2 AM

That's what the little clock on my laptop is telling me. It is pretty late, if the clock on the kitchen wall is correct. That one says it's 11PM.

I'm tired :(

Just got back in from dinner with some of the FlyerTalk folks, including a couple up from Australia. Very nice get together, and much less painful than yesterday's wander of Santa Barbara with Mr. Spiff :)

We went through the art museum. "Here's some naked women," I said as we wandered up toward an exhibit. "Yay!" said Mr. Spiff. Another art patron glanced at us and sidled away.

Our visit wouldn't have hurt so much if either of us had remembered the real directions from the art museum to the park once we decided to walk instead of drive...but it was still a lot of fun. With blisters.

Tomorrow I beard the lion in its den. Our sainted mother will learn that not only am I in Hawaii, but my sister and I plan to move her to California. Hopefully that will go well.

Going to wander off to bed now with a muscle relaxant to knock me out.

Memorial Day

We had a lovely dinner Chez Matt and Melissa tonight! Steph was there, too, with knitting, which was so cool. I love getting to see folks I like but don't get to see so often. Matt cooked Italian for us tonight; it was sooooo good. His creme brulee (okay, so not everything was Italian) was to die for! AND he did dishes! A man who cooks and cleans! /swoon!

Tomorrow is a busy day, too. I'd promised Mr. Spiff that I would drive up to hang out with him as he's in California for just a couple of days. Who knows what we'll end up doing, beach or museums or whatnot. The day after, I head to Hawaii to deal with my mom. I'm looking forward to a relaxing day with Spiff before the drudgery that awaits in paradise.

And to end this post before I collapse, please take a moment to remember what Memorial Day is all about. I herewith link to a short piece by a service member that I think really brings it home.

Aloha, everyone!

Weeks

The past week I've been obsessing, for lack of a better word, over the snowdrop shawl pattern on Yarn Harlot.

I bought several fluffly little balls of mohair in which to make the shawl. I've downloaded the instructions, made an excel spreadsheet of the entire pattern and now have handwritten out the pattern on little sheets of paper that I can carry around with me (say, on an airplane). I've cast on and frogged back the example I'm making in leftover baby blanket yarn.

When I finally get to the mohair, I want this pattern to just flow.

I have even bought some yarn on eBay, in case I decide mohair is beyond me at this point in time.

The knitting relaxes me. This has been a somewhat stressful week, beginning as it did with the sudden need to fly to Hawaii to clear out our sainted mother's apartment. She is moving in with my sister after a bout of ill health. My contribution is to deal with the debris of a life lived in one single apartment since the mid-60s. I leave after Memorial Day and will be there for about three weeks.

And so, I knit. My hands are kept busy, my mind must focus on the task at hand and that way I don't have to continue thinking about the way the gods mock those who feel they have turned a corner in their lives.

Violent Attraction

Listening to the R&B station, I noticed a number of songs expressing the desire to get back together with an old boyfriend or girlfriend and how things would be better this time.

Over the years (she said from her rocking chair), I've actually had those sorts of opportunities, but I'm not sure they were better the second time. Unless you count shorter time spans as better :)

Out of all the guys I've dated, there's only two that I was absolutely madly love-at-first-sightly crazy about. I suppose that's lucky, but neither of them is in my life now. Still, I don't think I'd go bonkers if I ran into them having dinner or bowling somewhere with their new spouses, like my Sims2 folks do.

In Sims2: Nightlife (great transition, huh?), this is the horrible side effect of the "attraction" system. If my Sim finds someone attractive, there's a cute little lightning bolt in their headshot within the friends gallery. If my Sim really really likes them, there's two lightning bolts. These degrees of attraction are related to the Sims' astrological signs as well as their common interests.

That's pretty random, just like real life. Fortunately, many of my Sims were already married or engaged to someone with mutual lightning bolts for each other. This means I know these poor imaginary friends so well that my matchmaking skills are +100 with them. Sounds good, right? Except, again as in real life, Sims can find more than one person attractive. And they get massively jealous when they see a Sim they find attractive out with another Sim, even if those Sims are married/engaged/going steady.

Further, even if neither of these Sims have ever spoken with each other, having that attraction is enough to suddenly fill the jealous Sim with rage. They pick fights and ruin friendships if they see a happy Sim couple anywhere and they're attracted to one of them.

It makes for miserable game play.

I've had to divide up several multi-couple houses because Husband A is attracted to Wife B, even if she's not attracted to him. Husband A will start poking and arguing with Husband B. It means I have to keep a close watch on everyone and how they feel about everyone else beyond my sixth sense about which Sims would make a nice couple. I can't even have someone come over for dinner without looking at everyone's friends gallery to make sure no one else in that household finds the potential guest attractive.

And I thought finding Project Boyfriend candidates was hard. It's nothing compared to this.