Felt Christmas ornaments

So today I needed to do something completely different (without pulling any of John Cleese's faces). My dissertation-writing motivation has come to a grinding halt and I didn't feel up to any painting or re-discovering my knitting abilities.
So I made some felt Christmas ornaments.
I got the idea for these while browsing the IKEA Christmas page (they have some really really nice glass ornaments with spirals which I am definitely getting if we can fit a big tree somewhere), when I saw these cute felt Christmas trees. Nice! I thought. I can make those myself! I thought.
So I did.

And then, because just one ornament isn't enough, I made a star (which looks more like a flower, but hey):

I'd like to have made one of the bell shaped ones as well, but I only had white thread and I'd like the thread to contrast with the felt, so that will be for later (I'll probably stitch that one over the side, rather than following the contours, just to see how it looks). And more stars and trees, of course, the hypothetical future tree will be well-filled.
Please do note that I managed to get the ribbon on lopsided on both of them, even with fastening it to the felt before stitching it shut. I never said I was good at sewing, I'm just a time-for-something-different-and-relaxing sewer!

Autumn colours

I love autumn colours. I may have mentioned this before, and it is something that is usually on the back of my mind throughout the year, but when they actually arrive in full force, I can't help but be amazed at how much I love them.
Yesterday we drove to the zoo in my hometown and there were stretches of road that were completely orange or red or yellow, or a beautiful combination of them all. When we were in the US I was dying to see some famous "fall foliage" and I'm really sad that we missed it, but now that I see the stuff around here I'm wondering if it was always this good and I have just been missing what was right in front of me all those years? Surely, the world was never this pretty and warm-coloured and showering leafs down by the bucket load?
Sadly, they're usually gone within the week. Also, because of some weird warm weather we've been having lately, some trees are still enthusiastically and brightly green, while others are completely bare already. Again, not sure if this happens every year, but it struck me.
It's one of those things where I go "ooh, that's pretty" and then not take a photograph or make myself look better, thinking that it will still be there the next time I'm around, but it never is, and I always feel sad about missing it, or not really seeing it. But that's how it goes, I guess, even though most people now do take pictures and put everything on Facebook for the whole world to see and remember, I'm sure many young parents today will still go "they grow up so fast! It feels like they were still babies yesterday!" when their kids go off to live on their own.
And in a way it's good you can't remember everything, or your head would explode.

Anyway, even though I haven't been taking pictures myself, I've been asking for autumn colours on Postcrossing, and I got some especially nice ones that I can't help but share with you. They're from around the world, although of course pretty much restricted to the northern hemisphere (one of the reasons I'd never move to Australia, I don't think I'd be able to survive without a proper autumn).

US-1895607 received 9 October 2012

FI-1562808 received 15 October 2012

JP-319569 received 15 October 2012

ETA: oops, nearly forgot this one, which shows beautiful Lapland:

FI-1552323 received 4 October 2012

(I have more general forest/forest path cards too, which I think are lovely and magical and beautiful in their own way, but I'll save those for another day.)

Space connections

So yesterday I watched Felix Baumgartner jump from his balloon back to Earth. I wasn't alone in doing this, apparently 8 million people were watching the live YouTube stream at the time of his jump. Now apart from the fact that I wouldn't even be able to blink my eyes if I knew 8 million others were watching me do it, I think this really shows how information and the sharing of information has taken a giant leap forward in the past few years. 5 years ago, nobody could have imagined something like this being streamed on the Internet for that many people to watch. Information has become available to all in so many ways, it is almost impossible to keep up. I know a lot of people are angry at Facebook and Google because of their 'share everything' policy, as it sends your information to advertisers. But in general, the principle is undoubtedly very good. Also, I think it shows how humans all over the world are inherently similar in so many ways, which will do even more to connect people and possibly work against future misunderstandings, discrimination, and wars.
Yes, I know, I'm both an optimist and a pacifist.
In other space news today, there is a Dutch company, Mars One, aiming to settle the first human settlement on Mars around 2023. Not for any lofty scientific purposes, no, they want to make a reality series out of it. The audience would be able to select which group of settlers is allowed to go first, and then follow their every move. Voting people off would be a bit difficult, as once they land on Mars, they won't be able to ever go back again. This means that those crazy enough to go (they appear to have 1,000 applications already) will be stuck on Mars for the rest of their lives. And those lives will be streamed back to Earth 24 hours a day, for as long as they all shall live.
I am unsure what to think of this. I am uninterested in reality series personally, but not against them per se if the people participating are aware of what they are doing and have fully agreed to it. It is another side of the 'information free for all' I just mentioned. However, I do think the exploration of another planet may be a bit too serious to throw into a reality tv format. Then again, sponsoring and actually achieving the goal (a human settlement on Mars) may be easier to achieve this way than through academic/scientific missions, and if we have to choose between no exploration or exploration through commercial means, then the latter is probably the better option. Still, it feels different than watching Felix make his record jump, even if in principle, it is the same thing...

