I'm going to be offline for a week and probably out of cell range, too. Comment or email me if you'd like to contact me; those who have my number can call me but it's not likely I'll get it. Voicemail (and text?) still works when I'm out of range but it won't be till later that I'll get the message.

Love love.

Visiting the mama in Vernal this weekend. I decided not to go to the city park and see the fireworks. I'm tired and fell asleep on the couch and didn't feel like driving back to town and then finding a parking place and blah blah blah. I think I'll just stay here.

It's been an alright trip; I leave tomorrow afternoon. I have lots to do this week and probably won't be online at all. My phone is still twitchy so I can't guarantee phone contact right now, either. I need to get this worked out.

There's some writing projects that need worked on. I might do this tonight. Or not. Sigh.

Now that I have received my grade, the German class of doom is officially over. My gift for working ahead and not skipping class even when I really really really wanted to: A- Yay! However, since I have taken this class once before, I owe my grade not so much to hard work but to the fact that I had memorized portions of the original class and so could regurgitate on command. I feel like I have refreshed my knowledge but not really furthered my understanding. The most memorable thing I will take away from that class will be my unwavering fascination with my instructor's pink scrunchie. (Where did she get it? Why does she wear a scrunchie and not some other kind of elastic thing? Has she owned it from the '80's? Is it new? It looks like it needs washed. How often do you need to wash a scrunchie? Why pink? It looks good in her hair, but does she have any other colors? Does she own many pink scrunchies or is this the only one? and so forth.)

I really want pizza. There's an abundance of vegan-friendly pizza only a phone call away and I haven't made it happen. Maybe once I get paid I will finally get to have some pizza.

My hair is long. Super long. Like, longer than it's been in a couple of years. I like it a lot and I've received many compliments on it (I mentioned this to my mother and she didn't respond) so I'd like to keep it on the longish side if I can. Trouble is, I actually need to think about cleaning it up a bit but am nervous about turning myself over to any more graduates of Runs With Scissors University. No more bad haircuts. Never. I know a woman who cuts hair and I might talk with her but . . . not sure yet. I'll ask around.

The construction that's been going on at work for, well, years has almost completely finished. I was very sad to see the library's west facing window get blocked by a whole new wing. I could see clear across the valley, to the Great Salt Lake and to the mountains beyond. The hospital's front driveway has been a mess ever since I came to work here and now it seems to be all finished. The new wing is beautiful; I walked in and wondered where I was. A quick trip to the Starbucks and I was reoriented again. Anyway, the new construction and remodeling hasn't completely finished - the fourth floor of the new wing hasn't opened, so I still haven't seen what was so important that my view was bricked up - but hopefully the worst is over. For now.

I spent a couple days with the mama. I took her to a Mediterranean place I like and made her buy cake at Mrs. Backer's Bakery, and she shopped for some things she needed. It went well though, as usual, our conversation was mostly surface; like I mentioned above, she wasn't even willing to acknowledge that people I knew might have an opinion on what my hair looks like.

Time to start closing up the library; I need to dash out of here as close to six o'clock as I can.

Good Things:

-Getting a free pair of towering platform boots in black patent vinyl in exactly the right size.
-Double plus good: these boots came from one of the hottest women I know via her GF, someone equally hot, who I'm pleased to call a friend.

-Getting a free iron from the same.

- Finding a beautiful Kliban cat print (in an ugly frame) that appears to be from the 1980's. I took it home for less than $20.

- Finding a giant gummi bear as a birthday gift for the sister.

- Meeting friends in unexpected places.

- Daylight lingering until past 9:00 pm.

Mmm, free time. I have free time. I will not be spending it online, most likely.

Last night I caught up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. He said he had sent me a couple texts over the past few weeks but I haven't received any of them. This isn't good. I know there's been times in the past where I don't receive texts but I didn't think that was still happening. One more reason to upgrade my phone I guess; maybe that'll fix it. Actually, maybe new phone shopping is something I can accomplish today.

I've been cleaning, which is great. I'm working on the sweater that's been a year in the making; my mother should see it by fall if I keep at it. Then I've got a brown pullover I'm making for myself that for some reason hasn't worked up right. I'll have to go in and mess with the pattern, I think.

I bought cantaloupe yesterday and sliced it up last night. I got cherries, too. Sooooo goood.

Re icon: a cupcake sounds good right now.

The German class of doom is over and, after sleeping for around ten hours I'm actually sorta feeling kind of like my old self. Which is to say, chipper with a heaping side of morbidity and reasonably clean. I actually felt (gasp) creative this morning. Like I could work on one of those writing projects whose deadlines are rapidly coming due. I piled some of my reference materials into a bag and left for work. I've been at work nearly an hour and a half and haven't started either of these projects, but I've done some other things so I guess that's alright.

The computer situation at the library continues to be governed by the secret squirrel society that works in mysterious ways. The missing computer has still not returned. We tell people that the IT department took it but that is in fact a lie. We don't know who took it, or precisely when. The explanatory signs taped to the computer monitors and the library door have continued to increase in size and verbosity. The latest one on the door describes how the internet browsers may or may not work, and will probably stop working very suddenly if they are working, and how - guess what? - there's ANOTHER LIBRARY not five minutes away so why don't you just walk your desperate self over there? also their printer works. The other sign reminds people to not use their cell phones in the library or they'll be bludgeoned by other patrons with old copies of Health and Psychology Today.

