Sooooooo busy. Seriously, all four of my lecture classes seem to average between 20 and 50 pages a class. It looks like most weeks I'll be reading somewhere in the 330-400 page range. Not to mention the work I'm doing for my externship, legal skills, or aikido and kendo stuff. It's nutty but it's interesting stuff (except for administrative law, which still makes me want to eat my own head).
I'm really loving my externship. It's time consuming, but so totally worth it. Right now, I'm working on personal injury cases, a criminal case, and some trademark stuff. And it's all really interesting, plus I get to see how all the crap I've been learning actually works out in the real world, which makes it so very much easier to care about classes. I might actually get to *use* this stuff! And it might actually made a difference in someones life! Who knew?
I've been getting a tiny amount of knitting done. One sleeve of the Sweater That Will Not End is almost done. Once that's done, I have one more sleeves, the turtleneck collar, and finish work to do. The end is in sight! The other active project I have is the Liberty Sale Socks, made from yarn I got in 1997 when I was in London. I'm most of the way done with the first foot. Really, I could finish those in a day if only I had day to sit and do it. I don't mind so much though, they are for me so there's no pressure. It's hard to resist planning the next project though, especially with so many UFO's and WIP's laying all over the place.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Spring semeter, the first week
I have survived the first week of the semester. Seeing as I lived through The Cold of Doom, a disastrous hakama related accident leaving me unable to move my right arm for nearly 2 days, and getting my grades (I don't want to talk about it), I think I'm doing ok. Still achy and a little stuffy, and my confidence has taking a pretty nasty beating, but really I'm ok with it.
So, here's the report so far:
1. Administrative law. The most boring. class. ever. Just looking at the book makes me to poke my eye out with a highlighter. Seriously. I may eat my own arm. And we're graded on class participation. Crap. Isn't staying awake enough? Now I have to contribute? gah.
2. Trademark Law. Yay! This is fun! I love the prof, but I think my unfortunate lack of knowledge relating to popular culture might be an issue here. The LYM teases me that I'm Dr. Brennan (from Bones). He's not wrong. This should be fun.
3. Intellectual Property. I had forgotten how much fun this prof was! Good class, interesting subject, should be lots of fun.
4. Employment Discrimination. For a class I singed up for at the last second and took only because it was the only open class that fit into my schedule, this turned out great. The subject is far more interesting than I thought it would be and the prof is interesting and engaging.
5. Legal Skills and Ethics. I have a trial and an ethics exam this semester. Like pulling teeth this one is, but oh well. Not much to be done.
6. Externship. Yay me I got one! This is my last best hope for ever scoring a job. But I think it'll work out well. I start really working on Monday, but so far I like everyone at the office. If nothing else, I will find out if actually practicing law is something I can deal with.
Really, any semester that starts out with 2 class discussions involving Elvis as a focal point can't be all bad. I'm starting to get in to classes where I can actually see how I might use what I am learning, and that feels pretty good. Hopefully my job search will go well too, my grades are going to be a problem but thanks to the LYM and his mother, I'm starting to get somewhere with the whole networking approach to job searching, so I have hope. I still seem to in a place where every accomplishment comes with a blow, but the blows are getting to be less or maybe I am just dealing with them better. Either way, I'll take it.
So, here's the report so far:
1. Administrative law. The most boring. class. ever. Just looking at the book makes me to poke my eye out with a highlighter. Seriously. I may eat my own arm. And we're graded on class participation. Crap. Isn't staying awake enough? Now I have to contribute? gah.
2. Trademark Law. Yay! This is fun! I love the prof, but I think my unfortunate lack of knowledge relating to popular culture might be an issue here. The LYM teases me that I'm Dr. Brennan (from Bones). He's not wrong. This should be fun.
3. Intellectual Property. I had forgotten how much fun this prof was! Good class, interesting subject, should be lots of fun.
4. Employment Discrimination. For a class I singed up for at the last second and took only because it was the only open class that fit into my schedule, this turned out great. The subject is far more interesting than I thought it would be and the prof is interesting and engaging.
