Showing posts with label borzoi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label borzoi. Show all posts

Thursday, 19 April 2018

(Not so) Small Update-y Post

So just a little post between reviews to so a mini update. Work has been busy, I've been doing overtime almost every week, things have been starting to change staff-wise and routine-wise and not necessarily for the better. It sounds like things might get worse before they get better as well. I'd like to do something else but I haven't a clue what. I'm hoping to learn to drive over the summer so maybe that'll open things up a little bit more.

Things with the dog are busy as well, we ended up ordering him a crate this payday because he keeps eating the furniture while we're out, especially in the day, so it's now trying to get him used to that. I bought a new training book online last payday so we'll have to see how that goes, I just need to finish reading it first.
Photo of Forest to break things up :D
Onto the blog itself. As you may have noticed there's been a bit of a name change. With all the recent gun violence in the US 'bulletproof' felt a bit insensitive even if I did originally get it from a My Chemical Romance song. I did ask Twitter but no-one responded but it didn't matter because the new name came to me just as I was trying to go to sleep. Things are looking a bit bland at the moment because I need to make a new banner, I'm hoping to draw a little owl graphic for it when I get a chance. I haven't drawn anything since before Christmas so my drawing hand is a little rusty.

Now as for blog content as you may or may not have noticed that I've kind of abandoned my 'Song of the Week' feature. I must admit I didn't really think it through and I kind of ran out of ideas so I am going to drop it in that format. BUT I will still be doing a music feature, just not for a little while yet. I suddenly remembered the 100 Day Song Challenge, it was originally conceived on Facebook and apparently moved to it's own website here at some stage where it's up to 381 days. What I plan to do is write it out in a notebook and plot out what songs I'm going to do as far in advance as I can and then I will create the posts and then schedule them, probably for a Friday because I work all day Friday and don't go on the computer so nothing else will get in their way.

So that is my plan because I still want music to have some kind of feature on here. I will hopefully create a few wishlist posts here and there as well, not necessarily on a Wednesday though which seems to have become the norm.

Stef Out x

Wednesday, 18 October 2017

Long Time No Post + NaNo Questions From PaperFury

So... It's been a while. That potential dog I was talking about? 



Meet Ryazan Fingal aka 'Forest'! He is a purebred Borzoi and at the moment he's 5 and a half months old. He was born 7th May and we brought him home 12th July! It has been a whirlwind and things haven't really stopped since then. We must be mad because we're now thinking about possibly putting or names down with a couple of sighthound rescues and hope they're OK with flats and enthusiastic puppies 😆 LOL!

So now onto the main reason for this post: the yearly tradition that is National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo! I attempt most years and have yet to succeed. Last year I got to 29k words which I was pretty pleased with and that was with a fairly solid idea and lots of laptop time. This year my idea is much more vague and I'm planning on hand writing so not exactly a recipe for success... But hey I'm gonna try!
  1. What inspired the idea for your novel, and how long have you had the idea? The base idea came to me as I was trying to get to sleep one night a couple of months ago.
  2. Describe what your novel is about! It's about the truth behind family and heritage. There will be magic and faeries.
  3. What is your book’s aesthetic? Use words or photos or whatever you like! 
  4. Introduce us to each of your characters! Lindy is the main character, she has black curly hair, ice blue eyes, tanned skin. She is queer and trans and love goth/strega fashion. Her mum is Andrea, who is pale, blonde and petite and they look nothing alike (sets off story). Sadie is Lindy's supportive best friend who has red frizzy hair and loves research. Onyx is one of the first figures Lindy meets on her journey, she is not human and has very dark skin and white hair. Fennel is a pure white talking Borzoi (pictured above). Villains of the story are Mallick and Magda.
  5. How do you prepare to write? (Outline,
    research, stocking up on chocolate, howling, etc.?) Come up with a vague plot and some characters, start writing, panic when things don't go to plan (I never properly plan because planned chapter 7 always ends up happening in chapter 2 and it's frustrating), drink copious amounts of tea and hot chocolate.
  6. What are you most looking forward to about this novel? Seeing if I can actually tie this thing together into something that makes sense.
  7. List 3 things about your novel’s setting. Forests that appear purple, crystal clear lagoons, British secondary school.
  8. What’s your character’s goal and who (or what) stands in the way? To find out the truth about herself, her whole identity is tied up in knots. Her mother is a primary block in refusing to tell her the truth. Mallick is the other block in her accepting her future.
  9. How does your protagonist change by the end of the novel? She has matured, accepted her differences and even embraced them. She willingly takes the role she's meant to.
  10. What are your book’s themes? How do you want readers to feel when the story is over? "Choice not chance determines destiny". I want them to be able to accept their differences as a part of them and embrace themselves.

