The Nightmare is the best-known painting made by the Anglo-Swiss artist Henry Fuseli.
Nightmares are defined as being dreams that leave the dreamer with negative feelings such as horror and fear. I would respectfully like to submit an emotion that is even more insidious than these other two as a result of a nightmare: despair.
My partner told me once that nightmares could be cured by changing one's position in bed: if you wake up from the nightmare lying on your stomach, for example, try going back to sleep by lying down on your side or on your back. Raise your head by using another pillow. And there is of course the comfort that could be derived by cuddling something or someone.
I really wish I hadn't woken up that way. Now I'm left feeling uncomfortable and uneasy for the rest of the day.
When I got started on the whole crochet madness thing one of the first things I tried to make was that tried-and-tested everybody-knows-it's-crochet motif: the granny square. Of course I was overestimating my own abilities. See the sorry result here: Granny Square Attempt 1: Botched, but posting it anyway. The blog post's title says it all, really!
Well, finally, I think I've learned how to do it RIGHT. I simply followed a new set of instructions, available online here.
Large, rather square-looking, and with color changes to boot. I made them yesterday to use up the last bits of two of my yarns: Lion Brand Cotton in Navy, and Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Turquoise.
Each square measures just under four inches on each side, and took less than thirty minutes to make.
Four squares isn't enough to do anything with yet, but that's the beauty of this beloved motif. If I had twelve or eighteen of these squares, I could make a purse [six or nine squares a side]; double those numbers, and I would have a nice bag. Twenty squares arranged in two long rows would make a rather neat table runner. And if I decided to make about fifty squares, I would have the makings of a handsome throw!
I wonder if I should shoot for that latter goal? First I'll need to buy yarn, though. I could probably get ten or twelve squares out of two skeins....
Meet my family. From left to right, that would be Papa, me, Mommy, younger sister, and my younger brother.
Two days ago my sister graduated from high school. Near the top of her class, as you can tell from all the hardware dangling on her chest. That's a whopping eleven medals. And along with her diploma came citations for finishing extra-credit courses in math and science. (The way she explained them to me, it sounded a whole lot like Advanced Placement classes.)
Those awards even provided a couple of comedy moments at the graduation because she and all the similarly bemedaled ones clanked while they were walking! The audience of family and friends really got a good laugh out of the sound effects....
You're probably wondering, hang on, we know you're in your late twenties, how old is your sister if she's just graduating from high school? The answer is that the age gap between us is a whopping eleven years. My sister is young enough and so far away from me in terms of age that she IS in another generation entirely.
As for my brother, he and I were born about one year apart. He and his girlfriend flew in especially for the occasion of our sister's graduation, and he'll be staying for another couple of weeks before returning to their apartment and jobs in Singapore.
You can really tell in this picture who takes after whom, particularly around the faces and, rather more obviously, our heights!
Congratulations to my sister and best of luck on entering culinary school! And a great big welcome home to my brother!
Earth Day 2010 is this Saturday, March 27. Turn off all non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour, act now on climate change, and incidentally, join at least a billion people worldwide for a global party!
But it's also good to address the issue of this being just a "token" sort of thing. Let's don't just leave it at that, and practice some common sense.
Some people use their desktop computers not only for the usual sorts of things but also for other things, like being a server for a website, or beaming music throughout the house, or some other resource. But if you're not actually using it at the same time, there's nothing wrong with saving a little electricity by just turning the monitor off.
You know what I do? I get cold easily, so during those nights and rare days when the temperatures drop suddenly, I simply turn off the electric fan in my apartment. Yes, even if this means waking up to do it - the cold makes me get up and grab a blanket anyway, so why not turn the fan off at the same time? No sense in being made colder and more miserable than I already am.
It's also a good idea to install environmentally friendly light-bulbs: they last for a long time, don't use up too much power, and give off a nice light.
And there are certain things that one can enjoy without needing to use a lot of electricity and/or resources. Try going off the grid from time to time, to read, knit/crochet/spin, play board games or chess.
Here's the official video for Earth Hour 2010, from http://www.wwf.org.ph/earthhour/.
Remember, Saturday night is all right for lights-out!
