The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody!

A cousin sent the link to me, and I just had to repost it. I got so nostalgic! I absolutely loved the muppets when I was a kid. And that video made me giggle.

Mahna mahna.

Dreaming. You know. Everything from fantasizing about a person, daydreaming about the future, pretending you can hear the gong-gongs from the Buddhist temples in Asia or smell the scent of lavender from the fields in southern France, to imagining you’re surrounded by fairies. Or little red goblins. You choose. It was a way too long sentence anyway.

When I was tiny, somewhere on pre-school age, I was completely convinced the wind spoke to me at times, leading me to places and thoughts. Well, and that it was living in the large willow in a nearby park. My grandma even wrote a poem about that. Crazy kid? Well, I guess. Now that I think of it, it was kind of nice to feel guided by the nature. Especially since I’ve always thought most religions are more like really violent, sexual and kinda gross fairy tales. I’d much rather believe in Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf, although I had to admit I don’t exactly see what kind of religion one could make out of that. Back to the red line, aka main forest path, (if there actually is one) feeling the wind and hearing it through wind chimes and leaves rattling still calms me down and makes my imagination spin off like a crazy butterfly.

When it comes to dreaming, I’m a god-damned professional. I’ve read some place (read: in a Norwegian popular science magazine) that you have to practise around 10 000 hours before you really, really become good at something. And what is that? Around 416 days (and a half)? One year and 7,3 weeks? Feel free to correct if your maths is better than mine.

I betcha I’ve day dreamed a whole lot more than that. Actually, I don’t bet. I know. It’s more like 16 years, and I’ve been both dreaming and daydreaming. Which makes it almost constant, really. I could say it’s been almost 20 years, considering I’ll be 20 on Thursday (the 27th of August!), but I really don’t know or remember much about the first 4 years of my life. Except that I loved cats, burned my hair down – accidentally – on a candle and thus had an awful boy-short hair cut, had a wild imagination and a bad taste in clothing. Have to mention my dresses got much prettier when I reached 5.

I’m think I’m still dreaming, really. Maybe I will let the wind lead me properly some day. Like that brilliant lady in the movie Chocolat. Well, not counting the ending of it.

I’m not much online at the moment. Partially because my dearest main laptop is on the verge of a breakdown, and also because it’s summer.

Uneventful days like these usually makes me think more than I should. There are times when I could use a proper off button – or at least a way to put my brain on pause. I’ve been going over education and job possibilities recently, and I get more and more confused. Eventually, I’ll manage to decide. I’m just hoping it’ll be soon. Before the next school year if I’m lucky. I’ve already written a bit on the topic.

• Vagaries of Fashion: Harmless Fun or…Gasp! The comments are also worth the read.

• Girly – a rather weird, although entertaining, comic.

• IKEA Hacker. Sometimes great, sometimes not-so. Consider it inspiration.

• How to Shoot Great Travel Photography.

• The Photobooth Blog. Inspiration at a high level, intriguing and not to mention – it’s the most comprehensive photobooth resource on the internet. Major plus in my book.

I’m kinda lacking a topic here, so I decided to show you one of my favourite pairs of shoes.

Well, favourite pair to look at anyway. Last time I wore them, I got huge blisters on my heels and toes. Pretty doesn’t always equal comfortable it seems. I only wore them for four hours, and I actually took them off and walked around in my socks on my way home. Running around in socks on the Shanghai metro is something I’m never doing again, ever. But at least I took socks with me that day, after all, walking around barefooted in a huge city is out of question (and way not a good idea).

They were quite cheap, as I recall, and from Naturalizer. Bought them on Shanxi Lu in Shanghai.

For a few days now, I’ve started thinking I want to move to London. I mean, I’ve lived in Shanghai for quite a while, London would be fun this time.

There’s just something about the city. Every time I’ve been there, which is quite a few now, I’ve felt overwhelmed by all of it. In a good way. In a “I wanna live there!” way. There’s so much to see, so much to do, just like in most major cities and very much unlike my home town, where I’m currently staying.

But there’s quite a few things stopping me at the moment. One of them is that I need to work for a year to get money, a second is that I’m not sure what I’d be studying there – although probably photography, another is that for photography you don’t get a scholarship for the first year since it’s -technically- not a part of the three year bachelor, and then there’s the thing about me lacking a proper photography portfolio since the old one is way outdated. And what about everything else I also want to do?

In other words, I either need to start working, both with my photography and a proper job, or just drop the entire thing. Don’t really feel like doing anything. It’s still to comfortable to just be at home and relax.

I just came across some images I can’t help but share!

Chris McVeigh is a multi talent, and I’m incredibly fascinated by his photography style! He’s also an author and illustrator. Wicked talent!

Here are (quite) a few of his pictures;

Amazed yet? I really love that chipmunk.

• Article; The Stunning Work of Chris McVeigh. (The link I found these pictures through.)

• Chris McVeigh’s homepage.

• His Flickr page.

Long time no update!

