3: reversal of philosophy...

verbatim wording of the beginning of a heat warning from The Weather Network:

A hot and humid air mass is entrenched over Southern Quebec. Overnight lows will remain near 20 degrees Celsius and will only give little or no relief.

i sincerely hope the person who wrote that notice has "little or no" intentions of going into the world of crisis counseling, because they will not be successful in said role. i mean, i know it is still crazy hot... but lie to me a little bit, please!

in other news, i gave him a chance to redeem himself by picking a more weather-appropriate topic from the treasure chest, and boy did he deliver!

we—two grownups with zero kids between us—own a Super-Soaker.

why? because... squirrels!

it should be noted that i was usually the one who fretted about the squirrels messing with the outdoor plants, and he usually told me to stop stressing over pointless things. he is incredibly zen that way. then, one day, a squirrel chopped the top off his favorite indoor plant—the same one the little cat is bent on destroying.

he had moved the plant outside with the best of intentions, hoping that it would be happy to get some sun. like i said. so zen. however, he underwent a complete reversal of philosophy while standing there, pressing the two severed ends together, as though willing them to become one.

it. was. hilarious!

so, now we have a Super Soaker, which was purchased that very same day. it is kept always "loaded" near the balcony door, so he can grab it while he races out there to chase away a squirrel... in his underwear.

hilarious.

i did have to impress on him the necessity of taking a quick glance over the railing before blasting away, lest he splash some passerby. luckily, this is still Canada, so said soaked stranger would probably apologize for being there while he was spraying water at a squirrel high up in a tree. they are an overly-polite people who are used to dealing with lunatic neighbors (read whatever you like into that statement). plus, i strongly doubt anyone would climb five flights of stairs in a fit of rage, just to punch him in the face.

although... that would be hilarious too.

oh, and it sometimes comes in handy when dealing with a certain lunatic kitty who keeps messing with a certain potted plant. maybe the universe is trying to send us a message about this plant.

2: too hot for that foolishness...

i am drinking iced coffee out of a large jar that once housed pasta sauce (Progresso pasta sauce, if you need all the details) while intermittently staring out the wall-of-glass in hopes of some signs of the thunderstorm that is supposed to be headed this way.

if all of the Meteorologists who spend their days salivating over such things are to be believed, today stands a chance of being the hottest day of the year. that is, of course, unless it gets even hotter still.

it should be noted that i do not deal well with humidity. hot, steamy tropical rain forests are lovely for the awesome display of animal and plant life, but give me a chilly Autumn evening and a warm, snuggly sweater any day.

so, there i was, opening my precious mini treasure chest, when i had a great idea. i would let him pick the first topic. what does he pick? the super-thick, super-warm, super-woolly cardigan i have been neglecting working on. so, now i get to talk about, and look at, and touch a snuggly wool and alpaca cardi, on this, the—possibly—hottest day of the year. thanks, sweetie!

full disclosure: it was tucked away in a corner, in a plastic waste-paper basket that i purchased for the express purpose of holding this sort of large project. then i dropped a bag with some other thing on top of the cardi, and i proceeded to forget that it existed... since like last October. i know. i know.

but, there it was, all these months later, safe and snug at the bottom of that little bin.

it looks like an amorphous blob, but it really is the start of a lovely sweater.

this was my favorite project from the knitted cables book by my fave designer Norah Gaughan (i embarrassed myself gushing about her last year).

i absolutely have to talk about this yarn. it is the Cloud Mix by Drops, and it is sooo appropriately named!

this is what is referred to as a blown yarn, which means that instead of being spun like a "regular" yarn, the loose fibers are blown through a thin mesh tube, and they poke out through the little holes to form the soft, fuzzy surface of the yarn. it is the pillowiest thing you could possibly imagine, hence the "cloud" name.

i would take a picture of myself rolling around on the floor with this yarn, except it is way too hot for that foolishness. plus... you know... that would be just a tiny bit insane. trust me though. it has some serious squish.

the yarn was recommended to me by the owner of my local yarn shop, as she thought the wool content (7%) was low enough for me to wear with my allergic-to-everything skin. the tube is polyamide (21%), and the majority of the blown fiber is super-fine alpaca (72%), so most of what you "feel" is the alpaca... and i can (usually) tolerate super-fine alpaca. i fell in love at first squish.

naturally, it was discontinued, so i bought everything she had of the (almost) black yarn and crossed my fingers that it would be enough.

i just went digging through my tins of swatches to prove the next point.

do not ever knit anything in black... ever!!! you will end up losing your mind.

i could barely see the stitches as i was knitting, so all those fancy cables would be a nightmare. my sanity and i both agreed that it made sense to return to the yarn shop and swap for a lighter color. so now those cables are popping all over the place.

