I just finished this!

A Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past cross stitch towel! Yea!

I got back into cross stitch a week ago. Lauren found one of my old cross stitch kits that I misplaced over two years ago. I'm currently very into video game themed crafts. In fact, my next project is a line of head shots of Saint Seiya characters! It'll look quite nice when I finish it someday.

Humph!

Pet peeve number 39:

"I'm taking Chinese at school, but only because they're not offering Japanese."

Grr!!

What the hell?? What's so bad about Chinese that it's considered a fall-back option for Japanese. It's two different but equal languages, people! For people who say that, do they realize that Kanji IS traditional Chinese? It's not like Chinese is some inferior version of Japanese. And also, for anyone who tells me any more Japanese equivalence of a Chinese word when I didn't ask for a translation are going to receive a butt-kicking from Joey.

Aaah!!!

I'm Chinese, but I hold no crazy thought that the language holds any superiority to any other language. It's just as easy and hard to learn as any other language. If you grow up with it, it's going to be easier to learn it.

So here's my thought of the day, for anyone who says:

"I'm taking X only because Y isn't offered."

should probably STFU. Because you know... it sounds rude.

//hops off soap-box

Good news, everyone!

I just got a letter from Riversedge of UTPA that they are publishing my story in their December volume!

Yea! A legit journal publishing my story! I didn't even have to grovel to no vanity publishers.

The story was from fall of 2008 when I took a creative nonfiction class. We wrote lots of personal essays. It was like group therapy where I got graded for my feelings. Instead of a final paper, the professor told us to submit one of our papers in for publication so we'll "get used to process".

Yea! So far so good!

This totally makes up for the fact that I still haven't found a job yet. I've been looking all summer and no one's hiring me. I know I'm over-qualified for most of the jobs I've applied for, and that might be why they're not hiring me. Maybe they're afraid I'll leave right after training or something.

Oh well :(

As far as projects go, I recently got a top-whorl spindle to spin lace. I was so excited because the people in the Youtube videos made it look so easy. I've found out that they've all been lying to me. I'm spinning and spinning, but all my lace looks like worsted. I guess I'll have a nice cozy hat by winter. I'm still pretty excited about it though. Soon when I have more practice, I want to get all the pretty roving from Etsy.

Last thing! My parents got a puppy! A PUPPY!! She's too cute, her name is Birdie and she loves people. She's a Labradoodle mix and she's so small. Right now she's about Maomao's size but so innocent and clueless all the time. Cute little Birdie, she's still figuring out life.

Here's a picture!



She sleeps a lot!

Jalapeno 1, Dawn 0

Yesterday Joey and I went to a friend's place for a BBQ. I decided that we should bring an appetizer. After all these years of going to parties, flipping through cookbooks, and just being aware of the world, the only appetizer I really knew how to make were Jalapeno stuffed peppers I learned from my knitting buddy.

We went out and bought the peppers, cream cheese, shredded cheese and turkey bacon. Upon coming home, I threw all the peppers in the sink to soak just like I learned. I worked with jalapenos earlier in the week and did not use any gloves, so I thought, "I don't need them now either!"

After cutting and seeding 23 large peppers, Joey and I stuffed them, skewered them, and put them in the oven. I then went upstairs to get ready for the BBQ.

I noticed a slight tingle in my left hand right away, but disregarded it as allergies or the hard water. However, the tingling soon turned serious and I thought my hand was going to burn right off. It was BURNING!!

BURNING!!!

BURNING!!!

I ran downstairs with my hand in the air screaming, my upper lip where I briefly brushed it with my hands was also burning, as were my right hand in certain spots. No amount of ice or running water could alleviate the pain. I then went upstairs to look for remedies online.

I pretty much poured the whole kitchen onto my hand after that. I tried: vinegar, lemon juice, milk, baking soda, rubbing alcohol, Vodka, sugar, salt, anything ... anything!! Everything worked, but only for about thirty seconds. The only thing that was consistent was just soaking it in ice water, but even then I suspect it was because my hand was numb from the cold rather than it curing anything.

My hand was ice cold, but I could barely stand to touch it. Any skin-to-skin contact felt like it was going to burn off.

Nonetheless, Joey and I still went to the party where I was confined to the kitchen with my hand in a bowl of water. I warned everyone there of the dangers of not using rubber, and they listened with eyes wide open. At her place, I tried... margarita, pina colada, and hot dogs. They didn't really help my hand either, but at least I was full.

I finally admitted defeat and left with Joey to go see his parents. There they gave me... lots of attention, Aleo, and drugs! Yea! I took two painkillers and soon had an excuse to say whatever came to mind. Even it what I said sounded crazy, I could blame it on the painkillers. I watched the everyone play Rockband and almost dozed off, but we had to come home to feed the cat.

