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[16 Feb 2003|06:58pm] [ mood | cold ] [ music | eliza carthy - russia (call waiting) ] 10 good things about this winter: 1. Nifty snow rollers earlier this week (see last journal entry) 2. I get to wear my cute mittens and arm warmers that Kirkham knitted for me 3. We can get cold water out of the tap right away - no need to run it 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 2 comments|post comment

snow sushi [14 Feb 2003|07:08pm] [ mood | happy ] [ music | salaam, softly ] On Wednesday we noticed some odd formations made of snow, that looked like someone had rolled up snow like an enchilada or like sushi. They were on most fairly flat places and some slopes, too. No footprints near them. I also saw tracks that some had made on roofs, before falling off the edge. Then Thursday's paper had an article about them. They're called snow rollers, and they form when the temperature and the texture/wetness of the snow is just right, and there are winds like we had the night they formed. Most of them are tube-shaped, and the ones we saw were anywhere from fist-sized to around a foot long. They're really neat looking. I have never seen anything like them. Here's a link to the article that was in the paper. I took some pictures of them on Thursday. The first picture is of several in the side yard of the house next door. They formed in the flat part of the yard, and rolled down this slope. This one was in the lot across from our laundromat. There were a whole bunch, but this is the best photo I got. It really illustrates the tube-like shape. I got on my knees in the snow to get this shot, so the sunlight would shine through. Yes, that is a hole that goes all the way through the roll! I am so happy to live on a planet where stuff like this can happen. This, and aurora borealis, and lizards with bright iridescent blue tails. What a magical planet, and most of the time we don't even notice! I printed out the above two photos to send to my mom, along with the newspaper clipping about the rollers. While at the photo shop printing my pics, I met a man who also found snow rollers in his yard. He said inside some of his, there was a pine cone -- so they formed around a cone as it blew across the surface of the snow. Neat! Then I went to write my letter to Mom at the coffeehouse Soma. I had hot cocoa and thought about thiscafe. ^_^ I thought about when Soma used to be a used bookstore. It's in the basement of a cool old building. The bookstore ran through the whole basement; now Soma has most of it, and TD's CDs and LPs is in the other part. I wouldn't want Soma and TD's place to go away, but I wish they could somehow co-exist with the old bookstore, which I miss and still dream about. It was a labyrinth of bookshelves in that low-ceilinged place. As I was sitting in the corner in Soma's back room, thinking about the bookstore, it was like it flickered in and out of reality; the internal view overlay the external, and I could almost believe I could turn a mental corner and be back there, picking up old books and smelling their old book smell, bending my head to avoid the ductwork, wending my way through the semi-darkness with a few amazing finds tucked under my arm. What do they put in the hot cocoa at Soma?! ^_^ 3 comments|post comment

[13 Feb 2003|10:14pm] We saw "Rabbit Proof Fence". It was really, really good. I was so glad we saw it on the big screen, because the vast Australian landscape wouldn't have made such an impact on a little TV screen. The music was by Peter Gabriel (which I didn't know until I saw the end credits) and it was spooky and beautiful. I took another silly personality test... ( Read more... ) post comment

the coolest [13 Feb 2003|06:23pm] The coolest one-inch button company I have seen online: http://www.mushycat.com/buttons/ I ordered some yesterday. He responded right away. w00t! new buttons! w00t! And, I decided I'm definitely getting my own one-inch button machine, from buttonsonline.com, because I have so many things I want to make buttons of, and also I think it would be fun to sell them (though probably not thru an online business - maybe on eBay occasionally when I have time, but mostly out of my backpack or whatever). Because there are so many button companies out there, I have a secret business plan to make my own button company unique and different from anyone else's. But since it is secret, I cannot reveal it here. All I will say is that the challenge of making a satisfying design in such a little bitty space is part of it. ^_^ post comment

