I really wanted a page-per-day calendar for Christmas for my desk at work. The sad but true fact of office life is that small things can bring great joy...and ripping off a page each morning when I get to work is one of my small things.Last year I had a page-per-day calendar about mothers and daughters that my Mum bought for me on sale, I think it was a case of finding the best of what was left in slim pickings rather than some heartfelt gesture meant to indicate the power of our mother-daughter bond... It was good, even though it had a lot of antiquated quotes such as 'No day is so sacred but that the laugh of a child will make it holier still' - Robert G. Ingersoll, it also had some really good ones such as 'Good humour makes all things tolerable' - Henry Ward Beecher, and some funny ones such as 'Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city' - George Burns.
Towards the end of last year I decided I wanted something a bit more 'me' for 2010 so I pro-actively Googled 'Page per day knitting 2010' and found that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee aka The Yarn Harlot, whose blog I really enjoy, had a one. So I told Guy to get it for me for Christmas and he dutifully ordered it from a New Zealand online bookshop as I said he was unlikely to find it in the shops and he didn't want to pay the heinous USD shipping that accompanies Amazon orders. The company emailed him saying that they would have to order the calendar from the US and that it wouldn't arrive before Christmas, which was fine, so I got a little voucher for it on Christmas day along with the two CDs Guy got me - The Best of James Taylor because I'm going to see James Taylor and Carole King live in Auckland in April (so exciting, I LOVE Carole King but I don't really know James Taylor - hence the CD) and Flight of the Conchords latest album I Told You I Was Freaky.
Then a few days ago when I met Hayley at Queensgate I was walking past the calendar stall and I saw it. For 40% off. So I text Guy and said, 'Ummm, wooops. That calendar you got me is at Queensgate at a reduced price. When is mine coming anyway?'. He emailed the online bookshop a while later and got an automated reply telling him that the shop was closed until the 18th of January and would not be sending anything until after that time. He then got an email saying they couldn't tell him when the calendar would arrive as it was still on back order. I do love the invention of online shopping, but at times like these it is a PAIN. So he asked me if he could just cancel the order and if I could go and get the calendar from Queensgate. Not wanting to miss out on what I was SURE was the only copy there which may even have been sold in the 2 days since I had seen it, I HAD to go on the bus straight after work and get it before someone else did...of course when I got there there were about 10 copies that I hadn't seen when walking past on Saturday. Oh well. I finally got my Christmas present. And Guy saved $10.
After my jaunt to Lower Hutt, it was time for Monday night Knitting Circle at the Southern Cross. I have no idea who started this knitting circle/Stitch n Bitch - the Heather mentioned on the Southern Cross website appears to have long since disappeared. I started going along about 4 months or so ago because a friend I met through doing Gender and Women's Studies at Victoria University Facebooked me when I posted a status about knitting and said I should come along. It's a very relaxed affair, there are regulars and semi-regulars and more often than not a newbie or two each week. Everyone is really nice and helpful and there is a strangely large American and Canadian contingent....
Anyway, I made more progress on my hat but I am slow (I like to think I am capable of being faster, I just choose not to be because I am enjoying the process and being very careful) and am still yet to meet the '2 inches from bottom' required before I can start on the stripes. So close though, about 1/2 an inch away I think.
While at the Knitting Circle I got a very exciting text from one of the two friends I have been meeting up with regularly to discuss/share ideas for/make a start on a theatre show we want to devise this year. The text asked if I had checked my emails recently because we had just received one offering us a season at BATS Theatre! We had met with the BATS programme manager before Christmas to pitch our show and hadn't heard back from her, we didn't know whether this was good or bad as she had said she'd get back to us before Christmas but she's a pretty busy lady so we didn't want to bug her about it just yet.
Our season will be from late May to early June, exact dates to be confirmed. It's very exciting but also very, very scary. It means we have to create a show by late May. And it means I will be back on stage instead of directing for the first time in about 2 and a 1/2 years.... Also, we're going to have to work hard on getting arts funding by putting in amazingly unturndownable funding applications or we will be in a bit of trouble.
But mainly exciting!
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