All this time my hand never stopped burning, but certain things made it bearable. I slept with an icepack in my hand for about five hours before I could finally handle the pain without grimacing.

So 19 hours after seeding the peppers, my palm is still warm, but it certainly is bearable now. The bug bites, however, are another story. The worst thing about the whole ordeal was that it's hard to convince people how much my hand was burning because it didn't show up at all. It didn't look red at all, and anyone who touched it said it felt normal. It finally started heating up red, but I think that was because of the ice rather than the peppers.

SIGH!!

I hate summer.

Update

I'm finally done with the semester. I finished the grades a couple days ago and entered them in with the professor, got all my own grades, and even finished cleaning the apartment! As of it I still do not have a job, but I think it'll be OK. I'm going to start looking seriously in June, but I believe I deserve a break for now!

About a month ago I went through a serious doily phase.



They are all double stranded with size 10 yarn. It was my fairly successful attempt to destash much of my doily yarn. It's worked pretty well so far. And I am finally convinced now that knitting takes much less yarn than crocheting. While I cannot vouch for the single knit = single crochet, but with the sizes of some of those doilies, I would've never gotten that much out of crocheting.

After the doilies, I decided to try my hand at hats!





Not too bad! Now both Joey and I will be ready for this winter. I also made a matching scarf with my hat.



~~~

Life has been pretty decent so far. I bought Michael Fuller's book and will be continuing my classical Chinese over the summer by myself. I'll start by slowly translating Confucius's Analects and some of Mozi from the school library. These two have been translated enough by professionals that I can double check without bugging the professor to death.

Classical Chinese is crazy! But once you learn the rules, it's surprisingly easy to read. While there are a lot of ambiguous translations, the grammar is fairly straight forward once I churn through all the crazy participles.

And Maomao lost 3 pounds! She's so cute.

Quick Update!

I fit everything in a fairly neat rectangle! I'm so proud. I live for making JPG rectangles.

I am now adequately equipped for the Texas winter. I have two pairs of warm socks and a neck warmer. Joey has one pair of wool socks. We're good to go!

So it's that time of the year again. It's when Joey and I tell each other of all the conventions that we want to go to, and then not go. A-con, yeah! But once June comes, we'll miss it for ... crepes or something. Fiber fest? Yeah! But we're going to dim sum instead, and then I have a dinner to go to after. Next year then!

I have an interview at the school tomorrow for a staff job. It pays pretty well and I'm quite excited. I'll be working with the same people from back in Enrollment services, except now they all moved to the Registrar's office!

Last of all, I like to celebrate finishing projects by making small doilies; around 12 rows for a crocheted doily, 40ish for a knit one.

Back to School

Spring break! The usual happened.

1) Mom fed me too much
2) I got nothing done
3) I didn't find a spring break buddy

Oh well!

I did do one useful thing. I unraveled seven project last Friday. I went through my progress bucket and frogged everything I was never going to touch again. That included nearly everything except two scarves and a pair of socks. One of the scarves were saved only because I put too many beads on it. You're safe for now, scarf!

I want to tear apart all the stuff I haven't finished and start all over again! Some projects stayed in the bucket for so long that I completely forgot about them, and when I saw them again, all I could think of was.. "damn!"

That said, I had a great bundle of fun unraveling, especially now that I have a ball winder.

I did finish some stuff! I went through a doily phase a month ago and made four miniature doilies. They're so cute. Joey's reaction upon seeing them was: "they're multiplying!" I believe I'm sucking the masculinity out of the apartment, but he does have the garage for all his tools. I think his tool stash is starting to catch up to my yarn stash. Just how many drills does a guy need?!

I need at least two, because then I can have a set of single-pointed needles.

Here's the stuff I finished! Warning, there's lots of pictures. Here they are, never in any particular order:









The two doilies with the teacups actually brings me to another issue. That table looks like crap. Joey and I bought it for ten dollars at the Goodwill. It's painted in two colors. The top of the table is what I assume the natural wood color, and the legs are a hideous pastel yellow. It's a bit ... meh, but I still love the table. It's the most sturdy thing ever, I suspect there's lead in it, but I could be wrong. I bought a lot of stuff at Home Depot the other day to redo the table. I bought a sander, varnish thinner, and new taints! I hope it all goes well. It'll be my post Scarf Exchange project.

I want to finish all my obligatory projects so I can start stuff for myself again! I just wound up some silvery yarn in order to make this! I'm so excited. I think I can finish it just in time for the New Year's party!

