Kevin's Watch

I was there! It's totally true! Seafest Denver!

I am tired as hell. Waddley Hasselhoff Gaga Twentysomethingandinshape, her charming Beau and I (old, smoker, need to get in shape) had a lovely brunch today and then they walked me all over Golden Gate Park looking at plants and lakes and geese and ducks and buffalo and some sort of groundhog and it was great fun but I know I am going to feel it bad tomorrow. Hell, I'm feeling it bad tonight. Getting old sucks. Just saying. I wouldn't change a thing about it though, walking through the lovely park in the sun or under the trees with Wadds and her beau and talking about silly stuff and looking at pretty stuff and just hanging out and enjoying each other's company was totally fabulous, relaxed and really something I needed more than I realized. Next time a bit more advanced warning might be handy since all I got was a facebook "Hey, going to be in SF tomorrow!" message. I could have set up a group brunch if I had known but hey, I have to admit I like her style.

Now I am going to attempt orange sherbet ice cream. Wish me luck.

Good Luck!

I didn't make it till midnight. I went out and had a chicken alfredo dinner with friends, hanging out until 9:30. After getting home and settling in my tv watching chair around 10, I saw that the New Years shows weren't starting until 11. I figured I wasn't going to make it that long so I went up to bed.

I do, unlike some years past, feel great this morning.

Damelon: Weenie.

I stayed up 'til midnight to see the ball drop, but managed to miss it by tuning into the network that *doesn't* televise the event. Turned to Fox just in time to see Bloomberg and Gaga smooching -- a sight that I could have happily lived the rest of my life without. Then plugged in a Netflix DVD that's been sitting around for a week or two, just so I could get it outta here. The movie was "Biutiful", with Javier Bardem. Spoiler alert: he dies at the end. So it was kind of a downer way to start 2012....

Note to self: buy 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle on the first day of my holidays, not the last!
Found the following in my $5 book store. Except it was $10. And it's not a book.
But apart from that, it has a certain logic since I just finished reading the novel, (which I thought was rather good and had much more 'character-meat' than the film.) Anyway, here is the little sucker...





P.S. No doubt Sharkie will 'help' me with this one they way she helped with the last one. [Insert meow-speak for, "But those pieces fit on the floor Mum!]

Those dark places are going to take forever, Shaun! (Just envisioned a glass-topped coffeetable with a slide-out drawer for the puzzle-- you can slide the puzzle under and then when it's done just leave it for as long as you want to look at it as your coffeetable top...)

A good day but my heart is aching for my 20-year old son who quit school and needs a job and has no car or money or anything and is on another continent.

deer of the dawn wrote:Those dark places are going to take forever, Shaun!

Yes, yes they are. I just hope it's not a metaphor for my life!

deer of the dawn wrote:(Just envisioned a glass-topped coffeetable with a slide-out drawer for the puzzle-- you can slide the puzzle under and then when it's done just leave it for as long as you want to look at it as your coffeetable top...)

Now that's a GREAT idea. I'll send you my address so you know where to send it when you finish building it.

deer of the dawn wrote:A good day but my heart is aching for my 20-year old son who quit school and needs a job and has no car or money or anything and is on another continent.

I hope he lands on his feet deer. Heartache for loved ones is never nice, especially when vast bodies of water separate us. Good luck to both of you.

Could be worse, there's a puzzle you can get which is a solid blue circle.

Hugs for both you and your son, DotD.

Shaun, good luck with your puzzle. (Translation: better you than me! )

Just heated up the last of the frozen stuffed baked potatoes. Forgot to turn on the vent fan when I turned on the oven...and the smoke alarm went off.

I'm feeling... weirdly inspired. Weird because it's been so long since I've felt inspired that I almost forgot what it felt like. Last year was pretty rough for me. I've been having a bit of an existential crisis. My least destructive method of coping with depression is writing, and I haven't been able to write since I moved back in July. Anyway, I started writing last night and didn't really get anywhere, but there was something fulfilling about the action. And I came online today and found that one of my favorite authors had written an article about writing that reminded me of where I thought I was going with my life 10 years or so ago, and made me wonder if it's still a viable option. I'm not big on the whole new year's resolution thing, but I'm going to make an effort to write more this year, if only for my sanity.

deer of the dawn wrote:A good day but my heart is aching for my 20-year old son who quit school and needs a job and has no car or money or anything and is on another continent.

Awww, I'm sorry... that doesn't sound great.

Yeah, that's rough. Hugs.

Sorus wrote:I'm feeling... weirdly inspired. Weird because it's been so long since I've felt inspired that I almost forgot what it felt like. Last year was pretty rough for me. I've been having a bit of an existential crisis. My least destructive method of coping with depression is writing, and I haven't been able to write since I moved back in July. Anyway, I started writing last night and didn't really get anywhere, but there was something fulfilling about the action. And I came online today and found that one of my favorite authors had written an article about writing that reminded me of where I thought I was going with my life 10 years or so ago, and made me wonder if it's still a viable option. I'm not big on the whole new year's resolution thing, but I'm going to make an effort to write more this year, if only for my sanity.

Hey Sorus, that's a very encouraging start to the new year. Good on you and I hope you're able to continue with the habit.

Like yourself, and I'm sure many other Watchers, I have a similar relationship to writing. It used to be a reliable path out of depression. (Unfortunately, abusing sugar is my current foolproof and counterproductive method .)

