Monday 31 October 2005

Quote of the day.

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."
Henry David Thoreau

P.S. Exchange items have been posted. I just want to see which ones are in their destination first: those which went to States, or that one which stays in Europe.http://mapstats.blogflux.com/display.php?id=5754&width=100&padding=2&title=10%20Latest%20Visitors&title_color=000000&bg_color=FFFFFF&link_color=0000FF&border_color=000000&cities=10&font_size=11&double_space=0

DMC Mentor Program

It seems to me that I'm DMC Mentor now. This was first launched in States, but now it seems to landed in Europe too. I used French site to apply (Notification: I do not speak French, but it went well without BF...), but it seems to be also in Spanish site.
If I had been wise, I'd have signed in to Spanish mentoring program, but on the other hand I've my loyal friend BabelFish and my loyal pescado de Babel (aka. Sonnenschein), and he happens to speak French too... (What are men for if not for translating?)

And anyway I'll work as living translating machine for him when he moves so I can ask little favours from him sometimes.

Sunday 30 October 2005

About chamomile.

"Caution: People who are allergic to ragweed, asters, chrysanthemums and other members of the compositae family may have an adverse reaction to chamomile tea"

Brains for zombies...

I should avoid chamomile tea. I drank some last night because I wasn't able to sleep otherwise and after waking up in afternoon I really feel like a zombie. My head is completely empty.(Ref: this.)

DB and SECE.

Yes, lousy light/ picture, but off-white parts of her head were way too bright when there was enough light so this was better in the end. It's more accurate.

Some stitches missing from her head and dungarees, then it's time for lower part of her.

Card is finished. In a way I cheated, as I found one suitable little design I have stitched in past and used it. (But as I see it it doesn't matter, as far as I have stitched it myself.) So, I'll post all my exchange items tomorrow.

In fact I planned that I'll clean and do the laundry today, but it seems that I just vegetate. At least I've done something useful today: I've "shortened" legs of my corduroys. (Have I ever mentioned that IMO English is odd language?)

Ornie.

Finally got my SP info, and now it is waiting for Monday to get posted. In fact I've other exchange items to post too, and if I'm industrious enough I'll got 2nd part of SECE done tomorrow and am able to post it in Monday too. That would be great.

Saturday 29 October 2005

Cultural differences?

Little something I've been wondering since last autumn. As in my opinion it is bit odd that I seem to had more "cultural clashes" in my relationship with Finns than I've had with A. and M. There are few possible "explanations":

    1. Our upbringing has been bit different than majority of Finns.
    2. I'm not "Finnish" by personality.
    3. There is no such thing as cultural differences.
    4. "Cultural differences" are in fact differences in

        4.1. religion (I've had more problems with Christians than I have had with Buddhist and pagan) and
        4.2. native languages (leads to different interpretations).
And before anyone wants to burn me, I'll explain a bit.
  1. My childhood family was non-religious, pro-reading, pro-thinking and more or less equal when it came to treating according to sex (so, even I'm female I had quite free atmosphere to be non-girly (even it seems that my mom worried about my non-girliness. And it was a problem for my brother.).
    This seemed to be problem to majority. Because I wasn't just cute show-around girlfriend nor nice, silent wife-type. I had no obsession to be "feminine" nor degraded because of my sex. I never have wanted to look less intelligent than I am just because I'm female (or because it was problem to some men to have woman who's more intelligent than they were).
  2. Well, it's old joke between Sonnenschein and me that our nationalities are mixed, and he should have Finnish passport and I should have Spanish. He's practical iceberg and I'm drama queen.
  3. Come and burn me.
  4. :
    4.1. I've dated only Christians in past and there were always clashes because of religion. I was able to accept that my partner was Christian, but they were unable to accept that I was not and that I weren't willing to become one.
    My ex wasn't fortunately Christian (ok, he was member of Evanchelic Lutheran Church, but only because he apparently weren't informed how easy it's part from a congregation according to our legislation - he signed off after we got married.), A. was Buddhist (born as Hindu) and M. is non-religious (raised in non-religious family). And there has been no religion based clashes. I can't help wondering that. (No, I've nothing against anyone's religion as long as my religious views (or lack of them) are respected.)

    4.2. Only clear difference between us (Sonnenschein and me) seems to be in our ways to use language. If M.'s native language is X and mine Y, and we both communicate with language Z which isn't native to either of us it's in a way obvious.
    Now someone could say that culture causes those differences, but is there culture without language? -> Language creates culture and therefore cultural differences are language based.

I think that was mostly all about that matter today.

Good dawn.

Went to sleep before ten and woke up before two o'clock. Been finishing 2nd bookmark for SEBE, glanzing blogs, chatting in IRC channels, organizing my home page and generally wasted my time in best possible way. In a way I've always loved sleepless nights.

Anyway, I'm regular guest in RĂ³sa's blog and been following her progress with Margaret Sherry's '12 Days of Christmas' Stitch-A-Long and happened to notice that I may have to stitch at least pattern or two (or all...) from that serie.
For example that knitting dove is just so... it's so like my mom. Stitching partridge is like me... Gosh Batman, I'm odd.

In a way it's odd... I claim that I don't like "cutesy", but anyway it seems that that is what I stitch in the end: two Hello Kittys, I've stitched one design from Margaret Sherry for my mom, Devil Bear, SEBE bookmarks (last one wont be cutesy though), intending to stitch one HK for myself...

I could almost doubt that my personality is "a bit" contradictory.

