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I am about to conk out. I’ve been up since 3am (went to bed at 11pm, so only four hours of sleep) because I had a 6:00 am flight. And since it was out of O’Hare, it meant that I had to get there early. Good thing I got there there on time too, since the check-in line was huge, the security line was even longer and then there were about thirty passengers on stand-by because they had oversold the flight. *rolls eyes* But I got to Missoula alright; just had dinner with Megan, Jeff and Ethan with a few others joining us a bit later. I finished my Medieval Lit homework even though I really really really didn’t feel like doing that. But it’s done. So yay me. :)

Probably not going to the gym tomorrow since I need to go make copies of my story that’s due on Tuesday and I have laundry to do. After taking that week off from going to a gym, I’ve started feeling lazy again. But I did have a lot of fun staying at my sister’s in Chicago. :) And playing the Lego Star Wars on an XBox 360 is a whole lot more fun than on a PSP. That’s pretty much what Oliver and I did with Jessamyn for the last few days we were there.

I got a letter from my grandma. Kinda hard to read sometimes, and a bit dull, but I’m still saving it because it can go in the genealogy box I’m going to make some day. She said in her letter that she still has the love letters my grandfather had sent her, so I’m going to work on acquiring those too. XD

And now, I’m going to go lie down. Possibly sleep for a bit. But I don’t want to go to sleep properly before eight, so I dunno. It seems dangerous to lie down… maybe I’ll continue with my Isabella (it’s almost done!)…..

Okay, so this like totally made my day: Miss Lime, from the Lime & Violet podcast, e-mailed me back! I’ve been grinning all day. I feel like I’ve been in contact with a celebrity or something. I mean, I know, not many non-knitters know who she is, but… !!! Oh and Brenda Dayne. We all worship her. *nods*

And then, to make my day even better, Lisa from Lisa Souza Knitwear and Dyeworks e-mailed me a little bit later on to tell me she’s shipping my yarn tomorrow! Squeeeeee!! So yes, I did wind up buying two skeins from Lisa Souza. I can’t wait to have it. =D

What else.. well, more knitting news: I’ve begun working on the Isabella pattern from www.knitty.com (current issue) in this really lovely baby pink 100% cotton yarn. Okay, so there is no way that I will go back to using 100% acrylic now that I’ve had a taste of the good natural stuff. Well, I mean I’ll still use whatever I’m given and I’ll use up everything I’ve got in my stash (oh boy has that grown! Scary… o.O). I blame these knitting podcasts. They’re enablers. But, stash! How on earth am I going to get it all back with me? Oh, and now I want to try out spinning. Miss Lime and Miss Violet and Brenda all do it, so I feel like I need to do it too. Bandwagon jumping anyone?

Anyway. Had an exam yesterday. Totally drained me, but at least it’s over. It was ridiculously hot in the room, but that’s what you get for holding a lit class in the Fine Arts building. Our classroom btw, always smells funny. I think it’s due to all of the art stuff that’s being created there. It’s the smell of creativity/imagination. Must be.

Get to see Oliver next week. Squee! Oh, he’s another enabler. I have spent so much money! -_-;; But I still love him. ^_^

Okay, I want to do four more rows before I go to bed, so I’ll stop here.

What to do, what to do? I have found some really awesome looking yarn at www.lisaknit.com. It’s 100% Superfine Merino Superwash Hand Dyed Sock Yarn and I would just love to have it in Violet’s Pink Ribbon and Lime & Violet colorways. But Milk & Honey and Gingerpeach look just delicious as well! It’s $16 per skein, 560 yds in a skein so really, it’s not a bad deal at all considering that it’s 100% merino wool that’s hand dyed and it’d probably cost me about the same to get that kind of quality from a local shop that doesn’t even have that pretty colors. The shipping is $1.59 for one skein, $2.55 for two, and three would be $4.00. But how can I justify buying more yarn right now? How???? Agh, the choices I have to make. I dunno, should I just go ahead and order two skeins? If I get the Violet ones (named after Miss Violet and Miss Lime from the Lime & Violet podcast) then some of the proceeds will go to them and help pay for Miss Violet’s medical expenses… so I’d be doing a good thing, right?? I soooooooo want that yarn! What do I do?

