Moving

So it's just occured to me that I started this blog way back in 2004, when I moved back to New York for the second time to get my Masters. I don't know if I ever really had a reason for writing, and goodness knows I never really regularly updated, but it is kind of neat to have my past four years semi-chronicled.

Now that I've left New York though, I think it's time to move on. Kind of one of those another-chapter-in-my-life type of deals. I won't be updating this blog in the future, especially since I now spend more time on Flickr and Facebook. I am attempting to do a Photo of the Day thing (as inspired by a Photo of the Day thing I did at my last job). It's here.

Busy, Yet Not

So the past month has been super busy, but I've also been able to have lots of down time. The school year ended, I wrapped up at one job, have been doing lots of paperwork to get started at my new one. Have spent most of the past month sorting out the stuff in my apartment in preparation for my move, although didn't really get anywhere with that until today. Have been trying to give away most of my furniture with some success, although still lots of stuff up for grabs :)

On the down time side of things, Lynn and Dave were in NY for a week and we did lots of museum-going and restaurant-hopping. Discovered Olafur Eliasson (lots of photos on my flickr page), hung out at the Met, wandered around the city, ate far too much. I've also been doing loads of online shopping, seeing as practically everything here in NY is probably cheaper than it'll be in London :) Although now that I'm in the thick of sorting and packing, I've decided that I need to stop buying things. I really have too much stuff already. I've also been spending some quality time with my friends here in NY. Played on the Wii for the first time, discovered Governors Island (where I flew a kite and played mini-golf :), babysat for the cutest kid ever, and have continued my eating out in restaurants spree.

Yes, it's been a busy month, but a good one. I don't think it'll quite hit me that I won't be back in NY in the fall until I get to London and start the school year there. Sigh.

The Home Stretch

So next week is the last week of school. The kids get out on Tuesday, faculty get out on Friday. Woohoo! I am ignoring the fact that I have a ridiculous amount of work to do before Friday (since I've put off some of the work for quite a while :) This past Wednesday to Friday, we went on a three-day, two-night camping trip with all the 3rd and 4th graders. I had more fun than I thought I would, although I definitely thing three full days with kids is more than enough.

On a random note, let me know if you'd like an Evernote invite. I got one off a random blog (although haven't had time to try it out properly), and now have 20 to give away. Paying it forward, I guess :)

Whirlwind Month

Things have been pretty crazy around here. Mostly good, some of it strange :) Went back to England for a few days in late April for a job interview, and if all goes well and my paperwork gets sorted out without too much hassle, it looks like I'll be in London starting August. Fingers crossed :)

Back to Reality

Spring Break went well. Shopped far too much for random things in Paris (fabric, shirts, bags) and definitely ate too much as well (beef, duck, seafood and lots of pastry). England was good too, mostly relaxing, lots of museum visiting and hanging out with people and dogs. Could have done without the hail, but liked the snow :) Now I've been back in the real world for a week and a half. Blah. Need a haircut and a plan for the future.

A Welcome Spring Break

I'm off to England tomorrow, and will be heading to Paris with Lynn for a few days as well. Back on the 26th. I am definitely looking forward to this break. Life has been very draining lately.

Leap Year!

Just had to throw a post in so I'd have one dated February 29, 2008 :)

All Good

Spent the long weekend at a friend's place in Long Island. Loved the company, conversations, and numerous card games played :) The only downside was a stomach bug that I apparently caught on Saturday, which meant I had to skip lots of good food. Still, an excellent weekend.

I Like Noise

I've just come back from a three-day workshop (in Pennsylvania) for teachers and administrators new to Quaker schools, and I have to say, the minute we came out of the Lincoln Tunnel, I felt so glad to be back in the city, mainly because I like noise. I don't think I necessarily like noise all the time, and goodness knows I don't like really loud places (think bars, clubs, rowdy lunchrooms, etc), but I like being around activity, I guess. I like having the option of being quiet while watching the noise go on around me. Perhaps that is why I'm a city person. Then again, I hate crowds. Hmm. Oh well :)

Crafty Swaps

So I got both my Craft Swap packages in the post yesterday. Woohoo! :) Thanks to Shirley and to Kristel (through gimmieyourstuff).

The things I sent to them are on my flickr page.

