Monday, August 04, 2008

New Subtitle

I know! I know! This is supposed to be first and foremost a blog about my knitting. However I have found myself with less and less knitting to blog about and more and more life to blog aobut. That's why the switch around in the subtitle. Now I'm going to have to go change the category I'm in at BlogHer. Hopefully that isn't that difficult.

Meanwhile I'm plotting all the wonderful nefarious deeds I can do and stuff I can buy with my new found fame. I have a new reader! Welcome Pamela. Did you bring any friends? I hope so. If not how do you expect me to become rich and famous like Heather Armstrong? Able to live off my blog and my husbands love. Oh yeah, and my kid and two dogs, which I don't have. And the daily posting. Have to get working on that.

I am going to make you all a promise. I will post everyday before I go to bed. If I don't you can call me and ask me where my post is.

Thursday, July 31, 2008

BlogHer

Blogging from work is never a good thing. I’m supposed to be working right? But I just can’t help it right now. I need to blog. I also need to wait for the drugs to kick in before I try anything more difficult, like vacuuming my studio.

I was reading My Favorite Blog this morning like I always do. I found a link to a new equally cool blog and from there to BlogHer.

I decided to join. Not sure what exactly this will do for me but I’m sure it will be a good thing. Exposure to lots of new blogs and new readers on the way! BlogHer is a great community of female bloggers talking about everything. Gaming, crafts, do it yourself, celebrities, politics, religion, life in general. You name it you’ll find a blog about it there.

While we’re on the subject of blogs about everything under the sun, I realize people have their passions. I still don’t understand the things that some people blog about. I can understand Mommy Blogging. I mean what else would a stay at home mom have to blog about but her child and life around the house? I can understand blogging about politics. Politics are important. You should have an informed opinion about the people that rule your world. I can even understand blogging about an MMORPG. I know some of those players in real life and it consumes them. I have a friend that is playing when he’s at home and on the forums at work. It’s all he does.

What I don’t understand are people that blog about things like celebrities. I mean they’re people just like us. They’re not special. They’re just more famous and most likely have more money. What is the world’s fascination with celebrities and spoiled rotten heiresses? I don’t think I’ll ever understand.

I used to work at the Disneyland Resort as a tour guide. I’ve met some of these “celebrities”. They’re no different from you or me. Except Susan Lucci, she was a bitch from hell. I’ve met Teri Hatcher, and her husband whose name escapes me. I’ve met Stephen Hawking. I’ve met most of the cast of whatever soap opera Susan Lucci is on. They’re all just normal people.

So why, as a society, are we all so interested in what’s going on in their bedrooms, living rooms, and kitchens? Would you like it if there were people going through your trash to see what brand of tampons you use? Or people trying to get peeks in your windows to see if you really eat edamame like you said you did on Oprah? Or following you around trying to get pictures of your baby so the world could see how cute, or ugly, they are? I know that would drive me totally bat shit crazy.

Why can’t we just leave these people alone and let them do their jobs? Like we do with the policemen, the firemen, and shit even the greeters at Wal-Mart. Why are they so special? Just because they can get up in front of a camera and pretend to be someone else? Don’t get me wrong I like TV and Movies. I just don’t think that we should treat the stars of these movies/shows any differently than we do our next door neighbors.

Off my soap box now. This is supposed to be a knitting blog right? So on to my recent knits.

I love knitting and have decided that some of my recent knits should go to some charity. To that end I have decided to donate some of my recent knits to the local MTC, Missionary Training Camp. I am not LDS, never have been, never will be. I don’t believe in proselytization and I know “The Church” doesn’t need any monetary help, I mean how could they when all their members are going to go to hell unless they give 10% of their gross income to “The Church”. However these young men, and very few women, are being sent out into the world. To different cities, sometimes even different countries, to “spread the word” and, although I don’t agree with it, I don’t believe they should be sent without some comforts of home. So some of my hand knit dish cloths and market bags are being given to the MTC for these missionaries to take with them. Perhaps even some scarves or hats for those going to colder climes. If you would like to donate some of your items please send me a message at mtcdonations@yahoo.com and I will tell you where you can drop them off or mail them for delivery to the MTC the next day.

