Bookwyrm's Lair

Jenni just posted about bad drivers yesterday. 'Tis the season?


I was almost hit by a car this morning. 10-20cm almost. I was crossing at an intersection - running to catch my bus that was just pulling up to the stop near the light on the other side of the road. I had a green pedestrian light. I was more focused on the bus than nearby cars, but I was still paying enough attention to jump out of the way of the car that almost ploughed into me. It wasn't a car that was turning across the pedestrians, like when my brother got hit not long ago. This was a car that was supposed to stop at the red light. And it did stop, just not until it had gotten to the far side of the pedestrian crossing. The driver obviously either didn't see the red light until a bit late, or wasn't slowing down enough because she wasn't paying attention.

Why wasn't she paying attention? She was talking on her mobile phone.

She didn't see the red light, she didn't see me running towards her. She didn't see me jump back as she kept driving through where I was just about to step. She was still talking on the phone, facing forwards but staring blankly.

I don't even think she saw me stop and wave at her and try and indicate just how much she missed me by.

That's seriously dangerous driving, lady.

Also, it made me miss my bus and be late for consultation this morning. Not that any students have turned up yet (at least, not since I arrived).

I'm trying to stay focused on the next week and a bit, because my biggest assignment for the year is due Friday next week. But I've been having to do some summer planning, and it's really quite distracting. It's exciting, though!

I'm going to be doing another summer research project, which is essentially continuing the stuff I'm doing in my research assistant work, but probaby doing a proper study on it. I'll be doing eight weeks instead of ten this time - I need holidays desperately!

I'll have two weeks of holidays after exams finish. If my history exam and the exam for the course I'm tutoring (I'll be marking for that) are early, then I'll have a bit of extra holiday time, too! I'm not sure yet when my RA stuff stops, but that's okay.

I'll also have the Christmas-New Year's week off. Just one week. But then I'll have two weeks of holidays before O Week for first semester next year, so that'll be three weeks off then.

I have no idea what I'm going to do during these holidays. Anything that doesn't involve going to uni, I guess! Have some serious crafty time, maybe go somewhere for a few days or a week. I don't know. But I haven't had real holidays since before first semester classes started this year. I've almost forgotten what they're like!

Tomorrow is the very first World Wide Spin in Public Day!

There'll be a bunch of us out there showing the city that spinning not only still exists but is awesome. If you're in the city tomorrow, come find us at Brisbane Square, from about 10:30 probably until early or mid afternoon.

Those of you not in Brisbane, if you see people spinning in public tomorrow, go say hi!

I've done Knit in Public Day twice before, and it's good fun. We haven't yet managed to get a really large group going, mostly because we've been a lot less organised about getting the word out to the knitters/spinners of the city than we should - Sydney, for example, put together a spectacular day out for WWKIPD. But that's okay. There are a bunch of us, we spend time outdoors in beautiful Brisbane crafting and having fun, and we get plenty of strange looks and interested inquiries!

I expect WWSIPD will get more of both strange looks and interested queries, as there will be spinning wheels present. Spinning wheels fascinate people! Of course, I bet most of the questions (other than "what on earth are you doing?") will be along the lines of "how does it work?" and "is that what sleeping beauty pricked her finger on?", just like at Ekka demonstrations.

Another thing that'll make tomorrow extra fun is that not only is it WWSIPD, it's Talk Like a Pirate Day... so that makes it World Wide Spin Like a Pirate Day! Arrr!

'The Human Adventure' is the last essay in the book I'm studying in my history essay, An Englishman Looks at the World by H. G. Wells, published 1914.

This book has been utterly fascinating - the essays are on a wide range of topics, and Wells is a brilliant, persuasive writer. It's so interesting reading it from a historical perspective, seeing his opinions on all sorts of social and political issues, and knowing its context in terms of social and technological development, and its place in history as post-Victorian and post-Edwardian and immediately prior to WWI. There have been so many paragraphs and sentences I've wanted to share with everyone! So I've decided to post the last essay in the book here.

