So, I’ve been thinking about math lately. This is weird, I know. Who thinks about math? Math teachers, I suppose. Mathematicians. And… geeks. I guess. Like me. *shamed*

Anyway, I got to thinking about this because, say, my fourth grade math teacher actually reads and comments occasionally on my blog. Wow. Who knew math teachers knit? ;-) I don’t remember much about 4th grade math class, granted, except one thing: Mad Minutes. This is where you have a sheet filled with math problems (easy stuff, it’s gradeschool, come on…) and you have to do as many as humanly possible in one minute.

I don’t know if anyone else in the world ever did these, or if this was just our thing, but these suckers implanted themselves in my brain, and to this day, I do very little of anything repetitive (say, knitting…) without looking at the clock, and then trying to do as much as I can in one minute, I kid you not. Then, worse, I try to beat my “score” every time. I tell you, I can trace it all back to math class…

Along those lines, BrainAge, for Nintendo DS, has this “cute” (harhar) little game where you do tons of little math problems as quickly as possible, JUST LIKE THE MAD MINUTES. And why is it that I can never remember, no matter how many times I try, whether 8×7 is 54 or 56? Likewise, 9×6 always messes me up too… *shakes head* Brain Age also has a lot of much more evil minigames, like the “count how many people are remaining in the house as they fly in and out super fast” game. I really suck that one up, I’ll tell you….

Also, math in general is on my mind, because gosh, come August, when I go back to school, I’m gonna have to see how much algebra I actually remember. And then… probably take classes, because really, about the only algebra I really remember is *really* basic algebra. You know, “70% of X = 120″ type stuff, which, I confess, I use all the time. But college level algebra? Never needed it. Don’t use it. Don’t remember it. Gah, taking lots of math classes….

But maybe I’ll do a good search online for some sort of remedial algebra sites or something and see if I can dust off my brain and brush up and maybe pass the placement exams and survive without having to pay lots of money. There’s an idea! If only I hadn’t sold my math textbook back to the college way back when…

I realize that my birthday is still a month away, March 26. But in the event that anyone who’s interested in getting me something absolutely spectacular, here’s some things I’ve been lusting after lately:

Notice a lot of knitting things? A friend said I needed a 12-Step program, but… I think those are for people who want to quit, aren’t they?

However, much as I want most of these things, it’s highly likely that I won’t be getting any yarn from anyone I know. I’ve never gotten yarn as a gift before, except from two special out-of-state friends. I guess people who are around my yarn habit don’t feel the need to feed it? Who knows. People don’t buy me books either, or they haven’t, anyway, since childhood. Sad days!

But, speaking of gifts, and especially generous ones at that, a friend of my father’s, RL, has heard on the grapevine (aka, my father must’ve mentioned it) that I want to learn to spin. I told the parents once that if they came across a spinning wheel ever, to get it for me…

Minor tangent… This sounds bizarre to everyone, I know, the whole “if you happen across one…”, but you wouldn’t believe the weird and random shit my parents have just “happened across”. Once, we were in some little antiques shop, and I’m like: “Oh, look at that super old camera! How neat!” Mom: “We have a couple of those… just like that!” Rinse and repeat for nearly everything in the place. Likewise, I was looking for a nice little plain cast iron cauldron. You know, for witchly things. And what do I find in my father’s garage? Not one, but /three/ miniature cast iron cauldrons hanging on the wall. I took them. off tangent!

So anyway, I’d mentioned that if they happened on a spinning wheel, I wanted one. Because those things are freaking expensive. I’ve got cheaper computers! And here, it turns out that this friend, RL, has not one, but two very antique spinning wheels just collecting dust. He doesn’t spin, some Hutterites in the area were selling him some things, and they tossed in a couple antique spinning wheels, also! One is from the 1800s, and one from like, 1903 or something. And he’s going to give me one! Just like that!!

No word yet on whether or not they’ve got everything they need to, you know, spin, but we shall see, we shall see. I’m thrilled to death! I can learn to *spin*!

