Day off.

So named 'Days Off' are meant to be relaxing, get the menial tasks you've needed to do, done. They are meant to carry a certain amount of activity in. Maybe a walk or a trip into town, but no more than what is comfortable. Some people just spend all day in bed, watching shit, eating crap. Some people read all day, or play games. Days off are important for your mind, body and attitude. How ever much you put your fingers in your ears and sing loudly, you can't deny that a little R and R is essential to carry on.

Too many people I love dearly stick their fingers in their ears.
Growing up with parents who never stopped. Ever. Workaholics and stress heads.
A (soon to be) husband who will brutalise himself if he has a second off working.
And now a best friend who has hospitalised herself.
I realise this mind frame, I have it but I have vices that help me chill, knitting and drinking among them.

Stress is a killer and I get angry when people damage themselves.
So calm the fuck down everyone.
Things will continue with or without you damaging yourself.

Another Hangover

The title explains it all.
I've been pondering on many things today. Will the Hulk with Edward Norton be any better than the Hulk with Eric Banana? Will a fish finger sandwich cure me of this hangover? How will I tell my friends that I have no money to drink with them tonight and not get the stink eye from them? Will I watch them plunge their hands in their pockets and sigh?
Questions that won't answered until they are experienced.
The only answer I can find now is that Twitter is a bigger shit container. At least on facebook you see photography, on my space you hear music, blogs you read fiction. And twitter? It's one liners that no one wanted to know in the first place. It's 150 characters of shit, (or whatever the required writing space is).
People keep adding me, I haven't written anything on it for a months.

Subject of today. Minecraft. A fascinating world which creators can expand beyond their own map making ablilites.
I thought it was geeky and shit to begin with. Block people with block trees and block mud, but I'm finding it ever more addicive to watch on YOGSCAST. A youtube commentary of two nerd explorers who have a wonderful imagination and are fully ready to acknowledge how nerdy they are, which makes it very fun to watch.

Tired from traveling for hours to and from work. Sick of noodles for lunch but have a day at home tomorrow. Not my own day mind. A day of typing and converting 1930-50's knitting patterns. Hard, arduios work, but the end result will be cracking. So worth it all in the end.

No result without effort.

Shit Containers

After heavy internal debate about whether to watch a film or a borrowed series, I decided to check my 3 sites. Hotmail, Facebook, Ravelry and was promptly reminded by a co worker of fibre and clay that... what is that? I have a blog? Shit. I must have forgotten it's exsistance. Like when you forget the existance of a plug lying tongs up and then you stand on the fucker a couple of months later and you feel really bad because someone may have stood on it and hurt themselves as much as you just did.

So I thought I'd actually do something about the plug, instead of letting people stumble on the blog, see the date and think, this is unloved and usless and I should just go and stand on a plug to relieve the bordem it poses.

I find it very hard to keep continuous face, webbly speaking, I tried to do project 365 days. A photo every day for a year. Upon loading my first photo I was filled with excitment, enthusiasm and energy, that maybe I could properly commite to something on the internet. And it would be piss easy. Take a photo a day. I do that anyway, I'm a fun loving person who wants to record all the wonderful things that fill my days... I haven't put up another photo since.
That was almost a month ago.

I did really believe that my interest for it may stay a little longer than 24 hours but alsa no.
Keeping a record on the internet why?
I could make excusses to why I haven't, but are there excusses because people do?
Day in and day out of their lives.
What have they cooked? What did their kids do? What is the weather doing?
I find myself scrawling through the pages and pages of blogs and becoming utterly suicidel.
Every blog is not like this of course and I realise it is a powerful advertiser for a independant product.
It is also a good way to illuminate yourselves it you want to be illuminated.

But I was put off by the shit containers in blog form.
And every time I've tried to do it myself I've asked myself does anyone care enough?
No. No they don't.
But if it makes me feel productive then fuck them.
I'm going to try and perservere with my shit container blog.

A Great Come Back.

Almost a months quiet on the blogging front.

Without Internet things have been increasingly difficult to do online (as one can imagine).
Days have been filled with setting up my life after university. After leaving educational structure and not having a family home to fall into like I did in my year out I've been presented with the future.
My own mark in life, my own way of living and gaining the next step.
This is not an easy thing to find. And although I sorely miss my musical desires I think I may have started building my future.

I started working for Fibre and Clay, a beautiful specialised sweetie (yarn) shop. It's in Knutsford (2 hours journey from my house) but is a scenic journey on which I can write short hand ideas. Riana (a saucy South African who likes to say 'golly') and Nigel (a book extremist like myself) are the proprietors of this shop and an absolute pleasure to work with.
This takes up three of my days.
I've also started an internship with Arbour House publishing, which is run by Gavin the sweet tooth and Susan mistress of vintage design. They also govern the very popular knitonthenet and like growing overly large cauliflowers. I've just been given a book to skim through and give my opinion of that is a probable next in line to be published, which is fantastically exciting.
This takes up two of my days.

The two days off I get are spent writing the first chapter of 'Fixed' which is now 'Rucksacks' and seeing friends.

I've also started diary entries of becoming a zombie and what goes through a zombies mind from day to day. This is just a fun writing activity for now, but who knows where it may lead.

The only thing lacking in my life is my family, who I miss desperately every day more and more. With all of this woolly work I long to show my support and help for The Natural Dye Studio, who have been my way in to everything.
I will still only ever create with their wool. It is truly the Superior.
All of my family are taking big brave steps towards their future and I admire them and wish I could be there with them to support and laugh and cry.

I'll endeavour to do this as much as possible but that all depends on where I can find the Internet.
Over and out.

A celebratory drink

I feel Guilty.
Drinking Dad's Adnams but I felt I deserved a treat after spending five hours making character profiles. That's five down, five to go. I never realised they would take so looong! But I am loving every bit of it. I've done all the siblings and one of the nannies, but now I have to do three nannies and two parents.

I've already done the location research and the timeline.
Although the locations research could be better. Anybody know anything - lovely fact, grueling story - about Villeneuve in Switzerland,
Reykjavik in Iceland,
Passau in Germany
Torino (Turin) in Italy?
Anything would help as I've never visited those places but that's where part of the story is based and I want it to be as realistic as possible.
You can tell me stories OR pay for me to go there and sap up the surroundings. A week in each place would be great. Thanks.

Back to reality.
I'll be going back to Liverpool in four days. Been missing Mark FAR too much. I don't want to do this month apart thing again. It's just not cool, it throws off my concentration.

After the character profiles are done I need to out line the plot chapter by chapter and then I throw myself head long into it. And you may not hear from me for many months. Who knows, maybe even centuries... I hope not.

The long process is always the re drafting, writing after so much development should be quite enjoyable and easy... but then you can never tell until you doing it.

Similarities

Between seeing Markamillion and preparing for 'i knit' I have had little time to do anything writing based apart from finishing a debauched book and planning a timeline for all of my characters in 'Fixed'. It spans from 1938 with the oldest character Gregory Elliott and runs up to the currant day 2010 with the death of the second oldest character Samantha Elliott.

Just started to read 'White Teeth' by Zadie Smith and have come to an obstacle in 'Fixed'. 'White Teeth' main protagonist is called Archie, my main character is called Arthur. Both stories span over a few generations. I realise they are not the same at all apart from these factors but that was enough to freak me out.
I want 'Fixed' to be as unique as possible and 'White Teeth' is beautifully unique in all aspects so I can't under no circumstances have any similarities between them.

I'm so glad I picked up 'White Teeth' I've heard so many good things about it, everything I've heard is true so far. It's brilliant.