[It's not like I am neglecting anybody already...]

Hello there!

I am currently once again on speed-related, unvoluntary detox. The fact that this frigging internet connection slows down after a certain amount of GBs is used up really, seriously pisses me off! :\

So, please wait for the next song until ~the 1st of June. :(

DIY project: Self-made envelope :)

[I decided I will just post the tutorial right now, and later on maybe post (a) photo(s)...]

Hello dears,

I mad an envelope myself yesterday. I remember as a child I did this several times, but eventually stopped and forgot how it worked, so I had to find a new way myself again.

So, first of all you will need:

1 envelope shaped like you want your result to look

1 piece of regular plain white paper

1 piece of construction paper the colour you want your envelope to be (I went for yellow, but other [probably best lighter] colours work just as fine

1 roll glue thing [like the thing shown on the right here!]

1 pair of scissors

1 pencil

and later on...

1 pen to write the address of yourself and the receipee of the letter on the envelope

Steps:

 

1) Once you have gotten all these things, you start by making your template. You take your envelope, tuck out the flap (? -- please tell me if I used the wrong word here), place this all in the upper part of the piece of plain white paper (Please leave a little space one either side!), so that you'd be able to trace around the envelope on the paper, but still have space left below the envelope on the paper.

2) You have guessed right: Trace the outlines for the envelopes on the paper. Once you are done with this, please don't move the envelope away, as it is still needed for the next steps!

3) Just below the flap (Where the flap meets the rest of the envelope) on either side draw one small line onto the piece of plain paper horizontally, which you will be able to see once you have moved the envelope away. The horizontal lines should meet with the vertical ones you have drawn around the envelope, which you still should not move away from the place it is in right now (on the paper).

4) Next, draw two more little horizontal lines, at the lower end of the envelope... Once again, the lines should meet with the lines you already drew.

5) Flip over the envelope and tuck in the flap. Now you should have a square / rectangular envelope. Please place the lower end of the envelope at the lowest line you drew.

6) Once again, trace this onto the plain white paper, without moving the envelope.

7) One last step for the template is probably the hardest to explain, but I will do my best: Move away your envelope, tuck out the flap again, and place part of (!) the flap in the lowest square / rectangle you have drawn when you traced the surroundings of the envelope the last time. Make sure that the flap is pointing "upwards", but the upper horizontal line (below the flap) on the envelope is very much parallel to the lowest line you have drawn. Your flap should NOT be all the way in the square / rectangle, though, as it is needed to the seal the envelope in the end, and if it has the same shape as the flap up in the template, you will not be able to seal it. If you place the envelope a little lower than in general, not all of your flap is in the pattern, so you have enough place to seal it :).

8) Once you have made sure the flap is in place, please trace around the piece of the flap in the pattern (not all the flap, of course). 

9) You remember the four litle horizontal lines you have drawn? Make sure the lines have a length of (roughly) half a cetimeter, then make them a little diagonal (Easier to flap over once you are done...). The lowest line should have a line going like a backslash a little ( \ - Imagine the lower right part meeting with the lower horizontal line on the left side of the envelope ), and the upper line should have an attached slash ( / - Imagine the upper right part to meet with the upper horizontal line on the left side of the envelope ).

10) Connect the outer point of the shlash with the outer point of the backslash (Draw another vertical line; the space between this and the rest of the template should be 1/2 cm).

11) On the right side of the envelope, for the little horizontal lines, do the same to them, just make sure the slash is in the lower part and the backslash is in the upper part.

12) Connect the ending points on the right side of the envelope, too, also making sure the space between the two lines should be 1/2 cm.

13) Your template is ready :). Please cut it out carefully. Make sure that you do cut it out all in one piece, and make sure that the lower flap part you drew inside the lowest square / rectangle IS the line you are cutting on.

14) Optional step: Fold the template to see whether you have made any mistakes (If you did, please tell me, as it is my description that was bad then. I will try my best to make it better!!). First fold along the line where the "normal" rectangle / square meets with the rectangle / square into which you drew part of the flap. Next, fold the little 1/2 centimeter pieces towards the part where the envelope will be sealed. Last, fold the upper flap down and see whether it closes the spare-flap part. If all fits nicely, congratulations! Please unfold it again, though, as you will trace the template onto construction paper now!! :)

15) Get your piece of construction paper, and trace the outlines of the template onto that. Make sure the line you draw is not to thick, though, as it might show on the envelope.

