things at one time, but more in-depth work on each thing, will probably be better for me. One problem I have learned I have is that too much stuff will overwhelm me quickly - even if I really CAN do it all, it's just the thought of "My to-do list for today is 25 items long" that makes me shut down a little.

On the upside...

I did get to drink a REALLY BIG GLASS OF COLD MILK with my carry out barbecue last night and not have to worry about whether or not I'd have enough for breakfast.

Settling for "good."

That's what I have to learn to do. That good enough IS good enough.

I realized this yesterday afternoon, in the time between my two labs, I ran over to Print Shop and got the Chrismon patterns copied to the heaviest cardstock they could run through the copier. (Total cost to me: $1.40. My time, even five minutes of it, is worth more than that now). But I looked at them as I was walking back to my car and found myself thinking: these are really pretty thin. Maybe you should get some cardboard and a glue stick when you go out to get milk and orange juice and reinforce them.

And then I thought: you know, there are eight or ten other people at church, people who have more free time than I do, who could have volunteered to do this. Yet, they did not. The templates as they are will be good enough; they will have to be good enough.

Also, we got a mass e-mail for another volunteer "opportunity" on campus. And I just stared at it in dismay: do they expect us not to sleep, now? They do realize that we also teach, do research, grade, prep for classes, advise students, and serve on committees? I wonder if my skipping this is going to go on my "permanent record" but I also can tell that all I'm trying to do is affecting me adversely. Either way too much is expected of us, other people around here aren't working as hard as I am, or I'm somehow doing things wrong and therefore not having the time I'm "supposed" to have to donate to Good Causes. I don't know.

I did get out to the grocery, finally, last night. It was as awful as I anticipated. I had called in a carry-out order at the newest barbecue place in town and set it for about 45 minutes after I was due to arrive at the grocery even though I just needed milk and orange juice and some iced tea for a lunch tomorrow. And, true to form, I wound up in a long line (They were all long. This grocery has 24 check out stands but I've never seen more than 9 open) and the person who was checking out when I got in the line did not know how to run her debit card through the scanner.

That always happens to me when I'm in a hurry. There's always some hang-up in the line ahead of me. (I'd go somewhere else for the things, except the only other grocery in town doesn't carry some of the items, or some of the brands I use. So I can't even really vote with my feet.)

I did finally get out on time to pick up my order, but it was sort of close.

And then when I got home, ta-da, a letter from the IRS in my mailbox. ("Maybe I'll rent SIX horror movies". No, I'm not to that point but I'm getting to the point where I'm all "Life, whatever more you can throw at me, I am now past caring") This time, though, it was a receipt sort of thing saying, "We applied the blood from a turnip extra payment you sent and you now owe zero." Well, DUH, IRS, I can count. I know that I should owe ZERO after sending in that check. (It would be nice if they used a different type of envelope, maybe one saying "receipt enclosed" or something, so you don't have that moment of horror when you pull it out of the mailbox)

But yeah. I'm ready for something good to happen for a change. Not sure when that will be. I'm trying to push extra hard to get done with stuff for this week so I have minimal stuff I have to do Saturday. (not "no" stuff, "minimal" stuff. Sigh.)

I also wound up with a cramp in my neck/shoulder last night and spent most of the evening with a hot water bottle applied to the area. I know why I got the cramp - a combination of going out in the cold in a t-shirt (I had to take out the trash) and also that I've been carrying too much stuff (both literally and figuratively).

It's Comic Sans!

I know, lots of people really hate this font, but this might be a valid use of it:



And that's how I feel today. I've had a sinus/borderline migraine headache for going on 4 days now, and my brain feels like it's full of cotton. (Or polyester fiberfill, like my little Derpy pony)

Just hanging on.

Well, stuff has a way of taking turns, I guess.

Yesterday, after I posted, I decided I should find and print out Chrismon patterns. I found them, made a file (one of the church groups that does them helpfully posts .jpegs of the outlines of the patterns).

My computer shut itself down TWICE during the printing. (I think it was where the powercord/transformer box thing was - it was probably pulling the plug out of the back. And my computer is so old, it doesn't hold a charge on its battery any more - so instant shut-down.

So I was concerned about that. I actually said, driving to my lesson (afraid I was going to be late): I bet I'll come home and find my computer on fire now. (I did not.)

And then, piano lesson went badly. It seems my memory for pieces is full, or is failing, or something. I totally screwed up on the Kirnberger Bourre. (I would argue the teacher slightly jinxed me by saying a couple weeks ago, "One more week and we should be done with this," which put the pressure on me...she suggested I give up on it but I hate that, I want to be able to play it WELL.) And of course, that raises all my learning-as-an-adult anxieties: what if I have reached the absolute limit of my ability to play? What if I'm never going to get better than this? What if, in fact, like Algernon or Charly, I start going DOWNHILL and reach the point where even the beginner pieces are too much for me?

(I know, I know: it's probably that I'm stressed and have been fighting a borderline migraine for three days, but it's hard not to worry that I've hit a wall in terms of being able to play)

And then I had an evening meeting. While not a stressful meeting, still, an hour out of your evening is an hour out of your evening.

And then I got home to fix dinner. Went to get a glass of milk. Pulled the carton out and realized there was insufficient milk to both have a glass last night and have it on cereal this morning.

