Reassessing

At the beginning and end of every semester, I tend to reassess my situation. Now is no different. Since I could only get in two classes this semester (thanks to USF canceling several classes that I needed for graduation, but apparently not enough other people did early on in the enrollment last spring), I have a lot of extra time on my hands. I'm trying to figure out how to fill it constructively.

I've ordered several patterns for costumes I need to make: the Georgian Stays and Quilted Pair of Bodies patterns from Mantua Maker, and the chemise pattern from Kannik's Korner. The stays and the chemise are for an historically accurate Colonial/Revolutionary War costume for reenacting events, and the pair of bodies is for the RenFaire. Hopefully, this will just be the tip of the iceberg where costuming and I are concerned.

I've started work on a very interesting knitting project... Well, several, actually... The first is a knitted purse that imitates wool tweed to some extent. It should look very nice once done. I don't know what I'm going to do with it though since I don't use that kind of handbag. Maybe I'll enter it in one of the contests at the State Fair in the spring? The second are several knitted belts that tie at the waist for my mom, upon request. I made up up in about 30 minutes the other night for Andrea's going away present and Mom liked it so much that she asked for several. Then I'm also thinking of making some dishcloths/facecloths. I got some 100% cotton worsted weight yarn the other day in a clearance sale and figured it might be a good idea for using it and a lot of other bits of similar cotton yarn that I have hanging about... Don't know what I'll do with those cloths right now, but I'm sure I'll think of something. I welcome suggestions however...

I'm continuing to work on the aran afghan that I started about a month ago. I have seven squares done and nine more to go. I'm also still working on the lace shrug that I started about two months ago. I really should probably concentrate on finishing that. It's only about another week's worth of work (if that) and then I can block it and it will be done...

(The Fall issue of Knitty has still not been released. I hope everything is going well with that and its delay is not a sign that anything unfortunate has happened.)

I've been looking at the upcoming movie released from now through January 2006. I do this periodically because my friends and I like to go in groups on opening night *a lot* of weekends and I'm the organizer. I've had to revise my list for the Fall/Holiday season because many movies have been moved around several times and some have been delayed as long as three months. "Beowulf & Grendel" has apparently been delayed until at least January. It was supposed to be released in October... ::sighs:: I'm still not sure what to think of "Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride." A new rendition of "Oliver Twist" will be released September 30th, the same day as Viggo Mortensen's film "A History of Violence." "The Legend of Zorro" with Antonio Bandaras will be released October 28th, and "Chicken Little," a very cute-looking animated film, will be released the next weekend on November 4th. "Walk the Line" (the story of the Man in Black himself), "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" and (though notoriously inaccurate) "Pride and Prejudice" will be released on November 18th, posing a problem for our film group as to which we should see first. I think "HP" will win out. "Rent" will be released the following weekend on the 23rd. And December is just chock full of goodies! It's a good think the semester ends early in the month 'cause I think I'm going to want to be living at the theater for most of it. "Aeon Flux," "Memoirs of a Geisha," "Chronicles of Narnia," "Brokeback Mountain," "King Kong" (!) "Fun with Dick and Jane," "The Producers" (remake with Matt Broderick and Nathan Lane), "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" (cause well... Tom Welling's in it...), "Casanova" (Heath Ledger!! In two romantic-type movies in one month! Catch me as I faint!), "Hoodwinked," "CSA" "A Good Woman," and "The Libertine" to name a few are all on the list of stuff we want to see. I don't know how we'll get them all in... Probably won't... Probably we'll have to democratically vote, see what we can or just *have* to and save the rest for the slump that will no doubt happen in January or wait to see them on HBO (since that's what it's for)...

Much to my dismay, not only has "Beowulf..." been moved, but so has the other thing I was looking forward to seeing this Fall, "The New World" with Colin Farrell as John Smith. Say what you will, I think he's a great actor (this is where my dad would point out that I say the same thing about Tony Curtis - seriously, say what you will, I think they are both more than pretty faces). Christian Bale is also in "The New World" as John Rolfe and he's right up their with Johnny Depp in picking great movies (maybe not the most popular or obvious choices, but the film quality tends to be there), so I'm expecting great things here. "The New World" will be released in NYC and LA on December 25th and nationwide on January 13th. Super-bummed at that, since I *was* counting the days til November 9th.

I was reminded today with the cooler morning air that Autumn will be here sooner or later. Probably later... knowing Florida it won't feel like Fall all day long until the first of October (not that I'm complaining... I'm not... much...). So I also need to start planning for preparing the ground for the Spring 2006 garden. I have to put black plastic down to kill the grass and weed roots wherever I can. And I need to get things in place for the installation of the water garden that Joe will be installing as soon as the weather begins to cool in ernest. I also need to find someplace for the three roses I still have in pots 'cause Florida might not freeze often, but when it does the plants suffer all the more because it's a sudden change and not gradual, so the roses will need to be used to their new situation long before that happens. I just can't figure out logical places for them to go! Maybe I'll have to create some logical places... And I have to remember that we have to order the fruit and nut trees we've been planning for in October.

FYI: There are several public lectures this semester that the Anthropology department at USF is doing. At least one of them is something I definitely want to go to. On September 28th (?) at 7pm at the Marshall Center (aka the Student Union), the guy who discovered the "hobbits" in Flores, Indonesia is going to be lecturing about them and how they were discovered. I can't miss that! (Nevermind that I also have to write a paper about it for my archaeology class.)

I think that's it for the moment... I'm sure I'll find even more to keep me busy as the semester progresses, but this is a good starting point.