Wednesday 3 February 2010

Amulet #30 - Don't give up just yet... part 2


My daily struggle with self-discipline continues! After staring at the blind that covers my shelves for far too long this morning in an attempt to delay getting out of bed, I though I might as well do something productive with the experience. Today's amulet is part of the "not giving up" theme that I am trying to think about this week and is also inspired by one of the 'encouraging banners' made as part of the Learning To Love You More project by Miranda July & Harrell Fletcher.

When I first saw a picture of the banner that said "You Will Find It", I didn't really respond to it but over the last few months it seems to be making a lot more sense. I think it has got something to do with not knowing exactly what you are looking for but knowing that it is out there somewhere, if you just keep looking.

Tuesday 2 February 2010

Amulet #29 - Orchestrating Good Luck


I met with my friend Guy for coffee this afternoon and heard his fantastically positive retelling of his last few months, how he ended up going to Baltimore and will be co-presenting a paper with some kind of scientific expert in his field of research in Prague in a few months. He has obviously been doing a very good job of getting in touch with 'the right people' and telling them about what he is doing.

And what is his secret? He just writes to them or rings them up and tells them how interested he is in what they do and suggests that they should meet to discuss their mutual interests - good eh? So, I thought I would make this particular amulet as a reminder of the phrase he says he always keeps in the back of his mind (some words of wisdom from his Dad) - "Shy Bairns Get Nowt". I like it...

Now, there's just the simple matter of acting on it - I'll see what I can do!

Amulet #28 - Anti-hibernation


After two full days of not leaving the house (apart from a trip to the Co-op at the end of my road to get milk, cake and biscuits), I thought it was about time to make an amulet to remind me to "go outside", to leave the house more regularly and generally resist the temptation to hibernate! This is a very cute felt cuff I made while giving Amy's friend Julia some refresher knitting lessons yesterday evening.

All this computer-based stuff (preparing presentations, reading writing up etc) leads me to be far too sedentary and I'm sure I can't be alone in needing protection from this very specific type of harm.

Monday 1 February 2010

Amulet #27 - Missing in action

This is an empty space where an amulet should be. I haven't made this amulet yet, due to sheer laziness (there is no excuse). Instead, I defrosted my freezer and watched 2 entire series of the mediocre (and yet, very watchable and quite addictive) TV series "The Book Club" on 4OD.