Dag! [12 Feb 2003|08:16pm] [ mood | raised eyebrow ] Guy at the hardware store thinks he knows better than me. Tells me he can't make a copy of my car key, "because it has a chip". I say I don't think it has a chip, he says, "I can tell, and it does, so I can't make a copy." I say, "I'm not telling you you're wrong, but my husband has a copy of this key, and it was made with a flat blank, definitely no chip." The guy shrugs and starts looking thru his blanks, still saying, "I don't think so." But he finds a blank that looks right. About then, I figure out that he thinks the little flashlight thingy in my key is a chip. I point out it's a light. He agrees it's a light, makes my key, but he's still saying he doesn't know if the key will work for the ignition. I'm s'posed to keep my receipt in case. Dag! I know the key doesn't have a chip! (And of course it works fine.) Guy I barely know greets me in line at the library. He starts talking to me about the book of Job in the bible because he remembers my name is Job. He's being kind of confusing, like he said "I'm not going to read things in translation anymore," so I ask him if he's reading Job in Hebrew, and he says no and gives me the bwah? look. Then he's talking about Job being such a tragic story. I say I think it has some beautiful passages. He gives me the bwah? look again, and I say, you know, the bit where God is talking about his creation, and he says "I have given the horse strength, I have clothed his neck in thunder" and all that. He starts sort of spouting off, how it's such a negative book, yadda yadda. Like I'm not allowed to say something that contradicts him. Then he takes off, walking quick, like he can't get away fast enough. Dag! Ok, so God comes off as a big jerk in Job. But there are still beautiful passages in there, and I'm entitled to have an opinion. On another topic entirely To the tune of "Bar of Soap": Oh, I wish I had a little bag of dope (bag of dope!) Oh, I wish I had a little bag of dope (bag of dope!) I would smokie smokie smokie And I'd tokie tokie tokie Oh, I wish I had a little bag of dope (bag of dope!) post comment

[12 Feb 2003|09:40am] [ mood | pleased ] [ music | cibo matto ] 1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? A cup of coffee with cream 2. What's your favorite cereal? Oatmeal, or other hot cereal; I'm not fond of cold cereal 3. How often do you eat out? Do you want that to change? Too often. Probably averages to one meal a day. I would like to eat out less, but that means cooking more, which means keeping on top of the dishes, which isn't happening right now 4. What do you plan on having for dinner tonight? Got a recipe for that? Heh. I plan to go out to eat. I'm craving thukpa from Little Tibet. I don't have a recipe, but it's a tasty soup/stew with lots of dumplings, daikon, beef, and cilantro. Sounds weird when I describe it that way, but it's so flavorful and feels so nourishing. If I don't go there, I might go to Shanti and get curry, but Shanti is more expensive 5. What's your favorite restaurant? Why? Dude, I can't pick one. Here's a list: Little Tibet, Shanti (indian food), Samira (persian food), Casablanca (moroccan), the Trojan Horse (greek), the Uptown Cafe (american tinged with world cuisine), and for cheaper, the Village Deli (sammiches) and Laughing Planet (mostly burritos). I really only like the asian veggie bowl from Laughing Planet, because they are too heavy handed with the cumin in everything else. But I do love that asian veggie bowl, especially when I feel like I need something healthy. For the Why? part: all have great food, and all are locally owned. Edited later: Oh! I forgot Domo! Gomenasai! Gomenasai! My very favorite Japanese restaurant ever. Avocado rolls to die for! Insomnia vs. reading in bed I have been thinking about my lifelong insomnia and my lifelong habit of reading in bed. I was one of those kids who read with a flashlight under the covers for hours after she was supposed to go to sleep. So I asked myself, did one cause the other, or do they contribute to each other? My parents seemed to think I would fall asleep if I just turned off the damn flashlight, but I really don't think it worked that way for me. In my case, I'm pretty sure the insomnia came first. I think I remember lying awake for hours before I learned to read, though it's hard to be sure, since I learned to read very young and also because those memories of lying awake tend to blur. But I think I've always had insomnia. I've definitely always had the dark circles -- see in my user icon? that's me at five years old, with nice bruised-looking eyes from not sleeping. I think once I learned to read, I used reading as a form of entertainment while I was forced to lie in bed whether I was sleepy or not. Did my love of reading come from the fact of reading so much? or would I have loved reading so much, if I hadn't had the time to do so much of it? That is something I cannot answer, but for me, lying in bed and reading are still, at almost 40, inextricably intertwined. Now reading is almost an aid to falling asleep. If I can't fall asleep, I can get out a book, and if I'm truly sleepy but it's just that my mind won't stop spinning enough to let me through the gate of horn, then the story will take over my brain and soon I am snoring with the book on my chest. And if reading doesn't let help me to slumberland, then at least I am entertained. But then there are the books that I cannot stop reading, that keep me up till all hours. Every new Harry Potter book... I stay up until I'm done. New Charles de Lint will usually do it to me. New John Crowley used to, but I'm not that pleased with the direction that the Aegypt series is taking... the last two I have had to struggle to finish. But I digress. The book has to be new, something I've never read before. I'm swept along and I cannot sleep until I am done, but then, oh sweet sleep, and dreaming. post comment

