Letter to Santa...

I had nothing better to do today, so I decided to walk through the local Pamida. Actually, I needed painkillers...so I wasn't just going there to aimlessly wander around...although that's been known to happen.

I walked in and instantly noticed that it appeared as if Christmas had exploded all over the place. It's funny how stores go right from Halloween season (which starts in early September) to Christmas...which, last I checked...was just over 45 days away. (http://www.emailsanta.com/clock.html). Still, no time like the present to get a jump on the holiday shopping...or so all the major retailers are telling us.

(Btw, yes, I did send Santa an e-mail...it went something like this: (The bold portions are items that I filled in.)

"Dear Santa Claus,

I am a girl and I am already 27 years old!!! I live in the great city of Winner in the state of South Dakota. Of course, that's in United States, but I bet you already knew that!!!
This year I have been so good that I should be an angel on top of the tree!.

Santa, some things that I might like for Christmas this year are a quilting frame, a Xbox 360, and a boyfriend.

P.S. Santa Claus, I almost forgot to add these comments!!

I really don't care so much about the Xbox 360, but the quiliting frame and the boyfriend would both really come in handy. Oh and none of those crappy asshole boyfriends either...I want a good one! ...and peace on Earth would be a nice touch as well. Thanks!

Love,

Lindsey Nordsiden"

...and I enclosed some raindeer food for good measure. Oh, and before I submitted it, I changed the words "crappy" and "asshole" to "stupid" and "idiot"....I definitely don't need to lose points with Santa for dirty language!

...and I got a reply back! Here it is:

"Merrrryyyy Christmas Lindsey Nordsiden!!

Thank you for sending me your email all the way from Winner! The Net sure is wonderful because now I can get emails from Winner and around the world in the blink of an eye. Even Rudolph gets emails... from pets! Why, here's Rudolph right now! HO!! Ho!! ho!! He just asked me to say 'Hi!' to you!

Well bless my whiskers, Lindsey Nordsiden! Are you fibbing to ol' Santa Claus?!? You can't possibly be 27 years old already! Why it seems like only yesterday that I was leaving presents for a certain little girl and here you are now, practically one of Santa's elves! (*grin*)

Sorry the presents the last little while probably haven't been quite as exciting as they were when you were a little girl but, well, you know how these things go (*wink*). Anyway, Santa's glad to see some of the 'older kids' (not to mention anyone in particular!) still take the time to write. I also hear you've been a REALLY REALLY good girl. (Of course, you won't mind if I do a little checking, will you? HO!! Ho!! ho!!).

Let's see what you put in your letter for Christmas wishes: 1. quilting frame; 2. xbox 360 and; 3. boyfriend. Can I tell you a little secret? I love playing games on my xBox -- reindeer games that is! HO!! Ho!! ho!! They are a lot of fun aren't they! I guess that's why so many good little boys and girls asked for the same thing as you! I just wish there was room in my sleigh to give everyone one. HO!! Ho!! ho!! Well that *would* be quite a present if I brought you a boyfriend for Christmas! But, as you know, that's one present the elves can't make -- and anyway the last time I stuck a new boyfriend in my toy sack to deliver Christmas Eve they weren't too happy with me by the time I dropped them down the chimney! (Besides, I know you're going to find a very nice boyfriend all on your own without any help from me.)

Oh yes, before I forget Lindsey Nordsiden, the elves really want you to visit my new blog! It is called Santa Claus' Christmas Blog. My blog is all about Christmas, life at the North Pole, and me, Santa Claus ! You can even write messages to me and see what others have written. I can hardly wait to see what you write!

Oh no! Rudolph just sneezed and now there's Nose Wax everywhere. I'll see you soon but now I have to go clean off my computer because it's glowing like Rudolph's nose! Take care Lindsey Nordsiden and don't forget to come back and visit me here at EmailSanta.com on Christmas Eve!! And remember... only 46 more sleeps until Christmas!!

