I've handed in my latest assignment (stuck it in the mailbox) and man, it's a relief. I don't know if the quality of writing is as good as the last one, but I don't care. It's in, it's done.
Next assignment isn't due until 10th of February. Ah bliss.
I've been working on Giffy and Beau's wedding quilt, I think it's going to be quite beautiful. I need to put in some solid hours over the next week and get it together, then it's just hand quilting which I am getting faster and faster at.
Now I can spend some time thinking about and planning for Christmas! I am pleased that Christmas is coming, but a little alarmed that it has happened so fast. This year, man. It's just gone.
My cold is hanging around, but overall I feel better. My nose is all Bill Bailey* from all the nose blowing, and my throat is kinda glunky today. Hoping to have a nice, laid back weekend of not doing too much.
I finished reading Hicksville and I wasn't that into it, actually. The art was very hard and sparse (all the women looked like men) and the story was kinda....eh....not enough story for such a long comic maybe?
I keep forgetting to breathe, because my nose is so blocked if I don't keep it clear I kinda stop inhaling deeply.
*Quite Interesting rhyming slang. Bill Bailey = scaly.
I'm still sick. My throat is sore with stuff that needs to come out and my nose is full of pressure and I'm sneezing all over.
I thought I was going to work today but once I was up and dressed I realised my head was spinning around near the ceiling. So, I'm off work for one more day to really recover from this stupid cold. It's knocked me for six, I think because I've been worn out doing too much.
I customised a tshirt yesterday, my old Glassons Breast Cancer "fragile handle with care" milk jugs one. I cut off the sleeves, made it a C neck and gathered the shoulders with long laces tied in bows that hang down. It's totally rocker chic now, and I am so in love with the way it looks. Now I need a party or something to wear it to!
I finished the quilt for Swearing Neice, now I just have to wash it, because Lee had a bit of an accident with some Malaysian sauce dripping all over it. I also finally fixed the lining of Steve's coat so he can take it home.
PoF: no pants
CO: tshirt customisation
Nearly finished the quilt for Swearing Niece, just one short edge to bind and then it's done.
I have a book out from the library about customising tshirts and I started having fun with it yesterday. I cut the neck out of my Raro Girl tshirt so it's a scoop neck and much more elegant. I rennovated a Melbourne tourist tshirt mum bought me into a boob tube with a fold down off-the-shoulder neckline. I have big plans for turning an ancient Death from Sandman tshirt into a slinky boob-tube mini-dress, and there's a really cute style with strings on the shoulders that I'm trying to match a tshirt to, it'll either be my Princess Rock one or my Fragile, Handle With Care/ milk jugs one.
Customising is fun.
Last night we watched the last few episodes of Dead Like Me, and it was really really cool. I am sad it's over and I want a Daisy, Daisy Adair icon. Wants.
I am sick with a very productive cold. Coughing, sneezing, hacking and nose running. All bad. My head she is stuffed with cotton wool.
Filming on Saturday was very good, playing with a dolly is awesome fun. We filmed a very complex final scene with mutliple angles, dollying and interesting backgrounds. Plus the Bond shots should be fun, since they include Norm shouting about his shiny silver box. Not much left to do now.
It was a very windy, very sunny day and my face was all red and burny afterwards. I think it was a small amount of sunburn and a large amount of wndburn. Liberal applications of aloe vera and moisturiser seem to have sorted it out.
I did a bunch of school work yesterday, which is good because it's due at the end of the month. Then I went and bought my copy of Fragile Things and Lee and I both went mad at the Central Library. They have the best Graphic novel collection y'know.
I'm reading Hicksville by Dylan Horrocks now. It's interesting, kinda weird. Not quite half way through.
For the first time, a Jenni's Angels film is on youtube! That's right, our OTT Pretentious Art Film Ephemeral has finally been uploaded.
You can view it here. That's me in the pink doing the ballet mime for 'dance til you die'. I am also combing the pony's hair, placing the house on the floor and peeking from behind the parasol.
Enjoy.
(2 mins 45 secs duration)
via Morgue....rules for writing.
I am a zombie today. Woke up too many times in the night, had nightmares about filming the same scene over and over and over and woke up with my jaw clenched and my shoulder moved up into my ear.
