Nostalgia Factor: High

I have reached the time in the move where I am nostalgic about everything. It's partly because I've reached the time in the move where I can count down the days (It's T minus 20 right now), and yet I'm still discovering new amazing things about my neighborhood and meeting new awesome people by the day. How did I live here for two years without knowing that I could buy a huge container of seaweed at Fu Wah deli for three dollars? Seaweed which is individually packaged and seasoned for snacking, no less. I don't know where to find snack seaweed on the West Coast.

I am also being a wee bit ridiculous about leaving Philadelphia (which I love) to go to San Diego (which I don't love. As of yet. But I might. If they have seaweed.). Today at my Stitch n' Bitch (I don't have a Stitch n' Bitch in San Diego. There are no La Jolla Knitters on LJ.) they were talking about all the fiber festivals around here and I was like, "Man, I bet there aren't fiber festivals on the West Coast," and everyone was like, "What the hell are you talking about? Of course there are. Also, you're moving to the land of sunshine, shut the hell up." Basically I'm acting like I'm Ovid in exile in Siberia, which is totally ridiculous and also stupid.

This is how bad it is: The other day, I was buying lunch at the salad bar near my lunch, and I started to get all nostalgic about the salad bar. I was like, "This may be the last time ever I'll buy lunch here. How sad!" Yes, it is truly tragic to leave the mediocre salad bar behind. How will I survive.

Sexy Links

Apparently Giant Squid are either cannibals or (and in the article, this is presented as the better of the two options) their copulation frequently leads to incidents in which the female Giant Squid bites off the penis of the male. Being a Giant Squid is no longer looking so good.

Speaking of copulation! I am not entirely convinced that this product can actually be real, but I want it.

Size Queen

I am totally obsessed with the list of US cities ranked by population. Apparently, nothing is the size it is in my head. San Diego, which I think of as L.A.'s little brother, it the seventh largest city in the country! (So why don't indie bands tour there, huh?) Houston is number four! Cleveland is way down at 36, only one above Fresno, which I totally think of as a small town. (Same for Sacramento, at 37.) My mind, it is blown.

Also, with the upcoming SD move, I'll have lived in 3 of the 7 biggest cities in the US.

God Damn, It's Hot

Oh my god, people, I am not sure words can properly explain just how humid and disgusting it is here. It was 98 degrees today. The low tonight is 80. I am sitting on my couch with all the windows open and two fans pointing at me, and I am totally covered in sweat.

On top of this, our power went out from 4 am last night until around 10 am this morning. Hey, awesome! It's totally no problem to sleep without my ceiling fan when it's ninety degrees. I will not toss and turn and be sweaty and gross all night. Oh, wait, I'm totally lying.

Fuck you, humidity. I'm moving to the West Coast.

Hidden Fees

I have engaged a self-service moving company.

Before I decided to go to with this company, I read lots of moving company reviews on the internet. This is not something I recommend doing if you are anxious about your move. Apparently, if you are moving across the country, the good kind of move is the kind where the moving company just steals all of your possessions and sells them to gypsys. In a really bad move, the moving company rapes your daughter, sells your wife into indentured servitude, and then charges you a rape & enslavement fee.

This is why I decided not to go with the moving company where the lady was like, "Don't trust anyone who makes you sign a contract."

Rant, Link, Link

Is anyone else annoyed to the point of eye-bleeding rage over those dumb-ass rubber bracelets that are in right now? I suppose that this makes me sort of misanthropic, what with them being allegedly charitable or whatever, but honestly, if you're going to actually be a humanitarian, just write a fucking check to the organization of your choosing instead of buying a dumb-ass bracelet. I guess in theory they also raise awareness for the cause of your choice, but when I see random frat boy on the street wearing them, I don't think, "My, I wonder what cause that gentleman cares about enough to support," I think, "What a fucking tool, I hope that thing snaps and hits him in the eye."

