Quick Book Review

All right, lately I haven't had a lot of time for reading. Turns out, two jobs and full time grad school takes up most of my schedule. Who knew, right?

Anyway, I have been able to read one book: Triggered by Fletcher Wortmann. It's a memoir about the challenges of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and his own struggles with the disease. I found it a fun and enlightening read because I myself occasionally have anxiety attacks and have been considered OCD in the past. My decision to read it stemmed from the desire to understand the disorder better and to see it through the eyes of someone else.

Wortmann has a very clear voice when he writes, and I also found it easy to relate to him (aside from his love of dinosaurs. There's definitely something about boys and dinosaurs I don't think I will ever fully understand, but will happily support). There were moments when he wrote passages that immediately reminded me of myself, such as when talking about his shy nature he mentions that if he didn't have something profound to say, he would say nothing at all and would end up being ignored. Something I have also experienced many times.

The writing is light and humorous most of the time, but Wortmann then quickly shifts into a darker, harsher tone to illustrate his struggles. He also successfully keeps the story mainly on himself and allows the other people in his life to be mentioned, but never tainted with bitterness or dislike. Even when talking about "The Girl," the first girl he ever loved, she becomes a mix of problems, but also hints at what made her such an intriguing person.

Some of the writing becomes awkward, but the book is hard to put down. It moves quickly through his childhood and college years (since Wortmann is still in his twenties, there's not much more) and gives just the right amount of his everyday life and his struggles with the disorder, allowing a thorough and indulging narrative into his life and mind.

Although I don't feel like I now fully understand OCD after reading Triggered, I do feel like I have more respect for those suffering from mental illnesses and can now also see more of a spectrum of disorders rather than a black and white version of either you have a mental illness or you don't.

Procrastination...

Now, I don't know how many people out there are fans of the video game, Sly Cooper, but I certainly am. I pretty much got a Playstation 2 of my own just so I could get my hands on Sly Cooper: Theivius Racoonus, not to mention Sly 2: Band of Thieves and Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves. My brother and I now wait impatiently for the fourth game, that likes to push back its release date. I thought I would have it last fall, but now anxiously hope to play it this summer!

Sly Cooper. Cute little racoon, isn't he?

Granted, I don't have a PS3, but my wonderful brother does. It will be his game and I offered to help buy it as part of his birthday present (since games are expensive and we're both suffering from college-syndrome). He assures me he'll let me play the game in the summer after he's beaten it, and I know he'll be true to his word. He's a good guy, my brother.

Anyhoo, I recently found a link on reddit , where a girl made these adorable and a half headbands based off of her favorite things. The full thread can be followed here. I was immediately inspired and wanted to make my own. I liked how thin she made them as well as how unique they were.

marmosetohmarmoset is awesome.

I had always wanted something that could illustrate my love for Sly Cooper and the gang and ended up with a pretty simply design. Sly has a logo he likes to place on the crime scene just to mess with Inspector Carmelita, and it's quite snazzy, if I may say.

Sly leaving his calling card.

So naturally, I made it into a headband.

Sly Cooper Headband

I put a button at the end so that I could make it tighter if I wanted to. I've already gotten some compliments for it because I've worn it to work. It's a nice little accessory and takes barely any time to make at all!

So, a long post for something small, but what's life without the story?

Christmas Crafts Part Two

All right, so this post will focus on the odds and ends I made for my family. Most were inspired by the people who ended up getting the gifts, and no two are the same. Here we go again:

The only scarf I have ever knitted. A fun experience, but I'll stick with crochet, thanks.

A Pokeball for my dearest and favorite brother (fortunately, I only have one).

A necklace for my sister.

Matching earrings also for my sister.

I just realized I did not take pictures of the other necklace I made, but that's fine. My last project for the season involved painting tins for other people. I ended up painting five with acrylic paint.

These are the lids before I painted, but after I put gesso on them.

I first put gesso on the tins as shown above. For those non-artsy folk, gesso is an acrylic base that helps the paint perform better on the material. Usually, it's used on  canvas so that the paint doesn't just soak into the canvas and makes it easier for the artist. In this  case, it made it a lot easier to paint on the metal tins.

Sailing on Lake Erie

A sled in the snow

Tragoss, Austria

Skating on the Green Lake

Puppies in the snow

The ones with the mountains are from pictures I took while traveling in Switzerland and Austria. I did add the snow because when I was there, it was May, but that's a technicality. Each tin took about forty minutes or so to paint. I altered the images to also include a little character for the people who would eventually own them, such as the dogs in the last image.

I filled them with homemade Turkish Delight, but I'll probably not be making candy again anytime soon. Let's just say it was an educational experience and leave it at that. It's my favorite candy ever since living in London for a semester (see my blog, Mind the American for more on that) and I wanted to share it with others. The tins were the real present though, and I'm happy with how they turned out.

Stay tuned for more creativity and nonsense!

Christmas Crafts Part One

Well, it's been awhile, but here we go again. Since the  end of my first semester of grad school, I immediately descended into crafty mode for the wonderful Christmas holiday. I was so busy, I will need multiple posts (probably three) to show off everything I made. Today, I will focus only on the many many many-- and by that I mean seventeen-- Christmas cards I made for my fantastic group of family and friends here they are:

These are mainly the ones that liked loading. I made them from recycled wrapping paper we use at one of my jobs. This might become a tradition of mine, and it only took a Sunday to make them all. The best part was making each card unique for someone special to me.

Tune in next time for the rest of my nifty creations!

Update on my Life...

