...the number of days I haven't heard from Amy Singer/knitty, re: my submission for the December issue. She is going away for a week this weekend, and I am just hoping I'll hear something before she leaves.
It's just that I hate the waiting game. I remember years ago when I had to have two separate biopsies done on my thyroid to find out if the nodule I have there is cancer. My son was in kindergarten. All kinds of thoughts went through my head while I waited for the test results.
By the time the results came, I was ready to accept anything, any news at all. I have had many more (different) tests since then, and I am still no better at waiting.
I know. Waiting for a submission acceptance/rejection is not the same as a test result. I am highly aware of that. It's just the feeling of it being so completely out of your control...that there is nothing at all you can do to change the outcome. All you can do is wait.
Now as to the global warming issue, I guess what I'm trying to fight is that feeling of helplessness, the feeling of having to wait for someone else (like a government leader, let's say) to do something about it. So I am trying to get people to do something about it, already, right now.
See, when I first came to this country 24 years ago, one of the things that impressed me the most was the fact that in times of crisis, a whole community will come together and help. If a family lost their house due to a fire, the whole neighborhood, or even the whole town would pitch in and help that family out with shelter, food, clothing.
I was part of a group once that took turns bringing meals to a family where the mom was ill with breast cancer. We brought them dinner to the house every single night, for many weeks. Pat eventually succumbed to the disease, but the help didn't end there. It continued.
And that's what I mean. Americans know how to get together and help each other out. Why can't we get it together now? Is it because the task seems so insurmountable?
I you haven't seen it, please rent and watch "An Inconvenient Truth". Also, the recently released "11th hour". Watch "The End of Suburbia" (there is a sequel out which I haven't seen yet, "Escape from Suburbia"). These last two movies discuss how we have reached peak oil production and what the consequences are.
If we all take at least one or two steps today, it will help. Then if you add two more things, it'll help some more. The task will not be so insurmountable if you look at it this way.
Jody, thank you for reminding me to mention recycling. I think I forgot to mention that we, too recycle everything possible.
Time to get off the soapbox again.
Hopefully by tomorrow, my yarn will be dry and I can show you what I did.
Big PS: for local people: Knit Night on the First Thursday of the month is changing!! We are meeting at Panera's in Glenmont (that new huge gruesome plaza) from 7 to 9 pm tonight! We are meeting there to decide where we will go next. Some folks have offered their homes. So, don't forget, knit night planning meeting tonight!
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I just thought of something else I do to conserve energy...I don't use any lights during the day, if at all possible. My knitting light, when I need it, has a CFL bulb too.
This waiting is getting to be an inconvenience -- I wish Amy Singer would respond! bah!
I didn't want to be a me too post about the energy conservation but: 1. We have only used cloth napkins and dishtowels for years - no paper. They get washed with regular laundry - it's cheaper than disposable; 2. Over the past year we've changed bulbs over to the compact flourescent as they've burned out - almost all there now except for the 3-way (but I got an OTT lamp instead); 3. Errands are done in one swell foop whenever possible; 4. wool socks and sweaters keep one comfy in a cool house; 5. computer & tv apparatus are all unplugged because "instant on" really means constantly on; 6. wet laundry is hung outside in good weather and in front of the wood stove when it's winter since 1990; 7. cloth bags, or paper - rarely plastic. Am I boring you yet?
I have to drive 77 miles a day for work and it's a singular drive unfortunately. The Camry gets 34mpg except 31 when the snowtires are on (mid Nov - mid April). The car/commute is my main non-conservation thing.
And yes, Al Gore is right - he's been right for a long time. The world is a sad, endangered place.
I hope all goes well with your submission in the end, and if it doesn't work out with her, then the next place it will. You might want to check out knittingvault.com, by the way, in case that's of any help.
We have a Prius. I hesitate to say that for sounding like a self-righteous Prius owner. But looking at all the cars on that lot, there was no way we could justify buying anything else. What I want to know is, why don't we have the technology already in place such that we could charge up an electric car via solar panels on our house? What if we all could do that? Now THAT would change the world!
Hi Karin, I noticed your comment on Amy's blog. I'm pretty sure you have misread the submission guidelines, she says to email if you haven't heard two weeks -before- the issue is due to go live, not two weeks after submission. (It's a secret, but I have also submitted something for the first time.)
I tried a search for 'rejected by knitty' to get an idea of when people hear back; the upshot of which is I'm not expecting to hear anything before November. Waiting is awful, hope this helps to ease the agony, try and put it out of your mind for a few weeks, that's what I've done.
Good luck with your submission.
I understand your frustration with the global warming thing. We have energy efficient lights, a car on LPG, try to shop locally, use reusable shopping bags, recycle,compost our kitchen scraps, my husband rides a bike to work every day. And here is one that I've heard is not so popular in America; hang our washing on the clothes line.
Other things you can do are; short showers, cold wash clothes, always fill your washer/dishwasher before you run it. Replace seals on your fridge (we need to do this), choose energy efficient appliances when replacing them. Choose locally produced foods at the grocer. Compost your food scraps, there are ways you can do this even in an apartment. Basically lots of little things, which all add up. I do think the message is starting to sink in, and gain momentum. Hopefully our governments will cotton on soon too.
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