One For the Hoopy Froods

Happy Towel Day people!

Do you know where your towel is?

(Hint: Your answer should be, "Why it is right here with me of course. One never goes anywhere without a towel, that would just be tempting fate.")

If you crochet or knit and also happen to be into Douglas Adams and his wonderful Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, then an excellent way to celebrate Towel Day is, of course, by making your very own towel!

Which is precisely what I did.

Always Know Where It Is by Cori 2012.

Full view.

Pattern: Cottontail Dishtowels* by Lion Brand Yarn
Yarn: Knit Picks Dishie in Maps, Coffee, and Swan (2, 1, and 1 balls)
Hook: US I

*Link may require free registration to see pattern.


Guys, guys, guys, I cannot tell you how much I absolutely love this main colorway Maps! The fact that it is called Maps makes me almost giddy. I am a nerd of strange tastes, yes, but come on, it is just so freaking cool! I also feel like the colors just fit in so well with the theme of galactic travel and holding on to a bit of Earth wherever you go...

Anyhoo, so that's my bit of tribute to Mr. Adams. I hope wherever you are, you know where your towel is, and I wish you a fantastic and safe holiday weekend!

In case you are wondering just why towels are so important, I will leave you with this informative little piece.

New Collection

So I have been spending quite a lot of time on Tumblr of late because it is pretty much like crack to fandoms. I mean, it's awesome, but when I look at my Dashboard some days I have no idea how I ended up with such a random assortment of blogs that I am following on that site.

Originally I made an account so I could lurk a bit on a bunch of the Dragon Age sites and submit to Dragon Age Confessions from time to time. I tried to get a thing going doing a random funny photo a day of my daughter's My Little Pony toys, but that tapered out pretty quickly because I just kind of lost the motivation. But then someone sent me an anonymous ask (asks are really one of niftiest bits about Tumblr in my opinion) requesting "more yarn please." Probably because my account name over there is YarnAndTeaIsAllINeed (made on a random whim when I signed up because I was drinking tea and looking at a skein of yarn). But it was a nice little kick in the pants and so I have been trying every day to post at least something yarn or tea related--usually  a picture of yarn from my stash, new acquisition, finished projects, and teacups and teapots.

That has somehow led to me garnering a small handful of followers on the site, which is weird but also nice. So I am trying to spread the love and actually be part of the community over there. When people ask questions I try to chime in if I have anything to say on the subject. It's been kind of interesting watching it develop.

One thing I have started to really notice is the prevalence of animated GIFs in posts. Sometimes because they are funny, sometimes to express a reaction to whatever the post is about, that kind of thing. I know that GIFs have been around forever, but this is the first time I have really paid that much attention to them, because this is the first forum on which I find myself where they are actually a type of communication in and of themselves.

So, I have started collecting GIFs as a random little side effect of joining Tumblr. I thought I'd share with you a few of my favorites that I have come across so far.

(Note that I am not in any way claiming credit for these, they were just found and enjoyed on the internet. The two pony GIFs came from My Little Brony.)

Anyhoo, happy Friday, y'all.

Now I just need to figure out how to make some of these on my own.

Something Quick and Fun

Last week I got the chance to attend a reading and book signing by author Jenny Lawson. I have really enjoyed reading her blog and book and I like that she comes across as very accessible. Part of this is because a lot of what she writes about involves her anxiety disorder and how that affects her life. So, when I realized I was going to get to meet her, I wanted to make her a present. Just a little "thank you" to her for sharing herself with the rest of us and reminding those of us who have trouble adjusting that we are not alone.

Here's what I made her:

Bloggess Towel by Cori 2012.

This gives you a better idea of what it says.

Pattern: Improvised from Baby ABCs Afghan by Coats & Clark
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Violet (2 balls)
Hook: US H

It was so freaking hard to photograph this thing! I know that you are supposed to photograph your projects outside in daylight for the best results, but I never finish them during the day it seems like, and usually I want to get the photos taken and done with as soon as I finish the project. Otherwise I forget to do it and to update it in Ravelry and whatnot. Also, outside is dirty and I don't really have a good surface to put my nice pretty projects on for photographing. Sigh.

But I think you can get the gist of it. Basically, it is straight-ahead single crochet with the letters spelled out in bobble-stitch (I used the templates for the letters from the baby alphabet blanket I recently made, but modified the size of each letter's space to accommodate a towel). It worked up really quickly, only took me two days to whip out (even with several false starts on the border). It says "Don't Panic" (in large and friendly letters, even) in reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. This seemed doubly appropriate for Jenny Lawson because of her battles with anxiety as well as her love of geekery.

I am really happy with how it came out and I hope that she enjoys it as well. It dawned on me as I was making it that this would have been perfect for National Towel Day, which is later this month. If I hadn't already bought my yarn for that (which sadly does not lend itself to this pattern), I would be making another one for myself for that event. Oh well. Maybe next year.

SGA Rewatch: Quarantine

Well, it's Monday again. But if you're bummed out about the start of another week, I have something to cheer you up. That's right, it's time for another installment of the Stargate Atlantis Rewatch! Today we'll be looking at season four's "Quarantine," which always amuses me greatly.

Spoilers for the episode and all that came before, as always.

What Happened


John is hanging out in Rodney's lab while Rodney prepares to meet Katie for lunch. He shows John a ring and reveals that he is going to propose to Katie over the meal. John is surprised but wishes Rodney well. As Rodney leaves Teyla enters the lab. She finds John and asks if he has a moment to talk to her.

Ronon walks into the infirmary with a gash on his arm. Keller is not at all surprised to learn it was obtained in a sparring accident and settles in to patch him up.

Sam and Radek bump into each other in a corridor outside of a transporter. They find they are both heading to the control room and step into the transporter together.

Rodney finds Katie in the botany lab and she greets him warmly. He begins to bumble his way through his proposal but before he can actually pull out the ring or ask the question, an alarm sounds and the doors to the lab slam shut. We see the doors closing all over the base as well, including the lab and infirmary, and the transporter carrying Sam and Radek shuts down completely, locking them inside.

Our stranded heroes all immediately begin to try prying open their doors but it is to no avail. The city has gone into lockdown. Sam, John, and Keller all try to radio Rodney to find out what is going on, but he is without his radio, and Katie informs him that they don't keep one in the plant area when he asks for hers. Unable to reach Rodney, Sam then tries John but still gets no answer. Radek informs her the the city-wide communications appear to be down.

