 |
| Tomato |
 |
| Strawberry |
Thank you, thank you.
Next fruity hat? An orange. But first I'll finish the booties from last post.
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Fruitomancy
Today, in this brief update, I shall show you my magical fruit powers, by turning a tomato into a strawberry:
Thank you, thank you.
Next fruity hat? An orange. But first I'll finish the booties from last post.
Thank you, thank you.
Next fruity hat? An orange. But first I'll finish the booties from last post.
Sunday, 10 June 2012
Keeping busy
I've been trying to keep busy in France while waiting to be able to go back to the US. Here are a few things I've been doing:
1) Knitting:
I have a photographer friend, Nas (who has a website) who has been very good about giving me free photoshoots.
She was the photographer for my wedding in 2008. She took pictures of Sean and me in 2011 when he visited in Paris. She took pictures of me with my new haircut when I was back in France this past April.
So when she asked if I would mind knitting some accessories for her photoshoots with babies, I immediately accepted. She asked for a pair of booties and a few hats, and here is my current progress on them:
For the booties, she found a pattern for me, so it's fairly straightforward. The main problem is that the pattern is in French, which made it my first time following knitting instructions that were not in English. I had to learn the whole vocabulary, but in context it was mostly easy to figure out. For the record, here is said pattern.
I only made one booty so far because I like variety, and I didn't want to do the same thing twice in a row. So in the meantime, I started on one of the hats. She wanted a strawberry hat, for which she didn't have a pattern, but it is fairly straightforward. There are plenty of hat patterns out there, and then I just needed to make a leaf for the top. Here is my progress so far:
The leaf part is only half of what it's going to be, and I'm going to be adding yellow dots to the red part.
2) Classes:
Aside from knitting, I've been taking some classes. The big idea was that I would go back to the US, to my friends and to Sean, as an improved version of myself. Also, I've got plenty of free time and I like feeling productive.
ASL (American Sign Language) I took classes for a while back, but since I never practiced it (I don't know anyone who is deaf that I could practice with) I lost most it. I'm starting again from the ground up, still practicing my fingerspelling recognition at this point. When I'm done with it I'll go back to learning Braille. I love languages, and being able to learn one, with it's syntax, grammar and so on, without having to worry too much about the vocabulary is something I really enjoy.
With ASL, if I don't know the sign for a word I can just fingerspell it: the spelling will be the same as written English. So the lack of vocabulary won't make it impossible to communicate the way it does with a brand new language. Similarly with Braille, once I master the alphabet I'll be able to get by with Grade 1, and I can learn Grade 2 slowly.
Plus I always seem to overplan things. When I was a kid I learned to write with my left hand in case I broke the right one. It has never been of any use so far. At least a new language, I can use to communicate with people, if I ever meet someone who speaks it too that is :P
I should probably get back to Spanish too at some point. It will be useful once I'm in California for good. But I don't seem to be as interested in learning things that are actually useful.
Driving theory, I get the classes from the unemployment agency, which is good because getting a license costs about €2,000 around here. I'm not allowed to touch a wheel until I pass the theory, which of course is the boring part. Right now I'm memorising rates of survival when hit at varying speeds, which means it's not just boring but also depressing. At least learning the signs themselves is kind of fun.
Introductory psychology really just ended up a way to pass time while knitting. Knitting only takes my hands and my mind gets bored, but I can't read while knitting for instance. I could watch shows, but we don't get Hulu or Netflix here, so in the end I decided to get some audio lectures from MIT. Sure, I won't get a degree from it, but it's interesting and so far I'm following fine.
3) Reading:
I've been reading A Song of Fire and Ice. I'm at the beginning of A Clash of Kings, and I'm hoping to finish it before season 3 of Game of Thrones starts. I'm enjoying the series very much, but I haven't been reading it very fast. I think I might pick up a comedy book for a change of pace, anyone reading this is welcome to suggest one.
1) Knitting:
I have a photographer friend, Nas (who has a website) who has been very good about giving me free photoshoots.
She was the photographer for my wedding in 2008. She took pictures of Sean and me in 2011 when he visited in Paris. She took pictures of me with my new haircut when I was back in France this past April.
So when she asked if I would mind knitting some accessories for her photoshoots with babies, I immediately accepted. She asked for a pair of booties and a few hats, and here is my current progress on them:
For the booties, she found a pattern for me, so it's fairly straightforward. The main problem is that the pattern is in French, which made it my first time following knitting instructions that were not in English. I had to learn the whole vocabulary, but in context it was mostly easy to figure out. For the record, here is said pattern.
I only made one booty so far because I like variety, and I didn't want to do the same thing twice in a row. So in the meantime, I started on one of the hats. She wanted a strawberry hat, for which she didn't have a pattern, but it is fairly straightforward. There are plenty of hat patterns out there, and then I just needed to make a leaf for the top. Here is my progress so far:
The leaf part is only half of what it's going to be, and I'm going to be adding yellow dots to the red part.
2) Classes:
Aside from knitting, I've been taking some classes. The big idea was that I would go back to the US, to my friends and to Sean, as an improved version of myself. Also, I've got plenty of free time and I like feeling productive.
ASL (American Sign Language) I took classes for a while back, but since I never practiced it (I don't know anyone who is deaf that I could practice with) I lost most it. I'm starting again from the ground up, still practicing my fingerspelling recognition at this point. When I'm done with it I'll go back to learning Braille. I love languages, and being able to learn one, with it's syntax, grammar and so on, without having to worry too much about the vocabulary is something I really enjoy.
With ASL, if I don't know the sign for a word I can just fingerspell it: the spelling will be the same as written English. So the lack of vocabulary won't make it impossible to communicate the way it does with a brand new language. Similarly with Braille, once I master the alphabet I'll be able to get by with Grade 1, and I can learn Grade 2 slowly.
Plus I always seem to overplan things. When I was a kid I learned to write with my left hand in case I broke the right one. It has never been of any use so far. At least a new language, I can use to communicate with people, if I ever meet someone who speaks it too that is :P
I should probably get back to Spanish too at some point. It will be useful once I'm in California for good. But I don't seem to be as interested in learning things that are actually useful.
Driving theory, I get the classes from the unemployment agency, which is good because getting a license costs about €2,000 around here. I'm not allowed to touch a wheel until I pass the theory, which of course is the boring part. Right now I'm memorising rates of survival when hit at varying speeds, which means it's not just boring but also depressing. At least learning the signs themselves is kind of fun.
Introductory psychology really just ended up a way to pass time while knitting. Knitting only takes my hands and my mind gets bored, but I can't read while knitting for instance. I could watch shows, but we don't get Hulu or Netflix here, so in the end I decided to get some audio lectures from MIT. Sure, I won't get a degree from it, but it's interesting and so far I'm following fine.
3) Reading:
I've been reading A Song of Fire and Ice. I'm at the beginning of A Clash of Kings, and I'm hoping to finish it before season 3 of Game of Thrones starts. I'm enjoying the series very much, but I haven't been reading it very fast. I think I might pick up a comedy book for a change of pace, anyone reading this is welcome to suggest one.
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