problem is, i had neglected this for so long, that i picked up the basket today, fully expecting to take a few quick snaps of the project, before unraveling it and starting all over again. it had been so long, that there was no way i could figure out where i was in that complicated array of cables.

however, i had already knitted far more than i realized—eight and a half inches from the bottom, to be precise—and it would be wrong to undo all that work.

plus, despite the apparent complexity of the thing, it really is a simple, straightforward design. i had marked the page with the cable i was using (as i preferred that over the one Norah used in the original design), and it took about five seconds to figure out where i was on that chart.

this is the original cable (#132, left) and the one i went for (#130, right), which is a slightly less-complex version of the same basic hexa-cable design. i am really excited to get back to working on this project. that is... once it stops feeling like a rotisserie oven outside.

there was a brief flash of light in the distance, so i have added a few extra cubes to my glass. now it is time for nature's own light show. cheers.

1: sanity and procrastination...

you know those days? the ones where you are trying to get the most harmless, most 'non-threatening to the universe' things done, yet the universe insists on thwarting you every step of the way? well, i am having one of those days.

first, there was my attempt at making pancakes with the (latest in a long line of) gluten-free baking mix i recently purchased. i knew something was wrong when the batter looked like a bowl of creamy mashed potato. every time i added more liquid and stirred, it just went back to being far too thick.

i attempted a few palm-sized pancakes, and a quick nibble of a bit torn from one of them left me regretting the whole experiment. they look okay, but the texture was wrong in every possible way. trust me.

i ended up tossing the pancakes into the trash and rinsing the remaining batter down the drain.

him: why'd you do that? i would have eaten them.

all these years later, and he clearly still does not understand my need to destroy something when i am frustrated. luckily i really like that frying pan, or it too might have ended up in the bin.

so, after abandoning the much-anticipated breakfast of pancakes and sausages, we settled on a breakfast of sausages and egg (as we forgot to buy more eggs, so we had to settle for one each). i had mine with some toast made from the gluten-free bread that has been sitting in the freezer for the past two months (at least), while he had delicious normal-people bread. most very underwhelming, indeed.

one frustration out of the way, and i returned to the living room and my comfy sofa, intent on watching the next match of the World Cup while folding many tiny pieces of paper (i will explain that part later), and doing the same to a massive pile of clean laundry. that was when i found something special waiting for me.

i do not know what that little cat has against this plant, but i am fairly certain that it is her life's goal to see it destroyed.

so, i moved everything off the rug, knocked all the soil to the floor, and placed the rug on the balcony to dry before i attempted to vacuum it. that was an impressive endeavor on my part as the "feels like" temperature (assisted by the crazy-high humidity) is currently somewhere in the mid-forties (think a very humid hundred-and-teens, if you speak Fahrenheit). i then swept up all of the recently-liberated soil, and returned it to its rightful place, before finally resuming my own plan of paper-folding... which is when things decided to go even further sideways. allow me to explain.

it all started some weeks ago, when i decided that i really need to get back to my blog, lest i abandon it entirely. i then proceeded to overthink the whole thing, which i generally find to be the most effective tool in the war against procrastination. do nothing while you overthink everything. yep. makes perfect sense to me.

me: even if i force myself to post something now, that is not going to guarantee that i will want to do so again in the near future. maybe i could try for a post-a-day week.
him: you could do that.
me: but it's already the middle of week. maybe i should wait to start it on Sunday.
him: the week can start whatever day you like. it's your blog.
me: true, but it would bug me a bit if i did that...

 [which, i should point out, is a total lie, but it was one i was willing to believe at the time.]

me: ... but if i say i am going to wait until the weekend, then i would end up changing my mind before the weekend even gets here. maybe it's best not to even post anything at all. 
him: do whatever you like. it's your blog.

there are few things in life as frustrating as dealing with people who take things so very rationally.

this continued on for most of the past several weeks, until i stumbled upon a truly inspired idea. i would do what any procrastinator worth their salt would do when locked in ongoing conflict with the wise and powerful gods of procrastination... i would devise an even-more-elaborate reason to procrastinate. i would super-procrastinate! genius!!!

then i noticed that June was coming to an end, and that July would begin on a Sunday, thus removing any concerns i may claim to have about starting things on random days of the week. this seemed like perfect timing to get back into blogging (somewhat) regularly.

i briefly considered coming up with some sort of incentive to motivate myself to post even a few sentences every single day of the month, but i knew that any reward of either the positive or negative type would have zero effect on me, as i tend not to follow my own rules to begin with.

so i dug deep down, and came up with the single-greatest motivator i could find for doing the thing. i am going to blog every single day of July... for sanity's sake.

