the thing itself and not the myth

So! Earlier this month I visited friends on the east coast. I flew into NYC & took the train to Springfield, MA. The train, by the way, was basically the best idea ever. So much more comfortable than the bus. And prettier! And with legroom! And food! Basically, it was awesome.

In Massachusetts we did lots of outdoorsy things. After the jump, more pictures than you could possibly ever want to see. As always, click through to Flickr to embiggen. Read the rest of this entry »

I hope you all had a groovy weekend. I feel like I was wicked busy and didn’t actually get anything done. I spent all of Saturday on the bus running two errands on opposite sides of the county. Yay. I passed a RickRollin’ Scientology protest while transferring buses downtown.

There was also an Anonymous there offering free hugs, but I failed to get a good picture. Woe.

The second errand was the more interesting of the two, as it was a trip to get the supplies to turn this:

into this:

I think I will name it Edith. The laptop is named Adrienne. Edith isn’t after anyone, but it seems to fit. A few more shots of the process live on my Flickr under the tag laptop case.

Finally, I got into the office this morning and found this, the most perfect tshirt, on my desk, a gift from a coworker.

Speaking of socks, I bound off two pairs this weekend (Gred & Forge & Toe-up Embossed Leaves.) All praise Grumperina’s stretchy bind-off, which I found vastly simpler than EZ’s sewn bind-off, and so neat and stretchy! I am going to weave in ends at knitting tonight, and then maybe there will be pictures later this week. Maybe.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been carrying reusable grocery bags for a while now, which I like a lot, but I wasn’t such a fan of advertising for the grocery stores I got them from.

Last month I stopped at the craft supply and picked up some fabric paint, then asked folks over at the ephemeral blog to talk me out of writing Al Gore facts on my bags.

They failed to do so. The results live after the jump; may it be on their souls. Read the rest of this entry »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

After a movie Saturday morning, I decided to take advantage of the sunshine and walk around Seattle a bit. I started in Pioneer Square, walked down the waterfront, and took the “Waterfront Street Car” back up to the International District.

More photos than anyone cares to see after the jump. Plus maybe a little history. Read the rest of this entry »

I haven’t posted about knitting since December! Can you believe it? Ridiculous.

Part of that is because December and half of January were taken up with finishing a crocheted afghan. You don’t get to see that, though, because there is no sunlight in Seattle in January, and so the few pictures I remembered to take were terrible. Seriously.

I do have pictures of a lot of other stuff, though, and they live after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Tonight I went to see Tracy Grammer at the Youngstown Cultural Arts Thingamabobber, which was a good move on my part, even though it is in West Seattle, more or less, which might as well be a different country.

She was the second in a new series; Ellis Paul is going to be there next month, and my excitement regarding this cannot be textually rendered. The only way I could be more excited is if Vance Gilbert was coming with him. (Confidential to Vance: Seriously. Seattle. I know you know where it is. What is the deal?)

Tracy was lovely. She grows every time I see her. I saw her a few times with Dave of course, and at least once with Jim Henry after Dave passed. This is a solo tour, and it suits her. I just wish the audience had been more responsive. Oh Seattle. People who know Seattle audiences, take that experience and apply it to an audience where I easily was the youngest person (at least until you got to fourth graders). Dead silence huge portions of the time. I cheered into silence for Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and for Richard Shindell, and when she got to Townes Van Zandt, who merits the applause of those two combined and then some, I gave up and clapped quietly to myself. They got me, those passive fuckers.

She mentioned Townes because she closed with “Pancho & Lefty”, a song I am perhaps a little obsessed with. On the bus home I listened to Gillian Welch & David Rawlings covering it at a show that’s now ten years old. I thought of how much I love seeing them play, their awkward happy little banter & the way Gillian bobs when she plays guitar, and how they haven’t come to Seattle in ages. I would pay a ridiculous amount of money to see them, no lie. Speaking of artists I would pay a ridiculous amount of money to see, Tom Waits is planning a summer tour. Dear Tom. I saw you in 1999. That was way too long ago.

I need to be better about seeing live music, but it’s hard. Film takes over my life. Movies are easier to go to alone. There’s a lot of artists I’d like to see, but I’m uncomfortable going alone to late-night, hard-drinking bar shows. I try not to live in fear, but it would also be fucking stupid of me to, say, go to Gogol Bordello in SoDo. Or the Paperboys on St. Patrick’s Day. So it goes. But tonight was Tracy, next month is Ellis, and there’s the Winterpills in there somewhere. And the beat goes on.

…I seriously cannot believe I don’t have an “art saves me” icon on this account. What was I thinking?

Then we were off to London. Eventually. It took a crazy amount of time to get out of Oxford, and we wound up completely reorganizing the plan for the day thanks to transit in general hating us, but it worked out okay because I got to do two things I had failed at when I was in London in July. Plus one bonus thing.

First off, in July for some reason, the portrait of Richard III was not on display at the National Portrait Gallery. I do not know why. I suspected it was just to torture me, as I had gone to said Gallery solely to visit him. I attempted it again this trip and there he was, precisely where he was supposed to be! It was amazing. I have been a bit obsessed with him ever since I read Shakespeare’s take on him, but it was only heightened when I read The Daughter of Time, in which the main character is inspired to research him based on this portrait.

Perhaps the best part of visiting him was that there was a tour going around, and I got to hear the tour guide say that they probably knew Richard best from Shakespeare, and that said play was “high propaganda”. Oh my heart! I bought a postcard of Richard down in the gift shop. How could I not?

Also in July, I failed to find the marker for 84 Charing Cross Road. This is apparently because I am an idiot. I found it this time, no problem, though it was mightily depressing to see it on the side of an irritatingly trendy restaurant. Click through to read the text.

Finally, I had really hoped to see The History Boys when I was in London. They were only selling matinée tickets at the half-price booth, but I had my heart set on it, so we stopped by the theater box office, and since I was going alone I got a seat in the SECOND ROW OH MY GOD AMAZING. Happy birthday to me! I had an issue with the casting for Posner (too old, played it way too camp), but I think I actually liked this Dakin better, and though Irwin & Scripps had a lot to live up to, I rather loved them.

Other London things after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

Back in Oxford we walked down the canal and over to (flooded!) Port Meadow for a knitting photo shoot with bonus horses.

&

I enjoyed some street stencil art (after the jump)… Read the rest of this entry »