Happy new year

It’s 15, 16 minutes into the new year. Happy new year. I had initially started this post as a classic ‘whut i’m posting not at the end of the uni semester’ but that was this afternoon and now its just after midnight. With that first sentence I feel like I’m writing a story and so I feel sorta weird writing, like I’m trapped between two sides of writing; writing for a particular purpose and just writing down crap that just comes to mind (aka my blog). I blame this on the fact that I’m reading Gone Girl, because yeah the characters are supposed to be expressing/writing down their own thoughts, but it’s actually the author writing pretending to be these people. Ok I better stop before this gets philosophical.

Lately I’ve been watching a lot – and I mean a lot – of anime. I hadn’t really realised how many I’ve watched until I decided to get an My Anime List account. Compared to my brother my list is pretty small, but most of the watching was done only in the past couple of weeks.

It’s all I’ve really been watching. Only before was I watching a ‘normal’ tv show; its Da Vinci’s Demons. I’ve only watched one episode but I like it. And it’s pretty interesting because for once, watching a program based on history, I actually know the people they’re talking about (thanks to uni).

All the while I’ve been watching anime, I’ve been making clothes. I made a dress (the one that I included a picture of the pattern in the previous post), skirt and shorts. I’m pretty happy with all of them. Oh but the other day I spent $70 on fabric at spotlight. Whoops. And then I went in a bought some patterns two days later (but they only cost $10 and were on special from $40, so don’t even tell me that’s not a bargian). Ok, well I’m too lazy to go on, so farewell, enjoy the first day of the new year.

Cramming

Hey! You know what time of year it is if I’m writing a blog. Yep I’ve finished uni for the year. In fact today I got my results and I’m very happy with them especially since I got a HD for a unit for the first time ever!
My brother and I had a bit of a anime movie session; we watched two -Hotarubi no Mori e and Byousoku 5 Centimeter. I was expecting them both to be amazing, but I was a little disappointed. I didn't really like the latter, but I did like the former, just not as much as I was expecting.

You know what, I’ve been watching a lot of TV shows since I started my break. I started watching Downtown Abbey again and also got my mum hooked. After that, I finished watching Avatar the Last Airbender and started Legend of Korra, which I am really enjoying. Of course it’s not as good as Avatar, but it’s still really great and now that I’m up to date I have that feeling of not knowing what to do with my life haha. I also watched another anime called Hakuouki which I also enjoyed, and that got me in the feels quite a bit, which is good. For me, I judge things on their ability to get me emotionally attached to the characters and they become real and not characters anymore (Sarah’s quality control system). So I always pick things that puncture my heart and make me want to die (I’m constantly looking for new otps) because my life is so pedestrian #seriousmentalproblems.

I have also been sewing a bit, which is nice. I’ve a nice collection of some really cool patterns which I hope to all make. So far thought, I’ve sewn a 60s A-Line dress (which I love, but haven’t had a chance to wear it), just a plain black skirt, some stuff for the house and most recently I attempted to make another dress. However this dress has been causing me a lot of grief and I’ve given it up, and its all down to the zip. It doesn’t matter now because I bought fabric today to start a new dress which I have been waiting to start ever since I got the pattern below). I’m making the coral coloured one, but in a navy, dotted and small flowered pattern (it sounds a bit crazy, but its pretty simple).

Oh and just while we’re on the subject of handmade clothes, I finished my cardigan ages ago, but only wore it in public for the first time a couple of weeks ago. And also on this vein, I’ve become addicted to lipstick and perfume.

In exciting news, my brother is getting this super fast gaming computer. Which means that I will be able to properly play the Sims again and that means I can continue my amazing family tree. Have I mentioned it on here? Regardless, here’s a refresher, I’ve had this sims family that I’ve kept going with for 10 generations now, where all the sims I’ve created are named after musicians, actors, characters etc that I like. I'm very proud of it and I hope to continue it for a long time.

So what happened, was the computer that I’ve got it all on at the moment started glitching up and I haven’t been able to fix it so I haven’t played in ages. But once my bro gets his new computer it won’t glitch and I will be able to play yay! The only problem I have is that I’m running out of female names!!
Also, this year I’m really sucking at doing my reading challenge. But I just feel I haven’t had the chance and throughout the year I wasn’t as motivated to be reading other books. Like it took me like two months for me to finish Persuasion, I’d pick up the book before bed and read a page and be over it. However once the holidays started, I started reading again. And even though I probably won’t finish the 8 I need I’ll try my best (and then lower it to the amount I’ve read #sorrynotsorry)

oH AND I READ THE LAST SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT BOOK!! To be completely honest – and I was thinking about it this morning - I was really disappointed with it. Well actually its the ending I’m not happy with. I feel like it didn’t actually end and the book was part of something in the middle. And, for me personally I think some parts could have been taken out, some more developed and some added in to be more resolved. But anyway I’m not the author.

