Better on the Rewatch

Back when I first watched the Chinese drama You Are My Glory I wasn't all that impressed; I liked the actors and the romance but felt a lot of peripherals got in the way. Since the lead actor is gorgeous but has always been a little controversial, and lately is getting slammed by his critics for the poor quality of his performances and other issues (which frankly seem pretty contrived), I decided to watch it again.

I came away from it thinking better of the entire series. Part of that has to do with me becoming more accustomed to Chinese productions and the usual problems with them, just as I eventually got used to most Japanese dramas being overly arty, pointless and depressing. The other is I'm stepping away from my Westerner point of view and trying to see these series impartially -- which, I admit, I'll never be able to do completely -- and take away more about the story and less about the politics.

The story remains unlikely, but I liked it better this time. I ignored what bothered me during my first viewing and focused on the characters and how they were portrayed. I also followed the romance a little more closely and watched for signs that I might have missed. One thing I did notice this time is how conflicted the lead male is over nearly every aspect of his life outside aerospace engineering (and even at work he has a couple of moments of doubt and fear.) Since I've lived with the same barrage of conflicts with my work I sympathized more with him this time around.

The series still has the same problems, but it is well done, and if you can ignore the annoying elements is very absorbing. Available on Viki.com.

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Downsizing

This was my fabric stash once I sorted everything -- 22 full bins. I spent a day taking out and boxing up what I could part with, with the goal of trying to reduce it by half, so I'd have 11 bins. I was very strict with myself, and removed everything that for one reason or another I was sure I wouldn't be able to use. This is what I ended up with -- 12 bins of fabric that I'm keeping. It's not quite half, but close enough. Half of what I took out went to a local quilter friend, a school and Goodwill. These four tightly-packed bins will be going to the local quilting guild once I make arrangements with them for a drop-off place. I am relieved and a little sad and now determined to control my impulses to thrift more fabric. I don't want to do this again, so until I use up six bins, I can't for any reason bring any new fabric into the house.

In Progress

I promised myself I would show you the good, bad and ugly of my cleaning this year. This is what it looks like when you dump thirty years' worth of stashed fabric on the floor -- and oy, what a pain in the butt to pick up again! This is what it looks like after it's been sorted, folded and placed in containers, which took me about a week. Now the hard part is to downsize my stash by at least half, I think (that's my goal, anyway.) I've already e-mailed the president of the local quilting guild, a local friend who is a quilter, and a public school art teacher I know to see if I can donate some of the excess to them. The rest will go to Goodwill. Already I've reduced my vintage textiles from two bins to one, and my scraps from three bins to one. It's probably the hardest clean-out I've done, which is why I saved it until last. I know I have too much fabric, more than I can use in my lifetime -- but at the same time, I love it. So I have to

Other Stashes

Along with clearing out the spare bedroom and tidying my office and our guest bedroom, I decided to reorganize some of my stashes. This is all the yarn I have on hand, sorted by color. It looks like a lot, but lately I've been using up a minimum of half a bin every month, so this is approximately a year's supply. All of my solid color cotton perle thread. I go through a lot of this every year, too. I need a container in which I can fit all of it together, but I haven't found the right one yet. I won't show you all of my fabric -- I'm still reorganizing this stash -- but I went through everything and donated two bins of fabric I won't need to the local quilter's guild.

Valerean

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