The Dreamcatcher Workshop

New Blog

2009-08-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm moving back to the States, I've started thinking of this blog more and more as my 'China Blog'. And now I'd kind of like to keep it that way.

So without further ado, I present to you CYCORIS. Posting will begin as soon as I get home.

-Layli

an abundance of pictures

2009-08-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a girl named Layli. One day, she decided to take a walk, and document it just for the sake of it.

...I started in the garden. There was okra, and okra flowers with beetles on them:

Corn:

We had some for dinner, it was very good:

There were green-beans:

And green tomatoes:

And cabbages as big as my head:

And zinnias:

And...skulls?! Who's been tampering with my pictures? Oh, wait, I took that, after I made sure it wasn't going to eat me.

Anyhow, there was a skull, with lots of teeth:

Now, tell me that eye isn't looking straight at me.

The koi pond is home to who-knows-how-many giganamo fish.

And did I tell you that I got a haircut?

And that I then was impaled on a pitchfork, died, and turned zombie?

I didn't tell you? Oh. Sorry for the surprise.

Then my mother buried me under an abandoned barn. Amen.

There wasn't any room for my corpse in the not abandoned barn.

I walked on, blatantly ignoring the 'no trespassing' sign.

And on and on I go, seconds tick the time out. There's so much left to know and I'm on the road to find out... (Then I started singing Cat Stevens.)

The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone, and I must follow it if I can. (Then I pretended to be a Hobbit.)

On the way, I tried not to step in this:

Or that thing in the right-hand corner over there:

And definitely not in this stuff:

Then I paused to take a few photos of myself.

I couldn't resist making funny faces.

Aww, I'm so sad and unloved. Won't somebody take me home, pet me and give me a saucer of milk? Oh, wait. I forgot I'm not a cat. Never mind then.

There were hoof-prints in the mud. The hooves belonged to cattle.

Then there was a barbedwire fence in the middle of the creek. I climbed over it. However, in trying to take a picture of it, I got my butt wet, so I'm not sure that there was that much purpose in going over rather than under.

Ah, lovely cattle, all lined up and posed.

And I managed to keep the dog, Lil Bit, out of the cattle spectacularly.

The cows ignored me when I flapped my arms and yelled as I ran towards them. I don't blame them. If anyone else had been there, I would have pretended not to know myself too.

Hey, Lil Bit. How about you look at the camera instead of the cows, huh?

And another abandoned barn. They're like castles in the UK, except I'm not sure that a dilapidated barn tour has quite the same appeal as a castle and ruins tour. Oh well.

And what is it with people leaving farming equipment just lying about?

And this concludes our tour of Osage, Arkansas, home of Osage Clayworks and shameless plugs.

petit blog post (with chocolate sauce)

2009-08-09T21:59:00.000-07:00

Oh dear. It's out in (some) of my family that I have a blog, so now I feel obligated to post more often. This isn't a bad thing really, in fact I count anything that makes me more inclined to post as a blessing, but right now it's pretty late in the evening and I haven't thought of anything about which I can speak, so I think I'll just leave you all with some pictures I took while at my "Aunt" Amy's house.

So, Walt Whitman walks into a bar wearing rainbow hippie pants...

2009-07-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't shown you my awesomely nerdy hippie pants yet. I made them about two months ago. They started out as a pair of jeans that I didn't wear very often. Brynne slitted them at the front and back and added triangles of denim fabric cut from some other pants to make the flares very, very wide. Then I took a set of rainbow Sharpies (left over from my tie-dying efforts here and here) and wrote the first half of Walt Whitman's Song of Myself on them.

Those of you out there who have read John Green's Paper Towns will surely appreciate the reference, as the poem is a major plot point in the book.

Front view:
Side-ish view:

Detail:

And the wonderful flares:

teh craftses

2009-07-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

So. In my various perusals I've discovered this moste excellente website that makes me want to go and make some of the things shown. They just look so cuddly and cute. And geeky.

This will likely become a source for shameless borrowing and inspiration for projects to come.

Then there are these, which just make me laugh.

Now, I'm going to go crochet. Adieu!

P.S. LOLcat thrown in for good measure:

spunk

2009-07-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

Above are two screenshots of my desktop. It is very steempunk-y.

And above is a screenshot of my new Firefox theme. It is lovely as well.

bemoaning the popularity of Twilight

2009-07-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

More than ever, I'm shocked and a little bewildered at the popularity of Twilight, both the movie and the books. As someone who wasn't able to make it through the first book, I don't feel qualified to make judgements about it, but I have seen the movie, and therefore this video and article really hit home with me, and embodies the reasons for my disgust with the series.

little Layli

2009-07-22T17:54:00.000-07:00

Things that are found in the attic must be shared, don't you think?

I'm assuming that you said yes.

This is my first picture. I did have black hair for about the first three months. And big blue eyes.

Everyone together now, aaaaw.

Soon after this, my hair turned blonde.

My parents called me Tweety. I can kinda see why.

This is me wearing my traditional Canary Island outfit.

I think this was the first time that I saw snow.

Even at age three I was a cleanliness freak.

I must say that's quite a lot of leaves for a little kid to be buried under.

Conked out on the couch. And just about this time in the stack of photos I was starting to gripe about how much pink I wore.

My mother did this to me. I have to say that the dresses are cute, but I'm not a fan of the matching.

And again with the pink.

My other nickname was 'Layli-bug'.

I wonder what it was that caused me to make that face.

And I love this picture of me, I really do. But notice the gap between my front teeth. What the dentist did to my teeth the year later is a pretty good story. I may tell it sometime, but not now. I wouldn't want to ruin the atmosphere.

nediuhbub

2009-07-03T17:41:00.000-07:00

I promised to tell you all about Camp.

...Sorry, I lied.

But mainly only because Camp is one of those indescribable things.

The other reason I won't be telling you about it (at least not immediately) is because I'm operating on three hours of sleep last night and no food all day. Were I to attempt to say anything more I'm sure it would be incoherent.

Therefore I leave you for now to go eat, sleep and be merry.

Camp

2009-06-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

We're leaving for Camp (with a capital C) this morning. I will not return until July 3rd.

I promise to tell you all about it when I get back.

Ciao.

"Winter Moon" covers

2009-06-25T13:54:00.000-07:00

So. Aunt Sarah is printing hard copies of her latest novel (which has yet to be published) and asked me to design the cover. If anyone wants to order it you can contact Sarah at dr.sarahwoodbury -at- gmail -dot- com. The horror ones were just for my own amusement, but I've included them anyway.

These first two I love, even though the second doesn't quite fit the tone of the book:

The next few are horrific:

And she ended up picking this one:

My absolute favourite:

The end.

flotsam

2009-06-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

I've been crocheting like mad, reading the Bartimaeus trilogy by Jonathon Stroud, watching Angel and lazing about lately. Sorry for the lack of blogs. I'll let you know if I do anything more interesting than that.

as if there's a chance you didn't notice...

2009-06-16T20:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, there's been a redesign. And that little dreamcatcher by the blog title is the logo that I spent quite a bit of today on. I think that it turned out surprisingly well, given that it's the first thing I've tried to draw on Inkscape (which is lovely) that isn't a map. The text is set in Zapfino.

And I've always liked the look of a black background, so we're going back to that for a while, and I hope it's not hard to read.

Layli and the technicolour dream shirt

2009-06-16T09:32:00.001-07:00

One of my nerdfighter shirts was getting grey and gross, so I decided to 'tie-dye' it with Sharpies.

Front:

Back:

Unfortunately, the lettering is kind of hard to see, because I didn't know what Sharpies would do to fabric paint. If I could have, I think I would have dyed the shirt first and then chosen contrasting colours of fabric paint, but I'm still quite happy with my shirt.

bopity-bop*

2009-06-09T15:51:00.000-07:00

I'm only popping (bopping, popping, what's the difference?) in here to tell you that I've been reading madly this past week and that anybody who hasn't read anything by Terry Pratchett should go and read some of his Discworld books immediately, and that anybody who hasn't heard of Diana Wynne Jones should go and remedy that sad state of affairs.

