Out the door



and off to the land of sugarplums. Given that I have a night flight, I wonder if I'll meet another seasonal Frequent Flyer en route?

In any event, have a Merry Christmas and a safe, happy New Year!

Decided to break my longstanding tradition of not participating in the company potluck (which is mostly catered anyway) and Yankee Swap. Picked my gift for for its packaging, a wine-bottle-shaped basket, as it'd make a great needle caddy. Was so excited about that that I sat down without even thinking to look for anything inside. The crowd hollered for me to get back up and open my gift. I did and found something that I'd always wanted but would never think to buy myself: a Mayflower Poultry tee shirt! I've threatened the Frenchie with wearing it at Eco Fruit next week, as that place seems to have been overrun by Somerville/Cambridge types (I blame Dassault).

Short of time and energy, I wrapped up an amethyst-colored scarf bit from my WIP basket with a promise to have it finished and in the recipient's mailbox by Monday morning. The person who chose it was so pleased with its color and the fact that it was handmade that she found me afterwards and gave me a hug. Certainly went a long way towards improving my day.

Need to send a thank you note to the lady who got the tee shirt. It's so me, gosh darnit.

Blue.

“Blue Iris brings together the dependable aspects of blue, underscored by a strong, soul-searching purple cast. Emotionally, it is anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic.”

#18-3943: Pantone's favorite for 2008.

Oh, why not:

Posted From Home (Finally).

I've been a happy RCN customer for about four years now. Love my service, love the techs, love the support folks with whom I will play an occasional game of "let's see if you remember how to manoeuver through Cutesy X version Domestic Shorthair.*" This love has not changed a bit.

However, based on my recent experiences with Comcast, I can honestly say that THEY SUCK. IF THEY WERE THE LAST TELECOM/ISP IN THE US, I'D JURY RIG A SETUP WITH SOUPCANS AND SOME STRING BEFORE I PARTOOK OF THEIR "SERVICE."

B@stards cut all my phone/data lines the other night while setting up my landlord's new service. I hate them. I hate them and I'm not even a customer. Way to go, jerks.

***

* Since I'm still running Hal's old groundscore, there are limits to my upgrade capabilities. Doctor visits, heat and school take priority over new toys right now. It runs, I've got it backed up. Works for me.

I like to walk to work thinking of that scene, humming the music, imagining I'm a roving singer instead of a reporting analyst.

Pansori

The first time I heard this musical form, in Im Kwon-taek's Chungyang, (one of my favorite movies ever) I was blown away. Thanks to the magic of Youtube, I can now gorge myself on it.

Found this recently: a little unusual due to its being a duet instead of a solo piece. It's from another Im Kwon-taek film called Seopyonje.



Yes, it's a little jarring at first. After a bit, it'll get into your blood.

Couldn't think much over the weekend, so knit a fair bit. Wanted to make the Frenchie a stocking, as he'd never had one before. Also didn't want something standard red-green.

While going through my stash, I found four colors of a bulky weight wool-blend that not only worked together, but moved me to the lovely, dark, and deep woods where I would much rather have been.



The stripes: 5-7-3-11-1-5-7-11-13-5-3-1-5. I like primes; they're soothing.

Decided to call this Snowy Evening. I don't care if it sounds pretentious or derivative.

Tired. Old.



Mamasan, Summer 2006.

We've aged a lot over the past few days.

Mamasan's a lot sicker than we originally thought. Was going to have him put to sleep today, but just couldn't. That will need to be dealt with after the holidays, as he's not hurting and I need him so much right now.

Pavel said that he'd take him back to NJ over Christmas, since he had such a blast at Thanksgiving (warm house, plenty of people food, another friendly cat to groom him). P's dad is a deacon and took a liking to Mamasan, so wants to pray over him. Wish I could be there. However, will be elsewhere.

For now, the Old Guy (he's not quite 18) is jumping around a lot (you should see him!), eating whatever he wants (even has a place set at the table, complete with dish and napkin), and enjoying good lap time with me when I'm home and not in a fit of tears. He's also getting a fair bit of reiki (don't laugh!)

Life has to go on. It does, but I'm having difficulty getting it started up again.

Triomphe Pyhrrique de la Pipolitique*?



