4/29/06 The word of the week is: yo. Not like "yo girl, how you doin'?" or like "yo mama". I'm talking
yo as in "yarn over". That's right peeps... I am officially an ooooold lady. Yesterday, armed with some yarn, a hook, and the internet,
I learned to crochet. Now there is a good reason. I need a small patch of black crocheted stuff for my belly dance headdress (you use the crocheted bit
to attach combs and bobby pins), so I am becoming an old lady for a sexy cause, but still. The funny thing is how utterly pleased I was by 3-4
successful rows 7 inches long. As I was starting out and having a lot of trouble, I went to a few more how-to sites. Turns out I had a trial by fire.
One of the sites said never to start with chenille or wool (check - I had wool), to use light colors at first so you can see what you're doing (check - I
was using black), to test the yarn to see if it separates easily and to only use yarn that is tightly wound (check - completely frayed when I wiggled it in
my fingers). It makes me feel better, because while I am able to crochet this naughty yarn, I can't watch TV while I do it because I have to concentrate.
For a funny picture of me concentrating, check out Johnny's new photo blog site.
2/26/06 The word of the week is: engaged. All of my people are getting engaged! First, there was bratty naughty Genevieve,
who got engaged all the way back in December and still hasn't told me. I had to hear through the grapevine. She is getting quite a spanky-spank
when I see her next. Next, Julie sent me a happy joyous IM to let me know that she was engaged. And then this week, my beautiful
Jenea called with her happy engagement news. Hurray!!!! Soon it will be time for wedding-paloosa number two (the last one was about five years ago).
2/17/06 The word of the week is: fabric. In light of the general dearth of fabulous clothing in my
size, I have formed a plan to learn to make my own stuff. But a recent trip to my local fabric store
left me shocked and appalled. No jersey knit... a few cotton knits in lame colors, but no knit prints, NO TWEED AT ALL,
no stretch wool. How is a girl to copy the clothing she sees for skinny people when she doesn't have access to good
fabric. Happily, we are planning a trip to New York in the near future, and I am quite excited to visit
Mood, the fabric store they use a lot on Project Runway. They have a whole stretch wool SECTION, and a wall o'
tweed. I will need to have a strict budget for this trip, lest I buy more fabric than any girl could really sew.
1/26/06 The word of the week is: job. For several months now, I have been without a job.
Most of the time, it's pretty great. I have time to cook dinner instead of having to eat out every night. The house
is tidy. I am working on the article based on my dissertation--a task that has been on the back burner for years now.
I have time to spend with Rebecca and Elise. And, most importantly, my soul is not being sucked out daily. I am not
bored. I have my novel to work on, and curtains to make for the bedroom and dining room. I want to try my hand at making
clothes for myself. And I am getting in the swing of Maryland with drum, dance, and yoga classes. But sometimes, like
when the bills roll in for home improvements, or when I think of how much it will cost to get my glass studio set up again,
I feel like I should bite the bullet and get another soul-sucking-statistics job.
Then again, I do feel like I sacrificed a lot to get this little respite. I moved from the San Francisco area, mecca of
all things wonderful and hippie-dippie to Maryland, where I drive 45 minutes for belly dance and drum classes. And I left
wonderful friends behind. In the end, I know that statistics is not my calling, and that I will do something else wonderful
with my life. But now, while I am still finding out what that is, sometimes I just feel like a lazy bum with no job.
10/27/05 The word of the week is: Faire. This week, I went to my first Renaissance Faire!! In less than one week, I
managed to pull together costumes for John and me, as well as for Rebecca, Brian, and Elise. I didn't have time to make hats, or put on finishing
touches, but I did successfully sew my first bodice, with boning and everything. Rebecca is wearing it (I already had a fabo leather corset to wear),
but Elise is hiding my glorious sewing job in most of the pictures. I had a great time at the Faire and will definitely be going back
next year. It's hard to believe I held out this long, frankly. My biggest surprise was how few people were in costume, and of those not in
costume, how few even made a gesture towards a flowy skirt or peasant blouse. I mean, come on people!! This is your chance to wear a corset with
a long fabulous skirt and you wear jeans and a T-shirt? That's just silly, I say. Here are some fun pics:
Elise tries on (and drools on) her chemise
All dressed and ready. Aren't we cute?
