THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE HAPPY, SUPPORTIVE WORDS. I'm really excited, although right now I'm really just exhausted.

Some details: My title will be Assistant Editor, and I'll be working on a variety of projects in different forms of media (print, TV, electronic). My last day with this company is June 30, and my first day with at the new job is July 13. THAT'S NOT FAR AWAY. I literally have 2 weeks to get everything packed and ready to move before I start driving out there. Of course, in the mean time, I still have to go to work every day for 4 more days--okay, 3 and a half as of this posting--, go to Orlando on Sunday to see some friends who are visiting from out of state, go back to Orlando on Monday night for the Jenny Lewis concert with turalu_21 (a more prudent person than I would skip it, but I need some C-time, I've been looking forward to this show for months, and I've never seen Jenny on her own), take Vera to the vet to get her shots up to date, drive across the state to my parents' house for my grandmother's memorial service and family time, and then drive back and load the pod. All told, I'll have three full days of packing, and that's it. Obviously I have evenings and half days here and there, but whew.

My mother is coming over this Saturday to help with the packing efforts, and I've already started a bit myself, but man. A smidge overwhelmed.

Thankfully I don't have to immediately worry about finding a place to live, because myras_girls and her delightful hubby have volunteered some space at their domicile. The one concern I have with that is the fact that Vera is a diva and she gets riled up around other animals, but hopefully she will either a) learn to coexist peacefully with other beings or b) learn to love being cooped up in one room.

I've been trying to make a mental list of things that are going to have to go in the car with me (and my mom and Vera). I'm torn, because I won't have a lot of room for yarn paraphernalia, but I am also going to have to go at least a few weeks without access to any of the stuff I put in the pod, so... I have to plan that carefully. I'm thinking about taking the yarn and magazine for the next large project I have in mind (the Elemental Boatneck pullover from the Summer IK issue), as well as the yarn for my mom's blanket (note to self: wind yarn) and a couple of skeins for socks (one sock I'm test knitting, one sock I'm "re-designing", whatever is still on the needles at the time). Money will be tight so I can't just buy more yarn until I can get to my stash! Clearly I'm going to need more projects in the project box. Meep.

I also am figuring out the reading material situation. I plan on setting aside whatever Harry Potter books I don't finish before I leave, but as I just finished Chamber of Secrets last night and will likely start on Prisoner of Azkaban today at lunch or dinner before knit night... well, at least Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix, and Half-Blood Prince are fairly long.

See, this would be a good time to have a Kindle. They take up much less space.

Please, when I lament about the fact that I have all of this stuff with me, everyone just keep your mouths shut and don't point out the fact that it's really only about 3 and a half days of trading off driving with my mother and I'm packing entertainment items like it's 3 months. The yarn is the important thing, though, I'm sure I can find other entertainment for myself until I can access my boxes.

I'm leaning towards throwing in my Sandman volumes. They're skinny.

( entirely unrelated MGG pics )

Star Trek + "I'm On a Boat" = BEST THING EVER (Totally NSFW, but had me rolling on the floor, for serious.) Scroll all the way down to the bottom to watch the fanvid version. My one regret is that there are apparently no flippy-floppies in space.

In related news, I need a new stamp in my Fangirl passport because I am all aboard the Chris Pine Fantrain. I blame lanyon and spoonishly. And by blame, I mean thank.

I'm thinking about seeing The Hangover this weekend. I'm tempted to turn it into a double-header and see Star Trek again. And then I may watch some more Harry Potter movies in anticipation of my re-read of the series. OH, I also borrowed Rise of the Lycans and S. Darko (the latter purely for the Jackson content, as I really do not like Donnie Darko) from Jen.

I finished a pair of socks last night and immediately cast on for another. It's a sickness. And my February Lady Sweater is moving along. For some reason the rows of garter stitch were nothing, but the gull lace is dragging a bit. I think it's the fact that I actually have to pay attention. I can knit all day long with no problems, but knit plus yarn overs and then purling back is a bit more time-consuming? I don't know. Meanwhile, I found the most adorable cardigan yesterday and it totally called out to be knit in the green Ella Rae yarn that I picked up on sale and so now I really want to knit it. One problem: the pattern is in French. Any of my knitter friends read French knitting instructions? I think I can figure most of it out with the help of Babelfish and my own knowledge of French and knitting, but a little support would not be amiss.