My mother requested I make her some market bags to take to the grocery store. I make them out of Peaches & Crème cotton yarn. They have lots of beautiful colors and, her favorite being emerald green, I figured she’d pick a green one. What does she pick? Not some beautiful shaded green, or green and lavender, or anything even resembling her favorite color in the least. She picks Pink Lemonade! Not so bad on the cone or in a ball. When knit up into a market bag? Hideous! At least it has green in it and she won’t forget them when going to the store.

I haven’t made any progress on my UFO’s this month. I have however added several dishcloths to my collection. I asked someone the other day what they would pay for a hand knit dishcloth and showed them an example and they said anywhere between $5 and $7. So then WHY ARE MY DISHCLOTHS NOT SELLING ON MY ETSY SHOP?! Major suckage. I guess I just have to give it time and advertising.

Speaking of my etsy shop. I’ve had two people mark me as a favorite but not buy anything. Is this something that happens a lot? I mean if you like my stuff enough to mark it as a favorite why not buy something? Just doesn’t make sense to me.

Guess a lot of stuff doesn’t make sense to me today. Maybe it’s all the drugs I took earlier. Who knows? I certainly don’t.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Coolest Link Evah!

So I was looking for knitting blogs the other day and I ran across one that had a link to Wordle. This has got to be the coolest thing evah! I'm even writing in ebonics it's so cool. You have got to check it out. This wordle is of my last blog post.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

101 Things About Me

Some of this information may be may be useless, some of it may be redundant, but that's okay. It's still fun.

  1. I'm the second oldest person in my household and among my siblings.
  2. I'm one of 2 children.
  3. I love to knit.
  4. I love to do martial arts.
  5. I hate to deal with the general public.
  6. I live in Utah.
  7. This is my only blog.
  8. I am a science geek.
  9. I love to read fiction.
  10. My favorite past-time right now is knitting dishcloths. (I'm an addict.)
  11. I dye my hair.
  12. I get acrylic nails.
  13. My favorite color is purple.
  14. I play D&D.
  15. I want to be a veterinarian.
  16. I have too many projects that I'm working on at the moment.
  17. I play Everquest II.
  18. I bruise easily.
  19. I don't think I'm very good at sparring.
  20. I have 4 tattoos.
  21. I have 6 piercings that are not in my ear lobes.
  22. At the time I am writing this I am 29 years old.
  23. I kill plants.
  24. I'm 5'7.5" tall.
  25. I used to be a tour guide at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA.
  26. I was born in La Mirada, CA
  27. I graduated class of 1996.
  28. I'm pagan.
  29. I love Tinkerbell.
  30. I'm going gray.
  31. This list is a lot more difficult to write than you'd think it would be.
  32. I study Shaolin Chuan'Fa.
  33. I teach Shaolin Chuan'Fa
  34. I love dragon flies.
  35. I can memorize patterns after the first time knittd.
  36. My second favorite color is green.
  37. I have one living parent and one living grandparent.
  38. I have a niece.
  39. I used to be a web developer.
  40. I want to learn how to fly.
  41. I want to learn how to ride a motorcycle.
  42. My closest living relative is 90 miles away.
  43. I hate it when people mess with my stuff.
  44. I love twitter.
  45. I only have dial up at my dojo.
  46. My hair is longer now than it has been in 5 years.
  47. I love Indian food.
  48. I have a warped sense of humor.
  49. I like the noise my row counter makes when knitting.
  50. I use knitting as meditation.
  51. I hate cleaning but I do it anyway.
  52. I love my steaks rare and my egg yolks runny.
  53. I have a very strong sense of what's right and what's wrong.
  54. I stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves.
  55. My eyes are green.
  56. My nose turns up at the end.
  57. I don't like making lists.
  58. I love writing articles for Helium.
  59. I can't stand flat keyboards.
  60. Bright light gives me migraines.
  61. I am baffled by teenagers.
  62. I have a cat named Odin.
  63. I am in love with Heather Armstrong.
  64. I currently have just over 20 students and am looking for more.
  65. I love my job.
  66. I am a tiger when sparring and should be more like a crane.
  67. I drink Diet Pepsi.
  68. Most of my clothes are black.
  69. I need to pass my leopard test before I can take my dragon test.
  70. I am under incredible stress at work at home.
  71. I live with 4 ferrets, a cat, and a dog.
  72. None of the above animals are mine.
  73. M roommates never do dishes.
  74. I drive a Saturn.
  75. I have an Etsy shop.
  76. As much as I like to think so my boss is not an ass.
  77. I wrote hits list in notepad and accidentally saved the file as 1001.html not 101.html.
  78. I make lots of typos.
  79. I know how to crochet but don’t like to.
  80. I do counted cross stitch.
  81. I make beaded stitch markers.
  82. I love making fulled bags.
  83. I hate my state bird, the seagull.
  84. I love a man with an accent.
  85. I love the way Peaches & Crème stripes when used to make my market bags.
  86. I have two uncles.
  87. I have two aunts.
  88. I have no idea how many cousins I have.
  89. It takes about 10 hours of knitting to make one market bag.
  90. My office is a sauna in the afternoons and evenings.
  91. I wear glasses.
  92. I despise make up but wear it on a daily basis.
  93. I used to smoke pot but haven’t in 8 years.
  94. I have officially registered for Hat Attack.
  95. I still occasionally do some Cold Fusion Development.
  96. I’m knitting while I write this.
  97. I want to learn Chinese.
  98. I want to get married and have children.
  99. I’m really good with other people’s money but horrible with my own.
  100. I love the scent of Mary Kay’s new formula of Lipstick.
  101. It has taken me 5 months to write this list.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Expected higher viewing volume

