T-shirt Tuesday.

I'm not endorsing or affiliated with this company in any way. I just love their t-shirts.

Time for a quote

“Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see in the making all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals.” --Don Delillo

The quote above came from one of my favorite blogs, The Words I Type. I swear Ms. Kia writes the thoughts that are in my head.


Cheers!

SUPER SCARVES

SUPER SCARVES

I am addicted to knitting. I knit every single day. The problem is I have yet to finish something. Wait, that's not completely true. I made a couple of dishrags. I made a baby cap and booties too. The booties don't match and will only fit on a giant one-footed baby, but the cap is cute. Right now, I'm knitting a blanket. I keep adding stitches where I shouldn't and have twice dropped it and lost stitches. Nevertheless, I persevere because I'm addicted. I can't stop knitting. I come home from work and knit the rest of the night. Dinners have been boring since I've started knitting. I want to knit all the time. Even when I'm tired of knitting, I still keep knitting. Which is probably the reason I keep messing up. I'm ODing on knitting. Is there a rehab for knitters?

As with all things novel and shiny, I suppose I will grow tired of knitting. It happened with furniture refinishing, locs, painting, reading, crocheting, golf, running, baking etc. I just hope I can actually finish something nice this time!

http://www.ravelry.com/people/BeckieKnitz

RIP Mike Starr

Mike Starr, original bassist with Alice In Chains, died yesterday. Most recently, he was in Celebrity Rehab. During his season on CR, his life experience was particularly moving to me. He was the last person who was with AiC's lead vocalist, Layne Staley, days before his body was found. Addiction is a powerful, powerful thing.

What fascinates me about addiction is not the substance or habit that one is addicted to, it's the draw; that one's intelligence is saying, "the best thing I can do right now for myself is _____." That to me is what addiction is about. The actual substance, behavior, or habit is just the vehicle.

The cause of Starr's death is unknown at this time. I was so happy for him when he returned to CR. I'm sad he is gone.

In no particular order, my favorite Alice in Chains songs are listed below. I don't know if Mike played on all of these tracks before he was kicked out of the group. I haven't had a chance to check out the "new" AiC, with William DuVall. No dis, but Staley had a great rock voice.

• Man in A Box
• Them Bones
• No Excuses
• I Stay Away
• Rooster

R.I.P. Mike!

Recap My Life 2010

I know I'm late in posting this, but so what...this is my blog. This is a list of my favorite/interesting/intriguing things I came across in 2010.

Books:
1. Trilogy: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson
2. Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

Music:
1. Moyenne
2. Sade, Soldier of Love
3. Erykah Badu
Honorable Mention: Kings of Leon - they continue to rock my uvula.


Shame-Inducing Guilty Pleasure:
1. Jersey Shore
2. Bridezillas
3. America's Next Top Model
Honorable Mention: Real World Road Rules: Gulag

Colors:
1. Orange...I can never get enough of you.
2. Olive...What can I say, you're loyal.
3. Blue...We used to be so close; glad you're making a come back.
Honorable Mention: White...sometimes good, sometimes meh.

Drink:
1. Chardonnay...you sexy bitch.
2. Water...we were doing much better together earlier in the year. What gives?

Foods:
1. Red onion...sauteed or raw, it's just not the same without you.
2. Dill...you scramble my eggs.
3. Leek...We need to get together more often.
Honorable mention: Fish...I just keep forgetting about you.

Movies:
1. See #1 in Books. All three! Swedish versions rock!
2. Harry Potter #6...Different, but tasty.
3. Avatar...AKA Pocahantas In Space.
Honorable mention: See #1 Movie.

TV Shows:
1. Sons of Anarchy
2. Luther...I hope Idris Elba stays away from any more stupid Hollywood/Perry movies.
3. True Blood
Honorable Mention: Community

Wish List:
1. iPad
2. Nook
3. Kindle Update: My daughter gave me this for my birthday. She's a keeper.
I don't care if they are all the same. I want them.


Triumphs:
1. Found a house closer to campus for a really good deal.
2. Craig's List

Losses:
1. This has been the year of me saying so long to people who considered me their friend, while they were never my friend. Over and out.
2. Akron Meditation Group. I miss you.

Falling back in love with going to work.

Footprint trails of my babies who have already left for school. The snow is deep and needs shoveling. These prints make me smile.Their shoe sizes make me scowl.

I like this picture of the black squirrel running down the tree. This is a view of my backyard. These squirrels (tree rats) are amazing gymnasts. I can imagine one hell of an Olympic gymnastics contest between squirrels and chimpanzees.

This is the view down my driveway. I’m afraid to know what those drops are about. I think it’s antifreeze from my daughter’s car.  Rather than shovel, I think I’m okay with smushing the snow down with my truck tires.  Hmm, just had to add smushing to my  dictionary. I think it should have already been there.

Here’s a nice view of my street. It’s a nice quiet side street. As far as I can tell, there is only one vacant house on the block; every other house is occupied primarily by older couples with no children, or younger couples with toddlers. There are two other black families on my street, but I’ve only met one person. He is twenty-something and drives the neighborhood ice cream truck in the summertime.

I don’t know anything about photography, but I do enjoy taking pictures, though mostly still life. I do remember some photo techniques from my grade school art teacher, Sr. Geraldine. It was something about thirds. Anyway, I just want to play at it for a while before I crack open a book about it. The siding on my house has faded horribly in the sun, resulting in a gross shade of brown, hence the sepia. There is much I hate about this house architecturally speaking. My deepest hatred  is for the oddly sized shutters and the scalloping hanging from the useless triangle. You can’t really tell here, but the icicles on either side of the house are massive.  They look very Ice Age-y. This is not a good thing. Nevertheless, I really like this photo.

So back to the walking. I like the pattern of tire tracks here. People going this way and that; evidence of the busyness of life.

Even though it says ‘St’, I use ‘Drive’. Why? Because I think Valleyview Drive has a nicer ring to it.

They don’t call my town ‘Tree City’ for nothing.

Tree City Residents use many of transportation. It would have been nice to have someone walking in this shot. As I was walking a biker rode across the street. I put up my camera, but he crossed before I could get the shot. Fortunately, a second biker happened along right on time!

Today probably wasn’t the best day to wear liquid eye liner. But I’m glad that was the only thing running down my face. I like the blurriness of the scarf in contrast to the un-blurriness of my head. I love the colors in that scarf! What's the photography term for un-blurriness? No, I don't mean focus!

Morning traffic. There isn’t much to this photo, except for the plume of smoke in the background.  I also wanted to get a shot of the snow falling to the ground. I love snow fall. I hate snow landing.

Ha ha! See how I cleverly edited the name of the institution? If I had time, I’d get rid of the stop signs.

One thing I rarely ever do when I’m on campus is sit outside. I don’t know why. There are a lot of attractive spaces to have lunch, read a book or have a friendly chat. With someone else, not by yourself. Or is that implied? I like the esiness of this photo.

I’m not a bird watcher. In fact, I sort of hate them. I hate them because they scare me. But I do like to look at them. I’m a bird looker. 

Almost there. The tall building is the library; twelve stories. I’m uphill and I think that’s why it looks short. I love the dis-proportionality here.

And we've reached the end of our scenic morning stroll to the office. Now it is time to make the donuts! Thanks for walking with me!

Living All Alone - Phyllis Hyman ( 1986 )