The stress Monster has struketh!

It is a very stressful week for me, Uni wise. i have over seven assessments in the space of seven days, most of them falling on tomorrow!Aaaaarggghhhhh

but!

As a sweet procrastination tool, I have been designing something sweet for all of my delightful blog readers!
Come back next week to receive a free image, which you can use as a pattern for some serious embroidery madness! I will be doing a series of these little images which I will upload here for your using pleasure. The series will be called "Naga sisters" and it all ties in to my essay due this week about Lilith, the supposed first wife of Adam!
here is a sneak preview:

random ramblings just coz...

grrr some ugly car is revving over my back fence and it annoys me!

I went for a job interview yesterday at good old k-mart. Hopefully i will get a job! then the dough will come rolling in and i will be able to afford a wonderful trip to the motherland. sigh * now that i am on the verge of getting a job, i don't really know if i want one!

essays have been driving me wild these last few weeks, i was supposed to hand one in today but that didnt get done either. we have one more week of uni left, then its time for holidays and merry making..or essays and work haha

well i don't have much more to say, save that dave and i are once again health kicking it up, we go for jogs and walks most nights, and dont eat as much crap. wish us luck with that!

the book

I think I finally decided what it is I want to be when I grow up-

I am currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree here at my local uni, and when asked what it is that I would do with my degree at the end of three years- I had to have a good hard think. I hate how in our modern society one is defined by their job, As if most of us have a choice. We as humans are all in this constant state of flux, especially in my age group where I often here a sentence along the lines of "oh, I am only doing this until something better comes along" or the old "...but I want to be a..." it is a sad state of mind that carries on for months, years, even lifetimes, this feeling of having to just make do with your lot in life.

Basically what I want to say is to not just dream of your dream job- DO your dream job! Don't be a carpenter if you want to be a footballer- be your dream, and that goes for those of you who really want to be plumbers instead of writers, students instead of secretaries! Don't be afraid to just try!

For me, I had always wanted to be an archaeologist- to be digging around, seeking out new and exciting things- unveiling history and travelling, but I didn't want the responsibility, the cataloguing- the years spent begging for grant money to follow a whim- I wanted to dig, to be in that moment when that rare and valuable treasure is dug up- whether it was a fortune in old coins, or an ancient bead from a forgotten temple, I wanted that moment- in perpetuity. I wanted to be a treasure hunter.

It wasn't until I came to uni to study philosophy that I realised that treasures of histoy and culture do not lie solely beneath our earth but in the myriad folds of our internal histories- the modge podge of cultural identity, the myths and legends and folk-tales that make up our world- both in terms of beliefs and religion, but also in what defines US. Whether it is culture or social understanding of our ancestors or of our selves. Every single day we are creating treasures in our stories and movies, and we are collecting and re formatting stories of our shared past.
These verbal, literary, and hereditary treasures are where my interest now lies, my one goal is to collect and correlate these stories as they have appeared and reappeared throughout various modes in our culture, whether it be through written media, song, story, poem, or movies.

so- my proposed future "job," the one thing I really want to be- something I could spend my life doing, is... ( drum roll please)

Christiane Ferguson,
MYTHOLOGIST
collector and correlator of myths and legends!
With the first order of business being to write a book on some of my personal research into the field of symbolism and archetypes.
( I bought a really crappy book called the encyclopaedia of signs and symbols and was extremely disappointed with the content- so I propose I will be able to do a much better job!)

would you like to help me with my research?
In the comments, tell me what your personal interpretation of the symbolism of a tree is- is there any myths, legends or ideas that come to your head when you think of a mighty oak, or a sapling pushing from the ground?

- over and out
Christi Ferguson
Mythologist extrordinare.

Lilitu, katsudon and the quest for the perfect abs.

It has been another long hiatus from the blogging sphere but here is your favourite author back with her chilling repertoire of moral conduct and outlandishly witty statements on world politics..errr... umm maybe not.

I am officially back at uni this week, sounds like fun doesn't it kids?
i have started most of my projects, created already my own essay topics for this semester
( one is based on the myth of Lilith) God, i love my course so much, i can tailor it to study pagan, esoteric and anciently historic things so well!

All the old faces are still there, yet they have changed somewhat. Our course has been chopped and changed so much over the last few months, it doesn't resemble the vibrant and happy place it used to be, but there is still hope. We have a new lecturer, who brings a fresh and vibrant feel to the material, and with myself picking up a subject from the education department, I have a chance to experience the learning styles of other departments. I must say that Genres of Childrens literature has to be one of my most favourite classes so far this semester. We get to study children's books and Neil Gaimen features heavily in our texts!

