What I've been doing lately

1) Listening to the Beatles (my sis calls them the 'first boyband ever', which is kind of true despite the negative connotations). I think I'm secretly an old soul, because I enjoy listening to 'evergreens' as they are called. I just call them oldies.

2) Watching Hayao Miyazaki films and getting caught up in his wonderful, fantastical vision. My total count so far is five, consisting of Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbour Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. If anyone has more to recommend, please tell me.

3) More mundane things- testing Japanese printers as my work, marvelling at the multitude of functions and thinking how much easier life would be if I had one of my own. I did some design work for a school event as well. I'm preparing my application for the Design Singapore scholarship currently.

4) Making cards. You can scarcely imagine how happy I am now that I can do crafts for extended periods without breaking to do homework or interruption from a nagging mum, who when I was schooling kept telling me to spend less time on my 'hobbies'.

5) Surfing the Craftster forums. Boy, do I miss it. I'm thinking of participating in a Craft Swap, which sounds really fun, and more Craft Challenges. It's too bad I don't have that many friends who craft, or else we could hold a craft swap within our circle.

6) Re-reading some of my favourite books- Sherlock Holmes and a Chinese novel titled 蝉. Maybe I'll post some quotes from it next time.

7) Watching American Idol, which I never had the time to do when I was in school. Wednesday and Thursday evenings are now reserved for it. I'm still reserving my opinion on who's my favourite, but I like Adam, Danny, Chris and Matt. Adam is insane in a good way.

8) Relishing time spent away from Mum, which has allowed me to be with Dad. I think being separated from each other has been mutually beneficial. It gives me more breathing space, and calms her over-controlling impulses.

These coming months should be exciting, and I'm looking forward to them!