A quick discovery!

I made the Green Mountain Spinnery's Turkish Rose mittens on the plane a few weekends ago when we went to my Grandma's memorial service in Dolgeville, NY. (We also go to hang out in Syracuse. Odd place.) Loved the pattern, really love the yarn (Alpaca Elegance-- one skein of each color will make more than a set of size M), and then when it came time to block them, look what I discovered:



The top of Knit Picks' sock blockers are made perfectly for blocking mittens! Tapered at the cuff, gently pointed at the top, made with cut-outs for easy breeziness.



Maybe you all knew that already. It sort of blew my mind. Adios, blocking pins!

(it also felt really great to have a finished project that I bought the yarn & pattern for at MDSW this year. That's 1 month from impulse buy to FO!)

People, now our meeting is over

"Maybe all jobs are like this in the sense that there are the good parts and the bad parts, with the bad parts occupying the majority of the space because it is a JOB after all. If you have a job where there are more good parts than bad parts then you've obviously made a deal with the Devil and you're going to spend the rest of eternity being tortured by fork-wielding elves to make up for the imbalance. I'm just saying." -Heather B. Armstrong, in her book It Sucked and then I Cried (2009, p. 139)



It's the end of the school year, and it's time for me to say something: I have an awesome job. It is 95% "good parts," and I know this because I have worked several jobs that ranged from 20% good to about 50% good if being forcibly optimistic about what constitutes "good" (this does not include seasonal work, like summer camp, because then we would need a different rating system since GV is batting over 100%). My current job, you guys, is seriously good. And I'm leaving it. Voluntarily.

Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up. For three years, maybe more, I've been waiting to score a sacred 6-month time slot at the Folk School in Brasstown, NC. I've saved up my money and gone to week-long classes there three separate times, and each time I was there I expanded my fantasy of someday living there for longer than a week. The Folk School hires 2 people every six months to live in the Keith House (big, old creaky beautiful wooden main building where the main community gatherings are held) and take a free class every week (FREE! CLASS! EVERY WEEK!!!), while doing the duties that I have inadvertently spent my entire life polishing up on: basic camp counseling, setting up of spaces, having a bit of knowledge about a lot of different crafts, leading blessing in the dining hall, managing the put up and take down of folding chairs... oh yes, and leading morning walks, welcome speeches, handing out mail, and trotting off to find a maintenance person when someone's shower isn't working. I am made for this job. Did I mention the FREE CLASS every WEEK?!



Because the Host positions last 6 months, only 4 are available each year. Do you think they hear from 4 people every year who want to do this? I'm sure it's 10 times that number. In a way it's amazing that I only had to wait 3 years. On the other hand, it felt like forever. I remember trying to decide whether or not to begin my Masters because I wasn't sure when I'd get the go-ahead and receive a starting date to Host. Good thing I decided to just enroll already, because here we are and it's 2009 and I've finished my degree. And I've got those blessed Hosting dates: September 26, 2009 - March 26, 2010. Oh, glory of glories. Now, beggars cannot be choosers, or at least, they can be choosy if they don't mind waiting another few years. I jumped at the chance as soon as I got my dates, noticing (as I'm sure you did) that they fall right in the middle of the school year. Hmmm.



My awesome, lucky job. The Folk School. Awesome job; Folk School. Argh. I struggled for, well, at least an hour, talked to Kenny and my Mom, and said yes. I'll have a month of working just the After School part of my job (reducing myself to an hourly position, instead of full time) before I go, and when I come back hopefully I'll be able to just assimilate myself right back into After School (as a helper, of course, rather than the Director). And in the mornings, I'll be nannying for an amazing family here in Williamsburg who by some miracle don't mind that I have to be gone for 6 months. I'll work for them for a month (including paid time to go to the beach with them! And Kenny is invited, too! omg.) and then pick right back up when I come back at the end of March. It's all going to work out.



Of course, this means no pay for 6 months, so I'm saving up everything I can right now and babysitting my butt off every chance I can get. I am SO EXCITED about going to the Folk School. 6 months of being fed wonderful food, 6 months of living in Western NC again (close to Brevard, close to Asheville, an hour away from the ATL airport!), 6 months of free classes and living in a beautiful creaky wooden room and walking around the hills and having a weekly contra dance literally in my house. These things are barely the tip of the iceberg, I'm sure, and I feel the need to say again:

I am very, very, lucky. For both my awesome job and what I get to leave it for.

Latest hooping video

I shot this on Friday morning, before I had to get dressed up for the Upper Elementary graduation ceremony. Hooping is a good way to clear your mind, especially if you can blast some music. This is my current favorite song to hoop to ("Say Hey" by my secret lover, Michael Franti. For real, we shared a bottle of water one time at the Orange Peel. Le sigh!).


(click to embiggen)

Meh.

I've been trying to psych myself up to blog lately, but it's just not coming. I've been taking pictures of various things, thinking, "I want to make a post about this," and even sort of writing it in my head, but... eh, I've got so much else to do. The blog can wait.

Some things:

1. I've been revising my thesis a lot, working off of a hard copy that my 3rd reader read meticulously. There are corrections on every single page, I kid you not. Typety typety type type type...

2. School (the kind where I work, not study) is almost over! One more week, which shall include many "last" lessons of various types, a closing ceremony wherein I lead a group of very smart children in singing "People Now Our Meeting is Over" (a shout-out to GV folks, indeed) and playing guitar for various small-group performances.

3. Starting with my Grandma's memorial service a few weekends ago and its legendary dessert buffet, I have been gaining weight like crazy. I'm talking seven pounds in a week and a half, dear god have mercy. This is very depressing, especially since I've been going to the gym and walking early in the morning and hooping and and and... I think it's an understatement to say that it's much easier for my body to gain weight than burn it off. I think I re-figure this out every month or so and renew my resolve to eat fewer calories, only to crack under the pressure of lime bars and pita chips and snacks with the kids in the afternoons. Blah. Bring on summer camp, where we all have perpetual quasi-nausea from the sheer insanity of the dining hall.

4. I found a very sweet family to nanny for part-time next year. I'll be doing After School in the afternoons as usual, and hanging out with Baby Joe in the mornings. Nice. :)

5. For the first time in awhile, my hair is free of all artificial colorants. I discovered a few natural streaks of very light brown around my temples, and I now check them out in the mirror several times a day. Hmm. I wonder if that's where I'll start going grey?