Catch Ups

[Warning to Urthalun: Stuffed animal cat pics.]

Crochet/Sewing: Made new eye for owl pillow, hand stitched eyes to owly while sitting in beautiful spring sun. The weather's been GORGEOUS.

One of the inspirations for my owly.

TV: Continue to make our way through sitcoms. Right now watching Community.

House Selling: Done! My parents accepted an offer, conditional inspection.  But we have to be out in a month! Eep! We've been saying lots of nice things to the house, letting it know we love it, and filling it with happy vibes for its next occupants. --> Ultimately this means I should be able to be cat-habitable sometime this summer. :-)

Buying: Been good about not shopping, except for a new ape for my car... but coworker Madame Miroir bought it for me. Meanwhile Mantis the praying bunny has really been coming through for us! All that 24/7 praying. Even while Morg the cat and I watch TV together, Mantis lays down on her back, her eyes peacefully shut, praying and meditating, and filling up on cuddle energy.

 
 
 

Work: Someone gave notice, so a full-time post is within reach again (the last one I lost to another employee.) And I'm at the 6 month date where I can get my boots reimbursed... more $ to pay down my Prince ticket. Sadly benefits don't kick in until 3 more months. :'-(

Friends: Haven't seen Harvey in ages! But went out with Mme Miroir a couple times, and the part-timer's been around more and she's lots of fun. Spoke to Gilby on the phone.

Food: I've been reintroducing my veganism, but not completely. And seem to have got my dad hooked on Daiya cheese and Tofutti cream cheese.

____LOVE SONGS CATCH UP: Friday, Saturday, Sunday____

Loooove this spare cover of "You Really Got a Hold On You" by Cyndi Lauper. Great album.
I don't want you
But I need you


Remember the song "Joey"?
And if I seem to be confused,
I didn't mean to be with you.
And when you said I scared you,
Well, I guess you scared me too.


I like a lot of Walk Off the Earth's covers, and I like their new original single "Red"... but they look like a cult.

    

I tawk tawk to you

Man, I've been through a lot of comedies these past two weeks while crocheting and sewing. I finished all the seasons of The IT Crowd and am now trying Community. I tried ep 1 of Fawlty Towers cause I've never seen it, but it wasn't doing much for me.

All the while I've been working on owly's corduroy beak. The material's crumbly so it's a pain. But I successfully sewed up the pillow's belly (what was once the zipper) without even needing a different stitch.

In music news, next month I'm popping over to Vancouver to see Prince again, with my mother. The tickets are shamefully expensive--it's a small venue--but it's a mother-daughter thing long overdue. When Tina Turner was on her finale tour mum wanted me to come out west and see a show together, but I was a manager at Christmastime--just wasn't gonna happen. Before that, we once had tickets to see Guns N' Roses, but the show was cancelled after some rioting, if I recall. (I think GNR were late and the fans went mental?) So Prince it is! But I need to take him off my vision board before he bankrupts me.

In love song music news--saw this in a movie I'm watching. Terrible 80s mmsa music at its best. I always liked the "tawk tawk" guy.

In the night, in my dreams I'm in love with you
'cause you talk to me like lovers do
I feel joy, I feel pain 'cause it's still the same
When the night is gone I'll be alone

   

I ooonly have eeeyes fooor crocheeeeet

Here's my sewing stuff:

The big under-bed tupperware. I'm not letting myself buy anything that won't fit into the bin. If the bin is full, then no more fabric!

 

Ironing board, step-mommy's travel iron. Computer on floor by sewing table, so I can watch Arrested Development, or Psych, or The IT Crowd...

  

My machine matches my room! I bought little golden table cloths to hide the ugly table and chair (for house selling), and a dollar store box for my "notions."

 

Scarf I'll do... something... with. Fingerless gloves?

Table cloth with cheerful checked pattern. To make... something... with.

Embroidery thread.

This pattern goes into plus sizes! They're recreations of a 1960s pattern set, which they show in the inset.

