deepgreen18: (Default)
I am very, very lucky to have a confrontation-avoiding family. We have drama, it just doesn't happen during the holidays. I have heard some fairly frightening stories from others in the past couple days, and this has made me truly, well, thankful that I come from a bunch of south-westerners. Not that our avoidance of public scenes is healthy all the time, but get-togethers don't end up in shouting, drunkenness, and general disorder.

Onto other, happier, topics. We went and visited our family today, as tradition demands. Copious amounts of meat, starches, well-doctored vegetables, and pie were consumed. We also fed the mass-media glut that often happens today by going to Blockbuster and renting a movie afterwards.

It was a rather quiet day, excluding our 2-3 hours of driving. I crocheted and knit during both trips, and managed to produce a man's ring of bamboo crochet thread (I was very pleased by the final result), and two inches of a gift scarf (new project alert!). I just realized, however, that producing six feet of the thing is going to require an audio-book. This is what got me through the afghan: a 23-hour sci-fi audio-book. Stephanie Meyer's The Host, in fact. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great, either, just a slightly unusually-set, overly complicated romance novel. I wonder what I'll come up with to listen to next.

I reorganized my room a bit the last few days. I have a bookshelf again! Being able to immediately fill three shelves full of books amused and alarmed me. I only started buying books four years ago! This does not bode well for my future storage needs. In the process of clearing space for my bookcase, I had to face my knitting and crochet collection. Another rubbermaid container was bought to store the yarn (embarrassed fidgeting commences), and I still need to buy an organizer for my knitting needles. I'm wondering how exactly I bought so much stuff without really noticing until now. General apathy plus a convenient stashing place equals not enough knowledge, I think.
I will be working on using the stash until it reaches a manageable size again, and I'm also finishing some old works-in-progress. I had two that just needed ends worked in (now basically finished), and I've got three that need sewing of zippers and lining. I think I'll bring out the sewing machine tomorrow, and finish the three.

Hope to talk to you all soon,
Greeny
deepgreen18: (Default)
I have a few things to talk about today. I read a book, finished it last night, in fact. It's called Little Brother. All about what might happen if we just kept going with the security vs. Bill of Rights craziness we have now. I feel almost scarred by reading it. It was well-written, a very thoughtful story, and the main things I take away from it are: 1) No matter what your cause, giving up doesn't work. Keep pounding away at a problem, attack it from every angle. That is how you win.
2) At the very last, I read the words "Surveillence doesn't give us security, privacy does." I'm paraphrasing, but that really made me think, "Why?" My answer is: security is about knowing that you are safe. To know that you are safe, you have to trust someone or something. People mostly trust locks or cameras to keep the bad guys out. It isn't really that effective against knowledgable and determined thieves or murderers, but that is what we trust. It used to be (and maybe it still is) in smaller towns/neighborhoods that people trusted their neighbors. They knew and trusted other people not to steal from them or kill them, and even to warn them of potential threats. Now, the anonymity of the city is something to be prized, and so we depend on locks. Perhaps this is a bit negative towards city folk. Honestly, though, I felt safer at home alone when I was 16 and living out in the country than I do now in my not-so-soundproof apartment in a mid-sized city.
In any case, I read a book, and it changed me just a little. That is unusual. My usual book fare is fantasy, something not so very present.

Oh yeah, there was something else. I have an analogy for you. "Keep on the ball." Well, the last two days? I dropped the ball on some sharp objects, and now I have to stop, repair it, and in general live with it until its done. The whole situation is scarily reminiscent of New Orleans, except no car trouble. I lost my braces, and my phone got wet and is shutting itself down. Sigh. Oddly, they are about equal in stress level.

Now, off I go. Balls to patch (maybe I'll just buy a new one).

Greeny

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November 2012

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