Blogging

Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Things seem to fall into place today as you'll find from these links and stories. Rhi wrote:

I received an email from an old internet friend that I'd fallen out of touch with several years ago. After adding each other to the key social networking places (as you do) we discovered that since we last spoke, we have continued to share interests. It's hard to explain why that makes me so happy, but it does: the friendship that I treasure most seem to be those that can hang infinitely in the balance, but always fall back into place in the most satisfying way that says: Here we are again

..the friendship that I treasure most seem to be those that can hang infinitely in the balance, but always fall back into place in the most satisfying way that says: Here we are again. I really like that. I really do.

And then from one Canadian to another Canadian. Ever heard of kinnearing? It means "To surreptitiously photograph a celebrity or person of interest because you are too nervous or respectful of their privacy to ask for a photo " and was coined by a well-known Canadian blogger when she was too shy to approach Greg Kinnear. Things come full circles as the blogger discovers when her friend gets Greg Kinnear to kinnear himself (and also pose with a half-knitted sock).

And finally, I'm putting on my raincoat today as we'll be making our way down to the Bigman Festival down by the Forth and Clyde canal. It's less than a mile from where we live and the site is a curious blend of Victorian engineering prowess, urban deprivation and natural beauty. And now it'll feature an Andy Scott sculpture, apparently. Somehow that just perfectly sums up Glasgow.

PS. I have a post about women, knitting, and empowerment brewing in my head but I think I'll need to run it past a few people first.

Ow, ow, ow.

Being back at work - a topic not fit for blogging, obviously - and nursing a migraine - a topic not really blogworthy - cannot be said to be conducive to blogging. I have, however, been knitting a fair bit. Stayed tuned for "exciting" pictures and pattern ruminations. There is also that little thing about being filmed by Scottish TV tomorrow evening..

Oh No, We're Represented by Leona Lewis

I don't know about you, but I think it is decidedly odd to see marathon runners on Tiananmen Square. The sight underlined why I think these Olympics have left me feeling uncomfortable whenever I have caught some coverage.  Witnessing the British media mysteria surrounding these Olympics Games has made me decide to be out of Great Britain during the 2012 Games. I mean, the British media is now touting the British handball teams as potential gold medallists despite their team being made up of netball rejects and people (of Scandinavian ancestry) who have played handball for at least three years..

And the entire, erm, complexity of describing Great Britain as a nation is no more evident than knowing the Mayor of London is in Beijing representing his city's (and nation's) 2012 Games. I would be hard-pressed to explain how Boris Johnson ended up as London Mayor, let alone as a politician representing Great Britain. I'd pay good money to see him saunter down a Glaswegian street..

I think word of the day shall be: bemusement.

PS. It's been quiet around Fourth Ed. but I've been working behind the scenes. I'm still looking for a solution to a few issues, but I'm happy with the changes I've been making (and hopefully you will not have noticed any of them).

Welcome To My Head

I promised E. that I'd list the podcasts I like. I'm relatively new to podcasts (I'm slow on the uptake), so I'm yet to build up a list of definitive favourites. If someone has recommendations, I'd be happy to hear them! Left Field Cinema is an intelligent podcast looking at both arthouse cinema (like Kieslowski) and mainstream films like Alien. I like the podcast because it assumes the listener is intelligent and it covers a lot of films I enjoy.

The Knit Picks Podcast. KP is a low-budget yarn company focused on the North American market - and they've managed to produce a podcast which is both very informative and very intimate. Kelley Petkun will either irritate or amuse you - she reminds me of a good friend of mine and so I enjoy catching up with Petkun's wide-eyed middle-class commentary on travelling, dogs and golf. I kid you not.

Oxford University's Medieval Podcasts. I have really, really enjoyed their podcasts on Anglo-Saxon texts and culture. This may not be everyone's cup o'tea, but these podcasts have been right up my street. To be avoided if New Historicism gives you a headache.

Lingua Franca. An Australian podcast on language. So far my favourite episode focused on linguistic typology (i.e. classification of languages based upon structural rather than semantic or historical similarities) but the podcast covers a lot of ground: spelling, loanwords, coarse language usage etc.

I'm yet to find podcasts dealing with current literature, modernism, poetry, art history, entertainment or humanism. Anyone?

In related news - that is, "Karie starts using web tools that have been around for years" - I am now keeping up with blogs via a blog aggregator. Gosh, I'm so 2003 sometimes.

Finally, I have (re-)discovered The Phoenix Foundation in recent days. If you like your music indie, mellow, folky and kiwi ..

Running After Myself

These past few days have been rather rough. I'm struggling to get enough sleep and my body feels as though I have been running several marathons. I haven't even touched knitting once, that is how exhausted I have been.

So blogging feels like an afterthought.

But I'm learning new exotic phrases from my blog spam (they do what to zebras?!), I am a merciless conqueror in Civilization Revolution, and I have a new mobile phone with built-in pedometer so I can feel extra guilty about how little exercise my body allows me these days. And I have learned the hard way that Tesco's Budget Long-Lasting Unsweetened Soy Alternative To Milk tastes really, really foul.

Future Plans Unveiled. No World Domination. Yet.

One of these days I'm going to knuckle down, find the copy of WordPress for Dummies that Auntie M. gave me for Christmas*, recover the password for my webhost and do another installation of WP on the second SQL server.

(* WP was messing me about at that point. Possibly the three-hospitals-in-11-days thing didn't help either. So I bought that book with Auntie M's usual book voucher. I'm not sure the book did me any good but the hospital visits became less frequent and certainly not as dramatic. Unexpected side-effect.)

See, I am really getting into this weird and wonderful world of fibre arts knitting. I have stories to tell about projects, interactions with other knitters, yarn photos and all that. And I don't really want to fling it all on 4th Edition because my brain isn't compartmentalised like that. So I want a knitting blog. Oh yes. Hosted by myself, of course. And you people who are yet to be smitten by my enthusiasm can avoid reading about knitting. And I'll be writing scores of fascinating entries about lace patterns, knitting podcasts and buying yarn. For people who'll appreciate it

Deadline for myself: end of August. Baby steps. Any links to WP-on-2nd server baby steps much appreciated.