whether it is just a few quick sentences, or something that resembles a Harry Potter novel in length, every second i spend on this endeavor in the coming weeks will mean one less second spent lamenting my complete loss of faith in humanity.

so, here is how i intend to proceed.

i created a list of topics that i either started writing about in the many drafts i have yet to complete, or all the other pointless things that came to mind while i was wrestling with procrastination in recent weeks.

i then folded a large sheet of paper into thirty blocks (ignore the mucky floors, as our building is about a hundred years old... and the floors are about a hundred and fifty).

 i wrote one item from said list in each block.

i then ripped them apart and folded them up neatly. so, now i get to shove my hand into a mini treasure chest each day, and pull out a folded piece of paper that will serve as my inspiration for said day's post.

i should point out that i was about to rip the large piece of paper into smaller bits a day or two ago, when i found myself faced with an impatient animator who was apparently waiting for me so we could run a few errands around town. i folded up the sheet, and tucked it into some small nook, intent on returning to that task at some future point.

so, there i was earlier today. middle of a heatwave, failed pancakes, freezer-burnt toast, and a cat that is being paid by some hostile force to drive me completely insane. that sounded like the perfect time to settle down to a bit of sanity in the form of paper ripping... if only i knew where said paper was to be found.

it is always the little things that threaten to push you completely over the edge. so, after a brief spell of fuming about, shoving my hand into every possible space where i might have wedged a many-times-folded sheet of paper in my haste to get out the door, i was ready to abandon the whole blog-a-day idea and just resign myself to spending the rest of the day (and the month) being frustrated at the world... which is precisely what i was hoping to escape in the first place.

so, i grabbed another large sheet of paper from the studio, (re)folded it, then proceeded to (re)write out the content of my list, and rip the whole thing into smaller pieces which were folded and deposited in the most suitable container i possess. a tiny treasure chest... because my sanity is a very precious thing.

i actually look forward to opening that lid every day to select a new topic. naturally, this system goes into effect tomorrow, because... well... you know... procrastination.

oh, and happy birthday, Canada!!! thank you for letting me hang here for a while.

addiction starter-set...

it was warm around here for a whole couple days, so now people are  dancing through the streets, burning their insulated coats, and singing songs about Spring.

however, as it looked like this just a week ago, i am (decidedly) still not convinced.

truth be told, i had a really rough Winter, so i am definitely looking forward to Spring... once i convince myself that it is finally here. i have no idea how people handle life at even higher latitudes, as that 'Winter gloom' is really hard to bear, especially when your mood tends toward gloom on even the best of days. so, while there is a lot of rain in the forecast (it rained all day), there should be plenty of sunshine ahead.

it occurred to me recently that i have a habit of mentioning stuff in this forum, with the claim that i will talk more about it "next time around"... by which point, i am on to some wholly unrelated topic. so, i want to make a concerted effort in the next few posts to revisit some of that already-forgotten stuff. that is, if i can remember what i intended to say in the first place. this will not end well. trust me.

last time around, i mentioned that i had been drinking Turkish coffee. well, that part remains true. i have been drinking Turkish coffee...

and drinking Turkish coffee...

and drinking even more Turkish coffee.

it is his mom's preferred hot beverage, so she is most enthusiastic to get me addicted to the stuff. she even gifted me the pair of handmade mini cup-and-saucer sets she bought back when they lived in France (where my favorite animator was born). so, like many many... manyyy years ago.

note the checkered coat of arms from the Croatian flag on the side of the cup. i thought Caribbean folks were ridiculous with the constant need to display flags on everything, regardless of where we may have drifted to in the diaspora. turns out Croatians are just the same.

me: i thought she got them in France.

him: she did.

me: but it has a Croatian flag on it.

him: everything has a Croatian flag on it.  

me: that is true.

it should be noted that i usually drink hot beverages from my bucket-sized mug of wonderment, so this little cup is like something to rest the teabag in after a good steep.

so tiny. so cute.

the cups and saucers have only ever lived behind the glass doors of a china cabinet, so you know it was a big deal for them to be placed in my care. i used them exactly TWO times before nerves got the best of me. so now i mostly look at them from a safe distance, with admiration... and with fear. 

as a result, most of my Turkish coffees have been sipped from either one of the small glass cups we got as free gifts inside packets of tea from the Middle Eastern grocery store.

or, from one of the several Batman mugs knocking around our home. everyone i know has a few of these things. Batman Forever may have been a train wreck, but boy do i (still) love these mugs! this particular one is The Joker.

the hardest part of making Turkish coffee is developing that lovely creamy layer on the top. this, according to all of the You Tube videos i watched on the subject, is considered to be an essential part of the drink. there is no dairy involved, so it takes a bit of practice (and patience) to figure out that part.

