I'm away for a week. Will probably update next on Sunday the 6th of September.
In theory I should come back with lots to say about Steven Erikson's work, Asimov (I failed to read The Gods Themselves during this week and will be reading it whilst away) and some scrapbooking to showcase.
Back soon!
Friday, August 28, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Jiaozi
Today I made Jiaozi - Chinese 'potsticker' dumplings. I haven't actually had these before, although I've had some that are very similar from a Japanese place nearby.
I used this recipe: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/dimsumdumplings/r/jiaozi.htm which I shan't reproduce here as you can go and read it yourself (also I am guessing that my copying it would infringe copyright). I missed out the bamboo shoots as we didn't have any and I didn't particularly want to seek them out, but added rehydrated dried mushrooms as we did have some.
So here is my photo-diary of making them ...
Ingredients: left to right: flour, minced pork (from outdoor-reared pigs, woo Waitrose), pak choi (grown in England), soy sauce, dried mushrooms, white pepper, salt, spring onions, sesame oil, ginger, sherry, garlic.
Very finely chopped garlic, ginger, and spring onion.
Pak choi, mushrooms, garlic, ginger, and spring onion.
The whole lovely mixture.
Making one particular dumpling.
A plate of constructed uncooked dumplings.
A plate of cooked dumplings - they look rather anaemic, admittedly ... but they taste pretty good. The dough is bland because it's just made of flour and water - so either pan-frying (which I tried with some with limited success but that's because I'm not very good at frying things) or dipping in something (tried a mix of soy sauce and sweet chilli earlier which was good, am going to try vinegar and soy next time I have some).
Also, I was more generous with the filling than the recipe allowed for - hence made about 40 of these (and have leftover dough in the fridge). Given that I have enough of most ingredients to do this again, this is no bad thing.
I used this recipe: http://chinesefood.about.com/od/dimsumdumplings/r/jiaozi.htm which I shan't reproduce here as you can go and read it yourself (also I am guessing that my copying it would infringe copyright). I missed out the bamboo shoots as we didn't have any and I didn't particularly want to seek them out, but added rehydrated dried mushrooms as we did have some.
So here is my photo-diary of making them ...
Ingredients: left to right: flour, minced pork (from outdoor-reared pigs, woo Waitrose), pak choi (grown in England), soy sauce, dried mushrooms, white pepper, salt, spring onions, sesame oil, ginger, sherry, garlic.
Very finely chopped garlic, ginger, and spring onion.
Pak choi, mushrooms, garlic, ginger, and spring onion.
The whole lovely mixture.
Making one particular dumpling.
A plate of constructed uncooked dumplings.
A plate of cooked dumplings - they look rather anaemic, admittedly ... but they taste pretty good. The dough is bland because it's just made of flour and water - so either pan-frying (which I tried with some with limited success but that's because I'm not very good at frying things) or dipping in something (tried a mix of soy sauce and sweet chilli earlier which was good, am going to try vinegar and soy next time I have some).Also, I was more generous with the filling than the recipe allowed for - hence made about 40 of these (and have leftover dough in the fridge). Given that I have enough of most ingredients to do this again, this is no bad thing.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Thankfulness
Nicked from Roseanna who did a thankfulness list on Twitter recently.
Recently I have been thankful for ...
1) Siu Mai
2) Har Gau
3) Chocolate cake
4) Caramel cake
5) Fried custard buns
6) Pretty calligraphy inks
7) Beanbags
8) The voice of God
9) PunkMonk
10) Family
11) Photos
12) Getting Things Done
13) Boxes from Argos (I'm beginning to pack for University already)
14) Fixing Jeans
15) Lists (and lists of lists)
16) Holidays to look forward to!
Recently I have been thankful for ...
1) Siu Mai
2) Har Gau
3) Chocolate cake
4) Caramel cake
5) Fried custard buns
6) Pretty calligraphy inks
7) Beanbags
8) The voice of God
9) PunkMonk
10) Family
11) Photos
12) Getting Things Done
13) Boxes from Argos (I'm beginning to pack for University already)
14) Fixing Jeans
15) Lists (and lists of lists)
16) Holidays to look forward to!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Dangerous Offspring / The Modern World
It got to 10pm last night and I realised I hadn't read this yet (I've spent all my reading time this weekend reading morning/evening/night prayer, the Bible, and PunkMonk, but that's a different story). Naturally the answer was to read it all in one sitting, so I proceeded to do so. Partway through my Dad came in and we chatted for ages. Then I read more of Dangerous Offspring, and finished it, getting to bed at about 2am. This means it took me substantially less than 4 hours to read ... ahhh I like reading fast.
The 'proper' title for this book is The Modern World (i.e. Dangerous Offspring was the title imposed by the publishers for the American market, not Swainston's original title, but at the time I got the book all the UK editions had gone but they had some US ones) and looking back on it I think that The Modern World is a much better title, focusing as it does on the broad picture of, well, the world rather than Cyan's antics.
Again, I don't want to give much away in case people are reading The Year of Our War and No Present Like Time ... so apologies for lack of detail.
(have just realised I haven't got a review of The Year of Our War up on the blog. I may do one soon, or I may wait until I reread it, which is likely to happen mid-September)
I really, really enjoyed this - as with the other two, so with this one. Once more, there are bits of backstory filled in. Admittedly there were a few times when I thought "ah, this is a clever way to put some more backstory/exposition in" which isn't a particularly good sign (because if you're really engrossed it should just flow, not make you stop and think "Oh I see, the author is explaining the organisational structure of the army to me via X explaining it to Y") but it *was* realistic and it *did* fit well, so I think my noticing was probably mostly me being picky.