I think I’m an addict. I’m knitting more socks! This will be my third pair this /year/. Yes. Pics soon. As soon as A. gets over to get pictures taken of the socks I knit her. Or maybe I should just take some pictures of them flat on a table. But it’s harder to see the pattern that way, being as it’s a lace pattern (Embossed Leaves) and multicolor yarn…

These new socks are also lace and multicolor yarn, and I’m not fond of the combination. But they’re pretty. I think. A. thinks the yarn is ugly. Whatever. ;-) It’s my first BMFA Rockin’ Sock Club package, yarn and pattern both. I’m highly impressed.

I had a really long rant posted yesterday, about a certain word a friend of mine has been using, but it just totally disappeared. WTF? Ah well. Nobody really needed to read it anyway, I guess.

So, what’s up with that New Moon Tarot reading, anyway? *shifty eyes* I did do a reading. I just never got around to posting it here. Like everything else. Next time, I swear!

So what’s up? Long time, no see. I haven’t been feeling well - sinus infection seriously doing me in - and a lack of sleep certainly hasn’t helped. I guess I just haven’t felt like popping on to say so… or much of anything.

It isn’t that I haven’t been busy - sinusitis and all. I’ve (finally!) finished up my peppermint socks. Check this out:

They were finished up on February Eve. Er. January 31st. At about 7 a.m. I had a deadline to finish those that day - and through a miracle bestowed upon me by the knit-like-fucking-hell gods, I managed. They fit great, despite my gut-wrenching fear vague worry that they would be too small on the size 0 needles I’d decided on, and I do not (thank heaven) have to rip them all out and start anew. The only thing I could’ve done differently in the end was make them a bit shorter in the foot. Due to the change in gauge due to the needle size change, I miscalculated the number of rows I’d need for the toe and knit the foot a bit long. But they still fit!

(Before you ask… yes, that is my yule tree still standing, a month and several odd days past yule… I sucked it up and tore it down about a half hour after taking this photo, and barely beat that “have it down before the 1st, or A. will mock you forever and ever” deadline.)

So now what am I doing? Knitting more socks, of course - this time for A., with the most gorgeous and softest and most luscious sock yarn ever - Blue Moon’s Socks That Rock, in the color Blarney Stone. (Pics when I get the first one done in a day or so, I swears!)

And… I’ve been amusing myself with a new game for my Nintendo DS - Harvest Moon DS. This is such a stupidly addicting game I’m almost embarrassed to admit it. The point is this - you’re a farm boy, and the Witch Priestess has accidentally cast a spell on her rival, the Harvest Goddess, making her disappear. Now you, the farm boy, must work real hard to get her back. No, you’re not doing any special “retrieve the goddess” work, you just have to be a farmer, and miraculously, if you do really well at it, all the harvest sprites will return, and then so will the goddess. Or, uh, something. Okay, the plot really really sucks. But the gameplay is damned cute. You grow things. You mine for ore and gems and minerals. You raise animals. And of course, you romance the cute town girls. It’s not, admittedly, really supposed to be a linear plot-driven game. It’s supposed to be a game about farming, and gosh darnit, it is.

The only thing that could make this better (besides, er, plot… was that really the best they could come up with?) is a little more choice in el farmboy. Can’t I be a farmgirl? Or better yet, can’t my farmboy romance the local dudes as well as (or instead of?!) the girls? C’mon, yaoi makes everything better…

But anyway. I’ve been playing for a few days now, and I’m… er… hooked. Like a crack addict. The worst part? It’s one of those games where you’re playing happily, and then you think: “Gosh, I should totally be doing this in real fucking life instead of pretending to do it on this little game…”

Tonight is the February new moon. (Also, for those who care, it’s Ash Wednesday today.) I realize that I didn’t put up January’s New Moon Tarot Card - why? I had it done… - so belatedly, I’ll just say that it was the reversed Five of Pentacles, and it was a very good reading.

