Highlights (and Lowlights?) of 2019

2019 was a pretty low-key year for me. It seems fashionable these days to say that the year just past was a rubbish fire, and I was tempted to say that too. I had some setbacks, especially health-wise. But then I looked back through my blog and Instagram and realised that I actually did quite a lot this year. It just wasn't in the categories of what I used to do in the past, or what people 'should' do. There's nothing wrong with that, though.


LIFE & HEALTH THINGS
I only worked for 2 months this year. I secured a two-month contract in March-April, then decided to take a month off to concentrate on my exhibition (more details about that below!). Not long after that was finished, I developed some new health issues and some existing ones got worse. I developed a severe pain in my knee and could barely walk for about a month, something I hadn't experienced before. The doctor seemed to think it was arthritis, but I'm still not sure. Thankfully that got better, but I wasn't able to follow up on it because then I caught a virus which made me nauseous and dizzy for several weeks. Then my Adenomyosis treatment failed catastrophically and I was unable to leave the house again for some time, even just to try and seek treatment. I eventually ended up having a hysterectomy at the start of December, and I'm currently recovering from that. I was also dealing with my Ulcerative Colitis (my 'usual' chronic illness) all during this time. I don't normally go into this much detail on the blog, but I just wanted to acknowledge how much I managed to do this year, even despite all of these restrictions.

So what DID I do?


ART
✽ I held my first solo exhibition! (May) -- this was actually a pretty massive achievement!!

✽ I made a lot of art! (all year)

✽ I was accepted into and had a piece in Fat Feminism exhibition! (October)
✽ I joined a collective: Lucy Goosey Women's Art Collective! (November)
✽ I went to my first life drawing class! (October)

✽ I had a piece in NOIR Darkroom's Kris Kringle art swap! (And got an awesome piece of art in return!) (December)
✽ I made a flatlay! (October)

CRAFT
✽ I finished my first blanket! (Sure, I had to make it for my exhibition, but it still counts, I think!) (May)

✽ I tried a new craft: Lucet braiding! (April)

✽ I made some plushie monsters! (May-September)

✽ I joined the #makenine challenge ... and only made one item! ... It was my blanket that I keep mentioning. (all year)


HOME & GARDEN
✽ I grew potatoes! (January-February)

✽ Husband and I built a garden bed! (November-December)

READING & WRITING
✽ I set myself several reading challenges and read lots of books! (44 books and 39 short stories, novellas, plays, etc) -- this is double what I normally read! (all year)
✽ I re-read The Lord of the Rings and wrote a blog post about it! (August)
✽ I set myself a challenge to write short stories and I wrote 12! (June ; November)


OTHER THINGS
✽ I achieved many victories over my social anxiety!
✽ I went with Husband and my foodie friend on a road trip to the Geelong Show! (October)

✽ I started making videos!
✽ I ate a lot of food at a lot of places! (all year)
✽ I changed my fringe-style!

Whether you did a lot or a little in 2019, it doesn't matter. I had a few experiences which made me remember that I'm lucky just to be here. And I'm looking ahead to 2020!

My September

For a short month, it seemed like so much was packed into this September. And yet, it seemed like nothing much happened at all. I was still very sick for most of the month, due to a sort-of-new, sort-of-ongoing health issue (yeah, my health is complicated lately!), and wasn't able to leave the house. Finally in the last week, I was given some medication which has let me live a bit more normally again. However, I'll need to have an operation to fix it permanently, hopefully in a couple of months. That's left me in a strange limbo where I'm well enough to work, but there's probably no point in getting a job until after I've recovered from the operation. Oh well, may as well take advantage of the situation.

Let the art and craft commence! (Or continue, really...)


What I've been reading ...
I completed my personal September reading challenge very successfully, in my opinion! I read several short books and stories, and discovered some new authors that I'd like to follow up on in future. I've decided that for the month of October, I'm not setting myself a formal reading challenge. I'm still planning on reading, but some other things have piqued my interest lately as well, and I want to make sure I have enough time for everything.

