Whiting's Writings - My Life |
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Happy Party Gras 28 Feb 2006 If you are looking for an education in Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), you'll just have to Google it on your own. For New Orleans, this is the 150th anniversary of Mardi Gras celebrations in the city, so it is important for this city to have its party, with as much gusto as they can muster up. I can't fault them for that. The weather is supposed to be gloriously glorious! Very nice. I'm going to be dying much of the day, trying to replicate the Bird of Paradise yarns, as well as finding the "recipe" for creating a suitable rind color to go with the watermelon yarns I made the other day. (And whattaya know... yet another reader just wrote with that same idea!) Plus, this afternoon while the yarns are drying I'll be doing some intensive work on the Knitivity Web site -- soooooo much to do, sooooo little time. Later..... afternoon: Okay, so I did TWO dye jobs today: Another set of Bird of Paradise, which I'm mostly pleased with:
and my first set of "Red Beans & Rice", which the camera didn't quite capture -- it's a darker mauve sort of color, fairly closely resembling local red-beans and rice:
which I am also rather proud of, for a first attempt at this colorway. I need to purchase four LARGE stockpots so that I can actually do a larger dye run each time. Most sweaters and other projects call for about 7-10 hanks, give or take ... generaly guesstimate about 2200 yards or so, just to be safe and have plenty. No matter how careful you are, colors change dyelot to dyelot, and if your garment requires a solid color, you almost HAVE to buy all the yarn of a single dyelot. That is one of the reasons I'm not dyeing a lot of solid colors -- easier to hide a crossed dyelot when they're all somewhat varied. But even so, I would like to be able to do 10 hanks at a time, rather than just five at at time. Larger dyepots, and more dyepots, would enable me to do up to 5 runs a day, which (if they were selling) would translate into a reasonable (albeit MODEST) income. The other thing I need to work on is stronger saturation of color. I'm looking over at a giant hank of hand-painted yarn from someone else (selling for over $40.00 per hank), and noticing that the colors are incredibly saturated... but there's also white splotches interspersed where the dye never touched. Looks almost sloppy. Hand-paint is a different dye technique, and it has its purposes, but I prefer a more even dye job, even when it is a gradient dye like I've been doing. If I can increase the saturation, I'm sure my yarns will be worth as much as the hand-paint job someone else did. (It's a popular line of yarns, so I'm not naming them, no need to cast aspersions on my competition, y'know? Everyone has a place in the market.) Later still .... Awww shit! I was trying to send my brother some pictures of today's dyeing. I started typing his email, and the autocomplete feature kicked in and filled in an address with the same first few letters ... unfortunately it was to someone on one of the knitting lists I'm on. I really didn't want to engage in blatant self-advertising/commercializing on that list, since I find it usually sort of tacky. Fortunately, the few comments received aren't negative, but I really do try not to impose myself like that. Oh well.... so now they know I'll be marketing a line of yarns. I guess that's a good thing, since I will probably need someone to be interesting in buying. My brother, who did finally get the pictures also, reminded me that in order to command a good price for my yarns, I will need to be able to consistently reproduce my lines in sufficient quantity and quality to earn a reputation. I need to work on this. |
It's WATERMELON!!!!! 27 Feb 2006 Thanks to an alert reader, I now know that the yucky mysterious strawberry vomit color is actually WATERMELON, and perfectly fine just the way it is! Woo-hoooo!!!! And watermelon is definitely a 'southern' color, so it is something I can work with and develop some more! Man, I thought I was going to have to totally redye it, but now I have a better idea! I don't know what I'd do without my readers whispering cool stuff into my ears ... and I sure don't want to find out what I'd have to do! Man, you guys and gals are GREAT!!!!! Thank you thank you!!!!! OH!!!! And another cool serendipitous thing happened yesterday -- one of the forum frequenters who went to the block party yesterday is married to an accountant; she volunteered him (in his absence!!!) to help me figure out how to do my books and stuff so that all my accounting is on the up-and-up. Obviously not a FREE volunteer, of course, and I'd need to pay him for his time and expertise. But it's just kinda cool that someone who knows me for my knitting is connected to someone who can help provide a service I need. It's just cool how everything all connects. And she agreed with my plan that since I'm planning to leave the state, there's no point trying to hassle through all the state paperwork here for a business and then try to UNdo it all when I move to Texas. Better to just keep meticulous records and then registered a business in Texas when I get there. Okay, today is Lundi Gras, but I'm supposed to be working, so I'd better get back to work now. See ya! |
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Sun Day 26 Feb 2006 After crappy rains yesterday I am grateful that today is a Sun Day. Which means that I get to try SUN DYEing!!!! I have a giant pickle jar in the back yard with 3 hanks of yarn and some coloring (8x "Man-o-Mango-Berry" plus 4x "Piña-Pineapple" plus 4x "Black Cherry") Yes, I'm using Kool-Aid for coloring -- a good cheap commodity, and I can use it safely without purchasing separate equipment for dyeing; I will be purchasing chemical dyes and separate dye pots and tools soon. Anyway, it's a weird off-pink-ish color, which looks disgusting in the pot -- sorta like slurping down a strawberry smoothie and then throwing up. Really weird. But I'm going to leave it there for the day anyway, so that the sun can warm it. Maybe I'll like it better this evening when it's done. In the meantime, I created my cheese-spread for the block party at mid-day. I probably won't stay the day, of course, because I need to get back before the sun goes down so I can retrieve the dye-pot. If necessary I can over-dye the results so I don't care too much. But I'm looking forward to meeting people and having a good time part of the day. I need it. I have heard that the state is having difficulty processing personnel orders, which puts me in a bind -- what if they don't process my request to retrieve my retirement funds in a timely fashion and I end up being stuck without funds for a longer period than I was anticipating? That would be majorly upsetting! I need to start selling yarns within mid-March to ensure an income is coming by the time I leave my job. Even though I'll have residual income (from unused vacation leave) for an additional six weeks, I still need money for the remaining six weeks until I get my retirement money and prepare to leave. Six weeks isn't a long time, of course, but if you don't have at least a little income along the way, it can seem like an eternity. A news piece that I read this morning paints a hard picture of reality in New Orleans. Most of the country thinks New Orleans is quickly getting back to normal. NOT!!!! It is becoming increasingly apparent that the city is in bigger trouble than even many locals realize. I am glad I am getting out of here. Really glad. And then there's the crap with the utility bills: severe increases are likely in New Orleans. This is bullshit! Why are the people who are here expected to put their own lives together AND make up the difference in utility revenues that are lost because of the people who are NOT here??? Shit! All I can do is be grateful that I can limit utility usage and dress or undress to suit the weather, I guess. Damn, what a fucking pain in the ass! Later...... after the partyWhat a cool gathering, and I got to meet several of the folks I banter with in the nola.com forums. Oh hey -- this is the cheese spread I made:
Grate all the hard cheeses, soften the cream cheese, blend all ingredients together. It will be VERY stiff, and you might have to mix it with your hands. Once it is thoroughly kneaded into a good consistency, form into desired shaped and press chopped nuts into the surface. Look what you can do with it once you get it all mixed into a pliable condition:
That's purple plastic-wrap covering a pizza pan! Carrying that flat and level, along with the crackers to go with it, plus my knitting bag and collapsible chair really torqued my back walking up there (about 15 blocks). After a couple hours mingling and having a good time, I could feel the sciatica kicking in down my right leg, along with my bum knees and feet, so I had to excuse myself and muddle my way through the crowds to get home. Both going to and from the party I had to pass through the parade route; going to, the parade was halted and I just walked between floats; returning home there was a break between one parade and the next, so it was easier, but I was hurting a lot and walking slowly, so it took about 45 minutes to get home. I went out to the back yard and checked the yarn. The dye was exhausted, but I'm not at all happy with today's experiment. I will let it finish drying and consider whether to over-dye it with some better options.
