2013 Recap + Big Announcement

2013 Goals Recap

You may remember this post from about a year ago.  Time to check in and see how I did! 

Open up an Etsy shop.  X  Didn't happen.  This is still something I want to do, but right now doesn't feel like the right time to start a small business (however small!).

Read more history and poli-sci books.  ✓-  Replace "history" with philosophy and this holds true.  I did read Thirteen Days and From the Ashes of Sobibor, though, which were both great historical memoirs.

Watch more operas, and become generally more opera-savvy.   ✓  This one passes by a smidgen.  I watched the entire Il Trovatore and Eugene Onegin, which were firsts.  I discovered new operas, in bits and pieces, added Kwiecien and Alvarez as favorite artists, and rediscovered Kaufmann through his magnificent interpretations of Wagner.  

Eat less and exercise more.  ✓-  I lost about ten pounds.  Exercised less, if anything.  :(

Be a happy, good person.  I don't know how to describe this part adequately.  For sure, 2013 has been a happy year; I'll remember it as one of my favorites.  It wasn't me - I can't brag about myself; I haven't acted the best this year.  (I also had unusually bad allergies and was sick for several weeks in the spring.)  But God has been merciful, has opened my eyes through disappointments, and answered prayers I'd been praying for so long.  2013, unforgettable.

A few of the unexpected goals accomplished:

Finished a multitude of sewing projects
Cooked salmon dinner by myself
Read a paper in front of students and history faculty
Went to "beautiful Hawaii" (which is as beautiful as everyone says!)

Announcement

1.  First of all, if you're this far through the post, you probably read my blog fairly regularly.  Thank you for that.  I'm 100% serious; regardless of whether you comment or not, it means a lot to me that you read the blog and get something out of it.   

2.  It's time to move!  That's right.  I'm moving to a new blog and url.  Brand new.

If you like what you've read here, please meet me at noonlight (url: noon-light) for blogging adventures in 2014 and beyond.  Think of it as a remix of this blog: some old and some new, all for the better.  I'll not be deleting all-that-is-gold - might even post here once in a blue moon - but good change is a domino effect.  I'm more than ready for it. 

Of course, I will still be on Tumblr, Pinterest, and all of those cool places.  The big change is that Blogger will be a priority again.  Blogger's still my fave.  ♥

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Eugene Onegin Read-Along?

(reblogged from Tanglewood)

With the New Year coming up and everybody looking at their reading lists for 2014, I have thought of hosting a read-along/book club for Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin.  Would anyone be interested? There are ten chapters, all poetry, so a month would be just about right for reading and discussion.  Maybe January, February, or March?  If you're interested and would consider it, please let me know when would be the best time for you!

Free online editions: 

• Project Gutenberg (trans. Spalding - HTML/Kindle/Epub/Plain text)
• Poetry in Translation

Hard copies: 

• Amazon 
• Barnes & Noble

Free audiobooks:

• Librivox
• Stephen Fry Reads Onegin

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Hiatus

{I'm going to try to take a break from the blogging world (though will probably change my mind tomorrow).  Nothing major or personal; I just need to switch focus for a bit, maybe catch up on my reading list.  Good-bye, for the time being!}

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Blogger, BBC drama, and Day 20: A hobby of yours

1)  I hate the new Blogger interface.

THERE ARE TOO MANY MENUS, PEOPLE.  Menus here, menus there, just loathsome to look at.  But aside from aesthetics, they've got rid of the feature where you could look at a post without hitting "edit".  Why?  And now, if I am editing a post, I can't hit "back" or return to "Edit Posts".  I have to go back to Dashboard and then re-enter editing posts.

So far, the only good things about this interface are the color scheme and its compatibility with mobile devices.  However, the latter is something of a non-feature--who writes blog posts from their phone or tablet?  Those that do are probably already using the Blogger app.

