Find An Easier Way
Observation #1: I don't outright hate the Leona Lewis cover of "Run" (youtube link) although I still prefer the the Snow Patrol original (youtube link). I am mildly disturbed and am now going to listen to ironic hipster music. Observation #2: I recently decided that I was spreading myself thin in social networking and blogging ventures. In real terms, this meant I took a long, hard look at my networking efforts, where I was spending my energy and creativity and what sort of return I got on my investments. My conclusions were interesting, to say the least. I shut down profiles, merged accounts and am now limiting myself to very few outlets. It feels a lot more streamlined, easy to manage and has energised me. I am also surprised/entertained to see how I think of this new structure in corporate terms: efficiency, venture, restructure, investment, and management. Hmm.
Observation #2.1: While I have been pleasantly surprised by my new networking structure, others have apparently been mildly upset by my actions. What I find "better organised", some online friends think of as "shutting out". Is it a sign of how fragile online friendships are (I don't think so) or a sign of how online friendships dependent upon a given context (I don't think so either)? Whatever it signifies, I just want to clarify that I am just as accessible as ever. I have just limited the number of places where people can interact with me. Of course people can also email me, but I warn you: I'm notoriously bad at getting back to mails. Just ask my mother ..
Observation #3: I spent some quality time with my nephew (who's almost three now!) this weekend. I was amused to note that I'm the cool, slightly wacky aunt who dares her nephew to jump into mud pools and who tells stories about gnomes and elves. Oh, and who is really good at Pooh-sticks.
PS. Blur reunion?!.
Monday Interlude
This Dane in Scotland is putting wrapped Christmas presents into postal boxes going across seas. While I'm doing this, I'm listening to my German friend, Silke, live on NZ radio. Distance is very relative these days. A few links: + Drake's Door: a big selection of audiobooks and poetry recordings with an emphasis on late 19th C and early 20th C British and American literature. Some material is restricted to US audiences only, but there is still plenty of things to sink your teeth into. + The Popdose 100: The Popdose site compiles their favourite 100 singles of the last fifty years. As always it's a matter of personal taste, but it's still pretty interesting. Also, thumbs up for number twenty. + The Museum of Weird Books: "TV Vet: Horse Book: Recognition and Treatment of Common Horse and Pony Ailments with over 300 action pictures", anyone? I'm particularly intrigued by the action pictures. + Judge A Book By Its Cover: a blog filled with horrid cover design, mind-boggling pulp fiction and readalongs of genre fiction. Surprisingly JABBIC doesn't provide full-on snarking but prefers gentle mocking. Nice one.
Ouchy-boo-boo.
It's very, very cold outside. This means that the pavements are icy. By 'icy', I mean 'like an ice-skating rink' and, seeing as I'm not blessed with a fantastic sense of balance, I do not ice-skate well. This evening, I fell whilst crossing a lawn to avoid aforementioned icy pavements. I've hurt my wrist and my back. This means I probably won't be blogging (nor knitting!) for a wee while (unless, as now, I can find someone to dictate to *Dave waves hello*).
Wish me luck in preserving my sanity.
Or send snow shoes.
Birthday Boy
Other Half celebrates his thirty-something-mumble-mumble birthday today. Happy birthday, David.
I managed to finish a pair of fingerless mitts (a male variation upon these in Artesano Alpaca Aran) last night whilst at the knit-in at Sith Café. I wouldn't say I was knitting frantically, but I didn't pet the resident dog as much I usually do. Dave's wearing the gloves today so no photos, alas.
Last year I attempted a Dalek Cake with .. interesting results (as you can see, I fail spectacularly at cake decorating) so having knitted successful mitts = a much better birthday already. Fewer hysterical laughs anyway.
Other presents include a card wallet, Swedish vampire fiction, an awesome Death Star t-shirt (his favourite present, I think) and posh art supplies. I'm mildly jealous.
Now off to swanky dinner at our favourite restaurant.. thank you everybody who has contributed to making this a great day for the skinny indie kid.
In-Between Days
My old flat in Copenhagen was on the third floor of an old building. Looking back, my life there felt like a big gulp of air waiting to be exhaled. I had finished university and was waiting for the rest of my life to begin. I liked the place, although I couldn't afford to live there on my own and had to rely on lodgers to make the mortgage.
I had two tiny rooms to myself which overlooked a waste land (now part of the Copenhagen Business School emporium), I had a wall of overflowing bookcases and I had a fancy Italian stove which I still regret having to leave behind. And my flat had wonky old floorboards which a previous owner had stripped bare. I loved walking across them in bare feet: they were wonderfully warm and soft. They'd creak. Every so often my belongings would disappear into the ever-growing cracks between the floorboards. I'd joke that sometimes it felt like I disappeared between the cracks too. The joke of someone fed on fairy-tales and folk tales.
Yesterday I felt as though time had fallen between my old creaky floorboards once more. I cannot tell you what I did with myself yesterday for I have nothing to show for it - not even five knitted rows, a watercolour sketch or an article half-read. I sometimes wonder what I did during the years in my old flat - oh, I don't mean the heartache, the worries or the delights - and looking back at yesterday I wonder the same. I am someone who lives an incremental life. Perhaps it time to embrace the betweens as well and recognise that just because something gets lost in the cracks, it does not mean it is without value.