People posted what they got for Xmas. Guess I forgot to do that.

• Star Trek Deep Space Nine DVDs, seasons 3-7
• Firefly DVD set
• Cute Overload page-a-day calendar
• Crochet books (Year of Q-Hook Afghans book 3, Quick and Easy Q-Hook Afghans, 200 Crochet Blocks, Stitch n Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker)
• Dr. Horrible DVD
• Entire set of Crochet-Lite hooks, sizes C-K, with spare batteries
• Book about collecting Girl Scout products

My dear sweet gretchen_marie did it, so I am too. Mine is not nearly as long, detailed, or interesting as hers.

January: Worked over winter break, but not enough, mostly because of a trip to southern California. Went to LA for the first time, San Diego for the first time, visited Sea World and Tijuana and Disneyland. Back to school; started four classes - History, Deaf Studies, Linguistics, Sex and Gender. Brought Amanita over to the in-laws’ house.

February: Our 10th anniversary! Took two weeks off school for our anniversary trip to the Caribbean. Spent several days in Puerto Rico and the rest of it was on a cruise. Made the switch from Sidekicks to Blackberrys with my purchase of a Blackberry Curve 8310. Hearing loss was officially diagnosed as being between the eardrum and the cochlea, but they couldn’t pin down a reason.

March: School continues. Went to Sacramento over spring break instead of working, this included a day trip to Oakland and San Francisco. In a clusterfuck of epic proportions, helped C move from New York City into our house.

April: Got hearing aids and my life improved tremendously. Work no longer left me exhausted, and I could hear my wife again. Got $1500 back from the federal government; school continues. Julia committed suicide, I still haven’t forgotten her.

May: End of my second semester of school - straight A’s! The desire to eat meat came back strong, and I dithered about it for a few weeks. Went back to working full-time for months.

June: A got sent to Philadelphia for a week for work, so I went with her, and we stayed in an extended-stay hotel by the airport. Went into the city a few times myself and a few times together. Had the “Go Down Moses” guy from American Idol as our tour guide at one point. Went to Wildwood, NJ for a couple of days after. Got my bunny tattoo to mark our 10th anniversary. In case that isn’t clear, it’s because my wife calls me her bunny! Booked a Carnival cruise that would hang around my neck for a long time.

July: Went to New Orleans for the NAD conference, we won the College Bowl contest because we’re awesome! Amanita had to be put to sleep. Her combination of kidney failure and senility was causing major problems. It still breaks my heart when I think of her, even though I know what we did was right…she wouldn’t have gotten any better. But she was such a sweet girl and I can’t believe she’s gone. Had a major clash with Kristin Pilotte, a friend from high school…that still also makes me sad when I think about it. Managed to repair my phone all by myself despite being intimidated by opening up the case. Started working at Sorenson in Fairfax as well as the Gallaudet center.

August: Started Weight Watchers again. Worked in VRS for the first half of the month and then worked really crazy intense hours at a hospital in Baltimore for the second half of the month, right up until when school started. Classes: Deaf Studies, History, Sports Ethics, HIV, Sociology.

September: Decided I wasn’t going to work in a money-earning fashion for the rest of the semester…bad idea, but I didn’t know it at the time. Got sick for the first time in the semester, missed a bunch of class, this time it was a cold. Got my Blackberry run over by a car and promptly ordered a new one.

October: Entered several contests, pestered all my friends to vote for me, didn’t win anything. Started taking an interest in Mohandas Gandhi, after watching the Ben Kingsley movie; did some research on satyagraha and his other theories and practices. Got sick again, this time we thought it was mono, and I missed a bunch of school again.

November: Hosted an election night party and was so glad that it was FINALLY OVER…but even more glad that it went the way I wanted! Elation was tempered by the loss in California due to Prop 8’s passage. Did some leather interpreting. Brought the family to my mother’s house for Thanksgiving.

December: Got my grades…all A’s except for one that I am still contesting. Started working again after going completely broke during the semester (see September). It’s going to take a while to recover from that one. Found myself completely ready for Xmas, all presents bought and everything, with plenty of time to spare. Did more leather interpreting, worked all day on Xmas which should result in a nice deposit to my bank account soon. Got back into crocheting in a big way…went insane and spent $300+ on yarn.

