Memories are such flawed things. And so easy to manipulate. I just put on Feel Good Lost (by Broken Social Scene) and immediately I was back in the room in Maynooth and it was summer and it was amazing. Then the memory jumped to Heuston train station, it was still summer and it was still amazing - blazing sunshine, warm, blue sky the deepest shade of azure. Now, I know for a fact that the train station memory is from autumn, not summer and it was chilly. My brain just wants it to be summer (aka warm and sunny) all the time.
Actually, that's kind of the awful thing about here. It's delightfully sunny most of the time and I just want to go out and lie in the sand. But when I poke my nose out it's freezing. I can't wait for it to warm up. It's like when I was 14 or whatever waiting for Lord of the Rings to come out. I haven't been this desirous of anything in ages. Every day I wish it was warm out - all because of the sunshine.
Anyway, I really have to go. I have 2,000 words to write today and I haven't started yet.
28 January 2011
27 January 2011
web things
I have a bunch of feeds in google reader that I look at every morning. The top of the list contains writers, then agents, then writing help, then inspirational things, then large sites that post more than 20 articles a day, and then random people I find interesting. I read them one after the other and sometimes, I get confused about what section I'm in. So I'm reading about the latest movie news, wondering why an environmental blog is posting about movies. And then I remember to look at what blog I'm reading. It's kinda funny, but it is really confusing. And it happens often enough that you'd think I'd not keep doing it.
I updated three corner square yesterday. First post since the new year. I think I have to change the idea of my site. It's really hard to come up with writing advice every week, so I think I'll make it more of a thoughts on writing / progress log and the weeks I have writing tips, I'll post them.
I don't have much other news. I think I was a cross between Siluna (my world of warcraft druid) and an army commando in my dream last night. Or I was in some kind of battle royale type thing, where there were a bunch of deadly people all out to kill each other for the entertainment of spectators. I remember being let loose (by some woman, who was in charge of everything) in a forest and instantly looking for cover. But I'd been tracked and we fought. I don't think I did very well. I seem to recall being thrown onto a tile floor - like you see in old hospitals in movies. And I couldn't get up because of the pain.
And there was something about driving to a field - it was lashing rain - to find an old tent and a barrel or something. I have no idea what I wanted them for, but everything was old and battered and I was just settling for these items because they seemed the best of what was there.
I updated three corner square yesterday. First post since the new year. I think I have to change the idea of my site. It's really hard to come up with writing advice every week, so I think I'll make it more of a thoughts on writing / progress log and the weeks I have writing tips, I'll post them.
I don't have much other news. I think I was a cross between Siluna (my world of warcraft druid) and an army commando in my dream last night. Or I was in some kind of battle royale type thing, where there were a bunch of deadly people all out to kill each other for the entertainment of spectators. I remember being let loose (by some woman, who was in charge of everything) in a forest and instantly looking for cover. But I'd been tracked and we fought. I don't think I did very well. I seem to recall being thrown onto a tile floor - like you see in old hospitals in movies. And I couldn't get up because of the pain.
And there was something about driving to a field - it was lashing rain - to find an old tent and a barrel or something. I have no idea what I wanted them for, but everything was old and battered and I was just settling for these items because they seemed the best of what was there.
25 January 2011
Overdue Catchup
I just went for a walk up to the post office. This place is so weird. It's 2degrees out and I walked up with just a vest and tshirt on. And I wasn't cold (okay, I had a hat and fingerless gloves on too, but still). It felt like a day near the end of April, when you are just feeling comfortable going out without five layers on - like 16degrees or something. I'm actually a bit worried that if 2 feels like 16, what will 20 feel like.
Pedestrian lights here are funny. The go man is a man, but the stop man is a hand. And it's kind of funny when some of the lights are missing. There's this set down by us and it looks like the vulcan greeting hand, then there's one by the post office that looks like a stag with antlers.