So I was finally able to post a comment on my favorite blog today. Because of this I'm expecting higher viewing volume, considering my comment was like 22,000 on the list. She has a huge reader base. I figured I should probably start posting on a more regular basis. Like I haven't said that before.

At the recommendation of my superiors I have decided to no longer post to my other blog about my career as a martial artist. In fact if you try to find it you'll find that it has been removed. I will however still post about my life in general but I'll do it here.

To that end I have finally been given my own studio. I am the chief instructor at my own dojo. That means I get to make all the decisions AND I have to accept all the responsiblity. If something goes wrong it's my fault. Which totally sucks. But right now I'm the only one here so it makes sense. I can't blame it on someone else if there is no one else.

I'm working hard on getting my studio up and running. Always trying to get more students. So if you're in the South Sandy area and are interested in coming in for a lesson please just post a comment and I'll get in touch with you regarding a time.

Now on to the knitting news. I have found the Cloth of the Week yahoo group and have been knitting wash cloths like crazy. I have also been making a slightly modified version of the Everlasting Bagstopper found on Knitty. These bags are awesome. I have put everything in them from an entire crocheted throw blanket to:

  • A powered hand sander
  • A large glass jar
  • 2 1 liter bottles of Diet Pepsi
  • A foot long Blimpie AND
  • A bag of chips


The above list was all at once and there was room to spare. Once I have enough made I'll be listing them for sale on my etsy shop.

I already have some of my dishcloth/scrubbie combos up for sale. I need to get pictures of my stitch markers up so that people can see those and start buying them. I just haven't had the time yet. I'll have to do that tonight. Plus I have quite a few sets that need finishing. I also have dragons that need finishing and posting. I have quite a bit of work to do on my etsy shop.

Since I'm at work, as usual, I'll try to post pics later tonight maybe tomorrow.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Yay for you, fast man.

Oh my gawd! This has got to be the funniest thing I've read in a while. I recently added the fark.com rss feed to my MyYahoo page. I was reading some posts about the new Olympic chant from China. Of course as all forums do the topic got changed to the "inequality" of modern day olympics and how they're not living up to the ideals of the olympics.

So someone asked what this poster would change and this was his response:

"Open it to many different height and weight classes. Open it to lower income athletes who might not be able to afford the training time or equipment to excel. Allow those who right now are shut out of it to be a part of it. Tone down the celebration of these people. They have not cured cancer. All the did was run fast. Yay for you, fast man."

You can find the original discussion here

Just about peed myself after reading that one.

Monday, June 02, 2008

To Frog or Not to Frog

That is the question. I have found a recent article on finishing or frogging UFO's. I have quite a few UFO's in my inventory. Some that need ripping. Some that need finishing. I know for a fact that my mom's socks are on the finish list. I will be adding a page of items that need work or frogging and updating as new items are found.

