And then... there was a new post

Yes!
It's been some time. My Industrial Design master education has started and I promptly did not have time for anything else anymore. Currently I'm three and a half month in and in a semi-permanent overload-mode since roughly week three, but just one week left until the Christmas holiday weeks so I hope to recover then.

In the mean time, I received the advise that it might not be such a fantastic idea to keep thinking that I just need to hang in there until the end of the school year, since by that time I might just as well have overloaded myself so much already that I won't be able to start with my thesis and such. Good advice. Difficult to follow since I do not want to get any study delay. I want to be done with school before my thirties dammit! XD

Anyway, part of that advise was also that I really really really should pay attention to my energy level. Fighting energy leaks and making 'energy bringers' a priority. All things I used to do in the past but that I have sort of managed to give up on, going into survival mode. So yeah. It really is time to get back to taking good care of myself. And what really gives me energy? Creating of course!

So, this weekend (the very first free weekend instead of max one free day since I started, I believe...) I took my time making something for lunch and even made a picture of it.

I'm so proud of myself! ;)
Because when being away from home for 12-14+ hours a couple of sandwiches are not gonna cut it, I sometimes boil rice in the weekend to freeze it in in daily portion bags. In the morning I just need to throw one portion in a frying pan with a little water, spices and perhaps also meat and veggies, and I have a real decent lunch to take with me.

This lunch was more extended since I had the time, so I added an union, half a bell pepper (Dutch: paprika), salami, turmeric (Dutch: kurkuma/geelwortel), cajun spice mix and a little soy sauce. It tasted divine on a cold afternoon.

Another project I've done some time ago was daubing decorating my solid green dummy notebook while in the train. After completing it the marker turned out to be wearing off on my hands so I put a plastic cover over it. That made it slightly less awesome but I can live with that.

Before you start commenting on my awesome creative skillzz, the pattern was made largely from an example ;). The notebook is almost full now, so I need to find a new one to start doodling on. Hurray! More doodle space!

Rain and clouds

Well well well... Turns out I had forgotten even more than I thought about my camera. I had problems getting my images lighter (they kept turning out rather dark), even when adapting the diaphragm and shutter time over and over again. That was, until J. ('zee boyfriend') figured out I hadn't been adapting the shutter time but the light balance instead, which doesn't do anything when zooming manually. Oh.

You'd thínk that realisation would leave one with lots of motivation and inspiration to take lots of pictures, but unfortunately the weather forecast for this and next week has basically been rain and clouds, accompanied by a rather grey and dark sky and thus bad lighting. Maybe I should take the opportunity to practise working with a light box and maybe even separate flashes, but, well, yeah... I'm dreading that. Time will tell if I'll ever have the courage to start with it.

But fear not, I've gotten several fantastic crafting tools as birthday gifts, so I guess I'll be able to keep myself busy for the time being *grins*. Among these, pictures will follow later:

...lino cutting tools (Dutch: linoleumgutsen) for making custom stamps, I've already made a few
...thick high-quality colouring pencils (my fingers get cramped when I use regular ones, so I'm really happy with these)
 ...a wood-cutting knife
...an ironing board (already had a small tabletop one, but using that was annoying the living daylight out of me), great for my sewing projects
...and THE most awesome sewing book ever, "Allemaal rokjes" (all kinds of skirts, only available in Dutch yet) from Mme Zsazsa, and everyone who knows me in real life knows I never even wear skirts but I really wanted the book anyway. Because it's so awesome. And because I do want to make skirts, even though I might not wear them that often, as they are much easier to make than pants or shirts.

And I've found another song I really like for practise, but I'm still pondering which one I like better, the original or Joe Cocker's version:

Oh so unfitting with the current weather here, but hey, hopeful thinking never hurts.