Beating the baby

I finished up the blanket I'd been working on for Delia this past Sunday, just hours before the mom to be arrived at our house bearing the gift of a delicious Jello cake.

And then, less than an hour after her arrival here, I ended up driving her home because she was having steady contractions 6 minutes apart.

"Talk about good timing!" I told myself.

False alarm. She's still pregnant today, but baby Delia will be here soon, and doggone! I beat the baby. Here are some random pics of it in progress. Worked mostly in the car loop over the last month, one little square at a time. I think it turned out lovely, but I have sworn off the granny square forever. As much as I hate weaving ends, this was a total nightmare for me! 49 squares, plus the rows of sc that bind the squares together, plus the edging. Yeah. Not my idea of fun.











And now, being free of my car loop project, I've cast on for hubby's super-secret birthday goodie. He's always complained that I never knit anything for him. Can anyone tell from this picture what it'll be?



True to form, this is turning out impossibly huge. It swallows J's mammoth head, and mine, too. I'm thinking of adding a lining of some sort, which will also serve to cover the floats in the back. Any suggestions, knitty friends?

A month in review

The past month has been a complete whirlwind of activity!

We celebrated J's 5th birthday with a party at the bowling alley with his friends, and the coolest army cake ever! Our fabulous friend, Mary, made it for us, despite being extremely pregnant and having an active 3-year-old underfoot. She's amazing!

J had a great time, and so did we. Best part? Not having to worry about set up or clean up or anything in between. We simply showed up, had a good time, and left. How refreshing! Totally worth the cost, if you ask me. Besides, we probably would have spent the same amount, or even more, if we'd tried to have the party here at home, and we'd have all been so crowded. Bowling was a great choice!






The same week as my baby turned 5, he also started Kindergarten. The first few days (ok, who am I kidding? The first week and a half!)was a tough adjustment for him, but he seems to be enjoying it more and more each day, and I can already tell how much he's learning! He's always been smart, there's never been a question about it, but now he's begun sounding out words, he can do math in his head (which is something I still can't do!), and he's become so much more patient and attentive. I can even tell what some of his drawings are! :)

This was his very first homework assignment-- sort of an 'all about me' project.


I'm just proud that he finished it at all. Even that is a big step from last year.

But enough about the J-man, what else has been going on?

I truly have nothing to show for it, but plenty! Heck, just trying to get ourselves back on a schedule after a summer of staying up late and sleeping until 10 or so has been a challenge. I've been knitting and crocheting and spinning, but so randomly as to have no real FO to share except for this pink wig I knit for a coworker's granddaughter.


Yes, I know it looks a little small on my enormous head, but it was made for a 3 year old. I tried to get J to model it, but ewww! It's pink!

I'm almost done with my second bobbin full of laceweight singles. I'm really proud of how even they've turned out. The wheel and I have sort of figured each other out, and we're getting along fabulously! I'm hoping to finish the bobbin this week, then work on getting it all plied up. I have specific plans for this yarn, but those will have to remain a secret for a while longer. I'm not positive on the yardage I've got going on, but I'm thinking that two bobbins full of lace singles will be probably double what I need, so I'm already dreaming of what to do with the rest. :) And, of course, at the same time I'm spinning lace, I'm dreaming of sweater knitting. No specific pattern in mind yet, though. We'll have to see. I promised I wouldn't cast on anything new until I finished the socks I've got going on, but I might have to let myself down on that one. I just can't seem to find sock inspiration right now. I do, however, owe someone special a new Sheldon, and a coworker has requested a pillow inspired by one she saw in a store for $60 or more. Hubby has been sulking for a vest for quite a while, so I might have to give in on that sooner or later, too. And I still have the Star Wars hats that I intended to make last year for Christmas.

Maybe once the temperatures drop below the boiling point I'll be more productive and start crossing some of these things off my list!

So much for frequent blogging

Gaah! It's not that I don't enjoy blogging anymore, it's just that there are these things that I must do... like sleep, eat, clean house. While not nearly so much fun, they sort of demand my attention while the blog sits here ever so patiently.

Apologies to all 3 of my regular readers for not being as diligent as I should. I really do love that you take the time to come here and read the junk I post.

So, without further ado-- the latest rundown.

J continues to grow like a weed. Seriously! I had no idea that I'd given birth to a linebacker, but apparently I have.