5. Legal Skills and Ethics. I have a trial and an ethics exam this semester. Like pulling teeth this one is, but oh well. Not much to be done.
6. Externship. Yay me I got one! This is my last best hope for ever scoring a job. But I think it'll work out well. I start really working on Monday, but so far I like everyone at the office. If nothing else, I will find out if actually practicing law is something I can deal with.
Really, any semester that starts out with 2 class discussions involving Elvis as a focal point can't be all bad. I'm starting to get in to classes where I can actually see how I might use what I am learning, and that feels pretty good. Hopefully my job search will go well too, my grades are going to be a problem but thanks to the LYM and his mother, I'm starting to get somewhere with the whole networking approach to job searching, so I have hope. I still seem to in a place where every accomplishment comes with a blow, but the blows are getting to be less or maybe I am just dealing with them better. Either way, I'll take it.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Still alive
...barely. I have contracted whatever the most recent plague happens to be, which I find interesting seeing as I have not seen a living person since Wednesday, and then it was only because I had aikido. Seriously. You would think my hermit-like lifestyle would nicely preclude getting contagious diseases but there it is.
It's been a rather not so good last week or so, but I have some hope that things may be on a bit of an up-swing. Maybe. Who knows. Class starts on Tuesday, so as least I won't be so bored.
I've got very little knitting and fiber progress to report. I got some work done on my crazy quilt, and have the thing planned out now so at least I know how many squares I need to make (30). That helps. I've got more than half of them done, after that I can sew them together and make the border (a 9 inch band of crazy style piecing) and then finish it off. I have no idea how I am going to mange the actual quilting, the thing won't fit under the arm of my sewing machine. At the moment, I may just tie it. Not my favorite method of finishing but better than hand-quilting the whole thing. I could also do it in sections, piecing it together as I go, but we shall see.
Now I must take cold pills and go to kendo. Which might be scary, but at least it will get me out of the house and around other people for a little while.
It's been a rather not so good last week or so, but I have some hope that things may be on a bit of an up-swing. Maybe. Who knows. Class starts on Tuesday, so as least I won't be so bored.
I've got very little knitting and fiber progress to report. I got some work done on my crazy quilt, and have the thing planned out now so at least I know how many squares I need to make (30). That helps. I've got more than half of them done, after that I can sew them together and make the border (a 9 inch band of crazy style piecing) and then finish it off. I have no idea how I am going to mange the actual quilting, the thing won't fit under the arm of my sewing machine. At the moment, I may just tie it. Not my favorite method of finishing but better than hand-quilting the whole thing. I could also do it in sections, piecing it together as I go, but we shall see.
Now I must take cold pills and go to kendo. Which might be scary, but at least it will get me out of the house and around other people for a little while.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Stupid cat
I think my cat has a death wish today. She woke me up at 6:30 this morning and would. not. stop. meowing. until I manged to drag myself out of a bed to take a shower around 8. (I know, some of you have to get up much earlier than that, but this is my winter break after all) She then decided to station herself on the bathroom rug so I would trip over her when I got out of the shower, and has been putting herself right in the middle of wherever I need to walk all morning. Stupid cat. Between that and the leg clawing (I have some really nice little holes in my thigh from that, thank you very much), it really is amazing I haven't locked her out of the house yet. But, as the LYM reminds me, I am a submissive masochist, so it all makes perfect sense I guess.
Aside from cat related domestic strife, things have been fairly calm the last few days. New Years day was the best day I've had in recent memory, Tuesday was mellow and yesterday I spent most of the day in fiber-y pursuits, spinning, weaving, knitting and scouring a babydoll southdown fleece with a rather sad story behind it.
