More Biking

Went for about a four mile bike practice on the Interurban Trail today.

It was a pretty good outing, though busier than I expected. There were people and rollerbladers and bikers and babies all over the thoroughfare. And when I ride past a baby or a walker, my mind always goes, "I'm going to hit them and squash them and kill them and then I'm going to die in prison!

I didn't actually hit anyone though.

I think the Interurban Trail, aside from the busy-ness, is a great place to learn some biking. It's flat, it's straight, and there're no cars (except where it crosses the street in a couple places) to kill you right off the bat. I'm glad I went on the BPA the other day to get the hang of the curves and up- and down-hill motions, but today I really needed to work on getting my straight riding on.

I think I did pretty OK.

I didn't crash into anything. I didn't fall over. I did do a stoppie when I thought I was going to fall over and braked too fast, but then I recovered. Dragons said they were proud of me.

On the way out I was a little all over the place, but on the way back, I really concentrated on staying in my half of the trail — in "my lane"— and for the most part, I did. I'm getting less and less wobbly with each mile and it'll be no time before I can ride in a straight line, I'm sure.

I'm still not comfortable with higher speeds, though.

Also, I'm pretty sore from the riding. I was pretty sore last time too. I don't know if I'm riding wrong, or if my seat is just plain uncomfortable, or what, but it hurts, let me tell you. And I don't have padding where it hurts. Maybe I can lean back more to alleviate it? I dunno.

Well, that's all the adventures for me.

More adventures next time.

Biking and Grooving

So, I am just back from my first successful learning-to-ride-a-bike outing. Dragons agreed that it went pretty well.

We packed everything up and drove down to Celebration park. Surprisingly, the park and its huge parking lot were nearly empty, much to our advantage. I did some learning to balance and ride slowly in the parking lot and we looped it a couple times. I fell over once at low speeds, and banged up my knees and thighs on the handlebars a bit.

Once I got the basic hang of it, we biked at low speed over to the BPA trailhead and did my serious bike riding learning. The BPA trail is fully paved, mostly flat with some rolling hills, and (most importantly) wide. The only non-wonderful thing about it is that it is a trail that follows under the path of those giant-ass power lines. Not cool.

Anyway, I kind of got my legs for it a bit, although I had some problems on the hills, since I have no idea how gears work. I mean, I do know the significance of gearing in cars/motorcycles, and why, but to have two different sets of gears? After some working on it, I think I kind of have the hang of it.

One of the reasons I was having issues learning it was that changing gears kind of freaked me out. You see, the gears don't change smoothly, so the chain would be slack for 1/2 a second and then snap into place, which made it sort of scary, because the scared reptile part of my brain was saying, "Eek! The bike is falling apart! We're all going to crash and die! We're doomed! DOOMED!"

I did mostly get over that by the end of the ride though.

We did the whole Phase I of the BPA Trail and then turned around and came back, which was a whole lotta uphill. By the time we were back to the park, I just cruised on through and made a pretty OK loop around the parking lot without falling off or stopping. Yay me!

My shoulders and upper arms are a wee bit sore. I'm not sure if that's normal or just from being really tense and nervous. the ventral sections of my thighs are also sore, which is to be expected from the uphill pedaling, I'm sure.

I still have to work on moving in a straight line, but Dragons say that'll come pretty easily after a few more rides, when I've gotten more of a feel for how to balance. Right now I'm sort of riding in a lazy back and forth motion, similar to a sine wave.

That's all the excitement to report today!

Baby Names

Yesterday I got a surprise package in the mail from my next eldest sister. It contained a shirt, a cool cigar box, and a letter that stated she and her husband were in the midst of picking baby names. I wrote back to her (snail mail — it's our "thing") with my suggestions, which you will no doubt be horrified to hear, although I think they're pretty:

• Adara - beauty (Greek) or virgin (Arabic)
  
• Amabilis - beautiful, lovely (Latin)
  
• Arabelle - beautiful eagle (German) (it's like there's a trend with these names...)
  
• Brianne - strong one (Latin (i think))
  
• Calliope - beautiful voice (Latin) also the name of the Muse of eloquence and epic or heroic poetry
  
• Jessenia - from the Arabic for flower
  
• Sashenka - defender and helper of mankind (Russian) (I have to be honest, I have doubts to the veracity of this meaning, it seems ind of long)
  
• Solange - rare jewel (French)
  
• Vespera - evening star (Latin)
  
• Yardena - a feminine Hebrew form of Jordan, meaning descend or down-flowing
  
• Zosima - lively (Greek)
  

They're all actually pretty normal sounding (except for the last few) once you hear them once or twice, and classic-type names, though rarely used. I bet they end up going with something Hawaiian for at least the middle name though.

I have my own personal name stash of girlie names for possible personal use in the future, including such gems as : Adelaide, Amelie, Anne-Sophie, Brielle, Edolie, Linette, Myrilla/Mirella, Pyralis, and Sylvie.

My stash of boys names isn't as big: Alain, Carrington, Elfred, Fausto, Ravinger, Rowan, and Zain.

I do tend towards the Old English.

A short break.

I've decided to take a week off of stitching due to an unfortunate accident. Yesterday, while threading the sexing machine, my foot slipped on the pedal and I stitched my thumb. And also the index finger of my other hand.

