my soft spot

just a mom who plays hockey and knits

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Foggy Morning

When I was first making plans to move to Alameda, a gal on my soccer team said, "You must like fog, then." I thought that was odd--I'd never heard about Alameda being a particularly foggy place, nor seen that. Take the Sunset district in San Francisco, though--reputation for being foggy and well earned, IME. Foggy as hell. Which is unfortunate, it being the Sunset district and all.

In all the years I've lived in Alameda (coming up on 20, I think), it is very rarely foggy. But the past two mornings have been like pea soup, sometimes less than 2 blocks' visibility. It's something. Interesting and scary and ooh, goosebumps, all at the same time.

This has been a good week, after a great Christmas visit. As I told everyone at work, we had mostly dry but sometimes damp pavement on the way up (sometimes with plenty of snow on the shoulder), then snow every day were were there, except Saturday night, when it rained almost all night, melting all the snow so we got home easily. Even missed the usual returning-from-vacation traffic!

G had such a good time in the snow, I finally found myself second-guessing my decision not to move up there a few years ago. He made snowballs, threw them at various things that were not OK (and was told so) and finally threw snowball after snowball at my sister's garage roof, aiming, with my encouragement, to get one over the roof peak. He loved it. My ex-BIL took him and his two cousins out on Friday to a new sledding hill. G had claimed he would just play in the snow, not sled, but when they returned, he'd sledded up a storm and had a great time doing it. My sister, mom, and I bought a Papa Murphy's pizza for the kids and went out to a lovely dinner in town (lame--their website is "coming soon"). It is an upscale Italian restaurant that normally serves 4-course meals, but there's a "local special" where you pay something like $13 for 3 of the 4 courses, and of course it's more than enough food. We talked and laughed and had a great, great time.

Mom came down on Christmas day. She was supposed to drive down the same day we drove up, Tuesday 23rd, but the roads into Portland were either closed or chains-only, and she wisely pointed out that it would significantly extend an already long (7.5 hrs) trip. On Christmas, the roads were only slightly better, but she ventured down the OR coast a bit until she could cut inland and take 5 the rest of the way. It still took her about 10 hours and she was exhausted, but we sat her down with wine and cheese and unloaded her car for her.

We had a great Christmas, not the .least because it was a White Christmas--we had a lovely dusting of snow Christmas eve night. Beautiful. G had a hard time waiting to open presents (he pointed out, rightly enough, that he had waited all through Christmas Eve night, and said he'd show everyone what he'd gotten; and wasn't that good enough?) Just as I was out of answers, my sister stepped in with some murmured words of patience that did the trick. We did our usual youngest-as-elf, everyone-with-a-present, opening-in-turn until several of us didn't have any more presents, and then watched others open and continued to Ooh and Aah.

I got many things I'd wanted and one I had never expected: a new camera. My mom had gotten the latest Panasonic Lumix at Costco for me. I had wanted a Lumix like she and my sister have. The only problem was that the new one was kind of huge--nearly twice as thick and larger in the other dimensions too. My intuitive mom saw that and offered to trade hers for this one. Done! I now have a camera I can carry around in my fanny pack and maybe on a belt holster once I find one. It is easy to use and the photos are crystal clear and very easy to upload on my Mac. I can only hope that the battery lasts till my mom gets home and mails me the charger!

Monday, December 22, 2008

It's a little mundane, but maybe so am I

Which creature of the night are you?
Your Result: Werewolf
 

You are a vicious fighter and a vicious lover, absolutely dedicated to your pack. You are pushed to anger by disloyalty and injustice and have a tendency toward sudden, periodic bursts of wild behavior.

Vampire
 
Ghost
 
Cthulu Spawn
 
Demon
 
Sorceror
 
Incubus/Succubus
 
Which creature of the night are you?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

My Day Without A Gay

Recently, some activists suggested that folks disappear en masse from their jobs on one day, so as to make clear the effect that queer people have on society. I'm guessing it's sort of a follow-on to Harvey Milk's speech, in which he says he wishes that the next day, everyone gay would wake up colored blue. It would be obvious who they are and how darn many there are of gay people.

Well, I did consider it briefly, but realized that my workplace doesn't need this sort of waking up. On the contrary, I've always felt completely welcomed as my whole self here. I've dated men and women while working here and no one raised an eyebrow. Similarly with becoming a single mother by choice. Nothing but love and support for my whole self.

So I decided that what I needed to do was to tell them that. I approached the president and asked to talk to him in his office (as it seemed a little too serious for an office hallway conversation). I told him flat-out that I knew it was that day*, and I was here at work, because I did feel valued as a whole person here. Then I went to the General Manager, the president's wife, and said the same thing. (We had hugs. She and I are like that.)

