Hey Hijinksters, it's been a while since my last post. I've been a busy, busy girl lately. You see, I met my quarter century mark this past Sunday. Naturally, there was no way to get everyone I love together for one celebration, so it stretched out like an ancient roman festival to one week. This involved three cakes, some cocktails, a floral arrangement, nouvelle cuisine, and a small roman candle. Fireworks and the indoors don't mix. The smell was atrocious!
I've also been packing up my gear for a gig in the great state of Pennsylvania. Or is PA a commonwealth? I've done a lot of laundry. I finally got around to doing all of my handwashing, which was back-breaking work. Using the bathtub for this process seemed like a good idea at the start, but forced me to practically stand on my head to agitate the garments. I washed all of my handmade socks, a felted purse and wallet, two shells, and a cardigan. As I worked the sweater in lazy circles in the dye-seeped bath, I had an irrational urge to make another sweater like it. That sweater did not meet my expectations when I first made it, but now that it's properly blocked, I think that I will love it.
The past week has also featured feverish creation of minidiscs. They're far less desirable to thieves and much more compact. And my minidisc player is more power-(therefore cost-) efficient than my discman. This decision required me to attempt to predict my musical yearnings for the next month or so. I think that I've made about a dozen new discs, ranging from Glenn Gould to Sahara Hotnights. I also had a fairly respectable collection squirreled away, which I sorted into piles like Scrooge counting his coins. Fortunately, my cousin Chris gave me a MD organizer for xmas a couple years ago. His brother is giving me his ipod when he trades up, so this last gasp at embracing the minidisc is funny and a little sad. I think that I'll keep my MD around, for when I don't want the "steal-me" allure of the ipod or when I want to make field recordings, messages for Willie B., make show discs, etc., but our relationship will be forever altered by the ipod. I used my MD player today as I did some shopping in the Loop. I finally found a pair of short-line cans to replace mine, so that I can use the remote again. It's really handy. And who doesn't want to listen to Swedish garage rock while shopping for a St. Christopher medal?
In other news, I finally managed to sync my tablet pc to a desktop. It required me to haul it up to the north side to connect to Lewis's eMachine, but it finally works as I'd hoped! I installed a pared-down version of AOL to it, so that I can still get my email while I'm on the road. Huzzah! I am so excited/relieved by this development that I can barely put the feelings into words.
Now, all I have to do is clean out my car...

I watched the Oscars tonight. It was a terribly predictable evening. As always, the technical categories, such as sound editing, makeup, editing, et al, were poorly judged. Those "minor" awards almost always go to the big popular favorite because people cannot differentiate between a great movie they enjoyed and one with good editing, sound design, scoring, etc. It's really too bad, because many truly talented artists go unrecognized due to the academy's penchant for movies with loud explosions, hideously expensive special effects, and a big gross. I was happy that Digidesign got a Technical Achievement award for the development of its ProTools sound editing system. The importance of that program cannot be overstated. I love it, and naturally, I can't afford it.
The whole evening was pretty dull. The only interesting speech given was by Blake Edwards. Of course, since it was a lifetime achievement award, he had time to prepare. I added a few things to my list of films that I'd like to see, kept a scorecard, and knitted furiously. My picks were not as astute as they've been in the past, largely because I made sentimental choices instead of politic ones. I wanted Bill Murray to win best actor, and Keisha Castle-Hughes to win best actress, though I can think of many reasons that they didn't. I was surprised that Canada won the Foreign Language category, even though American audiences find French language films more accessible than, say, Japanese. There were several films nominated that were featured at the film festival I worked in the fall. Made me wish that I'd gone to more films then.
I've resolved not to buy any sock yarn until my stash is greatly diminished. I have enough sock yarn for a month of Sundays at present. Socks are an easier project to which to commit, I guess, and a smaller financial outlay than, say, a sweater. Still, do I want to work in small gauge forever? I don't even wear socks most of the time!
I finished the beautiful pastel socks in Schaefer yarn, a very luxurious blend of fibers but very fine. Eleven stitches to the inch fine. So when I started working on a pair of socks for my grandfather's upcoming birthday at seven stitches to the inch, it felt luxuriously large gauged. It's all relative. The birthday socks came as a bit of a revelation. I'm making them from Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, with which I have never worked. What a pleasant surprise! I knew that their yarns were beautiful, but they also have a magnificent hand. Supersock feels a lot like Koigu sock yarn, which is an expensive, rare beast in this area. I even have another skein of Supersock in my stash!
I'm working on my raglan colorblock sweater in fits and starts. I don't want to make it with a v neck after all, so I have to chart out a crewneck instead. Knitting is just one big story problem, minus trains in different cities leaving stations.... It isn't terribly difficult to make the necessary alterations, just tedious. Since I cannot start on the sleeves until I've finished the body, I'm stalled on this project.