In the botany lab, Rodney quickly explains to Katie that the city has most likely gone into lockdown due to an outbreak of some sort. After the Kirsan fever incident, he tweaked the city's quarantine protocols so that they wouldn't find themselves in that kind of situation again. He tells her he needs to get to a computer so he can find out what is going on and get in touch with everyone else. She looks at him with dismay and he realizes that like the radio, the botany computers are beyond his reach, locked up tight in the next room.

Keller also realizes that the city's quarantine protocol has kicked in. She is very frustrated by the lack of communication and being unable to get out of the infirmary. Still, if there is an outbreak, she tells Ronon, they need to be ready. He helps her begin to make preparations to receive incoming patients.

Stuck in Rodney's lab, John and Teyla do have access to the city's systems. Teyla sees that the city has detected an outbreak and put itself into a category five lockdown. Neither she nor John is very sure what category five entails, however. They get to work going through the data available to them and trying to figure out what is going on.

In the transporter Sam and Radek also assume there must be an outbreak of some sort. Sam opens up a panel in the wall and borrows Radek's tablet, hooking it up to the transporter's systems so she can attempt to access the city's mainframe and get information about the current situation.

As John and Teyla work, John nervously asks how she is feeling and hopes out loud that she's not about to go into labor or anything. She rolls her eyes and remarks that she is nowhere near her due date. He replies that he knows that but that on television and in the movies in this sort of situation the pregnant woman always goes to labor. He eyes her belly suspiciously. She dismisses the notion and tells him that is what she wanted to talk to him about. She came to discuss his decision to take her off the team. He steels himself for another argument about the matter but she quickly reassures him that she doesn't object and understands his decision. She just wonders what will happen once she's had her son. He tells her she'll be back on the team again as soon as she feels ready, but she's not so sure. With the baby's father out of the picture, can she really justify going on offworld missions once he is born? If something should happen to her he would be an orphan. John responds understandingly. He tells her about a friend of his from college, a woman with three children who is a police officer. He tells Teyla that his friend has to face that same doubt every day that she goes to work. Teyla asks how his friend is able to justify it to herself and he responds that he thinks she reasons that she is fighting the bad guys and in doing so is protecting not only her children, but all of the other children in her city as well, which makes it worth the risks. Teyla mulls this over.

Sam looks over the information she has been able to access on Radek's tablet and realizes that systems all over the city are down, not just communications. Based on the information available, she thinks there might not be an outbreak at all and that some kind of malfunction caused the quarantine protocol to activate.

Rodney, meanwhile, is going nuts stuck in the plant lab. Without a radio available to him, he doesn't even know that communications are down all over the city. Without a computer, he can't monitor the situation to find out how many people are infected, where, or what kind of disease they are looking at. All he knows is that the city has detected an outbreak and he can't do anything at all about it. Katie tries to calm him down but he refuses to be reassured. He just keeps going through worst-case scenarios, each more frightening than the next. When Katie calls him on the doom and gloom attitude he says he can't help it, and we get a huge stroke of insight into his inherent pessimism.

Radek takes his turn at sifting through the data about the city's systems and finds that there was some sort of storm or interference in the planet's ionosphere right before everything went wonky. He remarks that this new planet continues to surprise them and that in the future they will have to recalibrate the city's systems to prevent the activity in the ionosphere from causing these kinds of problems again. Sam tells him first things first, however, and sets to work trying to find a way out of the transporter so they can fix the current set of issues.

John suddenly realizes that Rodney was probably in the botany lab when the lockdown went into effect. He tells Teyla that there's no radio or computer in that lab, which means Rodney is stuck with no way to get them out of their current mess. He and Teyla share a knowing look and comment that Rodney must be freaking right the heck out about the whole situation. He is.

As they continue to go through the data, they also find the information about the ionosphere and realize that there is no outbreak. They note that the life support has also shut down, which means that everyone is shut up with no oxygen getting to them. It also occurs to John that since it is something that should be a simple fix, if Sam and Radek had access to a computer, they would probably have set things to right by now. That means they must be stuck somewhere too. Teyla asks if there is anyone else who might be able to restore the city's normal functions but John shakes his head and says not without Rodney's password. Fortunately, however, hey, he happens to know it! He logs in to the system as Rodney. Once he's logged in, John finds something even more disturbing than the lack of life support. To prevent any visitors from coming to Atlantis while in quarantine, the city has been transmitting a warning beacon to keep people away. Since they are trying to keep their location hidden from the rest of the galaxy this is, of course, a Very Bad Thing. The only way to turn off the beacon is from the control room and with Rodney's password.

Unaware that there really isn't an outbreak, Rodney's hypochondria kicks in to overdrive and he becomes convinced he's been infected with whatever disease set off the quarantine. He freaks out even more, saying it is only a matter of time before he drops dead. Before they both do, because surely by now he's infected Katie as well. She looks on him with pity, insisting she feels fine but he refuses to believe it.

Ronon watches as Keller paces through the infirmary, unable to sit idle when she believes there are sick people who need her help. Ronon realizes she feels as if she is letting them down and tells her it isn't her fault. She is stuck and there's nothing she can do about that. As she calms a bit he tells her that she reminds him of someone he knew from Sateda, and tells her a little bit about Melena, including how she died. When he reveals that he blames himself, that he should have forced her to leave the planet, it is Keller's turn to step in and comfort him. She tells him it's not his fault that Melena died.

Unable to override the doors to the lab or force them open, John begins to think that he will have to blast his way out in order to get to the control room. He and Teyla start looking for any explosives that might be on hand when he spies a window. After looking at it for a moment, he breaks it open and climbs out on the sill. When Teyla demands to know what he is doing, he tells her that the control room is only four floors up and begins climbing the tower. Teyla leans out the window and watches him nervously as he goes.

John manages to make it to balcony of the control room with only a few close calls along the way. Inside the control room we see Lorne and a team of marines trying unsuccessfully to pry open the doors. Chuck and another tech, Amelia, are trying to restore the city's systems. Amelia has just announced that she has been able to get the ventilation back on in most of the tower when a window smashes behind her and John plows into the room. Chuck and Amelia gape in surprise as he heads straight to a computer and enters in Rodney's password to shut off the beacon. He barely gets to breathe a sigh of relief when all of the computers shut down and the city's self-destruct alarm begins to sound.

