I think I’ll remember my own LIFE

So…I think my entire flight home today can be described with one phrase…”The guy sitting next to me stroked my arm”.  Yes…read that again…he STROKED my arm.  Now, I’ve never met this man before in my life.  He’s a complete random stranger that was sitting next to me on the plane.  When I sat down next to him, he seemed really nice and he was an attractive guy.  He introduced himself as Jaymz (yes…that IS how you spell his name…I hate how people try to give normal names retarded spellings…unless it’s a dog or possibly a nickname.  Then it’s ok.)  and then I swear to God he gave me his life story.  I found out he is 34, unmarried, no kids, has lived in Indiana all his life, has never flown on a plane before, and is moving to Florida to house sit for an old friend.  It was a little odd…but whatever.  He still seemed nice enough.  Then, he got a little weird and kept complimenting me.  But, he wouldn’t stop!  I know I’m not so attractive that a guy should be complimenting me for an HOUR straight.  But he started with my eyes, then he told me that my eyes and nose are very German looking (I have no idea what that even means).  He kept looking over and smiling at me…and he said I’m just looking at your dimples.  I don’t have dimples!!!  Unless he means my chubby cheeks???  Then he kept telling me how sexy I am and that I have wonderful skin.  Seriously…he didn’t shut up.  It got super creepy.  He kept trying to convince me that I should come visit him in Florida and that I’m so sexy and he thought I would look hot in a bikini (obviously I don’t).  By this point, I’m pretty freaked out so I’m pretty much just knitting and not paying attention to him.  Then, as we come in for the landing…he smiled (super creepy) and reached out and stroked my arm.  I had no idea how to react.  I looked at him and was like, wtf was that?  He laughed and was like…sorry, but your skin is just so soft.  Seriously?  Why me?  Why must the freaks love me?

Then, to make the flight better there was a lady a few rows ahead of me with the flu.  She spent the whole flight back vomiting.  I’m so not having a good trip.  I just want to be home already.  I think I may have to call out sick tomorrow.  Ugh. 

On a positive note…I did finish the fat ankle socks and am finished the leg of my other sister’s socks.  It’s amazing how much you can get done when you’re trying to ignore the person sitting next to you.

So this is definitely an interesting trip this time.  I really want to know why I have such terrible karma.  :-P  Seriously.  I TRY to be a nice person (evidently…not nice enough).  It must have been my 10 things never said post.  Sigh…karma is angry at me for even thinking those things haha. 

Anyways, yesterday started out ok.  We managed to get most of the equipment up, the rep sort of knew what he was doing, all was working well.  Then, we needed a bucket for water, and the one they gave me had some sort of carbon black on the outside…that I somehow didn’t see!  (Who doesn’t see a big black spot on a white bucket?).  So of course I get it all over my hands, and then all over my sweater.  Which also happens to be my only hoodie I brought with me (and I’m pretty sure I mentioned/complained about the cold about 50 gazillion times yesterday).  So of course the black is pretty much NOT going to come out (sigh)…and I refuse to walk around the rest of the week wearing it…so…I broke down and went to CVS and bought myself an Indiana sweatshirt (that just seems so wrong).  At least it’s warm and soft :-)  And I’m wearing it right now.

Then, later in the day, we had put water into the process vessel and I was attempting to look down into it to see where the height of the water was compared to the impeller…and the guy holding open the lid dropped it.  ON MY HEAD! This is a 75 gallon stainless steel tank (aka…it’s really heavy) and the lid has a 2″ lip on it with a sharp edge.  It hurt.  A LOT.  Everyone thought for sure I would split my head open with that thing.  Lucky for me…I have a hard head.  Rather than splitting open my head…I just have a huge bump.  And a headache.  However, I did not feel too good after that.  But, on a positive note…after that everything worked well and we didn’t have any more problems

After we finished work for the day I went to downtown Bloomington (which is actually a really cute little town) and they have a knitting store.  I was bored so I went to see how it was (oh my goodness it was wonderful!  I wanted to buy ALL the yarn there).  Instead I bought some cool bamboo yarn (super fun!) for a pair of socks that I may actually keep for myself.  The owner of the store was also really nice.  I was holding my head (it still hurt) so she started talking to me to find out what was wrong.  And…since I seem to have no problem sharing my life story with complete strangers she found out all about the head injury and how I’m not from the area.  So, she gave me her card and put her phone number on it and told me to give her a call if I start to feel worse and she would take me to the doctor (knitters are so nice).  The store also has a little “stitch and chat” group that meets the last Tuesday of every month at the Barnes and Noble down the road (and since she seemed so nice I decided the people that shop there and knit there must be nice).  So, I decided to be brave and go attend (I figured if I hated it I could always leave…and as L said…it’s not like I’ll ever see these people again).  Unfortunately, I was the only one to attend last night.  This is why I don’t do group activities.  I hate feeling like an idiot walking around trying to find the people and being the only one to have shown up (this seems to happen to me an extraordinarily large number of times).  So my sister and I decided they were the bitchy knitters and I didn’t really miss anything too good.  :-) 

Lastly, on my way back to work today I passed a great store.  It’s called Raper’s.  I wonder what they do there?

