CHS 1998 11 Year Reunion

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Miss Lissa
on July 1, 2009
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CHS 1998 11 Year Reunion, originally uploaded by Pynnski.

So, last Saturday was my school’s 11 year reunion. Why not 10 year? I have no idea. We’re procrastinators, I guess. (our reunion website is late4class.com)

I have to admit, I was ultimately underwhelmed with the whole thing. I’m not someone who looks back and wishes they were still in high school - I was a hormonal wreck, completely out of my mind, didn’t know what I wanted to do with myself and was a complete and total dork.

So, I have pretty much blocked most of high school from my head. And college, too. What came out of my school experiences were ultimately wonderful and lasting friendships. In the picture above, I have known all those girls a minimum of 15 years, and Jen I’ve known for almost 20 (OMG). (I’m sitting next to Jen on the right; she’s the one with the fab pink hair.)

Sure, there’s a certain amount of curiosity I retained about people I went to school with, but alas, the people I was most curious about didn’t come. And now, I definitely feel like I’ve come full circle and have closed that chapter of my life.

Anyway, the shindig was at the Pyramid Alehouse in Walnut Creek, and it was loud and the air conditioning was broken. Now, I still retain my Texas heat shields, but this was way too effing hot with way too many people in the same room. At one point I went to use the restroom and it was a blissful 68 degrees. I caught the photographer in there and she admitted that she had gone in there on purpose just to get cool.

The food was hor d’eourves, various stuff, pretty tasty, and there was an open beer/wine bar. I had an apple cider beer that was pretty good. Also: cold. And there was a really good chocolate cake thing for dessert.

I wonder if because it was an alehouse they kept the temp down so you would enjoy (and order more) ice cold beers? If so, fail.

Anyway, the other thing that happened was that one of the people who had been quite popular back in the day was *I SWEAR* on something because he was a little too fidgety a little too early on the day; i.e., dude was totally tweaking.

But yeah, I did talk to a few people I was pleased to catch up with (Steve the Pirate King, his wife, Mark, Kirsten) though ultimately it was the most expensive “hang out with my friends” I’ve ever accomplished. THOUGH: props to the coordinators of the event. While I was kinda bored with the scene, it had nothing to do with their efforts and I think they did a great job considering the time constraints and our lackadaisical class.

SO: Here’s to us, Concord High Class of 1998! Now I never have to look at most of you ever again!

Maybe.

Cindy & Bobe Hope

Published
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Miss Lissa
on June 26, 2009
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Cindy & Bobe Hope, originally uploaded by Pynnski.

My uncle posted this picture to Facebook of my grandmother and Bob Hope at a USO show in the 1940’s. It has completely blown my mind - doesn’t Bob look young, and isn’t my grandmother gorgeous? I wish I’d known about this picture earlier. Uncle Joel says he didn’t know about it for a long time and when he asked my grandmother about it, she said it was “No big deal.”

I wish Cindy were still alive, there are so many questions I would like to ask her.

Things I Make When You’re Not Looking

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on June 22, 2009
in daily and knitting
. 1 Comment

I totally knitted an Ishbel shawlette while nobody was looking.

Ishbel Blocking

Ishbel01

(Least of all myself - this was a fast knit.)

I have turned into a chart knitter without noticing - if a pattern doesn’t have a chart, I won’t use it. The charts on Ishbel are great; easy to read and interpret. I will definitely be making this shawl again, probably in the bigger size.

I knit it in Malabrigo Sock in the Terracotta colorway, and this thing weighs nothing. I will have to show a pic of it modeled because wowza, this yarn feels so nice against your skin, soft and wonderful.

I knit this on an Addi Turbo lace needle in size US 6 that I picked up at Cottage Yarns in South San Fran a few weeks ago. These needles are great, and I really think that helped with how fast I knit this sucker up.

I also had an urge to crochet on my Babette squares, which comes and goes in fits and starts. But I’m almost done with the 49 4-round squares.

Babette Progress

(Aren’t they purdy?)

Yesterday I cast on for an Aeolian shawl, also out of Malabrigo sock, plus beads. Pretty awesome!

