Star Shaped

I spent the majority of this past weekend knitting one of the front panels of the Arisaig cardigan and watching Season 1 of Heroes, which I borrowed from a friend months ago. (Yes, Josh, I'm finally watching the series. Finally.) We didn't do much this weekend, but we enjoyed ourselves and I felt pretty productive.

I've been working on Arisaig now for over a year. I started back in January 2007 after I bought soft purple yarn from WEBS when I visited my parents for Christmas. I love the pattern; I love the lace and I love the stretchiness of the fabric I've made. What I don't love is knitting lots and lots of ribbing on size 1 US needles. Thankfully, finally, I finished all the ribbing on the last part that needs it last night, so hopefully the last panel and the two sleeves will go quickly. I want to finish this cardigan before spring is over.

Let me tell you a story. Last week, somehow, one of my cats managed to tangle my yarn around my computer chair arm. Not on it, or under it; around it. I still don't understand. It took me all day to untangle, wind, and rewind the ball to look halfway useable, and now I've learned my lesson. No leaving knitting projects on my desk.

Speaking of computers, I went ahead and bought a laptop this past weekend. I've been talking about it for the past few months, and we set aside some money and took the plunge. I'll be able to finish my novel, surf the internet in other rooms besides this one, and bring it with me wherever I go. I can't wait for it to come in.

On Sunday, Scott and I went to a new restaurant a few miles from our house. We've passed it on the street many times; a nice, new looking, green and red stripey building with tinted windows, outdoor deck area surrounded by a black wrought iron fence, and plenty of parking illuminated by decorative lights around the perimeter. As we sat down, we looked at our paper menus with football themed titles for the sections ('first down' was appetizers, etc) and glanced at the shiny new flat screen TVs broadcasting the Florida - Kentucky basketball game, musing that this place must be a sports bar.

Until we heard the first few strains of "Keep on Loving You" by REO Speedwagon over the loudspeakers and glanced at the 'Live - Laugh - Love' and 'Home is where the journey begins' framed pictures on the rust colored walls which would have looked more in place at my mother's house. We couldn't stifle our laughter. We were so confused as to how this place wanted to present itself as a restaurant. A mid-end family eatery? A down home, local sports bar? We couldn't tell, but we enjoyed ourselves. I ordered chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce and topped it off with a raspberry cheesecake, and didn't end up eating dinner that night, I was so full. We definitely enjoyed ourselves.

This morning, I woke up groggy and devoid of sleep, wishing I could go back to bed. Today, at 7:30, watching the setting sun, I decided I didn't mind the coming of Daylight Saving Time.

I'm back, after taking a month or so off from writing here at this domain. I didn't completely stop writing, as you can see; I've posted a few things here and there and I've decided to start from scratch again. I think it's that time for me, to start anew, to remember my past but not keep it in my present state or in my future. I lived it, I moved on, and I feel my life's different now than it was even two or three years ago.

Also, this theme is not made by me. My biggest issue when I use different themes is that I feel my readers think I designed it myself, and usually I do make my own; this time, I'm feeling a bit lazy and though I liked my last layout, I like changing things up. I tend to maintain a six month limit with my personal appearance, changing my hair color every so often (see the entry below), and I feel restless with my site's look and feel after a significant period of time as well. I'm using the very fantastic Tarski theme for now, but I'm certain I'll concoct a theme of my own again shortly.

This entire week, we've gotten so much snowfall. Most mornings driving into work have been peaceful and oddly beautiful, watching the shadows cast blues and pinks on the newly fallen snow, tree branches lined, the world quiet. I love this part of winter.

I really needed a change.

Oh, 2003. How have five years passed since I rang in the new year with Kelly at her mother's house in Connecticut, watching an Insomniac with Dave Attell marathon, driving to my parents' house on January first, cursing the fact that while southern Connecticut bragged green lawns, Massachusetts streets were covered with the fluffy white stuff? Years pass so quickly.

I remember 2003, picking up my friend Peter at the Springfield train station to meet a friend of his online, and driving back to Indiana with him in my car, afraid of my erratic driving through the snow in upstate New York.

I couldn't wait to spend time with a guy I started dating, named Scott, who I began dating only eight days before Christmas. When I returned to Indiana we spent four days together, and we fell in love. I spent much of my year with this boy, listening to music, going to shows, and drinking at a local bar. I moved from Long Island Iced Teas, to White Russians, to Amaretto Sours, to Woodchuck cider. I tried a Bud Light one evening but could not finish it. I did not enjoy beer.

I lost friends over a Livejournal post and spent my last semester of college a wreck. This makes me laugh now, as these people weren't ever real friends and I'm glad to have washed them from my life. My true friends don't write in 'private' online journals discussing how much they, in fact, dislike me, and my true friends also do not say they were just 'ranting' when later on, I confront them about it. Lesson learned.

I met Scott's family in late January, in St Louis, and he met mine in March. We climbed Mt Holyoke and bought Guided By Voices albums, and I found I did not like California rolls while eating at a Japanese restaurant in Northampton.

I listened to Zwan, and Guided By Voices, Sun Kil Moon, and Grandaddy in 2003. I discovered Sirius radio and spent time discovering new sounds. We saw Zwan in concert twice, the Strokes once. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's second album came out in the fall and I bought it for $5.29 at a Best Buy in Massachusetts.

In May, I graduated college. My family came to Indiana to wish me well, and we stayed in a hotel with more humidity than most of the city itself, and we feared getting blown over by the many tornado warnings we endured during that weekend. Scott and I made a very funny couple our first year together. He met the rest of my family that Christmas.

I moved back to Massachusetts in the fall of 2003, and stayed for approximately three weeks before moving back to Bloomington. I initially went to visit Scott, who stayed in Bloomington to finish his degree, and ended my stay with a job supervising lab consultants for the university. I technically didn't have a place to live for three months; I dumped my stuff at an old coworker's apartment and paid rent there, but stayed with Scott at his tiny one bedroom apartment barely big enough for the two of us. My car lived at my old apartment complex from the summer, and we'd go check on it every so often to make sure it hadn't been towed. Ah, the life of a new graduate without a real home.

I did not knit much in 2003; I cross-stitched. I met Cindy and Joe in October, and I visited Hershey Park which really does smell like chocolate. Cindy and I cross-stitched while watching Star Wars and we collected Monopoly pieces at a nearby mall, and saw animals in the dark, right before Halloween. I spent too much of 2003 in a car, driving to and from places far from each other.

2003 was a disjointed year for me, a year of new beginnings. I don't like most of my memories associated with 2003 and I consider it one of the worst years of my life, mainly because of my state of mind. It's interesting, looking back at my thoughts and the events that occurred.

I'm not doing that great of a job keeping this site updated. Granted, I had a bit of a challenging week last week, and much of my writing took place via my offline paper journal instead of here. I also didn't have much time to do the things I love, except for playing some World of Warcraft.

Speaking of which, today Scott and I ran the Deadmines successfully with a group of people who weren't morons, and I hit level 20! We've still been playing fairly casually and I'm still happy with the speed in which we're leveling, so in all it's been a good experience. It passes time, at least.

Today the temperature is in the mid 40s, but rainy and not so pleasant outside. I'm still venturing out to hang with a few of my knitting friends, some of which I haven't seen since before the holidays. It's strange, thinking about how long ago November and December actually were. When I got together with my writing friends yesterday, I couldn't believe I hadn't seen one of them since early December! Time flies when lots of things happen.