Monday, July 30, 2007

General Silliness

Yes I'm still in Vancouver.

Sometimes it's nice to get away from your significant other. I know he's doing fine without me. He's finally found an Xbox Elite, which means I'll probably never see him again. However it's been months since I've traveled without him and being without him for a few days I've realized one really important role he plays in my life that I've totally forgotten.

He's a good drinking partner. Every now and than if we're tying one on (and this is pretty rare) Luke sometimes has the foresight to know when it's a good time to stop. And he's always right, even if I feel fine (or perhaps very good) just after I stop I realize that one more drink would have ruined the evening.

Boy do I wish he was here Saturday night. It was painful, it was embarrassing, it was enough to make me want to quit for good.

All I can say is that there have been worse incidents. But this one ranks in the top 3 of ridiculously bad drunken behavior. It was one of those times when you really didn't see it coming, but as soon as you stood up the party was over.

Thankfully my friends are forgiving, but they won't ever let me live this one down.

c'est la vie.

GG

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Midsummer Notes

Feist's album The Reminder is my favorite album of the year with Guster's Ganging Up on the Sun second. Both cds are on repeat. It's been so long since any music has meant so much to me.

I finished the phoenix socks (hand dyed schaffer Anne) and promptly (I think within 5 minutes) cast on another pair with Pagewood farm's hand dyed.

Progress on the book continues. We have 3 full sized projects written out and completed. Does anyone know where I can get a large quantity of Rowan Denim for cheap???

I'm about to go to Vancouver to hang out with one of my best friends. It's nice to get out on my own for a bit.

So far this is the best summer I've had since 2001. Loving every minute.

GG

Friday, July 20, 2007

Choices

It is Friday night.

Having just made a delicious pasta and some delicious Sav blanc from New Zealand I am faced with a quandry.

Do I:

work on the book

redo my character sheet

or read the trades I have of Lucifer to prepare for the Mike Carey Party at Isotope

??????

Party on Wayne.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Summer Thinking

One of my pet peeves is living your life knowing that you're not appreciating it to it's fullest. We get so involved in what we're trying to achieve that we forget to experience life. To combat this, sometimes I stop myself in the middle of a moment. I try to hold on to it and acknowledge what's going on.

There are a few times where I've stopped myself like this.
1) the first time I saw Paris
2) the first time I saw my husband.
3) the Radiohead concert in July 2001.
4) The first time I saw Pulp Fiction
5) The moment I won a trip to Paris on the radio
6) Walking down the aisle at my wedding
7) The first time I saw Van Gogh's self portrait at the Musee d'Orsay (I wept)
8) The first time I went to the Musee du Picasso
9) NYE 2005/2006 Sydney
10) When I first met my inlaws in Sydney
11) My first swim on an Australian beach
12) Anytime I hear the Smashing Pumpkins song Drown.
13) The evening after I found out my grandmother died.
14) Walking in the rain after finding out that Kurt Cobain died.

These are the things I hold onto when things suck.

My goal this summer is to have as many moments like this as possible.

I don't have kids yet. I don't own a house. I've eschewed as much responsibility as I possibly could this summer. The result is more time to watch movies, to listen to new music to read books, and (lest Mr. G think I'm wasting my time) work on a book. I'm spending more time in my office, which even in its unorganized state reminds me of my teenage bedroom, where I spent countless hours writing and painting. I'm hoping to regain the quiet focus I had at that time, though it's difficult now with the endless distraction of the Internets.

It's amazingly easy to take it all for granted. Sometimes we forget what we have and get greedy, especially when the inevitable greener grass makes a random appearance. I could be making more money, I could have gone into film, I could have traveled Europe. I will entertain any possibility with my endless imagination. Sometimes I spend too much time there and real life becomes a blur. But no matter the choices you make, there are always choices that you left behind and you left them behind for a reason. That's the part we often forget.

For instance I always regretted that I didn't do better in school. As a student I did everything except school work, I thought that knowledge should come naturally, and that I was too smart to have to actually do the work. It was very arrogant, and I felt badly that I didn't live up to my potential, but the bottom line is that I didn't want to succeed in school. I had choices and I did what I wanted. Once I understood that I didn't feel bad about it anymore.

I am one of those crazy people sees the good side to anything and the possibility of everything. But the truth is that optimistic people are that way because there are often situations in one's life that border on unbearable. It's easier to embrace the possible than to drown yourself in the obstacles. This can make relationships difficult because you are loath to acknowledge difficulties. Or you laugh in the face of other people's pain. And thus people don't take you seriously, or you inadvertently offend them.

So what have we achieved this summer?
1) a better appreciation of films
2) going to a lot of shows
3) a lot more writing
4) productive knitting
5) some self reflection
6) new friends

I wonder where we'll be come fall...

GG

Thursday, July 05, 2007

iHOT

I played with an iphone today.

It seems like a more complicated version of my motorola razr. It's bad enough I spend so much time on my laptop do I really want to be glued to the internets constantly?

Yes. More so for the on hand google maps application than for anything else. Though they would be more helpful for me if it went worldwide.

I'm just going to wait until next year when they've worked out all the bugs.

Though I'm still disappointed that they went with CingulaRATT. Spying bastards.

I really have to wonder what kind of benefits did ATT offer apple to get on their network?

I'm a little scared to ask...

GG

Monday, July 02, 2007

One of Those Reality Whacking You Upside The Head Moments

The last couple of weeks have been rather strange for me. For one thing I haven't been jetting off to one location to another. I haven't seen an airport security checkpoint in over 21 days. For another thing, old friends keep popping back into my life, making me get out of the house. And then I'm meeting all these new people from work. This adds up to my routine being all broken up.

Anyhoo I was eating my lunch today and reading Knitscene and I realized that for the first time in months I had thought about something other than knitting. I had gone dancing, gone to parties, had conversations. Then flipping through the patterns in the magazine, I realized all the projects inside were crap, or at least unappealing to me. Then I was sitting on the couch watching the English Patient and by the end of the movie I realized that I hadn't knit a single round on my sock.

In short I had a private intervention and realized that I've been knitting too much. I forgot that there are other things that I enjoy doing.

This is a problem because I'm supposed to be writing a knitting book.

This isn't to say that knitting is bad, or that I'm quitting. There just needs to be a balance.

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Downside to the dancing

The big hangover. It took me all day to recover.

I can't believe I knitted a celtic plait in this condition.

GG

dancin', dancin' dancin'!

For the first time in 5 years I came home from a club at an ungodly hour.

I've fallen in love with San Francisco all over again.

GG