the thing itself and not the myth

…am wearing these shoes

…am already this far on my February Lady sweater

…cast this vote for President

…and am on my way to Ballard, where I saw this last week on the new release whiteboard at Sonic Boom

Last night my bank, teetering on the edge, was eaten by JP Morgan.

It’s weird, though, because I’ve been banking there since I was a kid. I think I opened my account with money I got for 8th grade graduation. They gave me a debit card with a Visa logo when I was in high school.

I’m glad this part is over. I think I can stop worrying for now. I trust that the transfer will be seamless, and if it’s not, I have a safety net in the credit union. It’ll be a pain, but okay.

WaMu was a local bank that exploded. But they were a good place to work for, and a good place to bank with. I had three strange things happen to my account in the 15+ years that I banked with them. Checks were stolen, and they noticed the inconsistency and called me before letting anything hit my account. A weird charge showed up from an online gambling site, and they reversed it immediately. And when a major purchase I made wasn’t delivered before that division of Sears went bankrupt, they reversed that charge as well. They seemed psychic about what was an accurate transaction and what wasn’t. I never had my account frozen during international travel, for example, or had to argue that no, really, I did intend to buy that MacBook.

I’ll be the first to admit that I know nothing about finance. But I know that the customer service in the retail centers was ace, and I thank all those folks on the ground for over fifteen years of worry-free banking. I kick all the executives in the shins for making me do all fifteen years worth of worrying in the past month instead.

Please, enjoy your multi-billion dollar signing bonuses while your underpaid tellers and I fret about if we’ll have access to our rent money or not. No problem. Friends of the family indeed.

I have had a ridiculously busy August. I had dear friends visit, I went to Canada, I knitted a LOT (Ravelympics! Go Team Junkie!) & I worked even more (hello, beginning of event season). I only went to one movie. Please contain your shock. I also only went to one concert, but I’m sneaking in a second on Sunday (the Satellite Riders, an Old 97s ‘cover band’. You’d swear you’re watching the real thing, or so I hear. *cough*)

I do have a whole whack of pictures to edit and upload and spam you with. Next week, maybe. Until then, allow me to vent about a fellow bus patron on Friday night: (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…)

It’s the first of February, and I am decreeing this the official start of 2008. Happy new year!

I didn’t get anything done in January; the first half was dedicated to clean-up from 2007, and the second was dedicated to vacation and then the plague (thanks, London Underground!), so any attempt to start fresh on any front was doomed to failure. We’ll see if it goes better in February.

There will be vacation posts happening early next week, complete with more pictures than you could possibly want to see. In related housekeeping news, I’ve changed the RSS to pull the summary rather than the whole feed. I thought, since most folks read this on LiveJournal, it is kind of cruel to inflict a page full of photos. This might cause the feed to barf at some point today, and I apologize for that in advance.

In spite of the plague, I had a marvelous time. It is nice to be home, though. My bed is amazing, I saw two Decemberists shows this week, and my mocha at Monorail Espresso Tuesday morning was darn near a religious experience.

I hope you all are well.

(Why, there you are, blog!)

I got eaten by the holidays. This is my busiest time at work, so much so that I can’t take the time to visit family for Christmas. I suspect they had a better time that way anyway, particularly as at this point in December I am super-cranky from being tired.

I took a break from working mid-month to attend our first Posada celebration. The families had been working hard in the weeks leading up to it, making decorations, like these angel centerpieces…

…and some pretty amazing pinatas, including Dora the Explorer.

&

Then it was back to holiday business. We run an adopt-a-family program as well as a gift closet. This year we served 200 children between the two programs.

&

After the jump, more holidays, a little Seattle, and a side of knitting.

(more…)

For today.

Dana: I’ve named this Thanksgiving. I’m calling it “The Thanksgiving of Mom’s Disapproval.” Included on the two-record set are the hit songs “Why Aren’t You Married?” and “Sports Is No Place For An Educated Woman,” and “Didn’t Anyone Ever Tell You How To Cook A Turkey?”

Jeremy: Well, on the turkey front, she may have a reasonable point.

