HSailorMoon's Blog

It has been a busy past few months, but overall a great few months.

I finally got into the Substitute pool for my local school district, which turns into quite a bit of work! 😀 Being a substitute teacher has a lot of perks and a few negatives with it.

Perks: Great pay, tons of work, no ‘homework’ (ie the traditional work of being a teacher, lesson-plans, meetings, etc),  good hours, and kinda funny/fun most of the time (depending on the students)

Negatives: Can be a great day… or a really really bad day, bratty students, having to yell a lot (depending on students), possibility to break up fights (had to once already, oh it stressed me out afterwards), and the worst, having to wake up super early in the morning (average time ranges between 5am-6:30am).

However, I am glad I am able to do this job in the mean time, while I look into getting a job at the navy base. *fingers crossed*

December, Videogames~ Cataclysm came out. We (Jimmy, Alex, and I) went to the midnight launch, in Fountain Valley and I have an awesome collectors edition box with all the developers autographs! So World of Warcraft has been awesome. Rikol is  my main and she is almost to level 85. I just maxed out my herbalism and alchemy today and am working towards getting the 1k flasks guild achievement, since I am the only flask alchemist~ O.o;

Holidays went well, Jimmy was here. So he came and visited with my family and I went to his. Lots of great food. ;D

January, is almost over… First two weeks were just chilling, enjoying the knitting and READING! Because~~ I got a kindle for Christmas! (It is the last gen kindle) Jimmy and I fixed his Grandmother’s kindle (ty Amazon customer service) and since she had gone out and bought a nook, I was able to keep it! 😀 I even joined goodreads.com since I can now buy all these great books on my kindle! There is something great about having a book, in a small/thin device! 😀 (my user name is HSailorMoon on goodreads, I highly recommend the site!)

I have been swamped with subbing jobs, in this last half of January. I already have the first two weeks of February booked too. I have a 5/6th grade class for five days, starting tomorrow! I have the same students for a whole week! Here is hoping for reasonably behaved students. *fingers crossed*****

I can post a few photos of my recent knitting, since I just gave them away for a baby shower. (click the photos to be taken to the rav project pages)

Oh and I went to the Ravelry Unwind event this month! I knit a red honey cowl, the project is inside this back, so click it to see the project page.

I met Jess and Casey, and got their autographs.

They were so nice.

I also met Dr. Gemma fro the CogKNITive podcast, she was so awesome! (Click the image to get Dr. Gemma’s podcast page)

So it has been a happy few months and it looks to keep maintaining that momentum.

It is Thursday~ and thank goodness tomorrow is Friday…

Wait… today is Friday… wow, I am that tired I guess.

So tomorrow is Saturday, and I have a trip with the family to visit more family up north, for my Tia Vergie’s 96th birthday! It is crazy that she is that old, but still doing fine, she is quite funny actually.

I have a lot to do today, that need to get done before we go, and then get ready for the trip. Oh good, my coffee is done. I need some knitting and podcast time to wake me up a bit and hopefully take off the cranky-mood edge a bit. I woke up this morning, annoyed and anything that made sound… including my cats. 😉

Oh, Betsy (my car) has a new Alternator… which is why she died twice… I didn’t blog about it, but on Tuesday heading home, I was on the 101 freeway… and oh my the dash lights are dimming… oh no my radio turned off… panic call to my Dad yelling ‘It’s happening again!’ Some evasive maneuvers, getting off the freeway, giving the car gas while in park at a red, and coasting into a Jiffy Lube Parking lot (gotta love down hill, bridge, momentum). Betsy had to spend the night there. Drove her to the mechanic the next day (headlights = a faster dead Betsy) and barely made it down the last strip of road to the mechanic. So now Betsy has a new alternator (rebuilt), replacing the original 21 year old alternator, and causing me to be $395 dollars poorer. Dude… I could have had a spinning wheel by now. >.>; Car… vs… Spinning wheel… real life is depressing. 😉

Friday (yesterday) was Jimmy’s 25th birthday! So we go out to dinner with his family and Jimmy and I go to see a movie “Due Date” afterwards. The movie started later so we hung around downtown main street, went to a pub (I had coffee, and he had a Guinness) as we watch the Laker Basketball game, then we had ice-cream. Bought a huge popcorn and soda for the movie… it was a… ‘funny’ movie with a lot of ‘omg this isn’t happening’ humor that made you feel a bit un comfortable… lol Jimmy enjoyed it… and he is lucky I like him… lol it was alright. So we are heading to the parking garage to his car to head home.