I can’t say that I was really thrilled with Yes Man. I wanted to see it because I was curious about the concept of saying yes to everything, which originated with British humorist Danny Wallace, who did exactly that for six months as an experiment. I am not a big Jim Carrey fan, and my opinion wasn’t changed by his middling performance. What I really wanted to see, though, would be if Yes Man had a similar social message to that of Pay It Forward. (Yes, I realize the concept of “paying it forward” originated with Ben Franklin, but it was the Kevin Spacey movie that brought the idea to a wider audience.) In the beginning of the movie, it seems like saying yes to everything might be something actually worth trying, especially for those who are bored with their lives. But as the movie progresses, the negative aspects of doing so are shown - things like being suspected of being a terrorist are silly, but things like alienating a potential girlfriend are entirely possible. (Not to mention the financial negatives of buying a round for everyone in the bar because you’re just that drunk.) In the end, I do think Yes Man could potentially have an interesting social message, but I don’t think most people are going to see it as such. It’s going to turn into just another silly Jim Carrey movie, and it’s not going to change anyone’s life. But still…it’s an interesting idea.

And Terence Stamp is always attractive, anyway.

A and I went to see Milk with my mom today. It was only playing at The Charles, so we went to Baltimore and had lunch at The Yabba Pot beforehand. We got to the movie a few minutes before it started and settled in to watch.

To say I was unimpressed would be an understatement. I was bored. I did not like this movie at all. Somehow Sean Penn managed to portray a charismatic, passionate man as uninspiring and devoid of strong emotions, and the film overall managed to take a time that was filled with radical change and turn it into a shadow of a social movement. There was absolutely nothing interesting about the movie Milk. I walked away with the impression that Harvey would be rolling in his grave if he knew about this tragedy, and that it did his memory a disservice to make such a boring movie about him. I didn’t find it educational in the slightest, although my mom points out that I am well-versed in gay history, and others may have indeed learned something from the film.

I didn’t like it. There were no bright spots for me to highlight. I know it got decent reviews, and I know Sean Penn was nominated for a Golden Globe award. But I found his performance limp and uninteresting, and the movie as a whole was quite yawn-inducing. There wasn’t a minute of passion or excitement during the whole thing, nothing at all to get swept up in. If somebody wants to learn about him, they would do much better to read The Mayor of Castro Street or watch the 1984 documentary The Times of Harvey Milk.

Interesting links:

• Advocate cover story: What if Milk hadn’t been murdered?
• Commentary on Sean Penn’s involvement with the gay community
• Other articles about Harvey and the movie from the Advocate
• Metro Weekly had a review, they weren’t too fond of it either
• The Washington Blade thought the acting was good but not the story here

After some consideration, I am doing a trial run. Here are some choice bits from Twitter.

• Aw, watching Voyager and just heard the computer voice. Once again, RIP Majel Barrett.
• LOL at Montel Williams hawking painted coins of Barack Obama.
• I really need a better way to store yarn. Suggestions welcome.
• Holiday party got much better when I discovered the room with the Xbox and Guitar Hero.
• I still wonder who bought me that Flickr Pro account when mine expired a few months back
• I wonder if crocheted pasties would sell on Etsy.
• If people refused to work for companies whose sole purpose is scamming fellow humans out of their money, the world would be a better place.
• Phrase of the day: Kids don’t hug sushi. Also: Cake Wrecks!
• Let me get this straight, Pete Burns of Dead or Alive is NOT trying to be a woman?
• I’m not the only person who gets yarn caught on their nipple piercings while crocheting naked…right?

Raise your hand if you would get all cranky if I started doing the daily Twitter crosspost again. Because really, it’s where I communicate the most. I promise I would wipe out all the ones that were replies to other people unless they actually could stand alone as posts. Last time I set this up, I got a whole lot of griping, but honestly there is stuff that I say over on Twitter that I want a LOT of reactions to, and I just don’t get it on Twitter. In other words, I want my entire blog audience to be able to respond to some of what I say in Twitter.

So would it make you cranky, O Reader?

Added: Consider this exchange in which I explain my philosophy on Twitter.

Right now I am wishing I had not crashed my car back in 2006 which resulted in spending $7000 on a used car, and wishing I had not busted my ears, also in 2006, which resulted in spending $5700 on hearing aids. If I had that money back, I’d be in so much better shape. As it is, I think I will be living on credit for the next couple of months, at least until I get the paychecks from working over winter break. I am working as much as I can, more than I want to…I’m even working weekends. Blah. I will be okay in the end, but next semester I definitely have to WORK on days when I don’t have classes, not take time off. The plane ticket to Hawaii might be a pipe dream right now, I don’t know. Would be just as well since I’d have to miss school, but still…it’s Hawaii and my wife is going. Augh! Plus I want $150 for a set of Micro Molds for my hearing aids so they fit better. I will probably be able to afford that a few months down the road, maybe next summer.