Lots of Love,

Santa Claus

P.S. The reindeer say "Thank You!" for the nice treats! I hope you don't mind, but I had a bit of carrot and celery too. After all, even Santa eats his veggies!

P.P.S. I've attached a special postmarked copy of your email below so you can print it off and show it to all your friends or put it on your fridge."

Wow.)

Anyway, back to Pamida....

After a quick trip to the drug store section I wandered over to electronics. The one thing I have to say about big box stores is that sometimes you can find good deals on dvds and games and what not. Speaking of games...I happened to see a copy of "Beautiful Katamari"...the 3rd installment in the Katamari series on the shelves. Unfortunately, while the other 2 editions are for PS2, this one is for Xbox 360...thus the request in the e-mail to Santa.

One of the many great things about the Katamari games are their awesome soundtracks. I did some snooping on Youtube as well as an internet search or two...and found out that most of the songs are from 80's J-pop stars (Japanese Pop)...which I find intriguing and cool at the same time. One song in particular, "Harvest of Love" has itself firmly lodged in my ear...it appears the soundtrack to the 3rd game is just as catchy as the 1st two...now, to find somewhere reputable online to purchase it...hopefully for less than $50. If you're interested, look up "Beautiful Katamari" on Youtube...and after a bit of perusing, you should find the soundtrack listings.

Also, I found this awesome video on Youtube of the 2005 Paradigm Winter Guard. The song to their routine is the live version of The Dave Matthews Band's "Typical Situation."
Enjoy.

Okay, this was originally a knitting blog...now it's general blog.

I had to shelve the knitting for awhile...my hands just were not taking it so well. I've been working on a few projects here and there...and I have a couple of projects to get done by Christmas...but other than that, my knitting time has been severely cut down.

Suffice it to say, I've found plenty of other ways to occupy my time.

One of them is my new Air Blade. (I should have a picture to post here...but I don't...instead, check it out for yourself here: www.bandshoppe.com ). It's pretty sweet.

For those of you wondering, the Air Blade is the new color guard "weapon" that Band Shoppe released earlier this year. It's sort of an interesting cross between a rifle and a saber...all of which, along with flags and other props, are used in color guard routines that are choreographed to marching band shows. (The blog isn't called "In Defense of Geekery" for nothing.)

At $30 it's cheaper than most traditional guard weapons and it's unique curvature as well as ample places for hand holds make it very versatile. Due to it's construction, each one is also perfectly balanced and weighs the same. ...Plus, it's made out of the same material as Legos are...so that sends the geek factor through the roof.

I was able to enjoy it for a couple of weeks after its arrival, but sadly, it's been sitting in the corner tempting me the past couple of days while it's been snowing and blowing outside.

Instead, I've been filling out college forms and I've started the packing process.

My dad has warned me this time that he's not moving me unless I take only the bare essentials with...bed, clothes, kitchen...and that's about it. Apparently those 3 years of living on the 4th floor of Pierson Hall (and moving in and out) still haunt him to this day. So I've been doing a lot of sorting.

It's been rather therapeutic. I haven't gone through and gotten rid of stuff for awhile now. My space is feeling less cluttered and my mind is much clearer.

Well, I'm off to get a tea and to catch up on this weeks Private Practice and The Office. Later.

Stop looking and start doing already!!!

I have a bad habit when it comes to knitting...I really like to look at knitting patterns.

I actually think it's the pictures that I like the most. I am a very visual person...I like bright, shiny things...as do most people from my generation that have been labeled "ADD"...I like to think of myself as more "Hyper-Imaginative" or "Uber Creative". Either way, I like color and I like interesting shapes and designs. They bring a sort of calm satisfaction on me that's hard to explain.

So really, it makes sense that I like to look at knitting patterns and at pictures of knitted items.

Here's the bad habit part of the whole thing...I could spend hours browsing around on Ravelry, or Etsy or other places on the internet doing this. Call it "yarn prOn" or whatever you want...but I've discovered that this has seriously cut into my knitting time lately.