Unrelated:
Crazy knitting needle gizmo! Kind of exciting, yet totally useless, really! I want one, please.

Jai from Queer Eye is bisexual. I find this sort of exciting as well: he's one of my people, y'all.

What Do You Mean I Have To Go Back To Work Now

• Watching Velvet Goldmine. I had forgotten how excellent that movie is.
• Much girly reminiscing.
• Delicious dinner.
• Drinkin'.
• Slumber party with a noise band from Birmingham.
• Delicious brunch.
• The purchase of new pink mascara to replace my current old & gummy pink mascara.

I Am Crazy Now

I would like it if things would stop blowing up please.

Also, I may have reached the stage in the Cross Country move where I am just generally a nervous wreck about everything and react very badly to all upsetting news. I also may or may not have thrown a huge temper tantrum at my job today. Fortunately, my last day on the job is the ninth, so it's not like that's going to be reflected in my yearly review or anything.

I will be in DC this weekend with my college roommates Emily & Rachel, where there will be much girlyness and hopefully I will stop spazzing the fuck out.

I May Have To Obsess Over This Man

Did you guys know that Sufjan Stevens knits?

Sophie Should Take This Well

I have purchased an airline ticket for the cat and I to fly to LA on August 19th. It cost me $109 for the ticket. The fee to bring the cat on board with me is $100. Which means that I essentially just bought an airline ticket for my cat. Except that she doesn't get her own seat.

In other news: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE I'm moving across the country in a month EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Nervous Breakdown Ahoy

Oh man, have I mentioned that I'm moving across the country in a month? Hey, did you know that cross-country moves cost like, two thousand dollars to get all of your shit from one side of the country to another? And I'm starting this nebulous new life that I only kind of sort of know the details of and I'm leaving all of my friends behind and I need to cancel the electricity and change my magazine subscriptions and get a tattoo and pack all of my possessions and roll over my 401k and hire movers and I haven't gotten any sleep this week and GAK ARRRRGH ARRRRGH.

Oh man, why did I think this was a good idea?

Dogs in Togs

No blog post today due to my extreme exhaustion, but here is a link to dogs wearing clothes. English dogs, no less.

Suspicious

Is it just me, or is there something vaguely dirty going on in this icon? I was all, "What the heck is that icon for?" until I mouse-overed and discovered it was for editing coloring rules.

Things Are Good

Yesterday, I:

Went out with Kirsten and bought the new Harry Potter and Too Much Yarn, because Kirsten is a Capelet Enabler. Also, we had yummy pad thai.

Came back and finished fold my laundry (featuring putting underwear on the cat's head and laughing my ass off), and read the first 200 pages of Harry Potter.

Went out to dinner with my parents, who are visiting the East Coast for the next week and a half.

Went to Sex Dwarf and danced from 11 pm until 3:30 am. Best time ever! Tons of my friends were there: Amy, Neil, Jill, Little Sam, and half the PhillyKnitters. Plus, at the end of the night I got to watch lots of gayboys make out, which is never a bad time.

Today, I:

Am avoiding cleaning the house and am reading Harry Potter instead. Also, Greg is supposed to show up at some point.

Have I mentioned my life is awesome?

Harry Potter and the Crack Cocaine

This new Harry Potter book is like black tar heroin. I bought it around noon today, and I'm already on page 195. So much for cleaning my apartment.

Spring Socks!

Yep, it's new socks. Has anyone else noticed that socks are the item that non-knitters seem most amazed by? I can be making some sort of crazy complicated lace shawl, and people are like, "Eh, that's nice," but when I make socks everyone is all, "Oh my god! That's amazing!"

The deets:
Yarn: Lion Brand Magic Stripe, "Bright Spring" Colorway
Pattern: The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns, Sock Pattern, with the leg done in k1p1 rib, and the foot in stockinette. Also, I kind of randomly made up the pattern for the toe on one of them after I realized I had started decreasing two rows too early.
Needles: Size 3 & 4

If I was going to make these again, I would probably use smaller needles for the k1p1 rib. The ribbing on the threes & fours makes a more open knit fabric than I would really prefer.