Tonight, with luck, I’ll actually put up February’s reading. And tomorrow, ladies and gents, we officially enter the Year of the Rat. Four or five days ago, depending on which calendar you use, was Imbolc, a winterly pagan festival to call spring forth. Usually, it’s set on February 2nd - groundhog day - or February 1st. You may also know it as Candlemas; way back in time, the Irish people worshiped a goddess named Brigid, a goddess of healing, and hearth, and smithing - healing, home, and craftsmanship, she did it all. When the good Christians of the Europe came to show them the way, they convinced the Irish people well enough to convert to Catholicism, but convincing them to stop worshiping Brigid was such a lost attempt that they canonized her as a Saint, downsized the fire festival to candles, and called it Candlemas. Hey, if you can’t beat ‘em…

So anyway. The festival typically marks the very beginnings of spring - deep in the earth, under all that winter snow, things are stirring to life again. The days are gradually lengthening. In another six weeks (the spring equinox), signs of life should be everywhere. Many pagans pay homage to Brigid this day, and I did with a candle in her honor and a bit of a tarot reading (that, unsurprisingly, considering the origins of the festival, focused very much on craftsmanship.)

Merry Imbolc to all, belated as it may be.

Envious of those able to be green, that is. I like “being green”. You know, environmentally conscious? But has anyone noticed that it’s a lot easier to be green in a city? Ironic, isn’t it, how the further removed from nature you get by moving to a concrete city that the easier it is to be green in your choices? I live in the middle of nature here, but it’s awfully hard to be green when there’s no mass transportation (and it’s too frickin’ cold to walk - hello, the wind chill is -48 right now… what in mother earth’s ass am I doing walking even two blocks to work? I’m gonna freeze my skin black walking back home in the morning if this wind doesn’t die down!), no recycling whatsoever (even for newspapers or cans), no organic anything, the “farmer’s market” is mostly a joke, (and only open for about 2 hours, one day a week, for 2 months, usually while I’m sleeping, thank you very much for this job), and you have to travel 60-90 miles ONE WAY to buy essential supplies like… underwear. Everything is shipped in from billions of miles away. Buying ‘local’ is a joke on most things. I consider “made in Montana” about as local as I can get, and frankly, there just isn’t a whole lot that’s locally available.

My house is not really my own - I rent it from my parents. I can’t make changes to it to greenify it for two reasons: a) uh, it’s not mine, hello, and b) I am just not that rich. It’s all electric everything, meaning, it’s an electricity HOG. It’s poorly insulated. The toilet-that-ran-for-months was finally fixed after my mother gasped at the $80 water bill - something I’d asked my father to do many times (it’s not exactly a normal floating ball toilet, okay? It’s weird. I didn’t know how to do it.)

I’m trying to greenify my life a little, nonetheless. My car gets good gas mileage, and I don’t go very many places, really. I fill up maybe twice a month on average. I’ve purchased a couple canvas bags and use them not only for groceries at the local store, but to tote things around in everywhere. I just purchased a $20 aluminum water bottle to spare me from constantly buying single-use beverages to pack to work, where the water is pretty well undrinkable. That’ll save money and reduce garbage.

I use cloth pads. When I started this cloth pad venture a couple years back, I never thought I’d like them as much as I do. I can’t imagine going back to spending $10-$15 a month on bleached, chemical-drenched feminine hygiene products when cloth is cheaper, reusable, and far, far more comfortable. I just need to make more of them. My stash is a bit small. *lol*

I’ve been freezing more of my leftovers for later, instead of just throwing them out. Reducing waste there, and in buying more things in bulk, and things with less packaging (read: fresh food, not processed food) helps considerably - and I eat better, too.

I use paper towels only for messy jobs - cat vomit, for instance - and for cleaning up kitchen spills. Never for wiping my hands after I’ve washed them. (I’ve yet to break friends of this habit, despite the ever-present hanging towels and reminders.) I intend to buy a few packs of cloth napkins to cut down on paper towel usage there, too, but I’m afraid I’d need quite a few of them.

