I have three plans, or programmes, or resolutions, which will come in effect within the first few days of July. They are:
1. To once again go through the "Quit Sugar" programme, this time with additional help from my recently purchaced fructose-intolerance book. (My initial programme lasted 8 weeks, I'm not sure yet what the second book recommends.)
2. To work through "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron. Summer 'holidays' as determined by university last from July through September, which should give me the 12 weeks needed.
3. To abstain from buying new clothes, yarn, accessories etc for at least 3 months, with some possible exceptions: a new pair of jeans (I have certain conditions which need to be met before I may buy those), a simple black bag large enough to carry all my (uni) stuff in, a bra from a store where they take my measurements (because I'm sick of being unsure of the right size), the yarn my aunt sort of gifted to me at Christmas and which I still haven't bought yet, one instance of perfume in whatever form (solid, spray, whatever; I do have something specific in mind, but I may wait until it's a little cooler to get it), a new pair of sandals should my old one fall apart, maybe a bikini should I feel up to it (as of right now, I don't), possibly new headphones, and maybe some basic black or white shirts for some self-designed shirts I have in mind. Nothing else. I know, this already sounds like a large list for an abstinence period, but my goal is not to buy nothing, it is to be more focused. As I don't buy much clothing etc anyway, I really don't want to waste what budget I have on things I don't really need.
Now, keeping to these three things should make me healthy, wise and rich by the end of the summer. ;)
Haha.
In all honesty, they should really just help me focus my life a little. As I said, this is, once again, a period of change, and I want that change to go in the right direction. (By the way, I'm not complaining about change - at the beginning of the year, I demanded change, I challenged change, and I'm getting it, so...all's well.)
Anyway, back to work!
Freitag, Juni 29, 2012
Montag, Juni 25, 2012
Short break
I'll be gone from my suddenly very regular postings for a few days while I finish this semester's exams and
Montag, Juni 18, 2012
Useful finds (and some fun ones, too)
I spent some time on the Lifehacker website this weekend and rambled through their exercise and organisation sections. Here's some things I found:
- Wunderlist and Wunderkit, both by the same (German) company, both free. The first is a task-manager, the second a sort of project manager. You need to register to use them, but once you do that, you can use it from your computer, smartphone (okay, Iphone only so far) or in any webbrowser. I downloaded Wunderlist yesterday and will see whether that helps any in keeping up with things, and if so, I think Wunderkit might also be quite nice for certain projects.
- Sworkit, a website which provides you with a workout for just the amount of time you want. I love that they also offer yoga, which I think I will try sometime this week. Should be perfect for those bursts of "I need to get off this chair and away from the screen for a while". Also free. Plus, since the workouts merely mention what exercise to do and provide a timer, there are links to explanations/pictures/videos of all the exercises used.
- This article on good eating habits for maximum energy during the day.
- This hoodie is one of the most amazing pieces of clothing I've ever seen. Genius idea.
- I have, in the past, sometimes checked out cosplaying pictures/projects online (and when I speak of 'past', I mean both long ago as well as a couple of months ago). However, I did not know there were actual cosplaying groups. Then again, it wouldn't really make sense, knowing how some countries work, for there to be none. So, here's a link to one of them. I know maybe 1% of the characters they show in their pictures, but can still admire the other costumes for pure amazingness.
Samstag, Juni 16, 2012
Fun Finds
I found a few nice things today which I thought I'd mention. These are pretty random, but maybe someone else will find something interesting (or fun) in them as well.
First, this blog (in German) by a woman from Vienna who is abstaining from buying any new clothes for 2012. Now, this idea is not at all new to me, as a repeat participant in the now sadly defunct Wardrobe Refashion, and a generally rare clothes store customer, so I'm wondering a little at the amount of press she's getting. Maybe the idea is still quite new to the greater public? Or this is just the right time for something like this to come along? Or being a representative of Global 2000 helps as well?
Anyway, I've added it to my blog list and guess I will learn a thing or two from following her experiences.
Second, I just rediscovered Dy's blog yesterday, looking through my archives. I thought she'd disappeared from the internet, just like her daughter, but apparently she returned this January, with a new blog. Also a nice read, since she and her husband left Perth some months ago to live the good life on their own ground, raising chicken and all that. Lots of preserving, fish catching, sustainable living going on. Admirable.
Third, these guys make cool things from used firehoses (and share my love of silly puns, I guess). A little expensive, I think, but a nice idea. I especially like the belts. (Short German interview here.)
