Sunday, June 8, 2008

Summer Knitting Lull

I have been working a (really lame) temp job for the past few weeks, and the 7:00 AM start time has gotten my schedule all mucked up. So now, when I get home from work, I am completely exhausted in a way that I haven't been for a while. But at least with school over with I can do whatever I want for the rest of the evening, and that has included things like knitting, reading, taking naps, and running on my new (used) treadmill. Unfortunately, since I spend all day sitting in front of a computer, it has also meant that I tend to avoid reading through a bunch of blogs when I get home. But with the weekend here I don't have much of an excuse, and I was excited to learn that I got tagged for the latest meme floating around blogland! Thanks, Kristen!

Now I'm going to ignore the fact that getting tagged for a meme that has already been floating around for weeks feels a lot like getting picked last for the kickball team and just revel in the knowledge that I was tagged! Yeehaw!

The rules of the game: each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

Ten years ago I was 20 and had just finished my second year in college in St. Paul, MN. I majored in Theater and minored in Film, and I may or may not have been in a show over the summer. I was working on campus as a supervisor for the Summer Conference Staff. Basically, the school turned the dorms into "hotels" over the summer for the different camps and conferences that took place. It was up to me and my crew of a dozen or so other college kids to clean up after they left and turn over the rooms for the next conference. It was hard, hot, dirty work but we got to live on campus for free, and I am still good friends with a couple of my coworkers.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?
1) Write a blog post. (Done!)
2) Run to the pharmacy and the bank.
3) Clean the bathrooms.
4) Drive to San Diego for some apartment viewing (I'
m moving in a few weeks).
5) Decide what to make out of the yarn my brother sent me.

3. Snacks I enjoy:
Omigosh, I am an absolute sucker for Sour Cream and Onion Baked Lays with some Dr. Pepper. You can also wave a Red Vine in front of my face and I will pretty much do your bidding.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Oh, the usual: attract a lot of unsavory friends, get hooked on the latest designer drug, and end up broke and in rehab, but with a 7-figure advan
ce on my tell-all book deal. Or I would do the boring stuff and pay off student loans for myself and my dozen siblings, buy a fabulous house, and use the rest of the money to run a support organization for GLBT youth and pay high-powered lobbyists to work for GLBT rights in D.C..

5. Places I have lived:
Various locations in St. Paul, MN and Minneapolis, MN; Duluth, MN; South Bend, IN; Pittsburgh, PA; Newport Beach, CA; San Diego, CA (starting in July).

6. Jobs I’ve had:
High School:
Receptionist/servant at my parents' church rectory: the
job sucked because I had to sit on a stool in the corner of the kitchen near a ledge holding the phone, waiting for it to ring while I watched the cook prepare dinner. After she left, I had to serve the four priests their food course by course and they would crab at me if I brought the roast beef out too early. I also had to clean their bedrooms for them, and the level of luxury that these men lived in was galling compared to the living conditions of many of their poor parishioners.

Dishwasher at the local care facility for retired nuns. I also had to prepare meat purees for the old women who couldn't chew. The stuff smelled nasty.

Glassware cleaner for the chemistry labs, telemarketer.


College:
Summer Conference Staff Supervisor, cashier for my roommate's uncle's Irish goods store, dorm building front desk attendant, post office
clerk, nanny.

After college:

Life insurance policy administrator, assistant registrar
at a university, assistant technical director for a local theater festival, light/sound board operator for a theater, car repo department processor at a bank, bill processor for a paper shredding company, secretary for a graduate program at a university, script reader/development assistant in Hollywood.

7. Peeps I want to know more about:
Sorry to cop out on this, but I have to skedaddle down to San Diego. Moving in 3 weeks with no apartment lined up is a little nerve-wracking! I don't have time to check all the people who have/have not already done this meme, but I would like to at least tag my cute little brother!!!

I am STILL waiting for the yarn I ordered back in March to arrive here. The woman emailed me on May 14 to tell me she had re-ordered the yarn from Berroco, and it should take 10 days to get to her. Oh, and she magically found four of the 12 skeins that were missing from my original order. Skeins she was so sure she had included
in the box. Well, May 14 was 25 days ago and I haven't heard a thing from her. I have been working on little projects in the meantime because I was going to use the yarn from her to make a couple sweaters that I have lined up, but I'm really losing my patience. I will be moving again soon and still won't have my yarn! If you ask me, this woman should be giving me this yarn for free. I bought it from her business, so it's not like I'm just buying yarn from someone's stash, and I paid for it almost THREE MONTHS AGO!. She actually had the gall to say to me that she hopes I order from her in the future. HA!

Here's just a taste of the little things I have been working on in the meantime:
(details on Ravelry)

A Mini Clapotis.





















Some more Lizard Ridge squares. This one is the ugliest thing I have ever seen. It started out all cute at the bottom, but then the creams and dark greens and rust colors showed up and the top half looks like barf.
















I ordered the cotton sampler from Knit Picks a while back, so I have been making some of the projects from that kit.



















I'm sure there's more that I forgot about/haven't taken pictures of, but that's really all I've had energy for lately. I was hoping to start writing more regularly once school got out, but I think that's going to have to wait until after my move as well. Thanks to any readers who stick with me after long absences! :)