You can see the link to the list in the upper right hand corner. Wish me luck.

Friday, May 30, 2008

I'm SOOOOOO Excited

I finally have My Etsy Store set up and items listed. Right now just dishcloths. As soon as I can find the button my roommates cat decided to play with I'll have one of my fulled bags up and I'm thinking about listing some of my hand dyed yarn.

What do you think? Should I list it for sale? Would you buy it?

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Second post today

After much deliberation I have decided that this will once again be my life in general blog. I know that my superiors don't believe that I should have a blog as it may HURT MY BUSINESS but I don't really care. It's my life and I can live it how I choose.

If I decide to post on my blog about the crazy sex I had with three guys, two girls, and a sheep last night (didn't happen) then it's my choice. I'm tired of living my life to make other people happy. I'm going to do what I need to do to make myself happy. That means that I get to vent on my blog. It's what keeps me sane. If by some chance a student finds it oh well.

I'm not going to post things about other people in the business however. So if any of you "other people" out there are reading this don't worry I'm not going to share your deep dark secrets.

Some People are Crazy

And I'm not referring to the mom in this story. While I can understand concern about a child being left unatended in a vehicle I have to agree with the mom in this case.

I live in Utah. It snows here. If I were helping my older child donate to a charity, even if it wasn't one I personally supported, and my younger child were sleeping in my warm car I'd leave my younger child sleeping in the car. Even if that meant I was going to be arrested.

Fortunately the prosecutors eventually saw things differently. Charges to be Dropped

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Oh! We're at Arby's?

OMFG that has got to be the funniest, and saddest, thing I've heard in a very long time. I was at Arby's yesterday getting lunch. I had to go inside as I've lost my voice due to an illness. The speaker for the drive through is loud enough that you can hear it no matter where you are in the store.

So, I'm at the counter ordering my food and I hear the beep of someone at the drive through. She starts to order and I'm not really paying attention to what she's saying. Then I hear the man working the window say "We don't have that here ma'am". Then there's a second of silence and I hear "Oh! We're at Arby's?" She didn't even know what restaurant she was at!!

How can you not know where you are? It's not like there aren't enough signs on the way in. She was staring at a drive through menu with all Arby's food on it. Do they have roast beef sandwiches at Burger King now?. How about Market Fresh items at McDonalds? I mean come on people we need to start paying attention to what we're doing in this world or Idiocracy won't just be a movie.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Knitting articles

I've been writing knitting articles on Helium. I've found a few topics that I'm interested in writing about and that I believe I have enough knowledge to actually contribute. I 'm wondering however what other topics you might be interested in reading about.

So fellow knitters. Tell me what you want to know. What topics are you interested in reading about? It can be something as simple as casting on to something as complex as kitchener stitch. What do you want to know. Tell me and I'll try to come up with an article.

Friday, January 25, 2008

I've moved

I have moved to Wordpress. You can find me at http://kitkatsknits.wordpress.com.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

March for Babies

It's that time of year again. I've signed up for the March of Dimes March for Babies. I posted for this last year and didn't make any money for the walk. I'm going to try again this year. You can make donations at http://www.marchforbabies.org/katrinajoy

Please take a few minutes of your time and make a donation. You can donate as little as a dollar. Premature births are an epidemic here in Utah and I'd like to do something to help. You can too.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

New knits

Normally I wouldn't call this knitting but it's a knitted fabric in the end soooooooooo. Joann's had Knifty Knitter kits on sale for $10.00. Three looms, scissors, measuring tape, and the tool to get the loops off all for $10.00. Couldn't resist.

In the instruction book that came with it there was a pattern for a braided scarf that was made on the little spool loom. I was supposed to use the 5 stitch side but used the 8 stitch side instead. The strands probably would have been longer had I used the right side but oh well.

I had this pink yarn that I had purchased to make a different scarf for a friend but she is no longer deserving of that. That's another story for my other blog. So I made the tubes and braided them together, it was really very quick, and this is what I got.

Photobucket

I have also recently become addicted to knitted dishcloths. They're great as they only take a couple of hours to knit and get my mind off the large hours and hours of stockinette I have on other projects. I've already completed 7 and have enough yarn for a lot more. Here are some of the completed one's (I've given 2 of them away).