Fourth, apparently there is a prize given to books which is shared by the author and the translator. Nice! German interview with this year's winner here.
And finally, two pictures.
I think these are quite ingenious. Sadly, no idea who makes them, or if they are made at all.
And - this:
First, this blog (in German) by a woman from Vienna who is abstaining from buying any new clothes for 2012. Now, this idea is not at all new to me, as a repeat participant in the now sadly defunct Wardrobe Refashion, and a generally rare clothes store customer, so I'm wondering a little at the amount of press she's getting. Maybe the idea is still quite new to the greater public? Or this is just the right time for something like this to come along? Or being a representative of Global 2000 helps as well?
Anyway, I've added it to my blog list and guess I will learn a thing or two from following her experiences.
Second, I just rediscovered Dy's blog yesterday, looking through my archives. I thought she'd disappeared from the internet, just like her daughter, but apparently she returned this January, with a new blog. Also a nice read, since she and her husband left Perth some months ago to live the good life on their own ground, raising chicken and all that. Lots of preserving, fish catching, sustainable living going on. Admirable.
Third, these guys make cool things from used firehoses (and share my love of silly puns, I guess). A little expensive, I think, but a nice idea. I especially like the belts. (Short German interview here.)
Fourth, apparently there is a prize given to books which is shared by the author and the translator. Nice! German interview with this year's winner here.
And finally, two pictures.
I think these are quite ingenious. Sadly, no idea who makes them, or if they are made at all.
CP 1: Xenoblade Chronicles #1 Addendum
In all my excitement yesterday I actually forgot one of the main points I like about the game:
6) You get experience points not only for killing enemies, but also for
As well as this, you are rewarded for collecting certain items as well (though with special items, not experience). And - solving certain missions influences the relationship you have with your team mates, the relationship you have with townsfolk, and the relationship some people have with each other.
The main thing is, there are so many things that reward you for playing the game to its fullest capacity, that my (story) progress is understandably somewhat slow. Admittedly, last night it went a little faster, since I'd emptied the first location of most of the currently available missions, but now that I've reached the Knee (as I said, a world being the body of a huge other being is just *really* awesome), I think I'll remain there for a while, and wait with story progression (which is easy, since the game also tells you exactly where and how much further you have to go for story progression - which makes it easy to avoid).
6) You get experience points not only for killing enemies, but also for
- exploring the world and finding new/hidden locations
- finishing certain missions
- gaining trophies
- gaining new talents
As well as this, you are rewarded for collecting certain items as well (though with special items, not experience). And - solving certain missions influences the relationship you have with your team mates, the relationship you have with townsfolk, and the relationship some people have with each other.
The main thing is, there are so many things that reward you for playing the game to its fullest capacity, that my (story) progress is understandably somewhat slow. Admittedly, last night it went a little faster, since I'd emptied the first location of most of the currently available missions, but now that I've reached the Knee (as I said, a world being the body of a huge other being is just *really* awesome), I think I'll remain there for a while, and wait with story progression (which is easy, since the game also tells you exactly where and how much further you have to go for story progression - which makes it easy to avoid).
Freitag, Juni 15, 2012
I've got a birthday coming up *hint hint*
One day, I will make/receive amazing cakes like this. Until that day, I will stare at these pictures with amazement and longing.
Link (he come to town, come to save the princess Zelda - ahem)
(No, sadly no Zelda cakes. An enormous oversight. Maybe it's up to me.)
Link (he come to town, come to save the princess Zelda - ahem)
(No, sadly no Zelda cakes. An enormous oversight. Maybe it's up to me.)
CP 1: Xenoblade Chronicles #1
For a while, I've been hesitating to write about things like this, for reasons I'm not really sure about (since, just think about it, I published my food diary on this blog for several weeks). But I've been blown away so unexpectedly and fully yesterday that I really can't stop myself any longer.
So, this is about videogames.
If you know me personally, you will most likely know that I have played and still play a variety of games, though with a strong bias towards Japanese Role-Playing-Games (and Zelda!). I started with Super Mario Bros., as, I suppose, many others did, I still think Tetris is probably the best game ever developed (especially considering replay value :D), but then, one fateful day, someone handed me a playstation controller for a few minutes, and that was that (the game, back then, was Final Fantasy 7, and I just ran through some tunnels for 3 minutes, unsure what to do with that alien thing in my hands...but that's probably a different story, to be told at a different time).
Anyway. Since I was hit square in the face by something awesome yesterday, I thought maybe I could chronicle my experience with it (haha. Welcome to Bad Pun County!).