A cupcake and coffee right now would rock.

**

Good things:

-Using my insulated coffee cup almost exclusively for several days now. No more disposable coffee cups for me! (well, ideally, anyway)

-Finding an insulated cup designed for cold beverages - iced coffee-type drinks in particular. I'm happy to use my little 12 ounce insulated coffee mug for a bit of iced coffee but if I want, say, more than 12 ounces that's a problem. It's also larger so it's much easier to clean, and comes with its own straw. If I could find one that wasn't Starbucks that's be a bonus, but I haven't seen any other item like this so I'll have to be OK with that.

-The raisin bagel I'm eating. Mmm.

-Finding out a guy I know works at the hospital. Cool!

I have only TWO DAYS left in the German class of doom(TM). I hope - hope - that I get an A. I'd really like that a lot. Sadly, I missed a week's worth of homework and I got below a 90% on the most recent quiz. Still, almost all my homework has been done, I've done well on the other assignments, and except for this most recent quiz, I haven't scored below a 90% on any of the tests or quizzes.

I need to keep up on my guitar practice. I'm doing alright, but need to make practice a daily thing rather than a not-quite-daily thing.

I had a very nice conversation with a friend this evening and will be speaking with someone else tomorrow night. It's wonderful to catch up. I miss it; there's too many people who've maintained total radio silence for more than a year at a time. After a certain point I guess I just have to shrug - whatever. Anyway, it was good to connect for a while.

I'm dogsitting for my sister again this week. Gizmo is a good dog and I enjoy his company. To say he's fond of me in an understatement. It's nice to be greeted with such enthusiasm, heh.

Bed now. So tired.

I saw Star Trek this evening. Yeah, it's taken me this long. And yeah - I've read what ya'll have had to say about it.

I'm kinda there with you.

I was sitting there thinking that the movie just didn't feel like Star Trek. There were plenty of moments that felt trite and contrived (omg baby just as you're getting blown up! we've never seen this before, like ever!). Admittedly it was pretty cool to see Admiral Pike outside of that box thing. The Spock v. Spock moment at the end . . . huh.

old!Spock: hey, I wasn't supposed to let you know I'm here, but I am!

young!Spock: uh, wouldn't that mean the universe explodes or something?

old!Spock: normally yes, but I punched a hole in a plot hole, thus negating its existance in the first place.

young!Spock: oh. Huh.

old!Spock: now I'm off to tap me some of those desperate Vulcan women preserve Vulcan culture. You go have vaguely homoerotic moments with Kirk for the next several years. I'll try not to envy you.

young!Spock: what?

So yeah. I'm glad I saw it. I liked the way the movie looked. I've always liked the way the Star Trek universe looks. The giant seed pod looking thing was cool.

Fail!cake is made of fail - and fire.



Mmmm.
(courtesy of Cake Wrecks blog. Commentary can be found there.)

Friday:
-Fondue party at a friend's place, complete with *2* vegan-friendly fondues
-Probably catching a free movie at the Damn These Heels film festival

Saturday:
-Celebrate World Wide Knit in Public day at Blazing Needles yarn shop
-Probably another movie or two
-Maybe possibly going to the Dark Arts Festival

Sunday:
-Maybe another movie
-Dark Arts Festival for sure!

Oh yeah and maybe that homework thing. Maybe.

I just turned a beautiful heel.

It's a lovely, nearly 100% perfectly turned heel. The short row yarn-overs are a little looser on one side than the other but they are still wonderful and lovely in their little right angle march.

Screw that gusset-style heel turning. I like me my short rows.

There's a lot of satisfaction to be found in getting caught up with recording my yarn purchases on Ravelry.

Mmm, progress.

I'm behind. I will probably stay that way. It's probably not a bad thing, but even when I have the time for online stuff, I get bored and distracted and give up on email or LJ or whatever. Maybe, ironically, my already abbreviated attention span has been chopped again.

I'm looking forward to Pride this weekend. I'll be busy. Everyone's trying to involve me in their plans and I remind them that my life will be on hold until I've slept off the booze and exertion. I heard that there's gonna be more vegan food this year - or so's the hope. Mmm, food.

I've been nursing a headache that's come and gone for a week or so. The bipolar nastiness seems to have passed for the time being and I'm feeling a little more like a human and less like a badger with a particularaly bad attitude. I got away from home for a while and I think that gave me some needed perspective.

This evening I spoke with a woman I see every few months or so. Seeing her every few months allows her to evaluate in spurts rather than in a gradiant. Every time she is amazed at what's been happening. I'm calmer, she says, more grounded, and it's clear I'm walking my path, so to speak. Hearing this is intensely helpful, especially because she sees me so infrequently.

I suppose I should eat something before bed. I have an early morning.

I. Will. Write. Something. I. MUST. Write. Something.

I just discovered shellfish in my freezer. Why oh why do I have a bag of frozen shrimp in my freezer?

