Tuesday, October 23, 2018

It's still October

I find this amazing. This month has felt about four months long to me. I think part of it is the intensive teaching (four classes is no joke) and lots of other stuff going on in my life (Bell choir, which is an enjoyable thing; doing a reception for a memorial service which wasn't, so much). I also have people who just have *problems* in my classes. Sometimes problems of their own creation (decide they don't need to come to class, earn a 40% on the exam, wonder what they can do to fix that), sometimes not (car trouble, problems on the job*)

(* One of the things about our students: most of them have to work, many of them are in parlous finances. I know a lot of them drive old cars that tend to break down. I sigh very heavily when I read some thinkpiece about coddled overprotected college students)

Also the campaign ads. I would love for them to stop. If I ran the world, there would be no campaign ads within a week of the election: call it the Dead Week Rule.

(Then again: if I ran the world, there would be no campaign ads, because I'd be Benevolent Dictatrix for Life, and you wouldn't need to have elections)

Yeah. Between the Cruz/O'Rourke race in Texas, and the Edmonson/Stitt race here, I'm getting allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the ugly campaign ads. (And yes, "It's your fault for still watching broadcast tv," I guess, except I have heard of people getting stuck with the ads on YouTube as well)

I will welcome the ads for whatever dumb "Buy it for Christmas!" things when they show up (do they still show Chia Pet and Clapper ads? When I was a kid, you knew Christmas was on the way when you saw ads for those, and for the compilation-albums of Christmas music - which is a long-gone thing, I guess, with Spotify and the like).

Actually, one of the reasons I like cartoons is that toy ads are a lot more fun than campaign ads. Did you know they're bringing back Gak yet again?

And Standard Time. I know people disagree with me on this and that's fine, but: driving to work at 7 am and having it feel like it's midnight sucks rocks. I prefer having it get dark as I'm going home for the day rather than when I'm driving to work. (Though I guess I'll have to figure out a time for the one last lawn mowing I will apparently have to do....).

I will welcome Standard Time back. Even though it means an end to piano lessons for the year (we have one lesson left on the current set I paid for; that is this week. Then it's no lessons until March, but okay, I can work on my own....and I confess, then I feel like I can take the occasional day of not-practicing if I'm busy or don't feel like it).

I am also ready for it to be cooler on a regular basis - for it to be nice to wear my sweaters. And to work on warm things.

I figured out the fix to the "I couldn't pick up enough stitches on the first go" last night on Harvest, so I should be able to just happily motor away on that while invigilating it this week. I may even get up to the point of dividing for the sleeves! (and I brought stitch holders in my knitting bag just in case).

I also have several blanket kits I want to start - one from a couple birthdays ago that was like the last gasp of Patternworks (RIP). And the crocheted throws. And I also - I confess - bought a new-to-me acrylic (Yes, I know, but: when you live in Bug Country you....I don't know, I can't make a "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" joke out of that, but....housewares are better made out of synthetics in Bug Country). It's called "Hygge" (yes, I know) and it's a pretty purple color they call "Wisteria," and it has a free pattern on the ball band for a blanket and I had a coupon at JoAnn's so....I got it.

I know it takes me forever to finish something like that. I find a lot of times when I buy yarn or fabric it's not so much "I am going to start this right away" but "I dream of a time when I have time to make this" - and sometimes, it's not so much the THING that I want, but the lifestyle it suggests. (That's why I like the Interweave Press books and magazines: all the knitwear is staged with what you can imagine as a backstory: I wish I were that young woman who lived in a "cool" neighborhood where I had time every morning to stop in the local coffee shop and work the daily newspaper crossword over a coffee and croissant. I wish I were part of the family going apple picking and laughing. I wish I had some handsome dude who knew how to play guitar smiling at me from across the room while I knit on a sweater....) And yeah, I'm susceptible enough to believe in some level of sympathetic magic: maybe if I knit these fingerless mitts, some time in the future there WILL be a cool coffee shop in my neighborhood. Or maybe if I make this blanket I can spend evenings curled up under it reading...

But I've told myself I must first (a) Finish a thing or two and (b) make the mitts for the AAUW gift exchange. (At least I don't have to worry about knitting deadlines for any other project, though my niece did - sigh - commission me to knit her an 8" long blue stuffed toy cat, and I"m not sure when I find time for THAT).

1 comment:

Barn Owl said...

We team-graded practical exams this morning, and some of the students did so poorly that I remarked that I'm sure I spend more time on silly Duolingo French each day (about 20 minutes), than many students do studying. It is so competitive to get into medical or dental school, and then to blow things off and be lazy once you're in, just seems bizarre. It's also somewhat depressing when students don't seem to put in any effort, or to have any pride in their performance.

I also dream of the days when I might be able to spend hours knitting or spinning. Most of my knitting these days is for charity, which at least makes me feel like I'm doing something useful. I enjoy knitting sweaters and socks in any case, and I think I'm going to set a goal to knit at least 6 sweaters for Wool-Aid in 2019.