The Scatter-brained Hobbyist

Nicky | USA | librarian's assistant cataloger | Slytherpuff hybrid | Thunderbird. My blog of book reviews, knitting projects, and calming pictures.

[gluten-free-pussy]

Let me tell you what happened to me an hour ago:

So I’m at the bus terminal and this guy (who’d been following me and hovering over me for 10 minutes) comes up to me and says “hey beautiful. Can I talk to you?” So I said “no thank you.” He goes “I just want to speak to you, though.” And I said “yeah I know that and I’m not interested in talking to a strange man at a bus terminal. Please leave me alone.” So he stands there watching me. Finally he says “listen, there’s no need to be difficult. I approached you politely like a gentleman so I don’t see why you’re saying no. Now just let me speak to you.” I said “nobody’s being difficult my guy. You asked a question, I gave an answer so we’re done.” Then he says “yeah but the answer you gave me made no sense. Why don’t you want to talk to me? You don’t know what kind of person I am. You’re judging me before you know me. You’re being ignorant and prejudiced so”- Just then this other guy who’d been sitting close to me said “my nigga shut the fuck up! I saw you following her and stalking her like a fucking animal or some shit, like you didn’t think she didn’t notice? She’s probably scared of your predatory ass and I don’t blame her. Mans need to understand you don’t follow girls and shit. That shits corny.” So the guy goes “yo, mind your fucking business.” And the other dude says “nah because I see you harassing this girl and as a man this becomes my business. You thinking you were polite doesn’t mean a girl has to speak to you. Be nice because you’re nice, don’t use that please and thank you shit and think somebody has to speak to you. You’re not a “gentleman if you don’t respect her. Take the L and go catch your bus you fucking creep.” So the guy starts swearing and then walks away. The guy who’d defended me is like “you okay tho? Like real talk I don’t really like men because of shit like that. They’re fucking predators man. I do what I can when I’m able to for women because you don’t deserve to be hunted.”

This is literally how you do it.

[thingsamylikes]

Men, this is how you ally with women, right here.

[melachite-knits]

My test knit of Andrea Mowry’s new sweater pattern is finally off the needles!! Keep an eye out for the release, it’s gorgeous!! 💖

[ollebosse]

[ingelnook]

Little cactusland by betulvargun on Flickr.

[arabwife]

[alternativepurple-deactivated20]

[willknitforbooks]

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

★★★☆☆  3/5

“Lydia is dead”. The book starts and as we continue to read... their world slowly becomes more and more unraveled so that we, the reader, can see more clearly in the Lee’s family life.

There were a lot of really frustrating things for me in this book.

Seeing Marilyn and James as parents was really hard for me.

Marilyn was projecting her unfulfilled dreams of being a doctor onto Lydia in the most obvious and painful way.

James looked at his son, Nath and saw himself as he was at that age and hates Nath for it. He is constantly telling him to go out and make friends. “Fit in. Fit in. Fit in.” is basically James’s mantra throughout the whole book.

And then Hannah just gets forgotten 90% of the time. THAT is what left me feeling the most rage towards the whole family. Hannah easily was my favorite character and probably the only character I could really relate to.

The book is easy to read and I finished it in a relatively short period of time (it takes me 3x as long as someone who reads every day to finish a book).

Everything I Never Told You resonates with me on a deeply personal level because my boyfriend is of Chinese descent. If we were to get married and start a family, our children would very likely have to deal with the same things that this Lee family did.

It’s heartbreaking but I also feel like this book gave me a lot of examples of what not to do so that is a big plus.

Would I recommend it?

If you like reading about the every day life of people who have just gone through a big loss: Yes.

[myidealhome]

[teachingliteracy]

myidealhome: (via day by day)

[elizabyss333]

[celtic-pyro-deactivated20230725]

To everyone who tries shaming people with “y’all are too busy with [insert frivoulous fad here] to care about [insert important world issue here]”

[mielparaoshun]

It’s not healthy to only think about the negative.

[msmkcreates]

Can we normalize doing nothing, please?

I work with kids. These kids are at my program before and after school, and then some of them have sports/dance/music sometimes all of the above before they finally go home, eat dinner, and go to sleep. Then rinse and repeat everyday, and games and more classes on the weekend, etc.

I’m all for extracurriculars, but this turns into the teen who is not only in the school play, but they’re on the newspaper, the football team, and seven different clubs. In college they take double the courseloads, and then once they graduate…what?

They work themselves raw because they arent used to downtime. They’ve been told they can always be doing something, and they don’t know how to relax. This turns into the adult that has anxiety because there’s nothing left to clean, the adult that desperately wants to watch that TV show but can’t force themselves to sit long enough for it.

Then they turn into the moms and dads who spend all their free time ferrying their kids to extracurriculars.

Like, these kids don’t know what downtime is? I told a kid I did nothing last weekend, and he looked at me like I was crazy. He asked what I was doing this weekend and I said “Probably sleeping, mostly,” and he actually gasped. Then he rattled off a bunch of things I could do, to which I had to stop him.