I think I like this picture as a depiction of the life of the teacher, in particular the life of an English teacher. Dictionary + glasses + apple (okay, maybe the apple is optional, I'd rather have an orange or a chocolate bar.)
I'm back on the night shift in a few hours and am in fact writing this blog entry before I set off for the office. Going to be teaching English over the phone. I suppose I'm a bit stressed precisely because it's the first production shift.... I'll probably update this entry with some impressions later on.
(Oh, for a teaching wardrobe that includes, for choice,
First off, I have to say, I never heard about Doctor Who until I was in university. I always thought it was a particularly Anglophile fandom until I found out from my boyfriend that, apparently, they had actually aired a few of the Fourth Doctor's episodes when he was a kid.
[If your mind immediately conjured up the image of a mostly-happy chap with an impossibly long scarf, then yes, that's Tom Baker as the Fourth Doctor.]
Coming to university I befriended someone who was really a great fan of Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor. After that, I started to find out more about the character and the series. I won't go into the details here - the words "information overload" tend to come to mind, as with all people coming new to a fandom they've never encountered before....
Anyway, come Easter Doctor Who fans all over the world will finally be able to start watching Matt Smith in his tenure as the Eleventh Doctor. Coming hard on the heels of the much-fangirled Tenth - mostly because he was David Tennant - the Eleventh has some tough times ahead of him.
I think I like him because, well, he dresses so damn geekily, even more so than his predecessor did. And believe me, the Tenth really dressed in geek chic. But as for the Eleventh: a coat with elbow patches? A maroon-ish bow tie? Square-framed shades AND specs? Oooh, geeky. He's just my kind of guy. Also, wow, can he contort that face or what? I love his manic expressions.
Anyway, in order to get ready for Series 5 of the new TV series here are the videos that the BBC has released as teasers. First, the actual regeneration sequence from Ten to Eleven [if you haven't seen "The End of Time" yet - SPOILER ALERT].
The rest of these videos can't really be called spoiler-y since they ARE the promotional clips being released before the actual series airs. So up next is the first full teaser with Matt Smith and his companion Amy Pond:
This trailer highlights a few of this incarnation's major foes, including the Daleks and the Weeeping Angels:
And now here is the latest one, an actual clip from the first episode of the new series, the upcoming "The Eleventh Hour". That would be a very young Amy Pond speaking with the Doctor, showing that this companion has some "history" of a sort with everyone's favorite Time Lord:
Hmm, apparently the Eleventh Doctor will have to make/obtain his own sonic screwdriver, and make lots of repairs to the TARDIS, as both these iconic objects will receive makeovers for Series 5.
Edited to add: Oooh, here's a new one, from Amy Pond's POV. The Doctor has a great line in it, and you see the refurbishments to the TARDIS and spot the new sonic screwdriver - what's the difference from the old one? The new one lights up green. :D
The first time my partner and I had a meal at the Kanin Club at the UP-Ayala Technohub, we went into such raptures over their house specialty Crispy Dinuguan that I wrote about it, including a warning for people who might find the idea of blood stew strange and/or disturbing.
[Though there ARE a lot of other cuisines where blood features as an ingredient in some preparation or another. THIS! IS! BLACK BROTH! /Sparta
On Sunday the 14th we went out to get something to eat. While commuting we were able to catch the pretty much non-event of the Pacquiao-Clottey fight; he and I had called it right. My partner said Pacquiao would win on points; I said that the fight would last around ten rounds.
Getting down at the Technohub just as the unanimous decision was being announced, we noticed that people were looking disappointed as they left the restaurants where they had watched the fight. And in the general confusion of that Sunday afternoon we managed a coup: we simply walked in to Kanin Club and scored a table. No lines, no waiting.
Remember, this was Sunday at lunchtime - normally, anyone who wants to try the same trick will have to wait for a table to be freed up. Not us.
As we were itching to try something new on the menu we went for a couple of other house specialties.
Here's the whole meal, minus the additional cup of plain rice we ordered halfway through.
In the pot is Tokwa't Baboy. Essentially it's fried cubes of tofu combined with boiled pork in a sour-savory sauce of vinegar, a little soy sauce, and lots of onion and garlic. Popular all over the Philippines as an accompaniment to lugaw [savory rice porridge, like congee], or as something to accompany beer and other hard drinks.