 Cute eh? And even when I was thinner I had trouble buying real vintage clothes, cause of my height and broad shoulders. But now I can make my own! Well... not now... I have to get better first.

Don't ask me why I had to buy these whale pajamas. No idea what I'm going to do with it.

Pretty border, maybe for Fernando's wallet.

Pretty checked pieces Mme Miroir gave me.

A bag of old furs that Mme Miroir gave me, to make the cats some toys. But I have to figure out how to get the moth smell out first.

Fabric samples Step-mommy gave me.

One of my first crochet attempts. ...It wasn't supposed to be triangular.

____LOVE SONG OF THE DAY____

This was the only only time I felt anything for Buffy and Angel--when they were sort of taken over by two ghost lovers from the past. This song was used to great effect...

 Are the stars out tonight?

I don't know if it's cloudy or bright

I only have eyes for you

   

That hippie chick sh*t

Every Monday we have some clothes on sale for a dollar. I'm trying to not go crazy buying materials, but I can't resist the occasional pattern. And then there's the 99 cent pillow cases!

My last project was this blouse I turned into a little bag.

 

It's hard to see, but I left the row of buttons on it.


And turned the sleeves into little buttoned down handles. (And I put the handles in the right direction!)


I didn't have a pattern--just winged it. Made lots of mistakes, but learned from them all. I even lined it! With other scrap material. Watched back to back episodes of Arrested Development while doing it.


(It's not un-ironed--it's the material that's ruched.)
 

Now I'm working on an owl pillow and an organizer for my car. And thinking up a wallet for Fernando. ...I can't say how at home this sewing and crocheting feels. I don't mean it comes naturally, the way writing does; but the creativity, the freedom to make a design exactly as you want, re-purposing old items... it all feels very Moi. I've always wanted to be that hippie chick who makes her own shit.

____LOVE SONGS OF THE DAYS____

Just noticed I'm short one song. Today here are two Melodramatic Fall Upon the Thorns of Life I Bleed!* songs.

I would go through all this pain
Take a bullet straight through the brain!
Yes I would die for you baby
But you won't do the same


My heart's crippled by the vein that I keep on closing
You cut me open and I keep bleeding, keep keep bleeding love
 

____
* My lit buddies and I thought the Romantics were hilarious:

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
           - Shelley
   

To my pretty young thingies

Sewing Project # Who Knows:

SpiderWomanKnits has this great tutorial for turning a pillow case into a bag. This was my second actual project (before the seat covers) and it was so easy and fun! Except I totally attached the handles in the wrong direction, lol. Looks like a little backpack.

 

Look, it even has corners! ...More evident when it's been ironed.



____LOVE SONGS OF THE DAYS (SUN/MON)

In high school I thought Michael Jackson was crap. But these days I have a solid 15 song playlist I enjoy dancing to while cleaning my room.

Nice cover of "PYT" but... what is a "tenderoni"?


Despite the white socks, undershirt, greasy hair, crotch grabbing, ill-considered sleepovers, and Peter Pan nose... he was a helluva dancer.

Curtains!

Sewing Project #3 - New Chair Covers - My stepmother made these chair covers back in the day, to protect the kitchen chairs from the birds. Not just their pooping, but Philea likes to chew on cloth. It's a bit hard to see in this pic, but the tops of these chair covers were destroyed...

 



In the grand tradition of Scarlett O'Hara and Maria, the covers were made from curtains, so Step-mommy commissioned me to find more.

They didn't require any fancy corners--just a rectangle that can be draped over the chair, the corners tucked in. But we also came up with a design where the top part has three layers, for Philea to chew through.


I was happy to do these cause it was good practice at just sewing straight, and learning in what order to do things, how to get more efficient.

I used a tri-shade pink thread that my coworker friend gave me. I'll call her Madame Miroir, cause a customer taught her how to say "mirror" and "fish" in French, and she's always repeating them back whenever a French customer comes in. "Miwoi! Pwussohn!"