And then I realized: I meant to go to the store after the meeting. (I was already in pajamas and had put my car away). And I realized that unless I go at 5 pm (the WORST POSSIBLE TIME OF ALL TIMES) today, I won't have a chance to get milk until Thursday. (And then, I got in here and thought I had a meeting tomorrow afternoon but I see it's the 29th...I was thinking TOMORROW was the 29th. That's because every day feels about a week long). And I still have to figure out how to make the printed paper Chrismons into templates that the kids can use - the ideal thing would be to trace them onto quilting-template plastic and cut them out, but I don't have time for that. At this point I think I'm going to go to Print Shop and see how heavy a cardstock they can photocopy them on to, and cut those out. (I suppose I could have asked someone to do it FOR me last night - it was the Education Committee - but I know everyone there is busy too, and wasn't going to say anything unless someone said, "You look stressed, is there anything I can do for you?")

So I wound up the day sitting on my kitchen floor crying because I didn't have milk, I didn't have time to go GET milk, and this is so not the life I signed up for. And yes, I know, there are a lot of people who are working 3 jobs and crap and can't afford milk, or can't find the time to go get it either, but their problems were not my problems right at that moment. And really, the milk was just symbolic.

So I'm kind of shaky and teary and overtired this morning. And really really wishing, once again, that there were grocery delivery in my town. Or that I had someone nearby that I felt comfortable asking to go get me some dang milk. (I suppose I could just go to the Green Spray, even though they don't sell the kind of milk I usually buy)

But, I'll just truck out at 5 pm and get it, and wind up getting angry at people, because people are SO badly behaved at grocery stores these days. Or I'll brew up some dang tea and try putting tea on my cereal tomorrow. (I am also out of orange juice now).

Driving in this morning, thinking of the list of things I need to do (which I really need to get to now), I thought of something my dad used to say: "Setting 'em up and knocking 'em down" when he had a lot of things to get done.

Only, I said it out loud to myself as "Knockin' 'em up, and setting 'em down." Because I'm so tired and I cannot brain because I have the dumb. (I would find that malapropism really funny if I weren't so stressed, especially considering the slang usage of "knock up" in some quarters).

Some Derpy love

I managed to get home a little earlier than I anticipated today, so here are the Derpy pix.

One thing I realized: it's difficult to make something INTENTIONALLY asymmetric. Her eyes are supposed to be crossed and kind of uneven, and that's hard to do, after always otherwise trying to get things as even as possible.



You find yourself (Well, *I* find myself) wanting to pose this pony in comical ways. Like getting tangled up in the lights I have on the mantel:



Here's her cutie mark - it's supposed to be bubbles. (The pony in the cartoon has seven, but I could not fit seven in that small a space). Why bubbles? Personally, I wonder if it's a wee tiny hat-tip to another show that Lauren Faust (the developer of this show) worked on: the Powerpuff Girls. One of those girls - the sort of ditzy one - was called Bubbles. Alternatively, because she seems to be in packing and delivery (at least, the only time we saw her "employed" in the cartoon she dropped something out of a flying delivery truck), so maybe they represent bubble wrap. Or maybe they're just a random "butt symbol" (As Faust apparently referred to the cutie marks as in an interview).



Here she is with Fluttershy. I like to think that of all the "Mane Six" ponies, Fluttershy would be the most likely to be patient and understanding of Derpy's oddness.



These were made off the exact same pattern, within a couple weeks of each other, even using the same brand of yarn, yet they are subtly different - Fluttershy's nose is more rounded and upturned, and Derpy's head is smaller, and she's a bit smaller overall.

It was actually tougher to do Derpy's hair - and it's not perfect, but it's as good as I can make it. Fluttershy's hair is just long - all one length - with sort of a Veronica Lake lock that comes in front of one ear. Derpy's hair is more raggedy, and she has kind of a short tufty forelock that I've represented here as bangs.

Oh and:

I don't have any purple muffins, maybe some Danishes would do?



(Food is from Re-Ment. I really want to look around now and see if I can find one of those little eraser toys - or a larger toy food - of a muffin for Derpy. Because the Re-Ment food, as cute as it is, is too small. Failing finding one, I could probably alter a cupcake pattern I have to make a muffin.)

the week explodes

I really want to post some Derpy pictures for you, after pushing to get her finished Sunday night. (There comes a point on a project where you kind of reach a fever-pitch of "I'm so close to having this done" and you push on even though you're tired...my hands paid for it yesterday, even with the ergonomic hooks I should not crochet for that long at any one time).

But my life is going crazy right now.

I actually thought I had double-booked myself for meetings today (I have my grad student coming in for stats counseling, and I thought I had scheduled the meeting to get the new online book-ordering-for-the-library training - as library liaison, I can now order books for the library directly, which could be a dangerous thing), but I don't.

And I have a meeting tonight. And I have to do an Advent workshop Friday where I do a program on making Chrismons - and to my great dismay, when I checked over at church before the CWF meeting last night, someone had thrown away the templates I had made several years ago so I will have to make time to make new ones....(and this time, store them at my house)

***

I did start another hat off of the Jane Brocket pattern (The one that originally disappointed me when I made a hat for myself). BUT I am using a needle two sizes smaller (I found a short circular size 3 - yes, I know you can do magic loop but I don't care for it) and I'm going to do fewer pattern repeats to make the hat less gigantic and poofy. Because it's the gift-exchange gift for my AAUW group, and most of them are older and more conservative dressers than I am. (And I'm not even all that outrageous in how I dress). I think it will be pretty, though - it's a very pale blue-green, kind of a robin's-egg blue, which is a color that I think looks good on most people.

