Well, it looks like two of the three ballot questions we got to vote on were rejected.

1.) Proposed getting rid of the 6.25% sales tax charged in addition to the excise tax we pay on alcoholic beverages. This just squeaked through.

2.) Proposed abolishing a holdover from the days of rent control - that is, fast-tracking the permit process for housing developers who promised to include a proportion of 'affordable housing' in their plans. I'm actually not surprised that was rejected, as it was kind of confusing (took several read-throughs and discussions to come to a conclusion as to how to vote on this). I wonder, too, if more than a few folks thought they were voting against the law itself, rather than against its appeal. (You never know.)*

3.) Proposed rolling back the sales tax from 6.25% to 3%. Honestly didn't think it would pass. If they'd just have proposed rolling it back to the good old 5% of a year ago, it might have had more of a chance.

***

* Listened in on the most awesome conversation between two kids regarding this.

"Umm, so, how did you vote on question two? Sorry to change the subject."

"Well, I wasn't sure when I went in. I knew a couple of guys do the opposite of what they meant because they got mixed up. Didn't want to do that."

"I think most Somerville-ites will vote against it. You know, it's affordable housing."

"Yeah, I was thinking I was against it, but it's all about affordable housing, and it's all about making the world a better place."

"Yeah. Yeah."

Mass-Acre.

I'd be lying if I said that I wasn't disappointed in last night's election results. While the rest of the country was cleaning house, we kept the horrible man who was one of the authors of the housing crisis, one of the more incompetent governors we've had in a long time (and the test run for the last presidential election), an attorney general whose major claim to fame is keeping a man wrongfully imprisoned for a manufactured crime, and a tax cheat for treasurer.

Would love to have seen some change somewhere. Some sign that MA wasn't owned by special interests, some sign of sentience among voters.

Normally I'd shrug it off and say that, well, folks get the leadership they deserve. AM not pleased to have to pay even more now for the poor judgement of my co-citizens, and can only hope that the wave that swept through congress will provide enough resistance against what we ended up with here.

As for the local offices? Heaven help us (again).

Have been feeling like garbage all day. I think and hope that it's just the old gut (I have IBS - sorry for the TMI) just stamping its feet and letting itself be known. If it's anything worse, I'm screwed, as I'm not insured.

Didn't much talk about what I have in mind for the upcoming year for myself, as, over the past couple years, have had plans scuttled pretty spectacularly. Anyway, have wanted to set the goals low, manageable and as little subject to the vagaries of those around me as possible.

First off, I want to finish the job of losing all the weight I set myself to do last November. Had started at about 195-ish lbs, and am currently at about 177 (yes, gained a few pounds since returning to the States in January.) The goal weight is between about 155-160 lbs; totally within reach. I just have to keep up the good eating as prescribed here.

Exercise has been difficult lately. Most mornings, I have enough trouble finding motivation enough to get out of bed. Have been managing a couple dozen push ups and stomach crunches every day, though, which I guess counts for something.

Handwork-wise, I mentioned wanting to knit one lace project a month already. In addition to that, would like to take one item out of the unfinished pile and finish it/repurpose it/salvage the yarn. Also, would like to confine my knitting to the yarn I've collected over time. There's a lot of it; it really needs to go.

Mentioned also learning to spin - that's been awfully fun, but have to watch out. If I spend too much time doing it, the shoulders and the back start to hurt and the fingers get blistered. Plus, I end up with more yarn to get rid of!

Didn't mention that I also want to teach myself to crochet this year. Funny, but I can manage hundreds of stitches on two or more needles, but just have never got the hang of *one* stitch at a time on *one* hook. Really want to learn to make granny squares, too. Love them.

Then, there's work. I've been seriously underemployed for some time - some of it due to choice, some of it a bit out of my control. Have a couple projects going on at home, but would like to find a few hours a week out of the house. I think it would have to be temporary work. Just something to get me out and build up the bank account a bit.

I took all the history classes at the local community college and really can't afford to go anywhere else right now, so am just trying to do a bit of directed reading. Was a huge fan of Stendhal in my other life, so have picked him up again. Have been trying to supplement that with readings on the Revolution in France, the oscillations between liberalism and absolutism there and in other parts of Europe, // developments in the United States, etc. What I'm taking home from all this is that, heavens, as crazy as things were on my side of the Atlantic, they seem positively straightforward compared to the jailbreak that Europe was at the time.

Am not much into what I guess is called Historiography, but have been reading other things as well and noting how stuff's been interpreted over time. Amazing what you can learn about academic fashions in pre-Vichy France from reading a monograph on Ancient Roman city planning...

My, am running on a bit, aren't I. (More later - am no where near done.)

Once seen, cannot be unseen.

Unfinished Object.

My mother liked to work with her hands. She was one of the fastest typists I'd ever seen, my dad's mom aside. (Both of them could do over 120 wpm with a very low margin of error. My best time's only about 90, and this only came with concerted effort.) Was a technically excellent pianist as well. Her favorite handwork, though, was sewing. Like her mother, she was a professional-level seamstress who would take in work from friends and relatives to add to what she earned from the day job. A lot of what she taught me, in fact, was to help alleviate backlog in that business. (This has served me well in the past - namely in college when I'd take in simple repair work for friends because I didn't want to see them be rooked by the tailors on campus. Actually don't enjoy doing it, though.)

She could also knit. I don't think she enjoyed it as much as sewing, as I don't see the same technical level in the finished objects. She did have the basic stitches, casting off and binding off down, though.

Stuffed in a closet (with her old typewriter and my Raggedy Ann doll, in fact), I found an unfinished something:



How long ago did KMart stop carrying their own brand of (surprisingly not squeaky) acrylic yarn? We're really dating ourselves here.

There were two 5' by 10" brown strips, 1 1/2 of the same in beige and a couple gauge swatches. There appears to be enough yarn to make several more, though how many I'm not sure. I think she was intending to sew enough completed strips together to make one (or maybe two?) afghans together. Not for her, though, as the color scheme doesn't go with anything in her house. Wonder who it or they were for?

Double bagged the pieces and the yarn as it all stunk (and continues to stink) of smoke to bring home. It's going to be interesting to see how I can wash the pieces still on needles and stitch holders without either damaging the wash machine or unraveling the work. Absolutely can't work on them in their current state, though.

Kind of makes me sad, as I found a few other such abandoned projects (always) crammed into corners or closets. Also, though we'd not been speaking for nearly a year, I'd started on a gift for her that she'd asked for a while ago: a burgundy colored shawl.

The shawl was unraveled in a fit of rage / frustration around the holidays. Guess I can finish the afghan, though.

The first memories of my mother, when I heard that she'd passed, were not the best. Have been trying like the devil to find good ones. Thank heavens for a friend who asked the all important question, "yes, but did your mother cook? Was she a good one?"

Have been focusing on that.

Nominally Decent Citizenship 101

Okay: if you park your bagnole* so as to 1/2 block my driveway, then proceed to a$$ crank bad rap out the windows while the three or four kids in the back seat are screaming away - all at 9:00 am on a weekday, chances are that:

a.) I'm not going to be happy with you
b.) It's not because I'm a racist.

So just cut out the chest-puffing and either shell out the five bucks for parking or find another place in a non-residential area. Granted, it won't be right at the front door of the hospital, but it's still not so far away as to be a hardship.

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* French for hoopty.