a most curious thing [11 Feb 2003|08:55am] I just saw a most curious thing. While my coffee was brewing, I went out to shovel the walk and bring in the trash can and recycling bins. I was flinging big shovels-full of snow aside when I saw a man coming down my street on cross-country skis. Cross-country skiers are not a common sight in southern Indiana, let me tell you -- particularly right in town. I exchanged a greeting with the skier and watched him go down to the bottom of the street, where it dead-ends at the tracks. He took off his skis and walked to the top of the embankment, then put them back on and skied down the railroad tracks. On another note, this is not a good snow for making snowpeople, as it is too dry and fluffy. I couldn't get it to pack well. So I am resigned to doing my homework instead of playing. I have given myself a reward at the end of the paper, though: I will walk in the snow to the hardware store, and get birdseed. post comment

morning [11 Feb 2003|08:22am] It's snowing and it's beautiful. Part of me is thinking "Dag I'm ready for it to be spring" but the rest wants to go out and make snowpeople. But I must stay inside and do homework. Still catching up from missing a week of school. Birdies on my feeder are having to dig deep for seeds. I would go out and throw some more food on top of the snow, but I'm out of bird food. Sorry, birds! I'll get more this afternoon! At least they have a fresh suet block. I guess I can throw some peanuts out there, too. Feeding birds in winter feels like a regular duty to me, like feeding the cats... it's just a part of my routine. My mom always fed birds, and now I feed birds. I know they can forage for their own food, but I like being able to make their lives a little easier. Squirrels and rabbits too. The rabbits usually don't forage by the birdfeeders, but lately they have been... I see their prints in the snow all around. I suppose the hard winter has made them hungry enough to eat nuts and seeds. I should see if I can get some old carrots from the co-op for them. One more cup of coffee and then it's back to work. I don't have much left to do on this paper and it will feel so good to have it finished, like finishing cleaning the kitchen, looking around and seeing everything all sparkly clean and orderly. It's a very orderly paper, just needs a few corners straightened up. post comment

finally [10 Feb 2003|02:04pm] [ mood | exhausted ] [ music | le tigre, in my head ] I finally have a chance for a quick update. Reading or posting on livejournal proved to be unfeasible from my parents' house. Mom's computer was frequently taken over by one sibling or another, my laptop's modem was only working at about 20K because of noisy phone lines, and I could only be on the line for short periods of time anyway because of the incredible number of phone calls coming in from people who wanted updates. Mom seems to have a lot of friends. So I was on livejournal withdrawal for several days. At least it's a healthy addiction. The news about my mom is that she came through the surgery fine; the damage to her heart was much worse than they had thought, but they got all the diseased parts out; she spent longer in ICU than expected; and she is still in the hospital, but is now in a private room. She has had some setbacks with blood pressure and with pneumonia. She was warned to stop smoking before the surgery, but she didn't, so she increased her risk of lung problems post-surgery. Then she slacked off on her breathing exercises 2-3 days ago, and ended up with the bottom part of both lungs being collapsed. She has to work extra hard on her breathing exercises to open them back up, but she's being petulant about it. I can't really blame her for complaining, but if she doesn't work at this she could end up in the hospital for weeks and really jeopardize her recovery. I am both worried and angry with her about it. It's kind of a role reversal... I remember times when I wasn't doing something I needed to be doing, and she would be frustrated with me in the same way. The difference is she could get really sick, or even die, if she doesn't push herself now. I should cut this, it's going to be long and rambling. ( Read more... ) 3 comments|post comment