Wrote a little on the train today, just a couple of paragraphs from the middle of my novel. It doesn't make much sense on its own, but I suspect it is useful to continue writing regardless.
I banged my hand into a desk corner and the spot on my hand rose up and turned red. It's very tender. I may have fish and chips for lunch.
PoF: dark
CO: no time
My stomach has been bad - achey, bloaty and gassy since Monday night. I blame the extreme amounts of wheat based foodstuffs I ate on Sunday and Monday. I haven't had enough dairy to blame it on that, unless it was the cheese on Lee's delish home made pizza?
mmmm home made pizza.
I went for a quick run this morning. It's still hard, but by the time I'm heading home, it's easier. I got too hot today, summer will be hard to run in I think.
Train is nice on sunny mornings. The train conductor knows me know and knows which stop I get off at. It's nice. There are a few other regular train users who I have come to recognise. One is "not going to school teen"*, one is "funky arty chick who works in Jville" and the other is "going to school, left boyfriend in Wgtn station teen". I make up things about them, like that funky chick works in Jville. She could work anywhere, but it's fun to give them little stories.
I've read a slew of Graphic novels lately. The absolute highlight is Off Road which is a comic about three guys with a jeep. It's just awesome. So much testosterone I could practically smell it. Lee enjoyed it too, so it can't have been bad. It's pretty much autobiographical I think, and yeah. Cool. By Sean Murphy.
I also read Bite Club by Howard Chaykin which is an alright yarn about a vampiric mafia family. Some neat stuff about vampires being a known minority and having to use SPF 130 sunscreen. My favourite part by far was a page sized cover art reprint, so the story can't have been that crash hot. It was pleasantly diverting though.
I also read a new Robin title called To Kill a Bird in which (Tim) Robin appears to be becoming Nightwing. I'm not sure why. The problem with only reading 'current' Batman stuff as the library picks it up is that I miss big chunks of story and I have to piece it together from references.
Anyway, it was a neat story with some cool stuff about him relocating to a new school since his last one was the scene of a bloody gunfight, and I am looking forward to reading the next one, so the Robin fangirl is alive and well. Also, it's by Bill Willingham who writes Fables, so it's bound to get better once all the setup is done with.
I am now reading a Superman/Batman crossover about the return of Supergirl. It's fine.
*I always think she's going to stay on and go to Raroa but she gets off at the first stop. I wonder where she goes? Does she work at the supermarket?
check it out, to celebrate their birthday, Tip Top have convinced 13 dairies over the country to sell icecreams for 10c.
Oriental Bay Store, Wellington, Thursday 2pm to 5pm. (while stocks last)
Story here.
I wonder how busy they'll be?
I'm a lazy person and I usually wait for inspiration to be handed to me. I am very bad at motivating myself, even if it's something that I want to do.
Last week I saw a few very inspiring people talk and I have managed to hold onto that motivation and get some stuff written on my book. I thought I'd share some of what I wrote down while listening to them and if it inspires you too, so much the better.
I heard Karen Scott talking about how she started Tots to Teens, a free magazine for parents and kids. She said "If you're going to have a dream, it might as well be a big one."
Her message was essentially to ignore the daunting thing, and just forge ahead. Face the challenges as they come up but don't paralyse yourself worrying about them.
Eyrlys Hunter is a New Zealand children's book author and she gave lots of practical writing advice. Some of her pearls of wisdom;
Begin with something true to you, then go out into what this means to the world.
To begin writing you could try creating a character, a real child. What do they want? Who are their friends and enemies? What are they afraid of? What is their favourite place?
Then write a short story, put your character into a situation and show their reactions. Illustrate the character with words.
RUE: Resist the Urge to Explain.
"Character determines incident, incident illustrates character." ~ Henry James.
Don Long is an editor and publisher of multi-cultural, multi-lingual children's books. He said "It is possible to change society if you speak in a persistant and consistent way."
...last month I saw Bernard Beckett speak. He writes exceptionally good NZ teen novels. He emphasised the need to start a story about something that fascinates you; finding an idea kernel and then extrapolating out.
Passion. It all comes down to doing what you're passionate about and making it happen however you can.