So, we had a few days of excitement there, but now it seems that all is back to normal and I'm still an incredible nerd who loves sci-fi/fantasy and knitting.

My grandmother passed away early this morning. She was a loving and wonderful woman. Many years ago, she first taught me to knit. She cast on some stitches for me and showed me how to knit, but what I really remember is that for some reason, she couldn't remember how to bind off. So we both were just knitting to two together for row after row until we only had one stitch left.

She wanted to be cremated, and a memorial service will be held in a month or so when my aunt and her family and my cousin can make it into town. Hopefully it will be held before I move anywhere, but I'll deal with that if/when I have to.

Pajama Day* is in full effect. CSI: New York is on the TV, and I have the third disc of Season 1 from Netflix. There's knitting work to be done, and yarn has been ordered to knit a new top. Damned yarn stores and moving sales. It's really hard to pass up 30% off yarn to make a top.

I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day doing whatever makes you happy while keeping the service men and women who have died to protect our freedoms in your thoughts.

*Pajama Day: Day in which pajamas are worn exclusively and leaving the house is to be avoided as much as possible. Exceptions include leaving the house for Starbucks breakfast because you woke up at 4 AM; however, pajamas must stay on, although bra and cardigan can be added.

For those of you who are Criminal Minds fans and/or Big Bang Theory fans, here's a picspam comparing Dr. Spencer Reid to Sheldon Cooper. I don't watch BBT (at the moment), but this picspam cracked me up.

This morning, the barista at Starbucks told me she loved my bag. This was made extra special by the fact that it's the bag I made myself.

I really need to sleep tonight and tomorrow night. It would be nice. I couldn't fall asleep last night--probably dozed off sometime after 1, and then I was up at 6:30 when the alarm went off. I'm thinking chamomile or sleepy tea in the evenings. Except I have to time it JUST RIGHT tomorrow because I can't go off to Colorado without knowing what's going to happen to Reid this time.

I've acquired a little nest egg in my PayPal account and I was really itching to buy some yarn yesterday. However, I managed to refrain, mostly by reminding myself that I have two skeins of sock yarn coming as part of the Vamp club, as well as some more sock yarn that is payment for other services rendered, and you know, souvenir yarn. (Oh lord.) So instead I bought this (hoping Etsy link works).

Thanks to FX, I have seen The Mummy Returns, X-Men 3: The Last Stand, and Underworld: Evolution numerous times over the last few days. They make for good background noise. OH! I should buy Rise of the Lycans.

Oh, and Castle and Dollhouse both really need to be renewed, because I need to know what happens after those finales.

Ah ah ah so much to do so not enough time need LISTS.

Friday:
-Wind yarn for February Lady Sweater
-Swatch for February Lady Sweater
-6:45 pre-wedding/post-hellish week pedicure (OMGYAY) (OMG should probably do a quick shave, even though legs aren't that bad)
-Work on Alice socks
-Block Kate's scarf so it can start drying

HO LOOK AT THAT PRODUCTIVITY PEOPLE AND IT'S NOT EVEN 8:30. I even cast on and knit the first three rows of the FLS. I amaze myself. Also, my legs are soft and smooth and toenails are a pretty orangey-pink for summer.

Saturday:
-Work on commissioned Baby Booties
-Work on Alice socks
-Photoshoot at the beach for Michelle's maternity photos (so nervous! I don't know a lot about portrait shooting)
-Possible trip to Joann's for knitting needles and buttons for baby booties
-CLEAN
-Catch up on TV, preferably while working on one of those knitting projects
-Beta one chapter of the two in my queue

Sunday:
-Star Trek in the AM for cheap, because if I don't see it this weekend I'll probably forget all about it until it comes out on DVD
-MORE KNITTING
-MORE CLEANING
-Beta the other chapter
-maybe laundry?

