w e l l ~ B L O G ~ t o ~ y o u ~ t o o !

28 September 2002
 
He's done! Lance is done! Well, there will be the inevitable pillows for cross pollenization, but those can come later. The good news is Lance the Chair is finished. He has achieved his Drag-Queenness. Yes, I tamed the sewing machine and got his cushions made. Though several hours of TV during the week and two more movies today: Beaches and Troop Beverly Hills because I was too lazy to change the channel after Beaches.

Total Casualties:
Two Sewing Machine Needles
Numerous needle-pricks
A half-inch cut on my index finger from a staple

Not bad for a 8 day project, if I do say so myself. My utmost thanks go to Tiff and Kelly for naming Lance. And to my suitemate Sue for loaning me the awesome book on reupholstering for beginners. But since Sue doesn't have a website, go visit Susie 'cause their names are similar.

Ok then, now to clean up before my parents get home from their vacation.

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 18:10

24 September 2002
 
What? You're intrigued by Lance the Chair? Well, Lance the Chair is mostly clothed. He's missing his fringe, but I'll do that tomorrow. As it was, during Connections, JAG and half of Buffy, I got the inner arms, inner back, outer arms and outer back on. So he's mostly clothed. Of course, tomorrow I have to work with stripes. Eck. I also need to get the cushions in colorful fabrics. Well, by consensus of Tiff and Kelly my Chair is officially named Lance the Chair. Lance is surprisingly cheery now that he has some snazzy new clothes. And now I don't have to worry about peeping-lawn-furniture.

Ok Parking Rant: So I'm doing the work of 3 people (old me, support person who left, and new me), one of whom is a professional person. Now, I'm ok on waiting for my upgrade to get through the red tape that is HR. I understand that my bosses can do no more to urge it through (as the guy in question is the type that if you harass him, he moves slower on your requests). Ok, but as I was standing waiting for the bus in the afternoon... yes, I could walk the 1/2 mile to my car, but I felt lazy... I got to thinking. The people that have to park far away are hourly. Because the Parking Nazis changed the rules to make it so that you need to work at least 4 years before you can park near my building for hourly people, but all salaried people can park automatically. So anyway, the people that have to park far away are hourly. Now, the day ends at 5. Basically to get ANYWHERE before 6:00 at the ABSOLUTE minimum, you have to leave work EARLY. You have to take time off to get places an hour after work ends because the busses (and the walk) are so damn inconvenient. They're packed and basically come by so infrequently even at supposed "peak" hours that you can get NOWHERE quickly. And the bus people say, well SU needs to tell us to add more (and pay more), and Parking says "it's up to Centro", and the BS just goes round and round in circles, and I wanna park close to my building! /Rant

*thinks on Lance the Chair & Feels better*

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 22:21

23 September 2002
 
And the chair is no longer completely naked. Yes, I have fresh needles for the sewing machine and the chair is now wearing his front/bottom or whatever you call it. It's green and blue and yellow plaid. Next come the inner arms, which will be green. And then the outer arms, which will also be green. Then the inner back which will be plaid and then the outer back which will be blue, and then the little fringe at the bottom wich will be yellow. And then I get to sew stuff for the cushions. Which will also be those various colors.

Orpheus approves of the chair. He had fun when I got out the staple gun. NO! Don't call PETA on me. I was stapling the chair. Orpheus was just playing with the fabric as I pulled and tugged, tugged and pulled, and I think I have ventured into a child's story.

Jumping out of that... I would have continued sewing stuff for the arms but there wasn't a second episode of Buffy on Fx. I read the stupid guide "select by title" wrong. Hmmph. So yeah. But I didn't start until 7... and I had to fix the sewing machine. This is so much fun! Yes, my chair will be loud and obnoxious and colorful. But it will be a Drag Queen chair, and that is what it wanted.

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 20:39

22 September 2002
 
All right. The saga of the chair that wanted to be a Drag Queen. Yes, don't ask why, but my chair is male. Furthermore, it wants to be a drag queen. How can I tell? Well, he told me in the language of chairs that he was sick of his drab brown upholstery and wanted something brighter and colorful. And I am currently doing my best to oblige him. If you read regularly, you will remember the four patterns of fabric I bought a while back. Yes, those pattern's are my chair's new upholstery. So yesterday and today, I sat in my livingroom, watched movies and stripped him down to his skivvies. He is currently still stark naked in my livingroom. I certainly hope there are no peeping-lawn chairs coming to take a gander at his nudity! Why, his padding is exposed! *gasp!*

So I sat down with my tempramental sewing machine and did some test-runs, and was starting to get the first pieces ready for his new upholstery, when I hit a minor snag. Ok, it was a major snag. I broke the needle on the sewing machine. Ouch. But it was also a blessing in disguise as I had sewed the piece a little wrong, so it will be easy to rip out the seam and start over. But I will have to stop at JoAnne Fabric's on my way home and get some more needles before I can start clothing my chair again. *sigh*

So that is the current bit on my chair. Current movie list:

My Fair Lady (part)
Benny & June (part)
Emma
Moulin Rouge
Monsters Inc.
Enemy at the Gates (drool @ Jude)
The Eagle Has Landed (part)

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 21:29

18 September 2002
 
Hey, quick post to let you all know

What revolution are You?
Made by altern_active

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 13:51

17 September 2002
 
Ok then, It's been like almost a week since my last blog. I went to a memorial service for my Great Aunt Lillian. Saw my dad's cousins and my second-cousins. Lots of people I never really met before. Well I did when I was still in a high chair. I mean, there is photographic evidence that I met them. And of course, then I realized exactly how fucked up my family is with little in-feuds. Sometimes, it's good to be removed from extended family. Except they all were so damn nice (even if it was the first time two of them had spoken in several years).