 

____LOVE SONG OF THE DAY____

Had this song in my head today. A song can't be all wrong when it uses a term like "centrifugal motion." Also, I hope this video won a Fromage of the Year award back in the day.

   

Sew in looove

Time to show you my sewing projects!

#1 - Car Lights Reminder - Based on something my mother made back when cars didn't turn the lights on and off automatically, and by law you needed daytime lights. My current car does turn on and off the daytime lights, automatically, but it doesn't do so with the nighttime ones. So to be safe I made this little doo-dad from a scarf. It hangs on the light switch; when I turn on the lights I put one end on my door handle. So if I try to leave the car without turning off the lights, I'll put my hand on the doo-dad and be reminded.
 

#2 - Coat Alterations - This is my crazy cow coat that I got at work, but it was very pear shaped looking on me. So I added shoulder pads, and I removed the pockets which were right on my hips; and now it looks better.

 

____LOVE SONG OF THE DAY____

In honor of my parents' house being back on the market, here's "Love for Sale."

I think this Shirley Horn version is the best--strikes the right note, between seductive and resigned.


But I've always liked this strange ragtime Manhatten Transfer version:


And then there's always...


Best album cover evah...

These foolish games (that the radio plays)

I mentioned yesterday that I keep having to hear the same playlist at work, and it's the only station we can pick up out front.

One song I hear sometimes is "Put on my blue suede shoes and I boarded he plane, touched down in the land of the Delta blues in the middle of the pouring rain." That fucking "Walking in Memphis" song that was on over-constant-super-kill-me-now rotation when I was a student painter. My coworkers never put on any station other than the rock one. Plus I had to listen to their shitty golden oldies hour. When I quit that job I spent the rest of the summer listening to classical music stations.

When I first worked at the large format bookstore, when we were still putting the store together, there was this satellite thing with a million channels, yet somehow every day we were stuck on a Top 40. "You were always the mysterious one with dark eyes and careless hair you were fashionably sensitive yet to cooool to caaare" was the one that almost drove me to swan dive off the second floor.

At work right now there isn't one song giving me suicidal tendencies, but "Someone Like You" is getting there. At first it would just make me sad, but now I'm approaching the point where one draws a shotgun on the stereo system. Or one ends up down at the station with a "your playlist or your life" stand off.

But here's the weirdest thing: This station often plays 80s music, but it's always the same songs. I don't get it. You have 10 years worth of hit music to choose from, why the same 10 songs? Maybe my brother, who used to be in radio, can explain it to me.

Luckily a few of those songs are by Prince, so I literally get a Prince fix every day. But I could like without Corey Hart's "Never Surrender" and Bryan Adams' "Heaven." This week "Heaven" came on and I finally had to vent my feelings at the people I was serving. "Why? Why do I have to hear the same 80s songs every week??"

Oh well. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Here's Bryan Adams, and I welcome learning of your top Overplayed Song.

too sleepy to think of a clever title

I'm a little slow on this one--I only heard it on the radio today. In the car, that is. The station at work plays the same 20 songs (and the same 5 '80s songs.) (Seriously, I could list them.)

Best rom com run ever?

Wow, I'm so shocked. The show Girls actually did all-out romance for once. Actually made me tear up with a beautifully done rom com run. Which was completely unexpected because it's a very cynical, often dark show.

[This will now contain spoilers.]

Our heroine, Hannah, got a book deal but only one month to write it, and her editor isn't liking the early pages. So she's having a break-down, OCD behavior, ruptured her ear drum, eating only Cool Whip, and not writing. Her parents won't lend her money to help, the friend she wants to turn to is incommunicado, she's hiding from her other friends (you know... the ones who won't understand how you could so fuck up your life). Finally she calls her ex-boyfriend Adam, whom I wrote about last time.

