I'm sure you're all on Pinterest or following it or loathe it or whatever. I'm on there and I enjoy it a lot, it's a pretty cool collection of stuff that totally reflects my style now or where I want to be later.
Anyway, this sounds super lame but I find a lot of inspiration on there too. One of the best things I saw on there was this pin:
So as I complain about working too much, Revit acting up or having to use AutoCAD - let's put things into perspective.
Life could be worse.
If you are healthy, had dinner tonight and are climbing into a warm comfy bed tonight you've got it made.
Do you ever have days when everything you do ends in failure? Or everything you try to do brings up new problems and you literally don't cross off one single thing from your list? Yeah....
I had an argument the other day. With someone something I normally get along with. It was traumatic, but it happens sometimes.
I know you won't believe this, but I'm going to rant about.....Revit.* (gasp!)
I was struggling with a multitude of problems - a site model that mysteriously moved, a topography that was modelling like stalactites, a mechanical model that refused change to black and white and finally - what put me over the edge - stairs.
I realized halfway through my struggle that what I was experiencing must be similar to reasoning with Data from Star Trek. You know how he tilts his head to the side when he's confused?
Revit does this too.
Below I relate a snippet of my 'argument' with Data Revit:
Jabba: Okay, can you not show the railing above the cut line?
Revit: (head tilt) But there is a railing there.
Jabba: It's so cluttered, please turn it off above the cut line.
Revit: (head tilt) But there is a railing there.
Jabba: I know there is a railing there but just don't show it.
Revit: (head tilt) But there is a railing there.
You get the picture.
My day ended with this post to Instagram.
* Please remember how much I love this program. Really I do.
I know. Talk about a random topic, but let's talk about lip balm.
Ask almost any woman - she's addicted and probably has one on her person. My mom gave me this gift for Christmas - an entire COLLECTION. I'm so in love. I had bought three tubes from this shop earlier so I knew it was good stuff.*
Mom customized it and chose perfect flavours for me - Vanilla Mint, Cherry
Limeade. It lives on our coffee table - Brad is thrilled. I have one
in my bag, one at work, one on my nightstand.....I switch them around sometimes.
Now I have 8 tubes from Firebird. That doesn't include the two Burt's Bees tubes and another lip balm I bought off Etsy that I keep in the kitchen - you know for emergencies.
How come men aren't addicted to this stuff??
*I also bought soap, lip tint, body scrub and perfume from her and they are all amazing.
Tonight we had dinner with buddies after work. I had to literally tear myself away from my desk just to get there. It was worth it. We sat on the patio, soaked up some sun* and caught up.
Let's be honest - I drank too much wine and I'm still buzzing. Know how I can tell? I'm getting sappy, listening to some amazing music** that is making me weepy and I'm chatty - hence the blog post. I'll include some albums that are being played right now and putting me over the edge.
A good friend of mine sent an email out to a few people the other day about music. He's super passionate and it stirred something in me. I was thinking about starting to do posts about music and my experiences with it. Similar to talking about books, I love talking about music.
I have a few friends who are heavy into music but I think I'm different from them, not in a bad way or anything. But I'm not into stats, keeping up on the latest news, who's collaborating with who - in fact I'm lucky if I even know the names of the band members of my faovurite groups.
Music for me is all about how it affects me on a deep, personal level.
I'm making a mixed CD for my Dad. I can still do this because he isn't completely connected technically, and I'm really enjoying the process.
*Sun does not equate warmth in Victoria. I had my jacket over my legs and my scarf on after that. Don't get me started.
** listening to amazing music is not a rare occurrance around here - just clarifying.
Sometimes I wonder if I enjoy reading or talking about books more. When Christielli was here last summer I think we spent a good 90 minutes in the book store wandering, pointing out books (good and bad) that we had read, comparing notes. It was great fun.
Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
Major hype around this book and man was it worth it. It had me on the edge of my seat, although midway through the build-up I guessed what was going on. Still, totally worth the read. Oh and the ending was a little anticlimactic, but how do you keep that momentum? HOW?!
That being said, I don't have an overwhelming desire to read more from this author, not sure why.
The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
A friend of mine recommended this book years ago. I looked for it at the book sale, in Russell's and on Kobo all the time and it was either never there or never on sale. Finally someone gave me a gift card for Kobo and I just bought it full price. The next week - it went on sale. This year - it was at the book sale. What. Is. With. That??
Anyway, worth the wait. Sometimes the story was absolutely unbelievable, considering it was true. I'm shocked this woman turned out normal, much less successful. Worth the wait, but again no desire to read another book from her.
The Land of Decoration - Grace McCleen
I was pleased to grab this on sale from Kobo. It was fantastic, an interesting study of religion gone awry. Also an interesting story about a little girl totally wrapped up in herself and how she ended up that way through neglect. It really touched me, great read.
The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
Sometimes I get overwhelmed with novels and end up highly emotional. When I end up crying or feeling depressed for no reason or I can't stop thinking about why the guy I passed on my way to work seemed so sad I know it's time to read something totally different.
This time I was TOTALLY in the mood for sci-fi and this book delivered. I haven't seen the movies and have no clue what the story is about. I'm looking forward to the next book.
(Also, on a side note I did find myself skipping over a lot of sideline information like the history of a village or the roots of a language, it doesn't take away from the story.)
Tigers in Red Weather - Liza Klaussmann
Another awesome book. I love the setting - kids coming of age one super hot summer at their cabin. Crazy dynamics, lots of intensity and told from different viewpoints - makes for an amazing novel. Read it. Do. It.
I've already read two books from the book sale this year and I'm halfway through the third. Now I just need some warm weather, to get past a looming deadline and deal with other nightmares that I'll tell you about soon. How's THAT for a cliffhanger?!
Something really weird happened the other day.
We went to work and everything was normal. When we got home this is what we saw on The Bad Room Mate.
Ziggy was acting completely "normal" - not afraid, not sick or tired or anything - just his usual mental self.
He has a giant bald spot right in between his shoulder blades! The skin wasn't irritated - no scratch marks, no swelling or infection. Just bald skin. There was some fur in the middle of the hallway and a bit more on the bed.
What the HELL?!
We have only one theory - he got scared and he ran underneath something (the bed? the bathroom cabinet?) and caught his back on the way. I know - it's not the greatest explanation but it's all we've got.
I think the reality is something much more mental. Like he was sitting on a table - too close to the edge - cleaning his bum and he lost his balance and fell of - catching himself on something on the way down. Much more his style.
So I've had some secret projects going on.
My bestie R. was pregnant with her first and I had, had, HAD to send her a big care package when I found out. You know my track record - I order the fabric, make the top and maybe three months later I'll tackle the rest.
Not this time. This time I pumped this thing out less than a month after I got the fabric.
Unfortunately.....much swearing ensued as the top was coming together. I
wanted to add larger squares to my usual small 5" squares. No big deal
right?
Um,yes. Big deal.
As you know, I'm no pro-quilter, I'm a self taught sewer. Those amazing people who sew intricate patterns of fabrics together to make pieces of ART: my heroes.
I just don't GET how you deal with the corners where the small pieces and big pieces come together. I ended up literally shoving the fabric through my machine in these spots. Plus, you can't simply chain stitch the top so it took way longer.
My buddy D. made a really nice baby blanket and I stole her idea. All you do is buy one metre of a nice quilting cotton fabric and sew some soft "minky" fabric on the back and topstitch.
Done and done.
Her baby girl was born on Tuesday so I'm looking forward to photos of her on the blankets.
(Hint! Hint!)
I threw in a little toque as well. I think R. likes everything, she threatened it was all so nice that she was anxious about using any of it. I told her I'd drop kick her if I find out that's the case.
It's the most wonderful time of the yeaeeaaar....ahem.
