Archive: This Day Has Finally Come

I saw this post from 8/20/2007 and felt that I should be reposted.
Today is the second day of classes where I work.  It has been a madhouse.  As I look over student records I am seeing date of births that include 1992, which is the year that I pledged my sorority.  I was a junior and I was on the four year plan.  At the end of that summer, I lived with my father and seriously thought about my life.  I dated a guy ten years older than me.  I entered Fall 1992 with a plan to attend graduate school.  Good thing, too.
I had been fielding questions from family members who wanted to know what I planned to do with a degree in Sociology and a minor in Pan-African Studies. I didn't know either.
When I go home tonight, I think I am going to have a eight dollar bottle of beer. 

To the archives after the jump.

No good

The gnome has decided. 

These cucumbers have been rejected.

Garden tragedies

I am still finding slugs in my garden. I had the unfortunate task of cleaning up my compost bin this weekend and there they were. 

I bet I have confused you with "Clean up" and "compost bin."

A few years back, I hired a guy (who would eventually prove to be a drunk)  to make for me a composting area.  He strung some chicken wire and some stakes.  It never worked for me.  He should have used sturdier stakes and heavier gauge wire.  A door would have been nice.  The thing collapsed. 
Do-It-Yourself projects hate me.   I bought a wire mesh bin.   
I wanted to purchase a plastic one. I could not afford it at the store.  Maybe I will order one from the Net.


I had to clean up the oversized composting staging area.  That is the best description that I have for it.  Under the debris, I found slugs and ready made compost.  I moved the un-composted material to my original homemade composter- an old pallet I found.  Unfortunately the pallet has four sides. I have to lift everything into it and use the pitchfork to move the material. Back breaking work.
I have a lively process for composting.  At the beginning of the garden season, I move all of last year's partial compost to cover the second bin.  I stir the crap up. I usually find pay dirt at the bottom.   I shovel the compost into the wheelbarrow and throw the current years compost into the cleaned out bin.  I am sure there is an easier way.  Maybe. ..
Back to the slugs....

So I picked them up and placed them onto the driveway to give the birds a slimey snack.  I put the Bug Getta near them to experiment.  The packaging says that the bait will attract the slugs.  In my experiment, the slugs slimed their way across the driveway with no inclination toward the slug bait.  Waste of money.  I found this cartoon.

Look at the gnome.  He appears very reflective as he perches on the pot of chives. 
jjj

I think the gnome has given up. Or he has decided to take a different approach.  I stared at him for some time, trying to imagine his thoughts.  What do you think?

The slugs have spoken

My new Sox

Several weeks ago, I attempted to create my first pair of socks.  I selected a pretty washable wool yarn. I pulled out my double points.  I cast on.
I went to my knitting group to work on the gauge.  The professional instructor explained me to that acquiring gauge would be difficult.  This was not a knitting class  but a group therefore she was not instructing me, she was assisting me.   She mumbled something about carrying a long tail because purl rows and knit rows have different tension.  
I did not understand her.

The gal sitting next to me whispered, "I would not do it if I were you. These people here are crazy about their socks.  I do not understand the attraction. They are addicted to making socks.  Do not become one of them. It looks too difficult to be enjoyable."
I continued with knitting and purling my rows.  I created a 2 inch swatch and asked if I could establish my gauge.  Several knitters said, "no" in unison. I needed a longer swatch for gauge.  I continued. It was boring.

Just as I approached 4 inches, the perfect length for setting gauge, the part-time instructor looks up from her knitting and yells at me. 
"Your gauge is going to be wrong. I told you that purl rows and screw up your gauge.  You have to start over."
Several other knitters agreed with her. 
I feel tears in my eyes.
I started yelling back.  "This is so stupid. Why is it so difficult to make socks?"
I heard more "I told you so's."
The gal sitting next to me whispers, "I warned you. Sock making is serious business."

By now, I am crying. 

I am crying because I tried to knit a pair of socks.

It was ridiculous. 

Then I hear a soft voice.  "Frizzy, I will make you a pair of socks. "

I gave to her my yarn and she has been working on MY socks for a few weeks.  I have not been to my knitting group in three weeks due to my vacation. On Wednesday, I hope to have my new socks.


In the interim, I begged members of Ravelry.com to make me a pair of socks.  And here they are

They fit like a glove.
I have been accused of begging for socks instead of making my own.  I assure you that my tears were real. Ask any member of Knit Knight.

I am going to attempt a pair of socks this winter.  Wish me luck.  I am thinking about using this book.

From Archives - Movies

I will be going through my original blog over the next few weeks and will be highlighting an old post. It really isn't my original blog but that blog has been removed.  My first blog was housed at Yahoo! 360. I moved it to Multiply a few years ago.  So, I am actually reviewing copied posts from my original blog. I moved to Blogger and all posts copy to Multiply so that there is one location to find all (or at least) most of my Frizzy musings since 2005. If you are lucky, I will spell check the original post.    
 