Me and my honey
The cutey-cute Palmers
Almost looks like he knows what he's doing... almost
I may not be a great shot...
...but I am a very cute assistant
Why did I not make this boy a jester costume?
Naughty sisters
Exhibit A: Sloth
Fun was had by all
9/5/05 The word of the week is: photoshoot. This week, we cashed in a gift from Rebecca and Brian. Bec did my
hair and makeup, and Brian did a photoshoot of John and me, including some fun pics of me in belly dance attire. Of course, while we had the equipment set up, we also got some pics of gorgeous Elise and the Palmer family.
The gift also includes digital retouching (for split ends and errant bra straps), but here are the proofs from our photoshoot:
4/27/05 The word of the week is: boxes. Despite hours and hours spent unpacking, John and I are
still very much in boxes. I had some crazy dream that we would be all moved in and settled by the time
we went back to work (May 2), but it looks like that is not to be. There is a true chaos to being in boxes
when someone else did the packing (Hopkins paid for our move, including paying for us to be packed by movers). But I
never imagined that so many boxes would be labelled "Misc." True enough, when I pack, there are boxes labelled
"Random," "Truly Random," and "No, seriously friggin' random," but I know what is in those boxes, and I label
important ones (like the bedside lamps) with clever clues like "Bedside Lamps" (NOT "Knick-knacks, misc."). One relatively
large box contained, I kid you not, another box, and in that box was exactly
one object, a Star Trek collectible doo-dad. Yes, this box was labelled "Misc." Another challenge is the
seemingly endless quantity of paper used to pack everything. The aforementioned "Misc" Star Trek box contained primarily
paper. The good news? My parents are probably moving soon, so we are saving paper and boxes for them.
The other word this week is accident. Almost 2 weeks ago, my sister had a car accident,
particularly scary since she is pregnant. They kept her overnight in the hospital because she was having some contractions,
but both she and the baby are doing fine, and everything is still on track for an early June delivery (or, according to the
gypsies in the family, myself included, a late May delivery). Then, a couple of days ago, my mom had one with my Aunt Dolly
in the car. They are both fine too, but this is twice now in several months that something (a deer previously, a car this time)
ran into my mom's new car apparently without seeing it. She is trading it in for a brighter color.
Finally, there is sufficient reason to have a third word of the week: baby. In addition to Bec and Bri's baby
shower, which was a lovely affair, Gaby had a baby girl this week--Clara Elizabeth!
3/8/05 The word of the week is: limbo. John and I are in a strange kind of limbo state. We bought the fabulous house
in Ellicott City, and we have our plane tickets for the final big move. Now, after months of complete insanity, we wait. We try to see our friends,
finish up work projects, pare down our belongings... but in some ways our heads are already in Maryland. In other ways, we don't feel ready to say
goodbye. The current limbo is far preferable to the hell we were in when we didn't know whether or not we would be leaving, but it's
still kind of weird to go in to work every day, or to see friends, knowing that the internal countdown has begun. People are starting to ask, "Will
I see you again before you go?" It's sad. But then I talk to my sibs and I get excited. I will see them so much more, and it won't be in a flurry
at Christmas. Sadness and excitement... those are the emotions of limbo.
1/24/05 The word of the week is: inspections. Well, now that we have a contract on a place in Maryland, we are going
bananas scheduling, coordinating, and generally dealing with various home inspections--the general inspection,
fireplace and chimney inspection, water quality and water pump, radon, termites, septic system... So far, mostly good. The chimney
inspection was a bit of a bummer, in that the fireplaces all work now, but are quite old and will probably (all three) need to be
replaced soon. There are also some drainage issues because the ground is sloping towards the house in some places. That's just bad planning really, and
pretty easy (but not super cheap) to fix. We were going to landscape anyway. Those are the big ticket items, and neither are deal breakers, but
we haven't heard about the water and septic yet. I do love this house, so keep your fingers crossed!