I’ve been slowly transferring my cleaning to natural products. I like (and use) Method’s products, which are nice, but expensive, and available only at ONE store, in a city I rarely get to… so I do plenty of cleaning with baking soda and vinegar - this, by the way, makes a nice, nontoxic toilet cleaner, but does use QUITE a lot of vinegar.

I’d like to do a bit more of that this year. I’d love to start a compost pile - especially with the chickens - but I don’t have the resources right now, and more, I may be moving into an apartment in late August (in a city, heh) and may not have any good use for compost anyway. Hmm. With any luck, I’ll find a way to get a house, rather than an apartment, though!

And moving, you ask? Why yes. This year, with my credit card debt 100% eliminated, and my car very nearly paid off, I’m headed back to school. And that’s another thing the city has that this beautiful little rural, close-to-nature town just doesn’t: opportunity.

I’ve been enjoying my latest knitting projects. Slowly (hands hurt, excema, tendonitis, dry skin, grah!!), but surely.

In order, the above photos are my peppermint socks in some yarn from Gypsyknits, my first chevron scarf, in a couple beautiful STR colors (and oh, how I am in LOVE with this yarn! so soft!), and a snowflake ornament that wouldn’t take me a half hour to finish, if I’d just do it….

However, my Fetchings were finished just before midnight on December 31st, so I have finished something recently! Here’s a blurry photo. Maybe I’ll get a better one later, if I think of it later. I made these in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, on way smaller needles than called for so they’d fit my tiny hands. Love them. Here they are:

In other yarntastic news, I’ve received my second shipment of Sundara’s Seasons yarn club, which is as gorgeous as the first… And also, I’ve joined the Rockin’ Sock Club!!! I didn’t think I’d make it in, but hallelujah, I did!

That whooshing sound you just heard? That was all my spare cash.

It’s officially 2008. Okay, it’s been 2008 for well over 48 hours now, but give a girl a break - I’ve got a life, and it’s not /all/ lived on my blog… or, eh, something like that. I rang in the new year at work, which wasn’t very exciting, but it was better than A, who spent the whole night puking her guts up, and not because she had too much fun, either. Flu’s going around, and I’m popping vitamins. Getting sick isn’t the way I want to start out this year’s 366 days. (Yeah, you hear that? 2008’s a leap year. You get an extra day to be good, or bad, or whatever your conscience calls for.)

I intended to do some sort of 2007 roundup of things I’ve done this year, most notably, in my knitting and all, but until I get around to that, here’s a survey I’ve seen flying all over the web in the last few years, most notably coming from All & Sundry. Did I do this last year? I forget. I’ll look it up once I’m through.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before??

Most notably, I raised chickens on a whim. Also, I knitted socks, bought ’serious’ furniture (you know, the kind where you go to a furniture store and spend a couple thousand dollars on something that might last a few years, instead of going to Walmart and spending a couple hundred on something that most definitely won’t…), played the Wii, and made all sorts of delicious new recipes in my very own crockpot. I’m sure there’s other things, too.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year??

Didn’t make any. Thank god. And no, I haven’t made any for 2008, either.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth??

No one particularly close to me gave birth. A couple cousins did, but I scarcely know them. A’s sister did, but I’m not real close to her either. I’ve never seen any of these babies, though of course, I wish them the best.

4. Did anyone close to you die??

No to that, as well, though we had a close call last March with Grandma R. I did have a few chickens get killed off by a fox, but I don’t think that ‘counts’ in this case.

5. What countries did you visit??

None.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007??

An acceptance offer for one of the tech schools in Montana, and enough money to go.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why??

April 9th - the day I was supposed to get my chicks.
June 28th - the day the sheriff’s office got shot up.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year??

Actually doing one of the things I’d been wanting to do (raising chickens) instead of just wishing and daydreaming about it. Fun, too!

