My Head Has Other Plans

I was going to post more than this, but all I have right now is:

my head hurts
my head hurts
my head hurts

Mostly Pictures

I have a bit of a headache today, not awful but inhibiting. So this will be more pictures than words.

Fun titles in the used bookstore. Would you prefer The Keeper of the Bees, or Keeper of the Keys?

What about Four Jills in a Jeep?

A movie review in this morning's paper.

"Some language" seems to imply a lot of quiet, right? And what rating does "sequences of intense heartsickness" call for? PG? PG-13? R?

Second sock heel:

In the sun! Hooray for sun.

First peas of the season, ahhh.

From California, and honestly they weren't the best, but a great harbinger.

Finally, what's this?

Front end going this way, back going that way.

It doesn't look comfortable to me, but I'm not a cat. This morning, I didn't have my camera to hand when I saw him washing a back paw, with only his rear end and one paw touching the ground and holding him up. It was a very unlikely looking position, but he has great balance.

Prickly and Soft

What could be more repelling than a rose branch?

You would think it was protecting liquid gold. Ouch!

And soft? Well, the princess, of course. Being disturbed by my mere presence.

And his lordship, soft and fast asleep.

And the pair:

Somewhere in between super-prickly and ultra-soft is my knitting. I've finished five repeats of the lace increase chart, and the wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey nature of the pattern is revealing itself, when properly encouraged (I had to roughly pin it out).

Which I find encouraging. And in this day of no-job-news-at-all, I'll take my encouragement where I can get it.

Updates: Knit and Job Search

Before I get to the knitting and job-searching updates, let me show you the one photo I took outside today. It's raining and not particularly picturesque, but when I saw this sign, I felt I needed to capture the moment.

It's hard to see, but the top portion says Bradlees. According to Wikipedia, Bradlees closed its last store eleven years ago, after declaring bankruptcy in 2000. I remember when there were Bradlees stores around Massachusetts, but I hadn't even heard of Fretter. Again according to Wikipedia, they closed their stores in 1996. The store currently in this plaza was a Target, but the sign is stuck way in the past. So I wondered, have they not updated the sign? Or has there been vandalism? Who would steal a Target sign? Unless the point is to reveal what's underneath. Thoughts?

Anyway, back to the updating. On Monday I interviewed at an agency in Boston, as I mentioned, so that's the less-scary type of interview. It went fine, and there's been no progress yet. Then yesterday, I heard back about the temp position I mentioned week before last. I had kind of given up expecting to, because the agency woman stressed that they were looking for someone right away*, and would I be able to schedule an interview with just a day's notice, and so on, making me think that when I didn't hear anything for over a week, they were passing me by. But no, apparently not, and we set an appointment time for an interview today.
*Not the only thing she had wrong, as it turns out.

Once that was scheduled, I e-mailed the HR woman at the company where I've had 2 phone interviews*, apologized for pushing, and asked if I was still under consideration because I have this other opportunity, etc. She replied right away that I was, and she would check with the director about their next steps.
*Or 2PIC, for short.

Today, I went trotting into Cambridge (thank you, GPS, for helping me after my wrong turns), and made my way to the appointment, which was near the Cambridgeside Galleria (so I parked there, is why I mention it). Since I don't love driving into the city, as I've mentioned recently, and since that part of Cambridge might as well be Boston for driving/commuting purposes, I was very pleased to hear that their office relocation, which the agency had told me would be in a few months, is actually happening sooner than that. The boxes all around the office were a big hint! And in fact, they're looking for someone (some two, actually) to start at the new location, which is appreciably closer to where I live, plus has free parking. Much better!

It is still a temp job, slated to go through September. The work itself sounds fine, proofreading, mostly for formatting, and they promised to keep me busy (to which I gave my standards reply, I'd rather be busy than bored). Being a temp job is a strike against it for me, and the pay isn't great (tho' better than unemployment). Of course, there's always the possibility of getting another position there once this contract is up (and they've had time to see how wonderful I am). The 2PIC job is "permanent" but as I have painful recent experience to illustrate, permanent doesn't mean what it used to. I e-mailed the woman there again, and haven't heard back. And there we stand.

