Hey, you know what I should not be doing? Touching up my nail polish after midnight when I have to work in the morning.

Shit! Why can't I sleep like a normal person anymore?

Brief "weekend" recap while the polish dries:
Spent almost all of yesterday at my parents' house. Hung out with my mom for a while, cut the corgis' nails and paw hair (and ew, they really needed it), and gardened with the cat for a couple of hours in the evening. "Fixed" instant watch on Mom's iMac, wherein the problem was that she had the volume set at 50% and forgot about it.

Today was sort of lazytimes with a little bit of errand running. I watched Perry Mason (of course), repotted my cauliflower plant, harvested the dried seed pods from my snapdragon, and went to buy gas, go to the library (the book I really wanted was not there, so I settled for a different Anne Brontë book), buy laundry detergent (to come home and find Martha had already bought a box), and get dinner from Burgerville. I guess that wasn't that lazy. I did spend like three hours watching Sense & Sensibility and crocheting. Also, my leg muscles hurt so much from crouching and standing over and over again in the garden yesterday. I keep forgetting until I actually stand up and do something.

I bowed to pressure from above and took Monday and Tuesday off, and did basically nothing with them. I watched Perry Mason. I did a small amount of shopping (though that made me realize I very badly wanted to get out of the apartment, and wish I'd had somewhere worth going/wouldn't have to go somewhere alone if I did go off on a big long drive.) That's... about it.

Today I worked and later got my ear talked off for nearly an hour by my dad, who is clearly kind of adrift with my mom in southern California for the last week. Tomorrow I'll go over and do what I can to help salvage his sanity, alone on the farm with the corgis and Grandma. I also started watching Bleak House, and am vastly amused by the fact that I recognize the majority of the actors from science fiction, with the exception of "Inspector Lynley." And he was in Stardust, so I think a Neil Gaiman connection totally counts. (Others: Sally Sparrow from the Doctor Who episode, "Blink"; Owen from Torchwood; Agent Scully*; Wedge Motherfucking Antilles.)

I figured out some writing things as I was falling asleep last night, mainly that I renamed a character and came up with some possibly overly dramatic and brooding things he feels about his father. There's also been some very complicated restructuring of relationships between minor characters, but I like what I have so far. I intended to go sit out on the patio and read my original draft tonight like I did last night, but I guess I got distracted. The name thing had been bugging me for days, though, and while I'm not really settled on it, it's the best I've been able to come up with.

*I don't know why I'm so amused that Gillian Anderson pretty much only does period pieces any more. Or maybe I just loved her in Tristram Shandy like I loved goddamn everyone in that movie. So weird, but so good, and also I adore Dylan Moran.

I feel like I should be ashamed for watching True Blood, but I just finished the first two episodes, and I kind of love it - I feel the same way about it that I feel about The Tudors and Torchwood. I don't think any of these things are particularly high quality, per se, but they're entertaining in much the same way a romance novel is. There's sufficient momentum to propel you past the gaps. I am kind of ready for culture to step back from vampires. I don't know how much of that is lingering irritation that "paranormal romance" has supplanted Regency for a lot of publishers. Bill the well-mannered, Civil War-era vampire is appealing and makes me want to work on the massive changes I feel like I need to make to the hero of the 2006 NaNo, which also includes his name. I am not happy with his first name. It has to be something aristocratic with the potential to be shortened. Right now it's Peregrine/Perry and that is just too much.

Martha found me some jeans that fit me and look good on me! Tomorrow they go on sharp discount, so earlyish tomorrow I intend to do some clothes shopping.

So, today we had a presentation from a tech guy, and at the end he pulled me aside and said, "Okay, we've been working together for like a year, and I don't know your name. What is it?" (This is pretty normal for our workplace, I didn't know his name until the presentation, because while we've talked any number of times, it's, you know, over the phone, while doing transfers.) I told him, and he said, "Oh, okay. Because all this time, I've been calling you Hermione in my head."

For my peace of mind, there need to be fewer attractive and/or charming men working at Netflix. Just sayin'.

Edit: I can spell gud.

My right arm has been hurting in a fatigued-muscles kind of way for the last couple of hours, and it was completely baffling me until I remembered that I spent fair chunk of this afternoon cleaning my bathroom and really thoroughly bleaching my bathtub and the kitchen sink, as well as vacuuming the entire living/dining area, and hey, that might make my arm tired. And knitting, I did a fair bit of knitting while watching the storm and listening to the newscasters on TV freak the fuck out. (Severe thunderstorm preceded by strong winds, for those not in this fair city.) Martha thinks the lace scarf I'm knitting is something an old woman would wear. It's this one from Knitty, but using a sportweight yarn instead of that light stuff in the first picture. It looks like green version, but in a "taupe" that really looks like silver with a very slight tan tinge to it. And now I've learned to knit off a chart.