However, walking up the stairs to the top level, we walk pass a level where… someone is openly graffiti-ing the wall there! Keep in mind this parking garage is open and well lit and very well used this evening… and the kid is looking left and right while he is doing this. Crazy I know. So I continue walking up the stairs and call the police to let them know what is going on. Before I even hang up the call… they tell me the police are there. So as we drive down the parking garage, I tell them I was the one that called and they ask me if I had seen where he went, I replied I didn’t know and look over my shoulder… and I see the kid! Or at least I think I see him, so I tell the officer, and he runs over to him and the other officers follow suit. They ask Jimmy and I stay there for a bit to ask me any more questions. Basically it takes about a half an hour, they ask me to look at him again, tell me legal stuff before doing so, I tell them I am 70% sure. We wait, Jimmy goes to the bathroom, and in the end the officer tells me it was him, he admitted it, they found the spray cans in his car (I assume) and they let us leave and thanked me. It was totally an interesting ending to the night, mainly because I was nervous when I called it in and was worried that I accused someone that was just walking around. So it was re-assuring to find out it was him. It was kind of cool to see how they police handled it and how quickly too. I came home… and went to bed at 2am ugh~

So yeah… that brings us to today… with my coffee in hand~

I am hoping for a relaxing weekend.

As are the murlocs~

Rav link: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/HSailorMoon/toe-up-futsies

I am doing a k3, p1 ribbing for the top of the foot, but will do an interesting leg, to break up the pooling/spiral going on right now. I like and dislike the pooling… but I may like it later on, who knows. I do know that I want the ribbing for the foot, because my other toefutsie socks are loose on the foot at the end of the day when just stockinette.

Then the second knitting, which I have loved so much and has been my tv knitting~ using my ‘fancy yarn’!

Rav link: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/HSailorMoon/butterfly-mobius

So I am actually going to end all this blogging and watch some tv on hulu. I am getting into the show “Nikita” on the CW, it is pretty cool thus far. Along with knitting on this mobius cowl! I want to finish this before I visit family up north, where it is much colder then it is here. (It also doesn’t help that we have had a heatwave all this week, of 80’s to 90’s, today is finally the first cool day~)

Third thing that has happened, Elections!~ I worked as a Roving Inspector again this election, meaning I have X polling places I am in charge of taking care of (this year I had 10 locations). Boy was I busy~ One place had major chaos in the morning and I stayed there for 3 hours helping sort it out and everything (we had a ton of voters along with double the supplies, because it was two precincts). Then I had to drive around town to all my other locations… I was so overwhelmed that my Dad (who is also another Roving Inspector) helped me out and checked on two of my precincts for me. This election was sadly underestimated and we ran out of supplies… even in our supply boxes given to us. So I had to run back to the Elections Office, … twice…, to keep getting supplies.

However, the icing on the cake for the day was when my CAR BATTERY DIED! I was on my way to my last polling place to help them close out the night… and I had noticed that my radio had turned off while I was driving. I had also noticed that my car’s dash lights were slightly glowing while I was driving (the battery symbol, parking break, emergency break, and dead light icons, all the same color, so I thought it was bulb related or a fuse… my car is 21 years old, so I am used to fixing things that are original components)…

So I call my dad (on my bluetooth, which saved the day for me, I received SO many calls that day, for being a Rover, if my precincts had questions, they called me) asking him

“Dad, what is the likely hood of my car battery dieing while I am driving it?” /

“Very slim, unless your alternator is old…“/

*”Oh My God Dad! My car just DIED!”*

Lol…Yeah, the conversation happened that quickly. I had to stop to turn right and as I stopped my car just died… completely. Which I was fortunate enough that there was this guy in a pick up truck behind me (also wanting to turn right) and he pushed my car from the turn lane to the side of the road ahead of us. So, my Dad was on his way to me… I go to the back of my car, take out my flashlight, and jumper-cables and wait for him to come to me (hazards are on everything is ok). My dad gets to me and we jump my car and charge it for a bit… we cannot notice anything wrong with the car other then the battery being dead. So I try to drive it after this… before I can even move it really, it dies again. So we jump the car again… longer this time. I am able to drive it.

Now keep in mind, when you jump your car, you want to drive it for awhile to charge the battery while it is driven… I am in downtown… there are a lot of stoplights. I have to drive my car through these city streets (with my Dad following me) to get home. For the most part I manage… there were a few tense moments, where a light was changing on me… and I sped through… kinda sorta… basically running a red light (the opposite traffic did not even move yet, so best of the worst) and do several rolling California stops turning right on red lights.

Yet the lights won, in the end I was trying to turn left on a main street… it turned red… car died it’s last and final time. My Dad pulls behind me and puts his hazards on, because my car cannot even manage that because battery is that dead. We call the police, we need help to get this car pushed out of traffic. Police get there, they can push the car no problem, the bummer is actual metal (now-a-days it is plastic and some foam material, which is crazy to me). However, my Aunt lives 1 block away… we ask if they would push my car to her house (turn left at the light and then turn right one street down)… they will do it! I have my Dad steer the car while they push and I will drive the other car ahead to my Aunt’s. The car gets to my Aunt’s beautifully! We thank the officers profusely and I let my Aunt know my car is there for the night and we will come in the morning to deal with the battery.

