the thing itself and not the myth

I got back from the east coast and was promptly devoured by the film festival. Sorry! I saw 22 movies, and they’re all discussed in these four letterboxed posts.

It ended on the 15th, so let’s see what I did since then after the jump. (more…)

I did stuff lately that I didn’t really take pictures of, or, if I did, I took crap pictures. Let’s talk about them anyway!

Earlier this month I went up to Vancouver, a whirlwind weekend trip that included sushi the size of my head, gelato, knitting, sunshine, friends, and roller derby, which was the excuse for going up at that particular time. Terminal City is a really young league (this is only their second season), but they already deliver awesome derby action. I opted to cheer for the Riot Girls, using the time honored pick-the-best-uniform method of allegiance, and they took an early and commanding lead, but I was happy to root for the Faster Pussycats at the end, when they got in some awesome jams. I hope to be able to come up for more derby action this year! Hint, hint, Vancouver friends.

The next weekend, since the new hangar meant that the Rat City bout sold out CRAZY EARLY, I went to see Ellis Paul out at Youngstown. (I was maybe a little grateful that derby sold out, so I didn’t have to make that decision myself. I am possibly ridiculously fond of Ellis.) Antje Duvekot opened, and was lovely, and of course Ellis was great. He had just got a new guitar in Oregon, and he was maybe a little infatuated.

The coolest bit, though, was when he took requests, and someone asked for “Trolley Car”. He admitted right off that he couldn’t remember it well enough to do on his own, and asked for audience support. Eventually, he wound up calling a guy from the front row to help him out. Between them they could woodshed about 75% of the song, which was really great, actually. But what makes this particularly awesome, is that I am pretty damn sure that this fellow’s girlfriend/wife/partner-person is the same woman who got called up several years ago, when Ellis played Phinney Ridge, to take the Patty Griffin part of “Conversation with a Ghost”, and was amazing. I also have a feeling that they drive from Spokane/Idaho/some great distance to see Ellis in the first place. So. That is all just wicked cool, so far as I am concerned.

Finally, I trekked up to Lake Forest Park Town Center (the name that means nothing) to see the Yarn Harlot and a bunch of knitters at Third Place Books. Where I did not buy her book, but I did finally buy Tam Lin, and I also scored a copy of Once Upon a Time in the North, a pre-His Dark Materials story featuring Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison. I am enjoying it much more than Lyra’s Oxford. Plus, it comes with a game! Sweet.

After the jump, a few things I *did* take pictures of. (more…)

This weekend I went to the Rat City bout, which was enough social action to get me through the rest of the weekend.

Rat Bastard, at halftime:

For actual bout photos, watch Adam’s Flickr page, because I am sure it’s just a matter of time before he has some up. And his will actually be good, whereas mine suck.

The good change from last season was that the food was provided by Skillet. I’ve been hearing about them for ages, but I’ve never been able to get to a location. All that changed this weekend and I got to have POUTINE and ROLLER DERBY both. *Awesome*.

The bad change is that the bout was at Hangar 30, which some of you might know as the location of the library book sale. It’s fine for that purpose, but for derby? WAY TOO SMALL. They used to bout at Hangar 27, but the city wants to turn that into a private facility, basically, screwing over all the community groups who use it. RCRG did a fantastic job maximizing the space in Hangar 30, but it’s really horribly small, and the loss in particular of the majority of the floor seating is tragic. It also means that the bout sold out wicked fast, and that the league lost a lot of money on the missing seats. It totally blows.

So, I did that, and then I spent the rest of the weekend knitting. I was supposed to go to Honk Fest on Sunday, but it rained. Boo. Anyway. Knitting & general yarn porn after the jump.

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I have been so busy doing stuff I haven’t had time to tell you all about it. As usual, click through to Flickr for bigger photos.

Thursday we had an end-of-summer barbecue at work, which was awesome and crazy, and then that night I went back to Seattle University for an end-of-summer celebration for one of our intern programs. I went to one last year as well, but it was held in a building that didn’t exist on campus when I was a student. This time it was in the ballroom off the dorm residence hall I lived in for two years. It was very strange. They’ve remodeled the lobby — my tuition dollars at work.

The Admin building, where basically all of my classes were held…

The fountain in the quad (which we sidewalk-chalked overnight when we finished the Honors Program) And the Chapel of St Ignatius at night, which I love… Friday I went down to The Center for Wooden Boats, because they had the Lady Washington (which you all have seen on film as Norrington’s ship, the Interceptor, in Pirates of the Caribbean) and the Hawaiian Chieftain. (The Lady Washington is in front here.) On board the Lady Washington, looking out towards Gasworks Park. These ships are so small! Saturday & Sunday I spent working on our Back to School drive. Our set-up at the store: While I was there, I knitted. Unsurprisingly. I’m working on Wendy’s Cabletini socks in the yarn I got last week: Then, Saturday night was roller derby! Which is dangerous: This is technically a terrible photo, but I love it. The band was the Wages of Sin. LIME GREEN UPRIGHT BASS, BABY. And they are self-described as “Punk rock sea shanties and Appalachian death polka.” How awesome is that? The two teams I was rooting for — DLF & Grave Danger — both won. So that basically ruled.

Sunday I came home after work and passed out. I am still not quite recovered. I watched a good deal of television, including finishing off “Blackpool” (awesome!) and half of “My Life in Film” (which I snagged because I wanted more Kris Marshall after Death at a Funeral, and which is also awesome, but in a totally different way. More like “Spaced”.)

I also knitted on Samus’s cable band. I am in the 8th repeat of 11. I can do it!