What if the internet were a physical place that you went to?
That was the main theme of a sketch that I saw on an episode of Chapelle Show. He posited that it would be a horrible, intolerable place. The sketch featured a mall-like environment. I imagine the physical manifestation of the internet to be Times Square circa 1975. It's full of smut, cheap shit to buy that you don't really need, people trying to rip you off, pickup artists, and thieves. The internet doesn't have neon signs though....

After many months of resisting, I've finally upgraded my version of AOL. I didn't want to do it because I fear it taking over my entire computer, like a cat in the middle of your bed. So I trashed the free programs that come packaged with it. Why this sudden conversion? Well, I discovered that AOL was filtering my mail for spam. Seems harmless enough, but I wasn't getting emails from people I knew or my listservs and didn't know it. In the version that I was running before, the spam folder was buried very deep in a set of menus. I am very wary of anyone deciding what I can and cannot read (draw your own parallel with the gov't decision to axe many popular shows from their captioning grant program). I'm also wary of anyone who wants to be my only content provider.

I feel a Luddite like itch. The light bulb in my bedroom burned out several days ago and I've yet to remember to change it while I can still see to do so. Yesterday, I found myself standing next to the useless light switch, shaking my fist in the air, saying "Damn you, Thomas Edison!". On the other hand, would I want to go back to cutting tape with a razor blade instead of digital editing? Hell no! You just have to remember, technology is great as long as it works. Then it doesn't and it really sucks.

My cousin the navy boy is back in town on leave, in is shiny new car. I really enjoy having a cousin who is more or less a contemporary. For many years, when we were growing up, the age difference between us was too large. So now I get to discover this cool adult cousin who drives a Volkswagen, listens to an ipod, and watches SATC. Who knew?!

My mom and I went on a yarn expedition today, with varying results. I wanted to find yarn with which to make a pair of birthday socks for my beloved grandfather. I keep setting the bar higher and higher for myself. If I keep it up, I'll have to make a pair from golden fleece.... I ended up getting beautiful blue and purple variegated CTH sock yarn, a colorway called River Run, and two skeins of Takhi Donegal Tweed fished out of the sale bin. I hope to make a felted hat out of it, along the same lines as my Yoko Ono hat. To that end, I purchased a pattern online, but everything got so fouled up with my email that the seller just refunded my money. Huh. Maybe we can handle the transaction the old-fashioned way. I'll give her a $5 bill, and she can give me a mimeographed sheet of instructions. Relax, that's a joke.

I'm working on my noodled out colorblock sweater again. It turned out that the variation within the dyelot is obvious (sigh), so I have to work alternate rows from two balls. This sounds more complicated that it is, but mainly means that this project doesn't travel. Luckily, I have some socks in the works for that. I'm making myself a pair of fine gauge hand-dyed socks. The yarn is Anne from Schaefer, which I previously used in a pair of socks for my paternal grandmother, in a wildly different colorway. The one I am using now reminds me of a garden in the spring; it has yellows and greens and lavender, in a subtly striped pattern. It is working up at an astonishing eleven stitches to the inch. Had I known it to be so fine before beginning, I doubt that I would have.

I finished all of the books on my list in the sidebar. Whatever will I do with myself now?! Any book recommendations would be appreciated. Maybe I'll re-read Anna Karenina.

