sunnudagur, apríl 25, 2010

music, writing, waxing, animal murder

I bought Dark Side of the Moon a week ago and listened to it with my Dad. He told me that my Uncle Steve has the original album on record! Crazy, eh? This is something I probably never would have known if I hadn't bought the album myself, and is confirmation to me that I am doing the right thing with this whole "project." I enjoyed the album itself. It got me thinking about Abbey Road and all the conceptual stuff that has come out of there. I've been there - it is such a normal place, but it has significantly changed the paths of music time and time again. I wonder if this is a British thing - or something unique to Abbey Road.. or both. I think I can tell from the music that Pink Floyd was using drugs that speed up the mind (rather than the slow stuff the Beatles were on). I wondered while listening: is it possible to come up with crazy things without being on anything? :)

This week I am working on a short story to submit to a contest. I need help with editing it - I haven't really done this sort of creative writing since high school, and I want to make sure I avoid cliches or amature mistakes. Would anyone be interested in reading it?
This week I am also going to wax my legs for the first time. Bought the stuff already - the instructions have instilled in me a great fear! But it must be done.

Finally, I have added a new thing to my list. People always ask me if I am vegetarian (I think because of my hippie vibe thing). I am not, and I always say that my belief is that if you are going to eat meat you have to be willing to kill and prepare it yourself. I've never done this before. I've never even gone fishing. So this summer I want to see if I am capable of this. I'm not sure how to go about this. I think I would like to start with a chicken because it is small and I eat it the most. Does anyone know of a chicken farm where I could do this? I think this would be a really challenging and important addition to my list.

þriðjudagur, apríl 13, 2010

Tall, Dark and Mongolian

Today: finished Pride and Prejudice and had Mongolian Hot Pot :D

I've had an aversion to Jane Austen for many years due to my love of Russian Lit. Tolstoy has always seemed superior to Austen and I never tried to get past the first chapter or two of P&P. Two things about Austen:
I was surprised to find that I really liked it - enough that I think I'll read the rest of her stuff. She is good at explaining how people are feeling. And I like her sense of humour.
Secondly, Darcy is really overrated. Not that he isn't a good guy, but I'm pretty certain most girls in reality would find this kind of guy boring and awkward. All my life I've heard fellow ladies rattle on and on about how they want to find their Darcy. They don't. They want charisma. They want Wickham. I think I want a cross between the two. Someone who's willing to throw caution to the winds and run away, but who decides to get married first.

Mongolian Hot Pot! Wow! Great stuff. Kind of like Korean Hot Pot. If you've never had either, I will take you out for it :D
In short, everyone is given their own pot of soup stock and there is an all you can eat buffet of stuff (vegetables, fish, tofu, noodles, dumplings etc) to put in your soup (which is boiling on a mini cooker in front of you). And they give you plates of thinly sliced uncooked meat which goes in as well. Amazing! Dinner takes the whole evening and you kind of make it up as you go along... Made me realize I know very little about Mongolia and so Wikipedia, here I come...

This whole experiencing new things has truly inspired me and made me all happy and excited about life. I am currently perfecting my list - everyone I talk to gives me suggestions, so it is getting longer. I just found out today that this is called a Bucket List. Somehow never heard that term before.