Looking over this post I realise that I’ve been trying to cram a lot of things into my spare time (because I’m working 5 days a week at work because my other boss/friend has gone to India and I’m filling all her shifts). It’s not working too well, but oh well I’ll just have to take everything as it comes.

Mandatory end of semester blog post

Yes that’s right, I’ve finished for the semester! I submitted my final assignment this afternoon.

A couple of weeks ago I bought my first sewing machine (well that’s not completely true because first dad actually paid for it but its an early Christmas present and I bought this really cheap sewing machine for like $30 and it basically sucked) which is a singer and I love it. I’ve been waiting till I finished uni till I could start using it and so finally yesterday I got a chance (yesterday I submitted my last major assignment).

I did a few practice stitches and seams on a 100 year old pillow case and then I had a go of turning it into a skirt. I then repaired a pair of my dad’s pants and then I started altering a dress of mine of which I finished today.

I’ve been buying a heap of patterns from the op shop which are super cheap and also really cool; I bought this jacket pattern from 1960!! So I can’t wait to go into spotlight and get some cool fabric and start making.

Also I’ve be constantly knitting my cardigan and it actually looks like one now.

Ok I can’t be bothered writing more, soz too busy watching TMNT.

Crafts and ninja turtles

I’ve actually been wanting to write a blog for ages, but alas, uni has been keeping me busy.

Over the past few weeks I’ve had assignment after assignment, admittedly to my own fault. I thought that I would be smart and for my two subjects that needed oral presentations do them early, but I miss calculated and found that there were one week after another. So with that plus my other assignments I’ve been dead.

But I’ve just finished my last assignment for the while and now I’m finally able to do things I actually want! What are those things that I want? Well crafts and watching TV shows, that’s what.

Every time the weather starts getting colder, my need to knit gets stronger. So I headed on over to spotlight and bought some nice yarn. God, over the past few weeks I’ve spent so much money at spotlight, but I’ve bought so many nice yarns. I decided that I needed to get a membership so I could grab some bargains.

In terms of projects I’ve got a couple going on, planned and finished which calls for dot points.

• I finished my first beanie ever that I made for my cousin, of which I don’t have a picture.
• I’m currently working on a blanket, which is really great for doing which watching TV because its one stich so you don’t have to concentrate.
• Also I’m working on one of those snood things, with yarn in a teal colour with specks of other colours.
• I bought this beautiful soft yarn (in the grey and a light brown) which I want to turn into a scarf.
• I bought this yarn in this colour and in a grey. In the red I’m going to knit another scarf and in the grey I’m going to do a cardigan. It’s going to me by first cardigan and I’m that excited. I’m getting the cardigan pattern from this pattern book I bought, of which I just want to make everything inside.

But knitting isn’t the only thing I’ve started. I’ve just gotten into embroidery. Last night i finished my first embroidery project, see him below. It was a practice for a thing I’m making for my mum for mothers day. Once I’m finished I’ll post a picture of the finished product.

 

Now in regards to turtles, if you look back to previous posts you’ll see that I was super depressed because I couldn’t get TMNT. Well guess what?! I got my hands on a copy!!! In fact I’m watching it as I type!

I was so scared that it would be really shit and my whole childhood ruined, but there was nothing it be scared of. I think  love it more than I did when I was a kid! The episode I’m up to is part 3 of 3 of a series of eps and its pretty deep. They’ve gone underground and befriended these guys who were once human, but were turned into monsters after experiments, and there was one guy talking about how he was soon to descend into madness and stuff and it was just super deep. Also right now its pretty creepy and my hearts pounding a bit, to be honest. On a lighter note, also Mikey is hilarious. Ok, I think I better get back to paying 100% attention, smell ya later.

Of elves and stuff

This blog post is sorta a continuation of a set I posted on polyvore. I finally finished the Lord of The Ring yesterday, so I decided to make a set inspired by the detailing of when they Frodo and co go to the Havens.

