Sometime in the past week I read this here, and thought, well, interesting - that does sound a lot like concepts I heard of before (visualisation, writing lists of what you're thankful for every day etc), just replacing the universe at large with the internet (or so it seems at first glance).
Essentially, it's not much different though...defining clearly what you like, what you want, and putting it on 'paper'. Writing things down, and thus making a clear choice, is very often the core exercise of these things, it seems.
Well. Sometimes earlier this year I bought myself a beautiful notebook (because I love beautiful notebooks, and an excuse to buy a new beautiful notebook is beautiful in itself), and tried to write, for every day, one page of positive affirmations for the day in the morning, and one page of things I was grateful for that day in the evening. I kept that up for maybe two weeks, then added it to the row of beautiful notebooks bought for beautiful reasons, 1/50 filled with beautiful things, sitting on my shelf. Hm.
I feel like this is a waste of both beautiful notebooks and beautiful ideas.
From today on, I'll be doing something different. I will collect a weekly post, filled with things I was grateful for that week - I can keep track of them by simply adding things to a draft version of the post. At the end of every week, I'll have a beautiful summary of all the good things that happened during the past seven days, and, who knows, by posting this, maybe more good things in the future.
I only started this post on Thursday, but here are the good things I remember best:
*The whole of Monday afternoon/evening - receiving my Caterpillar mug, talking for ages, shooting crazy pictures, being high on caffeine (in the best possible way)
*The amazing weather we've been having - September is my favourite month of the year. The skies are clear and bright bright blue, there is sun, it's neither too hot or too cold, a slight breeze is easily found when you need one, and I don't feel silly wearing scarves anymore. ;)
(Oh, and I can knit again. Even during the day.)
*Taking a deep breath and meeting with friends after all the stress I put myself in doing my freelance work for friends and job-people.
*Seeing my sister again after her month-long travels, and helping her and her boyfriend move in together. I am grateful for her gratefulness. She was sooo happy and excited. As was he. Teheee. :)
*Starting on my cultural studies reading while sitting in the late afternoon park, with couples and relaxed people playing games everywhere around me.
*Finishing some things, like blocking two scarves which have been lying around for the whole of summer.
*Talking about some more serious things than daily routine, DSA or whatever with my boyfriend...sometimes it's hard to get to that level when we hardly see each other, but I managed to provoke ourselves into doing it. ;) (
Nothing bad, no 'serious' talk of whatever, just getting below that everyday surface level...)
*Gaining more and more confidence concerning my half-formed ideas of seriously going freelance.
*Winning cards for a concert, attending that concert with my boyfriend, and having a blast - goosebumps and hilarity so close together. Loved it.
*Going out in my new miniskirt, and getting compliments. Hm.
*Loads of new yarn!
*Starting a new pattern, which is intriguing and beautiful.
*Yarn and bead and all other kinds of craft stores.
*Zelda
*Cuddling in the dark
*Sleeping in
*Watching midday comedy after waking from aforementioned long long sleep
*Delicious lunch, delicious dinner
*Beautiful sunsets
I think that's quite a nice list. :)
More of that, please. ;)
Sonntag, September 26, 2010
Freitag, September 24, 2010
Goodbye yarn
After hearing rumours a few days ago I cleared things up for myself today - my favourite yarn store is closing down. There are many memories attached to that store...childhood memories of yarn shopping with my mum for my next fall sweater...my mum getting me my very first yarn to knit with there (which I still have somewhere...hm)...and in the past few years, a lot of happy time spent browsing their yarns by myself, thinking about projects to make for friends. Their yarns were sorted by colour, which was sooo pretty. Still is, of course, but things are selling out fast now (everything is half price right now).
I talked to the owner, and I fully understand why she's taking this step - rent has gone up far too high. And she won't be opening a new store somewhere else, because she decided she wants to take things more easily. She's moving to Carinthia, and will most likely be holding weekend courses for things like wool dying with plants etc, and she gave me her phone number so I can check up on what's going on, so if everything works out right, I'll some day be learning to dye my own wool (yay, finally!) at some beautiful place surrounded by green stuff. (Another of her reasons to stop - she wants to get out of the city...another notion I sometimes understand all too well.) But still, my yarny needs will have to be filled by the other (three?) yarn stores we have.
Anyway...I didn't get what I came to buy, because everything red and violet had already completely sold out...so of course I had to buy some other stuff. Lots of other stuff.
That's 18 balls of yarn right there. And I'm probably going back Monday. Yeeehaw!
I talked to the owner, and I fully understand why she's taking this step - rent has gone up far too high. And she won't be opening a new store somewhere else, because she decided she wants to take things more easily. She's moving to Carinthia, and will most likely be holding weekend courses for things like wool dying with plants etc, and she gave me her phone number so I can check up on what's going on, so if everything works out right, I'll some day be learning to dye my own wool (yay, finally!) at some beautiful place surrounded by green stuff. (Another of her reasons to stop - she wants to get out of the city...another notion I sometimes understand all too well.) But still, my yarny needs will have to be filled by the other (three?) yarn stores we have.
Anyway...I didn't get what I came to buy, because everything red and violet had already completely sold out...so of course I had to buy some other stuff. Lots of other stuff.
That's 18 balls of yarn right there. And I'm probably going back Monday. Yeeehaw!
Donnerstag, September 23, 2010
Green
Apparently, there do exist...bright green Innocent smoothies!
Amazing, just like all the others - and not just the colour.
Little side note: I think Innocent smoothies were all that helped me stay healthy during my Erasmus stay in London, and the ensuing diet of toast with cheese, potatoes with cheese, and hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream (which they sold right next to the library...pure evil). I only had a toaster and a microwave to cook with, otherwise I would have eaten differently of course. But yeah, those smoothies (and maybe the occasional sushi takeaway) definitely saved my life. ;)
Back to the green theme...look what was finally blocking a couple of nights ago:
The colour is hard to see in these, I know. One day I will have a better camera.
Anyway, the pattern is Cinnamon Grace*, and I did it in Fyberspates Nef Sock.
Knitting this was dreamy, the yarn is 70% alpaca, 20% silk and 10% cashmere...I literally couldn't stop knitting, I didn't want to let go of the stuff.
Taking pictures while wearing it...yep, those are really great pink socks, courtesy of Sue**.
And here, finally, a decent picture of the colour...I *do* believe this is the exact colour of spring, but it hasn't been confirmed yet.
The pattern has a picot edge, which for some reason turned out funny when I did it (I had the same edging on my Fetching mittens, and everything went fine there, so...no idea). Instead of little nubbs (picots, yeah), I got little...loops. Hm. I think it looks sweet and funny, but still, I wish I knew what I did wrong. Any ideas?
*I called my version 'Green Meadow', because, honestly, not much cinnamon in there. Spring! Not winter. ;)
**Who I think had/has a really niceblog, but I lost the address. :P
Amazing, just like all the others - and not just the colour.
Little side note: I think Innocent smoothies were all that helped me stay healthy during my Erasmus stay in London, and the ensuing diet of toast with cheese, potatoes with cheese, and hot chocolate with marshmallows and cream (which they sold right next to the library...pure evil). I only had a toaster and a microwave to cook with, otherwise I would have eaten differently of course. But yeah, those smoothies (and maybe the occasional sushi takeaway) definitely saved my life. ;)
Back to the green theme...look what was finally blocking a couple of nights ago:
The colour is hard to see in these, I know. One day I will have a better camera.
Anyway, the pattern is Cinnamon Grace*, and I did it in Fyberspates Nef Sock.
Knitting this was dreamy, the yarn is 70% alpaca, 20% silk and 10% cashmere...I literally couldn't stop knitting, I didn't want to let go of the stuff.
And here, finally, a decent picture of the colour...I *do* believe this is the exact colour of spring, but it hasn't been confirmed yet.
The pattern has a picot edge, which for some reason turned out funny when I did it (I had the same edging on my Fetching mittens, and everything went fine there, so...no idea). Instead of little nubbs (picots, yeah), I got little...loops. Hm. I think it looks sweet and funny, but still, I wish I knew what I did wrong. Any ideas?
