Book 1 – Frankenstein

First book of the year read.

I decided to go for another classic as my first book of the year. I love classic literature and have read many, but I had never bothered with “Frankenstein; or, the Modern Day Prometheus”, to give it the full title. I think it was due to the constant stream of films that were based, however loosely on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel, don’t you just love her name?

As it was written in 1817 the language is quite different to ours 203 years later, with words changing meaning over the centuries, but the darkness in the tale is very apparent. Not that that was a problem, as mentioned, I have read many classics and gothic novels. One thing that did strike me was how different the novel is to the films. I felt like I was reading a different book to that of the depictions of cinema. Frankenstein was horrified by his creation but lacked the ability to kill it, so ran from it. The monster fled and learned to speak whilst hiding and spying on a family, helping them out without them ever knowing, When he came face to face with Frankenstein later, he told him of his journey after rejection and promised to destroy everything Frankenstein ever loved. As a result, Frankenstein lost his family and loved ones at the hand of his monster, who followed him about the world including the UK. But the most surprising thing was this was all told to someone on a ship whilst they looked for the monster and relayed via letter. Again, never depicted.

I have always ran by the fact, to me at least, that a book is much better than the film or TV show of it, and this book proved again to me that it was.

Educational Courses…

As part of my New Year Resolutions, I said that I wanted to learn new things. so I have enrolled in a few courses.  My 4 courses are  (1) Screenwriting, (2) Mathematic cryptarithms & symbologies, (3) Copyrighting, (4) Novel Analysis.  Yes, I know, a bit of a wildcard in there with the mathematics, but English and Maths are passions of mine, and I have always loved and been quite good at both, that is why I did a degree in English Language and Literature.

I love education and if I had my way, I would spend 8am until 5pm Monday to Friday in a classroom learning everything.  I have a good memory, and M has complimented me on my knowledge of many things, which is nice to hear as he is very clever too and is a microelectronic technician and has designed and built CAT scan machines, which, ironically enough due to his illnesses he has had a great use of in the hospitals.  I loved school and stayed on and did the extra year of O levels, then did my two years of A levels, but at the same time I also went to night school and did more O and A levels, and continued with night school every year until 1998.  Through the years I have done Psychology, Sociology, Japanese Language & Culture, Archaeology, Equality & Diversity, and many many more.

 

To Hot to Drop Stitches

Because of the unprecedented fabulous weather we are having at the moment, I am writing this in the garden in direct scorching sunlight with Stone Sour on my headphones, and so I have not been doing any knitting, not a jot in the last 10 days.

Rather than sit in the lounge, or on the patios and knit, I have been sitting in the sun, slowly developing my tan, I say slowly as after 30 minutes in direct sun I move to the shade as I don’t want to burn and look like an old Peruvian Sherpa.

With sunbathing comes great responsibility; barbeques are aplenty, music is essential, especially to drown out the sound of a neighbour’s twins screeching because they cannot get their own way, and a load of books that need to be read, both in physical and e-book form.  On the barbeque front, we have managed to have 12 so far and summer has just started. Musically, I love my heavy metal, but rather than have my favourite bands tear down the walls, I tend to have Radio 6 Music on the go, that is if I do not have my cans on.

I keep looking at all my yarn stash and think I really need to get moving on all the stuff I need to make, finish making, and really want to make, but unless it starts raining and the temperature drops, that really isn’t an option.  At night in the winter my needles are going all the time, but at night I am ploughing through books, which is another passion of mine, as I love literature, especially the classics, it is why I decided to my degree in English Language and Literature.

Our summer last year was mostly rain and the odd hot day, so lots of knitting was done especially socks. I wonder how many of you out there find that knitting seems to be a seasonal thing too? Those that live in hot climates probably do not have that problem, but we are about 880 miles away from the arctic circle, so a hot summer is quite rare, however, because of the jet stream we rarely get really bad winters, and the coldest I have ever recorded was -18, which came with two foot of snow and a complete standstill of transport.

Maybe I should take up knitting lace work, that is light weight, and looks quite complex.

Thirst for Knowledge

I love to learn, oh, how I love to learn.  I am 46 years old and have done educational courses close to all my life.  Starting school at 4, I carried on in education till I had done my 6th form, then college, University, night school, on-line distance learning courses, day schools, part-time courses to fit into everyday life.  I have done it all.  This year is no exception.

I have started to do many courses this year, so far the list is Physics (Higgs Bosun), Forensic Science & Criminal Justice, English Literature (Shakespeare) and Mental Health.  Quite a varied set of subjects, but I have decided that this will be my year for learning, and as such I have signed up for many more courses to complete throughout the year.  Time is of the essence in all of them, and, of course understanding the subject.

Physics so far has been the main challenge, trying to get a grip of things like Newtonian Dynamics & Conservation Laws, and Harmonic Oscillators.  So far so good, and I have scored 89% on the tests, so I must be getting something right, but boy, it is tough going.  Literature on the other hand really is my bag.  I love literature in its many forms including classics, poetry and contemporary works.  Forensics is something I always wanted to do and was considering it at degree level, but instead opted for English Language and Literature.

I will see how I get on and see where this journey of education takes me.  One of the courses finishes next week, so I will be looking to fill that gap with another course, I wonder what it will be, maybe history? or more science? maybe something completely different, but one thing is for sure, I will fill that gap and I will succeed in my challenge.