I'd always thought that if I were to get married, I would make my husband-to-be a sweater from a fleece I had processed and spun totally on my own. Last September, I bought the fleece. Things didn't work out, in a rather grand fashion, but there is still the fleece. For a long time, I sort of forgot about it, mostly out of self-preservation than any distaste for the fleece. It's a lovely fleece actually, very soft and springy, there's some discoloration but it should dye nicely once I've spun it and decided on a color. Since Thanksgiving, I've had the guy in question on my mind a lot for some reason, but he made it clear he has no desire to see me or talk to me anymore, even as friends, which hurt a lot more than I was expecting it to. It's probably all for the good, but there was still this fleece, sitting there, the last reminder of hopes and dreams now finally and totally destroyed.
So I washed it. And it was ok. I wasn't sad, it didn't hurt, and I didn't think about him and what the fleece was meant for except in a very cursory sort of way. He may be gone, but the fleece is still full possibility, ready to become whatever I chose to make from it. He broke my heart, but there is still life, and as battered and bruised as he left me, I can still make whatever I wish of it. There might be a bit more dirt and VM to get out, but the raw material is full of endless possibility.
Aside from cat related domestic strife, things have been fairly calm the last few days. New Years day was the best day I've had in recent memory, Tuesday was mellow and yesterday I spent most of the day in fiber-y pursuits, spinning, weaving, knitting and scouring a babydoll southdown fleece with a rather sad story behind it.
I'd always thought that if I were to get married, I would make my husband-to-be a sweater from a fleece I had processed and spun totally on my own. Last September, I bought the fleece. Things didn't work out, in a rather grand fashion, but there is still the fleece. For a long time, I sort of forgot about it, mostly out of self-preservation than any distaste for the fleece. It's a lovely fleece actually, very soft and springy, there's some discoloration but it should dye nicely once I've spun it and decided on a color. Since Thanksgiving, I've had the guy in question on my mind a lot for some reason, but he made it clear he has no desire to see me or talk to me anymore, even as friends, which hurt a lot more than I was expecting it to. It's probably all for the good, but there was still this fleece, sitting there, the last reminder of hopes and dreams now finally and totally destroyed.
So I washed it. And it was ok. I wasn't sad, it didn't hurt, and I didn't think about him and what the fleece was meant for except in a very cursory sort of way. He may be gone, but the fleece is still full possibility, ready to become whatever I chose to make from it. He broke my heart, but there is still life, and as battered and bruised as he left me, I can still make whatever I wish of it. There might be a bit more dirt and VM to get out, but the raw material is full of endless possibility.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Resolutions
1. I shall buy no new fiber. No yarn, no spinning fiber, and only such fabric as I need to finish project I already the main fabric for. Bess says it can be done, so I shall try. It should help my pocket book too, being in school and tyring to buy yarn is a bad plan.
2. I will get to my goal weight this year, damn it all. I'm sick of being on WW. I am sick of losing the same 10 pounds over and over. This will stop. Today.
3. I will stop fighting against things I cannot change. Aikido is all about flow and blending, if I cannot flow with my own life, how can I expect to do it well on the mat?
4. I will find an OES chapter locally and start going to meetings again.
5. I will carry on my good work with martial arts.
I think 3 is going to be the hardest. 2006, and really 2005, was all about fighting against the immovable. I'm tired of fighting. If I don't do something about this, I will exhaust myself. I've come so close to giving up all together in the last year, I don't think I can survive that again. I simply have to accept that there are some things I cannot control, and let them be what they will. Reading the Tao helps with that, so that will be my guide.
Edited to add:
The socks were a great success. He liked them! yay! And I know I hate sock knitting, but have 125 grams of koigu left over from something, anyone know if that's enough for a pair of socks? I would think it would be, but I have no idea how long to make the cuffs. I want to do a heal-flap so these will end up being top-down instead of toe-up like I usually try to do.
2. I will get to my goal weight this year, damn it all. I'm sick of being on WW. I am sick of losing the same 10 pounds over and over. This will stop. Today.
3. I will stop fighting against things I cannot change. Aikido is all about flow and blending, if I cannot flow with my own life, how can I expect to do it well on the mat?