*ah, here's the irony: it wasn't. It was the day before. I really do need to keep a better calendar.

I do feel lucky to have a good job, at a thriving company, where I can be myself. And wear jeans every day if I want to. (Or dress up to freak them out if I want to, too.)

Plus, I never did think Robin Tyler's "Calling in Gay" thing was all that funny.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Christmas Questionnaire

Like the last one, from my friend FiberQat.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I love the ease and speed of gift bags. And they have handles! But it does seem like cheating sometimes. Plus, I'm a sucker for giftwrap sales and always get a roll or two.

2. Real tree or artificial? I love the smell of a real tree. But we are so often gone on the day, and even if we aren't, it's yet another thing for me to remember to maintain. We've had a fake tree for 4-5 years now and I adore it. I also hate the idea of taking the tree down before we go away for Christmas, and with a fake tree, I can leave it up, no problems.

3. When do you put up a tree? Whenever I feel like it. Early or late.

4. When do you take the tree down? This would definitely be late.

5. Do you like eggnog? Only the storebought kind. I'm not big on brandy in my egg nog. I love that I can have Lite eggnog guilt-free. I also love eggnog ice cream and eggnog lattes.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I think it would be the Mousetrap game. I loved that game.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Ugh, my dad. Years and years of Old Spice and/or socks. Last year, I thought I was so smart, knitting him a Cal Colors reversible hat and beautiful stranded mittens for my stepmom... and then they announced they'd really love a group gift of a GPS. headdesk

8. Easiest person to buy for? Well, me! I always find something at Christmastime that I'd love. After that, my mom. She's good about saying what she wants, early, and where it might be found.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yep. Started one from a kid's magazine a few years ago. I think we still need a few folks, but I know we have two sheep, a cow, and a few shepherds. I think we also have a baby Jesus, but I'm not sure. (Yes, yes, he's fairly essential, but the sheep were easy.)

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail. When/if I get to it.

11. Worst Christmas gift you've ever received? Oh, my lord. I got a plaid poncho one year when I was a kid, green/orange on one side, reversing to solid vomit orange on the other. My sister got a huge, heavy, unattractive leather purse that year. They were from our dear neighbor who was so sweet, it wasn't worth being annoyed about it. But I never, ever wore it.

12. Favorite Christmas movie? There are so many good ones, but I'm always a sucker for the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas. "Fah who for-aze..."

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? All year long, if I spot something. The trick is to remember I bought something... and where it is stashed.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Only a few times. Got caught once (oops!).

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas. Just about anything pepperminty.

16. Lights on the tree? Yes, the fancy multicolored ones that do all the racing, fading, flashing stuff. Love them. Bought new ones this year because the old ones had faded so. The new ones do twice as many things. Crazy.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Ave Maria, sung by Joan Baez. That means Christmas to me.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home? Travel more than not. I've done Christmas at home a couple of times since G came, but he loves to go to my sister's, and they sometimes have snow.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? I don't think I could name three.

20. Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? One Christmas Eve, the rest Christmas morning. An uneasy stalemate between my parents' traditions.

21. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. Ugh.

22. Favorite ornament or color? All of them. They all have special meaning to me.

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? A new (small) camera, but I don't think I'll get it. Which is fine; a sweet friend has offered me her old one.

24. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel now, holding a "candle" that is actually a light. We never had either while I was growing up, just this weird peacock kind of bird that was wired to the top.

25. Favorite Christmas dinner? Hm, turkey most likely. I love 'em all. Ham, roast beef, even cracked crab.

If you celebrate it, a very merry Christmas to you.

If you don't, bear with us. I know it gets annoying. :)

Monday, December 15, 2008

100 Things I May Have Done

From my friend FiberQat's blog.

I have done the things in italics. And for my twist on it: The ones in bold, I want to do. The ones I will never, ever do, are in strikeout text.