16) Fold it like you may have done it with the template itself: First the seal-the-flap side and the regular rectangle / square at the line between, then the little 1/2 cm parts towards the part where the flap will be put down, and then, yes!, flap down the flap. :D

17) Now you can secure the 1/2 cm part. Grab this roll glue thing, and put glue either on the little bits themselves, or onto the part of the envelope meeting with these little things. Make sure you do not put glue onto the inside of the envelope itself!

18) If you have already written the letter, now it is time to put it into the envelope and put the respective addresses onto it.

19) Last step: Seal the envelope by grabbig your roll glue again putting it onto the flap, and folding that down.

Voilà - a self-made envelope! :) I hope it worked!! Mine did, but then again, I didn't have to explain it to myself D:... PLEASE make sure you first read the instruction and try to follow it, and if you don't understand some parts, please don't hesitate to ask...

Have a nice rest of the day, dears!! :)

PS: If I can, I will make photos for this next time, so that it is clearer what I mean :). I just did it from scratch without using a camera yesterday, and I did want to share it with you nevertheless. So please don't be surprised if this entry will have photos added to it soon-ish.

We'll defeat your jealousy with our stars of doom.

Hello everybody!

I hope you are fine? I myself am... very much! I received a message from the ezine which does the competition I participated in recently, and they said that, even though they chose another person's work, they found my poem very thrilling. :) I hope you will, too!! ^__^

Here it goes:
 

Die Eifersucht der Meere

((The jealousy of the seas))

 

Man erzählt sich von den Meeren,
Dass sie gerne Menschen wären,
Dass sie ständig danach trachten,
Sie zu fesseln und entmachten.

 

((People tell a tale about the seas,

Saying they'd like to be humans,

That they are constantly concerned with

Their wish to tie them up and disempower them))

Und ich sage es nicht gerne,
Doch sie fangen gerne Sterne,
Sperren sie in die Laterne,
Und reisen in die Ferne.

 

((And I do not like to say this now,

But they like to catch the stars,

Imprison them in the lantern,

And travel to the distance.))

Sterne würden gern entkommen,
Doch die Meere reisen weiter,
Werden munter, singen heiter.
Hätt‘ man Sterne nur entnommen!

 

((Stars would like to flee,

But the seas do travel further,

Perk up, sing joyfully.

If only somebody'd taken the stars away!))

Die Laternen überdauern
Selbst den kalten Jänner
In Räumen der Seemänner
Leuchten sie dahin und trauern.

 

((The lanterns outlive

Even the cold January

In the rooms of the sea people,

They shine their light and grieve.))

Vielleicht ist es Seemannsgarn,
Was ich hier nun hab‘ geschrieben.
Die Knoten der Geschichte
Werden mehr als Lügen wiegen.

 

((Maybe it is a cock-and-bull story,

Which I have written down in here.

The knots of the story

Will weigh more than the lies.))

 

...

 

I am looking forward to the next competition! Also, I will most likely participate in this year's NaNoWriMo again! :) And I desperately hope this time I will have a lot more to write... :P I do not know yet what I will write, but... yeah... Let's hope for the best!! :D

 

Many greetings to y'all!!

 

~Rina

Gomen nasai.

Hello!

I just wanted to announce that the third week's piece of music will be published on the 1st of May most likely. There is a reason behind that, which has nothing to do with me whatsoever, but I am too paranoid to mention it on here... So, please wait and see / hear what I have to offer then. I will most likely record it on Saturday or so, though!

Have a lovely rest of the month, as I most likely will not be writing here for the rest of the month (Until the the 1st of May)...

Much love from here!! :)

Week 4's Challenge (Delightful Aberrations)

Hey there, dear readers!

I have finally something to enter concerning the Delightful Aberrations challenge my friend Lilia has started: I have taken some photographs concerning the words that should spark ideas in general... I must admit, I am trying not to be super-critical, &... I actually like them :P. The words for this week's challenge are / were: Exploration, joke, sugar, relaxation, and joy. Now, what did I take photos of...?

