Six weird things about me...

...and a few extra.
I wanted to do this anyway, but then Dy went ahead and tagged me as well, so I guess that means I've got to do it NOW. ;)

So, read, and have fun. Please laugh, else it's tragic. :P

1. As a child in primary school (and maybe up until the age of 12 or so) I was convinced that I could fly. I would sit on my bed, suddenly feel like I would soon take off (weird, eh?), and then think "Just a little more now, just a little more." or "I'm flying I'm flying!" - alas, it never worked. :(

2. I used to dance. Latin American dances, like Cha-Cha, Samba, that kind of stuff. I used to be in a formation. I wore sparkly dresses full of sequins. I wore fake fingernails with sparkly crystals on them. I wore fake tan on my face and bright red lipstick. I think this entry alone would fill the whole list! O_O

3. I sometimes talk to myself - although, reading what other people have written, this is probably not that weird anymore. It just gets bad when I do it in traffic and complain about other drivers. And especially bad when I'm on my bike and people walk by. :P

4. I LOVE video games! For me, this is not weird, but other people might just think it is. I was playing Super Mario obsessively in primary school. Then I played loads of Tetris. Then, my once boyfriend got me into RPGs. The boyfriend is now gone, but the RPGs remain. I haven't been playing lately, but I sooo want to again.
(I'll add another weird thing to this one, so I don't end up with a list of 23 points...as a kiddo, I had a major crush on Luigi. As an older kiddo of around 18, I had a major crush on someone called Squall. Neither of these really exists.)

5. I had a time in my life when I would avoid anyone I knew at uni, like old school colleagues etc. If I saw any of them, I would take loooong detours. It was freaky.
I still avoid other people sometimes, but I think I have reduced them to a) people asking for donations b) people selling street magazines and c) my ex, who doesn't turn up anywhere anyway, thankfully - and the first two only when I really don't want to be bothered.

6. There was a time, for about 6 months or so, when the best friend I had was an Australian guy I had never met and only talked to online. I mentioned him before on this blog, I think. He saved me from what could have been a major crash (depression was looming - I had my hair cut really short and dyed red and looked very odd and wrote poems that still break my heart).
He'll probably never read this, but hey, let's trust to chance a bit: Hey Chug! *waves*
(His real names was a different one.)

7. Another one for good measure: I hate to find a parking space in a location where there are hardly any available, for example IKEA on Saturdays or the city centre on almost any day. I regularly freak out during such times, and if there should be someone in the car beside me, they better be very calm and relaxed people and prepare for some shouting, cursing, and possibly tears.

8. And maybe just another one, so Dy doesn't feel weird with her 8 points: I once went to an Apokalyptica concert. Apokalyptica play Heavy Metal on cellos. Guess what I was wearing? A very cute babyblue top. That's me. Always in black, but not for ze concerts. *shakes head at herself*

9. Oh, and I just thought of another one. I think my eyes are weird. Basically, they're blue. But sometimes, they are bright blue, and sometimes, they are a dark greenish blue. I suppose this has to do with weather and light and such. Still, looking at pictures of myself, it seems like my eyes always change. Weird! ;)

I *suppose* there would be more, but let's just leave it at that, hm? Thankfully, noone of my family is currently around, so they can't add anything...

10. I just thought, why not make it ten, actually. You may agree with me or not, but I think this is one of the best pictures ever. It still makes me laugh after months and months. Am I weird, or do you all like it as much as I do? Whatever, I will soon put it on a t-shirt.

Here we go again - Wardrobe Refashion 07

Soooooo....
I received my invite today, posted my introduction post, and I guess this means I will now, once again, post my pledge. I'm taking it for 4 months this time, as the 3 months I did last year weren't much of a problem. With my new sewing books and some more time on my hands, I think I'll actually have some nice things to show this time. :)

Well, here we go:

I, Barbara, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 4 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings!
Signed Barbara ;)

And now everyone who reads this sign up as well! ;)

(By the way, they moved to a new address - Clicky here!)

Crossed fingers and toes succeed!

I'm still shaking my head about it with some bewilderment, but - I GOT THE JOB! Wohoooo!

