In the pursuit of men and knitting!

I have two things I want to talk about. The first is concerning my date on Sunday and the second is my desire to ramp up my knitting.

First, Sunday night. So, Tuesday, this guy asked if I wanted to watch a movie at his place Sunday evening. Great, not only did I get the second date, but he asked. Very positive. Then, I get a text on Saturday looking to confirm that we were still on, again VERY positive. Well, come Sunday, I don't hear ANYTHING from him, so I send a text around 7 that evening asking if we were still on and he says sure, how about 9. I knew the potential was there for this to be a late thing (he's a first year law associate, which means he basically has NO life), but this is still kind of late for me. I'm usually changing into my PJs by 9, but I say yes because I like him and need to get used to the late night date if things go any further, right? Well, it's a very nice evening all in all. We watch a Futurama movie and talk some and laugh... but, I don't know, I felt a little odd. Maybe because it's been a while since I "dated" someone, but something felt weird. Who knows... I think I'm just a little off. But we'll see if I hear from him again.

Ok, second. I have been knitting off and on for about three years. I know the basics and can follow a simple pattern. I enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes from completing a project and the look on my friends' faces when I give them a knitted gift. That said, I haven't been very serious about furthering this craft (well, my SKILLS in this craft). So, I'm hoping to start ramping things up a bit. It started by doing a pair of slippers, which required me to learn some new skills. Now, I'm knitting my first pair of socks. My next desire is to join a swap. My knitting friends Sarah and Wendy do them and they seem like a lot of fun and a great way of learning and expanding your horizons. So, if you know of a swap that is looking for people and/or hasn't started yet, let me know.

Ok, I'm done now. Hope all is well in your world! Catch you later!

My Beautious Slippers!

I'm very excited about this entry because I get to show off my slippers. I've been knitting off and on for the past three years, but have really only done scarves, hats and one poncho. (Although, I'm REALLY close to finishing Elizabeth's poncho!) So, it's very exciting to me to show you something that required a bit more skill on my part. The pattern is from my friend Wendy (who is a superb knitter and patient teacher) and she also helped with the felting. The pictures are below. BTW, if you ask me nicely I might make you a pair! :)

Here we have the purple & green slippers -- pre-felting.

And this is the slipper by my foot, just so you can see how much bigger it has to be before felting!

Here's one of my pretty blue & grey ones... I'm definitely keeping these!

And here we have the finished (and felted) pair! Now I just have to wait for them to dry and I can enjoy them completely! Woo hoo for the slippers!

In search of dating advice!

Ok, new dating type question. I am now facing a point where one of my online matches has definite potential, so when do I stop talking to my other matches? This is a new dilema for me... I've never been matched with someone who had ACTUAL potential, you know? I've done the first date with some, but after that, it's always fallen flat. This one could go further, so when do I end it with the others? Not that I'm doing anything more than emailing, but when does it end? Ok, there are no more ways to ask this question, so I'm leaving it to you. Thanks!

Trying to Decipher Dating Signals!

So, as I've mentioned in previous posts, I am doing the online dating thing. Well, I recently met up with a guy for our first face-to-face meeting. We'd been emailing eachother for about a month, but he's a first year law associate so he gets home late, which means we hadn't had a chance to talk on the phone. Finally, this past Monday we were able to connect on the phone. This lead to the f2f set-up for the next day.

We opted to meet at a Cosi's by his office since he was just going to be taking a dinner break and then heading back to finish some work. We had a pretty nice time. No awkward pauses in the conversation, a few shared laughs... all in all, a really great first meeting. It was at the end that things got a little odd and is what is worrying me now. You see, he walked me back to the Metro (since it was on the way to his office), but we just said goodbye. There was no hug, not even a handshake. Just goodbye and then we went our separate ways.

I sent him a text later that evening, thanking him for dinner and saying it was great to meet him and I hoped we could do it again soon and that I hoped he enjoyed the rest of his evening. He sent me a text back a few minutes later saying it was nice meeting me as well and that he hoped he'd get to go home soon. That was it. I didn't hear from him at all on Wednesday and then got an email late on Thursday. However, the email was just a continuation of the string we had already established. No mention of how "date" or questions about plans to meet again. I replied back to the string, then asked how his week had been, told him about mine and asked him what he was planning on doing this weekend.

So, now we reach the point of this post. I'm not sure how I should play this. Should I just admit that maybe he's not as interested? Or maybe he's just busier than I am (which he is, I'm sure) and so doesn't want to commit to anything for fear of having to cancel because of work. Should I put myself out there and ask him myself? I'm just not sure. This is only the second guy who's had any REAL potential, so I'd like to pursue it further, but I'm just not sure HOW far I should push it, you know? Anyway, I'm sending this out into the void... hoping that someone out there will have some advice!

The question of "To have or NOT to have" and being ok with it.

Ok, so I'm reading this book, Baby Proof, and it's really hitting home for me. It's about a woman who marries a man who agrees with her decision NOT to have kids. They are MADLY in love and it seems like they'll live happily ever after. But then, the husband decides he DOES want kids after all. However, the woman is still adamant about NOT wanting kids. They're at an impasse and since neither is willing to budge, they get divorced.