(Pet peeve: books in which this is not done well. Particularly: Knight Errant by Anthony Reynolds - a novel about Bretonnia, which was the only reason I bought it - it randomly has an Empire captain hanging around with the Bretonnians for no apparent reason whatsoever except that then they can explain stupid things to him. There is no cultural justification for why he should be there and he doesn't seem to do anything helpful. Also all the characters were horrendously 2D and you could see the twists coming a mile off - oh, the main character has a sister who disappeared when she was young? Right, she'll come back as a damsel at the end of the book then ... and probably save the day ... *coughs* anyway, as I was saying ...)
The book starts on a massive high - they're going to make real progress into the Paperlands, a method of organising the river to produce flooding drowns the insects - and much faster than anyone could hack them apart by sword! An amazing dam has just been finished - truly the marvel of modern engineering. Spirits are buoyant - it looks like the Insects can be seriously attacked without costing lives!
(You can guess that it's going to go downhill from here)
Except that by building the dam they've just introduced a large pool of standing fresh water into the equation.
Brilliant writing. And I really did get an enormous sense of occasion from some of the stuff that happens in this book. In the first two books it's a bit like "Hey ... there are 50 immortals*. So why are we basically only hearing about 3 of them?" and in this one - while you still don't hear about anywhere near all 50, you pick up the threads of more of the immortals and begin to hear their stories. And in this book - everyone goes to the front. No really, everyone.
Even the Emperor.
This is unprecedented. The immortals are surprised and worried and don't know what to make of it - so the same goes for you as a reader. I felt a real sense of crisis and the world moving on, whereas previously it was more about the battle, which had always gone on and would always go on and was a bit of a stalemate - it was more the story of siege than anything else, I suppose. There was the underlying feeling that yes, fighting insects was horrible and cost thousands of lives and we needed to do it better, but we expect that in 10, 50, 100, 500 years we will still be occupying most of the territory we are occupying now, so long as we keep paying the cost. In The Modern World - things change. Suddenly it's not a case of years, it's what could happen in a matter of weeks. And the immortals aren't prepared for that. Why would they be? They are used to a world where Insects are fought as a slow and steady war of attrition, and now ...
Read it. No really, do. But you should probably read the other ones first.
*not counting spouses
The 'proper' title for this book is The Modern World (i.e. Dangerous Offspring was the title imposed by the publishers for the American market, not Swainston's original title, but at the time I got the book all the UK editions had gone but they had some US ones) and looking back on it I think that The Modern World is a much better title, focusing as it does on the broad picture of, well, the world rather than Cyan's antics.
Again, I don't want to give much away in case people are reading The Year of Our War and No Present Like Time ... so apologies for lack of detail.
(have just realised I haven't got a review of The Year of Our War up on the blog. I may do one soon, or I may wait until I reread it, which is likely to happen mid-September)
I really, really enjoyed this - as with the other two, so with this one. Once more, there are bits of backstory filled in. Admittedly there were a few times when I thought "ah, this is a clever way to put some more backstory/exposition in" which isn't a particularly good sign (because if you're really engrossed it should just flow, not make you stop and think "Oh I see, the author is explaining the organisational structure of the army to me via X explaining it to Y") but it *was* realistic and it *did* fit well, so I think my noticing was probably mostly me being picky.
(Pet peeve: books in which this is not done well. Particularly: Knight Errant by Anthony Reynolds - a novel about Bretonnia, which was the only reason I bought it - it randomly has an Empire captain hanging around with the Bretonnians for no apparent reason whatsoever except that then they can explain stupid things to him. There is no cultural justification for why he should be there and he doesn't seem to do anything helpful. Also all the characters were horrendously 2D and you could see the twists coming a mile off - oh, the main character has a sister who disappeared when she was young? Right, she'll come back as a damsel at the end of the book then ... and probably save the day ... *coughs* anyway, as I was saying ...)
The book starts on a massive high - they're going to make real progress into the Paperlands, a method of organising the river to produce flooding drowns the insects - and much faster than anyone could hack them apart by sword! An amazing dam has just been finished - truly the marvel of modern engineering. Spirits are buoyant - it looks like the Insects can be seriously attacked without costing lives!
(You can guess that it's going to go downhill from here)
Except that by building the dam they've just introduced a large pool of standing fresh water into the equation.
Brilliant writing. And I really did get an enormous sense of occasion from some of the stuff that happens in this book. In the first two books it's a bit like "Hey ... there are 50 immortals*. So why are we basically only hearing about 3 of them?" and in this one - while you still don't hear about anywhere near all 50, you pick up the threads of more of the immortals and begin to hear their stories. And in this book - everyone goes to the front. No really, everyone.
Even the Emperor.
This is unprecedented. The immortals are surprised and worried and don't know what to make of it - so the same goes for you as a reader. I felt a real sense of crisis and the world moving on, whereas previously it was more about the battle, which had always gone on and would always go on and was a bit of a stalemate - it was more the story of siege than anything else, I suppose. There was the underlying feeling that yes, fighting insects was horrible and cost thousands of lives and we needed to do it better, but we expect that in 10, 50, 100, 500 years we will still be occupying most of the territory we are occupying now, so long as we keep paying the cost. In The Modern World - things change. Suddenly it's not a case of years, it's what could happen in a matter of weeks. And the immortals aren't prepared for that. Why would they be? They are used to a world where Insects are fought as a slow and steady war of attrition, and now ...
Read it. No really, do. But you should probably read the other ones first.
*not counting spouses
Saturday, August 22, 2009
From A Different Location
Blogging from my parents' computer - am staying with them and H for a few days. Came down yesterday, which was cool - we stopped off and had dinner at Pizza Hut on the way, and I had one of their Tuscani pizzas with goat's cheese, onions, olives and rocket (I forget the name ... it started with a C). Mmmmmm.
Good news - H got her results on Thursday (of course, that being A level results' day) and she's into her first choice University! Hurrah! Much celebration. And even some celebratory chocolate, one of those cool Thornton's bottles that you can get them to write on :).