I have to admit I haven’t been searching around too much lately. So much to do, so little time to finish everything. I need to get my butt out of my bed and take pictures around Shanghai before I leave, and I need to buy a whole lot of tourist junk so I won’t regret it later. I want lanterns and antique-looking stuff!

^{Picture by me! The giant bronze Buddah in Hong Kong.}

• Shanghaistuff.com Incredibly networking site for people living in Shanghai (and around)! I met so many amazing people through the groups there. I’m linking you directly to my own profile, of course.

• Other great Shanghai related websites are of course SmartShanghai.com and Shanghaiexpat.com. If you’re searching for a job or a friend, EnjoyClassifieds.com might help as well!

• Tie-dyed eggs two ways! Now, I know it’s not Easter any more, but I’m still loving this one!

• I’m dreaming of a suspended bed like this!

• Christian Louboutin Red Round-Toe Pump. Oh the things I drool at but never will afford.

• Mix Hostel in Chengdu! The most awesome hostel I’ve ever stayed at. It felt just like home, it was cheap, the food was both good and cheap, the tea was yummy, and such a great place to get friends!

• Drool list; 1–, 2–, 3–, 4–, 5–, 6–. And no, I don’t need things like these. I just drool after them.

Soooo, that was it for this time. I’m sorry I don’t have more stuff to post about. But don’t worry! I’ll start heavy-geeking again soon! ~~

Another random link post. I’m still living on my read-it-later list, but I’ve also found some new, thrillingly, lovely stuff. At least in my eyes

• Poladroid project. I’ve always had a thing for polaroid pictures, even though I never had a camera of my own. Not having a polaroid camera or money to buy film is not a problem any more though – now everyone can create 70′s looking pictures on their computer! It’s so fun!

• Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. Incredible perfume and oil mixes with enthralling themes. They have so much, and I want to smell everything. ANNE BONNY, BELLE ÉPOQUE, BEWITCHED, GRAND GUIGNOL, JACK, POISONED APPLE, LUST, BLACK DAHLIA, VICE, NEFERTITI, VIXEN – I’d like to buy most of the perfumes I read about! I also adore the stories and poems they give most of their perfumes. They even have perfumes inspired by some of Neil Gaiman’s stories; American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Stardust.

  Example; LAMPADES
  The Lampades are the darkly beautiful nymphs of the underworld, also called the Lethe Nymphae Avernales. They are the daughters of the Gods that govern the many rivers of Hades. The Lampades are Hecate’s torch-bearers and accompany the Goddess on her hunts, quests and revels. Their scent is the crisp, inviting bittersweet tang of cranberry with smoky dark lilies, heady, sensual musk, a tingle of ginger and a brush of Mediterranean spices.

• Hopefully helping article about preventing jet lag! I’ll definitely try this next time.

• Zombie Fashion Models Show Off More Than Skin. Le love.

• foto_decadent. My favourite fashion community. Unfortunately, I can’t get into their page when I’m in Shanghai.

I’m jetlagging. Maybe that’s with one G. I have a 7-hours-behind-local-time jetlag, and I’m almost not doing anything but sleeping.

Because of this sad, and hopefully not long-lasting, fact, I haven’t had as much time as usually to search up topics. Luckily however, I have the Read-It-Later function for firefox. After all, it’s crucial to have that when one has a habit of “reading” more than 20 things at once. The links below are all taken from my read-it-later list, which seriously needs to be slimmed down. I currently have 107 pages, each with four links. 428 unread things.

• Shoe Lacing Methods. Not sure why I like this. But, y’know, 36 different ways to lace your boots might come in handy some day! And my gawd, after some picture research, I must say it looks pretty!

• Tiny, Affordable Houses. Fascinating, but I think I’d rather want a big, affordable house.

• More on tiny houses. Because I thought it was funny some time in August. xD

• How To Turn an iPhone into a Moleskine Book. I wanna do this sometime, just with something else than an iPhone. Suggestions?

• proof of purchase. Woah, blog experiment.

• Eye Heart Glasses. I do too. Just not my own.

• To Aristophanes & Back. An article about Marilyn Monroe from May. 14, 1956.

• How To Be Creative. Lovely article with illustrating cartoons drawn on the back of business cards.

The continued thread. Or post, more suitable with post. What did I read on the first day of the new year? Oh hon, I read quite a lot.

^{Photo; Wikipedia article on Wagashi.}

• “Wagashi”. Aka beautiful, traditional Japanese tea candy.

• Tokyo Hostess Interview Series Part 1. Part-2, Part-3, Part-4, Part-5, Part-6, Part-7. A seven part article about the lives of Japanese hostesses and how the clubs work. I got incredibly caught up in reading this article – it’s fascinating!

• Hosts Set Hearts Beating in Kabukicho Part 1, -2. Basically an article like the one above, just with a male twist (and lots more pictures).

• Geisha. An interesting introduction to the geisha. Not that I haven’t read a lot about them before. Hm, it just hit me – there’s an awful lot of Japanese-related links today!