I read: Starship Troopers

A few shades of nail polish ago, I read Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. I'm a big sci-fi fan but prior to reading this book, I'd only read one of the "big three" English-speaking classic science-fi dudes, the other two being my main man Isaac Asimov (a personal ultimate favorite) and Arthur C. Clarke. I came upon this copy in a used bookstore so I figured I'd finally cross that guy off the list.

A lot of early sci-fi is very, um, "men adventuring in space, possibly killing things, maybe picking up some chicks" and while that is all very good from a purely entertainment standpoint, it is not my cup of tea. I love adventure but I also want it to make me think. And, you know, not be ridiculously misogynistic.
Not to detract from the great contribution Heinlein has provided to the genre, or his talents as writer, but in my head I put him into the above category, assuming he was one of many (many, many, many...) who really focused on traditional male readers (to be fair, I'm sure men made up most of sci-fi's early readers especially). I can imagine there's numerous studies and essays etc about this but back to the book at hand.

Starship Troopers, at first glance, definitely seems to fit that old school man's man type of sci-fi I mentioned above. There's war! There's fighting! There's very few ladies but when they show up you are assured that they are super pretty lady-like ladies! It turns out to be a thinker after all though, closely examining patriotism, sacrifice and what it means to be a true citizen. Especially interesting to me personally was the heavy use of corporal punishment and this strict sense of moral code being instilled in everyone, keeping society in order and criminal activity minimal to nonexistant. He's built an Earth with as close to a militaristic society as you can get without having soldiers stationed on every street corner- you're only allowed to vote or hold office if you serve in the "Federal Service," in whatever capacity they deem is right for you.

I may not agree with a lot of the ideas Heinlein puts forth but I'd still give this book 3.7/5 stars. What's the use of only reading things you agree with? The only way to grow as a person is to constantly collect new ideas that force you to reconsider or reaffirm you own. This engaging space adventure is the perfect opportunity to expand your mind a bit and think about your own personal views so I'd definitely recommend it.

Did Everybody Say What A Good Day That It Was

I had a great day today.

I work in a hospital which of course needs to be staffed 24/7. This means I'm expected to work every other weekend which also means I have the odd day off in the middle of the week to make up for it. Especially as of late, I've had issues filling these midweek days in ways that leave me satisfied when it's all over. I've been getting up later than I intend, not being productive enough, not doing enough things I enjoy, overall just feeling as if I'm wasting my valuable days off.

Despite having a clear idea of my issue (even I'm rolling my eyes at myself for this "issue"), I've had such a hard time fixing it. I've been spending so much of my days beating myself up for not enjoying myself and trying to force myself to do things that I end up, you know, not doing any of that. As they say, worrying about wasted time is more wasted time (my next cross stitch sampler??). It's a strange cycle of self-created problems I've gotten myself into but today... today was perfect. I don't know how I managed it but it was the ideal blend of relaxing, productive, and fun.

Since this blogs original purpose was to remind me of all the good things, I've decided to make a list of a couple of the things that made it so good. Hopefully I can shake off ridiculous this day-off funk I've gotten myself into.

First up is a fine beer, which I'm enjoying as I type. We're super into trying all kinds of good craft beer (heavy dark beers being my favorite) and New England has it's fair share. I stepped a little out of the area for this one (Mast Landing is out of Westbrook Maine) because it's recently turned into one of my go-to favorites. Beer Advocate rates it pretty highly too, if you're into that sort of thing. A good, super-smooth stout with it's own unique (but not overpowering) peanut-y flavor.

Plants! This past year, much to my delight, I realized the apartment I was currently in actually had enough light and room for plants and that I was ready to become a plant mom. My former apartment was a small studio and super dark so I was pretty excited to run out and buy some plants.  I have a Rubber plant named Rubbert Plant that's thriving and a Purple Wandering Jew that I have somehow kept alive (they're kinda tricky) but sadly, I had a Purple Waffle that didn't make it (RIP). Today I decided his pot needed a tenant so I went to a local nursery and for something to replace PW... and of course I couldn't leave with just one plan. On the left is an Oyster plant and on the right is a Rattlesnake plant. They've already been repotted and have settled in their new homes.

I've actually made progress on my embroidery journal! Yes, I'm super behind still but once I get the fabric cut and ready to go, usually it's smooth sailing from there. I like that I can just sit and stitch without much further thought. And, as a bonus, I think I'll actually work down that great big ball of random thread scraps.