9. What was your biggest failure??

Not even bothering applying for school because I thought it just wouldn’t happen. I was probably right about the outcome, but I should’ve applied, nonetheless.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury??

Nothing serious but for a while I had a severe cough that took three visits to the doctor, a useless ultrasound, an x-ray, and ultimately some allergy medication to clear up, a month later…

11. What was the best thing you bought??

My couch. Or maybe my dining table. Ooh, so hard to decide.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration??

Celebration? Uh, gosh. No one I know had celebratory behavior.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed??

Bush’s. *lol*

14. Where did most of your money go??

Aside from taxes and loans? Toward my new furniture. :) It was well worth it, too. And I spent an extraordinary amount on craft supplies (*cough*yarn*cough*) and on books and magazines. But I deserved it, dammit.

That said, I did pay off all of my credit card debt, have not yet missed a bill payment, and paid off nearly $3000 of furniture in just under two months, thanks to savings, a generous gift from my father, and a lot of dedication. So clearly, I am doing well, financially, and I don’t feel guilty about how I’ve spent my cash. I mean, face it, crafts and books are my ONLY leisure.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about??

Chickens. *laugh* And yarn!!!! And I was really damned excited about my trip to the waterslides with A. It was a ton of fun, too.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007??

Gosh, I don’t know. Maybe Saving Me by Nickelback, or If Everyone Cared or… I don’t know.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:? a) happier or sadder? ?b) thinner or fatter? ?c) richer or poorer??

I’m neither “happier or sadder” - these emotions just don’t cut it for me on the big, sweeping time scale unless you’ve just gotten married, had a baby, or lost someone dear to you, none of which happened to me. But I’m more satisfied, less depressed (not that I was overly depressed to begin with, but I’m less so this year) and enjoying more of my life. I’m fatter, but not by a whole lot. 10 lbs maybe? Thank you, birth control, and you, too, junk food. I’m richer in a way - I have less debt, I make more money, and I have more ‘nice things’ to show for it. But I have little actual cash on hand, much less than I did at this time last year, believe me. Last year I had this thing called ’savings’…

18. What do you wish you’d done more of??

Taken more pictures. Gone out of town more. That just never seemed to work out for me this year - every chance I had, practically, was foiled by something or other. Work or money or weather, or the lack of any suitable companionship having none of the aforementioned problems.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of??

Bitch. I did a lot of bitching last year.

20. How did you spend Christmas??

With family, and at work. It was nice.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007??

Not with anyone real. I may have fallen in love with a fictional character or two.

22. What was your favorite TV program??

Watched a bunch of JAG. Hey, it was on at an hour I could watch. I liked L&O: Criminal Intent… But really, my schedule at work gives me few TV options, and I don’t subscribe to any sort of television at home.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year??

No. Didn’t develop any new hates for people.

24. What was the best book you read??

So hard to choose. Harry Potter is an obvious one, so I’ll go beyond that and add The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, and Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and possibly The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. All of them were great.

As for nonfiction, I really liked The Circle Within by Diane Sylvan.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery??

Gosh, I don’t know. Daughtry, maybe.

26. What did you want and get??

Chickens!!!

27. What did you want and not get??

A spinning wheel, or even a drop spindle. Maybe this year.

28. What was your favorite film of this year??

Harry Potter? The Bourne Supremacy? Did that come out this year, even? I saw so few movies this year I can’t even remember them.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you??

I did practically nothing for my 25th birthday, which was a bigassed letdown, since I’d intended to take a vacation to The Big Big City with Mom or something, but Grandma got sick and ended up in the hospital and… yeah.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying??

A million dollars. Hey, it’s true. But honestly, my year was pretty darned good.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007??

Uh, practically nonexistent. *lol* I’ll call it “Walmart Style”.

32. What kept you sane??

Tea. Really. I needed it.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most??

None come to mind at the moment. I don’t, as a general rule, fancy celebs, except in that casual: “Wow, he’s hot” sort of way when I’m watching a movie. But they’re too distant to me to really fancy them at all.