Hearing the self-destruct alarm, Ronon decides he has finally had enough and that they need to get out of the infirmary. He starts rifling through its contents, asking Keller if she has any explosives handy. She points out that they don't keep that sort of thing in the infirmary and they both look around, trying to think creatively of a way to blast open the doors. Keller spies a pair of oxygen tanks and suggests those. Ronon loves this idea--now all they have to do is devise a way to set the tanks off.

Chuck manages to get the self-destruct alarm (if not the self-destruct itself) turned off and tells John that before the computers shut down he was able to see that the city had detected a breach in the quarantine and that was why it armed the self-destruct. John realizes that he must  have been responsible for the breach, triggering it when he broke the window. Since the city still thinks it has an outbreak, self-destruct is its last resort in the event that the disease can't be contained. Unfortunately, no one was able to see how long the self-destruct had given itself before detonation. Without the computers, the only way to shut it down is by doing a manual shutdown in the city's power room, which is six floors down and in the middle of the tower. All kinds of sealed doors in between them and it. Lorne has a little bit of C4 on him, however, so John grabs Lorne, Chuck, and Amelia and they begin making their way to the power room, blasting doors as they go.

Rodney is still freaking out and feeling sicker than ever. He lies down on the floor and as Katie moves to sit with him, she finds the ring that has fallen out of Rodney's pocket.

Ronon and Keller have set up a Goldberg device to set off the oxygen tanks and attempt to blow the doors to the infirmary. They cross their fingers and set it off but despite some impressive maneuvers on the part of the oxygen tank, the doors remain sealed.

John and his team have managed to make it down a few levels by blasting open doors using the C4. They make it to the level that Radek and Sam are trapped on and when the pair hears them they begin calling out and banging on the transporter doors. John and Lorne hear them and quickly manage to pry open those doors, letting Sam and Radek out. John and Sam swap information and then they realize that they have used up all of their C4. They are stuck on this level with no way to get to the power room.

Katie gazes at the ring and gets all misty eyed. She asks Rodney about it and he flippantly tells her he was going to propose to her at lunch. She asks him, well, why doesn't he? Doesn't he want to hear her answer. He just sighs and tells her there's no point now. They are all going to die anyway. Her face falls and it is clear that she has finally had enough of his pessimistic attitude.

Prowling the corridors, John spies a large vent and realizes it is one of the city's main shafts. He asks if it goes to the power room and receives a positive answer. Amelia points out that with ventilation restored in the tower, they should actually have a clear shot to where they need to go. John pries off the cover and looks inside, saying he thinks that it is their best bet. Unfortunately, it is too small for him. Sam starts to volunteer but Radek steps in instead, pointing out that he is smaller and more familiar with the city. They get him up there and he begins a trek through the vents, cursing away in Czech.

Ronon and Keller sit against a wall, clearly wrung out by their failed escape attempt. Ronon tells Keller that he had underestimated her. He thought she was weak but has realized today that she is not weak at all. He has been very impressed with how strong she has proven herself to be. She just shakes her head and tells him her whole life has been like this, she's always been something of a square peg in a round hole. They share a look of understanding and snuggle up, waiting for whatever is going to happen next.

Zelenka makes it to the power room, falling right through the shaft which is placed on the ceiling. He gets right back up and begins shutting down all of the systems, turning off the self-destruct. Then he begins restarting everything, restoring the city's normal functionality.

Ronon and Keller have just leaned in to kiss each other when the power goes out in the infirmary. They stop and look around, wondering what is going on. After a moment, they look at each other and shrug and lean in again but are once more interrupted by the power returning, followed by the sound of the infirmary doors opening. Doors all over the city open and everyone is relieved that the crisis seems to be over.

Later on in the mess hall Teyla, Ronon, John, and Radek are exchanging stories. Carter comes by and informs them that as far as they can tell, there is no indication that anyone detected the city's warning beacon. They seem to be safe for now. She also thanks Radek for his part in restoring the city's normal functions. Keller comes to join them and Ronon reacts immediately, getting kind of shy and respectful at the same time. As he and Keller exchange a shy glance, John and Teyla notice and exchange knowing looks and a smile.

Rodney, however, has gone to see Katie in the botany lab once more. He tells her that yes, he had intended to propose to her earlier. But after what happened he has realized that he was rushing things and he is just not yet ready to be talking marriage. Katie gives him a sad look and says she knows, and that she's not ready either. Rodney is relieved that she seems to understand and turns to go. When Katie tells him goodbye, however, there is a note of finality in it that makes him pause and turn back sadly to look at the door that has closed behind him.

Commentary


So, I really like this episode. I felt it was a very creative spin on the "get everybody trapped in a room" scenario that most shows tend to go through at some point or another. I liked that everyone was paired up in a less than familiar combination, or that combinations that shouldn't have been awkward totally were due to the circumstances at hand.

We get a lot of nice little random character details thrown in here, and those always make me happy. For example, Radek raises homing pigeons back on Earth! Of course he does. He has actually casually shown a random fondness for/knowledge of pigeons before but this is the first time I can recall that we find out why. Also, I love the little exchange between him and Sam when she wishes they had one with them, and her face at realizing how hard her attempt at a joke failed. Their whole little awkward vibe was really amusing to me for some reason. Even though it is widely accepted by the fandom as canon that Radek had a huge crush on Elizabeth, I think he would still have been much more at ease trapped in an elevator with her than with Sam. Despite their common scientific background and experience, they are hard-pressed to find something to talk about.

Things with John and Teyla seem to be going a lot more smoothly after this episode as well. I am very glad they didn't have her decide to pop out her kid during the whole situation. I also found John's irrational worry (which given that this is a television show wasn't that irrational) that she would kind of funny, as I also found how ridiculous Teyla found the very suggestion. It is a random little detail, but I really enjoy it whenever they show Teyla getting to play with the technical stuff too. She has clearly been paying attention to Rodney and Radek and learning the city's systems and what a lot of the technobabble actually means. A lot of people write her off as a "primitive" because the Athosians are nomads, but they were never technologically inept. With Teyla's role in the city shifting due to her pregnancy, it is good to see that she is still clearly of value.

