Snow in Kyoto

Hyper much?

I'm so happy today someone ought to shoot me.  Really, I think it would be for the best.  Oh, no, I do not!  But I am very happy.  The kind of happy where you can't help but buy prezzies for people.  And where you call presents prezzies.  Yep.

The weather is beautiful, work went well, it's Friday, Friday, Friday!

I've been angsting over whether to buy my spinning wheel from my lys or from somewhere local that has them in stock.  They would have to order it, and it would probably cost more, but of course it's important to support your lys.  So I stopped by today to ask them to order me one, and they told me they don't do that anymore, but the lady who's teaching me to spin told me where I can get one for about $100 less than I thought I would have to pay, which means that I can get it sooner!  And she's promised to help me put it together!  Yay!

Also, I found a new store!  I've been hearing about it for a while, but they've always referred to it as a "health food store."  So I'm picturing dusty shelves and stuff I don't want to eat, and no real reason to visit.  But I needed bulgar wheat for a recipe, and you sure ain't gonna find that at Wal-Mart, so I stopped by.  Why the hell didn't someone grab me by my hair and drag me there sooner?  Health food store?  What a misnomer.  Gourmet food store, more like!  A good 50% of it seemed devoted to chocolate.  Then another 25% to liquor.  And they had good imported olives and meats and cheeses and spices and coffee and... and... and...  Oh, and they had some healthy stuff, too.  The smell of the place when you walk in!  Spicy and exotic and not in the least bit dusty!  I got some Hobgoblin dark ale and some Young's Double Chocolate Stout and the bulgar wheat and some Peace coffee.  Notice I did not get any chocolate?  (Oh, except the ale.  Whoops!)  Aren't you proud of me?

Hm.  I really do have to work on being a little less material.  A walk in the beautiful woods on a beautiful day like this should make me happy.  Tomorrow, Tomo and I walk until I drop.

Ooh, ooh, ooh!  I almost forgot!  My mom was cleaning out some boxes in her basement, and she found a bunch of records.  Two of them were mine, bought when I was still in the single digits, age-wise.  I had no memory of owning any records, except for Alvin and the Chipmunks, but there they were!  Prince's "Let's Go Crazy", B-side "Erotic City," and The Thompson Twins' "Hold Me Now," B-side "Let Loving Start."  Aw, I feel so connected with my cool little-bitty self!  Wasn't I cute?  Buying the little records with my little allowance!

Catching up. Hah!

I had such a fabulous weekend that here it is barely Tuesday, and I'm already needing another.  It hasn't helped that there was a commission hearing last night, and another one tonight, so that I spend all sodding day working in my jammies, then just when I'm ready to kick back and relax and spend some quality time with my Sims, I have to get all gussied up and go listen to the god-damned American public bitch and moan for a few hours.

Really, I'm only bitter because someone ruined my affirmation.  I love giving affirmations!  And he ruined it.  I hate him.  Listen to this.  "Do you solemnly affirm that the testimony you're about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, under the pains and penalties of perjury in this state?  I ask you!  "Under the pains and penalties of perjury!"  That is some quality writing.  That is solid.  That is masterful use of alliteration.  And he freaking ruined it!  Could he say "I do?"  No!  Could he say "yes, ma'am?"  No!  What did he say?  I don't know.  It was garbled nonsense.  Idiot.  They had him removed from the building by security later (obviously killing my affirmation buzz wasn't his only crime) and he somehow got back in.  Scary times, folks.

But my weekend was wonderful.  I stayed at a friend's house so I could attend my lys' early-bird 25% off anniversary sale.  lys stands for "local yarn shop," and in this case, "local" is relatively speaking, because it would have meant getting up at 4:00 a.m. if I'd stayed home.  Of course, I didn't get any extra sleep out of the deal after all, because when we should have been sleeping, we were wickedly staying up so she could teach me how to spin on a wheel.  And it was worth it!

I can spin!

Screw the *&(&ing drop spindle!  It's so much easier with a wheel!  I could have cried.  Seriously.  I had so badly wanted to spin, and thought I wouldn't be able to, because I was such a miserable failure with the drop spindle.  And now, here's me, researching spinning wheels on-line in preparation for purchasing my very own!

Anyway, what with one thing and another, we're looking at probably Friday before I get caught back up.

Just nod wisely and pretend you believe that I will ever in my life be caught up with anything. 

Thank you.

Dear Lost

Very, very mild Lost spoilers ahead.
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
Hi, there.
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

How ya doin'?
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

Man, this elevator's slow!
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:-D
:
:
:

Dear Lost,

Great episode, as always.  But man, enough with the Jackflashbacks already!  To be honest, it got a little boring.  Especially in the season premier?  I need action!  I need answers!  Answers, man!  Answers!

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Sarah

Oops

So this morning, in my pre-caffeinated stupor, I was glancing through my spam folder to make sure I hadn't missed anything important, when for some bizarre reason, I clicked on an email from eDiets.  They were advertising the Mediterranean Diet.  Pasta!  Fruit!  Wine!  My kind of diet!