Sufjan Stevens

I finally tracked down the new Sufjan Stevens album ("Come on, Feel the Illinoise!") today. Y'all, this album is so good it made me go, "It is totally unfair that I can only rate this song a five in iTunes, because this song is so much better than all the other songs I previously rated fives. I want to rate it a 6! Or a 6 million! Or a !!!!!!%$!!! because it is so good it cannot be rated with normal numbers!" This CD goes beyond my normal positive reactions to music and stimulates some crazy part of my brain.

I tried to buy this CD at Tower Records, because I didn't feel like walking all the way down the South Street to go to one of my regular Center City record stores. (My favorite is Spaceboy, but I also sometimes go to Repo Records.) I looked under Stevens, Sufjan in Tower Records, but the cd was not there. (They did have other Sufjan cds, though, so good for them.) Then I looked in the New Releases display, but the cd was not there. Then I looked through all their stupid special displays, because I know that Tower likes to hide cds in weird places, but it wasn't there either. Then I asked information, which involved me spelling both "Sufjan" and "Stevens" about five times each. (I didn't have to spell Illinois, which is good, because I'm not sure I could off the top of my head.) And they were like, "I don't know, we have thirty on order but none in the store," and I was like, "Thanks, Tower, you suck and I hate you."

They also did not have the new Silver Jews.

Then I went to Borders, where their cd section is woefully unfamiliar with alphabetization, but where they had Come On, Feel the Illinois! And so I bought it. And now I plan to listen to it over and over in an obsessive compulsive manner.

Well, You Wouldn't Want It To Get Cold

It's a hairless guinea pig in a dress. This may be the most awesome thing I have ever seen on the internet. Do the You Knit What? girls know about this?

(found via Just Orb)

Some Political Links For You

The Trotsky ice pick has been found! The woman who found it wants to sell it, but she can't prove that it's the Trotsky ice pick without DNA from Trotsky's grandson, who won't give her the DNA unless she donates it to a museum. Oh, those wacky Marxists! I must admit to having a soft spot for Trotsky, based mainly on a t-shirt with his face on it that my friend Ben found in his oven and gave to me my senior year of college, which I bedazzled. I still have the bedazzled Trotsky shirt somewhere.

Am I excited over the White House Press Corps freaking out on Scott McClellan? And how! It's going to be interesting to see how the administration gets out of this one.

Movin' On Up

I have a place to live in San Diego! And it's all nice and pretty and has a dishwasher and a washer and dryer! I haven't had a dishwasher or a washer and dryer since I lived with my parents. This is going to be awesome.

English as the Language of Compassion

Okay, there is no nice way to say this.

Let me say first, that what happened in London was a terrible, terrible thing. I am sorry it happened, and the outpouring of sympathy from Americans and the fact that it is now on the news constantly is exactly what should happen.

But I can't help but wonder - why didn't this happen in response to the Spain train bombing? I don't remember anywhere near this type of response. I definitely don't remember the Los Angeles Mayor riding the subway to assure us that it was safe. I don't remember any of this, "It could happen to us" hysteria, even though the attacks were remarkably similar.

Could it be that Americans are only capable of feeling sympathy for native English speakers? Or is it just that this kind of thing doesn't even make mainstream news unless it happens to English speaking nations?

I have to admit, the London bombings resonated more with me, partly because when I was in London, my hostel was right by King's Cross station, and I got the Tube there every day. Maybe it's just that London reigns larger in our cultural imagination. But that doesn't really make things right, does it?

PS. For Those Worried About My Brakes

The mechanic says it was a loose bolt. The Horrible Noise is gone. I now fear death by car slightly less.

