and another thing

knitting socks for loved ones with size 10 feet is unending. they go on and on and on and on. if n gets a pair he'll be lucky. i haven't even finished the first one yet.

note to single knitters - pick small partners. it will save time and yarn. these things matter.

welcome to crazy town - population you

life has gone nuts. some good, some bad, all nuts. i mean honestly, do i bloody look like a squirrel? apparently, i can't even spell squirrel. thank god for spell checkers. (ha ha - you don't even want to know how i tried to spell that!!) i can spell, actually, mostly. i just have momentary lapses. you know, the last company i worked for used lotus notes for their email, and it always used to bug me in a particularly pedantic way that the lotus notes spell checker couldn't recognise the word email. after gritting my teeth for the millionth time i finally decided it was probably some techie's idea of a joke.

anyways.

work is crazy. officially. it has been veering in that direction for some time but it has, without a doubt, hit the tipping point. the local gov't council that i work for is trying to undertake major cost saving exercises, several major directorate-wide restructures which include redundancies, a new revamped customer services programme, at year end. what could possibly go wrong? it's like working inside a manual of how not to do things.

i am only in the periphery, thank heavens, but it's amazing how much crazy drifts out from the centre. it is making it almost impossible to deliver the moves i need to do this weekend, and on top of this i am supposed to be trying to write one directorate's property strategy which, in this climate, is a farce. strategy is not even an option right now.

i am still waiting to hear if i am going to be taken away from all this into a new kind of crazy. dream job interview went ok - i think - it's hard to tell. it was scary. and difficult. and i had to answer questions like "what, in your opinion, would be the most important lease issues to consider for a twenty-person regional office in Kazakhstan?" (take that spell checker!) but i did my best and i did like the director a lot, which is good. either way, it's ok.

other things are crazy too - i fly out to winnipeg on the 21st. that is a different kind of crazy all together. more rabid squirrel than garden-variety nuts.(nope - still can't spell squirrel).

well as my mom always says, this too shall pass. my days are certainly flying by and i have to admit - i'm not even a teensy bit bored. exhausted, knackered, frustrated, and maybe slightly manic - but not bored.

look what n found!!!!

look what n found!! it's an old workhorse - a singer 239 - made in italy, so heavy he had to set it down several times getting it home. works like a dream. yay!

i've wanted one for ages but didn't want to pay too much as i wasn't 100% sure i'd actually use it. this sweet pea cost a whopping £25. not bad. sewing up humph's duvets* will have it paying for itself in about 2 months.

*humph is a nester. he can destroy a dog bed in minutes. he now sleeps on (very cheap) duvets which he shreds in a matter of months. they will now be sewn up :)

happy news

i have happy news!

a few weeks ago i applied for a dream job - the kind you apply for thinking - well - it's never going to happen but hey, why not go for it? good practice and all that.

the application was its own special circle of hell with questions like "why would you like to work at ______? Please explain, in no more than 300 words" and "in no more than 200 words, please describe your motivation for applying for this role".

it took me an entire afternoon. i actually used the word "relish". i wrote my heart on my sleeve.

deadline was 13 march and, hearing nothing, i figured well, nothing lost. perhaps in future i should tone down my enthusiasm.

today i got a call for an "initial interview". it's on wednesday (squeak).

i am now using words such as "delighted", "ecstatic", and phrases such as "it will probably never happen but OMG you never know! maybe?" and "s**t i really need to hem the trousers of that new suit i bought in the january sale"

judging from the application form this may be just the start of a long process and should it continue i almost definitely see "team building" exercises carried out with desperate enthusiasm in front of one-way mirror glass. and it will still be worth it. i don't expect to get it, but to get called to interview for the type of job i ultimately want - well - that is reason to celebrate indeed.

wish me luck

(there's a guy at work who went through 7 (SEVEN!) interviews only to be told "we're sorry but we feel you don't have enough _____ experience." gah. enthusiasm moderation is definitely in order.)

february made me shiver

normally, i am an optimistic, naive being who nauseatingly exclaims at every season, " oh i LOVE (fill in season here). i think it's my favourite. think of the beer gardens/fireplaces/lambs/autumn leaves/bbq's/stews/asparagus/etc" it's a disgusting habit which should get me smacked but none-the-less, i persist.