The boy loves him some Popeyes!

Every day he amazes me with his intelligence and curiosity. He still loves to play his 'worst case scenario' games with me. "Mama, what if...", and then when that question gets answered, its "but what if..., and then "but what if, butwhatif, butwhatif, butwhatif". It's almost become a singular word. I think it's cool that his mind is working so hard a processing all the possible options involved in everything, but sometimes it's too much!

Still, I love those long conversations with him and wouldn't trade them for anything.

I've beek crocheting my hands numb over the past month, too. All in an effort to finish this sweater that I wanted to make for myself. Just about everything I've ever made has been given away, so it was time to be just a tad self-indulgent. I found a pattern I loved, Genevieve, and set to work in hopes of finishing it before our Easter vacation to TN. That way I might stand a chance of getting to wear it before next year. Well, I finished it, and it's quite pretty, but it looks like I'll be giving this one away, too... providing I can find someone it fits. The construction of the garment is a little odd. You start at the bottom edge of the back, work in one piece all the way to the bottom of the fronts, fold it in half and seam the sides and arms. It would work out perfectly, if I had a giant hump back and thin little arms, but as is, it's very tight through the shoulders and underarms, and pulls hard across the back of the neck where all the extra fabric lays. I thought I did something wrong, and checked the pattern a dozen or so times, but I made it exactly as written. After reading some reviews on Ravelry from other people that have made it, I find that I'm not alone here. Oh well. It's still wearable, just not the comfy, cozy thing I was looking for.




At least I finished it before the deadline, which is more than I can say for my step-mom's birthday socks. Sadly, they are still not a pair. I'm hoping I can finish them up while on vacation.

Speaking of vacations. We leave at the buttcrack of dawn tomorrow for Tennessee to go visit with the family. I'm really looking forward to some quiet relaxing time away from all the chaos of every day life around here. That, and Dad's cooking. :)

So, dear readers, thanks for hanging around for another quiet month. I've said it before, and I have a feeling I'll say it again, but I promise I'll try and do better!

How in the world...

do you go an entire month without blogging a single thing? Apparently it's easier than imagined, or else I'm a total lame-o blogger. Either is a possibility, but I'd like to think that I've just been so busy that I haven't had time for anything but the essentials around here.

So, in no particular order, here are some of the things that have kept me away from my beloved blogging.

Laura and Doug and baby Sebastian (really, he's not a baby at all- more of an adorably cheeky toddler) drove all the way from Pennsylvania (yeah, I know- they're hardcore like that!) to spend some time in the Florida heat and sun. The last time we got to spend any amount of time together was back in May of '06. Back when J was just a toddler himself and we traveled up there for Fairy Festival and just some good relaxation time.

I've not been nearly as good a host as they were to us, but I've really enjoyed the time we've been able to spend together. We played on the beach a little,



stayed up late drinking coffee, and Laura and I even managed to take in a pretty sorry excuse for an Annie Leibovitz display at the local museum. We both agreed that there was room for a lot of improvement. Sure, the photography was stunning, but the little blurbs with each picture left you with a lot of questions. What was the reason for this photo, the inspiration? Who commissioned the piece? What was the occasion? Etc. Still, it was a nice way to spend an hour or so on a Wednesday afternoon.

On the other end of the spectrum, my sister and nephew, who have been living here for a little more than a year, have finally moved to an apartment of their own. While I'm really enjoying having my house back to myself, and I'm sure they're enjoying having a space of their own, too. It's sure is quiet. Quiet is good, but it's still an adjustment for us. Jonas asks me every night when Steven will be home. *sigh* Change has never been J's friend.

In my not so busy time, I've done a lot of crochet and knitting. I don't have a lot to show for it, but you'll just have to trust me. I did finish up Granny's sweater, version 2.0.



This one is sure to fit her, and is a lovely shade of green that I was afraid would look too much like bad '70s appliances, but it's grown on me, and I really do think I like it now that it's done. I've got some crappy pictures of it. It's hard to take pictures of yourself modeling a sweater! Especially while simultaneously spending time on hold with an electrician because you've found out that all the wiring in your house (among other things) is buggy and done half-assed! But that's a story for another day, isn't it?

I've also completed a baby sweater in a lovely purple wool and silk blend. I'm not sure who it's for yet, but there are lots of babies on the way around here. Almost everyone I know is knocked up, so it'll find a home soon enough.

