the thing itself and not the myth

(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.

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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.

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

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The 500 block of Pine (at Belmont) is being demolished for condos, and so yesterday after the craft fair I wandered up to take some pictures.

Left to right - Pony (formerly Cha-Cha), Bimbo’s, and Bus Stop. Lots more after the jump. Click through to Flickr to enlarge.

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I fell down a bit on my picture of the day project in November. I blame work exploding and also me being lazy. Let’s make up for it now. As usual, click through to Flickr to embiggen.

It being the holiday season, Seattle’s Nutcracker March (flash, music) has begun. To my great horror. The first nutcracker I saw was actually kind of cute…

…though the last time I looked at the site there were only John & Paul nutcrackers, no George and Ringo. What’s up with that?

Regardless, around the corner was a TERRIBLE nutcracker, that I have to look at every day because I catch my bus there.

Yup. A Jack Sparrow nutcracker. Just what we all needed.

Now, to be fair, there are some traditional nutcrackers. That’s okay. For example, there’s this fellow at Pacific Place, apparently based on the first nutcracker ever. Or whatever.

And there’s this Seattle-themed one, which is okay.

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After the jump, meet the two most horrific of this year’s nutcrackers, at least that I have seen so far, and to soften the blow a bit, my current favorite non-Beatle nutcracker.

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More photos-of-the-day, click through to Flickr for larger sizes.

From the Egyptian theater. The Mel Brooks Joint in question is Young Frankenstein, probably because they’re premiering the musical just down the hill. (Which my oldest friend & I went to last night, by the way. It is good fun.)

(We all get why this is funny, right? Please?)

On the way home many days I go through an underpass in the U-district, which has been painted with an amazing mural. I took this shot out of the (moving) bus window. Nifty!

And a shot I took for a new community this morning. It’s focused on everyday photos, and the prompt for this week is “favourite thing on the way to work.” This, hands down, is mine:

Monorail Espresso! Where I get my coffee every morning. It is basically the best thing ever. I took this shot from line this morning, and the baristas were like “What are you *doing*?” This!

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!