She's Crafty

These are the little things that have been keeping me busy lately:

• a Mighty Boosh-themed embroidery. I'm somehow both super excited about this (mostly just because I love the Boosh and because of the shiny silver thread), but also not super happy with the way it turned out. It's part of a continuing theme of making tv-show related things. I used to have a portrait of the Bluth Family I painted somewhere, but I don't know what's happened to it. Pity.
• a t-shirt with iron-on letters because what adult doesn't need a t-shirt with her name on it? It makes me feel like I'm in the Mickey Mouse Club or something.
• the new Beatles Live at the BBC album. This just arrived yesterday and I'm totally in love with it. I was just talking with my sister about the Beatles the other day and mentioned that it doesn't even occur to me to name the Beatles when people ask what kind of music I like or what my favourite band is. Because I just assume that everyone loves them as much as I do (which I know isn't true, but it blows my mind and I prefer not to think of how anyone could not like them).

(and yeah, I know the song "She's Crafty" isn't about crafts...)

going out/not going out

It's been taking a lot of effort to leave the house these days. It's hard when I'd rather just stay in and listen to music or draw or have marathons of Newsradio, the Mighty Boosh, or It's Always Sunny. But actually going out gives me a chance to wear my fake leather biker jacket. So there's that.

Berlin

 

It usually takes me a while to get back into the swing of things after returning from a trip. And ages to unpack. I emptied my suitcase, but dumped most of the stuff into another bag and that remains unpacked. Somehow getting everything unpacked just reinforces the fact that vacation time is over. So might as well put that off as long as possible. At least that's what I'm telling myself.
I did manage to get some of my film developed though. I think I still have two other rolls and some pictures on my phone as well. The ones above include a trip to Tempelhof, a tour group of Trabis, a view of the Landwehr Canal from the Charlottenburg bridge, and days of wandering around Mitte and Museumsinsel. I'm already ready to get back on a plane just looking at these.

Grüße aus Berlin

• After a terrible flight experience (curse you, United!), I'm in Berlin and staying very close to where I grew up, which is slightly strange. Some things have changed quite a lot, but it's also quite surprising that some shops and restaurants have stayed the same after nearly 20 years.

• I've had Pommes to eat nearly every day (they are my favourite food, after all). One place didn't have mayonnaise for them, which is absolute madness. They tried to offer ketchup instead. Again: madness! 

• I went to the market at Winterfeldtplatz today and got Pommes mit Mayo and these Polish shoes.

Lately

I seem pretty incapable of updating this blog on a regular basis. Oops. But here are a few things that have been going on these days.

1. I got my hair dyed at a salon instead of doing it by myself. For the first time ever! I only had the front done and it was a super dark navy blue, so it was pretty hard to tell, but it's lightening up.

2. I got this super cute little dog planter (and a mini mirrorball). His tail is in water and keeps the soil pack on his back wet. Genius! The clover is just starting to grow!

 

3. I went to see Simon Amstell and sat in the very front row! (Possibly because I got the time wrong on when the doors opened, so we were there early. Oops.) He was awesome and hilarious. You weren't supposed to take photos (and I observed this rule during the show, I promise!), but couldn't resist trying to sneak this on my phone.

4. I did a dj set in front of strangers for the very first time. It was super, super fun although I was incredibly nervous (which might explain the blurriness of this picture, which I took just when we were setting up and the nerves were just kicking in!).

Space is the place

 

A bit of an unintentional theme around here these days.

• The Hubble documentary had some pretty amazing shots. I get easily overwhelmed by the thought of the vastness of space though and had to take my 3D glasses off at one point and look away and sort of...compose myself.

• A wax 'space robot' (it says this at the base) I made at the Science Center. And by 'made' I mean I put the money in the machine and watched the wax pour into the mould. I painted it silver when I got home. It seemed more fitting than the sort of light brown of the wax. The Tintin rocket figure I bought a few days ago while taking a long lunch from work.

