Depression Rebounding

Last week was insane as far as work goes. Training for a new position is stressful anyway, but the work I'm doing now is constant all day long, at least if I want to get it done, which I sort of have to since it's all on a deadline. It reminds me alot of my OKC job. I'm not complaining. If anything, I prefer this sort of work and would rather have 8 hours feel like not enough time than too much time.

Usually I look forward to my weekends and enjoy them since it means being home and not at work. However, this weekend I'm having what I think of as rebounding depression. It feels like I was busy and productive and super for five days and all of a sudden I'm given some down time and I don't know what to do with it. The sad thing, there's all kinds of things I need to get done. I could sort my knitting stash. I could work on my writing. I could knit. I could organize and clean the house since it could definitely use it. But I don't want to do any of that. This puts me in a low, apathetic mood, which just makes me feel lower. It's a bad cycle.

It also means I've slept alot and haven't accomplished much of anything. I do have these weekends occasionally and it doesn't set a precedence for the next weekends, but this is one of the few times I'll be relieved for Monday to get here. In the meantime, this afternoon I am going to knit and watch "Conviction," a show off our Netflix queue that didn't last long considering the complete series is all in one. I'm going to put away some laundry and then try not to stress about everything else. Unfortunately, I have no idea what time I'll be able to sleep tonight since I slept until 1:30 this afternoon. I wasn't even up late...I was in bed before midnight.

But knitting and maybe some reading should definitely help.

ALF

The Sock That Never Was

I'm going to focus on the positive of the situation, and that is that I haven't thrown anything across the room (namely yarn and needle) and I'm not crying, so temper and dramatic nature are both in check.

The sock I was working one was done finally, for all of five minutes. I completely misjudged what the pattern would do to the size, and that's even after I read the comments of other knitters who'd had the same problem. J and the BIL have the same size foot, so J was the tester for the FO, but he couldn't even get it on half his foot. Then I tried it on and it wouldn't fit me either. Sure, we're both wide footed people, but I'm pretty sure there was no way it was going to fit the person it was being made for.

So, it's being frogged and reknit at the same time, this time using the directions for the largest size. Who knows? Maybe that one will turn out to be too big, but better too big than too small, and considering the size difference the increases and decreases made, I think the big size just might work.

I've always hated the feeling of having wasted so many hours/days/etc. on something only to have to redo it, but I'm keeping calm about this. It's the process and a finished object that fits will be infinitely better than one that doesn't. Common sense, yeah...but I was really tempted just to keep it and try to find someone with a small foot.

So here we go again...back to the cast on.

ALF

Knitting in Public: Hastings

I decided to hang out at Hastings today while I waited for J to get off work, and I decided to use the time to work on the sock I'm knitting, the first in the pair of my BIL. I apologize for the quality of the pics. I didn't have my regular camera on me and I haven't figured out how to take phone pics like a pro.

I'm almost done with the foot and expect to have this sock done by the end of tonight.

I love Hastings. It's just one of those comfortable places I could probably sit at for hours. I also love that by selling stuff back, you can get store credit, which means that decluttering and a little bit of time spent chilling in the cafe with and iced drink (or warm one in the winter), a bagel or muffin, and a book or my knitting.

Today I was armed with my iPod as well and listened to a couple podcasts while I knitted. I got through the newest Lion Brand podcast and one of the back episodes of the KnitPicks podcast which I've been working on for awhile trying to get caught up from the past couple years.

Courtesy of the aforementioned credit, I was able to get a bagel and a frozen hot chocolate with a splash of orange flavor. It's an amazing flavor combo. I was there for about an hour and a half and it was another great indulgence after another long work day.

ALF

The Joy of Pudding

It's been a few years since I've had jello or pudding for a snack at home, but on a recent shopping trip, J and I picked up a few different flavors. Tonight is pistachio. I love pistachio pudding. It looks like green slime (re: You Can't Do That On Television) and tastes awesome.

We're also enjoying some grape kool-aid, another blast from the past and a wonderfully "Joker" color combination when matched with the pudding.