There has been some spinning going on, too. I've been wanting to learn to spin long-draw, and so I spent some time on you-tube watching how-to videos before finally breaking in to my lovely box of alpaca that Amanda sent me for my birthday. Truly, it's the most delicious stuff ever! Starting out, I was pretty uneven and lumpy, but after a few false starts and some practice, long draw seems to be my method of choice for spinning. I love watching the fibers magically draft themselves out into a nice length of single right before my eyes. I'm working on my second bobbin full of this now, and then will decide how I want to ply it. Isn't it gorgeous?


And, to round things out nicely, I've started a sweater just for myself. I almost never make anything for myself, so I'm really looking forward to this one. Knitting friends, stay with me-- it's a crocheted sweater. I know! But it's so much faster, and I really love this one! It's the Genevieve pattern from Inner Child Crochet. It's really lovely, and coming along pretty quick for as little attention as I've given it. I'd like to have it done in time to wear while we're in Tennessee in April, assuming that it'll still be cool enough to do so then. We'll see!

Tennessee. Yes. We are going on a vacation. It's the first time that all three of us will be going on vacation together in ages, and we're really looking forward to it. Of course, J's bursting at the seams at the idea of being able to see ALL of his grandparents in one trip. Let the spoilage begin! (As if he's not spoiled enough at home, right?!)

And finally, to round this whole "what have I done in the past month" post out, I took J to be evaluated by Child Find today for both his speech and his motor skills. The lady that evaluated him was absolutely fabulous. Jonas loved her from the start, and she made every one of his tasks seem like a game. He played along willingly for the entire hour, and the results were pretty much where I expected them to be. As far as his speech goes, he's pretty much right where he should be. Cognitively, he's operating at the level of 6 years, 7 months, which also comes as no surprise. He amazes me with his intelligence and his reasoning on a daily basis. The part that really shocked me was getting a number to put alongside his motor deficits. After doing several different tests, he scored at the level of 2 years, 11 months. I guess I sort of knew that, but he seems to have improved so much over the last year that I sort of hoped that he'd be closer to age-appropriate by now.

We'll have a followup test in about a month with the OT department, and then he'll get started with weekly sessions after that. We may not get much done before this school year ends, but it'll carry over into kindergarten, too.

I was given a stack of paperwork with suggestions on how to get started at home with some of the stuff that he needs work on. The one thing that she pointed out to me that I'd never really noticed is that he doesn't cross over mid-line, which is a fundamental to things like reading and letter recognition. So, we'll start with some exercises that encourage that, and go from there.

And that's a month in a nutshell. I promise I'll try and be a better blogger from here on out.

Happy Monday

Just a little blog update while I have 5 minutes to myself.

Not a whole lot of interesting stuff is going on around here. Hubby's car finally broke down on Friday. We've been wondering how long it would go before finally doing so. It's been a great car, so I'm not begrudging it one bit. We were hoping it would give us a couple more months because we're currently on the lookout for a new one, anyway. Looks like we're going to have to fork over the repair money and keep it a little longer though.

The only inconvenient thing is, it broke down on the very top floor of the parking garage, making it impossible to get a tow truck to pick it up. This morning after dropping J off at school we had to go up and push it back down to the street so that the tow-guy could get to it. Fun times, I tell ya. There's nothing like pushing a car, in the cold and rain, through a busy hospital parking garage. We got some ugly looks. But it's done, and it's now at Mr. Bruce's shop waiting on a new front axle and serpentine belt. The beast should run another 100,000 miles after this, given it's track record.

In the knitting/crochet arena. I have lots of projects I'd like to be working on, if only I could find the time. I've got the Granny cardi version 2.0 currently in the works. All I've managed to accomplish is the back and part of one front. Alas, I need to set it down and get to work on some baby goodies. Two of the girls in my knitting group are expecting. One of them in the next few weeks. I picked up some lovely purple wool/silk blend yarn the other day on clearance- $2.00 a ball. I'm thinking little eyelet cardigans for both, along with some booties? I'd better get crankin!

And that's it. Nothing much to report. I promise a better post when I have the time.

Becoming a Hooker

It starts out innocently enough. You'll just give it a try-- see how you like it. Then you fall in love with the nearly instant gratification of your work, and you just can't stop.