Image Credit Name: Rina Freÿa 
Image Name: Oricchi Nuckelt ["Oricchi Suckles"]
Notes / thoughts / meaning behind the image: Used the "relaxation" and "joy" prompt. :)
Link to blog: K r e a t i v
Other information: "Oricchi" is the nickname of our cat, Orion. He's been with us since he was a little baby, being bottle-raised, and developed this urge to suckle on fingers to calm down / relax...

Image Credit Name: Rina Freÿa 
Image Name: Oricchi Nuckelt Weiter ["Oricchi Continues Suckling"]
Notes / thoughts / meaning behind the image: Used the "relaxation" and "joy" prompt. :)
Link to blog: K r e a t i v
Other information: See "Oricchi Nuckelt" ;).

Image Credit Name: Rina Freÿa 
Image Name: Sugar, Anyone?
Notes / thoughts / meaning behind the image: Used the "exploration" and "sugar" prompt. It could as well be "joy" ;).
Link to blog: K r e a t i v
Other information: These little boys are Bart (mostly black cat) & his brother Yoshi (mostly white, with the spots in his fur), two of our cats. The sweets are called "Veggie Mäuse", I think ("Veggie Mice"). :D

...

I hope I have done everything correct now :). Anyway, these are my submissions. I hope you like them!

Much love!

Up for some challenges?

[Is this an April Fool's joke :P...? NO IT'S NOT!!]

Hello my dears!

How are you all? I hope everything is okay. Once again, I participated in the "100 Bilder - 100 Geschichten" competition. I am kind of nervous once again, but I don't want to think about it too much as it is just a writing challenge. :) And I really am in the mood of "I want to participate in more challenges now!".

I know that NaNoWriMo will not be any sooner than November. I know that the February Album Writing Month is over for now, too. But I did find some inspirations on challenges, and I will most likely make something out of this. Meaning: There will HOPEFULLY be more posts in the future.

One mistake I don't want to make all over again, however, is to "take breaks" because these "breaks" usually lead to a prolongued time when I feel like, "Meh, I don't want to create anything!", so I will... Make sure I get a decent amount of rest and pauses, but I will try to keep being on track. :) You will learn about the challenges altogether soon-ish. Ah yes, and concerning my participation in the "100 Bilder - 100 Geschichten" competition; I cannot show you the thing I wrote before the beginning of May, so please be patient.

Other than that, I read the following article yesterday and it really inspired me (I even dreamed of recording a demo CD and trying to find out whom to send it to afterwards when I was asleep.): J. K. Rowling inspiring us to keep going, despite being turned down by publishers.

To be honest, I think this can apply to so many publishers of creative content - not just in the written form. And it even counts for ANY dream job one may have, because even then you often depend on the decision of somebody else... Sometimes it is the decision to let you study the field you have chosen, sometimes it is the decision of a future employer, and so on. I think the entire article just screams "DON'T GIVE UP!" from the top of its lungs (if it HAD lungs!)... So, yeah, don't give up. I won't either. :)

I look in the mirror, and all I see......

Hello dears!

I have had a tough few days prior to this one, but I wanted to show you my poem for the "100 Bilder - 100 Geschichten" competition still. The picture showed a parcel which was partly broken, hence the... Ah, you will see!

Das Geschenk

Das Paket war angekommen und schon, so nahm man an,
Waren darin die Geschenke präsent für jedermann.
Schleunigst wurd‘ geöffnet, was der Karton versprach,
Doch als sie hineinblickten, lagen die Gefühle brach:
Ein schmutziges Paar Schuhe und ein angenagter Brief,
Was immer angekommen, betrachtete man schief.

„Ich habe nichts zu geben“, so sprach nun das Papier,
„Doch diese Schuhe trugen mich von euch bereits zu mir.
Und obwohl die Wege schwer und steinig waren, war
Der Gedanke an die schöne Zeit mit euch stets für mich da.
Das Leben jedoch hat nun and’res mit mir vor,
Doch bevor ich gehen muss, nur ein Wort in meinem Ohr:
Sende! Send‘ das Leben den Kindern nur zum Dank,
Auf dass sie leben lernen, und niemals werden krank.“

Translation (roughly, as always):

The Gift

The parcel arrived and already, one expected,
There were gifts present for everyone.
Quickly one opened what the cardboard promised,
But when they looked inside, the feelings lay idle:
A dirty pair of shoes and a letter eaten away,
Whatever arrived one looked at disapprovingly.