The full text is available on Project Gutenberg.

( The Human Adventure )

How did it get to be Thursday already? I meant to post this on Monday...

There's a small group of knitters meeting at UQ on Fridays at lunchtimes (12-1) at Darwin's/the biology refectory. We could really use more people, as right now there are only two regular attendees. We neither of us bite, I've just been really bad at going out and telling people about the group. So that's what I'm trying to do now. UQ students, staff, former students, anyone who feels like popping into uni for lunch and a bit of knitting, please join us if you're able! We sit at the tables outside the refec/cafe, eat our lunch, knit, and chat about whatever takes our fancy. Good fun, and very convenient if you're at uni on Fridays (and don't have classes on at that time).

If you're interested, join the group on Ravelry, or comment here with any questions or to let me know if you might come.

:)

As of today, I have at uni:

- 2 general accounts: 1 student, 1 staff
- 4 id numbers: 1 student, 3 staff
- 3 email addresses: 2 student, 1 staff
- 2 uni-wide computer accounts (presumably): 1 student, 1 staff
- 2 school-specific computer accounts: 1 student, 1 staff
- 1 swipe card & 1 key

Did I miss anything? Are you confused yet? I certainly am.

I spent half of today running around uni sorting out several of these accounts, the key, etc. Now that I have all the accounts and passwords, not only should I be able to do one of my two jobs at uni in a room that isn't the general school labs, but I can submit my timesheets and actually get paid. All good things. But I don't know how many times I walked across uni or went up and down the lift in GP-South.

---

A belated but enormously happy birthday to sum_pisces for yesterday! I hope you had a wonderful day, Miss Em'ly :)

I saw Coraline with nupatinga on Sunday. It was fantastic. I want to see it again, but I don't know if I can find half a day free in the next two weeks.

( Rambliness )

Dear Microsoft and Apple,

At the moment, I have two primary computers. One is a PC with Windows Vista, one is a MacBook with OSX. This arrangement has been working well enough for me. I've been using Windows most of my life, but Mac OS is fine too, and I'm glad I got my MacBook and now know what it's like. But that's not what I want to talk about right now.

I am very unhappy with both of your operating systems' update programs right now. I fully understand the importance of OS updates. I like to keep all my software, including the OS, up-to-date. I like things to run smoothly, I like playing with new features, I don't want to be too behind in security. But I almost never install OS updates as soon as the updater tells me they're there. I don't like to disrupt the flow of what I'm doing to wait for updates to install and the OS to restart. That just takes too long. And it can be several days before I finally allow the updates to go through, as I usually like to be around to keep an eye on how the update is going. I also like to look at what the updates are before I install them - I'm happy to make the changes, but want to know what's being changed.

This week, both my computers have had updates waiting for me. They're annoying on the Mac because they keep popping up in front of what I'm doing, and they stop the computer from being turned off until I tell it that no, I don't want it to update right now. They're annoying on Windows because it's not immediately obvious how to turn off the computer without updating, and it's not easily obvious what the updates are. It's easier to forget about the updates on Windows, but the reminders are generally more annoying on Mac.

But this morning something happened which I am not happy about at all. Apparently, Windows had had enough of me putting off the updates. I'd been using the computer for ten or fifteen minutes, just getting into what I was doing, when a Windows Update dialog popped up telling me my computer would restart and install updates in five minutes. There was a countdown. There was a 'Restart now' button. There was also a 'Remind me in...' box and a 'Postpone' button, which were both greyed out. I watched that dialog for five minutes. The 'Postpone' button never became usable. When the countdown reached zero, it began the installing and restarting.

Forcing a restart like that is not on, Microsoft. I'm annoyed enough by forcing updates by removing the ability to shut down without updating, which I remember you doing in the past, and which has happened to me on my MacBook as well. This is ten times worse.

And Apple, don't think that being annoyed with Microsoft about updates is going to make me less annoyed with you. All operating systems have good points and bad points, and I'm not particularly fond of OSX's software update system either.