Life can be a stressful place, full of very low lows that can make the world dark and oppressing. These are the moments where even the strong may break down multiple times in one day as the issues keep piling up, forcing the person to feel like the world has turned over and soon the fires of Hell will lick her ankles. With every hour last Wednesday, I felt my world trying to crumble beneath my feet, and could almost hear those pesky little demons laughing and chanting my name from the deepest darkest depths.

Now that I've been nice and dramatic, let me tell you my tale. It actually began Tuesday when for some reason, we had no internet connection in the house. No worry, thought I, I only have grad school to do and seeing as Tuesday is my only day off, I usually take care of the lectures and keep myself on track that day, but it's fine. I've needed a break in a long time, so I'll take the day off from life as a whole. My two jobs keep me busy enough without the help of grad school, and I found all I wanted was time to myself. Thus I spent the day watching crappy television while crocheting because it's a relaxing and useful skill of mine, especially as I make Christmas presents. Tuesday flew by and we soon acquired internet once more. I decided to wake up early on Wednesday and watch my videos, but first, I noticed Windows 7 wanted to update on my computer. Being a good little girl that I am, I allowed it to do this instead of waiting until it forced the update, perhaps at a time that did not really benefit me.

Soon, it was Wednesday, and as planned I work up early and pulled open my computer, Zachary. At first, all seemed well and I began to watch my videos. But alas! Something went wrong! A few minutes into my first lecture, Zachary started to slow down and then stopped responding. I tried clicking around a bit, but got nothing. Eventually, I turned it off and on again in frustration, hoping that would fix the problem-- it didn't. For a whole hour, I kept trying to get it to work. I tried running scans for viruses, but  the machine would slow down too soon and abort the scan, so I couldn't even tell if it was a virus or not. Unfortunately, since it was Wednesday and not Tuesday, I had to get ready for work. Both jobs in fact, since I worked the other one that night.

In my frustration, I broke down for the first time before climbing into the shower, letting the hot water wash off my tears and get me ready for a hard day. I packed up Zachary and brought him to work, so that I could perhaps get him help between jobs. When I got to my first job, my boss let me continue to try to figure out Zachary. I called Dell and got as much help as I could since my warranty already expired. Then I tried a few tests and got nowhere. My computer seemed mostly fine, so what was wrong? I texted my computer-savvy boyfriend, but got no response.

I went home in defeat after my first job and tried to relax before the next one, since I still had no idea what to do. Computers and I usually get along because I know a little about them, but I knew I needed an expert. I went to my next job, hoping to use the computers there to at least do some homework and try to get back on track.

Alas! My problems were not over yet! There, I found two anxious messages in my inbox saying I forgot to take a quiz for a class. Once again, I broke down, feeling everything crash around me. I pulled myself together though, and emailed my professor. After a quick email chat back and forth, she let me take the quiz with a 15% reduction. I said fine and took it immediately. To be fair, this means I did not do exceeding well, but I finished and got it over with. I learned my lesson and have marked down the next quiz, hoping to regain some points by that score.

Finally, my boyfriend responded to my three texts I sent: one to tell him my computer was broken, one to ask if he could come visit me at work and fix it, and one to illustrate my frustration after I found out I hadn't taken the quiz. See, I'm not a crazy texter like other girls. I like giving people a chance to answer if I can. He told me to come over and immediately took Zachary from my hands. If not for him, I would not be writing this now.

Long story short, I got Zachary back and can work on him, even though he's not entirely fixed. I can at least stay on top of my classes and even wrote 6,000 words today of my novel. I'm still 4,000 (soon to be 5,667) words behind, but I'll figure it out and just write more words a day. My crisis has been averted and I live to see another day!

My Upcoming Adventure!

So right now, my life is a mix of grad school and work with odd tidbits of a struggling social life thrown in occasionally for good measure. I've noticed that my productivity and attention to my studies and work have started to sway and lack because I'm starting to get warn out and sick of the rut I've fallen into.

Thus I naturally have decided to add more to my work schedule! But not just extra work, this is special and different. Since my freshman year in college, I found out about National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) from my lovely friend, but unfortunately, never had time to participate. Don't get me wrong, I've been writing stories since I was eight. I started writing my first novel-length story when I was ten (granted, it's now my most challenging work because it has a lot of holes from thinking too much), and finished my first full novel at 14, then finishing two shorter ones by 16. Put simply, I feel like I'm capable of writing another novel and love the opportunity. To me, it is just fun to get the words out of my head and onto paper. I've published only in small journals (read this as little nothings) and haven't won any awards for my writing, but I have always gotten high marks in my Creative Writing classes-- even in London-- so don't let that fool you!

I will now be writing 1,667 words a day, which should be doable. This blog for the time being will become my stresses and failures, but also my reliefs and successes. It will be a creative break from the norm and allow me to enter my mind into the land of make-believe. A place where I should go more often, but am unfortunately too lame to do so.

Last night, I brainstormed parts of the story, but I won't go too far into brainstorming because I will allow the story to take me. It fell WONDERFUL to simply create the characters and think up tension. I can't wait to start writing tomorrow!

Wish me luck, and I'll keep you posted!

I should definitely be studying...

I work hours at my two jobs then come home to work hours on my masters degree. Simply put, if I can find some time to create, it seems like a miracle. That, or I'm starting to procrastinate way more than I should.

Anyhoo, my latest necklace:

I was mostly just playing around, but this took awhile to make. My goal will be to make my own beads eventually, but for now I'm using store-bought beads. I got this idea from online, but I can't find where. I do like how it turned out, though. Granted, working with chain can be a pain, and I have a slight bruise on my left pointer finger from opening and closing the little chain-links. Worth the pain, in the end.