Our rice dish: Sinigang na Sinangag. I think Kanin Club was the first to try an idea like this: cook some rice and let it get dry and fluffy; cook a big pot of sinigang na baboy [pork, finger chili, and vegetables boiled in a sour broth]; drain out the soup and use elsewhere, then stir-fry the rice and the veg and the pork all together. The result is a very popular soup distilled to the basics, and mixed with rice for a meal-in-one. Garnished with tempura-fried leaves of kangkong and served with an extra red siling labuyo on the side, it was definitely a new encounter and a delicious meal.
Washed down with numerous glasses of iced tea, it was a hell of a summer lunch - and then we headed to UP-Diliman itself to walk it off! It was a great way to spend a summer day!
So, you know how in some Asian cultures the number four is to be avoided at all costs? There's even a TVTropes page about it [WARNING: TVTropes page!]: Four Is Death
I woke up this morning at an ungodly hour and immediately decided I'd better go online and see what was new.
Well, I found something interesting, all right, and I found it right here on the blog:
Image is current as of 0420 hours. [And 42 happens to be another favorite number of mine, heh!]
If I thought last night it was amusing that the counter was at 4440 hits.... This to me is, well, really hopelessly funny.
It's also a good time for me to be a fangirl - now that I know of the Takarazuka Kagekidan, the number four and the concept of death now make me think of "Der Tod" from the musical Elisabeth. The company's various troupes have performed this musical about six more times since they first put it on in 1996, so it's safe to say it's one of their most popular shows.
The four fours remind me of my two favorite Der Tods:
Shizuki Asato in the 1998 Sora [Cosmos] production. This would be the only time that troupe has done Elisabeth; they have an informal "rule" in place of never repeating a play.
Mizu Natsuki in the 2007 Yuki [Snow] production, the second time that the troupe staged it.
Another Japanese theater company, Toho Co., is staging Elisabeth from August to October this year, with at least three former otokoyaku Top Stars of the Takarazuka Kagekidan in major roles: Asami Hikaru and Sena Jun alternating as Elisabeth, and Mori Keaki as Sophie. Poster.
[Sena Jun happens to be the only actress in the Takarazuka Kagekidan to perform BOTH Elisabeth, to Ayaki Nao's Der Tod in 2005, and Der Tod himself, in 2009. She ALSO played Luigi Lucheni from 2002-3.]
I know, it's a bit morbid and creepy, but still, endlessly amusing and fangirl-y.
Here's the first end section of the scarf, in Lion Brand Cotton-Ease (Turquoise). Technically this qualifies as a stash-diving project because I had this particular skein left over from the WaoHana Project.
First end section after 18 inches, after which I joined the yarn for the main body of the scarf: Lion Brand Cotton in Navy. After a sufficient length of this (the current target being either 24 or, for preference, 36 inches), I'll re-join the Turquoise Cotton-Ease to do the second 18-inch end section.
The scarf last night. You can see I've already put in a good-sized chunk of the Navy section. The goal here is to make either a six-foot scarf of my very own, or if the yarn falls short, something close to it. If the Navy section measures 24 inches, I'll have a five-foot scarf; if it measures 30, I'll have a five-and-a-half-foot scarf; if 36, six.
I'm not really using a pattern here, I'm just using a stitch I picked up from my copy of the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework. I suppose there is a pattern to be found in the fact that the scarf is composed of two blocks of blue? (Hence the allusion to River Tam's particular set of Furies in the post title.)
Both of these previous posts cite the source for the project made in this current entry.
Another set of Hyperbolic Scrunchies comes courtesy of my mom's request to have a set of her own. They're in green, hence the "Salad" in the post title, because that happens to be her favorite color.
Next up, a report on the scarf I'm making for...myself! And I'm going to be needing it very soon, because I'm changing jobs to an office with a rather cold climate. :D
On the same day that we ate conveyor-belt sushi my partner and I ran into a voters' education program at the SM Mall of Asia. It was being hosted by both the GMA Network and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).
This year, on May 10, will be the first time for most Filipinos to cast their votes in a national election via an automated election system, and a lot of people are still apprehensive about the new technology, not to mention are really not familiar with the process for voting via machine.