Yep, that's right. I've become a hooker. So much so that my poor knitting needles are starting to feel jealous.

Who would have thought that a simple little amigurumi cupcake made for your niece's birthday could turn you into a full blown crochet addict?


And before all of my knitterly friends roll their eyes and turn their backs on me forever, do know that my one true and first love will always be knitting. But it sure is helping me put a dent in my holiday gift list! I'm not a very fast knitter, and if left to knit something for all the folks on my list, I'd be in big trouble. Adding crochet into the mix allows me to knock out lots of the 'smaller' gifts so that I stand a slightly delusional chance of getting the 'bigger' knitting things done.

Over this

Damn, I'm tired. Like room spinning, can't focus on a thing, tired.

J's been 'not right' since Thursday afternoon. He came home from school, whined for a few minutes, complained of his cheek hurting, then promptly fell asleep on the couch. Totally NOT J-like behavior. He doesn't nap- never has. He woke 2 hours later with a raging fever and was inconsolable.

The doctor just shrugged at me, acted annoyed by my presence-- just another mom that thinks the sky is falling every time their kid sneezes. But honestly, despite his lower fever in the exam room, and his much more chipper demeanor, there's something WRONG with him.

I kept him home from school Friday, even though he seemed to feel a little better. I'd rather not be one of those moms that sends their germbag off to class to infect everyone else.

All day Friday, he seemed to be better, although there was still the weird cheek pain thing, and no interest in food.

Saturday... Ugh! Saturday. If ever there was a world record for longest day of the year, it would have been Saturday. Between a whiney, not quite right kid, and the other crap that I don't really feel like rehashing right now, Saturday was the suckiest of sucky days. Total suckage.

J fell asleep around 9. I joined him around midnight. About half an hour later, I was yanked out of my nearly-sleep by that croupy cough that probably every mom has heard at least once. It was nearly two hours of watching him struggle for breath, his little belly breathing, chest sucking, no air getting in, panic while sitting in the bathroom floor, holding all sixty pounds of him and rocking and singing while the shower ran out of hot water before he was, as if someone flipped a switch, fine again.

After that, going back to sleep just wasn't going to happen. We curled up together on the couch and praised the great deity BrightHouse for the fact that Noggin is now a 24 hour channel until the sun came up and he finally nodded off to sleep.

This day isn't going fast enough for my liking. J seems to feel good today, but has laryngitis and is frustrated by his inability to talk much. I have to admit, despite how much I sometimes wish he'd put a cork in it for a little while, I really do miss my little chatter box.

The only positive to come out of all of this is some completely ADD knitting. I got a wild hair and cast on for a pair of mittens at about 3 this morning, but as a result of no sleep and not enough coffee, I got gauge all wonky and these things could have fit sasquatch with room left over. Fortunately I wasn't so delirious that I got much past the ribbing before the little voice in the back of my head spoke up and said "hey dumbass, put down the needles!" So I picked up the crochet hook and finished J's spidey blanket. It's blocking right now, and once it dries, if it ever does, I'll find somewhere to hide it until Christmas.

I also cast on for Mystery Stole 4. Since MS3 was such a total failure for me, I figured why not go and set myself up for more of the same. Maybe this will be the year for me to actually finish something lace. Maybe.

Oh, and I did a few more rows on the Shalom Cardigan that I've been avoiding like the plague. It's not the sweater I hate, it's the sweater. The pattern's great, the result is looking good, but knitting it is an exercise in knitterly hell. Knitting something that big and heavy on giant needles-- man! Every single stitch seems so exaggerated in it's execution. The effort of just wrapping each stitch, and moving the resulting fabric along the needles seems like too much work. Or maybe I'm just that tired. I do think that the final product will be something I'm proud of, if I don't end up in dual wrist braces by the time I get there!

This and that and nothing in particular

Proof that you can buy a kid every expensive toy in the world, but a cardboard box will still hold their attention longer.




I swear, I really want to be a better blogger. It's just that things get so hectic during the week that I don't seem to be able to find the time to sit down here long enough to put together a meaningful post.

