Thursday random stuff

My allergies can stop for the spring now. Seriously, they can. (They probably won't, as my pecan tree - which I feared dead after last summer's drought - finally started pushing out leaves and flowers this week). Everyone I know who has allergies is fairly miserable - several people I know have lost their voice because of allergies, and my voice is not at full strength. I also have a sore throat and one of the more unpleasant factors of allergies for me - small "blisters" or sores on the roof of my mouth and near my tonsils. (They're "just allergies," I've been reassured by doctors many times, but they're still annoying).

I'm not going to work on the soil critters today; I have four samples left to go through but based on the way I feel I don't think I should. (I also could NOT drag myself out of bed to do the workout this morning. I'm telling myself that skipping one planned workout day won't destroy my health, but my Inner Critic remains unconvinced.)

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Also, yesterday was just a long day. (Full day of teaching + church board meeting).

I did start the second sock of the pair of gift socks. I needed something to carry along this afternoon because I need to take my car in to the shop (The battery is "failing" they said, and as it's under warranty still, I want to get it fixed ASAP. I'm just hoping it's the battery and not the alternator or something. Because the worst case scenario with a battery is that they need to stick in a new battery....with the alternator dying I could see having to leave my car there for a day or more. (The dealership I use - like all the ones in town - does not do loaner cars, so I'm stuck with shank's mare or calling on people to drive me if I'm carless).

They warned me it could take "up to an hour" (I presume they're going to try charging the battery up before they drop in a new one - changing the battery on a car takes little time), so I need something to work on. (I don't have much grading, and trying to read in the waiting room - where there's a new large-screen television and not a remote (to turn it off) that I could see - will not be possible. (At least not for me; I can't read with any sort of comprehension when there's talking going on around me).

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I also (just barely) started the Pinkie Pie amigurumi pony. Yes, one step further towards Crazy Pony Lady-dom. (But Pinkie Pie will be such fun. I have so many little Re-Ment cakes, and also some of those puzzle erasers shaped like cakes...I can see photographing her surrounded by tiny cakes. And I should make her a tiny "Princess Beatrice fascinator" such as she is shown wearing in some of the "Royal Canterlot Wedding" commercials)

Also giving more thought to DJ PON-3/Vinyl Scratch. Apparently some of the online pony-dedicated sites (Equestria Daily and Derpy Hooves News are the main ones I look at) suggest that the "official" color of her eyes (which have not yet been seen on the show) is magenta (same color as the lenses on her glasses/goggles). But the "whoa" moment is: she's actually a "very pale yellow" (at least, according to this post.

Now I am conflicted. (This is actually related to how the eight year old that is still part of my psyche still behaves): I want things to be ACCURATE and "right." (hence my desire to make eyes on the pony, even if all you'd ever see were her goggles). But also, in the few places I've seen her, she looks whitish to me. And I have white yarn all ready to go for her. (And frankly, I think white blends better with her mane colors than a "very pale yellow" would. Not to mention, finding a yellow that pale in a Red Heart type yarn* might be hard.) I COULD go with a cream, I suppose. I don't know. Maybe I'll just do her in white and "explain away" the pale yellow as "she spent a lot of time in the sun and got a tan"

(*As much as I like wool for socks, or wool and alpaca for sweaters, I really prefer the sturdy acrylics for amigurumi - for one thing, you can make it more "sculptural," and for another, I like the feeling of non-biodegradable permanence that an acrylic has).

The funny thing is not that I'm spending time worrying about this. The funny thing is that I'm relieved to be spending time worrying about this. Because, how do I say it? There are a lot more global things I could worry about - but I have no control over them, there's nothing I can do that can fix them. And Iran getting a nuclear bomb, or North Korea having long-range missiles is a scary big thing...but concerning myself with "White, very pale yellow, or cream?" as the pelt on a toy pony, somehow that's a manageable concern and no matter what I decide, it will be fine, really.

There are a lot of reasons why I like making toys/amigurumi.

One of them is that the finished products are just so much fun to have around. I confess, I have periodically picked up either Derpy or Fluttershy after a difficult day and hugged her. And I have to admit, it makes me feel a little better. (And I came up with the silly idea of doing a vacation photo sometime of "Derp in the Heart of Texas" - if I ever have cause to go to any of the famous places in Texas, packing along my camera and my Derpy and taking a photo of her at the site)

And it's kind of instant gratification. True, the more complex amigurimi do take a fair amount of time - but you can see the pieces developing, you stuff them as you go along so you can think "Okay, I'm now done with the head" or "I can see the body taking form." With things like sweaters, it's SO MANY ROWS of the same thing over and over again.

It's something I'm good at. I've been making toys, really, since I was about six, so it's a very familiar thing to me.

I think also there is some idea of the recapturing of the happier feelings of childhood - some of the happiest times I spent as a kid were just messing around, either making stuffed toys or making doll clothes. Again, it was something I "felt good at," I enjoyed making stuff, and, in that childlike way, everything was "good" (before my Inner Critic fully developed). And also - I was away from the kids who teased me at school, I was away from the problems, kind of off in my own inner world.

Also, for amigurumi, the yarn isn't that specialized. I can even (often) find what I need (unless it's a very specific color) at the local Mart of Wal. So it's not like some shawl project that recommends Jacob's Farm's special merino-silk-and-fairydust blend, or a sweater that won't drape right if you don't buy a yarn with the exact prescribed percentage of ramie.

And I realize, not everyone "gets" this. Not everyone understands the situation, or they try to ascribe some meaning to it that doesn't exist. ("Furries," for example: I know what they are but I prefer to pretend they don't exist).

And I admit, I realize, there is something vaguely ridiculous about someone like me liking cartoon ponies so much and wanting little avatars of them made out of yarn around her bedroom, but there you are. My fondness for the show doesn't *hurt* anyone, and if anything it makes me a happier person in the rest of my life.

Speaking of vaguely ridiculous ponies: this fan art of Rainbow Dash cracked me up, because it does seem rather like her.


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Edited to add: As much as I like the idea of loving and tolerating people for their slightly nontraditional hobbies, I admit I have some fear of talking about my knitting, or about my amigurumi making, and having people picture me as this. (Then again, I kind of love that idea, at least for Halloween. The Crazy Knitting Cat Lady Sweater!)