January 3, 2021

These were the best things I saw today from the safety of my room:

1. Becky Margraf's hand-stitched felt faces:

This has given me so many ideas!

2. Look Up London's blogpost about the veritable zoo hidden in plain sight around the City of London. When I finally get to visit London again, I will be keeping my eyes peeled for the beaver, cat, mice and swan in particular.

Reading about the animals reminded me of the beautiful dolphin statue along the Chelsea Embankment - I found more info on that here, with added surprise Beatles connection.

3. A thought-provoking Guardian article about Generation Z and the Covid pandemic came with artworks submitted by the young people interviewed. I was really struck by this image by Oliwia Charowska. I wish I'd been capable of making art like this when I was 16:

It's incredibly sad that young people are suffering, but heartening to know that they've seen through the establishment's bullshit and are really not happy about it. That way change lies. Bring it on.

4. The lovely Austin Kleon is always good value for money and today on his Twitter I found a quote of his worth jotting down in the notebook I collect bon mots in:

"Writing begins when "I hate this" progresses to "let me articulate why I hate this."

Can't argue with that! He'd got pissed off with people posting quotes as memes and blowing the nuance of the original words out of the water; that prompted his latest daily blog post (read his Twitter thread here). 

Now I feel conflicted about writing down his words out of context in my quotes notebook.

5. I did some tidying up and sorting out today. E.g., put things in frames that needed framing; stuck stickers onto things that needed stickers. I also eviscerated my advent calendar to recycle into next year's gift tags and cards. And I tidied my desk! I tidied my desk. If you'd seen my desk you'd know why this was a big deal. I think this blog is already helping me connect to reality again.

 6. I didn't leave my flat again today, so had to take the photo du jour in here. I thought it was a fitting summary of the day's activites:

"Clutter has only two possible causes: too much effort is required to put things away or it is unclear where things belong." Marie Kondo ♡

I've had that quote pinned up ever since I read her book - it helps, when I remember to look at it.

I enrolled at university in September and term starts again tomorrow - luckily, it's online only. I've had a whole month off in which I've gone feral, so feel unprepared and very rusty. It's only reading week, but the thought of knuckling down again is horrifying.