They just are not as brilliant as I want, even though I used the recommended portions of dye material. What do you think? Maybe if I combine it with the turquoise from the other day, it will be okay. I'll let this finish drying before deciding. |
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Holy Crap!!! 24 Feb 2006 Good lord a'mighty my legs hurt! I went down to the new make-shift office on campus today. Rode the St. Charles line (bus, not streetcar) into town, then walked to the campus. The office is on the 4th floor of the building, and I made several trips up and down those stairs during the day. I had intended to go for a couple hours, mostly just to sort the latest bunch of mail delivered from the Baton Rouge campus. I also created a slightly improved system of sorting, from file folders to a real mail sorting station .... lacking enough bins for everyone, of course! Anyway, a couple hours turned into the biggest chunk of the day, and I finally got out of the around 3:00 ... just in time for the rains to hit full-on. And then walking back down to the bus-stop and waiting for the bus to arrive over an hour later I got plenty soaked in the process. UGH!!!!! Up and down stairs, cold and windy and WET conditions, running and dodging wacko traffic in a city with few traffic lights and fewer good drivers..... BUT ... it was good for me to be amongst co-workers again. That part was therapeutic, and I enjoyed it. Being on campus again was very weird. Except for a few departments scattered among the big buildings, the place was fairly deserted. The streets in that area were likewise little-driven. It was pretty surreal, like being at work on a weekend or something. And looking out from the buildings to the surrounding neighborhoods, seeing the remains of destruction, seeing the watermarks along on our buildings .... jeez!!! Judging from where the watermarks hit the buildings, if I had stood in the middle of the street the water would have easily been over my shoulders, the watermarks were that high! Very creepy sensation. I would not want to work in that environment daily, seeing all of that. I would not want to appear in a nearly deserted building, on a nearly deserted campus, going about my work and pretending it was all back to normal. Six months after the hurricane, and things are not even close to being normal. But now, it is Mardi Gras weekend, when the city cuts loose and throws a party. Some people continue to question it all, but for many people the experience of Mardi Gras is a much-needed signal of familiarity and normalcy. And, because this is the 150th anniversary of the Mardi Gras traditions in New Orleans, it is all the more important that the tradition be upheld and honored, at least as much as possible. Because of police shortages and other issues, the festivities have been somewhat shortened and limited -- like all the parades are following the same route this year, instead of their traditional routes in various parts of town. Heck, some of those parts of town aren't even populated any more, no basic services, and in some cases, not even any houses to live in any more. As for me, since I don't "do" Mardi Gras, I'm not worried much about the parades. I'll do the block party on Sunday, of course, because I really need to mix-and-mingle and meet new people, but the rest of the weekend will be focused on serious Knitivty work. Very cool, and very good for the soul to be actually DOing something toward the future. Tonight, however, I hurt all over, I'm tired, didn't get my mid-day nap, and lack the energy to tackle big projects. |
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Catch-up 23 Feb 2006 It's been a few days. Weird days, mostly, sort of hard to describe. Not a lot of significance. Yesterday was incredibly hot -- touching 80 degrees!!!! This morning at 6:00 it was 70 degrees with very high humidity, but then down to 60-ish by mid-day and much drier air. And, I've been reacting with an odd funkiness. This morning FH and her cousin came to pick me to make a delivery for Bundle Up New Orleans... a very small delivery today, almost disappointing for its sparseness. But, considering the weather I can't see much reason to prolong the current effort beyond Mardi Gras. We may have a few more cold days, but I suspect we're out of the really icky cold part. BUT, it's not an end of the program, I think. Instead, it is ending the local effort, making way for a larger effort for next winter season. I'm going to give it a rest while I build the rest of Knitivity and my person work, and then renew the program on a larger level as summer begins to warm up. I think it is very important to get a good running head-start on the need before the need actually hits. Speaking of which, I find myself less sure of my decision to leave my job. Is that weird? Or is it normal? I mean, it's not like I have a ready supply of money at my disposal to carry me along. I have to get the yarn dyed and start selling it very very soon. And, I need to order a LOT more yarn (LOTS and LOTS more, plus dyeing supplies, shipping supplies and so forth) within the next month or LESS. That's scary, y'know??? And it doesn't help that the local utility rates are amazingly HIGH! I mean, I just got my electric bill -- $279.27!!!!! And there is a threat that many current customers will see a 140% jump in monthly bills if certain rate increases are approved. WTF??? Sure, the local power company suffered incredible loss and have to cover all their repairs. But with barely 20-30% of the population back in town, they are apparently expecting the folks who ARE here to somehow make up their loss of income for the former customers who are NOT here!!! Hell, there are still very large portions of the area that do not have electrical service even turned on yet. Sheesh!!!!! Well, no matter, I guess. I've decided I have to do something different with my life, and it will do me no good to chicken out just because of current circumstances or even personal insecurity and fear. I simply have to do it and make a go of it. I have to dye the yarns, market them, and turn a small amount of money into a larger amount of money, and then just keep doing it over and over and over. While at lunch today with FH and her cousin, we were talking about it, and it came up about putting my yarns into stores or other places. Being just one person starting out, I don't have the staff to create a well-marketed line of yarns to the stores. I will have to do a lot of it via the internet. AND, because there's a limit to how much I can dye in a day or week, I will have to market each dye lot as Limited Edition runs. That may or may not be to my advantage, although scarcity adds its own level of perceived value. I'll need to start by selling SOME on eBay, and then the rest from my Web site, with a PayPal mechanism so I don't have to personally mess with credit cards. But instant pay means instant shipping, so I can only advertise what is already produced. But that's a good thing, isn't it? I mean, building a cash-only business will be better in the long run -- little debt. And when I sell the business sometime down the road, what I sell will be my reputation, my color recipes, and other things, and not just a lot of debt. Selling a debt-free business has it's own set of advantages, doesn't it? Somewhere in the back of my head I realize that I have to build an income for myself, but also I'd like to have an actually business that I can sell. For some reason that sits in my head a little better than just having a business and then just folding it and retiring for real someday, y'know? I think it would be really cool to build a business that someone else would want to buy, no? So much to think about. <*sigh*> OH!!!! Here's a plus -- I've mentioned that I've been hanging around on the local discussion forums online. Well, I've met a very few of the folks already, but I've been invited to a Mardi Gras block party nearby on Sunday with several other characters I've been chatting with. Very cool to be sought out by name, someone asking someone else if they knew how to contact me. That's nice. Most of my pre-Katrina friends are simply not in the picture any more, so I really appreciate new opportunities. Very cool, no? I'm looking forward to it ... I'm thinking I'll make my cheese mold, shaped into a fleur-de-lis shape. I hope that isn't too dorky. |
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Bird of Paradise 20 Feb 2006 That's what I'm calling this. I wanted an eye-popping brilliance, and I'm getting fairly close to what I wanted. Now, I have to find out how many other people would want to knit these colors! isn't it beautiful??? (these are thumbnails... click for bigger pix)
I'm just totally jazzed -- partly because I have nearly achieved the first colorway I wanted, but also because I now own TWO LARGE hanks of this cool stuff (200 grams). Not enough for a sweater, but enough for something else, I'm sure. If you see it up-close you can tell where I messed up and a bit of the blue bled into the orange in the rinse pot. But even with that, I know how it happened, and I know how to prevent it. And, actually, although the 'plumage' on a Bird of Paradise is mostly yellows and oranges, with a splash of blue, there are, in fact, some green parts smattered through parts of it, so it's okay. Building a line of colorways is pretty fun. There are particular themes I want (need) to create, and once I create them, I need to make them consistent enough to be able to RE-create them as needed. I want to build a reputation for a particular type of coloring. And here's a better pic of yesterday's experiment, somewhat easier to see the gradient. I really wanted a more even gradient, not so heavy into the more saturated section, but in person you can see it better than in the picture.
