ghosts are good company

my extracurriculars have been making life pretty tasty lately. there’s been knitting, which is always fun but extra-fun since it’s full of good queers! and then, mostly, there’s been choir which has been great. i joked when i decided to stay in olympia that it was for sophie and the choir(, which at that point was pending), and now that sophie’s up and moved to portland, i have to say that choir’s almost worth it on its own (not to say that i don’t miss sophie. i just got an amtrak free companion ticket and i’m going to make nat come with me to visit her and erica at some point). i’ve found it’s the same with a few of us – that even if we don’t want to go be social, we go to choir and leave feeling awesome.

nat’s feeling awesome RIGHT NOW because his top surgery funding has just come through – he can pay for it!, he just needs to make an appointment. (he says, not actually in a monotone, “i feel like jumping up and down for joy.”) i’m excited for that too, and also because i’m typing this on my new tiny computer. it’s named after our “darling, dearest, dead” friend otka, and has only fallen on the floor once – when i got butter too excited about the toy he was chasing around, causing him and otka to go flying. i’ve hidden that toy, but he’s since found another one.

……and now he’s been sitting in the dryer for the last twenty minutes.

national mentoring month celebrations went well, and i had a good time and learned a lot at the guiding lights weekend, as well. it’s really strange to go from the hectic-ness of january to a february that has almost nothing on my to-do list.

but, i’m sure i’ll figure something out. knit-n-nature is one thing i really want to do. fort flagler is one of my favorite places, and combining that with knitting? yes please.

… which reminds me that i should get back to the argyle sweatervest that i’m knitting for butter.

last weekend, nat and i had a fairly extensive field trip.  he had worked sixteen days straight, and finally had four days off.  the initial plan was to go to spokane, but we didn’t make it that far.

our first adventure was to the puyallup fair, nat and i went with our friend will.   immediately upon arrival i ate a scone, in order to not be disowned by my family.  we went on the skyride in order to get our bearings, after which we rollercoastered! and then headed to the hobby hall where we saw amazing things including legobama and the vegetable displays. after that we saw the wonder of the steilacoom dance company (led by the silver stars) and headed up to the home goods exhibits, which were fascinating and crazy.  i was most interested in the table settings, i think, because really – what kind of competition is that?

we wandered around and saw the animals and were magnetically drawn (back) to the 4H dog show, after which we saw the jest in time circus which was pretty cute (i don’t usually like clowning, even though i have some clown friends, so “cute” is saying a lot).  i bought a red nose.  after that, nat and will went on the giant slide!!  “welcome to the puyallup giant slide, one of the largest slides ever built.”

then, we all went on the ferris wheel, which was an appropriately long ride for our money.  will took a shmoopy picture of nat and i.  we then abandoned him to wait forever for his fiancee to pick him up and take him home, while we headed to ruth’s chris steakhouse for my grandparents’ overwhelmingly fancy 50th anniversary party.  we brought a change of clothes to the fair, but still felt underdressed.  it was lovely, and so nice that my grands were able to celebrate such an important occasion.

upon leaving dinner in bellevue, we headed over the pass.  i had high hopes of making it to pasco that night, but we made it as far as ellensburg, tired and grumpy.  we ended up staying at the i-90 inn motel (classy, eh?) which i was surprised was pretty darn clean.  we sunk into bed exhausted, and i woke up at some point in the middle of the night to the bed settling, because it had just… broken.  from us rolling over.  awesome.

(part two here!)

CIMG4072

Originally uploaded by geoffy

i found my missing login information! that’s always a good thing.

i’ve been wandering around the puget sound region lately, sleeping on couches for the last month. currently i’m in des moines, at the kindness of my grandparents. their house is one of my favorite places, it has such a beautiful view of the water – i just wish that it were reasonably public transportationable.

the region is making me antsy, and i’m hoping that opportunities elsewhere pan out soon. for now i’ve been making mini-trips to pretend that i’m going somewhere; last weekend a friend and i explored bainbridge island. it was very very warm.

also last weekend i met up with some of my (now) favorite strangers from the internet, in BALLARD of all places. i got to go to archie mcpheeee where i found a fantastic green dinosaur finger puppet (see photo!) and spent too much money.

