June 2012
2 posts
6 tags
owl birthday card
Owls don’t like birthdays much, actually.
6 tags
armadillos
Father’s Day soon. That can only mean one thing: armadillos.
April 2012
1 post
6 tags
bird birthday card
Dads are difficult.
Here’s mine’s birthday card.
March 2012
1 post
4 tags
anteaters
Anteaters are among the creatures who enjoy birthdays.
Happy birthday, mum.
January 2012
1 post
6 tags
christmas cards 2011
For Christmas 2011 I didn’t have time to print and hand-colour my cards, so I got the wonderful moo.com to produce them for me. They looked gorgeous printed up (and the black quality was super). Here are the designs.
A belated happy Christmas, new year, and all that.
July 2011
2 posts
7 tags
grumpy bunny
One of my other colleagues is feeling apprehensive about being left without friends in the interns’ basement. I made her a goodbye card too.
No one will dare argue with grumpy bunny.
7 tags
sad otter
I’m leaving a job, and one of my favourite colleagues is leaving too! Here is a leaving card I made for her.
He really is very sad. And so am I :(
June 2011
3 posts
5 tags
hares for father’s day
Here’s the card I made for my dad for Father’s Day.
These hares be stylin’.
The bottom of the picture is a piece of smart printed washi that is ludicrously expensive but has a lovely texture.
6 tags
cupcake card
A cupcake card for my gran.
Fact: when you get to 90, the correct number of birthday candles to put on your birthday cake resets to 0. Happy 91st birthday, Gran.
7 tags
bunny birthday card
I made a card with a bunny on it for my friend Jen.
Like rhinoceroses, bunnies like birthdays. They also like being in glorious technicolor! Hurrah for bunnies.
April 2011
2 posts
6 tags
oyster catcher
My dad is having a significant birthday tomorrow. Here is the birthday card I have made for him.
(He doesn’t want anyone to mention his age.)
5 tags
mothers' day cowfish
Cowfish are good at wishing people a happy Mothers’ Day.
This cowfish is for my mum. It is coloured in with Faber Castell’s wonderful Pitt artist pens. I wish I had a full set of them. Six colours is not really enough, unless you’re colouring in a cowfish.
February 2011
1 post
6 tags
rhinoceros birthday card
Rhinoceroses like birthdays.
This rhinoceros is on a birthday card for TJM. It is also looking at a birthday card! WHOA THIS RHINO HAS GONE ALL META
January 2011
5 posts
7 tags
postcard 1: complete: squishy sheep
So much for New Year’s resolutions; having a new job proved far too distracting, and my artistic plans went awry. Today I’ve finally finished my squishy sheep postcard, nearly a month into 2011. Oh well… Better late than never.
8 tags
first aid birthday card
I made a birthday card for my friend Ruth. The design is of a first aid kit in a tin. The front of the card is the lid of the tin. Here you can see the front and back.
And here is the inside. The tin contains jam, cake, biscuits, a bee, and some magic string.
7 tags
christmas cards 2010
Since I promised to post these in this entry, here are the card designs I made for Christmas 2010.
A belated happy Christmas, everyone.
7 tags
postcard 1: sketches: squishy sheep
I’ve been making a start on some sketches for the first postcard of my 2011 drawing project that I mentioned in my resolutions post. This morning I woke up and there was a big squishy sheep in my head. I’m told that people usually use thoughts of sheep to get to sleep rather than to wake up, but my imagination is not a creature of convention.
Anyway, I decided to do some preliminary drawings of...
12 tags
resolutions
Some resolutions.
Get a haircut. I have had a conversation with my eternally wise friend B, and she thinks I should have a fringe. I also think I should have a fringe. So, I shall have a fringe! THIS IS EXCITING.
Draw stuff. No, that’s not concrete enough. Complete one postcard drawing project a week. Advantages of this plan:
Instead of just sketching lazily (or frantically) like I did at the...
December 2010
31 posts
4 tags
#reverb10: day 31 - core story
What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Bonus: Consider your reflections from this month. Look through them to discover a thread you may not have noticed until today.)
I don’t really want to answer this prompt because my last answer was serious and gloomy and I feel it would be tedious to write another serious and gloomy answer so soon. My inner life is...
