I do not approve

That just gives all us Erins out there a bad name. Now I know how the Katrinas and Ritas of the world must have felt. My parents live in Houston and were actually teasing me about this yesterday. They're getting lots of rain and asked me to cut it out. All you Texans out there stay dry!

Free time is overrated (plus Socks!)

So I passed my exam, which is great, and now I have nothing to do for the rest of the month. I'm properly grateful -- I wouldn't have wanted to have to take those language review classes every night, but I'm running out of ways to entertain myself. There are still several boxes to unpack, and I'm still feeling my way around the neighborhood. Today I even bought one of those little rolling carts to help me tote my groceries around! The problem is most of the things I can think of to do cost money, and I'm trying to live on a budget, so I'm reluctant to get too spendy. I'm also impatient and excited for school to start. I think I've been in such a rush for the last few weeks that I don't know what to do with myself now that the pressure's off.
With all this free time, you'd think I'd be gettting a lot of knitting done, and you'd be sort of right. I've been working on my Mystery Stole -- I can't wait to get further along to the interesting part (I'm almost done with clue 3 and clue 7 comes out soon!!).
Sock-wise, I restarted my Roza's socks (Grumperina pattern from IK Spring 07) on larger needles. I was going to add some stitches to make them bigger, but just changing the needle size seems to have done the trick. I hope they'll fit this time. I'm using Plymouth Sockotta and I really love the color. You can't tell yet, but it goes in wide stripes in shades of pink, blue, and purple. I also never posted a picture of my first (and to date only) completed socks for Summer of Socks. They're Baudelaire by Cookie A from Knitty. I love her sock patterns. This is in Mountain Colors Barefoot yarn in some sort of berry colorway (it's either Elderberry or Huckleberry, I can't remembmer.



I also started a granny square afghan kit that my aunt gave me. It's from the late sixties -- I think it's been hanging around in her basement ever since she bought it. The yarn is acrylic, but a nice sort of acrylic, and it's a fun, mindless thing to crochet while watching t.v. I don't have a photo of my completed squares yet, so here's a bonus photo of Miss Minnie in her cat tent from Ikea.



I think that's about it for now. Oh, last week Phoebe named me a Rockin' Girl Blogger. I'll get that button up on my site as soon as I can (I always have to work up the nerve to mess with my template). Thanks Phoebe -- you rock!! (edited to add: Look, I added the button and it showed up exactly where I wanted it. I rock too!)

Hooray!

Reasons I'm happy today:

1. I passed the French test! This means I'm essentially done with orientation and have most of the rest of the month to play, I mean unpack.

2. I found my knitting needles! I had packed everything but my current projects for the move, and didn't know where I'd put them. Now that I've found them, I can re-start the Roza's socks I was working on that ended up being too small. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, I also found my boxes of yarn, so I'm all set now.

3. I have reliable internet access! Thanks to a little black box furiously blinking away in the corner of my apartment I am wired up (or more accurately, wireless-ed up) and ready to go. I was even able to watch clips from the Daily Show last night. This will go a long way towards making up for the lack of Cable I was experiencing earlier.

4. It's less hot than it was yesterday. Yeah, not by much, but I'll take it.

And finally,

5. I'm going back to Stitch n' Bitch tonight! (This is just about the biggest "yay" of all!) With no more orientation, the late night drive back won't be a problem. See you soon Ladies!

The first day of school

Well. Today was the first day of our orientation for grad school. I woke up with butterflies in my stomach and headed off to the subway station very reluctantly. I'm always nervous meeting new people and going to new places. When I got there, people were just starting to arrive, and everyone seemed really friendly. We chatted over the coffee and pastries the school had set out and waited for the introduction to begin. We got lots of practical information -- it's a good thing it was also included in a folder for us because I don't think I could remember it all.
In the afternoon, we had a session with the grad school's therapist, which was really interesting. Before I got my master's degree, I would have thought the idea of having a grad school therapist was pretty ridiculous, but now I'd never question it. It's a very competitive, highly stressful time, and I remember reading once that the suicide rate among graduate students is insanely high. I believe it. I had a terrible time my first semester last time, and while I feel much better prepared to deal with the stresses this time, it's nice to know that the school has somebody there for us if we need it.
We finished off the day with a review session for our foreign language exams, which are tomorrow. I did okay, but am pretty nervous about it. Everybody think positive thoughts for me tomorrow -- I want to pass this the first time around.
I'd love to relax with a little knitting, and the mystery stole is totally calling my name right now, but I think I should study instead. Sometimes being responsible is no fun at all.
Internet access is still sporadic, but will hopefully be fixed by Wednesday night. I can't wait -- it's so hard to be disconnected from everything.

Unpacking and adjusting

So, I've now spent 5 nights in New York, the cat has finally deigned to come out from under the bed, and I have unpacked enough to do some light cooking in the kitchen. Unfortunately, while I've found the coffee and coffeemaker, I have yet to uncover the filters or the coffee cups. This is a major tragedy and should be rectified as soon as possible.
It is very hot, and the cat and I are doing our best to stay cool, but unfortunately unpacking is sweaty work.

In other news, last week I finished my first pair of socks for the Summer of Socks '07. Better late than never, I guess. They're Baudelaire from Knitty, by Cookie A (I love her socks). I did them in Mountain Colors Barefoot yarn. I'd show you a picture, but the camera is one of the things I haven't found yet.

I'm writing this from a coffee shop, since I won't have email access at the new place until next week :( How am I supposed to last that long? I forsee lots of coffee in my future. Plus it's airconditioned here.

Tonight is a Thursday, and if I was still in New Haven I'd be at Stitch n' Bitch. It will be strange and a little sad not to go there tonight. I'll be thinking of you guys, and furiously knitting on my MS3.