There's a resource I need to find... and I know I've seen it before, several years ago. Somewhere on the web, there's a page or resource where "next year's colors" are revealed. These are the colors determined by various industry specialists that will be the next 'hot' colors. I need to find my way back there, so that I will know what colors to be prepared to create and market. I mean, it's nice that I can create colors that please ME, but in order to create an income, I need to create colorways that excite other knitters, many of whom will be looking to create garments and accessories to wear with their store-bought things. So, I need to be on top of that curve and have the colors and yarns ready for knitters. And, I'm pretty sure that the novelty yarn craze will die down in another couple years. I don't care for synthetics and novelty yarns -- anything created from them will be obsolete in another year and unwearable. I want to stick with natural fibers that will always be around. For now, I'll stick with wool, and when I can I will try to create a line of silks, cottons, and others. |
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WOW... Outside is the place to be 19 Feb 2006 "Think outside the box" "Color outside the lines" Out of the ordinary Yup, that's where I want to be. Heck, in a lot of ways, I think that's where I already am, but I want to go even further with it. This morning I posted a query to my friends on the Waste Not, Want Not group regarding ways to eliminate dependence on public utilities and energy sources. Someone wrote back suggesting I look into solar cooking. So I did. WOW!!!! What a cool idea. And, living in the southern states, it is actually quite possible. Go to Google for solar ovens and check out the links. One of the places, Solar Oven Society, even has a movie about solar cooking, which is very cool. I'm definitely going to buy one of these, as it will fit nicely with the rest of my hand-made lifestyle. Why not just make a solar oven, following one of the many DIY patterns on the Web? Time is one factor, and I'd personally rather purchase one that is made to certain specifications with tested materials. Creating an inexpensive cardboard model feels more like a junior high school science experiment, and not a commitment to a healthier way of life. Speaking of a healthier way of life, another correspondence (Hi K!!!) wrote to mention she was also having to do the lower cholesterol/lower weight routine, and suggested we shore each other up along the way. She's too far away for daily checking in (in-person), but it's still pretty cool to swap notes and track each other along the way, even on a casual basis. OH! and 'K' also asked about my new yarn lines, whether I'd be offering superwash for sock yarns. The current supplier doesn't carry what I would need, so I need to find another supplier for ready-to-dye superwash sock yarns. I think my friend up in New York would know who the major suppliers are, so I'll ask her. If you have any idea about such things (you, the reader, I mean), I'd love to hear about it. Part of the problem in ordering wholesale is that I do not have a resale license in Louisiana. The problems with New Orleans in particular are such that I truly do not want to file business papers in this parish or state, especially when I know I'm leaving soon. So, I might have to perfect my dye techniques and color ways with what I can get, and then expand to additional yarn lines after I'm in Texas. And speaking of yarn lines, while I was in the shower today, I had an awesomely cool 'revelation' on a technique for dyeing that I want very much to try this afternoon. Fortunately, I DO have a bit of yarn available for just that experiment, so we'll see what happens, eh? Later.... CHECK THIS OUT!!!!! Okay... so I tried my little idea. It's workable, but incredibly labor intensive. In plain English it means that unless I get a rachet rod on a timer, my arms will not tolerate that much labor! But there are still other ways of applying color, so I'll continue to play around and see what happens with other experiments. The experiment skein is resting in the rinse and cooling. ..... and now.... TA-DAAAaaaaaa!!!!! The pictures do not do it justice, but you can sort of see the fading/gradient effect I was going for, and actually it is better than the picture shows, just not as dramatic as I wanted. BUT, what I learned was HOW to do it, so that I can modify the technique and be heading in the right direction. It's called "learning a lesson", y'know? AND (very importantly) I got a 'revelation' of the sort of tool I need to make this method much more easy, more uniform and a lot better than the old hand-arm maneuver I was doing today. I want a more even gradient from light to dark in whatever color I'm doing -- today's version had too much saturation too far along. The color is a mix of lemonade, apple green, and berry blue (in proportions I won't disclose). I bought a WHOLE MESS of Kool-Aid for this purpose, but I'm looking at getting less expensive, more consistent dyes elsewhere. I also need to make the colors more eye-poppingly brilliant. What I mixed up today is sort of like a mix of Parrot Green and Peacock Green (from the Berol Prismacolor lines)
So.... whattaya think? The way I did this, as I mentioned is really labor intensive. But I'm thinking that with other techniques I would be able to do a whole lot more if I used a more orderly system. This would include buying different equipment -- vats, glass jars, and maybe a microwave for faster deeper dyeing.... ? OHMAHGAWD... I just thought of something (yet again!). I'm going to have to NAME my colorways AND name my yarn lines. Hmmmmm.... Well, that will come another day, I suppose. Next sunny day we have I'll dry some sun-dying... that should be cool, huh? For now, however, I'm going to return to a 'special' project I'm trying to calculate ... which I hope to reveal in the next week. Very cool, very personal. |
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Breakthrough... I DID it... I really did it! 17 Feb 2006 "People become winners by doing the things losers refuse to do." Simple concept, really. And this week I have taken some steps to activate something -- my own line of yarns! Not only did I ASK a company if it was okay to purchase their yarns, dye them, and re-market them under my own label (to which they said, "Of course!"), but I actually put in my first small order for a first batch. Plus, I have begun collecting the dye materials for what I want to create. Without giving away too much info, it will be my own line of yarns, in at least worsted and fingering weights, 100% wool, and in very limited color selection at first. I don't want to go all hog-wild straight out of the pen, but I need to start somewhere, y'know? For today, and just for today at this point, I am happy to have pushed beyond resistance and actually ordered the yarn. I've been "wanting" to for a month or more, but sort of hesitant in a bit of fear: "what if it's a wasted effort?" "what if nobody buys any?" "what if...." "what if...." Plus, I'm not color-blind, I can put colors together to create a scheme, and no matter whatever I create, there will always be SOMEbody who actually likes it. So the fear is bullshit. I have the money to afford a minor experiment, so let's just do it, y'know? So I did! Woo-hooo!!!!! Anyway, I'm totally looking forward to getting the yarn, dyeing it up, and seeing what happens. I don't even know how much I can dye in a day or a week, so I don't know how much money I will be able to make from it, assuming I can sell it all. But that's okay. I mean, right now, it's an experiment to push the envelope, not set certain arbitrary limits to which I might not attain, and then feel like a 'failure'.... right? |
