Monologue Archive, Summer 2003

8/28/03:
* I went to bed at nine again, and I definitely feel better today. I did get up earlier than normal to take a shower, so that probably helped. I think I'll try to get up at the earlier time all next week and see if that works. Mom loved her new haircut and I managed to get an appointment for next week, so everything worked out fine. Poor Phillip is going to have to go every four weeks by himself (not!).

* I'm taking a how to bake class online. So far, so good, and I now have a pie crust recipe that I don't think I will screw up. I like baking, but so far I haven't been very good at doing it from scratch. This weekend, I will takle the muffins and coffee cake. Maybe next weekend, I will try a pie.

8/27/03:
* I went to bed a little earlier last night, but I seem to have slept better, and I do feel a little better. I'm still ridiculously tired. It's haircut day and volleyball day, but I don't know if we'll make it to both. I'm giving Mom my hair appointment since I'm growing mine out again. I should go play volleyball. I just don't feel much like it right now. If I don't go, I'll have to face the mocking of Mike...

8/26/03:
* I meant to post an entry yesterday. I feel like I'm coming down with a cold, though, and it's making me tired and a bit scatterbrained. I went to bed at nine last night! I bought some gorgeous yarn and beads for my next handbag, in sort of a rosy mauve color. Very vintage. But I don't plan to start it (or anything else!) until the baby sweater is done. Just a sleeve and a half to go, and then the contrast edging. I want to go back to sleep now, but I'm doing HIs instead. Must be the story of my life, always doing things that I know I should instead of what I want to. But it's possible that the shoulds are what I need to be doing. Except when it comes to sleep, that is...maybe I'll go to bed even earlier tonight.

8/22/03:
* If you want people to look at you quizzically and even follow you around, walk around Wal-Mart with a vague smile on your face...It works for me.
* TGIF!!! And I got paid, too. I'm goin' shopping tomorrow at Hobby Lobby, the bead store, and the yarn store!

8/21/03:
* You have to go look at this. It's a photodocumentary of Death Row. Thanks to both2and beyond binary for finding it.
* We've been discussing the possible futures of NW Arkansas at work and among my friends. It's interesting to hear what different people think will happen here, since it's the fastest growing area in Arkansas. Right now, it's four big towns and a lot of smaller ones that are turning into neighborhoods in the big towns. All four of the big towns have grown together, too, so that you can't tell without a sign where one ends and the other begins. However, two are in one county and the other two are in the adjoining county. Several people thought that it would eventually turn into one city, while some of us thought that it would be two smaller "twin" cities. It will all depend on how the government administration gets organized; right now the two county governments cooperate with each other most of the time and the dozen or so town governments cooperate with the counties but not always with each other, and each one seems determined to keep its own identity. There's a little town that's completely embedded in one of the big ones, to the point that it doesn't have its own school system or much of anything but residential areas, but it insists on keeping its town hall and police force (both of them ;) ) and it's own name, even though it's really just a neighborhood in the big town. There are a dozen little towns like that around here. There's just no real telling how they'll end up, but it's fun to speculate!
* I keep being reminded that what I'm doing "by hand" with this weblog, other people have automated. I guess I should go ahead with MT, but I want to learn how to do that sort of thing myself. It's slow going, though. This week has been a bit less stressful, but I still haven't had much time to even go through the links I've collected.

8/18/03:
* Here's proof that the "Beautiful People"...aren't really: Greg's Digital Archive, via both2and beyond binary. I've always kinda known that, since I went through a modeling school, but it's truly amazing what can be done with digital technology!
* Sunday was similarly nice. I keep hoping that each new week will be less stressful than the last, but it hasn't happened yet. Of course it's too early to say about this week...

8/16/03:
* Ahhh...Saturday. We went and had lunch with Mike at Panera Bread and I finally went to the new yarn shop! It was exciting to finally meet some of these yarns in person. I got a skein of Classic Elite Inca Alpaca in the most gorgeous dark teal (1146, Island of the Sun - scroll down for color card). It feels sooooo good, and I don't seem to get a rash from it. I'm knitting on some catnip mice for WendyKnits' Mouse-A-Thon, and a few for my own furry nuisances, too. Now, my parents are on their way over with ribs for supper so I don't have to figure out what to have! What a great day.

