Archive for May, 2010
The biggest milestone in a while.
So as expected, I crossed the barrier yesterday and reached the biggest milestone in a while. No, it’s not finished, far from it, but it’s nice to think that I’ve managed okay up until now.
I’m about two-thirds of the way through the whole thing. Of course, I don’t actually have a very clear idea of how much there is left, as usual, so that’s a really suspicious kind of estimation. I keep thinking that I actually have more than a third to finish, but I suspect I might complete it even before I get to the expected number. It’s the contradictory way that these things tend to turn out somehow.
I’m hoping nothing changes in the sense that I can keep up with the err good work. I’ve been going at what I think is a reasonable pace (I’m generally a slow worker), and I haven’t had a burnt-out episode yet. So I’ve been healthy, in that sense, and that will optimistically continue.
What I need to change, though is my method of working. I figure that with a third to go and given the way in which I write, this will probably be a good time to actually start completing the things that I’ve started. That is, I think I should start looking at all the stray bits that I’ve got and putting it together. It’s just the way that I work. I hope I’ve done enough to sustain any such efforts. If not, I’ll end up going back to putting bits and pieces together.
Meanwhile, my book club hasn’t officially kicked off yet, but people seem impatient. I suppose that’s a good sign. Hooray.
Now I’m going to take a break before getting to work again.
d
Mondays, mondays.
Oh, look, it’s Monday. What a surprise.
This week, I’m going back to camp for some physical training before my IPPT. That’s a ways away, so this thing will last a few weeks.
Apart from that, I’m also gunning for a giant milestone with respect to my current project. I think I might hit it by tomorrow or Wednesday. I can’t really tell. I’m unpredictable in that sort of way, even as I try to assert a degree of routine into my work. The thing that remains predictable, however, is that I’m a relatively slow worker.
My book club is supposed to get started next week, so this week will likely be used to make preparations of some sort. Saying that is comforting because it makes me feel like there is something to prepare for. The truth is, I don’t actually know. We’re doing Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nocturnes (did I say that already?) and taking it all very slow. I hope it’s a nice book, and I hope we talk about interesting things. Most of all, I hope it’ll be fun.
I think new furniture is supposed to arrive this week or the next. My bookshelf is one of the pieces, and it looks like we’ll be sorting the whole library all over again. I’m considering sorting books by different categories, and by first names instead of last (a practice that I have in place now), and we’re also thinking about ways to expand the storage capacity since we don’t have all that much room and the number of books is only going to get larger.
I should drop by at IKEA one of these days and get those lovely glass things that look like candy containers. Do you call them bottles? flasks? I was all rather sure that there was a specialised name for them; I’m not so sure anymore. I want to use those for my pencils.
I’m looking for nice art. Maybe some natural history would be nice. I’m putting it on one of the walls. Whichever wall remains. Any suggestions? I’m trying to make it a bit compatible with my lumadessa prints and the rest of my furniture.
Right, onto work.
d
Work works.
Work, Work, Work
I’m now approximately two thirds of the way into the first draft by estimation. Well, actually, I’m more like four sevenths of the way into it. This is about the time where I start to wonder whether all of this actually works. You see, if it doesn’t work, then this will all have been a very bad idea and I probably shouldn’t have started on it. If it works, then… well, great. I’ve not grown a lot better at identifying these things, unfortunately.
I will more or less only know by the end of it. That’s just the way I am. It is partly due to how I basically don’t have very clear ideas about where I’m headed about 80% of the way. It just evolves as I go along, and things can change fairly drastically before I’m done with it. So there’s no real way for me to get a feel for whether or not it’s going to be a success until it’s all done and sitting in front of me.
Meanwhile, the best thing I can do is just not to worry and to try to get it done, making it as good as I can in the process. Worrying really just incapacitates you and gets you nowhere. I’m already a slow writer to begin with, so I don’t really need anything debilitating.
Books Arrived
All of my books have arrived rather safely and they make me very happy. Slight damage here and there but that’s okay. A few of them have really surprised me because they’re prettier than I thought they’d be. I’ll get to wrapping them soon enough. Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow night. Just as soon as I pull myself away from work.
