Life on Pause

Since my academic trajectory has been temporarily derailed due to international drama, I've been doing a whole lot of watching t.v., crocheting, and reading.

Mainly in the watching t.v. category I've been catching up on past seasons of Supernatural. I used to watch it regularly then quit for several seasons.  One day a friend mentioned on Facebook she was very sad about the demise of certain characters on the show including Castiel.  Who? I asked. "The angel on Supernatural. You will love him."  So then I had to go back and watch all the episodes I'd missed.  I've made it almost to the end of season 6.  And I do love Cas.  Clearly the universe decided to keep me in the U.S. so that I could enjoy the show more fully. If I'd gone to Ukraine in December I'd have never watched season 5, which is by far my favorite.

Crocheting: My brother bought me a book for Christmas**. It has been a wonderful guide - not so much for patterns, but for the basics I never bothered to learn. I've always said that I can't read patterns, but now I think it is more that I don't like patterns.  For instance, the hat I made (pictures below) I started from the pattern I used on the last hat* but only for the first 5 rows. Then I just played around with the stitches and accidentally learned how to make ruffles.  So there you go.  The daisy on the hat I did learn to make from the book.  The scarf also posted below is probably my favorite of everything I've ever made.  I've been wearing a lot of black as an excuse to wear the scarf every day. 

Possibly too cute, not sure if I'll ever wear it anywhere, but since I made it up all by myself I'm pretty proud.

Braided some yarn to make a "ribbon." This is functional as well as aesthetic. The hat was a bit too floppy so the yarn works as a drawstring to tighten it up around my head.

A daisy.  This was surprisingly easy. Only messed it up once ;)

Not sure how well you can see this here, but it sparkles!

As far as the reading part goes, its mostly been non-academic (see previous post). I did, however, make a trip to the library for some books on theory.  I'm not sure if I'll ever read all of them, they are mostly by French authors and therefore dense. Its mainly stuff I should have read more of a long time ago. 

On a positive note, as my co-worker said the other day "everything happens for a reason." I think the reason I've been foiled in my fieldwork attempts is because it was way too cold at my fieldwork site and I would have died. Or starved. Or been a hermit for three weeks at least.  The universe is just waiting for it to warm up over there and then I can go. 

*That failed to fit me. I posted about it.  It has, I'm happy to say, found a new home with a friend of mine who wears it all the time!
** In case anyone cares, this is the book Teach Yourself Visually - Crochet

Size Matters

I decided I wanted to crochet a hat with ear flaps.  Here is the result:

 

What was that? Where are the flaps? Well, as you can see it didn't quite turn out the way that I had hoped.  I did make the flaps (and they are actually still attached, just hidden), but the hat was about 2 inches two big for me. Because of the size being off the flaps fell in a weird position and just looked silly on me. 

I really like this particular color of yarn though (I think it is called Lagoon) and I might try again just with a modified pattern to try and make it fit my head more closely. 

By the way, this here is the website where I found the pattern.  Obvsiously, mine looks nothing like the example.  The pattern is in fact pretty easy to follow.  I have a hard time following written patterns so the pictures were super useful.  And to be clear, there is nothing wrong with the pattern itself, I just a) don't know how to crochet very well and b) have a small head.

Thing in the Cupboard: Bling

I'm so excited that I found this. I really thought I had accidentally gotten rid of it. In fact, I found it just in time to give it to my friend's boyfriend (against her will) so that he can wear it with his authentic Russian tracksuit (Adidas or possibly Puma I can't remember which).  

Luckily I didn't buy it.  One Christmas during a White Elephant party I acquired the necklace.  It has come in handy for various costumes (Halloween and otherwise).

Thing in the Cupboard: Vampire Pig!

I have all sorts of Halloween themed stuff, not surprising since it is one of my favorite holidays.

And it is animated - or should I say RE-animated?

Today's feature is a bright red Vampire Pig.  It walks and it sings The Adam's Family - very very loudly.  I made the mistake of pushing its little foot to see if it still worked and it definitely did.  Origin: my mother some Halloween or another.

Thing in the Cupboard: The Voice of God

My next treasure comes to you all the way from Heaven.

  

The text reads (with identifying information redacted):

12-31-05

_____'s performance report


outstanding job


_________'s intervention regarding 3-11 shift on male ____ side resulted in hell not opening it's portal hole of sulfur gas, flames and the screaming of the damned masses and swallowing ________.  For her heroic actions - she should be given a rosary.


Signed
GOD

Thing in the Cupboard: Alas, Poor Yorick!

I'm moving pretty soon and since I've been at my current place for years & years, I have basically accumulated all sorts of stuff.  Even better, a lot of this stuff I simply forgot that I owned.  Therefore for the amusement of self and others (but mostly myself) I'm going to start a regular installment known as "Thing in the Cupboard" which will consist of photos of the weird/random things that I find as I'm cleaning, clearing, and tossing useless junk away.  Maybe this will also make moving more fun since I'm seriously stressed about it, and perhaps will give me motivation to actually look through those cupboards and boxes.