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Talking in my sleep .... what does it mean? 17 Feb 2006 Over the last few weeks I have discovered a disturbing (to me) phenomenon. I talk in my sleep. Maybe I always have, but just recently I have awakened myself by talking -- carrying on completely intelligent conversations in my sleep, but when I wake to hear it I don't know what it's about. I usually have a sensation of struggling to speak and suddenly finding my voice speaking out loud and waking me up. I guess the main reason I find it disturbing is that I want SO MUCH to be able to complete these 'conversations', but by the time I wake myself up I've lost the context. Is it because I'm overstressed by all the changes in my life and trying to find a sense of reason and stability? Hell, I don't know. Waking myself by talking is about as annoying as getting a sudden jerk in the night that shakes me awake. I HATE when that happens because it feels like an electrical pulse contracting the muscle. It's usually just "one of those things" that happen to almost everyone, but I notice it happens most when I am 99% asleep and the sudden jolt wakes me up. |
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Better afternoon 16 Feb 2006 Well, a local volunteer couple came by this morning and we were able to actually deliver a massive load of goodies for Bundle Up New Orleans! Woo-hooo! See the Updates page for pictures of the load ready to go. And when they drove me back home there was yet another newly-delivered box on the porch to begin the next load. Very cool! The work of moving boxes out to the van, and then unloading them into the food bank area was apparently more than I was expecting. I came home, lay down on the floor, and napped a good hour and a half. Best sleep I've had in weeks and weeks, and best nap in months! It really wasn't all that great a load, so I suppose part of it was just not getting enough sleep at night lately. Whatever... it still felt good. One thing I truly need to get back to -- daily exercise. Like eating right, drinking lots of good fluids (water and fruit juices), and resting properly, I have to just get into the habit of daily exercise. I know that as I gear up for various projects in the future I will need strength of body for endurance as much as strength of mind for keeping focused and sharp. The only way to do what I need to do is to just do it. So... tomorrow morning I'll have to start riding my bike again. Workschedule be damned, my exercise comes first. Funny thing about it all ... when I think about work and 'the daily grind', I feel drained and sluggish. When I think about dyeing wool, marketing my stockings, building a national Bundle Up Project, and other such things, I get charged and motivated and ready to go go go go. That alone should tell me something, huh? Into the evening I go. |
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Damn reality! 16 Feb 2006 G'morning. I just finished my morning routine (online comic strips, Dear Abby, and then the local forums). For a long time it appeared that the criminal element would not so quickly return to New Orleans. Bullshit. Murders are climbing right back up again. Citizens in certain pockets of town are reporting daily ongoing drug-related activities on the streets around them. Vandalism and man-made destructive behaviors returning as well. Insurance companies stalling out and, in some case, refusing to renew policies or write new policies -- both auto and home insurance. And even before Katrina, New Orleans had one of the highest, if not THE highest, auto insurance costs -- and now some people are reporting auto insurance rates of several HUNDRED dollars EACH MONTH!!! WTF??? That's more than the cost of a car note just to own the damn thing! Shit! Glad I don't have a car! (As I've said before -- I could probably afford the price of a car .... or even a house ... but the COST of it would be impossible.) I am increasing glad to be leaving this city because it looks like things are returning to "business as usual", and even worse. On the flip side, I'm noticing more and more than I'm truly scared of what is coming for my personal future when I move. BIG changes are stressful, no matter how well planned or how fondly anticipated. I am really looking forward to these changes, but I am afraid of the unknown. But Katrina taught me I can do more than I thought I could. And just look at the Bundle Up project -- I had an idea to do something and I made it happen. That has to count for something, right? People respond to genuine need presented well. The masses always step aside to make way for a person with a purpose or destination. Success isn't always measured in reaching the goal -- hell, most of the time success begins at just reaching FOR the goal, even when you come short at the end. It's the reaching FOR that makes most people fail. Not trying is worse than trying and coming up short. So, for whatever it takes, I have to keep reaching FOR my goal -- financial independence measured in terms of being self-sufficient, living on what I can make, and finding ways to creatively survive. I'm not looking for a specific income level any more -- I just want to know that whatever I make, I will have my needs met, and continue to find ways to spend less than I bring in. And, there are days when I have to give myself these little 'pep talks' just to get dressed for the day. |
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The doctor says I'm okay 15 Feb 2006 Today was my doctor visit. I was supposed to have seen him around my birthday for the annual physical, but the clinic didn't have a facility open in town last fall. They finally managed to rent some facilities uptown, actually fairly near my house, so I was able to get for a check-up before leaving my job. I figured if there was something wrong, I wouldn't leave the job but take advantage of the health insurance to fix it .... and over 6 months worth of accumulated sick leave!!!! But after the blood draw a couple weeks ago, he said all my numbers are basically pretty good, but the cholesterol is still high, and my blood sugar is higher than it should be also. O'course, he also said that losing 10-15 pounds would bring my numbers down to where they should be! Well, duuuhhhh... :-) In the span of the visit, my blood pressure was 145/96 (per the electronic machnie)... then 118/64 (per the nurse who did it the old fashioned way) ... and then 120/82 (per the doctor doing the old fashioned way after I told him of the conflicting measures earlier). Hmmmm... my 'normal' has always been around 120/80, so I'm going to stick with the last reading from the doctor. They used to say that for every decade, your blood pressure rises about 10 points, but I've been 120/80 for twenty years or more. But basically I feel better hearing from the doctor that I'm in pretty good shape overall. This evening I went to the Knitting Meetup. I just missed a bus as it passed, so I ended up walking up to Cafe Luna, about a 30 minute brisk walk. When I was less than three blocks from my destination the next bus came by. Figures. But I'm glad I didn't just wait for the next bus. The doctor said more exercise, so the walking was essentially good for me. But as much as I've been huring lately, this just increased my pain. After barely an hour of knitting I found myself withdrawing, retreating into myself and significantly feeling all my joints rebelling. I really like the knitting group, and it's not my normal style to shrink into the wall there because it's always a fun and lively group, sharing projects and so forth. But between the pain in my legs, and being unable to pick out any single conversation (just a large volume of voices overlapping each other -- I HATE when that happens!), I just sucked into myself. On the plus side, one of the coordinators helping with the Bundle Up New Orleans project brought in about half a dozen big shopping bags of things donated from the Northshore, plus about 4-5 giant trash bags of canned goods and two cases of tomato soup, all for the Treme Food Bank, along with all the knitted goods. The funny thing is that after the doctor told me I needed to lose some weight, several people tonight said I look like I've lost a bunch of weight!!! Huh???? Oh well. I didn't get a nap mid-day, and I did a LOT of walking around today (to the doctor and then to the knitting group), my body hurts a lot, but I can't go to bed until I tag and inventory all these goodies that came in for Bundle Up. Guess I better get to it. |