Oh, and finally I wanted to link to Neil Gaiman's advice for authors....and now I have.
PoF: girly pirate
CO: I figured out the storyline of my novel at lunchtime! Yay me!
My new pillow, the "memory foam" pillow is completely awesome. It's mooshy, and you can push into it, make a dent and it takes some time to come back to form. Great when you're resting your head on it. It has two sides, one higher for sleeping on your back and one lower for side sleeping.
It was expensive at $70, but if it means I don't have to wake up several times in the night to move pillows around and I wake up in the morning with no pain in my neck, shoulder or arm....it's got to be worth it. I urge anyone who has issues with pillows or their neck to consider getting one, because I feel really cheerful today and part of that is bound to be because of the pillow.
It's even got a sip off padded cover, so that together with a pillow case means I can wash it quite effectively.
*loves new pillow*
PoF: casual, is there any other?
CO: my neck! It feels fine!
I have been eating wheat based foods with no ill effects since Friday. Maybe my body just needed to detox? I'm going to continue to eat reduced amounts of gluten, because I do feel better with less, but I'm not going to avoid it anymore.
I went for a long run this morning (long for me being 35 minutes) and really regretted a.) not running thrice this week instead of twice and b.) not taking my asthma inhaler with me, because I definitely did not have the lung capacity that I normally do.
I've done some school work, not a huge amount, but some and I'll do some more Monday and Tuesday evenings.
I have written some more of my book. I wrote a scene from the middle of the book in my lunchtime the other day, and it's weirdly comforting, like now I have two places to write between, like connect the dots or something. Not an end, but a destination on the way to the end. I wrote just over a thousand words last night after dinner. I'm feeling good!
I'll just keep writing bits and pieces and hopefully the story will come together eventually.
Today Lee and I went to all the bed shops along Thorndon Quay (which number something like six now), got mightily confused and eventually bought a new mattress, base and a memory foam pillow each. Yay us! The frame will be ready some time before christmas, but the mattress should be done soon. Very exciting! I haven't had a new bed since I turned twenty.
I have organic tampons. I think they were the same price as regular tampons but the sanitary pads they make are more expensive.
and a note to myself on saving the world, and also to celebrate my enjoyment of Singstar Legends....
We have the chance to turn the pages over
We can write what we want to write
We gotta make ends meet, before we get much older
We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?
You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear
~ John Farnham.
PoF: comfy Sunday
CO: feeling motivated, saving the planet and keeping writing.
The Film Festival just emailed to let me know that China Blue is going to start screening on December 7th at the Paramount.
My very brief review of it, from when I saw it in the film festival is here. It's about Chinese apparel factory workers and is very in depth and well made.
It isn't as depressing as it could be, although it makes me think twice about buying clothes not made in New Zealand. It also pushed me into buying No Sweats, which are fantastic shoes, so it's all good.
On the other side of the current movie spectrum I've been having some conversations and therefore clarifying my thinking about Borat. I don't want to see it for several reasons, mostly because cringe comedy is my least favourite kind, but over and above that I've filed it into the 'more harm than good'* category in my head.
I haven't seen it, so I don't know for sure, but here's why I think I've put it into that category. Basically, I don't think he's offering any answers. He exploited and tricked people into saying offensive things, treating people badly, etc but what solution does he then offer? Is there any? Or is it a sort of parade of 'look how awful people are really?'
As I said, I haven't seen it, but that's what I've gleaned from articles about it, reviews and word of mouth from people who have watched it. If I'm wrong, let me know. I probably still won't see it, because I just don't enjoy grossout or cringe comedy, but I'd like to know if there is some sort of redemption or learning curve or something.
Besides all that I've come to the decision that I no longer enjoy dumb comedies (if I ever did). I can watch movies which are hilarious *and* intelligent. Thank You For Smoking taught me that.
*My 'more harm than good' category came into being when I was shown a 'Busty girls with big guns' roleplaying game book. It was making fun of the whole Blaxploitation/B movie mostly naked chicks with guns stereotype, but the book was full of pictures of said women and crude jokes about them, making it an inherently sexist text. There wasn't any kind of benefit I could see to this existing. I've heard that Pimp: the slappening is much the same sort of thing.