But then I got crafty.  eDiets and I don't get on.  At all.  My mouth still has the scars from all their dratted green salads and the holes they burned in my tongue.  No, thank you.  So I went to Amazon instead, and found books on the Mediterranean diet.  Before I had my caffeine.  Which was my big mistake.  I bought a book called "The Mediterranean Diet."  I bought a book called "The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook."  I also bought the second in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, but that's neither here nor there.

Then I remembered.  Oh, yeah.  I don't cook!  I long for someone to look in my cart full of fine frozen foods and say "can't cook, huh?" so I can say "oh, I can, I just choose not to," and smugly bask in their jealousy.  I have all three China King locations on speed dial, for heaven's sake!  They know my voice!  They give me extra almond cookies!  And I just bought a freaking cookbook?  Full of recipes that apparently involve a lot of stewing and reducing and concentrating of flavor?  Me?

And of course I've got Amazon Prime.  And if you've got Prime, that means they have your order on a UPS truck and on its way within three seconds or less of you clicking the one-click button.  So I'm stuck with it. 

Well, maybe this will be the one.  The diet that works!  Maybe I'll rediscover the love of cooking I used to have back in the days when I had more time and energy.  Maybe all that reducing and concentrating and stewing will do the trick.

You never know.

Deadline!

I was in the shower today, and I started thinking about painting my whole bathroom white, cabinets and all.  Like every other room in my house, it's presently dark, dingy, and stuck in the '70s.  I was all excited about the project!  Hot pink and orange towels!  New curtains!  New shower curtain!  Clean!  Bright!  Happy!

Then I remembered that I don't want to stay here.

In a few short months, my car will be payed off, and I will have an extra $511.44 a month (very long story), in addition to all the money I've freed up by trying to be an adult about the spending (mostly) and stay on a ~shudder~ budget.  Getting my car paid off has always been my deadline.  Decision time. 

A)  Do I stay here and try to fix it up?  Meh. 

B)  Do I see about getting a home loan and building a little bungalow further up the hill on my property?  I could be close to my parents and my mom's puppy-sitting, and the "Mom & Pop Shop," and live in a bright, new, clean, happy place!  But I'd still have the long commute to work (and the yarn shop) to face.

or

C)  Do I rent in town closer to work, and keep this place as is?  That would be the biggest financial drain.  But without the long commute, I could work a lot more.  But then there's the fact that most of the places for rent are little 1940s ranch houses from when the college was established, not in the greatest condition after generations of college students have rented them, with small yards.  And what on earth would I do about Tomo?

So really, it's not a decision; is it?  I have to go with option B, if I can.  I don't know the first thing about mortgages, or if I'd even be able to get one.  Probably my parents would have to help me.  They talked about it at the time they badgered me into buying this place, but haven't said a thing about it since.  Goodness knows, my eccentric finances don't exactly inspire confidence!  But see grown-up spending, budget, etc. above!  Really!  I swear!  (Ignore the bit about needing my parents to help me get the loan in the first place.  Nothing to see here.)

But option A is untenable.  This place makes me miserable.  I want a place I'm actually happy to wake up in and come home to.

I cry

10 years ago, and maybe 45 minutes from my house, is a place where two fairly well-traveled roads meet.  There wasn't much of anything there -- the roads were both going somewhere else.

Then, someone with vision stepped in.  It's an insult to call what they did mini-malls.  Around the intersection of that road, on all four quarters, they built stores.  They built every store.  It is actually possible to do all your shopping without ever driving on state highway at all.  You can buy groceries, household supplies, electronics, pet food, building materials, cell phones, medicine, fast food, coffee, miscellaneous things under a dollar.  Almost anything at all. 

You can even get your bones set and skin stitched, should the need arise.  And let's face it, the driving around there is pretty cut-throat.  Even the parking lots have traffic lights.

There was only one thing missing.  No sodding book store.

Note the past tense.

You guessed it!

They're building a big, new Barnes & Noble.

I cry tears of joy.

A joke to begin with

Question:  What is George W. Bush's stand on Roe vs. Wade?
Answer:  He really doesn't care how people get out of New Orleans.

And now on with the whining.

Today, I left the house without my cell phone, my debit card, or my iPod cord, on a 200 mile round trip drive.  All my money was in my savings account, and I can't access it without my debit card.

Friends, I was screwed.

If you ever want to know fear, try driving 100 miles from home with a low gas tank, no money, and no way to call for help.  Because do I actually know how to use a pay phone anymore?  Probably not.

Fortunately, I had a big twenty bucks in my wallet and a quarter of a tank of gas in my car.  I didn't have breakfast, and I cadged a sandwich from the lys for lunch (Bless her!), but I made it home with maybe a gallon of gas to spare.

It probably helped that my car wasn't loaded down with all those groceries I meant to buy.

Because yes!

I was actually going to cook!  Without using the microwave!

(much)

Bit of a relief, really.

Oh, dear

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com">

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com">