Monday, May 09, 2005

K's Index Plus Commentary - May 9, 2005

Days since last blog post: 14
Blog drafts begun in that time: 2
Times (per day) guilt pangs were felt from lack of blogging: 81


I wish I could say my hiatus was prompted by some grand series of events (especially ones that involved coming into large sums of money which required frequent visits with lawyers and investment professionals), but really I just got out of the habit. And, extreme creature of habit that I am, it's been very hard to break the inertia of not posting. Plus I figure that if I post sporadically, it'll keep you coming back, desperately hitting reload to get your Lively fix, not sure whether there'll be 3 posts in a month or 3 in a day. Keep 'em guessing, I always say!

Now, here are the rest of the stats, compiled since my last post.

Visits from out-of-town friends: 3
Ms. Anastasia spent 4 very fun and busy days visiting from Ventura. There was eating and music and talking and weeding and shivering and did I mention more eating? The visit culminated in a night of uncontrollable laughter like I haven't had in a while. Thanks, schnooks, though I honestly could have lived without the finger-licking story. AUGH! And last Saturday night I had dinner with my invisible Harry Potter friends, Anne and Abby - or as I described them to my DDN (Diaper-Dropping Neighbours...more on that later) "friends from my online book group" - who were visiting from the UK. Don't worry - we kept our wands hidden in public so as not to startle the Muggles.

Piercings contemplated: 1
Piercings obtained: 0

I'm not entirely sure why I think I might want to get a nose piercing, but I think I might. It's all Anastasia's fault, actually, as she said during her visit "Let's go get a piercing done!" Alas (or not) we ran out of time, but I'm still thinking about it. I'm also thinking that I'm a 35-year-old mother of two and I'm wondering if it will look cool or just look like I'm desperately trying to look cool... and there's nothing less cool than that. Opinions?

Concerts attended: 4
One thing that we've had to adjust to in moving to Seattle is the fact that - and stop me if you already know this - we're way the fuck out here at the edge of the Continental US. No, really. Passing through Seattle isn't something that's done mistakenly, it's not a waypoint between anyplace except Portland and Vancouver (and beyond that maybe Homer, Alaska). Consequently, we get fewer opportunities to see the musicians from back east whom we love, and who used to pass through Columbus fairly frequently as they criss-crossed the country on their low-budget tours. So when the last weekend of April provided us with The Perfect Storm of performers coming through, what could we do except go out 4 nights in a row? First was Redbird, followed by Shawn Mullins, then Ellis Paul and finally Girlyman. By the end I was exhausted but musically sated... at least until Eddie From Ohio visits next month.

Crushes developed: 3
Two were on musicians - Kris Delmhorst (and not just because we spell our names the same) and Ty Greenstein of Girlyman (even moreso after reading her bio). The third is on Mary Grace, the teller at the U District Key Bank branch who always waits on me. All are so cute that it almost hurts, and Mary Grace has a nose ring. Hmm.

Games lost by Nathan's baseball team: 2
This is of blogworthy note only because of my reactions to the losses. Both were hard-fought close games, one even went into extra innings. Outwardly, I was all "Great games.. good to lose some, teaches good lessons, keeps you humble... all about having fun... blahdy blah blah." My inner dialogue, however sounded more like "Grumble grumble... stupid opposing coach... stupid umpire... stupid other team... hate losing... why? why? why?" And yes. I do realize that these are 7- and 8-year-old boys playing a GAME of absolutely no import. But - and this is another realization that might only be news to me - I'm a smidge partisan (if smidge means a LOT). I hate to lose. I root strongly for my side and take losing very hard whether it's in politics or sports. Not necessarily pretty, but true.

Teeth lost: 1
By Nathan, not me. It's his second (the other front bottom one) and "lost" isn't quite the right word. "Ripped from his mouth by his own impatient hand" would describe the process better. I can definitely say that he's much braver than I was as a child; mine pretty much had to fall out with minor wiggling. So another gold dollar for boy, and another memento for me. On that note, I'm beginning to wonder where the cut-off between "sentimental" and "creepy" is when it comes to keeping your kids' baby teeth. Two? Five? Ten? All of them? Or is any number kosher as long as you don't make a necklace and matching earrings out of them?

