"Our life evokes our character. You find out more about yourself as you go on. That's why it's good to be able to put yourself in situations that will evoke your higher nature rather than your lower. 'Lead us not into temptation.'" Joseph Campbell
Listened to Amor Towles' Rules of Civility on audio, which I loved. Not a lot happens, it's a slow and quiet book. But I loved his portrayal of 1930s New York, the art and jazz etc. And the characters were complex and interesting.
Then I tried two books that I own and brought to Nanaimo, but which the library had in audio. Time Traveler's Wife and Wicked. Stopped both after the first cd. The first just wasn't my style, and when I read on wiki what happens in the rest I really don't regret it. Too melodramatic for me. The latter just wasn't my sense of humor.
Yesterday I turned 40 years old. If there's one thing I've noticed this year, it's my growing intolerance for getting through books that don't interest me. I used to give them one third. Earlier this year it fell to one quarter. Now I'm down to a couple chapters. I just own way way too many books to waste time wondering if/when a book will get better.
I've read books that started slow but got better. But I can tell the difference between that, and between "Really? Am I gonna like this? I don't think I'm gonna like this." I felt that way with Fall On Your Knees, and made the mistake of persisting.
There are certainly some things I need to cut down on this year. Spending time on books that don't feel right. And writing my blog. Need to blog less carefully, with less effort. ...Having to do it all off my ipad helps in that regard, lol.
Here are pics from the chalet where we've been living. We get possession of the house in a week, but then must paint and redo floors before moving in. Hasn't stopped me from continuing to buy things for my place! I've even got a bedframe stuffed into my bedroom here!
Here's Flakey all packed up, ready to leave the old house, Yoda exhausted from packing.
Phew, ready to rest up.
Birdyloos! Philea and Chara have been enjoying being in the same room as us almost all the time. They love to be in a flock. Parrots hate to be alone.
My room before I messed it all up!
Down on the beach...
When the tide's out, it's out!
But keaves tidal pools so teeming with life, I can't bear to walk on them. Here I lifted a shell and scared a little gray crab. He's in the middle of the pic, above the block of seaweed.
My drive home from work, thirty minutes. Can see Nanoose Bay peeking between the trees as I drive.
I'm trying very hard to finish crochet or sewing projects, and not just have a bunch of started ones. (See yesterday's drunken cat.) Here's something that started as a hat, and trying out a more difficult kind of yarn. But I thought it was ugly, so I made it into an egg shape. And months later it has ended as a football bird, to sit on my dad's desk.
Hey ho! All is well down here. Been swimming a bit. Crocheting too, and developed crocheter's shoulder. (Is that a thing? It should be.) And I actually wrote a wee bit!! I'm re-reading Harpo Marx's biography--he was the silent Marx Brother, and a wonderful person in real life. Full of joy and kindess, and very funny. I'm loving the book yet again, and it puts me in the mood to write. Also been rewatching Fred and Ginger movies, which also inspire me. I love their silly tone, it's exactly how I'd like to write.
I finished my first amigurumi (Japanese crochet of cute things). It's a little cat, though apparently he looks like a bear and a monkey. I based the body on a pattern, but then made up the rest based on these aminekos (crocheted cats):
I named him Fernando, but I'm adraid he's turned out nothing like his namesake. He's been badly influenced by the Mad Men I've been watching on Netflix. He drinks and womanizes and is hungover every day (hence the sunglasses.) But when he's at his best he gets in a Kleenex box and flies around the cabin, so I ought to make him a flying hat. My dad and step-mother are both pilots, so perhaps he's picked up something good for once.
Sunbathing... I think
Hope you're all well. The internets here continue to be annoying.
Below is my latest favorite song--I think you guys'll like it too. It's a pick-me-upper.
In other news, I'm a little congested but today I really felt my energy back. Good thing, cause we're still pretty short staffed and I need my brain cells to be firing on all neurons.
In other other news, I've been trying out an audio book (from the library) while driving and I'm really enjoying it. I chose Rules of Civility, which I'd been resisting buying. Love the cover.
