Bicycle adventures

I almost titled this post "Bicycles Races" solely because I love Queen and it came into my head at the right time, but then it occurred to me that I would probably never ever enter a bicycle race, and certainly not on the cheap, single-speed cruiser I'm currently riding.

Anyway.

It's been interesting so far, riding my bike. I'm now way more familiar with the degree of incline that I never ever noticed in nine years of living in this house and driving on that street in that direction probably at least twice a week since moving here (did any of that make sense? 'K, good). What's really unfair is that it's downhill on the way to work, when it's still cool in the mornings, and uphill on the way home, and the Texas heat is already starting to suck. I'm going to have to start shopping for lighter clothes soon, and stop wearing jeans every freaking day.

On Tuesday I got my first "You ride a bike here? That's awesome!" from a co-worker who saw me with my helmet in hand. And today I got my first "Nice bike!" from a girl on a porch on my way home.

Monday blarg

It's been a tremendously, stupidly long day, and I'm having a really hard time shaking the mood it's left me in. But I still feel like blogging. So here I am.

Allow me to share with you, the high points of my day.

I'm reading The Well of Lost Plots, the third in Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. They're wonderful. Especially for a reader like me, who simply loves books. Jasper Fforde loves books, and he does it in a marvelously creative, funny, and exciting way. So I'm flying through this book. It's also partly because it's due back at the library tomorrow, and as of this morning, I was only half done. But they're fairly quick reads, even if I am wishing I didn't have to rush. Oh well. Either way, I'm loving it, and reading it for most of my lunch hour today was a big part of what got me through to the end of the day, whereupon I came home, curled up in a chair, and read some more.

Also? I have cookie dough. Chocolate-chunk-loaded cookie dough. Freshly baked, all warm and gooey, with cold milk. So there's that.

Hopefully tomorrow will go a little better.

Think of all that brain space wasted on math and lyrics to 80s songs

Boy Creature sometimes asks me what words mean. This is becoming somewhat of a point of contention in our relationship.

He asks me a word, I give him a fair, if rough definition (usually. Sometimes I just get it wrong, mostly when I'm mixing it up with a similar-sounding but entirely different word) of what said word means. Then he decides that's not good enough, and looks it up, and admonishes me because my definition wasn't verbatim from the dictionary. To which I reply that I was more or less right about the word- maybe I didn't cover every nuance of meaning and every evolutionary step in its particular colloquial usage and pinpoint the etymology, but I more or less told him what that word meant, enough that the next time he came across that word, he would probably get it. And then I p0int out that if he's just going to look it up anyway, he shouldn't have asked me in the first place. And then he says, he's glad he looked it up because clearly I don't know what I'm talking about, and what good is a creative writer if they don't know ALL the words. To which I reply that I'm not a walking dictionary.

All this is why now, when he asks me what a word means, I've gotten into the habit of telling him it's complicated and he should look it up.

Just now, he asked what "halcyon" meant. I say look it up, he makes fun of me for not knowing, not a walking dictionary, blahblahblah. But I looked it up anyway, and read him ALL of the definitions in a dramatic voice. Whereupon I found this jewel:

Noun- a mythical bird said by ancient writers to breed in a nest floating at sea at the winter solstice, charming the wind and waves into calm.

Isn't that nice? I love words. Even if I can't remember them all.

The proud new owner...

I bought a purty bike today.


This one. It's a Schwinn Legacy, and I really like it. It was cheap, and more or less exactly the sort of thing I was looking for. Unfortunately, it's been raining all weekend, and I don't have a helmet yet, so I haven't really ridden it. So tomorrow I'll drive to work one last time, and then go buy the few accessories I'll need. And then I'll be a biker! Yay.

I feel like there's actually more than a few accessories I'll need, though. I got a U-lock, but then I started reading bicycle blogs for tips on keeping your bike safe, and they all seem to advocate for having more than one lock. So I'll probably get another lock. And I need a pump, because the one we have has a bad hose. And I want a rear-view mirror, just in case. And reflective tape, for visibility. And I want a basket, because I'm not a huge fan of backpacks. Especially since I know that the hotter it gets here, the less I'll want a big heavy thing on my back. So the list of things to buy keeps growing in my mind.

But I'm still excited about my new bike. She needs a name now.

Cuppa tea, anyone?

Look look look!


It's my very first completed embroidery project. I'd have finished it sooner if I hadn't been attacked by the lazy. But it's done! It's a handkerchief. I like it. I'm looking forward to trying more things soon.

A low key Saturday

Last night I went to sleep to the sound of a nice steady, heavy rain, and this morning I've woken up to a gentle downfall. Are you all aware of how much I love rain? I love it thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much. (Now is when you picture me with my arms waaaaaay out, as far as I can stretch them.) Add in a pot of caramel crème brûlée tea, and it's a lovely morning in my book.

I don't have a ton planned for today, but I still suspect it'll be a nice one. Tonight the Boy Creature and I are going out for crawfish with Dad and Stepmom, and Dad's bringing me his old bike, so I can stop feeling guilty for driving the half a mile to work. Yay! Although I suspect I will have to go out tomorrow to buy a helmet and a lock for it. But that's ok. I'm looking forward to being a bicycle girl. I've been reading lots of bike blogs like this one this week.

Other than that, it's just the usual fun around here. Reading, knitting, watching movies. We got La Dolce Vita from the library. I've never seen it, and I've been wanting to for years now. So that will probably happen tonight, maybe after dinner. Speaking of, if you've never tried crawfish, now is the time! They're in season right now. Go out and find yourself a seafood bar or a Razoo's and chow down. They're spicy and delicious and one of my favorite foods in the entire world. Having grown up with a mom from New Orleans means I look forward to them every year. So you should go try them.

Have a good weekend, guys.

On-the-job self-entertainment

In this new job that I have at the local university (which is going very well, thanks so much for asking!), part of what I'm doing is entering the classes that prospective students have taken into our system. Sometimes (most of the time) it abbreviates the actual class name, and I'm pretty often amused by how it shortens them. My favorite so far is "Foundations of accounting," which became "Found accounting."

It sounds like found art, and I love that. I love the idea of ledgers scribbled on the subway walls, or discarded budgets, tucked in the back of library books. Little bits of accounting floating around the world, just for the love of it.

I like silly things.

Is it too obvious to quote Bowie here?

The last few days, I've been thinking hard about whether I want to keep doing the regular booklove and knitlove posts. I do love them (as, one would hope, the names imply), but I'm wondering if they still fit in my life, as much as it's changing these days. I did say I do better with structure, and I've got it now, but having new things usually means some old things will have to adapt, or be left behind.

When I started those weekly update posts, it was when I wasn't working full time (or at all, really), and I had more time for it. Now I'm starting to think I might like my free time to be just a bit more free. So I'm thinking it'll be back to random blog posts. Oddly enough, though, I feel like this means I'll post more. I've noticed over the last few months that I find myself thinking, "I could go write a blog entry, but tomorrow's knitlove day, so I'll just wait." And what kind of sense does that make? The set posts were scaring off the little random ones. Silly of me, I know, but there it is. So I think it's time to set free the set posts.

I'll still check in with knitting and reading, because how could I not? They're two of the things I love most, and who better to share them with than you? Plus, there has been plenty of both going on lately.

So that's where I stand now, readers. I'll see you when I see you.

Whoa, it's today!

So I didn't get around to thinking about blogging until late in the day yesterday. And then I was toddling around the house getting myself ready for my first day of work today! Yay! I hope it goes well. So you'll get more of an update later. Everybody have a good day, ok?