Oh…and apparently I have reached my maximum transfer amount (I have NO idea what that means) and my pictures aren’t working.  Any smart computer people there?  Help?

I have been having some major issues with my rental car this time.  I keep losing it.  Ok, I guess I’m not really losing the car, I’m more losing myself…but still!  They didn’t have any standard sedans left when I picked up my car so they gave me a RAV4 (which I surprisingly really like and I think it may be my next vehicle in about 5-10 years haha).  However, I have a really hard time remembering that I’m driving an SUV…and I keep walking by it in the parking lot and then freaking out that I can’t find my car.  (I have issues…sometimes I wonder if I’m slightly retarded or something).  I can almost understand this happening once or twice…but seriously?  I think I misplaced my car about 10 times yesterday.  TEN TIMES!  Who does this? 

Anyways, on another complaining note…yesterday’s work sucked!  The rep showed up yesterday…he was almost as clueless as me!  Basic background of this project - we are setting up a pilot plant at another company for our exclusive use so that we can utilize the technology they have without having to buy all the same equipment as them.  So our pilot plant area is a prep room where we make the initial product we want to use, then we use their equipment to treat the product in the way we want to.  Anyways, as I mentioned yesterday, I showed up and saw the equipment and freaked b/c I had no idea how to run any of it.  Well, the rep from the company we purchased the equipment from showed up…and didn’t even know what the equipment was!  Seriously?!? Isn’t this something you should have found out…I don’t know…maybe before you arrived??? So, we spent yesterday sitting around while he read all sorts of user manuals and tried to figure out what was going on.  Then he left early to run down the street to pick up some fittings that we needed before the store closes, and told me he was going to study the manual tonight so we could run the process today.  Nothing like inspiring confidence that he knows what he’s doing.  My boss was pissed (understandably) when I called with an update yesterday and told him the guy didn’t know what he was doing.  Then, he shows up late today, and discovered he bought the wrong size fitting…and will have to return to the store when it opens to buy the correct fitting.  Ugh. 

And…to be even MORE whiney…it’s freaking cold in here!  We’re in the back area of the building with all sorts of garage doors that are poorly sealed and they don’t really heat it in here…and since I’m just sitting here…I’m cold. 

However, on a happy note…I’m half way finished the second sock for my sister.  (I still really like it and totally want to keep it…).  I’m thinking I can finish it tomorrow night (depending on how late we stay here getting the process to run correctly), and then I can start a different pair for my other sister.  I’m starting to think all I make is socks (however, I do usually really like it…as long as the pattern isn’t retarded).  I also need to make a hat for my friend’s friend’s son (her husband helped me move my couch into the apartment, and she came as well with her little baby boy and asked for a hat.)  That will be started when I get home again. 

Anyways, only two more days.  Then I can fly home and pick up the little O (I seriously miss him…and he’s probably hating me by now since I haven’t seen him for more than a few days at a time in the past two months!).  I can’t wait to get home!

So, I arrived at the new pilot plant we’re trying to set up, and holy crap do I have no idea what I am doing.  I went to look at the equipment that is already installed and ready to go…and I was just like…wtf is all this?  Seriously, I’m in way over my head.  I’m hoping that the guy who is coming later can explain it all to me and give me some suggestions on how to freaking run the equipment.  Sigh.  It’s times like this I HATE being an engineer.  Again with the feeling that I have to fake my way through the project and hope nobody catches on that I am COMPLETELY clueless!  (It’s been working for the past 3 years…so hopefully I can keep it up haha).  I’m also having some fun ingredient issues.  I have no idea when or if half the ingredients will even be here…so this will be an interesting trip for sure.  Sigh. 

However, on a positive note…I did finish the first of the fat ankle socks for Jess, and I’m almost done the leg part of the second sock.  However, I really want to keep them…they’re really comfortable.  I’m actually worried they may be a little large for her.  They’re a lot looser than the socks I normally make (thanks a lot ribbing), so I’m worried they will be too large for her legs.  However, if they are too big…I can always keep them for myself :-).  I guess I’ll let her try them on and decide if she wants them or not.  I really really really like the yarn.  It’s soooo soft.  I must buy more of this yarn if I can. 