Now I'm off to decide which book I want to read after I finish The Merlin Conspiracy by Diana Wynne Jones. :)

----------------------

*You're supposed to say "bop" before I finish!

the death of my sheet*

2009-06-01T15:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I decided to fake tie-dye my bottom sheet (I don't sleep under a top sheet because it gets tangled around my legs and then makes me feel like I'm caught in a net).

Anyway, here are pictures of part of the process (which involved lots of Sharpies, rubber bands, rubbing alcohol, and plastic wrap).

And...

...the finished product. :D

It makes me happy. And the nice thing about using Sharpies is that you can use way more colours than you can with real die without it looking muddy, and you get more of a water-colour runny look too. I have to confess that I like it just as much as the real thing, maybe even more.

But don't tell anyone.

-----------------------------------

*I don't ONLY tie-dye so that I can make bad puns, I swear!

an adorableness overdose

2009-05-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

Taran and I played around with my webcam yesterday.

Behold!

The looks on our faces are freakishly alike:

The attack of the velociraptor-claw air-quotes:

That is all, folks.

untitled

2009-05-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting that dishwashers exist and do all my dishes by hand.
I randomly burst out into bits of Chinese and expect people to understand me. A couple of times, I haven't even realized that I was doing it.
When people talk about temperatures, I assume that they are talking in Celsius.
I do a double take when someone says a Chinese place name incorrectly, because it's sure to be a "foreigner".

Windstock '09

2009-05-28T13:29:00.001-07:00

Windstock was awesome. If you want photos, you should look HERE. The above photo was stolen from there. It belongs to the venerable Chad Booker, not to me, as do all the photos there. Got that?

I managed to avoid the camera really well, so there are only a few pictures of me in there. I'm going to post those here, since this whole blog thing is really only to feed my (already huge) ego.

Without further ado...

Me, looking tired and trying to concentrate.

Me, with Alonso, Brynne and Carew sitting on the bench under the window on the left.

From front to back in the first row, Carew, me and Brynne. This was right before the talent show.

I'm at the far right, sitting on the floor. Brynne is sitting behind me on a bale of hay, and Carew is next to her, half cut out of the picture. (That must hurt!)

The obligatory group photo (or two). Hint: I'm wearing the same hat as I was in the last two photos.

dpbtiubx

2009-05-22T09:51:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, Brynne, Carew and I are going to a Baha'i youth retreat called Windstock. I'm excited, but also worried because I won't be able to shower for four days. Eeeeep. I don't think that I've gone for longer than three days without a shower in the past five years.

Hopefully the dirt won't kill me.

titleless

2009-05-17T18:05:00.000-07:00

I know that it's been six days since I've blogged, and I don't even have a good excuse.

I have started a new story, but I have a bit of a writer's block. I'm going to see if I can work through my plot today, and if I can't I'm just going to try and plough through it. It's making me grumpy. *grumble grumble*

done

2009-05-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

I'm done with the 'about' page, and have also added a cast list, because all those people are hard to keep track of. Both are linked to at the top right of each page. I've also updated the archives, because I forgot to last month.

Hopefully I'm back for good.

whining, because I'm such a whiner

2009-05-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

I've been a horrible blog-mistress. I'm sorry. In my (lousy) defense, I've been both busy and sick.

I took the SAT, got a nasty virus, took challenged the AP English exam with said nasty virus and then crashed for three days. Just when I was starting to feel better (read: yesterday), I started getting hay-fever from willow and cottonwood flowers.

The allergies are ticking me off more than anything, because since things in Ningbo bloom about a month and a half before things here in the Pacific Northwest, I've already paid my allergy dues this year.

A week ago, Brynne and I tie-dyed. I feel like an even worse person for not posting photos, but they're all on her camera. (Also, all the pictures of me are baaaad.) I may just have to get her to take more when she gets back from Districts (tennis).

My goal today is to update the 'about' page since it sorely needs it. Please don't go look until I tell you it's done.

sorry for going AWOL

2009-04-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been:

reveling in the mindlessness that is watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer
learning how to crochet
making an afghan with the aforementioned skills
reading
rearranging the room Brynne and I share
catching up on sleep

I'll probably post a picture of the afghan when it gets done. That may be a while though.

no pithy title

2009-04-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting in the Little Rock airport using up my computer battery. I know that I'll regret it later, but I really don't wont to read the Terry Brooks book I have, because it's bad enough to actively annoy me, and I don't have another book. Plus, being on my computer lets me people-watch without them knowing that I'm doing so.

Oh! I read Paper Towns yesterday, and it definitely was the best book I've read this year. (I know that isn't saying much since the year isn't even half over yet, but...) I sat in Barnes and Noble and read the whole thing in about three hours, which I think is the good way to read books. I read sad Margo, whom I think I like slightly better than happy Margo. And the book was so good that I can't think of words to describe how good it is. You'll have to live with my vague 'it was awesome' unless I think of something on the plane.

culture shock

2009-04-21T06:05:00.000-07:00

Culture Shock. I have the beginnings of it, because for the first time in my life since I was five, I'm looking at America with the thought of living here.

Here is the start of a new label, and probably a new ongoing theme.

Day 1:

Things are often too sweet or too salty. It makes me wonder what else is in the food.

I feel tiny. As someone who is 5'8" and 108 pounds, in China I'm usually one of the tallest people in a group, and somewhere on the medium to thin side, definitely not absolutely miniscule, which is how I feel here.

(!)

2009-04-19T18:04:00.002-07:00

I'm leaving.

Today.

And I might not be coming back.

And it would be so sad if I weren't so excited about going.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go rush around madly.

bet you didn't know...

2009-04-17T02:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've done one of these, and I think they're fun.

Name five things laying around your computer.

A bottle of sugarless mint gum, a roll of tape, a bunch of books, an alarm clock, two pairs of scissors.

10 places you've lived, in order.

I'm assuming that whoever wrote this means chronological order.

Santa Maria de Guia, the Canary Islands, Spain

Madison, Wisconsin, the US of A

Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, USA

Five different houses in Dalian, China

Two houses in Ningbo, China

...and that's it.

A romantic night would be...

Um...romantic? I've never thought about it. But I suppose it would matter who it was with than anything else. And whoever it's with should have a say in what we do.

Were you ever rushed to the hospital? What for?

Yes, I was. For second-degree burns caused by oil splashing all over my neck and face. I was unconscious for most of it, and what I do remember is just...red. Thankfully the only scarring I have is some tiny bumps under my right eye.

What's the worst that can happen?

I could live forever. (I'm sure there are worse things out there, I just can't think of them right now.)

:D

2009-04-16T02:01:00.000-07:00

So. I suppose that the time has come for me to make an official announcement about this.

I'm leaving for the States next Monday and may not be coming back to China in the fall. In fact, I probably won't be. I'll be living (!) with Brynne and her family instead. *much happiness ensues*

Now I need to go pack.

Greywalker

2009-04-13T17:55:00.002-07:00

...by Kat Richardson

The first half was tolerably good, but the ending was atrocious. The writing, plot, characters and setting weren't bad, some of it was quite good, but the ending of the book just...wasn't in alignment with my view of the universe. It was too dark, too hopeless, too out of balance, and simply didn't have that sense of completion and fulfillment that I look for in the ending of a book. The ending felt more like an angsty middle than a conclusion.

However, the beginning was good enough to actually make me read the book, which is quite a feat, since I usually don't like mysteries OR paranormal fiction, much less both together.

turtling along

2009-04-08T00:56:00.002-07:00

I, too, am trying to learn how to type using the Dvorak keyboard layout. It's really, really hard right now, especially since I'm not at all used to the thought that the only two letters on my keyboard that are what they say are 'a' and 'm'. Thank goodness the enter key and space bar are in the same place, or else I know I would give up.

Slowly yours,

Layli

Xi'an, an ancient Chinese city, true!

2009-04-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

I went to Xi'an with a bunch of people I know. It was fun. Here are pics, and I really need to stop reading I can haz cheezburger? because I starting to want to talk and type in LOLspeak.

