Thoughts on knitting, food, ceramics, and whatever other randomness crosses my mind
(formerly known as: squirrelknits)
By the way, the red text/words are almost always links, and you can click on any of the blog photos for the full-sized version. For some odd reason, none of my links are underlined, so hover away...
So have I mentioned that I have cashed in vast amounts of frequent flyer miles to travel business class to Hong Kong and Shanghai for a two week vacation?
Well, the time IS now getting closer (12 days!) and I'm simultaneously excited and pulling out my hair, since I'm also in the middle of refinancing my mortgage (AGH!) and that entails a visit from the appraiser (Tues AM, so I'm frantically cleaning out my apt this weekend: the word TERROR does spring to mind) as well as the financial ravaging involved with all of the closing costs, etc. Ugh.
Also, I have done exactly ZERO about arranging my trips around within China, such as to Guilin and Ningbo, but I'm hoping to either sort of wing it, since there are so many airlines within China, or else to just explore HK and Shanghai at my own pace.
The latter option is definitely appealing too, since I like to just wander around back streets and poke around museums and things, taking photos of odd signage which amuses me :) Plus, this year has been so stressful so far that I'm leaning towards the more mellow option, instead of "if it's Tuesday, this must be Guilin..." And of course, I want to meet up with all of my friends without having to rush around like a maniac.
I mean, the whole point of a vacation is TO RELAX, correct? And booking myself up for my personal edition of THE AMAZING RACE just does not sound very relaxing. (But Guilin is supposed to be just gorgeous...) And to that point, I have cut out Japan from the itinerary, since that would NOT be relaxing, what with my health scare this spring.
And the food porn is courtesy of Mom, who made this late last month for Dad for a belated Tomb-Sweeping Day observance.
So yes, I've been gone for a loooong time from here. It's been a busy month. Or 5-6 weeks. Taxes. Another reorg at work. (And no, I don't know how many that makes over the past few years.) Got my health tests back from MSKCC after a scare about a possible lump in my OTHER boob (yeah, those were the most miserable 2-3 weeks in recent memory until after the all-clear, and left me noticeably foul-tempered at work).
But now, I'm generally more cheerful. I'm still employed (with fabbo health insurance) and have gotten better at not letting the inanity / insanity at the office get to me. Try (usually successfully) to visit my mom every Monday so we watch DANCING WITH THE STARS together (heh). My family is healthy and doing well. I can even finally see the floor in my bedroom again. Hanging out with my real-life friends here locally is also part of my routine.
And as those stats in the photo up above show, I have been writing up a storm (hence, kinda quiet here) and making writing friends, as well as general goofing-off friends via Twitter and Tumblr. (Warning: that link to my Tumblr account may be full of amusement, especially if you know the way my mind works, but don't read the stories unless you want your eyelids seared with smut. Just sayin' ;-p)
In addition to all of that, I have started noticing the opposite sex again (translation: severely crushing on a writer, as my 100th Tumblr post shows) so I say it's time to start dating again! Will take a deep breath and call IT'S JUST LUNCH to see how much they cost. My wall unit savings account can be redirected to the "get me to relearn how to socialize" fund instead. Since my Pearl of Wisdom wisely pointed out that my last two relationships left a few things to be desired (not going to get into the details of our problems here, I can can definitely recognize the things she mentioned) so it's not surprising that I'm ambivalent about the idea of EVER marrying. Heck, just getting back into the swing of things will be a novelty for me. It's been almost exactly one year since I broke up with The Engineer, so yeah, it's time.
And one that note, I am going to immerse myself in my new Adele: 21 CD which is FANTASTIC. That woman has chops! And since I never watch the Grammys, I didn't know she'd won any. Instead, I was introduced to her vocal prowess in my across the hall neighbor's living room, via his blow-black-your-hair home theater system. I am in aural adoration mode (with Adele -- my 20 year old TV shows I'm not that bothered about home theater stuff).
Work has been hellacious lately (lather, rinse, repeat) and whenever that happens, I start thinking about (a) updating my resume, and/or (b) planning my next vacation. In this case, I did both, but I'm going to talk about only the fun part here.
You know how I've been diligently accumulating all of my frequent flyer miles over the years for a return trip to Asia in business class? Well I'm finally about to pull the trigger as they say!