He's a recovering alcoholic, and when he sees what a mess she is (they're on facetime) he tells her to stay right there, he's coming over. All the while keeping her on the phone, he runs to the subway, and runs to her home, and when she won't get out of bed to answer the door he breaks it down.

It sounds cheesy except his character is so well defined as this intense weirdo, you know he would do something like this. You even know he could break a door down. It's believable that he'd see this as A Moment where she's about to fall over the edge, and he has to jump in and help. It may be my fave rom com run evah.

As usual the music was perfect, but I think it was composed for the show rather than a song I can share with you. So instead, here's my favorite romantic moment from the entire Sex & the City series, scored with this beautiful song "I Love NYE" by Badly Drawn Boy.

(And now I must return to the blouse I'm turning into a bag. The sewing and crochet continue!)


   

March is bustin' out all over

It was sunny here today! Chilly, but sunny. I took a detour on the way home, past there little farms of wine and such. We saw bunnies. The deciduous trees are starting to bud. Little grass shoots about,
"We" is me, Pinky the monkey, and Call Me Bubbles the lemur. They sit in my car at all times,under the radio. Bubbles was part of a Christmas care package sent by my lovely friens Vidal and MidnightStreet.
Since it was sunny, we shall have a Bach Boys love song.

 [Forgive the type-os. This is what happens when you blog at 2 AM, from your ipad, laying on your side in bed.]

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Oh amineko you're so fine!

I've been out of the internet loop again. I taught myself to crochet, and have been sewing and crocheting all week, while re-watching Psych and West Wing.

 I am determined to get just good enough to make amigurumi--Japanese knitted or crocheted animals. Specifically, I want to make aminekos. Cats!

(Pics from the amazon page of an amineko book.)

Here are the three love songs for Thu, Fri, Sat. In honor of crochet, the theme is "hook."

Unhook the Stars - Cyndi Lauper


Dr Hook's "When You're in Love With a Beautiful Woman"


And this very strange "Hooked on a Feeling" by The Hoff.

Late in love: 80-90s style

Since I'm late with posting my love songs, I thought I'd make lateness the theme du jour.

"Save the Best for Last" - Vanessa Williams - A living symbol of "Success is the best revenge."



"Little Too Late" - Pat Benatar - Love keyboard player's outfit!


And our lady, Cher. This is what passed for shocking back in the 80s.

Questionés!

I've been nominated for two bloggy awards! First was from Judy, Judy, Judy...

 

And now this one from Skye.

Thank-you my darlings!

I'm not very good about following the rules of these awards, but I'll answer Skye's questions and we can take that as Telling Us Things About Yourself that both rewards require.

1. If you could go anywhere in the world for a long visit, say three to six months, where would you go? Probably London. Unless I wanted a really novel experience, in which case maybe Botswana! 
2. What's your favorite kind of movie to watch?  Comedies with interesting characters, and I love a romance plot in there somewhere.
3. If money were no object, what kind of home would you have? I like the craftsman home on the show numb3rs. Or something from the 1920s.
4. Have you ever wanted to be in movies or on TV? No.
5. What is your dream job? Writing fiction novels... when not depressed.
6. Do you prefer to wear dresses/skirts or pants? No preference, but pants are more practical.
7. What is your favorite kind of weather? Those first sunny days in spring, or early summer!
8. Do you like to work with your hands? If so, doing what? I'm not good at it, but sometimes enjoy crafts (scrapbooking, collage) and am learning how to sew and crochet. I think it's healthy to do something physical, since I tend toward the intellectual.
9. Do you prefer to drive or be driven? No preference.
10. What's the weirdest thing you've ever done? Have conversations with my stuffed cat? It's hard to reply cause a lot of the things I do, others think are weird, but I think are normal. So I don't notice them.
11. Do you prefer to shop at stores, through catalogs, or over the internet? Depends on the day.

____LOVE SONGS OF THE DAYS (Sunday & Monday) ____

Question songs!

The uncertainty of how the other person feels is the main tension that drives love stories. "A Lover's Question" embodies that, and I like it as a duet. The uncertainty on both sides. Who'll admit their love first?


