- formerly AtypicalBrain.com, a randomly updated collection of strange musings and observations from a social media nerd living in New York City.
4/15/2008
LivePerson
4/08/2008
Back Again, Hopefully
Thankfully, I have snapping new prospects on a temporary computer. It's going to be a much needed addition since I've no intention of fixing my old computer. No way. It would be a better use of money to just buy a new Mac Book Air and transfer my old stuff to the new hardware. So a friend of mine mentioned that she had a Vaio she needed to get rid of and was going to be selling to her neice were her neice not already the proud owner of a new computer. So she offered it to me. I'm hoping to get it up and running by next week (if I have the cash) and hopefully be blogging on a regular basis. It would be a nice change. I have a big need to get my own computer and start back on the routine of updating what few readers I have on my daily grind. Not that it's all that interesting, but it's fun for me.
So in the interest of posting something semi interesting, my job's going great, money is flowing, paying off my backrent from the time I didn't have a job, and still managing to have a life. It's fantastic. I've made so many good friends here recently that I'm having all kinds of trouble keeping up with all of them and all my old buddies from everywhere in the world. I finally made contact (think alien and you'll get my weird mood) with beings from my college days and keep hoping I'll get more in touch with them and their crazy lives as things get going.
My trip is still on for California in June, though the week has changed. I think I'll be going a week later and skipping the whole LA Pride thing in the interest of saving a bit more money for...shopping! I'm working on my tan, new profile pics to come, and starting to workout somewhat so I can get my body into beach readiness. There's always the possibility of starting a little summer romance, and why not while I'm out in Cali where the surfer's are plentious. Ashley and I are going to turn LA over with our fun and games.
In the world of knitting, which is why this blog was revived, I've started some new projects and picked up some old ones. My gloves I am redoing. the first was just not quite the way I wanted it, so I'm gonna try again. I've started an antler scarf which I will post pictures of when I get around to it. It's my first go at cables and they really are as easy as everyone told me they would be! I've also started with a group project and worked on some of that last night with my knitting group. We've got some new plans as far in advance as Christmas and are really ready to start whacking away at getting them going. There's a smattering of charity work, some just for fun stuff, and a few group learning projects that a few of the newer knitters are really excited about.
Looking back over this post it is obvious I'm a bit tired. My humor spiked earlier today and now it's on the dl (that's down low for you that don't come from my planet). Well, there was a weak attempt. I'm just gonna close out now. *singing Closing time, time for all the.....* Sigh.
2/25/2008
Morning Awareness
I woke up this morning (2am to be precise) with this strange feeling deep inside. It wasn't a feeling of love or passion, I really have not cause for that at the moment, it wasn't fear of someone coming to get me in the night, I don't scare that easily, and it wasn't a vision of a god or some angel come to relay some insight from the universe either. No, it was a burning, dread-inducing, shockwave of last night's dinner ready to escape from my stomach. Apparently it wasn't happy with it's new home. Not my fault, I didn't do the decorating.
I'm feeling better (yeah right) now, but there is still that lingering feeling and I've had nothing solid to eat yet today. No, instead I've been dreaming of all the stuff I haven't blogged about in a while.
One, I still have no working camera. So, sorry people, no pictures. Sad sad sad.
I've started a couple new projects, and done a recount of my yarn stash. I can't believe how much random fiber I have sitting in a box at my apartment. Unreal! I've started many projects and just not follwed them through yet. Go freakin' figure. I'm working on a cable scarf (yes, cables!) called the Antler Scarf from Debbie Stoller's Son of Stitch n' Bitch as well as a crocheted cap from the same book. I see myself doing many more projects in the future. Duh.
Aside from project updates, our little group at Barnes (again, what a joke) is doing just great. We now have an average of 18 people who actually show up for this shindig on a weekly basis. We are thus no longer little. No, we are big, dangerous, and loaded! Don't get in our way, please, for your own sake. Lol If you are feelin' in a read-ish mood, go look at our fabulous page. It's had a few updates, though not many.
In my own private life, I've started a new job and finally gotten back on the horse. This customer service thing is perfect for me as I work my ass off all day and then have no desire to go out and do anything except sleep afterward. Perfect. I make money and then can't spend it. My parents would be so proud. Naw, I have a few bills that are eating up my checks for a couple of months, but once those are gone I should be livin' pretty large. All the better to be on the horse. One looks so handsome while astride a big white horse packing some serious coinage that all can't help but marvel and desire him. That's what they told me in the self help book anyway. I thought the fact that it was independently published was odd...