So, why is this really hitting home for me? I am neither married or with anyone who I potentially COULD marry, but I have made the choice to NOT have kids. Well, I am 95% sure that I DON'T want to have kids. But my point is this... she gets so much SH** from her friends and family because the marriage ended because SHE didn't want kids. SHE is a bad person because she made the decision not to have them. THAT is insane! There is nothing wrong with enjoying kids, but not wanting to have your own. Why do we ridicule those who don't want to have kids, as though there's something WRONG with them?! It just REALLY pisses me off.

When I tell people that I really don't think I want to have kids, they always say, "Oh, you're just young. Wait until you're in your 30's, then you'll change your mind." Ok, that MIGHT happen, but what if it DOESN'T?! Is there something WRONG with me then?! I do like kids, but I just don't want to have my own. So, here's my final point. People need to get passed this archane belief that our purpose in life is to populate the Earth. There is more to our lives than creating new life. I don't mean to say that having kids is a bad thing, I'm just saying that the choice NOT to have kids is not a bad one.

Anywho, thanks for letting me rant. Have a lovely day! :)

Loving people... watching that is.

I am a classic introvert. I'm really in my head, always re-thinking a fight up to three days later, and being in a large crowd of people takes a lot of energy. That said, I REALLY enjoy people and watching their antics. I like being in a crowd... as long as their not asking anything of me. Which makes me an EXCELLENT people watcher! I love going to The Mall or a park or any public place and watching people and the way they interact with eachother. I also like to make up stories about what kind of people they are... what they do, their relationships with others... that kind of thing. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not you know... creepy about it or anything. Once they have left my line of vision, I move on. Or, once I've fleshed out their "story" and they're still there, I move on.

So, if you ever see a short brunette sitting by herself, just looking around... it might be me!

Ranting about the STUPID people! Grr!

Ok, I know that this has been written about by numerous other people, but can we talk about how stupid drivers can be?!?!?! Yesterday, I'm leaving work and there's a woman ahead of me, trying to get out of the garage. She must have been in the spot right by the exit because she was like parallel to it and trying to turn herself around so she could get out. This is all well and good, except she was doing all these turns while talking on her CELL PHONE! For whatever reason, she just COULDN'T bring herself to put the stupid thing down and focus on the driving. No, her conversation was just that important. MAN! did it piss me off though. People who are just THAT inconsiderate and oblivious to the world around them just really tick me off. And here's a word to the wise, in the grand scheme of things, you're really NOT that important!

Thank you for listening to my rant. See you again, tomorrow!

New jobs... can't live with them, can't live without them.

I recently started a new job. This is my second job in the almost four years since I graduated from VA Tech. This makes me a rarity among my peers, as the average tenure at a job is only one year. I was at The Council for three years and would still be there if it weren't for one fact -- there was NO where for me to go. The Council is a relatively small association (staff wise) compared to others in the industry and there just wasn't anyplace for me to advance to. There was, of course, plenty to be learned from my bosses, but after three years, that just wasn't cutting it for me anymore. So, when I was offered my new position, I took the leap and made the change.

Two months later and I'm just now starting to get into a groove. My new job is for an association with a staff size even SMALLER than my old association. This means that I get my own office, but it also means that everyone is SUPER busy doing a million and one things and doesn't really have the time to show me the ropes. Don't get me wrong, everyone is really nice, but when you're a VP or Director and have to do your own administrative work, you don't have much time to show the new girl where the paper is. I also have a boss who wears MANY hats, so has only been able to train/give me things to do on a sporadic basis. All in all, my first month was not very productive.

However, I am now getting into the meat of my new position. I was tasked with finding a learning management system vendor. This was an experience as I had NO idea what that was. But I was trusted with finding four or five systems and summarizing the various aspects. I was then asked my opinion on them... something that I was rarely asked at The Council. The best part of this is the fact that this was MY project, something that I never had at The Council. I had been asking for something I could point to and say, "I did that," but it wasn't happening -- despite the promise that it would be considered.

And here we are, at the end of another meandering story. Check back next time to see what I go on (and ON) about next time!

Time moves SO fast... sometimes.

Time and life has a way of getting away from you, don't you think? I know that people (generally speaking) only think about how fast time (and life) flies until they're facing the holiday season, but I tend to over think things to begin with and so think about time and life flying all the time.

What I find ironic is that when you have nothing to do at work, time just DRAGS, but if you're doing nothing on a weekend or a holiday, it just FLIES! I think this just highlights the fact that time really DOES fly when you're having fun. And being away from work, even when I'm doing nothing, is ALWAYS fun! I just finished another month where I had something scheduled for every weekend. I enjoy having things to do, it gives me something to look forward to. However, if I'm REALLY looking forward to it, it can make the work week that much longer.

I think the best thing from this month was my sister's wedding. There's something that really makes you look at how fast time goes by. I look back on my life with Elizabeth and can only marvel at how fast it all went by -- and how long it took when I was living it. The next best thing was just this past weekend. Jame & Kate (my two best friends from college) and I went to see SATC. We hadn't seen eachother in a while, had certainly not done anything just the three of us in at least a year, but it didn't matter. With such close friends, time really DOESN'T matter, you just pick up where you left off.

And on that note, I'm signing off. Until next time, folks!