And in a way I seem to be insane. I added my blog to one webring:

< - £ Stitching Bloggers & + >

Apparently I need/ want my fifteen minutes (or fifteen hours) of fame.

Friday 28 October 2005

Oh yes!

Remember this entry? Well, today is happy day as I remembered something: I've those pages in safe place. I intended to translate them to Finnish and I've those English versions in other folder... which means... no need to re-make them.

/m3 50 1337 h4Xx0r!

Official Useless Links

"Ungawa tuk tuk!"

Grid Game

Thursday 27 October 2005

DB WIP pic.

After frogging and re-stitching, frogging and re-stitching I'm this far.

Tweaking colours takes quite some time and frogging, but now I think I have all "right" browns.

It looks quite nice.

About 30s crisis.

Well, Sonnenschein was 'very supportive'... He was just wondering how I can have one at mature age of 26. And anyway I'm younger part of us so in theory he should get it before me.

Nah. I'd like to have him here...

SBQ.

This week's

Stitching Bloggers Question

is suggested by your's truly, once again.

    "Have you ever stitched something as a gift and later realized that receiver doesn't respect your stitched gift a bit (for example it's never on show, or you have other reason to suspect that it may even be nonexistent or at least placed in some dark storage room corner)? If so, what have you done? If you've been lucky enough to avoid such people what would you do if it'd happen to you?
This question was inspired by my 'dear' SIL and one little fairy I stitched as a christening gift to their youngest child. After suggesting this one I got answer to what has happened to that piece, so...

Anyway, I've been in that kind of situation and it taught me two things:

  • I will never give anything hand-made to anyone who's part of my brother's family (even others would be able to appreciate my work, my SIL is not...)
  • I think thrice before making anything myself to anyone. (My mom and sis are exceptions. For example I know that my sis appreciates that HK apron I'll give her.)
And if something like this happens in future I'll just mutter, say few nasty words about that in my blog and add person(s) in question to my not-worth-it list. Of course it'll be bitter moment, and I dislike it's affect to my beliefs towards mankind, but... I guess that's life.

Wednesday 26 October 2005

Time for a change.

Yes, I changed my blogs header. Love is still greatest one, but nowadays my blogging is so varying that it doesn't work anymore. So, byebye

    'My therapist...
    ... and the greatest one is Love.'
It was good header almost two years, but life changes.

First snow and other things.

It's snowing, been snowing since night. To be honest, it looks bit odd. It was summer yesterday and now it's snowing...

Devil Bear.

It seem that I've to tweak those browns a bit more. One of those ones I originally planned to use was way too yellow when stitched.

SECE.

I kind of expected this... I got 1st of my SECE receives today. See the irony? (Theme for the first one was 'autumn or Halloween'.)

This lovely card came all the way from New Zealand. (Thank you Clare)

What could be more approriate thing to receive in mail in first snowy day?

Chef Kitty.

Well, I was kind of bored (I'm never bored in that sense) so I pulled all waste canvas' thread off. This is how it's supposed to look like:

This is how it looks like with my lousy cam (I'll ask better picture from my sis when she receives it).

All that white... different shades of white... oy vey.

Tuesday 25 October 2005

Hoop.

I'm shocked. I use hoop with 'Devil Bear' and... I like it. But I can't help being worried about hoop marks... Though it'd be pain to do this without hoop or frame of any kind. I tried and my hands got tired very quickly. Apparently it has to do with weight of that canvas.
I've spend this day stitching and frogging, stitching and frogging... there's one part of that linen which just didn't wanted to be stitched correctly. Now it seems that I won that fight.

DB's WIP pics.

Hunger.

21 hours without eating anything. Why? Because I wasn't hungry. In fact I'm still not hungry, but I had to eat something because my head is hurting. (Something... two rice cakes.) Once again, I should eat more, but if I'm not hungry I just can't remember...

Funny thing is that week before my periods and during them I ate more or less normally. So, apparently it's hormonal, but what has changed?

SEBE.

I got my bookmark today, and it's so great. Thank you Lynne.

Presented here with it's current 'location' (Douglas Adams' "Mostly Harmless").

Devil bear. Dream.

I woke up after two-or-so hours of sleep and was nauseating (in fact I doubt that I may have got cold. It's not like me to go to bed at 22:00 (10 PM)...) so I decided to spend my night as nicely as I can:

One on the right became finally my WIP. That little devil was only reason for me to buy that issue of 'Quick and Easy Cross Stitch' and I've been itching to stitch it since. And in last summer I finally decided what I'll do with it.

I'm stitching it with 'waste canvas' (waste linen in my case, darned allergy) on black jeans fabric (What is right term in English..?). And as I'm bag-a-holic it'll become a shoulder bag... as there's one problem in my bag-a-holism: I'm awfully picky and it's almost impossible to find suitable bags. Maybe I demand too much if I want to have bag which is spacious enough, preferably black and looks good.

Btw, I think there are little elfs around here. First I lost those beads, and now I've lost that bag where I had pre-sorted skeins for this project. I had to find new ones, fortunately I do have almost complete set of DMC (I've to thank my floss mom for that) so it wasn't that bad. Though I had to change browns as I lacked 677 and 680 - which I've in that bag I've lost....

Anyway, technical info:

  • Designed by Sarah Bengry
  • Pattern from 'Quick and Easy Cross Stitch' March 2004, issue 111
  • Stitched on black canvas with help of 32 count waste linen.
  • DMC
  • 2 strands
Dream.

