Things I learned last night

• It's not a real party unless a late-straggler climbs in the window.
• On a related note, vehicles passing by will stop or slow down to watch the spectacle.
  
• Hospitality is letting your guests know you cooked your "baby" just for them.
• There aren't levels of heresy, just different types.
• It is possible to run into people off-line who are familiar with and adore XKCD.
• The moment one half of a married couple mock-strangles his/her spouse, out comes the camera.
• As soon as one person mentions "nudism," the noise will drop to a lull as everyone pauses the various side conversations to listen.
• A conversation that begins with nudism eventually transitions to "boobs." That said, the conversation needn't devolve into fifth-grade-boy chortles, amazingly enough.
• Also amazingly, it is still possible to be in a room full of people and have only one person with Internet on his phone.
• Finally, showing up in a cape is a sure-fire conversation piece.
  
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  Now playing: Danzig - Mother
  via FoxyTunes
  

There must be stories there

I remember once, a long time ago, when a woman my family knew went to her closet and pulled out six hand-crocheted blankets, courtesy of my grandmother's handiwork--one blanket for each of her children. Each blanket was in a protective plastic bag, the children whom they belonged to long past babyhood. Look, she said, I kept them all.

Similarly, I remember my paternal grandmother showing me her wedding picture--she was smiling, young, no more than 18, I think, and she wore a polka-dotted knee-length dress. She then reached into the depths of her wardrobe and pulled out that same dress, a pale pink background with (I think) black or dark blue dots. At the time, she would have been somewhere near her fiftieth anniversary.

These things--wedding dresses and handmade baby blankets--are heirlooms. Or, ideally, should be. I understand that circumstances happen--marriages crumble, babies don't always make it, and sometimes, you just need to clear out the old to make space for the new.

But it always gives me a twinge of sadness to see abandoned wedding dresses and baby blankets in thrift stores. For each cast-off, I think, there must be a story, and I often wonder about that.

I needed to hear that

Most people who work at yarn and craft supply stores are the worst sorts of enablers. You could cynically argue that they're there to sell products, and yes, they are, but many have a passion for some craft.

"Are you storing your extra yarn in the freezer yet? No? Then you're still doing OK," one clerk told me at a yarn shop when I explained that a closet spilling over with yarn was exactly why I wasn't going to buy any that day.

When I relayed that story to a different clerk at a different store, she got a thoughtful look on her face and said, "Hmm... that's a good idea."

But a cashier at JoAnn's took a different approach. I was purchasing not yarn but a bin, in an attempt to bring better order to the chaos that is my yarn stash. When we were chatting and I explained my rationale for the bin, she said in all seriousness, "You know you're going to die one day, right? You need to use it up."

Taken a bit aback (and delighted by the unexpected bluntness of it), I defended myself: "But... I'm working on it, and I haven't bought any new yarn since December."

She was unimpressed. "That's only, what, a month and a half?"

Touche.


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Now playing: Metallica - The Unforgiven
via FoxyTunes

Her royal highness

My poor kitty was recently diagnosed with diabetes, and before the expensive and difficult treatment by way of insulin, the vet has recommended a special diet for her. Unfortunately, the presence of visiting PITA-cat makes simply leaving the food out in a dish not feasible; he's a bit of a pig, and it's not like he needs the special diet.

So my already spoiled cat now gets her meals served directly; I'm sure she thinks the clear glass bowl is crystal, for certainly the royal treatment is going to her furry little head.

The other morning, I brought her the dish of food. She barely glanced at it.

I lowered it slightly and tried to get her attention. Her ear barely flicked.

I lowered it further. She wasn't deigning to acknowledge this.

I knelt on the floor to give it to her. She uncurled and stood up to receive my offering.

I now know my place.

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Now playing: Nine Inch Nails - Closer
via FoxyTunes

Bloody 'ell... make it stop already

The snow gods need appeasement, apparently. Blood sacrifice it is then....

Ideas

I am not wholly an unemployed bum. Still have a very part-time, very low-pay tutoring job on campus. Still no leads on full-time work, and in that void, some ideas have arisen.

1. Look in other cities for work. I could go to Big City Across the State, or to my dream place, City by the Mountains with the Cool Hippie Vibe. Pros: New start, new possibilities, possibility of a better job market. Cons: New start, new acquaintances to have to make.

2. Stick it out here, and keep sending out applications and resumes. Pros: Sensible, bound to pay off eventually, stay in familiar territory. Cons: Depressing, job market's not great.

3. Shelve the job search for a short bit and finally see Europe. Pros: Always meant to do it, have realized I can afford it with what I have saved, takes me completely out of my comfort zone and will likely force me out of my introverted shell. Cons: Costs money, will leave a gap in my resume, maybe it won't be that world-altering after all--kind of a cliche, that "backpack Europe" bit.

So those are my options. Number 2 is the one most likely to happen, Number 1 is runner up, but, oh, Number 3 ignited the dreams again. I'm only young once...

Movie reviews

It's been a while since I went through with mini movie reviews, so hey, insta-blog post.

Into the Wild - I'm late to the party on this one, but man, it was good. I've always wanted to just leave everything behind and live in the wilderness, but practicality has always held me back. Not so much for Christopher McCandless. The movie tells of how he left everything behind and took to the road with a combination of idealism and naivete, leading up to a gut-wrenching and heart-breaking ending. (Not spoiling much; this much is revealed in the plot summary of the book the movie is based on.) Few movies leave me sitting there stunned, but this one did. You may not agree with the protagonist, and frankly, some of his decisions are selfish and stupid, but you come to care about him.

Repo! The Genetic Opera - Re-watch. Loved this the first time I watched it; loved it this time as well. It's a rocking and downright bloody musical, and it makes my inner goth girl squee with delight. Love the style (comic-book-style panels for exposition), the costuming, the morbid humor (the villain's kids are just so disturbingly dysfunctional). Heads-up for an appearance from Paris Hilton as a plastic-surgery addicted pop singer...

Huh. I guess this is all I can recall. I don't generally watch many movies.

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Now playing: Dark Tranquillity - My Friend of Misery
via FoxyTunes