New specs

New specs! Also I've gotten good at pinning up my short hair.

New glasses from Innervision! They have quite a selection, most of it is kind of this geek-chic look, but they also have some super unique frames. This is my first pair of plastic frames, so it's taken some getting used to.

It's so nice to replace my old pair. I loved my frames but they were starting to break down. Moreover, they were not strong enough. Cambodian optometrist: would not recommend. Not because he was Cambodian, but because he wasn't trying. He asked me to read a line, changed the lens, and read the line again. Well, I already memorized the line from 5 seconds ago! There was no fine tuning and they were not quite good enough for driving. They're good back-ups, though.

Now I can see like real people! I was shocked the way I haven't been since I got my first-ever pair of specs. Maybe my eyes have gotten worse, but when I put these on I feel ten years old again: You can see all the leaves on the trees! The writing on the road signs! Stars sparkle! Okay, maybe stars only sparkle because of the glare from your glasses, but it's fun to see them in two different ways.

I had a Groupon to Innervision so I saved a boatload of money (paid about $60 for the Groupon which covered the exam and up to $200 on frames- these frames were $179, from their cheaper selection); I probably couldn't afford them otherwise (no insurance). I paid for anti-reflective coating because it seemed like a good choice and they didn't try to sell me anything else. Innervision is right by Rittenhouse Square. The store is in an old townhouse-like space, and it was a bit messy- as if they had just moved in and wasn't sure where to put everything yet. Also, I made at least four trips up and down those stairs which wasn't so necessary. Overall it was a nice experience and the optometrist was super friendly and kind. I kept laughing during the exam and having to re-focus.

I'm almost dressed for work in this photo; just need to put on a blazer. With the pearls, the updo and the specs I feel mature, like a librarian first lady that you should probably respect.

Feed yourself

To move on call one of your best friends who has been dealing with you for ages now because you know that although they stood by your choices, they always made it clear that deep down they thought "fuck that guy"; and now they can agree with you out loud: it would be best if you just get over it.
To move on, cook yourself a nice steak and feel better. Caramelize some onions, don't turn on the fan because onions cooking in butter smells amazing. Two minutes later turn on both fans, open the door, don't feel bad when you burn them. 
Let go of making excuses for him.
It's okay to be angry.

It's not that okay, but let your mostly-self-guided Buddhist upbringing make up some logic to support having the feelings you want to indulge in. You shouldn't be angry; you should let go of negative thoughts and accept- but you've been accepting for months and it's only made you sad and bitter and angry in a different way, and if you can say FUCK THAT GUY and be mad and cut him out, you will have let go of all of it and finally moved on. It always hurts to lose someone but it's been hurting more keeping them around. So you will fill your head with bad advice and angry thoughts and only remember the worst parts of him, therefore you can dismiss him, then you can clear your mind. Right?

Sure.

You've gotten good at steak how you want it and fuck what anyone else is going to say about it. Make the onions, the steak, warm the butternut squash puree you made yesterday, make a red wine jus, feel fancy, all in the same pan, dump it all in the same plate so it looks like crap, eat the FUCK out of that plate of food that YOU made all from scratch.

Except the sour cream from the Mexican grocery store. You can't do everything by yourself and that shit is awesome.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Moving to Las Vegas, counting my time in weekends

When I went to Las Vegas to visit I decided to move there.
There isn't enough keeping me here anymore. I can finally save up some money and/or start paying my student loans off (if I can only afford to do the latter, I'll still feel awesome getting out of debt).
I am moving at the end of this short month, meaning I only have about two weeks left. I'll miss my restaurant job, but it's gotten really negative between staff lately & I'm not the only one leaving. I am not much torn up over leaving my day job- they were good and all, but I haven't felt like I was doing a good job since the promotion, and I also found out my direct boss is having an affair with a much much younger coworker. Off-putting.

In good news, my ex and now friend is moving out (remember, the girl I couldn't stand living with) and so I have someone to take a lot of my house-stuff, and in return they are helping me move by taking anything neither of us want to a thrift shop. Yay!

On Sunday I got back, on Monday I took my friend Alex to see Jack's Mannequin and Jukebox the The Ghost (and Allen Stone) in concert (it was awesome and I was super friendly) and they were very good live at the Theater of Live Arts. On Thursday I was supposed to go get my driver's license but it turns out my friend (whose car I was using) does not have a valid insurance card. He pays month-to-month, but when he gets pulled over the cops just look up the car to see that it's insured. The DMV won't do that, I didn't know anything about it, his mom told him to check but he ignored her thinking the DMV would also look up my info. I can't schedule another exam before I leave, so I have to learn the Nevada laws and do it there.
Unless somehow I can convince my mom to let me take the Z4, I'll either have to do it in the 4Runner (impossible. How would I parallel park?) or spend more time with one of her friends and do the test in his car. Problem: I can't stand him for very long, especially if we are one-on-one (like in the car). He's a great guy, does a lot for the community and for my mom, but oh my goodness when I had a driving lesson with him I wanted to stab my eyes out.

