John Barrowman
James Masters
James Masters playing a bad boy ....
OH GOD I'm in Lust Heaven .....
And I've only watched the first 8 minutes.
Torchwood Season Two first episode - don;t miss it !!!!!
Well don't miss the first 8 minutes - I'll report back on the rest of the episode as soon as I finish watching it .....
Oh God James Masters loves playing the bad boy !!!!!
EDIT: 2 more minutes in and we have a snog !!!!
Yeee Haaa !!!!!
Tuesday, 26 February 2008
Monday, 25 February 2008
Picture Perfect theme this week is ~ Shadow ~
OK - I've put off doing these - they require energy and imagination - both of which are in short supply lately - but I *knew* I had the perfect picture for this one I think - if a silhouette is considered a shadow ????
And now some rules for the newbies
(not that anyone pays them the slightest bit of attention)
~ Each week a theme will be posted up on Wednesday, and you are invited to put up your best picture with that theme in mind, it should be just
ONE and ORIGINAL,
i.e not off the internet,
Then come back and post a comment on this page
so that everyone can link to your blog and see your pic.
By all means mention your camera and lens used, and if the picture has been altered or enhanced in anyway! Out of the box thinking is encouraged!!
Please open your page for viewing for all for that day...and then visit as many others as you can! Try and post a decent size pic on your blog page, so much is lost if the pic is too small or too big.
The entries will close at midnight on Friday.
Play nice....and have fun out there!
....ooOoo....
THANK YOU!
As some of you know I've not had an exactly good start to 2008. Nothing terrible or life threatening, just tiring self esteem issues at home and at work.A few of you have noticed I've been a bit subdued except for of course my emotional outburst on the topic of Romance ....
A number of wonderful friends had sent me messages and RAKs of support in the last couple of weeks and I'm sorry I just haven't had the energy to write and thank you.
That changed today when I got the sweetest RAK out of the blue from Chele! She included the sweetest note with it !!! I'm putting the note up over my desk at work and will read it whenever events get me down!
Thank you also Voldeminion for the lovely Mill HIll treasures - I'll pop them in with the charts as soon as find them again :)
Thank you Claire for the lovely bag - it looks like an oversize pencil case and it has Party Cats on it - its sooooo awesome !!!!!! And it fits one whole block of chocolate ... slurp.
Finally thank you so much Laura - two gifts from you - sent eight weeks apart - arrive one day apart! Yes the Christmas card Laura posted on 17 December 2007 arrived in later February 2008! The lovely card in commiseration for my recent relationship break up was posted early Feb and arrived one day later than the Xmas card !!!!!!!!
Pics of all pressies are: http://gothtigger.multiply.com/photos/album/69
I've been in a huge stitching slump lately, so I've been doing organising and cleaning and updating my Lust Lists so at least I feel somewhat productive. I'm going to go and find some fabric now and start the chart that Chele sent. As I stitch it I'm going to think of her affirmation "For every stitch, think of another person who loves you just the way you are right now!"
Saturday, 23 February 2008
Lust List - Accessories
Alphabet M Needleminder
Kelmscott Designs
http://kelmscottdesigns.com/
OK There are the *other* stitching related things I'd like to acquire :) :)
Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Very very Interesting read ....
Reputation reputaion oh Iago my reputation.
What has the Internet and its proloferation of blogs, vodeo streams and chat rooms done for people's personal pirvacy and reputations?
An Internet lawyer has written a book on it:
The Future of Reputation: Gossip, rumour and privacy on the Internet by Daniel J. Solove.
Full text of the entire book - .....
Written in an engaging style it is a thought provioking and somertimes challenging read ....
Well chapter one is so far anyway :) :) :)
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dsolove/Future-of-Reputation/text.htm
What has the Internet and its proloferation of blogs, vodeo streams and chat rooms done for people's personal pirvacy and reputations?
An Internet lawyer has written a book on it:
The Future of Reputation: Gossip, rumour and privacy on the Internet by Daniel J. Solove.
Full text of the entire book - .....
Written in an engaging style it is a thought provioking and somertimes challenging read ....
Well chapter one is so far anyway :) :) :)
http://docs.law.gwu.edu/facweb/dsolove/Future-of-Reputation/text.htm
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Precious Maggots
Remember Precious Moments ???? And the kerfuffle on the BAPXS list about them - well I've found an artist who also thinks about PM :)http://www.metalandmagic.com/modules.php?set_albumName=silly&id=bopeep&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php
Look through the entire site - I love her work !!!!!
The Maelstrom in my mind
I went to Melbourne last week expecting* to have a hard week keeping up with an intensive learning course - expecting to be behind the rest of the class.
What I came back from Melbourne with was a reconnection with friends, a reaffirmation of self, a reaffirmation of long term goals, a new career path and a doctoral thesis proposal.
This post discusses the first two and will be sent to Contacts only - I'll decide on the privacy levels of the others ....
Warning this post is exceedingly indulgent and is focused on me, myself, my ego. So feel free to delete and move along :)
As any of you who have been reading and responding to my rantings and ravings know, I've been feeling a little lost and quite negative so far this year. I've tried to put a positive spin on things, tried to create a plan and framework to go on ... to try to become myself again. It was still hard and I was still not very happy.