I used to get on the computer to the basics....check e-mail, chat with friends, download music, etc. Now, first thing in the morning, I'm on Ravelry with morning coffee in hand perusing through patterns and pictures of FO's and yarn stashes, queueing things like they're going out of style and justifying them all..."I'll knit that for so and so for Christmas" or "I could really use another scarf and that one would look fabulous with my black felt pea coat"...and so on and so forth. (Personally, I think one can never have too many scarves....but I've got at least 2 in progress with several balls of yarn set aside for several others.)

Let's face it, my eyes can knit faster than my hands. I'm sure this is a common conundrum among the knitting community. But I think it's gotten a bit ridiculous on my end. Especially since I do have so many WIPs lying around, begging to be finished (including 3 pairs of mittens from Christmas, gifts to my mom, sister and grandma, that have yet to have thumbs put on them and ends put in).

The good news is that I've been slowly, but steadily making progress on it all. I could make more progress though if I'd cut back on the virtual knitting and spend that time on the real knitting.

I think 10 minutes or so of looking each day is healthy though. It inspires me and gives me ideas and sort of takes the edge off of the day. Speaking of which...

So this is what 6am looks like...

It's been awhile since I last posted...it's also been awhile since I last saw 6am. I have this weird thing where if I know that I have to wake up in the morning I have a heck of a time doing it, but if I don't have to be up at any certain time, I have no problem waking up much earlier than I actually want to. (Especially when I'm sick...ugh). Sounds like some twisted form of reverse psychology to me....anyway...

I rediscovered my flute the other day. I hadn't played it in a few weeks...mostly due to the drive-in being open and there not being enough hours in the day to balance work, house work, family work and drive-in work. It was a blessing though...I got a phone call from a student that needed a solo for music camp on very short notice and was wondering if I had anything for her. It was like a fire had been lit inside me. I hadn't taught a lesson in a very long time...much less had a good reason to get out my flute and play...other than just to play. I suddenly had an excuse to dig through my repertoire and come up with something on her level (which was a bit challenging since most of the stuff I have is advanced high school/college level material). I picked out 3 pieces that I thought she could handle and compiled a cd for her with examples of each piece (to help her learn them more quickly...whichever one she choose) and offered to give her a lesson before she left. Though it took some time out of my day and it was something I wasn't getting paid for...I really enjoyed it. The next day we had a lesson and though the stuff I had found was a little too advanced for her, I was able to find something in her method book that was perfect. In short...it was fun...a lot of fun. It sort of made me regret quitting my music major.

I think a lot about when I was a music major. I struggled a lot. I was very far behind on my instrument...I struggled to adapt to college life...I had a huge inferiority complex...etc. It clearly wasn't what I needed to be doing at the time...but I learned a lot from the 2 years I was in the program. I think I've come to realize that I was so immature and unsure of myself that I pretty much set myself up to fail. I look back and see that I never really gave myself the chance. But that was where I was at that point in my life...nothing will change that. I have matured and grown since then. I've realized that there are certain things in my life that I do have control over and that I am just as talented as anybody else that was in that program...I just needed to dig deep and work hard for it, instead of giving up before even trying. I've also realized that I don't think I would've been happy as a music teacher in a public school system. I enjoy teaching and working with kids...but I think I'd rather be a studio teacher than a band teacher.
So maybe going back to school to finish my music degree is a viable option...though I think I'd probably go someplace else other than SDSU...and I'd probably pursue another aspect, such as Music Industry or Therapy or something else. It certainly sounds better than all of the other things I've thought about going back to school for. We'll see...

As of my last post, I was trying to stick to a few knitting projects to whittle away at my heaping pile of yarn and things to do...
That really hasn't worked out as planned. While I have been making progress on my Hufflepuff scarf...I've still been jumping around...not really sticking with one project for very long. That's okay though...I hear it's good to vary techniques and needle sizes...supposedly it's better for your hands. I do need to get crackin' on my dad's socks...they were supposed to be a father's day gift for him (oops).
I'm still working on projects that I need to finish though...one of these days I might actually get one done!
I did start a new one...a shawl for the hospital shawl program. That I think is justified as it's something for a good cause (and it gave me an excuse to buy a new pair of circular needles).
:) I'm about half way through as of now...it's knitting up very quickly. (I'll post images of it soon).

