~ the Elf Owl's Nest ~

For the past five months or so I've been playing around in Second Life. I started out of curiosity because Elionwyr was having so much fun with the themed treasure hunts that they hold within the world: Pirates, Steampunk, MidSummer Night's Dream... and free items for your avatar? Win!

So I got an account, and started a treasure hunt or two - but I get tired of them after a while. Which led me to start frequenting a couple of music/dance clubs - which led to joining a SL dance troupe - which led to...

( ...the drama )

Spent most of my nice long holiday break from the university job with a cold (came down with it 2 days after Christmas and it's still lingering).

Now I'm really hoping that certain "symptoms" are actually all in my head and that I'm NOT coming down with the stomach flu that my housemate brought home from her holiday trip. :P

Just my imagination, yup yup.

I'm a member of a writing-group style fan club for a SF/F book series. Multiple members of this club are currently working on a large group project. One of this group's most prolific* writers has a nasty habit of deliberately making other people's characters act in foolish, obnoxious, and very out-of-character ways so that zir persona can look brilliant by comparison - instead of, you know, going to the hard work of making said character shine via showcasing native intelligence and/or hard work.

This has happened on multiple occasions. The editor for the current project is well aware of said tendency, has had to squash it when necessary, and is watching for it.

So on the current project? Zie appears to have passed along the 'oh ha-ha let's make Character X look st00pid and inefficient LOLZ' bits to one of the other writers to include with his sections in order to sneak it past the editor. *facepalm* Which just got outed in the group email thread for all the project writers.

Zir response? "...as I recall, I had nothing concerning [X] in my segments."

Yah-huh, between zie and the other author? I know who I'm more likely to believe on this one.

[* - a firm believer in quantity, not quality.]

...before I hobby again!

Seriously, I have ridiculous amounts of yarn piled up in my house - not quite SABLE* yet, but enough to keep me busy for Quite Some Time still. I have art supplies that I haven't touched since I moved into the house. I have bags of fabric in the craft room closet.

And so help me, I'm being horribly tempted to get into beading, because of a friend's project for CostumeCon 29. I watch her sewing the gajillions of seed beads onto fabric and think "Okay, it's time consuming but doesn't look hard..." and the finished product is so amazingly sparkly and gorgeous...

But all those shiny little beads cost money too, and I DO have all that yarn around, and and and... *sigh*

( follow-up to earlier posts )

* - "Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy

"Dear" Main HR:

If you do not let me know before-hand that members of HR who are not involved in the day's training class will be joining us at lunchtime - to mingle with the attendees and get 'informal feedback' from them - then I really can't be blamed for assuming that their motivation is nothing more than "HURR DURR GUNNA GET FREE FUDZ!"

...also, if they're supposed to gather feedback, it helps if they talk with any of the participants instead of huddling at their own little clique-table and shutting out the rest of the world.

No love,
~ the Elf Owl.

PS - The more I work closely with the main HR team, the better I understand why the rest of the company hates you all.

Those two words would be "mother" and "malignant." Unfortunately, I heard them Monday.

It isn't a complete panic - yes, my mom's radiologist found an abnormality in her recent mammogram. Yes, a biopsy turned up malignancy. But they caught it early and her lumpectomy is scheduled in two weeks. They also think if her margins turn up clear after the lumpectomy she may not even need radiation or chemotherapy treatments. And Mom is nothing if not stubborn* - and tough.

But it still made for a stressful evening after I got the news. :(

* Dad was also an extremely stubborn individual... and now she wonders where my sister and I learned it from?! ^^;;

Apologies to those of you who are seeing this multiple times!

Team Knitsburgh (consisting of myself, bethb, and adelheid_p) is holding an amazing raffle full of yarny goodness, books, patterns, and more!

All money raised goes to the Muscular Dystrophy Association to fund research. Research costs $87 per minute, and as a team we’d like to raise enough money for 10 minutes' worth. That's $870, so we really need your help! To learn more about Muscular Dystrophy, and how research is changing the lives of children and adults, visit the MDA’s website.

Here’s how the raffle works. For every three dollars you donate, you get one chance in the raffle. If you donate $15, you get 6 chances (1 free!). So, if you donate $21, you get 8 chances. If you’re feeling generous, and you donate $30, you get 12 tickets (2 free!). Get the idea? Once you’ve donated, PM me here or on Ravelry (my user name there is "owlsnest") with your real name and address, how much you’ve donated, and which item or items you’d like a chance to win. If you don’t specify an item, I get to choose the item for you. If you have any questions, post them below or PM me and I'll answer them.

