The Tastiness of Food is Directly Proportional to the Amount of Frying it Receives

because I get angry at knitting forums

A says: I can't learn charts! I'm a written directions person, not a map person! Don't you know that there are different kinds of learners? I can't do it. That's it.

B says: Charts are easy! You just haven't tried. Once you do, you'll realize that they're easier and better.

to A: Charts are a language, just like the one you're typing in right now. If you can learn to read, you can learn to read a chart. You've learned that the combination of shapes that looks like "jump" means to push off the ground with your legs. That means you can learn that the combination of shapes that looks like "/0" means to yarn-over and then knit two together. "Hard" and "impossible" are NOT the same thing.

to B: "Easy" is never an absolute, inherent, quality of something. YOU find it easy. That's nice for you. But it is incredibly ignorant and condescending to assume that anyone who finds reading charts difficult is "just not trying." Just because someone CAN do something doesn't mean they will ever find it easy, fun, or practical.

three

This one only sort of counts, because 1) he "saved" me and let me know, and 2) he's in an LTR already

You know what?

I am smart. I am nice. I am talented and skilled (not the same thing). I have a good smile, and I smile a lot. I'm an awesome kisser. I have references. I have sexy legs. I am fair. I am open-minded. I am thoughtful. I set long-term goals and achieve them. I make spontaneous decisions and enjoy them. I've visited twelve countries on two continents outside of the US, and 22 States, not counting the ones I just drove through (New Jersey, I'm looking at you!) I saw Gladiator in the theater, in Rome. I've packed up and moved, by myself, 2700 miles away, and made friends when I got there. I've never lived anywhere twice. I've been published in a highly respected journal, I've gotten first place in a national photography contest. I'm on jstor. I have two master's degrees (okay, that's kind of a technicality) and a job in my field. I am easy to please and hard to offend. I've eaten weird things. I've had weird jobs. I have stood in front of hundreds of people and showed them the things I hated most about myself. I am eccentric. I am unusual. I can make people laugh. I have a great speaking voice. I am a deconstructionist, a post-post-modernist, and a sex-positive feminist. I'm good with my hands. I'm older than I look. And I'm happy.




New Year's Eve, 2011

worth trying

One more before bed

And what else am I going to do with the new year?

Happy New Year

So on Monday, Fenna calls me during pub knit (yes, pub knit!) and says "it's really too bad that you can't come swing dancing in Cinncinati with me on New Year's." And I say "that's really too bad, it would be perfect."

On Tuesday, I borrowed her tattoo money (plus $100 in cash from her mother) so I could get a plane ticket.

On Thursday, I was in Akron.

On Friday, I was in Akron, then in Columbus, then in Cinncinati, and I was dancing to the song I always love dancing to (L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole), and then I was dancing to the song I'd always wanted to try (Bad Things, by Jace Everett). I got to be the crazy girl from Iowa with an awesome story, and a kiss and a drink at midnight.

On Saturday I was in Dayton, and then every country road between Dayton and Akron.

On Sunday I was in Cleaveland, and then I was home.