I also have the same yarn in navy, with plans to do a hat for my sister-in-law. If I have enough time. (Well, I have 10 days before Christmas that I'm at my parents - I can probably knock one of these hats out in a couple days if I work fairly consistently on it, the AAUW hat is the one where there will be time-pressure).

****

I started reading a new book last night. I had finished a couple I had been working on (I don't think I'm going to read any more of the Scarpetti novels. They are interesting and all, but this one - Port Mortuary - was sad and claustrophobic and for a goodly part of the book, the main character - the narrator - was in the dark as to what was really going on. And I find that distressing to read - not good bedtime reading).

The book is called "Number: the Language of Science." It's actually a reprint of an older book - it's a revision (I guess) of a book originally published in the 1950s. It's sort of a history of how we figured out mathematics. I'm just at the veriest beginning of it (I am one of those people who plows through all the prefaces and stuff in non-fiction books, so reading those took a while).

The part I'm on right now might be called "the discovery of numbers." A lot of this is kind of speculative, as we can't really know - probably can't even really think like - how early peoples thought about math. For example: there are "cardinal" numbers and "ordinal" numbers, where cardinal numbers are sort of a category - three cows or three days, they have the quality of "three-ness." But they don't really put that "three-ness" in relationship to any other numbers. But ordinal numbers, well, order things. So when you say "Eleven. That's one more than ten," you're using ordinal numbers. But in our modern way of thinking, cardinality has kind of collapsed down into ordinality so we don't really think about them as separate things - we so much think of numbers as how they are in relation to each other that we don't think of a number or an amount as a category.

I love books like that, I enjoy the speculation on how we came to be how we are now. Yes, I know, a lot of it is what is sometimes referred to as S.W.A.G. speculation, but it's still fun to think about.

Another interesting fact about the author: Tobias Dantzig came from Eastern Europe (Latvia, I think) to the U.S. Before he went to school to become a mathematician, he worked as a lumberjack. (I admit, reading that in the introductory material, my brain immediately started going: "He's a lumberjack, and he's OK. He sleeps all night and maths all day" but I'm quite sure that Dantzig never skipped and hopped, pressed wildflowers, or put on women's clothing and hung around in bars. Then again, one never knows.)

Six more months

Yeah, I'm good for six more months now, tooth-wise. (My checkup was today).

I think the reason dental checkups are so fraught* for me is that they include a lot of things that I dislike - that trigger things that bother me or cause a lowgrade fear response. (I'm not quite neurologically atypical enough to run screaming from the room or refuse to open my mouth for the dentist, but neither am I laid-back enough not to let them bother me): lying back in what feels like a vulnerable position (unable to defend self if the need arose), having stuff stuck in my mouth, having METAL in my mouth, hearing sounds behind my head where I can't see what they are (I tell myself, "That's just the hygienist opening the packet of autoclaved instruments and laying them out" but it doesn't really help), high-pitched buzzing or whining sounds (even the tooth-cleaning, which I know means the appointment is nearly over, makes enough noise to make me very uncomfortable).

(And before you ask: no, having gas would make it worse, I think. Because I freak out with stuff over my nose, and also, I freak out over feeling not-in-control of a situation, and that's what gas is kind of designed to do - make you give up control.)

(High pitched sounds in general bother me. If someone's buffing the floor out in the hall and the buffer is in the baritone range, I'm just fine with it, but if someone's drilling something even FURTHER down the hall, and the drill is the typical whiny tenor drill, it's all I can do not to leave my office.

I do not know if it's related, but when my Pandora station starts feeding me opera - even though it is NOT an opera-related station - I let the male arias stand but more often than not hit the "thumbs down" button for the soprano arias.)

(* ha, ha, that's apparently kind of a trendy word right now. And some people HATE it with a passion. I am using it somewhat ironically here)

Anyway, I wound up seeing the younger dentist - the senior guy, the one I almost always see and who knows my whole dental history, was still on his lunch hour. (They had to move my appointment up in time; luckily I was free at that time). The hygienist, while checking my gums, remarked on a couple of "pockets" that had formed around the frontmost molar on each side. Which scared me, because I had visions of that awful gum-flap treatment that I know people have had to go through, and WHY ME WHY NOW because I am absolutely compulsive these days about dental hygiene, and on and on.

And then I thought: one tooth on each side? And I asked her: which teeth again? And she showed me. And I said, oh, I had a lower retainer that was cemented in, I think the bands were on those teeth, could that be it? And she was all, I don't know, let's let the dentist see.

So the dentist came in. Remarked on how good everything looked. The hygienist brought up the pockets. He looked at them. "They didn't bleed?" No, they didn't bleed. And he looked again. And he looked at me and said, "Did you have orthodontia when you were a kid?" And trying not to sound TOO annoyed at the hygienist for not mentioning that I said yes, that I had a lower retainer cemented in with bands for something like five years. And he said yeah, this is typical for that. Our treatment in this case is to do nothing unless they actually start to hurt or bleed.

(I think the senior dentist in the practice - the one I usually see - had remarked on it once, early in my time here, and then flipped through my chart and said, "Oh. Lower retainer. That explains it" and never said anything more about it.)