4. I will find an OES chapter locally and start going to meetings again.
5. I will carry on my good work with martial arts.
I think 3 is going to be the hardest. 2006, and really 2005, was all about fighting against the immovable. I'm tired of fighting. If I don't do something about this, I will exhaust myself. I've come so close to giving up all together in the last year, I don't think I can survive that again. I simply have to accept that there are some things I cannot control, and let them be what they will. Reading the Tao helps with that, so that will be my guide.
Edited to add:
The socks were a great success. He liked them! yay! And I know I hate sock knitting, but have 125 grams of koigu left over from something, anyone know if that's enough for a pair of socks? I would think it would be, but I have no idea how long to make the cuffs. I want to do a heal-flap so these will end up being top-down instead of toe-up like I usually try to do.
Monday, January 01, 2007
New year, new things
I did two totally new things in the last day. First, I saw the ball drop in Times Square live, instead of on a 3 hour tape delay. Which was interesting, same thing really but the realization that it was live was kind of...well...interesting? Can you tell I'm a little sleep? The other thing I did was watch the sun *rise* over the ocean. I've never seen that, it was pretty amazing. Trying to do kendo while watching the sun rise and on maybe 4 hours of not so great sleep was also interesting, but I'm glad I did it.
I just can't believe I'm this tired...makes no sense really not having done jack shit for the last 3 days other than sleep, spin, and bake bread, alone and hermit like in my house. Really, hermit like is fine, but only if you are living that way by choice. When that's all you get, it really sucks. At least I'm not stuck in the house alone today, not the best way to start the year, pacing around your house like a rat stuck in a cage...
ARGG! I had nice thing to say about my current spinning and stupid blogger ate it. Grr. Ok, to sum up...I've been spinning a whole lot the last couple days, I've done nearly 2 pounds of fiber. Yay! Most all of it is things I have 4 or 8 ounces of, so it's been fun to experiment. Right now I'm working on about 13 ounces of chocolate llama and merino pencil roving, which I love working with. It's got some neps, which I don't love, that should add some nice textural interest to the finished yarn. I think it may end up being a hat, mitten and scarf set when I am done, but who knows. It all depends on the yardage I end up. Next up it 8 ounces of morrit colored Shetland wool I want to make a faroese shawl out of. We'll see how that turns out, I'm doing ok with super fine spinning at the moment, it just seems to depends on how well the fiber has been prepared to begin with. After that, since I should have another 2 weeks of break left at the rate I'm going, I'm going to start drum carding one of the several fleeces I have stashed away. There's a story with one of them...but that will have to wait until I actually start on the carding.
I just can't believe I'm this tired...makes no sense really not having done jack shit for the last 3 days other than sleep, spin, and bake bread, alone and hermit like in my house. Really, hermit like is fine, but only if you are living that way by choice. When that's all you get, it really sucks. At least I'm not stuck in the house alone today, not the best way to start the year, pacing around your house like a rat stuck in a cage...
ARGG! I had nice thing to say about my current spinning and stupid blogger ate it. Grr. Ok, to sum up...I've been spinning a whole lot the last couple days, I've done nearly 2 pounds of fiber. Yay! Most all of it is things I have 4 or 8 ounces of, so it's been fun to experiment. Right now I'm working on about 13 ounces of chocolate llama and merino pencil roving, which I love working with. It's got some neps, which I don't love, that should add some nice textural interest to the finished yarn. I think it may end up being a hat, mitten and scarf set when I am done, but who knows. It all depends on the yardage I end up. Next up it 8 ounces of morrit colored Shetland wool I want to make a faroese shawl out of. We'll see how that turns out, I'm doing ok with super fine spinning at the moment, it just seems to depends on how well the fiber has been prepared to begin with. After that, since I should have another 2 weeks of break left at the rate I'm going, I'm going to start drum carding one of the several fleeces I have stashed away. There's a story with one of them...but that will have to wait until I actually start on the carding.
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