I should probably add that I have just spent a bit under $100 in the past two days (shopping spree ^-^;;;). Not all of it went on yarn though! I got my sister, my niece and Oliver’s sister their birthday presents. And like $10 of the amount spent went towards food…

knitting, Lisa Souza, yarn, merino, Lime & Violet

Today, Austin told me in his critique of my story that I “could be the Joseph Conrad of our generation if you stick to it, which I’m positive you will”.

!!!

*grin*

Okay, so Nathan is like the most critical person in my creative writing group. And he gave me, not a good, but glowing review in his critique. Really makes me like him a lot more now. Well, he had been growing on me, so this just cemented it. If he likes my stuff, he can’t be all that bad. XD And of course, Sam’s and Lela’s and Sarah’s reviews were all excellent too. Mark’s was nicely constructive. ^_^

God I sound like I’m giving a thank you speech. But, this sort of was like being given an award or something. A lot of praising done in that class. *grin*

This class has so just made my day.

*cannot stop grinning, but must go do homework now*

Well, I am so disappointed. I just found out that the Woolfest UK is taking place this year during the time that I won’t be in the UK. Damn. Damn damn damn! And there is no way that I can make it because my sister is graduating on June 20th (or maybe it was a bit later than that…) and her birthday is very soon in July after that. So there would be no point in me nipping over to Cumbria during that time. Urgh.

Right now, I’m making this in grey. I’m in the process of stash busting. Which means that I can then go and buy more yarn.

Speaking of buying yarn, Oliver got me some! *grin* Isn’t he the greatest? Supporting my habit. ^_^

Oh, I chatted with Cassie today and she’s interested in learning to knit. So I’ll be teaching her this Tuesday evening. Very slowly, but surely!, I’m converting the people around me into knitters. :D First Michelle, then Alysha, and now Cassie.

I have just finished my first pair of Mrs Beetons! Yay! o/ They’re really pretty. I did have to modify the pattern just a bit to suit the yarn I wanted to use and I had to leave out the beads. But I think they look great. :) I will put up a picture, eventually, along with a pic of the scarf I made for Marissa. The pattern for the Mrs Beetons (they’re wristwarmers, I just noticed I hadn’t actually explained what they were) can be found in the Knitty.com archives and it’s by a woman called Brenda Dayne.

And she, this is the cool part, has a podcast about knitting! I’ve just spent all weekend downloading various podcasts and so far, hers is the one I’ve listened to the most. It’s called Cast On. And through her, I found Quirky Nomads, another interesting podcast. :) I’ve also found two podcasts of old horror stories from like the 1920s and 30s and so on. “The Moneky’s Paw” is really good. As a story I mean. They’re all good podcasts, but so far the monkey story is the best I’ve heard. Sort of reminds me of Poe’s stuff.

You can pay for EVE Online in two ways, either a with a credit/debit card subscriptions or with time cards. Time cards were traditionally bought in shops and provided people with plastic (usually under 18s) a way t pay for online games. I’m telling you this now for two reasons:

Firstly, to advertise blatant links for an affiliate scheme I joined that sells them. The actually seller is Shattered Crystal whom I buy from myself.

Secondly, for any European players, time cards are the cheapest way to pay for EVE Online. If you pay by credit card you pay a regional price in your local currency that was fixed some time ago. If you buy time cards you pay whatever the cheapest you can find is. Because of changes in the exchange rate of the Euro to the US dollar, time cards now cost fewer Euros than before.

The price for an EVE time code is currently:

• 60 days game time - $34.99 (approximately 25€)

About Shattered Crystal

Shattered Crystal sell time cards and registration codes for many online games. Generally speaking they don’t sell other things (such as in game currency) that violate game’s EULA but it seems they may be starting (which is a shame but they don’t for EVE Online yet). When you order you get the code via email. On your first order however they may telephone you to confirm your details first.

They also listed on the EVE Online website as an official time card seller. Another reason why I doubt they’ll start selling ISK soon…

And like any good affiliate scheme they have a referral scheme you can join.