ALSO last weekend, the derby liberation front beat the throttle rockets, which was delightful but also sad as it was mommacherry’s last bout with the team. the team, mascots and all, did their introductions in aprons in homage to mommacherry, which amused me since i was wearing an apron that day anyway.

this weekend has, unsurprisingly, been calmer.

i have been very anxious and avoidant lately, which makes the world pretty awesome. it’s that time of the quarter – the new!shiny! aspect of it all has worn off, and very few of the classes are as great as i was hoping. still, i have a new momentary excitement, which is that i have a topic for my Big Paper for one of my classes. i’m going to look at gender variance and tricksters, since… those are, you know, things that this trannypuck is interested in. i’m a little worried about the trickster as a racialized entity, but since it shows up in so many cultures… that would be an interesting thing to research on its own. it’s kind of exciting to have a paper idea that actually feels like it could easily fill its required length.

so that’s exciting, and graduating in a few weeks is exciting, but oh my goodness the stress has been killing me. i’ve had two migraines since getting here (it’s a good thing i’ve still got my medication-toting habit, since it’s been at least three years since i’ve had one), and my body has been wracked with acid. fortunately, i’ve only had one actual panic attack, and even that was… under special circumstances.

work is over after friday, a ‘good while it lasted but oh golly glad it’s gone’ type thing. i still haven’t heard from either of my summer programs to know if i should, you know, buy a plane ticket… if things don’t pan out there, i’m thinking of staying in washington and maybe doing americorps or something, but i really wish that i had any sort of idea at all when i would hear from the programs!!

yep. here’s me frustrated. i’ve been knitting a lot (a lot) to try to keep calm – it’s not a horrible thing, really. it’s kind of fun to follow patterns, that is my new knitting thing.

i want to remember to share with you: some pictures, stuff from the kimya show, and… what the tinies i live with did for my birthday. these are all Important Things that i should get to once the world shifts back into… whatever the second-highest gear is.

it’s strange, to have so many blogs in so many places. i’m also trying to get more involved with some online community that i love (i imagine that you all know who you are, but i would love to know who’s reading so i can make sure that i’m reciprocating!), because… they’re really nice kids.

that community loves to play picture your day, so i took my shot at it yesterday. you can see the album (with captions) heeeere. ♥

…now i have to start rushing for the bus again.

today i programed what may be the gayest python “programs” ever, so that’s awesome. also it was one teacher’s birthday and the other teacher brought cupcakes and golly it was cute.

also today! my grandfather brought me a real!mattress, which is so much warmer than the air mattress that it is now on top of. I Have Learned that air mattresses are colder if it’s cold in the room because they (duh!) hold cold air!! this real!mattress instead holds, uh, fluff and springs. and my body heat, i love that part.

also since the video that nobody commented on, i am borrowing a nice armchair and side table from my housemate, and there’s a chair in the study!closet. you all so care about the exact details of my room.

20% of school done, with a 100% record so far. not bad, not bad.

most boring post possible. perhaps. but! warm!

and so it goes. it’s olympia, it’s raining. i can hear the rain on my balcony. i’ve moved into a house just above the fourth avenue bridge, with: two cats, three kids, four dogs and, come may, five adults. my room is pretty big – maybe twelve by eighteen, or a little bigger (larger than two pucks plus three pucks), plus closets. it’s got nicely green walls, two redorange doors, and a yellow ceiling, which matches the trim on the windows and th balcony doors. it might be hailing, actually; the rain is bouncing a bit more than usual.

at first i thought there was no wireless here, but there is and that is helpful – for one of my classes our weekly assignments are primarily blog-based, which makes sense. for another i have to have a livejournal, which makes less sense.

all of my classes seem pretty awesome, which is delightful. five courses means scads of reading, but it should be good. i’m trying to not get too distracted by student activities and such this quarter, but i have a plan simmering for a giant final project for myself/STAR (my trans group grew up without me!). if i want to make it happen i have to start NOW (after i get my homework for this week in order), so i need to decide if i want to commit as much time as it needs. i’m currently trying to have my entire College Experience As a Single Person in one quarter, so that’s exhausting in itself.