P.S. My dad is doing well. He's home now, and seems back to his old self mostly. I'm sure my mom will be doing regular inspections of
his health regimen from now on to make sure the little brat is taking all of his pills, exercising, and generally being a good healthy boy.
1/14/05 The word of the week is: dad. My dad had a heart attack yesterday, and then another one last night. He
has been in surgery twice to have stents put in. We are all totally freaked, but somehow he is still managing to crack jokes. I love my dad.
Join me in sending some good mojo his way.
11/17/04 The word of the week is: moving, for a couple of reasons.
Reason one--the cat is officially out of the bag--there is a chance that
Johnny and I might be moving to Baltimore. He has a very attractive job offer from the Johns Hopkins Neurology Department. We are waiting
right now, giving Stanford a chance to counter-offer, but there is a very distinct possibility that we may be packing up and moving across
the country. We'll know more in a month or so, and the timeline for moving, if it happens, would be this Spring.
The other reason that moving is the word of the week is that Bec had another sonogram today, and her little munchkin was in there moving
all around. He was wiggling, and doing the hokey pokey, and conducting an orchestra apparently. Then he settled in to sleep and started sucking his little
thumb. Looks like she may be cooking a little lefty in the oven. Most babies who suck their left thumb in the womb are lefties after they come out. Here is
the munchkin... who is as yet nameless, but possibilities include Pokey, Munchkin, Casper, Lefty, and Sweet Pea.
6/2/05 The word of the week is: Elise: Elise Isabel to be precise. On June 1 at about 8:30 am, Rebecca had my new sweet
niece, Elise Isabel, aka Ellie Belly. Here is beautiful perfect Elise:
10/20/04 The word of the week is: rice. Rebecca and Brian's baby (!!!) is the size of a piece of rice! They saw the heartbeat today!!!
10/17/04 The word of the week is: celebrities! John and I are in Vegas for the weekend, and have been having some fun spotting celebrities! Stanford put us up in the Bellagio (cha-ching), and there is a poker tournament going on right now, so mostly, we've been spotting poker greats. We saw Amir Vahedi eating dinner in the buffet. We saw Jennifer Harman, Abe Mosseri and a couple of other people we recognized but couldn't put a name to playing in the poker room. But our big celeb moment was riding the elevator with Tobey McGuire (a.k.a. Spiderman), who apparently plays a lot of poker. Woohoo!
10/12/04 The word of the week is: raku. I am playing with a new kind of glass that is reminiscent of raku-glazed ceramics. Check out the cool pillow-shaped pendant and glass ring on my Finished Items bead page. This stuff is cool, 'cause you never know what you're going to get. Someday, I would like to play with actual raku glaze. Why is it that I am so afraid of fire, yet many of my activities seem to involve fire?? Hmmm?
8/31/04 The word of the week is: haircut. Check out Johnny's new haircut!
8/12/04 The word of the week is: anniversary. Johnny and I just celebrated our second wedding anniversary! Has it really been so long? Last year, we were very romantic, with a picnic in our own backyard, some champagne, and a (newly made) top layer of wedding cake. This year was cool, because it had a little bit of everything. The weekend before, we went to a comedy club. Then on our actual anniversary day, we watched a little TV and then... get this... cleaned the garage. You know that manic state that can sometimes happen with cleaning? We started out just breaking down some boxes for recycling and the next thing you know we are cleaning up crap that's been laying around since Burning Man last year. From there, we cleaned up and went out to a romantic dinner. I love this anniversary because it had laughter, contentment, hard work, and romance. What could be better than that?
7/13/04 The word of the week is: ego. This week has been an up-and-down ride for my ego. Lately, I have been thinking a lot about ego: Why is my ego so self-effacing? Why can't I admit when I am good at things? And why do I hate hate hate it so much when I am bad at things? For more discussion of me and my ego (ME ME IT'S ALL ABOUT ME!), check out today's blog entry, which is more private journal than usual. Get a window into Pam's psyche as she continues the fascinating ego-friendly exercise of writing a blog.