The sign was funny. Not as funny as some of the stuff on Engrish Funny (Guess what I've been doing! On second thought, don't.), but the random capitalization ought to more than make up for that. It says:

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE DACIEN TEMPLE AND THE DA YAN PAGODA

The dacien temple was built in 648 AD to honour the empress wende by the tang crown prince li zhi.the temple with 13 yards and 1897 magnificent roomw was broad in scale. It occupied an area of more than 24 hectarew who lived in the temple. It was the most famous temple in Chang An city during the tang dynasty.

A buddhist and pilgrim Xuan Zang who studied buddhism in india was waslcomed to preside over the temple affairs in 653 an Xuan Zang arranged for the building of the Da Yan Pagoda to preserve the hundreds of wolumes of buddhist so riptures which had been brought back from Inida.

The original pagoda was constructed with five stories in India style.It was rebuilt to seve storeys in 701AD--704AD during the period of empress Wu Ze Tian.

Today, the Da Yan Pagoda is 64.5m high with seven storeys. The body of the pagoda is a square brick pagoda in the range of chinese national character and the tang style. It is a model place of boddhist architer ture. In 4 march 1961 the state council declede that the Da Yan Pagoda must be protected as one of the most important historical monuments.

Note: Chang An is the ancient name for Xi'an, and the spelling, punctuation and capitalization have been typed up exactly as they appear.

There were pretty marble carvings. They looked imposing. I'm not sure they were supposed to.

There were other pretty things, and a neat, gnarled-looking tree.

And painted ceilings and eaves galore!

Have I mentioned how awesome I thought those trees were? I have? And you think I've been talking too much about plants? Sorry, it's a bit of an obsession.

This was the pagoda.

These were chickens in the monastery gardens. Are my comments getting a little too obvious?

The gate to the monastery. It was imposing too. I felt very much imposed upon.

This was the view from the top of the city wall. I love the guardhouses next to the skyscrapers.

This was in a mosque near the city center. The whole group spent ages trying to guess what the sign meant without looking at the Chinese.

There were more pretties.

And neat roofs.

This was the bazaar near next to the mosque. I bought lots of stuff there, including two paintings, an antique (and awesome) Chinese lock, a hairstick, a little clay pot, a pair of old, adorable, embroidered, lion-shaped baby shoes, and some Men Zi (some species of pachyrhizus as far as I can tell, stir-fried and then smothered in balsamic vinegar, soy-sauce and spices).

China is not for squeamish people. Note the cart of garbage above, as well as what comes next.

Okay, this stuff doesn't look gross, but it doesn't taste as good as the skewered stuff either.

Dates, we haz them.

Meat, we have it too. If you have a weak stomach, are vegetarian or might otherwise be disgusted by the sight of lots and lots of meat, please avert your eyes while proceed to the next picture. Thank you for your cooperation.

And this is a picture that came out funnily, and is only included so that we end on a nicer note than dead animals hanging everywhere.

P.S. The title of this post is a reference to the BNL song 'Crazy ABC's' from their album Snacktime.

Hangzhou

2009-04-06T02:04:00.004-07:00

I went to Hangzhou a couple of weekends ago, and in Hangzhou, this is what I saw:

Cool twisty plants. I'm sure some guy has the job title 'Imperial Plant-Twister'.

There were nice, spring-y trees.

And flowers.

All I can think of is that those buildings must have been cold in the winter. Good thing the emperor only used West Lake for his summer vacation spot, or else he would have died from pneumonia at the tender age of seventeen.

And that sky? I don't have to go to Hangzhou to see it.

This was our 'Pleasure Boat'.

This was Gina and me being cold on our 'Pleasure Boat'.

in which I dangle information

2009-03-30T20:29:00.002-07:00

I know I've been a terrible blog-mistress. I'm sorry. I've been disgustingly busy these last couple of weeks, and this week I'm off to Xi'an and Shanghai. If I have internet in Xi'an, I may post some pictures and whatnot, but if not, I promise to tell you all about it when I get home. For reals.

And when I'm in the States (I leave on April twentieth), I'll try to be better about posting too. And hopefully I'll also have time to update all my other projects. I haven't abandoned them, I swear. I've just been really busy and distracted lately, partially because of schoolwork, but a lot of it because my life may or may not be completely turned upside down and I have to be prepared. If it does turn upside down, you guys will definitely hear about it, both on my blog and on Brynne's. Meanwhile, since everything is still in the works, we ain't saying a thing. :D

stalling, one, two, three...

2009-03-27T03:18:00.002-07:00

Things to do online when you're bored/procrastinating (geek version):

make a blog (or three)
watch Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
go look at all the pretty stuff on thinkgeek.com
browse mentalfloss.com
browse omniglot.com
browse The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form
browse Mysterious Britain and Ireland's Encyclopedia

For some reason, my brain has been in a bit of a funk lately and doesn't want to concentrate on one thing for a long time, so in between writing papers, I'm doing all of the above. It's surprisingly addictive.

The Great (Fire)Wall

2009-03-25T20:49:00.002-07:00

Youtube has been blocked in China for the past week or so. However, the articles on BBC about youtube being blocked (here and here) are easily accessible in China. Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose?

yeah, I can't count.

2009-03-23T06:05:00.000-07:00

This post comes to you in four parts.

Part one: hay-fever, or getting sick

This is what I have/am. I've been exhibiting hay-fever-like symptoms for the past two weeks. Blergh. They make me irritable. And now I think I may be getting sick. Not fun at all.

Part two: pleasure boats

When we were in Hangzhou last weekend (did I mention that I went to hangzhou with my mom and one of her friends?), we took a 'pleasure boat' to the island in the middle of West Lake. The name made me giggle incessantly, especially after my mom brought up The Love Boat. So then we all started making bad puns about being on the 'Pleasure Luuuuuurve Boat' to some mysterious island. It was fun.

Part three: durian roti

We went to the Banana Leaf restaurant one night, and I finally tried something with durian in it. Not going to again. Ever again. Everyone (including my mom) said that it didn't taste at all the way it smells. I'm sorry, but for me it tasted exactly the way it smelled. But at least I can now say that I don't like durian on good authority. Though I don't want to get close enough to stinky tofu to even find out.

Part four: 'Roadsinger'

I think that for once, I'm going to go all fangirly on you. Cat Stevens has a new album coming out in May. *squee*

Part five (bonus): new template

What thinks you of it? The old one's code was a mess, and changing anything was a huge hassle. Hopefully this one will be better, even though it's quite different. This one's sort of temporary until I find one that I like better.

Ze Tomato

2009-03-17T05:01:00.001-07:00

EDIT: I just saw a mosquito buzzing around in my bedroom. I'm not sure I'm quite as excited about it getting warm as I was a half hour ago.

We have a new oven! Behold!

Yes, it is a "Tomato" brand oven. In this household, we now 'tomato' things, and pop some muffins into the 'tomato'. I made muffins in the tomato yesterday using THIS recipe, and they were amazing. Sorry, no pics of the muffins themselves. I have no self-control.

Then I took a walk, because it stopped raining! (It had been raining almost continually for a month.) I'm glad the canals didn't flood, they were looking pretty high.

This is a field of canola. As in 'canola oil'. The leaves are quite tasty stir-fried too.

I'm in love with the building on the right.

And the plants seem to think it's spring!

The birds think it's spring too.
I just hope the weather stays this nice. I'm tired of freezing, especially during the fast.

sorry, mom

2009-03-14T19:53:00.002-07:00

Last night I had a really, really weird dream.

I dreamt that I was about seventeen, and I was planning my own funeral. It wasn't because I was sick or anything like that, I don't know why I was thinking about my own funeral at seventeen, but I was.

The main thing that happened in my dream is that my mother and I argued about flowers, because she wanted to have roses at my funeral, and I said absolutely not. It's kind of funny, because that's exactly what would happen in real life. My mom loves roses and I can't stand them.

Just throwing this out there: no roses at my funeral.

Right now I think I want a combination of any of the following:

violets
jasmine
lilac
tea olive
royal paulownia
wisteria

Pop!

2009-03-10T00:18:00.003-07:00

Have had this stuck in my head all day. Not that I mind, it's just slightly distracting.

