I Will Make You Brooches

I Will Make You Brooches

by Robert Louis Stevenson

I will make you brooches and toys for your delight

Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night.

I will make a palace fit for you and me,

Of green days in forests and blue days at sea.

I will make my kitchen, and you shall keep your room,

Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom,

And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white

In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night.

And this shall be for music when no one else is near,

The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear!

That only I remember, and only you admire,

Of the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire.

I found this poem by accident in the bookshop the other day, and fell in love with it so completely that I had to scrawl it on my arm to copy into my notebook later, so as not to forget it. I am still a little surprised, though, that I never read it before. I have read anthologies of Stevenson poetry and enjoyed them, but they were always more children's poems. How come this one was left out? It makes me wonder what other poetry he wrote that I have not read. I will try to find out.

Writing Woes

I attended a two hour long dance practice and ran for twenty minutes today. I'm a little achy. But thank goodness that when I rolled my ankle towards the end of class it wasn't serious, and I'm okay. That could easily have been disastrous--I sort of have this jinx where I usually injure an ankle right before a big competition, so I'm hoping that was it, so now it'll just be smooth sailing.

My sleep schedule has been really messed up, and not helping is the still lingering effects of the infection. I went to sleep at three in the morning last night, woke up at noon, and now it's one in the morning and I'm still awake. Argh. Worst of all, is even when I'm awake, I feel like going back to sleep, and I hate that, because there's so many other things I'd like to be doing but don't feel like I have the energy for.

Like writing! I was desperate all semester to get time to write, and now that I have all the time in the world, I am having the most terrifically bad time getting words on paper . . . or, er, word processing document. I just sit here staring at the screen, tap out a few words, and can't figure out what I want to say, or, rather, how I want to say it. Writer's block is maddening in all its forms, but especially now. And especially because my father is constantly hinting and asking about how my writing is coming along; he wants me to finish up and start getting published already. It is nice to have someone who believes in you, but it's also stressful. Particularly when the words for the stories just aren't coming.

Oh well, I will keep slogging away and perhaps my muse will return. I have written a lot more in Linden's birthday story, yes I have, but there's a key scene that I need to write to connect the written parts with the current published parts, and that scene is giving me a lot of trouble. Until it is written, I can't post all the other pages I've written, which is just adding to the pressure. But I am not slacking and have not forgotten the story! I am just working hard on one scene it needs before it is posted. And I think I need to (alas!) trim dialogue.

So, back to work! Or, to bed. I have not yet decided which course to take.

My Quest: 30 Days to Get In Shape

Now that I am recovering from my staph infection--or, at least, I believe I am recovering--I can move around again and exercise again. Which is good, because the Irish Dance National Championships is in one month, and I am as of yet nowhere near fit enough to be in competitive form. I am capable of really working out only once a week in Hawaii due to limited space, and then for the last two weeks of the semester I did not exercise at all, due to studying for final exams. Also, this infection kept me immobile in bed for two weeks, so altogether, I have not had much exercise at all for four weeks.

When preparing for a National Championship, this is BAD.

Right now, however, I feel blessed simply because I have the possibility of competing at all now; at first the doctors were telling me I might need surgery and therefore Nationals was entirely out of the question.

So I must get in shape, and quickly. Hence the title of this post. I am beginning my quest: to get in shape in thirty days. I'll let you know if it is possible. I believe that it is, if I work very hard. It's doubly difficult because the infection has really drained me, so that I'm exhausted all the time (as in, 'I sleep in until two in the afternoon' exhausted), but I'm struggling forward. Today, June 1, I am going to declare the official day 1.

Today I practiced my dancing for about an hour, but it was a light practice. I need to push myself harder. I also just returned from a night-time run of about . . . oh, forty minutes. I am the world's worst runner, but it is a good way of building endurance and strength quickly. My legs will be very sore tomorrow. In fact, they are already sore. I need to stretch.

Wish me luck! I'll update periodically here, letting you know how I'm doing. It'll help keep me on track.

A Bedtime Story

Ah, love them. Too funny. And since I am just now heading off to bed myself, I figured it was a fitting time to share this video. Sweet dreams, everyone!

(What's sad is that, judging by the state of America today, I fully expect this to become a reality within a couple of generations . . .)

Redgauntlet is a lovely book, by the way ;D

Half-awake Nonsense

I should not be awake yet. Not judging by the amount of sleep I snatched last night. But now that I am awake, I dare not go to sleep again, for fear of missing when I need to take my medicine. Bah.

I fill the dull intervals with blogging. And, hopefully, writing on more creative topics as well. My two Faerytales are still coming along, and I really do want to get my novel more organized and further along this summer. I had wanted to do some art too, but I do not know now if I shall . . . I find there are so many things I want to do, I scarcely know where to begin! I have promised my youngest brother a batch of cookies, so I'll have to do that sometime. I found a recipe for white chocolate macadamia nut pineapple cookies online, that sounds interesting and tasty, doesn't it?

Right now I am lying curled up on my top bunk of the bed I share with two of my sisters, and I have a pillow under my feet for no real reason that I can think of. It is strange, after sleeping on an air mattress at my grandmother's apartment all semester, to sleep so close to the ceiling. Some childish part of me is absurdly pleased with the fact and enjoys stretching up a hand to touch the ceiling just because it can; the more mature, grown-up part curses inwardly every time I wake up in the morning, forget the ceiling is right there, and crack my head against it. I could extend this into a philosophical ramble, but I am too sleepy to seriously contemplate it long enough, so I just leave the issue to your very capable pondering. I only wish to add that it certainly illustrates the fact that there are two very different ways to look at everything.

As to my illness, as some of you already know, it now looks as though surgery will not be needed, but that extensive antibiotic treatment will continue for some time. Still, most of the swelling and essentially all of the pain is gone now, which is an immense relief. Thank you, Lord. It looks like the Irish Dance National Championships are on the table again, although considering that due to exams and ill health I have not dance in about three weeks, I am not as optimistic about my chances of placing as I could be. However, I shall devote myself to working hard all summer until competition, and will just be grateful for the health that allows me to dance at all.

I have two hats and a set of fairy wings hanging from my bedpost, as well as a large collection of medals. The hats fit me; the wings do not. I bought the wings for my sister back in the days when she wanted to be a fairy princess. Now, I believe, she wants to be a teacher. She's eight years old and starting to grow up.

On a completely unrelated note, I believe the ending of Devdas is among the best endings of any film ever. 

On another completely unrelated note, I'm thinking of trying to cook some soup today, if my back will be able to handle me standing and walking to and fro in the kitchen for a couple hours.

. . . Sorry, I'm just getting randomer and randomer.

See, this is why I shouldn't post as soon as I wake up in the morning. My head is still too full of dreams for coherence. I'll try to post something sensical later to make up for this, okay?