We went to The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History on Sunday. It was pretty cool - there was loads of old stuff, and lordkilljoy and I both marvelled at how much like Fallout it was. There were missiles and bombs and planes and loads of cool things.
I went to see Tangled last week. It was brilliant - I love Disney. We finally got to see Tron as well. I really enjoyed it. And we saw Green Hornet too. It was funny.
We got a car with cruise control, so hopefully we'll make it to SantaFe for snowboarding next weekend. lordkilljoy didn't feel like it last weekend.
I'm 10,000 words into book2. Yeay.
Pedestrian lights here are funny. The go man is a man, but the stop man is a hand. And it's kind of funny when some of the lights are missing. There's this set down by us and it looks like the vulcan greeting hand, then there's one by the post office that looks like a stag with antlers.
We went to The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History on Sunday. It was pretty cool - there was loads of old stuff, and lordkilljoy and I both marvelled at how much like Fallout it was. There were missiles and bombs and planes and loads of cool things.
I went to see Tangled last week. It was brilliant - I love Disney. We finally got to see Tron as well. I really enjoyed it. And we saw Green Hornet too. It was funny.
We got a car with cruise control, so hopefully we'll make it to SantaFe for snowboarding next weekend. lordkilljoy didn't feel like it last weekend.
I'm 10,000 words into book2. Yeay.
17 January 2011
Snowboarding again
So, all last night and this morning, I couldn't stop thinking about snowboarding. I got really annoyed, actually. I've been snowboarding before, in New Zealand, and there I could get the board to go, could stand up and do leafs down the learner slope. It was good and fun and amazing. Now, 5 years has passed, but it's not like I'm an old dame now. I should still be able to do this.
I kind of came to the conclusion that Sandia Peak's learner slope is too steep for learners. It's more like an intermediate beginner slope. And your brain might lump learners with beginners, but there is a difference. The learners slope should be flat enough that when you are trying to stand up your board doesn't try to slide down the hill with you. I seem to recall Mt Hutt's learner area being a very gentle gradient. Sandia Peak learner area was just as steep as the main areas. That's not fair to learners. I'm annoyed now. I feel like yesterday was wasted, but the competitive person in me wants to learn to get good and I feel that our local slope is against me. (Just found an article saying Sandia is the 3rd steepest learner slope in the US, not sure how accurate that is, but at least I'm not just fooling myself that it was the terrain's fault and not mine.)
Anyway. I'll go now.
I kind of came to the conclusion that Sandia Peak's learner slope is too steep for learners. It's more like an intermediate beginner slope. And your brain might lump learners with beginners, but there is a difference. The learners slope should be flat enough that when you are trying to stand up your board doesn't try to slide down the hill with you. I seem to recall Mt Hutt's learner area being a very gentle gradient. Sandia Peak learner area was just as steep as the main areas. That's not fair to learners. I'm annoyed now. I feel like yesterday was wasted, but the competitive person in me wants to learn to get good and I feel that our local slope is against me. (Just found an article saying Sandia is the 3rd steepest learner slope in the US, not sure how accurate that is, but at least I'm not just fooling myself that it was the terrain's fault and not mine.)
Anyway. I'll go now.
16 January 2011
snowboarding
We went snowboarding today. While I enjoyed being outside at 9,000ft and hanging out in the snow, I am absolutely terrible at snowboarding. I don't know if it's that I have no balance, or bad posture or what, but I couldn't hardly even stand up on my board.
Maybe next time we go I'll get skiing lessons instead.
We're thinking of taking the tram up and walking around on top of the mountain next weekend. That would be really fun.
Maybe next time we go I'll get skiing lessons instead.
We're thinking of taking the tram up and walking around on top of the mountain next weekend. That would be really fun.
