Pictures of crocheted things, although I used UT Laura's cheap-o digital camera, which is not of the highest quality. Plus, I suck at taking pictures a lot much.

First up is the first actual thing I ever made besides cell phone covers and little things like that. A big afghan. I spread it out over my full size bed so you can see how big it is.



The corner is folded over so you can see (kinda) how it matches the bed cover, but also because since this is the first thing I did, I was learning how to crochet while I was making it, so it ended up being wider at the bottom. And I did not feel like ripping out a couple months work so it could be even.



A detail of the border, which turned out very pretty. I'm going to make a version of this for UT Laura, with shades of green.

Next, the octopus:



Y hello thar! I thought about crocheting him a tiny eye patch, but didn't feel like buying a skein of black just for that. But just so you know, in my head, he's a pirate octopus.



Or...a sextopus, since I got tired of making legs.



The next blanket I'm working on, a granny square afghan, which will eventually be 48 of those squares in a checkerboard pattern. It was hard to get the colors right, so it's a dark and light green.

After months of not being interested in making icons, I've made six in the past couple of days, which is kind of exciting. I find that when every day is an endless cycle of reading, grading and writing, it's very nice to think about something using different parts of the brain. It keeps me fresh, because one has the tendency to start getting fuzzy, I think. This is also why I decided to learn how to crochet, to have something else to do; speaking of which, I need to remember to take pictures of my first completed projects.

I ended up really happy with the Anderson icon. I was trying to get a kind of vintage look, something about the coloring of the original photo, I don't know. It's not often that I actually am able to achieve what I intended to begin with, so all around Photoshop was a satisfying experience today.

Laura has links posted to "modules" from a show called Look Around You. I can't recommend them enough. I laughed so hard I honest to God got lightheaded. And have spent the rest of the night saying, "What ARE birds?" and "How tall is Imhotep?" Which, after you go watch these, you will completely understand, and laugh at. Exceedingly.

Jesus. My throat STILL hurts. Bless you ants. Blants.

I am now on my third attempt to...procure a copy of The Queen. The first time, the audio was badly out of sync, the second time, it was dubbed in French. Hopefully this one works!

I made the mistake, after seeing the story tonight that Jeffrey Dahmer might have been involved in Adam Walsh's death, of reading all about Jeffrey Dahmer. Brrr. I wish I had more locks on my bedroom door! Although I do find it interesting that there are still serial killers working today, but it's just not publicized like it used to be, that "boom" of the 70s and 80s. I don't know if we just don't find it sensational anymore, or what. Not that I want them to publicize them, per se, just that I wonder why the press doesn't anymore. I would have looked up stuff on the Zodiac killer tonight, because I saw the first TV commercial for that tonight, but I got sleepy. :(

FINALLY caught up with 24. It only took a month. It makes me sad that I start every episode scanning the credits for Glenn Morshower's name, and am profoundly disappointed when he doesn't show up. Boo, 24.

Heh, every time I get online, I go to Laura's blog to giggle at her "epiphery" icon. I love many things about the Office, but one of my most favoritest is Michael not knowing how to say words, or even knowing what they mean, but just charging on anyway.

Instructor surveys finally came out from last fall. (Two people thought Polish professor's class was excellent? Seriously?) I am now going to copy/paste the four comments I got, because they make me happy. (There are only four, because now they do them online instead of in class, so most kids probably don't bother anymore.)

• Shannon was extremely helpful and available when we needed her to be.
• You were awesome. Loved the workshop environment.
• Really good. She was very helpful, often going above and beyond.
• Shannon was an excellent TA. She really had an interest in my writing and wanted me to do better. I felt that she was very knowledgeable on the subject and I hope that she may be able to help me and my writing even after the class is over.

It is to be warm inside. I mean, I felt last semester I'd had a good rapport with my students, but it's nice to see it in text-form. I have two students who are still emailing me this semester with questions, which is cool. Honestly, I really enjoy teaching, and being able to teach screenwriting at a university level would be something I actually wouldn't mind falling back on. Not that I'm not going to go out there and try to be a writer for reals, but it's good to know there's this also available.