"Sarkozy's going out with Carla Bruni!"
"You mean he and Khadafi are no longer an item?"
Chappatte, Le Temps de Geneve; reprinted by Courrier International.

A few things to keep in mind when reading news coverage here is that France is a completely different animal from the US, Sarkozy is not the French Bush, and the media there are largely NOT skewed against him (quite to the contrary). Anyway, it's kind of interesting to see the less-than complimentary coverage of the latest photo-op "romance" between Monsieur le President and Mick Jagger's ex. Perhaps it's one nana** too many after the 'heartbreak' of divorce***? Perhaps the pattern of personal life stuff showing up in the news to take the edge off something that puts the President in a bad light is getting too obvious for even the media types there to ignore?

* pipolitique (as in politique de pipotique) is such a cool word and such a great descriptor of the Sarkozy administration's operations to date: pipotique is Powerpoint speech: saying a lot, but meaning nothing. "Big Bang in China," "Cultural Revolution" for the bureaucrats, "Environmental New Deal," are the last three propos that come to mind.

** chickie

*** particularly laughable was the cri du coeur that rose up from the usual suspects over l'affaire 60 Minutes. He pulled a combination Dean/Kerry and all anyone thought to ask was "how dare they pry into his personal life?" How indeed, as it's for him to drag through the tabloids at will.

First Saved Space of the Season.



In front of the nextdoor neighbors' (uphill) house.
I think it's the folks across kittycorner (again, uphill) from me - they have like a half a dozen pickup trucks/SUVs and are the only folks who do this on our street.

My neck of the woods at about 5:00 pm tonight.

Shoveled twice today since about 3:00 pm and plan to go out once more before bed. It sure seems like a lot more than the eight inches the Weather Service predicted. Since Raphaella's all alone and D across the street's recovering from surgery, I took care of their places, too. It's one of those days where I can honestly say that I earned my dinner (homemade split pea soup with lots of carrots and onions, in case you were wondering).

I have a ton of work/writing to do. The heart is telling me I need to take an hour or two off to do a bit of knitting, though. Maybe I should listen to the heart for a change.

On a more cheerful note - the Frenchie sent me a stained-glass window today.



He sent me a wheat field as well, but the colors were somber shades of brown and gray. I'll save that one for a happier day.

Early Release.

Got the email from HR telling us we could leave at 2:00. That's just as well, since I'm kind of just waiting around for the baton to be passed off to me. Would much rather be elsewhere.

Had an incredibly frustrating morning: was supposed to have a people doctor appointment tomorrow, but it was cancelled. The receptionist I called told me that they had left me a message on my voice mail (certainly didn't receive one on any of my phones). I didn't push the issue, as, well, what's the point? Previous confrontations over the same thing have not won me anything. Sighed, made another appointment for the end of February, then asked for something closer up for my knee. This didn't work out, but I DID learn from her that my care group has walk in clinic that's open weekends. Not great - but it's something.

Took Mamasan to the vet: from the way things look, he's got an over active thyroid and a bum tooth (which would go a long way towards describing the lump called a fatty tumor before and the drastic weightloss). The vet, a nice enough lady I guess, took some blood and pee and said she'd have test results tomorrow evening. Unfortunately, after that, my benefactor/ride person started asking her all sorts of questions which sounded like second-guessing...she certainly seemed to interpret it this way. Between the two of them, couldn't get a word in edgewise. When I did get my question in, was treated to a rather heated lecture from her (she stopped just short of finger pointing, thank heavens) about questioning her diagnosis and methodology. Got a curt "nice to meet you" and a quick exit. Didn't know whether I wanted to start crying or be swallowed up into the Earth, I felt so horrible. Still feel like crying.

Surfacing

Take a deep breath...whew!

Let's see: reinjured knee, payroll-month-quarter end, homestretch for my course, a sick cat.

Things on hold: the blog, knitting, jellymaking, piano-playing, long walks, pleasure-reading.

Class'll be over next Tuesday, doctors' appointments by this Friday, work stuff (hopefully) before I head out to guess where for noël/réveillon. Wouldn't mind fitting in some Christmas stuff before the actual holiday, not to mention writing a bit here. We'll see.

Deep breath again...splash!