Good Things VI

I'm home alone and it feels *really* strange, but there's such a lot of good stuff this week...amazing!

*It's the 31st, so in a few minutes it's November 1st, and everyone who has been reading for a while knows what that means.
*This is a good thing even now, and has been some other moments this week, because a) looking forward to it makes me SO happy and b) I've been thinking a lot about my story, which was great. Nice ideas for part 2, and good things I want to change about part 1 to make it much much better.
*I've been drawing every single day for the past 5 days or so. Every day. And it's not half bad. Much better than I expected it would be. Which makes me HAPPY. I'm feeling so much better now than I did in the past few weeks. I did the right thing in concentrating on a few nice and creative things.
*My magazine arrived, and has been all...no, more than I expected. Another one is on the way, hopefully it will be here soon. Talk about inspiration. *thankful*
(I'm calling it 'my magazine' and not by its name right now, because I still see it that way...mine mine mine...and I feel that it somehow saved me from the lingering darkness, somehow.)
*I'm doing a kind of fast this weekend (until Tuesday), which I've also been looking forwards to for a long time. Already feel much better. Yay!
*Two gorgeous walks with good music in my ear, and memorable sights, even though I've walked those paths often before. Mhhh, autumn.
*Watching loads of nice movies. Mary Poppins, anyone?
*Knitting...finishing some stuff and having great ideas while doing so.
*Meeting my parents today, drinking great tea (jasmine), visiting graves and talking (yep, even that can be nice).
*Lots of emails from my boyfriend, who is away on business for the first time. But man, those emails crack me up. ;) <3 <3 <3
*Thursday...two amazing lectures, taking part in a demonstration against government craziness, talking politics with my sister, and good evening TV...nice!
*Messing up at work, yet somehow avoiding disaster...phew!
*Colleagues admiring my mad notetaking and minutes-writing skills. Yeah, I *did* take all of that down, thank you very much.
*Unintentional Styrian salad at Sägewerk (rocket, green peppers, feta, boiled egg)
*There is so much amazing music surrounding me right now. *happydance* And it's time to order my October/November cds as well...yumm...
*Sunshine...and warm weather...I know it will be over again come Tuesday...but right now...so nice.
*Setting up long-held projects, which feels great.
*Dragon Quest has been kind enough to afford me much fun, much-needed diversion, and some memorable moments. I'm even 'borrowing' an idea for my Nano novel. Now go and call videogames a waste of time.
*Looking forward to Thursday.
*5 minutes to go.
*Start crazy mode.
* :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
*Right here, right now, Feli loves everyone. *grouphug* ;)

The thankfulness virus

For the past few weeks, I've been writing those little lists every week, of good things, things that make me happy, that I am thankful for.

Of course I am not the only one doing this.

I just found this story, and it is beautiful.
I've been reading this blog for a few weeks now, and it's a good almost daily reminder to be thankful for the little things, or the weird things, or the things that at first don't even look that amazing.

There is, of course, much more like this out there, but these are a good starting point.

Also, yesterday, I watched 'Willkommen Österreich' (which I normally don't), and Matthias Lanzinger came on. Hearing him talk about his experience (of having his left lower leg amputated after a skiing accident around 2 years ago), and his responses to the questions put to him, for me really drove the point home that a positive outlook on things can be inredibly powerful.

It's an easy exercise to try. Give it a shot, and let me know what happens. :)

Guess what?

October's CD of the month vote-thingie

Here's the story...some time at the beginning of the year or so, I decided that I wanted to acquire more CDs. I had been living off music lent to me by friends and forgotten about my own favourites. So...I managed to do this for two months (one was Jamie Cullum - The Pursuit, the second was Tori Amos - Abnormally attracted to sin), then I was out of my job and I guess I just forgot about it.
Then, last month, I suddenly remembered. And to catch up, I got myself two CDs at once (Apocalyptica- 7th Symphony, Joanna Newsom - Have one on me, which is one of the best things ever, since it's actually three cds in one box for the price of one, and all three are amazing...amaaaazing). Oh, and my boyfriend bought ("for us", yeah right) the EP of the cute young girl singer we saw at a concert and who I immediately fell in love with (I still haven't posted about that concert, have I? Grah.)
But, this month, I still have to order my CD of the month...and I already have so many ideas, I need a bit of help.

My current possible choices are:
1) Binder+Kriegelstein - New weird Austria (or any of theirs)
This was the main band of said concert, and they were so much fun! Also, who can resist a CD title like that? I didn't buy one straight at the concert because, yeah, you guessed it, I had already got myself 2 CDs that month, plus I couldn't decide which one to get. So, hm. But this was idea #1.
2) Something Elvis Costello. I know about four songs by him, but all of them I really like. So, maybe I should give him more of a chance. (I just checked, and I think "Imperial Bedroom" would be my #1 choice here.)
3) Something Dresden Dolls.
4) Ohhh, there was something else, but I can't recall right now who it was. Maybe I'm imagining things, anyway...