I also absolutely loved that while John so easily explained the significance of the number 42, he didn't even bother trying to explain that it was a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Nor does Teyla even bother to ask him to do so. For some reason, that moment right there, with John telling Teyla Rodney's password, is one of my all-time favorite moments from this series.

Other awesome things included:
-Ronon likes Jaws. Of course he does.
-Keller's backstory, yay! Aw, of course she was a little super-genius geeky kid who is socially awkward but still adorable. This is exactly why Atlantis is that square hole she has been looking for.
-Her flirtation with Ronon was also kind of cute, although I will have more to say about that at a later date, I suspect.
-Radek in the vents also makes me giggle every. single. time.

This episode is pretty much a stand alone plot-wise, although it does set up a couple of different personal events for characters later on in this season and the next. I won't say more about those, however, in the interest of avoiding spoilers.

Favorite Quotes


"Honestly. I don't think I've ever met anyone with such a reckless aggression... That's not a compliment." (Keller)
"If you say so." (Ronon)

"He told you his password?!" (Teyla)
"Well, he didn't think I'd remember it. One six four three one eight seven nine one nine six eight four two. See? Doesn't take a genius." (John)
"It doesn't?" (Teyla)
"1643 is the year Isaac Newton was born; 1879, Einstein; and 1968..." (John)
"The year Rodney was born." (Teyla)
"Never underestimate the size of that man's ego." (John)
"Wait, weren't there other numbers?" (Teyla)
"Forty-two." (John)
"What is that?" (Teyla)
"It's the ultimate answer to the great question of life, the universe, and everything." (John)

"Climb the tower?! Is that even possible?" (Teyla)
"Sure. Batman did it all the time." (John)

"Colonel, where the hell did you come from?" (Lorne)

"Got any C4 in here?" (Ronon)
"In the infirmary?" (Keller)
"Anything we can use to act as an explosive." (Ronon)
"I don't know. Uh...the oxygen tanks, maybe?" (Keller)
"Right! Shoot 'em like Sheriff Brody did in the movie Jaws." (Ronon)

~*~

Alrighty folks. Back to your Mondays you go. Sorry. But hey, come back Wednesday and we'll have an even funnier episode to talk about in "Harmony."

Towel Day! (Observed)

Oh my goodness, I don't know how my mother does it. She somehow manages to usually have at least two or three knitting projects going at all times. I, on the other hand, can just barely tolerate having one weekend project and one for weekdays. This past week I had four different projects going and it was giving me something of a complex.

Imagine my relief yesterday, then, when I finally managed to finish at least one of my projects. Thank goodness!

Only a day late, I did get one of my two National Towel Day towels finished.  Check it out.

What is 6 x 7? by Cori 2011.

Pattern: Crochet Houndstooth
Yarn: Dishie by Knit Picks in Jay and Azure (1 skein each)
Hook: G

First, let me talk about the yarn really quick. Dishie is Knit Picks' new line of cotton yarn, and when I was treating myself during their sale on sock yarn, I saw it and, knowing that Towel Day was approaching, couldn't help but treat myself to a few skeins. It is so new that the dye lot on my skeins of Dishie, for both colors, was one. First lot, you guys. Normally I don't pay any attention whatsoever to dye lot beyond making sure to match it when buying yarn for projects. But when I saw that this was dye lot number one, I won't lie, I got a little bit excited. It was just a kind of nifty feeling. The yarn itself is a joy to work with. I will be curious to see how it holds up to washings, but I think this may be my go-to cotton yarn going forward.

Now, about the patten. This is actually a blanket pattern. Last summer when my family on my mom's side met up in Iowa for our family reunion (we do one every five years), there were several nearby antique shops. I myself purchased an old crochet pattern book from 1944. I have shared with you a few of the projects I have made from that. My mom also picked up a few pattern pamphlets, and this came from one of those. She brought it to give me on her recent visit down here to Texas.

The pattern was easy enough to adapt for a smaller size to make a towel rather than a blanket. I don't think the finished project looks especially like houndstooth, but I like how it looks nonetheless. I also was thinking of using this pattern for my next wedding blanket, so this was a good test-drive of it. I did indeed learn several things I will keep in mind the next time I use it. I might just see if I can find a good flecked yarn and make it in a solid color to prevent changing colors every row. I haven't decided yet.

As I was making this towel out of a blanket pattern, it occurred to me how interchangeable blanket and towel patterns really are. The basic shape is the same. It just requires an adjustment of yarn weight and type, and a little bit of math to scale the size up or down. Maybe a false start or two if those initial calculations are wrong. One of the recent wedding blankets I have made that has gotten the most rave reviews (seriously, every time my husband runs into the giftee he is told how much the blanket is loved--this makes me incredibly happy) was based off of a towel pattern that I found last summer and particularly liked.

I bet the diagonal box stitch blanket pattern would make for an awesome dish towel, come to think of it.

Anyhoo. So that's one project down out of four. This weekend I am going to try to finish up the blanket I am working on. After that my next deadline isn't until the end of July, so next up I'll finish towel number two (well, technically it was towel number one, but you get the idea). Like I said a few days ago, I was really happy with everything about my first towel attempt except for the rate of progress. Here's what I got so far on that one:

Still in progress. Also, wow, this photo is horribly lit.

When I take the picture of the finished object, I'll have to remember to use the flash so you can actually see the pattern, which is pretty neat.

After that, I think I might just go ahead and push on with the Doctor Who scarf. I feel bad for neglecting it whenever I run up against a deadline. I want to try to just go ahead and get it done before I start in on the next project. Juggling makes me too tired.

Have a fantastic (and safe) holiday weekend folks! I'll see you back here when  business resumes as usual.

Don't forget to check out Gronk while you're getting in your daily web surfing! The book is up for preorder now, huzzah!

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night...At The Ballpark

Well, my husband and I took our daughter to the Rangers game last night. Or at least, we tried to. We made it through the top of the fourth inning before the game got delayed due to the crazy severe weather going on in the metroplex. 

It was actually really nice out. You know, until the downpour and hail showed up. During the third inning the stadium management evacuated everyone from the upper deck and moved them down to the lower seats due to high winds. As the game progressed, crazy amounts of debris started accumulating on the freaking field. That's just not cool. I got a little bit of video of it blowing all over the place. I couldn't capture it making the little cyclones it was doing at one point, but still, I think you get the point. 