What I've been showing ...
I seem to have neglected to mention it here, but I had a piece in an exhibition called Fat Feminism at NOIR Darkroom (actually it's still on until 6th October 2019!). I'm too shy to show my piece, so here's a photo of some of the other amazing art from NOIR's website:

What I've been drawing ...
After procrastinating for months, I finally started to draw a little bit again. I created a Terrible Drawing Challenge, in the hope that it would be less pressure, and I think this reverse psychology worked ... some days, anyway.

Here I copied a picture from the Voynich Manuscript. This mysterious book in an undeciphered script has been endlessly fascinating to me lately. The original is on the left and my drawing is on the right.

A Terrible Drawing of Saiki from The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. I really should have started further down the page! I really enjoyed this anime and liked the bright colours so I wanted to give it a go. I coloured it in with pencils because I don't have any watercolours bright enough for his hair.

A baby monitor. Don't ask me why. I just love the combination of smooth curves, soothing colours, buttons and what's basically a spy camera.

What I've been eating ...
Husband and I went with a foodie friend to a Rotary Hotpot restaurant, a new thing for us. It can be described as a cross between hotpot soup (or shabu-shabu) and sushi train. The soup is cooked at the table on an induction cooker, while the ingredients pass by on a conveyor belt for the diners to choose and add. (For anyone worried about food safety, the meats are kept separately in a freezer. They are cut very thin so that when added to the soup, they cook almost immediately.) There were several different soup bases to choose from and, as you can see from the photo, there's an option to choose two bases with the divided bowl. With all the different ingredients to choose from, the potential for different soup flavour combinations is truly endless. It was a lot of fun as well as delicious, and I would definitely go back!

What I've been observing ...
Spring happened. It's getting quite warm.

What I've been knitting ...
Aaaaaand, right at the very end of the month, I became interested in craft again. I was all crafted out after finishing my blanket. I guess it took me a few months to recover. Plus the nerdy/obsessive part of my brain seems to be quite perverse, as it always seems to point me in the direction of crafts that are inappropriate for the season. After visiting my friend and her baby, I was inspired to finish this dinosaur plushie which was supposed to be a birth gift. I might be in time for her first birthday, though. I have just under 6 months, and it's already half done, so I'm quietly confident.

My August, and, September Reading Challenge

August has been a typical Winter month: cold every day and rainy most days. But Winter is in my top two seasons, so I don't complain. My health has been a bit iffy again -- still getting over a virus and then a cold more recently. I was able to go out a couple of times though, and kept myself busy otherwise. There's been a lack of regular posts recently, it's true. Nothing felt like it was important enough for a full post, hence why this one has lots of bits and pieces in it.

What I've been reading ...
I completed my goal and finished The Lord of The Rings on the last day of the month. I might write about my experience with re-reading it later. I'm still very much enjoying reading so I set myself another monthly challenge. For September, I will read at least 1/2 hour a day, and try to finish as many quick reads / short books / short stories as I can. My optional challenge ('stretch goal', I guess you could call it) is to finish one book I've had on my 'currently reading' pile for a long time.

Here is the page I made up in my Hobonichi to track my progress. I don't know why I put such a large piece of washi tape on the left side. I guess I can stick a plain piece of paper over the top of it later if I run out of room on the right hand side. Also, can you spot the several spelling mistakes? Writing vertically and coming down with a cold aren't a good combination for concentrating.

What I've been cooking ...
I tried a new recipe ... Japanese Cream Stew, using the recipe from Japanese Cooking 101, here. It's made with a plain white sauce, which I thought would make it taste bland, but the meat and vegetables are cooked in chicken broth, and it ended up being rich and very tasty. I would definitely make it again.