But anyway, I'm done with that until May. (Honestly, other medical stuff I've done? Doesn't bother me near as much. Eye exams - even the much-disliked glaucoma screening - are a doddle. Mammograms are more awkward and sort of amusing in a cosmic way ("I'm standing in a room stripped to the waist and a woman I don't know is putting my breasts between Plexiglas sheets") than scary (Though I've never had one that was anything other than perfectly clear, so probably that's why there's no fear there). Even the next-most-hated annual thing I do (the "ladies'" exam) isn't as bad, because the doctor I go to is relatively fast and she explains anything she's going to do before she does it. (And there isn't the hunt-and-check and agonizing waiting as the doctor "hmmms" and "aaahhhs" that always makes me think I have about a dozen cavities when I'm at the dentist).

Granted, I'm still a bit young for some of the other things that people go through (and have never had a problem great enough to merit a stress test, though I suspect that would not be that much different from my usual morning workout). But dental work is probably my least-liked medical thing.

Two finished things

I never photographed the second (Christmas-present) Toasty Twisty scarf after I finished it:



That's it all rolled up. I think that's going to be how I will wrap it - it's always a bit of a challenge with knitted gifts to wrap them in a way that doesn't give away what they are too much.

I like how it turned out. I think my mom will like it, too. One of the nice things about the Lion Brand "Amazing" yarn is that in addition to being softer and more reasonably priced than the comparable Noro yarns, it also doesn't have the strange discordant color that most Noro yarns have in the mix.

Here it is, folded in half and stretched out to show more of the colors:



It took a long time to make but it feels like it was worth it, now.

I also finished the little hat from the Jane Brocket book. I am not as pleased with this. It came out bigger and floppier than I anticipated:



I guess it looks better in the photos. It came out kind of like those Rasta hats that the guys use to tuck their dreadlocks in. If it were really too large, and if it weren't fuzzy yarn, I'd consider un-knitting it and redoing it on smaller needles, but meh, I'm not displeased with it enough to do that.



Gah, awful pictures of me today. I'm a little broken out and in this shot my nose looks huge to me. We're having a run of cold-then-hot weather and I have had a terrible sinus headache on and off this afternoon (called and begged off of Youth Group - at any rate, the one kid who's likely to be there is in the Christmas play and will be with the group rehearsing, so it's unlikely I'd have a Youth Group tonight anyway). I'm running a slight fever but I can never tell if that's other stuff going on (though I have felt chilled all day) or if I'm actually getting a cold. But I don't like the changeable weather because you don't know how to dress appropriately for it, and also, it seems people are a lot more likely to get sick in it.

****

I've been watching cartoons some this weekend (in between doing the other things - writing an exam, sorting two soils samples, and reading the last three sections I must prepare for Principles I). They've started up the Christmas-toy ads, it looks like.

And this is where I think about my own childhood, in the 1970s, during the "baby bust." And how there are SO MANY cool toys now that I would have loved as a child but which were not invented yet. (That said: we had good old Lego bricks, which were a favorite thing, and which were one thing that could keep my brother and me happily playing alongside each other, and even sometimes creating fantasy worlds together as we played. And we had Dakin stuffed animals, which I loved dearly and sometimes could even find ones I could afford on my tiny allowance). (I had a Barbie doll, but I didn't quite know what to do with her. She was one of the "Malibu" line, and came dressed in a swimsuit, which seemed rather impractical to me, as I really wanted toys I could carry along with me when I climbed trees or made blanket-forts, and it seemed to me Barbie wouldn't really be up for that).

But of course, as an adult, if you can't actually play with and enter fully into the imaginative world of toys the way you would have as a child, you still have a bigger allowance than you did as a child, so you can buy toys if they please you:



The last time I was at Target I gave in and bought a set of Hello Kitty "Squinkies" (these are an odd rubbery substance, some kind of polymer). They are very tiny and very cute. I held off on opening the package, telling myself I really SHOULD leave it unopened and drop it in the Toys for Tots bin when those come out...but I decided to open it up and make Hello Kitty and company mascots for my home computer. That's just a few of the set there - apparently it's the Kitty family (dad, mom, brother (I assume so - he has overalls and what looks like a "buzz" haircut) and Kitty herself). And next to Dad is a little sheep in a pink dress. They are extremely tiny and extremely cute and the kind of thing I would have ADORED when I was a child. And probably have made houses for out of old shoeboxes and such.

(I did also buy another set of "squinkies" as a gift for the local toy drive, and will go toy shopping again for a Toys for Tots gift later on; I have kind of made it a tradition to buy some toy that I think either my brother or I would have enjoyed when we were kids and give it to Toys for Tots.)

And yes, I have to confess: I'm almost done crocheting another Pony. This one this time is a grey Pegasus with yellow hair, who goes (alternatively, depending on the show vs. fanfics) by the name of Ditzy Doo, or Derpy, or Bright Eyes.

It's actually kind of interesting - does it sound too precious to say, "sociologically"? - to see how different fans relate to this pony that has no real backstory in the show, who was really just a one-off joke by an animator (giving a background pony "derpy" eyes - making her look sort of wall-eyed). Some fans see her as "challenged" in some way (There's actually a very, very sad fanfiction called "Bubbles" that addresses this*). Others seem to treat her like she's a little bit crazy. Still others - and I think this is the camp I fall into - see her as basically "OK," or at least not messed-up in a clinical sense, but maybe a little scatterbrained and absent-minded and clumsy. (We can all be a little "derpy" at times). It's funny, there does seem to be much fan love for her - and the writers of the show have put her in the background of a number of episodes and even apparently named her Ditzy Doo.

