Knitting, and Disney, and Pixar, oh my!

And we just ordered the treadmill, so, soon, I’ll be a laze-about no more! We had been looking at getting a treadmill that was only available in Canada through Costco, but we were hesitant about signing up for a membership, basically, for one item. So, we decided to put it off and see if we could get a similar treadmill elsewhere, turns out, we can. Even better, in fact - and cheaper. So, ‘yea, us’.

One last thing - falafel is, apparently, a hummus burger. I can’t friggin’ wait.

Knitting’s going slowly but well. It’s somewhat frustrating that my stubby fingers are, well, stubby and awkward.

My first knit

Amelia’s eye is watering and puffy, but nothing too serious.

Watching more Kaufman films (awesome) and Rifftrax (also awesome).  Specifically, Hil and I have been making our way through the Charlie Kaufman’s movies (the ones he wrote the screenplay for, not just the one he directed).  Hil had seen three, but I hadn’t seen one, so we did them in chronological order.  So far, our considered assessment is that Spike Jones/Jonze/however he feels like spelling it today is the best collaborator.  If you haven’t managed to see Being John Malkovich and Adaptation yet, go do so now.  Tonight we watched Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, which George Clooney directed.  Not my favourite of the lot, but still quite good.  Tomorrow:  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which Hil assures me is amazing.  As for Rifftrax, we picked up the tracks for Spiderman 1-3, and watching them being mocked is extremely cathartic for me, and Hil keeps agreeing with the screen.  “Yes!  That’s the issue I had with this scene too!!”

Lemongrass Pork

Beef Pho

So, we grabbed some lunch, then some books (knitting for men) and a couple DVDs (Disney), and headed home to try out some of the knitting stuff. Mostly a lazy day.

[Girlfriend edit: Lunch was at a sweet little place on Barrington Street in Halifax called Star Anise.  I'd been meaning to check them out for awhile, mostly to see how their pho holds up.  The sign specified Vietnamese food, but it actually had some Thai choices on the menu as well, putting it into direct comparison with Gingergrass Thai and Vietnamese, also on Barrington.  We started out with a really nice chicken satay served on vermicelli with peanut sauce drizzled over it and a nice little salad on the side.  Then Des had the Lemongrass Pork and Vermicelli dish, which came with a delicious pork spring roll and some nice vegetables.  I had the Rare Beef Pho, which came with a little plate with bean sprouts and an very small piece of lime, with hot sauce and tamarind sauce on the table as condiments, so I could spice it to my liking quite nicely.  We finished off by splitting a banana spring roll which was TREMENDOUS.  My personal verdict based on only one experience at Star Anise and one at Gingergrass (but having got the beef pho both times): Star Anise wins for price (on average everything was a couple of bucks cheaper) and spring rolls (Desire's pork spring roll was the best I've ever had). They are currently tied as far as desert goes (fried banana vs. banana spring roll - never make me choose!), and tied also for the pho (I liked that Star Anise brought the plate of sprouts and lime, but I liked the noodles better at Gingergrass), and Gingergrass coming out the winner in terms of ambience (better lighting, no inoffensive bland contemporary music, more attractive decor), presentation (I LOVED Gingergrass' flatware, Star Anise's was unremarkable) and menu choice (though that could be attributed to simply the more fleshed out Thai portion of the menu). In any case, both with be getting repeat visits, but I'll probably choose Gingergrass in the future unless I'm specifically craving spring rolls, or low on cash.

Also, Desire is doing great at knitting!  To keep him company, I'm teaching myself continental style, since I've heard it's a more efficient method that allows for greater speed.  So far, yeah, it does, though it's still a little uncomfortable.  After all I've been knitting American-style (the most common style in Canada) for about fifteen years.  I'm trying to decide whether to make Des a sweater.  Knitter lore says that if I do, we'll break up before I finish it!  Oh no!  But he really needs some sweaters!  The dilemmas!]

Updated the DBAF project page, still waiting on translations for the last couple pages. Sangofe’s Nippon Ijin Taisho fansub is out (check an earlier post for the torrent) and it’s fantastic.

Also, Hillary just taught me to knit in five minutes.

2008-01-02 Amelia

Anyway. Hillary and I are narrowing down our treadmill choices, and it looks like we’re good to go - as long as Costco can supply them (apparently a lot of treadmills aren’t built well enough to run on, and I needs to run; I needs it). And once that expense is out of the way, the next big expenses are computer stuff for me (like a desk and chair, and a monitor that weighs less than forty pounds).

And it looks like Sangofe’s project is about to be released. He’s spearheading a fansub of the Nihon Ijin Taisho animated special. I’m sorry I didn’t have time to help out… since, like, friggin’ September. But, you know, it’s great anyway, and I can still squeeze some Internet Fame out of it. [edit: it's up!]

Hey, this diary thing isn’t so hard. Pffft, if teenage girls can do it, then well, I probably can too.

So, along with taking a picture every day, I’m also writing a a small blog entry.

(2009-01-01) So, as the first entry… eh, not much. Watched Requiem for a Dream. Hillary is improving my film repotroie, though I’d wish it didn’t also make me incredibly depressed.

It snowed today, and I took a picture of it.

New Year's day, new year's snow.

Man, I hope I get better at this.

http://www.cutethingsfallingasleep.org/2008/12/sleepy-cat.html

Heh, first sleepy “cat”.

And as long as I have you all here, does anyone else think it’s weird to have 37 registered users and never have any of them do anything?