I remember odd thing about that dream I saw when I woke up: I got mail from Sonnenschein. Apparently I had sent some test results of mine to him and he replied to it. His mail was about our personal differences, but that was not the main point (as I'm very aware of our differences). Thing which caught my eye was his thoughts about my misanthropy:

    "Maybe you shouldn't judge people according what others have done. Maybe you should judge them according to their personal deeds. Give them a change."
I've to say that it made me think.

Monday 24 October 2005

Ornie.

That ornament took me about 2-3 hours to finish (while doing other things at the same time), and in fact I've almost sewed it. And I have to say that it turned (and will turn) out beautifully. No pictures of it before it's in it's destination as it's exchange item.

Floss.

I got my flosses from Debbie!

24th of Something.

I should be sleeping, but I'm not. My mind wandered away and here I am, in the middle of the night.

My father (well, "father") has his 59th birthday today, which means that in next year he'll have his 60th birthday and not that long after it (couple of years) he'll retire.
And I feel so desperately old. My father is almost sixty, I'm almost thirty... both of my siblings are thirty something. And what have I achieved in this world? Nothing.

My brother has kids who'll be in their teens when our father retires... and even youngest of my brother's children will be in school when our father retires. And I'll be 30-something. I'll be 34 in that year my mother retires. 8 years from now.

Hardest thought seems to be this: "My eldest could be (pre-)teen in 2013. My eldest could be in school after few years from now." So, it's not the aging I'm worrying of. I'm worrying of not knowing what future brings.
For G-d's sake, I don't even know what'll happen tomorrow... or next week. There's no past nor future. (I think I'm having early 30-something crisis...) I don't or can't know will I ever be even able to carry a child.

And even if I got pregnant now and here (don't ask me how) my eldest would be sevenish when I'm 34. Ok, 34 is not exactly decrepit, my mother had her 30th birthday after she gave birth to me, but... Well, this is one of my usual anxiety attacks. There just have been so much talk about kids and infertility lately that my mind just can't take it.
It's possible that my mind could take it, but I don't want to even think about those issues. It'd be just too hard - but still I can't avoid those topics. They jump to my face all the time. And living in area where most residents have families doesn't help. I can't even look at kids currently.
Everything is fine as long as I'm able to avoid families, children, women who get pregnant when they want to...

They say that you never get more than you can carry with you... sometimes I doubt that. Sometimes I wonder what kind of deed I've done in my past life to get this. (Ok, there are worse fates than this) And if this would only affect to my life, but this affects to life of others. And I can't understand how Sonnenschein thinks that I'm so good when I can be complete asshole even in best of days.

Yes, I'm bit messed up so it's very possible that there's no sense in this... It was just so much easier few years back when I was younger and apparently more stupid.

In the end I'm worried of only one thing and that is will I ever be able to deliver little human to this world. (Yeah, there's always adoption...) Image of us. As, to be honest, I'm not sure is there any thought more 'divine' than being able to feel part of Sol in me, even it's only nine months. I wish I had words for it, but I'm only human...

Yes, I'm delirious. In some parts of world they call it 'love'.

Sunday 23 October 2005

Dancing Kitty.

Not exactly dancing kitty, but I've just finished Hello Kitty chef so at least we have one happy dancing stitcher around. (Of course I can't say anything before I've successfully removed that waste canvas from it, but at least now I feel good - and tired.)

On my way to get some coffee, and after it... more stitching.

Back to finer things of life.

HK lacks some black stitches from it's edges, but otherwise we're on the winning side.

And I think I know what I'll do for 'Ornament Exchange' and on what I'll do it. White 28 count (if I recall right) Jobelan, some blue floss, some white metal to replace blending filament, some beads... and blackwork pattern (freebie, 'of course') by Kristine Herber. It'll be smallish, but it's supposed to be an ornament and in my opinion ornaments aren't big.

In fact I got this idea while I was looking that scissor fob I received few days back from Lillie. Though that idea is still in hard-copy phase, but it's developing all the time - and I'm quite sure that it'll be ready when I'm done with that ornie.

Anyway, it depends highly on how those beads will look like how ornie will end up to be. My intention is to make tassel of a kind from those beads below actual ornament part. Only uncertainty factor is size of those beads, as they're bit bigger than "regular" beads.

Story of the fairy.

Well, that fairy I've mentioned few times is in plastic bag (!), which is in carton (let me doubt that there's piles of stuff over it) in a carage! Their carage happens to be separated from their house, so I doubt how warm it is or how dry it's air is.
So I think it's better to say "Bye bye" for that project. I just can't help wondering how someone is unable to respect belongings of their kids - and work of others.

At least I'm dead sure about something: they will never receive anything I've done. Not even their kids - which is kind of sad, as I'd like to have an opportunity to do something for them but...

Saturday 22 October 2005

Beads on the run.

I noticed that I've lost other bag of beads from my 'Icy Snowflake' kit. I could order more of them, but I'm quite sure that I'll find that little baggie when I get those beads. And it'd mean ordering about 6 euros worth of beads just to get few. Of course it'd grow my stash, but currently I just can't afford... because I know what happens if I go to LNS' site: "I need this and that and and and...

Today.

I'm really in Hello Kitty mood so after I've drank my coffee I'll work on it again. I may even be able to finish it today. It'd be great. Then there would be only some more sewing and I'd be free.