So while the PPCRV has been touring the Philippines with lectures and some hands-on voting practice, GMA went one step further and created a song-and-dance number that explains in the vernacular how the new process of voting works. It's called "Bilog na Hugis Itlog" (or, roughly, A Circle Shaped Like An Egg). The song features the company's resident dance troupe, the Sexbomb Dancers.
I'm talking about this now because I participated in the mock voting exercise on Sunday, and afterwards my partner said, "You should blog about this whole elections thing: the process, you know, tell people how it's done."
I'm not sure I'm going to do a better job than the folks at PPCRV, who have been at this for years, but I will do my best to try.
All credit and blame for this one goes to Jonette at The Hobby Horse, specifically the Ureshii: 12 entry. If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't have known that I could eat conveyor-belt sushi here in the city.
Although, while she and her significant other went to the Sakae Sushi at SM North EDSA, my partner and I took the exact opposite route and went to the branch at SM Mall of Asia. OMGWTF yes we were so very far from home! (We were there for a change of scenery, and to see what we might find.)
Anyway, food pics a-plenty here.
The rules for the All-Day Sushi Buffet are in Jonette's post, but let me recap anyway: for PHP399 per head for adults, eat your pick of the conveyor belt (but no leftovers please or you get charged extra). The meal also includes a bowl of miso soup and unlimited refills on either hot or iced green tea. As it was a sunny day, my partner and I opted for the latter.
The first four plates. Yes, that is my partner in the R2-D2 shirt that I got him for Christmas 2009, waiting patiently for me to finish taking the photo. I LOVED the green iced tea and drank a lot of it.
Conveyor belt! After the two Japanese dudes in the photo came into the restaurant, I grinned at my partner and muttered, "Well, now you know this place is authentic; even Nihonjin visit it!" Since they ordered octopus and squid sushi, the conveyor belt started having those dishes on offer too.
A close-up on a packed conveyor belt.
A stack of empty dishes partway through the meal. My partner laughed at me when I muttered, "Okay, kill-count stands at 12." We wound up finishing off 16 plates! (Yes we were hungry, could you tell?)
And then afterwards we walked the meal off - and if you've ever been to SM Mall of Asia, you'll know that that is a ridiculously easy thing to do.
We'll probably visit the SM North EDSA branch at some point in the near future.
When it comes to music I am the first to admit to having whacked-out tastes. I am, after all, a woman who listens to a Japanese version of the Habanera aria from Carmen, then to the Imperial March a/k/a Darth Vader's theme, and then to a mishmash of themes from TV shows and anime, and songs from James Bond movies. Oh, and then there's the part where I'm a big fan of the Takarazuka Kagekidan, too.
So, to start this weekend off, here is a selection of my most favorite songs right now.
While the studio version of this video really made waves because of its imagery (the US forces in Iraq being pulled out to assist Hurricane Katrina victims instead), I think I prefer the "angrier" version (with bonus horn section) that's the centerpiece of this combined U2/Green Day benefit set in New Orleans. (The other two songs are "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and "Beautiful Day".)
This next song is something I've already posted to the blog, part of the soundtrack to my first NaNoWriMo experience: a live version of "Lost Heaven" by L'Arc~en~Ciel.
I also have the full studio version of "You Know My Name", the theme from the Daniel Craig Casino Royale, but it's always great to see this dynamic title sequence: fractals! People getting killed! Playing cards! I'm not sure it gets enough love....
I guess no one has the live video for this duet on "I Won't Last A Day Without You" by Utada Hikaru and Shiina Ringo - just the live audio. It always makes me weak in the knees to hear these two sing together.
And finally, because I really can't get through a day without them, a performance by Wao Youka and Hanafusa Mari: the finale from the Takarazuka Kagekidan Soragumi production of the Yeston/Kopit Phantom. Wao plays the Phantom, who has just died, and Hanafusa is Christine. Here, the Phantom appears to her for the last time. Also in the clip are Sakiho Juri and Aran Kei.
Do you have a list of songs you keep playing over and over to help you through any situation life decides to throw at you? I'd like to know! Tell me about it in the comments.