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New yarn to make more.

Photobucket

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As usual the colors aren't entirely accurate but they're close.

Well it's time for me to get to karate now. I'll post at you later.

Friday, January 18, 2008

New Blog

So I have decided that this blog will now be abut nothing but my knitting. My "life in general blog" has been moved to Karate Skunk. If you want to read about what's going on in my life that's where you need to go. If you want to read about my knitting you need to stay here.

I will be confiscating my camera back from my man. That way I can start posting pictures again. As of right now I don't have any pics but I do have a description.

I have become addicting to knitting dishcloths. A really simple pattern that I found online, see below, that has existed for forever and a day. I have already made 7 and have another one on the needles and enough yarn for 37 more. They're great as they keep my fingers sane. They only take a couple of hours to knit and give me a break from my larger, read boring, projects. They're also mindless so I can do them whenever I have free hands. Usually at work between phone calls.

The Pattern

With any cotton yarn, YARN not thread, you can get at Wal-Mart or Joanne's or similar store, cast on 4 sts on size 7 needles.

Row 1) K across
Row 2) K2, yo, K across

Repeat row 2 until desired number of stitches (this will be the diagonal from corner to corner). I like 50 stitches for a dishcloth.

Row 3)K1, K2tog, yo, K2tog, K across

Repeat row 3 until 4 sts remain. Knit one row even with 4 stitches. Bind off. Weave in ends.

It takes approximately 1.1 oz of yarn to make one 50 stitches across. If you buy the 2.0 oz balls of cotton yarn they sell at Wal-Mart you can make one 50 stitches and one 45 stitches and barely have any yarn left over.

Now back to knitting.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

New Look

So you'll notice a new look for the site. I was getting tired of the pink. I'll have to fiddle with this a bit more before I find the end design but this will work for now.

That's it for the moment. I am just a little frustrated with the merge with Google and taking an hour to log in so I'm calling it quits for right now. Catch y'all later.

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Long time no post

Okay so I know by now this is a theme with me. I don't post for a really long time then I'm good for a while then no posts again. I promise, THIS TIME, I'm going to keep up on it. It's not like I have tons to do at work.

There have been requests by many people that I haven't spoken to in a while for updates on what's going on in my life so here you go. Don't worry there will be knitting updates as well.

Perhaps I should do the knitting updates first. That way those of you who don't care about the rest of my life don't have to read about it to get updates on my knitting. I have almost finished the socks for my mom. They have been sitting in my knitting bag for months. I had other fun things to do. Like I made a paid of the Cigar gloves for by boyfriend. I made this in black with a blue stripe. I used a superwash dk weight yarn whose name I can't remember right now.

I made a cabled scarf for him as well that I'm just needing to block. Funny thing about that. The night I bound off I took it home and showed it to him and told him it was all done except it still needed to be blocked. Well being the smart ass that he is, he's also a third degree black belt, he pretended that the scarf was hitting him so that he could block it with his arm. If you aren't laughing at that I guess it was one of those you had to be there things.

I also went on a SEX two weeks ago and found a great little yarn shop down here in SLC called Soul Spun Yarns. They had a discount basket and I found 6 balls of pink yarn, all different types and textures, that I just had to buy to make a scarf for my new best friend Kaydee Lyn Bosted Cummings. And yes you have to say all 4 names.

As for the rest of my knitting. I haven't really done much on the projects I already had started. I will post pictures of the stuff that I have done in the next day or two.

Now on to the rest of my life. I have successfully moved down to SLC from Logan and have been living down here for a little over 4 months now. I have settled into my job without any problems. I got my 90 day raise just 2 weeks late but that was my own fault. My job is one of those I hate it and I love it jobs. I hat it because I get bitched at all day every day, but I love it because I'm actually able to do something for the people that have valid complaints.

I'm still with Troy. I love him more than I've ever loved anyone else. Most especially my last boyfriend. But we won't go into that again. If you're a frequent reader of my blog you've already heard all about that.