And finally, I made sushi for the first time and it was great:

Sushi

I am too chickenshit to deal with raw fish, so there was none of that, but I did use a variety of fillings, including avocado, cucumber, crab (fake), tuna, green onions, and tempura shrimp. Above you will see my practice sushi; I forgot to take pictures of the “real” sushi that I made for when my friends came over on Saturday to sample it.

Above all, my favorite was the spicy tuna roll, which was a mixture of canned tuna, mayonnaise, and sriracha sauce, plus green onion I think. I am not sure how my friends liked that one, but they did enjoy all of the different varieties and I was complemented specifically on the California roll, and also how “nice” they looked, which I thought was funny, but apparently some people don’t roll them very well.

Anyway, super easy to make, and now I’m going to have to keep tuna on hand for when I want a spicy tuna roll. WTF! I never eat tuna. UNTIL NOW, apparently!

…And I thought I was sick of sushi but I guess not because now I want a spicy tuna roll again. Go figure.

***

This weekend is my ten-year eleven-year high school reunion, which should be interesting. I am going to bring my camera to document the event. I am looking forward to it, but I’m going to be bummed if a couple people with whom I would specifically like to chat with don’t show up.

Sockssss

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on June 5, 2009
in daily and knitting
. 2 Comments

It’s Design-Your-Own month at Ravelry’s Sock Knitters Anonymous group, and for the first time in months (February) I’ve been compelled to knit along with the group.  Actually, I would have in May for the Anne Hanson KAL but I have been hit in the face at work, thankyouverymuch so I’ve been super busy. 

Anyway, so I cracked open my Japanese stitch dictionaries and chose a really elaborate cable motif for some socks.  I needed to invert it and convert to in-the-round stylin’, so it’s pretty involved.  I also didn’t take into account the fact that because it’s basically all cables (1×1 and 2×2), the sock really tightens in on itself.  Therefore, I had to add a bunch of stitches to make it fit!

And I had to choose a yarn that I thought would work.  I first used some awesome Araucania Ranco Multy that is having a hard time finding the right pattern.  And it looked awesome in the turquoisey-brown colorway, but alas, it was an original swatch over 68 stitches that was just too small! I’d also ripped out this yarn a couple of times, so I started to go fresh, and finally chose Dream in Color Smooshy in Flamingo Pie.

New Sock

Yes, please, can I have some more?

Okay!

New Sock

Yeah, it’s turning out pretty nicely. I’ve got some interesting design elements up my sleeve for the heel and toe, too.  I hope I can figure everything out and keep track of what I’m doing because I hope to release the pattern eventually (if anyone wants to test knit it, that would be awesome) in three sizes.  That’s the goal, anyway.

Here’s what else I’m working on:

Heart's Afire Green sock

Those are another pair of Hearts Afire socks (for Malvina, who expressed some love for the pattern) out of Shibui Sock, and a plain jane pair of stockinette socks out of some Cherry Tree Hill Supersock I had lying around.  That yarn (in the Life’s a Beach) colorway, I had always intended to be a plain sock, but I’m not really motivated these days to knit a plain sock, even though they are nice to wear.  But after all the last few socks that I’ve made (pretty much all the ones I’ve been working on this year) I needed a break - no ribbing, no pattern, no nothing.  Now of course, I cast on for that ridiculously charted and complicated orange sock, but… whatevs. Heh.

I’m also working on an Ishbel shawl, but I apparently didn’t upload those pictures to Flickr.  It’s out of Malabrigo sock in the terracotta (way orange) colorway. That Malabrigo sock is super fabulous.  I don’t know how it will hold up for socks but it should work all right.  I do have some plans for my other skeins in the stash, and since the shawl is knitting up so nicely, I could definitely see a couple more shawls in the future. 

And, just for kicks, here is a pic of my current work space, that I finally more-or-less finished (I put up the cork board).  It’s where I do all my jewelry stuff and computering (drawing/writing - I use my eee PC for internets).