Okay, in my defense, I have been plenty preoccupied lately, but it's a little odd that I didn't know that there was such a thing as National / International Crochet Month. Or, as the Crochet Liberation Front puts it, NatCroMo (yep, it is exactly the same sort of shortening as in NaNoWriMo).
Hmm, what shall I make to join this Crochet-Along? I've been thinking about creating a scarf for myself. Maybe a skinny scarf in two shades of blue? *thinking*
So, to mark the month, here are a few choice links and neat things.
See, now this is just amazing and inspiring. Crochet makes it all the way to TED in this 2009 TED talk on crochet, hyperbolic geometry, and the Institute For Figuring (IFF), given by one of its co-directors, Margaret Wertheim. It's almost 17 minutes of pure awesome.
Next, in the entry about the crocheted watch cap I briefly mentioned my new stash of crochet magazines. While I was browsing the Sept/Oct 2009 issue of Crochet Today! my attention was caught by the issue's theme of being environmentally friendly. It turns out there's a ton of great yarns out there that are either recycled from other fabrics or are made from environmentally sustainable materials. Not to mention several brands and product lines of crochet hooks in bamboo.
Bamboo crochet hooks are easy on the hands, gorgeous to look at, and Earth-friendly!
Did you know that crochet in itself is a "green" craft? If done during the daytime, crocheting does not use up any electricity or resources of any kind - only human power.
I love bacon, I love eggs, I love tempering all that grease with a shot of plain rice, and I love the plate garnishes of tomato and cucumber.
So, yeah, breakfast again, out in the city again. I once spent a summer interning at a sort of little techie start-up along Katipunan Avenue (fronting the Ateneo de Manila campus), and one of the things I loved about the work was that if the boss-man wasn't cooking for his employees (or we weren't cooking for him - that happened several times), we'd have free rein to run around Katipunan looking for a new place to eat.
The nearest place - one where we all inevitably stopped at least once a week - was a neat little breakfast-and-diner place called Hungry Hippo. I think the thing I loved most, after the excellent food that is, was the reverse-image mural painted on the wall - you could only make sense of it when you looked at it in the mirror opposite. Then you'd know that there was some funny text on the various depictions of printed matter, such as books and even a rallyist's placard.
Anyway, I was sad to leave Katipunan when the internship was over, since it also meant I had to go well out of my way to eat the delicious bacon and eggs at Hungry Hippo.
However, a branch has opened up near my current office - and I am a happy eater once again.
The thing about Hungry Hippo is their consistency. I've had this particular meal twice - once in the morning, once for an early dinner - and both times the bacon has been amazingly tasty and crisp. It's not all fatty, either. The eggs are always good although sometimes they can be a bit dry; but that's easily remedied by the fresh veg crunch. And as I mentioned in the first paragraph, I love the fact that the rice is plain steamed - so you don't have to fret about consuming extra oil, if for instance it was served in its garlic-fried version.
Anyway - bottom line is, I'm so happy there's a Hungry Hippo in the Scout Area. I love this place.
A week ago I found myself in an unlikely and unexpected position: someone at the office commissioned me to make him a man's cap. I say "unlikely and unexpected" because that was really the last thing on my mind at the time - making up crochet projects to order, I mean.
This person wanted something to keep his head and ears warm, since he was going to be doing a bit of traveling on the weekends and the climate control on the long-haul buses tended to be a bit on the Arctic side.
[If you don't want to click on the link, here's a hint: U2. The Edge. What's that on his head? Seems he never takes it off when he's in any sort of public situation....]
"Yes. Can I commission you to make me one?"
And now here is the completed watch cap project. I took my directions from what seems to be an ongoing idea to send headgear of this sort to soldiers at war, called "Operation Toasty Toes" [and heads, I suppose, this project being a hat and not, say, socks].
I made this version with what the pattern calls a "Navy brim" - I guess that would be for the extra-wide brim size? I love the "ribbed" effect, which is done in such a simple and clever style.
I hope to present the cap to its intended recipient as soon as it's all dried and nice. [I washed it late last night.]
Also, check it out! After my lament on the lack of crochet magazines in book stores I finally got lucky - I scored these three titles today, after a search in two used-books outlets. So nice that they're so recent, too. More resources is always good, I say!
I'm going to have to start thinking seriously about that list of projects that people can commission from me.
