Wednesday, May 25, 2011
May. 25th, 2011 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bearshortyAnother lovely summer day. I went for a walk to the bank around noon and I did an extra block loop since I didn’t want to go inside and just wanted to enjoy the sunshine. This weather certainly contributes to my good mood. And I got a little tan reading on the balcony again this afternoon.
In honor of summer, I painted my toe nails red. I’m not a girly girl, really – I don’t really wear make-up or bother much about my hair or care for shopping (shoes and clothes shopping bore me) but I love painting my toes nails especially in the summer for the sandals. That and summer t-shirts and tops make me a happy girl.
Last night I figured out why I prefer regular books to Kindle and why that is unlikely to change. Now, I don’t mind the Kindle, it is certainly easy to handle and fine for the eyes and I read lots of things on the computer (like fanfic) so it is not new technology but I can’t skim ahead with Kindle. The way I read, I start a book in a regular way and at some point I skim ahead a few chapters just to see what happens and then I go back and read it slowly. There are occasions when I restrain myself like with the last Harry Potter book when I peaked ahead just once. With Kindle I can’t really do that. And also while I can see on the bottom just much of the book I read and how much I still have to read, I really would like to see it physically. I have no actually sense of the book.
“Borgias” Season One. I did not realize that Della Rovere was Julius II – that certainly changes a bit how I see him. Julius II was certainly an interesting Pope too; I always have this picture of him on the horse with a sword riding into battle. I looked the history online – I knew broad points but not specific details. Wonderful things in last few episodes – Lucrezia negotiating between French King and Rome, Pope Alexander masterfully turning the situation in his favor in a conversation with Charles and also playing the French King knowing about the plague and then also getting revenge on the cardinals. The Pope is just sitting in the throne and just loving having the cardinals beg his forgiveness and buy back his favor. All this really fit the reputation of this Pope. Humiliating Lucrezia’s husband (I knew that marriage was annulled but it was fun to see how it was played here) since he so deserved it. And I loved the last scene where the whole family comes to the convent to await the birth of Lucrezia’s son. That was very perfect. All so excited about the grandchild. They all care about each other greatly and I think this is why the show works so well. Can’t wait until next season. This is a lovely show. I really like the humor in it.
Avatar S3E4 “Sokka’s Master” Sokka is so like Xander, the normal guy in midst of superheroes who does not recognize how essential he is. Iroh’s training montage is great. And his new physique too. Go Iroh, you are even more awesome than usual and I didn’t think it was possible. I thought they did not have time to stop for a long periods of time? Wait, he learned all those sword moves in one day? Having a person who knows nothing of sword making make his own sword is a terrible idea although he ended up doing the tasks like shoveling coal and stuff. “Try Lee” as a cover name made me laugh – that was Zuko’s codename. Why does this episode keep raising all these questions? Usually this show is pretty realistic.
Cross-stitch: I’m done! I was cross-stitching for two hours this evening with TV on and I finished all the dark grey backstitch. I used every single thread of this color too. But since the little bear’s eyes also needed this color I did have to pull out my box of thread. And then I figured I just have stem-stitch (green for balloon strings) and French knots (eye sparkle and cuffs), so I might as well just get it done. It took another hour. I never done stem stitch before so that was interesting but I got a handle on it pretty quickly. And then I just did my cross-stitch signature and I was done. The baby is due any day so I made it on time. I do still have to wash it and make the backing for it and buy the fabric for that but the cross stitching portion of it is done. I started this on January 1 but almost half was done this month. Yay, I'm done
Here is the picture of it:
Baby Blanket
In honor of summer, I painted my toe nails red. I’m not a girly girl, really – I don’t really wear make-up or bother much about my hair or care for shopping (shoes and clothes shopping bore me) but I love painting my toes nails especially in the summer for the sandals. That and summer t-shirts and tops make me a happy girl.
Last night I figured out why I prefer regular books to Kindle and why that is unlikely to change. Now, I don’t mind the Kindle, it is certainly easy to handle and fine for the eyes and I read lots of things on the computer (like fanfic) so it is not new technology but I can’t skim ahead with Kindle. The way I read, I start a book in a regular way and at some point I skim ahead a few chapters just to see what happens and then I go back and read it slowly. There are occasions when I restrain myself like with the last Harry Potter book when I peaked ahead just once. With Kindle I can’t really do that. And also while I can see on the bottom just much of the book I read and how much I still have to read, I really would like to see it physically. I have no actually sense of the book.
