Fortune Cookie Speaks The Truth

Recurring weather conversation:

Me: It's STUPID cold, here. There is no reason for it to be 'highs of single digit temperatures.'

Ben: It's cold in Philly, too.

Me: I know that. I wasn't thinking that I wanted to be in Philly... I was thinking that I wanted to be in Hawaii.

For the record, it IS stupid cold here. It was -5  or more last night, and there's a high of about 7 degrees today. The wind is whipping, but at least it's sunny. That might make it feel like 9 degrees. Hooray.

This means that it's a great day to stay inside and work on cozy projects like that lace scarf that I started:

It's also a great day to finish the book I've been reading. I'm currently loving Markus Zusak's I Am the Messenger or, by its original Australian title, The Messenger.  Don't read the whole wikipedia plot summary- you'll ruin it for yourself.

What I love about Markus Zusak are his little one-line phrases that are absolutely gorgeous. One that comes immediately to mind is the final line of The Book Thief: "I am haunted by humans."

I should be writing, or at least applying to grad school programs, but I think for today, I'm going to take a day to relax and work on some quiet things. But before I do, I have to share the greatest fortune I've ever gotten out of a cookie:

Thanks for clearing that up for me, fortune cookie.

Whooo Are You?

Who, Who.

An ever-popular pattern with the people in my life: Owl Mitts. They're adorable, they're easy, they're warm. Win- win for everyone, really.

In fact, I have two more pairs that I need to make. As my mother pointed out when I posted this picture on facebook, she doesn't have a red pair. She has one in every other color.


In other news, I had a lousy job interview today. Why would you wait until the end of the interview to tell the candidate that the position has been filled, but that they should keep checking back to see if something else opens up?

Honestly, I'd have liked to have known beforehand. Especially since there were THREE WEEKS between when they scheduled the interview, and when I actually had to call them. You'd think they might have called and said "Hey, this position is gone, but would you like to do the interview anyway so that you're in our system and next time you apply you can skip this part?"

Sure, fine. Do.

But to wait until the very end? So frustrating, guys.

Finally, I'm looking at low-residency MFAs. My three to look at right now are, in order, Bennington College, Vermont College, and University of Southern Maine. As I'm sitting here staring at my pad of paper with my notes, I'm thinking about applying to Goddard too. It's only an extra $20- that's a stupid cheap application fee. Most undergrad app fees are more than that. The rest of them are in the $75 range, which makes me cringe a little.

And no one needs GRE scores. Which sucks because I paid all that money to take it, but is also good because I was again, perfectly average. Well...above average on the verbal, but every else was middle of the road.

First, I'm going to send an email to a professor that I really liked at Bing, who also went to Bennington, and now teaches creative writing, and see if she has any words of wisdom offer. Also, to see if she'll write me a letter of recommendation.

Then, writing and crossfit. I still have to be dragged to Cross Fit occasionally, but I'm liking it once I'm there. I back squatted 55 pounds the other day. That's like, half my body weight. On my way to becoming an ant-like ninja that can lift twice my weight!

Win. 

Tea Stains and Socks

I just missed my mouth with the last bit of tea in the bottom of my mug. Now there's a wet spot on my pants and an empty mug. Do I go make the second cup of tea that I was planning?

I'm going for it. These pants are shot anyway.

...

Now that I've returned with a cup of tea, we'll get to the socks. Here's another Christmas present, this time for Ben.
These are an Alpaca blend yarn that I got at the Central New York Fiber festival this summer, in the Globe Trotter Socks pattern by Jodie St. Clair. It's a great pattern for a slightly dressy sock, especially in a dark color like these:

'Paca Pepper Socks

I really should be editing. I'm determined, while I'm unemployed, to seriously work on the revising and writing that I've been neglecting for a long, long time.

I've been super unproductive, and now sitting around all day means that I need something to keep me occupied. There will be knitting, for sure, and there will be job hunting, but there will also be progress on the several novels that are currently lurking around my bookshelves, hard drive, and brain.

Maybe the effort to blog regularly will help me to write regularly as well.

Being regular is healthy.