I don't dislike that design, but I dislike all that white (Am I repetitive or am I repetitive?). I'm just wondering will I ever do that 'Forest Fairy' kitty for myself like I've planned.

50 Items That Should Change the World

From here.

    "Seven million American women and 1 million American men suffer from eating disorder. Most common is anorexia, whose psychological nature wasn't uncovered till early 20th century. Top fashion models now weigh 25% less than the average American woman. Average Hollywood starlet now wears an American size 2 dress on the red carpet -- which has the same measurements as a dress made for a ten-year-old girl."
You read it right "...same measurements as a dress made for a ten-year-old girl.". And it's not that much better in here, in good old Europe.

Here's complete 'list':

    1. The average Japanese women can expect to live to be 84. The average Botswanan will reach just 39. During the Roman Empire, life expectancy was just 22 years; 1500 years later, it reached 33; now, Japense have the highest life expectancy that is predicted to increase. In Central and South Africa, though, US Census Bureau predicts a drop in life expectancy in 51 countries ... primarly because of the HIV/Aids pandemic. [ more ]

    2. A third of the world's obese people live in the developing world. Obesity related conditions cost the US $118 billion in the 1990s, more than double the $47 billion attributable to smoking. The type of diet we intake is cited as the chief cause.

    3. The US and Britain have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developing world. For every 1,000 American women aged between fifteen and nineteen, there was 52.1 births, compared with 2.9 in Korea and 4.6 in Japan. UNICEF indicates that a key factor in reducing teen pregnancies is equipping young people to make informed choices.

    4. China has 44 million missing women. For every 100 baby girls born in China in 2000, there were 116.8 baby boys. In China and India, sex-selective abortions are illegal but still common. China's 'one child' policy has meant that many births go unreported; these unregistered children won't be able to, for example, go to school or receive state-funded healthcare.

    5. Brazil has more Avon ladies than members of its armed services. 450,000 personnel on active service, and 700,000 revendadoras (a.k.a. Avon ladies). Global beauty market is $95 billion and growing 7% every year. Avon's own reserach shows that 90% of Brazilian women considered beauty products to be a necessity, not a luxury. [ more ]

    6. Eighty-one percent of the world's executions in 2002 took place in just three countries: China, Iran and the USA. Gallup poll in 2003 showed that 74 percent of Americans support capital punishment for those convicted of murder. In China, most executions take place after rallies in front of massive crowds, and prisoners are often paraded through the streets on their way to their final destination. [ more ]

    7. British supermarkets know more about their consumers than the British government does. Loyalty cards, aimed to save you some bucks at the grocery counter, gather sophisticated information about your spending patterns. The problem? Such information is then sold, or used against you in court or taken by the government without your permission.

    8. Every cow in the European Union is subsidised by $2.50 a day. That's more than what 75 per cent of Africans have to live on. World Bank reports than Japense cows get $7.50 per day. Of course, government costs are passed onto the consumers in terms of milk and beef prices.

    9. In more than 70 countries, same-sex relationships are illegal. In nine countries, the penalty is death. Nine countries include Mauritania, Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Chechen Republic, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Since the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, more than 4,000 homosexuals have been executed. [ more ]

    10. One in five of the world's people live on less than a $1/day. Through the 1990s, there was a 7% improvement in poverty. Poverty, as it turns out, is completely avoidable. For less than 1% of the income of the wealthiest countries each year, the worst effects of poverty can be greatly diminished. At least four times between 2000 and 2003, rich countries pledged 0.7% of their income and poor countries promised political reforms for accountable implementation. As it turns out, rich didn't follow through on pledges and poor are plagued with corruption. [ more ]

    11. More than 12,000 women are killed each year in Russia as a result of domestic violence. That's one every 43 minutes. In America, by contrast, that number is 1,246 women killed by an intimate partner in 2000. It seems that massive economic and social upheavel in the post-Soviet era have left men demoralized. In general, women are five to eight times more likely to be assaulted by an intimate partner than men. [ more ]

    12. In 2001, 13.2 million Americans had some form of plastic surgery. The number of prodecures has more than doubled since 1997. More than 70% of plastic surgery patients now earn less than $50,000 per year. The industry now even boasts its own TV show -- Extreme Makeover. [ more ]

    13. Landmines kill or maim at least one person every hour.
      All around the world, more than 100 million remnants of conflicts past and present lie quietly in the ground, waiting for action. In more than 60 countries, landmines litter the earth. They are said to be popular because they're cheap to install. People killed and maimed by landmines are largely powerless and the countries most heavily mined are among the world's poorest. [ more ]

    14. There are 44 million child labourers in India. Worldwide, the UN Labour Organization estimates 246 million child labourers aged between five and seventeen. Of those, 171 million work in hazardous conditions; roughly 8.4 million are involved in what ILO calls 'the unconditional worst forms of child labour.'

    15. People in industrialised countries eat between six and seven kilograms of food additives every year.In 2000, the food industry spends around $20 billion on making our food look prettier, taste nicer and last longer. Food additives are chemicals meant to keep our food fresh longer to prevent frequent trips to the market and reduces our time in the kitchen via 'convenience' foods. Worldwide market in flavourings is worth $3.6 billion a year. Artificial sweetners are another profitable sector.

    16. The golfer Tiger Woods is the world's highest paid sportman. He earns $78 million a year -- or $148 every second.
      71 of that 78 million comes from sponsorships. Tigers Woods is paid $55,000 a day to wear Nike caps; a Thai worker is paid $4 a day to make them.

