Being sick sucks, and if I'm going to have to live through it, so are you. Or at least read about it until I feel better.

On the other hand, this lack of sleep is allowing me to a) crochet b) knit and c) study Gaelic.

Go figger :)

CJ

Okay, I'm sort of kidding. It wasn't WORSE...it's just that I haven't slept well in about 4 days. Like...maybe 3 hours of sleep a night. Up at 1:30. Well...at least I did something with my insomnia. Like this.

So now if you want to keep up on The Project, you can. And hey. The icon I made is funny. At least it makes me giggle like a 12 year old. :)

Anyhow. I got sent home from work (in a kindly manner) after they caught me standing at my station ASLEEP. On my feet. Gawds. So. Now I'm going to go and try and sleep. And pray I get some. Past 1:30 am.

And if you don't know what I mean, you can check with DSO to find out. It's just not worth retyping it all.

The only good thing about all of this is that DSO is being so amazingly strong...this was the other shoe...that I thought was falling last week...but no. This was it. It was forecast I'd have 2 more horrible hurdles in a row. Pray this is the last one. My knot's starting to fray.

That said, things at work are going a little better. Still no raise, but I'll talk to the boss about that. He said after 3 months, it's been 4, but it's been so busy, who can blame him? He's lucky he remembers to put his shirt on in the morning, he's got so many irons in the fire.

It also looks like I'm about to get some help in my department, which is good since the other two who were there before me have been let go due to lack of ability. Okay, so it scares me a little that the gal he's talking to has like...twice the experience I do, but she's got it in LTC /and/ compounding. So that should help. This month, delivery wise, has been SO much better than the last too, I'd be ecstatic if it wasn't so damned scary in the first place overall.

The Project is ahead of schedule...I've got three blankies done in two and a half weeks...leaving me some time to work on The Other Project. Bless DSO, he even promises he'll wear it. Brave man ;) I love him so much. And I don't know what I'd do without him.

CJ

While on the bus yesterday evening, I was confronted whilst working on my latest yarn project. Now, I admit, seeing a man on the bus doing a crafty thing is a bit of a sight in Everett, but honestly, so far, everyone who's said a word to me has been extremely curious and/or positive.

Last night, though, as the bus sat in hellish ice-inspired traffic, a young, skinny man watched me for a bit, and then snided off to his girlfriend, "Lookit the pretty fag, knitting!"

Wow. He's acute. He picked up that I am (a very cute) homosexual...but he was only half right. I was crocheting, not knitting. Mind you, the young man who SAID this had his hair dyed bright pink, was wearing dangle-drop earrings with snowflakes on them, had inch long nails that were painted bright sparkly blue, had on lipstic and eye makeup...and had just spent the last several minutes bitching to his girlfriend that he'd chipped a nail...and that he expected her to hurry up and get a job because no way was he working while the weather was so bad.

I'm just...not sure how to take that, other than to want to point and laugh! Fortunately, all I did was smile...no use doing anything else, really. I'm enjoying my projects and my 'me' time on the bus.

CJ

Well, since I started mentioning it, I thought maybe I'd explain what I'm up to.

I set a challenge for myself this year. Not so much a resolution, as a challenge.

I've got 45 minutes to an hour twice a day on the bus. I figured, having been emboldened by coming out of the crochet closet at OLO, that I would DO something with this talent and hobby that I LOVE...but what? How? I love to crochet, but it's not like I can wear most of the objects you can produce...and one can only crochet so many scarves and ponchos.

Then it occured to me. The preemie projects around the country. I've worked with them before (albeit, most of those were in the form of tiny quilts). They're always looking for preemie sized blankets, afghans, booties, hats, layettes, christening gowns, and burial/berievement items.

Well, those are all small, quick, easy to do on the bus type things, so I set myself to make one item (afghans, mostly) a week on the bus.

Week three, and I'm happy to report I've got 2 completed projects, and one that will be done probably ahead of schedule! Go me!

And amusingly, no one wants to sit next to the guy doing yarnwork on the bus. It's great ;)

Everyone so far has been positive, when I explain what I'm doing, and many have offered to give me yarn that they (or their wives, kids, mothers, mothers in law, grandmothers, etc) aren't using any more. I just tell them to bring the yarn to the pharmacy, since practically everyone who rides the route I take happens to shop in the strip mall my work place is in.

Feels good, really, to do such a small thing, and use my creative urges for a purpose other than myself.

CJ

I waited in the snow for 45 minutes just to catch the bus. The bus was only 2 blocks away. It stayed in the same place for 30 minutes. That's how bad the traffic snarl was at 4pmish. Stupid 'trace amounts' of snow my ass!

And then it took me an entire hour to get home, instead of the usual 35 minutes.

The only upside of this was that I got more than half of a baby afghan done. It's surprising...no one, not even the nuts, wants to talk to the dude crocheting on the bus. Guess I'm nuttier than they are ;) But tonight, everyone wanted to talk, and touch, and see, and feel what I was working on, and tell me a story about their mother, sister, grandmother, great aunt, etc. So the ride wasn't totally wasted. Just...frustratingly long.

CJ