Maybe now I'll spend less time on Blogger.  >_<

2)  BBC's "The Paradise" 

So I just read this book, and what do you know, they (literally) just made a miniseries of it, and it'll be airing in Britain next week:

Except instead of taking place in Paris, this is set in Northern England and is heavily altered/adapted from the book.  More info here. 

The casting of Mouret (now "Moray") and Denise looks perfect.  If this makes it to PBS, I might watch it.  What say you?

3)  Day 20: A hobby of yours

Mostly reading and listening to music.  :)  Right now, I kind of alternate between synthpop and opera, with intervals of unclassifiable piano music (i.e. Einaudi and Yiruma).  I used to listen to a lot of "heavy" classical music (concertos and symphonies), but a little variety is healthier, I think. 

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Re: book commentary, challenges

I'm going to start posting the Weekend Quote meme at Tanglewood, as well as Book Commentary, the Robinson Crusoe Read-Along, and any other book challenges/series I might begin.  Though I like blogging about books here, it is more logical to post all bookish posts on one blog...

Lydia commented about the Gone With the Wind challenge, and I also stumbled across another challenge, September in Paris.  I'd love to join the Paris one, as there are some Paris-themed books on my reading list as well, but we'll see how Robinson Crusoe goes.  I'm close to finishing 20,000 Leagues, and at the moment my educational read is Utopia. 

Altogether, I haven't read any gargantuan masterpieces this summer (well, South was long, but it was a spring/summer read).  But that's ok.  It's been a good summer for reading.  I hope to keep this up when school starts, and reading gives me something besides school to blog about! 

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Robinson Crusoe Read-Along

Hosted at Délaissé, starting tomorrow, with no time limit.  I'm not sure if I'm in or not (the last time I joined a read-along I chickened out), but it's a great opportunity for those of us who have never read this classic. 

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Vote on the poll!

Anyone and everyone's opinion is appreciated!

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30 Day Challenge (Hiatus)

I've really enjoyed blogging the 30 Day Challenge--however, I'm thinking of taking a break from it until August.  I have some projects to finish, and the monstrous reading list, and some overdue book reviews.  The internet is just plumb distracting, in a good way, but I'll enjoy blogging/internet-surfing more if I ration my time on the internet.  *sigh*

P. S.  Can somebody tell me why the letter "t" must be shorter than other letters with stems?  It simply isn't fair!  (That is to say, it makes handwriting harder than it needs to be.)

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My sister's blog!

Click here:  My Music Stand.  My sister's an awesome musician and one of my best friends, so be sure to check it out.  <3

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Good-bye to ergs, kettles, gelifluction...

Shall I miss you, landforms?  I think not.  Not soon, in any case.  Still, I am amused at how much I have learned--so much so that when "föhn" and mirages are mentioned in South, by Shackleton, I feel mighty happy.

So ends my colourful career at community college. 

It really strikes me that I have learned more in the non-academic sense than in the academic sense (which in itself has been a lot of learning).  Jolly good.  I feel hopeful that this summer will be chock-full of even more learning and (extra hopefully) accomplishments following the to-do list in an organized fashion.. 

HAPPY SUMMER. 

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My Twitter account {please read}

Some of you may have noticed an unfortunate trend on this blog: my posts are getting shorter and shorter.  With school and other obligations, I'm having a hard time writing anything deep anymore.

So, I figure it's time to go with the flow and catch up with the times.  I'm deleting this blog and from now on will be posting on my new Twitter account:  The Sea-Bell (named after my favorite poem by J. R. R. Tolkien).

Please check it out, and follow!  :)  And a big thanks to all my readers and followers here, who have put up with my ramblings so patiently.

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On Goodreads now

http://www.goodreads.com/chaconne

Check out my library, follow/"friend" if you want!  I'm still in the (never-ending) process of adding/rating books.  Reviews are still going to be at Tanglewood because I can't stay within character limits.

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Dear Google,

The new "Prove you're not a robot" verification system?  FACEPALM.

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{Blog design experimentation}

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Exeunt!