I've even dug out an old Scribophile account.  If you're on there too, let me know. We can be friends.

Now, to some writing. Stay tuned for more Christmas presents. Maybe even an excerpt from something if I feel like it's ready to be read.

New Year, New Look, New York!

As you may have already noticed, with the exception of red/green colorblind people (and for those of you, I'm sorry that it looks the same) I have revamped the blog for the new year. I can't say for sure whether this will do anything in the way of making me post more, but we'll see. I may also be starting a different one, soon. A real 'writer's platform' kind of blog.

I am currently unemployed again, and back Upstate, both sort of against my will. The boy took a job back up here, and I couldn't afford to exist in Phila without him, so I came along, even though I didn't want to. Also, I was ready for a different job, but I would have waited until I had another lined up, in a perfect world.

Whilst I am on the hunt for something to do up here that won't make me want to hurl myself into traffic, I am going to make a conscious effort to be a writer. I might as well- I have no money, a bottle of tequila that was gifted to me by a coworker, and all the time in the world.

Seems like the right recipe to me.

I also need to start putting together Grad School applications.

MFA in Creative Writing program suggestions? I'll take them. Right now, Bennington College's low-res is my top choice. But I have to do a little more research and then start applying.

I've decided to screw it all and go do what I want. I can't be in any worse shape career-wise than I am right now. What's a little more debt that I'll probably spend the rest of my life paying off? No money is the new black.

In Yarny news, a pilgrimage to WEBS in Northhampton is in the works, and I have an abundance of Christmas presents that I haven't posted about. Perhaps if I do it one at a time, then that will keep me posting regularly.

Here's the most recently finished present.
Ex Parrot Scarf.  Yes, from the Monty Python sketch.

Made for Ashley, from the Fleece Artist Nyroni yarn, which is currently discontinued. Not sure of the colorway, since I'm having a hard time finding the yarn online.
Pattern is Abigail Phelps' Why Knot.

Stay tuned for more woolies and Grad School updates.

I've Really Got to Stop Saying "Hopefully..."

As in, "hopefully it won't be another two months before I post again."

Because, clearly, it was.

And that's generally the case.

What I really need is a shock collar for when I do things like putter around playing Words With Friends or reading FanFiction (yes, guilty, but not the dumb Twilight kind. The good, occasionally by people I know, kind) instead of being productive and writing.

 Hoping....er...intend to set a new routine for myself as I need to start writing a sample for this round of Grad School applications (maybe I've figured out what I want to do with my life this time) and studying for the GRE along with knitting Christmas presents and don't forget National Novel Writing Month. I'm hoping determined to win this month.

In other news, we came through Sandy unscathed. Didn't even lose power, and spent a fairly pleasant hurricane on the couch with some wine, and some nerdy Sci-Fi shows.

On the Yarn Front- I DID finish my Rhinebeck sweater in time to wear it to Rhinebeck. Here it is:

I'm calling it the Blue Marble Sweater, and I'm exceedingly pleased with the way it turned out. I've never made something like it before. Boosted my confidence in my crochet skills.

Finally, I've finished a couple of books in the last week or two.
First, Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness, second in the Discovery of Witches trilogy. I read the first one for book club last year, and was surprised by how much I liked it, especially since I thought reluctant witch + dashing vampire = new and equally dull Twilight.

Not exactly. It's fluffy, for sure. But it's fun, and the characters are better. I particularly like Ysabeau, the vampire matriarch.
Also, I know a dog named Ysabeau, but that's sort of (completely) irrelevant.

Last night I finished Animal Farm, and loved it. It makes me curious to learn more about Trotsky though, because I really don't know much about him.

Now, off to think about characters and plot for NaNo.
Hopefully I'll try to post more frequently.
Happy Halloween!

Summer Hiatus Has Ended, I Hope

I didn't consciously take a summer hiatus. It just sort of happened.