8/14/03:
* Whoa. How did it get to be Thursday already? Not that I'm not glad the week's almost over, but I swear yesterday was Monday. It was in this weblog! so I've been busy.

8/11/03:
* I'm going to have to work something out where I get to sit around and do nothing one day a weekend. I went and hung out with Mike Friday night. I didn't stay out too terribly late, but I did stay up past my bedtime. We went to Fuzzy's, which has finally reopened, but we were disappointed because they don't have ribs, spinach queso, or pastrami anymore. Those were our favorite things, and helped set them apart from the other hot sandwich/bar places that riddle Fayetteville. We hung out at Mike's for a bit and he showed me some really silly animations, then we went to Barnes & Noble to hang out with Pete. Saturday, I did mostly lay around the house after dance class. But that night I went to my sister's and didn't get home until 2:30am! Yesterday we went to Target and PetSmart. I didn't find the sort of bra I want, so I guess I'll have to go to a department store after all. So today, I'm tired. Even Phillip said how tired I looked this morning.

8/8/03:
* I am so glad for this week to be over. I may go out with Mike and get him drunk tonight. Some horrible wench that he really liked managed to make him so angry that he slapped her. Not a hard slap, apparently, but I have to say that if she acted towards me the way she apparently acted towards him, I'd have decked her. Her retaliation just proved that she is a small-minded twit. So he needs a night out. Of course, if Phillip wants to go, it may be tomorrow instead, or whenever his days off are.
* I gotta ask: if you managed to upset someone (who by all indications really liked you) enough that they even wanted to slap you, wouldn't you suspect that you were being a jerk? I would. I only try to deliberately annoy people with whom I share a mutual dislike, never people who like me and certainly not anyone I like. Why would anybody behave that way to someone they were supposedly friends with?
* Duhhh...no wonder I feel like crap. I should start my period this week. It's actually a little late, but I'm not getting my hopes up yet. Not after the horrible 46-day cycle of last winter.

8/6/03:
* Maybe it's sick building syndrome. I'm all sore and tired again already! Surely the effects of my long weekend should last longer than a day. I'm supposed to go play volleyball in the park, but I don't feel much like it. Some of that is shortness of breath, probably a combination of Zoloft and caffeine, maybe dehydration or screwy blood sugar. I guess I should go back to the doctor.

8/5/03:
* In other news, I have rediscovered my wool sensitivity since I started knitting on Phillip's sweater again. I won't say allergy because I don't swell up or get hives, but I do get a little rash, and that's just from Wool-Ease, which is only 20% wool! I'd forgotten. I think I'll stick to cotton and synthetics from now on. Well, maybe silk or linen, if I can find some I can afford...

* I took a three-day weekend. From pretty much everything I didn't feel like doing, even if I "should have been" doing whatever it was. I needed it worse than I thought! I feel so much better today that it's unbelievable, even though I'm back at work. I guess that since I've started being well, I've been pushing myself to do things too much. I've gotta remember to go easy on me.

8/1/03:
* It's a new month, and the end of a week. I am hoping that August will be less awful than July was, stresswise.

* I've added some tatting links and (even more!) knitting links to Crafts. I'm working on an article about knitting snobbery, but I'm having trouble with sounding snide. It would probably be easier to write about something that annoys me less. Oh, I am finally moving the old Tips and Free Stuff pages over, but I think the content will go on other pages. And I intend to add my mitered square bead knitted purse pattern next week. I need to take pictures of all this stuff!

7/29/03:
* Still stressed out. I just have to make it through the rest of this week, then I have a 3-day weekend. I am not going to do much of anything during this weekend if I can possibly help it. I should not be this much of a wreck! Truthfully, I think that half of it's hormonal, and since it's nowhere near PMS time, I had better be pregnant. ;) But I'm probably not, it's probably just my screwy body. I do seem to have a little cold, though. Sinuses and head and mild body aches. Nothing like a headache that goes all the way down to your waist...