I had had a reservation on American for NYC - Shanghai || HK - NYC, but due to a glass of wine at dinner last night (yes, I am such a lightweight) I completely forgot that it expired at midnight last night, and NOT today, as my tiny pea brain thought. Oops.
Well hey, I've been trying to be more mellow about things lately (and sometimes it even works). In this case, I looked upon it as an opportunity to see if I could wangle a different itinerary (since you NEVER EVER get non-stop flights from A to B when using miles, from my experience). Since I wanted to build a multi-leg trip (instead of a straight round trip), and American therefore insisted routing me thru various connections, I thought I'd turn that to my advantage. (Note: the human touch worked so much better than the website in this case --> worth the phone time waiting for them to tweak SABRE.)
Et voila! I will now also be exploring Tokyo and Kyoto on my upcoming trip! All 4 legs of my trip are in business class (YES!) and I will be travelling thusly (bold legs are FF tickets):
NYC - Toronto - Hong Kong (short layover in Toronto, Cathay Pacific to HKG)
Hong Kong - Guilin (Chinese airlines are quite reasonable)
Guilin - Shanghai
Shanghai - Tokyo Narita (Japan Airlines)
Tokyo - Kyoto - Tokyo on the bullet train (have a friend in Kyoto, and Tokyo's a little overwhelming on my own, so probably more time in Kyoto, which is prettier from what I hear [less bombing from WWII])
Tokyo Haneda - JFK (non-stop on American)
All told, I will be gone for 2 weeks, but with Memorial Day and a few business meetings sandwiched in, I should NOT blow 75% of my annual vacation days, maybe only 50% instead. Bonus!
So I've e-mailed all of my buddies in HK and Shanghai, and my friend Brian and his wife (hi Brian!) are not only going to help me reconnect with the people I met a few years ago, but also meet new contacts, what with the endless restructuring gyrations that have been going on within the company.
Hence, a photo of Chinese food to start this post with (heh) courtesy of Kam Man Foods here on Canal Street. (There are several other branches, if you want to explore their website.)
Today I've spent mostly on the phone with American, instead of prepping my taxes (ah well, there's always next weekend -- oh wait: I'm meeting my sister for a girl's weekend then, where I will also go to her hairdresser and finally ditch my grey hair). Ooops, better get cracking with that tax stuff soon!
Tomorrow morning, I'm going to try to get up early (stop laughing so hard! I can hear you from here!) and go to Sloan for blood tests before work. Then the results will be ready for my oncologist when I go see her on Thursday for my quarterly check up. If all goes well on Thursday, then I get upgraded to a semi-annual visit.
Tonight, I leave you with this clip of some haunting piano music from a recent episode of CRIMINAL MINDS (insert fangirl squealing: here) which has been on loop in my home, that and another song I discovered recently called Inner Smile (Scottish band named after a US state that hit the UK charts, recommended by a woman in Cyprus, where the official video showing the female lead singer REALLY resembling Elvis: dizzy yet?).
Here's a link to the official Inner Smile video, filmed in 2000 wherein the very attractive female lead singer resembles Elvis to a startling degree. The whole theme of the video (which is really very clever) is a '60s style tribute to Elvis and reminds me why k.d. lang used to be so appealing. Check out the official video for Constant Craving if you need a refresher/reminder.
The video BELOW is of an autistic character, and the music has obsessed the show's fans ever since the episode aired. What do you think, folks? Catchy tune, eh?
No pun intended, but good smut is hard work. Really, just like filming a "love" scene in a movie, writing smut seems much more fun-filled and glamorous than it actually is.
First, there are only so many ways to describe certain body parts without either (a) repetition, or (b) euphemisms that make me burst out laughing. I mean, if you get detailed at all, there are quite a few paragraphs to go where you describe, um, certain activities. And after 7 chapters, my readers have been quite vocal about wanting some action! Heh.
Secondly, logistical issues abound. You don't want to accidentally give your characters extra limbs or contort them into physically unlikely positions. I don't care if you work for Cirque du Soleil, some feats are simply not possible. Likewise, just as in a movie, continuity is key. Otherwise, an attentive reader will realize that you have given one participant two left arms. Since I am not writing for Star Trek or Babylon-5, this would not be helpful.