And you should go check out some of Dan's other stuff. [/shameless plug]

Ministry of Names?

2009-03-07T01:14:00.003-08:00

A couple of most excellent sites I stumbled upon while doing I-don't-know-what.

Ministry of Type- about type, typography, lettering, calligraphy and other related things.

The Name Inspector- on names and naming.

las pretties

2009-03-06T23:58:00.003-08:00

My hummingbird. His name is Corin. He adorns the side of my wardrobe.

My flutterby/bats, yet unnamed. I talk about her a bit in this post too.

And... the Indian tapestry I got in Malaysia. Her name is Roshni.

not a cheeseburger, a project!

2009-03-06T23:04:00.003-08:00

I can haz new project?

I think I can.

Here is Layli's site of all things Chinese (okay, not really, but it's a start). I'm thinking that I'll update it once a week or so. I'm also hoping to update Pelakîs once every week, but don't seem to be doing a great job so far.

Is there such a thing as too many blogs?

DUN DUN DUN!

2009-03-03T15:59:00.002-08:00

My shower-head hates me. Seriously. The small one not so much, but the big one keeps dripping 70 degrees celsius water on my head. If I ever stop posting for a week again, you can just assume that the shower-heads revolted and are holding me for ransom.

I will follow in his footsteps...not.

2009-02-24T17:37:00.002-08:00

HE is my ancestor. He did THIS.

I'm so proud.

in which I'm still slightly insane

2009-02-23T05:32:00.002-08:00

Hey, what think you of the new layout? I think I like it. It's quite a change, though.

I know that I probably lost most of my readers due to my last bought of craziness. I hope I at least have a few valiant souls left. In my defense, I was operating on about three hours of sleep. I can't defend Brynne though. Her behavior was inexcusable. (Just kidding!)Anyhow, now that I've had a good night's sleep, I'm slightly more sane.

I apologize in advance if I don't get to blog regularly as I usually do while I'm here, because my schedule is a bit crazy (note: three hours of sleep is definitely crazy). Plus, there's really just not that much to say about what I'm doing here. I'm studying, I'm taking care of the most adorable little baby, and I'm eating a bunch of really good food.

if you give two girls skype...

2009-02-21T22:27:00.005-08:00

This post's counterparts are over on Brynne's blog, here and here. You may not want to read this post unless you're crazy.

L: The tower of Babel, except Chinese, with fish.

B: I get it.

*skip*

L: I just went to fake headdesk, except I missed and it became real.

B: This is actually his most famous song, except no one knows that he wrote it, 'cause he never actually preformed it much, you know...

L: My chicken smells all cold and clammy.

L: That sounds weird.

*skip*

B: Are you getting headphones?

L: Yes, because now you're louder.

B: My nose is runny.

L: Did you say funny or runny?

*skip*

B: I need to shave my legs, in case you care.

L: I care tremendously. This knowledge is essential to my existence.

B: It's one of the most important things I will ever tell you.

*skip*

L: Go shove your mic in your mouth.

B: Huh? Oh, my webcam mysteriously disconnected. That's why.

icy

2009-02-21T01:34:00.000-08:00

Hi! I'm at Amalia's house, and I have a rediscovered appreciation for both central heating and underfloor heating. It's so nice to be warm even when it's freezing outside. Forget it being ten degrees colder inside than outside like it is at home. Ugh! It snowed a couple of days before I got here, and now there's ice all over the place. I nearly slipped and fell on my butt twice in one afternoon, because snow always melts and then freezes again in Dalian. Always.

I remember when I was in sixth grade, to get to school I had to go down a fairly steep road which was never, ever cleared after it snowed. Going down was fun, but up? Not so much.

Pelakîs updated

2009-02-20T06:03:00.000-08:00

HERE is a map that I drew last night and this morning (while I was waiting for my school's website to let me log on to my courses) for my geeky worldbuilding project. I'm not putting the map into this post because it's too wide, and if I used a smaller size it would mess up the scale etc. I'm also working on a font, a botanical encyclopedia, more maps and a ton of other stuff which may or may not be up soon depending on how much time I have while I'm in Dalian. (Did I mention that I'm going to Dalian, the city in which I used to live, to stay with some friends and study for ten days?)

***

Actually, here is the beginning of the botanical encyclopedia. The zoological one will probably come quite a bit later.

I feel kind of bad saying 'Hey, guys, look at this thing I did!', but since the Pekakîs site doesn't really tell you when it updates as blatantly as this site, I'm going to post updates every now and then. I hope you don't mind.

in which I give unsolicited advice that you are free to ignore

2009-02-18T00:19:00.001-08:00

Quick disclaimer: I don't have very much experience with learning Chinese as a second language, seeing as I picked the basics up when I went to kindergarten, as it is infinitely easier for a child that age to learn languages. However, here are my two cents on learning Chinese, which you should feel free to ignore, since I'm not a linguist, a Chinese expert, or anything of the kind, and the following information is merely based on my own experiences and observations.

If you want to learn Chinese in order to function in that language, i.e. be able to hold conversations of medium complexity, order food at a restaurant, read signs, maps and general announcements in Chinese etc., then I would suggest to begin with studying Chinese primary school curriculum (available here, but only if you read enough Chinese to navigate the website) with a Chinese speaker. Not only will studying a first-grade book humble you in the face of the great Chinese language, it will also give a certain unique appreciation for the Chinese culture. I don't know whether Xinhua Bookstore ships internationally or not, but if anyone comes across this and would like assistance in ordering books or would like me to forward them internationally, you can contact me at soggyspaghetti at gmail dot com. Just throwing that out there.
If you simply would like to become familiar with the language, i.e. have an intellectual understanding of the various linguistic elements of Chinese, I suggest you look for resources online or at a library.
If you are more interested in the Chinese culture, THIS PAGE is fantastically accurate in its representations. This also looks useful, but I can't say I've taken that long of a look at it. I'll probably also post some entries on Chinese culture (maybe in the not-so-near future), so you may want to look out for those.

more housekeeping, and a QUESSY

2009-02-17T18:53:00.005-08:00

Alex:

Thank you so much for sending me that link, it was infinitely fascinating. I've added it to the sidebar, which is pretty much a culmination of the things I find interesting on the internet. I wish I could read your blog. Unfortunately, Wordpress blogs have been blocked (again) in China. However, I've bookmarked it to read when I'm out of the country.

Deborah:

Thanks for stopping by, I'm glad you find what I'm rambling about interesting. I love your blog. :)

I've been thinking of writing a post about studying Chinese for a while now, and your comment was the straw that broke through the camel's reluctance, so keep an eye out for that post soon.

Brynne:

I can't remember if I've told you this already, but I already use Inkscape and find it fascinating. Right now though, instead of using its calligraphy pen, I'm using FontForge, a most excellent font creation software, to work on making a (highly unprofessional but fairly functional) font for Malian, seeing as I already have a basic transliteration system in place.

About your comment on my worldbuilding post, I agree with you that the Metaverse is awesome, and I use it for reference the most. However, all the other sites I linked to do give me ideas about different ways to do things, and I feel that looking at more than just one approach to worldbuilding is quite valuable.

Now, a question (actually, several): I've been toying with the idea of posting some articles/stories/vignettes about China, Chinese, my childhood, my experiences in China etc. What do you think about that idea? Would you like to see it happen? Do you think it would fit in as part of this blog or should I start another blog dedicated to those topics? Please leave any suggestions, ideas, comments, opinions etc. in the comments. Thanks in advance!

the chicken or the egg?

2009-02-17T00:05:00.001-08:00

Fascinating, be it from the linguistic point of view or the psychological.

Harvard Gazette: Which Comes First, Language or Thought?

in which I link to thingies that can be helpful when writing (part II)

2009-02-14T04:52:00.002-08:00

You can read part one HERE.

Worldbuilding links this time. I often just browse these sites for ideas. They're awesome.

A Way With Worlds: Lots of useful articles on almost anything imaginable.

Magical World Building: A good place to start if you have no idea what you want your world to be like.

How to Create Fantasy Worlds is quite helpful as well.