*I called my version 'Green Meadow', because, honestly, not much cinnamon in there. Spring! Not winter. ;)
**Who I think had/has a really niceblog, but I lost the address. :P
Montag, September 20, 2010
Happiness molecules...
...surging in clouds around friends are infective in the best possible ways.
I'll probably move over to Wordpress some time soon, but for now I'll still post here...a little list of happy things. :)
1) A short while ago I finally received the present I'd made myself for finishing my on-the-side training. It deserves a post of its own, but here's a teaser...the prettiest packaging I've seen so far:
2) I babysitted the cutest, cuddliest, purringiest (hm...) cats you could imagine for a few days, which was great - I can't have my own (allergies, bleh), so sometimes 'borrowing' some kitty cuddling from friends is just the thing, plus they were really cute, and I got to be in this lovely flat with a great view and full of great books, and did I mention the cats were really cute?
Anyway, for all my 'pains' in taking care of them, I received a present. A Giant Flying Mug (forget those saucers) which will destroy all the buildings that ruin *my* view. Mwahaha.
I know, it looks so cute and harmless, but just wait for when I unleash its (solar-powered) superpowers!
Here it comes now...watch out!
Arrr! Nom nom nom...
(It IS called the Very Hungry Caterpillar...)
Hehehe.
3) I also did something very out of character or out of my comfort zone, whatever - I went and bought myself a miniskirt. Why is this out of character? Because for years and years, I believed I needed to hide my legs. Crazy mindset for a twenty-something, huh? I bought shortish (ie knee length) skirts sometimes and then didn't wear them. Pffff. Then I went out last Saturday in a dress, and looked at myself in mirrors, and decided I was being ridiculous.
So today, off I went and bought myself an equally ridiculous 5€-skirt. Yep, the scarf cost me more...
(I know it's just a black tube and I could SO make it myself, but the thing is, I never do, do I? At least not until I finally find a place to set up my sewing machine...)
And the scarf is totally made of WIN - because, lookie, it has two sides! I mean, two differently printed sides! *love*
4) If my SuperMug should fail me, my knitting can still take over..
Die, stupid high-rise!
Or be trapped forever in my yarn-over-labyrinths! Mwaha...
Okay, no more coffee. For, hm...well, at least today. :P
I'll probably move over to Wordpress some time soon, but for now I'll still post here...a little list of happy things. :)
1) A short while ago I finally received the present I'd made myself for finishing my on-the-side training. It deserves a post of its own, but here's a teaser...the prettiest packaging I've seen so far:
2) I babysitted the cutest, cuddliest, purringiest (hm...) cats you could imagine for a few days, which was great - I can't have my own (allergies, bleh), so sometimes 'borrowing' some kitty cuddling from friends is just the thing, plus they were really cute, and I got to be in this lovely flat with a great view and full of great books, and did I mention the cats were really cute?
Anyway, for all my 'pains' in taking care of them, I received a present. A Giant Flying Mug (forget those saucers) which will destroy all the buildings that ruin *my* view. Mwahaha.
I know, it looks so cute and harmless, but just wait for when I unleash its (solar-powered) superpowers!
Here it comes now...watch out!
Arrr! Nom nom nom...(It IS called the Very Hungry Caterpillar...)
Hehehe.
3) I also did something very out of character or out of my comfort zone, whatever - I went and bought myself a miniskirt. Why is this out of character? Because for years and years, I believed I needed to hide my legs. Crazy mindset for a twenty-something, huh? I bought shortish (ie knee length) skirts sometimes and then didn't wear them. Pffff. Then I went out last Saturday in a dress, and looked at myself in mirrors, and decided I was being ridiculous.
So today, off I went and bought myself an equally ridiculous 5€-skirt. Yep, the scarf cost me more...
(I know it's just a black tube and I could SO make it myself, but the thing is, I never do, do I? At least not until I finally find a place to set up my sewing machine...)And the scarf is totally made of WIN - because, lookie, it has two sides! I mean, two differently printed sides! *love*
4) If my SuperMug should fail me, my knitting can still take over..
Die, stupid high-rise!
Or be trapped forever in my yarn-over-labyrinths! Mwaha...Okay, no more coffee. For, hm...well, at least today. :P
Freitag, Juli 02, 2010
28
It's my birthday!
Consequently, there might be a surprise present later on today.
It's because of a bet I made, three years ago.
That's the way things go.
For now, the sky is growing lighter, birds are singing, I celebrated the beginning of this day,
and now better go sleep a little.
Consequently, there might be a surprise present later on today.
It's because of a bet I made, three years ago.
That's the way things go.
For now, the sky is growing lighter, birds are singing, I celebrated the beginning of this day,
and now better go sleep a little.
Freitag, März 05, 2010
Since I'm already at it...
Yet another list of books.
I'm currently digging through all those printouts etc which I stuffed into folders years ago and which just languish there, hidden away and of no use to anyone. Among them I found this list of
"110 Books to Read". I have no idea when I printed this, or where I got the whole thing from, but I'll post it here nevertheless. Let's see how much I know from this one.
(Bold=Read it, Italics=I've heard about it, Smaller font= On my shelf and waiting to be read, Rest= I dunno)
1. The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien)
2. I Feel Bad About My Neck: And other thoughts on being a woman (Nora Ephron)
3. The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield)
4. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
5. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
6. Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living (Robert Arbor)
7. Amelie: Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain (The French Film Guides) (Isabelle Vanderschelden) - Only saw the movie, lots of times
8. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
9. The Hours (Michael Cunningham)
10. The Country Life (Rachel Cusk)
11. Everyday Traditions: Simple Family Rituals for Connection and Comfort (Nava Atlas)
12. Going Home to the Fifties (Bill Yenne)
13. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection (Susan Stewart)
14. The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine (Rozsika Parker)
15. Forbidden Journeys: Fairy Tales and Fantasies by Victorian Women Writers (Nina Auerbach)
16. The Future of Nostalgia (Svetlana Boym)
17. Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England (Judith Flanders)
18. The Element of Lavishness: Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and William Maxwell 1938-1978
19. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience (Yi-Fu Tuan)
20. The Poetics of Space (Gaston Bachelard)
21. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
22. The Dress Lodger (Sheri Holman)
23. The Confessions of Max Tivoli (Andrew Sean Greer)
24. Girl in Hyacinth Blue (Susan Vreeland)
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
26. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
27. Eat, Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)
28. The Catcher in the Rye (JD Salinger)
29. The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame)
30. Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
31. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
32. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll)
33. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
34. A Town Like Alice (Nevil Shute)
35. Anne of Green Gables (LM Montgomery)
36. A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
37. I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)
38. Conversations with God (Neale Donald Walsch)
39. Animal Farm (George Orwell)
40. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
41. The Secret History (Donna Tartt)
42. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
43. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
44. Sophie's World (Jostein Gaarder)
45. The Diary of a Nobody (George and Weedon Grossmith)
46. Flowers in the Attic (Virginia Andrews)
47. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
48. My Sister's Keeper (Jodie Picoult)
49. Magician (Raymond E. Feist)
50. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
51. The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)
52. Mao's Last Dance (Li Cunxin)
53. Girl With a Pearl Earring (Tracy Chevalier)
54. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (Jung Chang)
55. Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
56. A Passage to India (EM Forster)
57. The Old Wive's Tale (Arnold Bennett)
58. Portrait of a Lady (Henry James)
59. Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie)
60. Chocolat (Joanne Harris)
61. Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier)
62. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
63. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See)
64. I am a Cat (Natsume Soseki)
65. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles (Haruki Murakami)
66. Geisha, A Life (Mineko Iwasaki)
67. Geisha (Liza Dalby)
68. Autobiography of a Geisha (Sayo Masuda)
69. Matthew Flinder's Cat (Bryce Courtenay)
70. A House for Mr. Biswas (V.S. Naipaul)
71. The Secret River (Kate Grenville)
72. Falling Leaves (Adeline Yen Mah)
73. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (John Boyne)
74. The Other Boleyn Girl (Philippa Gregory)
75. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Harriet Jacobs)
76. Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
77. Cloudstreet (Tim Winton)
78. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
79. The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
80. My Place (Sally Morgan)
81. My Brilliant Career (Miles Franklin)
82. For the Term of his Natural Life (Markus Clarke)
83. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (Frederick Douglass)
84. The Constant Princess (Philippa Gregory)
85. The Rules of Survival (Nancy Werlin)
86. Hattie Big Sky (Kirby Larson)
87. Lady of Hay (Barbara Erskine)
88. Mystic River (Dennis Lehane)
89. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M Aurel)
90. My Family and Other Animals (Gerard Durrell)
91. Rose Cottage (Mary Stewart)
92. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers)
93. The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
94. 1984 (George Orwell)
95. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
96. Remembering Babylon (David Malouf)
97. Jitterbug Perfume (Tom Robbins)
98. Into the Woods (R R Smythe)
99. The Nanny Diaries (Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus) - I actually started reading it but couldn't stand it :P
100. A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson)
101. The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life (Laurie Notaro)
102. Candy and Me (Hilary Liftin)
103. The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)
104. Ex Libris (Anne Fadiman)
105. Holes (Lois Sachar)
106. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
107. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
108. A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle) - This is the first in a trilogy, for some reason I've got book 2 (unread) on my shelf, I'd like to read all three though
109. Teaching a Stone to Talk (Annie Dillard)
110. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
While typing this I noticed that the list can't be all that old, since some books on it only came out a few years ago. Also, I think I remember where I got this list from, but it's no help, since I don't know where that person got it from. ;)
Anyway, quite an eccentric selection.
