Inexplicable passion

I can easily explain my love affair with books -- I live to read, d'oh -- but can't quite pinpoint why I have such a fascination with shoes. Saying I love to wear shoes not only doesn't sound quite right, it isn't even accurate -- I'd much prefer to go barefoot!

The subconscious is a fascinating thing

Was doing some spring-cleaning and came upon an exercise book in which I had written down a few dreams. I rarely wake up remembering a dream, and unfortunately this entry was undated, so there's no way of telling which year I dreamt this. The words are scribbled across the page, not neatly written on the lines, by which I deduce I must have woken up and written it in the dark so as to capture the images before they slipped away. I reproduce the notes here in their entirety:

*      *      *      *      *      *
Was at rooftop -- looked up and saw object beaming rainbows from both sides

Wondered what it was

People started hurrying out with cameras and filming equipment -- asked them -- "It's an astroid!"

Watched as it sailed across -- "You think that's creepy? Look down!" Next to building -- tanks (army) all over the place. Lined up in neat rows, waiting

Asteroid lands -- all tanks pointed at it -- something pops out -- comes sailing in the air -- lands on rooftop where we are. Everyone screams, me included. Somehow some dinosaur has appeared in the middle of rooftop too. Thingy opens and there's a whole fish on top of a can. Friend is right in front of it -- grabs the fish -- then flustered, hurls it back at dino and grabs can instead. Dino devours fish while she opens can, the rest of us stand back in fear...

*      *      *      *      *      *
And it ends with those exact words, on a cliffhanger! I'm wondering if I ate too much pizza for dinner that night or something...

Loot!

Bought 3 books yesterday, so am feeling a little guilty. Yes, I went to a bookstore. AGAIN. Two days in a row. *facepalm*  What can I say? I'm a sucker for punishment!

I'm trying to console myself that at least the books aren't fiction. You see, when I was a teen, my dad told me fiction is a waste of money: "You should buy informative books, books which you will reference over and over again. Novels and storybooks just sit on the shelf after you've read them."

What did I get, you ask?

1. Crafting novels & short stories: The complete guide to writing great fiction
2. Beaded jewellery: Step-by-step techniques and projects to create your own style
3. The brushstroke handbook: The ultimate guide to decorative painting brushstrokes

I nearly bought a fourth book, one on card-making, but I already have a collection of card-making books and I decided this particular book didn't really offer any new techniques I hadn't seen before. Phew, managed to cull one from the pile!

Nothing like an excerpt to help demonstrate the allure of a book. So here, I give you something from book #1 in the list above:

*      *      *      *      *      *

He was tall, 6 foot 2, with a nose to match, tall, thin, and straight.
  That's the author talking.  
He caught sight of his 6-foot-2 reflection in the window of a bagel shop, paused and studied his thin, straight nose, both in profile and straight on. Straight on, he decided, always show your nose to her straight on. Never from the side.
  This approach provides the same facts without stopping the story as if to say, "I'm going to describe somebody now." We see the reflection through the character's eyes, not the author's keyboard. We see action, both actual and implied. Plus, we learn somethhing about the character's personality. He's vain about the nose.

 

Gettin' back into the swing of things

I bought a paper-cutter. Yep, you read that right. A paper-cutter.

I've always wanted one. Useful for papercrafts, even if I've hardly done any for yonks. Easier to slice through card rather than painstakingly take a pair of scissors to it (and not have the cut come out straight) or have to run a pen-knife through the card several times because it's so thick. But I kept telling myself: no, this is just a want. No, you're not getting one. Not right now, anyway.

Yesterday, however! I was in a bookstore and I saw this WONDERFUL contraption. It not only cuts, it can create perforations for you to make a tear-off slip, and it can also do a wavy decorative cut so your paper has a pretty edge! Plus it can help you to create folds instead of totally cutting through the paper. Wow!

I bet you didn't know I love gadgets. I love hardware stores and still think a hammer drill is pretty cool. But for the fact I know I'll probably only use it twice in my lifetime, I might have bought one already.

Anyway, getting back to the paper cutter... it's this one. Shiiiiinyy.

How much did it cost, you ask? *gulp*  That little baby came with a most lovely pricetag of RM175. But it was worth it! And I will use it! I just got a huge-ass L-shaped desk (6' x 5') and have designated one arm (leg?) of the L for papercrafts and painting. That is to be my ART space. Sacred. ;)

The lengths to which we will go

On the (extremely) rare day I decide to have coffee, I go down to the cafeteria and the mamak stall tells me: "Kopi habis!" o.O  Coffee can habis one meh?!

There is a San Francisco Coffee outlet but I'm not enough of a fan to pay more than RM10 for my coffee. It's just frankly not worth it.

So I go to the anchor tenant (do they call them anchor tenants in cafeterias?) which has a Nescafe dispensing machine. It offers black coffee, white coffee, and Milo -- but only hot. Get a white coffee for RM1.30. Go back to the mamak stall to get ice cubes for 50 sen. Swipe extra creamer & sugar from San Fran. Discover I have to add 4 sachets of creamer & 2 sachets of brown sugar to get the thing drinkable. Pour the new mix into the cup with the ice cubes.

Now my head is buzzing. Oooh!

To-do list

This is for me. Because it's my blog :p

To-do list:

1. Upload favicon
2. Figure out header image/logo
3. Finalise site colours
4. Decide on background img & upload 3 sizes
5. Fix "continue reading" so post doesn't get cut off
6. Get 404 page off the navigation bar
7. Work on template for permalink posts & pages to look like blog posts
8. Insert social networking functionality & print functionality (perhaps?)
9. Make contact page with contact form
10. See whether can insert "Teaching" category link into navigation bar
11. Sort out the placement/arrangement of 4 widgets below the content

...yeah, I think that might be it. HOPEFULLY.

My secret

When writing academic papers:

• Always use the appropriate jargon. It makes you sound knowledgeable and authoritative; this is 50% of the battle won.
• Look at other people's references to find relevant references you can use. References help to make you sound like you did lots of work and reading, and are familiar with previous work done in this field; this is another 20% of the battle won.
• Explain EVERYTHING -- the key words in your objective and research questions, why you chose that theoretical framework, why you chose that sample, why you chose that method of data collection, why you analysed the data in that manner, how you came to the conclusions you did, how your study is relevant or useful. Explanations make you sound like you have a basis for everything you say, which makes your findings and conclusions sound solid; this is yet another 20% of the battle won.
• Be sure your analysis is thorough, and that your findings make sense and are presented logically, in an orderly manner. This is the final 10% of the battle won.

And there you have it; that's the way I approach my papers. (You should remember I'm doing qualitative and not quantitative studies.)

The reason I put the analysis itself at 10% is because if you have great analysis but cannot explain it well, meaning you don't use the appropriate jargon and you don't explain everything properly plus you don't put it in context by having the correct references -- then your analysis will be useless.

I use language like a weapon.



*Found this on a now-defunct blog of mine. First posted on 10 April 2008, when I was knee-deep in coursework for my Masters!