7/28/03:
* Hear that horrible screaming noise? That's me. Today, I had nightmares, woke up with a vicious sinus headache and nausea, and I seem to be cramping and spotting (and grouchy!) just two weeks after my last period. I'm having a stressful month at work anyway, but right now there's this stupid ELISA problem that we can't figure out, I've run these samples two or three times each now, some of them twice today. Plus, this weekend I had to bribe my husband with fast food to clean the kitchen, and I didn't get anything useful done except go to dance class and go swimming. I almost hate everything. I am taking next Monday off and not doing a damn thing! And I may take Friday, too. I am just not getting the kind of stress relief I need in a normal weekend.

7/25/03:
* I felt much better about the world and my place in it yesterday, so I guess Wednesday can be chalked up to stress, high humidity, and low barometric pressure. Now I'm just glad it's Friday. I've got so much to catch up on! What I'm actually going to end up doing, of course, is hanging out tonight, going to class tomorrow and not much else, and maybe going swimming sometime this weekend. What I should to do is laundry, finish one of the gillion or so projects I have going, and get the graphics and photos done for this site. Ha!

7/23/03:
* Do you ever feel like you're in the wrong place? Not just physically, but in your life or mentally. I keep feeling like I am missing something important, I'm late for something, I've gone the wrong way and ended up in a strange neighborhood. Is it baby fever or anxiety disorder, or is something actually wrong with my life? * Damn, it's only Wednesday!

7/22/03:
* I've gone through and unified the layout/colors of my pages, and now all but About Kwicz, Craft Links, and Science Links are the same "Stars" format. The others will stay to show different color combinations and ocasionally different layouts. * Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow *groan* I am not a happy camper today. I slept for crap, my sinuses have my eyeballs feeling swollen, the storm kept waking me up, and large portions of my body hurt. Luckily, since it's supposed to rain all day, there probably won't be volleyball. I don't think I could handle it anyway.

7/21/03:
* I decided to get with it on the PHP/MySQL thing so my site can be interactive. There are some web sites, PHP Wizard and MySQL.com, that were recommended, but I got book anyway. Not just any book, but a Dummies book - I'm so ashamed ;) . I did discover that I can set up a web server at home using Apache, which is free! But I have a long way to go before I get any of it set up. The database design alone will take me forever. Still, I'm getting a start! * What a nice weekend! I didn't do half the stuff I wanted to, but I did get some much needed rest. I finished a knitting project! We went out for lunch and a little shopping Sunday, then I went swimming with my sister and the rest that afternoon. I feel bad in a way, because I really wanted to hang out with my friend Mike, but I didn't. I'm a bad friend that way, I guess.

7/18/03:
* Friday at last! Not a payday, but I just don't care. I swear the weeks are getting longer. Probably because I'd rather be swimming or napping or doing anything but working. Mom's up monitoring the progress on their building and making sure they put the doors in the right places. It would be fun to see what they're doing. I guess I can go see what's done this weekend.

7/17/03:
* It's Thursday! Hooray! That means tomorrow is Friday. I wanna go home and take a nap now. But I can't leave until 4:30, so I guess I'll poke aroundon the internet some more...
* Somehow, I never got around to making an entry yesterday. I was doing HIs and researching bra construction, and I added a bunch of links to the sewing section of the Crafts page, and started a WIP log on the side. anything but ordinary had this link to Citrus Moon daily background tiles, and they have other neat stuff, too, very useful if you aren't much into designing backgrounds. I keep intending to finish my layouts for this site and get them up, but the crankiness of the computer at home and weirdness of Adobe Photoshop Elements has made me reluctant to work on them.