In a third piece of good news (the first piece was the pizza, in case you missed that) the Italy trip I'm going on in September with friends is now fully booked :) Rome here we come!
Planning to read Dangerous Offspring (the next Steph Swainston) while I'm here, which will count as this week's sci-fi / fantasy book. Next week I shall aim for The Gods Themselves, and the week after that I'll be on holiday with Chris and I've been saving the two Steven Erikson books for that.
Good news - H got her results on Thursday (of course, that being A level results' day) and she's into her first choice University! Hurrah! Much celebration. And even some celebratory chocolate, one of those cool Thornton's bottles that you can get them to write on :).
In a third piece of good news (the first piece was the pizza, in case you missed that) the Italy trip I'm going on in September with friends is now fully booked :) Rome here we come!
Planning to read Dangerous Offspring (the next Steph Swainston) while I'm here, which will count as this week's sci-fi / fantasy book. Next week I shall aim for The Gods Themselves, and the week after that I'll be on holiday with Chris and I've been saving the two Steven Erikson books for that.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Habits
In many ways, our habits define us. You can only be an X-kind-of-person if you habitually do X-person-kind-of-things (cf James 2). Sean Covey has written a rather good poem, which you can read here (it appears in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers) about the fact that habits can be one's greatest friend or greatest enemy.
Some things I habitually do ... in no particular order:
1) Drink lots of water
2) Avoid caffiene in the afternoons
3) Read. Read read read.
4) Spend lots of time checking emails / facebook / forums / blogs
5) Blog
6) Call my parents
7) Sleep in
8) Buy chocolate as comfort food or as a reward
9) Make lists
10) Talk to God (although this tends to go in cycles)
11) Occasionally read the Bible
12) Tell Chris I love him
13) Shop
14) Laundry
15) Eat a lot of meat
16) Think about what I'm doing and why
Most of those habits are pretty good, and most of them I'm happy with. Some of them I want to change. Prayer and Bible reading need to come higher on my list of priorities, and I've been working towards knowing more about how I best connect with doing them ... finding ways to explore that really inspire me.
Also, the meat-eating thing - I know I should be reducing my meat intake, having some form of meat twice a day (in a ham-and-salad-sandwich-for-lunch plus chicken for dinner sort of way - I'm not a complete carnivore) isn't good for the environment, and probably isn't great for me. I'm currently reading through Delia's "One is fun!" (awwwful title ...) and she says meat 3 times a week, fish one day, eggs one day, and veggie non-eggs the other 2 days is a good balance. I think I agree (in principle), I now need to agree in practice ... it is something that will be easier once I get back to Uni as I will then have complete control over my shopping and cooking. But that is no reason not to start trying now ... I guess what I should try to do is to find some vegetarian meals that Chris would like, off the top of my head I can't think of any, and cooking something just for me would seem a bit cold and heartless. And quit with the ham (etc) at lunchtime, so that meat happens at most once a day.
The chocolate thing could also do with rejigging ... I'm getting better at controlling it but I still don't think it's a good habit to be in. Yeah, okay, when you have a work-crisis it is very tempting to get through it with an enormous packet of chocolate hobnobs (and a giant bar of dairy milk) but is that really the best overall approach? I think not ... I was proud of myself recently when I went out to get study snacks and bought: a canteloupe melon, dried pink lady apple, dried fairtrade mango, 100g milk-chocolate-and-lavender chocolate, a bag of crispy M&Ms, and a packet of mushrooms. A strange selection perhaps ... but all things that I will happily snack on.
Some things I habitually do ... in no particular order:
1) Drink lots of water
2) Avoid caffiene in the afternoons
3) Read. Read read read.
4) Spend lots of time checking emails / facebook / forums / blogs
5) Blog
6) Call my parents
7) Sleep in
8) Buy chocolate as comfort food or as a reward
9) Make lists
10) Talk to God (although this tends to go in cycles)
11) Occasionally read the Bible
12) Tell Chris I love him
13) Shop
14) Laundry
15) Eat a lot of meat
16) Think about what I'm doing and why
Most of those habits are pretty good, and most of them I'm happy with. Some of them I want to change. Prayer and Bible reading need to come higher on my list of priorities, and I've been working towards knowing more about how I best connect with doing them ... finding ways to explore that really inspire me.
Also, the meat-eating thing - I know I should be reducing my meat intake, having some form of meat twice a day (in a ham-and-salad-sandwich-for-lunch plus chicken for dinner sort of way - I'm not a complete carnivore) isn't good for the environment, and probably isn't great for me. I'm currently reading through Delia's "One is fun!" (awwwful title ...) and she says meat 3 times a week, fish one day, eggs one day, and veggie non-eggs the other 2 days is a good balance. I think I agree (in principle), I now need to agree in practice ... it is something that will be easier once I get back to Uni as I will then have complete control over my shopping and cooking. But that is no reason not to start trying now ... I guess what I should try to do is to find some vegetarian meals that Chris would like, off the top of my head I can't think of any, and cooking something just for me would seem a bit cold and heartless. And quit with the ham (etc) at lunchtime, so that meat happens at most once a day.
The chocolate thing could also do with rejigging ... I'm getting better at controlling it but I still don't think it's a good habit to be in. Yeah, okay, when you have a work-crisis it is very tempting to get through it with an enormous packet of chocolate hobnobs (and a giant bar of dairy milk) but is that really the best overall approach? I think not ... I was proud of myself recently when I went out to get study snacks and bought: a canteloupe melon, dried pink lady apple, dried fairtrade mango, 100g milk-chocolate-and-lavender chocolate, a bag of crispy M&Ms, and a packet of mushrooms. A strange selection perhaps ... but all things that I will happily snack on.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
It's amazing what you can get for £10 ...
... at least when lots of things are on sale!