It's pretty much a given that Troy and I will eventually get married. It's not a question of if but of when. He has this silly rule that we have to be together for a year and a day without my wanting to leave and without him wanting to bury me in the backyard. Less than 5 months to go for that. With the exception of his ex-wife I'm the longest relationship he's had. At least I think I am. He's told me on several occasions that he loves me more than anyone else ever. God, now I'm getting all sappy. Can you tell I'm in love?

We still live with the roommates. The reason for that is because at the current moment I am the only source of income. He's working on getting back into teaching Martial Arts. It's going to be a couple of months for that as he hasn't done it in 7 years and they have reorganized how things work within the company. He has to relearn a lot of the stuff that he already knows because they have changed the system that they used before.

I'm still losing weight but haven't been to Weight Watchers since I moved down to SLC so I'm not sure exactly what I'm at now. I'll have to find an accurate scale and get myself weighed. Perhaps when I go to the doctor next week.

In case you're wondering I'm sick. I have another sinus infection, I think it's the third one this year perhaps more. I haven't been to the doctor yet as I can't afford it until my insurance kicks in on the first.

Other than that I don't think there's really anything else to be updated. I'll try to make sure that I post on a more regular basis but we all know that's probably not going to happen.

Friday, July 14, 2006

Scary Times

I gave my two weeks notice at my job today at the Whittier Center and I'm just a little scared of how it's going to be taken and what the next two weeks are going to be like. I may be a little bit of a basket case these next few weeks. I'm hoping to not get a lot of crap from my mom but I'm sure that I will. I don't know how I'll be able to stand the next 2 weeks living with her and then a whole week on a boat if she goes all psycho on me.

I'm sure she'll be mad at first but then she'll realize that this is a good thing. We'll both be able to move on with our lives. I can grow up and be a responsible adult and she can start having fun again and not worrying so much about me.

I already have a new job lined up. I'm going to be working in the guest relations department of the Intercontinental Hotels Group's SLC office. I'll basically be getting what I do at the Whittier Center as far as pay; but I'll have more hours, hopefully less stress, and benefits.

I'm going to be moving in with my boyfriend and his roommates for a little while then he and I are going to be getting a place of our own. Then I can bring Odin, my cat, down from Logan to SLC. I would bring him right away but they already have a cat, a pug, and four ferrets. I don't think my little man could survive in that house without being traumatized.

I just thought I'd let you all know what's going on in my life. I'll post at you later.

Monday, June 12, 2006

I'm an Idiot

We had Uprising War this weekend and it was tons of fun. I made new friends, hung out with old friends, and got so drunk that I passed out one night. BUT I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures.

I remembered when I was already about 60 miles from home. I was so mad but with gas prices what they are I wasn't going to add 120 miles and about 2 hours to my drive.

We had yucky weather Thursday and Friday but beautiful weather the rest of the weekend. That yucky weather we had caused me to spend money I wasn't planning on spending.

I have a black upholstery velvet cloak that I wear when it's cold or raining. Keeps me warm. Well it just so happens that where I was sitting on Friday the rain soaked my right shoulder. The cloak, having been washed a couple of times, had lost it's water proofing. It bled black dye all over the shoulder of my bright white chemise. I had to go to the vendor next door and buy a new one so that when I warmed up I wasn't wearing an ugly stained chemise. I wasn't happy at the time but it all worked out for the best. I now have two chemises and will be making at least one more tonight when I get home, after I spend some time cleaning up.

Now you may be thinking, "Wait she said that her chemise was all stained and black and ugly." Well when I got home yesterday I sprayed the chemise with Spray and Wash and then put it in my kitchen sink with some Tide and Clorox. Let that brew for less than ten minutes and I now have a bright white chemise again. I did the same thing with the cherry juice stain on the sleeve of my new chemise and they're both back to the way they should be.

Even with the rain and my chemise getting all yucky I still had a great time. I met Troy's best friend Phil and his lady Jen. I met all the henna girls and they gave me free henna



Of course it's a dragonfly. What else would it be? I know that it's hard to see. The reason that it's so light is because I had already put sunscreen on and it wasn't completely washed off. So the henna had a little bit of a barrier to get through before it could soak into my skin. I just have to get another one next time we're all together.

I think that's all I have to say about this weekend. I'm sure I'm forgetting something important but oh well. Til next time.