The last 24 hours have just been awesome! Yes, I am probably at the more upbeat pole of a bi-polar mood, but I'm just going to ride this wave whilst it lasts.
It all started with my first visit to a Brown Owls meet in Sydney (which was the second ever in our city). Now, thanks to possibly the most patient woman in the world, Louise, I can now crochet and have taken to it like an OCD sufferer... On the way home in the car this evening, I told my hubby-to-be that if I didn't crochet, I would die! My slightly misshapen 5-colour Granny Square is now about 15cm across and into its 8 "row"... I'm not too familiar with crochet terminology yet...
I just can't tell you how happy I am to have found this group, and a creative crafty outlet again. It's great to learn a new skill, but even better, I seem to have found people who are into craft that aren't just into knitting technically brilliant (but completely unwearable by anyone who has the capacity to dress themselves or at least make it clear through language or violent kicking motions that they really don't want to be seen in public in them) jumpers..., or do cross stitch or tapestries of wattle or federation houses.... or those freaky androgynous clowns that have a single teardrop painted on their face... like hardcore prisoners... I don't think I've mentioned how much I hate clowns... but that's a rant for another day, because I'm not going to let anything, not even a freaky clown, spoil the awesomeness of the last day!
So yeah, the ladies at this craft club are all lovely and many of them baked up a tasty storm... I have to admit that I felt a little ashamed coming empty handed! And they were all so talented and knew so much about all the crafty stuff that's out there. I feel as if I've finally tapped into the craft world that has eluded me for so long. There's so many people out there doing such amazingly cool craft stuff... Gush, gush, gush... I'm just a rambling incoherent torrent... because it's all making me feel as if I've found what I've been hoping would fall into my lap for so long... and now I look down (and just next to the laptop) is my Granny Square which is limited only by my yarn supply!
But there's more too it than just finding like-minded, talented people from whom I can learn all the crafty things I've been wanting to learn for so long. Just talking to them about craft (amongst other things) made me realise something. One thing a woman said really stuck with me and I am going to use it as my new mantra. There I was, staring at my tiny (at that stage) Granny Square, lamenting that it wasn't perfect... Yes, my very first attempt at crochet... EVER... wasn't completely perfect. My god, I don't deserve to live! Then one of the ladies said "Well, you don't want it to look perfect, because then it doesn't look home made." And you know what, she's right! Looking at it again today, I realised that I'd completely missed a stitch 5 rows back... I can imagine that if she hadn't said what she had to me, I probably would have torn it all up and started again. But, I've taken it in my stride - it is my first attempt after all. I can't help but think of the number of shelved craft projects I have because I've made a mistake that probably only I can see but don't know how to rectify... My perfectionist attitude certainly doesn't do me any favours sometimes.
Perhaps this new found love of craft will be therapeutic in other areas of my life. I'm determined to be more confident about my crafting abilities. So what if I'm not perfect at something the first go? Will the world end? No! Will people think less of me? Probably not, and if they do, who cares? At another point in the evening I was likening craft to cooking... You know how some people can just put a saucepan on the cook top and start adding things randomly from the pantry and fridge long after a haphazardly chopped onion has been sweating away... I, on the other hand, studiously observe a recipe and rarely turn anything on until I've prepared all the ingredients ready to have on-hand as required as if I'm a celebrity chef presenting a TV show. Another of the ladies I met last night just starts craft projects and sees what they evolve into... I, on the other hand, have generally limited myself to patterns or kits... and I ensure that I have more than enough yarn than I need (my contingency plan) Oh, and all colours have to be from the same dye lot... To think of all the fun I'm missing out on with my stifling "parameters"... I've gotta stop being so uptight... I think I'm unravelling (in a good way!) just every so slightly with each new stitch...
Now, the awesomeness does continue... But to be honest, I really, REALLY want to get back to crocheting (or I may die!) so I'll have to tell you about the awesome run and not 1, not 2, but 3 Eastenders episodes I watched in succession... And they weren't just any episodes, they were the Christmas Eve and Double Christmas episodes.... And best of all, I got to watch them whilst crocheting!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Social Conscience?