~~~

As far as schooling goes, I'll say.. meh!

~~~

Crossfit Richardson is starting something fun on April 1st. We're doing a Fifty Day Challenge to get ready for the summer. There's not much detail yet, but one of the things we will do to accumulate twenty five miles of running during the whole thing. This is definitely relevant to my interests because I've been having zombie nightmares lately again. I can't run very fast, but if I can outlast the slow ones, or at least run faster than the slowest survivor, I think I'll be OK.

Ah! It's good to have goals!

~~~

And finally! I loved my wedding cake so much that I want to put it up again! For some reason, it's been jumping out at me for the past couple days when I'm on my Facebook account. I must be going through another pink phase.



And and and! Lauren and Brad are getting married... yea!
And and and... we're going to Austin in a couple weeks!
And and and! Mel's going to Louisiana in the summer! Yea for excuses to go to LA! Let's eat at least 10 pounds of crawfish!

I'm back on Ravelry!

Yea! My account just got cleared and I'm back to full access. Now I can concentrate wholly on my Saoirse shawl and my scarf for the scarf exchange.

Yea!

(Still) Suspended from Ravelry

When I discovered that Ravelry suspended my account on Saturday, I was pretty confused! I don't remember doing anything against the Term of Use. I investigated the best I could with only Google at my disposal. All that is mentioned were from people who were directly involved in the banning. Apparently the interaction between a group and the rest of Ravelry got out of hand and resulted in their accounts being banned. I'll refrain from commenting on that since I don't really know all the details from those events. I take my Internet facts with a grain of salt!

However, if that were the reason why so many people were banned, then why was I, Mel, and our friends banned also? I've never heard of the said group until yesterday. None of us are involved with any political groups on Ravelry nor do we post that much. Sooo... it has to be some kind of IP ban. But then I wonder, how did I get swept up? It must have been when I logged in from UTD, and someone associated with that group logged in at UTD? And that's where it started? I have no idea!

Oh well, no biggie I guess. I won't make a judgment until I get an official response from the team at Ravelry.


~~~ (Line breaks! Mel always has such ingenious ways to separate sections)

Crossfit was fun today! It was another Crossfit total day.

Back Squat: 155
Shoulder Press: 85
Deadlift: 155

28 more pounds and I can deadlift Joey! Ah goals, everyone should have at least one.

