The Importance of Making Time for Yourself.

Bonjour honey =).

Last Monday (As in, "the day before yesterday"...), I decided in favour of creating a schedule for fitting my hobbies into my day, and thus far I really did it AND enjoyed it. I must say, there is more to this kind of "system" than meets the eye at first, because I also am tracking my progress & whatever I learned along the way. I watch tutorials / lessons in certain areas of interest in order to really learn something along the way... I track the video name & the one who's responsible for uploading & creating said videos.

Then, I take notes of whatever I am told... It is a bit like at school and/or university; I am responsible for whatever I learn or don't... Thus far, I took virtual lessons in Finnish, drawing, Japanese & journalism. Plus, I wrote a poem, which I will share in a minute, and interpreted a tarot card for my friends & followers on IG. I am doing my best to really fit everything in, and I am allowed to change things around as I go, too.

What I learned today is that there are really so many fields you actually should rely on your knowledge & whatever it is you actually can do, rather than what you have been told & taught at uni (That maybe didn't really seem interesting at all...). And I feel there is so much truth to this, though I feel there are still jobs out there you need a degree for (Doctors of all kinds...) - however, some fields I feel it is not necessary to really "study". There are of course benefits, but the education system is partly really screwed... And so, I feel there is some truth to "Fake it until you make it." :) Just start seeing the spark in yourself, going "I am an artist / a writer / a musician / etc.!", and take it to the next level.

As for the poem I wrote... There was a really nice (AND CUTE!) encounter I recently had with a ladybug. :) The little one didn't want to leave my arm / hands, not even when I tried putting them onto a leaf and other really nice green places around me. I even looked up what kind of ladybug it was, and ended up writing a poem when I was home again. Here it goes (I haven't written poems for so long now, though. I hope you like it.):

Ladybug

The ladybug is smooth, not smug,

She flies from you to me.

"Greetings friend! I'll bring you luck,

Just believe and see!"

Once she leaves your hands alone,

You wonder where she's flying,

Heading off to what you've shown,

Sitting on leaves, sighing:

"I'll bring this person luck and wonders,

Just if they treat me right.

Maybe joy, or health," she ponders.

"And love - all day and night."

As for the drawings, what I practiced mostly was where shadows are located & how to sketch the right way (Many little lines except for one rough line on its own.), which helped immensely, too. I mainly drew round objects and how the shadow was building below / on them. And I tried drawing a tree & a glass that was standing near me on the table. Hm. Keep going, will you! ;)

Other than that, I have nothing to say. Today's goals I already completed. Tomorrow will be an astrology day & a crafting / sewing, etc.-kind of day, and the day after, I want to focus on numerology & music making.

Have you ever done something like this? Did it help you? (As for me, it is an act of self-care & stabilising my mood.) Do you have any pieces of advice for me?

Have a lovely day & See you soon!

~R i n a.

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

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!

[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.

Spellbound...

Hey-dee-ho my dears!

How have you all been doing? I have got some news for you... Maybe not really intriguing, but still NEWS.

At first, I participated in this years NaNoWriMo. I made it through the first days, and wrote most likely about half the words expected (Currently, I am unsure, but I wrote more than 25,000 words). I hope if anybody of you guys participated, that you had a great time; it was surely great for me. There were various reasons I didn't write more, though. I felt like a real failure afterwards, because I didn't make it, but I really had a hard time coming up with much else. I felt that the story I wrote was finished after these 25,000+ words I wrote, too. All in all, it was a dilemma, but I loved getting to write that much :)... Now I am thinking about really revisiting the story, working on it more, and still, well, finishing it? And that is probably the best outcome I could have gotten from NaNoWriMo.

Also, one of the personal conclusions I got off the challenge was that it is not a bad thing to be "not in control" of one's life that much, that, in fact, it is the best way to re-kindle with all kinds of passions one has in life. :) Maybe some of you felt the same, especially since i did not really have a "guideline" for my story, which may also have been a bit tough in the end, but still!

Has anybody of you participated? Did you learn anything from participating (now or beforehand)? I'd really love to hear about that.

Then, I finished one more item off my 101/1001 list (writing 10 poems). That poem which got me there, is the following (translation below as always!):
 

Ein Schritt zurück

Fuß um Fuß setz' ich nach vorne
Dennoch gehe leer ich aus
Ich sage, spreche, rede immer
Doch geh'n mir nie die Wörter aus

Ich sage "nein", will nicht verletzen
Beleidigt geht er nur nach haus
Ich sage "ja", will niemand töten
Weinend reißt sie sich heraus

Ich tue nichts und tue alles
Und sehe jeden Fehler ein
Ich wünschte nur, da wären keine
Ich fühl' mich nutzlos und so klein

Fuß um Fuß setz' ich nach vorne
Schwöre mir, nie steh'n zu bleiben
Die Warnung überhör' ich wirklich
Will keine Sorg' mir einverleiben

Fuß um Fuß, die Strecke lang
Wie lang muss ich noch gehen?
Jeder Schritt ein Schritt zurück
Wann seh' ich Fahnen wehen?