Come the trip to Melbourne and I am met at the airport by a lovely lapsed friend. We were very close about seven years ago but life moves on and we lost touch down to the group emailing of jokes every six months or so. I will say however, he always sent me an Ascii Rose txt on Valentine's Day and a txt on my birthday. I confess I can't remember when his birthday is ..... bad Mel!
Stephen and I hadn't seen each other in nearly seven years and I was quite unsure whether I'd even recognise him. We hit it off immediately. That connection, that friendship that understanding was still there.
After I was settled at my hotel we went into the CBD and met up with friend R. R is a sweet guy that I met as a friend of S those 7 years ago. Hadn't seen or spoken with him since. Again we hit it off immediately. Same sense of humour, finishing off each other jokes - we even have the same taste in men! God it was good perving with him! I love Melbourne!
Anyway stayed up chatting with both men for long after I should have been in bed !!!
Monday night met up with Stephen again for dinner and again talked long into the night. Topics ranged all over from personal to politics to mutual friends to you name it!
Then Tuesday his work flew him to the other side of the country and I managed to get more sleep for the rest of the week.
That Sunday night I amused both men entirely by my constant reiteration of "oh God - I'm back with normal people"!
I miss being around people who share the same thoughts ideals and sense of humour :)
Last night I had a fantasy romance dream - you know the one. Literal man of your dreams! No wasn't Stephen or R or any other real person, was literally my "perfect man"! Hey I could write a Mills and Boon :) But then again I wasn't me either - I was my dream self ** Anyway one of the tings that I brought away from this dream is that I now know what I want from a life partner. For the first time I can articulate it.
And its all wrapped up in my sense of self.
I was speaking with my dad on the phone this morning and explaining where I was having issues with the lecturer last week. I'll post the story in another blog but essentially I was thinking outside the box and making suggestions to the old professor - he had no idea how to respond to me. As I said to Dad "he's not used to dealing with people like me".
Dad's response - how many people "can" deal with you Miss?
Answer not many. My mum, Stephen, even R on a surface level - a previous lover J. Not many people truly understand what goes on in my head. Paul certainly never did. Neither did my husband.
When asked what I do for a living I always respond "I create order from chaos". I've had nicknames from Evil Overlord through the Borg Queen over the years (Borg Queen is my current one from the geeks at work).
But there are times when I cannot articulate what is going in inside my own head. There are many times, especially where emotions are involved, that I get into such a muddle and I cannot work out my own mind. That's when I talk to my mum or someone close who can help me see the forests for the trees. Stephen is another than I can do that with. ( even discussed this blog post with him)
In my dream last night my fantasy partner was someone who could pick out from my brain *** the salient points I was trying to get across. Who understood me without my needing to fumble with inadequate words.
Does this person exist? Probably not. Is this for me the defining quality in a potential partner? You bet.
It sounds stupid but I'm really happy that I finally worked this out.
Yes a partner would need to have an equitable sense of humour, a decent level of hygiene, love, me cherish me, respect me, all those usual things - but the defining point for me is "can he work through the Maelstrom in my mind?"
Side notes and Side issues:
These came to me while I was writing the above but decided to put them down here to preserve the narrative flow of the main text.
* Yes Teegs I can see how starting a new email is a trigger for a cig for you - as I started this blog post I immediately put my hand in the nut jar. Have stopped and moved it and replaced it with my water bottle :)
** In my dreams I am usually a bit taller, slender (so a lot less weight) have naturally red hair, piercing green eyes, a sweetheart face with a widows peak and I'm much more erudite and less coarse. Even my flirting is witty - think female Oscar Wilde. That's my usual dream self.
*** no not literally - that would be messy - and painful.
What I came back from Melbourne with was a reconnection with friends, a reaffirmation of self, a reaffirmation of long term goals, a new career path and a doctoral thesis proposal.
This post discusses the first two and will be sent to Contacts only - I'll decide on the privacy levels of the others ....
Warning this post is exceedingly indulgent and is focused on me, myself, my ego. So feel free to delete and move along :)
As any of you who have been reading and responding to my rantings and ravings know, I've been feeling a little lost and quite negative so far this year. I've tried to put a positive spin on things, tried to create a plan and framework to go on ... to try to become myself again. It was still hard and I was still not very happy.
Come the trip to Melbourne and I am met at the airport by a lovely lapsed friend. We were very close about seven years ago but life moves on and we lost touch down to the group emailing of jokes every six months or so. I will say however, he always sent me an Ascii Rose txt on Valentine's Day and a txt on my birthday. I confess I can't remember when his birthday is ..... bad Mel!
Stephen and I hadn't seen each other in nearly seven years and I was quite unsure whether I'd even recognise him. We hit it off immediately. That connection, that friendship that understanding was still there.
After I was settled at my hotel we went into the CBD and met up with friend R. R is a sweet guy that I met as a friend of S those 7 years ago. Hadn't seen or spoken with him since. Again we hit it off immediately. Same sense of humour, finishing off each other jokes - we even have the same taste in men! God it was good perving with him! I love Melbourne!