I tend to think of it in this way: does this encourage understanding? Does this have some sort of social or political benefit? Does this make the problems worse or better?
The start of the Borat links: feminist artist "How I was duped"
Cohen defends his movie (via Reuters)
The village he used to stage the Khazakstan scenes is considering sueing.
...and two frat boys have sued him for basically, entrapment. I mean, obviously no one *made* them make racist and sexist statements, but the whole getting them drunk before they signed the waiver is kind of suspect.
Currently loving Fragile Things, the new Neil Gaiman short story collection.
...and my dunny (that's designer bunny to the uninitiated XD). I have the wee blue guy with the tongue stuck out and I want more! MORE! (You get them from Pop-up BTW.)
Wearing and enjoying my Lola Stripes.
I started a book. Don't get excited yet, it's very much only just started, but a motivational speaker got me enthused on Monday morning and I have all sorts of ideas floating around, one which may tentatively be quite good.
Discovered that peanut M&Ms have wheat starch in them. Thankfully luxury flakes have not even traces of wheat.
Have my own copy of Shadows Over Camelot now. It's still unopened. Bliss.
Seraph was sick yesterday so we played Chez Geek and then two missions of Inspectres: Seatoun/Miramar branch. I played an angry ex-house husband who's 15 year old son got knocked up by the Princess of the Sea Bunnies. Stressful. Very stressful. C played an insane reliever teacher who talked to a hand puppet when stressed out. Brilliant fun times.
Went for a run this morning (that makes twice this week so far). It was a bit hard but got easier as I went. Took the short route but then added a circuit round the block and back up Thorndon Quay at the end. Walked a fair bit, but not too much.)
PoF: grey, brown and black
CO: is belly suffering from tension or gas? How do you tell?
I attended a debate today at a library conference which pitted three teens against three adults (two published authors and one librarian) on the moot "That parents should censor their teen's reading". Instead of the rollicking jokey fun debate that I had been expecting it was a passionate debate which the participants had really thought about. A nice surprise.
The issue of censorship all came up for me, personally a few years back when I read Doing It by Melvin Burgess which a lot of people had come out against as it was a book abotu sex for teens that was quite explicit and had the main boys acting very badly (one sleeping with his teacher, one sleeping with as many girls as he could, etc). I read the book, intrigued by the vitriol and did find it a bit shocking, but the overall messages and storyline were good so I think of myself in favour of the book being available to teenagers, especially if they're thinking of having sex. (After the insight you get into the teenage male mind I think it would be a real motivator to practice abstinence!)
Then this year I saw a movie called Shortbus which I loved. However, it's not a movie I would want anyone under the age of about 20 to see. It's got a lot of sex in it and is very confrontational visually about all sorts of different kinds of relationship. I don't think anyone who hadn't had quite a lot of life experience would be able to truly understand the messages in it.
Lee and I were talking about it afterwards and I was wondering what I would have thought of the movie if I'd seen it at 18. I was a very different person at 18. I wasn't nearly as open minded, my world view was very small and I had no experience of people with different sexual preferences. I sincerely doubt I would have appreciated the movie (which promotes open mindedness just by the way) in the same way I did this year with all the experiences I have now had.
I don't endorse banning, and I think to an extent people should have the right to choose, but I do believe that some things are simply not appropriate for some people. That's where I am right now in terms of thinking about censorship of material that relates to sex but is not strictly 'pornography'.
Hope I made sense.
(this was finished and posted on Wednesday 15 Nov)
From the game I am currently GMing (a word which hear means, making up as I go along with a small amount of preparation) which is based on the steam punkish, fauz Victorian with monsters world of The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding.
Inspector Aberlaine (played by Svend): I was called here on the count of massive amounts of blood not being on the inside of coppers anymore. We don't like that sort of thing down at the station.
Carbot (new partner to Aberlaine played by Steve): I've read your case files, they're very impressive. Good syntax.
Aberlaine: Carbot? You are a tool.
Carbot: I am YOUR tool, sir!
Out of Character remarks:
(on the editor of the scientific journal under investigation...)
Svend: I'm taking a letter to the editor. The letter is "KAPOW!"
