the thing itself and not the myth

This weekend, I went 3 hours in the opposite direction, to Portland, for Sock Summit. Yes. That would be an entire conference … for sock knitters. I took two classes, one of which wasn’t quite what I expected (I was hoping for more technique, but it was still inspiring, particularly to get serious about Cat Bordhi’s New Pathways), but the second was a knee sock class & it was *fabulous*. Read the rest of this entry »

…not that I really had one. One three day weekend does not a vacation make. But whatever.

In July I went up to Vancouver for the folk festival. It was my third year attending, and though I missed seeing Julie up on the mainstage interpreting, I had a really great time. I got up there on Friday night when the Weakerthans were on the mainstage, found a spot, and immediately everything felt right with the world. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been busy over on Confessions of an amateur cineaste, but I haven’t forgotten about this space!

&

SIFF did keep me a little busy though. After 13 years I finally decided to try volunteering and the Secret festival, and both were awesome. A++ will volunteer & secret again.

After the festival, I did a load of laundry and went to New York. Pictures from that after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week, my friend Chris visited from New York. One of the awesome things about having company is that I get to do all of the Seattle things I wouldn’t do otherwise. After the jump probably way too many crappy pictures of Seattle & a few of Portland. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, as part of National Poetry Month, NYC hosts Poem in Your Pocket Day. I wasn’t sure what to post for it, until I remembered one I posted at the old journal a few years ago.

I first saw it in the Breathe Poetry community on LiveJournal. It’s even more appropriate this year, which is apparently the year of Toxic Family Issues, if only in my own mind. It (as well as a peom of sorts by me on the same theme) lives after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Also, over the weekend I altered a tshirt. It was a very simple alteration, and there’s a lot of tutorials on the web, but apparently I am incapable of doing anything crafty without documenting it. Four pictures, after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Something I found irritating:

Something I crocheted:

Something I was given at work:

Something I went to see:

I just deleted over 600 comments in the SpamTrap, so if something from one of you snuck into there, I am sorry. Usually when I clear it out, it’s 3 or 4 comments. So you can see how 600 was a little overwhelming for me. I am not sure what is going on with the Internet this week, but I disapprove! But yay for the trap working, I suppose.

On to the post! I was under the impression that there was oodles of knitting that I had done and not told you about, that I just needed to photograph. The window of time where there’s sunshine in my living room *and* I’m home *and* awake *and* everything isn’t too much of a mess is apparently as easy to find as Brigadoon.

It seems I am on crack, though, because when it came down to it, I just had a lace shawl & a pair of socks. I had to dig out some WIPs to make this worth an actual entry. It lives after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday evening I trekked over to Ballard for a concert. Trekking indeed. It takes an hour to get there from my office. North Seattle Community College is the halfway point, and I finally managed to take a picture of these sweet little houses across the street from the college.

If only Ballard were a little more accessible, I would be very tempted to live there. But then it wouldn’t be Ballard. Also it would be nice if they had a grocery store walkable from the heart of the neighborhood. Though, the QFC is coming back in that condo development, yes?

More after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Also this weekend was the Harry Potter vs Twilight debate at the library, which was a lot of fun. The auditorium was packed (so at least 250 people), and the audience enthusiastic. A panel of five judges from the library & the school system asked questions of the two teams, each made up of three teen girls from Team Read. On one hand, I’m sorry that there weren’t any boys on the panels, though there were many among the teen volunteers, but on the other, how awesome is it that girls were debating what’s the best fantasy series? Totally awesome, that’s what.

The judges would ask a question, and then the teams were given 30 seconds to discuss it amongst themselves before responding. After each question, the audience would spring into lively discussion too, which was very cool.

The teams were asked to discuss supporting characters (Twilight talked about Jacob, HP about Neville OF COURSE BECAUSE NEVILLE IS THE BEST. Ahem.), villains, prejudice (a missed opportunity to discuss werewolves & Native Americans in Twilight, imho), and the responsibility of having supernatural powers (where team HP made the excellent observation that Twilight is about suppressing desire and not abuse of power).

Finally came the question you KNEW team HP had been waiting for, to discuss how women were portrayed. After reeling off strong & compelling female characters in HP, both heroes and villains, they moved on to smack down Twilight. The quote I took down was that Bella is “a stereotypical weak, dependent girl, and that is not an image to be putting on teenage girls.” The entire auditorium erupted in cheering and applause. It was FABULOUS. Particularly as team Twilight, in their rebuttal, said “I have to admit, that was really good.” They argued that Bella is relatable because we all have friends we want to smack, and that girls can choose to not be like her. It was a creative perspective, to be sure.

The judges tacked on an extra question about why the books deserve such popularity, and the Twilight folks totally failed to offer any reasons to make me read past the first 2/3 of the first book. If you somehow managed to escape knowing everything I hate about it & yet amazingly remain curious, buy me a coffee sometime.

In the final statements, team HP offered the final coup de grâce in a quote from Stephanie Meyer, praising Rowling’s work, and Harry Potter ruled the day, winning judges’ decision and the audience vote.

Good times!