Anyway stayed up chatting with both men for long after I should have been in bed !!!
Monday night met up with Stephen again for dinner and again talked long into the night. Topics ranged all over from personal to politics to mutual friends to you name it!
Then Tuesday his work flew him to the other side of the country and I managed to get more sleep for the rest of the week.
That Sunday night I amused both men entirely by my constant reiteration of "oh God - I'm back with normal people"!
I miss being around people who share the same thoughts ideals and sense of humour :)
Last night I had a fantasy romance dream - you know the one. Literal man of your dreams! No wasn't Stephen or R or any other real person, was literally my "perfect man"! Hey I could write a Mills and Boon :) But then again I wasn't me either - I was my dream self ** Anyway one of the tings that I brought away from this dream is that I now know what I want from a life partner. For the first time I can articulate it.
And its all wrapped up in my sense of self.
I was speaking with my dad on the phone this morning and explaining where I was having issues with the lecturer last week. I'll post the story in another blog but essentially I was thinking outside the box and making suggestions to the old professor - he had no idea how to respond to me. As I said to Dad "he's not used to dealing with people like me".
Dad's response - how many people "can" deal with you Miss?
Answer not many. My mum, Stephen, even R on a surface level - a previous lover J. Not many people truly understand what goes on in my head. Paul certainly never did. Neither did my husband.
When asked what I do for a living I always respond "I create order from chaos". I've had nicknames from Evil Overlord through the Borg Queen over the years (Borg Queen is my current one from the geeks at work).
But there are times when I cannot articulate what is going in inside my own head. There are many times, especially where emotions are involved, that I get into such a muddle and I cannot work out my own mind. That's when I talk to my mum or someone close who can help me see the forests for the trees. Stephen is another than I can do that with. ( even discussed this blog post with him)
In my dream last night my fantasy partner was someone who could pick out from my brain *** the salient points I was trying to get across. Who understood me without my needing to fumble with inadequate words.
Does this person exist? Probably not. Is this for me the defining quality in a potential partner? You bet.
It sounds stupid but I'm really happy that I finally worked this out.
Yes a partner would need to have an equitable sense of humour, a decent level of hygiene, love, me cherish me, respect me, all those usual things - but the defining point for me is "can he work through the Maelstrom in my mind?"
Side notes and Side issues:
These came to me while I was writing the above but decided to put them down here to preserve the narrative flow of the main text.
* Yes Teegs I can see how starting a new email is a trigger for a cig for you - as I started this blog post I immediately put my hand in the nut jar. Have stopped and moved it and replaced it with my water bottle :)
** In my dreams I am usually a bit taller, slender (so a lot less weight) have naturally red hair, piercing green eyes, a sweetheart face with a widows peak and I'm much more erudite and less coarse. Even my flirting is witty - think female Oscar Wilde. That's my usual dream self.
*** no not literally - that would be messy - and painful.
Saturday, 16 February 2008
Friday, 15 February 2008
I'm home
Well I'm home !!! I can now identify a book that was written in Western Europe between 1750 and 1850 :)
I'll throw some pics of my course and of lovely Melbourne tomorrow - I'm off to bed now - very very tired !!!!
Will catch up qwith emails and blogs later in the weekend .....
I'll throw some pics of my course and of lovely Melbourne tomorrow - I'm off to bed now - very very tired !!!!
Will catch up qwith emails and blogs later in the weekend .....
Monday, 11 February 2008
My first day .....
Yes I'm back at school again :) :)
I'm quite a bit behind the rest of the class - being the only person *not* to have gone to the the previous three summer schools - but hey I'm soaking it up and catching up as fast as I can.
Given how intensive the pace is, I've come down tot he State Library and nabbed some internet access time to transcribe my day's notes while I can still make some sense of them. I don;t know if any of you will make any sense of them - but I thought seeing as I had to transcribe them anyway - I will put them here and then clean them up afterwards.
Books in Transition 1750-1850.
This is the transition period between when books were completely hand made and when they were completely machine made.
The dating is arbitrary and could easily be extended to 1890 when the first typesetting machines were introduced, but 1820-1830 saw the machinery changes be popularised. This course is aimed specifically at English History, but does include elements from other countries. Why England? Because that is the academics speciality.
First a history of Copyright Law.
What is copy right? It is the right of the printers to print the copy they hold. They held this copy int he form of typeset for printing. Include here definition of typeset and platens. Publishers want copyright to exist. They owned the rights to copy text. They had this in their possession, it was an economic value that they owned and wished to preserve.
At this time, authors did not hold copyright to their own material. They sold their material / manuscripts to the publishers/stationers entirely. Milton sold his Paradise Lost for 5 pounds. during this time the concept of authorship (except for playwrights) was unknown. Many medieval treatise were anonymous. Eg who wrote Piers Ploughman in the 13th century? We only know who printed the text. During this time authors were rewarded by patronage and sinecures in government departments (ie being made Master of the Horse). They were not paid for their work - they did not make their living out of each item published.