I'd already planned on getting a new computer soon, which will mostly replace both the two I'm using now. I intend for it to be Linux/Windows, dual-boot. This morning has made me even more keen to have Linux as my main operating system.

Oh, I won't stop using either Mac or Windows entirely. As I said, all operating sytems have good points and bad points, and I like having three (at least) available to me. But, Microsoft and Apple, I need a break from you both.

Betsy

Tomorrow is the QLD Spinners Weavers & Fibre Artists Open Day!

For those of you in Brisbane and interested in crafty stuff, come along! 9am-2pm at 12 Payne St, Auchenflower.

There will be yarn and fibre and books and equipment (new and second hand), as well as all sorts of handmade goodies for sale. And a fibre fashion parade at 11am.



I'll be in the Emporium (the big shop in the old church) most of the day, make sure you say hi if you come!

Oh my goodness, I'm tired.

I spent today at the Spinners stall at the Textile Arts Fair. It's a new show on at the convention centre, and I must say it was pretty fantastic. Shows like Stitches & Craft are good fun, but at this one there was no beading, no scrapbooking, just textiley goodness. Don't get me wrong, beads and paper are wonderful too, but fibre arts are where my heart is, and it's nice to have an event just focused on that.

It was amazingly busy this morning! So many people coming up and asking us about our spinning, weaving, felting etc. I spent most of the day working on my dropspindled turquoise silk cap, which is always good for demonstrations - people love to hear about and see silk. We had a little loom set up, and some wheels, and all sorts of yarns and garments around the stall.

Several people commented that it was such a friendly show - I really did notice that. Lots of people hung around and chatted with us. It was great.

What was also great was seeing some fibrey friends I don't see often, as well as seeing some I'd never before met in person! There are a few people who have fibre/yarn shops who I've become friends with throughout my crafting career, and it's always great to get a chance to say hi to them. And today I met three people I know from the various Australian boards on Ravelry but had never met in person before! What a day.

And I was very well-behaved, too. I only bought three things. One 50g pack of white alpaca/cashmere tops to spin, one 50g ball of the brand-new Morris & Sons Empire in a nice spring green laceweight, and a few buttons to go in swap presents.

What a day. I talked so much my throat got sore. If it wasn't for the tea and lollies and chocolate I don't know how I would've gotten through the day! But it really was fantastic. I'll definitely be there next year.

Next up: assignments. Two big ones for next week.

And on Sunday, there's Open Day! I'll do a proper post about that later tonight.

I've started catching up on several weeks' worth of journals and blogs, and I found this meme that aurillia did, and thought I should do it myself.

( Reading survey )

I just got a letter from Guides Queensland telling me I'm now a Qualified Youth Leader!


I sent in the forms in January, I've been rather worried about whether they got them for the last month. But it seems they did. And there was nothing wrong with the forms. And they're not withholding it because my membership expired in March and there's been a delay renewing it. And it's all good.

So now I officially am what I've essentially been for the last four years or so - a Guide Leader.

I went to the UQ Alumni Book Fair today. I came home with 19 books. Guess how much I paid for the lot? $24.10. I'm rather happy with that. Want to see what I got?

( Books! )

As if I don't have enough things to do with my time already.

Now, the biggest question: what shall I read first? It's good timing, I've finished both the books I was in the middle of (Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the third book in the Soldier Son trilogy by Robin Hobb), so it's time to start a new book. Hmm, so many choices...

PS. Over a quarter of the books I got were non-fiction. Wow. I'm rather proud, really. Actually, it reflects the availability at the fair - it is a university book fair after all, it's mostly non-fiction. Which is good, as I ought to have more non-fiction in my life. Not too much, of course - fiction is terribly important. But a little more non-fiction would do me good.

What am I spending this Easter Sunday doing? Not much. This week is mid-semester break, and I have to get started on my two big essays for the semester, so I spent yesterday doing nothing uni-related, and I intend to do the same today.

I've been working on my shawl as much as possible lately. I really want to finish it so I can block it and see what it looks like!

