tygirwulf’s Lair

The day after I wrote my last post, my fiance was late getting home from work. I knew something was up since he always comes home asap. When he walked in the door, he told me to get ready to go. Turns out, he’d found a duplex for rent in the paper, and had gone to see it. Now here we are, all moved and settled in. It’s a vast improvement over the apartment, and only about $50 more a month. It’s a 2 bedroom with a garage and basement on a quiet, dead-end street. What I love most are the windows. Where the apartment had one window, in the bedroom, this place has large banks of floor to ceiling windows in the living room, dining area and one bedroom. The windows of the dining area look out onto our deck, and a solid wall of woods. I love looking out the back and seeing trees as far as I can see. The deck is also very shaded all day, save for about half an hour around noon. Wonderful place to just sit and enjoy the quiet, or grill up some fish.

Our bedroom is the smaller back room with the smaller windows, but I like waking up and seeing the trees instead of the front yard and street. The larger room is our guest room and where my sweetie’s computer is. I’ve had both my parents visit already, and my mother is coming again tomorrow or Monday.

I’ve also undergone a bit of a change in my personality. I’m no longer very interested in playing computer or video games, and almost never hunt for news on them anymore. I feel like I’ve already played almost anything that comes out in one form or another. The games industry is catering to the lowest common denominator more and more, and the LCD keeps dropping. I retain some interest in some indies and older games, but not much. Of course some of my lack of interest is not the game industry’s fault, but has as much to do with internal changes in my mind. I’ve been reading a lot lately about many different things, and I get more questions and some answers everywhere I look. I’ve always been intensely curious, but I’ve subjugated a large part of that for a long time; I’m letting it out again.

And one thing I’ve realized for a long time, but not wished to change, is that electronic media has a real way of training you to be dependent on it. The mind grows to crave the constant flashes, noises, violence and twitchy behavior exhibited in movies, tv and video games. I was watching my fiance play Crackdown last night, and as he neared a rooftop race, a voice pointed out “There is a rooftop race nearby, Agent!” As I looked at the glowing ring of light that projected a beam into the sky, I thought about how absurd it is that anyone would need that thing pointed out to them. The strange and bizarre become so commonplace we no longer see it that way.

Yesterday, my fiance and I headed to the gym. We starting going again recently and are still trying to get back in the routine of things. I hit the treadmill for half an hour, then lifted weights and did leg exercises, before going back on the treadmill for another 15 minutes. I pushed it a bit too hard, though, and got rewarded with a headache. I’ll have to remember to dial it back a bit, but I’ve lost a couple pounds in the past week, so I’m satisfied overall with how we are doing.

Today, we hung out with a friend of my fiance’s, who is going through a bit of a rough spot, for a while. Actually, the three of us just sat around the kitchen and talked for close to six hours. It’s been a long time since I’ve meaningful conversation with more than one other person. So even though that took up most of our day, I don’t feel like it was uneventful or boring.

I haven’t knitted in a couple of days, but tomorrow I plan on working on more of my Zigzag Lace Scarf, which I’m knitting with Malabrigo on size 9s, in the Verde Azul colorway. The way the colors run into each other, shifting from dark green to dark blue with occasional patches of a vibrant blue remind me of the way the Pacific Ocean looked. It didn’t look blue to me when I saw it, rather it was in mottled patches of dark greens and blues with a bit of greenish-brown from the seaweed drifting around.

I have one skein of Malabrigo in Oro y Vino (gold and wine?) and I’m thinking of making the Liesel Scarf (link goes to a PDF) with it. When I ordered that color, I got one skein because it was in shades of pink and orange, and I have never been one to like light, girly colors. I thought I would like it least of the three colors I got, but It’s proved the opposite. I will post pictures of my swatches as soon as I find them again (it’s been a year since I ordered the Malabrigo).

One of these days I will be brave enough to find a sweater pattern I like and knit it up. The funny thing about me is, I like to knit, but I have never much liked knitted anything. I’m not a sweater gal, I have never worn scarves, I would not dare put a hat over my long, curly hair and I’m not fond of gloves. However, I’ve looked at some sweater patterns, and found a couple that I like, so one of these days… I also like blankets, and considering how cold my fiance likes our place to be, making those wouldn’t be impractical or unwelcome in any way.

I’ve also thought of knitting a long strip of cloth about 9-12 inches wide; I’ve read that in the days of ancient Rome, that is what women used to support their breasts, a long narrow cloth wrapped around themselves two or three times, and then pinned or tied. Actually this is not an uncommon type of undergarment, so I probably shouldn’t say just Roman women used them. Sometimes I just don’t want to wear a bra, darn it, and this sounds more comfortable to me.

Anyway, that’s another of my interests, Roman history, particularly the Republic, though I am still only a fledgeling historian. What aspect? Anything, really. I’ve spent a week researching Roman houses and their ideas and mindsets in building and decorating them. I suppose, to be more accurate, I should say all history interests me, and many more topics besides. I’m not just a geek; I’m a nerd, too.

It’s a scary thing to me to reveal any part of my inner mind to anyone else. I always have a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn’t be appropriate, or that who I tell can’t really be trusted with what I’m about to say, or that it really doesn’t matter to them if they know. Sometimes I’m also afraid of upsetting people with my views, some or all of which don’t really jive with seems to be the majority opinions of the conservative Midwest/South (where I am from seems to be in that nebulous area between Midwest and South; too Southern for the Midwest, yet too Midwestern for the South). I can be very opinionated, I just lack whatever part of myself allows me to trumpet them all over the place.

Well, I’ve recently decided to change some of that. I guess a blog, rarely visited, is a tentative first step. :p My fiance knows my mind the best of anyone I currently know, because most of his own views are compatible with mine, and he is willing to calmly discuss things with me that he doesn’t agree with. We are much alike in temperament, which I think is important. But, as I’ve observed all too often, many people seem to have a “my way or shut up” attitude about things. They cannot seem to entertain an idea, and think it through, without agreeing with it. Is this really such a foreign concept?

For now, I will end this post, while I look at the many wordpress themes I’ve downloaded. I’m a skin junkie; I love changing the look of my OS and applications, and I have thousands of pictures to use for wallpapers. It’s no different for website and blog templates, as I’ve used and made many myself over the years. Strange, then, that I don’t really apply this to myself. I have basically one style for clothes, I very rarely use makeup, and my hair is usually either down or put up with a hairstick.