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The Repair Shop is a BBC show which is currently on Netflix. The premise is that people bring in their broken family heirlooms of all types to be restored by master craftsmen. It's pretty much the perfect thing to watch while you have your coffee and bagel in the morning- you get your heartwarming stories but you also get a really interesting look at how things are repaired. I also love the idea that people are working against the idea of this throwaway culture we currently live in. It makes me want to like, I dunno, go out and fix things or something.

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I'm pretty into watches- I love learning about the different types and movements and history. Recently I've been on a pretty intense eBay hunt for a good vintage one and today, I found an old Waltham that was in decent shape, especially considering the price. I went for it and can't wait to get it in the mail next week! I've been wanting a Waltham- it's a company with a solid history of making good watches... and I happen to live relatively close to Waltham!

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Other things that made this day great:

-Laundry! Yes I hate changing the sheets but it needed to be done and going to sleep in a bed with fresh sheets is pretty much the best.

-It was an absolutely beautiful day. Clear, bright blue skies, and mild temps (especially for a New England February). I was able to repot my new plants on our screened-in porch without freezing!

-I went for a walk. It was short but it still felt nice to spend more time outside and move a little.

I have a bonus day off this week- hopefully this coming Wednesday is as magical as today was. In the mean time, enjoy a bonus song from which I sniped the blog title! 

Move It: Snowshoeing

Yeah that's right. Snowshoeing.

For those of you that are unaware, snowshoeing is basically when you go on a hike but since there's snow, you strap these onto your feet:

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As the wiki link above says, they stop you from sinking completely in the snow so it's more of an awkward walk as opposed to an awkward trudge. As almost always happens when I do something I was apprehensive about, especially something involving physical activity, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked it. That was mostly because LOOK:

This doesn't even begin to show how utterly beautiful the hike was. This particular part of New Hampshire recently got hit with an ice storm so despite the cold, it was totally worth it to take a walk through the ice encrusted trees shining in the sun with a bright blue sky in the background. I felt fantastic afterward, the only downside being that I took no pictures (I took the above one before we left), though it was probably best I just focused on enjoying myself (and not falling).

Usually when I'm confronted with the possibility of some sort of new type of physical activity, I'm filled with dread. I always assume that I'm not in good enough shape to do it and that I'll drag the rest of the party down with my sluggishness. Luckily (???) for me, my anxiety over speaking up about it and not feeling bold enough to stay behind overtakes my doubts about my physical abilities so I go anyway.

Clearly snowshoeing isn't the first time I've felt this way. A recently peer pressured activity that worried me was kayaking and it quickly became my ultimate favorite warm weather thing to do.

What's so good about kayaking is that it doesn't matter your strength or skill level, there's a situation that is right for you. For example, my first time kayaking was on some ponds and small lakes in New Hampshire. The still water made it possible to kind of amble along at my own pace and get a feel for it. The second time I went, we kayaked on a sluggish bit of the Nashua River in Groton, Massachusetts (above picture). Slightly more difficult as you are occasionally (depending on which way you're going of course) fighting a bit of a current but I still had no difficulties. Also I saw a bunch of turtles so there's that.

My crowning I-got-roped-into-this-and-complained-the-whole-way-but-I'm-super-proud-of-myself-for-doing-it activity though, has got to be hiking the Franconia Ridge Loop. It is about 8.6 grueling miles and took us an entire day-you basically go straight up a mountain, then along the peaks of 3 mountains, then back down. There's 3,822 feet of altitude gain and it's classified as a "difficult" hike and for "experienced hikers only," which I most definitely wasn't. It is ROUGH but I freaking did it

Aside from the most supreme sense of accomplishment, it's worth it for the views alone which were-and I don't used this overused phrase lightly-absolutely breathtaking (figuratively and literally). I could bombard you with photos but if you really want to see more, just click on the link I provided above. The picture I did include was from the top of the ridge and the easiest part of the hike. I could've just stayed up there all day... if I didn't mind scrambling back down the mountain in the dark anyway.
There are other decent mountain hikes I've done (Mount Monadnock for instance) but that one I think is my peak (pun not intended but definitely encouraged).

I can't think of any other new and potentially challenging activities in my near future but clearly I shouldn't be so hesitant. In any case, as fun as snowshoeing was, I can't wait for it to warm up and get back outside... without all the layers!

