Wait what just happened?

It's December! I am in shock and also... excited!

I'm not going to apologize for not touching this space for an entire month or two, because I'm really not sorry! I have had the most amazing, full, inspiring couple of months!

My first semester of my Masters was INCREDIBLE! Working full-time, studying part-time and having a life all-the-time sounded scary (I had many an anxious cry in preparation for this season)... But what I found was that when you're doing something you love, I mean really L.o.v.e you find the resources, the strength, the time, the creativity, the ideas etc to make it work! And if your lucky, you get to meet some amazing people whose advice and encouragement helps stoke the embers of enthusiasm and a firestorm of dreaming that keeps you going well into the wee hours of the morning. Thanks to passion and some structure I survived!

I have learnt so much by generous and positive lecturers and fellow students and I'm full to the brim with ideas and techniques and so many colours!

I made some changes to my work situation and I'm currently slowly moving away from full-time work (in an industry I'm not so thrilled to be in) to what I expect will evolve into more freelance, writerly work.

I've started working one day a week in an organisation I love and truly believe it!

I've ripped my novel in half and will commence working on the half that I actually like this month.

I am considering sharing some of my pieces from the semester with you. 

I have read so many beautiful articles and books that I need to share with you, or I'll sure die a thousand sad selfish miserable deaths!

What did your last month look like?

The death of books?

via fatbrides

The buzz about ebooks and speculation that they will displace print books in the near future has got me thinking about the outlook for books, bookstores and libraries.

I've read articles and blogposts about a neat, organised future that the ebook revolution will unfurl. I've heard the radio ads which posit that just as the mp3 superseded CDs, the iPad and Kindle will make hard copy books obsolete. The minimalists among you are salivating at the thought and hey, it makes sense. I can personal attest to having damaged (probably irreversibly) my shoulders with years of lugging around stupidly huge novels, just so I could read another chapter or two in my infrequent and short breaks from class, work, etc. And yes, to be honest, if (when I go back to university this year) there are cheap e-versions of textbooks available, I will unashamedly plunder that particular source

I am, however, in total denial that the end is nigh for print books! Books are some much more than just the words on the page. I feel like the books I own are a part of me! It feels kind of materialistic, because the truth is I don't need to keep those books in my bookcase (so bounteous I swear it will give birth to something inky soon) not if the story contained has touched me and the ideas therein have intermingled with my own imagination. And yet, I feel that my books are a physical reflection of my personality, my thoughts and the things I value.

I particularly love old books, found in second hand book stores, which often have Bolognese (or other) sauce and ink stains on random pages. Or books from the library where if you're lucky, you sometimes find the previous borrower's shopping list in the middle. I also loved reading the cramped handwritten notes in the margins of prescribed texts from the university library. The physical story of the book, that tantalising connection with other readers is what I love. Reaching up, grabbing a favourite read from my dilated bookcase and pressing it into the open palms of a dinner guest saying: "This is the one, you HAVE to read it." that's what I'm holding onto.

Print books are romantic and those of us horders (or as I prefer, "collectors") will always want to fill our homes with (read show off) the beautiful and special books that have coloured our lives, don't cha think?

And He Gets The Girl

Lupe Fiasco is such a brilliant lyricist. Love these characters, love this story. I heart nerds so bad.

Don't you think 2:06 is the stuff that sun shine is made of?

Happy Birthday to me

baked by Sarah

I celebrated my  20-somethingth birthday on Monday. 

I was surprised by a largeish gathering of beautiful people in my smallish apartment. Highlights = looonnnggg table, 30 smiling faces, Slow (husband) cooked roasts. a zz cake, flowers out, pretty new tea set, generous cash gift toward a writing course, vintage tea towels...

Feel the love.

Simple things that make me happy

roses from my parents' garden

1. I think I have discovered what eating a rainbow would taste/feel like.
A mouth FULL of colourful 100s and 1000s. Yes, I currently have a mouth FULL of 100s and 1000s and it feels wonderful.

2. Mat has gotten into subliminal advertising. The other night he spent a good half hour "sending" messages to me via, the throw cushions, my laptop and anything else he could pick up and hold in front of his face as he hauntingly chants "driinnnkkk coca colaaa..." or "getttt maaat a cooooookie..." I think he has confused subliminal messages with being a ghost.

3. The ending for my novel has struck me suddenly and so haphazadly that I feel like if I hadn't been paying attention it would have totally missed me. I like that.

Two hearts disagree as one

I have the joy of being married to an incredibly attractive Englishman. Our love is deep and wide and free and blah blah blah, who cares right?

We disagree on just about everything. He wants a winter holiday to Canada, I want to go to Barbados. He thinks the floor is a handy and versitile storage area for clothes, books, cords (to mystery electronic items) etc, I disagree. He thinks I over-react and suffer from personality altering bouts of 'perspective loss' and irrationality - I disagree, vehemetly. And so it goes.

We have friends who get very uncomfortable when we talk about our disagreements, but to be honest I kinda like this trait of our relationship. There is security in knowing that there is love that does not require aquiensance or the meeting of terms & conditions.

Yes I think there must be compromise, or someone will die - likely him (see above) and many times (maybe once or twice) I have had to pick my battles. But disagreements are challenging, stimulating and a big part of the reason I fell in love with him. Disagreements with him have taught me that there are other ways of seeing things, that sometimes I am so very wrong (albeit very very infrequently) and that there is always space to grow.

Thanks for eight colourful months babe!