(*That was the first fanfic I ever read. Not the first PONY fanfic, the first-ever fanfic. I tend to shy away from such stuff because there seems to be a need on the part of many of the fan-writers to, as they apparently say in the community, "'ship" different characters - that is, engage them in a romantic relationship. (Yes, even the Ponies. They may say "Rule 34" has no exceptions, but a lot of times I wish it did, and I certainly like to PRETEND it does). But Bubbles contains none of that Rule 34 nonsense, but it IS very, very sad - suffice it to say Derpy is an "unwanted foal" because of her challenges and...well, it's very sad. And this is where I'm perhaps a bit too in touch with my inner seven year old: I would have totally wanted a toy of Derpy - a "real" Derpy I could hold in my hand - so I could imagine protecting her and telling her it was all going to be OK. I remember feeling "protective" towards characters that I felt were mistreated in some way. And I very, very much liked having actual, "in the flesh" (or rather, "in the felt" or "In the fake fur" or "in the yarn" versions of my favorite characters. ) So anyway: I'm close to done with it. This one is going faster and I'm more confident because I figured out things like how to make the hair work on Fluttershy. But this is going to be the last pony I do. Because any more, and that way lies madness.).

And it's weekend.

The meetings were here, on my campus this year. (Otherwise, I might not have considered presenting, might have concluded "it's not a finished study yet").

But I did, and I'm glad I did. It went pretty well. I finished up in my 12 minutes, and as it turned out, the person after me was ill and could not speak, so there was ample time for questions. The only questions I got were "I have a similar situation near me, what do you predict would happen there?" or "What do you think will replace the ashes when the Emerald Ash Borer kills them all off?" (I kind of had to think on my feet for that one: I guess I'm not quite so pessimistic about the fate of the ashes so I hadn't considered it.)

I'm also the new (again) vice-chair of the Education section. (Vice-chair then succeeds the chair in the following year, so I'm chair for 2013. I've done it twice before and it's not a big deal.)

I went home to eat lunch and change out of the dress shoes that were giving me a blister, and also to put on old clothes, because it's soil-invertebrate sorting time. (I also had a couple students come in for some biostats help).

But now I can relax a bit. I do have an exam to write for week after next and possibly tomorrow morning will be a good time for that.

I'm thinking tonight might be a grab-a-pizza-from-out night, so I don't have cooking to do. Or maybe not. I'm not sure.

My talk tomorrow

I know when it is, now. (Derp. The program was online as a .pdf file. I didn't know that right away. I don't tend to think of those things. Also, when I was a section chair, I e-mailed the people speaking and told them their times - because there was still a chance to shuffle things around if someone went "But that time will NEVER WORK FOR ME! That is the WORST POSSIBLE TIME EVER!" Of course, my section was less than 1/3 the size of the one I'm speaking in tomorrow...)

So it's at 9. Which is good - I will have a chance to pick up my registration materials, get to the room in decent time, but not hang around so much I stress out over it. Also, the talks following mine are on different topics (one is on bryophytes) so hopefully the chances of Dr. Professor Big Expert With Something to Prove being there are lowered.

(Did I ever tell you how my FIRST research talk ever - it was in Knoxville at the ESA meetings in, what, 1994? Anyway, I walked into the session and sat down and thought, "Hm, that guy over there looks familiar." It was E.O. Wilson.

Commence hyperventilating. "Oh crap oh no E.O. freaking Wilson is going to hear my sad little grad student talk and he's going to think I'm an idiot because I have no experience and this is the first official talk I've given" (Never mind that some years later, when I briefly met David Tilman - arguably the most famous plant ecologist currently - he was a very nice man and not someone who'd take a grad student's presentation to bits merely because it wasn't polished or wasn't perfect, and I suspect Wilson would be the same way - it tends to be the comparative tyros, rather than the titans, who feel the need to belittle others, who think that makes them look smarter). But anyway, at the break, Wilson got up and walked out and didn't come back - probably was going to another session after seeing the talk he specifically wanted to see. Now, I admit I'm a little sad about that - E.O. Wilson could have been in my audience! - but then I was just relieved)


But anyway. I practiced my talk a couple times on Tuesday, practiced it again today. I THINK I have it down. I have 15 minutes allotted and the last time I practiced it it took me 12, which is kind of the ideal - that allows time for potential technical difficulties at the start (e.g., previous speaker forgets to unmount his flashdrive) or for questions at the end.

Still, I'll be glad when it's done. It's been a little while since I gave a public talk (the last meeting I was at, I did a poster) and I'm a bit less sure of my results than I was on the LAST talk I gave.

Christmas music time

Every year, my piano teacher has her students (Well, at least the ones who celebrate Christmas - and we're a small group, so I think all or most of us do) pick out Christmas music to learn. She has a small party where we eat food, play our pieces, and do a sing-along. I'll miss it this year because I'll be traveling already, but she still had me pick some stuff out to learn anyway.

I have a simpler piece and a more complex piece. The more complex piece is a very nice Martha Meier arrangement of "Angels we have heard on high" - I think it's an attempt to make it sound as if it were played on a pipe organ, there are lots of places where you're doing blocked chords with lots of major thirds and perfect fifths (and ha! it makes me happy that I know that). At one point it sounds almost like a music box, the way the melody is written. It's more difficult and will take more work to perfect. (Every Martha Meier arrangement I've seen has been interesting to play and sounds very good)

The second piece is a pop-Christmas song. It's a simple arrangement of The Christmas Waltz (which I know best from the Sinatra version). It's fun to play. I haven't QUITE mastered it yet, but I can play it well enough to please myself with the progress I'm making. And while the words might not win any prizes for depth (especially as compared to some of the REAL Christmas hymns, which are what for me, tell me why I am celebrating), still, there's a nice little line in it:

"It's that time of year, when the world falls in love, every song you hear, seems to say - Merry Christmas, may your New Year's dreams come true."