As I said in the polyvore post, I hadn’t read it, nor seen the movies and never really had any drive to read or watch it. In all honesty though, I’m not really sure why I never had any inclination to even watch the movies, especially since one of my favourite games ever is Warlords Battlecry, of which I’ve been playing since I was ten, at least. Now if you’re unfamiliar with Warlords, you basically pick a race of warriors (for example humans, orcs, the undead, minotaurs and my go to race, wood elves - already you can see the similarities of LoTR and the game) and you have to build up your army to fight other races to conquer regions. Also, from my last post you can see as a kid I wasn’t really a girly girl, so why I didn’t get into it, it’s a mystery to me!

Anyway, my best friend/housemate had been telling me that we’d have to have a LoTR marathon and I was like “yeah ok whatever” but it hadn’t happened because I wasn’t that interested. But one day while I was having a look in an op-shop and I found a copy of the the LoTR for $4! So thus, I finished the last book I was reading and then read it, but not without reading the Hobbit first.

Speaking of the Hobbit I just finished watching the first one, after I have been harassing my mum for the past few days to bring it home. Now we will be able to go with my cousin to see the second one. Also I will now be able to have that LoTR marathon which will make my friend happy.

Now that I’ve finished the two books (I probs wont read The Silmarillion or Unfinished tales) I’ve moved onto the second last of the Skulduggery Pleasant series, Last Stand of the Dead Men. I really cant believe its nearly over, but there’s been eight books already! So that means I’ve been reading those books since I was 12, that’s pretty ridiculous!

But now this blog post is coming to an end and my wood elf troops are calling me into battle, and so hear their call! (I’m going to play Warlords, and here’s some of the soundtrack that you should listen to).

Don’t even tell me this is not kickass!

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“Boys cartoons”

Right now I’m half watching the good old cartoon Teenage Mutant Turtles. The reason I’m doing this is to save myself from going mental, and the reason I was going mental is because I realised that I really really want to watch all my favourite childhood tv shows, but I can’t.

If you were to go on my favourite childhood TV shows (primarily cartoons) you would have to call me a tomboy. My favourite cartoons were Spiderman (the early 90s version), Teenage Mutant Turtles (the 03 version), the old Transformers (80s version) and even the original Yu-Gi-Oh.

I know that I preferred these versions of Spiderman and TMNT because they’re quite a lot darker and more serious (in the sense that they’re more detailed characters, especially TMNT) than some of the other versions I’ve seen. Well I mean, I think that’s why I still really like them now as a so called “adult”. So I assume that’s why I liked the other two, maybe.

Now the problem for me is that I really want to watch all of these, but alas, basically all I cannot buy, even online! So there you see my dilemma, which will probably never be resolved. First world problems at their finest.

Here enjoy this -

(All of the theme songs for my four favs are super cool, especially Yu-Gi-Oh, but since I love TMNT and are watching them now you get this).

Words?

I originally started doing a post reflecting on my first year of uni and doing a sorta 101, but I soon got bored and felt like a bit of a douche.

Now that I’ve finished uni, I can start working on my Goodreads reading challenge. This year I set it at 40 books, but I’m not going too well and I blame that on uni.

I thought that as soon as I finished school and started uni, I would have heaps of time to read. Boy was I wrong. We have to do so many readings for each subject, each week and plus I had books to read for literature.

This is really bad because I think I have a problem with buying books. Despite my inability to find time to read my books, I still buy them. And generally I don’t just buy one, no, I buy in friggen bulk. There is one exception however and that is when the books are full-priced-non-bargain-bin-second-hand-super-booksale books.

Anyway, hopefully now that I’m stopping literature I’ll have a bit more time to do my own reading. Eh, probably not considering I’m doing history, but I can hope.

I just started reading To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf and so far I’m liking it. All though the stream of consciousness is always hard to grasp, I’m liking it better than Mrs Dalloway.  I read Mrs Dalloway for lit, but I didn’t really like it that much because I found the central events (the whole party thing) so boring despite the scream of consciousness to keep it interesting.

Speaking of writing methodologies (sorta) I’ve just been looking through some of my old post, like circa 2010 and my god, my grammar and writing was so horrible! I feel really embarrassed, especially when I stumbled off a post about one of my old fan fics, which led me to follow the post to the good old THF. But some of the stuff I found there… god it’s a surprise they let me post it considering they have mods to check the chapters before they’re published. At least that’s in the past now, because check out this grammar!!

But looking at my old THF page made me want to start writing again, so maybe I might just start! It could be what I do in the Philippines for the holiday in Feb….

Ok bye, I’m going to have a look in the ol’ fic folder.