Now, the story of how Xenoblade Chronicles, The Currently Most Awesome Thing In The World, entered my life, is somewhat circuitous (yes, I had to look that one up). I'd heard about it quite some time ago, of course. I might even have seen Game One's report on it. But either it was at a time when I was preoccupied with something else (Skyward Sword previews?), or I just thought "Whatever, I will not play any RPGs not developed by SquareEnix because, you know, I'm sooo very open to new things." :P or...it was just too plain expensive for me to try (a consideration which didn't keep me from throwing my money at Skyward Sword, of course).
Enter last Saturday, when I dragged my boyfriend to the nearest electronics store so I could finally get myself a new keyboard (notebook keyboards may sometimes survive water, they will, however, not survive milk). This, of course, included my obligatory walk through the games aisles. I saw something pretty by Daedalic (we're just playing The Whispered World), namely A New Beginning, which looks very lovely indeed, and then I saw Xenoblade Chronicles. At less than half the prize I'd seen it on Amazon, at a third of the prize I'd seen it at other stores. At a prize well below the Final Fantasy Platinum Editions, even. Money you'd pay for a nice paperback.
Here's what followed:
Me: Hey, what? Xenoblade Chronicles for 14,50?*picking it up* Oh wow.
J: What's this?
Me: Uh, RPG, I really don't know much, but, the world is actually the body of a titan, and you have this sword which can see into the future and...wow.
J: Huh.
Me: Yeah, and the world is supposed to be huge, and the pictures I've seen were really pretty...
J: Yeah, for a Wii game, the graphics don't look half bad.
Me: They ARE amazing, aren't they? And it's supposed to be really good, and...
Okay, I guess you get the gist. So, I walk around with the game in hand for further 5 minutes, looking at other things, discussing with myself (silently!) whether I could allow myself to spend any more money this month (or ever). And my boyfriend looks at other games, probably thinking whether he should buy the game for his slightly obsessive girlfriend or not.
And then he notices the Lego Star Wars games, and Xenoblade Chronicles completely loses to that (you know, stuff known to appeal to inner fanboy vs the unknown). So, with some thoughts on whether I won't regret it, I put the game back down and think 'Maybe next month.' And we go home.
And once there, J plays the Lego game for maybe half an hour, is completely disappointed, I put on some music from Xenoblade (thank you, Youtube), and then listen to regretful comments from J for the rest of the evening. Who would have thought.
So, yesterday, when I collected our car from service, I checked out the electronics market next door, only to see that they sold the game for the much, MUCH higher price. And then - because I'd been listening to great game music for 5 days, and J seemed a little down, and whatever else might have come into it, I took the car, drove to the place we'd been to on Saturday, and got the game.
Which pretty much ended my day, because I got stuck immediately. I managed to go to uni, but I have the music in my head for the whole time, and I practically raced back once the course was finished (I did *not* attend the lecture before that, I admit). Then I played until J came home, and made *him* play. Then I waited until he was asleep and played some more. I was lucky to make it to bed at 3am. I could also have forgotten about the time completely and only realised once the sun came up. It's happened before.
So, here we are, and as soon as I finish writing this, I know I'll start playing again.
To finish this, why do I, after only 6 hrs, and most of these spent exploring the world instead of following the storyline, think that this may be (one of) the most amazing games I've ever played?
1) The basic concept is unusual, and awesome: Instead of the world being just another alternative Earth floating through space, it is the body of a dead titan. The village you start out in is at the bottom of its leg. Get your head around that for a minute. I may be (AM) biased,but this is brilliant.
2) The world, from what I've seen so far, is HUGE. I only explored the first area so far, and yes, you heard me right just above, 6hrs. And there will be more yet. And it's *pretty*. There are hidden places. There are all sorts of animals. Which leads to...
3) As I just mentioned - I was able to play, and with gusto, for 6 hrs without feeling any *need* to follow the storyline. Actually, I only chose to progress in the story after the first few auto events after around 4 hrs of running around and doing other things. This is unheard of.
4) It has elements from other of my favourite games: Day and Night rhythms with certain people only appearing at certain times (hello, Zelda!) with the added bonus that you can set the time whenever you please; a huge amount of missions, which combine the hunts from FF 12 with those optional sidequests you get in any RPG; a battle system a little similar to FF12 but with, I think, more fun and less tactics (just a little less...FF12 was just too focused on those); it has a substance called ether (at least in German) which reminds me both of FF7 and FF10, in a way; you can customise weapons and armour with ether crystals (helloooo, Materia!), and the relationships between characters matter a lot (as they do in Dragon Age, which I have not played myself, but watched on as J did, and which I think must be one of the most amazing PC games out there). There's more, I think, but this post is already overlong.