J's adjusting to school much better than we anticipated. We made it through our first full week with only one grumpy, melt down sort of morning. I'm quite proud, and I know his teacher appreciates it, too. He can be a real booger in the mornings, and I can completely sympathize. You see, he gets it from me. I'm totally NOT a morning person, which is ironic, considering a I work a job that requires me to be up hours before sunrise, and keeps me going until after the sun sets. But I have the benefit of coffee to ease me through the first few hours when my brain can't seem to keep up with the world around me. J-man, he's just screwed. And I don't suppose it's a good idea to go stuffing kids full of caffeine just to avoid the morning grumpies. So we deal with it as best we can.

Did I mention that this year is going to kill me? J's school starts at 8 and I'm supposed to be at work at 7. Ummm... *scratches head*. I could force Wil to step up to the plate, since he doesn't have to be at work until 9, but the man can't get himself to work on time on a good day. Between the car shuffle that would be required, and the anxiety it would cause in me wondering if they're on time, if J's been fed, or is even wearing underwear, it's hardly worth it.

The second issue is that school ends at 11. On a good day, I can get to lunch by 12, but it's usually more like 2. Fortunately, the school does provide after-care services for a reasonable fee, so that's less of a headache. I'd be fine with leaving him there until I got off work completely, except that they close at 5:30, and we close at 6.

So my mornings now consist of rushing around in a brain fog, trying to rush my son around in a brain fog, then zipping across town to work, so I can be an hour and a half late, so that I can rush back across town on my lunch to pick him up and take him to Abuela's, so that I can rush back to work and finish my shift, then rush back to Abuela's to get him so I can rush home to walk the dogs before they explode.

Most days I'm on the go from 5 am, and don't find time to sit down, or even eat, until 8 or 9. I'm exhausted, and it's only week 2! This is going to be interesting.

But enough about school and work. Let's talk about those fun few hours of complete and total silence that occur on my days off while J is in school. Yes, those 6 hours per week are golden. It'd be nice if I didn't want to try and fit so much into those few moments. Most days I get nothing accomplished simply because I can't seem to decide which I'd rather do. Pathetic, isn't it?

There has been *some* knitting, though. Nothing worth writing home about. I'm working ever so slowly on my Shalom Cardigan, which is a really simple and quick knit, except for it's on huge needles with huge yarn, and well, it hurts my hands. So I only do a row or two at a time. I won't bother sharing pictures yet. It just looks like a burgundy blob.

And there's the Spidey afghan for J-man. I know! I'm crocheting! And I'm enjoying it so much! It just lends itself so much more readily to being picked up and set down constantly, and doesn't require the same attention that my knitting does. It's growing and growing, and people keep asking me when it's going to be done. I usually just shrug and say "when I run out of yarn". I fear that time is fast approaching, and I'm really not sure it's big enough for my taste. It's certainly big enough to be a cuddly blanket for J-- something to toss across him in the car, or while sitting on the couch, but it's not the bed-sized wonder that I was hoping it would turn into. All the same, I could stop right now and be perfectly happy with it, even with all of it's imperfections. I mean, for a first 'big' crochet project, it's pretty darn cool.


And I've also been playing around a bit with the sewing machine lately. I have a million and one things that I'd like to be sewing, and a huge bag of stuff that I'd like to do some recon on, but for now I'm just doing some basic stuff to get used to using it again. It's been forever since I've sewn anything.

Here are some pants I made for myself. They're made out of some super cheap mystery fabric, but they're soooo comfy. I want to make about a million and one pairs of these to wear every day! I did learn that pattern sizing is a whole lot different than regular clothes sizing. These are two sizes bigger than what I would buy in the store, and they're a little snug in the hips and butt, but not so much so that I can't wear them. I'll remember for the next pair to make them just a smidge wider in that area. Still, I love them.


And my other sewing project for the week was a pair of Blue Yonder's 'bandana pants' for J-man, which were featured on the SewMamaSew blog a while back. What a genius idea! And J really enjoyed helping to make them. He's so proud of them that he wears them almost constantly. It's all I can do to wiggle his sleeping bum out of them long enough to toss them in the wash. We'll make a bunch more of these, I'm sure. They're excellent play shorts and jammie pants. Yes, they' are a bit long- almost capri pants on him, but I couldn't bear to hem them and lose the cute little bones around the bottom. :)


I suppose that's all I've got for now. Right now J-man and the nephew are buzzing about making ungodly amounts of noise, but I have to admit, the noise is tolerable when it means that they are entertaining each other. I haven't existed since 8:30 this morning.