What does this tell me?
First, that I know a lot more books than I have actually read. Only to be expected, I think.
Second, that there are loads of intriguing books out there that I would love to read. I've been trying to accept the fact that I'll never be able to read everything I'd like to read over the last few months, so I know...I know.
Third...I'm still far too intrigued by lists like this one. ;)
Do you have lists like this one? Or are there other books you'd highly recommend? (Highly enough so that a girl swamped with Bookcrossing books would be able to squeeze them in?) Please share!
I'm currently digging through all those printouts etc which I stuffed into folders years ago and which just languish there, hidden away and of no use to anyone. Among them I found this list of
"110 Books to Read". I have no idea when I printed this, or where I got the whole thing from, but I'll post it here nevertheless. Let's see how much I know from this one.
(Bold=Read it, Italics=I've heard about it, Smaller font= On my shelf and waiting to be read, Rest= I dunno)
1. The Hobbit (JRR Tolkien)
2. I Feel Bad About My Neck: And other thoughts on being a woman (Nora Ephron)
3. The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield)
4. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
5. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
6. Joie de Vivre: Simple French Style for Everyday Living (Robert Arbor)
7. Amelie: Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain (The French Film Guides) (Isabelle Vanderschelden) - Only saw the movie, lots of times
8. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf)
9. The Hours (Michael Cunningham)
10. The Country Life (Rachel Cusk)
11. Everyday Traditions: Simple Family Rituals for Connection and Comfort (Nava Atlas)
12. Going Home to the Fifties (Bill Yenne)
13. On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection (Susan Stewart)
14. The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine (Rozsika Parker)
15. Forbidden Journeys: Fairy Tales and Fantasies by Victorian Women Writers (Nina Auerbach)
16. The Future of Nostalgia (Svetlana Boym)
17. Inside the Victorian Home: A Portrait of Domestic Life in Victorian England (Judith Flanders)
18. The Element of Lavishness: Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner and William Maxwell 1938-1978
19. Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience (Yi-Fu Tuan)
20. The Poetics of Space (Gaston Bachelard)
21. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
22. The Dress Lodger (Sheri Holman)
23. The Confessions of Max Tivoli (Andrew Sean Greer)
24. Girl in Hyacinth Blue (Susan Vreeland)
25. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
26. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
27. Eat, Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)
28. The Catcher in the Rye (JD Salinger)
29. The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame)
30. Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
31. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
32. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll)
33. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
34. A Town Like Alice (Nevil Shute)
35. Anne of Green Gables (LM Montgomery)
36. A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
37. I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)
38. Conversations with God (Neale Donald Walsch)
39. Animal Farm (George Orwell)
40. Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy)
41. The Secret History (Donna Tartt)
42. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)
43. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
44. Sophie's World (Jostein Gaarder)
45. The Diary of a Nobody (George and Weedon Grossmith)
46. Flowers in the Attic (Virginia Andrews)
47. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
48. My Sister's Keeper (Jodie Picoult)
49. Magician (Raymond E. Feist)
50. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
51. The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)
52. Mao's Last Dance (Li Cunxin)
53. Girl With a Pearl Earring (Tracy Chevalier)
54. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (Jung Chang)
55. Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
56. A Passage to India (EM Forster)
57. The Old Wive's Tale (Arnold Bennett)
58. Portrait of a Lady (Henry James)
59. Midnight's Children (Salman Rushdie)
60. Chocolat (Joanne Harris)
61. Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier)
62. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
63. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See)
64. I am a Cat (Natsume Soseki)
65. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles (Haruki Murakami)
66. Geisha, A Life (Mineko Iwasaki)
67. Geisha (Liza Dalby)
68. Autobiography of a Geisha (Sayo Masuda)
69. Matthew Flinder's Cat (Bryce Courtenay)
70. A House for Mr. Biswas (V.S. Naipaul)
71. The Secret River (Kate Grenville)
72. Falling Leaves (Adeline Yen Mah)
73. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (John Boyne)
74. The Other Boleyn Girl (Philippa Gregory)
75. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Harriet Jacobs)
76. Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
77. Cloudstreet (Tim Winton)
78. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain)
79. The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
80. My Place (Sally Morgan)
81. My Brilliant Career (Miles Franklin)
82. For the Term of his Natural Life (Markus Clarke)
83. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (Frederick Douglass)
84. The Constant Princess (Philippa Gregory)
85. The Rules of Survival (Nancy Werlin)
86. Hattie Big Sky (Kirby Larson)
87. Lady of Hay (Barbara Erskine)
88. Mystic River (Dennis Lehane)
89. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M Aurel)
90. My Family and Other Animals (Gerard Durrell)
91. Rose Cottage (Mary Stewart)
92. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers)
93. The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
94. 1984 (George Orwell)
95. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
96. Remembering Babylon (David Malouf)
97. Jitterbug Perfume (Tom Robbins)
98. Into the Woods (R R Smythe)
99. The Nanny Diaries (Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus) - I actually started reading it but couldn't stand it :P
100. A Short History of Nearly Everything (Bill Bryson)
101. The Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club: True Tales from a Magnificent and Clumsy Life (Laurie Notaro)
102. Candy and Me (Hilary Liftin)
103. The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)
104. Ex Libris (Anne Fadiman)
105. Holes (Lois Sachar)
106. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
107. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
108. A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L'Engle) - This is the first in a trilogy, for some reason I've got book 2 (unread) on my shelf, I'd like to read all three though
109. Teaching a Stone to Talk (Annie Dillard)
110. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
While typing this I noticed that the list can't be all that old, since some books on it only came out a few years ago. Also, I think I remember where I got this list from, but it's no help, since I don't know where that person got it from. ;)
Anyway, quite an eccentric selection.
What does this tell me?
First, that I know a lot more books than I have actually read. Only to be expected, I think.
Second, that there are loads of intriguing books out there that I would love to read. I've been trying to accept the fact that I'll never be able to read everything I'd like to read over the last few months, so I know...I know.
Third...I'm still far too intrigued by lists like this one. ;)
Do you have lists like this one? Or are there other books you'd highly recommend? (Highly enough so that a girl swamped with Bookcrossing books would be able to squeeze them in?) Please share!
Recently read
I finished "Howl's Moving Castle" yesterday, and I immensely enjoyed it. I bought it several years back, right after seeing the Miyazaki movie, but of course it languished in several bookshelves until now. (Except, of course, my boyfriend read it immediately.)
Well, the day after starting to read it I just HAD to rewatch the movie, to see how it tied in with the beginning of the book. It's so lovely when things are slightly different in the movie, and reading the book alongside to figure them out.