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I can see clearly now.... 14 Feb 2006 Yesterday I took a sick day. Yeah, yeah, I know... kinda stupid calling in sick since I work at home, but there's a reason for it. I was scheduled for an eye exam, and I knew I'd be dilated most of the day (which I was), and would be useless trying to read the computer screen or get much work done. Okay, so I went there and got my eyes done. Picked out a new pair of glasses (trifocals) plus ordered a pair of bifocal sunglasses. I've never had prescription sunglasses, but clip-on attachments just don't work for me, so I figured I deserved a minor luxury treat. After vision care insurance covered the max, it still cost me $513 to walk out of there. It's okay --I'll get most of it back (if not all) from my flexible spending account. Returning home, however, had some tricks. I walked out of the optician's into glaring sunlight. Managed to find my way to the bus with eyes squinched shut, hand shielding my eyes, peering out between two and a half eye-lashes. And then getting off the bus to walk the last 8 blocks home was an adventure in navigation! Cracks in the sidewalks, glancing up to check traffic lights, manuevering around people (and dogs on leashes). It was evening before my pupils had returned to near-normal. Thankfully today, I am seeing better. My new glasses should be ready in about a week and, like I've always said, they may not help me look better, but they will help me look. hahaha Today is Valentines Day. Whoop-de-doo. If you have a sweetheart, treat her or him well -- no, I mean EVERY day treat them well, not just this once-a-year, commercialized, plastic, artificial, imitation, contrived fascimile of "romance". If you don't have a sweetheart with whom to share the day ... well, neither do I. Don't waste time looking for your "other half". If you are single, you can still rejoice in the fact that "one is a whole number" -- you are not a fraction, you are not "missing" a part of yourself. Nobody else can make you whole. You are already whole. It's nice (for most people, anyway) to have a partner in life -- it's great for romance, companionship, shared memories, and combined resources. But that's different from needing someone to make you feel whole or complete. It's amazing to find two whole and complete people sharing a life together. It's rare, but amazing. I wonder sometimes if I'll ever be in a relationship. Part of being in a relationship is the expectation that (eventually) one or the other will want sexual intimacy. I've not been there for 8 years. I can't imagine being in a sexual relationship with someone at this point, and fully expect not to be with anyone again. Funny thing is, I am totally okay with that part of things. I'd much rather have a group of sincere and intimate friends of both genders in relationships that have no sexual implications whatsoever. Oh well. Perhaps after I move I'll meet someone and have a reason to re-think that position. Nothing is carved in stone, and I'm old enough to realize that I can't put limits on what may happen in the future. If it happens, it happens. I'm just not really looking for it. But over-hyped occasions like Valentines Day makes it annoyingly obvious that I'm not in a relationship. I just refuse to feel bad about it. |
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Suddenly Sunday 12 Feb 2006 I'm not sure how it happened, but suddenly it has become Sunday already! Geez Here's a pic of the sweater progress so far:
and a close-up done in the scanner:
which makes it easy to see the stitch definition in the cables, but the colors are very unpleasant this way. Actually the coloring is somewhere between these dark one, and the bright one above. In real life it looks rather handsome, in a mature-adult sort of way. But I fear I may have shortchanged myself on the width, failing to calculate properly for the drawing in caused by the cables and the purls on each side of the cables. There's plenty enough 'give' to stretch it, but I don't want a stretched sweater. BUT, there's always a solution to every problem. This particular sweater was designed to have a 10 stitch bind-off at the underarm (20 stitches total each armscye, 10 from the front and 10 from the back, on either side). I can fudge it by doing a side panel insert to just fit that span, and nobody will be the wiser! A realtor whom I contacted a while back finally sent me a link with some houses that would fit my criteria for a retirement home in the Houston area. Actually all of the houses were somewhat smaller than what I have now, but I think I could handle that, since one of my rooms here is pretty much a 'catch-all' room and not really used for much. By deliberate down-sizing/down-shifting, I'm sure I could live in a slightly smaller space. But getting that email today was a sort of internal signal that I really AM on my way to something different! I got a catalog from Dharma Trading Co. loaded with all sorts of cool stuff -- they specialize in fabric and textile dyeing, from what I can tell, and their catalog is filled with garment blanks, scarves, and all the dyes and tools I could possibly want. One of the things I would like to do is explore the option of my own yarn line, which I think I've mentioned before: buying yarn in bulk and dyeing it for resale. I'd have to have a limited range to start with, just enough to build a reputation for "limited runs" and such, because I couldn't immediately start cranking out hundreds of skeins a day! Whatever I do, of course, has to make money, and that's where I need to really be careful: figuring out what will actually create a profitable income to cover my living expenses. I figure for dyeing on a small scale business basis I would probably need at least a dozen kettles (like for the crawfish boils), with burners underneath, big enough to hold a couple pounds of yarn each, for each run. Or long, long work tables to spread out hanks for sun-dyeing. There's probably several ways to do it, but I need to find the way that is most colorfast and effective, so that I can create a really GOOD product that the consumer will see the difference. And then find a way to market it so that it will be seen in the first place. UGH! So much to think about! And, then there's Bundle Up. I don't want that to fall to the way side, either. Dang. Too many things I want to be doing. So I'm glad it is Sunday afternoon, and for this afternoon, I'm just going to knit and relax and watch some of the Olympics or whatever's on. It's toooooo damn cold for my body to be running about outdoors.