• Mismatched spaceman socks.

• Another journal page. 

Q&A

I've been home sick the past few days and have been spending the very few hours I've managed to get out of bed watching the Mighty Boosh and listening to this Dylan Moran podcast. I'm wearing my Elroy pin to help cheer my sick self up (it says: "Don't ask me, I'm just a kid").

And since I've seen a lot of people posting Q&A things lately, I thought I'd have a go as well. I was inspired by Laura to trim down the original 30 or so questions and am only answering the ones I don't have to think about too much. (I'm sick and don't want to overtax myself with too much thinking!)

1. Do you have a middle name? 
Nope. But I've told people at work that it's "Danger".  

2. What is your favourite drink?
Maybe peach ice tea. Or Assam tea.

3. Who is your all time favourite musician/band?

I'm not going to choose just one. Just the thought of that is stressing me out, so here are my top favourites: Graham Coxon, The Beatles, Blur, Travis.

4. What is your job?

I work at a non-profit.

5. What is your dream job?

Something creative. And possibly involving music. Or finding a big bag of money and just doing whatever I want, whenever I want. Or maybe a fashion designer so I wouldn't spend ages searching for clothes that I think up in my mind. 

6. What is your favourite song at the moment?

IAMX - Quiet the Mind or Loose Tapestries - Ghost of a Flea (Happy Birthday Song) (I've been listening to this album a lot lately.) 

7. Do you participate in any sports, if so which?

Not really. The only sports team I follow is the German national soccer team. And I get very emotionally invested in their games so I can't even think about following any teams during the regular season. I've played soccer before. And used to swim and run track back in the day. That wasn't really the question though, was it? 

8. Favourite book? 

The Catcher in the Rye, Homo Faber, Austerlitz

9. Favourite colour? 

Electric blue, black, silver. :)

10. Favourite animal? 

Mice. 

11. Favourite perfume?

Stella 

12. Favourite holiday?

Maybe my last trip to London when I saw Blur at the Brit awards.  

13. Favourite place?

My room. Or if you mean more generally, probably Berlin or London. I also don't mind my neighbourhood in Seattle. Or, even more generally, book or music stores.


14. Where would you like to go on holiday?

Oh man. This is just a random list of places I've considered going to (countries/cities/randomness): Iceland, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Hungary, Japan.  

15. Have you graduated High School, what further education have you done? 

Yes. I went to university and grad school.  

16. What countries have you visited?

USA, Canada, Germany, France, England, Spain, Malta, Italy, Czech Republic, Poland, Belgium, Denmark, Greece. That's all I can think of at the moment. 

17. Do you speak any other languages? 
German, English, French. I suppose English is obvious since I'm writing this all in English. 

18. Do you have siblings?  
Yep. I have a sister. 

19. Favourite restaurant – what do you order?

An Indian restaurant in my neighbourhood. I usually order this vegan mushroom and asparagus dish or Aloo Palak. I love Indian food. There's also a falafel place in the u-district that I love.  My favourite foods are chips, Spaetzle, apples...That's not what the question was though. 

20. Did you like school, what was your favourite subject? 

Nope, not at all. It started too early, went on too long, and I'm not very good at being told what to do...I liked my language classes though. And art and music and philosophy. I didn't mind college that much though. Mostly because I could set my own schedule and didn't hang around campus very much. 

21. Favourite movie?

I keep a list of my top 24 favourite movies, which I update pretty frequently. Top of my list: A Hard Day's Night.

22. Favourite TV show?

Newsradio. The Mighty Boosh. 

23. How tall are you?

I'm about 159 cm or 5'2"/3". 

24. What five things can you not leave the house without?

My phone (so I can listen to music), wallet, keys, glasses (ha! what a joke. I forget my glasses at least once a week and rarely wear them on the weekends), candy, notepad/pencil (I'm counting that as one thing).