6/22/04 The word of the week is: recital. On the solstice, I participated in my first drum recital. I haven't been in anything called a recital since I was 15 and stopped dancing. It's a funny word, really, particularly considering the vibe of the recital I was just in. Very mellow... lots of excellent dancing and trancing. It's truly hard to believe that I only started drumming a year ago. It was at this very recital last year (I was attending in belly dancer capacity) when I first heard the call of the drum. A year later, I am firmly on that path, and it is leading me places I never expected. I think our performance at this recital might have perked up John's ears to the call of the drum too. And so it goes...
6/7/04 The word of the week is: Sachertorte. We just got back from Vienna, where we tried Sachertorte for the first time. Maybe it was an effect of too much hype, but we were both decidedly underwhelmed. It wasn't chocolatey enough to be a chocolate experience, moist or rich enough to be a decadent experience, or even interesting enough to be a unique experience. But, like the good tourists we were, we went to Hotel Sacher and had our requisite slice of Sachertorte. It was what happened after that made it the word of the week. For some reason, one of us sang a modified version of the Folgers theme as follows: "The best part of waking up... is not having to eat any more Sachertorte." The fact that both John and I found this roll-on-the-floor funny (and that very few other people in the world would understand why it was funny) goes a long way towards explaining why we are such a good couple. This became the song of the week, as everywhere you go in Vienna, someone is trying to sell you Sachertorte. A little under-the-breath hum of the tune was plenty to get us giggling inappropriately in museum cafes. We joked about buying miniature Sachertortes and bringing them back to give to people we didn't like very much. Sachertorte could become the next holiday fruitcake...
5/12/04 The word of the week is: Meshugeneh. The other day, Monty was meshugeneh. You know, I learned these Yiddish words the way we learn most words... Someone uses them, we don't know what they mean, we figure it out from context. Now either the person I learned the word meshugeneh from long ago used it incorrectly, or else they used in with ambiguous context, but I have been going about my life thinking that meshugeneh meant sort of cranky or pouty. It so does not mean that. John used it correctly to identify Monty's state of mind when he was tearing around the house like a little maniac. He was really acting like a nutjob. He was meshugeneh.
4/21/04 The word of the week is: Dilettante. In the spirit of naming our fears (and in honor of one of the tribes on Tribe.net with the best name: Invite your Existential Terrors to Tea), I hereby name my fear: I am afraid of becoming a dilettante. On the surface it is not such a bad thing. From Merriam-Webster: dilettante (noun) Etymology: Italian, from present participle of dilettare, to delight, from Latin dilectare. (Delight, that's good, right?) First definition: 1. an admirer or lover of the arts. Yeah, I'm that. OK, cool. Second definition: 2. a person having a superficial interest in an art or a branch of knowledge, synonyms see DABBLER, AMATEUR. Ouch there it is. Dabbler. Amateur. But to me, there is another meaning to the word dilettante, a more subtle and much scarier one. It has to do with people (women in particular but not always), who stay home to "play" at art or music or writing while a partner goes out and earns the practical living. There is a judgement inherent in the word dilettante that makes all of my creative urges feel yucky and selfish. Dilettante, my fear, I name you. You are hereby banished.
4/7/04 The word of the week is: Hectic. From my work load to my social schedule, everything has abruptly become hectic. Zorina is back (yay!) so drumming and taketina have started up again, including a new intermediate drum class. There is a big conference deadline in a week, and I am a co-author on somewhere in the range of 3 to 5 abstracts for that. Cheryl is going to be in town (also yay!). People are havin' parties. People are wanting my statistical services. Hectic, I tell you. And since I am essentially a perpetual motion machine, if I say hectic, I mean really friggin hectic. [[Update: I actually wound up working on 8 abstracts, although only 7 wound up getting submitted. Boy am I glad that week is over!]]
3/29/04 The word of the week is: Creativity. This week, I am full to bursting with creativity. I wanna make beads and write fiction and sew drapery and make furniture and design jewelry and dance and sing and spin in the sun. Spring is here, and all the bulbs of creativity are sprouting at once. It's gonna be a colorful garden.