Anyways, I’m looking for some places that I can eat dinner at tonight where I won’t feel like an idiot eating alone.  I think this is what I hate most about traveling.  Usually, I either travel with someone else in my group, or I travel to places where I know people and just eat with them.  However, on this trip I’m totally by myself in a place where I know no one.  Last night I ate dinner all by myself (at the hotel restaraunt so I didn’t feel like a total loser…I figured other people probably eat there alone as well), but I don’t really want to eat there everynight.  Maybe I’ll just go to Panera’s every night :-P.

So…I’m sitting in the airport for the flight I THOUGHT was at 10:20…but apparently it’s really 11:20.  Sigh…I totally suck.  I could have slept another hour this morning!  Even worse, I got here in time to make the earlier Charlotte flight…but it’s full so I couldn’t get on (I’d rather sit at Charlotte for a few hours than here…this airport sucks). 

However, I guess if I had, I would have missed this wonderful show here.  This man has been “adjusting” his shirt/pants/underwear/something for the past 10 minutes.  He is standing up in the middle of seating area, with his hands down the back of his pants, and moving around down there.  It’s interesting.  I really can’t tell what he’s doing, and why it’s taking so long…but I’m amused.  Maybe he just really likes to feel his butt or something. 

Anyways, after I get some Moose coffee I plan to work on the never ending sock for my sister (seriously, it’s taking forever…probably b/c I don’t work on it…but geez!).  On a positive note, I did finish my hat, scarf, and gloves for this trip.  So I’m prepared for the 20 degree weather out there (I’m sure it will warm up to 50 degrees now that I’m ready for it haha).  Yay Indiana. 

I finished my beautiful scarf and ugly hat last night.  I’m super excited.  I was all upset b/c my camera is broken and I couldn’t take pictures of it.  Then, as I was sitting here eating, I remembered my phone has a camera!  The day has been saved by my phone :-).

So, without further ado…here is my lovely scarf (that actually looks kind of ugly in photo but so perfect on!) and my ugly hat (that actually looks a lot better on my head than it does sitting there).

 

As you can see…I’m super stylish in my hand knit items

I hate giving gifts.  Seriously, I hate it.  I’m such a people pleaser that I worry CONSTANTLY if the person will like it.  It’s even worse if I’m giving away a homemade gift.  Not everyone likes to receive homemade gifts, and I know I’m not that good at knitting or sewing or anything like that yet, and I worry that the people will be like…this is the ugliest thing ever.  What am I supposed to do with it?  (Remember the retarded heel sock?)  However, as a complete and utter contradiction to this…I don’t like to knit things for myself.  Of all the items I’ve made, I have only kept 3 of them.  I have made myself 2 hats and a scarf (and two of these items were just recently finished).  So, everything else I have made in the past year or so (?) has gone to someone else.  However, as I’m giving them away, I am always worried that people are secretly thinking…how can I pretend to like this? 

However, recently I got two notes thanking me for their gifts.  My grandma sent me a very sweet letter saying she was sorry about my gran dying, and then she mentioned the blanket my sisters and I gave her for Christmas.  My sisters bought the yarn and I knit it.  I was so worried about giving her the blanket (especially when I compared it to the ones we gave my aunts) because it just looked so homemade (It was the yarn…and my lack of skill at sewing pieces together).  But she wrote how much she loves it.  She uses it everyday (especially since it’s been so cold there lately).  And she has to fight my cousin for it.  Bryan has decided it is HIS blanket and wants to carry it with him everywhere.  He gets upset if they don’t let him sleep with it at nap time, and he tries to sneak it home with him everyday.  That made me feel so happy.  It’s nice to know that something I made is being loved like that.  I mean, isn’t that the whole reason you make something like that? 

Then, I got a nice note from the matching sock recipients.  A friend of mine asked me to make her and her husband (it’s so weird to think of them as husband and wife…but I digress :-P) matching socks.  I was REALLY nervous about this because the only people I have made socks for are my sisters.  And seriously…if they don’t fit them I don’t care.  They’re my sisters and I know they’ll still like me, and I can always just make them a second pair to replace the non-fitting ones or something.  But, these were going to be a real gift.  And if they didn’t fit…I wasn’t sure if they would tell me or if they would just pretend that they were great.  So…I made the first pair for her husband.  And they were fine.  But they were so much bigger than the pairs I normally make that I started to freak out that they would be too big or not big enough (I didn’t have anyone with similar size feet to try them on for me).  I never realized how hard it is to make socks if the person doesn’t have the same size foot as you.  Then, I made the second pair…the one with the retarded heel.  I was so sad b/c I LOVED those socks…I just didn’t know how to fix it so that the heel would actually fit a normal foot…so I had to tear it all back.  (If I was a better knitter I could probably have made it work…but I’m not).  Then I found a second pattern that I liked, but was worried she would hate.  I decided I would make them anyway, and I really liked how they looked once they were on the foot (they were kind of ugly not on the foot) but again, I worried she would pull them out and be like…ew.  What was she thinking? 