Unintelligible writing blather follows:

So, over the last week at work and a little at home, I've done a tiny, tiny bit of work on C&P (which desperately needs a real title, but I've no ideas at this point), and I've made some major changes in terms of secondary characters and their relationships to one another. I also tweaked a secondary relationship so that I can mentally cast the husband as Jeremy Northam because, uh, I've adored him ever since I first saw Emma and he's still hot playing Thomas More in The Tudors. The temptation is to write that story, and actually, I'm considering doing it to warm myself up to working on C&P, but it would be so easy to get distracted and never start on the bigger project. I don't have to make it long, though, and it might be a pleasant reintroduction to writing, since I haven't done anything since my crash and burn in November during this year's NaNoWriMo due to lack of inspiration and then an unrelated emotional rough patch.

In the last few days, I was looking for the notebook I had bought to work on C&P, and I found about eight or nine notebooks that are either completely empty or only have a handful of pages filled. I emptied a few out when I was moving, I remember now, but apparently that didn't stop my little ritualistic purchase of a new notebook when I start a project. Two of them have stories in them: A REALLY elaborate Who fanfic I wrote in college and Regency peopled with actors I like that I was clearly not taking seriously and wrote when I was stuck at a register during the slowest parts of the day at Kohl's. Of course, the notebook I want, the one with the original notes on C&P, is nowhere to be found. It's probably at my parents' house somewhere, because god forbid I actually throw something away.

I can tell that I'm running the risk of losing the point of whatever I was going to say, if there was one, so I'll just try to end gracefully here. Most of it was just me talking to myself, anyway.

1. More CDs for car (check, as soon as Arm's Way finishes burning) (OH DAMN IT I really need to make a Motown mix CD. Later, later.)
2. Uwajimaya, as curry supplies are running low and I want a chocolate cream horn from the bakery
3. Dad wants me to buy beer, I guess? I kind of want to go to Fred Meyer and see if I can find a CD wallet on clearance or something, for the CDs I burn for my car, because right now they just scatter and get scratched as hell
4. FAMILY TIME
4a. Corgi time
4b. Cemetery time (Skyline, to see Grandpa, not recreational Cemetery Time, though I really want to go to Lone Fir again)
4c. Oh god I hope it's not too crowded at Skyline Drive In, because I fucking love that place
5. ?????
(6. Profit)

Somewhere in there I should probably find something to eat that doesn't have the words "chocolate" or "cream" in the name.

I was in a pretty awful mood earlier (bad case of The Insecurity, kind of a constant problem this year), but it turns out that I really, really like the movie Role Models. Who knew.

Okay, I already knew that Paul Rudd is pretty adorable. Still. It was funny. Funny enough that I'm actually in quite a sunny mood. (Also the fact that I get to sleep later than I thought tomorrow morning, yay.)

I've also ripped apart two pieces of fairly intricate knitting, which I probably shouldn't have done. It took me weeks to do the checkerboard lace thing, and I was going to scrap it in favor of a different pattern, but then I started using another yarn. OOPS. The second one was the first, ah, draft of this sort of fern pattern, which I then undid in favor of the same thing with a thicker border. That's no big deal, though, because that was just a single evening's work done while marathoning a bunch of Monty Python from around third season.

OH HEY WHO SPENT ANOTHER $50 AT POWELLS? I should not go in there with no set purpose in mind if I value having my money.

PURCHASED:
-Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: I said I wasn't going to, but then I was there and I totally caved. I imagine I'll probably sell it or loan it around then sell it, but it might actually be less than horrible.
-The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy: 'Cause the movie. And I like 18th century literature... wait... do I? I mean, Pamela. Oh my god, Pamela. Well, I guess Tristram Shandy is less likely to be espousing a message of "if he kidnaps you and keeps you from your family and almost rapes you, it's just because he really, really loves you! Marry him!" than fucking Pamela.
-Found Magazine #6
-Dracula: Three dollar dover thrift edition wooooo
-Nation by Terry Pratchett: Been meaning to read, actually the intended purpose for the trip out today.

ALMOST, DECIDED TO WAIT ON:
-League of Extraordinary Gentlemen V. 2
-The Great Outdoor Fight (which I read in it's original form, plus I read the intro on Adam's copy on one of my trips to Vancouver.)

I've been sleeping poorly, and it isn't helped by the dream I had this morning. I almost never dream about dreaming or come close to awareness that I might be dreaming, so it was odd.