What I've been drawing ...
I wanted to try doing more drawing this month, because if I want to learn to draw, then I have to practice! I only drew a couple of times, and ended up retreating to 'comfort' subjects, like the fantasy maps I used to draw when I was a teenager. I do most of them in my Hobonichi because they have so many spare pages, it fills them up. I quite like the layered effect on the trees in the centre of this one, though it was mostly accidental.

Speaking of my Hobonichi, I haven't been writing in it every single day, but when I do, I've been trying out different styles. On these pages, I layered the washi tapes, and added small notepapers for highlighted points. To be honest, most of the 'notepapers' are just textured backgrounds that I printed off the internet, cut up into the appropriate size/shape, and edged with a highlighter. And also to be honest, most of the time I just end up writing what I had for dinner or what I watched on Netflix. But I think they give the page an interesting extra dimension.

What I've been working on ...
I'm still working on this yet-to-be-named art project. Things tend to take longer than I thought because I tend to get obsessed, go down rabbitholes, try everything, and research every tiny detail. Currently I'm creating a conscript (constructed script) for it, and I'm trying out different shapes and forms for the letters. (Again, using up spare pages in my Hobonichi.)

What I've been growing ...
Here is a plant that my friend had at work, and needed some tlc. I brought it home and put it with my other indoor plants. It's starting to look nice and plump already. When the weather gets a bit warmer, I'll re-pot it.

What I've been seeing ...
I took a trip to the city to have lunch with some friends, and saw this street art in one of the laneways:

My June, and Life & Health Update

In June I've been enjoying the colder weather, as I wrote about more in my Hello Winter blog post. In this post I want to talk about some more personal things. Some long-time readers might know that I have Ulcerative Colitis (I even wrote a zine about it a couple of years ago!). In late May I developed some new health problems, quite suddenly. I woke up in the middle of the night with severe pain in my knee. I was almost unable to walk. I managed to make it to a doctor and to my chiropractor with Husband's help, but I was given conflicting information about it. The most likely diagnosis is arthritis, which is a secondary complication of Ulcerative Colitis. It began to improve very slowly, but has relapsed several times. I can only stand for a few minutes, I can't walk very far and between that and a Colitis flare-up, I haven't been able to work. At the moment, I don't know if I'll get better, or if this is how my life will be now.

Having said that, I've been trying to stay positive and do what I can. I can still cook, do dishes, etc, as long as there's a chair nearby to rest my knee. I've been making art, crafting and even writing a couple of stories, which I might share soon.


What I've been painting ...
Here are some paintings in progress, and finished. I like giving the paint-by-numbers an ironic message. I have at least 10 more stashed away to do.

What I've been crocheting ...
It's been a lot of fun making these little plushy monsters. I'm currently onto my fourth. I love choosing the colours, and designing the faces.

What I've been reading ...
As one of my 101 Things in 1,001 Days items, I've been continuing on with The Lord of the Rings, and nearly finished the first book. The Fellowship have just left Lothlórien and said farewell to Galadriel and the other elves. I have been deliberately trying to imagine everything independently, not just fall back on what places and people looked like in the movies. Sometimes it can be quite difficult, even though I haven't seen the movies for about 5 years. Am I the only one who worries about that?

What I've been playing ...
I've started playing The Blockheads again. From what I understand, it's like a 2D version of Minecraft (though I've never played Minecraft). I'm working towards the ultimate pinnacle of the game -- the creation of a jetpack! so my Blockhead can fly through the sky rather than having to put up with riding donkeys. So undignified.

Bonus Kitty Picture ...

Madfest Anime Festival 2018 and Haul

About a month ago, I went to the Madfest Anime Festival. I have attended every year since it began in 2016. In the previous two years, it was held in mid-November, but this year it was moved to mid-September. I think there are pluses and minuses to this timing. It's not too close to other festivals that happen in November, such as PAX and Supanova. On the other hand, the weather isn't as likely to be good. The day I went was dull, grey and rainy -- not very good conditions for cosplay photography! I did see a couple of people braving the rain to take photos, but I did feel a bit sorry for them.