Thursday, 13 April 2017

A Small Update Part 2

So this is the promised part 2. This is mostly about my New Year's Resolutions here.

Most of them will not get done and it's all the wardrobes fault. So January we bought the new wardrobes. They're bigger than the old ones which was fine in my room since there was nothing else in the way. But in mum's room there was a bookcase between the wardrobe and the door that would no longer fit. So that led to buying a new bookcase (it was a weird size, 30-something centimetres, so a half one was a bit small but full size wouldn't fit, eBay came up with the goods but it was white so we covered it with beech-effect sticker stuff) for there. The one that was there moved to the corner but there wasn't quite room so that led to a half size one being bought for that space (in our flat if there's a space, there's a bookcase).

With all this going on mum did some rearranging in her room and I did some tidying in mine. This somehow led to buying myself a new bed - which is shorter than average so we're going to buy me another new one and this one will replace her ancient one. Mine was getting a bit old and worn plus the new one/s are divan beds with storage which is good for thick jumpers and seasonal stuff aka Christmas jumpers. A lot of the storage in my room is made up of these plastic drawers. Two side by side in front of the window for leggings, hats, scarves etc, and two on top of each other by my wooden drawers for underwear.



As I'm getting older I'm realising they don't look brilliant so they are being replaced with wooden drawers this payday including one extra for mum. One of the plastic drawers - the colourful one - is relocating to the living room for stationery and art stuff.

So as you can gather a couple of wardrobes have snowballed into furniture in general. I've already mentioned another bed. There's also going to be a big chest of drawers for mum since here's has been crap all the years we've had it. Then there's the new sofas - the others were emergency stop-gaps 4 years ago. Plus I need a new desk and I think mum mentioned something about a sideboard. There was also going to be another bookcase but mum rescued a wardrobe our neighbour was chucking out and she's hand-making one out of that and some other wood. She collects wood. And loves DIY.

I have penciled in getting my New Rocks and a couple of other bits for September and October but otherwise for the most part each payday is taken up by furniture. I did get my new camera February or March (Sony Cybershot HX60) which is awesome. But it means things like piercings, tattoos and learning to drive are getting pushed back to next year.

As for a dog... I'll keep an eye out but who knows. We almost ended up with a puppy but we kept being given the run around about what was available between two different people so we said thanks but no thanks. One's adverts suggested that underage puppies were available straight away and the other turned out to be in an area known for puppy farming. Considering how rare Borzoi are they seem to have puppies available way too often. The decent breeders will only do a litter a year at the most, more likely every couple of years. At this stage if it happens it happens. I'm doing regular checks and I'm going to email a couple of breeders to express interest.

Also in case anyone comes by and mentions adopting. With a dog I am less experienced and unsure of one with an unknown history. Also a lot of rescue centres say no outright to flats or not having a garden whereas breeders are likely to be more willing to work with you. Plus I am supporting a rare breed, and I will know the puppies history and be able to meet possibly both parents and I really like that aspect.

However once I get a dog, rare breed or not she (or he) will be spayed or neutered. I don't support keeping dogs entire unless for very good reason. Too many dogs and breeds are being overbred (Staffies, Chihuhuas, Pugs, French Bulldogs, to name a few).

Anyway this'll do for now. I've got some posts on basic plus size Goth fashion in the works so they'll be up soon-ish.

Stef Out x

Sunday, 1 January 2017

New Years Resolutions 2017

Last year I had a massive list of 34 resolutions separated into 3 categories of which I achieved 7 and two of those were halves. *sigh* This year I have a more manageable list of 22.
  1. Get my septum pierced.
  2. Get my ear re-pierced.
  3. Get at least one other piercing.
  4. Get at least one tattoo - cover-up or otherwise.
  5. Lose at least 2 stone.
  6. Refine my personal style.
  7. Learn to drive.
  8. Get a dog (preferably a Borzoi - to be followed by a Shetland Sheepdog).
  9. See a stage show.
  10. Go to Longleat Safari Park.
  11. Go out for a meal.
  12. Read at least 100 books.
  13. Read 'A Song of Ice and Fire'.
  14. Watch at least 100 films.
  15. Buy a new camera.
  16. Buy an iPod Classic.
  17. Buy some New Rock boots.
  18. Buy new wardrobes.
  19. Buy new sofas.
  20. Finish the first draft of my novel.
  21. Blog once a month.
  22. Improve my art.
So that's my list. I haven't even bothered to categorise it like last year. I've also left off some of the less achievable things like 'go on a date' XD knowing my history that's kind of unlikely. And things like art goals tend to get forgotten. We'll just have to see what happens.