"I have nothing to give", the paper spoke now,
"But these shoes carried me from you to me already.
And even when the paths were hard and rocky, there was
The thought of the beautiful time with you always there for me.
Life, however, has something else planned for me,
But before I have to leave, only a word in my ear:
Send! Send life to the children just to thank them,
May they learn living and never become ill."

...

I hope you like it! I tried to stay as close to the original translation-wise in English, but there is a rhyming scheme still viewable in the original poem (a fairly easy one, I have to admit.).

Have a lovely rest of the day!

Am I doing this right?

Hey!

How are you all? I hope you are all fine :). I feel incredibly lucky and happy, and this has been going on for quite some time now, which is surprising to me as well. I know I never really talked about the topic of mental health and I don't know how much I will get into this topic as of now, but I feel like talking about it, so why not?

Okay, so: I have been diagnosed with a psychotic episode in 2004, and in 2006 I experienced the second one. However, I must also say that ever since I was about 10 years old, I felt not really happy with myself. I don't know what to say about this; I don't want to trigger anybody, but let's just say I started early on doing things to myself that were not very "nice"... I never really overcame this mentality of self-destruction, and never actively really tried to get over it. Okay, I *did* try out living with the LOA and tried living 28 days just giving stuff to others, but I always slid back into my mindset of being worthless, dumb, uninspired, neither creative nor intelligent and so on. It was very hard to live wiht this, especially since I did try to help people who were going through similar stuff in their life, and I felt a bit like a hypocrite (No offense to the people I mean at this point; YOU REALLY ARE WONDERFUL PEOPLE AND I AM INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL FOR HAVING YOU IN MY LIFE!!).

So after having hit the ground in December 2015 again, which I will not go into greater detail now about, I somehow had my mood lifted again, and I don't really know what did this or why? I mean, I really engaged in more fun activities, I drew or painted or sang or whatever-ed whenever I felt like it. Also, as I told you already, I picked up language practice and made some progress with this now, too :). When I felt like, "Oh I want to do XYZ!", I moved things around until I was able to... I even participated in said competition, and even though I didn't win in the end, I did feel good about it, because I did have the courage to send the poem away!

I don't want to claim this IS the key to overcoming mental illness in general, but (a) I feel more open toward seeking for help actively now, and (b) it helped me to just engage in some activities without overthinking stuff. I know this is really hard to do, especially when you are stuck or having depression, when you feel like everything you loved doing loses its meaning and you just want to lie around and do nothing (At least it was like this to me; my favourite activities started meaning less and less to me, but I forced myself to remember and think it through then, and I *always* came to the conclusion my heart was yearning for making music, which, in turn, made me happy again and made me stand up again.). But yeah, of course I am not you; I don't know what you need in all cases. I just wanted to write this, and maybe some of you who are going through a particularly tough time in their lives will find the will to get out of there, too.

I cannot say I am 100% recovered of course, and it will take a long time to overcome ways of thinking I kept "dearly" to myself for almost 22 years now, but right now, I feel like it is worth it. Creativity has a healing effect sometimes, it is unbelievable... :) If you DO want to know something or comment with your concerns or whatever, please do so. I really don't want you to feel uncomfortable, but ---- please don't give up. I know I don't know you all personally, but I strongly feel it is saddening I don't. Why? Because everybody has an enormous potential for personal growth, for creative endeavors, for making the world a better place inside of them, and I firmly believe this... Everybody is worth getting to know, everybody is worth speaking to. And I really believe that everybody has a piece of the puzzle hidden in their hearts, thus being an important part of the world's population... This includes YOU, too, my dear reader! :)

I don't really know what else to write about... There are so many things I could do, but right now, my possibly biggest wish is to go to bed (it is half past 11pm now)... The sleepiness is probably also the reason this sounds very weird now altogether, but I really mean it! You. are. special. A special little snowflake, if you wish. Whatever you want to be, it is a part of you already!

Okay, my bed is calling me, and I guess this is just a sign of being tired (Thanks for reading, though!)!

~S. R.

PS: I also learned that doing stuff because I want to do it & NOT to fill entries in my blog(s) is the best way to go. :)

PPS: Please comment with any feedback if you have that. Just constructive criticism, please, though. Thanks.