Long time, no blog. Who would have guessed that my first blog of the new year would fall in February? Anyone who knows me, I guess. I've been in a bit of a funk lately, so I haven't kept up with this page. Now, I'm feeling a bit better, so I'm putting it in script.
So, hmmm...what's happened lately?
* The red tape in my unemployment claim, which seemed long enough to stretch to the moon, has finally been cut through. It only involved lots of long-distance phone calls in the middle of the afternoon. I got my first check only TWO months after I lost my job. That's our tax dollars at work, folks.
* One of my friends was in a train wreck. I know that I sound oddly ebullient about that. He's fine. It's his current tale of woe. He said to me, "How many people can say they were in a train wreck?". to which I replied, "I was". That took a bit of the wind out of his sails. Mine was a minor train/car challenge somewhere in small town Mississippi. Not terribly exciting, but Amtrack usually isn't. This is only one of many complaints my friend has about the CTA.
* My dad gave me a tablet PC, which was a state of the art PDA back in the late 1990s. I hesitate to call it a handheld, because it requires both hands, or at least an assist from a knee. It has a big bright screen, a mic jack, and a little speaker--AV bliss! Now, I've only to figure out how to get it to sync with my mail.
* My dreaded trip to the dentist went off without a hitch. I've gotten a reprieve from the drill, and a jolly visit from the dentist. The hygenist was another matter.... I bled so much from the cleaning that I felt light-headed while lying down! Just proves that I should go more often, I guess. My grandmother fed me a couple of cups of strong Australian tea afterwards.
* I've finally pulled the plug on my other blog, as the person who was supposed to collaborate on it never did. That was the whole concept of the project, and I tired of waiting. She's busy, I know. Maybe it will be reborn, like the phoenix, in some other form. But don't hold your breath.
* I am asterisk crazy!
* Now is the time that tries techies souls---summer stock hiring season. I'm spreading my resumes around like counterfeit cash, though I only apply to places that I'd actually like to work. Anything else seems like a waste of time for all parties involved. I'd heard that my last stock company wasn't doing much hiring this year, from a very good source, but they have two listings in ArtSearch. I don't know what their deal is, but I doubt that they'll be at it much longer.

Now is the time of year that everyone makes lists.
Here are a few from the brains behind Hijinks on Snort:

Quirky Music I have Purchased and Enjoyed in the Past Year:

*Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man, Out of Season. A side project from the singer of Portishead and the bass player of Talk Talk. It's kind of like Portishead, but not.

*Wig In A Box. A tribute album to benefit the group that runs Harvey Milk school in NYC. This is pretty excellent, though the Yoko Ono track made the dog howl.

* Tori Amos, Strange Little Girls. For different reasons, also Scarlet's Walk. It took me a couple of years to get into Tori Amos's cover album, but damn, I'm glad I did! Still, I'm happy that she put out a studio album this year.

* The Sounds, Living in America. A new-New Wave band from Sweden. What else do I have to say?

* Cat Power, You Are Free. Cat Power rocks, even if my pal Janet calls her work ennervating.

* Soundtrack, Princess and the Warrior. This album was made by the same people responsible for Run Lola Run. It's like the chill version of that soundtrack, the kind of music that spins out a party really well.

* Verve's highly successful Remixed albums. And for that matter, their Unmixed companions. I hope that these will generate new interest in jazz, though I suspect that they're just candy for hipsters who've already discovered the sublime nature of Nina Simone and her contemporaries.

* Morelenbaum 2/Sakamoto's Live Album. Their studio album is pretty awesome, but I really love the immediacy of their second album. Also, I love bossa nova, and it's hard to find non-cheesy efforts in that genre.


Other music that's really floated my boat in 2003:

*Coldplay, but who didn't listen to them this year?

*Radiohead.

*Everything But The Girl's rarities and b-side collection. Even though a lot of those tapes could have stayed on the shelf, the remixes are superb.

*Fantastic Plastic Machine. The perfect japanese pop to rock out to on my little minidisc player while taking public transportation.

*Miss Nina Simone.

*Dave Brubeck. I bought both Red Hot and Cool and Time In this year. Wow.

*Liz Phair. Some people say she's sold out, and her single's everywhere. It's still a good album.

*The White Stripes. I'm not really into "The" groups, with the exception of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Sounds, and The White Stripes. I'm not sure if there's any commonality between them, other than the "the". Oh, and they all rock.