This week has simultaneously lasted forever and is vanishing far too fast. I mean most weeks recently have felt like that but this one especially.

I am... mostly winning at work? I'm still way behind where I want to be but my job is actually impossible at the moment (no joking) and I feel like I'm still moving forwards so that's a win.

I had a choir rehearsal this evening though and we sang through an anthem I'd never heard before, Ubi Caritas by Ola Gjeilo, and I really loved it. It felt very much like the sort of prayer we need right now too.

What else has happened this week? I accidentally came out as bi to more people than I meant to because I forgot how many people I know offline but follow me on twitter now. I mean I wasn't deliberately not out to them but... yeah. When they started liking the tweet it threw me a little.

Still we're past hump day and on balance it's no a bad/i> week so I'll take that!

This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1415438.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Last week was a LOT. I oversaw the removal of a bunch of Barbara Hepworth sculptures (with only minor niggles, everything got out safely and I feel so much better being able to say that) and at the same time managed to open a temporary schools' art prize exhibition and a longer term textile exhibition AND assist with two events and I was so tired on Friday and I'm still so tired but I have to keep telling myself if I survived all that the next few weeks should be gravy (right?)

I did manage some fun stuff along the way like the amazing Aurora Orchestra, Berlioz prom (watch that clip and then go watch the rest on iPlayer!) and on the way to that I had a lovely afternoon in London wandering round Hatchards and Fortnum & Mason and then having a drink on the roof of Harvey Nichols (which was hilarious and amazing in equal measure).

Then tonight I watched Enchanted because it was on TV and I could watch that film over and over ♥

There was a post going round on tumblr about wanting a reverse Christmas movie where a woman leaves her small town beau to go to New York for "reasons" and falls in love and gets a job and realises this makes her happy and I ABSOLUTELY want that film but also I realised tonight Enchanted kind of is that? And the oppostite all at once? And apparently critics don't like the big romantic ballad at the end (So Close) but I really really do.

Anyway here's to next week being calmer (I don't believe it for a second) or at least as successful (with a bit of luck I can manage that).

This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1415112.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I'm just going to ignore the enormous gap since I last posted (sorry about that)

I've been reading some Ted Hughes poetry recently, specifically Moon-Bells and other poems which are apparently part of the "Chatto Poets for the Young" series but they're quite full of death and hope and strangeness so I think more YA than kidlit.

This one has stuck with me in particular so I thought sharing it would be as good a comeback as any.

Moon-Ravens

Are silver white
Like the moonlight
And their croak, their bark
Is not dark
And ominous,
But luminous
And a sweet chime
Always announcing time
For good news to come
If there is some,
And if there isn't
Then there's moon-present-
That is, a stillness,
And if you have any illness
It flits out of your mouth
In the shape of a black moth

Which the moon-raven the follows
And swallows.

My news? Still working at a completely crazy, utterly wonderful, unbelievably anxiety inducing job. Failing to get to the theatre much which is a great sadness to me but I had a wonderful 10 days in Dublin for WorldCon and then in Donegal with B so hopefully that will set me up with sanity & calm to refer back to for a little bit.

This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1414881.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I am very tired and a bit unnecessarily sad and I want to post about the interesting things I've already done this year but everything feels a bit too difficult at the moment.

And Mary Oliver died today and someone posted this thing she wrote and although I like her poems I hadn't read this before and it made me think of "hopepunk" which seems to be a new thing (so far only on tumblr?) and also about trying to be conscious about the emotions I let take over so RIP Mary and thank you.

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happened better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1414124.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

This week I have mostly coughed and felt sorry for myself but, as it is a new year, I suppose I should at least attempt to post by December books.

Overall in 2018 I read 83 books which is more than my Goodreads challenge (80) but fewer than my secret hope (7 a month or 84 in total). That seems to be about my level at the moment, ignoring 2017 when I somehow managed to leap up to 100.

The full list for the year is here

• Melting Ice Poetry Anthology - Royal Museums Greenwich
  
• The Furthest Station - Ben Aaronovitch
  
• The Nonesuch - Georgette Heyer
  
• Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood
  
• Light of the World - Peter Miller & Neil Paynter
  
• The Veiled Woman - Anais Nin
  
• The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
  
• Father Christmas' Fake Beard - Terry Pratchett

( December reviewsCollapse )

This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1413586.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

As so often happens I'm using these days between Christmas & New Year to look backa t the last year and think about the next year and also realise that I am very nearly 3 months behind on my "books I've read" posts. So before we reach the end of December here are October & Novembers books.