“Borgias” Season One. I did not realize that Della Rovere was Julius II – that certainly changes a bit how I see him. Julius II was certainly an interesting Pope too; I always have this picture of him on the horse with a sword riding into battle. I looked the history online – I knew broad points but not specific details. Wonderful things in last few episodes – Lucrezia negotiating between French King and Rome, Pope Alexander masterfully turning the situation in his favor in a conversation with Charles and also playing the French King knowing about the plague and then also getting revenge on the cardinals. The Pope is just sitting in the throne and just loving having the cardinals beg his forgiveness and buy back his favor. All this really fit the reputation of this Pope. Humiliating Lucrezia’s husband (I knew that marriage was annulled but it was fun to see how it was played here) since he so deserved it. And I loved the last scene where the whole family comes to the convent to await the birth of Lucrezia’s son. That was very perfect. All so excited about the grandchild. They all care about each other greatly and I think this is why the show works so well. Can’t wait until next season. This is a lovely show. I really like the humor in it.
Avatar S3E4 “Sokka’s Master” Sokka is so like Xander, the normal guy in midst of superheroes who does not recognize how essential he is. Iroh’s training montage is great. And his new physique too. Go Iroh, you are even more awesome than usual and I didn’t think it was possible. I thought they did not have time to stop for a long periods of time? Wait, he learned all those sword moves in one day? Having a person who knows nothing of sword making make his own sword is a terrible idea although he ended up doing the tasks like shoveling coal and stuff. “Try Lee” as a cover name made me laugh – that was Zuko’s codename. Why does this episode keep raising all these questions? Usually this show is pretty realistic.
Cross-stitch: I’m done! I was cross-stitching for two hours this evening with TV on and I finished all the dark grey backstitch. I used every single thread of this color too. But since the little bear’s eyes also needed this color I did have to pull out my box of thread. And then I figured I just have stem-stitch (green for balloon strings) and French knots (eye sparkle and cuffs), so I might as well just get it done. It took another hour. I never done stem stitch before so that was interesting but I got a handle on it pretty quickly. And then I just did my cross-stitch signature and I was done. The baby is due any day so I made it on time. I do still have to wash it and make the backing for it and buy the fabric for that but the cross stitching portion of it is done. I started this on January 1 but almost half was done this month. Yay, I'm done
Here is the picture of it:
Baby Blanket
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-26 01:53 pm (UTC)Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Kindle. You’ve probably seen my back and forth for months now. I like to get other perspectives that may not be 100% ‘omg it’s the best ever’ … I want to hear its faults (according to people) too. I think I will probably still get it … just trying to find the courage to do it; haha.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-26 02:34 pm (UTC)I don't dislike it, it is easy to get books and just read and it is easy to use but I just miss knowing how big the book is and what will happen. My dad loves it. Since he bought it, he reads on it practically every day and he loves being able to download sci-fi books that are out of print and other cheap book collections. He also downloads a lot of Russian books. So it really works for him. I also like having books and bookshelves and a home library - to me a house without books is weird. So I'm probably not going to get one anytime soon. But I don't mind using his or downloading some things that is out of print but is available electronically.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-26 01:59 pm (UTC)The difficulty skipping ahead on the Kindle is one of the features my mother just commented on this past week. She's a big fan of it otherwise but would prefer a more skim-friendly interface. I'm too uptight to skim and skip around. I have to read from start to finish so it's not really an issue for me.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-26 02:30 pm (UTC)It is probably a good thing that I can't skim ahead this time - I really don't know where the story is going and I just want to keep reading. :) But I do really miss having the physical sense of the size of the book.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-26 02:34 pm (UTC)Also, the blanket is wonderful. I can't imagine how many hours it took you to do it.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-26 02:41 pm (UTC)Thank you. Lots and lots of hours! I couldn't work much on it in March and April so I was playing catch-up in May. I think this summer I will take a cross-stitching break before doing a new project. But I really like the end result and I'm very excited to have finished a big project.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-05-26 03:34 pm (UTC)