I had kind of intended to take a hiatus for this week. I just moved off and all, and they have us on this wacky summer camp schedule thing. We have all day seminars in how to be college students (well mine is about social science and Mars colonization, but the veil is pretty thin,) and then there are activities, most of which are pathetic.
I have one comment to make, borne out requisite ambivalence, and grouchyness: If it’s really easy to be a rebel, and all the authorities are saying, its fine to rebel if you want to, go for it, it’s no longer really rebellion. The purpose has been completely defeated.
I’m sure there will be more later.
As Chris reported, we talked for a while yesterday, and I think it was generally awesome. I completely agree with him, (gosh, that’s a first!) about the difference between spoken and typed communication. I would also say that, the people we are online, is a lot like the people we really are, and sometimes when we meet virtual buddies in real life, it takes a while for a physical (or vocal) report to develop, and the “jump” as it were is more the result of a non-normal first impression rather than some fundamental difference in personality expression.
At the beginning, the voice I heard was not the one I was expecting, but once I got used to, it was perfect and right. It was defiantly weird at first after all it was a “first meeting.” Once I realized on a more basic level that there are few people in the world that I’ve known (and been in such contact with) for five plus years, it was totally cool. It just took a few moments for my body to realize who I was talking to, I guess.
Chris recognized that the conversation was more flowing than it is in AIM, but I think that’s a symptom of the fact that in half an hour of phone conversation, we covered what might take several hours in AIM world. Very interesting.
That’s just my response. I’m going to go back to being on fake hiatus until next week. I’m trying to line up some awesome guest bloggers, but so far little luck. Stay tuned in any case.
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tagged: TealArt
In a very bold gesture I ripped out the vest I was making, and have started on the sweater that I’ve wanted to make for a long time now. It’s going to be a basic, shirt style, dropped shoulder number. Seed stitch borders and trim, with a plain stocking stitch body. The only typically Sam features (ie really weird things) is that I didn’t even bother coming up with a pattern for this sweater other than measuring a sweater that I think fits me very well and coming up with a gaguge. The other Samish feature (if I ever writing a knitting book, it’ll be called Samish Knitting) is that I’m combining yarn from two different dye lots, and with a lot of black Rit dye (or possibly India Ink), I hope to make this a non issue.
I’ll post a pattern once I have a garment completed. I’d do it sooner, because it’s a really simple and standard design, but I haven’t a clue of how I’m going to shape the neck, and with luck I’ll have decided by the time I get there.
It’s really nice to have a big project on the needles again, and I also really like how quickly it’s passing. I started it yesterday evening and after a number of failed cast on attempts I know have the effective 2.5 inch bottom trim, and 3 inches of the body-proper completed, and it’s smooth sailing till the underarms (no short rows needed!).
In other knitting news I’m working tirelessly to put together a knitting sub-site for TealArt. Basically it would be the same as regular TealArt, except only the knitting posts would appear, and I’ll be able to create a knitting specific sidebar. Also, I think it means there’ll be a new knitting contributor.
So stay tuned.
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13th August
The Parting Glass (Part 1 of an indeterminate number)
Oh all the money that e’er I had,
I spent it in good company
And all the harm that e’er I’ve done,
alas, it was to none but me
And all I’ve done for want of wit
to memory now I can’t recall
So fill to me the parting glass,
good night and joy be with you all
Oh all the comrades that e’er I’ve had,
they are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e’er I’ve had,
they would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
that I should rise and you should not
I’ll gently rise and I’ll softly call
good night and joy be with you all
It’s all been done, before, but just cause I think it’s cool, and I don’t want to bother to ask people permission to write about them (and symbolically altering names is kind of stupid,) I’m going to identify characters discussed in web log with initials, or relationally. Along with this, privacy seeking measure, I’m going to remind the readership, that the stories I tell are important to me. If you figure out who the other actors are, good for you, don’t share. Secondly, as always, if I leave something out of a TealArt post and you want to know more, wait till I write more about it, or email me about it. There’s some method to my madness, usually.
I said good-bye to A.W. today. I keep doing that, and will keep doing that for a long time. Don’t ask me why. I used to be ambivalent about him, a problem that often got worse with interaction. Now, I’ve seen him way more in the last three weeks than I’m used to, and if anything I’ve gotten less ambivalent. Its funny, I’m moving away in about a week, and this was probably the hardest good-bye, and it’s not the first time (nor the last) I’ve said good-bye to him.
