Archives—June 2009

June 10—I'm back.

I went to Houston for my grandfather's funeral a week and a half ago. It did not go well. My dad and I somehow managed to arrive an hour early, my middle name was misspelled on the program (which also listed my hometown incorrectly; I'm from Houston, not Austin), it was hot, there were flies everywhere, there was a priest even though my grandfather hated the church, the Honor Guard almost dropped the flag before presenting it to to my aunt, my aunt cried hysterically, and later my aunt told me (in so many words) that she wanted me to have a daughter. On the upside, he was buried in his uniform (which he would have loved), the Honor Guard folks were nice and played far and away the best rendition of Taps I've ever heard in my life, and I saw some relatives I've not seen in a while and met a few I hadn't before. My dad's older cousin Mary is married to a vet of the Korean War, and he saluted during Taps. He was the very last person to walk by the casket, and he saluted as he did so. It was quite touching.

Anyway, I posted a new ARSE. It's the story of Stalker, an abusive jerk I dated in high school. It's really long and less amusing than the other stories, but I think it lays a lot of groundwork for other stories and explains some of my quirks regarding reasons for dumping guys.

I just completed a new knitting project I've been hankering to do for ages, a Compo hat (as in Compo from Last of the Summer Wine). I designed the pattern myself after failing to find a decent one online. My unsuccessful searches led me to create a whole new subsection of the site. I present to you Bad Knitting. There's not a lot there yet, but given my arrogance, snarkiness, and excessive spare time, it won't take long. Anyway, while I was at it, I updated a lot of other stuff in the knitting section. I finally got the pictures off my camera that have been there for months, so now several patterns that lacked pictures (notably Dom's Blanket) have them.

Also, I updated klutzy incidents through May and the political blog. Oh, and there are new pictures of my cats, notably of Bolie. I promise that's not as horrible as it sounds.

I've noticed that lately I've spent more time reading online than I have real books, which bothers me considerably. Reading was a big part of my life growing up, but college rather killed it for me. In the last year or two, I've gotten more into it. I read a few Terry Pratchett books and Thank You for Smoking while living at my old roommate Kirston's. Since the beginning of this year, I've read Oil! and am now reading Guards! Guards!, The Count of Monte Cristo, and I'm finally finishing The Pickwick Papers. Much as I love Dickens, the latter is proving mysteriously uninspiring. I'll probably sit down and finish the damn thing in three hours next week. Anyway, the point of all that is that I'm thinking of creating a small, new section of the site to encourage me to read more, though I haven't worked out the details yet.

June 14—For some reason, I want a milkshake.

I worked the Yanni show at the Erwin Center Friday. I am not a fan, but it was the least amount of standing around I've ever done at a show, so that made it awesome. Also, the roadie I worked for at the out was the best I've seen in a long time. (I made sure to tell him.) Anyway, I was glad to see some coworkers I hadn't talked to in a while. Of course, they all heard about my grandfather's passing and said they were sorry, which was all kinds of weird since I myself wasn't all that sorry. My grandfather and I didn't get along at all since he was racist, sexist, and homophobic. Ah well.

Anyway, I've posted a new rant about the idiotic notion of Texas seceding. I can't get the topic off my mind. As probably anyone reading this knows, I'm highly political. Thusly, I'm all too well aware of the right wing fringe lunacy spouting off about secession these days. Our incompetent ass of a governor, Rick Perry, even went as far as saying Texas held the right to secede. IT DOES NOT. Even if that were so, I can think of about twenty reasons, mostly financial in nature, that it's a stupid fucking idea. Rather than stick it in the politics blog where it belongs, I've created a whole rant on this one topic in the feeble hope that it will stop me from foaming at the mouth.

I've updated klutzy incidents and the political blog. I've also changed things around a bit in the recipes section, including creating a folder for sauces and garnishes. I posted several new recipes—guacamole, pico de gallo, flautas, and eggplant soufflée.

As I said last time, I've begun a page for a book of the week. I decided against creating similar pages for knitting patterns and recipes because I just don't think I have enough to say on the topics. Anyway, my first selection for Book of the Week is Oil!, by Upton Sinclair, which I read last winter. It was the basis for There Will Be Blood . . . which I'm off to watch now.

June 21—Father's Day

I have updated knitting (I posted two new patterns and changed the look of the page just slightly), klutzy incidents, and the political blog.

I've succeeded in gaining a bit of weight lately. I've been exercising, drinking the HEB knockoff of Ensure, and trying to remember to eat more. After five months, my efforts are finally starting to pay off, and some of my shirts are starting to get a little tighter around the arms, and one or two pairs of jeans are getting too snug (even for me). I went to Salvation Army and bought two new pairs of jeans, but I didn't have much luck with the shirts. Thusly, I instead bought cotton yarns to knit myself a couple of new shirts. I realize sewing is faster, but I hate sewing. Anyway, with knitting, I can make some pretty cabled and lacey items. This won't mean new patterns for knitting, though, since I'm working from existing patterns rather than designing my own. I will post pictures when I complete the projects.