do you ever get the experience of 'cacheing' your thoughts in terms of blog postings? ever since tuesday i've been in the mode of 'yeah, there's something i really want to write about today' but then putting it off longer and longer until it's barely blog-worthy. :) but so it goes, and i naturally combat the circumstance by doing a spectacle well-known around here.

the blitzblog reigns anew!

congrats to aaron!

my labmate was accepted this week as a ph.d. candidate in smg. yay! a lot of other people also heard good news acceptances. the media lab will once again be crawling with fresh, new, brains...

the hopper collection at the huntington theatre.




the office of the arts at mit always has a ton of freebie tickets to students, especially for music concerts by the boston modern orchestra project and collage new music, and usually i dont attend many theatrical productions, but these tickets became available and thought it might be a fun tuesday evening diversion.

in my blitz i'll just say that the production was great, the theatre is most charming, and the seats go from empty to teeming in the span of an unbelievable 30 seconds before the start of the play. lots of older folks. i guess that's your target demographic when balcony seats (for a one-act play that's 90 minutes with a cast of a talented four) are ticketed at $41. eep! but the main actress in the play does the psychotic-philantropistwife-obsessive role quite well. plus, her wardrobe rocked. props to the costume designer... the dresses are very diane von furstenberg...

hair news




yesterday i got my bi-monthly usual at my main-stay, le gala hair group, 78 essex street, in boston chinatown, with stylist sam. i recommend this place to all my friends, asian or not. :) i've frequented this place for years, with many reasons, including (a) complimentary beverages (including hot tea!), (b) the double-wash (they shampoo your hair, cut, and then rinse your hair again to get all the loose bits out), (c) the proliferation of flat-screen LCD televisions broadcasting chinese pop music videos, (d) a comfy environment with italian furniture and track lights galore, and (e) the kicker: INSANE SCALP MASSAGES. i kid you not, and it's not a separate service. when you go in for a haircut, they take you to the shampooing area, where they do the normal sudsing up, but then proceed to rock out on your scalp with their fingers in a rhythmic, soothing, stimulating procedure that goes on seemingly forever until you're sad to feel it come to an end. it's an incredible nicety, one that brings me back loyally.

a couple things that weren't part of the usual yesterday. for one, i opted to get highlights in a violet-dark-red. the last time i got my hair coloured in the salon years ago, it was kind of a angry-at-bf-so-taking-it-out-on-my-hair kind of thing, which is a good occasion as any. but for this time, it was just a spontaneous splurge. also, i missed the c-pop music! all the sleek sexy televisions were tuned to cnn, and it reminded me once again how completely irritating mainstream television news coverage is. especially on a 24/7 network where they recycle the same stupid four sensationalistic stories round and round the clock ("the story: business meetings... in strip clubs? if you're out there watching, email us to tell us what you think!"). i thought it was unbelievable that the stylists wouldnt go absolutely batty, but then again, they probably can tune out english pretty well. (sam, who's from hongkong, attempted but couldn't comprehend when i asked jokingly, 'where did the pop music go?" he repeated lightly, 'pop. music. popmusic. sorry, i dont understand.' and then proceeded to work magic on my mop. hair is our universal language.)

so above you have the before and after photos. whats the verdict?

hot lys action

since i was already in downtown crossing area, i stopped by windsor button (i wrote a post on it earlier this week, per the dailycandy mention) to pick up stuff for the last package for my secret pal. i got her a bunch of plymouth dreambaby to make the hello kitty (in last post), some absolutely dreeeeaaamy misti cotton (pima cotton + silk) in her signature colour lavender, a fun assortment of buttons for all types of crafty projects, a bonne bell lipgloss in cookie dough flavour (even i was tempted to get one myself), and a cadbury creme caramel egg, because the creme can always use more caramel. hope she likes it!



and yes, here are some gratuitous pictures of the yarn at windsor button. this is only but a teensy tiny glimpse at the selection. love the malibrigo (though everytime i go it seems like it's being restocked constantly), and i also drool over (not pictured) the steadfast fibers "wonderful wool" and the interlacements handpaints. there was also some yarn near the front counter, a humongous $35 hank of 850 yds of colour-saturated handdyed superwash merino. i thought the label was called 'color and weave' but i think i'm mistaken since i cant find info about it anywhere. (like, thanks, google!) i'll have to double-check. anyone know what i'm talking about? the thing is hard to miss.

the creature from the handspun lagoon




homage to flickerminick.

yarn: stoneleafmoon, kitty colourway, about 60 yds
needles: 6
pattern: my own; the tentacles adapted from tendrils here
verdict: soft, cute, and creepy. just as i like 'em.

i have a choice of adding more tentacles, or making a teeny tiny cousin of this one. decisions, decisions.

thy name is alpaca

i received the skeins of domestic alpaca from my mommy (who is eating well in taiwan right now!) i am the proud owner of five 3oz paca pouches. the name's a little, um, strange but i can see the idea of these as perfect sizes for carry-along projects. pictures are pending, but they're all a light toasted brown colour (perfect au naturale or for more dyeing experiments), and roughly fingering weight. the ones i have spun by mini-mills in the US (though i've contacted the producers and seems as though they're looking into commercial mills right now).

now, what do i do with this awesome 1000+ yds of domestic alpaca that's fallen in my possession? any project ideas (which i can always ruminate for commencing in the future) would be most welcome! i'm always at a loss when it comes to finer-than-worsted yarn. :) a lace shawl seems the most natural consideration, but i'm not a shawl-y kind of person. i could probably bend the rules for ene's scarf from scarf style, and ever-cute eunny somehow transforms lacy shawls into something fashionable (or dare i say, modern!). it's kind of nuts, but she does. [i can hardly believe it coming from me, either.] doing socks are also a consideration, but i dont want to overdo it on the feet, and i'd have to worry about reinforcing the alpaca on cuffs, heels, and toes. making gloves would be a very practical project, because even though i currently have a cashmere pair that were a gift from scotland, they are inarguably too big. however, i haven't found a glove pattern that i've fallen in love with yet.

project of the moment

march 24 deadline for proposals to the [the next idea] prix at ars electronica. heehe, that's today! on the agenda: think, synethesize, develop, and propose within the next several hours. more details on this to come!

p.s. i got a mini-lesson on dialectics today, courtesy of hugo with a demonstration involving silkscreened t-shirts and a rolling office chair. good luck pumping out the thesis!