I fart in your general direction

I had a similar experience :P

'Paris Syndrome' strikes Japanese

A message from Zoë

Zoë's daddy being very silly

Craziness

Scientists make water run uphill

UFOs

On the Needles
Well, three and half months post-partum my knitting mojo is returning. Looking around the apartment I realize that it's full of knitting UFOs - un-finished objects. Two years ago I started a lace pattern shrug. The back and left side are complete. I only have the right side and sleeves to finish. Sounds easy, right? But there is one catch; the directions for the right side read "work as opposite of left side." Working in lace! Are you fucking kidding me? I basically need to rewrite the pattern. So much for finishing the shrug anytime soon.

Then there is the scarf I started knitting last fall for my wonderful husband Skip. I love this color - yummy saffron. It's a simple pattern, just double yarn in a garter stitch. I stopped knitting during my first trimester when I was sick all the time. Then when I started feeling better, I picked up the needles holding the baby blanket, which is also a UFO.

Off the Needles
There are so many off the needle projects, I'm embrased to admit to them all. Here are a few: a cashmere hat (with ears) for Zoë, Dr. Seuss' stuffed One Fish Two Fish, a purse, a matching hat, scarf and gloves set with some yarn I got in Iceland, and some many more. I love knitting :)

Awed

It’s been awhile since this blog has been updated, but I’ve been busy having a baby. Isn't she beautiful? Her name is Zoë and she was born on July 3. Something miraculous happened last week. Zoë the person started to emerge from within the baby shell. It started after our morning feeding. While she was looking at me straight in the eyes, I was singing to her that I love her and then gave me a big smile. There’s no way it was gas. She stayed awake more that day. In the afternoon, I put her in the play gym. She looked at herself in the mirror and wiggled with delight. In 10 minutes she managed to scrunch closer to the toy and put it in her mouth. It doesn’t sound like a huge accomplishment to an adult, but it was amazing to watch a 4 week old baby realize her goal.

Save The Net

Bahamas

Skip Noah

My husband had a art reception at Gallery 64 in Brooklyn last night. It was a show with Skip and one other artist. Despite the cold and the rain, there was a pretty good turn out. Afterwards, we had dinner with some friends where Skip showed our friends his best yoga position - the crow pose.

Skip showed about 10 pieces - you can see most of them on his art site. The work will be up until mid-May.

The Art of Conversation

Most of the time I don't know what to say when I meet someone new. It's not that I'm shy; it's just that I don't really care about small talk. It's seems boring. Sometimes I'll drop a comment into the conversation that is just below surface level. Most of the time, it's ignored. The few people who respond usually become a friend. And I have to admit, I've found a lot more people in New York that want to have a conversation that goes deeper than what they watched on TV the night before than anywhere else I've lived.

But it's more than that. What really bothers me is that I don't get to have great conversations with my friends as often as I'd like. All of our schedules are so full that it's lucky if we see each other every few months. There is always so much to do that it seems like we don't have time to talk. Then I pay a professional counselor to listen to the things I don't talk about to my friends. I think even though I have the desire I may not have the skills at the art of conversation. I saw an article on BBC about this topic.

Or it could be that the social pendulum is swinging to the other side. It wasn't long ago that most peoples main form of entertainment was to dine together and talk. European society was founded on these types of interactions. In some ways I envy this lifestyle, but it does have some serious drawbacks. People were born into their place in society and there wasn't much they could do to improve it. And I'm sure the community gossip was like high school but worse.

I think technological advances played a role in this change. I have difficultly comprehending the extent of how technology has changed the way we live, but I feel that it's made a huge difference. We spend most of our time working (or trying to forget about work). Men and women are both pursuing careers of our own making. We have more stuff in our homes than we know what to do with.

For the first time in human society, we are facing new social dilemmas. The most prevalent in my mind is the one I'm facing right now -- how do I balance my career and family? In the past unless a woman was a widow she never had to deal with this issue, and even then it wasn't quite the same situation. I'm not sure how I got off on this tangent, but it feels like the modern issues are somehow related to our new ways of communicating with each other.

24 Week Happiness

I'm 24 weeks now and I'm feeling fine. Today at work 5 people touched my belly. It takes a bit of getting used to. People I don't know are asking me when the baby is due.

For the most part, I'm having an easy pregnancy. I have the common pregnancy-related complaints: fatigue, leg cramps, nosebleeds, sciatica, allergies, muscle pain, "morning" sickness, etc. One day I'll have heartburn. The next day my back will be killing me, but the heartburn will be gone. The symptoms seem to be taking turns. It's really very convenient for them to rotate like this.

I love the way my belly looks right now. This is a picture that was taken last week.

I just started reading a new book about Hume and Rousseau called Rousseau's Dog. Apparently, the two of them were friends and at some point had a falling out (I haven't gotten that far yet). Hume is one of my all time favorite philosophers. I love his writings about causation - it's enough to make your brain ache - so it's interesting to learn about what he was like as a person. Why don't they teach this stuff in school?

I'm not as open to new ideas as I was 10 years ago. I guess that's OK.

Hellllllllllooooooo

I think it's about time I had a blog.
I'm finding watching tv difficult lately. It's not because the shows are awful, which they are, it's the dribble logic that comes from the advertisers. If you don’t buy our product you’ll die. If you don’t watch the local news tonight you’ll die. Then there are the most non sequitur of them all – the car commercials. Do you want more friends? Do you feel sad? Are you a rebel? Then you got to have this car. I think I’m going to start a contest to see what commercial has the most non-logical argument.

In the past week or so I’ve picked up my knitting again. I put it down a few months ago when I had no energy. I’m 4 months pregnant and up until now, I’ve been using every ounce of energy I had to stay awake during the day.

Fav news story of the day: Willie Nelson releases gay cowboy song