The only difference here was dramatists - during this time (1557) dramatists were paid on the third night their play was staged.
Side note: The industry was formulated differently at this time. There were:
Booksellers - small business printer and seller. They held ownership of the copy they printed.
Stationers - booksellers with permanent stalls. At this time the Stationers Company was composed of essentially Master Printers.
The status and job responsibilities for printers publishers and book sellers separated in the 1750-1850 time period.
From 1750-1850
Publishers - capitalists, copy holders, wholesalers., eg Longmans.
Printers - separate trade, eg Cambridge University Press.
Retail booksellers.
1557. Reign of Queen Mary. Catholics again ruled England. In 1557 the Stationer's Company was established. This listed the Stationers on a register (for six pence) and they were accorded and recorded as having the rights to print a particular work. They had the RIGHT to print COPY. Duh Copyright.
The Crown and the Stationers had common interests. The Crown gave rights to publish certain copy to particular stationers. This allowed the Crown to censor or prevent publication of seditious and/or blasphemous publications. The Stationers got a monopoly and protection of that monopoly. Anyone printing texts outside the law could be prosecuted and their copy and equipment could be smashed or thrown into the Thames.
Curiously at the time, the Crown delegated all Censorship rights and duties tot he leading Religious order.
1670 - According tot he OED, this is the first time book copying is recorded as piracy.
1695 - Pre-publication censorship lapsed during the 1688 revolution. his was during the period of the Restoration of Monarchy. Liberal attitudes now abounded, but the Stationers still wanted the protection of their financing publications. They wanted protection of their monetary investment from literary pirates. Creation of the Licencing (printing) Act.
1710 - first Copy right Act (Act of Queen Anne), This recognised for the first time the rights of authors. This is formally known as the Act for Encouragement of Learning. This established time limits to copyright. Anything already in print was available for another 21 years. Anything printed after 10 April 1710, the printer would only hold copyright for 14 years, but then they could register once more for a further 14 years. (hhmmmmm multiples of 7 - biblical number!)
1729 - the copyrights started to expire.
1731 - 21 years - the old copyrights started to fail. Shakespeare, Milton, the classics that generated the profits, were falling into public domain.
Scotland particularly started printing material in the common domain.
1772 - London Booksellers brought a lawsuit against Scottish publisher Donaldson for printing items now in public domain. Court found in favour of Donaldson. London Booksellers appealed to the House of Lords.
1774 - Final decision of the House of Lords to declare that perpetual copyright no longer existed. They also upheld the decision in favour of Donaldson.
A consequence of this is that the publishers/booksellers had to go and find *new* material. They could no longer rely on a monopoly on the printing of classics to generate their profits. New authors came onto the scene. Authors could negotiate with booksellers for better renumeratrion. There started to be more equitable arrangements between authors and copy holders. instead of always selling copyright outright, there started to be arrangements of shared profits (usually 50/50) or the publisher leased or licenced copyright from the author for 2 years.
Royalties eventually became the norm. Probably most equitable is the current modern arrangement right now where the author gets 10% or 12.5% of the profit of each copy sold.
1842 - embodied modern principles of copyright.
This more than technology embodied the changes and transitions in Books between 1750 and 1850.
And here we broke for morning tea.
And my time on the Internet machine is up .... more tomorrow night .....
I'm quite a bit behind the rest of the class - being the only person *not* to have gone to the the previous three summer schools - but hey I'm soaking it up and catching up as fast as I can.
Given how intensive the pace is, I've come down tot he State Library and nabbed some internet access time to transcribe my day's notes while I can still make some sense of them. I don;t know if any of you will make any sense of them - but I thought seeing as I had to transcribe them anyway - I will put them here and then clean them up afterwards.
Books in Transition 1750-1850.
This is the transition period between when books were completely hand made and when they were completely machine made.
The dating is arbitrary and could easily be extended to 1890 when the first typesetting machines were introduced, but 1820-1830 saw the machinery changes be popularised. This course is aimed specifically at English History, but does include elements from other countries. Why England? Because that is the academics speciality.
First a history of Copyright Law.
What is copy right? It is the right of the printers to print the copy they hold. They held this copy int he form of typeset for printing. Include here definition of typeset and platens. Publishers want copyright to exist. They owned the rights to copy text. They had this in their possession, it was an economic value that they owned and wished to preserve.
At this time, authors did not hold copyright to their own material. They sold their material / manuscripts to the publishers/stationers entirely. Milton sold his Paradise Lost for 5 pounds. during this time the concept of authorship (except for playwrights) was unknown. Many medieval treatise were anonymous. Eg who wrote Piers Ploughman in the 13th century? We only know who printed the text. During this time authors were rewarded by patronage and sinecures in government departments (ie being made Master of the Horse). They were not paid for their work - they did not make their living out of each item published.
The only difference here was dramatists - during this time (1557) dramatists were paid on the third night their play was staged.
Side note: The industry was formulated differently at this time. There were:
Booksellers - small business printer and seller. They held ownership of the copy they printed.
Stationers - booksellers with permanent stalls. At this time the Stationers Company was composed of essentially Master Printers.