Workspace

Let the Right Robot In

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on May 26, 2009
in daily and tv/movies
. 1 Comment

terminator salvation

Well, I certainly enjoyed the new Terminator movie, but that is because I am quietly a Terminator geek. (Though I didn’t watch much of season 2 Sarah Connor, simply because I could never remember when it was on. I’ll get the DVD.) I mean, robots! KILLER ROBOTS!

So, this movie has no time traveling in it, which is nice because sometimes time traveling is annoying.  Though it’s never bothered me in the Terminator movies, probably because there are no stupid philosophical/physics-related questions as to what might happen if someone goes back in time and - *gasp* - meets themselves.

Some people really worry about this. I say, everything I need to know about time travel, I learned from the Back to the Future movies.  I.e., if you meet yourself in the past/future, you do not create a black hole or destroy the universe, you merely FAINT.  And your actions in the past can change the future.

Thank you.

Anyway, so Terminator Salvation was pretty decent, however I missed any mention of time travel at all, so if you hadn’t seen any of the previous Terminators, you might be confused why a 35-yr old guy is trying to rescue a teenager who he says is his dad…

But yeah, ROBOTS, EXPLOSIONS, naked CGI-Ahnold-as-T-800 cameo…

Heh.

I would give it a solid B grade.

Additional points for the Marcus-kind-of-an-infiltration-unit guy/robot being super hot.

*ahem*

***

I would still like to see Star Trek again, plus there are still a couple of movies coming out this summer that I would like to see, including the new Transformers and the new Harry Potter.  I didn’t see the first Transformers in the theatre, and I think that it would have been pretty awesome. And I always go see HP in theatres.  This is the one where __________ dies, so I’m curious as to how that will be handled.

I’m currently trying to watch “Let the Right One In” which is a recent Swedish film about a vampire girl and a serial killer and bullies.  I had a hard time getting into it at first because the DVD is dubbed rather terribly into English, but I finally figured out how to get it to play in Swedish with subtitles and it’s much improved. I will try finishing that one tonight.  There is apparently an American remake in process, but, yawn.  The original is lovely, and hell, you can watch the crappy dubbed version if you don’t want to watch it in Swedish. I’m not sure why they’re remaking it, except that Hollywood hasn’t had an original idea in years.

Now, if Showtime would ever freakin’ replay Season 3 of Dexter, I’d be all set. Hmpf. 

These Teeth of Mine

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on May 22, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

squid-teeth

So I went to my dentist for the final appointment in my epic teeth adventure that has lasted oh these last five months. He drilled, filled, and re-x-rayed. Sadly, Rhonda, my hygienist was out with a headache and I got to experience the joy of the intern. Yay.

I asked him about one of the fillings he did in March that had a small stain or something in it. I thought it was a piece of something that had stuck in the ceramic (I chose porcelain fillings over silver - they are reported to last longer, plus - bonus! - your teeth still look like teeth since the porcelain is white), but he determined that it was a stain of some sort. As a result, he is going to redo that filling on his dime next month when I go in for my six month check-up. Just what I was looking forward to: more drilling!

Also, we looked at the x-rays and there may be something up with one of my old fillings from years ago, so we must monitor that one. I told him I’ve about had it in terms of fillings, so that one won’t happen for at least another six months.

God, 2009 shall be known as the year that Teeth Ate My Bank Account. I’m at about $1900 spent since December. Yesterday, my woe was apparently made known because he knocked off the price of the X-rays. I was expecting another $550 bill.

Just FYI: if you don’t have insurance, dental appointments can cost more than remodelling your two bathrooms (and I should know :P).

On the other hand, I am on a first name basis with everyone in the dentist’s office!

This weekend is a three-day weekend, and I am going to rock it by sleeping a lot. I put in my vacation for July, and it was approved, so that’s nice. I’m going to go see Sarah in LA and probably paint my hall, den, and vanity area.

It is a thrilling life I lead.

Superbizzy

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on May 10, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

Yow, this year is blink-and-you’ll-miss-it, huh?

Last week my friend Julie came to visit from Biloxi, MS and it rained pretty much the whole time she was here, so we weren’t able to do everything that I was planning. But we did make it up to Sacramento and the Jelly Belly Factory and saw Wolverine which we liked.  It was a little strange - Julie met Malvina and Sam, and none of my Texas friends have met any of my California friends until now.  But they seemed to get along, so that was nice!