So my head is starting to get into back-to-uni mode ... although it's still quite a while til I go back, what with going to visit my parents for 4 days, going away for a week with Chris, and going to Italy with friends for 10 days, I haven't actually got all that much time at home left. So it's kind of a good thing I'm feeling motivated to get things done.
Hazel's here for a bit, and today we went shopping - and as part of getting things done, I ended up buying a whole bunch of things for taking back to Uni. Some were things I've wanted for a while but wanted to wait and get a good deal on (e.g. an oven glove - I've been keeping an eye out for them for a while but every time I see one for £5 I go "hmm ... I'll keep using tea towels" - successfully found a really fun green and pink one today for £1). Also, I want to have the capacity to host stuff in my room this year as it's fairly big, I have lots of friends :) and it would be nice to be able to all eat cake and have plates. And that sort of thing.
I was going to get this 60-piece £30 starter set from Argos which has 6 place settings (2 sizes of plate, cutlery, teaspoons, 2 sizes of glass, mug, bowl). But then I was looking in Tesco today and realised that if I got stuff from their value range I could probably get 8 settings for less than £30 ... which is almost kind of scary, because one can't help thinking that perhaps things *ought* to cost more than that. But I do try to polarise my spending ... either I'll buy cheap (because value stuff is going to be no less ethical than £5-a-piece stuff), or I'll spend money for certifiably better things (fairtrade, organic, etc).
Today I went to Tesco and I bought ...
2x 4 person 'Wave' cutlery set. I was looking at the £2.94 value cutlery sets, but then a few minutes later I noticed these - they were £12 each, but were reduced to £3 each.
3x small strawberry tins - they're about 4" tall each, 62p each (reduced from £2.50). These will be good for keeping tea and sugar in - I'm generally on the lookout for tins of about this size, for kinds of tea. It will also encourage me to buy more loose tea (once I finish off some more of the stuff I've got at the moment ...)
A pack of 3 waffle-weave tea towels for £1 - good deal.
A pink and green (solid pink one side, green the other) oven glove for £1 - ditto.
A bottle stopper - 12p.
Overall total: £9.98
Also, from a charity shop, I bought these lovely things ...
really cute set of 6 side plates, about 6" in diameter - found them for £2.99. Sarah remarked that the numbers were quite appropriate for a mathematician!
I also got some emails sent and things which was nice ... this morning I got up at about 8, which is earlier than I have been. Felt really awake too, which is always good. So I feel like I am Doing Things and Making Progress.
So my head is starting to get into back-to-uni mode ... although it's still quite a while til I go back, what with going to visit my parents for 4 days, going away for a week with Chris, and going to Italy with friends for 10 days, I haven't actually got all that much time at home left. So it's kind of a good thing I'm feeling motivated to get things done.
Hazel's here for a bit, and today we went shopping - and as part of getting things done, I ended up buying a whole bunch of things for taking back to Uni. Some were things I've wanted for a while but wanted to wait and get a good deal on (e.g. an oven glove - I've been keeping an eye out for them for a while but every time I see one for £5 I go "hmm ... I'll keep using tea towels" - successfully found a really fun green and pink one today for £1). Also, I want to have the capacity to host stuff in my room this year as it's fairly big, I have lots of friends :) and it would be nice to be able to all eat cake and have plates. And that sort of thing.
I was going to get this 60-piece £30 starter set from Argos which has 6 place settings (2 sizes of plate, cutlery, teaspoons, 2 sizes of glass, mug, bowl). But then I was looking in Tesco today and realised that if I got stuff from their value range I could probably get 8 settings for less than £30 ... which is almost kind of scary, because one can't help thinking that perhaps things *ought* to cost more than that. But I do try to polarise my spending ... either I'll buy cheap (because value stuff is going to be no less ethical than £5-a-piece stuff), or I'll spend money for certifiably better things (fairtrade, organic, etc).
Today I went to Tesco and I bought ...
2x 4 person 'Wave' cutlery set. I was looking at the £2.94 value cutlery sets, but then a few minutes later I noticed these - they were £12 each, but were reduced to £3 each.
3x small strawberry tins - they're about 4" tall each, 62p each (reduced from £2.50). These will be good for keeping tea and sugar in - I'm generally on the lookout for tins of about this size, for kinds of tea. It will also encourage me to buy more loose tea (once I finish off some more of the stuff I've got at the moment ...)
A pack of 3 waffle-weave tea towels for £1 - good deal.
A pink and green (solid pink one side, green the other) oven glove for £1 - ditto.
A bottle stopper - 12p.
Overall total: £9.98
Also, from a charity shop, I bought these lovely things ...
really cute set of 6 side plates, about 6" in diameter - found them for £2.99. Sarah remarked that the numbers were quite appropriate for a mathematician!I also got some emails sent and things which was nice ... this morning I got up at about 8, which is earlier than I have been. Felt really awake too, which is always good. So I feel like I am Doing Things and Making Progress.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
No Present Like Time
Just finished this ... it was good. Very good. An excellent follow up to The Year Of Our War. Will try not to spoil much, esp as people may be reading The Year Of Our War.
The Insect threat has been beaten back for the moment - it's tough, and the Fourlands is still licking its wounds, but is also starting to forget the imminent terror (which makes people more likely to grumble and tend towards unrest - war draws people together, and now that that's been removed ...). Ata Dei has discovered a new island - and the Emperor wants her, Jant, and Lightning to go and check it out ... (remember how much Jant *loathes* boats). At the beginning of the book he's come off the cat ... but of course events drive him back to it (or he really wants to go back to it anyway and is pretending to himself that he isn't - since the narration is his point of view). This brings the Shift back into things ...
