8 posts tagged “life”
So.
It's been several rough weeks over here. Without complaining incessantly, this whole LI (lactose intolerance) thing is a pain in the pa-tootie. With more research I have discovered that it looks like LI (severe LI) rather than milk allergies. Until the end of last week, I had no food in my refrigerator, and I couldn't eat anything except salad at the cafeteria. So, stuck between the choice of eating something with dairy in it and getting sick, or not eating, I didn't eat. For two weeks, I think I ate maybe four times. While that has done wonders in making me comfortably fit pants a size smaller, I was so incredibly out of it. I felt like a zombie wandering the earth.
After two weeks, and when I finally start to eat again (I have food in my fridge), I get smacked down by the cold from hell. For some reason, my sleeping schedule got all off track and let's just say I'm beating my own personal insomnia records. Finally, a week after I get my cold, I'm 90% better and can function without being heavily medicated, when I get hungry and decide that eating a Panini, with the cheese taken off would be just fine. It did have mayonnaise, but it was a mayonnaise-Dijon blend which I reasoned couldn't upset me too much.
Boy was I wrong. Over 30 hours later, I'm still feeling icky.
I really hate LI.
Knitting wise, this is going to be quick cause I'm actually tired and I have a huge test that I'm getting up early to cram for (see what I mean about the insomnia thing? And this is nothing) I haven't been doing much of it. I'm working on the earrings project, plan to resume the Monkey socks and finish up the Counterpoint blanket.
Summer's finally over, and school is here. My professor's are definitely taking advantage of that, and although it's only the the third day of school, I've already been loaded down with reading. Luckily not many assignments yet, just reading.
I've been pretty busy. I worked all summer at Sears (I'm naming them as company C since I am no longer employed there) in order to save up for a car. I did save up some money, but luckily my parents helped me pay for quite a bit of it so I didn't have to get a clunker. Instead I got a '98 Civic Coupe DX (ie. no power windows, locks, or A/C) but I love it to death. My car is simply adorable, and fits me quite perfectly. It's amazing what a difference having a car has made so far. I've been able to go out to lunch with friends, go to Portland to meet the wonderful PDX knitters from Ravelry in order to go on a yarn crawl (more on that later) and went to Cannon Beach yesterday. I love it. I'm no longer going stir-crazy in this little town my school is in, and the trip to Portland does not take 2 hours each way.
So I'm back in school and loving every minute of it. It's very busy, and hopefully will become more so as I'm handing out my resume to several organizations tomorrow in order to get a work-study job. There are about nine that look like they would fit me and what I'm studying pretty well, so I'm hoping for one of those. If not, I'll just have to take a job on campus.
I'll post a bit more later, but tomorrow's going to be a busy day and I need to get some sleep.
Night 'all.
... At the place I am housesitting, thus the lack of posting. This is my first time in TWO DAYS I've been able to get onto the internet. Well, technically they do have internet, but I can't hook up my computer to it, and since all of the stuff I do is on password protected stuff (Vox, facebook, Ravelry, TtH, Flickr, etc) I don't feel that comfortable doing it on someone elses computer. So now I'm at the library soaking up the Wi-Fi connection.
I've gotten caught up on email and Facebook, and now it's time to get caught up on Traveler, as the next day (Thursday) was my first day of work as an employee of Company B, so I didn't end up watching it. (It's on at 10pm and since I work early and the dog gets me up early, and I want to be awake for work... I need to go to sleep early.
I am now officially employed! Yay! Anyways, I'm off to go watch Traveler.
(For those who just want to hear about the knitterly stuff, scroll down. :D)
I know there's been a bit of a lull in posting, but I have excuses valid reasons. First of all, I got accepted to Ravelry. Like many other fellow knitters, I have caught the Ravelry obsession and spend way too much time than is healthy on that site. Secondly, I've been looking for and applying for summer jobs. It's a pain and quite a hassle, as many places won't hire seasonal summer workers.
In the middle of May, I applied to four places. One wanted me to have experience in something I didn't (even though I knew plenty about four other areas directly related to their store), two weren't hiring seasonal people (one didn't tell me this until I was actually in the interview, the other didn't until two weeks after I applied), and the other one I got through the entire interviewing process only to find out that there had been a bit of miscommunication with the manager and they already had enough seasonal people.