On Tuesday I received this email from my professors secretary that he wanted to see me Thursday morning. "What now?" I thought, but hey, if I would get an aswer earlier on so that I could at least stop worrying about it, OK.
So I went, and he asked whether I had changed my mind since last week, and I just said "Well, I thought about what you said for a long time, but I'm sure I can manage everything." - and he said "Ok, then let's try. " :D I know, doesn't sound terribly enthusiastic on his side, does it? I guess he takes these kinds of things very serious, and laughing and smiling all the time while explaining my future duties would hardly have been fitting. :P SO not to worry. I'm sure he thought a lot about what he's doing - and I'll just prove it to him that he made the right choice. :)

Anyway, I will be working Tuesdays from March onwards (or rather, I'll probably be starting on February 27). I'll actually be employed by my uni. How fun is that? :D
The most fun will be my own office hour. (Yeeees, I will have my own office hour. LOL!) As in, I want to go to the first session of the lecture I'm "responsible" for, introduce myself and tell students to come to my office hour if there are any problems. That's my idea, at least. And I'm already laughing about it, even though (or because?) I can't even imagine that right now. Me + office hour = unbelievable. :D
My colleague will be the girl I might have mentioned - the one who is much much better at the theory stuff than I am. I know her a little, since we already had several courses together, and she's very nice.
I could go on blabbering forever, but I guess I better don't. I'm just really really excited. My first real job! At my uni! With my professor! Yay! And if I will spend half my time in front of the copy machine, so be it! ;)
I'll keep you updated about things go...

...and I shouldn't forget to send a huge THANK YOU!!! to all those lovely people who wished me luck and told me they were sure I would get the job - it was sooo lovely to have some people put their confidence in me when I really didn't have much of it in myself. You're the best. :)

Waiting

I had a talk with my professor on Friday. He said he'd already considered me for the spot - but he wasn't too sure about my theoretical knowledge - whether I would be able to explain literary terminology to other students.
Now, I know this is ony of my weak points, because I lost out on a lot of things during my studies because of, hm, private life interfering. My non-love of secondary literature, which only now is becoming a definite interest in secondary literature, may have "helped" as well.
Anyway, he said he'd let me know by the 30th, as that is when I will be seeing him in his office hour to discuss my thesis.
This means I have about one more week to do what I can to convince him that I CAN handle my terminology.
This means I have to apologise to everyone who is still waiting for certain posts, emails, packages etc. which I feel bad about, but I have to try. Not just to get the job, but because his opinion is quite important to me, and if he says that I could improve on that part of my knowledge, then believe you me, I will try to do so.

I felt like I needed to end this post, and begin my few days absence, with something nice and bright, so please enjoy this lovely picture of a kitten, which I just got off Google Image Search:

Exams are nothing compare to this

After some encouragement from some colleagues who currently fill the post but will be away form Graz by next semester, I have just sent an email to my thesis-supervising professor that I would love to work as his study assistant. Wanna know how long it took me to type that email? Long, very long, with many pauses in between.
So, tomorrow I will have two courses with him. And let me tell you, I will be far more nervous etc than for any of the presentations or exams. I was last Friday when I had first intended to ask him (he had to leave straight after class *curses*). I was for the last few days when I thought about writing this email. I was just now, while writing it, and then even more while hovering over the "Send" button - and tomorrow I will probably freak out somewhat. *sighs*

This would be my first job ever, except for the one 3-week work placement I had way back when I had just turned 18 - and the au-pair stuff, if that counts. My first job. Pfffff. O_O
I hope I hope I hope hope hope he has noticed how much more work I do ever since last March. I hope he thinks I can do it. I hope I can do it. I hope I will do it. I *so* would love to get that job! What could be better than working at your own department while writing your thesis? Getting to know from the inside the system that you were part of for more than 5 years? Properly getting to know the people, the professors, the secretaries, the librarians, all the people you've walked past, talked to, listened to for all these years? And working for the professor who is supervising your thesis and has been responsible for so much improvement in how you study etc?

Fingers crossed, eh?

More quizzes!

Hm, ages ago I did this quiz on "What yarn are you?" I think the result is still here on the blog somewhere.
Anyway, I just was made aware of two new ones to try. So I tried - and here are my results.

Your Power Color Is Blue

Relationships and feelngs are the most important things to you. You are empathetic and accepting - and good at avoiding conflict. If someone close to you is in pain, it makes you hurt as well. You try to heal the ones you love with your kind and open heart.

What's Your Power Color?

Yeah, who would EVER have thought that my colour is blue? *feigns surprise* :P

Now the other one I sort of answered looking back, because I stopped drinking coffee last autumn. So there was a lot of substituting "Chai Latte" for "coffee" and thinking "If I would still be drinking coffee..." - well, you get the idea.