4 tags
#reverb10: day 30 - gift
This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?
Hmph. I think today I might actually write the sort of post that the prompt author was anticipating. It will be terribly serious and will look like a failed attempt at profundity.
The thing I received in 2010 that felt most welcome and most like an unexpected...
3 tags
#reverb10: day 29 - defining moment
Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year.
Oh hell, not again. Did eight exams, got a degree. Next question.
#reverb10
9 tags
#reverb10: day 28 - achieve
What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.
These prompts are getting sillier, or maybe my patience is wearing thin.
In 2011 I would like to achieve all sorts of...
4 tags
#reverb10: day 27 - ordinary joy
Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year?
Without a doubt, the delight of watching cakes rise in the oven will never get old. I made about 40 cupcakes cakes for racist gran’s 90th birthday this year, and they were beautiful things to behold. Cakes: they’re full of science!
Also, every time I see a perfectly...
3 tags
#reverb10: day 26 - soul food
What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?
I can’t say I’ve felt that excited about any particular meal this year. The things I enjoyed most were the things that I have known and loved for some time: brie and lettuce bagels at Little Clarendon Street G&D’s; fresh nectarines; blackcurrant jam on hot croissants; home-made carrot...
5 tags
#reverb10: day 25 - photo
A present to yourself. Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.
There isn’t a single picture of me on my computer dated 2010 that isn‘t a webcam or phone camera shot taken for...
4 tags
#reverb10: day 24 - everything’s ok
What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead?
Dear #reverb10,
Please stop making me go on and on about having got a degree. I actually considered making up a response about meaningful sexual encounters because I was embarrassed to mention graduating again.
Best,
Ms Biscuit
...
2 tags
#reverb10: day 23 - new name
Let’s meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?
This is actually something I’ve thought about quite a lot (although I’ve never reached a satisfactory conclusion). That probably says a lot about my vanity, but there you go.
My first name is quite ordinary. I think it’s likely that having an unusual...
5 tags
#reverb10: day 22 - travel
How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?
In 2010, I travelled very little. That’s pretty much par for the course, as travelling is never something I’ve enjoyed very much, and fortunately I’ve not had to do it much during my life. Whereas in the preceding few years, I did a lot of travelling between Oxford and London by coach to see my partner, this past...
5 tags
#reverb10: day 21 - future self
Imagine yourself five years from now. What advice would you give your current self for the year ahead? (Bonus: Write a note to yourself 10 years ago. What would you tell your younger self?)
I think this is a pretty silly question, actually. I mean, I don’t know what’s going to happen this year yet. It might be that in five years’ time, I’ll be wishing I hadn’t taken this job or turned down that...
4 tags
#reverb10: day 20 - beyond avoidance
What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?)
I am not very well today so I will keep this short. I have a habit of avoiding social events when I imagine there’s a shred of a chance that I’ve been invited ‘out of politeness’ or ‘by accident’ (despite evidence to the contrary). To be...
3 tags
#reverb10: day 19 - healing
What healed you this year? Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip evolution? How would you like to be healed in 2011?
Getting past the first anniversary of my partner’s death was a major part of my healing process in 2010. My one-year-ago memories now are of grieving rather than of L himself. That’s a struggle, but it’s inevitable. The widening of the temporal space between me and him feels like...
5 tags
#reverb10: day 18 - try
What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it?
At the beginning of 2010, there were two things I wanted to try. One was learning to draw, and doing a bit of drawing every day. The other was cognitive behavioural therapy. I managed to try both. The drawing went very well until I stopped in the middle of March because...
4 tags
#reverb10: day 17 - lesson learned
What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward?
‘Going forward’? Middle-management speak is IN UR MEME, CRUSHIN UR INSPIRATION
Anyway. The best thing I learned about myself in 2010 is that yes, I could get a degree from Oxford. I had sufficient smarts and made enough of an effort. I know I’ve mentioned it in previous...
4 tags
#reverb10: day 16 - friendship
How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?
Most of my friends tend to do this at some point or other, because I’m extremely ideologically and philosophically malleable. Okay, I don’t often change my mind about the big things—I’m pretty committed to liberalism as a general concept, for example, and I’m unlikely to start...