This last one was the job I was really hoping for, and it looked really good, until they called me yesterday. I was a bit upset at this oversight, but I immediately started applying at more places, and resuming my job search. Unfortunately, it took so long for this last company (we'll call them company A) to get back to me and to go through the interviewing process that I'm already a month into my summer. Not a good thing for someone who wants seasonal work.
So yesterday I applied to two jobs (Company B and C). I tried applying at company D but their online application software wasn't working correctly. Today I looked at Company E which had a job fair, only to find out they don't have any seasonal positions open. While on my way to the job fair, I got called by company B, who wants to interview me! Yay! TI also picked up an application for Company F and talked with the manager who said they only have night and weekend shifts open. I'm not sure if that'll be enough hours, but right now anything is better than nothing. I also went into company G and filled out their application, took their little customer service test, and talked with the manager. He said I can expect a call back around Monday.
Whew! Do you understand why I haven't been posting now? :D In the past month (and a few days) I've applied to 8 companies! (Ten if you count company D and the E's job fair)
Also, last weekend we drove down to California (that's right, DROVE). And not northern California, oh no. We were in Santa Monica. My uncle had passed away after a long and fruitful life (he was 92 years old) and my mother, who was very close to him, wanted to be at the funeral. So my entire family drove down to California. It's an 18 hour drive. We left Thursday at 2:30, and came back Sunday night at 12:30. That's a whole lot of driving.
In knitting news:
I did get some knitting done! On the way done to California, I made this.
Pattern: Campfire Socks, by Cider Moon (It's a free pattern!)
Yarn: Colinette's Jitterbug
Needles: Lantern Moon Bamboo Size 2
I love this pattern, and I want to make these over and over and over in different yarns. But my mom saw these, and she wants a pair. In the same exact yarn. I'm not sure if I can handle making two pairs of socks (Four socks, four!) using the same exact yarn and the same exact pattern. The yarn is gorgeous though. It's a bit short on the yardage though, or at least that's what I thought. Because of this, I bought two balls of yarn. If you only have to buy one ball, it's a pretty average price for sock yarn. But if you have to buy two... these are not Lorna's Laces prices, my friends. It would make some pretty expensive socks. However, one ball looks like it will do just fine. And I made them a normal length, it's not like they're anklets.
My friend and I, about two to three weeks ago, decided we should make some knitted bags. We went to Ben Franklin and picked out some yarn. I chose a deep, deep purple color to make the Sheep Tote. It was such a quick knit, and turned out beautifully. I only used one strand, and adjusted the pattern a bit to maintain the same dimensions with my smaller gauge (worsted for bulky swap). We were even good little knitters and both made a gauge swatch, then felted it. I used my gauge swatch to practice needle felted the sheep. Ignore the white blobs behind the green and white ones and the white one by his head (I was trying different methods). I just love the lime green. Lime green and purple are a gorgeous combination.
On the way down to California, I also finished Soleil. That's right. I finished knitting Soleil. (I don't think I ever mentioned it here, I should have but it only took me three weeks to complete!!!) My first ever large fitted garment is done. I'm very happy with it. I haven't blocked it, seamed the shoulders, woven in the ends or done the crochet edging, but other than that, it's completely done! (To me, although it is important, the finishing is minor in comparison to the rest of it.)
Pattern: Soleil from Knitty
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cathay
Amount Used: 6 skeins
Needles: US 6
Adjustments: I made the torso a bit longer, and I actually made the straps thinner by 6 sts. They're still plenty wide)
School is over! Spring break is finally here! It's been several months since I last had a break, so for the past week I've been counting down.
SPRING BREAK!
It's been a long day. I got up at 9 to go to my first class, which lasted until 11ish. In there we watched a documentary about Harvey Milk, the first gay public official in the United States, and his assassination, as well as the Mayor of San Francisco. It was heartbreaking, especially the light sentence his shooter received. Seven years. Seven years for killing two men. For bringing his gun as well as extra bullets in his pocket as he climbed through the side window of city hall, argued with the mayor, then shot him several times. He proceeded to reload his gun, then went to Harvey Milk's office and killed him. After an eleven day trial, the shooter, a former public official serving on the same board as Harvey Milk, received seven years.