Because I’m in a Babylon 5 mood, and really deep down, I’m just a regular old geek fanboy, here’s a couple of things from the end of season five. Delenn, said that there’s no word for “good-bye” in the Mimbari language, because all of they left open the possibility for a “next time.” The second thing, G’kar, says good-bye to someone staying on the station, as he makes some speech about how, if you spend enough time in a place or with a person, you take a little bit of the place/person with you when you leave, and you leave a little bit of yourself behind. G’kar says something like “the part of me that is going, will very much miss the part of you that is staying.” Something like that. Both of those ideas are kind of key to my experience.
I’m going to a party in an hour and a half where I get to say good-bye to a bunch of the people I went to school with. I never socialized with them very well, but we have a bond. I suppose, and I think it’s important for closure that I go to this party. Let us note, I went to one of their graduation parties, and other than that I completely avoided their madness. Ignoring that fact, it’ll be fun, and then I get to go to my second to last gay-youth group meeting. That’ll be sad-ish.
It isn’t like I’m dying, and I’ll be back, but these “goodbye for now”s are difficult. Especially in cases like A.W. where I really really want to spend time with him.
Update:The party was a huge non issue. It was good to see and say goodbye to the folks, but those are some pretty lame parties, and I feel good. And then I left, and felt good for doing it. Saying goodbye to A.W., though was still so much more amazingly difficult. Alas.
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12th August
Supreme Court Arguments
http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/nitf/273/Here’s a site which has archived MP3 recordings of the oral arguments of lots of really important supreme court cases. I listed to the Miranda arguments, and it was intresting to follow. Give it a try!
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tagged: interwebs
Summer Goals
For all of you who cared, I think I’ve mostly gotten over whatever funk I’ve been in for the last little bit. But I suspect that those of you, who cared, noticed this fact by the four new entries in most recent 24-hour period (since 6pm yesterday). There may be more forth coming. Just hope that I don’t burn myself out, and then go through a multi-week burn out period. Parish the thought.
So I suppose I had a few goals for the summer when I walked across the stage at graduation (well a few weeks before, but whatever). They were: to get a job and make money, to get a new computer, to start writing again, to start reading again, to spruce up TealArt, and to just hang out with friends more.
To review what I’ve accomplished: I didn’t get a job, and I’ve made a little money, I got the new computer, I haven’t really started writing, and I haven’t finished a book since school let out (and thus much before that date,) I’ve done a lot of TealArt sprucing up, and I’m satisfied with that outcome, and I’ve hung out with friends a little, though perhaps not in the way I might have hoped (but that is completely in character for me, and I’m not too disappointed in that.)
Other than my preparation for college, and all that, my only real accomplishment is that I knitted a splendid shawl, and a couple of hats. Which is certainly not to be taken for granted, but as of right now I don’t have any knitting projects to speak of save a few scarves, and I’m kind of lost in that respect. Shawl number two I cometh. But that’s neither here nor there at the moment.
So I think, that I’m a bit disappointed with what I’ve done so far, but that’s ok, like I said, I’ve spent a little while in a funk beating myself up for my lack of productivity, and I’m over that for now. I’m already looking through my bookshelf in search of a (very) limited library to bring with me to college, for my own mandated reading, and I’m doing what I can about the writing.
The world only spins forward, can’t go back now.
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tagged: TealArt
On Second Thought…
So I just finished watching the second part of Angels in America: Perestroika. My line has been, generally, that the first play is better than the second one. Due to the fact that the second one answers questions too eagerly, and there’s some really wonky stuff, notably the scenes in heaven, and the whole bit with Roy Cohn in hell. While we’re at it, the whole Ethel Rosenberg stuff was a bit far fetched.
Well HBO cut the Roy Cohn in hell scene, and I really liked how the scene in heaven worked out. Ethel was still a little over done, but it worked out more or less.
And I must say that the “answers” given, really aren’t answers in the aspect that they don’t really provide real closure, they just say “it isn’t over yet, there’s so much more to see.” Which is totally true, and satisfying. Maybe it’s more satisfying because I know that in the 14 years since the end of the epilogue, 33 anti-retroviral drugs have been developed, Ronald Ragan died a miserable death, and the world hasn’t ended yet, and there’s a hell of a lot yet to see.
No mater how avoidant of conclusions I might be in my day-to-day intellectual life, I really do like a good conclusion that makes me smile and cry at the same time.
I guess that’s something I have to keep working on.
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tagged: TealArt