Dear Degrassi,
You used to diss people - HARD! Do you have any sort of social conscience?
Tree Hugger #27
Dear Tree Hugger,
Yeah, I hear ya. I'll admit I once used to take shaudenfreuder to a whole new sick and twisted level. It was watching a documentary about Corey Feldman that made me really sad. He was a sad, fucked up teenager who spent way too much time with Michael Jackson who got right and royally screwed over by his sad, fucked up parents. So what? Doesn't every one have childhood trauma they may or may not spend thousands of dollars working through in therapy? True... but very few of us have to live it out publicly at a tender age... Of course, all my sympathy for him went out the window when he insisted on airing his dirty, and frankly, rather boring laundry on The Two Coreys... Oh, and the final indignity? The straight to DVD Lost Boys: The Tribe. Any attempt to recreate or recapture the initial magic of the original 80s classic is nothing short of blasphemy... Mind you, considering Feldman's second marriage was ordained by both a rabbi and MC Hammer, I figure religion only really plays a token role in his life. Actually, on second thought, as long as The Two Coreys continues to be made, the indignity will be free flowing. Case in point - the episode where the two Coreys decide to go to marriage counselling to rebuild their friendship which is as on the rocks as any drinks two out of work actors with substance abuse issues may feel inclined to order.
So far, not so good with my whole social conscience thing... I don't know whether it's my age or my new found ability to see past the end of my own nose, but lately the way the world operates is really starting to bug me. I'm realizing more and more that my capitalist leanings have brought me nothing but grief and I long for some sort of socialist utopia... wrapped up in a nice European aesthetic... perhaps with a Danish accent - that would be nice.
This was brought home to me again last night as I sat down and watch Michael Moore's Sicko. I cried, but then again, it doesn't take very much at all to make me cry, so this isn't really that out of the ordinary. I think it's a social conscience trickling down my face as I become more and more outraged at the injustices of the world. How is it that Kris Jenner is allowed to exist, and furthermore, seemingly spawn like a pop-corn machine, replicas of herself and make a television series about it whilst people in the US are denied life saving medical care in order to keep costs down. Why is it that everything now seems to be driven by money? When was happiness displaced by money as the ultimate goal? How long will it be before we walk down identical homogenised high streets and are all pawns of Omnicorp with only Robocop to save us?
You used to diss people - HARD! Do you have any sort of social conscience?
Tree Hugger #27
Dear Tree Hugger,
Yeah, I hear ya. I'll admit I once used to take shaudenfreuder to a whole new sick and twisted level. It was watching a documentary about Corey Feldman that made me really sad. He was a sad, fucked up teenager who spent way too much time with Michael Jackson who got right and royally screwed over by his sad, fucked up parents. So what? Doesn't every one have childhood trauma they may or may not spend thousands of dollars working through in therapy? True... but very few of us have to live it out publicly at a tender age... Of course, all my sympathy for him went out the window when he insisted on airing his dirty, and frankly, rather boring laundry on The Two Coreys... Oh, and the final indignity? The straight to DVD Lost Boys: The Tribe. Any attempt to recreate or recapture the initial magic of the original 80s classic is nothing short of blasphemy... Mind you, considering Feldman's second marriage was ordained by both a rabbi and MC Hammer, I figure religion only really plays a token role in his life. Actually, on second thought, as long as The Two Coreys continues to be made, the indignity will be free flowing. Case in point - the episode where the two Coreys decide to go to marriage counselling to rebuild their friendship which is as on the rocks as any drinks two out of work actors with substance abuse issues may feel inclined to order.
So far, not so good with my whole social conscience thing... I don't know whether it's my age or my new found ability to see past the end of my own nose, but lately the way the world operates is really starting to bug me. I'm realizing more and more that my capitalist leanings have brought me nothing but grief and I long for some sort of socialist utopia... wrapped up in a nice European aesthetic... perhaps with a Danish accent - that would be nice.