I was never told about the sorrow


_____
* That is to say, the Bee Gees.

I make the same mistakes

 

If you aren't watching Girls, it's like a hipster version of Sex and the City. ...I don't think it's sexist to make the comparison. It's about the trials and tribulations / love lives / sex lives of four young women in New York, and the protagonist is a writer. We've just changed designer duds for thrift shop finds.

The male characters amuse me greatly, especially this guy:

This very tall, very weird, very honest, freaky sort of fellow that our heroine dates for awhile. He calls her "kid," which I love (must work into next novel!) He rarely makes eye contact. He's really intense and kind of sensible. I like him more than her, so I'm glad we're still following him post-break-up.

Whoever finds the music for this show is brill--I always let the credits play cause I'm enjoying the choice of the week. Here's one of my faves. Luckily there's one line in it that allows me to classify it as a love song.... But, really, it's much more broadly applicable. I'm always getting into situations where I feel this way afterwards. I make the same mistakes, I make the same mistakes, f*ck f*ck f*ck...

Walking the streets alone
Thinking of you till dawn
I make the same mistakes
I make the same mistakes

Since you abandoned me...

(DEVASTATED) LOVE SONGS OF THE DAY - THURSDAY & FRIDAY

I recently wrote about songs that we associate with heart break, and two of my froggies shared theirs'. So I thought I'd add them to our 365 list! Interestingly they're both from the 90s. I remember riding around in my first car, listening to both albums.

First up is Sunshine Betty's: "Nothing Compares 2 U". Here's a lovely live version:

It's been so lonely without you here
Like a bird without a song
Nothing can stop these lonely tears from falling
Tell me baby where did I go wrong


It was written, as we all know, by my boyfriend--originally given to one of Prince's toy bands, The Family.  And here's Prince singing it, with a kick ass solo by Candy Dulfer.

That old Sinead album was really good. Remember The Emperor's New Clothes?


NEXT! Widdershin's pick...

Oh my days did I love Annie Lennox when I was a teen. I wanted to BE her. By the time Diva came out I was my own woman ;-) but I still loved driving around belting out these songs.

Take me from the wreckage
Save me from the blast
Lift me up and take me back
Don't let me keep on walking
I can't keep on walking on broken glass

    
Another great album. Also loved "These are the fears, this is the dread, these are the contents of my head" and   "I believe that love alone might do these things for you..."
     

Ghazals: “highly-literate pick up lines"

I came across this Indo-Canadian singer-songwriter recently and just love her. I can't understand the words, but I'm going to give you one of her songs as a Love Song of the Day since she sets traditional ghazals to her own music, and they are (in her words):

“...songs of unrequited passion of any kind, carnal or otherwise. Everything is written in the romantic terminology of the lover and the beloved. The lover is either wooing or describing in different ways the pain and restlessness that he or she is feeling because the beloved is inaccessible. It’s this pain of unrequited love that’s the real star of the show in ghazals—they’re a celebration of that emotion.” 

Also, it sounds a little bit like "Baby Hold Onto Me."


   

"Anything too stupid to be spoken is sung." - Voltaire

I was thinking about how even the shittiest music can get you where it hurts if it gets you at the right time, in the right circumstance.
I learned this when I was first falling in love with Fernando. I'd be working at my computer, listening to some middle-of-the-night-shmoopy-hits program, and I could identify with every stupid song. Case in point: this one hit wonder by Babyface's old band: "I only think of you on two occasions: That's day, and night." I remember thinking, yep, that's exactly right. And it's the reason you can't stay in that infatuated stage forever. It's EXHAUSTING.

And when it looked like, at one point, my love was unrequited, and I wasn't sure I could even continue to be friends with Fernando--then a whole other sort of love song was capable of torturing me. And Stevie Nicks had this hit on the radio at the time. To this day I rarely listen to it, cause I've got an implicit memory of despair written into my brain, triggered by the first notes. Romantic PTSD if you will.