List of World Builder Projects: A unique resource with lots of great links to other resources. What more could one want?

World-Building Resources for Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Writers: Exactly what the title says.

The Metaverse: I can say nothing. I can only bow down before the greatness that is Virtual Verduria.

World Setting Ideas: Some stuff to get you thinking out of box when it comes to settings.

The Mythopoet's Manual: Absolutely fantastic.

Cruinne's World Building Checklist: Created for RPGs, but applicable to any constructed world.

on pens

2009-02-13T03:56:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, Mom and I went to Wal-Mart to replenish our dwindling supply of food. Today was the first time I've been in a Chinese grocery store in ages, because we all know I have a distinct aversion to shopping. (I count Wal-Mart in China to be a Chinese grocery store. It has a whole section of dried fish and no tortilla chips.)

Anyhow, I was in the stationary section looking for 0.7 millimeter pencil leads, because I only have 0.5 millimeter ones, and I saw this:

Okay, well technically I didn't see the bottle, I saw the little cardboard box encasing the bottle, but you get the idea. Ink reminds me of third grade. See, when you go to Chinese school, you use a pencil for every subject until you get to third grade. Then, when your Chinese (the subject) teacher deems your handwriting neat enough, you 'get' to use a fountain pen. A huge fuss is made of this, and the teacher usually encourages competition between students to see who can use a fountain pen first etc. When I was in third grade, I was thrilled to be in the first ten students ( out of the sixty in my class) who got to use a fountain pen. Writing with fountain pen was the utmost symbol of coolness, and all the 'big kids' used them. Need I tell you how much of a pain remembering to fill mine up each night was?

In fourth grade you get to use a fountain pen for math too, and this privilege is given out based on your math grade. Toting around a bottle of ink in the bottom of my backpack and trying to refill my pen without getting navy splatters on my school uniform was really fun. In fifth grade you start using a fountain pen for every subject. Then, when you get to sixth grade, you're suddenly required to use gel pens, because that's what people use in middle school. Not having to deal with the mess and hassle of a fountain pen would be great if it weren't for the catch: almost every teacher requires a different color of ink, and using the wrong pen was a big deal. I remember watching kids get yelled at over it. I was lucky in that because I was really quiet at school, the teachers would use me to separate boys who liked to talk in class, and they (the guy sitting next to me) were always more than happy to lend me one of their pens if I had left mine at home.

I bought the bottle of ink, because I wanted to use my fountain pen (the one I've been using since fourth grade) to mess around with writing styles for a language that I'm working on, Malian, since I didn't move my last bottle for fear of it breaking. And even though they're somewhat of a pain, I have to confess that writing with a fountain pen just feels right.

pics

2009-02-12T19:21:00.002-08:00

Hi guys!

Photos:

bye!

2009-01-24T22:01:00.003-08:00

Tuesday, I helped a teacher at my mom's school rent an apartment, and it's in an incredibly posh apartment complex, with a gym and whatnot, so of course we had to play hooky and look at the gym. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me, so you don't get pictures of the three chandeliers, marble floors, opulent but tasteless fake flower arrangements, and the gigantic frieze of Napoleon leading a charge. Also, you don't get pictures of all the gold, duck-shaped sconces that when looked at from a certain angle appeared to have an arrow sticking out of each of their butts. It was quite something. I had to duck (ha, ha) into the bathroom once, I was laughing so hard.

On Wednesday, I burnt my left hand and lost my phone. Thankfully, my mom had this (relatively) old phone that someone had given her, so I'm probably going to end up using it until it dies a natural death. It's a fairly nice phone, the only thing that I dislike about it is the fact that it's pink.

On Friday I went out to dinner with some friends of my mom's, and the music that was played in the Hot Pot restaurant we went to could be described as 'bad traditional Chinese New Year's music sung by tone-deaf three-year-olds who've had too much caffeine'.

Yesterday, we went out to the Lebanese restaurant for lunch with another teacher who works with my mom. The food was, as always, excellent, and on the bus back we played our little game of 'guess which province that person over there is from', which I almost always win. The interesting thing was that we were almost completely surrounded by people from Xinjiang, an autonomous region, a part of China that borders Tibet, Mongolia, Russia and five of the 'Stans, speaks an old form of Arabic, and is largely Muslim. I don't know if they seemed to be much more in evidence than usual simply because they were the only people out on Spring Festival Eve or what.

I promise to take lots and lots of photos, and I'll be back on the twelfth of February.

-Layli

The Worlds of Pelakîs

2009-01-18T06:03:00.004-08:00

If you promise not to laugh at me for being the language geek that I am, you can go HERE to see my new project. I'm excited about it. I absolutely love the fact that I figured out how to put links on the top of each page, so the site is better organized than it would have been otherwise. The site is, obviously, a work in progress.

I would show you all some of my old stuff (while I'm opening myself wide up to ridicule), but unfortunately, along with my stash of blank notebooks, most of my old journals, artwork and projects also got ruined when the storage room was flooded. I guess people will have to make do with what I'm working on now.

in which I am a geek

2009-01-17T18:42:00.000-08:00

Anyway, we all know that I'm a tremendous copycat (last paragraph), but I have finally come to the conclusion that Brynne is way smarter than I ever will be.

As far back as I can remember, I've had a thing for languages. It may have something to do with the fact that my parents teach English, my mother has a master's in linguistics, I speak three languages and have studied five, but then again it may not.

Anyway, I've been (quietly) looking for a way to organize (one of) my current projects, and Brynne's idea is perfect. So I'm going to cautiously think about starting a blog for my latest language/world/culture, which is still mainly a concept. Hopefully having it be publicly accessible will make me actually do something with it, even though I'm currently swamped in schoolwork.

I'll post the link in a future post, if the blog ever makes it way out of pre-production.

in which I link to thingies that can be helpful when writing (part I)

2009-01-15T00:20:00.000-08:00

These are in my "Names & Generators & Prompts" bookmark folder. I love them, end probably couldn't live without most of them.

Imagination Prompt Generator: This site generates random prompts that are good for blogging, journaling, or just to spark your imagination.

NameVoyager: Visual representations of baby name trends starting in the 1880's.

Behind the Name: I absolutely love this site, especially the random name generator, which is by far the best one I've found.

What a Lovely Name: Another baby name site, organized in a very refreshing and intuitive way.

Yafnag: Yet Another Fantasy NAme Generator.

Seventh Sanctum: Any kind of generator your heart could desire.

The Swami's Generators: Generators you've never even thought of, but without which you won't be able to live once you know they exist.

Cult of Squid Name Generator: Yes, another one. I use them all.

The Always Amusing Euphemism Generator: Exactly what it sounds like, and perfect for figuring out what your main character's batty great-aunt says.

The Forge: A flash-based fantasy generator for names, places, creatures and spells.

Let's Put Your Character into a Sticky Situation: Generates bad things that can happy to your character. The modern alternative to 'if all else fails, burn something down'.

82 Writing Experiments by Bernadette Mayer: Perfect for breaking writer's block or inspiring poetry.

The Surrealist: Generators and playthings galore.

Language is a Virus: Links to everything and anything concerning writing, and plenty of generators.

911 Writer's Block: Dial 1 for settings, dial 2 for characters etc.

Serendipity: More generators, of every kind.

Note: The author is not held responsible for time wasted on these sites.

housekeeping-ish

2009-01-13T03:54:00.003-08:00

A bit of housekeeping:

Dan: Thanks for the suggestions! I'll go see if the library here has them, even though I'm not exactly optimistic...

Brynne: If I ever am interested in the Belizean national anthem, I'll be sure to ask you.

I'm going to Hong Kong and Malaysia for Spring Festival holiday, and will probably not be posting from the 24th of January to the 12th of February. I say 'probably' because I will have my iPod touch with me, but posting from it is a pain, plus I'm going to be on the beach. I do promise to take photos and actually post them when I get back.

I know I'm really bad at responding to comments (really, really bad, actually), but I'm curious as to who's reading my blog and what they have to say, so I'd appreciate it if you'd comment. I may periodically ask you questions, and I would like it if you answered, if only so that I don't feel like an idiot talking to myself. On my part, I'll try to post more regularly, and reply to comments promptly.