On Friday we had a going-away party for another coworker who is moving to Nantucket, and I had a lot of fun but didn't sleep until around 7 in the morning. Then, I woke up at 9:30 to catch a train into the city because I had an eye appointment with a place called Innervision that I found through Groupon. BUT, since they were busy (through Groupon, I imagine), my appointment was delayed and the glasses wouldn't be ready until about 3PM- and I still had to catch the train back to go to work, so I decided to come back another day. I'm not sure when that will be.
On the train ride in I was in a FANTASTIC mood. Maybe I was still drunk, but I just felt so happy, I was laughing at everything, talking to strangers, I gave some beggars money, I'm not sure why I felt so energetic and uplifted. I did connect with someone at the party, but I'm leaving in two weeks- though if I wasn't leaving I would probably have continued to refrain from moving in on them. I guess it's bittersweet.

I ate at Perch Pub for lunch/dinner and while the interior was cool, the view was nice, and the bartender a great bartender, I ordered Eggs Benedict and they didn't agree with me. Also, they were cold! I made it back in time for work and ate some fruit to stave off the hunger.

Saturday night at work I made plans with a different coworker for later in the week- and then he got fired that night! Afterwards I watched movie, was company, didn't sleep until close to seven- the sun was already coming up. I woke up at eleven (I think the stronger sunlight woke me up) and then I had to go home. I made myself soup from scratch, but before I could eat it at 2:20 my manager calls and asks where I am.
Me: I come in at three!
Manager: You come in at two on Sundays.
Me: What? I've always come in at three!
Manager: You've always been wrong!

So I rush in to work and spend the next 7 hours super hungry, but when I got home to my soup I couldn't eat much before I was full. Maybe my stomach shrank from being empty?

That night I slept for about 12 hours straight. Tomorrow is Valentines Day so I'm trying to prepare for a long, busy night full of couples making out and sitting on the same side of their table.
I'm hosting, which bums me out because I won't be making as much money- but I also won't be working as hard. Also also, I won't have to deal with so many PDA couples, so that's good for all of us...

The Cottage

Isn't it cute? So far it's been great, although I had ants in the summer and mice in the winter, I haven't seen much of either. The mice aren't eating my food, which means normal baited traps aren't working. The sonic repellents I bought didn't work AND made a weird clicking noise, so I'll try a different brand. I've had some plumbing issues but nothing that made it unlivable.

I've had some recent issues with roommates, so it's been nice to be on my own. It does get a bit lonely, though. That's not a second unit on the side- it's just got two doors. I know I won't be here forever, though, and I already miss it!

Future Project Friday

It's a new year! So I want to think about some of the craft things I want to get done and the things that I have supplies and ideas for but have just been sitting around.

1. The Big Blue and Green Quilt. This is ongoing for a year now, and it's been in hibernation for too long. With my time off from my day job, I should start it up again.

2. Alex's T-shirt quilt. Just waiting for my bolt of interfacing from Fabric.com. Should get here soon; I've alwasy had great shipping times from them.

3. A t-shirt tunic from one of the shirts in the giant bag Alex gave me. I have good ideas for this one; I only hope it'll turn out well and be wearable.

4. Hemming my Ann Taylor pants. This will wait until I am back to work; I will take them to one of two tailors in the area to judge their service and workmanship before I take more difficult things to them.

5. Tailoring white wool skirt and the yellow wool skirt I got from Patina Vintage- either do it myself or take it to a tailor.

6. New yellow belt for yellow sundress.

7. Four hoodies: resize giant black Toroa zip up; maybe make it a crossover. Red Arcadia Football hoodie: Tunic, white trim? White Arcadia Beaver Beach hoodie: Unsure. May be my practice for the Red hoodie. La Salle hoodie: just cover up the front La Salle logo since I withdrew from the school!

8. Re-do the cuff on the Granny Smith Green socks I made, so I can actually wear them.

9. MY tshirt quilt? with lots of Arcadia shirts? it's a possibility but not a for-sure.

10. Matt's sweater-vest.

11. A bow tie.

12. The Torii tunic pattern I already bought.

13. Jackie's convertible cutoff gloves. She already knows I may take a while. I may be getting a crocheted blanket in exchange!!

14. Beaded necklaces and brooches.

Done this year:

1. Finish Jon's gloves.

2. Take in a teal green button-down. Teal is a color I'm excessively picky about, and I might still not like this shirt... but I like it a lot more now that it fits better.

Sustaining friendships through spending money

Rambling.

Us broke post-college "Millenials" seem to share the idea that people and friendships come first- before, say, work- but that “networking” can be exclusive of a day job and that we don’t need to climb the ladder TOGETHER. We’ve been told competition and jealousy is bad (I’ve read a lot of this “overcoming your jealousy” articles geared towards ladies, as a side note), but I wonder if that is getting in the way of a drive to advance yourself.

