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Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2005 - 11:42 p.m.

I LOVE my fellow first-year TAs. LOVE.

Monday, Aug. 15, 2005 - 11:04 p.m.

Today was my first day of teaching assisstant training. I must say that I am very optimistic. My fellow first year TAs are all nice and sympathetic to each other's worries and concerns.

I won't be writing too much about my teaching here, and only in very general terms if I do. I need to respect my students' privacy. Likewise for the classes I will be taking as a student.

But, I can say I have been out for drinks the last three nights here. I very well might be mentioning my new friends, T and K and perhaps even W. T and K are fellow TAs and Fine Arts students, and W is T's roommate and a Ph.D. student in evolutionary biology, which we all this is damn cool. K and I share an office. K, T, T's wife, W, and I all went for beer tonight. We had some very lively discussion.

I still feel nervous about teaching, but knowing I have these people on the journey with me makes life a whole lot better.

Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 - 1:24 p.m.

I now have a local yarn shop: The Needle Nook! Yay! Go ahead and visit the online Needle Nook.

Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 - 1:20 p.m.

Correction: the brotherhood of the giant slip-and-slide pictured below is Alpha Kappa Lambda. (Motto: The Truth and the Word; Principles: Judeo-Christian; Icon of choice: giant slip-and-slide) Thanks, J, for correcting me. For the life of me, I cannot remember the Greek alphabet.

Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005 - 9:06 p.m.

Okay, so maybe I won't be posting too terribly often. Most everything is coming together, finally. Moscow is really a beautiful city with wheatfieds and rolling hills. I have a gorgeous view from my apartment window.

My window offers other interesting views. For example:

I am not sure what kind of constructive brotherhood bond this is supposed to create for the boys of Alpha Kappa Delta, but I am willing to accept that it might be completely for my own amusement. If nothign else, they earn an A in giant slip-and-slides.

Tuesday, Aug. 09, 2005 - 10:53 p.m.

Now that I am officially moved into my Moscow, Idaho apartment, expect me to post more often. The move was stressful, mostly because I do not trasition well. At all.

Now, though, I have a week to further settle into my new home, so perhaps even a new look will grace my webpage.

It is hot here. Ick.

Sunday, Aug. 07, 2005 - 10:17 p.m.

I am currently on a short break from posting here, due to my moving to my new home in Idaho. Please check back soon!

Wednesday, Aug. 03, 2005 - 12:08 p.m.

Demand justice for Linda Loaiza.

Everyday, all over the world, women are tortured. Take a stand and stop the violence.

Tuesday, Aug. 02, 2005 - 9:05 p.m.

The stripey sock is done! It rules the knitting universe!

Worship the stripey sock!

Saturday, Jul. 30, 2005 - 2:25 p.m.

I cannot stand it anymore...

Jessica Simpson has brought the sexual exploitation of women to an all new low. I would rather not link to her newest video, a sad cover of Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walking. Sinatra's lyrics are not innately sexual; the sensual excitement of the song comes from Sinatra's singing.

The Simpson version, on the other hand, tells the story of a woman visually prostituting her body in order to escape the clutches of the law enforcement. The video only enhances this grotesque story in a disgusting bar-room brawl and dance sequence, ending with a gratuitous sequence of Simpson washing the Duke's of Harzard iconic car in a string bikini.

As if this contrived story weren't bad enough, Simpson is choreographed to pelvis thrust and shake her butt to the point that makes one wonder if she didn't have her spine removed for better flexibility. The sexual overtones are, in fact, so overt, it takes at least half the video to realize that Simpson is singing at all, or that there is even a racoon-eyed head attached to the continuously gyrating pelvis and butt.

While the music industry has no shortage of videos and songs that exploit women and women's sexuality, Simpson's video and version of said song make me feel particularly slimy after viewing. Many say Simpson is especially intelligent to exploit the clueless airhead blonde stereotype that she has helped refine in recent years. And while I don't doubt that she is very deliberate in her public persona and that it earns her a great deal of money, this is no testament to her ability to percieve anything but the monetary value of sex and situation. She shows all the depth of a child's pool. This, in my opinion, makes her completely uninteresting as a person.

And it is in this opinion that I realize that Simpson is, in fact, not so much percieved as a person as a malleable barbie doll. She is objectification personified, pun intended.

Thursday, Jul. 28, 2005 - 1:26 p.m.

Only eight more days until I return to the academic world where renting an apartment with ugly universal carpeting is a neccessity. People keep asking me if I am excited. Nervous is the better adjective. Happy is a better adjective too. I am happy to be continuing my education as a writer and teacher of writing. Excited is something you are when you win an award. Or when someone sends you treats.

Knitting update...

This scarf is for a former teacher who is sick. It is made from Karabella Gossamer, a gorgeous yarn that is hard to work with sometimes. I dropped stitches quite a bit. I knit with size 18 needles and just one skein, since the yarn is fairly expensive.

My first completed pair of socks! I had to knit one twice. In fact, I had to knit the first sock twice on the pair I am working on now. This pair is knit in Fortissima Colori-Socka Color. The yarn is self-striping.