Why am I suddenly concerned about the problems or purple prose? Well, uh, remember how I mentioned that I've started to write fan fiction? (Criminal Minds is my only milieu, by the way.) I'm now up to 20,000 words, with 13,000+ hits this year, and 64 subscribers. (The photo above shows the statistical breakdowns the site provides to the author.)
Yes, 64 random strangers around the world have subscribed to my stories so far. Since I only subscribe to maybe THREE authors I'm kinda proud of that statistic. (There is a lot of dreck out there, as you can imagine.) The only downside is that now I'm afraid to read some of my favorite writers since I don't want to unintentionally absorb their ideas.
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it's also known by another name: plagiarism. Oops.
In school, I always found that I did better in structured writing than "free topic essays" (i.e., write whatever you like, about anything you want; no guidance provided as to topic, format, etc.) which tended to make my mind go completely blank.
This is more like writing for a pre-established universe, a la Star Trek or Star Wars (a/k/a easier for first time writers like me). I'm enjoying the whole process of writing: outlining chapters, constructing imaginary homes with floor plans (more continuity concerns), considering where to end each chapter (I'm on 8 of 12+ for this particular story at the moment), and in general, building an overall framework for my characters to inhabit. Just ignore the part about them being from a TV show. ;)
Right now, I'm dealing with a nasty sore throat / cold / sinus congestion combination, so the behavior or my characters should be really interesting, since I'm feeling waaaaay loopy. (Can antibiotics make you lightheaded?)
And a visit to the dentist enlightened me as the the corollary of giant sinus headaches: toothaches. He showed me an x-ray where one of my molars is literally stabbing one of my sinuses with the roots of the tooth. No wonder my upper jaw hurts!
Yep, I'm a wreck. Took Friday off from work after the dental visit since (a) I felt like roadkill [coughing all night will do that to you], (b) wouldn't be productive at the office in that state anyway, and (c) the dentist told me I looked really run down [he's known me for over a decade -- he's allowed, heh] and that my cheek was all puffy and I sounded really congested. Translation: you're sick! go home! don't go out into the pouring rain and head to work!
There are many other things I need to catch you all up on, but I can only grasp one train of thought at a time in my head these days.
Huh. I've been awake for a whole three hours. Time for another nap.
Thank you to those of you who wrote to me. Your kind words were truly appreciated. I'm sorry if I haven't replied individually, but just like those endless "wait / status " messages on your computer, I'm still processing... and at odd moments (like when I'm crossing the street) I'll have the urge to burst into tears. Being my mother's daughter though, I really have a hard time letting them flow, which is starting to affect my sleep...
My brother-in-law was really like my second father, since he married my sister when I was six, and my own father died when I was thirteen. He helped shape the person I became, and was always there for me with a hug and a smile, teasingly calling me "the family's professor".
When we had his 70th birthday party (only four years ago, before Alzheimer's truly took him away from us) I think I made remarks (into a microphone!) to the effect that all of my best attributes came from him, and any faults were purely my own. Judging from the eulogies, the extremely large (intercontinental) turnout at his memorial service last Sunday (Feb. 6th), and most of all, the three wonderful children he helped raise, I was not alone in this feeling. The church was full, and we truly celebrated the generous, honorable, and compassionate man that he was.
Tomorrow, I will go visit my sister in CT, and probably drive her nuts with the number of hugs I will give her (I am a hugger, she, less so) but part of that is because I am needing the hugs myself these days.
I hope she will like the changes to my brother-in-law's memorial website that I have made. Like my absentminded contemplation of different funerary customs across cultures (Chinese, Jewish, Egyptian, Christian... see why he called me his professor?) my devotion to building his site is one way of dealing with his loss.
For those of you who work in finance, please take the time to read his friend's eulogy, which was truly eye-opening for me. I never knew that Paul Volcker (then Chairman of the Fed) and the people on the masthead (?) of the HSBC annual reports all paid attention to his comments. To his family, he was always just a loving, humble, humorous man who worked somewhere on Wall Street and always made sure the backyard bird feeder was full.
For those of you who don't know or care who Stephen Green is, there's a photo I love showing my brother-in-law as a young man. He's smiling with amusement at the photographer, and it's quite startling to realize he was a hottie! I mean he was always an attractive man, but it's like looking at your dad and thinking, "Wow! No wonder my mom [literally, MY mom -- whom many of you have met] always said he was good lookin'!"