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At the Zoo 11 Feb 2006 I was up bright and early this morning (more early than bright, I should add), in order to take my place at the Zoo. I was to be manning one of the volunteer tables at the big health fair event taking place. I arrived just about 7:30, when the temperature was still in the 40s, wind chills even lower. But there was a steady stream of patients coming through, and many women signed up for appointments for mammography. That was very cool. It was so cool to see so many health care volunteers giving their time and expertise for free health care for New Orleans -- they were admitting up to 1000 patients a day, for whatever was needed: vision exams (and glasses), dental work (cleanings, fillings, extractions, etc.), the medicine clinic, pediatrics, OB-GYN, and so much else. It was amazing! I didn't sit down from the time I got there until the time I got on the bus to return home after my shift. There were plenty of chairs, of course, but I knew if I sat down, I'd be all that much worse when I tried to stand up. So I just stayed standing. My feets, legs, and back are entirely sore and tired. Being out in the cold cold cold didn't help, either. But it was good for me to get out and do this. Seeing real live people receiving the services was good for me, in many ways, along with just getting out of the house at all for such a long stretch of time! I need to do that more. We're in a very cold snap at the moment, which will last a while, dropping into the 30s and 40s for the next several days. The sweater I started the other day is off the machine and onto a circular needle. I got totally annoyed with the loose tension of doing this on the machine, and it was difficult to watch the Olympics while at the machine. So now I have 11 little butterfly ties of yarn dangling from the project as I knit it back and forth.
This is where it was last night. I've done another 12 rows since then. It looks a mess, but really it isn't. And the colors look way much better in real life. I suppose I'll watch the Olympics for much of the evening while trying to work on this sweater. Y'all take it easy. |
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I started my day with this.... 10 Feb 2006 This is (mostly) a transcript from someone's Katrina journal called "The long road out of Mordor. Moving. Gripping. it informs me that for all I went through, it was minor compared to those who lived in the flooded areas. Go read it, if you can. |
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Is eavesdropping wrong.... 9 Feb 2006 Or is it just wrong to be critical, judgmental, and pissy after eavesdropping? At the coffee shop today I was privy to the conversation at the next table, all about their reconstruction woes, the construction worker, the insurance, and blah blah blah, and yadda yadda yadda. They started talking about the difficulties they were individually encountering, and one of them said to the other, "But... don't they know who you are? I mean, you're important. Don't they know you?" And I'm thinking.... what the fuck?? Who gives a fiddler's flying fuck who the guy is. It doesn't matter. Cosntruction workers, sheetrockers, or whomever ... they don't care. They just want to get the job done. But one thing I noticed -- after feel icky for a couple of days, I did feel much better for having gone up to the coffee shop, getting out of the house and just being around people. There wasn't much of anyone to actually talk with, but just being out was good. And then I walked home, which was also good for me. I've got a new sweater on the machine now, just started. I've had the yarn for over a year, wondering what to make with it. It's a variegated acrylic/wool blend, which I'll use in vertical segments, broken by aubergine cables up the front and back. It will be just a basic shaped crewneck pullover, most likely. I just need a basic sweater that's different from the ones I already have. But more importantly, if using the intarsia carriage to assist with the structure actually works, I will know if I can do something similar with a nicer wool. This is one of the few situations in which I can't work in the round, because of the structure. I also need to figure out what to do with the Noro Kureyon that I have. I'll probably mix that with the Noro Silk Garden. I just want to use up the yarns. Then I have an idea for a simple shawl-type wrap for a friend of mine, using some of the bright sock yarns that i've collected. For a while I was thinking I wanted to make a polo shirt with it, but I think a shawl for my friend would be better. It's after 9:00, and I'm working at the zoo tomorrow for the health fair, so I guess I'd better try to get to bed and see if I can sleep through the night. |
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Damn, what day is this? 8 Feb 2006 I feel out of sorts and off calendar today, dammit. Yesterday, after sitting much of the day at the computer, I just HAD to get out of the house for a spell. Took a nice long walk, and then stopped at Rally's for a junk-food lunch. Shame on me. I got a couple of small-ish burgers, and ate them on the walk back home. Sat at the computer a little bit, started to stand up, and felt the vertigo kick in before I even got to full standing. NOT GOOD. I took a couple meclazine and hit the bed. Napped fairly well. Got to bed around 9:30 or so, and then it took all my determination to throw off the covers around 6:45 this morning -- a couple hours later than normal. But I DID sleep through the night mostly. And then, after an 8-block walk to go over some budget papers with the business manager, and then a walk back, I collapsed into a deep sleep for another hour or so. And again, after some more computer work, I took yet ANOTHER hour and a half nap this afternoon. WTF???? Yes, I know vertigo can be draining, but I took the meclazine at the first sign of anything. And now, with all this weirdness with my sleep -- many days of not enough, and now a couple days of way more than average, I'm feeling strangely out of it. Bizarre. Anyway, this evening I swatched a sample against a sweater I want to construct. It will be a basic shape, but done up with intarsia strips of variegated yarns, interspaced with solid aubergine cables (leftover from the Sela blanket I finished a couple months ago). I'm hoping it works out okay. I have to wait until daylight tomorrow to determine if the solid aubergine will actually work with the variegated colors. I hate not having adequate light in the house at night. I wasn't able to get through to the food bank today, so I have to call tomorrow and see when I can take some more stuff down there on Saturday. And then I have to find a ride for Saturday. I'm sure there are many people who would volunteer if I just ask for a simple one-time ride. I just need to ask, so I'll do that as soon as I get a good time frame from the director of the food bank. Anyway, I'm feeling sleepy-tired again (just barely 8:30), so I think I'll hit the sack early. Lots to do tomorrow. |
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Mid-Day Monday 6 Feb 2006 Today I was supposed to be driving to Baton Rouge for a meeting. Turns out that two of the other principals were having to go up for another meeting before mid-day meeting, plus they had a third meeting to attend after our mid-day meeting. Rather than spend my day riding in a car and waiting for other people's meetings to be over, I called a third principal to see about riding with her. No such luck, she's in bed with the flu. Okay, so I skipped out of the mid-day meeting! Instead, I wrote up a summary report for the Web site, reviewed a cover sheet for a manuscript on a different project, and began laying out the minutes for the meeting conducted last Friday via teleconference. Very good. But now I'm about to fall of the edge of my shoulder. Friday night and Saturday night, I went to bed with the intention of sleeping, and I slept very well, didn't nap in the day. Not so good last night. Went to bed around 9:00, woke up around 11:30 and rolled around the bed until almost 4:30, finally getting back to sleep shortly before the alarm clock was to sound. And now I'm exhausted. What's up with this???? Geeez! But!!! As I lay there in bed trying to sleep, I was envisioning some really good things to pad the bottom line ... like ordering bulk yarns and creating my own line of handpaint yarns. I'd need to learn how to do it properly to create really vivid colorings, of course, but I'm intelligent, I can learn a skill, no? The fashion world determines its colors a year or two in advance, so they are available. I can tap into that as a starting point to create annual