in tennessee [02 Feb 2003|03:24pm] I'm in Tennessee. Mom seems stressed out but is trying to be cheerful. Dad's trying to be helpful. Everyone else is worried, sad about the space shuttle, and (for some weird reason) apologizing to each other for stuff we did to each other when we were kids. :-P Funny stuff: Dad's a packrat, can't stand to throw anything away. Something to do with living through the Depression. He was loaning Kirk a belt, and I noticed that some of his old belts were kind of beat up. I took a closer look, and one was actually *split in half* at one of the holes, and held together only by threads on each side. Dad did allow me to throw the belt away. But... he has passed his packrat genes on to me, and I found that I couldn't throw it away without taking the buckle off of it first. It was a perfectly good buckle! I might be able to use that! (Packrat, packrat!) I am on an incredibly slow modem... *sings* "I waaannnttt myyy.... I waaannnntt myyy Deee eSSS eLLL...." post comment

better [31 Jan 2003|10:17pm] This is better. I realized the only food I'd had today was a bowl of soup and a cookie. Now I have an enchilada and a taco inside me, and I feel more focused. The writing is... not going great, but it's starting to get done. It is so pretty outside, though, that I just want to walk around all night. There's snow frosted all over the tree branches, yet it is 35 degrees. A perfect night for snow walking, but I must finish this critique and upload it by midnight. *sigh* post comment

[31 Jan 2003|06:39pm] [ mood | decent except stressed ] It's snowing and the light is all soft and grey. It's pretty. I watched the evening grow darker from my back window. Our new vacuum cleaner finally came in today. Kirk just put a bag in it and hoovered the living room. His comment, "It sucks! And in a good way!" It should, it was rated #1 by CR. I want to take our old crappy one and throw it on the railroad track, but he won't let me. I am beginning to feel stressed about this assignment. I thought it was going to be pretty easy, so I've been kind of screwing around this afternoon, writing a paragraph here, fooling around on the web for awhile, then coming back to tweek my paragraph, then goofing off again. I just went through the whole template, though, and made outline notes for each section, and there is a lot more writing than I thought. So I have been trying to focus on it, but I keep getting brain-freeze. This update is an attempt to get me back in writing mode. Right. Now, back to it. post comment

opposites? [30 Jan 2003|09:55pm] made me laugh: I saw a big fake plant, right under a fake skylight. That takes a certain flair on the part of the decorator, don't you think? makes me anxious: Mom's surgery date has been moved to Tuesday. I can still be there, but now I am worried that they will change it again, and I'll have to come back to Bloomington and not be there. post comment

Hmmm [29 Jan 2003|07:55pm] [ mood | amused ] [ music | Some web radio station Kirk is listening to ] I had a short conversation with a lentil from my soup today. I didn't like what it had to say, so I ate it. This caused Kirk to confirm that I am emotionally disturbed. We held wind-up toy sumo matches. The walking sushi won against the black cat. The space shuttle refused to engage in sumo. This song on the radio right now has the lyrics, "oh to be a cat, to be a feline cat, to have a cat lover scratch my chin... oh to find a fresh pile of laundry... oh to be enthralled with a ball of twine..." It's mighty cute. The singer is Lauren Lane Powell. I must investigate. I fell in love with a kitty today at Petsmart. He was small and stripy. He made kitty biscuits the whole time I visited with him. He rubbed his face on my fingers really hard, and purred. I wanted him so bad. But, I have four already. I consoled myself with the idea that a kitty that friendly will surely find a good home soon. They also had bitty finches at Petsmart. I don't think it's nice to keep birdies in cages, but I liked seeing these. I think the bitty ones were chicks; they seemed extra puffy and had really short tails, like they hadn't grown all their feathers yet. 3 comments|post comment