Banging Carts

Does anyone else derive tremendous personal satisfaction from getting to shove the grocery cart into all the other grocery carts when you're done with it? I always like to kind of throw it at the line of carts, hopefully in such a manner that it hits the cart at the end of the line and goes into it. There's always such a fantastic clanging noise involved. Yet I also get to feel morally superior to all those lazy people who do not put their carts away properly and leave them about the parking lot.

In Philly I use the little grocery baskets, because I have to take my groceries home on the bus, and the amount I can carry in my bag/about my person in general is about the same amount I can fit into a grocery basket. I'm looking forward to a whole new grocery cart world in California.

(Yes, I'm easily amused. No, I'm not doing a hell of a lot here in SoCal.)

Ever Since I Came To California, I Can't Make a Coherent Blog Post

Many thanks to Sarcasmo for linking to Dumbledore's Death in the Style of William Carlos William: "Forgive me / he had it coming / so beardy / and so old."

Today I drove down to La Jolla and looked at a couple of places. The first place I saw was a studio apartment that was approximately the size of my current closet (I have a big closet, to be fair) and didn't have a kitchen. It was going for $700 a month.

The second place I looked at was actually a lovely place in which I would like to live, so that's something.

Hank, my car, has started making a Terrible Noise when I apply the brake. Since all I know about cars is that they could explode and kill me at any point in time, this worries me.

My condolences to, well, everyone really, about the recent tragedy in London. I don't have much to say about it, except that it is sad, and the world is a rather messed up place right now.

Nobody Walks In LA

Today I went and saw an exhibit on San Pedro Punk at Angel's Gate, the San Pedro Cultural Center/Artists' Colony thing. Probably half of it was about The Minutemen and other Mike Watt projects, but that's cool; I dig Mike Watt. It made me wish that I had spent some of my youth going to punk shows, instead of surfing the internet and sulking about how totally opressed I was. I bought a CD compilation of Pedro punk bands. Flipping through the booklet, I definitely went to high school with some of the band members. Best Band Names: The Rolling Blackouts, We Go Speedro, Barton Hill. I haven't listened to it yet, I'll let you know.

Downstairs, the gallery had an exhibit that featured Charles Bukowski. Mentioning The Minutemen and Bukowski pretty much blows the load of famous people associated with San Pedro.

My parents dropped me off at the art gallery, and I walked back. This was because, of the four cars associated with my family, two are minivans I refuse to drive, one is my dad's new Prius that he refuses to let me drive, and one is Hank, the stick-shift Escort that is to be my car when I move back West. My brother Stuart had taken Hank to go do his volunteer shift at the Maritime museum. My parents had to go run various errands, and the gallery was only about 15 blocks away, so I was like, sure, I'll walk back, no problem. It was a nice walk: mostly downhill, nice view of the ocean, sunny, etc. The only freakish thing was that I was the only person walking around. There were plenty of cars, but no other walkers. There are more people walking around my neighborhood at 1 am than there are walking around Gaffey st at 4 pm. Welcome to the suburbs.

California: Not So Bad

The fact that all fireworks are illegal in the city of Los Angeles appears to have only caused people in San Pedro to get bigger, better, more totally illegal fireworks. There was amazing stuff in the sky all around us for the entire night, including kids in the alley behind us, who kept setting off fireworks that went off directly above where we were standing. It was spectacular. In addition to the lights, there was much of my extended family, a lot of wine, fantastic food, and homemade ice cream.

Did you know that the weather in California is perfect? Really, it's not humid here at all, and it's like 75 degrees. The internet tells me that in Philly today, it was 87 degrees and raining.

Today I looked for apartments on Craig's List, drove to three different craft/yarn stores looking for size 6 double-pointed needles (I left mine in Philly, because I am dumb.), ate a lot of awesome Mommy food, knit, and watched In Good Company.

I can already feel myself losing my edge and becoming one of those chill, relaxed West Coasters that everyone complains about.