The second half of the movie then wildly differs from what happens in the book, probably because the "foreign world" of Wales would have been too weird for a Japanese film. ;) I liked it though, it was a good specimen of "people from a different world experiencing ours". It wasn't overdone, and had some nice touches, like Sophie thinking its an issue of life and death with the computer games.
For some reason, my boyfriend didn't like the ending of the book either (we both had some problems with the rather sudden ending of the movie, even though at least I should be used to it by now when watching animes), but I loved it. Everything is nicely solved, again without being overdone or overexplained, and I was completely happy.
I absolutely loved the way Sophie's magic worked, because you had to keep your eyes open to notice it. Great work.
And I like the style of writing...nothing is overdone, or overexplained, you have to keep thinking. Also, it somehow jumps along like a little girl with her skipping rope. It's always upbeat and funny and fresh and enjoyable. Never ever boring - really, there are no boring bits in this book. I wish I could write like that.
I think our (me and my boyfriend's) joint favourite character has to be Calcifer. He's beyond cute in the movie, and very funny in the book as well.
By the way, my cover looks like this - really lovely. And so fitting!
Well, the day after starting to read it I just HAD to rewatch the movie, to see how it tied in with the beginning of the book. It's so lovely when things are slightly different in the movie, and reading the book alongside to figure them out.
The second half of the movie then wildly differs from what happens in the book, probably because the "foreign world" of Wales would have been too weird for a Japanese film. ;) I liked it though, it was a good specimen of "people from a different world experiencing ours". It wasn't overdone, and had some nice touches, like Sophie thinking its an issue of life and death with the computer games.
For some reason, my boyfriend didn't like the ending of the book either (we both had some problems with the rather sudden ending of the movie, even though at least I should be used to it by now when watching animes), but I loved it. Everything is nicely solved, again without being overdone or overexplained, and I was completely happy.
I absolutely loved the way Sophie's magic worked, because you had to keep your eyes open to notice it. Great work.
And I like the style of writing...nothing is overdone, or overexplained, you have to keep thinking. Also, it somehow jumps along like a little girl with her skipping rope. It's always upbeat and funny and fresh and enjoyable. Never ever boring - really, there are no boring bits in this book. I wish I could write like that.
I think our (me and my boyfriend's) joint favourite character has to be Calcifer. He's beyond cute in the movie, and very funny in the book as well.
By the way, my cover looks like this - really lovely. And so fitting!
Mittwoch, März 03, 2010
An ancient meme
I just found this meme somewhere in a blog post 4 years old. I think I did it once before, but decided to do it again to check out the difference. The idea of this meme is to mark all the items read as bold, and then add four recently read books at the bottom. So here goes:
The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby – F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter 6) – J.K. Rowling
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story – George Orwell
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
1984 – George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) – J.K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) – J.K. Rowling
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter 5) – J.K. Rowling
Slaughterhouse 5 – Kurt Vonnegut
Angels and Demons – Dan Brown
Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Book 1) – J.K. Rowling
Neuromancer – William Gibson
Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) – J.K. Rowling
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Ender’s Game (The Ender Saga) – Orson Scott Card
Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
The Lord of the Rings – J. R. R. Tolkien
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Good Omens – Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Atonement – Ian McEwan
The Shadow Of The Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
Dune – Frank Herbert
I think this is looking pretty good! A few of the unread books are standing on my shelf waiting to be read, and as for the rest...well, some day. :)
As for four books I recently read:
The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy – Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby – F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter 6) – J.K. Rowling
Life of Pi – Yann Martel
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story – George Orwell
Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
The Hobbit – J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies – William Golding
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
1984 – George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Book 3) – J.K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4) – J.K. Rowling
The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter 5) – J.K. Rowling
Slaughterhouse 5 – Kurt Vonnegut
Angels and Demons – Dan Brown
Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Book 1) – J.K. Rowling
Neuromancer – William Gibson
Cryptonomicon – Neal Stephenson
The Secret History – Donna Tartt
A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2) – J.K. Rowling
Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Ender’s Game (The Ender Saga) – Orson Scott Card
Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – C.S. Lewis
Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides
Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
The Lord of the Rings – J. R. R. Tolkien
Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
Good Omens – Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman
Atonement – Ian McEwan
The Shadow Of The Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
Dune – Frank Herbert
I think this is looking pretty good! A few of the unread books are standing on my shelf waiting to be read, and as for the rest...well, some day. :)
As for four books I recently read:
- Howl's Moving Castle (Dianne Wynne Jones) - I'm reading this one right now, I've got about half of it done. It's great! (I had to watch the movie again yesterday just for the fun of it.)
- At the Mountains of Madness (H.P. Lovecraft) - This was fun, reading a classic of horror literature (I suppose that's what it is). It was quite silly as well, and still I was a little scared reading it. Great suspense.
- The Debutante Divorceé (Plum Sykes) - Absolutely not what I usually read, but a friend gave it to me to register for Bookcrossing, and I was slightly depressed and couldn't sleep...the only right time for absolutely mindless stuff like this.
- The Scar (China Miéville) - I love this author. He writes great fantasy with beautiful and intriguing language, and he has the most amazing kind of ideas. My favourite of his so far has to be UN LUN DUN though. Can't breat that one (he illustrated it himself!).
Montag, Februar 15, 2010
Feburary, the Finishing Month
I am now, for the first time in my life, officially unemployed. ;)
Somehow I managed to get a sponsored course which will start next week. Since autumn I've done a 1-weekend-a-month-course to become a trainer in adult education, and my couselor got me this fulltime-ten-weeks course on becoming a trainer for teaching immigrants reading, writing and speaking skills. I'm really happy about this - it forms a beautiful synergy with the other course, it checks with my desire to help people and my love for language, it will bring me into contact with other cultures, especially those easily neglected (I'm guessing Eastern Europe etc).
Still, I'm anxious about the future. I've never been one of those people with one clear goal/obsession/path in life, and several wishes, ideas, desires are warring to be heard. I definitely worry too much. ;) I guess it's all nice and easy, I just can't quite see it yet.
Why the title of this post?
Well, since I am now unemployed (with still enough to do though ;)), I decided I'd finished a few long-postponed projects. Clearing out my wardrobe. Mending some clothes. Putting my finances in order. Getting rid of loads of stuff. Finishing some knitting projects (I even joined a Ravelympics Team for exactly that purpose - Team WIP :D). Stuff like that.
So far, it feels quite nice.
I finished a scarf that was supposed to be m boyfriend's present for Christmas. Christmas 2008. Geez. Though I must admit it went through a couple of transformations (initially it should have been a hat).
I cleaned up one of my cupboards.
I wrote some important administrational emails, all to do with money stuff.
I am currently registering loads of books I'll never ever read (I have to remind me of that time and time again - I will not ever be able to read everything, not even just those things that appeal to me) for Bookcrossing. I ripped them off my shelves during one of those later night "I've got too much stuff! Can't breathe!" - crises. Not to worry, I am not throwing out books I spent hundreds of euros on. Most of them are donations to BC (lots from my boyfriend this time!), another load I bought for 1 euro each.
I got started on my wardrobe and it is already looking so much better.
After tomorrow, fasting time traditionally begins, and I'm thinking about what 'll give up until Easter time. Since I feel that fasting is not a religious thing, but a natural preparation for the new cycle of life beginning in spring, I feel that this year I should honour this special time in some way. The above (getting rid of stuff and finishing unfinished stuff) is part of this honouring.
Somehow I managed to get a sponsored course which will start next week. Since autumn I've done a 1-weekend-a-month-course to become a trainer in adult education, and my couselor got me this fulltime-ten-weeks course on becoming a trainer for teaching immigrants reading, writing and speaking skills. I'm really happy about this - it forms a beautiful synergy with the other course, it checks with my desire to help people and my love for language, it will bring me into contact with other cultures, especially those easily neglected (I'm guessing Eastern Europe etc).
Still, I'm anxious about the future. I've never been one of those people with one clear goal/obsession/path in life, and several wishes, ideas, desires are warring to be heard. I definitely worry too much. ;) I guess it's all nice and easy, I just can't quite see it yet.
Why the title of this post?