That made me a bit emotionally exhausted, and it was only 11 am. I proceeded to go to the library to pick up a manual on writing sociological papers, and spent two hours reading it cover to cover and taking notes. Soon it was time for my next class, so I went down to the art studio and was there for a couple of hours, only to come back and spend 3 hours in the library doing research (non-internet research, which is the much more exhausting than searching through Google) for one of my term papers. Once I copied everything I needed, I ate dinner.
Sorry to bore you with all of that, but that's why I'm tired. I've been on my feet for 5 hours (in studio I get better results if I stand) and I was looking through and hunting for reference books filled with tables of information. So unfortunately, now I'm tired and I still have to do Calculus and some reading. :(
Oh well. I'm taking an hour break (my first break today) to just relax.
And I finished plying the CMF Azure Sky singles. And boy, is it gorgeous. Pictures will probably be up later today.
Yes, you read right, I'm finally working on a project that resembles a sweater; something that actually has shaping and
And the power outage was a doozy. As some of you may know, Washington state had a huge storm.We had two inches of rain. In an hour.
While the rain was excessive, it was nothing too bad. But then combine that much rain with 90 mile per hour winds. It was disastrous. There were at least a million people without power, for incredible periods of time. Ours, as previously mentioned, was out for seven days. SEVEN DAYS.
We were one of the lucky ones; we have a wood fireplace in order to keep warm, and a small generator to keep us from going insane and killing one another, although that was pretty close, although we lost all the food in our freezers and our refrigerator. However, over 68 people were hospitalized because of carbon monoxide poisoning; they burned charcoal grills inside in an attempt to keep warm. Many had trees hit their houses, their boats, their cars. Some had to leave their homes and go to a shelter just to keep warm. Those who stayed slept in snowboarding/skiing/camping gear just to keep warm when their houses were 35 degrees. We did survive though.
Back to the Edna vest.
Pattern: Edna vest from Double Exposure
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran
Colour: 330010
Needles: Stumpos US 6 for the back, and probably US 7 for the front
I'll put some more up later, but since I've been home I've been neglecting this a bit, so I just thought I would break my period of inactivity.
What's the reason for this happiness? Since Monday, I've been working on my CS (Computer Science) assignment. I thought I knew what I was going to do and had all the code planned out, but when I got to my computer I realized I had no idea how to start. So I went into CS tutoring/lab on Tuesday night, and got help starting it. I then set up the backbone of the assignment, or what needed to be there in order to do anything else. But on Wednesday, I got stuck again, and wasn't sure how to proceed, so I went into my Prof's office hrs, and she told me that I had the hardest part of the assignment done! Yippee! (Incidently, this 'hardest part' took me about an hour). So then she gave me a bit of guidance on where to go next. I thought it was all good, and I made sure to stay there for a few extra minutes to make sure I understood it, but when I got back to my room, I got totally tripped up again. I had no idea about one part that she told me to do, I didn't know if she wanted me to put part of the code I had already into a function or to build a new one. Last night, I was really stressed because here it was Wednesday, and it's due Friday, and there seemed like there would be no way I could get it done by then. However, I went into my prof's office hrs again this morning, and in less than five minutes I got it straightened out. I then immediately went back to my room and started coding.
I'm so happy because my CS assignment works perfectly. All the pieces (except one which I still need to code up) are done and it's beautiful! It's actually a really cool program that either decodes or encodes a message in a user-defined file and outputs the answer to another file. If the messages is in all caps, the decoded message will be in all caps (that's the part I need to add real quickly) and it will take sentences or even paragraphs without messing up the editing.
I'm just glad that it's done, or at least almost done. I'll go into CS tutoring tonight too, if I can't get the alpha function to work correctly. It's nice that our tutor is having a second session this week; usually he only has one a week.
Incidently, last night when my friend and I were trying to figure out this assignment, we went to our ARA(Academic Resident Assistant) to see if she could help us, as she's in our class. And you know what? She hadn't even started it. Yikes. I mean, I think she's doing well in that class, but still. I tried once to start one of the assignments two days before it was due; not fun in anyway. Doing that once was enough that I never did it again; I was about to kill myself from all the stress. It was so down to the wire that I was frantically coding minutes before class, trying to get it to display correctly. Not fun at all. Anyways, I just think it's ironic that ARA procrastinates until the day before.