Miscellany

Happy Indepence Day, all. I'm in LA, busy getting ready for my parents' big Fourth of July party. My flight was uneventful, other than being 40 minutes delayed. (After discussing it with Emily, we decided that Southwest saves money by having its employees do crack instead of coke. Then they pass the savings on to you!) There was another pink haired girl on my flight, which I found sort of awkward. I was surrounded by some sort of Baptist youth group on my flight, which over all went better than expected. (Although they did look sort of askance when I ordered a gin & tonic. But the chances of me surviving six hours surrounded by junior high school kids without a drink are slim to none, and slim just left town.)

Looking at Craigslist today, I found an ad for an $800 a month 1 bedroom apartment - in a basement. Dear San Diego Real Estate Prices: I hate you. No Luv, Cyn.

10 Things Every Single Guy Should Own

Did you know that MSN has a 10 Things list for Single Guys, too? Which means, yes, more mockery.

MSN Suggested Item: "1. A top-notch coffee/espresso maker"
Why This is Totally Stupid: I think everyone should have a coffee maker & coffee grinder, just as a quality of life issue. If by "top-notch" MSN means "capable of making sweet, sweet coffee in the morning without covering you in coffee beans," then I agree with this. However, they seem to think that you need some fancy machine that can steam milk and crap. To which I say: Coffee does not need to be fancy, coffee needs to work. Forget all of that milk & sugar & hazelnut shot crap. All you need is decent coffee beans and water to get good coffee.
What You Should Have Instead: A medium-notch coffee maker will do just fine.

MSN Suggested Item: "2. A lamp in your bedroom"
Why This is Totally Stupid: The only lighting in my bedroom comes from the overhead light, and that suits me fine.
What You Should Have Instead: You should have books in your bedroom. That way when when you leave to go to the bathroom or whatever, I can peruse the titles and use that information to judge you.

MSN Suggested Item: "3. Swiffer Sweeper + Swiffer Cloths + Swiffer Wet Cloths"
Why This is Totally Stupid: Remember, everyone: Men are dirty pigs, women are delicate cleanly flowers.
What You Should Have Instead: A sense of hygiene.

MSN Suggested Item: "4. A comfortable couch"
Why This is Totally Stupid: We should probably all have a comfortable couch. It's just nice. But it's fine if the couch came from the thrift store or whatever, as long as it's not extra hideous. (Full disclosure: My own couch is sort of ugly and huge and crazy 80s and I inherited it from Phil. But it is comfy.)
What You Should Have Instead: Couches are pretty nice.

MSN Suggested Item: "5. Nice underwear"
Why This is Totally Stupid: It wouldn't be stupid, if it didn't have this line in the description: "the following selections will make her recoil: . . . or anything that resembles what a woman would wear." Ahh, yes, manliness or death, dammit.
What You Should Have Instead: As long as your underwear doesn't have holes in it, it's all good.

MSN Suggested Item: "6. A key-ring that can fix, cut, and open anything"
Why This is Totally Stupid: This quote wins the Most Offensive Prize: "You’ll be amazed how indispensable it (and you, by extension) will become to her. " Because the women, they cannot fix things. They need you, the big strong man. Hope you're good at opening jars and reaching tall things!
What You Should Have Instead: The ability to be secure enough with your gender & sexuality that you don't have to constantly prove that you're manly.

MSN Suggested Item: "7. $150+ jeans"
Why This is Totally Stupid: Do I even have to start? God, that's fucking dumb.
What You Should Have Instead: A savings account.

MSN Suggested Item: "8. $200+ dress shoes"
Why This is Totally Stupid: See above, with a side of "The women, they love the shoes!"
What You Should Have Instead: A sense of style, hopefully something sort of quirky and thrift-shoppy.

MSN Suggested Item: "9. 300-thread-count cotton sheets"
Why This is Totally Stupid: Why don't you just scatter some hundreds around the bedroom while you're at it?
What You Should Have Instead: As long as you have a bed, it's fine.