I had a relatively unproductive summer, melting in the heat and humidity of Ye Olde Filthadelphia was about the extent of it. I did very little reading, very little knitting, and even less writing. I felt awful about it, but never bad enough to motivate myself to do anything other than chill on the couch, soaking up the air conditioning and trying to figure out a way to create an air conditioned bubble for myself at work, while watching Battlestar Galactica (and other nerdy shows, but we finally got to the end of that one. I liked it. Season three is boring and took us forEVer to get through, but the rest of it is good. Keep on trucking, if you get bogged down.)

Some FOs to share:

The Dovekeepers- Alice Hoffman.
I read it for book club, and flew through it. Really lovely, really easy to read, despite its very heavy content. I love, love, love strong women characters, and this was a book entirely about them. Four very unique voices, which was impressive to me, as these women had a lot in common but were incredibly different people at the same time- testament to Alice Hoffman's skill as a writer. Very interesting, because it's also loosely historical, and I'm a little bit of a sucker for that- not Tudor England though..that's been done to death at this point.

More socks for Ben: Jack and the Beanstalk socks. I f-ing ADORE the spiral pattern this yarn took. Brilliant dye job.

Seven Pane Sunset. Love the colors, do not love the itch- this wool is extra scratchy.

Finally, a link:

http://deareditor.com/2012/08/23/newsflash-a-deareditor-com-free-edit-giveaway/

I'm entering this contest! It's for a free manuscript edit, from Dear Editor.com, a site that I've only recently found, but seems to be a great source of information. I'm going to recommend that you don't enter this contest, because I'd really like to win, and the few entries there are, the greater my odds.

And now, I need to make arrangements for my boy's birthday. Hopefully it will not be two months before the next post. I really will do my best (I don't just say that to make myself feel better about being a slug when it comes to blogging.) 

Everybody Lies

It's one of the first things you learn about Gregory House- he has no faith in anyone's humanity, least of all his own. I finally got around to watching the series finale of House today. I'd been putting it off because I had a feeling that it was going to be emotional (it was) and because I didn't want a series that I enjoyed so thoroughly to be over.

*Spoilers.*


I'd heard rumors that there was talk of killing off the character in the final episode. In fact, Hugh Laurie himself said it in a recent interview I heard on NPR. With the revelation that Wilson was dying too, this seemed even more possible.

Who is Sherlock without Watson? We've never known. It's possible that he doesn't even exist. We know who Watson THINKS Holmes is, but maybe Holmes needs Watson to exist at all. For example, together House and Wilson are a mostly complete person. But separately? House can't exist without Wilson.

Thus, I was not terribly surprised when it did appear, in the final episode, that House was dead. I guessed the twist though, as I often do. In true Holmesian style, he makes a miraculous, Reichenbach Falls return. This was the point at which I began to take issue with the direction of the finale. At the funeral, everyone whose life House has touched speaks of what they've learned from him. Wilson begins to rant, but is interrupted by the ringing of his own phone. Cue House's return, except Wilson is the only one who knows.

The end is a montage of all the characters over the years settling into life without House and they all seem to have exactly what they need. House and Wilson ride off into the wilderness on motorcycles, content to live Wilson's last days to the fullest.

It was, to quote House's final line, the last word spoken in the series, "boring."

A neatly wrapped and tied up happy ending is inappropriate for a show as dark and real as House. I wanted House to be dead. Really, truly dead. Everyone would have ended the same way anyway, getting what they needed with his death. Perhaps not Wilson, but I think it would have been more poignant if House really couldn't have faced a life without his best friend and took the easy way out.  It certainly would have been more in character.

Yes, he proved that he really did care about Wilson and could be a good friend, and yes he did manipulate absolutely everyone one final time, but he didn't NEED to. It was always clear how much he cared, despite him being a selfish sociopath/asshole. And as far as manipulative plots go, this was one of the more shallow ones. There are generally more layers.

And what happens to House? Wilson will die, definitely. Are we supposed to think House rides off alone after that? And does...what? Lives life to the fullest because he's already dead? How boring.

Finally, is it wrong that I want a completely flawed character? Not a tragic hero, which House is too, but an anti-hero. One with no redeeming qualities, but still a hero, not a villain. The equal and opposite character to Atticus Finch. Can you name one?

I'm still thinking.