When finally the rain showed up and they pulled out the tarp to cover the diamond, they had all kinds of difficulties getting it put in place. The wind was not being very nice.

It's alive! Run for your lives! Oh, wait, my bad, just the wind.

I got a little bit of video as well of them trying to get it into place, being cheered on by the enthusiastic crowd. We are apparently easily entertained and had nothing else to watch at the time, so...

For a little while it just sprinkled on us and we just hung out and waited for it to pass. Then it started raining a little bit more and we busted out our umbrellas (and Baby Girl resolutely refused to keep both of her legs underneath the protective device). Then it really started coming down and everyone ran for cover. By this point it was almost nine, and as Baby Girl's bed time is ten, and as we couldn't exactly do anything while we waited but stand around holding a squirming toddler, I convinced Hubby it would probably just be best to head home.

We hiked back to the car and hung out for a little bit, using the wonderful modern marvels that are smartphones to figure out if it was actually safe to go anywhere. Then we toodled on back to the homestead, making a stop at a drive-through Starbucks once we were back in Fort Worth. The rain had pretty much ceased where we were and we felt we owed ourselves a treat, since we missed out on cotton candy at the game. The drive home was a little stressful at times (there was some hail before we got in to Fort Worth), but we made it through safely and all was well.

It wasn't exactly the family outing we had planned on having, but it was an adventure in its own right and we all (mostly) enjoyed ourselves.

It seems we left the stadium just in time to avoid being evacuated into the tunnels underneath, so that was pretty good as well. Though apparently the game did eventually resume, after about a three hour delay. Sadly, the Rangers could never get their mojo in full gear, and ended up losing to the White Sox (8 to 6). Still, it was a pretty good game, what we got to see of it. I have an uncle who is likely very happy at the outcome, being a die-hard Sox fan and all.

Here are a few pictures of us having a good time before the weather rolled in.

Baby Girl hamming it up for the camera.

Baby Girl chilling with her daddy (and not understanding
how straws work).

Baby Girl, Hubby, and me. (I swear she isn't picking her nose!)

I am given to understand that there were all sorts of weather-related news interruptions during Glee last night, so I think I shall just delete it from my DVR and watch it online this afternoon.

I had intended today's blog to wish you a happy National Towel Day* (happy National Towel Day, by the way, you hoopy froods!) and to show off my super awesome completed towel. Alas, while my towel so far is super awesome, it is definitely not anywhere near completed. Usually a crocheted towel takes me about a day (maybe two) to whip out, so I grossly underestimated how long a knit towel would take to make. Upon realizing that after two days of work, I decided to shelve that project until a later date and make a quick crocheted towel to have done for today. But...that one isn't done yet either.

Look, I know exactly where both of my towels are. They just aren't done. But I will dedicate a big chunk of today towards working on them, and they will be with me. So that counts, right?

Anyhoo, I hope you are having a wonderful day and that, if you live in an area suffering from this crazy severe weather that seems to be cropping up everywhere, you are weathering the storms safely! A good day for towels, really, don't you think?

*If you are unaware of National Towel Day, it is a celebration of Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. If you already knew that then in my book you are, indeed, a hoopy frood.

Getting Excited About Making Stuff

Wil Wheaton often mentions an idea he strives to practice, called "Get Excited and Make Things." I really enjoy this concept, and think it is a good one to try to implement in life, whether or not you are trying to profit from said "things." For me this really hits home in two areas of my life: writing and knitting/crocheting.

These are things I do ostensibly because I enjoy doing them, and because there is something within myself that needs to be creative. My imagination sparks and I must get that spark out of me somehow. I don't always know what to do with whatever it is I have written or made, but I almost always feel better for having transitioned it from within my head to something visible and tangible that I can touch and see.

But, as with anything you do often, sometimes I lose sight of the first part of the idea. That bit about getting excited can get lost in the shuffle of trying to get a project finished within a specific timeframe. The "love" part of the labor of love gets lost under all of the "labor." So when I find myself getting excited about something creative again, it is truly a wonderful feeling. Lately I've found the excitement in my yarn crafting again, and it couldn't have come at a better time!

This past week Knit Picks had a big sale on all of their sock yarn and sock-related pattern books. I fought with myself a little bit before finally caving in and finding room in the budget to take advantage of the sale. I ordered several skeins of sock yarn, a book of beginner sock knitting patterns, and a few skeins of Knit Picks' new line Dishie for good measure. Hey, National Towel Day (honoring Douglas Adams and referring to his The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is this month and I needed to get some cotton yarn anyway. Because not only do we fiber-crafters carry our towels proudly on Towel Day, we usually make those towels first. You know, because we can. After ordering the cotton, I even hunted down a pretty spiffy pattern for it, so I am pretty much set for that particular project.

My order shipped on Monday, so I have a big box full of goodies headed my way. How is that not exciting, I ask you?

But that's not all.

When my mom came to visit, she brought with her a big chunk of her own stash that needed to find a new home. My sister and I both got some very nice yarn to make fun and exciting things with. Here's a peek at what I was gifted:

I also ended up with a few pattern books and most of Mom's straight knitting needles, since she mostly only uses circular needles these days. I have no other way to put this but: SCORE. Also, thanks Mom! I have no idea what I am gonna make with this stuff, but in case you can't tell, I am, indeed, quite excited.

But Cori, I hear you asking, what of your other projects? Well, that's the thing, isn't it? I had gotten into kind of a slump with my other projects because I was so bogged down with baby blankets (and I really really don't like the yarn I am using for the baby blankets) and that Doctor Who scarf that never ends. Yes, I still have those projects, but now I am looking at them with more eager eyes than I have in weeks.

I have made some pretty decent project on the scarf (got a lot done on it this weekend). I have finally plowed well past the halfway point on the pattern charts. See:

Sucker's actually got some length to it now.

Also, I am very very close to being done with Baby Blanket  number 3, which leaves me only two to make. I got the yarn for number 4 yesterday (made sure it is a yarn I like working with), and I know which pattern I will be using (going simple on this one), so I am all good there.


That just leaves two amigurumi to make for older siblings (which I will do in between blankets 3 and 4), as well as two wedding blankets. Then I am all over socks for the foreseeable future, my friends.