That was Saturday. Sunday, I saw my Big Fat Greek Wedding which brings me to the other side of my family. My Nana is Albanian, which is close enough culturally to basically be Greek. That side of the family is Greek Orthodox, and yes, my father had to be baptized into the Greek Orthodox church before he could marry my mom. Talk about more fucked up things in a family: My great-grandfather is my father's godfather. Well 'was' I should say, as Seraphim aka Gabby has since passed on. Gabby rocked though. He always had butterscotch and other hard candies for us when we visited, and he always had a parakeet named Sammy. He lost both of his legs though. I forget how, but it wasn't through fracture. Anyway to get back to the authenticity of the movie. Very authentic. Apparently Gabby (my great-grandfather & dad's godfather) would do the same thing as the dad in the movie: tell how all words are essentially greek. And my mother growing up heard the like about the Turks a lot. And the gathering of the family was like my mom remembered Christmas at her Nana's house.

So yeah, that's more of my family than you care to know. But, hey, gotta love 'em 'cause they come with great stories--like how my father passed out when he got married to my mom. And of course his side of the family didn't know what the fuck was going on as it was all in Greek. But they did have a scorecard. But "Groom hits floor" was not in the Scorecard. ;-). That's got to be one of my all time faves. Told every year leading up to Christmas & their anniversary on the 27th. Hey, they lasted 27 years after that start. Even after mom had to open wedding presents alone 'cause dad was in the bathroom half the reception. And mom had to eat their first dinner alone 'cause dad had to take the head off a rainbow trout and got sick again. And FYI. Don't pity my father. It was his own damn fault he drank so God Damned much the night before the wedding and was still drunk the next day. Well His fault and his brother and cousin from above and his cousin from above's husband (cousin and cousin-in-law were Dad's frat brothers if that tells you anything). Ta Ta for now. I love you daddy.

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 21:05

11 September 2002
 
Well, it's a bright and beautiful day here. I didn't start out that way. It was misty and beautiful then. Not too hot. Not too cold. Wonderful. Perfect. It's a day where you want to just run outside and twirl around and sing The Hills are alive... With the sound of Music. But if you do, you're unpatriotic or callous or unremembering of a terrible tragedy. Well, we have picnics on Memorial Day. Family gatherings and whatnot, so why not today? Why can't we be happy and joyful today? Why must it be all gloomy misery. Why can't we celebrate life? Because, well, we're living. And you know what? The sky hasn't fallen. We haven't yet descended into and unprovoked attack on another country (despite the greatest tryings of our leaders). Are we, as a nation, that much worse off? Did Al Quaeda distroy our country? No. We're living. We're breathing. Babies have been born, and people have gotten married (not necessarily in that order).

There are some places where they treat death as a celebration. As a moving on. That you're not supposed to be sad. At least not for the person who died. And not being sad does not mean that you do not miss them. Irish wakes. They are celebrations. Parties. Times to remember the happy things about the deceased. The point of remembering is not to make yourself depressed with misery. The point is to remember the good. The love that the deceased spread. And there was not one person who died a year ago today who did not give love to at least another human being. There was not a single person who was not loved in return. And they should be remembered as said happy loving people--not statistics, another number in many, another name in a litany of so many that the names become pointless.

There was a reason why the aftermath was so inconceivable. The toll was just too many for our social packs. And the people stopped being individuals and were just beings and names clumped together in a big conglomerate. If you are or know someone who lost a loved one--well then it has a lot more meaning for you. But the rest of us, are we truly remembering the lives of the people who had died, or are we wallowing in a self inflicted pity-wound we are not allowing to heal? I know it sounds harsh. But the way I see it, the only way to truly remember what happened and remember America "before" is to celebrate the things we all did "before" and took for granted "before". Going outside on a day like today and twirling around while the sun is on your shoulders and the wind is in your hair. Laughing. Reading a book. Celebrating our leisure time. We cannot wallow in our wounds and keep reopening our scars. That is not the way to heal. And if you want to know what would happen if we neglect our healing, and keep picking our scabs, you only have to look to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. People there are not allowed to heal. They are constantly reminded of things done to them. People are brought to graveyards of young men and women and told "look what the Palestinians did to them" or "look what the Israelis did to us".