So I'm knitting! The second sock is ready to start the heel flap, and I also started a shawl. Here's a better picture, or rather two, of where I am now with it:

I like the top picture for the color and texture, but the flash one shows the holes a bit better. Blocking this one could be very interesting, I think. The pattern is "Bigger on the inside" from Knitty, and it's a Doctor Who homage (in, of course, Tardis-blue yarn). I'm in the Time Vortex section, which you knit from end to end before picking up stitches and knitting the Tardis* part down. So cool! The yarn I'm using is the Blue Faced Leicester from Blue Moon Fiber Arts that I picked up at Webs in February. I was delighted when I realized that I had this on hand. Such a Tardis-y blue!
*Can you believe that Blogger's spell-check doesn't recognize "Tardis"? Of course, it doesn't recognize "blogger's" as a word, so I suppose I shouldn't expect much.

So far so good, and I will keep on keeping on. While trying not to think about job-search things that are all In Someone Else's Court, or about other life things that are too much to think about, or the weather, which continues cold and rainy even though I put in a specific and pointed request for warm and sunny. Who's in charge of that, anyway?

Pretty Blah Today; Pretty Day Yesterday

Yesterday the temps were in the mid 60s, but felt much nicer because the sun was actually out, which was wonderful! (It had been partly sunny on Sunday, and not at all sunny for days before that.) Looking at the pictures of it today feels a little surreal, since today it is in the 50s, and as it's raining, there is no sun-warming to account for. It's chilly and windy and nasty. I'm also very, very sad today due to something non-bloggable, so the pictures feel even farther away.

Look at the sun!

It was so pretty.

I was looking up, as I tend to do in the city, and noticed something about this building.

What is that in the corner of the center section?

I guess it's some sort of pillar? But I can't make it out exactly.

This, on the other hand, I can make out, but I can't believe. Who buys these things?

Still, cute marketing for a sports store in May:

I started knitting, and haven't much to show for it yet.

More to come!

Today In Brief, Yesterday's Lilacs

I just have to start by saying that I'm sure I've made it clear over the years here how much I love babies. Love them, all babies, the end.

But. Today, with my window open, I'm getting a clear view (audibly speaking) of a crying baby across the street. I can't actually see through the tree, but from the proximity and direction of the sound, it seems that someone is sitting with the crying baby on the porch. Baby cries, soothing voice says, "I know, you're tired!" Repeat. And I'm about an inch away from calling out the window, "Hey, here's an idea! If the baby's tired, maybe she should be taking a nap, like in a crib? Instead of hanging out on the porch crying. JUST A THOUGHT."

I know, it sounds harsh. But damn, a crying baby that I can do nothing about? Nails on a blackboard.

This makes me sound quite cross, and actually I've had a good day, but what's a blog for, if not venting small irritants? (At least with the baby, I feel some sympathy. Little yapping dog that never shuts up? Not so much.)

I spent part of the day in Boston. I got a call last week from an employment agency, and went in to meet with them and talk about me. (Fun, right?) I went in early, had lunch, then since it was a really nice day (best weather in a while), I sat in the sunshine in Post Office Square and people-watched, knitting, until time for the interview. (Some city pictures to come, but they're still in the camera for now.) There was live music playing on the other side of the park, and while I was thinking about my employment history and what I'm looking for, as one will before an interview, I realized they were playing "When You Wish Upon a Star". Pretty perfect! I am wishing and hoping a lot these days. The interview went fine, so we'll see if they come up with anything. I still haven't heard anything further from the two-phone-interview company, which is painful but not necessarily a dead end (yet). Waiting is so hard, though.

Yesterday I visited some friends who live in Jamaica Plain, which for you non-locals is either near Boston or part of it or something I don't understand. What I know is that there is no real direct way to get there from where I live, and it took me years of fumbling and bumbling before I learned the way to get there (I am Not Good at city driving). I should say, I learned *a* way to get there, and unfortunately for me on Red Sox game days, it's through Kenmore Square. I did remember to check before I left yesterday, and since the Sox were in fact playing, I tried to go around without much success. I got to a point where I was no longer sure of the best way on my own and tried the GPS, which first tried to send me along Memorial Drive (which was closed for a charity walk) and second really, really wanted to send me through Kenmore, which no, even I know that's not a good idea. It was annoying. On the way home, I took the twice-as-long-mileage way, out route 9 to 128, which I am perfectly comfortable with and doesn't drive me to the edge of frustration.

The day was worth it, though. A good group of friends, celebrating a birthday, and with a nice walk through the Arnold Arboretum next door, to look at the lilacs. They bloomed early this year, so they're already past peak, but they're beautiful still, and smelled so good! I will leave you with their photos (mostly lilacs, but a few other flowers), and be back tomorrow with city pictures and discussion of a Tardis shawl. Tune in!

Peace, out.