Blah.

It's another dark, rainy, yucky day here in C-town. The perfect kind of day to turn off the computer and take a nap. This has been one heck of a long week -- and, really, I could use a little snooze.

Paul left town for a couple of days on Monday morning. Normally, that means I spend my evenings working a little later than usual and then crashing out in my comfy pants and a sweatshirt in front of a chick flick with a glass of wine and some Minuteman Pizza. Or maybe Chinese from the place on the corner. But not this time. On Monday, I worked right up until I had to head to the store. It was a quiet week -- just me and Miss A -- but we had a lot of fun. After that, I ran straight out to Starbucks, where I had another knitting lesson (more on that later). I got home at 10ish and reheated some leftovers for a late-late dinner while chatting with Paul from his room in Chicago.

Tuesday was the most. Exhausting. Day. Ever. You may think that the life of a film critic is all popcorn and jujubes (and sure, sometimes it is). But try sitting through two long, painfully boring movies in one day. One was at 11 in the morning. I got home at 2, grabbed something to munch on, loaded up on caffeine, and headed out again at 5:30 to do it all over again. Once again, I got home around 10. Paul had just gotten in, so we had a much-needed drink before turning in.

So I took a little time off yesterday to chill with Chandra. We both needed a break -- me because I'd been sitting through bad movies, her because she'd been trapped inside recovering from a cold all week. But then it was back to work, after which I had to meet Paul and his colleague from Kuala Lumpur (one whom I didn't even meet when we were out there) for dinner, after which we had to go home, change, and run out the door to Paul's hockey game (they lost, but Paul scored a goal, so it wasn't all that bad...). We got home after 11.

Tonight, I might actually get to call it a day around 9. And tomorrow is the payoff: more hockey. Paul was sure to get tickets to see the Jackets play his beloved Maple Leafs -- in the Leafs' second-ever game at Nationwide Arena. For the occasion, I finally splurged on a Blue Jackets jersey. Yea Hockey! At least our chances of winning this one are decent -- since the Jackets have actually won *most* of their games so far this season. But you never know... At least one of us will leave the Arena happy tomorrow night, though, so that's nice.

Meanwhile, in knitting news: the Obnoxious Pink Sweater is coming along quite nicely -- though it's really not at a photographing moment right now. I'll be finished with the body soon -- then I'll take a picture. Right now, I'm thinking ahead, trying to decide whether I want to keep the sleeves straight or give them a little bell on the end...

I've also been keeping really busy spreading the knitting love. A couple of weeks ago, a colleague/friend decided that he was going to give the whole knitting thing a shot, after hearing me blab about it for so long -- so we set aside some time last Friday for his first lesson. After I had him working on the knit stitch for a while, I sent him home with some practice yarn and needles to play around with it and mess up as much as he wanted while figuring the whole thing out. Then we made plans to meet up again on Monday. When he arrived at Starbucks, he had three pages of questions written out. Fortunately, I think I was able to give him relatively satisfying answers. He's obviously taking the whole thing very seriously. He decided that he's going to knit, and he's going to knit. I was totally impressed. Considering I'm used to working with 10-year-old girls, I was totally surprised by his dedication and persistence.

Then the big moment arrived: time to start a real project. We got out some 11s and some super-bulky yarn, and he started on his first scarf. The goal: to knit scarves for his whole family for Christmas. He called all of them last week to ask them what their favorite color is -- and now they're all very suspicious. And I'm very happy to be in on it.

Despite a small glitch on Tuesday (followed by a covert knitting operation out of his trunk after the screening on Tuesday night), he's now on a roll. The last I heard, he was 10" into Scarf #1 -- and everything's finally clicking for him. Yea for New Knitters!

By next summer I guarantee he'll be packing up and heading to the Super Yarn Tent Sale. I can already see that little gleam in his eye. I've got him hooked, gang.

[Insert menacing cackle here]