The status and job responsibilities for printers publishers and book sellers separated in the 1750-1850 time period.
From 1750-1850
Publishers - capitalists, copy holders, wholesalers., eg Longmans.
Printers - separate trade, eg Cambridge University Press.
Retail booksellers.
1557. Reign of Queen Mary. Catholics again ruled England. In 1557 the Stationer's Company was established. This listed the Stationers on a register (for six pence) and they were accorded and recorded as having the rights to print a particular work. They had the RIGHT to print COPY. Duh Copyright.
The Crown and the Stationers had common interests. The Crown gave rights to publish certain copy to particular stationers. This allowed the Crown to censor or prevent publication of seditious and/or blasphemous publications. The Stationers got a monopoly and protection of that monopoly. Anyone printing texts outside the law could be prosecuted and their copy and equipment could be smashed or thrown into the Thames.
Curiously at the time, the Crown delegated all Censorship rights and duties tot he leading Religious order.
1670 - According tot he OED, this is the first time book copying is recorded as piracy.
1695 - Pre-publication censorship lapsed during the 1688 revolution. his was during the period of the Restoration of Monarchy. Liberal attitudes now abounded, but the Stationers still wanted the protection of their financing publications. They wanted protection of their monetary investment from literary pirates. Creation of the Licencing (printing) Act.
1710 - first Copy right Act (Act of Queen Anne), This recognised for the first time the rights of authors. This is formally known as the Act for Encouragement of Learning. This established time limits to copyright. Anything already in print was available for another 21 years. Anything printed after 10 April 1710, the printer would only hold copyright for 14 years, but then they could register once more for a further 14 years. (hhmmmmm multiples of 7 - biblical number!)
1729 - the copyrights started to expire.
1731 - 21 years - the old copyrights started to fail. Shakespeare, Milton, the classics that generated the profits, were falling into public domain.
Scotland particularly started printing material in the common domain.
1772 - London Booksellers brought a lawsuit against Scottish publisher Donaldson for printing items now in public domain. Court found in favour of Donaldson. London Booksellers appealed to the House of Lords.
1774 - Final decision of the House of Lords to declare that perpetual copyright no longer existed. They also upheld the decision in favour of Donaldson.
A consequence of this is that the publishers/booksellers had to go and find *new* material. They could no longer rely on a monopoly on the printing of classics to generate their profits. New authors came onto the scene. Authors could negotiate with booksellers for better renumeratrion. There started to be more equitable arrangements between authors and copy holders. instead of always selling copyright outright, there started to be arrangements of shared profits (usually 50/50) or the publisher leased or licenced copyright from the author for 2 years.
Royalties eventually became the norm. Probably most equitable is the current modern arrangement right now where the author gets 10% or 12.5% of the profit of each copy sold.
1842 - embodied modern principles of copyright.
This more than technology embodied the changes and transitions in Books between 1750 and 1850.
And here we broke for morning tea.
And my time on the Internet machine is up .... more tomorrow night .....
Saturday, 9 February 2008
Mel's Sunday Update - On Saturday
Well tomorrow is looking pretty busy what with heading off to the airport at 10am. I wont be online or home until very late Friday night - so probably Saturday before I reconnect with any of you again :) :)So I thought I would post my week's update now.
I finally finally finally finished off my Gemstone Dragon RR and sent it off winging its way around the world. I did most of the border, Onyx dragon and placement holders for the others in the RR.
This took most of the week. I had hoped to finish the border but it was not to be. I simply ran out of time. (Which is ridiculous I know - but I admit to having been disorganised for this one).
Last night while trying to rest and recover from a hectic work week and arrangements for this coming week interstate, I decided to relaxing with some stitching. Egged on by Denise (yet again) I started a new piece ....
I stated Excellence by Szulet Creations. I managed one whole letter before the one-day cricket test ended early.
Today has been cleaning house, preparing for next week and generally catching with life.
In other news all sent RAKs and birthday presents have now arrived (except one). The financial dieting is going well although quite a few charts have been added to the Lust List.
Including the new Rosewood Manor Seasons of the Trees. This wont be released to after Nashville. It has everything I love about AaFG and leaves out the bits I don't like (the verse).
Oh speaking of things I simply *must* have. I *MUST* acquire one of these. Next time someone wins the Lottery please consider RAKing one to me.....
In personal news, the food dieting is going well - I'm now back under 90 kilos (I'm now 196 pounds). The psychological impact of being back in the 80s instead of the 90s is tremendous !!!!
Have a fun week all and I will catch you this time next week .....
WIP - Excellence
By Szulet Creations
http://www.szuletcreations.com/Justaword.htm
By Szulet Creations
http://www.szuletcreations.com/Justaword.htm
Using recommended floss and fabric.
Friday, 8 February 2008
Odd Dream
Hmmm woke up out of an odd dream today - could be an interesting plot for a book - but then I think its just a rehash of many others I've probably read somewhere.