Well, since I am now unemployed (with still enough to do though ;)), I decided I'd finished a few long-postponed projects. Clearing out my wardrobe. Mending some clothes. Putting my finances in order. Getting rid of loads of stuff. Finishing some knitting projects (I even joined a Ravelympics Team for exactly that purpose - Team WIP :D). Stuff like that.
So far, it feels quite nice.
I finished a scarf that was supposed to be m boyfriend's present for Christmas. Christmas 2008. Geez. Though I must admit it went through a couple of transformations (initially it should have been a hat).
I cleaned up one of my cupboards.
I wrote some important administrational emails, all to do with money stuff.
I am currently registering loads of books I'll never ever read (I have to remind me of that time and time again - I will not ever be able to read everything, not even just those things that appeal to me) for Bookcrossing. I ripped them off my shelves during one of those later night "I've got too much stuff! Can't breathe!" - crises. Not to worry, I am not throwing out books I spent hundreds of euros on. Most of them are donations to BC (lots from my boyfriend this time!), another load I bought for 1 euro each.
I got started on my wardrobe and it is already looking so much better.
After tomorrow, fasting time traditionally begins, and I'm thinking about what 'll give up until Easter time. Since I feel that fasting is not a religious thing, but a natural preparation for the new cycle of life beginning in spring, I feel that this year I should honour this special time in some way. The above (getting rid of stuff and finishing unfinished stuff) is part of this honouring.
Dienstag, Jänner 12, 2010
What happens next...
My current employment will end with the end of January. Despite all the usual stuff I will do because of that (meeting with a counselor of the national employment agency, applying for unemployment pay, writing loads of job applications) the bios of all those oh so successful people around me - or, right now, the job application received here at the office from someone three years younger than me but with loads more experience and expertise - made me think about collecting a portfolio of all the skills I've learned through my life, looking at that and feeling a bit better about myself. We did something like this a year ago at a workshop I visited, so I guess I'd better dig out the lists from back then and bring them into a nice, readable, appealing form.
I will apply for all kinds of things, from internships at newspapers and museums to actual jobs at libraries to whatever else comes to mind (I've got a list set and ready). Hopefully I can do some kind of training sponsored by this beautiful country I live in (since I had to pay for my current education to be a trainer in adult education all by myself, thanks a lot :P).
Some time soon I will also post all the things I knit for Christmas presents etc, and maybe some other pretty or at least happy things as well. :)
Grey and cold as it may be here in Graz, I hope you all had a great start into the new year. :)
I will apply for all kinds of things, from internships at newspapers and museums to actual jobs at libraries to whatever else comes to mind (I've got a list set and ready). Hopefully I can do some kind of training sponsored by this beautiful country I live in (since I had to pay for my current education to be a trainer in adult education all by myself, thanks a lot :P).
Some time soon I will also post all the things I knit for Christmas presents etc, and maybe some other pretty or at least happy things as well. :)
Grey and cold as it may be here in Graz, I hope you all had a great start into the new year. :)
Donnerstag, November 26, 2009
New crazy task
As Nano is slowly approaching its finishing line (and I'm only about 10.000 words behind, hah!), for some reason I've been looking for another silly task to do.
I didn't get to see the movie "Julie and Julia", but I read about it, and the idea of methodically working through an instruction book (be it cooking, sewing, knitting, you name it) highly appealed to me. First I thought I'd work my way through "SEW - Sew everything workshop" by Diana Rupp, but since I am still much more into knitting right now than into sewing, I changed that plan to
Methodically Working Through "Stitch'n'Bitch" by Debbie Stoller
Okay, so I've already knit my way through several scarfes and hats etc, but hey. Practice makes perfect. The idea is to try out all the techniques mentioned in the book, to try the whole variety, to force myself to learn about intarsia etc. and not chicken out anymore when it comes to these things. Hopefully, this will then allow me to look at all the other patterns I see and love with a new eye, a new attitude of "Yes, I can do that! Eaaaaaaaaasy!"
The plan is to knit everything featured in that book, except for the things I've already made (explicitly from the book). The list goes like this:
1. Go-Go Garter Stitch Scarf
2. Ribbed-For-Her-Pleasure Scarf
3. Kitschy Kerchief
4. Coney Island Fireworks Scarf
5. Windy City Scarf
6. Alien Illusion Scarf
7. Hot Head X
8. Sparkle Hat
9. Adults-Only Devil Hat and Official Kittyville Hat
10. Loopy Velez Cowl
11. Chinese Charm Bag
12. Zeeby's Bag
13. Meema's Felted Marsupial Tote
14. Punk Rock Backpack
15. Cricket's Technicolor Techno-Cozy
16. Fluffy Cuff Mittens
17. Pippi Kneestockings
18. Powerful Wrist Protection
19. Big Bad Baby Blanket X
20. Umbilical Cord Hat
21. Skully
22. Under the Hoodie
23. The Go-Everywhere, Go-With-Everything Cardigan
24. To Dye For X
25. Cape Mod
26. Big Sack Sweater
27. Pinup Queen
28. The Manly Sweater
29. Cowl and Howl Set
30. Peppermint Twist
31. Tank Girl
32. Little Black Top
33. Queen of Hearts and Wonder Woman Bikinis
34. Princess Snowball Cat Bed
(I've linked everything to its respective Ravelry site. The X's link to my [completed] projects.)
Several of these I've been wanting to knit anyway, while others I'm really not sure about (like the Howl part of the Cowl and Howl set, no dogs here, nor in my vicinity; or the cat bed - my friends have lots of cats, yes, but they sleep whereever they want anyway).
I've already made Hot Head and the Big Bad Baby Blanket, and my To Dye For is only missing its sleeves, so that should be finishable soon as well.
I'll probably not knit these things in order. I'll probably not knit them in the colours, yarns etc that they are originally made in. I'll probably not knit them exclusively, but alongside other things.
But they will be knit, and they will be presented here (a good idea to make me post more often as well ;)).
Maybe this is silly, maybe this is downright stupid. Maybe it is a complete waste of time, money, and good yarn. Maybe my surroundings will start to hate me when I suddenly gift them nothing but weird scarfs and bags. But what the hell. I'll just do it. :)
I didn't get to see the movie "Julie and Julia", but I read about it, and the idea of methodically working through an instruction book (be it cooking, sewing, knitting, you name it) highly appealed to me. First I thought I'd work my way through "SEW - Sew everything workshop" by Diana Rupp, but since I am still much more into knitting right now than into sewing, I changed that plan to
Methodically Working Through "Stitch'n'Bitch" by Debbie Stoller
Okay, so I've already knit my way through several scarfes and hats etc, but hey. Practice makes perfect. The idea is to try out all the techniques mentioned in the book, to try the whole variety, to force myself to learn about intarsia etc. and not chicken out anymore when it comes to these things. Hopefully, this will then allow me to look at all the other patterns I see and love with a new eye, a new attitude of "Yes, I can do that! Eaaaaaaaaasy!"
The plan is to knit everything featured in that book, except for the things I've already made (explicitly from the book). The list goes like this:
1. Go-Go Garter Stitch Scarf
2. Ribbed-For-Her-Pleasure Scarf
3. Kitschy Kerchief
4. Coney Island Fireworks Scarf
5. Windy City Scarf
6. Alien Illusion Scarf
7. Hot Head X
8. Sparkle Hat
9. Adults-Only Devil Hat and Official Kittyville Hat
10. Loopy Velez Cowl
11. Chinese Charm Bag
12. Zeeby's Bag
13. Meema's Felted Marsupial Tote
14. Punk Rock Backpack
15. Cricket's Technicolor Techno-Cozy
16. Fluffy Cuff Mittens
17. Pippi Kneestockings
18. Powerful Wrist Protection
19. Big Bad Baby Blanket X
20. Umbilical Cord Hat
21. Skully
22. Under the Hoodie
23. The Go-Everywhere, Go-With-Everything Cardigan
24. To Dye For X
25. Cape Mod
26. Big Sack Sweater
27. Pinup Queen
28. The Manly Sweater
29. Cowl and Howl Set
30. Peppermint Twist
31. Tank Girl
32. Little Black Top
33. Queen of Hearts and Wonder Woman Bikinis
34. Princess Snowball Cat Bed
(I've linked everything to its respective Ravelry site. The X's link to my [completed] projects.)