I’ll be okay, I’m just griping because things kind of suck for right now. At least I have Xmas presents for everyone!

This is my first crochet pattern. I normally follow others’ patterns but this is my own. The resulting hat may not look like much, but it WILL keep your head warm!

The Angry Tiger Earflap Hat*

Time Required: 6 hrs

Materials:

• 1 ball Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in color A (sample uses charcoal)
• 1 ball Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in color B (sample uses cranberry)
• Hooks: I, N, Q
• Television or book for while you work

To begin, find “Aaron’s Hat Trick #2″ in the free patterns at LionBrand.com. Complete rounds 1-6 of the medium-sized hat in color A, using I hook.

Frog what you have just done, because it has a weird shape at the top. Switch to N hook.

Redo the hat through earflap #1, without switching to color B at the earflap. Try the hat on. It is too small in every possible way. Admire its density and sturdiness; consider its use as a bowl.

Frog your work, winding the yarn back onto the unused portion of the skein.

Locate “Family of Beanies” on the LionBrand.com site. Complete rounds 1-3 in both loops. Frog it, leaving only the initial sc ring. Work in back loops only (blo) through round 7. Frog back to the chain, work in blo of the chain, following pattern in blo until the hat is 4″ from crown. Switch to dc at some point if you wish.

Try the hat on, discover it is too small. Frog everything. Switch to Q hook.

Ch 5. Join to 1st chain with sl st.
Ch 3, work 9 dc in ring, do not join; place marker for beginning of round.
Round 1: Work 2 dc in each st around.
Round 2: Work (1 dc in next st, 2 dc in next st) around.
Round 2: Work (1 dc in next 2 sts, 2 dc in next st) around.
Round 3: Work (1 dc in next 3 sts, 2 dc in next st) around.
Round 4: Work (1 dc in next 4 sts, 2 DC in next st) around.
Work even rounds until hat is desired length, not more than 1-2 rows past top of ears.

Earflap
Work sc in next 6 sts.
Ch 1, turn. Skip 1st st, work sc in next 5 sts.
Ch1, turn. Skip 1st st, work sc in next 4 sts.
Proceed until 1 st is left.
Ch 13. Sl st in each ch back up to earflap base.

Sl st up earflap and around back of hat to desired starting point of opposite earflap. Complete earflap #2 as you did the first one. Sl st around front of hat to top of first earflap. End off.

Edging
Switch to N hook. Join color B with sc at end off point of color A.
Work sc around edges of hat, filling all available sts and sps. For earflaps, continue working sc on outside of earflap so edging is visible. Continue around; join with sl st to starting sc of color B. End off.

Throw the hat down with glee. You’re done! Put away the hooks and vow not to crochet at all the next day.

* - This is a bit of crochet humor. If you take this pattern seriously, you WILL get a warm earflap hat in the end, but you will have wasted about 5 hours of your life.

I suck at using planners. Day Timer, Day Runner, that sort of thing. Electronic ones too - Palm Pilots, Sidekicks, and Blackberrys all have organizer features. I always use these things for a couple of months and then quit. (Electronic ones rarely even last that long.) To make note of assignments, I email myself when they’re given, then put them on Google Calendar. So far that’s been working but I don’t like the system. So today I browsed the planners in the school bookstore, didn’t like any of them, and looked for more online. I found a Quo Vadis style I really liked, and I found a store in DC that’s supposed to carry them. Unfortunately they only had a few, but they had an acceptable alternative. It’s bound, not looseleaf, and I’m hoping that will be a successful style for me. It doesn’t have a cover, only a hard paper binding, so I’ll put an ILY sticker or a Gallaudet sticker on the front, or just doodles. Of course, I have the annual student planner given out by Gallaudet (which includes the student conduct rules, etc), but I haven’t been using it.

I opted for a calendar-year planner rather than an academic-year one. Partly because I’m buying it in December, but partly because I don’t see the point of academic planners. Each semester is wholly contained within a calendar year anyway, right? Academic planners make sense for K-12 students who have the same classes all year, but a calendar planner serves a college student as a spring-then-fall planner rather than a fall-then-spring planner. It’s neither here nor there.

I think looseleaf planners are better, and I’d like to buy a really nice cover and then refills every year, but I just. don’t. use. them. So we’ll try this Quo Vadis little bound one and see where we get with it. But man, I would love to find a $100 gift card for DayTimer or Franklin Covey lying around, just to play with.