Now in my dreams I often have multiple viewpoints at once - sometimes I;m in the story, sometimes I'm a ghost following the main character and sometimes I do the omniscient God-thing. In this one is I start as the ghost inside a female character and then follow the main character - like I'm a reader following a main character. In the ( ) below are the thoughts I as a reader had as the events were unfolding. Or when I'm explaining settings that occurred to me as intrinsic while in the the dream but needs to be explained now.
We were in a spaceship passing (circling?) a planet. Very close to passing through their atmosphere. I'm talking with a man - he is my partner/husband? Person I have a very strong attachment with - an equal bonding. I hold one of his hands with both of mine during our conversation. On one hand he wears a silver ring with an amethyst carved into a rosebud set a stone in this ring Well actually yht e ring is simply to hold this huge honking rock - its a good inch square rising up from the band. Gorgeous rosebud carved in purple stone ....
Scene changes. Three men fall (are pushed?) from the craft and fall towards the planet below like meteors. Surely they will crash, We lose sight of the two late teenage boys (I have a fondness for one of these boys - why?) and we follow the man through his journey. Its my man! He splashes down in the water , in the basin of a volcano but he survives. Its a miracle. He starts swimming to shore and is picked up by locals in a boat (Canoe? Longboat?).
The locals seem to be tribal English medieval. (Hm how do I explain that - they appear to be a large tribe or village, with a headman, and a shaman/priest jointly ruling, the rest of the clan/village are peasants, so early agricultural. Think middle ages without the Norman invasion, all the villagers are equal and provide services for the community - all other than the headman and the priest/shaman. There is no aristocracy or courtiers etc. Anyway back to the story.)
He is taken to the village and proclaimed a hero. He is their next King returning to them. He is puzzled. While waiting in the (garden???) for the shaman he looks around and sees alters or memorials with jewellery displayed. These are rings, silver rings with a purple stones - just like his, the stones are in the shapes of rosebuds. Near them are coronets or circlets. Silver and unadorned except for the purple stone in the centre forehead. This time the stone is a slice carved into a six petalled flat rose (think Tudor rose emblem stylized with a couple more petals added).
The shaman arrives (returns) and tells our hero that his ring proves he is their lost King, The ring allowed him to survive the fall and the water, to be rescued.
Where is my father then? asks our hero. "And my wife, I must be with my wife". The shaman leaves.
My attention (as ghost) is drawn to a patch of dirt with a ring half buried. Unbeknownst to the main characters I pick this ring up, it is simply the silver circlet without a purple stone. (Is this our hero's father's ring? Is there treachery afoot?)
The shaman returns to our hero carrying a linen band sewn into the shape of the coronets. The front is decorated with black work in a lovely dark blue and green variegated thread.
Our hero knows instantly that this is for his wife. Her returning (or arrival) was foretold too. She is their awaited queen.
He asks about the boys to be told they must have perished as they don't have the rings. Our hero wants to take some of the rings and find the boys and rescue them but is told by the shaman that this is impossible. THe rings on the meorials belong to former Kings and Queens and cannot be touched. There are no "spare" rings ....
Meanwhile up on the ship, the long range scanners have picked up images of the two boys emerging from the forest/jungle. Again I am in the body of the woman. We must rescue the boys .... They are hurt, one of them is limping, we must help them ....
And there the dream annoyingly, like so many dreams, morphs into a different dream and we leave that part of the storyline.
The next scene I am still in that woman's body, no in this part of the dream I *am* that woman. This is set later than above but I don't know how much later.
I am tall willowy, long pale bold hair, very pale skin, Scandinavian bone structure.
{This is a stereotype I have swooned over in guys for most of my adult life - but I've never been a female version in a dream before. Usually in dreams I'm me, usually a few inches taller, quite a few pounds lighter and with naturally red hair. In this dream not only do I have an unfamiliar form but the persona and attitudes of the woman are quite different to mine.)
I'm in a room with my partner / our hero. And two other couples. We are all on our 30-s to 50s indeterminate age. My partner and I are wearing medieval garb. The other two couples are wearing clothing from different time periods.
These are my family. We are three couples and treat our partner as a loving partner, but we treat the other five people in our group and if they were siblings. My bothers and sisters.
I am speaking with the two ladies, one seems older, the other my age or slightly younger. My partner is of course talking to the other two men. I seem to be getting along a bit better with the older of the women. We are chatting and discussing the day's menu.
THe younger of my sister's wants fresh fruit for dessert due to my older sister's penchant for eating porridge for breakfast. My older sister cannot understand why my younger sister should care, as they do not eat the porridge only her. She wants mty partner to make some of the medieval sweets he is renowned for.
I point out that yes we eat like that at home (our time stream??) but while in this place with my family I like to eat a wider variety of foods than is available at home and I'm craving an Asian stir-fry and fresh mango :)
There was more, the dream went on from that point but I've just forgotten the rest .... I couldn't hold onto more than that upon waking - sorry.
Any thoughts or comments on the juxtaposition of stereotyped characters and places?
Now in my dreams I often have multiple viewpoints at once - sometimes I;m in the story, sometimes I'm a ghost following the main character and sometimes I do the omniscient God-thing. In this one is I start as the ghost inside a female character and then follow the main character - like I'm a reader following a main character. In the ( ) below are the thoughts I as a reader had as the events were unfolding. Or when I'm explaining settings that occurred to me as intrinsic while in the the dream but needs to be explained now.