I have been doing some Aquasize for the last couple of weeks, it has been a fun and easy workout, with my muscles being sore at the time, but no residual pain afterwards. i cant really tell if i am doing a good work out or not- apparently it is common to feel no muscle tiredness or aches after a hard session in which you have worked hard and sweated...also, as of next week i will be doing an awesome personal training session on Tuesday nights- which involves half an hour of some serious cardio and strength training... to tell you the truth i am a little scared as i know my fitness level is not up to scratch, though i have a tread mill now, i have only used it once, but its quite a work out.

I have been taking a packed lunch to uni on Wednesday and Thursdays, in my little bento box! it involves me putting some of the food i cook at night into my little lunch box, but its good fun and sometimes i even make sushi, but i would love to always make Katsudon! :)

So for a blogging first i am going to share a recipe :)
Chicken Katsudon

( this photo looks nice but mine doesn't come out so neat :)
ingrediants :
short grain rice one cup
2 fillets of chicken breast, cleaned
panko crumbs > available in the Asian isle of Safeway or Coles)
3 eggs
one onion
mirin seasoning > safeway,coles, bendigo wholefoods
Dashi soup stock ( aka dashino moto > coles, bendigo whole foods
soy sauce
tomato sauce >
Worcestershire sauce >

method :
1. boil rice in one and half cups of water or as per instructions
2. cut any yuk bits off the chiken then flatten ( beat it up) until its thin
3. set up two bowls, one with an egg in it, and one with the crumbs- dip the flattened chicken first in the egg, coating it wholely, then in the crumbs covering it completly. heat up a pan with a bit of oil in the bottom and then fry the chicken.
4. while this is cooking mix up 2 packets of dashi with about a cup and a half of boiling water. add one TBSP of mirin, one TBSP tomato sauce, ONE tbsp soy sauce, and one tbsp Worcestershire sauce. stir, then set aside.
5. cut up one onion into rings while keeping an eye on the chicken.
when you have done this, take the now fully cooked through chicken out and cut into strips about 2 centimeters in width, place this back in the pan with the onions and the soup stock. keep an eye on your rice.
6. when this mixture comes to the boil, crack in the remaining two eggs over the top and let cook. you will start to notice the liquid will start to get thicker, and soaked into the meat- this is good!
7. serve the rice into a bowl, then add the katsudon over the top and voila! you are done!

it tastes just as good cold too :)
Here is a link to a fabulous website specialising in cooking for bento if you too are interested http://www.cookingcute.com/recipes.htm

enjoy!

a while..

It has been a while that's for sure! i haven't stopped making things at all, I just still don't have a camera to set up and take photos with!

The latest news on the university front is shocking. Roger Sworder is leaving the uni and taking the redundancy package, John Penwill is gone and so there is only one lecturer working in the philosophy department now and that is Rod Blackhirst! sadness:( Harry will be away for long service leave as well! My final year of uni will be a sad one.

On another note, Dave had all of last week off, which was great! It was so fun to have him around the house, it is definitely something I could get used to.

November the 18th will forever be etched into my mind as the great Kyneton car scare of 2008- an annual holiday shared by Casey, Tegan, Kirby, Kirsten and I.

I have made a few different things, but close friends will be getting some stuff off Etsy as presents, which i still have to do.

I have made the girls some little dolls, some capes and bought some hair clips and bands. fun times.

I got a new phone, but still have the same number and finallllllly got my bike in a near working state- i just need to adjust the breaks and stuff!

Saturday night was Mel's Hens night, that was fun! we got drunk in Sal's mums abandoned house and played games and stuffs.Dave made a shirt with this image on it!



We have an house inspection (our first) on Thursday, that should be fun... not!... I should go do some gardening actually....

Anyway, tomorrow I will upload my gift list for my family and maybe link to some pictures or something! or if I can use my phone camera....

Over and out for today!

university sadness

I learnt some interesting news a few days back, it seems Bundoora wants to ruin my dreams, and the dreams of many others.

Bundoora has introduced a two year plan to phase out the philosophy and religion department from the humanities and social science faculty.- yep, my major will cease to exist in less than 24 months. they say it is because no one wants to do an art degree, that the philosophy component is no longer viable ( even though we get just as many first years majoring in RPS as other arts departments.)Its about the components of your degree and wether its compatible with education ( yep, thats right, if your doing an art course your obviously doing it for a dip Ed...) this move is putting Harry Oldmeadow, Rod Blackhirst and Roger Sworder out of jobs ( and suprise, suprise Latrobe suddenly starts offering a redundancy package for 150 employees....oooooh) BUT when these lecturers are gone, or shifted to other learning streams, is the money they are saving going to go back to the humanities department to improve what's left of our stripped arts degree? The answer is probably not, it will be put toward more viable sources, for those students in the big smoke! So it has been stated that this years first years are the last batch that can choose philosophy and religion studies as a major, and if any of us decide they want to do any post graduate studies we have to do it at Bundoora! not to mention that if they start to cut these subjects, whats next? literature? history?