The raffle runs through 2/16/11. To donate, click the 'Donate Now' button on my secure fund-raising page. One last thing before you start looking -- none of us has a lot of extra cash (if we did, we'd be donating it to MDA!), so if you win, we'll be asking you to pay the postage. Items will be sent Priority Mail in the US, and whichever way is safest and still cost-effective for overseas.

( Raffle items behind the cut! )

Having a sudden (and probably entirely unjustified) attack of moodiness and feeling rejected.

Ugh. Time to hit Cute Overload and try to shake myself out of this.

"You're so mean when you talk
'Bout yourself - you are wrong
Change the voices in your head
Make them like you instead..."

(from "F**kin' Perfect")

I'm kind of getting addicted to her songs.

Finally bound off the first of the baby blankets! =D

I already started the second (of four) - which is maybe 1/8th done at this point - before finishing the first. I won't have two of them ready for my Otaku!coworker's baby shower, but November is now over and I can switch my focus back from writing to knitting.

Oh yeah, never mentioned that I was doing NaNoWriMo again this year. I swore I wasn't going to - then during my lunch break at work on November 2, I opened up a new Word document and started typing madly away. *sigh*

Despite starting a day late (and a few brain cells short), I crossed the 50,000 word mark just before midnight on November 27th. It's my first "win" that didn't have me scrambling to get the last few hundred words in on the 30th.

Today, November 2nd, is Election Day! Make sure to get out and vote. Voting is pretty simple, but if you have any questions, here's an outline of helpful information. Please share this information widely - repost this information, link to it on Facebook and Twitter.

(Reading this on your mobile phone? You can get voting info here: m.google.com/elections)

Where and when do I vote?

* Find your polling place, voting times, and other important information at http://pol.moveon.org/votinginfo2010.html, using an application developed by the Voting Information Project.

* You can also get your polling location by texting "where" to 30644 from your mobile phone.

* These resources are excellent, but not perfect, so to double-check information, you can use the Voting Information Project application to find contact information for your state or local election official.

What do I need to bring?

* Voting ID laws vary from state to state, but if you have ID, bring it. To find out the details, check out your state's info at http://www.866ourvote.org/state.

* You can also find more information by calling or checking out the website of your state election official. Look up their contact information here: http://pol.moveon.org/votinginfo2010.html/

What if something goes wrong?

* Not on the voter list? Make sure you're at the right polling place, then ask for a provisional ballot.

* Need legal help? Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE or email help@866ourvote.org.

On your ballot

* The League of Young Voters has put together a site where groups and individuals can post do-it-yourself voter guides. Check out your state here: http://theballot.org/

Remember, if you don't vote, you lose all right to complain about our government's asshattery until the next time you DO cast your ballot! ;)

I will be getting lessons in corset-making from an expert!

Muahahahaha....

On the knitting front, am probably about 3/4 through the first skein of yarn on baby blanket #1 of 4. I may have to pick up one more skein to make it large enough; drat. Thought I'd estimated it better than that. The knitting itself is going relatively quick, although I want to get through this first one so badly that I'm not taking the time to try Continental style much. :/

Finished the second Diagonal Lace scarf with far fewer frog-backs than the first. Thank goodness. Now I just have to block that, and it'll be ready to ship out.

Next up, I need to finish the shawl I'd started for myself, and free up my circular needles for several baby blankets!

E. at work is having twins - both boys, she found out last week, so I need to make sure I have appropriately non-pink yarn for two blankies there (which I think I'll keep VERY simple, maybe just bias-knit garter stitch and keep 'em newborn-small).

My niece S. is due in February; she won't have her gender-determining ultrasound for another week or two, but I already have the yarn for my great-nephew-or-niece-to-be: the wonderfully soft Blue Sky Cotton I picked up a few weeks ago at the Knit One's yarn "Garage Sale" event. It's a lovely, gender-neutral aquamarine, and I have a slightly more ambitious pattern picked out for that... but only slightly!

Also: the head can stop hurting any time now. Really.

My spoil-ee finally received her swap package yesterday (took longer than the PO clerk claimed, but it still got there before deadline, woo!), so now I can post a link to the handmade item I sent.

http://ravel.me/owlsnest/vlw4i

In the meantime I cast on for what's going to be a "PSP cozy" - a lined knitted case for my PSP game unit. Used Cascade 220 "workhorse wool" in a gorgeous shade of purple, and I've got a nicely coordinating cotton fat quarter to use for the lining (no wool scratchies on my screen plz). Sempai Beth even taught me how to knit an i-cord last night, so the button loop on the pouch is part of the body instead of sewn on (and therefore subject to falling off).