I'm up to row 128 or so, and at the moment there's about 640 stitches to each row - and it's only getting bigger. I have 40 or so rows to go - not exactly sure, as I've misplaced the last page of the pattern and haven't reprinted it yet. This is what it looks like now:



See why I can't wait to block it? You can only see the further-out lace with the assistance of a knee:



I also took advantage of the rainless morning (a rarity in the last week or so) to take pictures of some of the more recent additions to my fibre stash that I hadn't photographed yet:

( Wool, wool, beautiful wool... )

Oh - happy Easter, everyone! Hope you're all having a good long weekend :)

The first two weeks of uni are going pretty well. It took until Tuesday afternoon to get my timetable all finalised, but things are all good now. I have no classes Mondays and Wednesdays, which is nice. It looks like my three linguistics courses will be tremendous fun, though they'll have constant work for me to do. I'm still not as clear as I'd like to be on what will happen with my year-long IT project, though.

I've been reading Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy for the last few weeks. I'm not going to say much about it now, as I've taken some time off in the middle of book 3 for I am Legend (by Richard Matheson - for bookclub, which I couldn't go to because I wasn't feeling well enough to get there :( ). Suffice it to say that I'm finding the Soldier Son books quite intriguing, though not as good as the Farseer Trilogy or The Liveship Traders.

I've been knitting and tatting a lot these last couple of weeks, too. I tatted a pendant for katrina_splat, which was fun. I got good practice in designing a pattern, and good practice in tatting small shapes, as I had to make it twice! The beads I used the first time around turned out to be dodgy, and I didn't notice until after I'd finished it. In knitting, I've been working on my circular shawl. I can't remember if I posted about having to frog it - at about 50 rows (out of 160) I had to pull it all out because I'd mis-read the pattern. But it's going again! It's big enough now that you can't really see the full thing, but here's a glimpse:



I've had a pretty good couple of weeks - settling back into uni, knitting, going to Movieworld, Katrina's dinner, and the opening of a new yarn store. I'm sorry for being so slack about posting about it :)

Hope you've all been having a good couple of weeks too!

Oh, I almost forgot! I got a postcard from the Roman Forum! Thanks, Eleanor :)

Also forgot to mention that I saw Watchmen last week. Thought about the same of it as I did of the graphic novel - really good, but... This morning I found this through metaquotes - it may amuse Watchmen fans.

There was the paprika about a year and a half ago.

There was the bull last August.

In October there was a llama.

Two weeks ago there was a crocodile.

Did I miss any good ones? What do you think will be next?

Finalising my courses for this semester has been unbelievably complicated.

( Long story. )

Yesterday afternoon Mom and I played with dyes.

I dyed 118g of wool/silk (15% silk) sliver for a fibre swap, and 68g of kid mohair to keep for myself. I'm really happy with how they turned out!

Wanna see?



( Colourful fibre fun )

I think I need to play with dyeing more often.

I had fun yesterday :)

Dessert aside, though, we hit our internet download quota, so our connection at home is impossibly slow. I can read check email and read LJ, mostly, but I can't access some other sites. So I won't be online at home much until February. Hurray for university computers and the fact that UQ doubled student monthly download quota this year!

My parents and I are sitting in the airconditioning, watching the Australian Open. I'm reading stuff in the Ravelry forums in between points, and working on my circular shawl:


(old pic - I've done about 40 more rows since then)

When the tennis is over (or when I get too tired to watch any more), I'll read a bit more of The Lady and the Unicorn by Isolde Martin (one of my Bookfest finds), which I started last night. It turned out not to actually be fantasy - I'm not too far, but I believe the 'unicorn' refers to the French crown - it's historical fiction, and characters are being exiled to France. It's reasonably accurate, and what little of the plot I've seen so far is good. My only real problem with it is that I'm sick of hearing about how much the lead male character likes the lead female. I got the idea, you can move on now. Fortunately, I can laugh at it.

The knitting calls me back now, and Jelena is down two games in the second set, so I think I'll say goodbye now. To the Aussies - hope you're all having a good long weekend :)