Several of these I've been wanting to knit anyway, while others I'm really not sure about (like the Howl part of the Cowl and Howl set, no dogs here, nor in my vicinity; or the cat bed - my friends have lots of cats, yes, but they sleep whereever they want anyway).
I've already made Hot Head and the Big Bad Baby Blanket, and my To Dye For is only missing its sleeves, so that should be finishable soon as well.
I'll probably not knit these things in order. I'll probably not knit them in the colours, yarns etc that they are originally made in. I'll probably not knit them exclusively, but alongside other things.
But they will be knit, and they will be presented here (a good idea to make me post more often as well ;)).
Maybe this is silly, maybe this is downright stupid. Maybe it is a complete waste of time, money, and good yarn. Maybe my surroundings will start to hate me when I suddenly gift them nothing but weird scarfs and bags. But what the hell. I'll just do it. :)
Sonntag, November 01, 2009
Donnerstag, Juli 16, 2009
You've read it wrong!
I just found this video, which gives an interesting view on religion/worldviews - maybe not groundbreaking, but it's nicely done.
It came from this page.
While I wouldn't define myself as an atheist, I like to see different and new approaches. (And I just love pretty videos.)
On a completely unrelated note, I talked with some friends yesterday about a possible movie version of Asteroids. Asteroids! Geez. We thought of some movie versions of old video games that we'd much rather see (Pacman, anyone?), but my personal favourite was Pong. So, since I'm already posting videos, here's some Pong.
It came from this page.
While I wouldn't define myself as an atheist, I like to see different and new approaches. (And I just love pretty videos.)
On a completely unrelated note, I talked with some friends yesterday about a possible movie version of Asteroids. Asteroids! Geez. We thought of some movie versions of old video games that we'd much rather see (Pacman, anyone?), but my personal favourite was Pong. So, since I'm already posting videos, here's some Pong.
Donnerstag, Juli 02, 2009
Mhhhh
It's my birthday, and it started with happy wishes (first was my brother at 6.30, like I'd be properly awake at that time - but it was sweet :)), cuddled up reading and listening to my new Tori Amos CD. Lovely. Can I please have birthday mornings for the rest of my life? ;)
Mittwoch, Juli 01, 2009
New approach
I've been thinking about scaling down and using less for so long already that it physically hurts when I think about how little I achieved in that direction in that amount of time.
But this is not going to be a post about getting rid of clutter etc (that's going to come later), it's about Wardrobe Refashion and how I'll try to do things differently this time.
First, I'll do a huge stocktaking of what I already own and have in my closet, whether it gets worn or not. Then I'll take out all the stuff that I never/hardly ever wear, or things which I wore even though they didn't make me happy. I'll put all of these either in some sort of storage container or into my "easy to fix" bag. I'll leave only some basics in my wardrobe: Jeans, black pants, my linen pants for summer, some basic cardis (not that I have that many at all), some basic tops in solid colours (and maybe a few fancy ones).
Next, I'll make a list of the things lined up for fixing/mending/minor alteration, and get those done - if I decide I still need/want that item, even once it's fixed. If I decide I don't want/need it anymore, it'll move on to the "charity shop/clothes exchange" bag which I still need to create.
I'll also draw up a list of some basic items which I'd like to own, check whether I have patterns for those, check whether I already own fabric which could be used for them, then make them. I know already that I'd like some basic skirts in a length and in colours that I will actually wear; and I'd love a simple black dress which can be worn through the seasons.
And about the actual refashioning part? I already sorted through my dedicated refashion pile, which has been sitting around (and moved with me) since I first participated, and sorted it into several groups (I have so many t-shirts! And I don't actually need [that many] more colourful t-shirts! O_O). I also managed to drag some items of clothing which never get worn or don't make me happy from my wardrobe, with the definite decision to make them into something else (and I already know what they're going to be, too!).
The best thing? Last weekend I finally made friends with my sewing machine. I will no longer long for my mother's machine, which I knew how to use properly and had already developed an understanding with. Instead, I will deepen my relationship with my own machine - we still have a ways to go, but at least I know how to get it sewing nice stitches by now, know how to change needles etc, and how to fix some weird mistakes which I somestimes make when sewing (since I don't do it regularly).
The made-from-scratch/using-up-stash items will probably fall into the "How to build a wardrobe full of useful, wearable and combinable clothes"-category, while the refashioned items will be the sweet and exciting icing on the cake.
Sounds good? Now I just need to pull it off. ;)
But this is not going to be a post about getting rid of clutter etc (that's going to come later), it's about Wardrobe Refashion and how I'll try to do things differently this time.
First, I'll do a huge stocktaking of what I already own and have in my closet, whether it gets worn or not. Then I'll take out all the stuff that I never/hardly ever wear, or things which I wore even though they didn't make me happy. I'll put all of these either in some sort of storage container or into my "easy to fix" bag. I'll leave only some basics in my wardrobe: Jeans, black pants, my linen pants for summer, some basic cardis (not that I have that many at all), some basic tops in solid colours (and maybe a few fancy ones).
Next, I'll make a list of the things lined up for fixing/mending/minor alteration, and get those done - if I decide I still need/want that item, even once it's fixed. If I decide I don't want/need it anymore, it'll move on to the "charity shop/clothes exchange" bag which I still need to create.
I'll also draw up a list of some basic items which I'd like to own, check whether I have patterns for those, check whether I already own fabric which could be used for them, then make them. I know already that I'd like some basic skirts in a length and in colours that I will actually wear; and I'd love a simple black dress which can be worn through the seasons.
And about the actual refashioning part? I already sorted through my dedicated refashion pile, which has been sitting around (and moved with me) since I first participated, and sorted it into several groups (I have so many t-shirts! And I don't actually need [that many] more colourful t-shirts! O_O). I also managed to drag some items of clothing which never get worn or don't make me happy from my wardrobe, with the definite decision to make them into something else (and I already know what they're going to be, too!).
The best thing? Last weekend I finally made friends with my sewing machine. I will no longer long for my mother's machine, which I knew how to use properly and had already developed an understanding with. Instead, I will deepen my relationship with my own machine - we still have a ways to go, but at least I know how to get it sewing nice stitches by now, know how to change needles etc, and how to fix some weird mistakes which I somestimes make when sewing (since I don't do it regularly).
The made-from-scratch/using-up-stash items will probably fall into the "How to build a wardrobe full of useful, wearable and combinable clothes"-category, while the refashioned items will be the sweet and exciting icing on the cake.
Sounds good? Now I just need to pull it off. ;)
Montag, Juni 29, 2009
Two visits long overdue
There are some things in life that I seem to keep postponing. Finishing my universitary education, getting a well-paid job, meeting up with people I like...
It's something of a minor curse.
Last month, I (uncharacteristically) managed to make two overdue visits in 3 weeks! Utterly amazing, I know. (I also finished some other long overdue projects, but that's something else.)
Happy receiver of visit #1: My (youngest) aunt
My aunt has been living in the beautiful city of Passau, just across the Austrian/German border, for the last 8 years or so. We've been talking about me visiting her for about as many years. But my need for a short time out and my inspirational idea to visit her happily coincided, and so I made my way to this prettiest of towns around the second week of May.
For the weekend, my aunt had time to spend with me, so we went on a boat tour on Saturday...
View from our boat towards city hall
Small castle that could be seen during the trip - there was some story about a goat, but I forgot exactly how it went *hangs head shamefully*
The waters of Danube and Inn mixing, right below Passau.
...and for a walk among the treetops on Sunday.
We also visited Schärding, famous (at least here in Austria) for its cheese.
But it should be famous for its cute houses!
I loved this one, even though my aunt didn't...isn't that green-white just gorgeous?
Both Passau and Schärding often suffer from flooding/high tides, since Passau is situated between two rivers, and Schärding is situated along one (big, flat) river. Passau also had several flood marks around town (along the river and on city hall), but this is the one from Schärding, as it was the prettiest.
Lovely door!