palettes of limited duration, along with a series of New Orleans and Deep South colorings, celebrating all that is good about the South. I need to investigate the laws about relabeling, too. As I mentioned before, many popular yarn painters simply buy bulk, add value with their hand-paints, and slap on a new label and mark it up a whole lot. Hell, I could do that, no? And if I keep my palette limited, it would create a targeted niche market, rather than trying to flood the market with every color or every type of yarn. I'd keep it very basic, y'know. I'd feel like a schmuck to just buy someone else's yarn and slap a new label on it. That's just wrong, in my opinion. But by adding value (coloring, for example) or packaging into kits, I could be okay with relabeling. Hey, this morning I got an email from a knitting buddy who was answering my discussion group query about what makes a yarn shop "hip". After describing her LYS and how they do stuff, she writes: It's tempting to pick out all sorts of yarns but if you find the right formula for your area I think you'll do fine. I see silk, bamboo, fine cotton, and rayons in your future..... Hmmmmm... I'd say this gal knows me pretty well, eh? Natural fibers are definitely what I want, rather than all the trendy synthetics and novelty fibers, and cheezy-ass dime-store acrylic crap. Keeping a lean and classical inventory, but making it relevant to the modern knitter, will be key, regardless if I stick with one line of wools or expand to other wools, or even out to other fibers. It's all about being a unique supplier of something that many people want, or providing a unique service, or some other way of making my work stand apart from the masses. There were a bunch of other ideas rolling through my head in the night, but I'll save those for another day. What are your favorite Deep South colors? |
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STOP what you're doing!!!!! 5 Feb 2006 My daughter just sent me this link to the artwork of Ilana Yahav --
Ilana is now showing her Sand Fantasy video art around the world. Ilana draws on sand, using only her fingers. As she weaves together sand, lighting and music, Ilana creates incredible three dimensional vistas they play out in perfect time with the musical accompaniment, Indeed, it is difficult to decide if the music accompanies the work of art, or vice versa Ilana's fingers dance in the sand on the glass to the music, the resulting aesthetic dynamic is powerful and moving. Her "Just Imagine" clip is amazing:
But there are many shorter clips available at the main Web site, as well as a full length DVD of her performance art available to order. I am just blown away by this. The entire performance (visual and audio) is amazing, well 'choreographed' or 'orchestrated' or whatever you call it. It is definitely MUST SEE!!!!! Whattaya think? Who is YOUR favorite performance artist? |
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What a Square! 5 Feb 2006 This is the gift blanket square that I made this weekend:
It is mounted on a cardboard box through which I can stick pins for blocking the wool piece into shape. What I have learned about knitting gift squares that have to match everybody else's "perfectly sized" squares -- make a square (any style, any pattern, any technique) somewhat smaller than the target dimension, and then pick up an equal number of stitches around all four edges, and make an even garter stitch border working in rounds. Would be cool if all the squares are made this way, to create a sort of "window pane" effect. But they won't be. I have previewed some of the other squares already created for this project, and am amazed at the variety of design and technique. Very cool. As a community gift blanket, the broad array expresses community support in a way that uniformity could not do. It's a surprise for the recipient of course, so I won't divulge the community involved, nor a source for where updates and pictures are being gathered. Once the project is completed and the recipient named, I'll post a picture of the group's finished project, of course. The knitting community continues to be a dynamic source of inspiration. Gotta love it, y'know? I am trying to divide my free time between working on hats and scarves for Bundle Up, and giving time to my own future requirements. It is difficult to find appropriate balance. |
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Saturday.... at last! 4 Feb 2006 Yesterday was the Board meeting for work ... actually a teleconference, thank goodness! Slept well last night.... l.o.n.g. sleep, actually. I was surprised. I had planned to take a diphenhydramine before bed, but forgot. No matter. My intention was to sleep and I did, so it's okay. Not that I would call it "beauty rest", of course!
but notice those 'friendly eyes' -- yeah, so friendly they keep looking at each other! bwaahahahahahahaha Okay, now this is me after coffee....
But I still wouldn't date a guy like that. There's something "serial killer" in that look, no? I don't care. Easier to buzz my head than mess with all that hair care stuff, y'know? And so much cheaper than visiting a barber or stylist in order to "maintain a look". Hello??? I'm fifty-fucking-one years old. What kind of "look" do I need to maintain these days??? Let me rephrase that.... I'm fifty-bornagainvirgin-one years old. I haven't had a date or "been with" anyone since January 1998, eight years ago. Too much information??? Tough. I was talking with an acquaintance the other day who is a few years older than I, who may be getting back into the dating scene after a very long marriage. Try explaining condoms to a middle-aged straight guy who's never been with anyone but his original wife and now suddenly has to learn how to use such things properly in case he starts dating. If you can't openly talk about reality in the year 2006, you are setting yourself up for some rude awakenings. No graphic details or divulging intimacies -- just practical information on safe sex practices. Okay, anyway..... it's a busy day today. I will have NINE boxes of hats, scarves and other goodies to take to the food bank this afternoon for Bundle Up New Orleans. (Oh, btw, if you haven't been there lately, I DID add a PayPal donation link!) And then I need to make groceries sometime today, and finish a gift square for a community project -- I need to knit up and prepare a 10"x10" square and make it ready for shipping on Mon or Tues. I've been getting some wonderfully supportive and encouraging emails lately, which I totally appreciate -- so much wisdom, insight, and practical ideas to keep me going. I woke up this morning to find another great note, filled with some great ideas, and then my correspondent closed with: Anyway, wanted to say that there are a couple of us following you and supporting you all along the way. You have the courage to do what many of us dream about, and never achieve. Good luck to you! Many hugs. Wow. Thanks, TG. I'm not sure if it is "courage" or "folly" -- hell, I could fall flat on my face and end up living in a refrigerator crate under the freeway somewhere. One of the good parts of "living naked in the streets" (keeping an online journal) is that other people can join the experience and watch what happens. One of the bad parts is that other people can join the experience and watch what happens. <*grin*> Knowing that others are watching, of course, helps me keep going. If I fall flat on my face, it will have to be for a really good reason. I couldn't bear letting others down. Hell, I'm not sure I could bear letting myself down, since I'm planning on using my available retirement money to do what I'm planning to do. It's a helluva risk, y'know, and contrary to popular wisdom for what middle-aged guys are "supposed" to do. Fuck "supposed to", y'know? If it doesn't work out, at least I'll know I tried. Having an audience is important -- not only as a cheering section, but also as a reason to keep going. If I succeed, others will know they can too. And, since I don't have any "wallpaper" (academic degrees, diplomas, certificates, blah blah blah), just a basic high school education, if I can make it work, just about anybody can take a dream, think it through, wake up, and do it. My older brother doesn't have any college, either, and he's run his own business for 15 years or more. So, onward into the day I go, well-rested, thoroughly encouraged, and ready to do today what needs to be done today. Tomorrow will have other chores, but I'll deal with that tomorrow. See ya! |
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Forgot to mention... Looky my goodies! 2 Feb 2006 This is what came in today's deliveries: A poster for my wall.....