So! In this dream, I was at work, answering calls, sitting next to Megan. We were in a classroom rather than the call center, but I didn't notice that until after I had actually woken up. Anyway, I was still mid-call but I noticed everyone was talking and packing up their stuff. Megan said, "Didn't you hear that? They're eliminating CS. We all got fired." And Kay (my manager) was at the front of the room with this, like, snack buffet. They were trying to be nice about it, I guess. Kay gave a little speech, which I don't remember, but Matthew was there and had been brought back in to ease the transition or something, which didn't work out, because Kay asked him a question, and he said "I quit this job because it was awful." I texted my mom to tell her I lost my job, which is weird because she doesn't know how to receive text messages. Also, for some reason, my sewing machine was there and I was worried about how I would get it home.

So, I walked home and started thinking about collecting unemployment, and for some reason in this dream I'd never moved out of my parents' house, which I decided was pretty good, since I wouldn't have to worry about rent. When I got home, my dad was there with one of my coworkers. It's at this point that it got weird, because I started having doubts about whether I got fired or if it was all a dream. I check my text message history and see that it really happened. The coworker tried to comfort me and it was awkward and unwelcome.

Then I actually woke up and had to do the sleep-addled figuring out of what was real and what was not, and yeah, I didn't sleep well the rest of the morning. I considered calling in sick for at least the first half of the day, but I managed to drag myself to work. I kind of wish I had just slept in. Bleh.

Facebook-friending a coworker you just met in person for the first time today (as opposed to call transfers) because he is very attractive and you want to look at his pictures... that's creepy, right? I'm pretty sure that's creepy. You're safe for now, hot tech support guy.

1) I got my mom a ceramic salmon brooch, which sounds really weird but was the perfect choice for her, I think. She teaches a science unit on salmon every year and is generally enthusiastic about biology. And it was fairly pretty. I think she really liked it.

2) I got my grandmother a cheap* hanging basket of violas from Winco. Also a success, purple being my grandmother's favorite color. I wonder if it always was, or just since Grandpa died, since it was HIS favorite color. Or maybe it's all more romantic than I thought and it was his favorite because it was her favorite. Or I'm overcomplicating things.

*cheap being $15, which was still kind of more than I wanted to spend, but they were like $25 at Fred Meyer, so eh.

3) Substandard pizza dinner that went on waaaaaaaaay too long while my dad regaled my aunt and uncle with dog club drama. If I had driven myself instead of going with Mom and Dad, I probably would have left a half hour earlier, really.

4) You know what? Thank god for iChat. I hate using it, but somehow we managed to fuck up my dad's iTunes library when we copied everything over to an external hard drive today, but taking over his screen through iChat was about eighty gazillion times easier than trying to talk him through fixing it. And it means I don't have to go over after work to take care of it.

5) I also fixed my parents' printer BECAUSE I AM AWESOME (read: have the sense to try running HP Setup Assistant and crossing my fingers).

6) STAR TREK ON TUESDAY WOOOOOOOOO (with my parents, slightly less woo, but who else am I going to see it with, really. Sigh.)

7) Grandma Status: I'm starting to get worried about her. Things are suddenly starting to go kind of wrong, but various things might be connected. Her ears are clogged up, so she can't hear a goddamn thing. Actually, it's kind of comical, because my dad was trying to get her to use some of that foamy over the counter stuff when I went over. ("She can't hear, her ears are all plugged up." "What?" "YOU CAN'T HEAR, YOUR EARS ARE PLUGGED UP." "I can't hear you, Jimmy, my ears are all plugged up." Ha ha ha, a good time is had by all. Except my grandma, who has no idea what the fuck is going on.) She's also having dizzy spells, and some of that might be from hitting her head. I'm hoping that it might be because of her ears, and getting that cleared up will help things, but I don't know. My uncle bought... paving stones, I guess? The garden-type stepping stones you get at any home and garden place, and he put them on her front steps so now instead of two normal sized steps she has four shallow steps down to the patio. I ended up explaining the staircases at the Winchester Mystery House about four times. My mom is looking into buying a shower seat thingy because I guess Grandma has said she's gotten dizzy spells in the shower.

8) Lone Fir was awwwwwwwwwwwwwwesome and I intend to go back before too long. We found a grave for a woman named "Gondola" and a lot of Woodmen of the World tree-shaped stones (which I am fascinated by) and so. many. freemasons. Oh, and a fairly recent stone with... wait for it... AN INSCRIPTION IN COMIC SANS, I KID YOU NOT. Sigh. Modern graves are so tacky! Well, actually, there was also one with a mosaic of a scrabble board on it that looked really thoughtful. Matthew went with me and was kind enough to put up with my Victorian-Graveyard-ADD. ("Wow, that's so pretty HEY LOOK THAT ONE HAS AN ANCHOR ON IT LET'S GO LOOK!") (Note to self: cemetery symbols)

woooooo who stayed up too late watching Alfred Hitchcock Presents on instant watch and crocheting a blanket?

yeah, I should sleep now. too tired for appropriate capitalization.