Here are links to previous years - remember the kid we saw the first year?? Bah, we were such virgins.
2010 was completely out of control - never again. Only about 3 books that year were worth it. Almost all the rest have been donated back to the book sale.
2011 - much more civilized, almost too nonchalant?!
2012 was great, I've read everything I bought that year except Blindness. I'm scared but will tackle it one day - I think I'll make Brad read it first.
This year I think we've picked up our rhythm.
We arrived half an hour before the doors opened, the line up was around the block and even further (as usual) but we were inside within half an hour. The first table - three books almost immediately. I was a little frightened at what lay ahead...
I had a list and decided to be much more picky. Example: I will not buy a book I've never heard of that looks good. I will not buy a book someone else recommends (it happens all the time! I still have one on my shelf from 2010) and I will not buy a book I really like but have already read. (Which I have done the last four years.)
Eleven books and they are ALL serious scores. Notice a lot of recent best sellers. One Giller Prize winner - two particular books that are on my Good Reads list, one recommended by Chistielli and the best of all.........
I was searching through the boxes and had my paper list in my hand. A lady next to me read it over my shoulder and kindly said "You'll NEVER find Laurie R. King at the book sale." We laughed about it and I said I knew it but I look every year just the same.
About twenty minutes later.....
I found it.
It was like an optical illusion. I saw the book, did a double-take and grabbed it so fast I almost threw my wrist out of joint.
Fist pumping ensued.
I'm doing a special Book Review!
A few weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Ben Madison from Victoria Daily Photo!
Obviously Ben is an amazing photographer but he's also interesting in a number of other ways including the time he spent in Africa. He's written two books, the first one is a collection of short stories called The Moon's Fireflies. I haven't read this one. Yet.
He asked me if I would do a book review of his latest book Long Legs Boy and spread the word about it. He's not getting much local interest in his book - which I find
surprising since Victoria is big on pushing everything local.
I jumped at the chance to do this! I also reminded him that I have about three people who read my blog...
I actually read the book a couple weeks ago and have been waiting for Brad to finish it. *
In short - I loved it! My only critique is that it starts out a little slow, but builds up to a great page turner!
It's the story of Modou, a 12 year boy who is orphaned when his parents die of AIDS. If that doesn't get you right there, he goes on to live and struggle through a life of poverty. This is shocking to us of course, but reality for a lot of people in Africa.
Ben is trying to describe how Africa** really is with the story of Modou. He' also showing us how the rest of the world sees Africa with newspaper articles inserted between chapters. These articles parallel the story and they also build up to the ending - which is awesome by the way.
So if you have a chance, read it. Do it.
* He loved it too. ***
**I say 'Africa' like it's one country - Ben is writing about his experiences in his travels through West Africa. The country in the book is fictional.
*** I'm not allowed to say anything more because he doesn't like it when I blog about him.
I had a horrible day.
I've been working tons of overtime lately and it's been fine actually - until today. Our company is doing really well - and I feel like things are changing for the better - it's super cool!
Last week I started a new project we were just awarded - a new hospital!!! So I was asked to model the building in Revit - woot!! In a week...ha...ha...(nervous laughter)......
But I did it! I haven't done much exterior work so I was kinda nervous but our BIM Manager had tons of faith in me and my workmate buffered me from lots of other work so I plugged in to my Ipod and went at it. I even Instagrammed the first wall!
(I'm such a dork.)
Today I had to switch to another project that's in CAD. You guys know how I feel about CAD. This photo sums up AutoCAD and all that is crappy about it:
The 'commands' in CAD are ridiculous. XDWGFADECTL.
Really?
And then you set it to 1 or 0. Oh - yeah - I would have guessed that to solve my problem. It takes literally an entire day of mindless tedious drafting to set up a drawing to look the way I want it with a few clicks in Revit.
So I left early, drank rum out of a vintage Empire Strikes Back glass and blasted 80's music. Feeling better already.