For Mother’s Day I took my mom to see the new Star Trek and it was soooo good!

star-trek-new-poster-1

We really liked it, and I think everyone should see it on the big screen if they have a chance. Though I do think it’s funny that in all the articles I’ve read about it, people are talking about the cast being a cast of “unknowns” which I wouldn’t agree with - I mean, Karl Urban! (Eomer on Lord of the Rings) Zachary Quinto! (Sylar on Heroes) SIMON PEGG!! (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz)… Anyway, I’d heard of everybody in the cast, and even spotted some JJ Abrams regulars popping up here and there.

I finished a couple of pairs of socks:

DSC02670

Pattern: Lacunae Socks by Anne Hanson of Knitspot
Yarn: Valley Franklin Yarn /dyed by the Kangaroo Dyer from Webs
Mods: Not a single one!

DSC02679

Pattern: Kai-Mei from Sock Innovation (Cookie A)
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Sock 2/6 in Pixie
Mods: None!

I like both pairs.  The green ones were made for Abby, but the purple ones are for me.  I really liked working with the Fleece Artist yarn, and I apparently have another skein in my stash, so that’s pretty cool.

My current problem is what to knit next because I don’t know what to do, or what to knit it out of.  Phooey! I think it will probably be another Anne Hanson pattern - I really liked knitting the Lacunae socks, and I have a couple other patterns by her in my pattern collection.

I do have a couple other projects planned - some more Hearts Afire socks for Malvina, finish Abby’s rainbow Monkey socks, etc. But I want to start something else, too, and that’s where I’m coming up empty. Wah.

I’ve been so busy lately, but I hope to start updating a little more. *hopes*

Hearts Afire or I Love These Socks!

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on April 16, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 2 Comments

I almost always think that the latest pair of socks I make is my favorite.  And I do, certainly, have favorites. Last year’s Lizzie is definitely a fave, and the Popsicle socks I completed recently.

And these, which I finished maybe three (?) weeks ago but forgot to blog about - Hearts Afire, by a designer on Ravelry. Perhaps I should have chosen a more solid yarn, but I love the yarn, I love the pattern, I have no complaints.

Hearts Afire

 The yarn is Araucania Ranco Multy.  I love this yarn, with its rustic feeling and nice colors.  I have a couple more skeins (maybe four?) in my stash, which is great! The stitch definition is nice and I just like it in general.

 The pattern is well written and very pretty. It is written toe-up and I prefer top-down so I changed the pattern in that way and added two pattern repeats down the heel.  If it weren’t for such a well-written pattern I would not have been able to figure it out.  So, props!

 Hearts Afire

The weather has been iffy here lately - warm one day, cold the next, and it hailed yesterday! It’s been pretty chilly at night but I heard it’s supposed to get warmer… which I hate. But I have central air now, so this summer should be quite pleasant!

We had Easter at my house this year, and that marked the first social event I have had since I moved in.  (I think my friends were over when I first bought the place, but I remember a distinct lack of furniture… so that didn’t count.) Basically I was forced into major cleaning mode, and that kind of boiled down to shoving things in closets and a major clean-up… which ultimately resulted in a clean and fairly organized house! 

I don’t know what to think about that!

So, various and assorted things are coming up that I am looking forward to - this weekend a bead show in Oakland, my friend Julie is coming to visit from Biloxi at the end of the month, and the Maker’s Faire is in about a month.  I also have some irritating real-life things to take care of, like the broken toilet and taking my car in for scheduled maintenance.  I also had to pay taxes this year, and that really pissed me off.  Not to mention, I still have dental work to complete! yaargh.

Basically I should be more solvent by the end of the third fiscal quarter 2009. *sigh*

Here is a meme for your reading/stealing pleasure:

Sunday Stealing: Green Meme

1. What is your current obsession? Having/not having money.  And turnips on Animal Crossing. (Who has Animal Crossing for the Wii? Let’s be friends! So I can steal your fruit!)

