A better week all around.

[st_aurafina]

1. Had a much better run through work days than last week. Phew! Just as many interactions with the people who were stressing me out last week, but because I felt better, I dealt better.


2. I read a book - a whole book, end to end. This is noteworthy because for the last few months, my concentration has been so wobbly that I've only been able to read short paragraphs. I am proud. The book was A Trifle Dead by Livia Day. It's a murder mystery set in Hobart, and recced by coffeeandink. The ebook had no DRM, so the two people in this household could both have it on their devices - something I consider very civilised and the way ebooks should operate.

I liked the book - it wasn't difficult to read (thankfully!), the mystery was satisfying, and the way Livia Day writes Hobart as a small country town where everyone knows everyone was something I really enjoyed. I took a little while to warm up to Tabitha, the protagonist, but there were lovely descriptions of cakes while I was warming up, and I came to like her very much in the end. I'm looking forward to the sequel. And the author's tumblr, tabithadarlingsbedroomfloor, is lots of fun, too.


3. Today's Monster of the Week cracked me up: Nisei:
I’m sorry I didn’t have room for the dialogue at the end, where Scully is all MULDER DON’T GET ON THAT TRAIN and Mulder is like NO I AM GETTING ON THAT TRAIN IT IS AWESOME AND HAS ALIENS IN IT and Scully is all NOOOOO and Mulder hangs up on her.

*snorts*

And because of our great synchronicity, we watched the episode tonight. Pendrell! Mulder's amaaaaazing adventures on boats and rooftops and traintops! Skinner just lurking in the dark in Mulder's trashed apartment! Seriously, though, that moment when all the MUFON women hold up their jars and canisters that held their implants? So creepy, the first time around.


4. I was stressing out about how little I've written this year, so I'm trying to remind myself that I'm being creative in other spheres. Crochet, for one thing. Art journalling for another. I shouldn't worry about my creativity drying up, because it's always seeping out in other forms, even when I'm not writing. Proof:





[Page in a mixed-media art journal. Black border, multi-coloured collaged background, and round flowers made from printed papers, held together with brass brads.]

I don't know what I'm doing with this page yet - the flowers aren't stuck down, though their middles are firmly pinned. I bought a gelli plate earlier this year - a permanent way of making monoprints that usually require a gelatin plate, and now I have oodles and oodles of prints to use. The leaves and the flowers are made from gelli-printed papers.


[Card, says "happy birthday" in black cursive. There's a flower made from circles of painted papers pinned with a brad.]

I'm slowly tearing up the Encyclopaedia Britannica from 1980! It's so awesomely, awesomely out of date. The front flower has text about amoebas! I hope my mum doesn't put on her glasses to read the print.



5. I'm really enjoying Season 3 of Dance Academy, much more than I was anticipating: while the main message of the show is still "Which boy should I date?", there have been some good arcs for my favourite characters - Ollie, Abigail and Grace. And they've dealt well with the emotional fall-out of the character that departed the show last season.

Hey, Catholics on flist - can you tell me what it means when a child receives their reconciliation? A friend just posted some photos on Facebook, and I'm not sure what her kids have actually taken part in. I'd like to know, because I don't want to say something inappropriate.

Comments

[lonelywalker]

can you tell me what it means when a child receives their reconciliation
As a raised-Catholic who went to church religiously (hee!) and Catholic school... I have no idea. *googles* Oh, apparently it's another term for penance. Um, when I did it we just went one by one to confess our pitiful seven-year-old sins to the priest (in the school library) and were absolved and told to say a Hail Mary or something, and that was it. I have no recollection of there being any ceremony. First Communion, which follows soon after, is the big thing.

Your art is amazing! I especially love the swirliness and the colours of that journal. There should be, like, journaling fic. Saving the world through crotchet!

[st_aurafina]

You have helped me! The kids are about seven years old, so it must be something like that. I think they must have had a little ceremony of some sort because in the photo they had little candles. They seemed very pleased to be playing with fire, too.

Thanks! It's a very messy kind of art, so it suits me well.

[lonelywalker]

It's true: up to a certain age, religion is entirely singing + fire = pleased children.

[newredshoes]

Look at all this great stuff you've got going! <3333333

[st_aurafina]

So much stuff! All the <3333!

[musesfool]

The sacrament of reconciliation is going to confession or penance, depending on where you're from and what terminology you use. Usually it happens right before First Communion, so it's kind of wrapped up in that, which is usually a big deal with a fancy white dress for girls and a suit for boys. There's not really a group ceremony involved for reconciliation, just the confession itself, which has its own particular rituals/prayers.

[st_aurafina]

Yeah, I was confused because they seemed way too young to be going to First Communion - I thought you had to be, like, twelve-ish for that? But lonelywalker said she did the reconciliation thing when she was seven, which fits. And I think they must have had a ceremony of some sort, since they had little festive candles for the photos. Seven year olds with naked flames. They were well pleased!

[tree]

2. i bought that book for my mum! because she likes kerry greenwood's baker-detective.

4. pretty! also, "a brad". there is a person named brad at work and now that is what i will be thinking of whenever i see/hear his name. (also, also, i would totally put on my glasses the read the print!)

5. i am still very ambivalent about watching it. maybe i will wait until they rerun it.

[st_aurafina]

The book was fun! And very inclusive - lots of queer characters, characters of colour. Also cake!

I have no idea what that thing is called apart from a brad! This is what happens when you learn your art on the internet - I learned all US terms for crochet, too, and now I'm kind of rooted when it comes to consulting the aged gurus in my country town.

For Dance Academy, I really like where they've gone with Grace's character this season - talking about her mother's mental illness, building a relationship with Miss Raine. But I'll give you another update at the end of the season, so you can make an informed decision.

[umadoshi]

4. Those are really lovely. *^^*

[st_aurafina]

*hugs* Thank you!

[heartequals]

Ahhhh, I love your art!

[redcirce]

Your card-in-progress is beautiful! I love the colors and the patterns on the first one and the texture on the second one. Very cool.

[shehasathree]

Those arts are awesome! :D
I just watched the 4 eps of Dance Academy up on iView (mid-season 3). Unforuntaly I haven't seen the second half of Season 2, so there are some rather massive gaps in my knowledge/storyline.