7/15/03:
* Well, I had a nice long weekend, even though there are some issues to be resolved at home. No belly dance class on Saturday; I ended up spending most of the day being a couch potato, and I watched all my HGTV shows for a change. I went out to Beaver Lake with my family Friday and Sunday, except Phillip. Dad brought the bass boat so we can go out there whenever we can get my brother-in-law to tow the boat out. It was nice, the water is just right, it wasn't too crowded, and it wasn't too hot since it stormed half the weekend. I love swimming, I should do it more often!
* I did get a few things done this weekend, finally exchanged that dress I got last week, finished another handbag, knitted a coaster for my nice cold drinks, hopefully learned how to do 'knit, then knit through back loop' increases in ribbing for my knitted bikini top so I can finally finish and wear the thing! I have redone the first three increase rows three or four times this weekend because it didn't look good with the ribbing, so maybe I've got it figured out now. Yesterday, Mom and I went to Hobby Lobby and had lunch with Dad and my niece. I got the size 13 circular needle I needed for a shawl, some polyclay that was on sale, and a nice big papier-maiche hatbox to decorate. Fabric keeps tempting me. I have got to clean up my crafty work area so I can set up the sewing machine!

7/11/03:
* Phillip told me yesterday that he may stay on third shift permanently. I don't really know how I feel about that. I want him to be happy, but I want me to be happy, too! We don't need the money from the shift differential, so that doesn't enter into it. I miss getting to sleep next to him, but I like getting to see him while I'm awake in the morning. That didn't happen too much when he was on first shift, because he left before my alarm even went off. Stupid commute, anyway. But I'm not sure if it matters what I think. At this point, I'd settle for a few days off alone together.

7/10/03:
We didn't play volleyball yesterday. Two church groups were using the court. I think we should play some other night, preferably later than 6pm. It's too hot to play outside if you aren't in the water! So we went to Cable Car Pizza and had a gelato afterwards. Much better than sweating and getting sand in my shorts! And we got some exercise anyway, because we walked the three blocks from Mike's to Cable Car and then back.

7/9/03:
Yeeeaahhhh. Definitely with the PMS. And I'm going to play volleyball this afternoon? These will not be my best moments. But it's obviously a grrl power sort of day, the first thing I read this morning was an article about how Stonehenge is a representation of female genitalia. You go, ancient matriarchal Goddess-worshipping culture! I'd like to be worshipped. I'll live with my current state of mild spoiledness. I wouldn't mind some adoration though, even from afar...

7/8/03:
Who will be my judge, and which one will I trust? I am guessing that PMS has set in, because this morning I got into an argument with Phillip. And my lower back hurts. And my head hurts, but I'm not sure if it's just the weather and my sinuses or what. I'm trying not to be crabby!

This is the break between comments at the end of entries and comments at the beginning of entries. All comments will be at the beginning of the entries from here on out.

7/7/03:I found this great origami star via not martha. It's so cute, and not unlike the ribbon roses I learned to make at the jewelry store once upon a time. I've got to stop picking up crafts!
* The rest of the weekend was terribly uneventful. I'm hoping it's an uneventful week, but I won't hold my breath. Seems like there have been a few too many last-minute emergencies at work lately. There's definitely more to do, last-minute or not. I have been doing record numbers (for me) of AI AGIDs. Even ELISAs have picked up. I wanna go on vacation! Actually, I guess I'm going to Shreveport in a few weeks for a bead retreat, so that will have to do. No telling when poor Phillip will get time off!

7/5/03:I shopped. I usually hate to do that right after a national holiday, but in this case, everybody else went yesterday. It was the calmest retail Saturday I've seen in a long time. I got more stretch jeans and some cotton/Lycra short-sleeve button downs, new sheets and pillowcases for our bed, and, well, fabric for another belly cancing costume. It's gorgeous, iridescent mettalic deep teal rayon and matching chiffon. This costume is going to be a little more cabaret style than the first, bra or halter top and handkerchief-hem skirt. Like I need another project? But the color is exquisite, looks amazing on me, and drapes like a dream. I can't wait to play with it.
* We had a tolerable holiday. Phillip didn't get to sleep until rather late, so we didn't really do anything but go out to eat. Missed the fireworks, mostly. It was eerie; by the time we went out, there were so few people out I was starting to wonder if there'd been a terrorist threat or something. Nine-thirty on a Friday isn't late by any means around here, so it was kinda creepy to have the roads to ourselves. Maybe they all went camping? Probably everyone was home changing clothes to go out. It was so hot, even after dark, that anyone who was out watching fireworks would've sweated through whatever they had on. I swear it was still 85 degrees and 90% humidity when we wandered home at tenish.

