It's like a conversation with people who are actually interested in the topic. And the diversity of responses is what makes the internet as a forum so unique.
I'm inspired in two ways by this particular example:
1. The participation re-piques my interest in contributing to the blogging world.
2. I now want to revisit my old "crappy" photos.
I have pretty much spent the entire weekend reading about Moleskines, GTD and sketching kits/hacks. I would include a list of all the links that I explored, but it would take too long and I've closed most of those tabs already.
Oh, okay, fine. Start with this link at 43 Folders. And have a look here for creative inspiration for what you can do inside one of these notebooks. (Also, if anyone can tell me where I can get that pen holder clip he's got on the spine of his moleskine, I'll be eternally grateful.) As for the GTD stuff, it's all over the place. Google it.
My other key diversion was sketching in these books. I've already finished one moleskin a while ago and I'm halfway through my second. Plus, I have the larger sketchbook, but I haven't done much in it so far.
So this weekend, I stopped reading about sketching and grabbed some supplies and went to sketch the doggies. I didn't use a pen/pencil at all. It was pure watercolour and I am sadly out of practice. But I guess that's the whole point of the exercise, right?
OMG! It's actually going to happen! Teh Geeks of Hazzard are going to start podcasting again, yes! I missed you guys goofing around, I really did.
I went to this month's life drawing session and it ROCKED! It took me a while to get back into the groove, but I'm pretty happy with the progress I'm making with this.
I used to be an avid reader, mostly science fiction, but I've branched out a little into non-fiction more recently. And by recently, I mean in the last couple of years. I don't have much time left for reading. Even though work isn't school (so no homework), I seem to have even less free time than ever! Anyway, I've taken a couple weeks holiday which I've started off with a decent cold.Part of me was okay with that because it made me rest, spend some quality time at home, watching TV and catching up on some reading. On a whim, I picked up this book from the bookshop:
fight a big evil. Can anyone say, "Charmed" rip-off?
So yeah, I read that. Took me about 8 hours to get through it, I think. Probably less, but I wasn't keeping track.
On the other end of the genre, I've returned to this book:
And that's my update for now!
Yeah, yeah, I'm biased, but just LOOK:
For anyone unfamiliar with this modern take on Swan Lake, this performance will come as a shock. Gone are the delicate, feminine swans danced by women poised in their pointe shoes, replaced by strong men, half-naked to the waist, bedecked in feathery shorts and wild, powerful moves. It's not the ballet most people think of when, if, ballet comes to their mind. It's bold and breath-taking. Even when the lead dancer isn't as strong as he should be.
All in all, I loved the show, but there were a few disappointments with the tour version of this ballet. There was no live orchestra. Canned music at a ballet? Logistically, I understand the reasons for it, and there were a few cues that were pretty tight, but still! So having the music piped out through speakers left me a little cold, but I got over it.
Upon entering the Regent Theatre (Melbourne), we were greeted with this sight:
The other disappointment, as I alluded to before, was the lead dancer, the swan. In the DVD that I have, Adam Cooper is the Swan and I adore it. The Prince is a minor, and irritating, character in this recording of the ballet. The Swan is all charisma, wild power and animal magnetism. You really understand this swan. Alan Vincent, however, was less convincing, shaky on more than several poses and just not "there." This time, it was the Prince, danced by Dominic North, that really stood out. He was really impressive. Perhaps, being the understudy (we went to the Sunday matinée), he had something to prove. And he did, in spades.
I've seen it on DVD, and while the performance in the recorded version is more polished and has better dancers, it does lack the immediacy of seeing it in person. So despite these minor disappointments, it was a fantastic show and worth every penny my friend spent on it! I'm so happy I was given the opportunity to catch this tour. Bec, if you ever read this blog, THANK YOU.
I love a good sunset and I don't care what kind of cliché that is.
Okay, so I thought about it for a while, and tried a couple options and decided on this way to finish the quilt and bring it up to 100" square. I'm pretty happy with this solution. I just need to figure out if I have enough fabric to do the border in long strips, or do them as 12" squares. Dilemmas, dilemmas.... :)
