Let the games begin!

Well, I've started my program, sort of. We had a pre-seminar around vocabulary for our program tonight, and it was the first we had as a class, so I met the rest of my cohort... here they were, the folks I would be spending the next 14 months+ together with. For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for poorer and, well, that's about it. We are, after all, educators. 

This group of almost 40 edu-geeks was quite mixed. Although I'm not the oldest person in the cohort (I'm assuming this), I'm not the youngest by far, and I'm probably in the older group. There are plenty of dads of younger kids. As far as I could tell, I am the only mom of younger kids (there is another mom in the group, but her kids are teenagers, which, of course, comes with its own issues.) There were some women in there who have partners with children. OK, and why am I focusing in on the women? Because, where I come from (my house, the house I grew up in), mom does most of the housework and childrearing. Sorry, but that's the truth from where I see it. So, I look at these dads in the class and think, "Yu

p, mom's at home watching the kids and when you get home all you'll have to do is... whatever. When I get home, there will be dirty dishes, laundry to be folded, meals to be planned..." (OK, right now, I'm obviously not doing those, but that doesn't mean they're not there. THEY MOST DEFINITELY ARE.) DH has told me to get stuff organized so he can do more. OK, I'll do that. We'll see if they get done. I'll remain positive, I swear.

Other things I noticed/learned:

• my partner and I were the only ones who stuck to the assignment of using "one succinct sentence" to introduce each other 
• I have one thing going for me... I think I live the closest. My intro partner lives 2 freakin' hours away! Sheesh. I am SO LUCKY that this program happens at a major university which is almost right down the street. 
• I am really tired of the word "transparent". The ed-world is using the world "interrogate" in an interesting way- almost as a replacement for the word "ask"... WHAT? I hear the word "interrogate" and think a cop roughing up a perp in a dark, smoky, hot room. Guess I'd better change that. 
• Lots and lots of folks in the performance mode- trying to impress. I kept my mouth shut... didn't have anything to say. There's plenty of time for that later.

Some other biz:

The fantastic combination of fundraising and knitting are coming to a major culmination. I'm going to hold a raffle on Ravelry and, so far, I have the following folks signed on to donate prizes:

• WEBS (a pattern and some Valley Yarns)
• Malabrigo- YES! MMMMMMMMALABRIGO! I've been having an e-mail convo with Tobias and Antonio is my newest friend on Ravelry... dude!
• Cocoknits (a/k/a Julie)- A KNITTER'S BLOCK (OMG- I almost peed my pants when she offered that up last night at the Ivy. OMG, OMG, OMG...)

I've also contacted Lorna's Laces, Jimmy Beans, and Casey and Jess for something from the Rav store (that's a long shot, I know, cuz I know they don't have much stock right now.) I'm planning to contact Jenny Hurth, eat.sleep.knit, and Entrez in Oakland. Thinking of getting a t-shirt from Kingman so that the winner can feel like an honorary Poison Ivy Knitter.

I received a fab Mmmmmalabrigo swap package from Riprap... two beautiful skeins of chunky in Hummingbird...I love them... so much so, I did my best Princess Leia look in appreciation:

Cute, huh? I turned it into my Ravatar (which says "May the Malabrigo be with you." above me) and got SO MANY positive reactions to it, I think I'll keep it for awhile...

I am eagerly awaiting my swap partner's return from vaca. Her package is waiting for her... I created a magic yarn ball... it was a blast putting it together.