Yes, I'm in a goofy mood. Probably because I'm finally feeling a bit better and it's such a gloriously moody day I can't help but feel darkly happy about everything. One of those days where my twisted mind would laugh were I to get into a car wreck or some other disaster. According to my astrological forecast, I'm supposed to be very predisposed to bitchyness and drama this weekend. I think my Taurus moon will ground most of that, but still, time to be aware. Which is exactly what I wasn't this morning. I did have the strange feeling that today was the day for something significant to happen though. Still nothing. Like I'm missing something...
We'll see what happens.
1/04/2008
Review and Remember- The Long Read
"The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall."
Two thousand and six was a year that could have started off better. While I won't go into messy personal details with you brilliant readers here, I will say that in the upheaval of losing your footing in your home and family environment and having to break away from things you once looked to for comfort and a sense of stability will shake up your year like very little else. What does 2006 have to do with 2007 you ask? It's important to know the downfall before you can appreciate the importance of the rise.
With a posse of good friends around me I made it through the rough times in 2006. I owe a lot to them all. When life took a dramatic turn with moving out, I had friends to stay with and friends to support me. When I came out that summer, I lost the closeness of a best friend but also gained a deeper level of friendship with another. With job after job I built an ever-expanding group of friends around me and found the kind of love I was missing in previous relationships. When I was alone for the holidays because of a bizarre turn of events, I had a best friend there to drag me over and keep me company through a rough holiday. With the start of 2007, I had to surrender that friend to California, and with the start of 2008, I will surrender another one to that state. Friends have been the base I have built from in 2007.
At the start of 2007 I made the decision to get on with my life and to make a big change- I moved to Denver, CO. With no steady job for the first four months I made it by, again with the help of friends. With the start of the year mostly past I finally came out to the rest of my family and worked at getting it firmly behind me. I moved on. While parts of those first six months were lonely and depressing, the summer brought the change I needed. With a job securely under my arm and a coffee-driven social life I got my first real apartment and celebrated my 22nd birthday. Colorado just kept on getting better.
With the looming date of the release of the Deathly Hallows on us in July I started my newest and most engrossing hobby. A few tips and multiple redoes I started knitting a Harry Potter-themed scarf for the big night. I never did wear it that night, but I did continue knitting. Since then I've started I don't know how many projects and increased my stash. I've learned new techniques and bought an ungodly amount of books. I've also started a group at the former job spot, Barnes and Noble, devoted to knitting that just keeps growing and getting more fun. I think it's safe to say that this will be one part of 2007 I will carry with me for a while into the future.
Now I have to say that other than the knitting group and my semi-social life during the Fall months and going into Winter I didn't do much. It was the rest I needed for sure. I did find time to take up poker, take a deeper interest in my spiritual side, start consulting online with my own tarot business, visit a couple new clubs, read a couple books, and start up my old romance with blogging again. Nothing world-changing, but there is hope for this new year.
My 2008 ended with a Christmas with friends and a slamming party on New Year's Eve. Quite a way to go! Now it's time to turn my attentions to all the big plans for the next 365 days.
Some of my big ambitions for the current year are to develop a sense of the issues I will be voting on with the presidential election and also to get a hold on my local government to keep on top of things that are important to me.
Also to get involved with work in Africa, a subject that was jogged into curiosity by a random acquaintance at my favorite bar, JR's. There are a lot of areas that need attention and as an American, I am excited at the opportunity to share what I can with another person or group of people who may not have everything that I do. It's something I will devote more time to this year.
Weight loss is one that always ends up on my beginning of the year list every year it seems for the last three. I have somewhat of an idea of how much I need to lose but I will make like my mother and never actually step on a scale. No, instead, I will be checking myself out in the mirror every morning and comparing it to my "before" picture until I look like I want to. That's when the "after" picture will be taken and progress will continue from there. What's my goal? One hundred and eighty pounds, all muscle, and the confidence to hang out at the pool shirtless and not be self-conscious. What a good friend of mine always called the LGN diet- Look Good Naked diet. This will be accomplished by a mix of healthy eating, dancing, weightlifting, and good 'ol positive thinking. We may throw some Bikram yoga in there too.
Travel will make a come back this year with a trip in the summer to California for Gay Pride in one of three cities- San Francisco, LA, or San Diego. The end destination will be decided the closer we get to making the trip. The year will also top off with a much needed trip to NYC with my best friend after she returns from studying abroad in Europe. The details on that trip are a bit more vague. All we know now is it's on!
With a new computer in hand I plan to snag myself a free lance career in the Graphic Design business. I've taken a huge break for the last year and a half since losing my baby to an overused graphics card. With the mind (hard drive) of my former love installed into the body of a stunning new beauty, I will be a happy man ready to take on the world. Yes, I have a love affair with technology. Bite me!
