I agreed to donate a cake to someone raising funds for lymphoma research--I thought it might go to the highest donor or something like that, but the fund raiser decided to raffle off the cake among the people who gave money this month. When I asked the fund raiser if I should get in touch with the winner to see what kind of cake she wanted she told me that the winner was a breast cancer survivor so I should just make the cake pink and frilly.

I hope the winner likes pink and frilly.

 

 

 

Also: it's crepe myrtle season!

 

 

 

 

 

In honor of Canada Day, show us your favorite Canadian.

Today we had a rainbow:

And cake:

And a frog:

And impending mayhem:

I did see the optomotrist Friday--he said that the double vision thing would go away within six weeks, he'd like to see me in two weeks, and that would be $69, please--no eyepatch yet. Mom didn't think that was quite sufficient, so I have a call in to my regular doctor, and the name of an MD eye doctor to call if needed (not an oculist, but you know, a step up from the glasses guy). Most of the online sources call double vision annoying, which I can testify is true.

Last night I went to see Eddie Izzard, but I don't have any pictures. He wore a charcoal grey tailcoat with a red satin lining (he looked like an officer in the Confederate Army of Ringmasters), a charcoal grey t-shirt, and jeans that were codpiece-making tight (Holly Hunter voice: Dress to the right!). Flat black shoes, no nail polish or obvious makeup, light brown hair and a very neatly trimmed goatee. The set was done up to look like some sort of bible-movie prison, with stark limestone-yellow walls scratched with hashmarks and hieroglyphs, and a small high up window with a ginormous creepy eye peering through, which was funny because he spent a good bit of time explaining that he didn't believe in a bearded patriarchal god, just the power of individuals, and once you got beyond the god-part every major religion boiled down to don't do to others what you don't like having done to you. "Do you like being killed? No? Well, then, there you go."

I like the "do unto others" version better since it implies positive action but "don't do unto others" would be a good place to start. "Don't want your country invaded for oil? There you go." Anyway.

I had to watch him with one eye closed because I'm having some kind of double-vision thing--everything's fine for about five feet and then it looks like I'm seeing through badly-focussed binoculars. From what I've read in wikipedia (yes, I know, not to be trusted as a diagnostic tool) seeing double isn't so bad, blurry's the scary one, and my vision is clear as long as I look through one eye at a time. One of my eyes may have gone lazy (according to wikipedia), and the cure for that is to wear an eyepatch on the stronger eye to whup the weaker one back in shape, so if that's the diagnosis I will be saying Yar! a lot in future. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to see what the deal is.

We started the evening at a Cheesecake Factory at the mall across the street from the theater. I'd never been to one before, and it seemed like one of the nicer restaurants at Disney World (the one where you can meet the Beast and Lumiere on the bench outside at 10 and 2), with marble columns and plasteresque ceilings covered with olde worlde stencilling. The food was good, if priced for special occasions, and of course it's just a speedbump between you and the cheesecake anyway (mine was turtle cheesecake [Homer Simpson noises]).

So the drive down was fine, I went with Amy and K, both of whom can talk long and fast enough to make the cats hide their ears:

The bad part of that is any small noises I might make ("I..." "Um..." "Do you...") get whirled away like leaves in a stream, but the good part is that I can just sit back and watch the landscape roll past out of one eye, then the other eye. We met up with Amy's friend Rob for dinner, though, and that's where the rot sets in, because K flirts like a sledgehammer and never fails to add that she's on anti-psychotic drugs (just save that for the second meeting, that's all I'm saying. Boundries, please, have some.). Rob did ask me about my baking, since Amy has some pictures on her flickr account, and he was very attentive to my description of the strawberry clowns:

This took up 2.5 minutes of the entire dinner and as far as I know was our only direct conversation. After the dinner we had time to go through the mall and K dragged us through half a dozen clothes shops including Lame Bryant for me, thanks, because I really want to be shopping for fat polyester as a group activity, and I have to say, if you're having eye problems, stay out of Victoria's Secret: something about the boudoir lighting made me want to say Ow, with weeping. So while we're in Macy's K whispers to me "Do you like him?" meaning Rob, and I say "yes, he's nice," 'cause he was, and not meaning anything more by it, and she says "Do you want me to talk to him?" and I say "No! This isn't high school!" and I look over my shoulder and there he is, not standing next to me but certainly in less than shouting distance.

