March 23, 2005

• There are no nice people in this book so far. There are self-centered, whiny fashionistas, self-centered whiny goths, tormented police officers, and madmen. If it doesn't improve, I'll quit reading it before the end. That'll teach it.

  
  

  The boys are out at sleepovers, so my husband and I took the opportunity to enjoy some Thai karaoke. There are two elements to the videos for each song. First, there is a middle-aged woman in a garden, singing and dancing. Sometimes she has a couple of friends with her. They are all smiling cheerily, dressed in traditional clothing except with very short skirts. They have lots of changes of outfit; in each song they are swathed in new rectangles of silk, with lots of very creative jewelry. They dance in the traditional fashion, keeping their feet very close together and turning their bodies from side to side while making hand motions that are supposed to remind us of flowers. And they are surrounded by flowers.

  
  

  Interspersed with these are segments showing miserable young women in Western clothes. They are staring off into the distance. Sometimes they appear to be looking at young men, who may or may not be enjoying themselves, but they are just as often looking at flowers, letters, or TV sets. Without exception, the guys look like chemical engineering majors or computer programmers.

  
  

  I don't understand Thai at all, so I just caught a word here and there -- mostly about tears or disappointment. My husband doesn't like giving continual translations. I asked him about one song, and he said "He doesn't know what he will choose." It can be hard to decide between chemical engineering and computer programming.

  
  

  So are these older women goddesses of the harvest, laughing about the little trials of mortals? Happy moms, chuckling over the fact that youth is not all it's cracked up to be, and encouraging those girls to go outside and get some fresh air? Or are they telling sad stories about the consequences of  wearing Western clothes?

  
  

  LikeWowMom surmised that Hopkins must be almost finished. I went back to see how long Siv's sleeves had taken, and found that it was a span of two weeks. Hopkins has a little colorwork and Siv had cables, so that is probably a pretty good estimate. I may get to wear Hopkins before it actually gets too hot. You may notice that there are no floats on the back of this sleeve. That is because I weave the stitches instead of stranding. I hold the non-working yarn in my left hand, keeping it taut, and the working yarn in my right hand. Then I knit (or purl, as the case may be) to the left of the non-working yarn on one stitch and to the right on the next. No floats.

  
  

  Pokey, Wind Dancer, and the Emo King are arriving today -- but I do not know when. I have choir practice tonight. We are singing with a church in the next county, and going up there to practice. There is a van leaving from the church 15 minutes after I get off work. If I drive directly there from work, I can go with them. So, if the young people are not arriving until after dinner, that is of course what I would want to do. If they are coming early in the day, then I can come home at lunch break and greet them, and make arrangements then for their meal. But if they will be arriving for dinner, then I must skip practice and go home and cook instead. Or I can leave the whole thing to my husband. He is quite a good cook, and he gets home from work a lot earlier than I do. A little exotic food might be just the thing after all those weeks of dorm food. Maybe a trip to the grocery is in order... And, yes, of course my first thought is about feeding them. For guests over 25, your first thought is about entertaining them, but under 25, the main thing is feeding them.

  • 8:15 am
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