The other pair is sneakers, which I need because my old ones were ripped
and letting in water. When I found a pair I liked, though, I noticed there was crud on the soles. Somebody had worn them, picked up dirt, and returned them. Ew! Even worse, some employee had taken them back, AND put them back on the shelf!

Now, saying I mind isn’t quite accurate. I am bad at buying shoes that really fit well, so I’ve been stuck with shoes in the past that I couldn’t return because I had to wear them for a day to find out they hurt my feet. And besides, as soon as I put them on, they’re going to get dirty, so who cares if they start out that way? But I just find it really, really odd that these shoes were available for sale.

I asked at the register for a discount, and the kid was dumbfounded. He said this had never happened before, and he didn’t know if he could do anything about it. I finally said “how about 10%?” He asked how much it would be. The register showed $32.99, so I performed the very difficult calculation and told him it was $3.30. He gave me $4 off, probably because he couldn’t figure out what 32.99 minus 3.30 was. So I got the shoes for $27.99, though I probably should have tried for more. Oh well. They’re neat shoes at least!

• 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

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.

And Terence Stamp is always attractive, anyway.

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

• 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?

So would it make you cranky, O Reader?

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

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

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.