1. Started my own blog 1
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band 2
4. Visited Hawaii 3
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis 4
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch 5
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language 6
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 7
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (I think Camp Fire candy counts on this one.)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar 8
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone 9
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury 10
91. Met someone famous 11
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one 12
94. Had a baby 13
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit 14
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

1. This very blog you're reading.
2. The Cal Band. I suspect you've heard of them. Well, also the Screamin', Hypin', Take Us To Hawaii, We're Not Cheap But We're Easy band. You may not have heard of them.
3. Three times, the last time when I was 12. Such a waste.
4. Ew. Just ew.
5. I'm guessing drop spindling counts.
6. I bought a book on Russian and got about halfway through it. Tough language. Interesting, though. Oh, I think HTML fits here, too.
7. Walked up. Had forgotten my fear of heights amidst a desire to avoid a long line and higher fare. Walking down was... interesting.
8. Fishy-tasting little bubbles that burst in an icky way. Lovely.
9. My orbit. Yes, really. With a head. In soccer. (Don't follow the link if you're squeamish!)
10. Was the presiding juror (translation: jury foreman), in fact. Knit an entire sweater, just about. Grand theft--bank robbery. Guilty.
11. Anthony Hopkins, after a play in Los Angeles. He has huge hands and was very gracious to my babbling.
12. Rest in peace, Uncle Babe, Uncle Carl, Granny Vi, Grandma Van.
13. Still have him, in fact. No longer a baby, but a big 8.5-year-old.
14. Worker's comp is a lawsuit, right? Yuck.

I could come up with some other things, I think... fun.

We made it through, and it was good!

Friday
I had a game scheduled for Friday night, and the whole day, I kept making other plans in my head as to what we'd do that night--go see a movie? Put up the tree? Strange. I guess I'm still nervous about starting back into hockey, and with a new team, etc. And then there was the deal with the hockey sticks. I'd left mine at Belmont, remembered in time to call Liz & Andrea while they were still at IHOP, and they were kind enough to stop by on their way home and grab them. I wasn't sure how to coordinate getting them, and we tried to set up dinner, but my babysitter wasn't free early enough, so that wouldn't work. Finally, Andrea was asked to sub for us (yay!) and ended up bringing them herself--in a new stick bag for me! And not some plain ol' black one: a pink camo stick bag. It is crazy! And perfect. And easily findable in a sea of boring ones. Thanks, Andrea & Liz!

I carpooled to my game for the first time--Yosh, who lives just up the way, is now on my team! We tossed/shoved our bags into the back of my car and headed to the rink. Because I'd had my sitter get to my house earlier (back when I was thinking we could meet for dinner), we had plenty of time and got to the rink almost an hour before the game. Nice to have time to get ready, and be ready to go on the ice when it opens up, rather than rush!

The game was fast and fun, but didn't count--no refs showed up. (ugh!) I think we lost 2-3. I played wing, which was a big change from last time, where I played D and felt good but I still have quite a bit to learn. I had totally forgotten where D stands for face-offs!

After the game, we went to Wing Stop for wings. Tasty! I got home about 1/2 hour after I'd said I would, so when my sitter called his parents, they weren't home. Turned out they were already on their way!

I tried to go to bed, but felt jittery, so I started a knitting project (of course!). Finally turned the lights off after 1AM.

Saturday
In the morning, G got up and crawled into my bed for snuggles--but stopped short with an astonished look. "Do you REEK?" he asked. Um, I might. Got myself up and into a shower, and crawled back into bed with him. Better.

We lounged around for a few hours, and then got dressed to go get his friend from school with whom we had a playdate. G and he spent the first hour in a pillow fight, which ended abruptly with G taking his clothes off (the ultimate weapon?). The friend exited the room, I spoke with G, and he reclothed. They played a few board games and then it was time for us to take him home again. We'll do it again next weekend if possible, for a longer playdate.

Then we got ready to go down to the south bay. I was getting more and more irritated with G, who was acting up, when I finally realized: if we were late meeting up with Andrea, it was ok. The rest of the day/evening was really not a rushrushrush time. So I got together what we'd need, got us ready, and we got into the car, about 15 mins late.

Thankfully, Andrea messaged me just as we turned onto 101S and asked how close we were--that Val was playing with some toys at the eye doctor's and was getting into it. We met up about 15 mins later than we'd planned, at the Cupertino Daiso store. I'd wanted to go to a Daiso for ages (and of course, once I started looking for the Cupertino one, found one just down in Union City), as I'd heard they had cheap knitting needles. I'd like to teach G's class to knit, and through Freecycle, I'd gottten 10 pairs, but needed about 10 more.

And--yay!--they did have cheap knitting needles. Not the $1/pair I'd hoped, but $1.50/pair is not bad, either. I managed to get all 10 with a mixture of bamboo and plastic. The plastic ones seem a lot like the Crystal Palace Daisy needles, which I've knit with with no problems at all. We picked up a couple other things and started looking for Andrea and Val. Completely toured the store without finding her. (It would have been more convenient for her to be a 6' tall African-American man, but that couldn't be helped.) G encouraged me to call out for her, so I called her name twice, but nothing. I checked my phone and realized Liz's Xmas concert was about to start--so assumed Andrea had left to be on time for that. Quickly checked out and went to our car--and got a message from her wondering where we were--she was still in the baking section. Ha! We decided to meet up at the concert.