Monday:
-Work
-Post office at lunch to mail Kate's scarf, baby booties, pick up postcard stamps (OH HEY THAT REMINDS ME)
-WW meeting
-MORE KNITTING

Tuesday:
-Work
-Leave work early for hair cut (should probably tell boss about that, oops!)
-Laundry if it wasn't done Sunday
-Make packing list
-Re-block Chrysta's shawl

Wednesday:
-Work
-Bring Office Amy to my apartment to show her where Vera's food and whatnot are kept (REMEMBER TO GIVE HER THE KEY)
-PACK
-Watch Criminal Minds to make sure they don't do what the preview threatens (because I am obviously in a position to "fix" it if it does...)

Thursday:
-Wake up early, get ready, drive to Orlando, get on plane, forget about everything for five whole days

It's probably not such a bad thing that I seem to have a bit of insomnia right now, eh?

It seems that many people that I care about are having a really crap time with things right now. Family illnesses, employment troubles, etc. To everyone on my flist, whether you're struggling to stay afloat or not, give yourself a big hug from me.

In completely unrelated news, I do not have a dreamwidth account, nor do I have any immediate plans to get one, so I do hope that those of you heading that way will come back to visit little old me from time to time.

In news that is even more unrelated, I have somehow magically become a magnet for "winning" yarn. First, a gal was having a blogiversary comment contest, and so by leaving a comment to her blog and having the stars align in such a fashion as to favor myself (and a few others), I won yarn. And then another gal who dyes and spins her own yarn was having a Knit/Crochet/SpinAlong contest, in which you entered by knitting or crocheting with one of her yarns, or spinning a roving that she had dyed. I knit up a little scarflet and entered into the competition, and once again the stars aligned and my number was drawn. So now I will be getting more prize yarn. PEOPLE THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN TO ME. I don't win things. I had become content with that fact and now it's out the window. My entire world, it is upside down.

I am so looking forward to the weekend. I'm going to attempt to hie myself to the gym tomorrow after seeing Wolverine at the early bird (read: cheap) showing. And I'm going to clean. And watch the special features of The Life Aquatic. And work on Chrysta's shawl. And maybe work on spinning up some more yarn. And possibly, just possibly, ignore all of that in favor of staying in bed all weekend. All of those options sound good to me.

One day, possibly soon, I will shut up about Criminal Minds, but that day is not today. As if you needed any more examples of how much I like this show, I give you the following scenario.

I started watching the show in the 4th season. I know the characters that are currently in the 4th season. We're two or three episodes away from the end of the 4th season, and I know, full well, exactly which characters are still on the show. So why, at the end of the third season, when there's a big explosion and viewers are led to believe that a beloved character might have bit the dust, did I freak out like a crazy person? There was cat-terrorizing with my squealing and anguished cries, and I had to promptly turn to YouTube to find salvation and proof that yes, the characters that I wanted to live and stay on the show were, in fact, safe and not blown up in a car bomb. The writing is so good and the characters are so engaging that for about 5 minutes I was almost panicking out of fear for my TV friends' safety. AND I ALREADY KNEW WHO WAS SAFE! I'm sure that knowing is the only thing that saved me from a major TV-related breakdown yesterday.

Don't judge, you know you've all done similar things.

So now I am YouTubing the first episodes of season 4 until I catch up and in a few short weeks I will probably be in full on flail-mode, as the writers of this show like to leave us with massive cliffhangers and I won't be able to find out what happened immediately. You've been warned.

In other news, there are 25 days until myras_girls gets hitched, and therefore there are only 22 days until I go to Colorado. I'm working on knitting a wedding shawl for Chrysta, and it's turning out quite lovely, but it was a little bit more intensive in some ways than I thought. For instance, one repeat is 16 rows. One repeat takes me two and a half hours! When you're used to knitting socks, the idea of spending that much time on one repeat is a bit boggling. But I'm really liking the way it's coming out. I'm a bit scared that it may be shorter than I wanted, but I think I can block it. Am in the process of buying blocking wires and pins for just that purpose.

I'm trying to psych myself up to go shopping, as I want a new outfit for the wedding. Preferably a dress, but we'll see what happens. I just hate shopping. I have a dress I could wear, but it's black and I don't really want to wear a black dress to a summery wedding. Chyrsta, what should I wear?!

Check this out, peeps! It's kind of like that other dress, but it's got some waist shaping. of course after I put this link in there, I see the "no longer available for purchase" part, but there's a similar version in blue.

Also, do I buy a flash for my camera or not?