2. What’s a good coffee place? My kitchen.  I brew coffee just the way I like it - strong enough to knock your socks off, then doctor it up into delicious honey latte territory.  I used to be big into Starbucks, but have totally lost interest; it’s not strong enough for me.

3. Who was the last person that you hugged? My grandma at Easter, I think.

4. Do you nap a lot? I nap whenever I get the chance.  I napped yesterday afternoon (knocked out by a combination of a headache, overall tiredness, and a tetnus shot), but as a result was awake until almost 1 a.m. Napping is best done on the weekends. 

5. Tonight, what’s for dinner? Some form of macaroni and cheese, and probably chicken.  Maybe a vegetable. (maybe.)

6. What was the last thing that you bought? I bought a bunch of books on Tuesday, but today I bought a ham/cheese/egg/english muffin at the downstairs bistro, because I was in need of protein.

7. What is your favorite weather? I hate most weather.  I love rainy weather - the type where you stay inside and listen to the rain and are cozy inside. Thunderstorms - love ‘em.  But I hate being cold, being hot, being neither hot nor cold… I am not easy to please.  Probably 74 degrees and no humidity would be perfect weather for me.

8. Tell us something about one blogger who you think will play this week? What?

9. If you were given a free house that was fully furnished, where in the world would you like it to be? Either San Antonio, TX or Boston, Mass.

10. Name three things that you could not live without. My glasses, my (quality of life changing birth control) pills, and comfortable shoes.

11. What would you like in your hands right now? My pillow which means I could be at home and sleeeeeeping.

12. What’s one of your guilty pleasures? I like Mandy Moore.

13. What would you change or eliminate about yourself? I wish I had more (any) patience.

14. As a child, what type of career did you want? I still don’t know.  In high school I wanted to be a geologist, but once I started down that path in college I realized I didn’t really like science. I APPRECIATE science, but not enough to do it as a career.

15. What are you missing right now? Money.

16. What are you currently reading? Liberty & Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by Mark Levin. 

17. What do you fear the most? I really kinda worry that our country is headed towards socialism.

18. What’s the best movie that you’ve seen recently? Death Race.

19. What’s your favorite book from the past year? From the past year? I don’t know if I can choose. I really enjoyed the last two Jim Butcher books (the latest from each of his two series), and am currently HIGHLY enjoying Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!

20. Is there a comfort food from your childhood that you still enjoy? Sure, meatloaf or whatever. I like food.

***

I finished a pair of socks for my sister last night and I started a pair of socks for me out of the new Cookie A book.  So, at least I will have blog fodder later in the week. Or next week. Or whenever.

Wicked the Musical

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on April 6, 2009
in adventures and daily
. 1 Comment

It takes a lot to tempt me into wandering into a theater.  I can count on one hand the number of professional shows I’ve been to - and the last time I saw a show was in 2001 when Rent was playing at the Orpheum in San Francisco. 

Now I’ve added Wicked the Musical to that list. 

Wicked the Musical

It was first workshopped here in SF years ago, and then there was a previous run a few years ago.  I wasn’t interested then because A) I was still living in Texas so I wasn’t exactly near where it was playing and B) I read a review in Entertainment Weekly that kind of panned it with a C grade and C) I hadn’t yet reread the book so I didn’t quite realize what a literary masterpiece it was! (Honestly, don’t be 15 and try to read the book, no matter how much you love the Wizard of Oz.)

Anyway, so six months ago my sister and I decided to go see the new run at the Orpheum and Abby ordered our tickets.  Finally the day came and we headed to the city.  The show has been sold out, so the theatre was packed.  Somehow, Abby managed to get seats on the bottom floor - there are two sections on the bottom, orchestra level and mezzanine, I think (louge [sic?] is upstairs) and we were in the mezzanine in the middle of the left side section.  Really decent view of the stage and kind of exciting to actually be on that level, especially since I thought we’d be upstairs.  My participation in acquiring the tickets was pretty much telling Abby to keep it around $100 if she could and then paying her back for my ticket. So it was a nice surprise that we were so close!