I liked this post from December 22, 2005 about the movie industry

Movies

Movies today are a sad lot
There are some major types of movies that i have seen the past few years
1. An film screen version of a mediocre 70s TV show
2. Remake of another movie using 21st Century technology or the latest set of beautiful people
3. Pretentious Film interpretation of a comic book hero or best selling book
4. Heavily merchandised children's character that will be adapted into a cartoon or children’s show two more years.
5. Popcorn movies that make absolutely no sense but are nonetheless entertaining
6. Another freaking sequel that is completely unoriginal and not worth the price of dinner
7. A movie with some deeper meaning to it that you never quite get until you see it at home
8. A movie about penguins

I want to see a real female action hero movie. I loved Catwoman. I refer to it "A Woman Vexed." Just think, her man was sleeping with all of her friends, she had just won an Oscar and Revlon was giving her the blues. Anyway, everyone wants to argue two plot points with me.
Point One - It is the Stupid
Spoiler ~ it is about a beautiful woman played by Sharon Stone that wants to launch a beauty cream that will disfigure anyone who STOPS using it. For that reason, my friends told me the movie was the worst movie of the year.
Hmmmmmmm
A product that you can't live without....... Sounds like razors for women. A disposable razor company wanted to double its profits so it starts advertising to women in the 1930s. Now women think that it is unhygienic not to shave and we need shaving cream and shaving moisturizers to relieve the stinging caused by raking a sharp metal file across our skin. BTW It is unhygienic not to wash your nasty ass.
Or straightening relaxers for black women. Can't go without one or your natural curly hair will start to show. Black woman spend up to $80 and 4 hours in the salon every 4 weeks to get the relaxer (the main ingredient of relaxers - is lye a chemical that can burn your skin), $40 on daily hair care products for grooming, and heating implements that will scald the skin in order to style the hair. Sounds like a product that can disfigure you to me.

Okay, so you may not be disfigured but manufacturers have to create a problem that their product will address. Hence, a beauty cream you cannot live without. You know, like douches and female suppositories. My health teacher taught me that our body scents were from hormones designed to attract the opposite sex but apparently I should be talking to my mother about feminine odor in a field of wildflowers.

Second point - The Conflict is Stupid
A stupid movie that has the hero in an unintelligible conflict with the antihero. Hmmmm. Have you watched a James Bond movie?
The types of conflict inherent in James Bond movies that we accept are good enough for a female based superhero movie, right?

Back to movies in general
Box Office results are misleading. Each year movie theater chains raise prices and open more theaters. Each year, some stupid overly hyped movie breaks some stupid BO record. Of course it did. It is simple algebra.

Then there are the movies that I don’t get. Like Existential Movies

I Heart Huckabees - Defining and Connecting In the Universe

I tried watching this movie with my roommate. Someone told jupitergirl888 that she would like it. She and I sat down one lazy evening to watchdvd player I wanted to know “What Was the Joke?”

Being John Malkovich – Who Are We Really When We Are Being Someone Else?

I sat through this movie with 15 minutes of clarity at a time. It was as if I was underwater and I was sharing an oxygen tank with someone else. Each time I turned away from the screen everything was clear and I could breathe again. Then I start watching it and the confusion, the air bubbles, and panic sets in all over again.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind – This Sounds Familiar, No Wait Its in Reverse.
Once again, someone suggested that jupitergirl888 and I would like this movie.
I started watching it after about 30 minutes jupitergirl888 disappeared. SHE LEFT ME … that jerk, to watch the movie by myself. I let the cat watch it while I ate some dinner. If I watch that movie again, I will walk backwards towards the TV screen.

I did like some weird movies
Groundhog Day – Don’t Live Life Unconscious
Hilarious. This guy walks though life as if it is only populated by him and things that either entertain him, irritate him, or hurt him - each of which he is trying to avoid.

Flirting with Disaster - Are We More than Our Parents?
You just have to watch it

Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe – Answers the Question “Why Are We Here?”
I was watching this movie in the top rows of a 500 seat theater. I could hear people laughing from the front. I was determined to figure out what the “joke” was. So, I bought the book. It is hilarious.

Movies that I would like to see

1. An action-hero movie based on The Tick television show. Or if for no other reason (I wouldn’t mind watching it on Oxygen Channel) a movie about Captain Liberty or American Maid but make her black

2. An updated version of The Last Starfighter
With new CGI, I cant wait!

3. A film adaptation of the Spellsinger series by Allen Dean Foster

4. A children’s series of movies based on Johnny Quest with watches sold at Burger King and a corresponding XBOX  360 game that is released simultaneously with the movie.

5. An action movie about terrorists who fix the presidential election, take a harmless thing like the color wheel and use it to instill fear and hysteria and finally confuse the masses by suggesting that the democracy will crumble if gays are allowed to marry and if we stop saying Merry Christmas to our non-Christian cousins.

6. A sequel to Mystery Men

7. An existential comedy about ushers working in a suburban movie theater.

It is just hair

It is about time I have a hair post.

I have not had a permanent relaxed hairstyle in about ten years.  My final relaxer appointment was in November of 1999. I started my journey with roller sets.  I graduated to single strand twists.  For a few years, I enjoyed double strand twists.  Those became too expensive to maintain while I searched for  a house and I moved to the afro-puff. My hair broke off after a bad coloring job (professional) and I maintained the afro-puff for a few years.  Now, I am exploring flat ironed hair in the winter and double strand twists in the summer.  I am having a ball.  I don't know what I will do with my hair next and I love the flexibility.

I referenced several books back in 1999 before I made this decision.

No LyeThe book just reaffirmed my decision. 

I know longer have any of these books. I have given them all away to people who wanted to explore life after the relaxer.
BTW it is a little creepy that Amazon.com has my ordering history cataloging that far back. 
No Lye
Hair Raising
Good Hair

I would not suggest investing a lot into these types of books.  The books tend to chronicle the experiences of the author and the author's friends.  The advice is not always the best and the product recommendations should be taken as a suggestions.  
More later.  



From 1997 to 2010.
Hmm, the slideshow is not here. 
From the Frizzy Archives after the jump

The gnome wanted beer

Vacation