14 January 2011
Painting Miniatures
We bought Talisman a while ago (still haven't played it). It's a fantasy board game that comes with little figurines. They are nicely modelled, but not painted. I've been meaning to paint them for a while, so this week I got brushes, paints, primer, a knife, files, fixative, and a bunch of other random things I needed. I read up a bunch of stuff on painting miniatures, and found a few really good sites and youtube channels. (Just to note, Sebastian at Guild of Harmony is amazing. I want to be able to paint like him some day.)
I did some practise sessions on cheap army men, and it turned out okay. A bit flat, a bit boring.
But I figured why not just move on to the real thing? Well, because I lacked confidence. So I did a mock up in photoshop :)
The mockup actually made things 20million times easier. I had a colour reference to mix colours from (mixing colours from your head is really hard) and a guide on where to put those colours. It could be considered cheating, but I'm willing to try anything to make things easier on myself.
Anyway - here's the final thing. It took me three hours to paint yesterday, and that doesn't include all the time I spent trying (somewhat futilely) to get the lines where the model had come out of its mould off, and priming the plastic so that the paint would stick to it.
What do you think?
I did some practise sessions on cheap army men, and it turned out okay. A bit flat, a bit boring.
But I figured why not just move on to the real thing? Well, because I lacked confidence. So I did a mock up in photoshop :)
The mockup actually made things 20million times easier. I had a colour reference to mix colours from (mixing colours from your head is really hard) and a guide on where to put those colours. It could be considered cheating, but I'm willing to try anything to make things easier on myself.
Anyway - here's the final thing. It took me three hours to paint yesterday, and that doesn't include all the time I spent trying (somewhat futilely) to get the lines where the model had come out of its mould off, and priming the plastic so that the paint would stick to it.
What do you think?
06 January 2011
bread making
Google Maps distance measure tool is kind of cool. I walked up the wash to smiths today, and google tells me i walked about 5km in total. And why did I go to smiths? To get baking ingredients. I made griddle bread - it has three ingredients, self-raising flour (i had to make my own with baking powder), buttermilk and salt. who knew bread would be so easy to make? it turned out yummy, but flat. i think that's because I added in too much buttermilk and had to add more flour and didn't add more baking powder. ah well. i'll know for again. i got a mini kitchen scales too, so now i can make cakes :) so bold. actually, i have this idea to make tiny, one person sized cakes. that would work out.
anyway. that's all i have to say.
anyway. that's all i have to say.
01 January 2011
Winter
Happy 2011, everyone.
It's -8 outside. It got down to -12 last night. We stayed at home, where it was warm, and we had the heating on full blast. The balcony door has ice on the inside, it's a bit disturbing. We did go outside and light sparklers at midnight, and we saw fireworks from our balcony.
We're half-thinking of going snowboarding today (a bit late) or tomorrow. We went walking in Cibola Forest Foothills yesterday. It was amazing. The trails were covered in an inch or two of snow, the sun was out, it was freezing, but we were well prepared. We walked for about an hour (not that much - I think lordkilljoy was cold). I want to go again today, but I doubt that will happen. The road up was iced over in places. I imagine it would be even worse today. It's beautifully sunny, though. I feel I should make the most of it, because it's going to get cloudy again next week.
I don't have much else to say. Bye, so.
It's -8 outside. It got down to -12 last night. We stayed at home, where it was warm, and we had the heating on full blast. The balcony door has ice on the inside, it's a bit disturbing. We did go outside and light sparklers at midnight, and we saw fireworks from our balcony.
We're half-thinking of going snowboarding today (a bit late) or tomorrow. We went walking in Cibola Forest Foothills yesterday. It was amazing. The trails were covered in an inch or two of snow, the sun was out, it was freezing, but we were well prepared. We walked for about an hour (not that much - I think lordkilljoy was cold). I want to go again today, but I doubt that will happen. The road up was iced over in places. I imagine it would be even worse today. It's beautifully sunny, though. I feel I should make the most of it, because it's going to get cloudy again next week.
I don't have much else to say. Bye, so.
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