Okay, I'm kind of rambling. Clearly time for sleep. No, not the eternal kind either. (The burial was last Monday, the 7th, and it was a sunny but not frigid day.) Yes, definitely rambling.
So yesterday's forecast was for 4-6 inches of snow. BZZZZZT! Survey says: 15" of snow in Central Park today. Unlike the usual Chicken Little routine of local meteorologists (or as my friend Sam mockingly calls it "Death Storm 20xx") they actually severely underestimated the snowfall. Plus, we had thundersnow -- that's twice in one winter.
Speaking of odd natural phenomena -- why are there still leaves on the trees in the traffic circle?! It's January, fer pete's sake.
Lessee, what else is going on? Well, I realized the other night that on January 30th, it will be exactly two years since my surgery. Holy tostitos, Batman!
That realization was an odd moment. On the one hand, it feels like so much longer than that. (Really? You mean I had four decades of life PD? [pre-diagnosis]) On the other, it seems like not so long ago. I guess two years is not that long, relatively speaking, but I remember with crystal clarity the day my doctor called with the fun news (12/30/08).
Of the 10 bullet points I listed in my previous post (I actually remembered more later) I accomplished exactly... one-half of one item during my staycation. Heh. My entryway area is now very tidy. Oh, and I did lots of laundry (clean clothes -- what a novelty!)
What did I do instead, you may ask? Why I wrote almost 10,000 words of fanfiction. (Yes, the superdork sign is flashing in neon lights above my head right now.) I find it absolutely flabbergasting that my stories have had over 5,000 hits, with over 3,000 visitors, and 40+ people (all complete strangers) subscribed to my work! Holy cr*p! As the Brits would say, I'm all chuffed :)
Besides the ego boost, the writing is actually sort of therapeutic, as my Pearl of Wisdom has helped me realize that I identify so strongly with certain characters because hey, the guy is very emotionally reserved (sound like anyone we know? oh yeah -- my last 2 exes. oh, and MY DAD) and the woman is outwardly confident but trundling around a wheelie full of baggage inside (ahem. no comment).
Yeah, Pearl is all pleased that I'll be working on some of my Issues "using a creative outlet". I find that I really do enjoy writing (heck, I even incorporated my panda fetish into the stories -- HA! so there!) and now I sort of understand why sometimes real (professional) authors say things like, "I honestly had no idea my characters were going to do that." Huh.
And now I can truly appreciate (quite viscerally) just how much work goes into well-crafted stories. Yow.
Okay, lunch time is OVAH.
Yeah, NYC public schools are all closed today (!) -- as well as "all non-essentiall NYC personnel" -- and yet my employer is still open. Boo!
(Ironic footnote: I leapt out of bed waaaay more promptly this morning than usual, in order to check to see if our office was officially closed. Heh.)
So what are the odds that by the time I go back to work from my staycation, I will have completely reversed my sleeping schedule? So far, I've gone to bed at 12:30 AM (somewhat normal for me), 4:30 AM (late, even for me), and oh yeah, 4:30 AM (again). Oops.
I've also cemented my supernerd status by writing my first fanfiction short story ever, a drabble (normally defined as 100 words in other FF realms, but set as 1,000 words in the fandom I loiter in) which has made me really, really appreciate the well-written ones I've come across.
And no, I am so not telling you where I posted this froth.
In other entertaining but useless endeavors, I have also signed up for a Twitter account, and lemme tellya, it's like wandering into a foreign country, since the syntax and conventions are entirely alien to this middle-aged chick. (It also makes me think stalkers must be in nirvana in borderless territory like that. Yikes.)
On the bright side, I have done 3 loads (or one overflowing granny cart) of laundry so far. Trust me, I have quite a pile yet to go.
Other tasks awaiting me this week:
refinancing my mortage - not something I want to discuss @ work
updating my resume - uh, ditto!
checking out details on how much $$$$ the dating service a friend recommended - ummmm, really ditto!
visiting my friend's parents in Princeton
visiting my family in CT
returning one of the down coats I bought for mom for Xmas (rejected by recipient)
shipping out a giant pile of packages @ the USPS
finishing up my traditional Xmas - New Year's - Chinese New Year holiday cards (deadline: Feb. 3, 2011 = 4709 Year of the Rabbit)
watching the DVDs I borrowed from the library:
Just Wright - romcom with Queen Latifah and (I forget which) rapper-turned-actor
It's been an unusually harsh winter this year (in fact, we're due for another several inches of snow tomorrow night) so I've really been bonding with my Green Monstah and my new black marshmallow (which is the knee length version of this parka). Ironically, of course, I get killer hot flashes every night while I sleep (and on especially lucky days, during the mornings and afternoons as well), but hey, what can ya do? At least I'm still around to have them!