Sometimes I think back to writing as a kid, or even my first novel as an adult and I'd love to have that uncorrupted free-flowing relationship with my creativity back. Various factors have blocked and twisted the flow for me and I finally decided to just let it go for a while. My relationship with writing had become a bit 'abusive' and I figured until we were able to treat each other with patience, non-judgemental observation, love, understanding, respect - all the good shit! - we should see other people. This has worked in so far as relieving me of the 'should be writing' curse and I can sometimes feel the rekindling of the wish/need to write. I'm still in a holding pattern but I must say the Watch - both its people and its content, (discussions, book recommendations etc) have been a healthy influence on this part of me.

Anyway, I just wanted to respond and say I hope you're able to keep writing and maybe it's there in your last sentence... if we can somehow reclaim the writing 'simply' for the pure 'act' of writing, then we're on the right path. I was going to say for the pure 'joy' of writing, but as I'm sure all the writers here know, it ain't always joyful!

Murrin wrote:Could be worse, there's a puzzle you can get which is a solid blue circle.

Does it come with the straight-jacket or is that extra? And have you ever tried it? Vermeer is already sending me nuts(er)

Sorus wrote:I'm feeling... weirdly inspired. Weird because it's been so long since I've felt inspired that I almost forgot what it felt like. Last year was pretty rough for me. I've been having a bit of an existential crisis. My least destructive method of coping with depression is writing, and I haven't been able to write since I moved back in July. Anyway, I started writing last night and didn't really get anywhere, but there was something fulfilling about the action. And I came online today and found that one of my favorite authors had written an article about writing that reminded me of where I thought I was going with my life 10 years or so ago, and made me wonder if it's still a viable option. I'm not big on the whole new year's resolution thing, but I'm going to make an effort to write more this year, if only for my sanity.

Good for you! Sanity ftw!

By the way, the arm warmers are very nearly done. I should be able to put them in the mail to Jenn tomorrow. Yours are plain -- I only put the sparkly stuff on Jenn's pair.

Awesome, can't wait to see them. Can I send you some yarn or somesuch in return? Or any random requests from SF?

You are the rockingest evah, Ali!

DotD, sorry about your son but perhaps he will learn some valuable life lessons from this whole thing and something new about himself and the world. Most of the hardest lessons are the ones that shape us the best to cope in the future.

Sorus! I am so happy for you! I'm definitely at some stuck points with that project that I told you about so I'll definitely be giving you over my notes when I am ready for them to be read by someone else.

I'm in hoping mode, I updated and prettied up my resume today because for the first time in over a year there are service writer jobs showing up in job searches in SF. I just sent my resume to SF Hyundai and SF Nissan. Cross your fingers everyone. I miss the auto world something fierce.

Shaun das Schaf wrote:

deer of the dawn wrote:Those dark places are going to take forever, Shaun!

Yes, yes they are. I just hope it's not a metaphor for my life!

I know, right?

deer of the dawn wrote:A good day but my heart is aching for my 20-year old son who quit school and needs a job and has no car or money or anything and is on another continent.

I hope he lands on his feet deer. Heartache for loved ones is never nice, especially when vast bodies of water separate us. Good luck to both of you.

Thank you and thanks to ALL for the hugs and good wishes!! He's in God's hands now, --the best possible place, but still hard for a Mom to let go. He is a great kid and I feel so lucky to have him. I always did, from the day he was born.

Sorus wrote:I'm feeling... weirdly inspired. Weird because it's been so long since I've felt inspired that I almost forgot what it felt like. Last year was pretty rough for me. I've been having a bit of an existential crisis. My least destructive method of coping with depression is writing, and I haven't been able to write since I moved back in July. Anyway, I started writing last night and didn't really get anywhere, but there was something fulfilling about the action. And I came online today and found that one of my favorite authors had written an article about writing that reminded me of where I thought I was going with my life 10 years or so ago, and made me wonder if it's still a viable option. I'm not big on the whole new year's resolution thing, but I'm going to make an effort to write more this year, if only for my sanity.

*hugs* Sounded like this last year was completely rotten from an earlier post of yours...

So, since you've started writing again... I'm curious... how do you respond to dares?
(Or CJ, maybe you could answer this? )

Specifically... what if I were to make a small dare, involving... say, the... Hall of Gifts?!

Re the arm warmers: Don't thank me 'til you've seen 'em, ladies. As I suspected, Jenn, the Metallica design was too hard to chart for the kind of yarn I used. Sorry. But I trimmed yours with a little bling to compensate. Just fyi, I was worried that the metallic yarn along the top edge might be scratchy, so I did it as a totally separate edging. If it annoys you, you can cut a strand of it and pull it off, without unraveling the rest of the thing. The bling at the other end, however, you're stuck with...

Just send me a picture of y'all wearing 'em, so I can post it on Ravelry.

And Jenn, fingers crossed for the job search!

In other news: I don't wanna go to work today...

aliantha wrote:I did almost suggest to Cag that he pm me his phone number. But Carla's already come at me with a butcher knife once...

Hell, I wish I had popped back here, because I might have wanted to participate.

However, it turned out to be fairly good. We downloaded the new Queen track pack for Rock Band 3 and went through the new songs, several of which were pretty good. And then when Carla decided to turn in at 11pm, I was just going to look for someones balls to drop on tv (but just missed), I noticed that Austin City Limits was just starting and it was a Tom Waits show from 1974. It was amazing, and was a good way to end 2011. Sadly, after it was over, I decided to run upstairs and give my wife a kiss on the new year. Unfortunately, I turned off the lights to make my way upstairs and knocked over a little table with a glass on it, so I rang in the new year cleaning up broken glass from the carpet.