I should also cut back on spending, but this week there was a sale on at Knit Picks - up to 40% off sock books. They don't ship to Australia, only within the US, but I knew one of my friends (Tom Birch) from San Fran was coming back to Sydney for the Anzac Day long weekend. So taking advantage of the free shipping within the US (if you spend over US$50) and Tom bringing it over when he comes to visit, I spent US$55 on 2 books plus some sock yarn. I just started my first pair of socks, and it's going quite well (although I'm still trying to find out how to not have the holes from where I wrap my stitches when I turn the heel) and thankfully even though the pattern is just basic stocking stitch, the yarn is very pretty, and that keeps me interested!
Also spent $5.50 on an armchair that I bid on eBay...
Well - it costed me more than $5.50 when I count petrol money and the time spent driving there and back (it was all the way out in the Hills district - Beaumont Hills, 45 minutes each way!). I reckon it looks better in real life, and it's quite comfy too! (Am sitting on it right now as I type... :D) It's perfect because I can sit properly whilst I knit instead of knitting on the bed, and I can also sit next to Mark when he's at his table on his computer. All I need to get now is a laptop table, and I'm set.
Oh and talking about buying stuff, when I was buying my text book for a uni class, I bought two Popular Penguin books - Clockwork Orange and Lolita. It's pretty cheap already, and buying it at the UNSW bookshop we get 10% off, so it ended up being $9 each. I hope to do more leisurely reading to kick start my imagination, as well as to possibly improve my (horrid) writing skills. I find that academic journals and articles are sometimes a bit dry, even though I should employ their writing techniques moreso than fiction novels. But being the arty-farty wanky me, I prefer something with an interesting narrative. Have started a bit of Clockwork Orange, and must admit even though it's kinda novella size, it's still a bit of a challenge to read as the language used is slightly cryptic - lots of slang used by Alex, the main dude, and therefore slows the process down a bit as I try to decipher what he's talking about half the time! I know it's the language that is used in the movie, which I remember but not extremely clearly, but having the images you can guess pretty quickly what he's on about, as opposed to having to re-read the paragraph to get the context of what he's trying to say. Sometimes movies do do half the work for you, as you don't necessarily have to "imagine" the protaganist's world, but I guess that's the magic about reading a novel - YOU get to conjure up the images the way YOU think it should be and really no one will judge you. As a movie director of a film based on a novel, if the image you try to recreate does not meet up to the standard of, say, a hardcore fan's expectations, you're just a sucker for punishment... :D
And I've been learning a bit of guitar too! Mark, of course, is teaching me a bit here and there. I now know how to do 2 octaves of the G major scale, and I'm going to try learning a few chords next week. Am trying to practice my picking and also keeping my fingers closer to the frets. I scored this acoustic guitar from freecycle, and even though it's not fantastic - far from it actually, it's good to learn on before I invest in a better than crap guitar.
This week's challenge? To detox my system. It has a lot of gunk. I'm going to try and be as healthy as possible, and also try to exercise everyday again as well. Have made a list of things to do, so that's another challenge - cross off everything on that list! :D
Until next week, smile everybody!