Here's the song: Inner Ninja
I've had bad habits but I dropped em
I've had opponents but I knocked them out
I climbed the highest mountains
I swum the coldest seas
There ain't a thing I've faced that's been too much for me
Ninja? You're a ninja? Get out of here, you're a ninja! Yes, I am a ninja.
I read the rules before I broke 'em
I broke the chains before they choked me out
Now I pay close attention
Really learn the code
I learned to read the map before I hit the road
Hey yo, I know you never heard this before
But I'd rather lose a fight than miss the war
And I ain't wishing competition or fishin' for it
I'm just living in the system, conditions are poor
I've been lost in the rhythm and misinformed
Too many late nights hittin' the liquor store
Too many bad decisions, half assed attempts
No sweat, no fear, no blood, no tears
I go hard and I ain't makin' up no excuse
I'm overdue, I don't do what I'm supposed to do
Cause you can think about it man, we're supposed to lose
It ain't all picture perfect, ocean views
No, I was a first class rookie,
Takin' out bullies in my all black hoodie
Man of mystery, you know the history
Get it or forget it, cause poof, I'm outta here
I read the rules before I broke 'em
I broke the chains before they choked me out
And I pay close attention
Really learn the code
I learned to read the map before I hit the road
Nobody's gonna see me comin'
Nobody's gonna hear a sound
No matter how hard they tryin'
No stoppin' me since I've found
My inner ninja [x4]
Hey yo, I've been high and I've been real low
I've been beaten and broken but I healed though
So many ups and downs, roughed up & clowned
We all got problems, but we deal though
I'm tryin' to do better now, find my inner peace
Learn my art form, and find my energy
When my backs on the wall, I don't freeze up
Nah, I find my inner strength and I re-up
Here we go, I know I've never been the smartest or wisest
But I realize what it takes
Never dwell in the dark cause the sun always rises
But gotta make it to the next day
It's a feeling that you get in your lungs when you run
Like you're runnin' outta air and your breath won't come
And you (uh) wheezin', gotta keep it movin'
Find that extra (uhn) and push your way through it
I've had bad habits but I dropped em
I've had opponents but I knocked them out
I climbed the highest mountains
I swum the coldest seas
There ain't a thing I've faced that's been too much for me
Nobody's gonna see me comin'
Nobody's gonna hear a sound
No matter how hard they tryin'
Nobody's gonna bring me down
Nobody's gonna see me comin'
Nobody's gonna hear a sound
No matter how hard they tryin'
No stoppin' me since I've found
My inner ninja [x4]
I've had bad habits but I dropped em
I've had opponents but I knocked them out
I climbed the highest mountains
I Swum the coldest seas
There ain't a thing I've faced thats been too much for me
I am Le Tired. Over a week ago I caught a cold, just a regular head cold, and then it became a tonsil infection. Well this is my theory anyway--not going to the doctor since it's probably viral. I didn't miss any work cause I was like "It's just a head cold" but a week later I was still tired, and blowing my nose all the time, and getting a sore throat. Would also explain why I was so exhausted those last days of packing.
Anyway. I'm recovering. But we've also been a bit understaffed and over-furnitured at work lately, and since we have to take all the furniture outside each morning and bring it all back in at the end, too much furniture + not enough staff = le tired and leaving work late. Plus driving a little further.
And we're here at a lovely resort, but the internet connection is obnoxious to say the least. I've been struggling for days just to get my and Fernando's taxes completed (our living in different provinces + fighting the internets = le tired)...
So. I need to simplify life. I have a tendency to take on too much STUFF in life. I'm going to give *notice* for my volunteer work at the book store. And I'm giving up my Year of Love Songs plan. Ahh it was a project made at a time when I was young, carefree, and hadn't yet entered the HELL OF PACKING followed by sickness and over-furnituretude and shitty internets.
Plus, once we have possession of the house, I'll have horrid wallpaper to remove so... more physical labor is in my near future. I just want to rest.