[Nur wir]

Hello...

I have "lost" the competition, but I will continue participating in future ones nevertheless. Thank you to everybody keeping their fingers crossed and congratulations to the winner :)! I mean it. & I am really looking forward to reading their story or poem... I shall publish the poem I wrote here as soon as the winner's version has been published, too. Otherwise I'd see no reason in doing so!

Other than that, I ordered some fabric for making a tulle tutu, and I am looking forward to this task so much. It is - surprise, surprise! - tulle fabric in black... And even though the thought of making mistakes when making the skirt makes me nauseous, I still am very fond of it (the idea). It will be the first time I am making something clothing wise with my bare hands, and I hope that said hands will not get in my way. ;)

And the next point is a little unrelated, but still very important for me recently: The past 23 days + today, I spent learning mainly Italian, but also French, Russian and Swedish. But mainly Italian... Maybe some of you don't know this about me, but languages are really a part of my life I love working on. I know I am nowhere near fluent, not even in English, but still it makes me happy to practice foreign languages, and speak to other people in their native language. :] The upper languages are not the only ones I learned in my life, though.

Anyways, I'd really love to get some suggestions for blogs to read in one of the following languages: French, Finnish, Spanish, Japanese & Italian. It would be cool if those had to deal with stuff I am interested in myself... I want to make learning languages a lot more fun than just stubbornly sitting somewhere and learning stuff. :) And learning by doing is really important, too. I will keep my eyes open, though. :D

Thanks for reading & have a nice day...

They mean time... I mean... In the mean time...

Hello dears!

How are you all? In the meantime, I haven't done that much, except for entering another competition, but this isn't over already, so please keep your fingers crossed for me! I also started writing a new story, about a character I've "known" for -several- years now. I am really looking forward to the story progressing.

I also picked up the book "Living Out Loud" by Keri Smith again... Have I ever mentioned how much I love it and how inspiring / motivating I find it? :D I might write more about this soon-ish.

I desperately hope I can start working my way through the series of telling you how to play single songs. :) I thought I might make a video for this purpose (and maybe one day, I will) but as for now, I'd rather want to start doing it in writing. It is really easy, though. (I am not lying! It was just yesterday that I figured out how to play the X-Files intro on my guitar with this "simple technique" [[God, I sound like I have a lot of spam to come!! :P]]... But it is really a technique and it IS simple. And you'll get the info... Without having to pay anything!! :P)

Have a lovely (rest of the) day, my dears!

~S. R.

Does this count as "fanart"? I guess it does :D...

Hello dears!!

Happy new year to all of you!! :) I hope you had a safe and happy start into 2016...

I personally haven't made any resolutions for this year, even though I do plan to do some things and make an effort to do some things more often, in order to keep myself sane / get myself back from feeling utterly depressed, which unfortunately happened to be the way I was until maybe two or three days ago... I won't be going into that right now, though, but today I have already done two things:

1. I have started writing a song... It just really came to me so-to-say, and I must say, I already love the chord changes... :) What the text was about, I probably have more of an idea of than I think right now, but most of the time I do write lyrics / poetry, at least several years back, it was like "automatic writing" rather than anything else... This time again. I like it thus far, even though it is not finished yet!! :) 

2. I have listened to a song on heavy rotation for about an hour now, which is "Love's Not For Me" by Graham Gouldman, which was featured on the soundtrack to the animation movie "Animalympics". And somehow especially the line "And if you lose it's your mistake" always stuck out to me... I recommend you give this song a listen, and the movie is highly recommended, too!! :)

So, the latter really got very close to me... I eventually got out a piece of paper and drew the characters of René Fromage (a French goat) and Kit Mambo (an African lioness), but not in the usual picture shown of them doing what happens at the end of the movie (No spoilers intended!), but rather of them running towards each other behind the goal line... Behind them, they had left the running track which was also covered with and surrounded by barbed wire... And carried some wounds from this...

I must also admit, I have never really drawn a fanart of characters from an animated movie... Except for e. g. Sailor Moon and such, but never animals. I think you can say it like that. :D I hope you like it despite my non-apparent drawing skills...

Have a lovely rest of the day, dears! I really hope you will!!