Once again I’m spending Thanksgiving with people who are not actually related to me, but my family, such as it was, moved away. I have no intention of chasing them down. I have no intention of subscribing to the myth that this is something I should want.

I hope, if you are American, that you are spending the holiday with people who care about the you that you really are. If you are elsewhere, I hope the same for your Thursday. And I am thankful for all of you.

I’ve been going to a knitting group in Ballard lately, which has been lovely. I like the group & the tea & spending time in Ballard. I think if I wasn’t carless I would really like living there, but the buses in and out take aaaaages. Here’s a shot of sunset & the skate park across from the fabric store.

At the end of October I went up to see Sherman Alexie at Third Place Books. It’s in Lake Forest Park Towne Center, which, seriously. I cannot believe they can use that many words and not actually say anything.

I was way in the back.

Sherman was *fantastic*. Unsurprisingly. I can’t even talk about him without turning into a blubbering fangirl.

The next day we went on a field trip to Auburn, to meet other people who work for our agency, and check out their site. It was pretty strange for me, because I grew up in the south end, and so much has changed!

On the way down, so many pumpkins!

Their office is in an old farm house. I’m jealous — it has so much history! And a ghost! And the offices are in bedrooms, basically, so they’re really cozy. This is the house from behind.

And the view out the window of back building.

It was nice to get out of the office a bit. We’ve been busier than usual, and it’s not going to slow down for me until after Christmas. Today we had an all-staff meeting, and it being Monday, I’m off to knitting again in a bit. Yay.

Last week’s everyday photo prompt was “inside the fridge”, which worked out well for me because it was organics week.

&

The only thing missing is cheese. And the freezer door, which holds ice for my bum wrist. And coffee, of course.

Also last week I had an off-site meeting in the International District. I am wicked jealous of people who work at that Center — they’re a block from Uwajimaya. On the way to the meeting I scoped out the windows at Kinokuniya Books. I am a little afraid to go past it during business hours, especially since they have stuff like this awesome Totoro hoodie in the window.

(Also, I read the reviews on Yelp. DVDs! Other Studio Ghibli miscellanea! Japanese knitting & crochet books! Seriously, I don’t think I should be allowed in this store.)

This weekend has been eaten by the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. A friend won a pair of party passes, so I got one, which I think is hilarious. Obviously, I have not gone to any of the parties.

I also went to Spamalot.

[Sir Photo-not-appearing-in-this-blog]

And in the little time I was at home, I was doing mad crafting. Click through the jump for projects include Hooray for me gloves (round 3), sweatshirt pillow number one, and Ron’s Animal Crackers Hat.

(more…)

First off, I’m getting ready to purge my friends list at Livejournal, and the last information gathering stage on that is this blog. If anyone reads this via a feedreader or bookmark or something else that is NOT Livejournal’s syndication feature, *and* has never commented here, please comment on this entry or email me at not the myth at gmail dot com (no spaces, etc.) You can go back to lurking, I promise. I just want to know who’s here.

Now, on to the business of blog. This weekend I took a much-needed trip out of the country …more or less. (I just went to Abbotsford, and from there you can practically spit and hit the States.) There are pictures, and, as always, click through to Flickr to embiggen.

The drive up on Friday was slow but pretty…

…and there was the reward of poutine at the end.

I had gone up for my friend’s birthday. Here she is introducing Harry Potter (by way of book 7 on CD) to her dog:

I gave her a Slytherin scarf. God willing I will never have to knit one of those things again. (This was my third.)

Sunday we went to sushi. Mine came on a bridge.

It was also exceedingly tasty, especially since they were kind enough to make it ‘nude’, that is, without seaweed, to which I am allergic. Basically, I go up to Canada to eat. I also may have bought some chocolate, but only enough to get me through til I go up again at Thanksgiving.

I’ve been listening to a lot of Spring Awakening & The Secret Garden lately. I think it’s out of winter denial. Last year when I went up for Thanksgiving it snowed, which is fine by me. I’d rather deal with snow than endless drizzle.

Oh, the perils of the Pacific Northwest!