Isn't he just cute as can be, holding onto his long, hard ... ummm... needles! I'll need to hang him carefully somewhere, huh? Now, the more likely truth is that someone else did the knitting and he's just a prop. But so what? If it helps guys to think they can knit and still be sexy, who cares? (actually, this isn't quite my "type", but for the mass market, I suppose it will have to do, y'know?) And also in today's deliveries was this little gem, from the Red Cross:
It's a replica of the 1942 sock-knitting kit, to knit one pair of regulation, military, olive drab socks for a serviceman. The kit was about $25.00, but it comes with four #3 double-pointed needs, 4 ounces of olive drab wool, and instructions for knitting the stocks. I'm seriously debating whether to hang onto this as a keepsake/conversation piece, or actually try to make the socks and just keep the box for other supplies? What would you do with this box? or that hot knitter guy? |
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New turn of phrase; blood drawn; 2 Feb 2006 In reading through the forums today I noticed someone wrote "he needs to get hit in the head with a clue-by-four". Very good! I love how language evolves, don't you? And now there are people complaining about "negativity" -- not the idiot troll naysayers, but the discussions by, for, and about those who have decided to leave town for whatever reasons. The poster wanted all that "negativity" to go to some other forum so that those who are committed to staying won't have to read it. I disagree. Many of my reasons for wanting to leave are personal to me (my kids, my job, and so forth), but the tipping point for me is a reflection of New Orleans: unbelievably bad politicians, lack of leadership, lack of community character, inability to guarantee adequately safe hurricane protection, insufficient healthcare, unmaintained streets and sidewalks (the condition of our city roads and walkways is beyond embarrassing, it's downright unsafe), and so on and so forth. I don't believe I'm being negative to speak such opinions. I don't believe I'm being a traitor by making choices and determining for myself what my future will look like. This morning I went to get blood drawn to check my cholesterol and stuff. Ick. I wish I'd taken my knitting, but I honestly thought it would be quick-in, quick-out. Not so. I felt almost naked without something to do with my hands. During the wee hours of the morning there was a huge thunderstorm moving swiftly overhead, and what appeared to have been several mini tornadoes or downbursts created some serious damage on top of what Katrina left behind. One guy in particular was in his FEMA trailer next to his gutted house. He'd come back from Katrina, and the few possessions he was able to salvage were safely stored in a shed out back while he went about gutting and repairing his house. Whether it was a tornado, a down-burst, or something else, he watched his little shed blow apart and the little that Katrina had left him was now gone with the winds. What a mess. And this was repeated throughout major swaths of the city, as vulnerable neighborhoods were sorely bruised once again. I was awake for most of the storm, although I had a hanky over my eyes and a bluegrass CD playing. I still saw the lightning and heard the thunder anyway, as I lay there awake for over two hours, barely drifting back into sleep shortly before the alarm clock sounded. And with the shifting weather comes achey joints. Holy crap everything hurts. I noticed as I walked back from the hospital (the blood draw) that I was moving very much slower than I moved a couple days ago. I don't like this. I don't like slowing down, and I definitely don't like hurting all the time. On the good side--I didn't get a nap today (had a meeting around my normal nap time), so I should be able to get to sleep well this evening. |
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Happy February!!! 1 Feb 2006 Hey, this here is some scary shit!!! Check out the numbers in this report. The article tallies up various numbers related to Katrina -- how many actual homes were damaged, how many job it means, and even how much trash: The estimated quantity of debris and refuse in the New Orleans area is 50 million cubic yards. So far, 5.8 million cubic yards have been removed. That means that in the last 4-5 months (I'm not sure when clean-up actually began in earnest) only about 10% of the debris has been picked up. Which means 90% of it is still lying around the city. I walk past piles and piles of it nearly every day, and I'm in one of the "better" <*wink*><*wink*> neighborhoods, almost entirely "recovered" -- ha ha . This is disgusting. I have to mind my step wherever I walk because of the broken sidewalks even worse than pre-K. The part that worries me most is this little paragraph near the bottom: One of the more-ominous figures in the Urban Land Committee’s report estimates that 100 percent of the wetland loss projected to occur in the New Orleans area through 2050 occurred in 2005 alone. All the wetland loss that should have been spread out until the year 2050 has now already occurred. Holy crap! Oh, and here's another article that is really giving me trouble: Tension mounts between Houston and its `guests' - thanks to some really unruly New Orleans trashy people, the people of Houston are getting fed up, and it is making a lot of ordinary decent people wary of admitting they came from New Orleans. I'm planning to go there to live, to set up my own income-producing ventures, and be one of those law-abiding responsible citizens. But what sort of welcome will I get from the city in general, and what sort of 'damage control' will I need to do toward repairing the negative reputation that others have created? I watched the State of the Union Address last night. There is no fucking way such a divided Congress will be able to do much for the Gulf Coast. I'll leave it at that. I'm just generally disgusted all the way around on that score. Speaking of moving to Texas, as the time draws closer, I am becoming somewhat more anxious about funding my future and wondering how to make it happen. I can create and publish my own designs. I can expand Bundle Up. I can do some pattern writing for my friend up north. I could probably publish a weekly or bi-weekly newsletter like I did before, but I would have to charge a minimal subscription (like $15.00 a year) or something, because I HATE having to run ads. But that would require a significantly large subscriber base which would take a while to build up -- years, in fact, and in this fickle society when everyone's mood changes on a dime, it would mean constantly seeking new subscribers. Even setting up a monthly "subscriber-donation" link to automatically process and accept donations to support Bundle Up would be difficult to continue unless I did it through PayPal or something similar, like the folks at Meetup.com do (they take $9/mo from me for the local Meetup group). Well, no matter -- one way or another, and probably through MANY ways, I will find a way to create some sort of income. DHL brought a wondermous package this morning with 12 hand-knit scarves, and then UPS brought THREE boxes this afternoon! Woo-hoo! Sorting, tagging, and tallying even for this small project can take an hour or more a day some days. If I take it national it could easily be a full time job, or nearly so. And then, after doing all the daily intake of donated items, there comes the packaging and distributing out either to local centers (as I do here once a week) or shipping to needed locations (as I would do nationally, if necessary) I totally do not mind spending my days doing something good for the community, but I have to have an income ... and then there's the expense of a small warehouse facility for receiving, sorting, processing, and shipping ... and supplies and bags and labels and printer-ink and .... YIKES!!!!! No, really ... it's okay. The fact that packages are coming is a good sign that people are responding. And that means some of our people will have cover when the days turn cold. And as long as there are people without basic covering, I will have a reason to keep going and doing what I feel is an important task. |
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| Copyright ©2006, by Ray Whiting, New Orleans, LA |
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