EVE Online Time Cards

Some brainiac decided to set fire to the posters on the fifth floor (apparently the ones where it says no smoking/fires/candles/etc). So I have been up since 2 a.m. That makes it almost THREE HOURS now. Grrr… I really feel like smacking whoever did it. I’m tired, I’m cold, I’m wet (it’s snowing pretty heavily out there). I feel like having a tantrum. But I won’t, since I’m not three years old unlike the person(s) who caused this misery. So I’ve decided that I’ll stay up until 6 am when the gym opens, go do my workout, shower and then sleep.

That is all.

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The Oracle
33% Extroversion, 100% Intuition, 16% Emotiveness, 71% Perceptiveness

Heuristic, detached, and analytical to a fualt, you are most like The Oracle. You are able to tackle any subject with a fine toothed comb, and you possess an ability to pinpoint nuances and shades of meaning that other people do not have and cannot understand. Accomplishment and realization of ideas are, for you, secondary to the rigorous exploration of ideas and questions – you are, first and foremost, a theorist. You hate authority, convention, tradition, and under no circumstances do you accept a leadership role (although, you will gladly advise leadership when they’re going astray, whether they want you to or not). Abstraction and generalities are your interests, details and particulars are usually inconsequential and uninteresting. You excel at language, mathematics and philosophy.

You are typically easy-going and non-confrontational until someone violates one of the very few principles that you deem sacred, at which point you can fly into a rage. Although you possess a much greater understanding of process and systems than the people around you, you are always conscious of the possibility that you’ve missed something or made a mistake. You don’t tend to become attached to particular theories, and will immediately discard mistaken notions once they’re revealed to be incorrect (but you don’t tolerate iconoclasts who try to discredit validated theories through the use of fallacies and bad data). Despite being outwardly humble, you probably think of yourself as being smarter than most other people. That’s because you are. In fact, in your dealings with people your understanding of their motives is so expansive that you know what they’re going to say before they say it, and in world affairs, you usually know what is going to take place before it actually does. This ability would make you unbeatable in debates if only you were a little less pensive about your own conclusions, and a little more outgoing.

Famous people like you: Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, John McWhorter, Ramanujan, Marie Curie, Kurt Godel
Stay clear of: Apollo, Icarus, Hermes, Aphrodite
Seek out: Atlas, Prometheus, Daedalus

Link: The Greek Mythology Personality Test written by Aleph_Nine on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Would you look at that. It’s five in the afternoon on a Friday and I’ve only got two bits of reading left to do until my homework’s all done. w00t!

Going out to eat with Marissa, Michelle, Natalie and Erin tonight. We’re all going to the movies afterwards. Gonna see US vs. John Lennon or whatever it’s called and then straight after that Marie Antoinette. It’s over at the UC and it’s only $4 for both movies if you’re a student. :)

Amazingly enough, I got the courage to speak up in class today. Usually I’m really shy and even if I think about it, my heart starts racing. But, I made up my mind that if I want to get a good grade I need to speak up so why not now? I had actually done the homework so I might as well join in so he won’t call on me when I have no clue as to what’s going on. XD

Went to the dentist’s today. Got my right side all fixed up. They’re still amazed that I refuse to take any anesthesia when they drill. But seriously, I feel twinges when they drill but it doesn’t actually hurt. When there’s that air blowing in then it sort of vihloos (can’t remember the word in English *shrugs*). Other than that, totally fine. :)

Oh really stupid thing yesterday: I was reading a section from Homer’s The Odyssey and it was the bit about the sirens. Well, that got me to thinking about that art school I used to go to when I was like 14. We were supposed to paint a scene depicting something that the teacher had read to us from lovely Homer’s epic poem. Anyway, I read the word oar. Then I tried translating it in my head to Finnish. And for the life of me, I couldn’t remember it! I came up with orja, oira (not a word!), arjo, and on and on but I couldn’t actually think of the right word. Even conjuring up the time when I went rowing with my cousin and sister couldn’t make me think of it. Then it comes to me: I’ve got a computer, why don’t I just look it up? Duuuuuuuuh. So now I do know what oar is in Finnish. Airo. *shakes head sadly* This is a definite sign that I need to read more. Maybe I could hint at it to my grandparents and like for my birthday or something they could get me an interesting Finnish book to read. Like Nuorena Nukkunut or something. Maybe something by Minna Canth… well, I’ll have to look into it.