I popped open the freezer to make myself a late night smoothie and found the plastic bag full of frozen stuff that was quickly packed and moved a couple weeks ago. I guess whoever the shrimp belonged to abandoned it along with the ten cans of beautifully labled but inscrutible Asian food product, a power strip, the toaster, and the microwave. The canned food was given away to the guy my sister was dating, I took the power strip and toaster, and I foisted the microwave on a student who let me into the building after midnight. The shrimp - and a couple odd packets wrapped in banana leaves - ended up with me.

Now I have to find someone to give this to. Right now it's taking up space that would be better used for delicious frozen fruit.

Sexy Corset Coffin Calendar:
http://www.undergroundhumor.com/office/sexy_coffins_calendar.htm

It's not for sale from this website this year (boo) but there's a link to the publisher's website which accepts Paypal and ships worldwide.

Want.

I owe comments and general catching up. It might happen tomorrow while I'm at work. It might not happen at all. Right now I'm more interested in listening to Sol Invictus and painting my fingernails pink.

Priorities, you know.

I'm STILL messing around with summer and fall semester schedules. This sucks. There's been big budget cuts, which have resulted in fewer class offerings, and it shows. I had scant offerings to choose from to fill a void that suddenly developed in my schedule. Instead of another round of endlessly reworking the Rubik's cube of a schedule I've been forced to develop as a result of work and other obligations, I just took a second online class. It wasn't my first choice, but I didn't have any other promising options. Pity though - there's one class taught by an instructor I admit I have a little thing for, but it's a class I've already taken, so it'd be kinda stupid to do it over again. He's not that cool.

So I think I've got it all worked out, but argh. I'm getting sick of having to work around so many things like, you know, time to eat.

The summer will be busier than I anticipated, though hopefully that'll be over in mid-July as my first-session class ends.

I'm digging my new place, though I'm still not happy about having to move. Most of my stuff is still in boxes, and it's not well organized because I had to move so quickly. I still need to get rid of a lot of stuff, mostly papers. Through some luck I have the two-bedroom dorm apartment to myself for the summer, so I'm under no pressure to get everything unpacked and put away except because I don't know where anything is and I need to be ready to start classes tomorrow. Blah.

I'm still feeling out of sync with the seasons. The sunniness bothers me for some reason. I wish nocturnal habits were practical. Maybe I just need a pair of sunglasses.

The momentum only lasts a few hours, but in these first few hours of my life with little school I've been fairly productive. I bought groceries this morning and make a rockin' carrot soup. I wrote a couple pages of a story that I'm submitting to a small local competition; the winners get a little cash, but I'm really doing it because it sounds fun and it's always good to write. I *should* be working on the ten or so other writing things that I need to be doing. At the moment, this is more interesting.

I'm also preparing a resume for an unpaid research position with one of the professors at the university. I've taken a couple classes from her and, while she's said some things in class that rankled, she knows a lot and I like what she has to say. She recently published a book on sexual fluidity in women (call, I think, The Sexual Fluidity of Women) that statistically proved female bisexuality. I wasn't aware that this needed proving, but whatever. She went on Oprah; maybe you saw it. I didn't; I was at work that day. Anyway, she needs a couple assistants in a study she's doing of gender nonconformity in children. I've got time for it this summer and I think I'd be a good fit so I'm putting together a resume with relevant experience. Turns out I actually have research experience. The work I did with my dad while living in Colorado was part of a long-term study aimed at developing a program of employment and job training for ex-offenders in order to decrease recidivism. The program seemed to work pretty well, but something screwy happened and the director of the agency was led out in handcuffs by the FBI. Yeah. I had moved back to Utah by then. The work I assisted with got implemented into some state-wide training program so I guess I did good work - compared to getting arrested by the Feds, that is.

So I'm excited about the research position. I think I have a decent shot at getting it; it sounds like she wants more than one person and she knows my work from her classes. This is a very cool opportunity for me because, more and more, I'm getting interested in research stuff. The professor mentioned how good this will be for a grad school application; while I have no specific plans in mind for that goal, it will be nice to have the experience if I decide to go for it.

I've got several other things that I'm attending to. I'm involved with a couple tables during Pride weekend so I'll be dividing my time between them (probably with the help of illicit beverages). My work with the QSU student group has me hopping and I've been fortunate enough to pick up several extra work shifts in the next five weeks. I need to take care of financial aid stuff this afternoon and try to mail out some items that have been languishing in my dorm since, uh, last year sometime. I owe packages to several people and I have no excuse for having put it off this long. I'm looking forward to attending a couple concerts this summer; I'm definitely going to see Tori Amos and I'm going to work hard to see the Indigo Girls; Fleetwood Mac is supposed to be coming to SLC sometime this year and I'd love to see them, but I have no idea what the ticket price will be. I doubt I can afford to attend three big name concerts in one season.

Alright, time to finish that resume.

http://www.asylum.com/2009/04/29/sexy-mormon-moms-lick-muffins-anger-church-officials/

The lastest calendar by the same guy who produced the Men on a Mission calendar last year. I'm so picking up a copy of this - I'm in support of licking fundamentalist pastries.