It's a good time to be a creative person, let me tell you. Huzzah for finding the fire again! Sometimes all it takes is just one little push in the right direction, eh?

Props to Scalzi

This week it was announced that the book Old Man's War by John Scalzi has been optioned for a movie. Yay for Scalzi!

What I love even more than the news that an awesome sci-fi book has been optioned to be made into a movie is the very upfront and realistic way in which Scalzi is discussing the news.

He is very calmly reminding his readers that the movie, while he has high hopes for it to be awesome, will most definitely not be the book. This is because in order for the story to make the move from printed page to silver screen, changes will have to be made. That is why when a book is made into a movie it is called an adaptation. Scalzi very calmly reminds his enthusiastic fans that even if the movie based on the book somehow goes wonky and is royally screwed up, it will in no way, shape, or form harm the original book, which already exists as it is and isn't going anywhere.

I give Scalzi two big thumbs way, way up for this.

So often when a group's favorite book gets translated into a movie, a big chunk of the audience will waste time and effort nitpicking all of the differences between the two, often lessening their enjoyment of the movie greatly, if not completely. I can admit I have been guilty of this myself a time or two, though I try really hard to judge a movie adaptation on how well the story is portrayed in this new medium, rather than the little details. Sure it is fabulous when the movie-makers get the little details just right, but let's face facts. Everyone who reads a book pictures the characters and events described within in their own unique way. When a screen-writer, director, and producer adapt a book to a movie, they are only showing us their unique vision of the author's text. It may not be the same as ours, but that doesn't mean it is automatically bad.

Sometimes authors don't help the cause by publicly lambasting the resulting movie. I would think it is safe to argue that in those cases, the author was usually shut out of the creative process while the movie was being made. When the author doesn't decry the movie we see on our screens, that probably means that they were at least engaged by the screen-writer/producer/director's interpretation of their story, even if it isn't necessarily what the base audience was expecting. Sometimes that can lead to some very interesting results.

For example, Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Did you know it was not originally a book, but in fact first appeared as a radio play aired by the BBC? Yup. I am lucky enough to have copies of that original series, and I can tell you it is very, very different from the book of the same name that Adams subsequently published. I love them both though. The spirit of the story and of the main characters was very much the same in both versions, to be true. Some of the events were slightly different, sure, but that was because Adams really got what I am trying to say here. Different mediums lend themselves to different stories. Sometimes you can do things in one that aren't feasible in the other. The more recent movie of the same name was also very different from the book and the radio series, but I still love it. Adams worked with the movie's creators until his death, and they were dedicated to making sure the finished product was something he would have approved of. Knowing that, and keeping in mind the fact that Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a track record as a fluid story, flowing from medium to medium and shaping itself to fill each new cup specifically, allowed me to keep a more open mind than at any other movie based on a book I have ever seen.

It's so easy to get upset when your favorite part of a book gets left out of the movie, or worse, included but changed in a way that you don't care for. But movie-makers aren't going to stop adapting books to film any time soon. To be honest with you, I'd rather they do that than make another Saw film, or another remake of a movie that only came out ten years ago. So I am going to do my best going forward to keep Scalzi's words in mind whenever I go to see a movie adapted from a book that I love. I urge you to do the same.

Besides, there's always the chance that the next film will get it just right, and that's worth the risk of a shaky adaptation in my books.

Happy weekend folks, and don't forget to check out today's new Gronk, all about the perils of board games!

Show and Tell

Tattoos are always an interesting topic, and it is curious to see the kinds of reactions they spur. Those reactions are often surprising, and quite frequently, I have found, pleasantly so. Everyone who is inked has their own reasons for getting their tattoos. For me, as with most people I have found, they are largely personal, though there are, of course, those who get them specifically to show off.

I have been thinking about doing a post on my ink for a while now, and was finally kicked into gear by two recent stories I read online.

Geek Mom had a very interesting blog about the subject, and I absolutely adored the image accompanying the post.

Shortly after I saw that, Neil Gaiman posted a blog about seeing a person in the street bearing a tattoo of a quotation from his Sandman series.

You know, once upon a time, I had never considered getting a tattoo. As a high school student, I was (mostly secretly) lusting over a belly button piercing when one day my mom and little sister came home in a sort of huff. Upon inquiring what was wrong, I learned that they had been out to get matching tattoos, but since my sister was under eighteen, the shop wouldn't ink her. They also apparently refused to believe that my mom was actually her mother. Looking young runs in our family, what can I say. So they didn't get tattoos (that day).

After commiserating a bit with them, a realization then dawned on me. Why hadn't I been invited to the tattoo party? When I asked, they told me they didn't think I would have been interested. Also, looking back, I am sure it was a special bonding thing for the two of them, because they were much closer than I was with either of them at that point. But still, it got me thinking. If they had asked, would I have gone along? I am not sure if I would have or not, but from that point on, the idea of getting a tattoo had been planted in my brain.

What would I get? What kind of image would I permanently want to place on my skin? I felt like it would be something I should definitely think long and hard about. Shortly thereafter, some of my friends tried to get me interested in a game called Magic: The Gathering. You may have heard of it. I bought myself a deck of the cards, and loved looking through them. I read the instruction book several times, and once or twice tried to play, but the game never really caught my interest. I loved looking at the cards though, the drawings were just so fantastical and amazing, and I had never really seen anything like that before. One card in particular caught my eye: the Dragon Whelp. For those of you unfamiliar with the game, this card showed a baby dragon, just hatched, sitting among the shell fragments of his egg. I was a little bit in love with this picture. It was absolutely adorable. It was, I realized, exactly what I wanted for my tattoo. I carried the Dragon Whelp card in my wallet for another three or four years, but that was indeed the first tattoo I ever got.

At the end of my sophomore semester of college, I had finally gotten up the nerve to get it done. I had found a tattoo parlor that had given me a decent price and was clean enough for my liking with an atmosphere that I found comfortable. I gathered up a few friends for moral support, and in I went. I gave the artist my battered and dog-eared copy of the Dragon Whelp card, and when I left the shop, this is what was on my lower right back:

Dragon Whelp (lower right back), inked in 2000.