4 tags
#reverb10: day 15 - 5 minutes
Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.
I’m inclined to keep this rather practical.
You graduated! 2:1. Congratulations.
Macbook password: *****************
J Ra. – 07*** *** **2
J Re. – 07*** *** **0
T died, and A was devastated. Keep writing to her.
You mastered...
2 tags
#reverb10: day 14 - appreciate
What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?
Silky anteaters Lip balm The <strike> tag amuchmoreexotic. He’s been a super-duper friend this year, and I’m expressing gratitude for him right now.
#reverb10
4 tags
#reverb10: day 13 - action
When it comes to aspirations, it’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step?
Get a job get a job get a job get a job get a job.
I haven’t really got any aspirations these days beyond “Don’t live with my parents for the rest of my life.” Even that is, if I’m honest, less an aspiration and more a minimum requirement for being a self-respecting adult. Obviously there...
2 tags
#reverb10: day 12 - body integration
This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn’t mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and present? I’ve never felt like that and I suspect a lot of people haven’t. It could be sour grapes, but I think this question is kind of ridiculous.
#reverb10
8 tags
#reverb10: day 11 - 11 things
What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?
Eleven?! Flipping heck. I can barely think of one, at least without getting all abstract.
1. Meat. I definitely don’t need to eat as much meat as I do at the moment. The trouble is that, living at home, I’m not in a position to dictate the...
5 tags
#reverb10: day 10 - wisdom
What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?
My wisest decision was probably to stop worrying about getting a first for my degree.
Getting a first for an Oxford BA, especially in a joint-school (two-subject) course, is a remarkable achievement. To give you a sense of what it takes, here’s how the marking system works. Exam essays are marked out of 80. (Don’t ask me...
6 tags
#reverb10: day 9 - party
What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.
Oh, good—a prompt that isn’t an invitation to a giant blogger circlejerk where we all gush about what pwecious special unique flowers we are.
The social gathering that really opened my eyes this year was a party in Oxford back in April. It was a party of middling size—about 15...
2 tags
#reverb10: day 8 - beautifully different
Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.
Oh, what? Give me strength!
I am a special snowflake. INDULGE ME, INTERNETS.
#reverb10
6 tags
#reverb10: day 7 - community
Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?
I’ve never really felt part of a community. Because a lot of my friends are from the internet, they don’t, on the whole, know one another; the single biggest problem I’ve experienced with making new friends online is that you don’t often have...
10 tags
#reverb10: day 6 - make
What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?
I guess I make a lot of things, when it comes to it.
The last meal I made was Mexican slow-cooked pork carnitas (as recommended by @ruudboy; I also used his suggested adobo recipe). It was pungent and delicious. I love making slow-cooked food because there is...
4 tags
#reverb10: day 5 - let go
What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why? Letting go of things, and especially people, is not something I’m good at. The difficult part is wanting to have the last word, but also wanting to know whether my last word has had the desired effect, so that I have to wait around to hear the person’s response to my last word, which of course means it wasn’t a last word after all, and so I have to...
5 tags
#reverb10: day 4 - wonder
How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?
I’ve never really had to work hard at having a sense of wonder. It just happens to me. I guess the most I do to cultivate it is look out of the window as often as possible.
It’s tricky to write anything that doesn’t sound like it came out of a book of New Age pseudo-philosophy. I seriously do look at birds and flowers and trees and...
5 tags
#reverb10: day 3 - moment
Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors) This is very hard. The problem is that I wouldn’t usually describe my most experience-y experiences as being times when I feel particularly alive. In fact, I usually have a feeling of unreality during them, a sense of being one step removed from what’s going on. I...
7 tags
#reverb10: day 2 - writing
What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it? This is kind of a silly question. Nearly everything I do each day doesn’t contribute to my writing. It’s called having a life away from one’s computer, something that it may surprise some of you to learn that I have. I would one day like to write something substantial for pleasure (or at least, not for...
3 tags
#reverb10: day 1 – one word
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? My word for 2010 is aimlessness. I finished my degree this year, but I felt pretty empty about it because I didn’t, and still don’t, know what I want to do next. I’ve been applying for jobs since I graduated without much...
