Back to something called life.

I'm in the middle of trying to produce a short article about soil. I'm bored to death and unable to squeeze a single molecule of smartness from my tortured brain. Then I go and check blogs. I find nothing of interest so I turn to my own blog* and here I find the kind offer of Alpaca Granny to drop by and shovel alpaca shit.
I must say that it's the most compassionate thing that happened to me in weeks. How could she guess so well that after this personal crap and intellectual overload all I need to do is physical work around some organic matter.

But I'm just translating the fascinating and complex chemistry of humus to the brain capacity of a 4th grader. Poor me.
I guess I'll drop this whole thing. I'll go home** and felt the rug. Pics tomorrow.


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*one has to do everything on their own. Sigh.
**the one shared with parents.

Someone stole an hour of my life.

Yes, admittedly, I dislike daylight saving time. It feels like morning and it's midday. Or the other way round. I don't know, I'm temporarily lost.

For those who might be concerned about my wellbeing, then:
I'm alive and kicking. I feel fine. Sun is shining and the prospect of a week well spent in the office is enthralling... damn it. That's just the way the world works.
And yes, for some personal reasons not to be discussed here, I feel like shit. Send me some chocolate. Or yarn. Or not. Whatever. Just try to avoid me, I might bite.
I finished the rug and I pray with the full fervour of a devout atheist* that it doesn't come up as a total ugly tangle. To those who might be concerned about my rising idiocy, then be aware that I rolled the thing in two bedsheets and tied it. As soon as I lift my ugly lazy ass to go and make some coffee (I feel so shitty that I woke up two hours ago and didn't feel an urge to have a coffee), I'll check that it didn't tangle.

Five minutes later: no it din't.
I made some coffee, too. I was told to eat breakfast, that it's healthy. I was also told to wear shoes that would support my ankles and a few other things. But... I guess I'll stick to my ways.


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*my religious and philosophical views may be discussed on the blog but I don't feel like that now. This one is a figure of speech I like, that's it.

Just so

I got the review of my manuscript and I'm absolutely happy because it was good. There were a few mistakes but that's what's reviewing good for and the guy said that he liked the whole thing. Since I'm not a historian as such and since I'm not actually an expert in children nor teaching, it felt good. Especially after my ex-co-author declared the draft a piece of crap.
It was however a friendly review written by someone who doesn't want to nitpick nor show that he knows something, too. The unfriendly reviews are done by folks appointed by the ministry and they might have strange opinions. They often do, in fact. Some of the reviewers are plain teachers who do not need to be plain morons by definiton but many are.... so I expect comments like I think this should be done differently. Yuck. And since the textbook mentions various religions (most of history is religious wars, religious arguments, religious art and such), it has to be appointed by some organization of each bunch. The guy who reviews it for Jews is a crazy maniac who will happily want every square milimetre filled in with some Jew-related something. The Christians are normal or ignorant, meaning less work for us in the publishing. The Gypsy organization is pretty new and I hope the Muslims do not need to have it since there's a single notion of wars with Turks who do not necessarily have to be taken as Muslims because nothing of their religious inclinations (or any other inclinations, for that matter) is mentioned.
Luckily, it doesn't have to get an approval from the Union of Steam Engineers (nineteenth century is often referred to as Century of Steam), Voluntary Organization of Parchment Producers (parchment was used to write on and is discussed as such) or whatever crazy things one might invent.

Blogger doesn't want to upload pictures. Damn bastard. You are not getting any, then.

Yes, and today is the last day with shitty hair colour.

Booooooring

And now about something totally different.

Lonicera fragrantissima













Crocus vernus



















Leucojum vernum



















Galanthus nivalis



















Crocus vernus albiflorus (and my ink-stained hand)

Spring has come

On Wednesday I had some errands - like, find a notary, get a certified copy of my diploma, throw it at some people at school, take pics of the whale skeleton in the National Museum, get a copy of FAZ since it's mentioned in some historic something in my book and the editor expressed a desire to add a pic of Frankfurter Allgemeine there. It's a good paper, if nothing else, and since the kids don't know German and... and anyway, even if it could be interpreted as a subliminal message, it won't do more harm than the idiotic advert made by some advertising idiot, where the Lindt chocolate names are French yet pronounced in English. Well, I was messing around Prague.
I forgot to take my allergy meds. The Prague air is very, erm, strong, so I had my first fit of cough just after getting out from the metro. I usually carry an inhaler somewhere in my bag but just that day I forgot it at home. Meaning that after every fit of cough I had to sit and concentrate on breathing because the body somehow wouldn't want. Like, really, stupidly, inhale-exhale. Inhale-exhale. Try not make that whistling sound. It worked somehow. I hate my allergies.
Although the nights are still frosty, it's sunny and nice. On Wednesday it was even snowing (the third time during this bad excuse for winter). Yet, in general, the weather is rather springy and warm. I didn't feel like wearing my winter jacket, it gives me the trickle of sweat running down my spine which I dearly hate. I fished my sample wardrobe for something warm and I fished out one of the first sweaters I made, with pretty strange design mistakes I had hard time fixing and/or ignoring, I was much less self-confident, I suppose. It's a bulletproof wool, almost, and I've been wearing it third day in a row. And... I love it. It keeps me warm, it has lace pattern so it's well aerated (I sweat a lot), it has a nice shape (will have to start using some design elements again) and it looks good. And... it's cheap superwash wool.
Some more yarn arrived. Of which there were 20 skeins of cashmere/silk/lambswool blend which is stunning to knit (softer than butter) but brown. I tried to call it earthy, hazelnut, whatever.... but it's brown. When knitted in plain stockinette, it looks like cheap sweatpants. I wonder whether I should dare and redye it. I thought I might combine it with some Aurora and Blossom and Surabu in shades of (mostly) green; made a sample and Surabu looks pretty useless as carryalong, it makes the whole thing bulky and scratchy. I'll have to think about it. And the yarn is really brown, not bluegrey as on the pic. The colourful bits is Surabu. I noticed that it has z-twist which is way unusual... and seems to me that the stitches look more symmetrical. I tried some leaves pattern but it doesn't seem the right one. And the yarn is way too beautiful to be wasted.