Sunday, 3 January 2016

New Years Resolutions 2016

So I thought I'd post my list of resolutions here just so I've got a digital record. Dunno why, just thought I would. :)

Personal/Appearance

  1. Get my right ear re-pierced
  2. Get my septum pierced
  3. Get my ears pierced at least once more
  4. Start stretching my ears (once healed)
  5. Get an industrial piercing
  6. Get my cover-up tattoo
  7. Dye my hair purple
  8. Dye my hair with henna
  9. Lose at least 2 stone - more like 1
  10. Refine/establish my personal style
Finance Related
  1. Learn to drive
  2. Get a dog (preferably a Borzoi)
  3. Buy a laptop
  4. Buy an iPod Classic
  5. Get Netflix
  6. Upgrade the car - battery changed
  7. Buy a new camera
  8. See Mamma Mia on stage
  9. Get Amazon Prime
  10. Buy a new phone
General Goals/Aims
  1. Read at least 100 books
  2. Read A Song of Ice and Fire series
  3. Watch at least 100 films
  4. Discover 2 new shows
  5. Discover 2 new bands/singers
  6. Blog at least once a month
  7. Do more book reviews
  8. Improve my equine art
  9. Improve my human art
  10. Learn to draw dogs
  11. Learn to draw cats
  12. Draw a self portrait
  13. Finish the first draft of my novel
  14. Go on a date
Naturally some of these are more achievable than others. For example the 100 books and films. My challenge history on Goodreads has me at over 100 every year but one where it looks like I didn't set a challenge. In 2013 I even read 213 although it looks like it was a year for short books like my Animal Ark collection (which I did finally let go of last year, at 25 I guess I'm a little older than the target market).

Go on a date seems unlikely but I still wanted to add it. Upgrade the car currently means fix it since the battery appears to have died so depending how things go that may count as that goal being completed.

Oddly things as easy as getting pierced seem to slip furthest down the list. Get my septum pierced has been on my resolutions list since at least 2013 (can't be arsed to check my older diaries) yet I still haven't got round to it. Mum may be tricky regarding the stretching. She's fine with me punching a ton of holes in my ears (almost encourages it) but she hates stretched ears that you can see through. Luckily I wasn't planning on going that big, an 8 or 6 maybe and the only reason I'd actually wear tunnels is so I can still wear my other dangly earrings, unless I just wear them in the next hole up.

Also while it does say about losing weight up there it's not my highest priority. I do want to lose some and I know I need to - my blood pressure has been up my last two nurses visits and while it may be stress related (old awful job the first, starting a new job on Christmas the second and cuffs/machines not working both times) it may also be weight related since I have put some back on. I don't want to be taken of contraception I know works thanks to weight (that happened before at my old surgery). And also I want to wear nicer clothes. I want to fit into Joe Browns main range and all the cool Gothy brands I see around. I want to find the right stuff to be able to wear Dark Mori without looking like I'm wearing a sack. I'm not doing any diets or anything. I'm just walking to and from work and I hope to set up a swimming membership at some point. Possibly around March. Finances should be more free by then. I have a list of books as long as my arm for January and hopefully a laptop for novelling in February. Course it all depends on how much I get and how much mum needs for household stuff.

Sunday, 5 October 2014

Blogtober Day 5 - Do You Have A Bucket List?

I've never really thought about a bucket list as such. I have one of those 101 in 1001 days lists: http://dayzeroproject.com/user/nemostar/list/81097 but that's about it.

OK so here's a hastily thought out bucket list:
  1. Get a Borzoi
  2. Learn to drive
  3. Buy a house
  4. Meet someone and get married
  5. Go to Glastonbury festival
  6. Go to at least one other festival - would have loved Reading 2013, The Cure were playing!
  7. Go camping with my significant other
  8. Get all the tattoos I have planned
  9. Get all the piercings I have planned
  10. Go to Canada
  11. Go to New Zealand
  12. Learn to horse ride
  13. Go skydiving
  14. Ride a roller coaster
I think a list of 10 is enough to be going on with for now - yeah I updated it to 14 XD. See you tomorrow for Day 6 :)

Have a gorgeous Borzoi!