Maybe love will change your mind
Maybe this time
Maybe love will make it clear
Oh, what words would keep you here
Maybe love will reach your heart
Thought I saw it in the dark
Maybe love will change your mind
Maybe this time
Lyrics from eLyrics.net

   

But... I need a new pool

Oh my days, Kanye's been ranting again. Taking aim at Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, and I guess (indirectly) Beyoncé for some really big beverage deals they just made (Pepsi and Bud.)

""Please corporations? Can you please support me, Please? Me, Kanye West? I swear I'm a nice n---a now. I swear I'll put the pink polo back on. I swear to you. Please? Just for three million dollars. I need it so bad. I need a new pool in my back yard. So I'll tell all my fans your s--- is cool. And if they believe in me they should also believe in you ."

Thing is... I don't think he's off base for making this kind of critique. He's an artist--showing disgust with the marriage of commerce and music is hardly shocking. And he did it at his own concert, not in an "imma" moment. (Though, in related news, I don't think he's an asshole--I think he's just a bit nuts. Like Prince.)

But, seriously, he could be finding better ways to express this shit. At the tamest, you go on some radio show and talk it out. If you want to be more artistic, then you use your talents. You write a song about it...

 

Or an impromptu rap, like the time Eminem went after Mariah Carey and her husband with a rap that put an end to the public feud. Hip hop is the one field where trashing other people is a time-honored and legit method of expression!

Kanye has more talent in his wee finger than most artists on the radio, so srsly... next time you're pissed about something, Kanye, channel it.
  
____LOVE SONG OF THE DAY____

I don't care what none of y'all say
I still love her

You're a bit of an eejit, aren't you?

When my dad and I went to see Hawksley Workman, back before Christmas, we decided we needed to plan another show outing right away. So he got us tickets to Oklahoma!, something I figured Stepmommy would enjoy too because we used to sing the songs together (when I lived at home the first time.)


We especially liked...
Poor Jud is dead, a candle lights his head
He's looking oh so purty and serene
He looks like he's asleep
It's a shame that he won't keep
But it's summer and we're running out of ice

____LOVE SONG OF THE DAY____

Gordon MacRae--what a voice.

Don't sigh and gaze at me Your sighs are so like mine
Your eyes mustn't glow like mine People will say we're in love


Top comment for this song, on youtube:
In my courtin' days I used to sing to my pretty little redhead girlfriend. Her response was a little kiss then she'd say. 'You're a bit of an eejit, aren't you'? Any way we got married and have been together now for 46 years and I'm still singing and she's still calling me a bit of an ejit.

Why did you disconnect the brakes on my car?

I love Weird Al. Not only are his parodies and polka-cover-medlies brilliant, but some of his original songs are good too.

Like this song about discovering that maybe, just maybe, your sig other doesn't love you anymore. It's a "style parody" based on that one hit wonder "More Than Words." (Man did that song get overplayed. I distinctly remember the summer when it was on non-stop rotation.)

I still remember the way that you laughed
When you pushed me down the elevator shaft
Oh if you don't mind me asking, what's this poisonous cobra
Doing in my underwear drawer?
Sometimes I get to thinking--you don't love me anymore

Let's be real

My dad watches a lot of non-Hollywood type romantic comedies (usually from Netflix), and sends these one line reviews by email. I always feel like they deserve a larger audience.

Pensive, thoughtful, complex human story. Beautifully crafted... Four thumbs up. :-)


I remember Lani Diane Rich and Jennifer Crusie complaining once in Popcorn Dialogues that they don't make good B-level rom coms anymore. They're clearly not in touch with my dad.

____LOVE SONG OF THE DAY____

In honor of the new season of Psych beginning: "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot. The first time I heard it (other than the disco version) I was reading Connie Willis' Doomsday Book, and I was at the saddest part. Oh my days how I balled.

A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me
But for now, love
Let's be real