luckily, my favorite animator—who, i might add, does not drink coffee—was most supportive in encouraging me to make as many cups as was necessary to get it right. the early efforts were pathetic. the cat is closing her eyes in shame.

getting better, sorta.

i eventually got the hang of thing. i actually had to blow a little opening in the creamy layer to show the contrast with the coffee.

it should be noted that Turkish coffee (left) is ground super-fine and has a texture approaching cocoa powder, while the coffee i use in my French press (right) looks more like burnt coarse cornmeal. random aside: i have been on a super-dark-roast kick of lately, so my "regular" coffee looks like pulverized charcoal.

additionally, the ground Turkish coffee is usually added directly to the water. they even make special pots for it. they look like metal corn cob pipes. this one was part of my addiction starter-set. note the pen for scale. my starter-set also included a bag of her favorite ground coffee. the woman is thorough in her enabling.

water, sugar (totally optional), and the ground coffee are added to the pot, which is placed on the burner. when the coffee is ready to go, the whole thing is poured into the cup. the fine grounds settle at the bottom of the cup, so you leave that bit behind when drinking the coffee.

so, now i am back to being hooked on coffee... again. last time around, it took a couple years to break the addiction, and i managed to develop a few even-more-absurd habits along the way. but that is a story that i will save for some other day.

new gnus...

me: i want to add a banner to my blog. can you draw a picture for me to use?
him: ooh... that's a good idea. what did you have in mind?
me: i don't know. something cute. maybe some cartoony gnus doing all the random pointless stuff i like to do.
him: that's a really good idea.

that was three years ago.

i did offer the occasional friendly reminder, but he is usually rather busy, so i did not really press the point. then, one day, about this time last year, i asked again.

me: uhm... sweetie... you... uhm... remember those gnus you promised to.... uhm... draw for me like... uhm... two years ago... uhm...?
him: i didn't forget your gnus. i've just been so busy.
me: i know, which is why i didn't keep asking about it.
him: well, i was actually thinking about taking a break this Summer. i have a bunch of new drawing software i want to play around with, so i can use your gnus as a test project. 
me: sounds good!

that was a year ago.

Summer came, and we put the studio on pause and went into relaxing-extra-hard mode. then, as Summer was drawing to a close, the phone began to ring every day with Producer/Director/Coordinator-type people planning for the season ahead.

still, there were no gnus.

then, one day, when he had just gotten off the phone, and was scribbling down the details for a meeting, my patience/sanity finally broke.

me: i hate to sound like a pest, but you promised me gnus by the end of the Summer. now you're signing contracts and going to meetings. what about my gnus?
him: look. i was seriously planning on working on your gnus, but it's really intimidating.
me: what in the world are you talking about??? you are a professional artist. you literally get paid to draw all day. 
him: i know. i know. but it's different.
me: how is that possibly different?
him: well... that's not a big deal. that's just for television. this is for you, so it has to be special. 

then he gave me a smile that said he knew he had just charmed his way into an indefinite extension on the drawing of the gnus.

thus defeated, i gave up too... until one day, when inspiration struck anew.

me:  i know how i can get my drawing of some gnus.
him: how are you gonna do that?
me: you know those flyers you see everywhere for local artists advertising their services? and they're usually art students trying to make a bit of money by drawing logos... that sort of thing?
him: yes...?
me: well, i'm gonna hire one of them to draw my gnus. i'll advertise for a first-year art student, and hire the WORST one of them i can find. then i'll add that gnu picture to my blog, along with a note that says, "i asked my favorite animator to draw me some gnus"... and i'll leave it at that.
him: then everyone will think i did it.
me: exactly!
him: you wouldn't dare.
me: oh, we both know that i would. 

and just like that, ladies and gentlemen... i got my new gnus!!!

he recently had a couple weeks of down time between projects, so he managed to squeeze them in... somewhere between gaming and watching a marathon of k-dramas with me. [we watched Joseon X-Files and Vampire Detective, if you need all the details.]

we also ate lots of tasty things, like his dad's walnut strudel. there are no words to describe how much i enjoy this stuff.

and he made me many cups of his mom's favorite Turkish coffee, so now i am back to being a caffeine addict. thanks again, sweetie. there is a story to the coffee and the cups, which i will save for next time around. as for the fluffy, grey kitty... she was keeping me company.

then, he called me into the studio one day, and i was gobsmacked to see a gnu!!!

me: it's lovely... but... uhm... i thought you were going to do something more... you know...
him: ... cartoony? well, i decided to go for something different. let's see your first-year art student do that!
me: i am definitely not complaining. 

so, thank you, sweetie... finally. and i am guessing i should put in a request now for the next drawing, which should be ready in a decade or two.