HIDWtS: Secret club.
For seven months, I have been stumped, not by a puzzle or a game, but by a shuttle. When I board my shuttle in the mornings, it is already nearly full. I figured there must be another stop somewhere, but there is only one listed on the schedule. One morning I worked up the nerve to ask a fellow passenger where this might be. Her answer was snottily unintelligible, so I didn’t ask for clarification. I am no stranger to the world of secret clubs. Why, I have been excluded from some of the very best of them. So I got the hint: the first shuttle stop is a secret, and one I have to figure out for myself so I can crash it and make the secretive people really unhappy. It’s not that I want to ruin anyone’s good time. Except that I do. I really, really...
Read MoreA weekend off.
After seeing FunkyPlaid off on Friday morning, I vowed to have a weekend free of packing and moving. I would like to say that it has been blissful, but mostly it has been sort of pathetic because I have had a headache for the past two days that ibuprofen won’t touch. Still, it was good to catch my breath, and thanks to FaceTime I have chatted with FunkyPlaid twice already, which makes the distance a little shorter. The cats are unhappy. Zen follows me around constantly; if I am in another room for more than thirty seconds, she joins me. Torgi, on the other hand, has withdrawn to his only hiding place left, the linen closet, where he sleeps the days away. At night he wanders throughout the house, meowing for his lost parent. He hasn’t gotten the hang of...
Read MoreThe storm before the calm before the storm.
FunkyPlaid’s penultimate day in San Francisco is here! And my title is wishful thinking, a little, because while yesterday was certainly a storm of activity, I do not think either of us will get any calm today. But here! Here is my calm. Also I daydream about knitting, and read about people killing each other with fancy swords. I have not forgotten How I Decide Where to Sit, but the only thing I have been observing during my recent shuttle rides is the inside of my eyelids. Yesterday was my half-birthday, which FunkyPlaid always remembers, even when he is packing up his entire life to move to another continent. I shouldn’t be surprised by this anymore, but I am. He presented me with the cleverest camera bag I have ever seen. It is a single-strap...
Read MoreGoodbye, books.
All of my books are packed. Such a relief! Everything left at this point is either going to purchases, swaps, or donations. I turned the nestcam on for a little while today, just to break up the monotony. It amuses me to open a little window into my chaotic world. Our friend Eric picked up his mountain bike today, and also left with a few games and a tea set I was going to bring to Goodwill. Knowing that he has some of my well-loved possessions makes me happy. I was bummed to give away my VHS tapes of “The Maxx” and “Hey Vern! It’s My Family Album”, until I found out that they had been released on DVD. Onto the wish list they went! Although honestly I cannot imagine acquiring anything else at this point. The urge to toss everything...
Read MoreStuffed.
Twelve and a half hours ago, I thought I was looking at a few hours of packing in my study. It looks worse in here than when I started, and I still have more to do. I had this lofty goal of getting rid of most of my stuff, but I neglected to think about how much time it takes to sort through all of it. The worst was when I found an entire box of sensitive papers to shred. I knew why I had packed it; I had loaned my shredder to someone who had never returned it. Still, I felt horrible when I found that box. It was a giant symbol of all the physical and metaphorical crap I have been lugging around for ages. Purging most of it should feel better than it does right now, but until this room starts looking significantly emptier, I’m going to be grumpy about...
Read MoreKnotted.
G+ KAL, day four Originally uploaded by cygnoir One week until FunkyPlaid leaves, and all I can think about is knitting. I imagine this is a classic case of something psychological, busily create create create while the house, our home, is slowly falling apart. Right now I am focused on — no, obsessed with — a lace shawl pattern. The first tiny bit is pictured here. I chose this pattern in order to participate in a Google+ knitalong. Little did I know how the Google+ pseudonym stuff would blow up. More on that later. I have to go knit my world back...
Read MoreJump-start on Caturday.
Jack Originally uploaded by cygnoir My day deteriorated somewhat, so I am getting a jump-start on Caturday with this photo of my in-laws’ cat, Jack. And then going to bed. Tomorrow is FunkyPlaid’s going-away party. Two weeks from now, he will be landing in Edinburgh. I don’t have a good ending for this...
Read MorePacking highlights.
Although this is hardly my first day of packing for Scotland, it has been a long one, filled with Kleenex (yay, head cold) and boxes I never unpacked from my last move and lots of stuff I simply do not know why I own. And now, some highlights! Weirdest discovery: my very first mobile. I tried to sell it nine years ago, but I guess that didn’t work. I will be donating it through Call2Recycle. Packed for storage: my entire poetry library. I may regret that, but it will give me a good excuse to use the public library system while I am there. Thing I thought I would want to keep but don’t: my high school yearbook from senior year. I contacted my school’s alumni association to see if they want it. (Thanks for the idea, Unclutterer!) Books, books,...
Read MoreHIWDtS: Bye-bye, lady.
Every once in a while, I encounter the N-Judah Greeter. He is a sweet man who says hello and waves to everyone who boards the train, and says goodbye and waves to everyone who leaves. Most people avoid catching his eye, because that is his signal that it is okay to wave and talk. He spends a lot of the time in suspended animation, looking expectantly at each new passenger, hoping for eye contact. As soon as the person looks up, he waves and exclaims, “Hello!” Women get a “lady” tacked on the end. If the person does not respond, he repeats himself a few times, then stops and moves on to the next person. If you, like me, respond, then there is a short script: “Hello, lady!” “Hello!” “Where are you...
Read MoreHIDWtS: Instruments of torture.
O, hello. I am glad you are still here! The end of the semester was a little harrowing, but now there is a moment to breathe and obsess over seating arrangements. I am not great at it yet, but for the past month I have been knitting while commuting. This is much more productive than dozing off, and it keeps my restless brain occupied. There appear to be two ways of dealing with a knitter on public transit. One is to avoid. In the wrong hands, a knitting needle could do some serious damage, maybe even a d4′s worth. Very scary. Also, I have a terrifying presence, so anything sharper than an oven mitt in my hand is incredibly intimidating to the average person. The other way is to ask a hundred thousand questions about knitting, how to knit, the history of...
Read MoreNestcam
The cam was last on Friday, May 4.
Hello What
I am Halsted, a/k/a cygnoir, and I do stuff with words.
My favourite things to do with words are keeping this diary, writing stories, and organising information.
subscribe to updates:
· mobile edition ·
Scribbling
2,322/4,000 words
1,987/4,000 words
3,593/4,000 words
Reading
Listening
- 39 - Explicit Version
Tenacious D
5 days, 2 hours and 20 minutes ago - To Be The Best
Tenacious D
5 days, 2 hours and 21 minutes ago - They Fucked Our Asses - Explicit Version
Tenacious D
5 days, 2 hours and 22 minutes ago
Plugging