I completely abandoned on other culture reviews - plays, musicals, exhibitions and concerts - but I have been keeping note so I'll try and write some things down about those later and in the meantime. Books.

• Mr Norris Changes Trains - Christopher Isherwood
  
• Falling in Love - Donna Leon
  
• Falling London - Paul Cornell
  
• Three Japanses Short Stories - Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Kafū Nagai, Koji Uno
  
• Four Russian Short Stories - Gaito Gazdanov, Galina Kuznetsova, Nina Berberova, Yury Felsen
  
• The Element in the Room - Helen Arney & Steve Mould
  
• A Time to Keep Silence - Patrick Leigh Fermor
  
• All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
  
  
• The Lark - Edith Nesbit
  
• Exit West - Mohsin Hamid
  
• The Cyberiad - Stanisław Lem
  
• Poems of Günter Grass - Günter Grass

( October reviewsCollapse )

( November reviewsCollapse )

This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1413319.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Christmas cold in full swing but I'm currently treating it with Edinburgh Gin's Christmas Gin and that's helping my mood if not the actual cold. At least Today and tomorrow I have to do almost nothing so reading my way through Yuletide is tomorrow's plan.

I have been utterly spoiled by Yuletide story this year because my anonymous author took two of my prompts (Little Women and Hamlet) and put them both together ♥

Each Word Made True and Good
Josie Brooke plays Horatio in a student production of Hamlet, and learns about patience, friendship, and love.

I also got a lovely little Yuletide treat about Josie too: Confidence

This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1413088.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

I know I've been a bit absent but ahead of the first Christmas Day I won't be having lunch at home (because my sister & her husband are hosting) here are a few of the silly, small things that always make me smile on Christmas Eve.

Seeing the cows (& sometimes calves) at the farm we collect our turkey from.

Discovering everyone's Christmas jumpers, hats, necklaces and other decorative clothing at the Crib Service (and that's just the sidesmen)

Away in a Manger with glowsticks waving like we're directing a plane in to land.

Being able to hand someone a glowstick, usually just as the service ends, and tell them it's free and it's been blessed and happy Christmas.

Mum's once a year home made Pork Pie.

A bath in the middle of the evening (this year I had to substitute a Karma bubble bar for my usual Christmas Eve one).

The moment the choir start singing the Schubert Mass in G and I know Christmas is really close.

The moment at the Peace in Midnight Mass when everyone spots we're past midnight.

Coming home after Midnight Mass for a glass of whiskey and a browse of the #clergymaltclub tag on twitter.



Happy Christmas everyone!

This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1412768.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

via GIPHY

In my (slow) walk to Mordor I've reached the point where Sam & Frodo are descending the cliffs in Emyn Muil and the rope unties itself. It's nice when I reach memorable bits.

Today (15 mintues left) is Ada Lovelace Day and I FINALLY got to Ada Lovelace Day Live this year. I mean I got there with about 2 mintues to spare but that's still in time.

There were 7 speakers all hosted by the always wonderful Helen Arney and it was such a wonderful, joyous mix. We learned about deep sea creatures and a universal influenza vaccine and watched that Mentos & Coke experiment taken to another level plus some interesting fluid dynamics with the help of paper plans. We also had the eternal questions "could Jurassic Park be real" (spoiler: NO) and then we learned how deep learning can allow a computer to "recognise beauty". What else?OH Statistics <3 I do love a bit of statistics and we heard about the gender paygap and how the more chocolate your country eats the more likely you are to win a Nobel Prize (no but really).

So that was fun. And more of you should come next year, or look for an event nearer to you because they had 170 events in 16 countries this year and are still growing.

Today has basically been work (with my almost entirely female team) then Rainbows (the girls made mascots... several of which were giraffes for no reason I could really understand) and then Ada Lovelace Day Live. I am feeling very #ThisGirlCan right now.

This entry was originally posted at https://morganmuffle.dreamwidth.org/1412588.html. Please comment there using OpenID.