tavie.com

What a beautiful, beautiful year it's been thus far. This house has been absolutely stuffed with goils and boils. Kitana had to leave tonight, and Ade leaves tomorrow, but the Swedes are staying for another week.

Miracle of miracles! My sweet boy, my good darling baby, my little love finally came to Mint Manor yesterday! It was the first time, and he came even though it was raining and icy and miserable and all we ended up doing was sitting around watching M*A*S*H with us. ("Crochet your titties?", Hawkeye? Hunh?)

The night that we all sat around knitting and watching Our Hospitality and drinking tea, that's a treasure. Another was just now, knitting and watching The Westerner, which was, hey, all about fandom. What more appropriate on Dave's birthday?

Gina made a magnificent turkey dinner for our Christmas today-- it was the Swedes' first taste of stuffing and cranberry sauce-- and we had our Christmas and everyone loved their socks, and I'm wearing the peasant blouse that Linn and her sister made me, and Kitling gave me the best gift, a gigantic poster of Mark from Fully Committed. I almost cried because it was so perfect, and because right after that she had to leave for the airport... she also got me a new wallet, so no $20 Vortex anymore!

Oscar is adorable, sort of a young, blonde Dean Jones-looking guy, and he knits, he KNITS, which is just the sexiest thing you ever saw, this sweet boy sitting there knitting a scarf for his gal. And I'd love him even if he weren't so easy-going and polite and friendly, because look at how happy my Linn is.

And we've all been making squares for our quilt, it's been quilting madness out here. I used a sewing machine for the first time, and you know what? It ain't that deep.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 8:03 PM | shower me with attention

Dave's 40 today. That's a good age.

Happy birthday to him!

Why are you in Tavie's head? 12:49 AM | shower me with attention

Friday, January 03, 2003

Old theatre biddy came through with my grades, and hey, she didn't give me that B after all. I got an A-. That counts as straight A's, baby!

Why are you in Tavie's head? 2:51 PM | shower me with attention

Thursday, January 02, 2003

Just for fun.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 4:13 PM | shower me with attention

Anne Marie, from the Dave group, had to make a web page for a school project and decided to do one on Crissy. She enlisted my help and I tried to give her some info for it. It came out very nicely indeed, and she is allowing me to link it here. Isn't it cute?

Why are you in Tavie's head? 9:12 AM | shower me with attention

Because we have to keep Spike, the new kitty, sequestered from Riley, the old kitty, most of the time, we've had to shut him up in the red room. So the sleeping arrangements at Mint Manor are a little shaken up. I've been sleeping in the red room with Spike. (Because I'll be there when everyone else is gone, so he should get used to me. Also, I can't smell his litterbox so I don't mind sleeping in the same room.) Sleeping, that is, as much as he'll allow me. He's a tricky beast. He gets all cuddly and cozy when I first bed down, and then I finally fall asleep, and then around 4:00 am-- this has happened twice already-- he gets all wild and starts the Pouncing Game. That's the game where he hides in a dark corner and then comes barrelling toward me and POUNCES with teeth and claw (not hard), waking me from my slumber. The game continues as I try to calm him down for 20 minutes, and he march-march-marches all over me, pouncing every now and then, until I give up and crawl downstairs and make Kit move over and share the futon with me.

Linn and her cute Oscar are sleeping in my room (formerly Linn's room, anyway), and Ade is on her air mattress in the den. Notably, Riley has not been sleeping with Gina. He still feels betrayed, I think. He'll get over it.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 9:09 AM | shower me with attention

Wednesday, January 01, 2003

Last night, when I was taking Kitana home on the PATH, the girl sitting next to me starting talking to me, asking what I was knitting and if I could show her how to knit, and where I was from, and all that. She was 16 years old and from Colombia. And the most endearing thing, she kept calling today "Day One". "Are you going to Jersey for Day One?" she said. "I'm spending Day One with my uncle in Harrison."

It was the cutest thing.

And today IS Day One, isn't it? Let's make today Day One.

Ade is on her way, driving, and Gina and Kit are on their way back here with Linn and Oscar, and Spike is upstairs and Riley is here and it's all so very good. The only really missing gaping hole (aside from all the usual gaping-goil-holes) is Cheryl, who can't come this weekend. It will be our first Mint Manor Christmas without her.

Last night I dreamed that Cory of Boing Boing held a contest and the prize was a new TV/DVD combo. So then I won the contest and my TV arrived and it was made completely out of chocolate and filled with cotton candy. I was disappointed.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 2:13 PM | shower me with attention

Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Stranger Dan (actually just Dan, why do I give people stupid nicknames?) who offered to send me the M*A*S*H Reunion Special (see below) never got back to me on where to send money to cover materials and postage. Then he emailed me today,

Merry Christmas, the 2 cd's are in the mail. My present to you.