5) It is insanely pretty, and has great music, and the English dub is quite amazing, too. Also, should I wish to do so, I *could* switch to Japanese anytime. Freedom of choice in those matters is one of the best things ever.
Now, I wouldn't be too surprised if this turned out to be my longest post yet. I had to take a break in the middle of writing it and just thought of at least ten other things I'd like to write about, all to do with videogames. So - be prepared. Some sort of dam has definitely broken. The CP posts will follow me through my experience of playing this game, and will talk about other games I'm currently playing. Next up for Xenoblade will be some general background, and maybe some videos.
So, this is about videogames.
If you know me personally, you will most likely know that I have played and still play a variety of games, though with a strong bias towards Japanese Role-Playing-Games (and Zelda!). I started with Super Mario Bros., as, I suppose, many others did, I still think Tetris is probably the best game ever developed (especially considering replay value :D), but then, one fateful day, someone handed me a playstation controller for a few minutes, and that was that (the game, back then, was Final Fantasy 7, and I just ran through some tunnels for 3 minutes, unsure what to do with that alien thing in my hands...but that's probably a different story, to be told at a different time).
Anyway. Since I was hit square in the face by something awesome yesterday, I thought maybe I could chronicle my experience with it (haha. Welcome to Bad Pun County!).
Now, the story of how Xenoblade Chronicles, The Currently Most Awesome Thing In The World, entered my life, is somewhat circuitous (yes, I had to look that one up). I'd heard about it quite some time ago, of course. I might even have seen Game One's report on it. But either it was at a time when I was preoccupied with something else (Skyward Sword previews?), or I just thought "Whatever, I will not play any RPGs not developed by SquareEnix because, you know, I'm sooo very open to new things." :P or...it was just too plain expensive for me to try (a consideration which didn't keep me from throwing my money at Skyward Sword, of course).
Enter last Saturday, when I dragged my boyfriend to the nearest electronics store so I could finally get myself a new keyboard (notebook keyboards may sometimes survive water, they will, however, not survive milk). This, of course, included my obligatory walk through the games aisles. I saw something pretty by Daedalic (we're just playing The Whispered World), namely A New Beginning, which looks very lovely indeed, and then I saw Xenoblade Chronicles. At less than half the prize I'd seen it on Amazon, at a third of the prize I'd seen it at other stores. At a prize well below the Final Fantasy Platinum Editions, even. Money you'd pay for a nice paperback.
Here's what followed:
Me: Hey, what? Xenoblade Chronicles for 14,50?*picking it up* Oh wow.
J: What's this?
Me: Uh, RPG, I really don't know much, but, the world is actually the body of a titan, and you have this sword which can see into the future and...wow.
J: Huh.
Me: Yeah, and the world is supposed to be huge, and the pictures I've seen were really pretty...
J: Yeah, for a Wii game, the graphics don't look half bad.
Me: They ARE amazing, aren't they? And it's supposed to be really good, and...
Okay, I guess you get the gist. So, I walk around with the game in hand for further 5 minutes, looking at other things, discussing with myself (silently!) whether I could allow myself to spend any more money this month (or ever). And my boyfriend looks at other games, probably thinking whether he should buy the game for his slightly obsessive girlfriend or not.
And then he notices the Lego Star Wars games, and Xenoblade Chronicles completely loses to that (you know, stuff known to appeal to inner fanboy vs the unknown). So, with some thoughts on whether I won't regret it, I put the game back down and think 'Maybe next month.' And we go home.
And once there, J plays the Lego game for maybe half an hour, is completely disappointed, I put on some music from Xenoblade (thank you, Youtube), and then listen to regretful comments from J for the rest of the evening. Who would have thought.
So, yesterday, when I collected our car from service, I checked out the electronics market next door, only to see that they sold the game for the much, MUCH higher price. And then - because I'd been listening to great game music for 5 days, and J seemed a little down, and whatever else might have come into it, I took the car, drove to the place we'd been to on Saturday, and got the game.
Which pretty much ended my day, because I got stuck immediately. I managed to go to uni, but I have the music in my head for the whole time, and I practically raced back once the course was finished (I did *not* attend the lecture before that, I admit). Then I played until J came home, and made *him* play. Then I waited until he was asleep and played some more. I was lucky to make it to bed at 3am. I could also have forgotten about the time completely and only realised once the sun came up. It's happened before.