34. What political issue stirred you the most??

Gugh. Which didn’t? Can we say that Everything Bush Does stirs me up? But I’ll say that lately, I cannot believe that in these modern, enlightened times, living in America where we, the good democratic people of the world, are supposedly so much “better” than our worldly peers, are actually debating over whether waterboarding is torture so we can determine whether or not it’s okay to use it on people we have declared enemy combatants so we don’t have to declare them prisoners of war and treat them fucking humanely as per the Geneva Convention. The fact that public polls on the subject are split fifty-fucking-fifity is even more outrageous than our politicians discussing this, and frankly, I am ashamed to be an American right now.

Ashamed.

35. Who did you miss??

All the friends I hardly ever see. :)

36. Who was the best new person you met??

B, my neighbor who moved in across the street from me, and who’s done so much to help me out.

Wow, is that the end of it? Well, here goes.

In my e-box today, came this seasonal reminder from a spammer bitten by the christmas bug:

Ain’t that just sweet? So… anybody got some Christmas Tail to spare? I seem to be all out.

How in the world did I manage to spot this series countless times on the bookstores’ shelves, pick it up with interest, then set it back down without purchasing it? How?!?! I finally got around, well over two months ago, to checking out The Golden Compass, the first book in the trilogy, and then promptly read the first paragraph and carried around uselessly for a while, then looked at it with vague interest as it sat quietly on my dining table, and never freaking read anything more until tonight.

It’s 7:30 a.m., and I’ve read it start to finish, and am cursing myself for not having read it sooner. Like… years sooner. Anxiously, I checked my library’s website, and they seem to have the full compendium, His Dark Materials, checked in at the moment. That’s a relief, because two months ago, they didn’t have anything but the first book period. Maybe the newly released movie had something to do with getting the full thing? (Or maybe their website just sucks and it’s awful hard to find anything…)

Anyway, I anxiously await Monday. It can’t possibly come soon enough. Here’s hoping the library opens for business on the 24th. If not… doom, I tell you.

Doom.

It’s that time of year again. Winter solstice. Yule. The birth of a new spiritual year. Many (most?) Wiccans and eclectic-style pagans feel Samhain is the spiritual new year, and in Celtic tradition, it is. But it’s just never felt right to me. I feel much more spiritually connected and grounded on the solstice, where at last, darkness will once again turn toward light. It’s a time of light and renewal, and what better way to begin a new year?

Bucking my own tradition, I did not have a huge ritual this year, but instead, kept things simple. A sunrise. A cup of cinnamon apple rooibos tea. A fuzzy blanket and some cats. And Tarot.

It was nice. Comfortable. Warming. Not too stressing. I found a new tarot spread for Yule, called the Sacred Days of Yule Spread. It’s meant to be performed over 12 days, one card drawn each day. I’m a day late, so I drew two today. This sort of thing stresses me out - being ‘behind’, that is - so I’m trying to take it in stride.

Tsuki has been laying under the tree there for hours and hours and hours. She likes it. A lot. Silly kitty thinks she’s a present! Speaking of presents, I opened a gift from TJ, who sent wonderful things from Washington - like smoked salmon and MarketSpice Tea (cinnamon-orange flavor!) along with some other goodies. All my other gifts will, of course, be opened on Christmas Eve with the family. I don’t think they’d buy the whole “But my holiday comes two days early!” bit. Heh.

I also opened the kitties’ Secret Paw packages, because they’re Yulecats. Felony was quite excited. For her, anyway. They recieved some fun toys - like feathers and pompoms (okay, I stole these for my tree, but only momentarily… honest…) and catnip and a feather boa, which Felony likes very much… and this cute little birdie with a bell on a stick. At first, they were freaked out by it, and Sebastian actually meowed and ran away. But I got him and Felony to play with it eventually. Tsuki just wanted to curl up in the now-vacant spot under the tree to sleep. She even refused the treats their Secret Paw sent!

“Hey, gimme more treats! Those cheese ones were great!”