Twenty twelve.

Olá ladies and gentlemen! I hope everyone had started off their brand new year with reasonable frabjousness and you've got exciting things ahead. School's started again, and I feel the unmistakable burn of acute disinterest, it'll pass one of these days.

I did some crafts for family and friends this Christmas. I made up some wee cards, which I had tons of fun cutting those tiny snowflakes that you fold and then unfold. They didn't end up really looking like snowflakes at all, you win some and you lose some. I was also lame this Christmas and had to give my Gran and my parents the old 'book of coupons', whose orders are never filled. Ever. I promised both my Gran and my mother a pair of handknitted socks. I have tried knitting socks twice. Both times have almost ended in me trying to gouge my eyes out with knitting needles. It was the easy way out of a no-money Christmas gift. The guilt. Oh the guilt.

I also made my Gran a tiny tree ornament and I made my roomie a shark feltie, with an important message embroidered on it. I got some great functional things for Christmas, including an electric blanket (also known as my new best friend), a nice windbreaker and a power drill. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am now a twenty-something woman who owns her own damn power tools. Also, steak knives.

The holidays gave me time to mull some things over that required a bit of mulling. I spent a lovely week in Canmore with my parents and aunt, visiting my grandparents' farm on boxing day. After a lacklustre new years eve spent waiting for each member of my family to drop off to sleep before the ball dropped, we packed our bags and caught an early flight to Mexico that new years day.

Asides from a bout of food poisoning, which still is following me around and reminding me of it's presence at inopportune moments, the holidays were great. Time spent with people who enjoy listening to things I have to say and remain supportive of me in my old age. It's always nice to go back home for a stint, takes me away from my own life and puts me right in with another. I did quite a bit of reading - having told myself I couldn't read anything except for textbooks and film writings last semester, I reveled in some good ole science fiction paperbacks. I enjoyed both Hyperion by Dan Simmons and Ringworld by Larry Niven. I also finished, at long last, Film Lighting by Malkiewicz - which was an absolutely fantastic read. A combination of technical references and interviews with professionals. I cracked open Walden, only to have to close it and declare it one of those books I'll save for a 'rainy day', which in all likelihood means I wont pick it up for another three or four years. I'm also in the middle of Professional Film Lighting by Carlson and Carlson - which is a dated book, being about as old as I am, but I'm using it as an intermediate for when I crack open the Set Lighting Technician's Handbook by Box. I also got a fancy subscription to American Cinematographer for Christmas with a load of backissues to delve into. I haven't had a magazine subscription since middle school, and AC is a fantastic read. So I am rather pleased.

Having dropped my economics course for this semester, thank goodness, my class schedule has thinned out considerably. This is quite nice, as it gives me plenty of time to be on sets (I've already spent over 40 hours on set in the past week) and actively seeking a new job. My first screenwriting class last week culminated in a half page of notes and personified bacon, toast and eggs smiling and holding hands. It was a productive day. Needless to say, being back in school hurts a little this semester. It's so blase. This is the tail end of my fourth year in University. It feels sort of like forever. Which is unpleasant.

It's been curious, these past five months or so, I've gone through some strange internal things that have culminated in, what I can only describe as, a bit of a reinvention via insane amounts of stress, worry and doubt. Becoming agonizingly aware of how I function around other people has forced me to recon with the image that I put out to other people and the little slice of non-reputation I seem to have with my peers. It's been curious, but rather enlightening. I've experienced these things very much in stages, first realizing that I never had anything to say because, in my mind, other people's word come before my own. Then I just sort of started ignoring everyone. Now I'm onto the stage of, yes I have things to say, but I am just going to sit here and listen to what you have to say instead of telling you what I think. It's a process, ladies and gentlemen. It's hard to contest with people who can so easily hold their intelligence over your head, and it's hard to see through that jack-assery to the fact that you can, indeed, be intelligent but not arrogant.

Anyways, lots of living and learning going on, as per usual. I haven't been feeling too great this week, so I haven't gotten a whole lot done between that and being on set. But I hope I can level out next week and get some things done. I turn 21 in just over a month, and although I don't think I've changed too much in the past year, I seem to have learned a lot. I'm seeking a bit of shuffling around in my routine, so I'm hoping I can land a new job in the next month or so and get on with things. It feels like I've been stubbornly sitting in a puddle for the past little while. It's nice to realize what I want, and it's nice to know that maybe I'm getting to the point where I feel empowered enough to go out and get it. Again, it's a process.

For Freak Steaks is back up and running - cinematography stuff and junk. Vunderbaar!
I've also gotten a Mubi account, if any of you are into that.

Giraffe and a new year.

Well folks, 2011 is finally here. I've told myself I'm doing a lot of things differently in these coming 12 months, so we shall see how that goes.

Just a short post today, as I need to hit the books before bedtime to get the ball rolling.

Here's a giraffe I made at the request of a friend of mine for her boyfriend's cousin.  See some 'in progress' posts here and here. I had some problems planning and assembling this one.  It seemed to take ages and ages to finish.

Due to the fact that sewing machines still put the fear of god in me, it was mostly stitched by hand - but thankfully my mom stepped in to help sew up the arms and legs with her intense seamstress skills on the day before I needed to ship it!

I used minky fabric for the body and felt for the details. The minky was horrifying to work with. It sheds and is slippery to sew with. But it ended up looking alright, thank goodness! I monogramed an M on one of the hooves for the eventual recipient. The lower legs and belly are filled with rice that I tied in bits of nylon stocking to give it a bit of weight. Unfortunately, I think I overstuffed it a little bit. I would have liked the legs to hang down a little more freely. As I am generally pleased with the body shape, I am not too pleased with the face. I had not devised a solid way to build the horns or make the nose a little more... nose-like.  I do like the eyes (from Suncatcher) and the eyelashes.

Some handy things I learned with this one:

• Build complex felties out of paper first, serves as a 'measure twice, cut once' substitute and creates a handy pattern as well
• Never work with minky ever, ever again
• Rice works MUCH better than tapioca pearls if you want a little weight
• Rice works even better when put in bits of an old stocking tied at the ends to keep things nice and tidy
• To, once again, not leave these kinds of things to the last minute
• Giraffes look sort of dumb without their horns

I've got some other things to post, recipies and Christmas crafts mostly - but that can wait until another time.

I hope everyone had an absolutely fantastic break. I certainly did - though coming back to my empty basement suite was a bit of a shock and I'm thankful I have people here I can bum around with every so often or else I'd get awful lonely.

Some classmates from the film program and I went to see a Taxi Driver/Raging Bull double bill at the Cinematheque the other night. It was so fantastic seeing Taxi Driver properly and seeing Raging Bull for the first time. But walking out of the theater after that much Scorsese was a little disorienting. I'm also very, very excited that the Cinematheque is getting in a ton of Chaplin feature films in on 35mm and showing them throughout January and February! Unfortunately, due to my measly student funds, I'll have to pick and choose which of these I attend. It'll be like trying to pick which child you like the most.

Other news I'll sum up here: I'm currently in an obsessive Harry Potter state, I cooked my first whole chicken last week, that was pretty exciting, the word of the day today was infarction and I've started studying chemistry on my own time to make myself feel less dumb.

Anyways, that's that. Hope all is just peachy with everyone and the new year is treating you all very well!

From here.