I would like to take this opportunity to say:

If you have a suggestion, I'd be glad to hear it.
If you have a particular topic on which you'd like to hear me ramble, I'd be glad to oblige.
If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them.

So, how did you start reading this blog?

vanity

2009-01-13T03:51:00.002-08:00

I was playing around with a hair-stick, because my hair's finally long enough to do something with, and I managed something that looks like a French twist but is way easier to do. So far it's stayed up really well, and if I can duplicate it, I may even share the secret.

consumerism and Christianity

2009-01-13T03:40:00.002-08:00

So there's this KFC in Dalian that used to be a church.

P.S. Notice how the sky is actually blue?

punk!

2009-01-13T02:32:00.003-08:00

When I was in Dalian, I got to see this little punk.

See? I told you she was a punk. The punk's name is Maya.

is 'schlump' even a word?

2009-01-11T15:43:00.004-08:00

I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak yesterday, along with Prince of Time, so today I'm going to work on the previously mentioned stack of library books. I've always been an immensely balanced person. Ha. Ha. Hee. Ho. Hum.

I've been in a pretty bad shlump for the past month and a half, in which I couldn't get excited about any of my writing ideas, and none of the pieces seemed to come together. Hopefully my brain has gotten over its little funk.

Also, what the heck am I doing listening to a Christmas carol?

everything you ever wanted to know about me, and more!

2009-01-09T00:53:00.000-08:00

Random things about me, just because I feel like it.

My favorite cheese is pepper jack.

I hate answering the phone, partially because when I'm at home I have no idea in what language I should say "hello".

I'm not exactly a neat freak, I think I'm more of a cleanliness freak. I don't mind a bit of mess or clutter, as long as it's clean, but I can't stand things like dirty dishes lying around.

I have no idea what I look like without my glasses on, because when I take them off I can't see myself in the mirror clearly.

I know all the words to the Chinese national anthem, but I can't sing the American. I don't think I've even heard more than bits and pieces of the American national anthem.

Besides the usual pork, chicken, beef, turkey, mutton and goat, I've also eaten raccoon, bear, horse, skunk and rattlesnake.

I love the smell of coal burning.

I taught myself how to swim at the age of three.

Technically, my name should be "Laylí".

I've never been to a sports game.

I think I'm a knowledge-worm

2009-01-06T22:58:00.004-08:00

This is what happens when I go to the library.

The Ideology of the Aesthetic by Terry Eagleton

Reason & Religious Belief by Peterson, Hasker, Reichenbach and Basinger

Ethics Across Cultures by Michael C. Brannigan

Elements of Cartography by Robinson, Morrison, Muehrcke, Kimerling and Guptill

Environmental Science by Cunningham, Cunningham and Woodworth Saigo

Psychology and Life by Gerrig and Zimbardo

Cultural Anthropology by Conrad Phillip Kottak

I didn't make it to the literature section, since I only get to check out seven books at once.

P.S. I spent half the morning watching The West Wing though, so I'm not quite as saint-like as you think.

Chevrolet...

2009-01-04T04:12:00.002-08:00

...means 'little goat' in French.

Goats are cute, though I'm not sure the same could be said about cars.

procrastinating...

2008-12-30T21:15:00.003-08:00

I've finished all my schoolwork that has to be done today, which is good, but now part of me feels guilty because I'm not ahead, and I usually am. Anyhow, so instead of going over that big, thick book on my desk with 'College Trigonometry' printed on it, I'm procrastinating by iPod Touch-app-shopping. Only it's not really shopping, because I'm only downloading free apps, but still... I can think of better things to do with my time, only they're probably not quite as much fun as deciding which of the three million free Sudoku apps I want to download.

'simile'

2008-12-30T21:14:00.000-08:00

I don't like the word 'simile'. Why? Because it's of Latin origin (from the word similus, meaning likeness), but is pronounced as if it were Greek. In Greek, a final 'e' preceded by a vowel and a consonant makes a long e sound, e.g. Aphrodite, Persephone, and in Latin, in the vowel-consonant-e combination, the e makes a short e sound.

Therefor, 'simile' should either follow English pronunciation rules (SI-mile), or should follow Latin pronunciation rules (SEE-mee-lay).

Can you tell that my mother has a degree in linguistics?

icky

2008-12-29T20:57:00.002-08:00

I have a horrible, miserable cold and no brain to speak of whatsoever. Did I mention that I have a bunch of schoolwork to do? Yuck.

Christmas vacation is over, and I feel like it should have only just started. One week of vacation really isn't enough at all. I wish I had the same winter schedule as Chinese schools do, where you get six weeks off in the winter. But then again, I want a proper summer vacation as well, and I guess that I can't have it both ways, though not for want of trying.

food is lovely

2008-12-24T19:33:00.002-08:00

A bunch of people are going to Ann's house for pie. Rational pie! Yummy! And there's a potluck Christmasy kind of dinner on Saturday, because we managed to get hold of a turkey. Mom and I are taking five-cup salad, which is our traditional family Christmas and Thanksgiving dish, because even though we don't really celebrate either of those holidays, we used to spend them with family when se lived in the States.

Anyhow, the salad has one part canned pineapple, one part canned tangerine segments, one part coconut flakes, one part mini marshmallows, and one part sour cream. Anyhow, you mix all the stuff together in a big bowl and put it in the fridge overnight. Mmmm....

happy Christmas!

2008-12-24T16:42:00.004-08:00

Right. So on Christmas Eve, I watched Evita, made accounts for a couple of fictional characters, and drank eggnog (minus the rum, of course). This morning, so far I've sat around in my pajamas, successfully not done schoolwork, and eaten an orange roll. There's no holiday like Christmas.

oops!

2008-12-21T19:20:00.001-08:00

Apparently I'm supposed to write in first person. I just slipped up and wrote approximately 500 words in first person instead of third, and it felt so right. I can't imagine what I was doing before.

cold

2008-12-21T19:05:00.002-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, I went shopping. Usually, I don't do shopping, but I went for the doughnuts. See, there's one place in China at which you can get good doughnuts, and I wasn't going to let a little shopping get in the way of doughnuts. Cake doughnuts with cinnamon sugar are the best things ever.

Yesterday was bitterly cold, down to 12 degrees Fahrenheit, with wind from the northeast at 22 mph. Brrrr!

It snowed a bit this morning, but didn't stick at all, which is sad.

fuzzy wuzzy

2008-12-20T00:21:00.003-08:00

I went shopping with Valeh this afternoon. I bought me some warm fuzzy socks. And some hair-gel and other things I've been wanting for a while. Obviously the people in Ningbo aren't big on warm or fuzzy.

I like warm and fuzzy. A lot.

all dressed up and pretty...

2008-12-18T15:59:00.002-08:00

Here I am, all dressed up for last night's Christmas party.

Front:

Back:

And the obligatory Mommy picture:

At the party, there was a funny green drink which my mother tried and I didn't. Turns out it was melon wine. I did, however, try a bit of the baked fish (I dislike anything that used to live under the sea with great passion), and it didn't taste bad, but the texture was gross.

I wish they had had pie. :(

I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but my mother and I are going to Dalian this afternoon and staying for ten days. It's supposed to snow on Monday. Yay snow!

on government

2008-12-17T18:38:00.000-08:00

It seems to me that many people are under the impression that America is a democracy, and I don't understand why. America is not, and never has been a democracy. It is a republic, meaning that instead of people making the decisions, they choose people to do it for them.

Do I believe in democracy? No, not really.

Let me explain myself. I don't believe that the average person should decide how to run a country. I don't believe that the average person has enough time to devote to making informed decisions on every single issue. And I believe that people are generally kind and compassionate, but I don't trust them to make objective decisions when it comes to issues that affect themselves, even if they are well-informed. I think everyone should vote for someone smarter and more compassionate than them, whom they can trust to have the best interests of society at heart.

