Things a Bright Girl Can Do

I made a button earring holder today. I got the idea from This post on Carolyn’s Homework, an excellent craft and homemaking site. I found her through Truebluemeandyou, my favorite craft tumblr. I felt that this earring holder was something I really needed, since I really have trouble organizing my earrings, not to mention the rest of my jewelry. It’s perfect for travel and living temporarily in a dormitory. The project took literally five minutes. It took longer to take the pictures (and to lament my lack of any artistic ability whatsoever) than to do the actual project. Craft problems encountered: For bigger earrings, I needed to put two buttons adjacent to each other to accommodate one earring each. They just won’t fit. Also, and this is not a problem exactly, if you’re using a glue gun or something similar you need to keep the ribbon suspended while you’re attaching the buttons or else everything just sticks to your work surface.

Ultimate aesthetes

'But my dear Sebastian, you can't seriously believe it all.'

'Can't I?'

'I mean about Christmas and the star and the three kings and the ox and the ass.'

"Oh yes, I believe that. It's a lovely idea.'

'But you can't believe things because they're a lovely idea.'

'But I do. That's how I believe.'

--Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

Belated happy Christmas, everyone!

Je suis loser

It's a little embarrassing that the thing of which I am actually most proud, in my entire life, is my fic. When I am very down I google my author ID and look at all the recs on tumblr and livejournal. I am more proud of this than I am of making it into med school or anything else.

Especially this December

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace.
Oh, I wish I had a river
I could skate away on.
I wish I had a river so long,
I would teach my feet to fly.

All things considered I guess you don't have to buy it

I only recently learned that the Borders stores had shut down. I've never been inside one--I think I might have been inside a B&N while I was in the states but never a Borders--and I'm a little sad, not that it affects my life in any way but because future generations of off-Broadway fans will likely not understand the following words in "A Summer in Ohio":

I saw your book at a Borders in Kentucky
Under a sign that said "New and Recommended!"
I stole a look at your picture on the inside sleeve
And then I couldn't leave!

The Forest of Dean

Maybe we should just stay here, Harry. Grow old.

Feeling sad, and mortal

For a friend, because I hope one day he will see me as a friend, too.

I cannot give you solutions to all life’s problems,
Nor do I have answers to your doubts or fears
But I can listen to you and share it with you
I cannot change neither your past nor your future.
But when you need me I’ll be by your side.
I cannot prevent you from stumbling
I can only offer you my hand to hold on to you so you won’t fall.
Your joys, your victories, your successes are not mine.
But I truly enjoy it when I see you happy.
I do not judge the decisions you take in life.
I constrain myself to support you, to stimulate and to help you if you ask me to.
I cannot draw limits for you within which you must act,
But I can offer you the space needed to grow.
I cannot avert your sufferings when some pain is breaking your heart.
But I can cry with you and pick up the pieces to armour it again.
I cannot tell you who you are, nor who you should be.
I can only love you as you are and be your friend.
These days, I have been thinking about my friends, amongst whom you appeared.
You were neither on top, nor at the bottom, nor in the middle.
You were not heading nor concluding the list.
You were not the first number, nor the last.
And neither do I pretend to be the first, the second, or the third on your list.
It’s enough if you want me as a friend.
Thank you for being one.

--Jorge Luis Borges