Movies, Orwell
I’ve been watching old videos and new, revisiting film favourites and trying to unearth new ones. I try to do that on a regular basis though I can’t say I’ve been very diligent. I’ve also tried to be diligent with my volume of Orwell’s essays. I’m going at about a couple a day, though that seems to mean that I might end up taking a very long time. Oh well, patience, as they always tried to tell me, is something of a virtue. I sure hope it is.
d
And now I know the secret history of British plants.
A day after receiving my Everyman’s edition of To The Lighthouse in the mail, I open my mailbox to see a big package wrapped in cardboard. Excitedly, I fish it out of the little metal space and hop my way back home, careful not to let the rain get on the package. I had dinner first, so I tried my best to contain my excitement. When the clock struck nine, I got my fat fingers on the package and pulled and tugged and huffed and puffed until the cardboard came off.
Initially, I thought there would be two books inside, because it was just so big. But no, there was only one and it was Hatfield’s Herbal in a nice hardbound edition. Because I’d seen the more recent paperback before, I didn’t think that the hardback would be this big, but that’s certainly fine with me.
It’s a really nice looking book and I haven’t felt so happy about the simple fact of getting a really pretty book since… Heck, I really don’t remember. It’s probably a sad reflection on how I’ve not got a purely pretty book in a long, long time. Oh well, this more than makes up for it.
It smells wonderful. The pages are lovely to touch. And all this for just fifteen dollars. Thank you, Book Depository; thank you, Penguin; and thank you, Ms. Hatfield.
On a slightly different note, still five books to come, though I kind of doubt any of them will be as pretty. They are all standard paperbacks that is the norm for giamsiap students such as yours truly. Besides, paperback editions really help save on the shelf space, or so I would want to believe.
I think I’ll have to build a couple of platforms into my shelves so that I can put a few more books in. I’m not sure how that’s going to work. The new one will be coming in a week or two, but if nothing else, it serves as a very decent reminder that I don’t have as much space as I would like to have…
Meanwhile, I’m going to add my new book to my growing waiting list…
d
Slow Man
Go Slowly
I’m beginning to realise that with my fairly tremendous list of things to do, I might have to step on the gas. This happens every time it’s the holidays. They aren’t actually big things involving a lot of investment, but you just don’t really know how to prioritise them. I’m getting it together slowly, I guess, but I better be full steam ahead soon if I hope to have any chance of clearing the holiday list.
Books
Books are one of those things. I have an idea of what to read, but then I do some writing, then I move a wardrobe, and then I watch a movie I had planned to watch, and it’s time for bed. It’s somewhat difficult to think that it’s the little things that are keeping me busy, but that’s the way it goes. I really do hope to finish at least a couple of novels and one large book by the end of the holidays. At least.
(Large books are those that are so gigantic I feel reluctant to start on them. They also tend to be the ones that are so huge that I don’t want to take them with me out of the house, when I do most of my reading.)
Wardrobe
So my dad shifted my gigantic wardrobe thing to my room with a bit of help from me. Though to be a bit more honest, it felt like a full day’s work. I’m just glad that we’ve shifted it over finally and won’t probably have to worry about doing that again. It involved a lot of tilting, dismantling, emptying, and pushing. (It’s basically too large to be moved about and too tall to fit readily under the doorways.)
And after that, I did a standard day’s worth of writing.
Book Club
Book clubs are just one of those things that sound easy and should probably be easy, but end up being altogether more tricky than most than you can foresee. I’m taking it a bit at a time, and starting with an experiment to figure out what actually needs to be taken care of and what doesn’t work. God bless the people who will be participating, especially if it doesn’t work out. (Significant chance of failure.)
I’m trying my best to figure out what has to be done and in what order. That’s less obvious that I thought it’d be. I’ve been looking at a couple of online book clubs hoping to figure out a few things, but it doesn’t get too much easier. Well, I don’t think I’ll wait much longer, and I’ll just dive in and hope for the best.
After I take a deep breath.
d