The lineup featured all of the usual: community performances, celebrity appearances and signings, merch booths, creators' corner, and movie premieres (for an additional ticket price). Last year I wanted to build up my plushie collection, but this year I was mainly interested in stickers and crafty things. These things are found in the creators' corner and this year it was huge! All of the little yellow squares on the map below are creator stalls. I was determined to see them all, but I felt like I spent most of my time in that section! However, it was really great to see so many makers getting the opportunity to share their creations.

This year the festival was held in a smaller space -- and it made a big difference. The moment we walked in the door, we were hit with a wall of people and it was quite daunting. There was a much smaller space to sit and only a couple of food stations compared to the spacious area and large selection of food stalls last year. That was a little disappointing. The creators' corner area, too, was very crowded. It took a long time to squeeze through all the people to see each stall. There were some that I wanted to buy products from, but I gave up because of the wall of people in front of them.

I'm not good with crowds, and I needed to take regular breaks after every couple of aisles to reground myself. I'm familiar with the noisy and frenetic atmosphere of conventions, and I was prepared for it, but I still found it overwhelming. I started to get a feeling, too, that I was just there to buy stuff. However, I did enjoy looking at the cosplay costumes, the displays, and being with a group of people who have the same interest as me.

Having said all that, now for the haul! Links to the creators' Instagrams are included where possible (You don't need the Instagram app to view them, links are to a browser version of Instagram.)

https://www.instagram.com/kokoscope/
https://www.instagram.com/zombeevee/

https://www.instagram.com/artofkatieelle/

https://www.instagram.com/missaree/
https://www.instagram.com/asongofbeads/
https://www.instagram.com/milkymanastore/

https://www.instagram.com/trinketsbyblu/

https://www.instagram.com/chelsea_megs_tcc/

https://www.instagram.com/artofaliss/

My July

July has again been very cold and windy. I've had to wear my Winter 'coat' (really just a slightly thicker and longer cardigan with a hood, if truth be told) every day for nearly two months now. I even had to buy a beanie! I don't normally get cold very easily, so this is a rarity!

I'm not sure if it's the weather or some other factors in my life right now, but I've been having some issues with depression this month. I feel like I haven't done very much, but I wanted to make this post anyway. I feel like posting what I've been doing will be a positive thing to look back on, and I also don't like it when I'm away from the blog for too long.

What I've been reading ...
As I mentioned in my Winter Reading List post, I tackled reading Ulysses by James Joyce. I honestly wouldn't have finished it (or even started it!) if it hadn't been for Conner Habib's reading course/club. I do have to admit that I skimmed the last 2 chapters, but only because I wanted to finish it in time for the online meet-up at the end. Any description I could give of the book wouldn't do it justice, so I will link the Wikipedia page for the interested. I do think I'd like to read it again, but perhaps in (Australian) Summer next time so I can get a better feel for the atmosphere.

What I've been making ...
I started a new series of artworks made out of hama beads. They will probably have other things glued to them, too. I've started two so far. Perhaps once they're further along, I'll do a separate blog post about them. One thing I know for sure already though -- I'm going to need a lot more hama beads!!

What I've been eating ...
I mentioned last month that Husband and I have begun having a monthly lunch with our foodie friend. This month we went to Pepper Lunch (despite the name, it's open all day!). The Japanese-style meals are served in hot stone bowl, and the food cooks as you eat it. Pouring my curry and listening to it sizzle as it hit the bowl was immensely satisfying! There are lots of toppings to choose from, which I like, though for some reason every meal comes with corn. It's a good thing that I like corn!

What I've been divining ...
Here is an image of a combined oracle and rune reading I did for myself during the month. It was on the theme of sharing my art and participating in another exhibition. Lately I find myself wanting to reach for several different sources to answer the same question. It's not that I don't trust my own readings -- I do. At the time I find the insights to be very valuable, but somehow they don't "stick". I think this is something I need to look into further.

Selections from Instagram