You see everything from Jant's point of view again - and there's some wonderful new information about Castle: you get to see a successful Challenge and the resulting pageantry - and the newcomer trying to assimilate and fit in. You find out a little more about the Shift, although not much - but I found that was good, it fitted in quite well being used sparingly. There are some tantalising fragments about the history of the world, and about San ... and there is a perfect democracy involved, too. Although of course that doesn't last long ...
The characters remain 3D, which is great. There are epic journeys but also squabbles and mention of fashion (it still weirds me out every time I remember they're wearing T shirts. Shouldn't characters in fantasy be wearing woven linen tunics or impossibly flattering leather?). You learn more backstory about Jant, Lightning, and a few others, but not so much that it makes the plot drag. I felt it was very nicely balanced.
In short: would highly recommend.
The Insect threat has been beaten back for the moment - it's tough, and the Fourlands is still licking its wounds, but is also starting to forget the imminent terror (which makes people more likely to grumble and tend towards unrest - war draws people together, and now that that's been removed ...). Ata Dei has discovered a new island - and the Emperor wants her, Jant, and Lightning to go and check it out ... (remember how much Jant *loathes* boats). At the beginning of the book he's come off the cat ... but of course events drive him back to it (or he really wants to go back to it anyway and is pretending to himself that he isn't - since the narration is his point of view). This brings the Shift back into things ...
You see everything from Jant's point of view again - and there's some wonderful new information about Castle: you get to see a successful Challenge and the resulting pageantry - and the newcomer trying to assimilate and fit in. You find out a little more about the Shift, although not much - but I found that was good, it fitted in quite well being used sparingly. There are some tantalising fragments about the history of the world, and about San ... and there is a perfect democracy involved, too. Although of course that doesn't last long ...
The characters remain 3D, which is great. There are epic journeys but also squabbles and mention of fashion (it still weirds me out every time I remember they're wearing T shirts. Shouldn't characters in fantasy be wearing woven linen tunics or impossibly flattering leather?). You learn more backstory about Jant, Lightning, and a few others, but not so much that it makes the plot drag. I felt it was very nicely balanced.
In short: would highly recommend.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
I have at least made a decision about reading ...
... the next book from my list that I shall be reading is No Present Like Time, by Steph Swainston. In order to finish it 'this week' I will have to read it tomorrow. This should work just fine.
I haven't been making progress on the reading list this week (the Asimov I finished last week) because 1) I've been doing a lot of coursework and 2) I've been reading a lot of other stuff ...
In the last week or so I have read ...
-The Man Who Was Thursday: A nightmare (G K Chesterton)
-The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families (Stephen Covey)
-Lost and Found (Lucy Cavendish)
I am also currently reading:
-The Good Granny Cookbook (Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall)
and vaguely reading a guidebook to Italy, and an A-Z guide to good mental health (subtitled you don't have to be famous to have manic depression).
So I have been reading ... just not from the list.
On the subject of when weeks start and finish ... I'm not really quite sure where I think Sunday fits. I think I probably think of weeks as starting on Monday and finishing on Saturday, actually. And Sundays sort of hang in this hiatus state between weeks. Sundays are where you recharge and do bits and pieces you haven't got round to and relax and get ready to plunge back into a new week.
I haven't been making progress on the reading list this week (the Asimov I finished last week) because 1) I've been doing a lot of coursework and 2) I've been reading a lot of other stuff ...
In the last week or so I have read ...
-The Man Who Was Thursday: A nightmare (G K Chesterton)
-The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families (Stephen Covey)
-Lost and Found (Lucy Cavendish)
I am also currently reading:
-The Good Granny Cookbook (Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall)
and vaguely reading a guidebook to Italy, and an A-Z guide to good mental health (subtitled you don't have to be famous to have manic depression).
So I have been reading ... just not from the list.
On the subject of when weeks start and finish ... I'm not really quite sure where I think Sunday fits. I think I probably think of weeks as starting on Monday and finishing on Saturday, actually. And Sundays sort of hang in this hiatus state between weeks. Sundays are where you recharge and do bits and pieces you haven't got round to and relax and get ready to plunge back into a new week.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Another Thought
So, something I've been thinking about for a while now ... where a while is probably 3 months plus ... maybe even 6, I'm not sure:
It's not particularly catchy, but it's not too bad. I've been mulling it over for a while and this sentence best expresses this concept I have been thinking about. I also believe the converse - every time you do what you believe is not the optimal thing you can do, you become weaker.
Each time - because every event where you can choose between the best option and a less-than-best option is an opportunity that you can go for or you can miss. If you want to be a kind and helpful person and you see an opportunity to be kind and helpful and put away some dishes but you think "Oh, but they don't really matter" you have weakened your resolve and made it harder to become that kind of person.
It is very easy to treat small things as though they do not matter, or to grow careless through inattention. But to always do the small things well is no small thing (paraphrased, nicked from someone's quotation in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families which I'm reading at the moment). Also, it is easy to think "Well, I've been doing the right thing for ages ... I can take the easy way out this time". Yes, you can take the easy way out - but it will set you back, it will make it harder next time, it will cost you. So long as you're prepared for that, go ahead.
what you believe is [the] optimal - because I think that there is a very strong psychological element here. Doing something that is objectively the best thing to do but that you don't think is the best thing to do doesn't work the same way (although it is possibly good in itself as a way of retraining your thinking). And acting on what you believe is empowering, important, and really does wonders for your willpower.
(Also - and this is mostly talking to myself but might be helpful for others - if people tell you "it's fine, take a break, let it go, it doesn't really matter - you deserve some relaxation" - think about what they're saying, but go with your opinion, not theirs. Sometimes in the battle to do what I know needs doing other people - with the best of intentions - can try to be sympathetic but in doing so can tell me that it doesn't really need doing, or at least not now. But they lie.)