The community center where the concert was held is a beautiful place. It has a fountain that perhaps only runs in the summer but is very dramatic even without water. G and Val enjoyed running around until Andrea and I got too cold :) so we went back inside. The concert was really great--I can't believe they are that high quality without auditions. I'm guessing G only remembers the cookies. :)

I managed to finish seaming my sweater while we sat in the lobby (only trusting our kids to be quiet enough for a few songs), and wore it to the Sharks game that night (and also today!). After the concert, we set out for downtown SJ and got parking in the garage right across from the Old Spaghetti Factory. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones crafty enough to get there early and park and go to dinner. The group ahead of us were quoted 1 1/2 hours wait for dinner, and with just the 2 of us, we still got quoted 45 mins. By this time, G was famished, so we passed on old spaghetti and went down the street a bit to Peggy Sue's. Much better.

There were tables available, and not only did they have coffee shakes, but they offered cheap beer! And Liz knows I'm all about the cheap beer. We settled in to wait for our food, and once G's cheeseburger showed up, I realized I'd completely forgotten, in my excitement about coffee shakes and cheap beer, to actually order my patty melt. Duh! They got it in right away, and wouldn't let me pay for it (wow!). G and I settled in and watched the end, then the beginning, of The Dark Knight, which I hadn't seen before. G kept asking me questions--"Who's that? Why is his face that way?" which I answered the best I could without the benefit of subtitles nor having seen it before. We had a leisurely time and then packed up to drop things off at the car and get bundled up for the game. I was glad I'd packed so many warm things--my body was fine but my legs were chilly, so I ended up draping my scarf across my lap for most of the game. G, of course, took things off as the game went on and was still fine.

The game was really exciting, with the Sharks making some dumb moves and a lot of great ones. The Blues were fast, aggressive, accurate... it didn't look good for a while there. We did get up and cheer each time the Sharks scored... and in the end, got up 5 times (which meant Round Table Personal pizzas for every ticketholder in the building!). The Blues put it in the net often, but in the end, only 4 times to the Sharks' 5. *Phew*. G asked, when it looked dire, whether we could demand a refund (ha! since we were given the tickets...?!?) if the Sharks didn't win. Um, they only promise you a *game*, not a win!

I got tired at the end and was willing to leave early, but G wanted to stay to the end, so we did. It really was great fun (thanks, Heather!) to see a 'real' game. I was glad they still had the shark's head that they skate out of at the beginning--G really enjoyed that.

I questioned one of the ushers on the way out, and he didn't know if Round Tables up our way would honor the tickets, so he gave us directions to the one near Santa Clara University, and we got them there, to go. As we waited, G noticed the stockings on the wall with names, especially the one that said "Aliens." Huh? I pronounced it in Spanish aloud, to see if it made sense as a name. Well, kind of... and then I heard a RT employee behind me calling out to another, as Aliens but with a Spanish accent. He was there that night! Really good-natured about his name, too.

We got our pizzas and headed home. Just after I told G we'd be getting home about midnight, I looked in the rear-view and saw him nodded off. Thankfully, I was able to wake him enough to get him to walk inside and fall into bed.

Sunday
We both slept in on Sunday, and even though I was up in time, I still didn't get my butt to church that morning. It was good to stay home and relax. We love those lazy mornings, which we didn't get before now, as he always had martial arts at 10 on Saturdays and I was always needing to be at church on Sunday by 9:30 or 10 for Sunday School, handbells, or singing.

We finally got up and dressed by noonish and got out by 2 to pick up some things at Trader Joe's and drop off the Prosecco from there at the church fridge. This way, I didn't have to worry about chilling it or remembering it. Done!

We got back to church at 5, met up with my sitter (genius idea of mine) there for him to hang with G for the 1 hour of rehearsals and 1 hour of concert. This freed me up to sing with the choir as well as play the handbells, and then flute for the last piece. It all went really well... well, except for the last handbell piece, which we played the worst we ever had. I actually did well until one of the last, fast parts, where I borrow a bell from my neighbor... and she was still holding it! Ah, well. We finished "Trepak" (from The Nutcracker) with a bang and the audience seemed to still love it. The previous piece, "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," which is done with mallets and a distinctive Jamaican sort of theme, has lots of backup percussion with cowbell, ratchet, cabasa, and wood block. Fun.

We had some tasty stuff downstairs, cleaned up, and went home to read a bit before bed. The end.