Ees to cry!

See? M*A*S*H fans rule.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 7:21 PM | shower me with attention

Spike is here! Spike is here! We have to keep him up in the red room because Riley growled at him. I can't stop calling him "New Guy". I have to stop before he starts answering to "New Guy".

And KIT is here!!! She took pictures of New-Guy-I-Mean-Spike. She must upload them, please.

Tomorrow, Ade arrives from Michigan, and Linn and Oscar from Sweden, and oh, such merry times those shall be...

Why are you in Tavie's head? 7:11 PM | shower me with attention

New Year Faerie is c/o of sarah, by the way.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 1:07 PM | shower me with attention

Happy Goose Day!

My hero is legal today. It's the specialest day of the year.

I will be her when I grow up.

Read one of her reviews: it's my Goose-day present to you.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 11:03 AM | shower me with attention

Monday, December 30, 2002

Today I bought myself a book called Will Shortz's Favourite Crossword Puzzles. I felt guilty because I really shouldn't be buying myself anything, but I'd skipped lunch and it cost the same as lunch would have. And then when I got to the counter, the book turned out to be 70% less than the displayed price. So it was meant to be.

Then I was doing it in a fountain pen (so satisfying!) and my dad, who is in a snit, walked by and accused me of intellectual arrogance because I was doing it in ink. Which made me laugh because he can't even finish a Monday puzzle, so of course he would say that. And you know what else? Maybe it is intellectual arrogance; or maybe it's the fact that I don't measure intellect on the ability to do crossword puzzles. (Last night I was reading that David Sedaris essay, "21 down" from Me Talk Pretty One Day.)

Either way, I'm going to write Will Shortz a love letter. And David Sedaris, while I'm at it.

My name is Tavie and I love crossword puzzles and knitting. My name is Tavie and I am boring. (Hi, Tavie...)

Why are you in Tavie's head? 8:17 PM | shower me with attention

Thought of a fourth drawback: What to do with turtle?

Why are you in Tavie's head? 3:34 PM | shower me with attention

After I had given up the idea of Disney World this year-- too depressing-- Mummy emailed me and said that we will all be going to Disney World from January 20 to January 25. Well! There are three drawbacks to this:

1. "We all" means my parents, my sister and myself. "My parents" means my dad. I refuse to eat in any restaurants with him, I'm letting that be known at the outset.

2. Sister is very unenthusiastic about trip, might refuse to go, the brat. That would mean just me and my parents going. Ew. Why does Dad have to go? He obviously doesn't want to, and I don't want him to.

3. I have to pay for my own park ticket. I am officially a grownup now.

Still, it's Disney World. Will it be a barrel of monkeys, or a painful reminder of lost friendships? Maybe a bit of both.

This will be trip #23.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 3:31 PM | shower me with attention

Why is natural yarn so expensive?

It would be awesome to knit my first sweater out of something really fine and soft, like cashmere (gasp! only millionaires can knit sweaters from cashmere!) or angora or alpaca, but even mohair and merino wool is beyond my means. I tell you what I'd love is to get a pound of some nice hand-painted lambswool. What a great sweater that would make. But I could buy an already-made sweater for much less than the cost of the wool.

Not fair.

Maybe I should buy a sheep and a spindle...

I'll be knitting with acrylic for the rest of my life. When will I be rich?

Why are you in Tavie's head? 2:44 PM | shower me with attention

Before I didn't really care, but now I hope I do well in my theatre class. Grades are in for the other three and it's 2 A's and an A+ (for drawing), so it would be cool to get A's across the board.

I doubt it'll happen, though. That theatre professor is a mean old coot.

Can't sleep. Work tomorrow.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 2:15 AM | shower me with attention

Sunday, December 29, 2002

Fucking amazing 360-degree view of Rockefeller Center (via Boing Boing)

Why are you in Tavie's head? 8:55 PM | shower me with attention

Nice lunch today in Hoboken with Goosey Poosey (also Henny Penny and Cocky Locky.) It was at that Mediterranean place that doesn't know how to use lemon juice properly. I forgot to bring the Swedish purse for my sweet baby love doll, but she remembered to bring The Neverending Story to lend me, and a new (to me) book about a pig.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 8:49 PM | shower me with attention

Terry said about the watch he gave me for Christmas: But knowing her, she would probably hold on to it, and keep wearing her Pooh watch, if she hasn't given it away as a gift already...

You're ridiculous. I haven't taken this off since you gave it to me, except to shower.

Why are you in Tavie's head? 5:54 PM | shower me with attention