I've also very carefully used the word "optimal" rather than "right" because although of course I hope that everybody wants to be good and just and fair and kind etc, the principle would work if you wanted to be a better evil dictator. Every time you're callous and cruel, it gets easier, right? I am thinking about all this very much as an exercise of will, not as a path to goodness.
thing you can do - this in previous incarnations was "thing to do", but I have very deliberately changed it to include the word "can". If you are depressed and miserable, stressed, or tired, that affects what you can do. And beating yourself up about not doing 'the optimal thing' (which you could do if you were in fighting form) is not helpful. Working out what the optimal thing you can do given your circumstances right now is much more helpful.
you become stronger - well, this is the aim. Because as you become stronger, life gets easier. Although I am reminded of the bit at the end of The Horse and His Boy (CS Lewis, 3rd Narnia book) which says something like "He had not yet learned that the reward for doing a hard task well is to be given another, harder one ..." - of course, life doesn't always get easier, sometimes it throws things at you. But the stronger you are the more you can cope with them, and real, inner strength (as opposed to having a strong facade but being weak underneath) is a terribly useful and terribly wonderful thing.
This has been a very useful thought for me. Particularly in terms of learning not to dismiss little things. Don't sweat the small stuff - but don't miss out on it either. Every day I get a chance to become the sort of person I want to be. I don't necessarily succeed. But I don't go backwards so often or so far now, so something is working.
Each time you do what you believe is the optimal thing you can do, you become stronger.
It's not particularly catchy, but it's not too bad. I've been mulling it over for a while and this sentence best expresses this concept I have been thinking about. I also believe the converse - every time you do what you believe is not the optimal thing you can do, you become weaker.
Each time - because every event where you can choose between the best option and a less-than-best option is an opportunity that you can go for or you can miss. If you want to be a kind and helpful person and you see an opportunity to be kind and helpful and put away some dishes but you think "Oh, but they don't really matter" you have weakened your resolve and made it harder to become that kind of person.
It is very easy to treat small things as though they do not matter, or to grow careless through inattention. But to always do the small things well is no small thing (paraphrased, nicked from someone's quotation in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families which I'm reading at the moment). Also, it is easy to think "Well, I've been doing the right thing for ages ... I can take the easy way out this time". Yes, you can take the easy way out - but it will set you back, it will make it harder next time, it will cost you. So long as you're prepared for that, go ahead.
what you believe is [the] optimal - because I think that there is a very strong psychological element here. Doing something that is objectively the best thing to do but that you don't think is the best thing to do doesn't work the same way (although it is possibly good in itself as a way of retraining your thinking). And acting on what you believe is empowering, important, and really does wonders for your willpower.
(Also - and this is mostly talking to myself but might be helpful for others - if people tell you "it's fine, take a break, let it go, it doesn't really matter - you deserve some relaxation" - think about what they're saying, but go with your opinion, not theirs. Sometimes in the battle to do what I know needs doing other people - with the best of intentions - can try to be sympathetic but in doing so can tell me that it doesn't really need doing, or at least not now. But they lie.)
I've also very carefully used the word "optimal" rather than "right" because although of course I hope that everybody wants to be good and just and fair and kind etc, the principle would work if you wanted to be a better evil dictator. Every time you're callous and cruel, it gets easier, right? I am thinking about all this very much as an exercise of will, not as a path to goodness.
thing you can do - this in previous incarnations was "thing to do", but I have very deliberately changed it to include the word "can". If you are depressed and miserable, stressed, or tired, that affects what you can do. And beating yourself up about not doing 'the optimal thing' (which you could do if you were in fighting form) is not helpful. Working out what the optimal thing you can do given your circumstances right now is much more helpful.
you become stronger - well, this is the aim. Because as you become stronger, life gets easier. Although I am reminded of the bit at the end of The Horse and His Boy (CS Lewis, 3rd Narnia book) which says something like "He had not yet learned that the reward for doing a hard task well is to be given another, harder one ..." - of course, life doesn't always get easier, sometimes it throws things at you. But the stronger you are the more you can cope with them, and real, inner strength (as opposed to having a strong facade but being weak underneath) is a terribly useful and terribly wonderful thing.
This has been a very useful thought for me. Particularly in terms of learning not to dismiss little things. Don't sweat the small stuff - but don't miss out on it either. Every day I get a chance to become the sort of person I want to be. I don't necessarily succeed. But I don't go backwards so often or so far now, so something is working.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Recently I have been reading ...
Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Empire and Second Foundation (as promised).
(there may be mild spoilers)
Overall, I like the trilogy of Foundation books. In my opinion Foundation and Empire was the worst one ... for the first 2/3 - 3/4 of the book I felt I was just slogging through it, rather than enjoying it ... I think that it was supposed to be more character-driven (focused on Bayta and Toran) and, well, Asimov doesn't do character-driven very well. Although I think the plot is extremely good, it was something I felt I had to make myself read, rather than finding it easily readable. However, I really, really, really liked the ending of the book and because of that, I am prepared to forgive it much. It was surprising enough without being completely out of the blue.
Second Foundation I really enjoyed. I was surprised that the problem of the Mule was dealt with as quickly as it was, but it makes sense - the book then moves past that to the Mule's legacy and how to get the galaxy back on track and so on. Thoroughly enjoyed the ending too - it was almost Poirot style, as in turn each of the main characters went "I know where the Second Foundation is!" and then gave their explanation, and then it was picked to pieces. I think Second Foundation is the best book of the three, but that it is probably necessary to read Foundation to set everything up properly ... although I think that if one read Foundation, read the wikipedia page for Foundation and Empire and then read Second Foundation, that would probably be a good way to do things.
I need to pick a book to read next. I think perhaps The Gods Themselves, or No Present Like Time.