The rest of my time (Monday to Wednesday afternoon) I spent simply walking around town, doing a little shopping, eating lovely food, and relaxing by the river.
Passau's Burg (castle/fortress)
Tower of Passau's City Hall
My favourite new place - the Inn embankment...this is looking North.
And looking South(ish)!
Plus some fancy ducks. ;)
The inside of the dome - pretty! This is the main of the five organs which the dome houses.
I got to listen to a concert, which was beautiful...
My aunt is a psychologist, so she managed to break up my problems into manageable pieces with about 3 sentences, and things have been going much better since then. I don't feel so overwhelmed by all the things I need and/or want to do anymore, which is great. I'll just have to keep her advice (and some of the clever things I've read about the impossibility of doing/reading/knowing everything) in mind, and all should be (and stay) well. :)
The house in my aunt's street (Ostuzzi Street), which was built by the architect the street is named after. Looks like shells and glass nuggets and stuff, doesn't it?
Right about the glass, but WRONG about the shells. O_O
Happy receiver of visit #2: My once best friend (and my boyfriend's cousin as well)
There's this girl I once was best friends with. We were really REALLY close for about 3 years, which sadly deteriorated afterwards (due to a somewhat childish boy conflict, and my own later not so childish boyfriend conflicts). After school she moved to Vienna for her studies, and I've only talked to her for about 1 hour total since then (at least it feels that way, maybe I'm wrong - maybe that's just the last five years). I also never visited her in Vienna even once. Strange how things go, eh? Anyway, I first mentioned coming for a visit in September, which (knowing me, knowing my boyfriend) of course didn't happen, but it DID happen near the end of May.
The Secession Building, which I SO love. <3<3<3
The writing says: Each time its art, each art its freedom/Art for the times, freedom for the arts
(it's not that easy to translate, but I think the main point should be clear)
We were able to stay at the place of my boyfriend's cousin, who shares a beautiful flat with his equally beautiful girlfriend. A beautiful couple overall - sadly I've got no pictures of their space, it was really lovely.
We had the Saturday and Sunday to do what we've wanted to do for a long time: Walking around Vienna without anything special that needed to be done. Just walking, looking, maybe checking out some places we'd never seen before. Usually when I got to Vienna, it's always been for a special reason: family get-together's, concerts, informational events - but I'd never been able to just go where the mood takes me. It's what I enjoyed most about my Erasmus stay in London as well - being able to just lazily walk around town instead of always taking the tube, getting a feel for the city.
Museum of Art History (Kunsthistorisches Museum), with lovely dramatic light (I love it when dark clouds and sunsets combine this way)
So, for Saturday, we simply walked around, explored the university (they've got the cutest little courtyard!), took pictures of the city hall, Parliament etc, bought lovely munchies at the Naschmarkt (a market famous for it's cute little restaurants and delicatessen shops). We had dried coconut cubes, wasabi peanuts, dried kiwis, and something else that I don't quite remember. All delicous!
In the evening, we went to a yummy Thai restaurant, tried to get into a salsa club (but the boys weren't dressed nicely enough, at least that's what the doormen claimed - I think the club was just too full), snuck our way into the most stylish bar of the whole inner city (kudos to J's cousin for that!), and finally ended up in an 'in' club where a Russian-style band was just doing their encores. Sadly they simply cleared the dancefloor after that, so we went home. *shrugs*
Fountain between Museum of Art History and Museum of Technics (Technisches Museum Wien)
On Sunday, weather was even lousier that on Saturday. We slept long (since my boyfriend is generally exhausted from his workweek and really needed that sleep), then walked around a bit more, and finally visited the Haus der Musik (House of Music), which was great. There were quite some people, so we didn't get to try everything out, but we nevertheless spent 3-4 hours inside, learning about all kinds of fun things about sound, famous composers etc.
We spent the rest of the evening cuddled up, reading (J) and knitting (me).
Monday was meet-people-day. First we were off to J's uncle, where we surprised his grandmother, whose birthday it was but who didn't know we were coming. Hah! It was nice to see the look on her face when we jumped into the room and handed her the beautiful bunch of flowers we'd bought. :) We got lovely food as well, grilled chicken, yum yum.
Then we were off, going to meet my friend, her husband, and her (yet) unborn little baby. She was the first of my friends to marry, and now she's the first to get a baby as well. It was so lovely to see her! She has the cutest of flats, since she always was into colour coordination and being orderly and stuff (things I only dream about...all the time...), and she makes really great Apfelstrudel. We then went for a walk together to Schloss Schönbrunn, where there is a section of the park where they have several labyrinths - of course we had to take a tour through some of them.
And my boyfriend and I had to let our inner child out at the fantastic playground - he tells me that this is an Archimedian well or something...my research tells me that it uses a principle called Archimedes' screw. :)
When we had to leave, I handed her the thing which I really needed to give her...
...because as soon as I heard she was pregnant, I thought "Must! Knit! Something! Must! Knit! Cute! Babystuffs!"
I think she liked it, though it's hard for me to tell - when you haven't really known someone for a while, it's hard to gauge their reactions. But I was promised pics of baby plus blankie, so I guess it was fine. :)
Well, and then it was back to Graz and prepare for another week of work, hah! :P But I'm sooo happy I managed to make these two trips (and that I managed to finish the blanket on time!).
I've got so many pictures left from Passau, and some from Vienna, which are also quite nice, so maybe I'll show them off later...then again, maybe it's enough. ;) I'm glad I could finally write a post with my own photographs again. :)
It's something of a minor curse.
Last month, I (uncharacteristically) managed to make two overdue visits in 3 weeks! Utterly amazing, I know. (I also finished some other long overdue projects, but that's something else.)
Happy receiver of visit #1: My (youngest) aunt
My aunt has been living in the beautiful city of Passau, just across the Austrian/German border, for the last 8 years or so. We've been talking about me visiting her for about as many years. But my need for a short time out and my inspirational idea to visit her happily coincided, and so I made my way to this prettiest of towns around the second week of May.
For the weekend, my aunt had time to spend with me, so we went on a boat tour on Saturday...
View from our boat towards city hall
Small castle that could be seen during the trip - there was some story about a goat, but I forgot exactly how it went *hangs head shamefully*
The waters of Danube and Inn mixing, right below Passau....and for a walk among the treetops on Sunday.
We also visited Schärding, famous (at least here in Austria) for its cheese.
But it should be famous for its cute houses!
I loved this one, even though my aunt didn't...isn't that green-white just gorgeous?
Both Passau and Schärding often suffer from flooding/high tides, since Passau is situated between two rivers, and Schärding is situated along one (big, flat) river. Passau also had several flood marks around town (along the river and on city hall), but this is the one from Schärding, as it was the prettiest.
Lovely door!The rest of my time (Monday to Wednesday afternoon) I spent simply walking around town, doing a little shopping, eating lovely food, and relaxing by the river.
Passau's Burg (castle/fortress)
Tower of Passau's City Hall
My favourite new place - the Inn embankment...this is looking North.
And looking South(ish)!
Plus some fancy ducks. ;)
The inside of the dome - pretty! This is the main of the five organs which the dome houses.I got to listen to a concert, which was beautiful...
My aunt is a psychologist, so she managed to break up my problems into manageable pieces with about 3 sentences, and things have been going much better since then. I don't feel so overwhelmed by all the things I need and/or want to do anymore, which is great. I'll just have to keep her advice (and some of the clever things I've read about the impossibility of doing/reading/knowing everything) in mind, and all should be (and stay) well. :)
The house in my aunt's street (Ostuzzi Street), which was built by the architect the street is named after. Looks like shells and glass nuggets and stuff, doesn't it?
Right about the glass, but WRONG about the shells. O_OHappy receiver of visit #2: My once best friend (and my boyfriend's cousin as well)
There's this girl I once was best friends with. We were really REALLY close for about 3 years, which sadly deteriorated afterwards (due to a somewhat childish boy conflict, and my own later not so childish boyfriend conflicts). After school she moved to Vienna for her studies, and I've only talked to her for about 1 hour total since then (at least it feels that way, maybe I'm wrong - maybe that's just the last five years). I also never visited her in Vienna even once. Strange how things go, eh? Anyway, I first mentioned coming for a visit in September, which (knowing me, knowing my boyfriend) of course didn't happen, but it DID happen near the end of May.