So you can see it's a big year ahead with an okay year behind and hell of a lot of potential on the plate. The mindset now is to seize the moment and so the day. It's all in your positive spin on thoughts through the day. The time to live is now. Don't hold back while you wait for your dreams to happen, reserving energy given to you now for this minute for some day in the future. Let it out and let it go. Celebrate life like only you know how. Embrace love, and love will explode out of you into the lives of those around you. Make each friendship a jewel you polish daily until those you love shine as bright as the stars in your eyes. Embrace who you are and you will embrace diversity in others. Stoke the fire of passion in your soul and you will birth a beautiful frenzy of creativity.
Slap me 'cus I've gone wild!!! Lol.
With that, I move on to the New Year. Good luck to all of you.
12/21/2007
Getting Political off the Brain
12/20/2007
The Nobodies!
12/17/2007
Other than that, I am still working on my argyle scarf in black and green that I, again, still do not have pictures of. It's slow in coming but looks so amazing. Not as forgiving for mistakes though. I had to rip out two rows to redo the third row because I messed the purling and stitching sequence up. Looked like crap!
In other news, we have had quite a bit of snow in the last week and the landscape is amazing. We may have snow for Christmas! Forget the fact that I won't be sticking with my original plans (job hunting, grrrr) and will be pushing back my trip up to Cheyenne, and this year might actually be better than last year. I keep searching for the mystical Christmas cheer that seems to be a bit more elusive this year. Ah, tumultuous life. Now before I get dramatic...
The knitting group is continuing splendidly! We have new peeps and have now hit a high of 9 regulars. Well, that's if you count that bitchy little group The Nobodies who won't let it drop that I mentioned that "nobody had come to knitting group" while putting it in the contexed that we were the somebodies and I was speaking from a group perspective. Sigh, women. I'm probably shooting myself in the foot with that since all my known readers are women, but that's the beautiful thing about daringly going where women assume no man would ever go. Haaaaa! I have balls! Lol
We had a party at Val's house last week that, oddly enough, turned into a knitting group party since our other friends never showed. It was a simple party, just a bunch of nuts hanging around in the same bowl for the evening. We potlucked and then sat around chatting on into the evening. Like most hardcore knitters, we pulled out the knitting that everyone inevitably has on hand and continued our coffee and cookies in the living room. Below is a montage of our candidly snapped pictures. Lookin' forward to the next ho-down!
I'll just quit now while I'm ahead.
12/01/2007
Bustin' in a Movie Groove!
The Golden Compass is out in a week! Here is one fan that cannot wait! I was in such a nerdy mood I went and found out who was chosen as my daemon in the parallel universe of the Golden Compass. Her name is Athenestia. You can see her personal webspace here.
I include her portrait link here so you all can take a quick click and help decide which form she will take on permanently. Right now, she is a biased form of how I view myself and cannot take mature form until she understands how the rest of the world views me. So play along with my little fantasy and give a quick looksee at the survey and we'll see what she turns into.
11/21/2007
Winter Kiss
The snow fell tonight all quiet and soft, covering the last few leaves that have fallen in the last week. I stepped outside to enjoy the peacefulness and feel the calm night air. Bit crisp, but that is what you would call the kiss of the Snow Queen. Icy and bright, it stirs up the sensation of being really alive, aware of your surroundings and open to the calming message of the nighttime.
I'll sleep well tonight. Tomorrow the mantle of pure whiteness will probably melt away back into the green carpet of grass that is still hanging on in spite of it being the middle of November. There is something so very magical about waking up to a white world with a cup of hot chocolate in hand and some quiet classical music playing beside the fireplace.
Enjoy it while you can. That fragile, crystaline creation is fleeting as a dream.
11/19/2007
The Quickie
Couple of weeks ago we had Maggie Sefton down from Ft. Collins for a quiet... uhhh, not that quiet... night of knitting and chatting about life and books. She spilled the good news on new books, publishers, and her own LYS. We've decided, after a generous invitation, to take a field trip up to see our favorite author in her natural setting. The date for that is not set yet, but it will be sometime after the first of next year. I'll be raving about that again in the future, just you wait!
Knitting Knuts! With the ever expanding size of our knitting group, we've decided it would be a grand plan to start our own knitting blog with multiple authors in order to showcase events, current reads, and other big news bytes everyone should know about. There will also be plenty of room for random knitting rants and humor to spice it up. You can see the starter page for our new blog here. Knitting Knuts is the current working title. There will also eventually be an email list to join.
And that wraps most of this entry up. I'm working on incorporating an mp3 widget into the sidebar for some entertaining music for you all to listen to while perusing the archives. I'm all about the entertainment of my readers. Hopefully that is why you all keep coming back to read. Lol. Don't make me have to result to "naughty" tactics. I may just be desperate enough.