In other news...I figured out how my drop spindle works. That's probably the main reason why I haven't been progressing very far on my knitting projects. I was able to procure about 3lbs of wool roving and have been spinning a lot ever since.
I'm saving up for a wheel right now but I've discovered that I really like the drop spindle. Maybe I don't really need a wheel...though I've heard wonderful things about them.
I guess there's a fiber festival in Watertown towards the end of Sept. Maybe I'll see if I can try a wheel out there...hopefully that will help determine whether or not I should invest in one.
In the meantime...I'm doing the best I can to spin what I have and hopefully I'll make something out of it at some point soon!

That's about all for now...I think I'm going to crawl back into bed and see if I can get a little morning nap in.

Chao!

New Beginnings

So I got bored one day and decided to start a blog. I always thought blogging was cool...and I still think it's cool...which, I guess is a pretty good testament as to how geeky I really am. ;)

So, shortly after that, a whole bunch of stuff happened. I won't go into details, but I became uber busy. So I let the blog fall by the wayside. But things have finally settled down and I'm feeling the blogging urge so here we go again...


I've started and put aside a bazillion projects and managed to actually finish a few since my last posting. From what I understand, this is pretty typical among knitters. So I have projects strewn about my room...some in tote bags, some in the baskets designated for yarn storage/ongoing projects, some in plastic tubs under my bed. At last count I think there were 20 some unfinished works, ranging from garter stitch scarves that I've gotten bored with to afghans that I've been working on for years. There are even a few barely started projects that had to be set aside for various reasons.

So, I've decided to clean up my act, so to speak, and devote some energy to finishing some of these things...which may be easier said than done, especially considering that I have 3 gorgeous hanks of Malabrigo lace weight begging to be played with.

(Aren't they gorgeous?!?)

So anyway, I've formulated a plan to limit myself to 2 or 3 current projects. That way if I get bored with one, I can switch back and forth and I'm not allowing myself anything new until I get a few old ones finished.

The plan seems to be working thus far.

Right now I'm working on finishing an afghan for my cousin's high school graduation...that happened 2 years ago.

The original plan was to make an afghan for her of my own original design. I decided to do a crocheted mitered square design that was cool in theory but as I began working the squares problems soon arose.

I decided on Red Heart yarn because of it's low cost, availability and color options. The main problem was that the different shades of yarn actually crocheted up in different gauges, so some squares were significantly smaller than others. I did a lot of playing around with different hooks and what not and finally just had to give up on it for a little bit.

Finally I decided to try knitting it instead of crocheting it...I didn't want to knit it at first because I thought it'd take too long...ha! So I found a mitered square pattern on the internet and viola, I've actually been making headway on it.



Since this pic was taken, I've nearly finished the dark blue row. Huzzah!


I'm also working on a cardigan right now.

I felt the sudden urge one day to work with some cotton yarn. I suppose that might have something to do with the seasons changing, or that I like the almost cool hand that it has....or maybe I was just craving a change from wool and acrylic.

Anway, I live in the middle of nowhere, so the only thing readily available as far as cotton is concerned is Sugar 'n Cream. It's not idea, but it's not bad and it's affordable. So the 2nd project on the needles right now is a striped cardigan. Granted, this isn't something I've had in the basket for awhile now, it's something new that I started about 3 weeks ago. I have the back completed and am about to start working on the sides.




Right now, what I'm trying to figure out is whether I should knit the sides at the same time, just like you usually knit the sleeves at the same time. I'm thinking it sounds like a good idea, except that I'm working with straight needles instead of circulars, so that might make the whole thing a little awkward. Oh well.

So those are the 2 main projects right now...we'll see how soon I get bored with either one of them and if so, what I replace them with.

That's about all for now.
Until next time...happy knitting!

:)