As far as I was concerned, when I left the tattoo parlor, that was it. I had carried around that picture for years, I was extremely pleased with how it turned out, and a years long quest had been completed. Sure, I had heard people say that tattoos are addictive, but I couldn't imagine why. I mean, it hadn't hurt a lot, but it had hurt. Also, these things take a while to heal, you know, and require maintenance while that happens.

But then, right at the beginning of my senior year of college, a friend of mine was thinking about getting a tattoo of her own. She figured she'd go to the same parlor I had patronized, and asked if I wanted to go with her to look at designs. My then best friend (who is now my husband) teased me that I was totally coming back with a tattoo. I told him not to be ridiculous, I was just serving as moral support. Yet somehow, I left the shop with this beauty:

Guardian Dragons (left shoulder blade), inked in 2001.

This was my first and only impulse tattoo. I really hadn't intended on getting one that day, but as we were looking at the stock art (this is also my only stock art tattoo), this design just called to me. The price was right, the shop was slow, and I was newly twenty-one and still feeling the urge to celebrate. So under the needle I went once more.

My senior year of college was actually a rather tumultuous one, especially the final semester. I graduated quite uncertain of where my future was headed. The plans I had made for myself and worked for over the previous years had all seemed to fall apart. I knew that I had accomplished something great, and knew that unseen opportunities would be waiting down the road, but more than anything I just felt weary and glad to be done. I also felt it was an event that needed to be commemorated, the kind of thing I wanted a permanent reminder of--so I decided to get a third tattoo.

I wanted it serve as a reminder, so for this tattoo I chose a location where I could see it every day, on the inside of my left wrist. It is the top tattoo pictured below.

Death's Ankh (left wrist) inked in 2002, Earth Glyph (left wrist) inked in 2007.

My still then best friend (now husband) had introduced me to the awesomeness of Neil Gaiman by the cunning trick of getting me to read his Sandman graphic novel series. I of course fell in love with them, and the character of Death particularly resonated with me at that time. As an anthropomorphic representation of death itself, she was simultaneously feared, hated, run from, prayed for, and embraced throughout the world. She had a heavy burden to bear, but she bore it all with grace and with a quirky chipper attitude. She had a line in one of the books that to this day is one of my personal inspirational quotes:

"You got what anybody gets, Bernie. You got a lifetime."

It is a simple line, and I suppose to some it may seem a bit dire. But to me, it embraces an eternal truth. No matter what you believe happens to us after we die, I think it is universally agreed upon that while we are living our current life, that is the only life we know. It is, to me, a reminder to make the most of what you have, because this is all you get. 

Gaiman's Death was almost always depicted with two bits of ornament--an ankh necklace, and a little curlicue drawn with eyeliner in the corner of one eye. So for my tattoo inspired by Death (to remind me to live my life to the fullest), I designed an ankh embellished with a curlicue on one of the crossbars. This is probably still my favorite tattoo, by the way. When it healed, some of the ink got a little cloudy (black is so hard to get solid on the first try), and I probably should have gotten it touched up years ago. I haven't though, because I love the cloudiness, I think it adds to what the message of that tattoo is for me--that life is full of uncertainty, and that is okay.

(I know there are two tattoos in that picture, but as I am doing this in order, we'll come back to the second in a bit.)

My first three tattoos were all done at the same place, but on the fourth one I diverged. I had been feeling like I wanted another dragon tattoo (can you tell that I like dragons yet?), and had been watching some of my Lord of the Rings dvds and had noticed the really cool image of Smaug (from The Hobbit) on a map that Frodo pulls out at some point early in the movie. I was trying to find that image, but never did, alas. However, I did find another graphic of Smaug that I really liked and ended up choosing that.

My not-quite-yet hubby and I were sharing a house with a third roommate, and his brother was trying to start his own career as a tattoo artist. I had mentioned I was thinking of getting new ink and showed him the design, and he offered to do it for free if I paid for the ink. The ink kit he wanted only ran me about $25, and after assurances that all would be extremely sterile, I agreed to that route. So I got tattoo number four sitting in my living room watching Angel with two of my best friends. Yes, it was a homemade tattoo gun, and yes, that can be risky, but believe you me, I made sure everything was in proper order before going through with this.

I have to say, I am really happy with how it turned out, too.

Smaug (right ankle) inked in 2004.

And yes, I know, if this is Smaug, he should be red, but you know what, blue and green are my favorite colors, so that's what I went with. I know it is Smaug, I am not worried about other people knowing that as well, they can see it's an awesome dragon.

After this, I went for quite a while before getting more ink. But I was unable to resist the urge forever, and eventually caved in. For our second anniversary, my husband and I took a trip to St. Louis, where I had spent the bulk of my childhood and adolescence. I decided that my "souvenir" from the trip would be a new tattoo. I did some research and found a really cool tattoo parlor, and then I started thinking up a design. I settled on one that would proclaim my geek/nerd status to the world. I chose the point of origin glyph for Earth from the Stargate series. I decided to get it in a sea-green color because I felt that most appropriately proclaimed my love for Stargate Atlantis above all other Stargate series. It is on the same wrist as my ankh and pictured above.

I have to say, the parlor that I got that tattoo at was definitely my favorite out of all of the ink shops I have visited. The atmosphere was just a little bit punk rock in the best way, the people were friendly. Rather than look at me sideways when I showed him my design of choice, the guy applauded my pride in my geek status, and another guy there recognized the symbol. This is probably the biggest conversation starter of any of my tattoos, as well. Being on my wrist, it is highly visible, and people often ask what the symbol means. They usually get more of an answer than they were looking for, but, well, they asked.

(Don't feel too bad for my husband by the way. His "souvenir" from that trip was a vintage Italia electric bass.)

In the summer of 2008, my husband and I suffered a loss that hit me extremely hard. I came very close to falling into a deep depression because of it, and I knew I needed to do something to remind myself that I am actually a happy person, and that there was still a lot in life to be happy about.

Much like with my ankh, I decided to get a tattoo to serve as a reminder, both of the event that had occurred, and as a reminder to look for the happiness that is always within reach if I am willing to stretch out my hand. I looked into my own pool of sure-fire instant pick-me-ups and settled on the character of Gir from the show Invader Zim. Gir makes me go into fits of squee every time I see him, be it onscreen, on a t-shirt, in the store, you name it. He seemed appropriate.

So now he hangs out on my right shoulder, looking out for me, and cheering me up.

Gir (right shoulder) inked in 2008.