Episodes of ER watched: 6
I'm a very sporadic TV watcher; when I get busy, weeks can go by without turning it on in the evenings. But my good friend TiVo knows that eventually I will come back to my flickering friend and he saves the things he knows I'd like to watch. Since the end of April was SO full, last week was spent doing as little as humanly possible beyond watching a boatload of TV. In addition to catching up with ER and Sex in the City re-runs, I also watched about 8 episodes of The Daily Show and 3 of Joey. Yeah, sue me - Joey makes me laugh and I'm looking forward to the 4 that still await my attention. How YOU doin?

6 comments:

Lora said...

It's good to have you back. It sounds like your time has been well spent. I can certainly relate to the inertia thing and my guilty lack of exercise that I know I enjoy.

On-line book club full of Harry Potter fans? My ears are perking up.

Whatever you don't get your navel pierced unless you are a skinny-mini. As to nose, my only question is do you want to do it to look cool or because you like the way it looks. If you want to do it to look cool, don't do it. If you want to do it because you like the way it looks, by all means do it! If you end up not being comfortable with it you can always take it out.

The very best thing about being in Austin is that for the first time in my life I'm in an area that has lots of concerts. That said, I haven't attended any yet, but I'm comforted by their accessability.

Ty likes piercings too.

Of course you care about the games. You're putting on a good team parent face. I'm sure all the other parents are thinking the same thing, but are trying to keep a lid on it, as you are.

I think my mother kept every tooth that we ever lost, except my wisdom teeth; I've got those upstairs.

Tivo, you just made it sound so tempting.

Janet said...

Nice to have you back, K! Been wondering what you have been up to....hey, haven't you been contemplating a nose ring for, quite a few years now? I've had mine in for so long -goodness 14 years!- that I hardly think of it as a cool thing. It just is. I think that if you really wanted to have it done, you would have done it back when we went to Portland. But that's just my .02. :)

And the music scene...whatchu talkin' bout, Willis? One of the reasons I moved here back in the wee early 90's was because of the music scene. But then, I'm more of the rocker chick...me and my piercings and tattoos and all. :)

WRT the teeth, you hold on to everyone of them...in fact, I'm going to ask my mom to bring me my baby teeth on her visit out next month. Wait. No. Then that would disspell the Tooth Fairy myth. If she is even a myth at all. I myth my teeth.

And TiVo- we still have not hooked it up and subscribed!

protected static said...

Piercings, like tattoos, are things that should be well-considered... OTOH, they're kind of addictive - I can't speak to piercings, but I know I must have more ink...

Hmmm... I do have a birthday coming up... But I digress.

Sounds like you've had a busy few weeks - glad you're getting back into it.

Kristina said...

Lora - thanks for missing me! And thanks for the honorable mention on your blog. :) The HP group started out as a few writers of fanfic and has actually developed into a group of friends who talk about everything and get together when possible (so far meetings have taken place on two continents and we're determined to have one happen in Oz someday). Pretty cool. Re the piercing...yah. No navel for me, no sirree, not after 2 children. (And yes, Ty does like piercings. *g*). Austin...the one place inTexas I'd be interested in visiting. You should check out the Cactus Cafe, or so I've heard, for music. And TiVo. I heart TiVo. So worth every penny.

Kristina said...

JBo- Thanks to you too! Yep, I've been thinking about it for quite a while. I'm now thinking it might be a birthday thing... we shall see. WRT music... it's been proven time and again that your music and my music, while having some overlap, are mostly different beasts. *grin*

Kristina said...

Mr. Static - yes, they are addictive and can be great birthday presents. Heh. I've never seriously considered a tattoo... I'm a huge pain wimp. Piercings have the benefit of just one needle once. :)