Acheiving escape velocity

But first, an observation: Most of the spam-comments I have been receiving lately are selling something that alleges to be "soma." As someone who read "Brave New World" at an impressionable age (and who still tends to believe we will more likely enter that dystopia than the ones outlined in "1984" or "We,") that makes me twitch. A lot. (No, I don't care to know what the stuff REALLY is.))

I'm all packed. This morning just required throwing the makeup kit and hairbrush in my carry-on, and ensuring my e-tickets (because I only own a dumbphone, I have to print out copies of my e-tickets. So they're not very "e" by the time I use them) are in there.

This is the first attempt for me using an e-ticket on Amtrak. I confess a level of distrust of new technologies similar to that of Nero Wolfe, so I am not entirely confident in this new system. (And it's an unmanned station I leave from, so I cannot even ask a station master if the things I printed will really and truly work. I mean, they have the QR code on them and everything....but it's something new and different.

(At least my train has successfully left San Antonio....I just checked that. As of now, it's on time, but it's a long way between San Antonio and  Mineola, and lots of crazy stuff can happen).

I have lots of books with me...."His Majesty's Dragon," and a history of the Regency period ("Our Tempestuous Day: a History of the Regency Era" and that title makes me smile, given an ongoing discussion in the Ivory Tower Fiber Freaks over at Ravelry, about the trend for titling things with "short grabby title: more explanatory title"). I also tossed in my copy of "Howard's End is on the Landing," which is a series of essays about a woman who decides to stop buying books for a year and to read the books she bought earlier with every intent of reading, but never got around to. (Yes, there exist other people like that, and it makes me happy to know they exist).

I also popped the current Georgette Heyer mystery ("They Found Him Dead") in my purse, to read while waiting at the station. (And how sad I will be once I have read through all the mysteries she wrote. I think I have three remaining after this one. And yes, she also wrote historicals and Regency romances, but the mysteries are very much my favorites)

And I have knitting. I don't know how much I will get done while on break, it will depend on some combination of how much I wind up holding the baby and how fussy the baby is. (And I confess some trepidation there: I do NOT do well under constantly noisy situations, and the description of the baby's fussiness my brother has given makes it sound like she cries for hours on end. Then again - he is like me in terms of noise tolerance, and maybe he's exaggerating). But I have a pair of wristwarmers I'm working on ("Onion Market [Zibelemarit] wristwarmers" - the pattern is made with increases and decreases so the shapes look something like onions. And a non-ravelry link exists, the pattern is here) and a pair of simple socks, and yarn for another pair of socks and for another pair of wristwarmers.