Come home, exhausted after a longgggg busy day of roving inspector… recovering of the stress of the car dieing several times and driving it… omg… there were tears while dealing with the car this whole evening. So watching tv for a bit with my Dad of the Elections ‘results’… we get a call from my Aunt. She realized that the Street Sweepers are coming down her street tomorrow at noon… oi another thing to deal with, but we can be there before noon and move the car (because it is a $50 ticket to not move your car). Then bed time.

I get woken up early in a panic from my Dad (which is rare), saying that my Uncle called and said that they police drive the street earlier then the street sweepers being there, giving out tickets. So we run out the door, to my Aunt’s, where she and I camp in front of her garage watching the car waiting just in case if an officer came down and I can plead to them what happened last night etc and that our new battery is on the way. While my Dad goes to our battery store waiting for it to open. He comes back with a new battery and no officers came… we were good. We replace the battery no problems go back and give them our old one (it was the original from when we bought the car) and they secure it to my engine. Done! So little old Betsy (my car) had quite a busy week, this week. Oy.

Thursday was un-eventful. I slept.

– Since there is no knitting involved in this story, I will show you an FO that I had done the week before. 😀 I did use it to hold a book that I had in the car with me, in case I had down time for the elections… I did not have any downtime.  It was a great stash buster project though~ I used 3-4 yarns at once for this project, it is suppose to be felted, but I didn’t felt it. I like how it turned out as is.

Stash busting Not a 2 hour bag (Rav link: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/HSailorMoon/two-hour-handbag )

Second major thing, Blizzcon happened!!!! 😀 That was a ton of fun… a bit too crowded for my liking and I am thinking I will stay home next year and do the Direct Tv broadcasting from home to watch everything. Because part of it being so crowded, is that you then miss out on a lot of things, because there is no way to be able to go to the panels you want to see, do the shopping, play the games, or go to the various booths. I have gone to Blizzcon 4 times now… and enjoyed every one, but I think I will enjoy watching everything from home (especially the matches, I never make time to see them at the convention).

This is the sock I knit on the drive there and in line: (Rav link: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/HSailorMoon/blizzcon-line-socks )

They have been my purse socks since the convention.

Here are a few photos from the convention! 🙂

Loved the Dungeon and Raids panel~ I cannot wait for the changes and updates!

The first Demon Hunter cosplay (from Blizzard employees of course), it was an awesome cosplay~ Then Karigan in the background~ ;D She even had on creepy contacts, it was great.

I played Starcraft!… Iron Chef… spin off. I didn’t realize that there are a ton of mini-game ‘maps’ for this game… I think I will be getting Starcraft later on~ I really liked the razer headset and keyboard~

Watching I believe, the last Starcraft match of the con, I don’t know who it was between, but that everyone was excited about it…

I was knitting~ while we watched this and waited for the concert.

Then Jimmy’s Socks that I knit on a bit while in the convention. (Rav link: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/HSailorMoon/mr-pitts-socks-aka-dad-socks )
It was rather dark inside the main hall, so I did not get much knitting done on them. My pink murloc was good company though~ 😀

I have had a busy several weeks that is for sure. Where to even begin, it feels like a long time ago.

First off I guess, I was hired to do some contractor work, for a gaming company, to be part of a focus group. Jimmy found this job posting and recommended we (he and I) do it together, because ‘It would be fun!’…. yeah I remember those words. So I end up getting the call to do it and I pitch them to have my boyfriend and my brother play with me (they both applied) and the three of us get into the focus group. Awesome.

It is basically a Korean MMO Gaming company, wanting to see if they can make it here in America, so they wanted our feedback of the game. Part of the agreement was to have us play the game to certain levels in the time given and if we reached the higher level we would get extra money. Sounded simple enough, we all play MMO’s via World of Warcraft. First game, two weeks, 53 hours put into it (they asked about 20 min a week)… torture! I ended up knitting while playing this game… there was a lot of down time. It was also impossible to obtain the first level requirement in the time given… so frustrating. They decide to change the rules about that level requirement this game (they did not realize how grueling it was to level).

Second game, two weeks, 73 hours put into it, we were able to reach the first level requirement…. in 70 hours! It was only possible because my brother and I played together the entire time to help each other and then we also had Jimmy helping for a portion of the time as well. I picked the tough armor class and had to literally carry my brother and Jimmy through this game. Soooooooo frustrating.

This is what I knitted on, while playing this game… (Rav Link: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/HSailorMoon/tofutsie-cowl )

I got a lot of progress done. In the second game, I read half of a book (over 150 pages) while playing. These games were not the most mind-taxing as others I enjoy.