So, uh, let's call it three possible choices, which have several sub-choices. I'm currently leaning towards Elvis Costello, but let me know what you think. :)

Good things V

I can't quite believe I'm already on round 5...time passes quickly in Feli-Land right now...
But there have been some *really* good things this week!

*Meeting my sister three times in a row! (Coffee on Thursday, party on Friday, crazy Starcraft-LAN-Party on Saturday)
*Having quite the action-packed weekend in contrast to our usual "Stay at home and be exceedingly lazy"-routine (party on Friday, crazy Starcraft-LAN-Party on Saturday, Brunch Sunday lunch, family birthday affair Sunday afternoon)
*Being late for said brunch because we thought Daylight Savings Time ended this weekend (actually, next week. Whoops.) and our friends being really amazingly cool about it (and then sitting and laughing with us for 3 hours straight)
*Two scarves from my to do list finished
*Sunshine and fallen leaves and falling leaves and some of the best that autumn has to offer
*A professor that I only ever took one lecture with remembering my name (while others that I took several seminars with have continually forgotten that I even study what I study...or that I have already graduated and am now a PhD student...or...*sighs*)
*I SO love my cultural studies lecture, it's beyond belief (random Elvis Costello reference)
*Lending my new Apocalyptica CD to my sister, and borrowing three older ones from her in return. Score! :D
*Headphone Commute music mixes. I admit that this took me by surprise, but these were extremely helpful since I discovered them last weekend. Extremely helpful. (I mostly listened to 'Modern Classical' and 'Oceanica', but 'Dream Scores' is also quite nice, as are some of the others, though I haven't by far listened to them all.)
*Girls Night on Wednesday, with so much delicious food, yum...I mean, chocolate cake with melty chocolate center, served with what I assume was walnut (or some nut at least) ice cream? Arrnomnomnom.
*Not getting ill. Honestly. I thought I was done for once again when Monday rolled in, but I just slept an impossible amount of time, and was saved. Hah!
*One of my secret project thingies arriving. Yay! More on that later.
*A fictional character wearing a t-shirt with a print reading "Come to the dork side"
*Sitting in the sun, reading uni stuff, leaves rustling around me
*Feeling less tired. Still occasional bouts of inner exhaustion, but less so, I think.
*Only one more week until Nano!
*And gratuitous Monday morning good thing: Raining outside, ginger and lemon tea inside!

Good list, that. :)

 

More info, plus Guardian background story, here

Good Things IV

Interestingly, even this week, there are good things to post. Just goes to show, life is good, after all, once you start looking at it the right way.

*First of all, two amazing videos which cheered me up immensely right now.
Hip Hop Medley, done by Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon
I think the voice impersonation is pretty great. :)



and this for full-on nerdiness. The original music clip can be heard at the end. Good stuff.



*Magazine backissues (I didn't think I would find any of them at all - and now two of those babies are on their way here. Can't wait. Will talk more about them once they're here)
*Other magazines (which cost as much as a paperback, but are still good value)
*A spontaneous 'Tour de Hartberg' after delicious salad, while singing "Das alles ist Hartberg" as off-tone as possible
*Lambchop and lamb chops
*Deescalating spontaneous family 'discussions', even better since it wasn't my own family. Success!
*Zotter hot chocolate - heals the heart, honestly!
*Parties and fun people
*Delicous egg-free muffin success
*Friends who are still friends even after spontaneous emotional combustion
*Doing useful stuff in the office, and thus driving off that "What am I doing here?" feeling
*Parties, and more parties, and seeing happy people being rewarded for their hard work
*Perfect chai latte last Monday
*My brother
*My sister
*Fixing the birthday present fiasco of two weeks ago
*The back massage I just received this evening
*...and I suppose there's more, but let's leave it at this right now.

Good Things III

A little late, but here it is:

*Taking walks both Saturday and Sunday, just as the sun is setting
*Cheshire Cat moon
*Cultural Studies lectures. YES!
*Finally feeling somewhat like a proper PhD student, with a plan.
*Seeing so many pretty things, and not spending money on them
*Lots of movies, again (The Dark Knight, Strings, some other stuff)
*Strings (Yes, it deserves a spot of its own. Stunning. Beautiful. Haunting. I will never forget this. For some weird reason, it reminded me a little of The Dark Crystal. )
*Knitting, and reading, and getting things done

A shorter list, but there's some really important, weighty points in there which made life noticably better. :)

Dealing with workloads

One thing that constantly makes me sad is how I never seem to find the time to do the things I'd really love to do - properly work on my PhD, write more, do some photography, sew, learn some more Italian, all that. When, once again, I realise that this is one of the things making me unhappy, I usually make some sort of plan.

Right now, I've decided to:

- finish things (especially concerning knitting and video games - and odd combination, I admit) before starting new things.
 This also means I probably won't be buying myself a PS3 and FFXIII for Christmas after all, but more likely...a new digital camera which can take nice macro shots etc. I have an SLR, but I bought it just shortly before digital photography started to take over, which is why I never use it these days. The digital camera I do have is around 5 years old and doesn't really manage close-ups all that well.
It also means I will write a 'to finish' list further down.