The dark side

I've become bored with my knitting lately. There. I said it. It's not that there aren't a million things I'd like to knit, because there are. It's just that I made myself promise that I'd pay some attention to a few languishing projects before casting on for new ones.

Holding true to that, I've not cast on for anything new. Of course, that means that I've also not been knitting much at all.

Instead, I've been crocheting. *gasp* I know. But we all know that crochet is not knitting, and therefore doesn't count as 'cheating' on my UFOs, right? Besides, it's been sort of fun learning a whole new craft. And it goes so quickly in comparison. I haven't tackled anything monstrous yet-- just some little toys. But they're total instant gratification, and I can't seem to stop.

I've sort of lost motivation for a lot of things lately- crafting just being one of the small things. I can't seem to find the energy to do a lot of things-- housework, school stuff, real work, it's all suffering, but I'm not sure how to get myself out of this rut.

Sooner or later, necessity will drag me, kicking and screaming, back into the rat race, but for now, I'm perfectly content to sit here in my jammies at an hour completely unbecoming, and do absolutely nothing.

I did manage to spin about 1 oz of some pretty cranberry roving yesterday, though. Maybe there's hope.

Unfaithful

There hasn't been much to show in the way of knitting lately. It's not that I'm NOT knitting, but simply that I'm ALSO doing a lot of other things, and so progress is slow and boring.

What's been occupying my time, you ask? Well, mostly this:


This picture cracks me up. Doesn't he look like a cross between Miami Vice and bad tourist?

He's also been eating into my computer time, ever since he discovered that he can play Noggin and Nick Jr. games online. Any time I sit down here to write something, he's immediately in my lap and stealing the mouse. To be fair, I'd rather him play a game than sit in front of the tv, so I don't mind so much.

Not having any computer time has lead way to another new addiction though-- sewing. To be fair, I've spent more time shopping for sewing stuff than I have actually spent sewing. I never realized how much you could love shopping for fabric! So far I've made one pair of pants that still lack a hemmed leg, and this skirt.



The picture's awful, I know. But it's hard to take a picture of yourself. Here's a closeup of the fabric.


It's just some stuff bought on the clearance rack for $1. I didn't want to invest too much in sewing if it ended up being just a brief phase.

And finally, after being inspired by this post by Amanda, I decided it was time
to revisit the world of crochet. I've never been good at it, and I've never really understood a lot of the required stitches, but I decided to try something easy, and went with a cute little cupcake pattern.

Here's my result. Still not spectacular, but cute enough to package up and include in a birthday gift to my niece, who turns two next week.


So anyway, there's my update on what's been going on around here. I've been terribly lax in my posting lately. Not that I ever have much of great importance to share. :)

This week I plan to do a bit more sewing, finish off a pair of very plain socks, and work a little more on a shrug I abandoned almost a year ago. We'll see how it goes.

Learning to be a hooker

There's this really cute pattern that I've been dying to knit for a month or so. It's just a tank top, but it's super cute with cabling and a picot edge around the waist. The reason I haven't started yet is the same reason that I shy away from a lot of projects that I really would love to knit-- It has a *cringe* crochet edging around the neck and arms.

I know I could just go and NOT do the edging called for, but I really like how the pattern looks as is, and besides, I can't let a little hook scare me off forever, can I?

So out came one of the only crochet hooks that I own, which is about 3 sizes smaller than what the ballband on the crappy acrylic yarn calls for. And before any of you acrylic defenders step up, I mean the really crappy, scratchy, 1970's bad stuff. The stuff that you wouldn't donate to an elementary arts and crafts program because you'd be afraid of the kids getting hurt with it.

I practiced and practiced, I worked on getting a somewhat even tension, and when I felt that I had mastered three basic stitches enough to say that I could really crochet if needed, I jumped in feet first to the stitch that the pattern calls for-- the crab stitch. Now maybe it's just that I'm left handed and tend to do everything backwards, but I just can't seem to "get" this stitch. I've watched video tutorials online- some show you twisting the needle around clockwise in a full circle to give the yarn a twist. Others don't. So which way is right?

I'd post pictures of my lame attempts, but the cats unraveled the swatch while I was at the store. Ah well, it's better off under the couch anyway.

The one thing that I can see that is appealing about crochet is that it's FAST! I can understand how it could become addictive to the instant gratification need in us all.

But, I will not come to the dark side, Darth Vader.