But, they sent me an email today saying they got the socks and thanking me for them.  They assured me his socks fit and that they were comfortable and they loved the matching socks.  So…even if they are just pretending to like them…it made me feel better.  Because, I can just believe that they really did like them and that I gave them a good gift (I also gave them a gift certificate to their favorite evil store so they can always buy socks that fit if these didn’t). 

It’s nice hearing that people like what you made them.  It makes me feel a little less awkward about giving them something I’ve made, and I can stop freaking out that they secretly hate it (even if inside I still kind of freak out that they’re just pretending).  But whatever. 

So…the generic-ness of my previous post has been defeated.  My sister realized they were ALL about her.  (Including the ones that totally contradicted themselves…like #s 3 and 7 or #s 2 and 8.)  She’s just too smart for me.  On a positive note…she shared her own list with me…and at least I’m not the one pooping on her living room floor.  That’s good enough for me.  :-) (My standards have become ridiculously low).

In addition…I hope to finish knitting my ridiculously ugly hat tonight (and maybe even finish my beautiful scarf).  I need to keep warm while I’m in Indiana.  (It’s COLD there).  Also…it’s supposed to snow and ice tonight…so what better way to stay warm then to knit something?  (Makes sense to me). 

Lastly, I need some suggestions for good movies.  I’m sick of all the ones I have.  However, I don’t want to watch any stupid scary movies…or retarded lame cheese romance movies (unless they’re those teen movies…I actually sadly really like those).  For example, good teen romance: Bring it On, and Get Over It.  Bad retarded, lame, cheese romance movie: Sweet Home Alabama or Hope Floats, or 2 Weeks Notice (was that the name of that awful movie? with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant?).  And anyone that likes those movies…you probably don’t want to tell me that.  I will lose all respect for your taste.  :-)  However, I AM open to good adult romances as well (as long as they are actually funny and good and not lame and cheesy). 

I also really like the movies like “Zoolander” and “Dodgeball” and things like that.  However…I HATED Wedding Crashers…so don’t recommend it. 

But ok…you can now proceed to give your recommendations.  (Oh…and dad…don’t tell me Feast of Love.  Worst movie ever). 

So…I decided to revisit the whole ten things never said.  Mostly b/c the people who read this aren’t all that paranoid and hopefully won’t sit there freaking out that it’s about them.  Also…I’ve been so upset/unhappy lately…that I think I need to vent.  However, I hate personal confrontations…so my cowardly way around that is to just post it here.  So…without any further explanations…here they are:

1 - I only said that I agreed with you to make you shut up.  I actually think what you did was terrible.

2 - If I never have to talk to you or see you again…I think I’ll be a happy person.

3 - I really like you.  A lot.

4 - I love you, but I still can’t believe you would do that to someone. 

5 - Do you EVER shut up?  Seriously…it would be nice to actually get to say something before you hang up.

6 - I’m so angry at you for the way you treat our friendship.  It sucks to always feel like I’m the one that’s trying and no 
     effort comes from you.

7 - I have a hard time respecting someone who does the things you do.  Sometimes it’s hard to still be your friend and
     not call you an idiot…or worse.

8 - I wish you lived closer.  I miss hanging out and being stupid.

9 - Sometimes you drive me nuts.

10 - What do you have against being happy?  What do you have against other people being happy?

Ok…this probably makes me sound like a bundled up ball of rage.  I’m really not.  Honest. 

A few weeks ago my mom fell out of her car and broke her elbow.  (Apparently her lack of grace has been passed down to me…but I digress hehe).  Anyway, I wanted to show everyone how hardcore my mom is.  Her arm needed surgery to put the bones back together and she was awesome.  She didn’t cry or anything (at least not that I’m aware of).  She didn’t even take the prescription strength painkillers they prescribed for her.  Now, before you think I’m exaggerating…I’m going to post some pictures.  Keep in mind, these don’t even begin to show you the amount of bruising and grossness that was her arm.  (It was seriously like 10 times worse in person…).

  

Now don’t you agree that my mom is hardcore?  That’s SIXTEEN staples in her arm.  And a massive amount of bruising.  And she didn’t even take the prescription strength painkillers.  I’m impressed.