Fits and Starts

I seem to be working on my grad applications in fits and starts. A half hour here, an hour there. My draft is done, and now I am fixing it which makes me happy (thanks to a friend with amazing editing capabilities, London Adviser hasn't responded yet) so it will prob be done this week. Maybe. I try not to cry or be terrified of them too much - I have done that and now I am ready to bring it.

I have given myself two days - or rather an afternoon and a day - known as "Grad Apps Day." I will hunker down, and just work on grad apps. I plan to do these twice a week - Wednesday afternoons and all day Friday - till the deadline. Hopefully, I will get ALOT done, since I am planning to print out all related papers and forms on Tuesday and maybe even the paper version of the applications so that I don't have to go online. Thus, I am not tempted by internet demons and I can work on my apps in a cafe. Time to hunker down, and kick some application booty.

Fits and starts is also representative in my knitting. Mel's scarf is going by really slowly, simply because the yarn is so thin and it takes forever (I think it's fingering weight). Not so sure if I will finish it so it's mailed by Christmas, considering the other project I want to make for him. Then, I made one slipper which was meant for me, and I realized that I have too much yarn (I got enough for two pairs incidentally), so then I decided to give them to a friend and then make another pair for me.

Might I add that I LOVE Takumi needles? My new size 10 needles (JPN13) are by Takumi and they were a joy to knit with. I LOVE wooden needles. Can't wait to get to my Takumi circulars, though my DPN's are another brand since they were cheaper. I can totally tell the difference between my 100yen needles and the Takumi's. Dream is to replace 100yen needles with Lantern Moon needles - I think I am a wooden needles knitter.

My sister saw them over Skype and wanted a pair, so I will finish this pair, mail them to her in my little care package that has been sitting on my floor for a month, then make the other pair for my friend. The slippers are a really quick and affordable knit (and turns out I bought enough yarn for two pairs), so it's no matter if I don't get my own pair later rather than sooner. I have to admit, I think I did the overcast stitch quite nicely.

Maybe I will also make a pair of slippers for Mel for Christmas and birthday (he is December, like me). It's DIY this year, though I will be getting him a model Shinkansen train set (but I am waiting to see if they made a model of the newest version of the Shinkansen which came out in July and is f*&$-ing fast). I got him a 19th-century Japanese train engine last year. As you can tell, he collects train sets; I have actually gotten all of them for him too. Guys are hard to shop for, unless they have hobbies.

In other news, I went to Emi's school's November Festival. It involved a lot of eating, and Japanese kids speaking to me in English the minute they saw me. Nonetheless, it was fun. I got there a bit early, so I walked around the (hilly) campus which is in the NE part of Kyoto, carved into the mountains; I found a pond and sat down. I had my knitting with me and my camera; my new banner is a (edited) photo of the pond. It was such a gorgeous say, and so serene, I wanted a photo of myself there. So, I figured out the self-timer and took a photo of myself. The unfortunate thing is, the background noise was not serene silence, but Japanese college boys playing REALLY BAD rock music. Luckily, photos don't emit sound.