So, here we are, and as soon as I finish writing this, I know I'll start playing again.
To finish this, why do I, after only 6 hrs, and most of these spent exploring the world instead of following the storyline, think that this may be (one of) the most amazing games I've ever played?
1) The basic concept is unusual, and awesome: Instead of the world being just another alternative Earth floating through space, it is the body of a dead titan. The village you start out in is at the bottom of its leg. Get your head around that for a minute. I may be (AM) biased,but this is brilliant.
2) The world, from what I've seen so far, is HUGE. I only explored the first area so far, and yes, you heard me right just above, 6hrs. And there will be more yet. And it's *pretty*. There are hidden places. There are all sorts of animals. Which leads to...
3) As I just mentioned - I was able to play, and with gusto, for 6 hrs without feeling any *need* to follow the storyline. Actually, I only chose to progress in the story after the first few auto events after around 4 hrs of running around and doing other things. This is unheard of.
4) It has elements from other of my favourite games: Day and Night rhythms with certain people only appearing at certain times (hello, Zelda!) with the added bonus that you can set the time whenever you please; a huge amount of missions, which combine the hunts from FF 12 with those optional sidequests you get in any RPG; a battle system a little similar to FF12 but with, I think, more fun and less tactics (just a little less...FF12 was just too focused on those); it has a substance called ether (at least in German) which reminds me both of FF7 and FF10, in a way; you can customise weapons and armour with ether crystals (helloooo, Materia!), and the relationships between characters matter a lot (as they do in Dragon Age, which I have not played myself, but watched on as J did, and which I think must be one of the most amazing PC games out there). There's more, I think, but this post is already overlong.
5) It is insanely pretty, and has great music, and the English dub is quite amazing, too. Also, should I wish to do so, I *could* switch to Japanese anytime. Freedom of choice in those matters is one of the best things ever.
Now, I wouldn't be too surprised if this turned out to be my longest post yet. I had to take a break in the middle of writing it and just thought of at least ten other things I'd like to write about, all to do with videogames. So - be prepared. Some sort of dam has definitely broken. The CP posts will follow me through my experience of playing this game, and will talk about other games I'm currently playing. Next up for Xenoblade will be some general background, and maybe some videos.
Freitag, Juni 01, 2012
May Reading (+Food)
I didn't read much in May. Actually, I read shockingly little. There was the birth of my nephew, there was a wedding which took 1 day plus some extra out of three weekends, there was my sister's graduation, there was an important presentation I had to to, and most of the rest of the time (when I was not at work or not at uni or not working out) was spent cuddled up on the sofa with my boyfriend, playing video games/knitting/watching TV.
At least, I managed to finish one book, late last night: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. The reading process on that one was so stretched out, I really wish I'd done it differently, read it more quickly. But I still managed to enjoy it, maybe not as much as Neverwhere, but still, I enjoyed it.
Since there's a lot of work up for June as well, I have no idea how much reading I'll fit into there. The next book is going to be Anansi Boys, that much is sure.
As for food...the last couple of weeks were sort of disastrous, with me consuming coffee almost daily (previously unheard of), and a sharp increase in chocolate eating for the last few days. After I finished the last bit of the 300g Milka monstrosity I bought on Wednesday yesterday (I'm proud to say I didn't just devour it in one go...), I decided that this would have to be the last chocolate feast for a while. A small epiphany on what was really necessary to make me feel good about myself, you know. And all of those things are free. Bonus!
As for other things - I think that some changes are coming. More later.
At least, I managed to finish one book, late last night: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. The reading process on that one was so stretched out, I really wish I'd done it differently, read it more quickly. But I still managed to enjoy it, maybe not as much as Neverwhere, but still, I enjoyed it.
Since there's a lot of work up for June as well, I have no idea how much reading I'll fit into there. The next book is going to be Anansi Boys, that much is sure.
As for food...the last couple of weeks were sort of disastrous, with me consuming coffee almost daily (previously unheard of), and a sharp increase in chocolate eating for the last few days. After I finished the last bit of the 300g Milka monstrosity I bought on Wednesday yesterday (I'm proud to say I didn't just devour it in one go...), I decided that this would have to be the last chocolate feast for a while. A small epiphany on what was really necessary to make me feel good about myself, you know. And all of those things are free. Bonus!
As for other things - I think that some changes are coming. More later.
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