Grandpa Jo's Birthday

The year is ending off well. Although I'm burning out at work, the end is so near. I shouldn't say "the end" because I will more than likely continue to work with my company. We're just going to have different arrangements. Those will be clear hopefully this week after a meeting with my boss. He's been in meetings these days about a possible merger, which could affect upcoming projects. I'm not too worried though, as my boss and I both want to continue to work with each other. I'm pretty optimistic about 2008.

Today was a nice day. I woke up late, had a coffee, and started a new doilie. That's my kind of morning. I decided to try White Fan Doilie. So far, not bad. My plan is to finish a project in my WIP basket, then make a doilie, the another WIP, etc, until all my WIPs are done. I want to get some hibernating WIPs out of the way so I can start knitting up all my old yarn and then not feel guilty about buying new stuff.

An Inspired Lace Scarf is done! I'm soooo happy with it. For a while, I was considering scrapping it because first I thought it looked ugly, and then I was having trouble sewing the motifs together...I was really close to packing it in. But the final product is much better than I had expected, so I'm a happy hooker. This is a pattern that I wouldn't mind doing again in a different yarn.
Today we went to Sejin's "small" aunt and uncle's place in Shiheung. It was a bit of a trek to get there, but we had a nice time. It was his grandfather's birthday, so the whole family was there. I was especially happy to see little Seoyun. Her and I hit it off right away a few years ago when we first met. She's always really happy to see me, and strangely enough, doesn't find it odd that I don't speak Korean very well. She was the proud recipient of petunia the pig, which I found out tonight, has a special place right on her living room sofa! Even more exciting tonight was meeting her little brother, Seojin. What a cute little boy.

Tomorrow I may try to make it to stitch n bitch. It's been quite a while and since I last went, and I hardly know anyone -- maybe one person, but probably a good reason to go. I hear it's going to be a really cold one though, so I hope that doesn't make me too lazy...

Challenge to myself

I'm here at the office...it's almost 3:30pm on a Friday afternoon. I've just realized that I haven't been very productive these days. I think I'm dealing with burn out. I've got two other Internet windows open -- Ravelry, and Facebook. I was thinking. I wonder how much work I could get done in an hour if I didn't surf at the same time. So, a little experiment (and I'm writing about it here to hold myself accountable).

So, I will close down my unnecessary Internet windows now and see how much work I can get done by... say... 5:00. That's 1 1/2 hours. I'll edit this post at 5:00 to report how many pages I've written.

3:29 p.m. - START!

5:09 p.m. - Times up...

Well, not a bad experiment. I got 5 pages done in 1 1/2 hours. That must be a record for the last couple of months. I've been slowing down a lot. But the end of this project is finally in sight --> 3 more books after this one...ouch.

Christmas Eve at the office

Christmas in Korea is not that bad. I guess because Koreans don't get hyped up about Christmas, I don't really get hyped up. Some people go out of their way to have a special Christmas, spending hundreds to have a traditional dinner at a hotel or something, but I don't see the point. I don't want to feel Christmassy because then I'll be let down and wish I were at home. I have a little Christmas tree at home, and that's quite enough for Korea.
So, here I am at the office, chatting on MSN with my brother. It's not so bad. There's not even a Christmas tree in our office, so I sometimes forget it's even Christmas.

That's not to say I won't slack off today. I brought a crocheted scarf I'm working on. I'm in the last stages, so I'm itching to keep working on it.

Speaking of crocheting, yesterday was a really good day because I finished my Starburst Doilie. I was especially pleased with this one because my previous attempt failed miserably. It's all ironed and starched now. It's in no way perfect, but with this kind of detailed crocheting, I have to be patient and learn little by little.

Oh yes, and the program I was in on KBS2 actually aired last weekend. It was weird to see myself on TV this time because i was on pretty much continuously for about 20 minutes. It was funny. It was hard shooting it, but I guess it was worth it in the end. It's not something I'm going to do often though....17 hours of hard shooting for $200....uughh.Well, back to "work"...I should get something done today...

Merry Christmas!

Pinwheel Treat

So happy to be done this guy! It didn't take me too long and it was my first time working with crochet thread this thin. Who knew making doilies would be this much fun? Right now it's drying in a water/glue solution to make it a little stiff. There are three mistakes in it that I know of, and they are quite obvious, but I don't care since it was so much fun to make. I'm gonna stop by Dongdaemun tomorrow morning and pick up some different coloured thread and more hooks so I can start another one.

Sick

Well, it was a long week during which I didn't get much sleep. As a result, I woke up this morning with not much of a voice left. Although I started feeling bad yesterday, I still made it out to Dongdaemun last night...I don't think it would matter how sick I was -- Dongdaemun has a way of making me feel all better. Gorgeous jackets for $50-$100...that's therapy in itself. I was really good last night. I only bought one jacket for $50 although there were many other tempting items.
One of my favourite malls in Dongdaemun, Doota:


I was supposed to visit my friend Ed today at lunch and meet his little baby, Hannah, but I didn't think showing up sick would be very welcome. So, it's postponed yet again.

Not much else is new except I found a great pattern for a crocheted hat called Amelia. I whipped up Amelia Wednesday night and it's so cute. I plan to make more of these for myself and as gifts.


Back to the couch!