Somebody To Love

Today my textbook for 558 arrived in the mail. It was a bit funny, since I was on my way back from picking up my hold at the library when the mail truck pulled in and when he buzzed and didn’t get an answer I kinda wondered and asked if there was mail for me. Turns out there was, and he was buzzing my apartment.

This wouldn’t normally mean much, since it’s just a boring old textbook. But the text for this course is an older edition. It’s either out-of-print or very nearly there since Chapters and Amazon have it listed but “temporarily unavailable to order” so you have to get it used. The bookstore doesn’t have them since the prof didn’t tell them to buy the new edition. It’s $150 and we don’t need any of the new stuff so we’re supposed to find a copy of this older one.

So, I get home after the first class and check the used listings to see what I can find. Turns out there’s a used copy of this book on Chapters’ website for $8 because it “may include highlighting/writing, some completed exercises, missing dustcover, crease and/or overall wear.” I’m thinking the book might be crap, but at that price I was willing to risk it. So I go for it anyway.

Today, I opened the package and see no evidence of any writing or highlighting in the book at all. If there are completed exercises I can’t find them. It even still came with the discs with the files needed for the exercises. It’s true, the spine is a little weak, but damn. I got myself a book in better shape than some of the stuff you can get used at the bookstore and for unbelievably cheap.

Like a good student, I started reading it right away. But then after about 3 pages of reading up on how awesome databases are and how they are the greatest invention of modern times I decided to read Confessor instead.

“I’d have sworn that with time thoughts of you would leave my head.
I was wrong.” — Neil Diamond

Marin said today that “the Harlot is to knitting trends what Oprah is to book sales” and she’s not far off on that. You see, on Wednesday Stephanie posted about Vintage and people started snapping it up. I ordered it in the Pinot colourway yesterday. The funny thing is, I’m not usually one to go out and buy things just because someone makes them popular. I don’t buy books that Oprah endorses, I tend not to follow trends that Stephanie does either. This isn’t a case of that even though it might seem that way on the surface.

What happened in this case was that Stephanie’s blog was the means through which the gods finally caught me. When I went to the website and saw these socks I swear they were daring me to knit them. I don’t back down from a challenge. Especially when it comes in the form of knitted socks. This might sound like crazy-talk, but I get the sense that these socks are the embodiment of the Dionysian spirit. It’s not just the subject matter. It’s because of the arrogance I sense coming from these socks. They know they are magnificent but at the same time they also know they’re going to make you let go of your fear and inhibitions, make you get into another mindspace and do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do in order to get them done.

Now, I don’t need to commit hubris against the knitting gods and have things come crashing down on my head, but at the same time I realize there’s a lot of work involved here and I refuse to let these socks beat me. I tend to see it as a way of putting my skills to good use serving a higher purpose, whatever that turns out to be.

School has started up again and I’m really enjoying all my courses this term. They all integrate very well with each other and where I think I want to be going at this point so it’s so much easier to take them seriously compared to the required courses. One thing I’m eagerly anticipating is the release of Office 2008 so that I can finally open all these files that people with Office 2007 send me without having to go to school to do it. I hate going to school for things like that. In truth, I will go to to great lengths to avoid campus most of the time since it makes it more bearable that way.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful place. That’s part of the problem actually. The more time I spend at school the more stressed I get and the more I associate school with said stress and can’t enjoy it. Plus the NCB is ugly. It’s winter and I can’t fully appreciate the trees since I spend so little time outside.

I’ve got some socks that I finished to post later when I find the cable to the camera, and maybe another pair if I can finish Mis’ socks in a reasonable amount of time. I’m halfway through the first one but I broke a needle and might need to get creative to be able to finish these on the ones I’ve got.

Time for sleepz!

That lasted a whole 29 hours. I’ve just expelled my IUD. I didn’t have any pain or cramps or anything, just decided to check for strings and found the whole IUD was out of my cervix as of 5 minutes ago. Crap.

I guess I get to reschedule for January anyway, unless I can talk the doctor into giving it another go on Monday.

It’s funny. I thought I’d be more disappointed. Instead I’m pissed off and annoyed. Not as pissed as I’m going to be if I expel the next one though.

ETA: We had a chat today and the doctor isn’t willing to do another insertion. So, since I really want to try this again and I can afford to, I’m going to call the city health unit and see if someone there would be willing to give it a go.

If it doesn’t work then, I have another pill I can try, but after that I’m pretty much out of options. *grumble*

I wasn’t expecting to have this done until until the end of January, but things happened to work out really well.

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Every time we get into a discussion in class about the American Library Association’s code of ethics someone brings up the fact that it is unenforceable. Then the prof brings up the fact that these are rules we should strive to follow but that we won’t always be able to do this.

On the web page, the ALA says themselves, “These statements provide a framework; they cannot and do not dictate conduct to cover particular situations.”

Does anybody else upon reading this hear Barbossa saying, “The code is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules”?

I am such a nerd.

Since I’ve just finished eating a grapefruit and Brent talked earlier about some quirks of his, I thought I’d share as well.

It takes me 20 minutes to eat a grapefruit.

I eat grapefruit often. They are very delicious and I love to eat them plain. But when I say plain, I mean plain. I don’t eat anything but the pulp. I peel it like most people do oranges. Then I meticulously peel off any remaining rind. I’m left with the segments, but I don’t eat these at this point either. I separate each one and peel off the membrane, careful not to burst any of the pulp inside. Once I get that all off, I eat the pulp.

I also eat lemons and limes this way, though I don’t get these as often. Today I also learned that my guinea pig, Gingie, loves grapefruit too.

Brent may have started something here that he didn’t intend to.

I might have an IUD soon!

I’m still alive. Just up to my ears in schoolwork. I’ll get back to you on the weekend.

I’ve again participated in yet another cross-stitch exchange, this one autumn-themed. Now that my package has been received and my partner has gotten hers, I can show off what we’ve done.

Dasha sent me a lovely needlebook that I’ve been using non-stop since it arrived. It’s great. The colours are amazing, the fabric inside is also very fitting, and the size is perfect for the project I’ve been using it with. She also sent an adorable Russian doll keychain, and a very pretty card for my collection.

See how awesome! I wanted to make myself a needlebook a while ago, but after making my brother a wallet I learned sewing defeats me. I’ve got this one to do once I get some more practise sewing with stuff that I won’t worry about wrecking in the process.

Here’s a closeup of the whole pattern:

And a detail shot of the front:

I keep taking it out to look at and pet it. Dasha said she keeps doing the same with what I gave her. I’m glad we’re both happy.

I made her the Miniature Autumn Sampler by Teresa Wentzler (I know, I know, I’m obsessed) but turned it into the cover of a book. It’s attached in such a way that she can swap the cover onto a new book if she needs to, or take it off the backing completely for use as something else. Part of the requirement for this exchange was that we had to try new finishing techniques and the stuff online was boring so I made something up. Now, I forgot to take pictures but Dasha took some and gave me permission to use them, so here we are.

Here’s what the finished product looks like:

The detail shot of the fruit for those interested:

I did really like doing this piece. It was certainly much easier than my other two projects. Even though it’s a TW it didn’t induce the frustration that usually happens when I work on the others. I liked it so much I might do it again down the road. The pattern is not that costly and I have all the materials, so it’s likely. Of course, now I also want to do some of the freebies that I saw on her site, since they’d be detailed but easy as well.