The funny thing is, Latrobe's five year plan is to increase rural enrolments by 20%! how is that going to be possible when our arts degree is becoming so woeful that anyone who does get a placing at our campus will immediately transfer to Bundoora at the end of the first year for lack of choice!?


so much for religious tolerance
so much for understanding
so much for choice!
and so much for learning!

screw you Bundoora, we love our lecturers and our major!

With a little bit of monkey magic.....

phew, phew, phew!
It has been a busy couple of weeks here in University land- some interesting things have "gone down" lately- i have essays coming out of my ears and time is slipping away from me quicker than ever!

i have done so many crafty things- like some quilt piecing, ( i need 75 squares and i have 15-maybe 20) i made an embroidered art work of a squid with jewels for eyes, i have been searching high and low for these beautiful artworks/engravings/lithographs that i finally found on the internet (i would love to print them off on aged paper with brown ink and have them in the baby's room,) here is a sample of two of them:



OH! and tegan and i are starting up this new project together (and it will also be part of her masters) of putting together a glory box! We are going to have monthly meetings where we create some lovely pIEces together! I have already decided what the theme of my baby room is going to be, i have chosen the woodland/ forest theme, so, lots of "Animals of Farthing Wood"-esque things (doe, stags, rabbits, badgers, weasels, owls, etc. So these prints will be absolutly perfect! sigh! its a vision!
here is a montage of some of the stuff we(i) will be trying to make for 'the hope chest project':)



I think that Tegan will be focusing on doing her hope chest with practical, house-y things, where as i will be focusing on more...babyish stuff...
On another note, i am also writing a story- (and have an idea for another one)- The big one though is going to be a huge epic fantasy novel- all in one volume! (New writers aren't usually signed up to do many series' of books unless they have proven themselves)but still, it is going to be epic!!
On a lighter note, Dave and I had our 11 month Anniversary yesterday! Woah! Thats nearly a year! and i am not sick of him one bit! He is gorgeous and i love him :)

Well that concludes catch up number 1! I hope every one is well! I promise to upload pictures of my quilt and embroidery project art once it is done! <3 you!

Hiking in the sheep pastures of Mt. Alexander

Yesterday.

I awoke at 8am. i went on a massive hike to the mount Alexander region to look at the granite intrusions and metamorphic aureole.(phew- new words are fun!) i wrote a little diary entry that will appear in my nature diary... it goes a little something like this:

the fog hung over the landscape like a shroud, bringing to mind the bloody history of colonization that shaped our country. we walked as a group, most of us silent, some of us not. Gerry Gill ( our lecturer) firstly took us to a granite oven, used many centuries ago by the local aboriginal people. the dark rich soil surrounding it testament to the fires that once burned here.basalt chips littered the ground around the granite boulders, a testament to the generations of heating rocks that were dragged down from the plateaus of volcanic rock that surrounded us.

Gerry took us to a beautiful spot deep in the heart of this private property-a large granite basin had been formed below us and we were given free range to explore our surroundings, as long as we were careful.i took a few pictures of the natural waterfalls and the surrounding beautiful scenery of the gorge.

after a few of us had eaten our lunch we moved on up the hill to see a stone circle on the earth that had been formed by ancient hands within another granite valley. this structure may have been accredited to Mundi, the dream time serpent of destruction ( who coincidentally associated with the plague of small pox that struck the virgin aboriginal population) near to this stone circle was a more recently man made western style dry rock wall. Gerry told us that this had been built by a Chinese market Gardener in the time of the gold rushes who had supplied the local settlers with fresh vegetables.

at this time it was almost two o'clock so we began the arduous and most direct trek back to the bus ( as the crow flies) and i struggled to climb the hill that was on this path ( at that moment it felt like Gerry gill was my own personal trainer- pushing me one more step at a time!)

on the way back we stopped at an abandoned water course which now borders on a walking track. Gerry told the group of the vision that was instrumental in the planning of this water course that weaves its way in through and around the granite country of the area.

after this arduous trek we got back to the uni at about 4.30 hen went home and slept until 10am the next day! man my feet and calves are so sore!





