By the way, if cute crafts are near your heart don't miss her blog, it's FULL of cute craft ideas of all kinds!
* Thank the blogger who nominated you
* Answer the questions they send you
* Nominate up to 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers to answer your own set of 11 questions
* Contact them by commenting on a recent post
Missladyinlavender's questions:
1. What are some things that inspire you?
I'll be answering these on a very general and not-only-lolita point but even so one of the key forces of inspiration in my life are other lolitas. There are so many girls I admire out there, each with their own, easily recognizable style! You'd think that lolita as a fashion is somewhat unimaginative and uniform - HAH NO LOLITA PROBABLY THINKS THAT 'cause most of us have those special ones that make our socks wiggle just to look at, girls who really make the style their own.
Other things that inspire me are for example most things to do with my favourite historical eras and their fashion styles because it helps to know what leads to what. Traveling because it opens your eyes to how differently things can be done with none of the ways being necessarily any worse than another. And of course going on solitary walks in the nature because nothing calms me down better than that, even though my current home lacks the very thing that used to have the biggest calming effect on me - trees. Yet Iceland makes up for it in many other ways that were mostly foreign to me just a few years ago - wind from the sea, massive rainstorms (I'm the idiot you see walking in horrible weather around Bholt), mountains (I'm still not entirely sure that Esjan is real though I've climbed it a few times) and lava fields.
2. What is something you would really like to do someday?
I almost started listing things like "get a job" or "find a meaning to my life" but idk, the first type is a bit too mundane and the latter doesn't even matter if I have good tea. So.
I'd really like to go to Japan again but this time with the SO. I'm going to master making a croquembouche one day. It would be damn awesome to buy our own house. Yeah, those are the sort of things that I can put on a list like that, things that are within my reach but still uncertain.
3. What would you consider to be a “Precious Little Moment”?
...you're going to look at me funny now BUT:
my boyfriend's habit of jump-turning in his sleep. I'm not sure how to describe it - it's like a fish lying on its side suddenly kicks itself up, turns midair and falls on its other side, only that this "fish" is so large and heavy in comparison to me that the resulting landing sends me up in the air as well. Not a pleasant way of waking up in the middle of the night, plus it makes me habitually suspect him the first if something else wakes me up, f.ex. an earthquake. Those can shake the bed just sufficiently to wake me but not him (well, he's Icelandic so he's been sleeping through them since he was born) and usually I start drowsily berating him right away before my brain picks up enough clues.
4. What is your way of staying on top of things and avoiding procrastination?
I don't know. I procrastinate like a procrastinator, send help! ;^;
5. Do you think it would be cool if hats came back into fashion?
Yes and no. On the yes side nothing puts a lady's outfit together better than headwear; a hat makes a simple dress look just a touch more formal and adds a little drama in the look. A hat can save any bad hair day as well.
But on the no-side I live in a massively windy country where anything that's not pinned or tied (or both) to my head is always a second away from flying into distance, which is not a relaxing thought. A bonnet or other large hat will feel like you've got a sail attached to your head and man, those neck aches I get on windy days...
6. What would you say to someone you knew that needed a little pick me up or encouragement?
When it comes to words I have all the grace of a worm in a hurricane, so most likely I would avoid saying things entirely. Embarrassing as it is to admit I'd probably just make tea or coffee for them.
7. Which flooring do you like better for a bedroom: carpet, wood, tile, or other?
This is actually quite an important question because if I don't feel comfortable in my bedroom the house is not properly a home. I live in a cold country and we don't have heating in our floor (one of those basement apartments) so tile is entirely out of question, way too cold for meeting the mornings! As a Finn I'm generally fond of wood as floor material but I do mean real wood, not plastic replica or a thin layer - no parquet for me. I want wooden planks the thickness of my wrists that are worn smooth by long years of walking over them.
This kind of flooring is good for many reasons. I'm a messy creature and trying to clean stuff out carpet floor is a nightmare. Way too much hard work and smelly chemicals, starts looking gross and stained too soon after. Yes, wood it is, stains don't show in old, grayish wood and it's easy to wash with simple pine soap. I'd probably also add a few Finnish rugs for a cheerful and comfy effect.
8. Do you like traditional or digital artworks better?
Both have their charms and a place where they belong better than the other. All depends if we're talking about walking in an exhibition, looking at dress prints, reading a comic, furnishing a home and so forth.