    17. Seven million American women and 1 million American men suffer from eating disorder. Most common is anorexia, whose psychological nature wasn't uncovered till early 20th century. Top fashion models now weigh 25% less than the average American woman. Average Hollywood starlet now wears an American size 2 dress on the red carpet -- which has the same measurements as a dress made for a ten-year-old girl. [ more ]

    18. Nearly half of the British fifteen-year-olds have tried illegal drugs and nearly a quarter are regular cigarette smokers. Those smokers consume an average of 50 cigarettes per week. Britain's teenagers are also drinking twice as much as they did a decade ago. 49% of American 12th graders said they had drunk alcohol in the last 30 days. Underage drinking costs the US $53 billion a year. [ more ]

    19. There are 67,000 people employed in the lobbying industry in Washington DC -- 125 for each elected member of Congress. Lobbyists spend their day trying to influence government policy.
      Corporates, non-governmental organizations, and special interest groups, all have lobbyists who were paid $1.55 billion in 2000 to sway politician votes. [ more ]

    20. Cars kill two people every minute. In 1930, a million cars on the Britain roads led to 7300 deaths; in 1999, 27 million cars led to less than 3650 deaths. Same with the US. Now, people most affected by road accidents are world's poor; 67% of road deaths occur every year in developing countries and 67% of those killed are pedestrians. New cars with safety checks, safety components like airbags or ABS breaks, well-maintained roads, laws against drinking and driving, are all cited as reasons why developed countries aren't as affected.

    21. Since 1977, there have been nearly 80,000 acts of violence or disruption at abortion clinics in North America. [ more ]


    22. More people can identify the golden arches of McDonalds than the Christian cross. Survey of 7,000 people in six countries (including the US) showed that the Shell oil logo, the Mercedes badge and the five Olympic rings were recognized far more widely than the Christain cross. In Britain, less than 20% said they were influenced by religion; churches complain consumerism is replacing faith. In America, 92% believe in God and 33% attend a place of worship at least once a week.

    23. In Kenya, bribery payments make up a third of the average household budget. A request for 'kitu kidogo' (something small) is common in Kenya; Kenyans say its hard to get anything without bribery. Corruption further hurts poor countries because it deters foreign investment. [ more ]


    24. The world's trade in illegal drugs is estimated to be worth around $400 billion -- about the same as the world's legal pharmaceutical industry. About 200 million around the world abuse drugs. In Netherlands, marijuana is sold through 'coffee shops' and the amount sold to each customer is regulated by police; interestingly, while 37% of Americans admit to using marijuana, only 16% of the Dutch had done so. [ more ]

    25. A third of Americans believe aliens have landed on Earth. Not just the US -- a 1999 poll in Britain showed that 61% of British teenagers believed in aliens and UFOs. 80% of Americans thinks that the government is hiding information on this topic. UFO visits, interestingly, have only been widely reported in the last 50 years -- a
      mere blip in a planetary history that spans 4 billion years.

    26. More than 150 countries use torture. That's more than two thirds of all the countries. [ more ]

    27. Every day, one in five of the world's population -- some 800 million people -- go hungry. Incredibly, this is not caused by food shortages. The world produces enough food each year to feed all its inhabitants. Healthy diet requires 2,500 calories a day; an American consumes 3,600 calories a day while a Somalian gets 1,500. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen says it's because poor people have no money to secure a constant food supply, and no resources to grow their own food. [ more ]

    28. Black men born in the US today stand a one in three chance of going to jail. In June 2002, the number of people behind bars hit 2 million and the US overtook Russia as the world's largest prison population. One in every 37 Americans has spent time in jail, up from one in 53 in 1974. For children born in 2001, a white male has 1 in 17 chance of going to jail; hispanics are 1 in 6, blacks are 1 in 3. Black people make up 12.9% of the US population. Sentencing project also reports that 70% of those sentenced in state prisons were convicted of non-violent crimes, of whom drug offendors were 57%. Drunk driving is the most frequent category of arrests in America with 1.8 million each year; drunk drivers kill 22,000 people, yet punishment for drunk-driving is a misdemeanour (punished by fines) while posession of drugs gets upto 5 years in jail. It costs the US $30,000 to keep a prisoner in jail for a year.

    29. A third of the world's population is at war. In 2002, 30 countries around the world were fighting in 37 armed conflicts -- a combined population of 2.29 billion people. In Congo, for example, a conflict often referred to as 'Africa's world war' claimed more than 3 million lives between 1998 and 2002 -- either as a direct result of fighting or through disease and malnutrition.

    30. The world's oil reserves could be exhausted by 2040. Oil's biggest role is power generation. Most electricity in the developed world is generated using coal, natural gas or petroleum; but British government, for example, has said that by 2010, at least 10% of its energy needs to come from renewable sources like water, wind and sun. In the US, automative fuels account for more than half of US oil consumption; in 1999, Americans drove a whopping 2.6 trillion miles -- enough for 14,000 round trips to the Sun.

    31. Eighty-two percent of the world's smokers live in developing countries. Every year, nearly 5 million people die as a result of smoking. It is the number one preventable cause of death in the world. 500 million people alive today will die of tobacco-related diseases. In 1955, 56% of US men smoked; today it's 25%. Before import of tobacco-based products in 1996, 26% of Taiwanese had tried smoking; now, it's 48% and quickly rising. WHO reports that tabacco advertising in Cambodia rose 400% during 4 years of the 1990s; in Malayasia, 20-25% of all advertising is now tabacco related. Women and young people in developing countries are the current targets for tobacco companies.