Seraph: That's five letters!
Jenni: That's not a letter of the alphabet!
Svend: It's a letter of MY alphabet!
uhm, and then there's Peculiar Frank. I don't think Elric meant to unleash this particular facet of Seraph's personality but when he named a source he was chasing up called Peculiar Frank it really....did something. This is what I managed to get down between falling off my chair laughing at Peculiar Frank's second scene.
Peculiar Frank lives in the rafters of the Three Cripples Inn. His area is decorated Pirate Fashion, but lately he's been getting a bit paranoid.
"I know how to treat a lady, I does. I read a book on the High Seas. It was a great book it was. Had pictures.
I've found out a terrible thing! Pelicans, they can eat twice their weight in squid! But they don't know it. So don't tell them! The squid will make a petition to the privy council, and then where would we be? In the Old Quarter with the wolves, yes. So don't tell the pelicans.
I was visited by a spider. He told me to tell you this rhyme or he;ll burrow into my spine and I'd rather my spine not be burrowed into, so here's the rhyme...
He sails across the Thames
with his giant black wings
using them as metaphorical........paddles.
I'm not a fan of the spiders. They're good at whist. Too good. I owe them a good twenty guineas, but they don't know it y'see. They don't really know what twenty guineas is worth.
Your friend. She is mysteriously quiet. Scares her I think I do."
/Peculiar Frank.
Good one Seraph, brilliant work.
I think I'm ready to run the last session (or two sessions) of this game now. There have been many more awesome moments than what I have written above, but it's been tough trying to run a decent mystery so I've had my hands full most of the time. I have not enough moments to record the cool.
PoF: Raro girl
CO: Singstar Legends
Did you know there's a "daily" Wellington photo blog?
I rather like it. clicky.
Theoretically I was going to get up and go for a run this morning. I haven't been running this week because of the belly situation, but after my good day yesterday I'd been looking forward to a run.
I woke up at 5.58 and thought it said 6.58 and even though I could tell it was a nice day outside I opted for turning over and going back to sleep. I got very confused when I woke at 7.03 and lots of time had passed. (Chants to self: "will run Saturday morning, will run Saturday morning."
My belly is bad again, but I think it's *mostly* due to the arrival of Dear Aunty Flo, so to speak. I've been miserable all morning and it's kind of settling now but I feel seriously wiped. Not sure if I'm going to make it out tonight, I just want to crawl into bed after the movie rehearsal.
I like dividing my entries into digestive updates and then regular news. Does anyone else appreciate it?
Last night was the second episode of Slayers East, and I got to resurrect one of my most famous Non Player Characters ever as a Prime Time Adventures style secondary character.
When SE started out, Muggle and I invented annoying ADD class clown boys called Troy McClure and Alister McAllister. I played Allister. They were to be found throwing fake worms in the air during class, ruining the school dance by forcing people to kiss the fish decorations and generally causing mayhem.
In their senior year they are no longer the inseperable buddies they once were/ Troy has become a loner emo kid and Alister has filled out and become a football player and cool kid. I actually found it easier to get back into my characterisation for Alister than I did for my actual character of Candy.
Alister had a scene with a girl he liked, they went into a 'haunted' maintenance hall to skip class and were interupted by a demon. Blair was awesome as the girl, constantly rebuffing his amateurish advances...
Clarice: Keep your hands to yourself! I have mace.
Alister (keeping hands to himself, good naturedly): You keep saying that, but I haven't seen any.
...and eventually using him as a human shield against the scary demon.
I had fun striking a balance between new cool Alister and old silly Alister by suggesting pranks, like he would to Troy, and then immediately realising they wouldn't fly with Clarice. I tried to keep him not too dumb, not pushing Clarice too far and acting very cocky despite her constant refusals.
I guess it's easier to play this kind of character because there's less pressure. No one has any invested interest in what Alisiter does, because his decisions won't effect the other players in the same way as my character proper. He is a plot device and comic relief, but I'm determined to give him a bit of depth at least.
PoF: too warm now maybe
CO: sleep
I really feel a lot better today, and not just because my belly is behaving. Big thanks to those who have left comments, advice and encouragement for NoWheatvember, because it really does make me feel like I'm not alone.
