Statistics

I am doing quite well at reading. I had to move back to doing it in the morning because in the evening I just couldn’t pay enough attention. It would take me half an hour to read one page. Morning is okay though, I am already more that half way through, and I have enough time before work that if I keep going at this rate I will have finished the book by the end of the year. Statistically the block situation is not looking so good. Only 540 blocks finished. Which is way behind, and there is only so much sewing I can squeeze into one day. Though I have to say I could probably squeeze in more than I am right now. I could probably do more by machine as well. I guess I have to ask how much the deadline matters? If it takes me a year and a half rather than a year am I okay with that? I don’t know that I am. Some days it is starting to feel like a chore rather than a pleasure. I am already looking forward to future projects and the sooner I get finished the sooner I can get started. Might just have to put in a bit of extra effort in the sewing department for the next couple of months.

352 Birds Nest

389 Pennsylvania

917 Circle Cross

925 Twist and Turn

The body

We are having a fairly substantial thunder-storm at the moment. Which is a pity because I was just getting into the swing of weeding my garden for half an hour after I got home from work.

I have finally finished the chapter on the other and moved onto the rather strange subject of the body. In particular Sartre is looking at the problem of how the mind and body are connected. The reason that I find it strange is because he seems to think that there are things about your body that you can’t really know. Though perhaps talking about knowing is not really correct. I think what he is saying is that while you can deduce that you have a heart from other people’s anatomy, or watch a scan being done which shows your heart beating that kind of knowledge is not the same as the way you experience your heart, if you do at all. They are different kinds of knowing. Now I think about it, it is probably not so strange after all. It’s funny how sometimes when you try to write about something it becomes clearer.

363 Walls of Jericho

408 The X Patch

890 Boston Puzzle

891 Pullman Puzzle

Objectification

Still plodding along. Not feeling particularly inspired. I am still reading about the other. One thing did strike a chord, and that was some of what Sartre was saying about objectification. We try to make our lives easy, our worlds more orderly by trying to make the other an object rather than an other. I have been reading a fair few opinion pieces at the moment about increasing levels of sexual objectification in the media and it made me think that it might be societies way of dealing with an increasingly chaotic world. I’m sure that Sartre probably didn’t mean it in that way. 

849 Savanna Star

912 Circle in a circle

915 Josephine Knot

916 Nocturne

Sunday 28 August 2011

I think I am either going to have to cut back on the hand sewing or work on my posture because my neck is starting to hurt.

Overall, I have been very good today. Managed some reading, some sewing, some weeding and even to squeeze in a baby shower. Though I feel at the moment that I could spend the next two months weeding and still not get anywhere. It’s a bit like painting the harbour bridge because bits I weeded at the start of the week already need weeding again. Hopefully I will reach a point where I am getting to them before they seed and it won’t be rampant like it is now.

348 Golden Royalty

349 King Davids Crown

350 Bullseye

914 Whirligig Boston Puzzle

 

Saturday 27 August 2011

I have still not done any reading, only bits of hand sewing, and I just spent far too much money buying a new printer, and a thingy to download my photos to my computer.

Cold and rainy here. Well, rainy anyway. It is not that cold. So I haven’t even got much gardening done.

On the plus side I have done a fair bit of cutting out, and I now have a new printer. Will come in handy as it is a fair bit easier to resize blocks by computer than it is by hand. 

Now I need to go bake something for a baby shower I am supposed to go to tomorrow. Not sure what I am going to do yet. If the host is gluten intolerant do you think it is rude to bake something she can’t eat? Probably. I do have some gluten-free flour so may be able to make do, but wheat is in the most surprising of things. I was going to make my jaffa pie, but jaffas are out too.

327 Leap Frog

328 Century of progress

329 Bachelors Puzzle

Faulty gadgets

For some reason I can’t get the widgety thing which I use to transfer my photos to my computer to work. So no photos tonight.

Not much else happening really. I didn’t do any reading last night, and the only other stuff I have been doing is some hand sewing in front of the tv and on the train.

Shame

According to Sartre it is shame that links us to the other, it is through shame that we are influenced by being looked at. What if we don’t feel shame though? Everyone feels it to different degrees, some people feel entirely too much, and other people I am assuming not at all. If they remain completely uninhibited by the presence of others do they have a different kind of being because of this?

Trying very strongly this evening to resist the urge to go to bed with a good book.

334 Farmers Puzzle

341 Square and a half

347 Grandmothers Cross 2

More looking

For some reason I thought it might be a good idea to spend half an hour a day after work pulling up weeds in my garden. Probably because I need loads more exercise, and because I have loads and loads of weeds. Now everything aches from all the bending down, and I got bitten by mosquitos too. I did manage to pull a fair few weeds though. If I keep it up for a couple of weeks I might just be able to get all the weeds out of my lawn.

I am still plodding along with the book, still not convinced about the look. Sartre concedes that the look does not 100% prove the actual existence of the other as an object, but only the existence of the looker, who may or may not be real. I’m not sure what good that does in the long run. 

Some sewing done. I got a little bit done by hand today on the train and some last night watching tv. I am still trying to figure out how my english paper piecing can go so completely out of whack. I think I might just have to be more careful with my drawing/drafting.

342 Handy Andy 5 Patch

343 Z and Cross

345 Dakota Gold

346 St Louis

Holiday is almost over

Well, back to work tomorrow. I can’t believe my five days off have gone this fast. I could easily do another five days no problems. It has been a miserable day here today too. Rainy and cold. I was forced to abandon my sewing room for the lounge where there is a heater. Still looks like it is going to rain again at any moment, but at least it has warmed up a little.

Haven’t done any reading today, and not a lot of sewing, but there is nothing much on tv tonight so I am going to put some music on and just sew, until it gets too cold again.

344 Grandmothers Own 3

360 Captains Wheel

770 Eight hands around

Friday, 19 August 2011

Starting to feel like I am running out of steam. Managed some stuff today. A little bit of sewing, a little bit of reading, and a little bit of gardening. I suppose that will have to do.

338 PinWheel Square

339 Crazy Ann 5 Patch

340 Jack in the box