Postcards revisited

It's been a while since I told you about the great postcards I'm receiving, so I thought I'd do a bit of a 'revisited' post, where I can highlight new editions to categories I've already posted about.
These include (linking back to the original posts for those who missed them):

• Alice in Wonderland
• Arty cards
• Street art cards
• Home-made cards
• Beatrix Potter

To start with the first one, I have received some truly magnificent Alice in Wonderland cards over the past few months.

RU-1039418 received 4 July 2012

A really really old and really really worn (and dirty!) Alice postcard from Russia. My guess is that this thing is actually around 60 years old, and that the sender picked it up second-hand somewhere. It says "Alice in Wonderland" in Russian on the back.

UA-322450 received 20 August 2012

RU-1206945 received 29 September 2012

Not sure what to make of these two, the first one looks a bit dollish and the second one a bit messy, really. I've also received another card from the series I was so happy about in my original Alice in Wonderland post:

HK-85992 received 8 October 2012

I have received so many arty cards (Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh...) I could never show them all to you, so I will stick to the really interesting ones:

DE-12216081 received 1 February 2012

 This card was send to me by a German baby (more likely, his mother) who profoundly excused himself for not having a 'proper' card. I think this is one of the most beautiful cards I've received, it shows a collage from an art exhibition in Bremen.

RU-77975317 received February 2012

I love cats, I love poppies, I love the style of this artist, I love all her work.

Sadly enough, no more street art cards, but then the Samuel Beckett one will be hard to beat anyway.

In home-made cards, I've received several photographs-turned-postcard, and one creative actual postcard made by an art student that shows the sender:

 CN-523820 received 8 February 2012

 but the absolute winner is this one:

US-1704636 received 12 June 2012

It's made of various colourful circles which really give the card some texture, I can't imagine how much work went into making it!

Finally I've received several more Beatrix Potter cards, some duplicates, and one I really like:

JP-311676 received 25 September 2012

basically because Benjamin Bunny is my favourite Potter character (tied with Tom Kitten).


So in contrast to what you might be thinking after my long silence on the topic, my Postcrossing is still going very strong! And these are just a couple of the categories I collect, there's also forests (including autumn colours), books and book covers, poems, cats, owls and other birds, special weather (lightning, the Northern Lights), baking, and of course, tea! Have a look in my received gallery if you've become curious (or jealous :p)!

NaNoWri-NO!