and my family wonders why I don't have kids [29 Jan 2003|09:36am] [ mood | content ] Here's a charming mental image, culled from my brother's blog: ( Read more... ) I like having nieces, but I *love* being able to hand Baby over when it's diaper changing time. However, I can't resist adding these niece pictures. One is Erika (three and a half) with Anna (new). The other is my mom and dad, seeing Anna when she was three days old. ( Read more... ) post comment

overheard on the bus [28 Jan 2003|03:00pm] [ mood | amused ] [ music | school of ed library sounds ] Overheard on the bus today: Girl #1: "It's like Alice in Wonderland, but without the shoes." Girl #2: "Wait, that's Dorothy" ^_^ It is warmer today. I am happy. I went to MCPL for a little while to try to find Tiki Party ideas, but didn't find much besides a recipe book for rum drinks. This has to do with an idea of Kirk's that I might take a bit too far. I need cheapo decorating inspiration. I will probably have to rent South Pacific, which Kirkham claims is his favorite musical. My favorite musical is Guys and Dolls, because the choreography is so cool. What is your favorite musical? 3 comments|post comment

yay water [27 Jan 2003|10:14pm] [ mood | exhausted ] [ music | nothin'. ] I have plumbing again. No more bundling up early in the morning to go pee next door. No more taking mugs next door to wash. Yay! I can run the dishwasher! I can shower in my own house! And it only cost about $450.00. Arrgghhh. I'm totally beat. I think I *am* getting sick. I drank Lemon Ginger Echinacea juice today and took vitamins and stuff, but it might be too little too late. My right lymph nodies are sore and stuff, and that side of my neck is all hot. I was entertained in lecture today. Elizabeth Boling rocks. She made this analogy with a cookie that I find I cannot explain here. I have much homework to do for tomorrow, though, and I haven't bought all my books even *yet*, and I can't figure out how to dub a VHS tape. Some IST person I am. Bleh. post comment

no plumber yet [27 Jan 2003|10:21am] [ mood | tired ] [ music | Portishead ] I always knew I was a weirdo, I just never knew what kind. what sort of weirdo are you? this quiz by orsa I found out I can put my hair in two braids, then roll each braid into a knot, with the fuzzy braid end sticking out. I'm not sure if it looks cute or stupid. Kirkham isn't either, but he's a guy. At any rate, I think I'll wear it this way to class today. I can get behind either cute or stupid with my hair. I want more coffee, but my water jugs are empty, so I have to go to Steve's house to get water. Bleh. I want my plumbing back. Lymph nodes in my neck feel swollen and painful. I hope I am not getting sick. Note to self: take vitamins once I have more water. Oh yeah: I meant to say, I really love today's MegaTokyo. It's a Dead Piro Day, not a strip. Erika looks like how I feel right now. 7 comments|post comment

so pretty [26 Jan 2003|10:35am] [ mood | content ] It's snowing! It is beautiful. It's so quiet outside, even though I live in the city. I went out and shoveled my walk and my neighbor's, and for a while, just stood and looked at the snow. Because I live by the railroad tracks, which at this point on the line are lined with trees on both sides, I can pretend I live further out of town, almost in the country. I can smell woodsmoke from the neighbors to the west, and gaze at the snow-gathering trees and brush to the south. Many birds live along the tracks, and rabbits, raccoons, and other small creatures. (Also humans in shanties, further west of me.) The overgrown land makes good habitat. That is why I get not only sparrows, cardinals, and juncos on my feeders, but also downy woodpeckers, red-bellied woodpeckers, flickers, brown creepers, thrushes, wrens, and many other kinds of birds. I can see small bodies flitting around the tree stump, but because of the snow, they seem to be silent. "...white the fading forests grow, The wind dies out along the height, And denser still the snow, A gathering weight on roof and tree Falls down scarce audibly." -Archibald Lampman, set to music by Loreena McKennitt on her album "A Winter Garden" 3 comments|post comment

[25 Jan 2003|12:24pm] [ mood | calm ] [ music | Laurie Anderson - Strange Angels ] Here are some photos of the fairy chandelier ice sculpture: More this way... ( Read more... ) 5 comments|post comment

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