Knitting part's done, now I need to line it, seam up the sides, sew the button loops in place, and add the buttons!

Handmade items for my current Ravelry swap are finally done. Without going into detail, let me just say that people who knit lace on a regular basis must have far more patience than I do.

Or they're insane.

Maybe both.

Tally for this project:
* Times completely ripped back to cast-on: 2
* Times ripped back to last lifeline: oh god I lost count - too many!

And then there was the time that I was about halfway done, and realized that at some point I had flipped the piece and the pattern was now marching off in the wrong direction... that time, I had to sew a lifeline back in (praying all the while that I had it all on the same row and wasn't about to start the whole thing raveling because oh holy carp I didn't want to start over from scratch AGAIN), tear back to that point, and figure out where to pick up again.

It worked, though - thank goodness.

Now I just need to photograph the end result, seal up the box and ship it out! (No pics posted until it arrives at its destination, though.)

I told you everything, opened up and let you in,
You made me feel all right for once in my life
Now all that's left of me is what I pretend to be,
So together, but so broken up inside...

So I don't forget. I went much, much too long not living by this.

Team Knitsburgh is raising money with an amazing raffle full of yarny goodness. Not to mention things like hand-turned wooden knitting needles and embroidered project bags! All the money raised goes to the Muscular Dystrophy Association to fund research. Research costs $87/minute, and as a team, we’d like to raise the money for 12 minutes. To learn more about Muscular Dystrophy, and how research is changing the lives of children and adults, visit the MDA’s website.

Here’s how the raffle works: for every three dollars you donate, you get one chance in the raffle. If you donate $15, you get 6 chances. So, if you donate $21, you get 8 chances. If you’re feeling generous, and you donate $30, you get 12 tickets. Get the idea? Once you’ve donated, PM me with your real name, how much you’ve donated, and which item or items you’d like a chance to win. If you don’t specify an item, Team Knitsburgh will choose an item for you. If you have any questions, post them below and I'll answer as quick as I can!

The raffle runs from today through 4/17. To donate, click the 'Donate Now' button on my Team Knitsburgh page One last thing before you start looking -- none of us has a lot of extra cash (if we did, we'd be donating it to MDA!), so if you win, we'll be asking you to pay the postage. Items will be sent Priority Mail in the US, and whichever way is safest and still cost-effective for overseas.

( Pictures of our yarny goodness beneath the cut! (You know you want to look...) )

From a recent post on an adoption email list I follow:

"Social work policy for many years sent newborns to foster homes for anywhere from weeks to months before placement. It was one of the most inhumane and destructive practices ever in adoption. It meant that before a baby was allowed to bond with adoptive parents, he had already suffered three disruptions in his bonding attempts. First, of course, was his total separation from his birthmother - the person whose body was his entire world for nine months. Second, his caregivers in the nursery where (back then) he spent five days studying the nurses who fed him, trying to make sense of the mishmash of unfamiliar faces and voices. Third, he goes to a foster home, where he tries again to connect. The foster mother is loving and caring, but she necessarily has to guard herself agains attachment to him and he senses it. However, he has no idea what games people are playing with his life, so he's playing for keeps. So then.....just when he thinks he's secure in whatever measure of attachment he's been able to create - blam! He on the road again - this time to his 'forever family.'

"If you adoptees have had difficulties with attachments, trust issues, and feelings of abandonment, chances are you were placed and adopted in the extended foster care period."

NOW they tell me. >,o (Born June, adopted October...)

I've been awfully quiet lately - dunno, maybe some of you are glad for that. O_o;; But March falls in between a couple of painful anniversaries, plus I had bronchitis for three weeks, and kind of hit a metaphorical wall which resulted in not doing a whole hell of a lot.

Not even knitting. (I know, shocking, isn't it? *gasp*)

It's starting to feel like spring, finally, and since I can almost breathe without coughing again that means it's time to start some spring cleaning and getting stuff done around the house. Including beat the yard into shape, get a bird-feeder, and figure out where to plant the raspberry canes I ordered when they get here.

...and take some time to enjoy the daffodils that cropped up in my yard. ♥

( More backlogged tweets )