We were in a spaceship passing (circling?) a planet. Very close to passing through their atmosphere. I'm talking with a man - he is my partner/husband? Person I have a very strong attachment with - an equal bonding. I hold one of his hands with both of mine during our conversation. On one hand he wears a silver ring with an amethyst carved into a rosebud set a stone in this ring Well actually yht e ring is simply to hold this huge honking rock - its a good inch square rising up from the band. Gorgeous rosebud carved in purple stone ....
Scene changes. Three men fall (are pushed?) from the craft and fall towards the planet below like meteors. Surely they will crash, We lose sight of the two late teenage boys (I have a fondness for one of these boys - why?) and we follow the man through his journey. Its my man! He splashes down in the water , in the basin of a volcano but he survives. Its a miracle. He starts swimming to shore and is picked up by locals in a boat (Canoe? Longboat?).
The locals seem to be tribal English medieval. (Hm how do I explain that - they appear to be a large tribe or village, with a headman, and a shaman/priest jointly ruling, the rest of the clan/village are peasants, so early agricultural. Think middle ages without the Norman invasion, all the villagers are equal and provide services for the community - all other than the headman and the priest/shaman. There is no aristocracy or courtiers etc. Anyway back to the story.)
He is taken to the village and proclaimed a hero. He is their next King returning to them. He is puzzled. While waiting in the (garden???) for the shaman he looks around and sees alters or memorials with jewellery displayed. These are rings, silver rings with a purple stones - just like his, the stones are in the shapes of rosebuds. Near them are coronets or circlets. Silver and unadorned except for the purple stone in the centre forehead. This time the stone is a slice carved into a six petalled flat rose (think Tudor rose emblem stylized with a couple more petals added).
The shaman arrives (returns) and tells our hero that his ring proves he is their lost King, The ring allowed him to survive the fall and the water, to be rescued.
Where is my father then? asks our hero. "And my wife, I must be with my wife". The shaman leaves.
My attention (as ghost) is drawn to a patch of dirt with a ring half buried. Unbeknownst to the main characters I pick this ring up, it is simply the silver circlet without a purple stone. (Is this our hero's father's ring? Is there treachery afoot?)
The shaman returns to our hero carrying a linen band sewn into the shape of the coronets. The front is decorated with black work in a lovely dark blue and green variegated thread.
Our hero knows instantly that this is for his wife. Her returning (or arrival) was foretold too. She is their awaited queen.
He asks about the boys to be told they must have perished as they don't have the rings. Our hero wants to take some of the rings and find the boys and rescue them but is told by the shaman that this is impossible. THe rings on the meorials belong to former Kings and Queens and cannot be touched. There are no "spare" rings ....
Meanwhile up on the ship, the long range scanners have picked up images of the two boys emerging from the forest/jungle. Again I am in the body of the woman. We must rescue the boys .... They are hurt, one of them is limping, we must help them ....
And there the dream annoyingly, like so many dreams, morphs into a different dream and we leave that part of the storyline.
The next scene I am still in that woman's body, no in this part of the dream I *am* that woman. This is set later than above but I don't know how much later.
I am tall willowy, long pale bold hair, very pale skin, Scandinavian bone structure.
{This is a stereotype I have swooned over in guys for most of my adult life - but I've never been a female version in a dream before. Usually in dreams I'm me, usually a few inches taller, quite a few pounds lighter and with naturally red hair. In this dream not only do I have an unfamiliar form but the persona and attitudes of the woman are quite different to mine.)
I'm in a room with my partner / our hero. And two other couples. We are all on our 30-s to 50s indeterminate age. My partner and I are wearing medieval garb. The other two couples are wearing clothing from different time periods.
These are my family. We are three couples and treat our partner as a loving partner, but we treat the other five people in our group and if they were siblings. My bothers and sisters.
I am speaking with the two ladies, one seems older, the other my age or slightly younger. My partner is of course talking to the other two men. I seem to be getting along a bit better with the older of the women. We are chatting and discussing the day's menu.
THe younger of my sister's wants fresh fruit for dessert due to my older sister's penchant for eating porridge for breakfast. My older sister cannot understand why my younger sister should care, as they do not eat the porridge only her. She wants mty partner to make some of the medieval sweets he is renowned for.
I point out that yes we eat like that at home (our time stream??) but while in this place with my family I like to eat a wider variety of foods than is available at home and I'm craving an Asian stir-fry and fresh mango :)
There was more, the dream went on from that point but I've just forgotten the rest .... I couldn't hold onto more than that upon waking - sorry.
Any thoughts or comments on the juxtaposition of stereotyped characters and places?
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
In case anyone is interested ....
This is what work is sending me to next week .....
I'll be in Melbourne from Sunday lunch until late Friday night. I will also be completely offline for that duration.
The course I will be taking for that week is:
The book in transition, 1750–1850
The course will deal with the basic elements of analysis and description of books of the handpress period before moving to look specifically at the period of transition.
