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O RLY?

I have to return House of Meetings to the library today without having finished it, unfortunately (The Somnambulist got in the way), but before I do I just have to capture this rather intriguing line: "...even in their most intimate dealings the women, too, were worked on by socio-economic reality. In the post-war years, there were no non-swallowers in the Soviet Union. None."

Bumbly Baubles

Just to show you I'm not full of shit with my resolution 1 of 2008, I took a bunch of photos of the jewellery I made towards the end of 07. I started out with my whole "making stuff" initiative by making marble magnets, which went pretty well (even got my colleagues hooked!) but they're harder to photograph because of the surface reflections on the marbles.

I like jewellery making because at its elementary stages it needs very little artistic ability, just a finicky nature that makes you care about how neatly you are twisting your tiny bit of wire around your other tiny bit of wire. I'm not entirely adept at that yet, which is why I have taken the opposite approach to conventional product photography in the following photographs. Instead of focusing on showcasing the product by keeping backgrounds and other details simple so as not to distract from the exquisite workmanship of the jewellery artist and the evocative beauty of the sparkling stones, I have exploited various pretty things in my home in the hope of camouflaging my flawed work and cheap-ass beads.

First ones I made. Background appropriately shabby chic, emphasis on shabby.

Closeup

Closeup

The toy cars are about 30 years old!

Woot, a set!

An absolute bitch to make.

My favourite photo, because I drank the wine afterwards.

Pretty Good Year

My mother started 2008 in hospital with dengue fever, so until she was discharged yesterday I really didn't have the mental wherewithal for any sort of goodbye 2007, hello 2008 blog entries. It was as much as I could do to monitor her condition, do what was necessary at work for a lotsamillion$ deal we signed yesterday, and fill the gaps in between with especially escapist TV.

In any case, it's pretty obvious that getting married to Alec was the best thing that happened to me in 2007. He started 2008 by spending hours keeping my mum company in hospital (he's starting a new job soon and had a few days free) and cooking me lovely dinners when I came home at night exhausted from stress. I will cut the mush because I've already given you enough of that before, but I am continually amazed at how I managed to luck out with this man.

I'm looking forward to the year ahead. I loved our wedding and it was totally worth all the planning hassle, but ironically one of the best things about finally being married is that we now have far more time and energy to devote to our individual hobbies, which of course also includes ridiculing each other about the lameness of said hobbies. Also reading, which is the perfect excuse to ignore each other entirely, and TV, which allows us to pretend we are spending quality time together when we actually are not. Marriage rocks, guys.

Every time I resolve in writing here to do something I inevitably fail to do so, but I think sharing these three things will be safe enough. I've already started on the first two, and the third is so wimpy that it is a cop-out from any actual brave resolution-making.

1. Make more stuff with my imagination and hands:
   The Internet's record of the crafting renaissance suggests that being inept and mediocre at this doesn't discourage lots of other people. Inspiring!
2. Become less financially clueless:
   Because continuing to let my life savings languish in a POSB savings account seems really, really, stupid.
3. Exercise more than I did in 2007:
   This is easy, because I did fuck-all in 2007.