MSN Suggested Item: "10. The Joy of Cooking"
Why This is Totally Stupid: Well, everyone should probably have the joy of cooking.
What You Should Have Instead: Joy of Cooking & some sort of delicious vegetarian cookbook.

This list bugs me because of the constant focus on money and its use to impress the ladies. It's clearly not aimed at guys who want to pick up, well, me, with my clothes that don't cost more than about $30 on average, and my bed that is really just a mattress on the floor and my second-hand furniture. But who cares if the boy has expensive shoes or can fix things? What about books and art and good taste in music and movies?

I think the thing that bugs me most about both these lists is the sort of implicit assumption that men and women are sort of alien races that have to construct intricate lies to pretend to understand one another. Okay, yes, guys and girls are different, but why is this list saying, "Oh, look at the fancy things I can provide for you and how I can open jars and fix things"? Why can't it be like, "I know you can fix your own stuff and take care of yourself, now look at the neat stuff I have that you might like too. Look at these books that I love, look at these things I make, listen to this song that reminds me of you"?

Jean Skirts!

I had a whole Saturday and absolutely no plans, which never happens to me and made me sort of absurdly excited. I've also been totally jonesing to do some sewing lately. I had all of these pairs of jeans with holes in them that I was saving to make into jean skirts, and I felt the time had come to do it, since moving jeans that you can no longer wear across the country is kind of sick and sad. This was the first skirt I made. It turned out pretty decent. It's a lot like many other jean skirts I own, but it's a good length and it fits me well. Here's a close up.

Since I made this one first, it was the victim of my "how do I sew again?" process that involved breaking the needle of the sewing machine and having to rip out seams and resew them and getting the thread wound up around the bobbin a lot.

The skirt that I'm really excited about is this skirt, my new ruffled skirt. I just sort of made this up with no idea of what I was doing, but it turned out awesome! Way more awesome than I have any right to expect, since my sewing doesn't involve anything like measuring or straight lines. (I have to admit that one of the advantages to working with denim like this is that I can just cut off parts I don't like.) Oh man, I am so excited about my ruffled skirt! So ridiculous but cute!

Here is what I look like wearing it.

And here it is from the back.

The Unfortunate Incident

The first thing you need to know is that my coffee grinder is broken in a number of ways, most of them dating back to when I accidentally dropped it on the floor and busted off some of its little plastic bits. It turns out that some of those plastic bits were probably important. So the little plastic button you hold down to make the coffee grinder whir and grind is no longer attached to my coffee grinder. Since I am both lazy and McGyver-ish, I choose to just line the little plastic button up with it's slot, hold it against the coffee grinder, and press down. Who needs a new coffee grinder when you already have one that just happens to be in several pieces?

So this morning, I'm assembling the parts of the coffee grinder, and I happen to plug in the coffee grinder before putting the little plastic top on it.

What happened next was this sort of whirlwind explosion of coffee beans and partially ground coffee. It turns out that the little button had gotten jammed, and so when I plugged it in, it turned itself on.

There were coffee bits everywhere. Especially all over the kitchen counter which I just cleaned yesterday. And also, you know, on me. And on the floor, and in the cat's food, and probably on the cat. (I gave the cat new food, as I didn't want her to die via caffeine over dose.)

I'm sure there's a lesson somewhere in all of this, but I need to drink some more coffee before I figure it out.

Sticky

Dear Humidity,

You go die kill.

Luv,
Cyn

2 Things That Hurt Me

1. Oh shit, Bush gets to appoint a Supreme Court Judge. I cannot even handle this. Dudes, please please please please go to the NARAL Pro-Choice America website and send an email to your representatives telling them you want pro-choice representation.

2. Way less important, but still sad: This pendant with Hello Kitty with Pink Hair costs seventy dollars. This one is seventy-five. This one is one hundred and seventy. It's like they're purposely taunting me by making something totally ridiculous that I must own, and then pricing it way out of my ridiculous shit price range. God damn you Sanrio. Damn you to hell.