there is a corgi demanding my attention. i must go.

i decided to backpedal – um, skate backward – with my skating practice. i’ve been going to boot camp with the san diego derby dolls off and on, but having trouble there because i’m Just Not Good Enough. so i decided (on the recommendation of a skater who used to live in s.d. but has recently moved down from san francisco…) to try out the Adult Skating Lessons at skateworld. they’re shorter, cheaper, and more geared to people my level – and also a totally different kind of workout! we were doing a “scissor” thing around the rink, where you use your legs to move your feet out and in without lifting them up? and ow, my thighs. i don’t get this much of a thigh workout just striding.

so that hurts. but also, i managed to fall down and kick myself pretty hard in the inner-thigh. no wonder derby’s hardcore, if i can injure myself this much just on my own. i haven’t worn my skatetown shirt to the rink yet (it was a “paulie bleeker is totally boss” day, so orange – but different orange), but i hope to soon.

and i did actually skate backward today! woo!

there’s been discussion lately about “yo” as an organically developing gender neutral pronoun, but none of the discussion that i’ve seen really addresses race or class issues, which i find… fascinating… especially considering the demographics of the communities contriving other gender neutral pronouns so far.

(note my not addressing it either? i’m just bringing it up for people to think about what connotations “yo” has in their minds.)

i’m still an epicene “they,” myself, and damn anyone who tries to tell me that it’s grammatically incorrect. they seem like probably the people who would make sad faces at me if i took “it” instead, and if they want to find something 1) grammatically correct 2) not dehumanizing 3) that flows well in language, i welcome them to go ahead – and tell me when they’ve found it.

on tuesday my mother and i went to disneyland. we had a surprisingly delightful time. i know that politically, maybe not so much with disneyland, but… it’s fun. they’re nearing the end of their wildfire heroes salute so we decided to go – and i’m always a fan of wintertime at disney.

for christmas, my mother surprised me with a sister for aviva alexander. i decided (predictably?) to name her beatrice bartholomew, after the “darling, dearest, dead” love of lemony snicket. i decided that this trip would be nice for her first pictures.

perhaps the best thing during the trip happened while we were on tom sawyer island. there were two adorable kids charging around with their dad – maybe three and five? the five-year-old was wearing an awesome punk shirt.

another kid, maybe four, was there with his dad, and i just happened to be there at the right time to overhear, as the other family headed off, “do you know who that is? on his shirt? come on, you know, daddy has that shirt! it’s sid vicious!!”

there was also a group of pirates on the island, singing sea shanties. of all the ways to be an ambiance musician, it might not be the worst. they got to heckle the audience, and make… family friendly references to rum?

anyhow, twentysome more pictures and a bit more narration can be found in the flash gallery i put together here. extra credit if you can find the ghost of puck in one of the pictures! ♥

[[i just came back to add tags to this, because i forgot earlier... i was quite glad to realize that i already had a "pirates" tag.]]

first off: i have possibly not mentioned here how awesome my webhost is, but they are. greendinosaur.net is hosted by laughingsquid, which is the best web service i could imagine. like, everything i want out of webstuff? right there. with super customer service and good community.

i’m bringing this up not because i just felt like making a random promo, though – i’m actually brought to it attempting to promote something else.

i just updated the wordpress for this blog. it used to take an hour or so to update, but i have recently started using the wordpress automatic upgrade plugin, and it is great. which is to say, it does it all for me while i write this post. so i haven’t actually updated yet, but i will have by the time you r-never mind.

the moral of the story is that this plugin is great if you’re managing wordpress blogs, and scott beale, who runs laughing squid, blogged about it here and that’s what i found first on google when searching for the plugin for you.

another plugin that i’m loving is the comment email responder plugin, because i grew up with diary and journal services online that told me when people responded to things that i said in their journals. it’s not working 100% perfectly for me, but i think that it’s at least working for you – you’re getting comment notifications, aren’t you? i hope so.

in final geek news, i have a big crush on this really gay pointless thing.