Under My Hat

I have a design project that I've been working on, but I can't do any posting until there is some finalization of the product. My brother just started up a business and I've been playing with logo designs. They're not too fancy, just some ideas that I've been kicking around. I got four new designs created today and emailed off to be considered, so I've felt productive this morning. It's been nice to get to work on a project of some sort.

With my test out of the way for the week, I thought that I'd get some time to write or design, but alas no! As it seems, the world is out to keep me as busy as possible. I got a last minute call to an interview today, tomorrow I have to pick up my Hong Kong ID and attend class from 1-5pm, Thursday I believe I am babysitting before attending a philosophy department lecture and Friday seems to be my first day free of obligation. Nuts!

 

Trying to be Festive

This week was a little bit harder to really get much in the way of creative things done. I have a test in about an hour which I've been studying for. We also had a great Saturday outing around Hong Kong with some friends. This week is completely designated for testing, so I'm sure I'll be able to squeeze something creative out of myself.

Since I didn't really complete any art project or writings this week, I had to do something to start getting festive for the fall season. I've just become a member of Pinterest. It's a really cool community in which you can 'pin' items (particularly pictured items) up on your personal 'pin boards' from all over the internet. I've found some really good recipes and fun fall decorations I wish I could enjoy at home. I've also started a little collection of owls on a pin board, though apparently fox is the new owl. LOL.

I also could help but start to make a Halloween banner in Illustrator. I'm trying to learn how to use all of these beautiful Adobe products that my husband just bought for me, so I thought 'what better use?'. I had lots of work this week, but I still needed some break time, so I'm teaching myself how to make vector art.

This week I'm hoping to get some fanfiction written, because I'm stuck in the middle of a story I started three years ago when I have two or three other really great story ideas brewing in my head.

Here's to hoping there's enough free time in the week to fit it all in!

Book Challenge Update

So it's been a while since I've done this and while I have not been reading books, I have been listening to them. I think this is a completely valid way of consuming books for my book challenge this year. :)

Over the summer I listened to the entire Harry Potter Series on my ipod, so 7 books up!

16) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
17) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (yes, I even listened to my least favorite of them all)
18) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
19) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
20) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
21) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
22) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

There's nothing like doing a series to help get you through your book challenge. I tend to listen to these while driving or cooking dinner. It's a nice way to take in a book while doing something else that I find relaxing.

On another note, I've updated San Serif with a rant on teaching and exploring as a learning technique (or how I'm not really getting to do that second bit, at any rate) here.

Do you have any audiobooks you love to listen to?

Autumn Aura

I was recently reading a post by NatureGirl who describes her love and passion for the summer. It made me think of all that hot stickiness that she describes (and that I'm still feeling here in Hong Kong even though it's getting on mid-September) and I couldn't help but shake my head 'No.'

No. Summer is wonderful, but not my time. Autumn is my time. So much so that even through the continuous heat waves of Hong Kong, I have been getting flashes of that feeling you get as fall sets in - the cool breeze, the smell of the leaves as they prepared to come off the trees and, for myself, that feeling that all is right in the world.

As I start to wonder if I am hallucinating - for these little bits of imagery, olfactory and tactileness seem oh so very real - I find comfort in the fact that even halfway across the world from my home, I can still feel and experience some glimpses of that favorite season of mine.

I'm that kind of person, I guess. I have certain things which signal the change in year, which brings along with it the change in my mood and how I relate to the world. As a wonderful scholar recently pointed out in a lecture, we humans are beings of cycle. It is one of those things that we do in beautiful synchronization with the Earth around us. Let's not become so distracted by our constructed notions of progress to forget that. The Earth around us, too, progresses, just not at the speed we're used to.

Here's to the oncoming of my favorite season.

Do you have a favorite season or time of year that changes your whole outlook on the world?

Another week gone by

I planned it out - it was perfect. I was going to write last week and get it done before I had to start worrying over this week's assignment and next week's test. But the life happened. I've gotten so out of the habit - of both writing and taking classes - that I'm a damn mess. The difficulty of the class isn't what's getting to me. Oh no - that's not the problem. Sure, it's a lot of reading and when I do the work, I like to make sure it's what I consider good work. This means my notes are too detailed and my answers are too researched for my TA to appropriately respond. I guess that's where I'm feeling the struggle. I feel that the response I'm being given is either highly authoritarian or too narrow.

On top of all of that, I got my husband's hope up that I would work on the writing project that he and I are working on together now and so I've neglected another story for a community that I write in for another week. I'm hoping to get a chapter out (for the first time in much much longer than I'd like to admit) for that community after I get my assignment done today. I'll give myself a day's break from studying to get that done. Then it's back to the grindstone and studying for the first test (which I'm positive will be much easier than the one I'm preparing for in my head).

Oh the stress. I need to remember how to let it go.

What's keeping you from doing the writing you want to be doing?

Here we go again.

This is not my first attempt at blogging. I have a blogger site, which I intend to link up to this site. I've got some old content there, but here I am trying to get a fresh start. I started out wanting to have a writer's blog, but then I realized I'm not a writer. I'd also love to have an artist's blog, but I'm not really an artist. The thing about it is, I'm one of those people who shifts modes with my mood. I'm working toward my teaching licensure and living in Hong Kong while my husband gets his Master's degree. Sometimes in the middle of all of that I need an outlet, a venue, a place to vent my thoughts, frustrations, and creativity.

So... here we go again.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. After you read this, you should delete and write your own post, with a new title above. Or hit Add New on the left (of the admin dashboard) to start a fresh post.

Here are some suggestions for your first post.

1. You can find new ideas for what to blog about by reading the Daily Post.


2. Add PressThis to your browser. It creates a new blog post for you about any interesting  page you read on the web.


3. Make some changes to this page, and then hit preview on the right. You can always preview any post or edit it before you share it to the world.