By 1850 the production of books had been transformed by the application of mechanical methods, in composing, printing, paper-making, methods of illustration, binding and so on.
The implications of these changes will then be considered in relation to bibliographical analysis and to the conventions of description.
Instructors
Brian McMullin, Honorary Associate in the Centre for the Book at Monash University and a former editor of The Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Bulletin, has specialised in the study of printing history and physical bibliography in the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Pamela Pryde, Curator of Special Collections in the Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne, has published on aspects of eighteenth-century British and nineteenth-century Australian printing.
MelbourNE: 11–15 February 2008
I'll be in Melbourne from Sunday lunch until late Friday night. I will also be completely offline for that duration.
The course I will be taking for that week is:
The book in transition, 1750–1850
The course will deal with the basic elements of analysis and description of books of the handpress period before moving to look specifically at the period of transition.
By 1850 the production of books had been transformed by the application of mechanical methods, in composing, printing, paper-making, methods of illustration, binding and so on.
The implications of these changes will then be considered in relation to bibliographical analysis and to the conventions of description.
Instructors
Brian McMullin, Honorary Associate in the Centre for the Book at Monash University and a former editor of The Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand Bulletin, has specialised in the study of printing history and physical bibliography in the seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Pamela Pryde, Curator of Special Collections in the Baillieu Library, University of Melbourne, has published on aspects of eighteenth-century British and nineteenth-century Australian printing.
New Start - life stuff
Tomorrow is Chinese New Year. I'm having rice noodles for lunch tomorrow - a Chinese custom to ensure a long life is to eat long foods on your birthday and the New Year. Well that's the story one of my "recently emigrated from China" staff told me today.I've decided to stay positive and stop whining and whinging. I've been good with my diet and intend to continue and I've rearranged my finances this afternoon and going on a stash diet (well actually a touch more drastic than that) I've decided to become fiscally responsible to do the best job possible to wipe out all outstanding debts this Chinese year. That leaves me from Feb next year to put all of that extra money towards the Great Get Together ....
If I do this it will be the first time I have been debt-free since then end of my marriage, it will be the final step to achieving full independence.
This will mean a very tough year for me financially, so no framing, very few WW prizes, no more lavish gifts. But I figure if I do one hard year then the rest will be more comfortable. And I finally, finally, feel ready to take this step, to take control of the final aspect of my life - my finances.
I'm also going to give up trying to stitch during work nights. I just can't find enough time in the evenings when I have to work the next day. So I will still do small projects on the train and I will do my BAPXS on weekends and on the occasional day off, public holidays etc.
I know my Baps will take longer but that's OK because I will be stitching on them when I am happy and relaxed, not when I'm stressed and clock watching and getting annoyed at myself for my lifestyle choices (i.e. the commute and attendant times its taking out of my life).
I will instead spend my couple of precious hours each night getting my house, stash, books etc into shape. Declutter, have a space for everything, discard or RAK what I no longer read, want to stitch, will use etc etc. I will of course also organise and catalogue my stash :) :)
Especially as I believe I will be stitching out of my stash as much as possible this year.
As I said earlier - my theory is, one year hard will make the rest so much easier and happier ...... I can do one year.
Especially if it means I get to go to Europe next year !!!
Monday, 4 February 2008
WIP - Britty Kitty
1 Feb 2008
Friday. What happens when you don't want to stitch on the piece you brought with you and you have a small kit arrive in the mail and you have no scissors .....
In a recent bout of stashing I bought the kitted up version of the Britty Kitty design Basking in the Sun.
Mel's Monday Update
I don't really have a stitching update this week.I'm still ploughing through my Gemstone Dragons RR (which should have been mailed out last Friday !!!) but I am finally making progress on this one. The gridding is done and that is what was causing sooo many headaches.
Oh I did start one new little stitch on the train last Friday afternoon. Pictures here.
In other news I received a gorgeous RAK from Ellen last week. Again thank you Ellen! Pictures here.
I also received a late Christmas card from Stephanie - talk about the mail system being really slow - this took over four weeks to arrive !!!!! And I also received the chart and threads I bought with the gift certificate Natalie gave me for Christmas. Such a lovely chart and it toook me sooo long to choose what to buy .... Pics here.
Also in stashing news I received five grab bags of R&R Reproductions fabric from Needle in a Haystack. Unfortunately none of the pieces are labelled !!!! Any thoughts on what the exact colour names of any of these fabrics might be? Pics here.
And finally I received two pieces back from my framer. It is the little black work dragons I stitched last December, Water Dragon and Fire Dragon. As you can see the framing is quite simple but I hope effective .... Pics here.
Saturday, 2 February 2008
Name the fabric ....
Bought some R&R Reproductions grab bags from Needle in a Haystack.
http://www.needlestack.com/inventory.html
Unfortunately most of these arrived without *any* identification.
Any suggestions as to which colours some of these may be? They are all 28 or 32ct R&R fabrics ....
Friday, 1 February 2008
Its a Friday ......
This is what happens when you forget to take your scissors on the train .....
Thank all the deities its Friday night and I don't have to go to work tomorrow !!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm soooo exhausted - mentally and physically :)