I will say right here that I am not a fan of Stephen Schwartz, the composer of this musical.  I think his work lacks cohesion and singable tunes.  He’s responsible for the crap soundtracks of Disney’s animated musicals Pocahontas and Hunchback of Notre Dame, and various other stage musicals that I’d like to punch him in the face for (Godspell, etc.). I’d gotten the Wicked soundtrack out of the library last year or the year before and was disappointed at how ultimately blah it was. 

So, yeah, I still decided to go, despite this.  I do love the book, and I love the Wizard of Oz.

The sets were amazing.  The costumes were fantastic.  The woman who played Glinda was absolutely fantastic (Kendra Kesselbaum, I think her name is).  We had a surprise in that Madame Morrible was played by Patty Duke! She was great. (Abby was all, “Who’s Patty Duke?”) Also, the Wizard was played by the guy who played Steve on Married With Children - he was good too.  But nobody was as good as Kendra Kesselbaum, who I was pretty much blown away by.

Wicked the Musical

There was a cop-out happy ending, which I found slightly irksome, though understandable. However, because of that, I would definitely say that it’s kid-friendly, since, basically, NO ONE DIES. Also, it’s totally funny.

My ultimate grade would be a B- because I feel that the music really does drag it down that much.  But as a stage production, the sets, direction, comedic timing, fabulous costumes, and excellent performances really elevate the show past lame music.  I would definitely recommend going to see it if you have the opportunity!

In the Garden

Published
by
Miss Lissa
on March 26, 2009
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Two Saturdays ago it was completely necessary for me to get out of Dodge.  So, I gassed up the car, got on the road and found myself in Burlingame, aka Land of Delicious Thai Food and Home of the Sibling. 

I’d been feeling the need to go a botanical garden or something like that; when I lived in San Antonio, there was a local botanical garden that I frequented - it was only $4 a pop with student ID. I liked going there because it was quiet and pretty, and filled with flowers and plants.  The irony being that I hate to garden, having suffered an eye injury when I was nine in the line of duty (directly contributing to my eyeball issues - while I am fine, I can’t watch or even talk about anything to do with eyeball injuries).  But: no matter; I like botanical gardens. 

There are a couple of botanical gardens around here, one in Berkeley and one in San Francisco.  We know that I abhor both those cities, so it’s doubtful I’ll get myself over to those gardens.  But I’ve always wanted to go to the Filoli Gardens, which my parents had gone to a few years ago and I had always wanted to go, but I think I was living in Texas then.  So I looked the gardens up and discovered that they are but 12 mere miles from the sibling! I thought they were much farther south and would be annoying to get to. 

But they aren’t.  So I emailed Abby and asked if she wanted to go, and she agreed, and so I headed over there in the morning and we went over to Coconut Bay, where we had the chicken red curry lunch.  It was extreeemely hot and cleared our sinuses.  Still delicious though! Best Thai food ever.

Then we headed out to Filoli, which is basically an English-style estate out on the peninsula. It definitely has Jane Austeny vibes and you can tour the first floor of the house and the extensive gardens, including the daffodil fields.

Filoli Gardens

DSC02627

It was pretty cold and cloudy when we went, but still fun. Since then, it’s been really sunny and nice out - but then again, spring has sprung. I miss my winter! Cold, cloudy, and blustery is my favorite sort of weather.  You know how some people get depressed in the winter? Season disaffective disorder or whatever it’s called?  It’s the opposite for me.  Give me fall and winter - you can have your spring and summer! So I’ve been in a bad mood this week.

Monday I finished my Hearts Afire socks. Tuesday I had a migraine and stayed home from work.  Wednesday I was gone all day for work - I had a meeting in the evening and barely got home in time to start watching Lost.  I am not super interested in Sayid-centric episodes but, um, I will say that for awhile I thought he would be sympathetic to young Ben, but then he totally wasn’t and did what I thought he’d do since last week… Lost is getting interesting! I’m glad it’s ending and we’re actually getting anwers.

Anyway, so I will post about the Hearts Afire socks next time.  I’m also working on the periwinkle Malabrigo earflap hat, which is about half done.

DSC02583

See the entire Filoli Gardens set here. It includes interior shots of the house, too.