I had interesting (to me, at least) bus experiences both yesterday afternoon and this morning. Yesterday's was actually very irritating, but funny in retrospect. I was on a packed uptown bus, headed to the eye doctor. My rather stuffed tote bag was on my shoulder, and I was leaning against the side of the bus, when this very large-breasted (this matters, I tell you) heavy woman starts shoving her way past me. She was squishing me, and I was really grossed out by having some lady's boobs smashed up on me like that, so I tried to get her to stop so I could move my bag and make more room.

"Wait, wait a sec," I said, and her reply, in a serious Brooklyn accent and dripping with nastiness was "Oh yeah, I'm gonna wait fuh you?" as she plowed past me. I turned to her and said "I asked you to wait because I was going to move my bag and make it easier for you to get through" to which she replied "oh yeah, shoa you wuh" as if I had intentionally made this whole thing difficult for her, when really what made it difficult was partly her size and mostly her rudeness. Somehow this experience irked me enough to glare at her occasionally for the next ten blocks, and then turn to her and cheerily call out "Bye, nasty!" in a sing-song voice as I got off the bus at 56th Street. Then it occured to me that she might actually chase me, and I was a little nervous until the bus pulled away. :-)

I'm not usually obnoxious, but she just really got to me!

This morning was not confrontational, just odd. Around 29th Street, a fireman got on the bus. A fireman in full fire gear, with the helmet, coat and boots, carrying his shoes. Not your normal rush-hour sight! He didn't look or smell like he'd been at a fire, so I wonder if perhaps he was doing the "walk of shame"? But who hooks up at a fire?! An amusing bit of speculation for a Friday morning.

The office is quiet today. We have "Summer Fridays" which means everyone gets to pick 6 Fridays and have those days off. I haven't had one yet (next week is my first) but today seems to be a very popular Friday, as almost everyone I work with is gone. Oh darn. ;-)

If you've made it this far, here's your reward: A Finished Object! All that's left on Mom's sweater is to sew in my little "Betsy made this just for me!" custom label in the back. Click on the photo for a larger version that shows the sparkly bits much more clearly.



And one last note - I've convinced Ryan to start a blog! For those of you who don't know, Ryan is hard at work on his Masters degree in 3D Animation, and this summer he's starting his thesis project (he graduates next Spring.) The project is a short animated film, and if you're so inclined, you can read the ryanimator blog and learn all about it. I expect there will be very little knitting content on his blog. Unless I knit something for the blogger. :-)

Re-knit that bit on the second sleeve and set it in last night. Now I just have to sew the sleeve and side seams, and Mom's sweater will be done in time for her birthday. Yay me! I just hope she likes it.

Still thinking about the melon tank I want to make and how I want to make it. I have been very scattered lately, with so many plans, that I haven't really devoted a lot of thought to any particular project. I'm sort of feeling like my life is getting away from me just a bit. And there's no end in sight to the busy-ness. This weekend we're out to Long Island for Mom's birthday. Next weekend we have a friend's 30th birthday party in Connecticut on Saturday, and Father's Day back on Long Island on Sunday. Then there's one weekend left before we go to Europe. Eek!

Tonight I am going to the eye doctor. I'm looking forward to it, because she (Yoon) is a friend - not a close friend that I hang out with on my own, but a close friend of my good friend Wendy, and Yoon and I always get along well when we see each other. It'll be nice to have a real eye doctor I can trust, as opposed to hoping the guy at the eyeglasss store actually knows what he is doing. The progression of my myopia (nearsightedness) seems to have slowed considerably in the past 5-8 years, which is a plus. But I am still pretty much useless for anything but sleep or quiet meditatin without glasses or contact lenses. I have friends who are very happy after laser surgery, but I am stll chicken.

Hoping to make it to the Calvin Klein sample sale after my appointment. It's right near Yoon's office, so if I can get out of there quickly enough (my appointment is at 5:30) I may be able to do it. There's also (pay attention, Deb!) a J. Crew sample sale (listed on that same page) that I would love to hit. Damn, I was right across the street from there yesterday but didn't know about it. How vexing!

