A Ship At Sea

I don't quite know what to do with myself.  For the first time in a very long time, I have no deadlines hanging over my head, no patterns I should be writing, no classes I need to prepare for (although I do have two new classes starting this week - I just don't have anything new to prepare).  It's so strange.  I feel like I should be working on something - I just don't know what!

What I really should be doing this evening, though, is relaxing and enjoying myself, because I realized recently that I have absolutely no weeknights free until sometime in late March.  Mondays and Tuesdays I teach knitting, Wednesdays I'm taking a Building Your Own Theology class at church (have I mentioned recently how cool UUs are?), and Thursdays I'm co-teaching another class at church.  So I guess I'd better take it easy on the weekends!

I've spent the majority of this weekend setting up my new MP3 player, a 40GB Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen Xtra.  You may recall that I ordered myself an iPod a few weeks ago, getting $100 off by purchasing it along with an Audible subscription.  That didn't work out so well.  When I placed the order in early January, they said it wasn't in stock but should be in by the end of the week.  Then they said probably by the 15th.  Then they said not until February 2nd, then February 15th!  At that point, I was ready to cancel the whole thing, but they recommended this Creative player as a much less expensive alternative, which they actually had in stock.

I bit.  They threw in 2-day shipping for free since I had waited so long, and I had my player on Friday.  Unfortunately, Scott & I spent most of the weekend trying to get the software to work properly (of course tech support isn't open on weekends), but it's finally working like a charm.  Hooray!

Meanwhile I already downloaded and started listening to my first book from Audible, Augustan Burroughs' hilarious Running with Scissors.  I've already listened to over an hour of it.  It's a very wacky memoir, and it's fun hearing the author read it himself.  I highly recommend it.

On the knitting front, I'm only a few easy rows away from the end of the Swan Sweater.  I've already sewed in one sleeve, so I will probably complete this very shortly.  I haven't really figured out what my next big knit will be, but I've just started a pair of Koigu stockings to keep me occupied in the meantime.  I'm thinking besides this portable project, maybe I'll work on finishing some abandoned UFOs before I pick up another complicated project.  I'm feeling rather at sea with knitting, too, I guess.  Maybe it's time I got back to designing.

Comments

[michelle]

that jukebox thing sounds really cute. may i recommend that you get some belle and sebastian on there? they're my favorite band - if you find them, give 'em a listen.

i hope your trip "out to sea" provides some inspiration for your coming back ashore. enjoy the deadline-free time!

[Alison]

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll try to check out Belle & Sebastian sometime...