...ok, so it's just a pair of socks.

The first sock took me about a month to finish. The second one took me a little over a week and turned out quite a bit better. And today I finished it so now I have a pair of homemade socks! I've taken a great leap ahead in my knitting skills because socks are the first thing I've knit that's not basically rectangular... Each sock is one long piece of yarn that goes around and around... Basically this is the culmination of many many hours of work, so... voila!



I'll admit the color is a little odd, but it's kind of cryptic. I could hide in the woods with these... only they'd probably be covered by my boots.

Next on the needlework agenda: a crocheted scarf I have already started. After that, I might go wild and try knitting some gloves. Now that I've got a hang of the double-pointed needles, it shouldn't be too hard (*knock on wood*).

I have an un-serious and random post that I think folks of my generation will find entertaining. Today I was reading Cake Wrecks (the only blog I follow that's not written by someone I'm already friends with), and I saw something I recognized. I think I have seen references to it in recent years without thinking anything of it. Gummi Bears. I hear "Gummi Bears" and think of a candy. A tasty one at that. I'm not the only one either. When I say it's a TV show you will probably not be able to picture it, or recall it. But if I show you the opening title song, and you were born in the 80's, it's very likely you'll remember what I'm talking about:





Blast from the past, am I right? If you're like me, you watched this show *all the time* when you were a little kid and haven't had a passing thought about it for years.

According to this site, using my last post, I write like a guy. I guess that could be expected because at least 90% of the stuff I read is by male authors.

Speaking of writing, I've been entertaining the idea of participating in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) this year. Since I don't have a job, that makes it easier, but I want to be flexible and able to start a job any time... we'll see how it goes. I have been praying for more creativity because that seemed (upon exit interview) to be the main improvement point in my apprenticeship. My creative tendencies have tapered off in the last few years, and I think that's unfortunate because I have a pretty good history of art and writing that reached its zenith in high school. I have several unfinished stories... some short stories, one could probably work out to novella length, and another could be a full-blown novel if I manage to get back on track and am lucky enough to get my friend who was co-writing it with me to continue to do so...

Anyway, regarding Nanowrimo, I had an idea (not a minute too soon - Nanowrimo is November) this evening for something to write it about. Oddly enough, it's not really sci-fi unless I set it in a sci-fi world... and I don't think I really want to do that. I think it will be better in a more or less modern-day setting. I have two days to plan and decide if I really want to do this. Then in November I would have to write over 1500 words a day. That's daunting. I don't think I've done that much in any day at school... I think I've considered participating in previous years, but when I saw that you have to have 50,000 words in a 30-day month, I gave in to the saner voice and didn't do it. Now I'm unemployed so I don't have much excuse, have wanted for a long time to write a book, and am losing my mind sitting around the house all day so I really am seriously considering it.

Sorry about that. Time flies when you're working. Kinda drags when you're unemployed. I'm the latter now again so I have time to write you all something. I'm typing this on my "new" computer. It's actually my mom's old computer, with new RAM and monitor so it performs a lot better than my old laptop.

Also news: I have a new pet - a crested gecko. A woman at church's gecko laid a bunch of eggs, which hatched into little baby geckos. She knew I was an "animal person" so she immediately offered to give me one of the babies when they were big enough. So now I have a baby crested gecko. And it's really cute (still working on an androgynous name for the little critter - too young to tell if it's a male or female). I'll have to take pictures and upload them sometime before it grows up.

My apprenticeship at the zoo was great. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. And I earned money, which I didn't do before as an intern or volunteer. Unfortunately, there isn't a job for me at the Oakland Zoo right now, so I'm on the lookout for a job. I currently have an application in at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and I plan on sending one to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum which is nearby. I've been a little bit lazy about that. Sometime I'll show you some of the photos I took at the zoo too.

Meanwhile, my grandma's health hasn't been so good lately. A few months ago she was diagnosed with cancer - small tumors in several parts of her body. Last week she had her first seizure in almost 50 years, so they raised the dose of dylantin she was taking. She's still in the hospital recovering and will have to spend some time in a nursing home for physical therapy. She's been living by herself (my cousin and his wife live a couple blocks down the street) for over 12 years now. Very cool, independent woman.

I also have a political soapbox to get on briefly. Not that I have much of a readership, so I don't know how much good it'll do... Barak Obama is a charismatic leader. That's good, you say? Please, please, do not make me remind you of the history of charismatic leaders.

That's it for now. Stay tuned in case I ever update this thing again (I plan to!).

Yep, I'm still alive. I just haven't been blogging much. Sorry about that, faithful readers. Or should I say bored webizens.

I've been busy lately because I got to start my JOB early (wasn't supposed to be until June), plus this weekend, my brother's birthday was Saturday, Mother's day was Sunday, I was pet/house-sitting two very energetic cocker spaniels, and got my smog check Saturday morning. So of course, I don't feel like I had much of a weekend. I think I'll make up for that this following week by partying as much as I have cumulatively since 2007 - Sunday is my birthday, and before then I will probably be going out to dinner with some co-workers, and with some old friends. For my birthday I'm going to see Prince Caspian (just re-read the book), and out to dinner at one of those Japanese grill restaurants where they make the food in front of you. And having yummy chocolate pie for dessert. Yep, I have it all planned out.

And now for the more entertaining part of this blog - the part where I impart on you some of the random musings of my rather silly brain.

After house sitting and watching some episodes of an old TV show that will be named later on, I realized that two of the television characters I find most dreamy have quite a lot in common:

-Very intelligent/large knowledge base
-lonely
-gentlemen
-time travelling
-sensitive
-nearly asexual
-have many faces...

Hmm. What characters am I talking about? Am I aware that a couple of those characteristics aren't realistic... at all. (And yes, I've been watching WAY more tv lately than I was at Purdue).

Well, the show I was watching with the spaniels was Quantum Leap. (and Sam was the one I was talking about, not Al) I should watch reruns of that one more often.

Sam Beckett

Yes, that's Scott Bakula. But I the actors are not what I'm looking at as much as the characters they portray...

And, the other character is The Doctor from Doctor Who, currently:

The Tenth Doctor

Because everyone likes to look at pictures. Yay Wikipedia.