~~~

I started the Saoirse shawl with Linares yarn, the peach-apricot color. It's so fun to knit with even though it kind of splits a lot. Also when I get around to the last fifty yards or so, the little ball goes completely crazy and I end up with a big knot. Thankfully the ladies at Woolie Ewe helped me with that problem. I can't wait until I finish it! It's going to look great!

~~~

Yea for spring break!

Oh no!

I was suspended from the Ravelry site today, and after researching this terrible problem online, it seems a lot of other people got suspended also.

:(

Knitting is so yesterday!

After nearly a year of nonstop knitting, I'm taking a short hiatus. As I am thinking about this, I am already almost finished with a crocheted doily!

I don't have any update pictures because I have been incredibly lazy about it. I finished one of Joey's socks and about to finish the other, but ... knitting! Bleh! I'm burned out!

I haven't finished too much stuff recently. Ever since I discovered Phantasy Star Universe, other hobbies kind of took a back seat. I think my true calling have always been mindless RPG grinding.

The last couple weeks were exciting and a bit stressful. Joey and I celebrated my birthday and our wedding anniversary last weekend. For the birthday, we went to an Asian-fusion buffet. Translation: sweet and sour stuff, some sushi, and pizza and chicken nuggets, just what you'd expect from a Chinese buffet in Texas! But at least it's not drenched in mayo.

Joey and I have stopped going to buffets since before our wedding. He can't control himself, so I have to suffer indirectly. So now we reserve buffets for special occasions that only comes once a year!

On Saturday we had CiCi's, another one of which we haven't had since my birthday last year.

Later that night we went to Medieval Times. For those of you who have never been there, it's a stadium type place where you can enjoy a dinner and a show and whole lot of screaming. The theme for this place was Middle Ages European jousting and such. It was ... noisy and messy as you're allowed one piece of napkin for your whole chicken leg and ribs. We got really nice seats right at the front and a memorabilia picture taken beforehand. We chose to do the costumes. I was a princess and Joey dressed as a dual-wielding barbarian nobleman. It would have been more convincing if not for his fair skin and obviously well-nourished physique. This king seems to be enjoying the booties of his pillage from the years past.

On Monday we went to Fogo de Chao, a fancy Brazilian meat buffet type. Waiters come out with huge hunks of meat for the customers, and you can chose which ones you want! It was very delicious, but as I'm not a big beef eater, I didn't get as much fun out of it as Joey did.

That's where the fun stopped. After four days of merrymaking, Joey got food poisoning. We're not sure how, especially because I haven't gotten sick at all despite eating the same things. But he's been ill since last Tuesday and have since driven us both crazy. His doctor finally gave him some antibiotics, and I haven't heard any groaning for the past hour or so. Either he's gotten better, or deaders.

Let's see... what else?

Classical Chinese is going great! It's not as hard as before now we're moving into prose. Translating phrases and short sentences were so difficult! Mainly because there's no distinct pronouns, and I can't figure out which it's suppose to be without more context clues. Even though that should hardly matter, but I need my pronouns in my sentences.

I'm also a little burned out on my Master's. My plan is... if I don't get a summer TA-ship, I'm going to find a full time job and finish my Masters slowly on the side. However, if I do finish up by August as I planned, then .. I might just go flip burgers for a few months until I feel like going back into academia ... I keed!

One thing I do regret though was not getting an accounting degree for my undergrad. If only I did, then I can be an FBI forensic accountant! All the ass-kicking without being in physical danger! If only I watched Law and Order earlier during my undergrad. Curses, World of Warcraft!

Picture intensive!

I took a survey of my yarn a couple days ago. The result:

91 skeins of unused yarn
13 skeins of yarns in progress

Now of course, it's no where near enough for me to build a fort out of it, but I have at least enough for a draw bridge. This year I want to be a little more serious about destashing, so that means I'll end up making things I wouldn't before just to get rid of the extra yarn. At some point last year, I went crazy and bought too many cotton yarn for potential dishcloths. I admit freely though, I like to hang on to my stuff and use it by myself. I'm crazy ambitious like that, and possessive! It gives me a great sense of accomplishment to finish a skein all by myself.

With that said, here are some stuff I started using the leftover yarns. Well, not all of them are from leftover yarn, but I don't want to put stuff in any specific order now. Too lazy!



This is with Knit Picks Shadows, Spring Heather. The pattern is called "Gail" from here. It's the January knit-along on Ravelry. Someday, I'll finish it.



Knit Picks Essentials, Tumber. This is for Joey. He finally asked for a pair of socks. I think he asked before too, but I must have ignored him. Or... I already made a pair, and he didn't like them because they don't match. Poor Joey though, I made many people stuff already, but he hasn't gotten anything useful yet! One day, I'll finish them.



Knit Picks Essential, Golden. I originally made this with the Lion Brand Wool, but it was waaaay too heavy, so I started over with fingering weight. I'll definitely finish this one day.



Bernat Cotton Tots, Cream. Baby blanket! I'm becoming a fan of the box store cotton yarns. It's quite soft and very affordable. I think from now on, I'll use cotton for baby blankets. I like how wool drapes, but I don't like it on my skin. So I'll be the spokeswoman for all babies and use only cotton.



Knit Picks Shadow, Trails, discontinued. This is finished for Amelia! Complete with beads. The lesson I learned from this was not to use my ginormous head as a model. I kept on thinking the headband wasn't long enough, so I did what was only natural. I lengthened it and lengthened it until it was big enough for a belt. Oh well! At least I finished it.



A matching bracelet. Done also.



I Love This Cotton, pink. I love this yarn! I love it! Amee made me a hat with this yarn for Christmas. It was a wonderful hat, but again, my head was too big for the first version, so she had to redo it. Lesson learned! Cotton is not as stretchy as wool and not a desirable material for abnormally large noggins.

The blanket will have a very lacy brown border sewn on at the end.



Plymouth Encore Worsted, Green. For Lauren. The pattern is from Interweave Knits Winter 2008 issue. The pattern is a hoodie with pockets at the bottom of the scarf. I love it! When I finish it for Lauren, I might make one for myself too. Or ask Amee to make me one.... hehehehe!



Plymouth Encore Worsted, Brown. This is also for Joey. I love Joey and I love cables. It's a match made in heaven.

One day, I'll finish everything.

New Year Resolutions.. kind of...

The secret to happiness in life is...

Lowering your standards!

Teeheehee!

Every year I tried to make and uphold new year resolutions, and they always disappear at some point. So this year, I'll make them more obtainable.

As far as crafts go, I have no goals. However, I will make a goal for yarn. I will only buy them either in the case of going to Crossfit sixteen times a month or to finish off at least five skeins. I'm donating most of my acrylic stuff.

Hmm... other than that, life is happy! We're going to Medieval Times for our one year anniversary. This time, I'm sneaking in hand sanitizer!

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM

THIS BLOG HAS BEEN BLOG-JACKED!!!

Guest blogger Joseph "Boneface" Berglund reports:


"I can't believe I ate the whole thing!"

Lazy New Year's Post

My feelings about the new year is meh, so here's a couple pictures of finished projects!





This year, I hope to finish at least 20 more projects. Oh, and finish up my Master's.