hmpf

Why do so many Brits actually look so British? Do many Germans actually look German? Do I? Aren't we middle to northern Europeans all more or less of the same stock now, after so many centuries of intermingling and intermixing? Why do I have such a big thing for British (male) facial types? And is this reason enough to seriously contemplate moving to Britain?

(I am roughly half serious here.)

... were the two seemingly antithetical results of my short but 'intense' trip to Britain. The physical exhaustion, a result of travelling 18 hours by coach, showed as a desire to sleep through all of Monday, interrupted only by two hours of work in the evening. The - unexpected! - mental relaxation showed as sudden inspiration to vid and make jewellery. Granted, not the most intelligent thing to do when you have a deadline for your thesis and still no idea what to write, and I would probably have appreciated a sudden *thesis-related* inspiration more... But, having stifled most of my creative impulses for months now, until I eventually nearly lost them, I decided to give in to them this time.

Vidding didn't go too well (see previous entry *g*), but jewellery making did. I've started making a necklace for my mother, one I promised her so many years ago it's not even funny. She had these labradorite beads, and I wanted to make something really nice from them, but wasn't really happy with any idea I had over the years. I've now ended up using a very simple idea that came to me literally in my sleep. It truly is ridiculously simple, but I think that's why I like it - all the more 'sophisticated' ideas I had earlier just didn't fit the beads very well, but simplicity does. Plus, I get to melt lots of little blobs of silver for this design, and there are few things more relaxing and satisfying - nor more foolproof! - than melting metal. (Seriously! You try it! *g*) And then I get to hit the blobs with a hammer a lot - also foolproof and relaxing. (This is what goldsmithing-as-therapy would look like, I tell you.) The only thing about this necklace that may get the least bit tricky is the clasp, but I'll manage that as well, I'm sure. Maybe I'll think of a very simple mechanism for it... *g*

Oh, and I still haven't told you about the insane trip *to* Britain, have I? That really deserves an epic poem... I'm not sure I'm up to that today.

After two abortive attempts in 1999 and 2000(?) I'm finally going to a Highlander con, it seems. Like the last time, I bought the ticket off someone who couldn't go - (((rasmizar))) - but unlike the last time, the con will (I hope!) actually take place (last time it was cancelled just a couple of weeks after I bought the ticket, and I never saw my money again). Weird thing - rasmizar's ticket is for preferred seating and includes autographs. That's weird for me because I'm really not interested in autographs, and asking anybody for one is an activity that's not exactly high on my list of priorities. If it hadn't been for rasmizar's need to sell the ticket, I would probably have gotten the cheaper version, without autographs. But, hey, I guess I could simply get the autographs and give them to her, so she won't feel quite as bad about not being able to go there. :-)

Well... fleta-BABE and beccadg-BABE, you still looking for someone to share a room with? ;-) (Or, if that's not an option, I'll have to find my own room.)

Got a cheap deal on the plane ticket, too, so that's nice.

So, who else is going to be there? I'm a bit of a latecomer to this party...

***

To Whom It May Concern: I will be in Britain from the evening of March 7, leaving for Germany again on the 17th. I'll probably be in Plymouth for the first third of my stay, then go to Leeds for the con (10.-12.). I have no set plans for what I'm going to do after the con yet. That means: if you would like to meet me, drop me a mail or a reply here, and we can try to work something out. It's not a lot of time, but I'm better rested now than I was in August, when I basically slept all through my visits at ommadon's, aminspace's and torneledhwen's, so maybe I can see you all in one frantic round-trip without falling into a coma again. ;-)