anoisette

check out this neat photo essay on the times website about what people around the world are eating.

here’s a fun read: passiveaggressivenotes.wordpress.com, a collection of notes from people complaining about something. if i could write in japanese, i’d actually be guilty of such an act. there’s someone in my building whose bike is always in the way near the entrance where everyone parks their bikes and it drives me crazy when i always have to move it to get my bike out or put it away. like please just take the few extra seconds to put your bike in a spot that doesn’t block the corridor kthx!

the last couple of days we’ve been playing geography games to test our knowledge of where things are at in the world. it’s fun but sometimes embarrassing to realize how poor my geography is. however my knowledge of south and east asia is perfect! one would hope so considering where i’ve spent the past year…

some neat sites i found today:

• flickrvision and twittervision show you where in the world people are updating from. strangely mesmerizing.
• littlebrowndress.com chronicles a year of wearing the same dress every day. the year is now finished and the author is starting a new wardrobe project of only wearing recycled clothing.

what i’ve been watching while knitting:

• last night i watched a japanese movie called swing girls. cliche and cheesy, but cute. featured beautiful scenery of japanese countryside.
• bridezillas on joost. joost is awesome.

ok notice how my sock has backtracked? this is because foolish me didn’t try it on after turning the heel (see i didn’t realize that with this gauge and yarn it’s much shorter to do a short row heel than a heel flap) and when i finally did, it was too short! that and i foolishly started ribbing right after turning the heel which made my rib start right from the heel instead of closer to the ankle. so i frogged it all the way back down to right before the heel and started over. i got to practice doing the short row heel again, which i guess isn’t such a bad thing. live and learn.

so knitting is really great to do while watching tv or something like that, but here in japan i don’t have a tv, and even if i did it would all be in japanese so i wouldn’t understand much. most of the time i just knit on the subway, but occasionally i like to knit in the evening and then it’s nice to have something else going on while i knit. so tv is out. occasionally i’ll watch a movie, but i don’t always want to knit for that long. anyway, i think i’ve finally found a solution: podcasts. a few days ago i posted about a podcast about kiva.org that i listened to. last night i listened to an episode of escape from cubicle nation interviewing the author of the personal finance blog iwillteachyoutoberich.com. makes me feel like i am being double productive, knitting socks and learning about entrepreneurship!

you really can find anything on the internet. ever wonder what a penguin sneeze sounds like? can’t say i’d ever spend much time pondering that question, but anyhow, there’s the answer. via this site.

i just listened to a podcast about kiva, a webased non-profit that allows the average person to make micro loans to the working poor in developing countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Ecuador, etc. basically it makes it possible for the average person like you or i to make a real change in the world. i think the concept is incredibly cool. kudos to them for implementing such a great idea.