You Are a Cappuccino

You're fun, outgoing, and you love to try anything new. However, you tend to have strong opinions on what you like. You are a total girly girly at heart - and prefer your coffee with good conversation. You're the type that seems complex to outsiders, but in reality, you are easy to please

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

And with this, I am afraid, I cannot wholly agree. :P
I don't exclusively have strong ideas about what I like. Sometimes, yes; but at other times I'll just go along with whatever.
I'm not completely girly girly at heart. In parts, maybe (see my latent love of pink).
I mainly drink my Chai Latte on my own, to relax and stop thinking about things. (although, of course, good conversation isn't a bad thing, I just don't explicitly prefer it.)
And - I'm not really easy to please. Sorry. In some areas, yes, probably in almost all areas, but in some others, uhoh, no.

So, maybe I shouldn't answer quizzes that are concerned with things I don't really do/eat/drink/whatever. ;)

Edit: Ok, I thought about this some more. Maybe I AM easy to please, or at least appear to be so. I am definitely easily amused. I generally like people without much ado about it. I easily go into excitement mode over pretty things. And maybe some other stuff, too. Does that mean I'm easy to please? You tell me.

Oh luck! Oh joy!

Ok, so after training yesterday, I was somewhat calmer again, a little more settled after talking to a few people etc. And today, after a shaky morning (still didn't know what was happening with my friend) and a presentation that went so much better than I ever would have thought, I was even calmer. I guess I'm ok again now, still a lot going on but I'm back in my "I can manage" state of mind, instead of the "OMG FREAK OUT!" state of mind. *phew*

Soooo, I got this package from Etsy today (more *later*, ahaha, this might be my favourite word, bad B), and went to leave my feedback, and, as I usually do, clicked on the pictures on the front page which I liked, and searched through the shops that I thusly found. And I guess I made the luckiest buy ever. EVER! Wohooo!
Not that I have the money, or somesuch, but with something like this, what can I say? Look at that picture:











See that bag? It is chockful with jewelry items that the respective artist made (before she got into glass bead making) and never sold, so now she is giving away this whole bag filled with necklaces, bracelets, earrings and whatnot, for this minimal amount of money! You probably wouldn't believe it if I told you how much.
As she says in the entry, one could take these things apart to have some beads to play with, or give them away as presents, or whatever. Well! What can I say, except that I will certainly have hours of fun when this little package arrives next week!
(And I will have to post a massive entry for this, so you can see all the goodies!)

Oh yeah, and I also bought this amazing glass bead in her store, check it out:

















Not sure yet what I will do with this, but the gorgeousness of it all just overwhelmed me. Soft blue! Soft lilac! Something that looks like mother of pearl! Seashell spiral pattern! Love! <3

And after this happy little interlude I'll write a few notes for tomorrow's class and then I'll be off to bed! *tired*

More exciting news soon, I promise! :)

Ayeeeh!

Ok, so I started to write this blog post yesterday about my two most recent swap packages and all sorts of other bits, but of course, I didn't get far with it yet, and now all is chaos again. :P

Today I took my best friend first to the doctor and then to the hospital, she has to stay there tonight so they can check what's actually wrong (some sort of evil infection).
I got up at 6.45am because of that, which I am just not used to, thank goodness I started getting up earlier (ie 7.30/8am) last week or I never would have managed.

I had one 1h-long office hour visit today (professors know far too much, you know? Input overflow :P), and a lecture, and am now trying to put all the bits and pieces of my presentation together for tomorrow.

Then a colleague just called about this other course and would I do this and that tomorrow, please? As she can't reach the other girls - geez.

And then there is this report I should have handed in today, or should at least tomorrow, hah, and another presentation on Wednesday, and the first exam on Thursday, and I basically don't know where my head is right now.

It felt so nice last Thursday and Friday, after those respective presentations were over, but, as I realised yesterday, that was just because I had completely forgotten about that report thing. :P

Well, whatever, I'm going to Aikido practice now and hope that it will sort of calm me down again, and then I'll just dig in for a few more hours.

And then, in a few days, when I have avoided another premature heart-attack (hah!) I will tell you about the wonderful thread packages I will be sending out soon!

Seven things

As I was reading through Meshell's archive to cheer me up when uni started again after the holidays, I came across this fun list, somewhat like the list of fours I did a while ago. Here goes...

Seven things to do before I die
1. Travel the world.
2. Write a book.
3. Own at least one cat.
4. Have children/a family.
5. Learn: how to knit, crochet, sew properly; and proper Italian, some French and some Japanese.
6. Work in my dream job(s).
7. Learn how to eat healthily and look after myself properly.