7/2/03:If I'm going to use Movable Type for my new site, I have got to get going. I want to move this weblog over, and there's no reason I couldn't get it all set up with the new stuff instead of just copying it over. Well, okay, there are two reasons, not enough time and wobbly inclination to learn a new program. I've taken a break from the CSS layout experiments because it was stressing me out. I did start separating my huge link lists into subject pages, and am just waiting on proper layout to add other content. Eventually, all my links will be on these pages instead of in a gargantuan bookmarks file. I think that it will not only be more convenient for me, but interesting and useful to other people as well.

7/1/03:Have I mentioned how much I dislike most of the clothes in the stores right now? Even trusty thrift and consignment stores aren't having what I want. The only things I like to wear that I can still get new are v-neck tee shirts, shelf-bra camisole tanks, and sometimes jeans. What happened to nice normal button-down short sleeved shirts and stretch twill khakis? Everything has these horrible ruffles, a surplice wrap top, or a strange fit. It makes shopping a lot less fun.

6/30/03:What we have here...is an amazing link to a list of blog reader and writer wishes. It's good, and I'll have to try and do some of those things...

6/29/03:I got more done than I realized last night. Not as much as needs to be done, though. It's still too early in the morning to operate my Adobe Photoshop Elements, so the graphics aren't done yet. I've been coding, instead. If something doesn't work properly, you know why! But it's been fairly straightforward stuff, so hopefully I haven't screwed anything up too much. I won't fiddle with CSS again until after lunch! Speaking of lunch, I'm hungry already. I'm never hungry in the morning. But since I started taking the Zoloft, I've been hungry much more often. Maybe it's because I'm so much more active? I hope so. I certainly have been this week.

6/28/03:All right! I've got my new site up and running, thanks to the very good help files provided by my new hosting service. I went with Thrust Networks, and so far it's amazing. Of course, after putting up with Geocities, any host that functioned properly would seem good, but really, these guys are helpful, quick on the draw with the setup and tech support, and have a very well laid-out service. I'm so happy *sniff*! Now I'm going to bed. It's almost midnight! No wonder I'm tired and the CSS divs are giving me fits! (Damned divs...)

6/27/03:I am a fluffbrain. When I learn to read all the way through things, I will have achieved the level of competency I expect from myself. My domain is fine, I have been able to get into my new hosting account since Tuesday, if I just used the right login! So off I go to have a busy lunch moving stuff to kwicz.com.

6/26/03:On a hot, humid evening, clouds gathering, a sweaty trio bats a grubby white ball over a net. The park in which the net resides is a lovely one, and still rather full of children and those who are obviously dedicated to their exercise routines. The court is thinly spread sand over packed soil, and hinders the trio's running and diving for the ball. Yet they persevere, even through knee abrasions, sand in the underwear from diving after the ball, and occasional dizzy spells. Their hopes are to become more fit and more proficient at the game. Their persistence will undoubtedly aid them in realizing those hopes.
* According to this birthday-based Tree types selector, I'm a Fig: Sensibility.
Very strong
a bit self-willed
independent
does not allow contradiction or arguments
loves life,
its family,
children and animals
a bit of a butterfly
good sense of humor
likes idleness and laziness
of practical talent and intelligence.
I don't know how much of that I'll admit to, but it's not too far off... From Press Any Key, via J.A.S.O.N..

6/25/03:The checkout line moved quite slowly. I had plenty of time to speculate about the purchases of those sharing the wait. They had two bales of cedar shavings, a case of canned cat food, and six twelve-packs of Diet Coke. Oh, there were some other small items, AA batteries and such, but still... Do they breed cats for a living, and use the cedar shavings as litter or bedding? have a ferret colony that they feed cat food? Are they raising mice to supplement their cat's canned food diet? donating the stuff to an animal shelter and having a Diet Coke party? using Diet Coke and cedar shavings as part of a secret formula for ice boats??
My collection of items seemed terribly mundane. After all, I was there mostly for the Zoloft, crackers, and a new watch. Add double-wide magazine boxes, calcium supplements, sunscreen, feminine hygiene products, and brightly colored eyeliner, and my purchases look...crazy-femme.
Wonder what someone else would think of me from my shopping cart contents?
* In other news, my domain is still not done, presumably until my payment is processed. They did say it would take 24-48 hours. I was really hoping for 24.