I stocked up on Protein cookies yesterday, because New World has them on sale for $1.99, which is a lot less than $3.50 which is what I paid on Friday.
My belly has been non-gassy, non-bloaty and pretty much pain free today, and that makes me happy. I'm not sure if this is my body finally finished de-tox and withdrawal from wheat or if I had some random food poisoning that has now gone. I don't know much, I just know I feel good today and optimism is a great healer.
I am reading the sequel to Wolf Brother now and liking it a lot. Killer Whales are scary.
PoF: warm
CO: continuing belly health
It's more interesting to me to write silly reviews of ballets than to talk about my actual life, but I suspect my readers feel differently so.
My stomach has been on and off awful since last Tuesday. I don't know if it's linked to stress (job, study, stuff I haven't done) or a genuine sickness thing coming back. I haven't eaten any substantial amount of gluten since last Tuesday and it doesn't seem to have improved anything. I am assured that I need to go for a good few weeks without before I'll know if it's related or not, so I will stay strong and eat no wheat.
The protein cookie is available at some star marts and is a cakey cookie made mostly from almond meal and milk solids. It's quite tasty although it smells very strongly of almonds and that always makes me think of that Roald Dahl short story about taxidermy! They're better when heated in the microwave, I think. I tried to get some more this afternoon but the Star Mart in Manners Mall don't have 'em and that's where I was.
On Monday I was plagued by awful pains in my abdomen accompanied by a drained feeling. It wasn't quite bad enough to take myself home to bed, but it made my work day uncomfortable.
Tuesday I felt a hell of a lot better but my bowel was very uh, productive. I don't know what that's about, since I would have thought it would make me feel worse? Today is a fun mixture of the two with both symptoms at low levels.
I have decided to not have the drinky yoghurt in the morning any more just in case it is actually dairy related. I am still getting dairy other ways, since November is NoWheatVember. Depending on how I feel at the end of the month I may have NoDairycember. Or NoDairyuary? Meh. If I don't start feeling better in a couple of days I'm going back to my doctor, I just wanted to have a bit longer on no wheat first.
In other non-biological news, socks arrived today! It's mostly only exciting to me in an "I got a package!" way, as most of what I bought is Christmas Presents and the rest of the order is Rachel and Sass.
PoF: sixties psychedelia
CO: belleh belleh belleh
did you know ballet is illegal in Turkmenistan? I do, because I watched it on Quite Interesting. Thankfully ballet is not illegal in New Zealand.
I saw Giselle on Friday night. It was opening night, and I actually saw some mistakes! It's kind of awesome when you see ballet dancers make mistakes, because it reminds you that they aren't these weird perfect people, just people who dance a lot.
That's beside the point, of course. Giselle is a weirdly sad ghost story of a ballet. It's meant to be the height of romance, I didn't think it was *that* romantic. Not as romantic as Romeo and Juliet, but it also wasn't as depressing as Madame Butterfly so that's something.
Act one.
The story goes like this: there's this girl, Giselle and she's the most beautiful girl in her village in the forest. There's this guy Hilarious (or similar) who is in love with her, but he's totally Duckie from Pretty in Pink, and she doesn't like him back that way. But then, on the day of the Harvest festival there's this new guy in town who's totally into Giselle and manages to win her affection back. The problem with this new guy is that he's secretly like, a prince and he's already engaged to a High Society lady. I really liked the prince because he wore a tights which were a very similar colour to his skin, so when he was facing the back of the stage it was like he was wearing just boots and a top.
He had the most amazing thigh muscles like, ever too. But back to the story....
So, he proposes to Giselle and they dance a lot, because she doesn't know about the prince thing and her mother warns her not to dance too much because Giselle is a bit fragile and of course, over in the dark forest there are the wilis. The wilis kill people by making them dance til they die.
Hilarious exposes the Prince as the prince and when Giselle finds out that he is already engaged she goes crazy and then drops dead. As you do. /act one.
act two:
The queen of the wilis dances around a lot. The wilis are all ghosts of engaged girls who died before they were married and they wear pretty white tutus with a bit of green around the edge, like they're mouldering. I approve greatly of this costume decision because it was both pretty and creepy. The wilis find Hilarious in the graveyard mourning Giselle and make him dance until he dies.