I used size 2 double pointed needles on both pairs. I tried size 3 on the second pair (yet to be pictured), but the guage was wrong. The second pair use Dale of Norway sport weight yarn, which I am finding is lovely stuff with which to work. The Fortissima yarn was pleasant enough, but all you fiber junkies know how it feels to find a yarn you honestly love to pick up and knit. You non-knitters will just have to imagine I'm afraid. Or, better yet, start knitting. You'll never regret it.

Wednesday, Jul. 27, 2005 - 4:27 p.m.

Images on this diary will not appear for a little while. As soon as my account is updated, the beauty of my less than professional photography will reappear.

Sunday, Jul. 24, 2005 - 6:53 p.m.

Yay! Finished my first pair of socks. They turned out well, and they better, considering I had to knit the first sock twice. Pictures won't come until later, when my laptop is back in my arms again. Until then, suffice to say that the socks are fabulous. The second pair is also for L. Already, there is a whole in the cuff, where I was finishing dangling threads from the colorwork. I hate finishing!

Thursday, Jul. 21, 2005 - 11:01 a.m.

I have been none to keen about posting on my diary lately for the following reasons:

1) I dropped a glass of water on my laptop last week, showering my computer not only in water but also shattered glass. It is now in the able hands of the PC Doktor[sic]. Now I am relegated to using one of my mother's two computers for the time being because the liddle bruder doesn't trust me to use his, despite the fact that he is fighting forest fires halfway across the state.

2) This second reason is a great deal more important than the first. I am mourning the passing of my cat, Paws. Paws has been part of our family for 13 years, and him being gone is no small change.

Further, Paws had gone missing a couple days before we had planned to have him put to sleep. Unable to find him, we cancelled the appointment. Then, home all by myself, I found Paws in the flower garden, so emaciated he could not move and in great pain. It being Saturday, I had to wait all day for the vet to call me back and to arrange to have Paws put to sleep immediately.

I have never seen someone I love in so much physical pain. It was excruciating and has affected me quite a bit. Now that Paws is in no more pain and safely laid to rest, I feel I did right by him. Still, my family and I are adjusting to not having to keep a cat from sneaking in the house, not having a warm bundle of fur take a nap with us, no cat sprawled in happy sleep on the automan. We miss Paws.

Monday, Jul. 11, 2005 - 1:06 p.m.

I realize that my knitting obssession hasn't made much of an appearance on this journal of mine, at least not an appearance in proportion with the obssession itself. In order to bring balance back to the cosmos in which my journal is the center, here are some recent projects:

My third sweater, which I knit for myself, because I am not going to spend a lot of time making an ill-fitting sweater for someone who won't appreciate it:

The first finished warm accessory for my friend, L. It is a scarf/hood with crazy loops that will make her look like a swee-faced lion. L loves things like that:

I haven't had any luck with socks before, but for L I am willing to give it another go. I plan on making her two pair; this is the first of the first pair. It is pretty, but I am worried it might end up too small:

So far so good with the sock, but I have yet to get to the heel turn and the gusset, then the true test will begin.

Saturday, Jul. 09, 2005 - 12:19 p.m.

As the time between now and when I stuff my belongings into as few vehicles as possible to head to a new life in Moscow (Idaho), my nerves are beginning to wake up. As excited and ready as I am, the nervous tension always finds its way into my mind and then makes its way down to every muscle in my body. The real pressue, which might actually just be imaginary, though it might as well be real for how awful it feels, has begun.

Pressure to do what? Just the basic things. I have always been aware that for the last year I have been living in the good graces of my parents and that in their good graces my life has been blissfully simple. Now, though, it is time to go back to living on my own, both freeing and burdensome. While I know I am perfectly capable of everything I am getting myself into, my nerves choose to remain oblivious.

And, still, the little things call out for attention. Little things like:

Why does a table cost $300? Really, I could eat on a flat surface for $0; it's called a floor. (And, no, I did not buy a table for $300. That would be a mortal sin in my mother's universe. Just so you know, if you are shopping for tables, they are very, very expensive. And the relatively cheap ones are few and far between.)

How do I pack so I don't have 100 excruciatingly heavy boxes full of books?

Will the fifty lamps I have be enough to lighten up my apartment with its seventies dark wood panelling?

How do I convince the liddle bruder that he has to help me move, if only because having him around will make me feel better?

And the list goes on and on...

In other news...

1) My friend, M, who is my age of 23, has been diagnoed with rheumatoid arthritis. This makes her joints and her whole body ache terribly, and the medications she must take give her other icky side effects. Despite the fact her doctor now knows exactly how to treat her, I continue to worry, and there is nothing she can do about that. Except send me treats. Maybe she will send me treats.

2)A favorite English teacher I had in high school has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and the prognosis is not good. And this after she just retired. Life can really suck.

3)Six days until the next Harry Potter book is released into the loving and anxious hands of million upon millions of readers, of whom I am just one.

4)The sweater I just finished knitting: it is gorgeous and it fits. The knitting gods and goddesses look upon me with favor.

And while I hate signing off on journal entries, there just seems to be no better way to end them. Until later...

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