3/23/04 The word of the week is: Saturn Return, as in, I am in the second half of my first Saturn Return. Do any of these signs that Saturn has swung back my way sound familiar? "This transition into adulthood is often accompanied by a sense of urgency, a feeling that you must try to accomplish everything you've ever wanted or planned to do now." *cough cough* Who? Moi??? How about this bit o' trivia? "During his first Saturn Return Vincent Van Gogh decided to be a painter rather than a minister." Finally, "Your Saturn Return is a personal spring cleaning." Since the next spring cleaning isn't scheduled until somewhere around my 56th birthday, I guess I'd better take advantage of this one. Good to know this wacky transition phase is scheduled by the stars to be over soon. It's getting tiring.
2/28/04 The word of the week is: Ta Ke Ti Na. OK, technically, Ta Ke Ti Na is not a word... it is four meaningless syllables in a row. It is also the name of a rhythm practice that has come into my life at exactly the right time. It may sound strange, but I have learned more about myself doing steps and claps in Ta Ke Ti Na than I have doing most other things in my life put together. I just came from an amazing Ta Ke Ti Na workshop, and am going to a 3-day workshop next weekend. Yay!!!
2/17/04 The word of the week is: Massage, as in, I took a massage class with Johnny and seem to have a new obsession. Also as in, I bought a massage table on Ebay and can't wait to give you (yes, you) a massage. It is not impossible that in the next year or two I will consider getting certified. Ask me for a massage.
2/5/04 The word of the week is: finishing, NOT as in, I am finishing my novel or the article based on my dissertation, but rather as in I am learning a lot about wood finishing. This week I have learned the difference between stain and dye, poly and lacquer, gel stain and regular stain. I know what NGR means, what grit of sandpaper to use to remove finish, and what to use between coats of finish. I have learned that Home Depot has a crappy selection of wood finishing products, and that it is very, very hard to make Ikea clear-lacquered pine look like dark-stained walnut. Thanks, Vince, for all of the advice and for the loan of your wood finishing book.
1/20/04 The word of the week is: wagon, as in, I am back on the wagon and won't be eating the way I have been (or drinking the way I have been, for that matter, although a serving of Scotch is only 2 points, compared to margaritas and such which can be 9 points or more).
1/6/04 The word of the week is: Poker: I have become oddly obsessed with playing poker for money over the last few weeks. I'm sure it has nothing to do with Celebrity Poker Showdown...
12/17/03 The word of the week is: Christmas: Obviously, Christmas is just around the corner, but I have been using it differently to mean my general vibe of cheerful Christmas-elfedness, as follows... "Last week I was stressed and my Christmas was on the fritz. But this week I've gotten my Christmas back."
12/9/03 The word of the week is: Behind as in "Novelling all November has put me seriously behind on my Christmas shopping and crafting," NOT as in "Look at the cute guy's behind." Hunh... look at that. It only takes three uses of the word behind to render it completely meaningless. That seems to be less than most words. Behind is actually a pretty funny sounding word, as words go... be-hind, be-hind, be-hind. Go ye and be hind.
12/1/03 The word of the week is: Feast - Thanksgiving is one of the last remaining celebratory feasts in our culture.
11/18/03 The word of the week is: Thirty - On Friday, I am turning thirty.
11/9/03 The word of the week is: Novel - In case any of you missed it, the word of the week (and month) is novel. As in, "I am spending most of my free time this month writing my quantity-not-quality NaNoWriMo novel."
11/3/03 The word of the week is: Savor - "We must savor the last few episodes of Farscape..." (We didn't, of course - we watched as many as we could get our hands on in one night, like the little junkies we are.)
10/25/03 The word of the week is: Mischievous, prounounced, of course, mis-chee'-vee-us. In a sentence: "Zorina gets this fabulously mischievous look on her face when she's about to mess with the rhythm."
10/18/03 The word of the week is: Smug. Pam: "John, how do you feel about me going with the chain you liked on this necklace after all?" John: "I feel smug."
Other notable words of the week from before I was keeping track: mungus, feces, ricockulous, Trogdor, monkey, Lemmiwinks-Gremmiwinks-anythingiwinks, pookie, smooch, callipygous/steatopygous, woo-woo, hippie-dippy, manx