The end of opinionated post. I promise to get back to water buffalo and illegal satellite dishes soon.

soup

2008-12-13T01:28:00.000-08:00

It's ridiculously cold outside (for somewhere the latitude of Southern Florida, that is), and the wind's been howling, so it's a very nice day for The Soup, which has potatoes, carrots, chicken, apples, rice, onion, salt and pepper in it. I make a huge pot and we eat it for a week. This is my comfort soup, and I don't think that I could live without it.

The only thing I hate is when at 4:30 PM, my mother says, "Why don't you make some soup for dinner?" and tells me that she's sure I can do something to make it stew faster. I'm hoping that by six, the potatoes won't be hard anymore.

my fourth grade teacher

2008-12-12T15:53:00.003-08:00

Right. Student essay time! My Fourth Grade Teacher, by Layli.

My Chinese teacher in fourth grade was the head of the Communist party for the region I lived in. And she didn't like me. It made things interesting. I especially loved it when we had to study our yearly mandatory unit in Chinese on patriotism. I kept my mouth shut. It was great fun.

The end.

unless my brain runs away again...

2008-12-07T23:54:00.003-08:00

Hey. The blog-mistress is officially back.

I've reorganized the links, cleaned up the tags a bit and can think of nothing else to delay my return to (kinda) regular blogging.

Meanwhile, here's a pick of random photos from my hard-drive. They really are random.

Books. Lots of them. I must be in heaven:

Old ad:

Me, in the middle of a sentence, after brushing my hair:

Some pretty place:

Me, talking again:

I must either talk a lot or else only get photographed when I'm talking. What is with that?

prompting me to say...

2008-12-07T04:16:00.001-08:00

Yes, another one of those writing prompt posts. Because nothing that I've been doing lately is blog-worthy.

List ten things you want to accomplish before it's too late.

Own a puppy-sized elephant
Eliminate small-talk from the world
Cure klutziness
Explore an alternate universe
Figure out why I don't like licorice
Find out why the answer to everything is 42 and not 41 or 43
Own all the books I want
Read all the books I want
Get a cat
Meet Dumbledore :)

What one gift would you like for yourself?

Um... wisdom. Definitely.

Things that make me fearful...

People knowing what I'm thinking about/feeling
Disappointing someone
Having someone be angry with me
Not knowing whether I can trust someone or not
Being bad at something

My ten favorite movies.

I'm actually not a huge fan of most movies. There's too much action, and not enough character development, and worldbuilding for my taste. Plus, if the movie's based on a book, the book is almost always better than the movie.

People that irritate me...

...generally either have no idea that they irritate me or think I'm jealous of them.

Describe a typical day in elementary school:

6:00- wake up, sit in bed and do homework due before lunch that I was too lazy to do the night before.

6:45- get dressed, eat breakfast, do dishes.

7:15- walk out the door, try to sneak a novel or four to read in class. May or may not get caught. Walk for five minutes, catch bus.

7:28- Get off the bus. Run. I'm going to be late! Aaaaah!

7:30- Do morning exercises (choreographed aerobic thingies that everyone hates) if it's spring r fall, jog (highly choreographed as well) if it's winter.

8:00- Start classes. Usually as soon as the teacher was safely in front of the blackboard, I would either start reading or go into a semi-comatose state, depending on whether or not I was able to sneak a book past my vigilant mother.

11:30- Look at sauerkraut (if winter) or other disgusting food (if summer) on my plate and gag. Try to hide it in my rice and sneak towards the scrap pail outside my classroom door. Usually get caught by the student monitor who's supposed to make sure we don't waste food. Try to sweet-talk said student monitor into letting me dump icky food, on success, dump food, and on failing, go back to my seat and choke some food down.

11:45- Sit at my desk and read or write. After everyone else finishes eating, get shooed out of the classroom either by the teacher or the students whose job it is to clean the classroom that week. Grumble, gripe, plead, but go outside eventually (taking my book/notebook of course) unless it's really miserable outside, in which case mention that I might have a cold.

12:30- Finish my book/realize that my hand is cramped. Go search for some human being that might play with me so that I won't look like a complete loser. Push to play a game that I'm good at/enjoy. Beat them all at it. Feel smug.

1:00- Sit in class and either talk to the people in front/next to/behind/opposite me or doodle.

2:30- Do another round of stupid choreographed exercise thingamajigs.

4:20- Start gathering up my things in preparation for getting out of school.

4:30- Shoot out of the door as soon as class is dismissed. Walk down the street, buy myself a snack, take my time so that everyone else gets on the bus in front of me.

4:45- Get home, eat another snack, do homework.

6:00- Eat dinner.

6:15- Read.

9:30- Go to bed.

Do you work too much?

No. I don't work enough.

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think back to being 18?

Um, I really don't know if I can think back to the future. I'll get back to y'all on that one after I turn 19.

My favorite time of day...

I like dawn and evenings, even though midnight is pretty cool too.

#10

What is truth?

Whatever I command.

?

2008-12-04T00:55:00.003-08:00

Right. Here's something for everyone to do while I try to figure out why on earth I have a blog. Have fun!

My Life in a Nutshell

Gods Playing Poker

Luke Surl Comics

Miscellanea

I think my computer ate my brain.

still AWOL

2008-11-28T23:31:00.003-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I've been very, very braindead. I'll be back soon. I promise.

3.14159265...

2008-11-18T18:28:00.004-08:00

Pi Song #1

Pi Song #2

Pi Song #3

They make me happy. :)

(very short) book reviews

2008-11-16T16:28:00.001-08:00

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

...by Douglas Adams

I don't know why I own this book. I think someone gave it to me when I was about nine, and I reread it when I had the flu. It makes for a good I'm-stuck-in-bed-and-don't-have-anything-to-do read. Other than that, I can't recommend it. Most of the novel fit in very well with my hallucinations, and I enjoyed it when I was reading it, but I don't think I would now. There's something about being feverish that doesn't make you the best judge of literature.

***

The Whispering Mountain

...by Joan Aiken

Someone definitely gave me this one, maybe a year ago, and it's on my bookshelf because I never turn down a book. It's a fairly good YA fantasy, but nothing more than that. The characters are generally believable, the plot is okay, and the writing passable. It was the sort of book that I read just to see what happens in the end, and then the ending disappointed me. Oh well.

***

City of the Beasts, Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, Forest of the Pygmies

...by Isabel Allende

Fairly good YA fiction. I love the characters to death, I love the writing, and they make up for me not loving the plot(s). They're okay, and interesting to read about, but just not quite my thing. But the characters... I could go on and on about how much I love Alex, but I won't. Suffice it to say that I read all three books in one day and had to be dragged out of the second one for lunch.

***

Speak

...by Laurie Halse Anderson

I really have a sore spot for this book, because I can really, really relate to the protagonist, Mel, and because I love the commentary on high school. I've probably read this book five times, and it's never disappointed me. A lot of other books fade after a couple of readings, but Speak is always just a little bit darker and funnier than I remember it being.

***

Pebble in the Sky

...by Isaac Asimov

Not my favorite of Asimov's, but still good. I love the concept, the theme, the voice, the writing... I just felt like the ending was too predictable, too forced, and it didn't have that twist that I expect from Asimov. It's still a very good book, just not quite up to some of his other works.

***

The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories

...by Isaac Asimov

I love his robot stories. All of them. Unfortunately, I'm of the opinion that short stories are like one chocolate chip. you get a teeny taste of the characters and the setting, and then it's over. Despite that opinion, I love all the stories in this book. They were the first robot stories I ever read, and they're definitely some of the best.

absent without leave

2008-11-15T17:27:00.002-08:00

Sorry for being AWOL recently. I've been pretty braindead. I'll be back soon.

claustrophilia

2008-11-14T01:38:00.002-08:00

Have I mentioned that I have claustrophilia, the liking of small, enclosed spaces? They feel safe.

IHMAWTD

2008-11-07T19:30:00.005-08:00

I hate myself and want to die... And possibly kill off all my characters too.

Welcome, Layli, to the second week of NaNoWriMo. If me and my characters all come out of this week intact, I get a chocolate bar, and they get a short break from the emotional havoc I've been wreaking in their lives.

I might not keep the second part of my promise. We'll see.

That made me feel a little better.