'Til next time then.
11/02/2007
Halloween Come and Gone
Tomorrow, or later today, I plan on having some pictures up of Halloween and the finished scarf. Til then.
10/27/2007
Racing to Finish
We had our first snow a week ago, and it's been quite pleasant since. No telling when the weather will drop kick us back into Old Man Winter's grubby fist. One must be prepared though, for anything. So I am going to finish my scarf by Halloween, the gloves (which have two more fingers done! yay) by the first week in November, and the hat to complement my scarf somewherer close to the other two. Quite an excellent goal setting agenda, eh? Yeah, go rag on your own UFO's, punk!
I shall post next on Halloween. Yes, Halloween! It may be my favorite holiday and the start of the new Celtic year, but I shall post my heart out to celebrate. See you all then.
10/19/2007
I Am The Dark Knight, Totally!
Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You scored as Batman, the Dark Knight As the Dark Knight of Gotham, Batman is a vigilante who deals out his own brand of justice to the criminals and corrupt of the city. He follows his own code and is often misunderstood. He has few friends or allies, but finds comfort in his cause.
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10/18/2007
And He Emerges
10/03/2007
A Shift and The Witches' Ball
Let's get the fashion show going! Bernadette finished her fluffy white scarf, her first, and put on a small one-chair fashion show for us. Hott!
Some of the girls did some hand spinning...
Some worked on projects for others...
A couple took it easy...
And some modeled their goods. Minds out of the gutter!! Now!
We also got visited by my sista! Well, my adopted sister, but who cares, really? Anna is in the midst of a crochet project. 'T will look tre fab when finished.
Up and coming so very soon is the Witches' Ball. A night of dancing, magick, celebration, and costumes galore! All the details for the ball can be found here. I plan on attending this year, my first, with the lovely Anna. (Details for a costume are developing in my head as we speak) There will be vendors, belly dancers, costume contests, tarot readings, the works! Everyone is invited. All the details you need to know up front are as follows:
When- Saturday, October 27th, 2007, from 7 pm until midnight
Where- Highlands Masonic Center, 3550 Federal Boulevard Denver, CO (at 35th and Federal - West Entrance)
Tickets- Adults $13, Couples $25, Children 6 to 12 $6, Children under 6 are free.
Wear your finest costumery!
(costumes optional)
Presented by Living Goddess LLC
Tickets can be gathered at the local metaphysical stores in Denver. A full list is given on LG's page.
10/01/2007
9/19/2007
9/18/2007
Images of a Party
Our first official night went off fabulously, all. It was a night of The Faithful with the great addition of Sheila from the bookfloor working on her snazzy sock creation. Pray, I am short on time today, so I shall leave you with a fleeting view of such revelry you shall long for such wondrous good times.
It began with a fierce round of Magic: The Gathering in which Jan was beaten (but you didn't hear this from me, he he he) by Ryan, and then moved on to conquer me with her brilliant artifact deck. Which worked, by the way. I learned a few things, yes I did. In the backround was Valerie, knitting her beautiful wrap and secretly planning her strategy for our match next Monday, goblins and wizards. Hmmmm...
Then we all got back down to the business of knitting our separate projects. The table was soon cluttered with pumpkin spice mochas, mango tea, scones, straight up coffee, yarn of every color and style, books we couldn't help but devour with our eyes, and all the chatter that comes with knitting fiends and their conclaves. It was our first Third Monday, and next week will be our Off Monday. See everyone there. Bring your knitting, your books, and most importantly your stories of your crazy week.
Cheerio.
9/15/2007
Great Tidings of Increased Blogging
As for the Halloween extravaganza, I have big plans for an industrial vampyre costume. Similar to Lestat's (left) look in Queen of the Damned. Well, plus a shirt. I'm not that sexy... yet. I need money for the not-so-expensive fangs I'm buying from Vampfangs, and some chunky silver jewlrey I need for my fingers and ear along with the cross I want for my neck. I think I'll get that from Hot Topic or some other gothic site, or, even better, some little out-of-the-way shop. And that whole cross-of-burning-holy-death thing is such a fable! Well, the whole vamp thing is a fable, but the cross thing has no metaphysical basis. Makes a good story though. I'll get into that the closer we get to Halloween and I start exploring the different folklore and fantasy around my favorite holiday. But the clothes I plan on raiding from the local thrift store since goth/industrial are so damn expensive anymore! Damn goth wannabes! You're not goth, you're just emo with a goth fetish! Arrgh! Okay, I'm done. To each their own.Yay, Halloween!