    32. More than 70 per cent of the world's population have never a dial tone. Researchers estimate that 800 megabytes of information is produced every year for every person on the planet; the average American spends 46% of their time in acessing that information; in 2001, more than half of the US population used the Internet and over 600 million users worldwide had access. In Africa, though, less than 1% of the 800
      million even had a computer, 1 in 4 people own a radio and 1 in 40 have a telephone. Finland, with a population of 5 million, has more Internet users than the whole of Latin America. In the US, 86% of families earning over $75,000 per year has Internet access, whereas just 12% of households earning less than $15,000 per year had access. On the flip side, within just five years, 60% of South Korean households have broadband Internet.

    33. A quarter of the world's armed conflicts of recent years have involved a struggle for natural resources. More than 5 million died as a result of these conflicts in the 1990s. Congo had deposits of gold, diamonds and mineral ore named coltan (used in mobile phones and computers). President of the rebel group in Rwanda: "We need to maintain the soldeiers. We need to pay for services ... we raise $200,000 per month from diamonds. Coltan gives us more: a million dollars a month." In Colombia, fights are over the annual $400 million annual cocaine trades. In developing countries, 90% of fresh water is consumed by agriculture and many predict that water will be a source of much tension in the future.

    34. Some 30 million people in Africa are HIV-positive. By 2050, the disease may have claimed 280 million lives. Life expectancy in some sub-saharan countries is currently 30! China refused to acknowledge it's AIDS problem till 2002; till then, 30,000 was the number of those living with HIV in China but after that, it jumped to 1 million. Of the $70 billion is spent each year in researching new drugs, less than 10% is spent on finding solutions for 90% of the world's health problems. [ more ]

    35. Ten languages die out every year. There are about 6000 living languages in the world. Professor Steve Sutherland of University of East Anglia calculated that the past 500 years have seen 4.5% of languages die out, compared with 1.3% of birds, and 1.9% of mammals. [ more ]

    36. More people die each year from suicide than in all world's amred conflicts. WHO estimates that about a million people die each year from suicides; two thirds of them are depressed at the time of their deaths. A survey in Aids-stricken region of Uganda showed 21% of residents as clinically depressed, while another survey of a Pakistani village showed 44%. Women are more likely to attempt suicide, but men are more than four times as likely to die. By 2020, WHO predicts that depression will be the second largest contributor to the global burden of disease. [ more ]

    37. Every week, an average of 88 children are expelled from American schools for bringing a gun to class. Nearly one in three American households with children have a gun in
      them. In a study of 37 school shooting incidents between 1974 and 2000, two thirds of the students involved had taken their guns from their own home or that of a relative. Death rate from guns in the US is by far the highest in the developed world. Of the 639 million small arms worldwide, nearly 200 million are in the homes of Americans.

    38. There are at least 300,000 prisoners of conscience in the world. These are folks who have peacefully expressed their own beliefs and not broken the law in any way.

    39. Two million girls and women are subjected to female genital mutilation each year. Barbaric practice of cutting genitals of girls and women has to be stopped, but the complexity of the problem and secrecy surrounding it call for a very careful approach. Surveys indicate the prevalance of FGM -- most commonly found in Africa -- fell from 95% in 1995 to 89% in 2002.

    40. There are 300,000 child soldiers fighting conflicts around the world. Children under 18 are fighting in almost regions of the world, in close to 33 countries. Burma is believed to have more child soldiers than any other country with more than one fifth of its 350,000 national army listed under 18 years of age. [ more ]

    41. Nearly 26 million people voted in 2001 British General Election. More than 32 million votes were cast in the first season of Pop Idol. In 1950, 84% of Britons turned out to vote; in 2001, 60%. Worldwide, younger people are not voting. Most youngsters feel that "voting is not going to change a thing" as politicians keep on playing their games. In 2003, German government debated a proposal to allow parents to vote on
      behalf of their 12 years and older children to vote. The use of mobile phone and Internet are also being used to make it easy to vote; in Democratic primaries in Arizona, turned jumped 600% when the Internet voting system was introduced. [ more ]

    42. America spends $10 billion on pornography every year -- the same amount is spends on foreign aid. More than 200 new adult films are produced every week, and there are
      over 300,000 Internet sites on the topic. 1.5 million US hotel rooms can show adult movies, which accounts for around 80% of hotels' in-room entertainment profits. [ more ]

    43. In 2003, the US spent $396 billion on its military. This is 33 times the combined military spending of the seven 'rogue states'. In 2002, the world military budget was $794 billion. America's military expenditure is more than 33 times the combined budgets of Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria. In 1985, at the height of the Cold War, the world spent $1.2 trillion; the 90s saw a decline, but post 9/11, the trend has reversed; the US administration plans to spend $2.7 trillion on the military over the next six years. It would cost $15 billion a year to provide basic primary healthcare to all the world's people, about $2 billion to fund famine relief and sustainable agriculture programs and about $5 billion to provide a basic education for all. [ more ]

    44. There are 27 million slaves in the world today. Bonded labor is now the most common form of slavery, affecting some 20 million people around the world. Anti-slavery groups estimate that slaves exist n every continent except Antarctica, producing goods that we in the Western World use everyday. Average slave in the American South cost $40,000 in today's money; today, a slave costs an average of just $90. [ more ]