- delegate the playing of video games to the weekends or to evenings after 9pm. I should manage, since I can still distract myself with my trusty GoogleReader, timestealer extraordinaire.

- finish the whole freelance job I got from the office I work at until the end of October, so I can, once November rolls around (you're guessing what comes now) fully and concentratedly take part in NaNoWriMo once again, and not be distracted by too much work. It is, after all, the only month in the year where I allow myself to feel (and act) like an author, so far, and as that, it is sacred. ;)

- do some reading for my PhD, if only a little bit, every day. Again, I should manage that, since I finally have some sort of plan. Mwahahaha.

Sound good?

*****

So, here is what I 'need to finish', knitting and gaming-wise:

Knitting:
The jumper I started way way back when I finally properly taught myself how to knit. That was 3 or 4 years ago. I really need to finish that.
The mittens that were supposed to be my sisters birthday present in...wait for it...2008. Well, I had intended to give her fingerless gloves, had one finished, and then she said she wanted mittens. Hm.
The scarf for my soon-to-be-graduating friend (next Wednesday, actually). This has top priority right now. ;)
That other scarf which is very pretty colour-and-pattern-wise, which I will also gift to a friend, though I have yet to decide between two.
That big red fluffy monster. I seem to create lots of big fluffy monster scarves. Well, so be it.
The beautiful linen scarf I started when it was too humid for anything else. Also to be a present, and I know for whom.
The grey scarf where I couldn't figure out the instructions, but will make it my own way. Hooray for self-sufficiency.
My beautiful beautiful Alpacino Scroll Lace Scarf. Plus a matching hat. Yes. But the hat only after everything else is done.
The mittens which were supposed to be a birthday present, but will now be a Christmas present. Ha.

That's a lot, huh? December will be so much fun.

Games:
FF9 (my second playthrough, stuck at the end of CD 3 of 4. Grah.)
FF12 (I started this two years ago, right after I graduated...my graduation present to myself. I ordered it right after I had my exam. And now? Stuck in the last quarter of the game. Again. Neverending story of my gaming life. Grah.)
The Wind Waker (My third playthrough, and, same old, same old. All that is left is to assemble the Triforce and go and bash Ganon. But do I do it? No! Because...)
...Dragon Quest VIII (I bought this two weeks ago, in GameStop. It was on my wishlist for ages, then sold out and only attainable for loads of money. And then I find it, by chance, for 10€. And it is so. Much. Fun. Pretty and Cute (with a capital C) and funny. *sighs*)
and maybe also
Zack&Wiki (which my boyfriend and I started to play together, but haven't for a year or so)

And maybe when that is done (or I have officially given up on any of these and put their boxes back into hidden storage), and only then, I will allow myself to spend inordinate amounts of money on being able to play FFXIII, no matter how pretty it is and how much I already know of the plot because my curiosity got the better of me (plus I can interpret soundtrack titles pretty neatly by now).

So, that's it. Once more, a plan. This should be fun. :)
And now I'll go back to my, hm, let's, for the fun of it, call it freelance gig. ;)

Lots more wool

My massive haul from last week's 2nd visit to my closing-down favourite yarn store.
At least my massive purchases made the owner laugh. ;)

This are, well, hm, around 30 or so balls of yarn? Thankfully I spent today organising some things, so I could safely stow them all away. And I have no cats. Although that might actually  have been fun...same picture, but the caption would have read 'Spot the cat'. Burrowing somewhere under soft pink linen and parrot-coloured fun. Hm. :)

Geekdom reaches new heights, citizens warned to stay inside

I just ordered myself a necklace, simply because, when I saw it, I shouted out 'Triforce!'
*shakes head about herself*

If I'm not really careful, next time I'll be buying a boat. :P

Good things list II

Let's see what this week has offered:

Getting crazy nicknames at work while my colleagues were sick/on holiday (stuff like 'saviour' etc were used, weird, but funny, too)
Mentioning I had a sore throat and a colleague walking up to me 2 minutes later, offering me her three tea packages to choose from
Buying lots and lots and loads of yarn and not feeling guilty about it
Drinking a drink called 'Julia', which, in combination with a healthy dose of laughing, made abovementioned sore throat (plus extra headache) go away for at least one full workday.
Meeting old friends, and new friendly people
Laughing a lot. Like, really a lot.
Messing around with beads, and thus creating a birthday gift that made someone happy
Receiving Postcrossing postcards, cute, funny, crazy, amazing.
The more recent version of The Incredible Hulk movie (watched just now), which is so much better than the first attempt.
Skype phone calls
Joanna Newsom
Finding great uni courses to attend, yay.
Family dinners, helping out in the kitchen - yes, that was a good thing, really!
My cousins, and how they're slowly growing up...they're entering an exciting phase of their life now (they're 11).*
Knitting colourful things.
Driving through the countryside with my new Apocalyptica CD on
Yummy food, and then a nap afterwards
Being thankful, even if not everything is well and good. Being thankful for what is - is good enough.

*I know, it's going to be just as exciting for their parents. ;)