(there may be mild spoilers)
Overall, I like the trilogy of Foundation books. In my opinion Foundation and Empire was the worst one ... for the first 2/3 - 3/4 of the book I felt I was just slogging through it, rather than enjoying it ... I think that it was supposed to be more character-driven (focused on Bayta and Toran) and, well, Asimov doesn't do character-driven very well. Although I think the plot is extremely good, it was something I felt I had to make myself read, rather than finding it easily readable. However, I really, really, really liked the ending of the book and because of that, I am prepared to forgive it much. It was surprising enough without being completely out of the blue.
Second Foundation I really enjoyed. I was surprised that the problem of the Mule was dealt with as quickly as it was, but it makes sense - the book then moves past that to the Mule's legacy and how to get the galaxy back on track and so on. Thoroughly enjoyed the ending too - it was almost Poirot style, as in turn each of the main characters went "I know where the Second Foundation is!" and then gave their explanation, and then it was picked to pieces. I think Second Foundation is the best book of the three, but that it is probably necessary to read Foundation to set everything up properly ... although I think that if one read Foundation, read the wikipedia page for Foundation and Empire and then read Second Foundation, that would probably be a good way to do things.
I need to pick a book to read next. I think perhaps The Gods Themselves, or No Present Like Time.
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Unexpected Presents
I (heart) socks ...
... and no, I'm not just saying that because these have hearts on them.
... aren't they sweet? Sarah randomly bought them for me. Well, semi-randomly - I had commented that wearing fluffy socks make my new Docs most wearable, and so she got me the two plain fuzzy pairs (in purple, of course) but the others were arbitrary (yes, I know, I know, this sort of thing is by no means truly random).
I like socks. I really, really like socks. Especially if they have bad puns involving sheep on them. These are what I'm wearing today:
(I also have a pair which say "Ewe Beauty")
Socks are proverbially a boring present. But there are some truly beautiful socks out there, unfortunately most of the really nice ones I've found are in the US ... like these OTK ribbed ones with cute buttons, these gorgeous argyle OTKs, and knee highs with hook-and-eyes. There must be somewhere in the UK that sells this sort of thing ... haven't found anywhere yet though.
Another unexpected - Chris's Dad (and half-brother) came round yesterday, and they brought me my birthday present early :) I have some Pam Ayres poetry which seems pretty cool so far, and money to buy a badminton racquet :) going to go shopping for that tomorrow after work.
... and no, I'm not just saying that because these have hearts on them.
... aren't they sweet? Sarah randomly bought them for me. Well, semi-randomly - I had commented that wearing fluffy socks make my new Docs most wearable, and so she got me the two plain fuzzy pairs (in purple, of course) but the others were arbitrary (yes, I know, I know, this sort of thing is by no means truly random).
I like socks. I really, really like socks. Especially if they have bad puns involving sheep on them. These are what I'm wearing today:
(I also have a pair which say "Ewe Beauty")Socks are proverbially a boring present. But there are some truly beautiful socks out there, unfortunately most of the really nice ones I've found are in the US ... like these OTK ribbed ones with cute buttons, these gorgeous argyle OTKs, and knee highs with hook-and-eyes. There must be somewhere in the UK that sells this sort of thing ... haven't found anywhere yet though.
Another unexpected - Chris's Dad (and half-brother) came round yesterday, and they brought me my birthday present early :) I have some Pam Ayres poetry which seems pretty cool so far, and money to buy a badminton racquet :) going to go shopping for that tomorrow after work.
Friday, August 07, 2009
Lunch!
(click through for bigger picture)This was lunch today. It consists of ...
- a handful of green beans
- half a carrot
- half an onion
- about 3" of a stick of celery
- half a cooked chicken breast (leftover from sometime earlier this week)
- a handful of prawns (from the freezer)
- chicken bovril + hot water
- 3 small handfuls of risotto rice
- half a red chilli, seeds and all - the kind of chilli that's usually 5-8cm in length, not the really tiny hot ones
Variations I would make ... adding pak choi, swapping the onions for spring onions, only doing prawns or chicken not both (the prawns were another last-minute addition and on reflection I'm not sure I would repeat prawns *and* chicken), adding soy sauce, adding sesame seeds maybe? Removing the chilli, adding sweetcorn, swapping the rice out for udon noodles ... this sort of soup is pretty much infinitely variable so long as you manage to retain some of its essence. Good for using up little leftover bits of green, too.
Thursday, August 06, 2009
Brief thoughts on Firefly.
Everyone's favourite Sci-fi show ... or at least a show where you don't tend to find people saying they hate it.
I've only seen 4 episodes so far (thanks to Ed for lending me the DVDs), so these are pretty much first impressions:
I've only seen 4 episodes so far (thanks to Ed for lending me the DVDs), so these are pretty much first impressions:
- The first episode was a bad first episode. Far too much time spent waffling about with no clear story or anything. I know they were trying to establish background - they could've done it far better.
- Kayley started off being intensely annoying ("I'm a perfect, sweet, happy, optimistic character who is unfailingly cheery and everybody loves me! And I'm a great engineer!" - screamed Mary-Sue to me ... although Chris really liked her right from the start. But he has a soft spot for sweet girls.) but appears to now be developing a character, or at least something.
- I can't figure out the captain. This is a good thing.
- I really like Zoe. And the doctor. In fact, most of the characters seem pretty cool and reasonably 3D.
- I'm liking the whole Mal-Inara thing. So far there is enough tension there to be interesting and not so much that it's annoying.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Last of the Christian pick-up lines
Although before I start those, a comment: I've just read Galatians in The Message translation (after reading that Eugene Peterson decided to work on The Message translation during a Bible study on Galatians, because when he read it in NT Greek he got a wonderful sense of a dynamic, active church/letter, and when others read it in English he could see that they weren't getting that) and it's really cool. See here for chapter one (you can then click through to the next - it's only 6 chapters, it's short).
Now on with the terrible stuff ...
100. "If you were staying for the tribulation, I would consider staying too.. but then I would probably leave."