Thus the Club would not receive a man simply because he chose to pass his days collecting broken sardine tins, unless he could drive a roaring trade in them. Professor Chick made that quite clear. And when one remembers what Professor Chick's own new trade was, one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. - The Club of Queer Trades / G. K. Chesterton

I tried my utmost to listen to an audiobook of The Club of Queer Trades, but, as with most books absorbed at bedtime, it lasted about twenty minutes before I started falling hopelessly asleep. Oh well...I'll keep trying.

In other news...my poetry book is finally finished.  Words don't describe (haha, no pun intended) how happy this makes me feel.  It's the kind of happiness that eclipses emotion.  Because I've been ready for it to be finished for so long--the last poem to be finished was begun in August 2011, which feels ridiculously recent even though it isn't.  The book as a whole was started in 2008 or 2009.  It's high time for it to exit the 'work-in-progress' stage... 

Now I've just got to finish up the title, cover, and format details before submitting it to FastPencil.  I'm taking a good deal of time with this, but hey, if I've waited this long, I can wait a little longer to do it right!  Also, I can move on to finishing up my other projects.  And more poetry, of course.

Poetry is so point-blank.  It go straight to the heart of the matter, delves right into the message of the words, no stopping or detours.  I remember meeting a violin teacher who said that the "Tchaikovsky (violin concerto) goes straight to the heart.  But Brahms (violin concerto) takes a detour to your heart."  It's an apt illustration, and I find the same applies to novels and poems.  My biggest failure as a novel-writer (and greatest attribute as a math student?) is an impatience to get to the root of the problem.  Actually, impatience is one of my faults, period...


copyright: Jason Mrachina

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Writing contest!

...at The Penslayer and Scribbles and Ink Stains, Jan 1 - 31.  The theme is "First Impressions", and you can read the rest of the rules at their blogs. :)  Count me in!  I love analyzing people and comparing first impressions with my ultimate opinion.  It's interesting to see which first impressions are accurate and which aren't. 

And a little advice from Nathaniel Hawthorne:

This is the secret of all entertaining travellers. If you meet with any distinguished characters, give personal sketches of them. Begin to write always before the impression of novelty has worn off from your mind, else you will be apt to think that the peculiarities which at first attracted you are not worth recording; yet those slight peculiarities are the very things that make the most vivid impression upon the reader. Think nothing too trifling to write down, so it be in the smallest degree characteristic. You will be surprised to find on re-perusing your journal what an importance and graphic power these little particulars assume.

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First Hobbit. Now SHERLOCK!

NEW TRAILER:




+ a few more at Sherlockology's YouTube Channel.

It looks possibly even better than Season 1! 

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Hobbit Trailer ON NOW!!!

CLICK HERE:  http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/




LOVE Bilbo.  LOVE Thorin.  LOVE the singing.  LOVE the music.  Even Gollum is--GOLLUM!  SO EXCITED!!!!!

UPDATE:  1:58, a wizard fight?!   2:01, Mines of Moria "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" parallel?!!!

2ND BREAKFAST UPDATE:  Is it bad that I've already watched this about four times?   And I want to watch it again?

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New blog

So I'll admit: I've been looking at everyone's Tumblr pages and admiring them wistfully.  Internet trends usually bother me...but this one I rather like.  In fact, I like it a lot.  ;)

Except I decided not to get Tumblr.  After all, Blogger lets you have up to 100 free blogs (starting to sound like a TV commercial...grr), and I wanted to be able to check all of my blogs in one fell swoop.  Hence, new blog:

Things I will be posting there that generally won't be posted here:

• Quotes I like
• Pictures I like...lots and lots of them
• Pencil sketches, digital art, by me
• YouTube videos
• Other random, short, "in a nutshell" posts

Of course, everything else (including posts with many photos) will stay on this blog.  :)  This blog is not retiring, by any means!

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Writing contest at The Inkpen Authoress!

Click here to learn more:  The Merry Auld England Writing Challenge


I don't know yet if I'll be entering it, but it looks fun!  The deadline has been moved to the 23rd.

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