After running like a madwoman (mostly for fun stuff, but fun is still exhausting) for over a week, something had to give last night, so I didn't go to Stitch-n-Bitch. I felt bad and knew I'd miss everyone, but when I walked in the door after work, the cat box was stinky, the dishes were piling up, there was nothing decent to eat, and I just felt totally fried. So I went to the supermarket and the pet store, and took care of some household business. It's still not nearly clean and pristine, but kitty and I are certainly much happier.

Later in the evening I had to perform a bit of corrective surgery on Mom's sweater. You may recall the first time I knit the sleeve, it was huge, so I frogged, decreased the number of stitches, and re-knit it. Much better, but then the sleeve was a bit too short to fit nicely into the armhole. Duh. So I frogged a few inches and increased a bit more frequently at the top until I had the amount of stitches specified in the pattern, and set in the first sleeve. Worked like a charm, and really didn't take too long. I will do the same on the other sleeve tonight, and should be AOK for finishing this by Saturday, when I see Mom for her birthday. It's a tiny bit of a pain to frog the cast-off sleeve, but it's a good lesson learned and I had plenty of time to fix it. Yay!

Now that I did that, I am feeling adventurous and trying to decide what to do with the pretty Topas yarn. I know it will be a tank using both colors, but I am not sure what I want it to look like. It'll be some sort of stripes, but I am debating whether I want them to be even stripes, irregular "random" stripes, zig-zaggy stripes, or maybe stockinette in one color and some sort of lace pattern in the other. Or something completely different. I will be looking around for inspiration over the next few days, I expect.

How sad, it's not my birthday anymore! But I had such a wonderful birthday. Thanks so much for all the happy wishes, everybody - they helped make my day even more fun. I even got an e-card from the dangerous one herself, somewhere on the road in America!

Between the gifts, expensive meals and flowers, Ryan spoiled my butt off. I told him now he can't spend any more money on me until we go away, since he isn't working right now. I really can't believe how over the top he went this year, and how nicely he planned everything. Now I can't wait until November when I get to do it for him. Well, actually, it's cold in November, so I can wait - but you know what I mean.

I haven't knit a stitch since Saturday! And tonight is Stitch-n-Bitch but I am not sure what I am going to be stitching. I bought some really pretty yarn with Marney and Jackie on Saturday. It's called Topas and I got it in orange and green. Unfortunately, the swatches don't do the colors justice - think canteloupe and honeydew melon together on a plate. I want to make a tank out of it, but I don't know what pattern I am going to use. I'm thinking of just kind of making my own, which isn't really a good project for Stitch-n-Bitch since it requres actual thought. I'm also really tired, so I am not going to stay there late, and I mean it this time! I think I want to be out of there by 9.

Other than that, can't think of what's new to tell, so I think I'd better do some work!

Happy Birthday to me! Today's the official day, but much of the celebrating happened yesterday. My parents took us to brunch, then I was showered with presents back at my place. I did really well this year, too. Mom and Dad paid for my new cellphone and my Rowan subscription, then Dad indulged two of my obsessions with a great knitting video and a floral arranging book. Mom also got me some pretty jewelry (pearls for my June birthday) and silly cute socks.

My sweetie got most of the books on my Amazon wishlist, plus a bunch of other great stuff, then he took me out for a surprise evening out. First we went to a Flamenco show at the New Victory Theater, and then we had the most amazing 7-course tasting menu at Patria. Today we have lunch (he won't say where yet) and there's apparently another present that was shipped all the way from Hong Kong, which is waiting at the Brooklyn Heights post office. Neat!

OK, I am freely admitting to being extremely spoiled on this particular birthday. I won't complain. Up until around March, the past year was a really difficult one for me, both professionally and personally. Things most definitely were not going my way, so if the universe (and my loved ones!) want to send a little extra fun my way this birthday, I am not going to argue or feel guilty for it!

Before all the celebrating began, Saturday was really fun, too. Our knitbloggers lunch was really fun, and the food at Gus's Place was really good! Here's a photo of our happy group (left to right: Marney, Shetha, me, Jackie, Susan):



Well, that's about it. Gotta go get lazy and more spoiled!