Long absence = Long post

I have been operating under the delusion that since I've been gone a long time, I need to write a long blog post to tell you everything that I've done since last we spoke. And, since I haven't had a nice stretch of time in which to write this long post (or when I did, I was not "inspired"), I haven't written. And the longer the amount of time I've been gone, the longer the post would have to be and so on snowballing into me not posting in over a month. None of us are very happy about this.

Knitting News
Adding to my blogging apathy is my knitting apathy. I just haven't felt like knitting for awhile. So, I haven't. Instead, when I come home from lab, I plop on the couch, turn on the tv and sit staring blankly at the tv screen. Sometimes I think about knitting, but the thinking usually goes something like this: [with regards to a plain stockinette sock] "That just seems too complicated," or [when contemplating getting off the couch to find my knitting] "That seems like far too much effort." Pathetic, but true. So, not much knitting going on.

However, here is what I have on the needles (no pictures because that would involve more energy than I have these days):

Sockapalooza 4 sock: Knit in Panda cotton in the Fruit Salad colorway; pattern--Chevron from Sensational Knitted Socks. I have got to get cracking on these because I'm supposed to mail them out the first week of August!! So far, I have the toe and half the foot of one of them done. I'm knitting them toe-up because I was planning on knitting the leg until the yarn ran out, but I think what I'm going to do is start the second sock when I have the foot of the first sock done and then knit both legs at the same time until I run out of time.

Afghan square: Rebuilding Greensburg project (button in sidebar). I've gotten one done and I'm over halfway done with a second one. I should be able to cruise through these, but... (see apathy).

Mystery Stole 3: Technically this isn't on the needles. This is actually still in the shopping bag with various bits all over the apt. I'm not sure why I decided to join this, all things considered, but it sounded really cool and fun. Although I may or may not start it before the knitalong is over, and the newsgroup has far too many posts for me to keep up with.

Non-knitting News
I'm still in lab. Still in Chicago. Still no PhD. Please do not ask again. *sigh* I know people mean well, and they are just trying to show that they are interested in my life, but I thought I would be done several months ago and every time somebody asks when I'm going to finish, I am reminded that I am here way longer than I wanted to be. For me, it's the equivalent of asking, "So, when are you going to get that grotesque, horribly disfiguring birthmark removed from your face?" Or possibly, "So, when are you going to start that diet?" Anyway, partly because of this, I tend not to want to be around people much except for my really close friends and my labmates. My brother's wedding is coming up and I'm not looking forward to giving everyone the spiel. Perhaps I should print my answer on business cards and hand them to people when they ask.

John is well. We see each other once a month. That's about all I have to say about that.

My friend from lab, R, has now given me two riding lessons on her horse! I've always wanted to learn to ride a horse and I'll be definitely taking lessons when I get to California, but in the meantime, R is happy to take me out every once in awhile. This last time, I successfully sat a trot (western style) which I have never been able to do before, so that was pretty cool! It takes every bit of my concentration in order to do it and I can barely pay attention to steering when I do it, but hey, I'm a newbie.

Hmmm....I guess that's it for now. Hopefully it won't be another month before I post again.