Den of the Celtic Kitsune

About Me

In Japanese folklore, kitsunes are believed to possess great intelligence, long life, and magical powers. Foremost among these is the ability to shapeshift into human form; a fox is said to learn to do this when it attains a certain age (usually a hundred years, though some tales say fifty). Kitsune usually appear in the shape of a beautiful woman, a young girl, or an old man, but almost never an elderly woman. Supernatural powers commonly attributed to the kitsune include, in addition to shapeshifting, the ability to generate fire or lightning from their tails or to breathe fire (known as kitsune-bi, literally "foxfire"), the power to manifest in dreams, the power to fly, and the ability to create illusions so elaborate as to be almost indistinguishable from reality. Some tales go further still, speaking of kitsune with the ability to bend time and space, to drive people mad, or to take such nonhuman and fantastic shapes as a tree of incredible height or a second moon in the sky. And that's just what I do every day. You should see what I do in my spare time....

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

New den finally coming together

Generally, foxes like to find a den, make it comfortable, and then never leave. I lived in a two bedroom house for 3 years. It was spacious, but the landlords were slightly shady and there was the nuisance of the neighbor living in the illegal unit in the backyard. It was a house with a yard and storage in a decent neighborhood for under $2000 a month. For LA, this is practically a miracle. Problem is that the local authorities found out about the illegal unit. Long story short, we didn't bother to stick around for the fireworks. The upside is that I'm now in a swanky new den on the peninsula. The new den is actually a large 1br/1.5b so until a 2 bedroom opens up, I'm sharing a bedroom with my housemate. Oh, but did I mention the view. The balcony provides a great view of the bay, and the best part is that the rent is actually less than the previous den.

Moving is always such a hassle, but things are starting to come together. The cable is on, the DSL is finally set up, and Figaro's "Fortress of Box-itude" is getting smaller (much to his dismay).
Another weekend or so and things should be more or less in order. I think I'm going to pop a bottle of champagne when it's done to reward myself.

Monday, January 22, 2007

Back to the old grind

Now that the crankiest (and busiest) time of the year is over, it's back to work, back to school, and back something resembling semi-regular blogging. I came to the conclusion over the holidays that I really don't have anything very interesting to blog about most days because I try not to follow the downward spiral of American and world governments. Of course, I also realized over the holiday season that I definitely lack a holiday spirit. The rudeness, the rabid consumerism, and general mayhem has just killed it for me. But anyway, some general updates on previous blogs. Figgie is doing well after our post-holiday move, and Project Argyle is making good progress. Pics are worth a thousand words, so here you go!

Figgie anxiously awaits the arrival of Santa. The local police association escorts Santa and his elves into through the neighborhood each year to give away candy and listen to Christmas wishes.

Project Argyle. As of today, I have 3.5 of 7 pattern "blocks" completed. This sounds great and looks good until you see the reverse and the amount of finishing to be done. Each one those yarn tails has to woven into the piece before it can be blocked and pressed. The final step is folding the piece in half lengthwise and sewing it up. I loathe finishing. I suck at it. It's my own personal knitting nightmare. I love to knit, but anything that requires more than minimal finishing tends to go unfinished. Let's hope that project argyle isn't one of those cases.