Fuß um Fuß, Leben geht weiter
Die Angst ist ein beliebter Gast
Fuß um Fuß, hinab die Leiter
Solange bis man sich selbst hasst

Jeder Schritt ein Schritt zurück
Ins Land, in dem ich noch Mut hatte
In dem die Fehler mich nicht störten
Wann ich eintreffe, wär mir Latte

Doch leider geht das Leben rund
Ich steh' daneben, am Abgrund
Ich will doch leben, eine Stund
Keine Fehler und kein Mund

***

Translation (rough!):

A step back

Step by step I'm walking onwards
But I am walking empty-handed nevertheless
I am saying, speaking, talking always
But never I am short of words

I'm saying "no", don't want to harm
He's returning home offendedly
I'm saying "yes", don't want to murder
She's removing herself, crying

I'm doing nothing and doing it all
And admitting every mistake (I make)
I only wish there wouldn't be any
I'm feeling useless and so small

Step by step I'm walking onwards
Swearing to myself not to come to a stop
I'm really ignoring the warning
Don't want to swallow any sorrow

Step by step, the path long
How long do I have to walk on?
Every step a step back
When will I see flags waving?

Step by step, life goes on
The fear is a popular guest
Step by step, down the ladder
Until one hates oneself

Every step a step back
Into the land where I had courage
Where the mistakes didn't matter
The time of arrival wouldn't matter to me

However sadly, life goes round
I'm standing (somewhere) off, at the abyss
I just want to live, for an hour
No mistakes and no mouth

***

So, that's that for now. As X-mas is approaching, I wish each and everyone reading the best X-mas (whether you celebrate it or not) EVER :D.

Love,

~R.

"Aus Spiel wird Ernst", or: How I almost had the chance to win a contest...

Well, well, well, my little droogies! HELLO!

There was a contest taking place recently, and I wanted to send a poem for said contest. Only downside was: When I was done writing I noticed the deadline had been several weeks beforehand. So what to do, I asked myself? I didn't want to NOT share it after all, but I was scared... Scared of rejection, maybe. Or maybe even worse things.

Fact is, I personally don't think it is that bad. But judge for yourself, I guess. I will try to translate it, too, because it is in German.

*ahem* ;)

Aus Spiel wird Ernst

Nach dem Regen stieg die Sonne,
Langte zaghaft nach dem Grund,
Umtanzte selbst die kleinsten Tiere,
Verschlang die Nacht mit ihrem Mund.

Unendlich schien die Nacht zu währen,
Die Sonne schien zur Mittagsstund‘.
So tummelten sich in Wärme Schnecken,
Unentdeckt, ein schöner Fund!

Die Kinder spielten fleißig draußen,
Ließen sich nicht halten nun.
Das Leben brannte in den Kleinen,
Es gab so viel zu seh‘n und tun.

Die Füßchen rannten durch das Gras,
Unwissend von dem kleinen Schatz.
Der kleinste Junge, hoch gesprungen,
Landete auf diesem Platz.

„Huch, das wollte ich nicht tun;
Was ist denn bloß geschehen?
Habe ich in all dem Spiel
Die Schneckchen nicht gesehen?“

Und alle Kinder fingen an
Zu weinen und zu flehen,
Dass man ihnen vergebe nun
Fürs Schnecken-echt-nicht-sehen.

„Nein, das macht nichts - wirklich“,
Meinte der Vater zu den Kindern.
„Die Tiere spüren keine Schmerzen,
Sonst müsste man’s verhindern.“

* * *

Play gets serious

The sun rose after rain,

Carefully reached for the ground,

Danced around even the smallest animals,

Engulfed the night with her mouth.

The night seemed to last infinitely,

The sun shone at noon's hour.

So snails scrimmaged in warmth,

Unfound, a great discovery!

Diligently, the children played outside,

Now didn't let anybody hold them back.

Life burnt inside these little ones,

There was so much to see and do.

The little feet ran through the grass,

 Unknowing of the little treasure.
The smallest boy, who jumped high,

Landed on this place.

"Yikes, I did not want to do that;

 What is it that happened?

Didn't I notice the little snails

In all this playing?"

And all the children began

To cry and to beg,

That somebody'd forgive them

For really-not-seeing-the-snails.

"No, this doesn't matter - really",

The father told the children.

"The animals don't feel pain,

Otherwise one'd have to prevent it."

I know the sense behind this may be controversial, but just let me say that I wanted to make the reader think about this -- I, personally, don't think the father IS right, because I believe feelings are not something only appearing in humans.

I didn't want to write more, though. I have my reasons, and one reason is that I wouldn't want to raise my index finger and shake it because that won't lead anywhere in my opinion.

What do you think? I hope you won't be angry because I rarely ever update here... :( I hope I will be able to do this more often as of soon [I am planning something AWESOME with a folder I just bought, and may be posting WIPs in this case ^o~...].

Have a nice time, until the next time we meet again.

~R.