Made it: Journal cover

Remember that time I talked about making an embroidery journal for this year? Yeah, I haven't done that yet. Yeah, January definitely already finished. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Progress has been made however, and still while I still maintain the (somewhat blurry) memory of what this past January was like no less. I've been doing a bit of clearing out and I unearthed this blank notebook type thing with 6 thick cardboard pages. I don't know what it's original intended purpose was but it is  now gonna be my embroidery journal. Not satisfied with the plain sad cardboard colored cover, I decided to paint it. It had this nice cut out design, it seemed a shame to leave it a dull brown. Below is photographic evidence of my progress.

I just used some random acrylic paints I happened to have, as shown above.

This is the rest of the blank notebook so you get an idea of the construction. I'm going to do the month embroidery on a piece of aida cloth that'll fit on the page with a little space around the edges, then tape it in with some fancy washi tape. Like I mentioned above, there are 6 pages so I'll do 2 months per page, front and back. Perfect!

A close up. Did I originally intend to have the "2020" in that exact spot or did I accidentally get a smudge of paint there that I needed to hide? We might never know...

I'm really pleased how it came out. Now all I have to do is start on the actual embroidery, preferably before the end of this month. Ahem.

Somewhat random I know, but I'll leave you with the song that I feel like I had stuck in my head for the entire month of January because it's awesome and um. Because I mentioned January? Anyway, enjoy.

I Watched: Red Dwarf

Recently, much to my surprise, I've taken up- and stuck to- a bit of a workout routine. I know, I know, crazy. Occasionally it starts with me doing some strength/back-centered workouts but mostly consists of me banishing myself to the basement for a bike ride (we've got a contraption that makes my bike stationary) while my fiancé (fancy) uses the old NordicTrack his parents gave us.

Aaaand lets just take two minutes to watch this sweet 90s NordicTrack commercial.



Anywho, I would say 40% of the motivation to keep up with this routine is the fact that I'm doing it with someone, which I haven't done in the past. As soon as he gets home from work we change into workout clothes and go to the basement, even if I complain a lot.

The other 60% of the motivation comes from TV which, now that I think about it, is a big reason why I got to the point where I get winded if I go up the stairs a little too quickly. Irony (right? I have no idea. Does anyone really?) aside, the show we're watching as we exercise that's getting me on the bike each day even though my butt hurts is, at the moment, Red Dwarf and I forgot how awesome it was.

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For the uneducated, Red Dwarf is a British sci-fi comedy that originally aired from 1988 to 1999, rebooting in 2009 and continuing on to this day- with the original cast no less. I've not seen the reboot but I'm excited to check it out after we've made it through the original run. This is our second time watching it and its still fantastic and hilarious.

Then...

Aaaand now. (source)

A brief synopsis: Dave Lister, a slacker working on a mining ship called Red Dwarf gets put in stasis as punishment after smuggling a pregnant cat on board only to wake up 3 million years later when the ship is finally deemed safe after a radiation leak kills the rest of the crew. Though he's the sole surviving human, he's joined by the hologram of his now deceased annoying roommate Arnold Rimmer, the life form that evolved from his cat (hidden safely in the cargo hold during the leak), and Holly the ship's computer. They're later joined by Kryten, a service mechanoid, and an alternate-reality version of Lister's love interest from the former crew of Red Dwarf, Kristine Kochanski. And then funny stuff happens. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes space things and also funny things.
Also, the episodes are 30 minutes which is an ideal amount of time for a good cardio session. You're welcome.

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I Read: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

Well, I just finished The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by my man Haruki Murakami and as usual, I feel a bit like a lost soul but, um, in a good way? I've read only 2 other Murakami books thus far (1Q84 and Kafka on the Shore) but every time I finish one, I'm left with a profound sense of what I like to call "what-ness" which basically means I have to think about it for a while to decide if I know what I just read or not. And yet, despite that, I'm already thinking of which one I'm gonna read next (Norwegian Wood maybe?).

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You can read the full official synopsis of the book in the link above but Chronicle is basically a surreal detective story where this dude starts off looking for his cat who's gone missing, but then starts looking for his wife who goes missing soon after. AND THEN WEIRD STUFF HAPPENS.

I'm sorry but this is the best I can do. Murakami has been compared to Kurt Vonnegut plenty of times and if you've read anything by him (oh god, please do if you haven't) maybe you'll understand my struggle: while that sounds like a simple story, and while that is indeed what it's about, it's not at ALL that simple.*

As much as I've enjoyed them so far, I hesitate to recommend Murakami books because of that "what-ness" I mentioned above- the story is never that simple and there's a lot you may not understand, even when you're done. It doesn't seem like he concerns himself too much with explaining himself and tying up loose ends and there's a chance you won't feel completely satisfied with the ending. You have to be ok with taking time to flesh things out in your head a while after you finish, but I personally feel as if it's intentional (as opposed to shitty writing, say) and don't think it's a bad thing for an author to keep you thinking about the book long after you finish it.