Weird Week

So it's been a weird week and a bit. I'd say mostly weird bad, but a little weird good. It's hard to explain, but I guess it all revolves around how attached teachers can get to their students. I had an anxiety-filled weekend worrying about one of my former students. All is well now, but still. The weird good bit was set in motion by old friends. Old friends can really turn your day around :)

Coveting

Okay, I came across this post on Lifehacker and have spent the past two days looking into the Circa and other disc binding systems. I'm totally coveting it all now, but since I made a resolution to not buy things unless I really need them, I'm trying not to be too impulsive about a purchase. I'm not a big fan of the whole buying refills setup, I'd want get a punch to make my own sheets out of reused/scrap papers. But the punches are crazy expensive. Oh well. What can I say, I do love my stationery. Maybe something will come up on eBay. The funny thing about this all is that I know disc binding folders have existed back home in Singapore for a while now. I think I might even have had a few folders way back when. I wonder if I could get a punch from home too, or whether you could only get the files with the plastic sheets. Anyone, anyone?

Jumpy Brain

So my brain has been jumping all over lately. Good thing it's winter break and I don't actually have to do any real work :) This post will pretty much be made up of random thoughts that are going through my head at the moment. Here goes:

- I can actually hula-hoop in my room! Granted, I'm using a child-sized hoop, but hey, that's supposed to be harder.
- The OLPC XO laptop is super sweet.
- Sewing is strangely addictive. I can't seem to stop.
- My goal for the year is to have as much of my stuff fulfill its stuff destiny as possible.
- I need to stop online window shopping.
- I desperately need to organize my room.
- There's nothing quite like chilling with people you're totally comfortable with.
- Juno is still freaking hilarious. (I'm watching trailer clips online, although I would totally pay to watch it again :)
- Meeting someone after almost 10 years doesn't seem to be that big of a deal anymore, what with the Internet keeping everyone up to date and all.
- Hearing a timpani being played in a church made me smile.
- Ice skating is all good.
- Watching five Christmas-themed episodes of ER in a row (damn TNT re-run marathons!) can really warp your sense of history and time.
- Multiple trips to Jacques Torres over a short period of time = lots of hot chocolate consumed.
- What are the odds that someone would write a book about automata, Paris, and Georges Méliès? Insanely cool.
- Wondering what I'll do when January rolls around and there's no new telly to watch.
- Having to rely on dial-up Internet kind of makes me cut back on browsing, but I end up spending the same amount of time on the computer since it takes that much longer for pages to load.
- I should really hit a museum sometime soon. It's been far too long.
- Cat-sitting is working out well, especially since it gets me out of my apartment on days when I am totally sluggy.
- Putting my iTunes on shuffle has resulted in my re-discovering music I didn't even know I had.
- Brian Wilson's Love and Mercy sung by Libera made me shiver.
- I've become really bad at replying to emails. Sorry all!

Okay, I think that's it for now. Off to read an old New Yorker.

Weekend

So I've had quite an excellent weekend. On Friday evening, I had a super yummy dinner with a friend in the neighbourhood. It was nice just to chill and enjoy the good company and food. Yesterday, I started off with some Jacques Torres hot chocolate and brunch with a friend. Then caught Juno with another friend I hadn't seen in like 6 months. I loved the movie! It was brilliant. The cast was uniformly strong, there were so many snarky and truly hilarious lines, but there were also some bits that broke my heart. I've still got the soundtrack stuck in my head and playing on repeat in iTunes. Plus, they used graph paper in the animated opening credits, which made me love the movie right from the start :) Anyway, in the evening, went for a holiday party at yet another friend's house. I have never been as much of a social butterfly as I was yesterday :) To make up for all that socializing, I spent all of today in my apartment. It was the first Sunday I didn't go ice skating since the rink opened, but it wasn't my fault. I was all ready to go in the morning, but the rink's website said it was closed due to the weather. It opened up later in the day, but by then, I was truly in major slug mode :) I did do quite a bit of sewing today though, so I don't feel too bad. Like I said, my excuse for today was the bad weather (I can still hear the wind howling outside my window as I type this). It was a great weekend, much needed after a super long and grouchy week.

Craft Spree + Mouse

So I've been on a little bit of a craft spree the past few days. I guess that's what happens when you have a 5-day weekend :) Yes, it's Thanksgiving, but since I don't really celebrate, I get 5 days to goof off. I've used my Gocco more these past few days than I have since I bought it. I've also sewn a bit, but am more pleased about my Gocco work. Photos here.

Also a large part of these past few days, we have a mouse in our apartment and it doesn't seem to want to leave. I first realised it was here some time Wednesday (heard scratching, found mouse poop). The first sighting was on Thursday afternoon. It's been tormenting us ever since. Urgh.