But we shall leave the love song unproject with one last song, suggested by our lovely frog JJJ. And at some point I'll be back with other things to share... someday... who knows when... someday...
you could have a steam train
if you'd just lay down your tracks
you could have an aeroplane flying
if you bring your blue sky back
all you do is call me
I'll be anything you need
you could have a big dipper
going up and down, all around the bends
you could have a bumper car, bumping
this amusement never ends
I want to be your sledgehammer
why don't you call my name
oh let me be your sledgehammer
this will be my testimony
show me round your fruitcage
'cos I will be your honey bee
open up your fruitcage
where the fruit is as sweet as can be
I want to be your sledgehammer
why don't you call my name
you'd better call the sledgehammer
put your mind at rest
I'm going to be-the sledgehammer
this can be my testimony
I'm your sledgehammer
let there be no doubt about it
sledge sledge sledgehammer
I've kicked the habit
shed my skin
this is the new stuff
I go dancing in, we go dancing in
oh won't you show for me
and I will show for you
show for me, I will show for you
yea, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do mean you
only you
you've been coming through
going to build that power
build, build up that power, hey
I've been feeding the rhythm
I've been feeding the rhythm
going to feel that power, build in you
come on, come on, help me do
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you
I've been feeding the rhythm
I've been feeding the rhythm
it's what we're doing, doing
all day and night
Waited for your call, for the moon
To release me from the longest afternoon
I've re-arranged parts of my living room
But time is hard to kill since I met you
Looking at the cars that drive on by
While spring is making promise outside
Red cars are quite rare I realize
Then I wonder which colour you like
Seven little numbers
Baby, they could be a start
Seven little numbers
Baby, I know yours by heart
Woo-oh, oh-oh, all the pretty things that we could do
Woo-oh, oh-oh, I feel you in every heart beat
Woo-oh, oh-oh, were you ever in a dream that could come true
These numbers could be lucky for you
Watch the sky change to a darkened blue
I can't think of another thing to do
And every song just makes me think of you
Because the singers sounds as if she was longing,
As if she was longing, too
Seven little numbers
Baby, they could be a start
Seven little numbers
Baby, I know yours by heart
They could make a change
Make a fire out of this flame
Friday, May 3, 2013
____LOVE SONG OF THE DAY____
One of the shows I watched in April was Community. It starts off a bit cliché, more traditional sort of sitcom; but in the second season the writers just took the weird and rolled with it. I didn't love it consistently, but overall it was funny and I cared for the peoples.
This is a pretty song from the show...
But if you've ever wondered how "Somewhere Out There" would sound with a penny whistle and bodrun, check this out.
Here's my rough pattern, placed on the $1.00 100% wool sweater...
This was the front of the sweater, with a zipper down the middle. I sewed it up.
Made her a nose from a corduroy jacket ($1), then crocheted her some eyes, and embroidered them in blue.
Here Betty "Morg" Widdersley Brownlow models the pillow.
I gave it to Ms. Miroir (co-worker friend) cause owls have appeared as a totem for her this year. And she has two nutty girl cats, just like us! The bigger one flops over the pillow like Morg is showing, and the littler one just looks at her and says: You can see the pillow is made for my size, so get off.
I definitely want to make some more critter cat pillows, but I need the biggest sweaters I can get, and I'd rather get natural fibers to reflect back heat in winter.
____LOVE SONG OF THE DAY____
Measha Bruggergosman's a Canadian opera singer, and her last name is a combination of her and her husband's names. She wrote this about him. It's co-written/sung with another Canadian artist and their voices are so beautiful together!
Oh heartedly half-hearted you completed my half Your love ripped me open with your silent laugh I honestly thought I'd be alone on this path You are the whole to my half
We're safe and sound at the resort, now. But the internet connection here is for the birds, so you may not see me around the internets much. I may not be able to post, or visit around! ...Guess I'd better be writing, then. ;-)
____LOVE SONG OF THE DAY____
And now Jermaine Stewart will tell us off for that month of carnality!
I totally had a neon green sweat shirt and a couple of giant hip belts. God I was a snappy dresser.
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