And while I've railed here in the past over what I see as perhaps an over-emphasizing of the importance of romantic love in our culture (to the point that those who are not in a relationship are made to wonder what's wrong with them, and to the point where people will marry/get involved with each other without really thinking through what they're doing/without being capable of putting in the work that's required), I don't think the song is talking about that.

I think it's talking more about what I might call "agape" love, the kind where you love in general, where you feel love for those around you, and it includes the love for your family or your friends or your neighbors. Because I DO think on some levels, at least most of us do become kinder at this time of year. And while there may be some ugly moments of people forgetting that (it seems mostly in the commercial arena - I will never, ever go shopping on "Black Friday" again), still, I think by and large, when you get people away from the "gimmes" and the materialism, there is a greater sense of kindness and openness there. Perhaps it's more of a softening-of-the-attitudes - I know I am more willing to cut people slack who would normally annoy me, I'm more likely to chuckle over stuff I might otherwise ignore.

I know, it's kind of sad that it's only that way part of the year and not all of it. But at least it's that way for part of the year.

Just one more

Yes, I know, I have a five-year-old's sense of humor when it comes to these meme things, but I do love them.

And this is one that I know AT LEAST ONE of my regular readers/regular commenters will appreciate:

Things I've learned

1. When I get out of bed at 4:30 am to do my workout (leaving enough time to wash, dress, pack my lunch, eat breakfast, and squeeze in 20 minutes of piano practice), it is not helpful to me to calculate how many hours it will be before I have some free time/can get back into bed. (17 for today).

2. It's really discouraging, while working out, to go over the exam you wrote yesterday in your mind and realize it lacks ten points, that you have to write another ten points' worth of questions.

3. (This was a long, long time ago): When writing a statistics exam, you need to work all the problems as you write them to be sure they work out the way you want, and that they are workable. This was not learned from personal experience but from taking a stats class where the prof DIDN'T, and who wound up giving us a take home with one (high-points) problem on it that COULD not be worked. So we spent hours grinding away on it, and even broke the code of silence (First rule of take home stats exams: you do not talk about take home stats exams) in my lab to see if ANYONE had succeeded. No one had. And then later the prof confessed that he screwed up and the problem was unworkable. (See: "If you can't be a good example, be a terrible warning.")

4. It's mentally exhausting to write, research data for, and solve stats problems.

5. But I do it because I get e-mails from, and have talked to former students at meetings, who tell me that their graduate-level stats classes are comparatively easy for them, thanks to the preparation I gave them.

****

I'm also stressing about my talk on Friday. I keep telling myself it will be fine but I worry about the spectre of someone who Knows More About The Situation (in this case, some of the locations we sampled) Than I Do and decides it's a good time to "mark their territory" by making the presenter look stupid. (I have seen situations like that at meetings - never been directly involved in one, but watching them is ugly and painful even if you're just an observer. I find it especially painful when I know the person being "taken down a notch" is a grad student making a first meeting presentation. Sometimes people do deserve to be taken down a notch, but in a lot of cases, the person who decides to do the taking is doing it to someone who isn't over-endowed in the self-confidence arena to begin with).

I mean, it's all well and good to have problems with someone's methods or conclusions - but I tend to think it's better to catch them AFTER the presentation, if you can't be courteous in your questions publicly.

I'm going to be really burned out by the end of this week.

(One of my colleagues is having a pre-meeting social at his house. Starting at 9:30 pm the night before. I strive to be ASLEEP by 9:30 pm these days. So no, I don't think I'll go.)

***

I finished the first of my handmade Christmas presents last night: a scarf. I always wonder at how scarves are promoted as a "good first knitting project" (as compared to, say, a hat). Yes, they do have the benefit of not requiring shaping, and gauge is a bit less critical. (But if you're going to become a knitter, you quickly need to learn how to get gauge, and you will need to learn shaping). The big drawback to scarves as "first knitting projects" is that they take FORever to complete, and it's easy to burn out on them - and I suspect a lot of beginning knitters did. And a lot of would-be knitters have a scarf stashed away somewhere they never finished, and decided knitting was not for them.

I think if I were teaching someone to knit, depending on who they were, I'd start either with a simple hat (one that could be knit flat; I do think knitting circularly is maybe a skill to add a bit later) or a dishcloth/washcloth. I know, dishcloths sound terribly mundane, but they ARE useful (the knitted ones, if you use the right kind of cotton yarn, you can even boil them or bleach them to get them clean, and they do work very, very well). They're time-limited - you can knit one up in an evening or two if you are a fast knitter. And if they look a little wonky, that's fine, they will still work.

I also think the thing that some grade schools that teach knitting do - where you knit a square and then sew it up and manipulate it a bit to make a small stuffed toy (a sheep or a dog or a lion - those are some of the ones I've seen) is another good beginner-knitting project (Especially if you are teaching a child who likes animal toys. There is something magical, when you are a child, in being able to make your own toys. I say that from experience - I learned to sew at about 6, and very shortly after was making my own stuffed animals. Heck, I still find it somewhat magical at 42 that I can make my own "mascots." (That's what I call them, I think. "Mascots," not "toys.")