That's ... kind of hilarious. Although I'm not sure what I think of the theology of Revelation now. I am reasonably convinced that the modern way of dealing with it (especially in the US) is pretty off-track, esp as the Church in the first century wouldn't have been sitting there thinking "Gee, this is a crazy letter. It obviously has no relevance to us today (despite the fact that our pastor wrote it to us to help and encourage us). No doubt it will be useful to people a couple of thousand years in the future who don't want to be left behind and who want to know about the coming apocalypse."
101. "If you were a leper, I would still hold your hand ... even if it wasn't attached."
That is actually hilarious.
103. "Hi, I'm Calvin. You were meant to choose me."
*This* is even better. This is super-cool.
104. "Unlike the Israelites, who forgot the Lord, I will remember your name most of the time."
Heh.
105. "You are a Galatians 5 fruit salad."
Meh. I feel the fruit salad thing may have potential, but it needs to be wittier than this.
107. "Can you make your decision, because I'm keen to build a commemorative altar and Bunnings is shutting in 15 minutes."
(The internet informs me that Bunnings is a hardware shop)
Someone who offered to build a commemorative altar based on whether I would go out with them or not ... yeah, that would be pretty cool.
111. "If you were my wife, I would never make you pretend to be my sister. That would be too damaging to my reputation."
Oh yeah.
112. "I would bring your father twelve-hundred Philistine foreskins for just one date with you."
Um ... no. Some bits of emulating the OT are sweet. Some aren't ...
Woo, I've reached the end! Thank goodness ... I now need to avoid the facebook group so as not to pick up any more.
Now on with the terrible stuff ...
100. "If you were staying for the tribulation, I would consider staying too.. but then I would probably leave."
That's ... kind of hilarious. Although I'm not sure what I think of the theology of Revelation now. I am reasonably convinced that the modern way of dealing with it (especially in the US) is pretty off-track, esp as the Church in the first century wouldn't have been sitting there thinking "Gee, this is a crazy letter. It obviously has no relevance to us today (despite the fact that our pastor wrote it to us to help and encourage us). No doubt it will be useful to people a couple of thousand years in the future who don't want to be left behind and who want to know about the coming apocalypse."
101. "If you were a leper, I would still hold your hand ... even if it wasn't attached."
That is actually hilarious.
103. "Hi, I'm Calvin. You were meant to choose me."
*This* is even better. This is super-cool.
104. "Unlike the Israelites, who forgot the Lord, I will remember your name most of the time."
Heh.
105. "You are a Galatians 5 fruit salad."
Meh. I feel the fruit salad thing may have potential, but it needs to be wittier than this.
107. "Can you make your decision, because I'm keen to build a commemorative altar and Bunnings is shutting in 15 minutes."
(The internet informs me that Bunnings is a hardware shop)
Someone who offered to build a commemorative altar based on whether I would go out with them or not ... yeah, that would be pretty cool.
111. "If you were my wife, I would never make you pretend to be my sister. That would be too damaging to my reputation."
Oh yeah.
112. "I would bring your father twelve-hundred Philistine foreskins for just one date with you."
Um ... no. Some bits of emulating the OT are sweet. Some aren't ...
Woo, I've reached the end! Thank goodness ... I now need to avoid the facebook group so as not to pick up any more.
Monday, August 03, 2009
The Reading List: #1
There are a lot of books/authors that I've been told I should read some of - or that other people have talked about as being wonderful classics ... and I do mean to get round to reading them, I do. Although sometimes when I think about that my mind goes blank and then I can't think of any to read, which is a shame.
So I'm going to start a coordinated project to read the books. The idea is a rate of one a week. This is high enough that I will get through them reasonably fast, but low enough that it should be doable even in the middle of term (although I might start picking the smaller books for that sort of time and save the huge 3" ones for when I'm on holiday).
The list will be made up of classics I've been told everyone should read, new authors that I've been told I should try, and additional books by authors I have tried and liked.
The Reading List:
Suggestions for additions welcome, especially suggestions of particular books where I've written "Something by ...".
I'm halfway through Foundation and Empire at the moment, so the plan for this week will be to finish that and Second Foundation.
*Kind of cheating as I didn't finish it. But I read enough to get a flavour of what Lovecraft is like and to know that I didn't like it ...
So I'm going to start a coordinated project to read the books. The idea is a rate of one a week. This is high enough that I will get through them reasonably fast, but low enough that it should be doable even in the middle of term (although I might start picking the smaller books for that sort of time and save the huge 3" ones for when I'm on holiday).
The list will be made up of classics I've been told everyone should read, new authors that I've been told I should try, and additional books by authors I have tried and liked.
The Reading List:
Isaac Asimov: Foundation- Foundation and Empire
- Second Foundation
- Isaac Asimov: The Gods Themselves
- Lois McMaster Bujold: Some more of the Vorkosigan saga
- Something by
Philip K. Dick: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Something by David Eddings
Steven Erikson: Gardens of the Moon- Deadhouse Gates
- Memories of Ice
- Something by Robert Heinlein
Frank Herbert: Dune- Daniel Keyes: Flowers for Algernon
- Ursula LeGuin: The Left Hand of Darkness
- Ursula LeGuin: Earthsea trilogy
H.P. Lovecraft: The Call of Cthulu and Other Stories*China Mieville: Un Lun Dun- One of China Mieville's grown up books
- Something by Michael Moorcock
- Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon
- Something by Charles Stross
Steph Swainston: The Year of Our War- No Present Like Time
- Dangerous Offspring
Suggestions for additions welcome, especially suggestions of particular books where I've written "Something by ...".
I'm halfway through Foundation and Empire at the moment, so the plan for this week will be to finish that and Second Foundation.
*Kind of cheating as I didn't finish it. But I read enough to get a flavour of what Lovecraft is like and to know that I didn't like it ...
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