    45. Americans discard 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.
      That's enough bottles to reach all the way to the moon every three weeks.
      Every hour, British households throw away enough rubbish to fill the Royal Albert Hall. Each year, America produces enough plastic wrap to cling-film the state of Texas. Each Christmas, an additional 5 million tons of rubbish is generated -- 4 million of that is wrapping paper and shopping bags. China produces and discards more than 45 billion pairs of disposable chopsticks every year and cuts down 25 million trees to do it. In Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, more than 10 million plastic bags are dumped every day, clogging the city's drains. It is now said that there are two man made structures that can be seen from outer-space: the Great Wall of China, and the Fresh Kills landfill near New York. A landfill closes in the US everyday, and experts say that the country has 18 years of landfill capacity left. By 2005, 250 million computers will be obsolete and 130 million mobile phones will be discarded every year. [ more ]

    46. The average urban Briton is caught on camera upto 300 times a day. Nearly 3 million closed circuit TV's are monitoring the UK, sending images to flickering screens. With an estimated 2.5 million Britons now captured on the national DNA database and the British government's decision to press ahead with iris recognition
      schemes, it is possible that we may never be anonymous.

    47. Some 120,000 women and girls are trafficked into Western Europe every year.

    48. A kiwi fruit flown from New Zealand to Britain emits five times its own weight in greenhouse gases. To get us off season fruits, our food is travelling a long ways. Those
      kiwi fruits, for example, have travelled 20,000 kilometers, either by plane or road. Increasingly, we're becoming more and more dependent on the fuel it takes to get them to us. In the UK, 40% of all road freight is food. For every calorie of lettuce imported to the UK from America, 127 calories of fuel are used; in other words, a kilogram of California lettuce uses enough energy to keep a 100-watt light bulb glowing for eight days.

    49. The US owes the United Nations more than a billion dollars in upaid dues. [ more ]

    50. Children living in poverty are three times more likely to suffer a mental illness than children from wealthy families. Nearly 4 million British children -- one in every three -- live in poverty. That's three times below the poverty line in 1970.

Friday 21 October 2005

Unbelievable.

Beware, vogons are coming tomorrow... all those clothes I ordered few days back fit. With my body shape it's odd, so I'm sure that end of the world will come soon.
It has to as even both bras are just right size (usually problem is that cup sizes are smaller than they should be) and they do really support my breasts (which is kind of a miracle with these genes...)...

Not to mention that those were reasonable priced. Though I'm not complaining. But you just get to used to certain things when your body never fits to any stereotypes.
Anyway, I prefer to have decent hip even it means having problems with finding suitable clothes.

Topiary dance.

And it is officially finished!

I'd have finished it yesterday, but I've had indescribable menstruation pains and I haven't been able to sit or stand very long times. Anyway, now it's finished and I'm pleased.

Plans.

I think that now my next project heading to happy dance is my sis' apron. HK is almost ready anyway, so there's not that much white to do... Has anyone noticed that I'm not very fond of white?

But anyway I've been thinking about Passione Ricamo's 'Seasonal Postcards'. If I do them I either do them separately or change their layout from horizontal to vertical. I think it'd look better vertically (from spring to winter) than it looks horizontally

Thursday 20 October 2005

Partial happy dance.

Here it is:

I used DMC 801 for backstitches in the pot, and it looks good.

Today's task is to frog and re-stitch frame, and backstitch 'Autumn' on the bottom.

Midnight thoughts.

I haven't been blogging much about Sonnenschein lately - and to some it may have been warmly welcomed for a change - so now it's time to say few words...

It seems that he's finally getting his situation. Today he said to me that he's been idiot lately (I agree in some sense ) and he's really understood that he has nothing in good old [insert European country here]. He said that I have been right about that (And I'm not sure has he been abducted by aliens or something... but well, I like this guy who admits that he's not very wise always, even if he were Martian.)
Of course he has something in there: his family and friends, but we all know that he wont lose them even he moves. And it's all about his life (, and my life. It's all about our life). In here he has better changes to have decent life even he has to learn this odd language of ours.
And what you can say about a country where person who has two University degrees wont get decent job nor decent pay..? And it's not that he wouldn't be willing to work, or that he don't try nor that he were stupid. He's intelligent and hard-working man - and in the end he'll be giving his knowledge to this society, not to that one which one he "should".

I know he's horrified, I'm too. We're also friggin' crazy, but that's nothing new. I think our craziness is one reason why we fell in love with each others. You got to be crazy to get yourself into situation like this.
... but you just can't fight against your feelings very long and these months of torture have been easier than those months of hidden emotions. If I regret something I only regret one thing and it's not opening my mouth earlier. It could have saved both of us from few scars...
Though we were both stupid, so no one to blame here.

"They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, and an entire life to forget them."(From here.) And Sonnenschein is that kind of person.

Love is freaky thing. But it's also great.

I just miss him so...

What Colour Should My Blog Be?

Well, at least I've done something right...

Your Blog Should Be Blue

Your blog is a peaceful, calming force in the blogosphere. You tend to avoid conflict - you're more likely to share than rant. From your social causes to cute pet photos, your life is a (mostly) open book.

Wednesday 19 October 2005

SBQ

This weeks SBQ is by Cathy:

    "Do you mark or hi-lite your patterns or can you follow them without any markings? Do you make copies to mark up, or do you mark originals?"

I'm able to follow patterns without marking them. Anyway, I usually take working copy from design I'm working on, though sometimes I just put that chart/ leaflet/ mag/ what-ever into "plastic pocket" to protect it (if I'm too lazy to go to PO to get that copy). I don't own scanner nor printer so I can't get working copies easily.