Now we come to my final tattoo. This one is also a commemorative piece of ink. I got it last summer on my birthday, my 30th birthday in fact. I feel it is wholly appropriate:

Don't Panic (right wrist) inked in 2010.

The phrase of course comes from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Douglas Adams' timeless advice never seemed more apt than when I was staring thirty in the face. It took me a while to settle on just the right "large and friendly" letters, but I am very, very happy with how it came out. If you cannot tell, the "O" in don't is a hitchhiker's thumb imposed over a ringed planet, which is a graphic often used to represent the book.

I have definitely come a long way from that day in high school when I first realized I would consider getting a tattoo, to now having seven of them, along with aspirations for more. I can tell you this, over a decade after my first ink, I don't regret a single one. I am not worried about what they will look like when I am old and sagging in unmentionable places, because I will know exactly what they are supposed to be.


Oh, and if you're wondering, I did get my belly button pierced. Spring semester, freshman year. I kept that in for a decade too, until my husband and I started trying for kids.

Reading Recommendation: Good Omens

"It may help to understand human affairs to be clear that most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused, not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally bad, but by people being fundamentally people." (From Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett)

Neil Gaiman with Good Omens by celebdu on Flickr.

So, cards on the table, this will be a glowing review. I think everyone should read this book. Good Omens is one of the three books that are tied for first place in my list of favorite books. I don't even know how many times I have read this by now, and last spring we purchased the audio version of it for a family trip, so I now have it to listen to as well as read. This is one of those books that I feel needs to be not just read and enjoyed on a personal level, but one that needs to be shared with others. In fact, the reason I just read it again is because I had to buy a new copy, since I pressed my old one on my baby sister, feeling that she needed a good laugh and hoping she would enjoy it.

It's not just that Gaiman and Pratchett are two of my favorite authors already (though I will confess I read this book because of Gaiman and then started reading Pratchett because of this book). Sure, that is a mitigating factor in why I enjoy it so much, but even if I never read a single other thing by either author, I would still keep this book to read over and over and over again as I go through life.

The book sets out to answer a question that I am not sure many of us have ever stopped to ask ourselves. What would happen if the Antichrist was born, and then Heaven and Hell lost him without realizing it for eleven years? Such a question probably should lead to much studious and serious debate, certainly. In the hands of Gaiman and Pratchett, however, it leads to uncontrolled fits of the giggles, a general sense of well-being, and the hope that maybe, just maybe, despite how terrible we know they can be, people aren't really all that bad, after all.

Good Omens centers around an angel and a demon, Aziraphale and Crowley, respectively, who realize the apocalypse is nigh and decide they'd really rather not see that happen. They've been here on Earth, you see, since the beginning of it all, and they've both grown rather fond of the place. Over the last several thousand years they've also gotten quite used to each other, and although they work for different sides, they long ago realized they have a lot more in common with one another than with their respective bosses. So they'd rather not see the world wiped out in a brawl between Heaven and Hell. They have to be careful, of course, so no one in either realm sees what they are doing, but they work out a plan. Aziraphale and Crowley decide that what they will do is provide equal heavenly and demonic influences to the Antichrist as he grows up, so that maybe they will cancel each other out and when the time comes to destroy the world, he won't.

There's only one little problem with their plan.

The boy that the pair (and everyone down in Hell as well) thinks is the Antichrist, christened Warlock at the urging of a Satanic nun, is not actually the "Adversary, Destroyer of Kings, Angel of the Bottomless Pit, Great Beast that is called Dragon, Prince of This World, Father of Lies, Spawn of Satan, and Lord of Darkness." He is, in fact, just a boy. There was a bit of a mix-up at the hospital, you see, owing to the presence of a second baby being born at the time.

So the actual Antichrist, a boy named Adam Young, is brought up all on his own without any extra influence from Heaven or Hell. He knows not of his powers, nor of the role he is to play in the end of the world, which is scheduled to happen right around his eleventh birthday. He just grows up like a normal little boy in a lovely little village in England. So, when it is time for the apocalypse to start, well, it all goes a bit awry, doesn't it?

The line quoted above, about humans being fundamentally human is a very important one, I think. For me it completely sums up what this book is actually about. In addition to Aziraphle, Crowley, and Adam, Gaiman and Pratchett treat us to many other wonderful characters. Most of them are human (a few of them are demons), and their reactions and actions throughout the events of the book give a lot of insight into how the authors feel that people tick. I don't really think they are that far off either.

We also get some colorful, though light-handed, commentary on some of the environmental issues plaguing the world today. I am a little saddened about how many of the issues brought up in this book, which was first published in 1990, are still relevant today, more than twenty years later. On the other hand, the bits about rain forests and the leviathan both bare an amusing amount of poetic justice that even today's readers can still appreciate.

Something I have always loved about Pratchett's writing is the fact that he seems to convey a believe that in life, people tend to get what they deserve. That seems to run through Good Omens as well. There is also an underlying vein of speculation about predestination (there I detect more of the hand of Gaiman, I think). Does everything really happen for a reason? How much of it is all down to the ineffable plan, and how much of it is us just bumbling around in the dark?

Perhaps a book about the apocalypse shouldn't be funny. But the humor in this book is something that I feel makes it that much more accessible to wider audiences, and I think that gives us all a better opportunity to think about what we've done. Or haven't. If you are familiar with Gaiman's work, you know that comedy isn't at the forefront of his literary output, but it is there, for those who care to look. Pratchett, on the other hand, seems to deal almost in the slapstick end of the spectrum. But the two combined produce something that most closely resembles the humor achieved by Douglas Adams in his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. I think that may be one of the reasons why I so easily accepted this book into my heart, as I am quite fond of Adams and, more specifically, his understanding of humor.

So. I know the apocalypse is some pretty heavy material. I realize that reading about the actual end of the world can be a turn-off for some people. I realize the religious tones implied in such a work, or the perceived mocking of one's cherished beliefs, can also be a turn-off. But. This book takes all of those topics and deftly puts them together in a way that makes the events funny without making fun of the elements comprising the whole. I think this story is accessible and, more importantly, enjoyable to people of all different creeds, beliefs, and nationalities. As I said before, in the end, this book will probably make you think a little bit, sure. But it will definitely make you laugh.

And who doesn't need a good laugh once in a while?