Ticker Timer

Today I visited The Ticker Factory and am now counting down the days until I get to see my mom again. The ticker should be right above this post (unless of course this is one of those weird future things where you're reading this long after I posted it and I've already seen her!) It's fun, because there are several ways to customise the ticker. Of course, the best bit is that it's free.

Now I want to see her immediately, but that's not going to happen, sadly. At least we have Skype and email (and blogs!) to keep in touch; getting into the routine of the new year also helps a lot. It just ain't quite the same. That, I guess, is life.

Hair

I've been playing with my hair and some new styles recently, so here are two that I've done recently and liked. The first isn't named, as far as I know; the second is a chinese bun.

Busy, busy, busy

If I ever thought I was going to spend this year doing nothing, my mind would be changed by now. My life is as busy as ever; what's changed is the type of business. I don't have ten pages of homework for tomorrow, or an essay due next week, but I do have a list of things that need to be done as soon as possible. Most of them could wait a day or two without being a real problem, but all of them would be best done now.

I'm learning to prioritise things quickly, with less thought. Because, as my sister will tell me after her leadership camp: "Time is your most valuable resource!" It matters more that I do anything, than it does which thing I do - assuming I don't let anything go for too long!

Blogging is one of those things that's easy to let slip, because it doesn't actively demand my attention. It's something that I really want to do, though, so I'm trying to make sure it does appear on my mental schedule. Today, at least, I seem to have got that much right.

Bookplates

I have been reclaiming my books from the family library. By 'my' books, I mean the books that I've received as presents or bought out of my own money; the ones I can take with me when I, someday, move away from home.

Doing things by halves is never as much fun as doing them by wholes or even twos, so I decided to make bookplates with fancy latin words and pretty lettering. I began pasting the bookplates into my books, beginning with many of my old favourites. As you can see in the picture, there's a convenient space just between the title and the publisher's name. It seemed that it might well be an old publishing convention to cater for book-buyers who use bookplates.

As I got to the newer titles, I found that my convenient spot was disappearing. The space would be filled with a picture or the text would be huge, so that it took up the whole page. Interestingly, it was the books that I consider to have a lower literary value that most disregarded this newly discovered convention of mine.

Having decided this, I found that one of the oldest books in my collection has an image just where I would have placed the bookplate. My theory took a rather hard knock. The funny thing is that even though I've disproved my original theory, I still have an animosity for books that use pictures - especially extensive pictures - on the title page. The book, I feel, is about the words. Occasional, simple line drawings are one thing, but great blazes of stars on the title page don't make a book a better read and look gaudy.

Now I'm asking myself if this opinion is the consequence of my original theory or if I would have decided this without the theory. I think it's a little of both: I've never been a fan of books with complex or many pictures, but I wouldn't care so much about the topic if I hadn't reached it by another route.

More Beginnings

Today I met our new youth pastor, and next Sunday the youth group will start up again. I am excited about what we are going to do this year - the group has got quite small, but the new pastor has a lot of ideas and seems ready to make things work. I am certainly prepared to help her! There will also be a certain amount of growth, because some of the younger children will join us this year. A kickstart is helpful!

I'm also beginning to anticipate our bible study starting up again. I've missed the fellowship and study time, though I have to admit I've thoroughly enjoyed my holiday. The only problem is that I'm supposed to find a new book to work from and I don't really know where to look. Our local Christian book chain only has guides that are for women or take hours to work through. I want something for a group of teens! I haven't tried Scripture Union, though, and they are quite likely to have something. Now to find the time to go there . . .

2009

It's a new year again (okay, it was a new year ten days ago, but still) and it feels too soon and very weird. Amongst other things, it's the first year that I"m not going to school at all, although I am doing some first year courses via UNISA's correspondence programme. It's also the first year that I'm living without my mom, because the church has given her a post halfway across the country and she didn't want to uproot the whole family for just one year. So, this year is different.

Hopefully a positive difference will be that I'll have more time to blog. I really would like to update regularly, I just have to prioritise and I find that this blog doesn't end up very high on the list. With all the differences this year, maybe it'll end up high enough to get done. After all, a rather large item called school & final exams has been removed from the list. So here's to 2009 and time to update blogs!