-Christine is getting married and it’s important that I stay around, even if it means adjusting my career/education goals

-being a student, I can id with other friends who are students

-working this hard, I sometimes don’t identify with friends who don’t work as hard; however, I can discuss these feelings with mutual harder-working friends.

-I have no idea how to talk to friends who, to me, aren't working at a similar level as I am, whether it be in school or jobs.

-this is good and bad: I want to be friends with people who are similar to me- driven, prioritizing, responsible, not just accepting their debt- but this also pits us against some of those who were our friends. Also I can look snobby or pretentious to those who are friends with those people (friends of friends, who don’t work, used as examples)

-Why do I work? I got a job to have money to go see each other (train tickets, gas) and do things (buy food, go to bars, see the opera) but now I'm always so busy and too busy to see each other (saving up money for a plane ticket to see Alex H means I can’t afford to go to see Alex H yet) (working meant I missed Matt’s bday entirely) (I work the weekends and evenings, which doesn't line up with a lot of my friends)

-However, not living together (dorm) means we have to make time to see each other anyways. Needing to go to the mall to buy things for work meant I actually contacted Alex T. to see if he was free and got to see him. This led to us scheduling a weekly playdate!

Generally discussing money would be see as uncouth; but when money is already an issue between friends (eg roommates paying rent) how much can other friends pass judgment? Was it ok when we thought that one friend's handling of money could hurt another friend? Money is already an issue for us eg jobs, debt, especially when we all went to the same school and therefore have some idea what it all cost us.

Ramble over.

Knits With Friends

I have been knitting!

Jon's cutoff gloves. I have been knitting these since around October, and Jon's birthday, which happens to be the same as mine, was back in September. May I admit that I was occasionally a little peeved at finishing these? It wasn't just that the main time I had to knit was waiting for the train, and because I often found gloves hard to wear why knitting, I let my fingers freeze while I knit something for someone else to stay warm. I got a stranger's approval of the gloves, which was warming.
In order to keep my sanity and my time, I gave Jon a choice of certain things I knew wouldn't be too hard to finish: non-fingered wrist warmers, mittens, socks, a hat, a variety of scarves. And what does he do? Ask for fingerless gloves. *sigh* But I couldn't be mad, because he is my friend and I adore him, and I'd rather him -like- what I made. Fingerless gloves it is. No resentment. And he loves them! That paid off. I have yet to see him wear them, though, so if I don't, Jon may find himself off of my "knit for" list.
People-who-know-knitters: You should listen to your knitters. Indulge them.

Matthew's Tychus Hat, for his birthday. This I deliberated on. I hardly ever see Matt wear knitted hats, which for most people is an indication that they DO NOT LIKE knitted hats. Matt has nice, wavy hair, but perhaps he doesn't like to cram it under close-fitting caps that squash out the nice waviness.

But Matt is good to make things for, because he will really appreciate them as he doesn't knit (or crochet) himself; or he will act like he really appreciates them and makes you feel better. :)  He's also pretty open to creative ideas. He does not, however, shop for clothing much himself, which means 1. He does not already own a knit hat, and 2. He is not actively looking for the perfect knit hat.
This is why he also received, for his birthday, a crocheted scarf in similar colors from another friend, Jackie (in close to our alma mater colors) and from his sister, an amigurimi Rainbow Dash (My biggest current claim to fame is I'm friends IRL with the Brony Prime: http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/12/nightly-roundup-201.html#more He's the "Presumably Psychic Person" and you can click to see his vlog).

I made sure to choose a soft yarn with alpaca in it, because we both just really dig alpacas.

I wanted to believe that the reason he does not have a knit hat is because he hasn't been given the perfect, soft, lovingly-hand-knit hat yet; and he assured me this is true!

While I haven't seen him wear it either, I also have seen him all of once since his birthday, which is more my fault than his.

Two more news octopi for Jenn. You can see their predecessors here: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/onemoreday/news-octopi
The left one has a bit of a squid feel to it; the right one I made a little more lifelike and flat, but it also has seven legs. Hey, octopuses lose legs in real life! I left her a note with them.


All this knitting for friends means that you may get gifts like this for Christmas:

Isn't that great? "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" has been a really popular book but I haven't seen it in person much. I like a lot of the things in here. I jokingly asked if this was a "nudge nudge wink wink" book so that I would make more things for my friends! I also got that great mug from when Jenn was in Disneyland. It's crazy perfect because I've been thinking of buying a fourth mug. I'm only one person, but one of the mugs is delicate enough to hardly count, one holds a lot less liquid, and this one is dark on the inside so it won't get as tea-stained as my other three. And it has DORY from Finding Nemo on it! She's a blue Tang. It has "Find a happy place" repeated on it; my goal in life is to make my surroundings my happy place. A home, friends, family.

More knitting awaits! Still working on my First Sweater.

Claudia

dear self,
remember when you cleared out all the perishable food items before you went away because you always do that, because you hate coming home to rotten wasted food items?
And you think you're so clever and you're really keeping house?

Will you for once remember every time you come back and you have no food in the house?

Love,
Hungry self