hanging in there.

So. I'm afraid this post isn't going to be very interesting, but life is throwing me a crazy jab cross combo, and it's all I can do to roll with the punches. However: it doesn't stop the boring rubbish that I feel compelled to write about piling up, nor this blog guilting me with it's taunting last post date. So. Bear with me.

I mentioned my upstream Secret Pal, Ayumi, but I forgot to mention my lovely downstream parner, Kat. The posts of the parcels I sent here are here, here and here, fyi. I've just finished (yet another) Carla beret with Ayumi's beautiful pink 'sublime' wool, and I think it's going to be perfect for France. The wool is very soft, and not at all itchy, and although it came out a little big (again), I'm going to thread a little elastic through the band which I think will actually make it the perfect size/fit. I'll try and post a photo when I can - my camera has been conveniently left at work for Christmas. If you're desperate (yeah, right), just look at this older Carla and imagine it in a fluffy pretty pink.

I've started running, using these podcasts following the Couch to 5k method (also available on iTunes). It's going pretty well, and I'd really recommend it to anyone who's a bit unfit, doesn't have much time, hates paying for the gym, feels inadequate in sporting teams, and needs structured motivation. The music's a bit meh unfortunately, but it's only for 8 weeks and then you can listen to whatever you want when you're running like the wind. 4 weeks down, 4 to go.

I've gotten a little out of date with my sidebar watching/listening/reading. The Shadow of the Wind is on hold, as I needed something a little less intellectually/emotionally taxing, so I went back to the Thursday Next books by Jasper Fforde.

'First Among Sequels' is ok. It doesn't have the same magic as the earlier books, and it seemed kind of internally inconsistent (if you can take that seriously as a criticism in a work of sci-fi) but it was enjoyable and in no way taxing which was pretty much all I wanted. I'd thoroughly recommend the first book 'The Eyre Affair', especially to literature nerds looking for some light reading, but this latest book was merely adequate. Don't rush out and get it, but if you've read the first four, you can pretty much predict what you're going to get, so you'll probably already know if you can be bothered or not. It's fine, it's just not as good as it could've been, and feels like Fforde just realised he was onto a good thing and decided to churn one more out. Oh well. It did its job.