Murakami-san himself. Pic found HERE from his 2015 "100 Most  Influential People" blurb written by Yoko Ono in TIME Magazine. Check it out (it's short, don't worry).

Anyway, a little more on the story itself: I think I especially liked this one because I really connected with the main character, the poor dude who's missing his cat and wife, Toru Okada. Right from the beginning you learn he recently quit his job and is having a hard time figuring out what to do next. At a bit of a similar crossroads myself (but without the luxury of being able to be out of work indefinitely), I like how, over the course of this novel you discover how much this seemingly lost and unambitious guy, accused of being worthless, has to offer in his own quiet way.

I'm afraid if I continue rambling about this I'll give away too many spoilers so I'll end it here. I'd give this book a 4/5 stars so consider it Highly Recommended.


*And real quick since I mentioned it, I'd like to say that when I mention he's much like Vonnegut, it doesn't mean that he's a "Japanese Kurt Vonnegut;" he's more a "Japanese version of Kurt Vonnegut-esque writing".

Journaling

When I was younger, I was an avid journaler. I was a quiet kid full of Feelings (as opposed to the slightly less quiet adult full of Feelings I am today) so naturally I turned to journaling, in addition to strange short stories and terrible poetry, to express those Feels.

Nowadays though, journalling has become a less effective means of expressing myself. Go figure- focusing on building my relationships by actually telling people how I feel* and/or creating Things has contributed a lot more to my general happiness/mental wellbeing than writing stuff Top Secretly in a notebook for my eyes only. As I get a little older, journalling seems favorable only as a means to chronicle all the fantastic things I do for, I don't know, future generations or something, because I'm forgetting shit left and right already. Plus, I read this book about Jim Henson and his life as chronicled by the journal he kept, scrawling quick lines of his (ridiculously full and busy) days.

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This book had me completely in awe of Jim Henson. He had an unbelievable amount of what the kids call "hustle" and I will never know how he fit so much into such a- sadly- short life. The book itself has excerpts from his journal along with pictures, blurbs, and other documents to give more background to the things he wrote. It's super interesting and I learned a lot about Jim Henson, someone I thought I knew a lot about already. I highly recommend the book.

Anyway, what I DON'T recommend, is trying to diligently write a few lines every day or every few days because you are NOT Jim Henson. Ok, well maybe you are one of those on the go every second people but since a lot of my time is spent emotionally preparing for things (it looks a lot like sitting on the couch watching old lady shows on TV but I promise it's WORK), my journal tends to be a little boring and repetitive.**

So, needless to say, journalling has most definitely not been on my radar for some time. That is, until I stumbled across Journal Threading. 

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Other than the link I provided above, I've found pretty much no further information about it (though there are links to a Facebook site on the page, as well as one to the Instagram page the above picture was originally found). 

The lowdown is, you set up a 12 inch embroidery hoop with the fabric of your choice, separate it into 12 sections (one for each month of course) with the year in the middle, then doodle whatever the hell you want, whatever small pictorial representation you can think of to represent what went on that month. 

I absolutely love this idea. Aside from it being an ideal way to practice some embroidery techniques which I've been meaning to do, it's a more accessible and pleasant way to record your year I feel. You've created a piece of art you'll be more likely to consume than a notebook filled with lists of things you did. Sure you might not remember what exactly each thing represents in years to come but wouldn't to be fun to look at try to figure out?

I'm considering starting one myself. I've been toying with the idea of merging the tradition journalling-in-a-notebook style with journal threading by, instead of having a bunch of hoops, creating a book of sorts that I can add to over the years. Who knows. 

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*Yeah, ok, sure, I guess I'm still working on this one. Ya caught me.

**I would like to say that not everyone can be a Jim Henson. I may write more on this at a later date but in a world that often stresses that the only way to really live is to go and do absolutely ALL THE THINGS, doing small things you love with minimal fuss often gets brushed off as not worthwhile. While I do agree you need to get out of your comfort zone sometimes, and you should definitely see a little something of this amazing world, no one should feel as if they need to apologize for appreciating the little things in life so much that they find joy in living quietly most of the time. Finding joy in the small and the so-called "mundane" is a precious gift, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.