My Cat, Toto

Toto is a great pet. She basically doesn't do much except eat and sleep and look cute. When people come over, they often comment on how big she is. She's a hefty girl, and she looks chubbier because of her long fur. She has some cute habits. She sleeps right on her back. She sometimes grinds her teeth when she sleeps. And she covers eyes if it's too bright. After I feed her and she eats a little, she tries to "bury" her food by scratching around the bowl. She will only eat her Pro Plan cat food and will not touch any cat treats or people food. She will only drink water from the bathroom. She often sleeps right between Sejin and I. She seems to know what a pillow is for, because she always needs to have her little head resting on it.

The bad side to Toto is that she sheds A LOT. we're always using the lint brush/sticky brush to get her hair off of our dark clothes. Also, she does have sharp nails, like most cats, but luckily, she's not as destructive as some.

Never Gonna Let You Go

It snowed

Woke up to snow on the ground this morning. It gets pretty cold in Seoul, but we still don't get a lot of snow. It's kind of a treat when we do. Apparently, in Gangwon-do, where Sejin did his military service, they get quite a lot of snow. Perhaps a weekend trip might be nice in February. Anyway, here in Seoul, it never stays on the ground for long, so I thought I'd snap a few pictures. What's new? Well, Wednesday night I shot a commercial for a Korean product called Koko's Pet Dryroom. It's a room that uses infrared lights and fans to dry your pet after you give it a bath. It's kind of like a microwave, but apparently it's not harmful. So, I went to the pet shop which uses this invention and the shoot only took three hours. The director was in a big hurry, which was odd. If this commercial actually airs, it will be total cheese. But I have a feeling it's just a sample, and then a new one will be shot with real actors. I don't mind, I got a nice wad of cash for playing with the pets for three hours. Sejin came with me, and he really enjoyed himself. The crew put him to work translating, of course. I felt kind of bad, but he said he had fun.

Here's the pet shop where it was shot:

Crafts. Um, not too active on that front. Haven't really had time. I took the Baby Blue Blankey out of hibernation, so I guess that's a small step forward. I finished the first panel and started the second. It would be nice to finish that some time in this decade. I also started Pink Blush Doilie. I'm making sure not to start off crocheting so tight because I'm wearing out my hands on these doilies. I'm even getting callouses.

I'm feeling the urge to start making toys again, and since crochet is so fast and easy, I'm going to try my hand at amigurumi. Last time I was at the Kyobo bookstore, I picked up one Japanese book and two Korean books, since the patterns are so cute, and crochet charts are international. I haven't tried anything in them yet, but I've looked at them at least 100 times because of the cuteness inside. I'm really looking forward to trying something, most likely when I'm finished the books I'm working on -- that I should be working on right now -- OOPS!

Here are some of my favourite pages from the books:

More Doilie Success

Very happy with White Fan Doilie. It really worried me for a while because it was ruffling. I managed to save it, though, by crocheting so tightly my hands ached for hours after finishing it. It was worth it. It's so pretty.

I think I did it with smaller thread than recommended...it's pretty small. But it's cute and pretty and looks nice on our night table.

Very tired today, as usual. Luckily, I can sleep in tomorrow because we're moving offices and the movers will be there all morning. I have to resist starting a new doilie tonight so I don't exhaust myself!

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!

Move a success! And life is very busy

The move went very smoothly. There were no problems at all. I couldn't believe how quick and efficient the movers were. Only in Korea could you have four people come to your house, pack up all your stuff, move it, unpack it in your new place, and then clean up after themselves for $500! It was great.
So, Sejin and I are settling in well. The place is coming together and slowly becoming more and more cozy. Sleeping on a bed has been wonderful. Getting a kitchen island was the best decision I ever made. I ordered curtains for the living room yesterday. I get to pick those up next weekend = exciting! Toto is settling in well, too.

While I was so busy preparing for the move and after we moved in, I was very busy. Work was busy. I got calls to do several TV shows...had several auditions and failed them -- well, got one, but then it was cancelled. I ended up doing "Sponge," which was a lot of fun because I really like that show. I used to edit the subtitles for it when I worked at Furmo and it was one of the few shows I enjoyed, so it was great to be on it! I played a nurse to the doctor who gave the first lobotomies. It was just a small part, but it's been on several times so far. While chatting with Miae on messenger today, she said, "I think I saw you on TV...were you a nurse?"
I shot another popular Korea show (위기탈출 넘버원) last Wednesday which I don't know the English name for. It was a major part, so I'm in much of the program. The money was crap, but I just did it for the experience because I've never had a role that big. I learned a valuable lesson that day. Korean PDs will always try to fit in multiple days of work into one day. We shot for 17 hours, most of which was outside in sub zero temperatures (there was snow on the ground!) and I was without a jacket for some of it, even laying on the road! At 1:30 a.m. I decided enough was enough. They didn't even give us a proper dinner -- not even drinks...So I threatened to leave the set unless it wrapped up FAST. So it ended on a bad note, but I'm glad I did it and I'm looking forward to seeing myself playing this part.

So, because I've been taking days here and there off of work to do these TV jobs, I'm so behind in my work! I've spent all of today working from home, trying to catch up. I figure by Tuesday I'll be back on track. I'm going to have to be a little more picky about the jobs I take on.

It's been a good weekend nonetheless. Yesterday I intended to do my work, but ended up shopping in Dongdaemun and Jongno with Meg. Last night I made some magnets for my fridge...

Oh, yes, my Total Tote knitting bag arrived on Friday! I'm really excited. It's a nice bag with tonnes of little compartments for my DPNs, stitch holders, measuring tape, scissors, buttons, etc. Maybe it's just exciting for me, but anyway...

Time to start getting ready for work tomorrow. Perhaps some knitting before bed...