Seven things I cannot do
1. Sew straight lines (working on it)
2. Repair a computer (or build one from scratch *sighs*)
3. Learn how to budget money properly.
4. Stop eating chocolate.
5. Stop putting English words into German conversations.
6. Stop saying "lol" and "rofl" when talking to people.
7. Get to bed and sleep at the right time (getting to bed is OK sometimes, but falling asleep hardly ever is)

Seven things that attract me to my mate
We-ell, this one I can't answer right now. ;)

Seven Books I love
1. Each and every Terry Pratchett book.
2. All Harry Potter books (just no. 5 I didn't like that much, but maybe I need to read it again)
3. The Lord of the Rings
4. The Last Unicorn (finally read in Christmas holidays, oooh <3<3<3)
5. The Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde
6. Eucalyptus - Murray Bail
7. Clear your clutter - Karen Kingston ;)

Seven Things I say
1. "Lol."
2. "Uaaaaah." *yawns*
3. "I am SO looking forward to when this is all over." (overused right now)
4. "Guess I'll do it tomorrow."
5. "I'm tired."
6. "Why me?"
7. "Have fun!" (My way of saying goodbye, hilarious when I say it without thinking to my mum as she goes to work - she's always saying "Thanks" with this "Yeah right" intonation...)

Seven Movies I Loved
1. Amelie
2. The Lord of the Rings movies
3. The Harry Potter movies
4. Sliding Doors
5. The Last Unicorn (so lovely when I was little, so entirely different when I watched it two weeks ago)
6. Most Disney movies (especially the older ones)
7. Kill Bill

Seven People To Tag
Whoever cares to do this, please do so (and let me know!)

WordCraft Challenge 1

You may wonder what this is about.
Well, last night, when I gave up writing the report I wanted to write and had already made several things out of pure frustration (pictures in a few days, maybe), I organised the little box with all my threads in it. You know, embroidery thread, that sort of stuff. I had lots of these, and all mixed up in one big mess. So I sorted through that and tidied it all up and put it nicely into one of those clear plastic storage boxes I bought at IKEA earlier this week.
But here's the point - in one of those small paper boxes that I never really opened, because my mum (or grandma even? Probably my mum) had bought those, I found a massive amount of blue thread in two shades. And then, I also had way too much orange and yellow. So I decided to offer some to anyone who could need it. But not just like that.
First, here's a picture of the thingies:













There's 13 DMC 793 (a sort of medium blue, it looks brighter in the picture because of the flash), 7 DMC 791 (dark blue), 2 Anker 0386 and 4 Anker 0332.

But why WordCraft? And why Challenge?
Well, I thought, wouldn't it be fun if crafty people who wanted some of these had to write something to get them? (That's the kind of thing I come up with at around 4am :P)
And I thought, Yeah - let them write poetry!
So, if you are interested in any of these, then please leave a comment, in which you should write which ones of these you are interested in - and a humorous limerick (limericks are always humorous :P) about either yarn, or general crafting. Like this, for example:

There was this one girl in Graz
Who was interested in all the arts
She read books quite a lot
but then often forgot
And so only remembered some parts.

Or

There was this collector of thread
who avoided going to bed
So she stayed up all night
had ideas not so bright
And let others suffer for that.

(Ok, forget that last rhyme :D)

Anyway, the idea should be clear, right?
You can post as many as you want - you have until next Sunday (the 14th).
If too many people want too much thread, I'll see what I'll do about this should the question arise - after all, I'm not so sure whether people are really wild about these thingies or not.
If this is a success though, and I get lots of funny poems to read, I might continue this - with buttons, for example, or ribbon, or whatever. So, get to it!

New Blogger

I just moved my blog to the new and improved Blogger - I think nothing bad should happen because of that though. :)

Things not mentioned, but not forgotten

This post is mainly about swaps I did with some wonderful people, but never got around to post about, because uni life set in and steamrolled over me.

Lori was one of the first people to ask me for a swap (the second one, actually). We said we would do a "Surprise Swap", and after I had collected together a few things, I decided on a theme for her: Roses/Flowers. I got some rose soap and rose paper cutout thingies (no idea what to call the stuff), dyed and painted some flowery design on a little tote bag, etc etc. I should post pictures about it but they're hiding away somewhere right now...

Anyway, when I received Lori's package, I had to laugh. Check the picture closely to see why:














YES! She sent me some rose soap as well! And rose paper! And rose scent bags! Ain't it just fantastic? No idea how we managed to think so much alike!
As you can see, she also sent loads of other stuff - a Rolling Stone magazine (never yet had one in my hands before, fun!), a Stephen King novel (without knowing that I had read some of his books as a wee teenie, but not this one!), some great beads and other fun stuff. The one thing that isn't in the picture is the lovely windchime she sent, all pinkish-purple fun - and it's not in the picture because it's hanging in my entry hall, and I didn't want to take it down.
So much fun, Lori, thanks again! And whenever I'm sick of life again, I'm sure your blog will cheer me up. :)
(Check it out, people, and you'll want to live on a little farm in the middle of nowhere as well! I know I do everytime I take a look at it.)