Pay It Forward: Craft Edition

So I'd been thinking about doing some kind of swap lately, inspired by gimmieyourstuff, which I never got around to signing up for. Then, I stumbled upon a post in SkinnyLaMinx's blog (one of the far too many design/crafty blogs I read :), where she's doing a Pay It Forward: Craft Edition. This, I think, I can manage. It's only one thing, instead of the many things you have to send in a swap. Plus, you have a whole year to get your act together :)

Here are the rules:
- anyone with a blog can join.
- the first three people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade gift from me.
- I will send your gift within 365 days.
- in return, you have to pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I have to say, I've been inspired by quite a number of folk lately, both online and in my life. I'm hoping to become a little more crafty on a regular basis. I've been doing a doodle a day type of thing during my commute. I've been toying a lot more with handlettering. And it certainly helps that I seem to have more free time this year. I've not been too bad on the sewing front (managing to sew something small at least every other week), but I haven't Gocco-ed in a while. I'm looking forward to the long Thanksgiving weekend coming up, during which time I plan on being as crafty as possible.

Okay, I'm stopping now since it appears I shouldn't attempt to write blog entries early on Sunday mornings because I don't seem to be able to do anything but ramble :) Also, the skating rink is calling my name...

It's Getting Chilly...

...and that's fine by me. It means The Pond at Bryant Park is open again, yay! I went on Sunday, the first day it was open. It really has become something I totally need to do, otherwise I get grumpy :) I may not be able to skate very well, but I sure do enjoy it! Sunday was a really good day, actually. Went skating, had a hot chocolate, got my skates sharpened by this friendly old gentleman at the rink, had a wonderful seafood pasta lunch (with ingredients bought from my favorite seafood stall at the farmer's market), took a nap, and even did laundry. Then, I had a Joy Luck Club-ish evening - had a delicious bouillabaisse dinner and played mahjong (or rather, attempted to play since none of us really knew the rules, heh) at Jansen's. All good.

From L - R : In Bermuda, Ice Skating (that's my arm on the left :), Playing Mahjong

Bermuda

I'm heading to Bermuda this Friday to attend a friend's wedding (and for the long weekend). I am so looking forward to it, it's not even funny. Not only because I'm glad my friend's getting married, which I am of course, but I think I definitely need a break from the madness that is work. I'm not usually a beach person - I'm totally a city girl, even when it comes to holidays - but I have to say, sitting on a beach or by the pool chilling out for three days is sounding very good to me right now. Getting a tan couldn't hurt too :)

Subway Madness

So today, I decide to leave work at around 4:30pm (which is fairly early by my standards). I've been super tired and we don't have work tomorrow because it's Rosh Hashanah. Anyway, I fall asleep on the train (something I don't like to do, but have done the past couple of days) and miss getting off at 96th Street where I usually transfer to the 1 train that takes me to 110th Street & Broadway. It's fine though, because the train I'm on takes me to 110th & Central Park West. Instead of going back to 96th and switching to the 1, I decide to hop on a crosstown bus (I do like my buses). I get back home, have dinner, shower, and am chilling out when I see the trailer for the 11pm news about a subway stabbing. On 110th Street & Broadway!!!! I'm minorly freaked out, so I go to NY1 to find out more. Turns out three folks were involved in some kind of fight that started at 59th Street and got violent at 110th & Broadway!! And all this happened at 4:30pm!! Had I taken the 1 from 96th Street, I would have gotten to 110th & Broadway at 5:15pm, which would probably have meant that the 1 wouldn't have stopped at the station anyway, or if it had, I would have exited into some kind of crazy madness. I tell you, this commuting is getting to me ;) First the fall, now this stabbing? Geeze!! :)

My Room's a Mess

Have been back in NY for a few days now, and my room is a mess. I managed to unpack in a day (woohoo!), but mostly because I just put stuff in organized piles, heh. I have a ton of craft supplies and stationery bits lying around, desperately waiting to be put away. I've just noticed that I buy stationery every time I go home because I love to, but I end up having far too much stuff once I get back to NY. Oh well. Anyway, my summer ended well. Adelaide was excellent! Ate far too much, bought far too much fabric (got to get my hands on a sewing machine again soon, so I don't feel to guilty about all my purchases :), but mostly just wandered around the city and chilled out, attempting to spot koalas in the trees. Back in Singapore, went to the official IJ opening. It was nice to see some familiar faces (the secondary school teachers that had left), and the highlight of the evening was watching the band perform, what with my history with the band and everything (hard to believe it all began 13 years ago). Things in NY are fine. I've just started work, so far so good. Ooh, I had a spectacular fall in the subway the other day. It was more dramatic than anything, but I do have a couple of bruises and scrapes to show for it. I haven't had a good fall in a long time ;)