fedora pottle

1. A rather depressing day. I got up early, polished up my Greek before class, was too tired to do well. Skipped Myth to get more Latin prepared, worked for two hours, went to class, it was cancelled. Tried to get a bus pass, my ID wasn't validated yet (this wasn't a problem until just now...). Tried to give blood uptown, but apparently Chiapas is a malaria risk, so I'm not to come back until May. Boo. And I haven't heard from Sue; I'm going to email her tomorrow.

2. A late entry to the awesome blog harvest: Knitnut. I will give any knitblog a perusal because if you have one, you should either be able to write or be able to knit, both of which will keep me coming back, but I have to say I usually have higher expectations if the name makes me smile (the Yarn Harlot? I May Be Knitting A Ranch House?) and in the grand scheme of things, "Knitnut" is not immediately as entertaining as "Yarn Abuse". Imagine my surprise when I laughed out loud (or lol'd, as the kids say these days) several times just reading her first few entries. She writes about other things too, like her cat or her son or the news, and my words fail me, so here's hers:

• "You should put a hat on that baby. This was the single most frequent piece of advice I was given by complete strangers when my son was a baby, and I’m happy to share it with you. I don’t care if there’s a heat wave and people are melting into steaming sticky puddles all over the streets, you should have a hat on that baby. Even if your pediatrician peels 13 layers of clothing off your baby in order to diagnose his prickly heat rash and then submerses him in a vat of cool water to prevent him from spontaneously combusting, you should put a hat on that baby. And strangers always say it that way too: You should put a hat on THAT baby. In case you’re just confused and have been putting all your hats on some other baby."
• On reading in public: "But I have to say it feels a little weird reading those raunchy heroin sex scenes in public, especially when some of my fellow travelers on the #14 seem to be leaning in and reading along. Am I just imagining that? I wonder if they wonder why I’m reading porn on the bus, and what they would think if they knew it was because my cat doesn’t allow me to read it at home. I also wonder if it’s okay to turn the page yet, or if they need another minute to catch up (I always give them the extra minute, don’t you?)."
• On naming pets: "A few years ago I inherited sixteen fish named Katherine."
• If you've just eaten, and/or have never had a baby, do not read about a gross hilarious story about her son as a baby. This seems like the sort of story mothers can relate to, though.

I've continued reading through her archives, and though all the above quotes are from the front page of the blog, trust me, the fun continues even when you go back in time. Her journey towards getting a cat was pretty great; the stages seem to run: "Ha, maybe I should get another cat!", "Maybe I really should get a small cat... or two?", "I think I want to adopt a lion!", and "I have adopted a 26 lb dogcat omg". I feel the pain of her pedestrian woes. I am charmed and beguiled by her random collection of antique photos, and am considering renaming Parallax "Fedora Pottle" after the subject of one such photo (seriously, a little girl named Fedora Pottle!).