In the end we were all happy to have it be done with and turned out, that the company gave all three of us the full/extra amount of payment for our participation (I assume for our hours put in, because they were expecting 40 hours for each game to reach the first requirement… hahha didn’t happen). In our surveys, none of us would play these games… EVER! They are a free to play game, which is hard to find a decent one… these two are not it. It was an interesting process though and we made one friend from the focus group out of it.

So it has been foreevvverrrr since I posted. However, I something to share! 😀 I had a great mail day today!~

I found a package for me… with these interesting stamps on it~~~~~…

Then there was this note and a blue wrapped item… hmmmm…

It took my Murky to finally tell me what it was for me to believe it~~~

My yarn from DUBAI! I have been telling my family about how I won yarn from Dubai~ xD We have all been excited~ because Dubai is all far away and fancy to us, in California. ;D

I won this yarn from Jocelyn, from her lovely blog contest, and was able to choose from her lovely etsy store!

This is Joceleyn’s blog: http://dyoselin.kissedmuses.com/

Then her fantastic etsy store!: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jhocy

This is the most fancy yarn that I own~ with the base being 50% silk and 50% merino… and it is oooooohhhh so soft! I love the shine the yarn has to it and it is squishy and dense all at the same time. I cannot wait to knit with it. I definently am thinking of a neck – something pattern… because I want this yarn around my face! 😀 Oh I am so excited! Thank you so much Jocelyn I LOVE IT! 😀

– – –

I am also excited, because I am going to BLIZZCON!!!! It is on Thursday!!!!!!!!! Super exciting~ Us geeks must gather at least once a year and geek out! 😀 I am so looking forward to it. I am such a lore nerd, that I also get super excited about meeting the Warcraft books, Richard Knack and Christie Golden. I am super stoked that The Shattering is coming out on Wednesday… that I ordered it off amazon… it should be here by Wednesday (I had two day free shipping)… I CANNOT WAIT to read it! 😀 So this is why Murky is in the photo with the yarn, because I am bringing him with me to Blizzcon~ 😀 So I will have my knitting and my cute stuffed animal to keep me company. This is going to be fun! 😀

Time for me to go search ravelry for ideas to knit my beautiful silk/merino yarn! 😀 Thank you again! I love it! 😀

I finished the mp3 player case to fit the headphones as well! 😀

It came out great! I decided to hold a black yarn (Patons Grace, 100% mercenized cotton, fingering weight) along side the multi-colored Tofutsies sock yarn! I am so thrilled in how it came out! It also made it a  denser fabric and thicker yarn (with the two held together) and a faster project!

The first photo here shows the color of the black and colored yarn the best.

Inside the case with the items just ‘stuffed’ in there. It is not like I am going to be folding and wrapping my headphones neatly when I use this case. ;D

Then the completed product, filled with the items and all buttoned up looking lovely!

My mad crochet skills~

Ravelry Link to my project page: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/HSailorMoon/mp3-player-case–headphones

A bit more details about the project can be found there. 🙂 A small project completed in a day~ I am pretty happy about that.  – – Now it is time for me to go to bed~ 😀

So I thought I would make a post, nothing focused in particular.

I wanted to share a few cute things, around my desk.

These are a few of them. 🙂 Adorable Hello Kitty charms, I guess you can call them that. Let’s see. All of them are from Japan, via Jimmy and his trip there this last winter, except the far right one, with the brown hair, that one I bought at AX this year. The lotus flower kitty and maid with red glasses glasses came off of a pen and mechanical pencil, which I have elsewhere.

The only downside to all of this…I do not have a cell phone that can hold a charm, ie the small loop of plastic to thread a cord like these through. So I have them placed through out my desk, I even have one in my car on my visor. I am happy that I can place a charm on my WoW Authenticator (from Blizzcon 08 I believe) and my new mp3 player a Philips GoSpark 2 gig I got off of Woot.com. I bought it because it came with two audible download credits… and I downloaded the audio book of A Short History of Nearly Everything to this player. (link: http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B002V0KFPW) It is 17 + hours long and I am thrilled to have it on a small device I can take with  me, since it does not seem like there will be a Palm WebOs application for it any time soon (ie not at all).

Then the cute adorable figure to the left, is from the Anime Gurren Laugan,Nia, that I also bought at AX this year. I love it! 😀

To make a case, for my small mp3 player with room enough to stuff the headphones as well.

With left over sock yarn from my first skein of Tofutsies!

A size F (3.75mm) crochet hook is in order.

– – – Also… ~$4 for a ‘tall’ frappuccino from starbucks… is wildly expensive. (I have a gift card) … oh and it is a Mocha Toffee frappuccino.

(I had to google how to spell frappuccino… and whoever came up with the spelling of this… ice blended drink… must have been on one heck of a sugar rush… because it is just a weird word when you spell it out. )