Autumn has really arrived. Last Friday we had a full-blown autumn gale which threw all the chestnuts from my parents' chestnut tree and left many people wandering around with broken umbrellas. Now the atmosphere has settled again, no rain, no clouds, and the clear sky brings very cold nights and chilly but extremely fresh mornings. I love the crisp smell of autumn, maybe even more than the warm tinge that announces summer in May. For me, this holds the promise of enjoyment to come: my birthday, Sint Maarten, Sinterklaas, Christmas, all those bright and warm and happy gatherings.
Also, this air gets my creative juices flowing. Normally, I would be preparing for NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, by thinking up a plot and protagonist while translating their webpages into Dutch. But this year, I'm doing neither. I can barely keep everything together as it is, between my internship and dissertation and social life and committees and what not, so writing 50,000 words of prose is completely out of the question.
It's the first time in 6 years that I won't be competing. The first few years I failed, but I won (which means: I wrote a novel of at least 50,000 words within a month) in 2009, 2010 and 2011. I can't even remember what those novels were about, to be honest, but that's not the point, the point is to write write write until you can't write anymore.
But not for me, this year.
I'd fully resigned to this, and even sent them an e-mail stating that I wouldn't do the translation this year, but be back next year (in which I told them I was 'doing an intern' rather than 'doing an internSHIP', which must have caused some hilarity...), when people on Facebook who've never shown any literary ambitions before suddenly started posting "doing NaNo this year! First time!" and I started receiving emails from the Write-In group that I attend here in Groningen asking when we will first meet up, and stuff about the launch party and what not, and now I feel like I'm missing out on this really big and beautiful thing and I should try and do it anyway. And it's true, I am missing out on a great thing, but really, it's more the atmosphere of connectedness and striving together to reach this great, impossible goal that I'll miss, not the frustration and hard work and cold fingers and jealousy at those who finish within 24 hours while you haven't even started etc etc. But those are the things you forget, while the great people and great moments and great feeling when you've finished stay with you.
So for those who are not swamped with work this November, and feel like they could write a novel, or could be the sort of person who writes novels, or just want to join an amazing community that inspires people around the world: www.nanowrimo.org.
Next year, I'll be back.

A Writing Rush

So apart from the internship (which I will not say much about apart from that it took some time to get used to working in an office with a lot of other people around me after working at home for so long, but which is going very well and which I am enjoying immensely) I am also writing my MA dissertation. This is the final big piece of independent research I am required to do before I can graduate, and it has to be about 15,000 words. I'd known since last year, when I took a course on the subject, that I wanted to write about Jane Austen, and already arranged my proposal and background chapter before going to the US.
But then, when I came back, the struggle began. How to start. I think this is the biggest problem most people who have to do a really big assignment that will span several months face, and for me, it was no different. I was planning to start the Friday after we came back, but no, to much other stuff to do; the Monday then, no, to many appointments; the Tuesday, no, then I had a meeting with supervisor and could still put it off until finally, last Friday, I actually started writing. This feels like it was weeks ago, so I am surprised to think that I've only been officially writing for 5 days. By that time, mind you, I was completely freaking out, already behind on my own schedule by 2 weeks, and convinced I would never finish the thing.
I know a lot of people are freaking out about their dissertations right now, as it is already October and we have to be done before February, but as usual, I should not have bothered. About an hour ago, I finished my first chapter. It's 2,500 words, it compares the two novels I wanted to use in depth, using 3 primary and 8 secondary sources. I have no idea how I do this, but somehow, whenever I start writing, things just work. I get into this zone of writing, which usually lasts about 3 hours, and at the other end I'm halfway there. Add another day like that and most of the chapter is there, and then a final day to make some changes, put in some extra footnotes, and check the last things, and done.
This does not mean that the chapter is 100% done, of course, I could keep adding more onto it until my entire dissertation consists of just this chapter (which I won't do, obviously, unless my supervisor wants me to add something), I still have to re-read it to see if I don't want to change any sentences (I haven't even spell-checked it) and also, once my supervisor has looked at it she may well ask me to rewrite the whole thing. But most of it is there. Again, I have no idea how I do this or why this works for me. It's highly efficient, as I'm done after only a couple of hours work each day, but this somehow bothers me and I keep sitting behind my computer thinking up all the things I could be doing (right now, I'm already writing stuff for the second chapter, the easy bits which don't need that much thinking over) just because I feel like I should be doing more. I know some people are jealous of me because it seems to come so easily, but they may be forgetting that I'd already read 15 books on this subject (plus the 6 novels I'm using) before I started writing, and that I've been thinking about this stuff for 3 months now. So it's not that strange that things easily form connections and make sense in my head, but also, it's not as if it's effortless, because I am completely drained after a day's work.
Still, it feels like I should be doing more, as if it's coming too easy to me, as if what I've written can never be good enough. Over the years, I've tried to ignore that voice and just handed things in a week before the deadline only to stop myself from fidgeting about it when it was really done. I think I should do the same with my dissertation, even though it feels really weird to stop working before 15:00 when you still have so much to do. But if I can do that amount in a really short time period, maybe I should start enjoying all the time that is left over a bit more, instead of worrying. Ah, if only...