But scarves as the classic beginner project, I don't know, unless you're someone with boatloads of persistence as a beginner. (I know I didn't have it. Though my first project WAS a scarf, it was a scarf for my Kermit the Frog doll. After that, I learned how to do the little toy-sized sweaters that were in one of the Erica Wilson books, and only after that did I graduate to trying a full-sized scarf. And even then, scarves kind of burned me out on knitting for YEARS - it was really only when I was in my 20s, and learned how to do knitting-in-the-round (my mom taught me how to make mittens), that knitting "clicked" for me.

Holiday time now

This is my favorite time of year. It's finally cooler (yes, I like cool/cold weather. And yes, I prefer standard time to DST. You are free to disagree with me on that). And in two weeks from now I will be gearing up to travel home for Thanksgiving.

And then starts the flurry of holiday preparations. It's funny, when you are a Christian who tries to be thoughtful about it - there's kind of a split-personality in the month of December. On the one hand, you have Advent, which is a time of preparation and reflection (I've seen it described as being similar to a mini-Lent). On the other hand, you have "The Christmas Season" with all the trappings it carries - the decorations, the music, the parties, the special foods, the obtaining of gifts for people, the concerts, all of that.

I have to admit I unabashedly LOVE all the special-and-different things we do - I love being able to go to little parties where there are special little finger foods and the person's house is all decorated up. And I love plotting and scheming about what gifts would be best for what people. And I love the old traditional Christmas specials. And I love a lot of the music. And I love driving around at night and seeing the decorations people have put up. I'm sure part of it is related to the bushel of happy memories I have of past Christmases, that all those things bring up those happy times. But I think part of it is that I do still have a childish enjoyment of a lot of those things...I admit it, I kind of like the idea of making things shinier or sparklier or putting bows on them or hanging up fairy lights on them - it makes the mundane stuff less mundane. And frankly, by the end of a semester, I'm pretty tired and ready to think about things like baking cookies or decorating my house instead of thinking about heavier stuff.

And I've already started my Christmas shopping. And I found a nice small toy gift (My AAUW group collects toys for the local toy drive).

I saw the first Christmas special this weekend...it was the good old cartoon version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. (I've seen the live-action movie version; I really don't care for it. But I like the cartoon). I think this (like the Charlie Brown specials) is good because you often see it from different perspectives depending on where you are in life. When I watched it this year, I was struck - maybe related to things I've seen and comments I've heard lately from people around me - that it could almost be taken as a parable on gratitude vs. envy. The Grinch is trying to ruin the Whos' celebration ostensibly because it's loud, and the noise annoys him, but really, it's because (I think) he's envious of them - envious of their cozy world of which he is not a part. So rather than getting a pair of earplugs (or grabbing some of the cotton that he'd use on his Santa Claus suit and stuffing it in his ears) and just planning to sleep through the day, he decides to make them as miserable as he is.

But it doesn't work. It doesn't work, because, as the narrator comments, "Maybe, just maybe, Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe, perhaps, Christmas means a bit more." It doesn't work because the Whos happiness and gratitude is not tied to the Roast Beast and other trappings of the day - and the Grinch does not realize that until he's standing there up on the mountain. And there's the lovely epiphany moment (really, in some ways, it's like a ghost-free retelling of A Christmas Carol), and the Grinch reforms. (Okay, in real life, it would likely not be that easy, or that fast, or the Whos would not forgive him so wholeheartedly...but parables are rarely exactly reflective of real life).

I've dealt with enough people who wanted to ruin the happiness others had, simply because they did not have that particular happiness themselves, to be struck by the Grinch's attitude. (And to hope, really, that those people have some kind of an epiphany - or at least decide to go and get a pair of earplugs instead).

So I'm really ready to think about shifting over into holiday mode, to welcoming back so many of the things I love and enjoy about this time of year.

***

Oh, and: this explains both my office and my sewing room:

see more

If I were braver about revealing my pegasisterhood at work, I'd print that out and hang it up on my office door.

Some explanations here

Because I have stuff I need to do but am procrastinating.

First off: the soil profile. Yeah, the A layer is mixed organic and mineral material, the B layer probably contains more clay.

And the circular needles thing - it's hard to immediately see the exact size on a needle. I mean, I can tell a 2 mm from a 4 mm but in the 3.5 mm/3.75 mm/4.0 mm/4.5 mm range (which are typical sizes you'd use for sweaters), I usually have to use a sizer to tell for sure. And circular needles come in MANY different lengths.

I was actually more visualizing it as the Knitting Alpaca being in a store, needing a particular size and length of circular needle (like: you need a size 5 (3.75 mm) with a 16" cord for hats) but the store has 32 and 40 inch size 5s, and 16 inch size 1s, 2s, and 3s. Because I've TOTALLY been there. (I was looking for a short-cable size 5 the other day when I was at JoAnn's; the smallest short-cable circular they had was a size 6. Grr. And yes, it does make a difference to knitting gauge.) So it would be like being at an art-supply store and needing a black pencil of a particular hardness grade, and they only have red pencils in that grade, and all the black pencils they have are either harder or softer.

Bah ha ha

(If it were a sheep, it would have to be "Baa ha ha" but I'm not sure what noise alpacas make)

I wouldn't have known about this if Charles had not linked it.