I think next in line came Carolyne from Adelaide. Now, Adelaide holds a special place in my heart every since I mad a very good online friend there, who has since disappeared, but I still heartily miss him. This fascination with Adelaide led to a general interest for Australia, and, in time, to the topic for my thesis - and me being able to make another friend, here in Graz, over our shared interest. So, as you can see, Adelaide, to me, is special, even if I've never been there (YET!).
Carolyne is an interesting person, for me. Working in what I would call hard science, analysing writing samples etc - whew. And then, on the side, she makes the most beautiful things. Check out this picture:



















See the bag? Click on the picture, please, to see the larger version, and look at the bag again. Isn't it great? I wore it for the first time to the opera, to see Carmen, and have the pictures to prove it (check the GYS site if you want to see them), and I'm longing to be able to use it again. I had it hanging up in my room for a couple of weeks after I received it, because I just wanted to look at it all the time. :)
Well, Carolyne also sent other things - loads and loads of wonderful beads, a great big t-shirt that, despite Carolyne's doubts, has already been in use several times, then a nice magazine with many many projects inside *fingers itching to make something*, some great chocolate (those FruitChocs were a true delight), and some nice stickers and touristy stuff, the kangaroo now sitting on my bedside table with some other nice things (a little touristy elk from Norway I got from my sister, a little angel figurine I received several years ago from my brother, and, since a few nights ago, another little kangaroo, from Perth).
Carolyne, thanks again! I loved and still love everything you sent!

And then there was Charlene, from Berkeley, CA. I asked her for magazines and look what she sent me:



















Magazines! And what great ones! First, the Japanese craft mag, fantastic, with things easy enough for me to make, lovely! Then, BUST, which I'd only heard about in whispers among the blogs I read, and wondered what was so great about it - then I looked through it and I think I understand now! Great to get this chance to check it out (without even asking for it specifically). And lastly, this really interesting music magazine. Never read a music magazine before, what fun!
But the magazines of course weren't everything. She also sent some great fabric, and some stickers, and...Ghirardelli chocolate! Oh, Ghirardelli Square, how I miss thee! I spent one afternoon of my life there, and what fun it was! So many things! So many lovely things! And great weather! One of the best days of my later school days, I'd say. (And the best thing I bought, ever: Chocolate pasta! My family was a little startled over that one when I brought it home!)
Again, thanks Charlene! And I'm still extremely sorry about the item that I sent you and which broke! (And I haven't forgotten about the recipes I meant to send you, they're just terribly late...I hope you don't mind waiting a few more weeks.)

So, these were my autumn swaps that I never posted about and had the worst moments over because I felt such a lazy thing, not to post about all these great things I received!
There's still two swaps I haven't written about, which I received just around Christmas:
One from Meshell in Perth, and one from Melissa in Singapore. But I'll post about them soon, as there are so many nice things to show you, and it would be a pity to let them suffer for publicity as long as the other packages did!

As a final picture, another one from my stay with my friends - on the afternoon of the 31st, we drove around the area a bit, and did some walking, and geocaching (google it if you have no idea what that is, or wait for me to say more about it, hah). It was my first time, and much fun! I took this picture about 30mins before the sun was setting. This is Burg Güssing, in the south of Burgenland, the most eastern province/county/whatever of Austria. My friends are thinking about getting married there. I hope they do, it would be fabulous. :)

The Dawn of 2007

I love this photograph! I took it at around 7.30am or so on January 1, standing alone in the garden of my friends' house. (The others, cleverly, had gone to bed earlier than me.)
I hope all of you had a good start into the new year, with fun, and friends, and general good times. I did, and it was great. The past few years have been rather bleak in some respects, and the days you sometimes notice this very much are always holidays. Especially last year's year switch was crap (as I may have mentioned before), but no more about that! New year, and how fun it will be!
The next three weeks probably not, I admit that. I have about 4 presentations and 5 exams and I don't know what sort of stuff to hand in (yeah, watch my organisational skills, which are as yet pretty much non-existant!). Then after those three weeks there will be 6 weeks with about 5 papers to write, but - I am looking forward to that, really I am. And after that - happiness. My thesis to write. I am REALLY looking forward to *that* one. (I'm not kidding you. I am.)
What will happen this year? I will graduate. I will probably move out from home. I may just have to find myself a job. Doesn't it sound exciting? :)

I would like to leave you with another picture...














This is the view to the West while the sun was rising. This isn't where I live, but about an hour to the east, where my best friends boyfriend and his sister lately purchased a house. Wonderful place, let me tell you. :)