news and news

It's been a couple of days, and I have news from here and there. Good and bad, but that's the way of news.

First the bad news.

My mom has been living with J since I was 21, and I'm near 40 now. Well, about 2 weeks ago, Mom called and told me that J has been diagnosed with stage 4 throat cancer. Yes, this is and isn't a shock - he's been a smoker for about 60 years, and he's been having trouble with his voice for several months, but yeah, it's a shock.

Needless to say, the holidays this year are going to be nuts. And, to add to the mayhem, Mom and J are getting married on the 30th. As in 10 days. Mom has asked me to sing at the ceremony, and I have no clue what to sing. Help! It might also help if I could sleep for more than two hours at a time. Humph.

Okay, that's enough bad news.

The good news!

I have cable television again. Yay! I had to go get the DVR because they didn't have them until last Friday, so I went to Commons and picked it up. I love it! I can watch Knitty Gritty and Good Eats now that I can record them while I'm at work! squee! I am such a geek.

I finished listening to my marathon of Filkcast - Potterstyle on Saturday, and no-one had guessed the "Name That Filk!" for September (I did) so it rolled over to October. I figured that SOMEone would have guessed it by the time I'd listened to the October 'cast, but I e-mailed the answer in anyway. No, I'm not going to tell you what the answer is - you'll have to listen to find out.

Imagine my surprise when I got an e-mail back that said "Congrats! You won!"!!

*is still in shock, and waits until the laughter and pointing dies down*

I told you I was a geek. It's just been uber-confirmed. ;-) The prize is a guest host spot on the next podcast. Wow. So. I think we're going to try to record on the 27th, as that's the day after I get back from Teh Sue's. Like I told Delana in my voicemail to her, I've been a filker since...um...what, 1991ish? I was a performer of Star Trek filk and other various genres, playing and singing at conventions until dawn. This is going to be very cool!!

I have finished Ash's Zephyr socks, and am on the last half of the foot of the second sock of PK's ankle socks. Unfortunately, I realised that I hadn't crossed the cables correctly on the second half of the lace pattern (the pattern is Breeze from Knitty, btw) and so all the cables cross the same way. Meh. I don't want to go back and re-work the first sock, so she'll have to live with right-twisted cables. Who's gonna know besides me and thee? I rest my case. I'll try to take pics (yeah, you've heard that before) and post them for your entertainment.

The weather looks like it's going to co-operate on Saturday's drive up to Omaha - the thing is going to be TRAFFIC. OMG. The number three team in the country (that would be the MISSOURI TIGERS! WOOT!!!!! GO TIGERS!!!) and the number two team in the country (that would be the Kansas Jayhawks...boooooooo!!!!) are going to be playing at a neutral site (that would be Arrowhead Stadium, in Kansas City) at 7 PM Central time (that would be about the time that I'll be DRIVING past said stadium on the way to Omaha). It's going to be mass mayhem. I HAVE to find my tiger tail for my car. It's very exciting! I think the last time that the Tigers were ranked in the top 5 in the US was like, 1969. I know they haven't been in the top 10 since 1981. *bounce*

I'm listening to Lime & Violet (actually Carin & Violet, happy drunken birthday, Lime!) and they're talking about knitting audiobooks, which are cool. I think I might need to see if I can find them. They're called "Knitting Out Loud". I think they're Stitch 'N Bitch Handbook, America Knits, and Knitting Memories. Violet was gushing about it on podcast #48, and I agree with Carin - Jim Dale does a very good job of reading audiobooks. :) Speaking of enablers, Sue has informed me that she will NOT be forbidding me from buying yarn. L thinks I'm crazy. *g* Guess what? I AM crazy.

I was also very good this past weekend - I didn't buy ANY yarn. I did, however, get my newest Potter Covers yarn in the mail! Unfortunately, it's at home, and has not been properly petted and drooled over, as I was in the middle of washing windows (hey, it was 75F, and my windows were filthy). I'll review it when I get home from work. The pattern is interesting-looking - very Sirius Black.

Oh, one more HP quickie - I was wandering around iTunes and ran across a 'cast that plays HP vids and mostly pimps other HP podcasts. I'll link it on the 'yarn review' post, as it's at home, too.

Okay, that's enough news for now.