It's a site, called "(expletive deleted) Yeah, Knitting Alpaca." It's one of those meme things (I know, the cool kids are tired of them now, but I've never aspired to coolness. Heh....I would not be convicted in the Court of Coolness that was on "Regular Show" last night...)

Obviously the person who does them is a knitter, or lives with a knitter, because they tend to fall into the "it's funny, because it's true" category.

(I have narrowed my eyes at a sloppy depiction of knitting in a movie or television show).

But I really liked this one:

Have I ever been there and done that....

Also been there and done that.

just a placeholder

Making a new Ravelry ravatar, and this is how I have to do it, can't seem to directly download off Flickr.

At long last...

I finished the Fluttershy amigurumi today. (Earthquake report at the bottom of the post, and dangit, yes, a yellow pegasus amigurumi is more important to me than an earthquake I barely felt)



I think this has to be one of the finest "critters" I have ever made. She looks very, very much like the cartoon Fluttershy only translated into 3-D (and, well, crochet.) I am completely overjoyed with how she turned out.

It took a lot of fiddling to get the face just right but I think I got very close.

I used the "Friends Forever Fawn" pattern in the Elisabeth Doherty amigurumi book (For some reason I can never remember the title of that book.) The modifications included doing the face differently (of course), adding a "cutie mark" (of course),
making a pair of wings, and doing a mane and tail rather than the crocheted tail of the deer.



You can see her wings here. They're extended, more like how they're shown in flight (Fluttershy is often shown with her wings demurely folded, where they look more like bird wings, but I wasn't quite as sure how to scrumble that up. I just kind of made these up as I went along:

Chain 9. Starting in second chain from hook, double crochet 8 (one in each chain). Chain 10, starting in second chain from hook, double crochet 8, chain 10, starting in second chain from hook, double crochet 8. That forms the "feathers." Then, you single crochet across the tops of the feathers (I think I wound up with 10) and then chain 1, turn, do another row. Then, for the next three rows, chain 1, turn, sc 2 together, sc to last 2 sts, sc 2 tog. Then do one row plain single crochet and finish off.

The hair and mane I did using a "latch hook" type of technique (essentially, you are making a lark's head knot with the mane or tail yarn around one of the "posts" formed by the crochet stitches). And you keep doing that, again and again, filling in the area, until the mane and tail are full enough. It's tedious but it is very effective and the hair is unlikely to fall out. (I learned this trick from the "Little Emo" pattern from Suncatcher Eyes).

And then, after applying her "cutie mark," (three pink felt butterflies; if I could have found tiny butterfly buttons that might have been faster), I got to play "Photo Finish*" with her.



(*For those who do not watch the show - Photo Finish is a photographer pony with a strong German accent. I think she's supposed to be a caricature of a famous photographer - maybe Anna Wintour? Anyway, in one of the episodes she goes nuts over Fluttershy's grace and modesty, and wants to make her into a model. Which, of course, Fluttershy hates, but she does, because she thinks Rarity wants her to, and Rarity is her friend...)

But it is a lot of fun to pose her. (That last shot is on my mantel; I took down the Halloween stuff and put up my autumn lights, though probably soon I will do Christmas decorating...)

Also, since she's a nature-girl pony, I had to take her outside and photograph her in a tree.



I also had to take the obligatory "Pegasisters?" shot in the mirror (sorry for the shakiness; I pulled my triceps muscle and my hands are shaky right now from it):



And the t-shirt I have on? The Fluttershy one I ordered a while back:



On second thought, I may actually wear this out of the house (instead of just as pajamas). It's a really pretty design.


*****

Oh, the earthquake? I was in bed but not quite asleep when I felt my bed shifting back and forth a bit (make all the ribald jokes you like; I was, as I always am, alone in bed). At first I thought it was either a hypnagogic hallucination (I used to very occasionally have them when I was younger, mainly of loud noises or shaking) or a myoclonic jerk (I sometimes get those, especially when I've overtaxed my muscles). But then I realized that wasn't it.

Then I realized it was an earthquake. (I felt two distinct periods of shaking with a second or two break between them). I probably wouldn't have thought "earthquake" if there hadn't been the earlier ones in the news (and, well, if it wasn't late at night - it felt to me more like a piece of heavy construction machinery going by on the street). But when I thought "Earthquake" I was immediately wide awake and slightly freaked out. (Things tend to look a lot worse when it is late at night for me.)

So I got up, switched on the local news (the Sherman/Denison station) They were on late only because a college football game ran late....they may have just taped the news and went home, because there was no report of a quake. (I heard about it on the radio this morning, so I knew for sure).

Nothing was damaged or knocked over in my house, and what I can see of the foundation it looks 100% fine. (My house is pier-and-beam, and from everything I've witnessed these 10 years I've been in it, it's VERY solidly built). Some of the people I know at church were talking about pictures being down or stuff knocked off shelves - but they all lived in slab-built houses (I asked), so I think pier and beam may be a "win" as far as small earthquakes are concerned. (I have a very precarious stack of books next to my bed and it didn't topple, nor did the equally precarious stack on one fo the bookshelves in my home office).

I do hope this is an end to earthquakes that we can feel for a while. And I sincerely hope this is not a sign that the New Madrid fault is flexing its muscles, because a large earthquake on that would be devastating - lots of loss of life in western Tennessee and southern Missouri, and lots and lots of damage, and probably things like stuff crossing the Mississippi being disrupted for a while. I have no idea if the faults in Oklahoma are in any way allied to the New Madrid...