This frosty weather has been highly conducive to thoughts of Kittichai's Thai hot pot for my annual birthday dinner (no German food this year -- SHOCKING, I know) where endless plates of shrimp, (sushi grade) salmon, squid, mussels, beef, pork, and veggies arrive at your table, to be dipped into deliciously seasoned broth. Some of you may remember we attacked, er, enjoyed this repast in October, and evidently we rhapsodized over it so much that other folks were keen to join in this time. Heh.
Nothing else much is going on here (ah, the midwinter doldrums) except that I appear to have gained a grand total of 10-14 lbs over the winter (whoops), cleaned my place a little bit, since a friend's daughter stayed over here for the weekend (hi Pirate!) so there are actual patches of floor visible, and tonight, I tackled some emergency laundry (socks anyone?)
Am still deep in celebrity crush mode, so I ordered a boxed DVD set of Criminal Minds, seasons 1-5, on eBay as the syndicated versions on TV get chopped to bits to make room for extra commercials. Sigh. And although my fondness for cop/FBI shows has consistently manifested itself since grad school (hello? X-Files anyone?) the only problem is that some of the characters irritate the crap out of me (is it so wrong of me to feel gleeful when she got shot?)
So next week, I am taking off from work (9 office-free days for the price of 4 vacation days = a BARGAIN!) when I will have many many things to do (financial, domestic, correspondence & packages -- I owe you a great big old thank you, LQ!) and hopefully I can do them all to the accompaniment of a Thomas Gibson soundtrack in the background. *swoon* Heheheh. Yeah, I'm sick, but y'all knew that, right?
No, that's not jealousy -- that's my beloved giant sage green couch, which seems to have a black hole secretly embedded in its cushions: once I sit / sprawl / lounge in it, that's it for the afternoon / day / evening. I'm not going anywhere or doing anything after that.
So today I pre-emptively did some tidying up BEFORE getting sucked into the green monster's gravity well. So although there are still mounds of Stuff piled hither and yon, one can actually see a reasonable amount of floor space in the living area. Shocking. (Remember: baby steps, a/k/a, the journey of a thousand garbage bags begins with a single pile of trash....)
Another sign that I am feeling somewhat better these days is that I actually have a celebrity crush. (I've noticed that I tend to have severe celebrity crushes mostly when I am not in a relationship, but for the last few months, I didn't even care about age-appropriate yummy looking actors.) Currently, it's Thomas Gibson from Criminal Minds.
He kind of reminds me of my ex-ex-bf, The Consultant, but only in that general police description kind of way: black hair, fair skin, preppy-looking, soft-spoken, and oh yeah, HOT. (Well, to me anyway -- such is personal taste, but at least I'm consistent.)
Okay, on to less dorky subjects, such as my round of vicarious travels via mystery novels on my Kobo e-reader:
Broken English - Amish mystery set in Ohio; 2nd in the series
Girl Who Played With Fire - book 2 of the Stieg Larsson series, set in Sweden (Noomi Rapace, the actress in the Swedish film adaptation, is excellent, by the way; she's also exactly 12 years younger than me* -- yikes! feeling old...)
Man From Beijing - also set in Sweden (mostly) but eh, won't be reading more of his novels
Hangman - a Faye Kellerman novel, the 21st in the Rina Lazarus/Peter Decker series, set in the Orthodox Jewish community in Los Angeles
Storm Prey - the 20th John Sandford book in the Prey series; set in Minnesota during the winter (brrr... very appropriate)
* Speaking of birthdays, that is indeed my birthday cake above, made by my sister, and decorated jointly by her (the chocolate shavings) and both of my grandnephews (the M&Ms), and demolished by the family at her house on the day itself. Babies galore this holiday season, with visits to 9 younger relatives ranging in age from 7 years to 7 weeks. Wheeee!