there is one gigantic, 28-day exception to this rule and that is february. february can bite my arse. there are only two decent things about february as far as i am concerned - one is it's my mom's birthday on the 24th (happy birthday mom! i did actually send you a (late) card - try not to fall off your chair when it arrives). the other is that if you make elderflower wine in late june, you bottle (and drink) it in february, and it tastes like summer. keeps you going.

this february has been particularly pernicious because my dad has been ill. he is in winnipeg, with my afore-mentioned, recently-birthdayed (ok it's not a word but it should be) mom. i am in kent, uk. in case you missed the subtlety of my two con-joined statements, i am bloody far away, and feeling it.

be lucky march - we're counting on you.

socks and drugs and rock'n'roll part two

first socks! oh yeah baby - the addiction is complete. they say the first high is the best - i'll keep you posted.

sundown

when i was born in altona, manitoba, i was issued with a birth certificate, a complete internal prohibition against littering, and a penchant for gordon lightfoot. it's a canadian thing. (if canadians litter - even on another continent, they spontaneously combust. or they should.)

i love sundown - the cadences of the course lines repeated -
first "sundown you better take care if i find you've been creepin' round my backstairs",
second "sometimes i think it's a shame when i get feeling better when i'm feelin no pain",
then back to "sundown..." with a second of "sometimes i think it's a sin when i feel like i'm winning when i'm losing again"
and a grand finale of "sometimes i think it's a shame", two "sundown you better take care"'s and a "sometimes i think it's a sin".

it reminds me of classical poem construction - the ordered repeat of line and/or rhyme, whether sonnet or haiku.

and i love love love the line "i can see her looking fast in her faded jeans". i don't know why.

socks and drugs and rock'n'roll

i knit a sock!!!!!!

yep - i know it's blurry. but even in it's befuddled state, it is, undeniably, a sock. another synonym for blurry is woolly. how appropriate.

i am so proud of this sock - it was so much fun to knit - i can even overlook the fact that it is (somehow! ha ha) not perfect.

now of course i have to make another sock. this will be fine. i'm totally not the kind of person that's going to lose interest as soon as the tricky bit is done and leave half-finished projects moping desolately about the house (cough mitten cough). no - of course not. a finisher, that's what i am (cough lacy scarf cough).

excuse me my conscience needs a lozenge.

(ps and yep - i did just change the title of this from stitch london's fab "keep calm and carry yarn" to what you see now. it had to be done.)

n has a gig tonight in one of our locals, the elephant. if all goes well it could possibly lead to a regular booking there which would be great. he and s are so excited - they've just left with the myriad of gear that seems to underpin these evenings - both completely buzzing.

i'm terrified. i always get the most almighty case of nerves on these evenings. it's not that i think they will be bad in any way - they are both a) incredibly talented and b) professional enough to recover from anything so no worries there. i guess i get nervous because for me, doing what they're doing, would be pretty much the scariest thing in the known universe. so because i would find it akin to a relaxing dip in a great white shark tank, i get nervous on their behalf, even though they view this like six-year-olds on day passes to disneyworld. not logical at all but tell my stomach that.

the nerves always pass about 4 songs in and i'm sure we'll have a great evening. i have three goals for the evening:

1. not to drink too much. not out of nerves, not out of fun, not out of the bizarreness of english round buying system which can lock you in for more pints that you bargained for. several reasons for this, one of which leads to goal 2:

2. i will not dance like an idiot. this probably means that i should not dance at all. i once asked n if i looked stupid dancing and he gave me one of those looks and said, "well - i think everyone looks stupid dancing". take from that what you will.

3. to be proper - to remember names, buy the right drinks for the right people at the right time, to ask questions of people instead of blathering on and on about whatever inane flight of fancy has struck me.

none of this will happen of course. i will drink too much, i will dance like a monkey and i will spend the next two weeks trying to remember who people are. i'm wearing a necklace (i never wear jewelry - a certain bracelet excepted) - perhaps this will help anchor me to a grown up, rational action reality.

yeah ok you can stop laughing now.

my favourite wall plaque

this morning at work started with a robust debate between myself and two co-workers over the stylistic merits or lack thereof of various fonts, ending in confessions of our favourites and several google searches to compare/contrast. i truely do work amongst my people.

having thus established my utter geekiness, it will come as no surprise to find i have favourite wall plaques as well. what? you don't? i'm not sure why faversham has these, but they do, and yesterday i found a gallery of them, with photos and explanations.

this is my favourite:

do you think he found it anti-climatic after all that? or was he just relieved to have a bit of peace and quiet?