Today's edition: Alas Poor Yorick!

Yep, its a bright pink skull

This gem's origin is unknown, it did however once function as a light-- sadly this feature is no longer functional.  It is made of some rubbery substance and is of a decent size.

The North Country

A couple weekends ago I finally got to take a short trip to Northern WI, stayed in a hotel on Lake Superior so I've now visited two of the five Great Lakes.  My friend said the season was about two weeks behind up there, the trees and grass were a noticeably different color of green that was quite pretty.

Lake Superior, old pier

I love this tree.

 We also went to one of the state parks up there that is known for its waterfalls and the strange color of the river (due to some sort of mineral) which basically resembled iced tea.

Iced tea river

Local fauna, a momma dear and her baby.

This is partly due to the sunlight, but the river really is a crazy color.

Waterfall!

We also went to a county park that was less maintained, which meant that we could get closer to the river (and also that we had to be more careful about poison ivy & such).  The fall here weren't as big, but they seemed louder.  Also, infinitely more difficult to get a good view of.

This photo and the next were taken w/me dangling over the side of the cliff.

This park didn't have guard rails, so you go off the approved track & do silly things like lean over a 50 ft drop.

128 - my friend counted on our way back up, but this was the only path to the river.

So that was my Northern adventure.  This weekend I was in Indiana on a lake w/other friends, I didn't really take pictures, but I did finally watch Avatar.  I'll give you my two cents at some later date.

Гуляю

In Ukrainian, гуляти means to walk or wander around.  It can also have the same slightly negative sense as in "to wander the streets" as in you are out and about in town and up to no good.   Here I mean it in the general sense of walking.

Its Spring!!!

It was 80 and sunny today!! Its about damn time.
Here are some other pictures, but from Chicago last week:

Baha'i Temple

Baha'i Temple (its huge!)

Detail of some of the inscriptions found all over the Temple.

A very cold beach

Lake Michigan

Did You Say 'Winter?'

NOLA - In Pictures

Just a few tidbits for now, will post more later.  Had a great time, saw some great and not-so-great presentations, ate a lot of food, and hung out with some locals -- but the last is definitely a story for when I have more time.
(p.s. below slideshow seems to work better when you click on the pictures and move them, rather than using the arrows at bottom)

Random Pictures

Went to a famous local restaurant that supposedly has the best mufalettas, Liuzza's. The above drink was called a BushWhacker that consists of a "stealthy" concoction of alcohols. Three out of three of us agreed that it was basically a White Russian with some sort of coconut rum, probably Malibu. It was superb.

The above photo is the sandwich. Actually not a traditional mufaletta b/c it is made on French bread - thus, a frenchaletta. It was HUGE. But amazingly warm and delicious, and I think I gained about 10 pounds eating it in conjuction with that drink and some savory onion rings.

The demon cat Hermione.

Waiting for food. I love this picture.

Random tree outside of my mom's work place.

The Piney Woods.

'Tis the Season

..yes, the season for Gingerbread People! I made my first ever gingerbread men yesterday. As my friends pointed out I am almost a foreigner since I have never experienced that nor does my family do the whole Christmas Stocking thing. Oh well. We have other traditions like...um...hm...I'll get back to you on that one.

Besides that moment of fun, followed by the weirdest version of Trivial Pursuit ever (too many colors and dice for me to keep up), I really haven't been up to much of anything. I did have my wisdom teeth removed (2 of them), and parts of me are still numb. I did call the doctor to day and the nurse was all like "well I have heard of it lasting up to a week," It has almost been an week!! Appointment on Wednesday. A friend of a friend apparently experienced numbness for 2 years in her tongue. ( I wonder if this is an example of how urban legends and folk stories about dental procedures get spread?). Hopefully this is not permanent b/c my teeth feel really strange on one side and I don't like it :(

Almost end of the semester. Today is the final for Anthro, scantron and thus easy. I turned in a paper yesterday with the greatest title ever "Scary Monsters and Super Creeps: Revitalization, Revolution, and the Apocalypse in 17th Century Russia." It might be the best part of the entire paper, which kind of fell flat. I had all sorts of grand ideas for it, but it just ended up being sort of me rambling about how pissed off I was that all the historians keep writing aritcles about Old Belief in which they referred to the rituals as "insignificant' or "meaningless." So, yeah, I had to pull out Turner and Geertz (and Asad, cannot forget his critiques) to point them in the right direction. I have one other paper to finish...at some point. Not sure when, but it is about the Toronto festival I went to so lots of "ethnographic description" and such. Should be easier to finish than the one on Russia.

Maybe I will post something before Christmas, but if I don't - Happy Holidays. I will try to take pictures of sunshine and warmth to counteract the dreadful winter when I get home. Actually though the weather there hasn't been all that nice recently.

For now though pictures of gingerbread men:

Pirate and parrot

Ukrainian

Scottish highlander

Rock and Roll couple

Gingerbread boy with hat

I have others, may post later.