The Secession Building, which I SO love. <3<3<3The writing says: Each time its art, each art its freedom/Art for the times, freedom for the arts
(it's not that easy to translate, but I think the main point should be clear)
We were able to stay at the place of my boyfriend's cousin, who shares a beautiful flat with his equally beautiful girlfriend. A beautiful couple overall - sadly I've got no pictures of their space, it was really lovely.
We had the Saturday and Sunday to do what we've wanted to do for a long time: Walking around Vienna without anything special that needed to be done. Just walking, looking, maybe checking out some places we'd never seen before. Usually when I got to Vienna, it's always been for a special reason: family get-together's, concerts, informational events - but I'd never been able to just go where the mood takes me. It's what I enjoyed most about my Erasmus stay in London as well - being able to just lazily walk around town instead of always taking the tube, getting a feel for the city.
Museum of Art History (Kunsthistorisches Museum), with lovely dramatic light (I love it when dark clouds and sunsets combine this way)So, for Saturday, we simply walked around, explored the university (they've got the cutest little courtyard!), took pictures of the city hall, Parliament etc, bought lovely munchies at the Naschmarkt (a market famous for it's cute little restaurants and delicatessen shops). We had dried coconut cubes, wasabi peanuts, dried kiwis, and something else that I don't quite remember. All delicous!
In the evening, we went to a yummy Thai restaurant, tried to get into a salsa club (but the boys weren't dressed nicely enough, at least that's what the doormen claimed - I think the club was just too full), snuck our way into the most stylish bar of the whole inner city (kudos to J's cousin for that!), and finally ended up in an 'in' club where a Russian-style band was just doing their encores. Sadly they simply cleared the dancefloor after that, so we went home. *shrugs*
Fountain between Museum of Art History and Museum of Technics (Technisches Museum Wien)On Sunday, weather was even lousier that on Saturday. We slept long (since my boyfriend is generally exhausted from his workweek and really needed that sleep), then walked around a bit more, and finally visited the Haus der Musik (House of Music), which was great. There were quite some people, so we didn't get to try everything out, but we nevertheless spent 3-4 hours inside, learning about all kinds of fun things about sound, famous composers etc.
We spent the rest of the evening cuddled up, reading (J) and knitting (me).
Monday was meet-people-day. First we were off to J's uncle, where we surprised his grandmother, whose birthday it was but who didn't know we were coming. Hah! It was nice to see the look on her face when we jumped into the room and handed her the beautiful bunch of flowers we'd bought. :) We got lovely food as well, grilled chicken, yum yum.
Then we were off, going to meet my friend, her husband, and her (yet) unborn little baby. She was the first of my friends to marry, and now she's the first to get a baby as well. It was so lovely to see her! She has the cutest of flats, since she always was into colour coordination and being orderly and stuff (things I only dream about...all the time...), and she makes really great Apfelstrudel. We then went for a walk together to Schloss Schönbrunn, where there is a section of the park where they have several labyrinths - of course we had to take a tour through some of them.
And my boyfriend and I had to let our inner child out at the fantastic playground - he tells me that this is an Archimedian well or something...my research tells me that it uses a principle called Archimedes' screw. :)When we had to leave, I handed her the thing which I really needed to give her...
...because as soon as I heard she was pregnant, I thought "Must! Knit! Something! Must! Knit! Cute! Babystuffs!"
I think she liked it, though it's hard for me to tell - when you haven't really known someone for a while, it's hard to gauge their reactions. But I was promised pics of baby plus blankie, so I guess it was fine. :)
Well, and then it was back to Graz and prepare for another week of work, hah! :P But I'm sooo happy I managed to make these two trips (and that I managed to finish the blanket on time!).
I've got so many pictures left from Passau, and some from Vienna, which are also quite nice, so maybe I'll show them off later...then again, maybe it's enough. ;) I'm glad I could finally write a post with my own photographs again. :)
Mittwoch, Juni 24, 2009
And...
A: Words of wisdom
B: By the way, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?
A: Go ahead.
B: OK I will.
A: So, ask me your question.
B: Excuse me! OK, "What is my question ?".
I think I prefer conversing with real people. ;)
B: By the way, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?
A: Go ahead.
B: OK I will.
A: So, ask me your question.
B: Excuse me! OK, "What is my question ?".
I think I prefer conversing with real people. ;)
Computer wisdom
My friend Kris posted this link to a page where you can chat it up with a chat bot and check out whether it's answers are filled with intelligence or not. After some rather uninteresting stuff, this exchange took place:
A: It's raining here.
B: Do you experience any effects of global warming there?
A: I think so.
B: I think so too.
A: Do you experience any effects of global warming?
B: happy. Emotion is a human quality. I am a super computer.
A: that was a weird answer
B: A weird answer is a terrible thing to waste.
True, true.
A: It's raining here.
B: Do you experience any effects of global warming there?
A: I think so.
B: I think so too.
A: Do you experience any effects of global warming?
B: happy. Emotion is a human quality. I am a super computer.
A: that was a weird answer
B: A weird answer is a terrible thing to waste.
True, true.
Montag, Juni 22, 2009
Beautiful pictures
A) I finally downloaded the photographs of the last two months from my camera, so there *should* be some massive posts coming soon.
B) By chance, I got to see the movie "Aeon Flux" last night. I knew about the animated series (which has been on my Amazon wishlist for ages, even though I've not seen a single episode - the online recommendations somehow seemed good enough reason to put it there), but nothing of the plot etc, so I watched the movie from beginning to end. I don't want to talk too much about the plot (which is good enough for a sci-fi movie, even though I guess it doesn't even come close to what the series offers - I'm again guessing from what I read about the series on the net). What I do want to talk about is what a beautiful beautiful movie it is. Costumes, set decoration, special effects....sooooo pretty! I gathered a few screenshots from the internet, but they just don't to the whole thing justice.
This is Aeon and her sister, Lux. Look at those costumes - Aeon's violet and grey, which, if they were mixed, would probably be something close to Lux' lavender. Pretty. :) The background light is just an example of how the atmosphere is just really rich and stunningly beautiful.
My favourite place in the whole movie, beautifully organic...nicely suited to the purpose it fulfills.
Even a so called tyrant can have a beautiful home...and this is just the outermost layer. (Or was it the place where the government held court? Either way...niiiiiiice.)
Here's a few more shots...not all so brilliant, but they give a good impression, I think.
While I do like good plot, sometimes, at least in movies, pretty 'language' is enough. Quite enough*. Can I watch it again please, ignore the dialogue, and just wallow in its beauty?
*As I said, the plot isn't too bad either. But nothing too special.
B) By chance, I got to see the movie "Aeon Flux" last night. I knew about the animated series (which has been on my Amazon wishlist for ages, even though I've not seen a single episode - the online recommendations somehow seemed good enough reason to put it there), but nothing of the plot etc, so I watched the movie from beginning to end. I don't want to talk too much about the plot (which is good enough for a sci-fi movie, even though I guess it doesn't even come close to what the series offers - I'm again guessing from what I read about the series on the net). What I do want to talk about is what a beautiful beautiful movie it is. Costumes, set decoration, special effects....sooooo pretty! I gathered a few screenshots from the internet, but they just don't to the whole thing justice.
This is Aeon and her sister, Lux. Look at those costumes - Aeon's violet and grey, which, if they were mixed, would probably be something close to Lux' lavender. Pretty. :) The background light is just an example of how the atmosphere is just really rich and stunningly beautiful.
My favourite place in the whole movie, beautifully organic...nicely suited to the purpose it fulfills.
Even a so called tyrant can have a beautiful home...and this is just the outermost layer. (Or was it the place where the government held court? Either way...niiiiiiice.)
Here's a few more shots...not all so brilliant, but they give a good impression, I think.While I do like good plot, sometimes, at least in movies, pretty 'language' is enough. Quite enough*. Can I watch it again please, ignore the dialogue, and just wallow in its beauty?
*As I said, the plot isn't too bad either. But nothing too special.
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