9. What is something you would love to hear more often, but don’t?
"Here, let me help you with that". Entirely my own fault that I don't hear it though, because I tend to be dead set on doing things on my own, figuring out what I'm supposed to be doing instead of finding out first (and fuking up miserably a billion times somewhere along the way). I mean... have you ever seen me put together an Ikea item? You do NOT want to see me put together an Ikea item. They come with instructions dammit, I can handle that alright - wait - what's this part doing here when it should - and where's that last screw waitaminnit why do I have this many pieces still left over... Nothing annoys me more than someone else butting in being all "hah you don't know your shit" because Bobdamn true I don't and may Bob also richly damn you for pointing it out hnnggghhhhhhhh.
However, I do often wish someone would just say that and be like shut up you big baby this is how it works.
10. What is a book you really recommend reading?
Am I going to say Master and Margarita again? I am. It's my eternal favourite... but besides that book I would also recommend some others. If you're a Finn try getting your hands on Seitsemän vuotta sotaisessa Japanissa (= Seven Years in Wartime Japan), a story of a young woman who travels to Japan at the eve of WW2 and ends up stuck there for the entire war, widowed and with a small child. It's a true story.
Eyrbyggja saga is another one that's definitely worth a read. Medieval, but who can say no to playing whack-a-mole with a ghost seal rising through the floor boards? What about a zombie ox? Nay, zombies in general, moon falling down from the sky and then floating around one particular house? Taking care of the whole zombie matter by suing the zombies until they run? I tell you, it's a great and action-packed saga! :D
Ooooor I might suggest you the clever, catchy and somewhat nonsensical works of Mervyn Peake or Edith Sitwell.
11. What is something you’ve kept since your childhood?
My ill temperament. Mum says I never grew out of my three-year old tantrums. Also these three pink beads that once upon a time were a part of a necklace that was given to me by a friend when I was a very small child. I kept the necklace until it broke, and after that I tried to keep all the parts of it that I could. Right now only the main three remain but somehow they're always with me - I don't even know why! Happy memory I guess. :)
***
Alright, then for the next part - my apologies though, going through the list of blogs I follow and excluding those with 200+ followers and those that clearly seem to have either quit or gone on an indefinite hiatus I couldn't find 11, therefore I nominate:
Julia from Not So Geek, Not So Chic.
HajaMiel in Written Before Dawn.
Demigoddess at Sworn to the Dark.
Fankikitsune at Cos of Cos.
Elfie at Toes on Lace.
My questions (feel free to answer in any language you prefer):
1) Describe a perfect morning.
2) If you knew you had to kill two hours how would you do it?
3) What's that one thing you never mastered, yet never gave up trying?
4) What's your favourite rain?
5) Tell me about something that's still on your bucket list, why it's important that you do it at some point in life and what made you include it in the first place.
6) I'm a massive procrastinator and could not answer the question on how to avoid procrastinating - do you have any tips?
7) Who would you like to spend a day with (can be a living or a dead person but obvy they'd be alive for a day with you)(or if not pls explain why you'd rather spend a day with a corpse).
8) Favourite bird?
9) Tell your readers a habit that you have that they probably don't know of.
10) Turn around 180°. Walk forward until you find something on the floor. This is now your weapon in the zombie uprising, post a photo of yourself wielding your weapon.
11) Recommend an autumn song.
Fixed the post a little - entirely forgot to add link to your blog! It's a great source of inspiration for me, so thank YOU for sharing all those ideas. :3
ReplyDeleteI tried my best but alas, Seven Years in Wartime Japan does not seem to be translated, which is a crying shame. Although written from the point of view of a missionary it really gets into the whys and hows of the society and how it managed to survive the war. My particular favourite was to see the author grow with the time passed in Japan and how her originally racist view changed as she learned to know the land better. In the end though her openly accepting attitude earned her many enemies within the Finnish missionaries, which was one reason she was stuck in Japan and could not return to Finland - they sabotaged all her attempts, claiming she was "fraternizing with the Japanese" (well, she was).
Eyrbyggja saga however is definitely translated to English. One version can be found here:
http://sagadb.org/eyrbyggja_saga.en
The Master and Margarita is a classic so it definitely is translated. :3