6/24/03:Yay! I got my new web hosting set up. All I have to do now is finish my redesign and wait for my domain to be set up. I'll be kwicz@kwicz.com! I'll still keep my Yahoo! Mail, though. It's too useful. Hopefully, my web site will be moved to http://www.kwicz.com by this weekend. The redesign may take longer, but everything that I have here on Geocities will go.

6/23/03:I sincerely hate Geocities now, and I'm going to move everything ot my new host as fast as I can. The problems I've encountered are ridiculous! Now, not only am I diverted to a page attempting to get me to pay for this lousy service, if I take more than two minutes to edit something, or go look at someting else while the filemanager page loads, it times out and I have to start over! I'm sick of it.
* Another brain test, the Mind Media Brain Persuasion Test. I'm almost compulsive about the things! I love this kind of test. My results were Auditory : 50%, Visual : 50%, Left : 62%, Right : 37%. Even though I'm a lefty! It went on to say that "Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established, which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor, unless it requires total spontaneity and ability to improvise, your weaker traits. However, you are far from rigid or overcontrolled. You possess a degree of individuality, perceptiveness, and trust in your intuition to function at much more sophisticated levels than most." All pretty true, so far. I don't like it that I have to reason everything out before I do it, but in the long run, it's probably better that I do. It also says that I'm functional and practical, but can use abstract and unproven ideas, and I can process unidimensionally and multidimensionally with equal ease. An interesting test, overall. And easy to take, only 20 questions.
* I had a good birthday. Good food, good company, nice day. We cleaned and rearranged the living room, and it looks great! I have so much energy right now. It's weird, good, and a little annoying - there are so many things I want to do! Besides getting the living room (and kitchen, and some of the back yard) all clean and neat, I started clipping for my collage cards and got to the cup shaping on my knitted bikini top (PDF). Sunday, I went to Hancock's and got some gorgeous crepe chiffon in a blue and green print and some patterns. Two are New Look; #6043, a halter and skirt pattern to use with the blue and green calico fabrics I got last week, and maybe for a belly dancing costume, and the other is # 6244, a bias-cut dress, the slip style of which is exacty the kind of dress I like. One is a McCall's bathing suit pattern (which I can't find on their site, the tossers!), mostly for the tankini style, but I like the bottoms too. Cute shorts and a realistic bikini bottom, how weird is that?

6/20/03:All righty then. I decided to have a cookout tomorrow for my birthday/midsummer. I've got to learn to plan ahead more than three days! I got most of the crap off the dining table last night, and really, all we need to do is mow the lawn and vacuum. And grocery shop! Gotta get food if we're gonna cook out. I want to put up the christmas lights on the pergola that I've been meaning to put up for two years now.

6/19/03:Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters! I could use one. Found it at not martha.
* Meep ~!mphglrf. I am not really awake this morning. I had extremely vivid dreams about people that don't exist. This is a disorienting experience; I always feel like I should know these people in real life.
* I've been resisting adding rap@geek.com to my list of everyday reads, but I can't do that anymore. Go see the custom job on that motorcycle. Not safe for people lacking a sense of humor!

6/18/03:I know I said my political stuff would all go on brotherjames, but i couldn't resist this one. SelectSmart, always full of really interesting things, has this Presidential candidate selector up, newly updated for 2003. My views most closely match Sen. John Edwards (eek!) and "Libertarian Candidate" (well duh). Dubya made the list at a 47% match. He and the libertarian and a Constitution party candidate are the only non-Democrats (gee I wonder why?). Found it on Loosetooth.
* Oh yes, Movable Type. It requires custom CGI scripts, Perl version 5.004_04 or better, and DB_File Perl (Berkeley DB) module OR the MySQL database & DBD::mysql. Definitely not available from Geocities without paying an arm and a leg. And I'm not paying for Geocities.
* Does this surprise anyone? Not me, certainly. Found it on being jennifer garrett.

[take the test] - [by krystaljungle.com]