This was brought home to me again last night as I sat down and watch Michael Moore's Sicko. I cried, but then again, it doesn't take very much at all to make me cry, so this isn't really that out of the ordinary. I think it's a social conscience trickling down my face as I become more and more outraged at the injustices of the world. How is it that Kris Jenner is allowed to exist, and furthermore, seemingly spawn like a pop-corn machine, replicas of herself and make a television series about it whilst people in the US are denied life saving medical care in order to keep costs down. Why is it that everything now seems to be driven by money? When was happiness displaced by money as the ultimate goal? How long will it be before we walk down identical homogenised high streets and are all pawns of Omnicorp with only Robocop to save us?
Friday, March 27, 2009
Why blog?
Dear Degrassi,
Why, after all this time, have you decided to blog?
Random 1
Why? I'll tell you why! I've got a heap of stuff to do, and I just don't want to do it. So with all that there is in the world of the interwebs to distract me from my regular life, I've decided to start blogging... Also, since I gave up my column all those years ago, there's a whole stack of ramblings about pop culture that need to be vented and I'm sick of Perez Hilton getting all the hits...
Not enough of my friends watch Eastenders and my other half just doesn't want to know, so I've got to let it all out somewhere. Where else can I tell the world how happy I am that Janine is back, albeit reinvented as Judith Bernstein... And since the actress who plays her, Charlie Brooks, has gone and released the obligatory exercise DVD in her hiatus since leaving the show she's now slimmed down... Of course, she has that whole Sophie Monk thing going on where it doesn't matter how much weight she loses, she's always going to have a fat face, so she looks like a lollipop.
Just as Neighbours at one point seemed to spawn an unusually large number of teeny-bopper fodder, Eastenders seems to prompt its ex-cast members to release fitness DVDs. Patsy Palmer, Natalie Cassidy (or Fossy Jaw as we like to call her in our house), Letitia Dean... and they were just some of the ones I could find with a cursoury google search... Perhaps it's the fact that the 'Enders producers like to keep it real and ugly up many of their stars, so it's generally a plus to be a little on the plus side for starters. Once they leave the comfort food eating confines of Albert Square and try to get work out in the real world, reality sets in and they need to follow in the likes of Ginger Spice, shedding kilos and basically going through the motions whilst a professional shows everyone how it's done... And let's not forget that they have to bitch and moan the whole way through too... It wouldn't be a real celeb DVD if they showed the slightest bit of enthusiasm!
Why, after all this time, have you decided to blog?
Random 1
Why? I'll tell you why! I've got a heap of stuff to do, and I just don't want to do it. So with all that there is in the world of the interwebs to distract me from my regular life, I've decided to start blogging... Also, since I gave up my column all those years ago, there's a whole stack of ramblings about pop culture that need to be vented and I'm sick of Perez Hilton getting all the hits...
Not enough of my friends watch Eastenders and my other half just doesn't want to know, so I've got to let it all out somewhere. Where else can I tell the world how happy I am that Janine is back, albeit reinvented as Judith Bernstein... And since the actress who plays her, Charlie Brooks, has gone and released the obligatory exercise DVD in her hiatus since leaving the show she's now slimmed down... Of course, she has that whole Sophie Monk thing going on where it doesn't matter how much weight she loses, she's always going to have a fat face, so she looks like a lollipop.
Just as Neighbours at one point seemed to spawn an unusually large number of teeny-bopper fodder, Eastenders seems to prompt its ex-cast members to release fitness DVDs. Patsy Palmer, Natalie Cassidy (or Fossy Jaw as we like to call her in our house), Letitia Dean... and they were just some of the ones I could find with a cursoury google search... Perhaps it's the fact that the 'Enders producers like to keep it real and ugly up many of their stars, so it's generally a plus to be a little on the plus side for starters. Once they leave the comfort food eating confines of Albert Square and try to get work out in the real world, reality sets in and they need to follow in the likes of Ginger Spice, shedding kilos and basically going through the motions whilst a professional shows everyone how it's done... And let's not forget that they have to bitch and moan the whole way through too... It wouldn't be a real celeb DVD if they showed the slightest bit of enthusiasm!
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