P.S 'Springs' Asian grocer has opened up! They dont have very much variety at the moment but you can see that they have a lot of shelf space for more items!i asked about the eggs and we will see how they go! yayayay!

sunday sunday... a blog about blogs

I made a jacket! yes, a real live honest to stitch jacket! from my own fabric and everything! i am so uber proud of it, because i didn't use a pattern, and just kinda winged it from a cut up old shirt of Davids!


Babel fish translatin'
I go to the golden calamus margaritae, and has brought the book about the tegan gluten free meal. She is drinks prettily, and her laughter is bright and brittle, when the glass dingdong sound has a point to cause to juxtapose to the cane darkness and micro dark, mellow tone. I love her happiness, it is the infection!
This is my fun times i had with Babel fish translation... ahhh ahahahhaha original:
i went to the golden vine and brought a book about gluten free foods for tegan. she was pretty drunk and her laughter was bright and brittle, with the tinkle of glass- slightly juxtaposed to the dark and somber, mellow tones of the vine itself. i loved her happiness, it was infectious!

Inspired by Casey's Shoe obsession, i thought i would stick to the theme of her awesome post and post a picture of some of my very favourite shoes i have seen in the world wide web.

These beauties are from the Helena Angelique line, and god they are beautiful! when i figure out how to make shoes, i am so going to replicate these babies! feast your eyes!



In other news, i am joining Lifestyles gym on tuesday, and hopefully with sal as an extra motivator, i will be able to have many fun early morning gym sessions with her. I spend most of my days being a slack home body who mopes around on her ass all day complaining about how much weight i am carrying, but as of yet, not doing a single thing about it! so! this will motivate me, move me, compell me (for 320 bucks a quarter you would hope so) to get off my ass and do something! i want to be fit and trim for summer, or at least for China and Japan at the end of the year! its a good year for motivation! its a great year for affirming friendships! its a good year for making decisions! and this year is going to be MY year. But onto what its really about...

It is nearly half way through the year and no matter how much i try to look at it positivly, i can already see i have wasted another six months of my life not living up to my full potential. Many things account for this, the main one being laziness. this is manifested in me spending my days indoors, eating fruit toast, and waking up at 12.. things i am not too proud of mind you. we get only a few years on this earth to really make use of our time, and that is when we are my/ our age, and when we are old and grey. The middle is where we are busy, filling our time with work and family, and we look back on this time, the now, and wonder what we did with all the spare moments we had. I will look back and see i played video games, and lounged about the house when i could have been out forging stronger bonds with my friends, or stronger bonds with my self. This "self" includes the body, and the mind. Sometimes i wonder why dont i take up an instrument? why dont i learn a new language? why dont i go out more often with the people who are closest to me ( you know who you are) and make memories to keep me comforted in those long abscences of contact that i know are inevitably going to arrive, when our lives and family bog us down in the future?- why? because i..am..lazy.. and THAT is what i want to fix. its not about body image (although that comes into it) and its not about fitness, its about being motivated, and using the time i have to make myself into the person i want to be, and to me, these years we have now are by far the most important ones to use, and to prepare you for the times ahead... so as a message to all of you out there who have bothered to read this far, and for those who are in foreign lands, i am sending you out a virtual hug and smile with a promise to use my time more wisely in the future, and to promise to make more memories with you, together :)

love christi.

Chinese Lessons Where for Art thou?!

Today i spent most of my day researching quotes to use in my history essay on the social identity of China. It is a rare occurrence for me to actually go to uni especially when i don't have classes, but i had already asked for an extension so i thought i might actually put some effort in. My excuse (or what i tell others ) is that its hump year, you know the middle of your degree... that one year in a three year degree when you don't do so well... ahem.. well its my excuse and i am sticking to it!
yesterday after Uni i went to B.R.I.T which is the local T.A.F.E and asked about Chinese lessons... of course they have absolutely no idea about anything. Bendigo is supposed to be the Chinese heritage capital of Australia and they don't even offer mandarin lessons! The woman behind the counter even told me that they have never had Chinese language lessons at the tafe, and i told her that's impossible considering i did a Chinese course with them not three years ago! grrrrr.
I wrote out a "suggestion" on their customer complaint and feedback form, so we will see what becomes of that. I am desperate to learn it, its driving me insane. On a sweet note, David bought me a learn at home Chinese kit that my computer is refusing to run...

I caught up with my lovely friends Tegan and Casey today, I am so uber proud of Tegan! (shes doing her Masters of Visual Arts!) and is an all round awesome person. She will be having an exhibition sometime soon, so i can guarantee there will be photos some time in the future!

As an inspiration to those out there in the big wide world, here is my first 'real' blog post. A Chinese character for us to learn together! (awwww)