Death, please k. Thx.

Rob doesn't go to see Eddie Izzard with us and on the way home K starts chanting "I know someone who likes a boy...I know someone who likes a boy..." while she's lying down in the back seat because of her pinched nerve, and proceeds to pepper Amy with questions about Rob, whom Amy's known since high school (it seems like a Harry Met Sally thing) which certainly makes the trip go faster, or maybe makes Amy drive faster, as they hash him over (my opinion, not that I was asked: he's nice, he's cute, he's ten years younger than me and not inclined to drive to Athens, so it's all moot, really) and I watch the scenery go past out of one eye, then the other eye.

The merch booth at the concert was selling Cake...or Death? mugs, but the line at the end of the show was a mile long and I haven't been able to find them online. K called me this morning to say there were some on cafepress but they're fake, not the same at all.

Eddie Izzard, though, he was great.

Just one, though.

I just finished it tonight.

I finished the toe as I was watching "I Survived a Japanese Game Show", a show that fails to answer the question "Why am I watching this?"

About halfway into the toe I realized that I'd messed up the measurements on the foot, so I knit a small foot on a medium ankle. Still fits, though.

As I was knitting the sock it kept getting downgraded from "garmet" to "Christmas ornament." A little felt holly, some red pompoms, y'know? God bless us every one.

Last night's project:

I was asked to make cupcakes to thank some people who helped with the movie room for parents bringing their kids through orientation. I tried to copy these, from a couple years back:

...but I didn't use the jujyfruits since they cement your teeth together.

Pa Tilling, the Curmudgeon of Tilling, is finished with the antibiotics and is tapering off the steroids, and sounds better when I talk to him on the phone--he had a coughing fit yesterday, though, just enough to make us worry about him going on a trip to Colorado with his railroad buddies today. Nothing like a trip to the top of Pike's Peak to test your lungs!

Tomorrow night: off to see the Izzard!

I'm going with two people who are friends of mine but not neccessarily friends of each other, so that should be interesting.

Look who stopped by my yard for a look and a look and a look (looks like) yesterday:

Taking the link from sKz: it's not that I find the results don't fit, it's just that "dreamy idealist" sounds...undignified. It's  the fluffernutter of personality types.

Dreamy Idealist (DI)

(Just visiting? Take the free test and determine your personality type!)

Dreamy Idealists are very cautious and therefore often appear shy and reserved to others. They share their rich emotional life and their passionate convictions with very few people. But one would be very much mistaken to judge them to be cool and reserved. They have a pronounced inner system of values and clear, honourable principles for which they are willing to sacrifice a great deal. Joan of Arc or Sir Galahad would have been good examples of this personality type. Dreamy Idealists are always at great pains to improve the world. They can be very considerate towards others and do a lot to support them and stand up for them. They are interested in their fellow beings, attentive and generous towards them. Once their enthusiasm for an issue or person is aroused, they can become tireless fighters.

For Dreamy Idealists, practical things are not really so important. They only busy themselves with mundane everyday demands when absolutely necessary. They tend to live according to the motto “the genius controls the chaos” - which is normally the case so that they often have a very successful academic career. They are less interested in details; they prefer to look at something as a whole. This means that they still have a good overview even when things start to become hectic. However, as a result, it can occasionally happen that Dreamy Idealists overlook something important. As they are very peace-loving, they tend not to openly show their dissatisfaction or annoyance but to bottle it up. Assertiveness is not one of their strong points; they hate conflicts and competition. Dreamy Idealists prefer to motivate others with their amicable and enthusiastic nature. Whoever has them as superior will never have to complain about not being given enough praise.

As at work, Dreamy Idealists are helpful and loyal friends and partners, persons of integrity. Obligations are absolutely sacred to them. The feelings of others are important to them and they love making other people happy. They are satisfied with just a small circle of friends; their need for social contact is not very marked as they also need a lot of time to themselves. Superfluous small talk is not their thing. If one wishes to be friends with them or have a relationship with them, one would have to share their world of thought and be willing to participate in profound discussions. If you manage that you will be rewarded with an exceptionally intensive, rich partnership. Due to their high demands on themselves and others, this personality type tends however to sometimes overload the relationship with romantic and idealistic ideas to such an extent that the partner feels overtaxed or inferior. Dreamy Idealists do not fall in love head over heels but when they do fall in love they want this to be a great, eternal love.