When it comes to freebies I don't print them. I just open them, add horizontal and vertical gridding lines (usually, not always) and then I just sit in front of my computer and stitch. For example I've been stitching my 'Autumn Topiary' straight from *.pdf file, without gridding lines and it's been sheer bliss.

I admit that I've tried highlighting, but I don't see it's use. It just takes time and makes me confused. I prefer to stitch without interruption.

Official odd link:

Buttery Force

\o/

1st of all: my periods seem to be here and therefore my cycle has been 'only' 44 days.

Then I spent 73 euros for clothes. I just hope they fit as I ordered them online (I hate to go to shopping, so online shopping is my way), though the problem is mostly that my body is 'too feminine' for designers of these days. It's quite much for a person with my financial status, but on the other hand I got them quite cheap (2x pants, 2x bras and shirt) - and I really need new clothes. I'm just bit pissed because I didn't have enough money to buy new shoes.

Well, maybe in next month.

4th day.

Lacking only one colour. It'll be finished today.

Btw, my flosses are already on their way over Atlantic.

.

Yes, I should be sleeping, but I came to pay my rent as I realized that I've got more money today. It's bit cumbersome to get money twice per month after you've used to get money only once a month. For some reason it seems to be more difficult to handle. Nowadays it feels that I don't have any money, ever.

On the other hand one reason why it seems that I don't afford anything nowadays is my allergy. My monthly grocery bill is ~60 euros higher than it used to be when I was still allergy-free (at least I was able to keep my expenses low when I was vegetarian).

Outlook.

My blog's look has changed again, and so has my default pic. I can't help it, but my current pic is quite suitable for someone with this nickname.

Tuesday 18 October 2005

3rd day.

It looks good, doesn't it? Though I had minor 'WTH?!' last night as after all those greens in topiary there came dark brown for shading... well, it's supposed to be autumn so I assumed that it was all about dead leaves. And after checking that bigger picture I have of this, I think that it'll look just right after I've finished it.

Monday 17 October 2005

Floss for other SAL.

My floss mom emailed me, she's bought those Anchor flosses I asked for few days ago.

'Silhouettes' is Coats Crafts' design so it takes Anchor floss. I tried conversion, but decided to stick with original brand, as only one colour scheme looked good with DMC. Even Anchor is twice as expensive in States as DMC it's still way cheaper in there than here. I estimated that I'll save about ten euros (I ordered only 25 skeins) and it's money, even it's not huge amount of it.

Parcel.

It was from my SP in 'Scissor Fob and Needlecase Exchange'! These cuties came from Lillie (Thank you.):

That cat is just like my youngest tomcat:

Aren't they cute?

Not to mention those stamps...:

About weight loss.

It seems to me that my pelvis is in different angle nowadays, It feels different to walk, not in bad way though, but it's bit odd. I haven't lost that much... Ok, if we think how much it's in percents of my excess weight it's in fact quite much.
But anyway it seems that when I lose weight odd things happen: usually women complain how they lose cup or two from bra size before anything else happens (when they lose weight). In my case nothing has happened to my breasts (To be honest I could lose cup or two just to get bras easier...). Even my butt looks good, in fact it looks even better nowadays.

My ex asked things about my diet, as I mentioned him that I eat huge amounts of protein nowadays, and while I was checking things to him I realized that in fact I consume quite much energy per day and still I lose weight.

So, either there's something in protein and avoiding fat-free/ low fat products (I've to because most of them contain something I can't eat) or then my body really uses unbelievable amounts of energy per day - even I'm not very active person.

2nd day + night.

Some progress during night, even I went to bed relatively 'early'.

Parcel.

I've received something in registered mail from Malaysia. I think it's my 'Scissor Fob and Needlecase Echange' parcel.

2nd day of SAL.

This is lousy pic, but it'll give some idea.

Haven't stitched that much today as I've been bit tired. Went to sleep after 6 AM in the morning and woke up at 11 AM.

...woke up from a dream where I was with Sonnenschein, close to him. His eyes, those soft lips... *sigh* I seldom, if ever, cry when I wake up. Yesterday I did so. It was just so devastating to wake up alone, hugging my teddy.

Well, some of these days hopefully...

Btw.

Remember my SIL? Well, it's over four months since I asked that picture from her and I'm still waiting...

Sunday 16 October 2005

Decision.

Ok, every pot's lowest row is ten stitches wide so this is how I'll do it: 10+24+24+(1+)1=(60)59.

Nasty part in this is that I've to frog that damn frame completely and re-stitch it, but on the other hand... only one frame to frog though.

Other option is to shrink frame width to 58 stitches, but I'm not sure would it look good with wider topiaries. Better to have some space around them.

Pattern notes.

Winter and summer are centered correctly. Spring and autumn aren't.

So, either I've to frog that frame completely and re-stitch it or just live with it. I think I'll stitch that topiary before I decide what I do. Maybe it looks good even it's not centered - anyway, I've done it just the way it should be done.

SAL: Insomnia update.

Well, if you can't sleep you can always stitch...

And, one reason to have little happy dance: there's no counting errors. (At least not yet)

... but it seems that design is not centered. There's 16 blocks on left side and 18 on the right side, and that is in the original pattern too. So, it's not about miscalculating from my side. I've to check those other patterns and count their widths. If it's possible I'll frog right side of frame and move it a bit.