We're supposed to be a progressive country, so let's stop wallowing in our victimhood. Let's have a day where we be happy. That would be the ultimate defeat of the Terrorists. Like the Grinch who tried to steal Christmas. The Whos didn't care about the decorations and such. They celebrated anyway in their torn and disheveled little Whoville. America is not just a territory on a map. It's a way of being, it's a place of ideals--and they can't destroy what is in our hearts--not unless we let them.

Oh, and if you see people celebrating a birthday today--don't get hard on them. It's their birthday! Let them have a happy birthday. It's how birthdays are supposed to be. People don't ask to be born on a certain day, so don't get all hateful on them if they want to celebrate. Because I'm sure enough other tragedies have happened in the history of the world that your birthday is also covered in that.

All right, getting off my soap box for the day. And oh, FYI, I'm not watching any of the smaltzy "rememberance" stuff on TV today. The wind is blowing. Perhaps I shall fly my new kite.

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 18:22

09 September 2002
 
Morning! Yep, It's early. Almost insanely so, if you don't realize that I got to sleep in for a Monday. So today I'm leaving the Bridgeport/Fairfield CT area and starting my trek back home. The Bethlehem Fair was pretty fun. I ate poorly of fair foods, so had to go to Ruby Tuesdays last night to get some vegetables. So much for my 2 cups of salad greens at every meal. Well...

07 September 2002
 
Hey! Here I am in Bridgeport, CT at my friend Sue's house. Went to the Bethlehem Fair last night, and will go again today. Of course, last night a lot of the rides were broken. Can you believe of all the rides that we couldn't go on, it wasn't the one where you got twirled up-side-down and hung that way for a minute (didn't do that ride), but it was the FERRIS WHEEL! Oh, they'd turn it, but it was closed. Grr. Not gonna do rides today 'cause we tend to shop today, and there's a bell concert at 3.

Also, I'd like to wish a happy birth to Baby Moffatt (sometimes known as Moppet and/or Muppet thanks to Elisa). Baby Boy Mofffatt (we don't know his name yet) is one day old today as he was born yesterday around 5pm. Yay for Andy and Sinead.

Anyway, Sue finally has internet access, so I can blog from her house while I'm not at home. YAY. Well, time to go get breakfast. :)

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 09:21

05 September 2002
 
All right, let's hope this works else I'm really going to get mad! Actually, I know it works, and for that I have Kelly to thank. I've been gone a long time without blogging, so I have lots to catch up on.

Anyway, the biggest move is from Geocities to IPowerWeb. That was the biggest hang up in getting blogging. And what a mess that was! Geocities makes it very difficult to leave, and their replies are slow. But it's all taken care of now, and I am snuggling into IPower. Of course, i'm suffering from some growing pains, as all my files aren't yet transferred, hence some broken links and pictures and stuff (avoid the photos page).

Well, I hope you enjoy the new layout. You too can make a South Park person at the Planearium. Yes, we all made them a while back, but I wanted a new layout for my new host, and didn't have the time to scan in my notebook drawings. So, you get South Park Me instead.

On a more serious note. Do you ever know how bad it feels when you try to do something nice, but can't? The other day, I was walking back to Manley where my car is parked (1/2 mile away from my building), and I saw some kids who looked as though they were trying to pop a clutch to get the car started. Now as I had suffered from dead batteries on more than one occasion, I had a pair of jumper cables in the car. Well, I offered them, used my car, read the manual and hooked them up right, but it still didn't work. So I felt bad that these kids were left there. I mean, they were by no means totally stranded. There were busses to bring them back to the main campus of SU every 15 minutes or so, and they did have a cell phone. But I tried. I really did. But I couldn't feel all happy and cheery 'cause even though I was nice and tried to help, I couldn't. And that made me feel bad.

The other thing that makes me feel bad is being an American. To those of you in the world. I didn't vote for W. I can't believe what he's doing for foreign policy. And though it's "unpatriotic" to criticize the "war plans" I can't believe that we have become such a bully-nation that we are attempting to invade another country in a strike that would preempt something that POSSSIBLY could happen. I mean, a year ago (in a few days), we had the entire world at our backs, brimming with good will. And what did we Americans do to that? We spit on it. We squandered it. We became so bloody egotistical in our newfound victimhood that we decided not to give a fark about what the rest of the world thought of us. Sympathy wears thin when you weep for two seconds and then punch someone who looked funny at you ten years ago. And so, I am shamed. With each new global summit that we turn our backs on, with each new foreign policy agenda item that pops up, with each new announcement that comes out of Washington, I am shamed and ashamed to be part of the same country that did it. No, I'm not a bleeding-heart liberal. I wanted Osama Bin-Laden as dead as the next person. I want Al-Quaeda gone forever. But I just can't believe that we Americans are using that same event as an excuse for doing whatever the fark we please in the world. It doesn't happen that way. And so I'm sorry, I won't be singing "Proud to be American" because, frankly I'm not.

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 21:58

 
Ok, I'm getting pissy now, and you don't want to see that

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 21:39

 
Yet another test blog. If this works, I'm giving a big VIN wrapped up with a bow to Kelly

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 21:36

 
One more test! woo hoo!

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 21:11

 
testing again

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 21:10

 
testing

Liz the Mischievous renovated @ 16:36