I quite liked watching the dancer of Hilarious have to act all tired after his leaps and then eventually fall down. It was like watching a live snuff movie. Ballet snuff. There should be more of it!
The wilis then raise Giselle out of her grave and they all dance a welcome and she dances for the queen and then the prince is in the graveyard and the queen of the wilis is going to make him dance until he dies, but Giselle keeps butting in and dancing slowly with him, so that he doesn't die, but just gets really exhausted so that when dawn comes (wilis disappear at dawn) he is still alive and she forgives him, and then goes back into her grave. /end ballet.
So, weird story, but a good excuse for lots and lots of pretty dancing. This is a good thing. The set design was really nice and the ghost effects at the start of act two just introducing the wilis was really pretty spooky. This is a very old, traditional ballet so there is a lot of mime used to tell the story. I can demonstrate the mime for you in person, but it doesn't really work in text form. Suffice to say I can now mime "You will dance until you die" and I enjoy doing so.
I just finished reading a children's book called Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver. It's set in Prehistoric hunter/gatherer times and is centred around Torak, a 12ish year old outcast whose father has just been killed by a demon bear. The book is very fast paced as Torak runs from the bear and encounters a lot of obstacles along the way.
The setting is very lush and well realised, the ancient religious aspects treated as fact rather than myth and all the dangers of living in such a time made very real and immediate.
Torak makes friends with a wolf cub, who he can understand....which is lucky because the wolf has to lead him to the Mountain of the World Spirit so he can get the World Spirit to take back the Demon Bear before it destroys the forest and everyone and everything in it.
As I said it's classified as a kid's book, but this is an immersive story that is so gripping I couldn't stop reading it. I've given it to Lee now, and he seems to be enjoying it well enough.
PoF: stripey arms Jenni's Angel
CO: stupid belleh, why do you hurt right after eating?
I went for a run today after doing about half my balance ball DVD. I feel well exercised after that.
My stomach is better than it was, although still dodgy. I have had very little wheat since Wednesday, just the odd bit here and there, like a waffle cone icecream at the ballet, some chips with wheat in the BBQ flavour. I bought some fresh low gluten bread from the New World...it's a bit like scone dough, and very edible as a bread substitute. It's not as good as real bread, but it was quite edible with smoked cheese on top.
Lee's movie has been cast. I felt crappy choosing between my friends, but it kinda had to be done. Hopefully this way everyone will get a chance at a starring part in a Jenni's Angels film at some point.
Oh and Lee's made our team a website...Official looking isn't it?
Fireworks night was good fun, had a pot luck dinner and watched the big display from the balcony. (and before dinner a pretentious art film was filmed....I can't wait to see what Matt makes of the footage!)
PoF: comfy slobby trackies
CO: various crafts I don't have time for
well there's that morning rain they predicted, just in the last minute of morning.
I have had a belly flare up in the past day or so, and am not at work today because of it. I had cramps, dizziness and hot flashes yesterday afternoon, accompanied by an unhappy belly which settled somewhat with dinner (roast veges and lemon-sauce baked chicken.)
I managed to run a rather decent game of the Alaizabel Cray based mystery I'm GMing and collapsed into bed. Woke at 4, then again at 6.50. Managed to convince myself to go for a run, which was entirely stupid really, between two bouts of diarhea. It's incredibly hard to run when you have no energy.
On coming back home I ate breakfast (wheat free meusli) and got dressed. Lee asked if it was really wise to go to work and I had to concede that it probably wasn't since I was having massive cramps.
So, I spent the morning lying on my bed reading in the sun, which was rather nice even with the illness. I find I can't eat much of the rice/carrot/spinach/smoked chicken lunch I made myself, but at least I've eaten some of it.
On Monday I had a very bad food day, in terms of wheat. Coincidence? Hard to say for sure, but it does seem like cause and effect. I'm going to see if I can be hard core and cut all the wheat out of my diet for a while. I doubt I can, but I won't know what's going on until I try.
Might have a nap before Dr Phil.
PoF: comfy clothes
CO: is it wheat?