WORDS MY 37-YEAR-OLD BROTHER USED ON FACEBOOK TODAY: "rawks" "luv"
NUMBER OF EXCLAMATION POINTS USED TODAY BY SAME: 10

I am not joking. My brother is a fourteen year old girl, apparently. Sigh. Oh, and my sister can't spell "veto." (I should be nice, she does have an MA in Urban Planning and I do not. My brother I will snark on as long as he continues to ignore/snub his family for no good reason.)

Okay! I got my new work schedule today, and while I will basically never be able to have fun weekends without massive planning ahead again, it's not like I'm having a lot of them now. And I'm not working swing shift, thank Jesus. (My experience with swing shift: Sleep until noon or later, stay up until 3 am every night, feel like you never do ANYTHING other than work and sleep and watch bad TV in the middle of the night. NOT FUN.)

Sun: 8:30 am - 7 pm
Mon: 8:00 am - 1 pm
Tues: 8:00 am - 1 pm
Wed: 9:30 am - 8 pm
Thurs: off
Fri: off
Sat: 9:30 am - 8 pm

That's really not bad. I was sure I was going to end up starting at 5 am (oh god too early) or something after 11 am (nooo can never do anything after work), and here I'm not much different than what I've got. I only have to get up earlier than I currently do 3 days out of the week, and only by an hour. These are also good hours for walking to work (when it is not maybe-we-should-consider-gathering-two-of-every-animal raining like it is right now) and walking home. Even when it starts getting darker, I'd be leaving before sunset on Monday and Tuesday, at least.

Ha ha, I know myself better than that. There's no way I'm getting up well enough before 8 am to walk if there's any chance I can sleep later.

THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE SONG.

I know Jonathan Coulton is going to get a bit overexposed across the internet today, but I am going to contribute to that, because right now, I'm in love with "Skullcrusher Mountain."

The appropriate song for today, though, is "The First of May."

Uh, don't listen to this at work.

1) Grandma is okay. She got a CAT scan and a fuckton of staples in her scalp, and my dad is pissed off at her for being too vain to use her cane/walking stick OR her glasses. She missed the step up into her front door and pitched backwards and hit the back of her head on this weird raised part of her patio. My dad said he also had to wash her hair today because it was full of blood, and you know, I do not want to think of the logistics of that.

2) I have this three day weekend and nothing planned, which seemed to surprise all my coworkers who were inexplicably asking me what I was going to do with my weekend today. Pretty soon I want to track down Lone Fir cemetery (which actually turns out to be like 10 blocks from your house, Matthew) to go take pictures, but the weather is supposed to be awful, just in time for the weekend, so I guess it's going to wait. I should get around to joining the Oregon Historic Cemeteries Association, but I lost their newsletter.

I like 19th and early 20th century cemeteries, guys. They tend to be fantastically pretty, at least in this state. The Masonic cemetery in Eugene is amazing, and I used to live about four blocks away from it. Plus the one on campus at U of O, though I never liked the new head they put on the Civil War statue. (I remember vividly going to my rock history class on a foggy day and going along the edge of the cemetery, and seeing the headless statue in the distance through the fog. It was like a month before I realized I hadn't hallucinated it, that there was a statue, and that vandals had decapitated it.)

3) There was probably a #3 but I got distracted by nostalgia. I guess I'm going to fold clothes and watch The Daily Show.

M: "Your dad called about an hour ago, and said he thought it would be at least two more hours. I think they might keep her overnight for observations, you know, what with recent events."

E: "What?"

M: "You know, Liam Neeson's wife. They'll probably want to be careful after that was in the news."

E: "Oh. I wondered what swine flu had to do with a head injury."

My dad called me at like 4 to tell me he would be declining my invitation to the movies because my grandmother fell on her patio and he was on his way to the hospital with her. It's nearly 10, and they're still there, waiting on X-rays. I guess you can't be too careful with head injuries.

My mom went over to her house to let her dog out, and she said "There's blood all over her front step, so I guess it's pretty serious." Or at least more serious than she thought when my dad called. But head wounds do bleed like crazy.

Jesus.

how I alternate between masses of TL;DR and attempts to be short and funny.

I made this curry chickpea stuff today that I had high-ish hopes for, and it's pretty blah, but I could have cooked the chickpeas longer. It smells fantastic, but again, blah. Underdone blah.

I think it probably speaks volumes about me that I'm about to embark on my third hour of lying on my bed, knitting a complicated lace piece that I've entirely undone about four times and just overdosing on episodes of This American Life from years past, and I feel fantastic about it.

I have such a crush on Ira Glass, though.