And yes...I'm drinking it from a Bud Light glass which is not classy but still funny. I think that there are some days (especially when those days are Mondays) that you need to eat fun and tasty food for snacks just to keep your sanity. Today was one of those.

ALF

From the Queue: Audition, Franklyn, and Rachel Getting Married

It was another weekend for movie watching and knitting, and we're very slowly taking down the Netflix queue.

I'd seen Audition before but couldn't remember what had actually happened. I couldn't get the BIL or J to watch it with me, J because he doesn't like Asian horror and the BIL because he'd seen one part of Audition and didn't want to see anymore. The movie is disturbing, though you wouldn't know it from the first half of the movie. The main character, a lonely older man who lives with his son, is convinced to hold auditions to find a suitable mate. The one who stands out to him is a quiet girl who seems to understand pain, having had to give up her dream of being a ballet dancer at an early age. He's drawn to her, despite the warnings from his friend. In the audition scene, the movie plays like a comedy, but the last hour of the movie becomes disturbing. Not a good one to watch it torture and gore bother you.

Franklyn was a surprisingly good science fiction/psychological mystery about a strange figure who wanders a steampunk world called Meanwhile City looking for a cult leader and trying to stay away from the clerics of the world who's job it is to ensure that everyone has faith. Alongside his story are three others: a woman who attempts suicide frequently for both a project and an attempt to gain her mother's attention, a man who, after being jilted, reunites with a childhood friend, and a man looking for his son. The movie is confusing and dark, but was riveting enough to keep J and I watching to see how things were going to end up. The surprise performance for me in this movie was Ryan Phillipe. I haven't seen him in anything for quite awhile. and he was never one of my favorite actors anyway. It was hard to recognize him in this one. He's gotten older and I'll give him a thumbs up for acting improvement.

The disappointment was Rachel Getting Married, an indie film that received good reviews when it was released and stars Anne Hathaway as Kym, a recovering alcoholic who gets out of rehab to go to her sister's wedding. The movie moves like a documentary, and parts tend to drag. Not many of the characters were likable, and even though Hathaway played the part well, Kym is an awkward person that was generally just hard to watch. The family drama was realistic though, which will either annoy you or make you feel better about your own family drama.

Audition: A
Franklyn: B+
Rachel Getting Married: C+

ALF

May the Force Be With You

This past week we watched the complete series of Star Wars movies. Contrary to popular suggestion, we started with Episode 1 and went in chronological order rather than order of release. I'd seen the originals before, but it had been years and I didn't remember much about them. To tell the truth, I never really understood what was going in the storyline. I knew that Vader was Luke's father, Leia was his sister, Yoda talked funny, and Han Solo had a large wookie. I also watched The Phantom Menace a couple times in college, but didn't remember much about that either.

The first three of the order (Episodes 1-3) are nowhere near as good as Episodes 4-6. In fact, "Attack of the Clones" was horrible and besides the Dooku/Yoda fight scene, a complete waste of time. Overall though, I'm glad I watched them. J and Drew kept me up on what was going on and I managed to follow the storyline. After the first three, I was able to watch the originals with no problem and actually knew what was going on.

What I loved: The fight scenes were great. My favorite, besides the one mentioned above, was Obi-Wan and Grievous. I liked the relationship  between Han and Leia. Yoda's awesome pop culture reputation didn't disappoint.

What I hated: The Anakin/Padme relationship was like a bad soap opera. Padme went from being awesome to just being whiny. Anakin had a few good moments when he was 10 and then it all went downhill from there. The acting between those two was horrible and Anakin was just an annoying, whiny character in general. Jar Jar Binks seemed fairly pointless.

The first three get an average grade of B-. The second three get an A.

Extra credit: I know have more pop culture reerences.

ALF

The Yarn Shop and More

Back in March when J and I went to a book signing in Kansas City, we stopped at a little yarn store in Overland Park and I followed our visit up with this review.

Knitters don't always have good experiences with yarn stores, and it was really nice to walk into a place and be treated like a valued customer. The worker was super friendly and impressive (her name is Julie if my memory hasn't failed me).

I bought some pretty clearance yarn, an addi circular for magic loop knitting, and a full set of circular needles which I love and have almost completely taken the place of my straight needles.

ALF