“No, you don’t understand. I plan on sleeping. I’m booked.”

“But you could–”

“Nah. I’m just gonna rest.”

It was as if I had said a bad word or something. I asked what he does when he gets sick, and he says he goes to practice anyway. I asked him what he does if he doesn’t feel like going, and he said he goes anyway. I asked when he takes time to rest, and he said when he sleeps at night.

Bring back lazy Sundays. Bring back Saturday morning cartoons. Bring back the idea of relaxing and soaking in your day before moving into the next thing. Bring back the right to breathe, the right to rest.

Bring back mental health days, and taking a break. Bring back taking a walk or watching a show or setting a timer to remind yourself to stop cleaning and relax.

If you’re running at 100% all the time with no time to recharge, then your battery is going to die spectacularly, and probably at the worst possible time.

[chordata7]

Mood

[willknitforbooks]

This. Just last week I sent a message to my exercise buddy that I needed to have a day to just relax. It was exactly what I needed.

[strickenfornow]

People who finish gift knits on time are something else, man.

[makinguselessthings]

Moving across the world doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice knitting something awesome!

Totally obsessed with my Stranger Things What the Fade by Andrea Mowry. I love how this bad boy is knitting up. I won’t have enough yarn to make a full shawl, but no worries. I think the I think the mix of stripes and fade are going to be fabulous. Plus, this is going to be such a good travel project. I look forward to making some good progress in the next twenty four hours!

[alternativepurple-deactivated20]

- Cup of green tea and peach blossom

[willknitforbooks]

2018 New Year’s Resolutions

- Get fit. - Relearn how to eat healthier. - Do not buy pants without pockets. - Don’t get upset that others have pretty bullet journals. If you’re far too busy to make it pretty, that is a-okay. Function is important. - Knit! - Read at least between 12-20 books this year. - Be kind to yourself… you’ve got a lot going on this year and while downtime will be at a premium that does not mean you cannot have any. - Take a real vacation this year!

[willknitforbooks]

6 month check-in:

- Get fit. What a broad concept. I wouldn’t say that I’m fit still. I certainly have been working out more regularly since the weather has gotten nicer. I have noticed improvements but I wouldn’t say that I’m jacked or ripped or can run a marathon. But I have improved.

- Relearn how to eat healthier. Again, such a broad concept. I have started eating more fruits and vegetables daily. My goal for summer was to start buying and eating more fruit for a snack or dessert. If I want something sweet, I’m going to be making it myself (to prove that I really wanted it. lol). So far so good. I have a new love for cherries that I did not think was possible.

- Do not buy pants without pockets. I don’t think I’ve bought any pants this year. xD I haven’t really looked either but considering that 50% of the pants that are in my rotation don’t fit me well I should probably get on that.

- Don’t get upset that others have pretty bullet journals. If you’re far too busy to make it pretty, that is a-okay. Function is important. I stopped trying to keep up with my bullet journal. It took too much time. The concepts of bullet journals are brilliant but it’s where the trackers really eat up my time. So, I use other methods to keep track of my habits.

- Knit! Sorta? I’ve been working on a temperature scarf this year, so I will have at least 1 knit product by the end of the year. I’ve been mostly crocheting this year (on what? I’ll explain when they’re done). I also picked up on cross-stitching again after teaching my bf how to do it. That was my entire month of April (and some of March). xD

- Read at least between 12-20 books this year. I’m on book 4... better pick up the pace!

- Be kind to yourself... you’ve got a lot going on this year and while downtime will be at a premium that does not mean you cannot have any. I literally hit a point last week where I knew I should go workout with my friend like we usually do on Thurs & Fri and just sent him a message saying, “I need downtime. Can we meet up next week?” and it was exactly what I needed/wanted. I feel better, relaxed, and ready to take on my challenges again.

- Take a real vacation this year! I did! I went to the Grand Canyon with my bf back in March! It was gorgeous! It was beautiful! It is LITERALLY all the positive words of wonder that you can imagine and then some.

Here’s hoping that in the next 6 months we’ll be seeing even more improvements.

[bibliophelia]

I firmly believe that there’s a “right” time to read a certain book. It’s okay if you’re interested in a book and it sits on your shelf for years. Maybe it didn’t call out to you when you wanted something to read because it was waiting for the right time to mean the most to you. Not saying this is always the case, but this has happened enough to recognize the magic.

[willknitforbooks]

I’ve had this happen too. There was a book I had been meaning to read for years and never got to it. When I finally picked it up, I had enough life experience now to relate to the characters on a much deeper level.

Sometimes, it just works out.

[kelogsloops]

a gentle touch

[readwithsera]

This book is a fast paced, page turner. It literally took me only 30 minutes to fly through the first 50 pages. @peruseproject made it sound so good in her reading vlog that I have to read it. 🌷