...

2008-11-07T01:59:00.003-08:00

I am not Brynne. I am not Fast Like a Freak. I also have other things to do. Which is why I have only written 22389 words in the past week.

However, yesterday I read Beowulf in its entirety, write 4000 words, did my Chinese homework, did my English quiz, started Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov, forgot to blog, did half of my math problems for next week and did laundry.

November is a dreary month. And it's pouring rain again.

webcomics

2008-11-02T23:05:00.004-08:00

I'm trying to write. But here's a list of webcomics I enjoy. Go knock yourselves out.

cake-in-a-mug, otherwise known as 5 minute personal chocolate cake

2008-11-01T18:47:00.002-07:00

Ingredients:

1 coffee mug
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
dash of vanilla
2-3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions:

add dry ingredients to mug, mix well
add egg, mix well
add milk, oil, and vanilla, mix well
add chocolate chips, mix well (optional)
put mug in microwave, set timer for 3 minutes
after one minute, notice that cake has risen over top of mug, take mug out of microwave, inspect despite danger of cake falling
put mug back into microwave, resume cooking
eat, lamenting over fact that cake fell a little

I personally like it without chocolate chips, and I add more than a dash of vanilla.

yay!

2008-11-01T00:50:00.004-07:00

It's five minutes to four, and I have gotten everything that I want done today done!

Write at least 1667 words on new novel. Check.

Finish journalism assignment. Check.

Do laundry. Check.

Clean my room. Check.

Read a bit. Check.

I've even done a couple of non-essential things like add a pretty web badge to my blog proclaiming my participation in NaNoWriMo. And now that I've told people (gasp), I have to finish.

skirts

2008-10-30T22:26:00.005-07:00

I think I have an abundance of skirts.

I was cold (It's actually a perpetual state. I should have said 'I was more cold than usual'), so I cautiously opened the door to my closet and started rummaging around for a jacket. Lo and behold, I get distracted and somehow start counting my skirts (I'm feverish still, I can't be held responsible for my actions). So it turns out that I have twelve, and that three of them are basically the same tan skirt. In my defense, I wear all of them, but still...

However, you will be relieved to know that none of them are pink, and none of them have ruffles.

BLEH!

2008-10-29T17:47:00.001-07:00

I have the flu. Eeeeeurgh.

I spent all of yesterday watching 'The Two Towers', 'The Return of the King', and 'Stardust'. I spent the day before yesterday in bed. Asleep. For about 22 hours, to be precise. Yeah, I slept for 22 hours. Great. And as of last night, I hadn't eaten anything for 48 hours except for five pretzels. Last night I had chicken soup. I don't like chicken soup. :(

I'm feeling a bit better today. Hopefully I'm getting over it. Even if I'm not, I really can't afford to spend another two days doing nothing productive.

work work work

2008-10-26T21:04:00.004-07:00

So far I'm ahead on the 84 math problems I have to do this week (having done 30 of them), but I still need to read Beowulf, do a bunch of writing for English class, do a bunch of writing for journalism, write a paper of psychology, and write an essay and memorize a poem for Chinese class. Waaah. I would like to be doing next month's work right now.

This all because I'm doing a double load of schoolwork. Yeah. But it should be worth it.

cold

2008-10-24T22:28:00.001-07:00

It's getting cold. There's no spring or fall here in Ningbo. It was summer two days ago, and now it's cold and foggy and lovely. I have a confession to make: I love winter, especially when it's cold and foggy and you can hear the wind howling. I just don't like being cold. But the ironic thing is that I'm cold more in the summer than in the winter, simply because of a nasty invention called an air conditioner, which allows all the lunatics who want their houses to be sixty-six degrees fahrenheit in July to actualize their dream.

Anyhow. I hope it snows this year. There's nothing (well, hardly anything) nicer than waking up early and stomping around in the fresh snow.

Now that I've eaten lunch, I should probably go make my bed and do the breakfast (and lunch) dishes.

grammar

2008-10-19T23:48:00.002-07:00

'What have you been up to?'

'How are you? Good.'

'With who am I speaking?'

'Who am I speaking to?'

'Where are you at?'

'Who did you give it to?'

I don't care what people say in an informal setting, but the idea that grammar is unimportant is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put! While I understand the idea behind slang, and while I approve of making language more efficient, I would like to point out that saying 'good' isn't any easier or quicker than 'well', and 'Where are you?' is considerably more compact than 'Where are you at?'.

If we let our grammar slide enough, there will come a time when the English language will be so full of inaccuracies and misleading grammar errors that it will no longer be an effective means of communication.

That said, it is senseless to be worried about grammar errors as long as they do no impede in people's understanding of what's being said. So how do we find a balance between simplifying English and allowing it to change and compromising its accuracy?

clouds

2008-10-19T03:16:00.001-07:00

Have I mentioned that I have a thing for clouds? Pretty clouds...

memories

2008-10-18T19:57:00.003-07:00

Those pictures brought back a lot of memories, which made me try to think back to my first memory, which is from when I was about one and a half, and I know it's accurate and not pieced together from things my parents said, because both of my parents had totally forgotten about the event until I mentioned it. My parents and I were going to the pool, and I was really excited because Dad almost never went. We were getting ready, and 'Lady D'Arbanville' (by Cat Stevens) was playing, when I turn the corner and run into Woodson coming down the stairs with my red sand-bucket on his head. And I remember thinking it was the funniest thing ever, and for the next week, when my parents wanted to get me to laugh, they'd put a bucket on their heads, but it wouldn't work if I was mad, because if I was determined to get something, no amount of bucket-on-head was going to distract me from it.

I also have a memory from my second birthday of my mom taking a picture of me by a bush in Uncle Dale's front yard, because we had one from my first birthday, and she wanted to have one in the same spot to see how much I'd grown etc. And I remember being grumpy because she wouldn't let me wear the dress I wanted to wear because I wanted to wear a winter dress and it wasn't cold enough outside. We still have that picture, I think it's somewhere in my Aunt Amy's attic, with all the other pictures we have of Little Layli.

And somewhere between those two memories, I have a vague memory of shopping for my grandmother's coffin with my mother.

Anyhow, this sort of ties in with Brynne's post about memories. I thought it was natural that I can remember things from before I was three, but apparently not. That's me, an unnatural beastie with weird, morbid memories. The strangest thing about the coffin-memory (as I call it in my head) is that on some level, I knew exactly what was going on and why everything felt heavy and depressing.

ME!

2008-10-18T19:48:00.001-07:00

Look what I found! Photos! Mainly of me. A whole stack, that somehow didn't get shipped back to the States. And since we don't have a scanner (or a printer, for that matter), I had to photograph the photos, which means the quality is really, really bad, but...

Okay, so this one isn't of me, exactly. It's of the clinic in which I was born. I took this picture on my fifth birthday, when for a birthday treat I wanted to see the place where I was born. So. Clinica Santa Catalina, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Islas Canarias, Espana. And sorry, you don't get accent marks or tildes. I'm lazy.

We somehow skip the first few years of my existence. Here's me at age four. I think this was my second passport picture. My first one was the first picture ever taken of me, and I was a week old.

Me on my fifth birthday, in the Canary Islands, with Yasmin, the daughter of my parents' friends.

Me in the middle, at almost-six. The picture was taken at our going-to-China party. The girl on the left is Raina, whom I last saw when I was almost thirteen, and Andrea on the right, whom I last saw when I was eleven.

Me, at age seven. This picture was taken at a Baha'i conference in Hong Kong.

Me at eight, and already a tree-hugger. In my defense, trees are nice. And I think this was also in the middle of my tomboy stage, during which I climbed and fell out of trees regularly.

Me at nine, reading a book of poetry. I think this picture pretty much epitomizes my early years.

Me at almost-eleven, at the beginning of my girly phase. Eeek.

Almost twelve, the beginning of my awkward, dorky phase. Also the beginning of my love for rats, a love which remains to this day.

Almost thirteen, with two (more) of my childhood friends, Layli on the left and Jasmine on the right. This is why I spent most of my childhood being called 'Layli Rose'. The other Layli was 'Layli' first.