And the needle broke off in my thumb.

It hurt. A lot. And it took a half-hour to work it back out.

I know you're saying to yourself, "That doesn't even seem possible if you were dumber than chrome is shiny!" I don't suppose you would believe me if I told you this isn't the first time it's happened?

Yep. I am a total disaster.

In unrelated news, Dragons and I went to go look at scooters the other day and find out more about legal requirements as well. It turns out that you can't just get a motorcycle license in Washington, unlike other, more civilized states. Ahem. You can only get a motorcycle endorsement on top of your existing license. They also don't have a scooter/moped license. Instead, if the machine is over 5 HP (I think), you need a motorcycle endorsement on your license and if it's under, you need only a regular driver's license.

Also found out that the MSF courses around here require that you are able to ride a bicycle as a prerequisite. This means that in order to get and drive the Stella I want, I need to:

• Learn to ride a bicycle
  
• Learn to drive a car
  
• Get Driver's License
  
• Take MSF course for motorcycle endorsement

That sure seems like a lot of work. I did however, sign up for adult lessons at this driving school in Bellevue. It turns out that all the driving schools close by are books up in the afternoon/evenings because of high school students. Damn H.S. kids. I just need to get my permit before September 12.

In the meantime, I guess I will work on learning to ride my bike.

For the sock monster lovers, here is Plathynnia, the laid back computer-lovin' Platypus:


Platy meets Soctopus. The Soctopus, being related to Platy (they're both pusses from the clan Puss), decides to show her around a bit. "Check out this bangin' computer, yo," says Soctopus.



Platy checks it out and before you know it . . .



She is an internet-addicted fiend! Augh!

Just kidding. Actually she is learning to haX0r your boxes and has already Pwned 07dies as well as n00bies alike. She's still a fiend. A l33t fiend, but a fiend nonetheless.

Platy sez, "You are teh suck!'

A treat!

If you kids are good, tomorrow I'll post the goodness that I stitched tonight. Is it a bird? Is it a mammal? Is it some crazy kiwi-hippo? Who knows!

But, you be good, and if you can think of any awesome ideas for a sock-thing-a-ma-joo, e-mail me and I'll take it into consideration.

Today was a good day.

P.S. Co-werk Nick said that the Ghetto Booty Baby was super awesome. I have yet to collect a reaction from the end recipient, so to speak. Get it? End? Because of the ASS on it?

I am dying here.

L.A. face with an Oakland booty

So my co-werk Nick — you remember him, right? — asked me to make another sock-o for him. It seems his girlfriend's sister's birthday is coming right up and he thought she might enjoy some socky goodness.

His one request? Ghetto booty.

I did ask him to clarify what that meant and he said, "You know J. Lo?" I said, "Yep," and he said,"Bigger than that."

Okay.

So I did my best, but sculpting a junked-up trunk is new to me. You can judge the results yourself.

The front:



The side (here you can see the booty coming into play):



And la BAM!"



Bitch has more booty than Blackbeard, yo!

Technically, I guess J. Lo has bigger absolute humpy lumps, but as a matter of proportion, I think this drama mama has got it going on.

Consider it brought!

Holy drunken cow, batman!

My plush-sock stitching efforts have finally brought me a small degree of non-fame, with my fabulous cows being featured on the Drunken Blog. I say "non-fame" because I'm referred to as "a girl" that Wil knows.

At least I'm not "a person of unspecified gender", right?

Woot!

More pics:


This is the first draft cow (so ugly!) on the right, with the second draft cow on the left. They're kind of buddies.


And here's the second draft cow in all his glory. See how handsome he is compared to the original cow from Drunken Blog?

In short . . .

Tonight's episode of Battlestar Galactica can be summed up thusly: The fifth element is love.

Totally lame. Totally can't wait for next week!

Relaxing and Unwinding

I did some more yardwork on Monday and Tuesday, stopping only when I'd surpassed my being-icked-out-by spiders quota for the day. That actually happened really fast on Monday, since a godawful huge spider landed on my shoulder and fell into my coveralls when I tried to brush it off.

Eech.

I've been taking some time off from seeing people at all the last couple of days, which I find to be incredibly restful. I don't know about anyone else, but when I'm around other people, I always feel like I have to have a second face up. Working all the time on that extra shield is pretty draining, and I require time to myself from time to time o recharge and refresh.

Actually, I do prefer most time to be non-socializing time and I've been missing it.

Been working on a few projects these past couple of days. Of note are these two facts:

1) It is nearly impossible to find cow print socks.

2) It's much easier to find purple socks than I imagined. And I have acquired them.

Cliffs Notes

Monday and Tuesday: Slept in late; fought vicious blackberry brambles in the afternoon.
Wednesday: Worked in the morning; shopping and hang-out with PBG in the afternoon, Bluwater and Supermunchkin in the evening.
Thursday: Not quite enough sleep; worked in the morning; watched A Very Long Engagement in the afternoon, went to Pies & Pints in the evening.

Other notables:
* PBG and I bought matching tank tops at Hot Topic. She is Sleeping Beauty and I am Maleficent!
* I really need a new purse.
* I really want these rocking cowboy boots I saw at Nordstrom, and am not yet resigned to not ever getting them.
* The Amy of Darkness card games needs more play time before I pass judgement.
* Extinction is forever.