Barmy Blue's Bland Blog

Afternoon all. I don’t feel like writing a backdated event and I’m bored of saying I’ve got nothing but I thought I’d let you know I’m still here, it’s getting a bit old now I think. But, when I’m in the mood to write something decent I will, not before. So, I decided to tie this entry in with a little achievement. I’ve made 500 cranes woohoo. It’s half way to 1000. My hands hurt but mainly my left index finger from folding down the heads. It takes such a long time to prepare the paper (I couldn’t afford to look for/buy origami paper so I’m using plain A4 coloured paper) I have to quarter it, cut it into squares, seven different coloured sheets and with the off cuts I have to cut those into squares and fold them into little boxes to make dividers. All in all it takes longer to make the cranes than to thread them. Mum started helping me prepare the paper (I’d never let her fold it even if she could, I don’t think it has any meaning unless I fold the cranes myself). I thread 50 cranes onto some thread and start again. I tried reaching 100 but it would have been too long so it’s fifty and now I have 10 strings of 50 cranes, so just another 10 to go. I’ve been doing this since some time after the Christmas holiday I think, when I started to get worried about graduation (I’ve calmed down since, although the thought still depresses me a bit, so I don’t think about it) I have to finish them before I graduate, that’s my goal, so I’ve got a hell of a long way to go. Maybe I’ll put up some pictures when I’m done, maybe not. Would you believe I have a facebook account now? I did it for 2 reasons. 1; because my friends are on facebook and It was implied that I was missing out because I didn’t have it (I also figured it’d be a good way to keep in touch with them after graduation (that’s what got me so depressed about graduation by the way, loosing all the friends I’ve made at uni, specifically the JCS. We may not be best friends and I may not be privy to their secrets and inner workings but I don’t care. I acknowledge them as my friends (It usually takes me a long time to do that) and I’m happy with that as it is. It’s been a long time since I had a group of friends. I’ve even gone on days out with them now, isn’t that great)). Oh, and the second reason I got facebook was boredom .

It was recently mentioned that I should write blog entries like the one about Shang (Our rescued/abducted Christmas tree) I’m not sure if I’ll write an entry like that (that was one of those random events that rarely happen). (Oh, and Shang’s still in our garden by the way though he’s been looking a little dry. I was worried the cold might have been getting to him, since the was looking bad over Christmas so I brought him in (I was actually worried that he was frozen or something since his pot is still wrapped in red plastic (it keeps the squirrel out of him, and that’d definitely kill him) I punched some holes in the plastic, even though mum said we didn’t need to because it was loose enough around the trunk, so that the water could get in better) Trees drink a lot so I was worried he didn’t have enough water but we put him back outside again. He’s still looking dry but he has some new growth which looks promising. I’m so glad, I love that little tree, he’s quirky, then again what do you expect with a name like Shanghai? Seriously, other than me, who names a Christmas Tree Shanghai?).
But, I can write about some other trees, though it won’t be as quirky. We’ve acquired some bonsai trees. Mum bought some for her friend and her friend’s mother as birthday presents and got one for herself. She bought one at a garden centre for her friend’s mum and one in Tesco (yes they’re selling bonsai trees at the moment, who’d have thought) for her friend and while she was at it she got one for us too. I named it Chibi, I’m not entirely sure on the exact translation but I have the impression it means little, however I take it to mean small and cute, just because, so it perfectly fit this little tree. The idea was Chibi tree would be ours and the other (who was bought a week or two before (this is a semi important detail)) would be given to her friend. However, when the time came to take the tree in it was looking very dry and it’s leaves were dying here and there. In the end she took both trees with her and chose the best one at the time. It turned out that Chibi tree was the chosen one so we had the other one. Although at the time I preferred Chibi because it was cuter, this other one had prettier leaves. I looked up the name of the tree online (Tesco have these sticky labels on the back with the name) “Bonsai Serissa” yup, that’s really helpful Tesco, really helpful. All we know about it is that’s it’s name and they claim it’s 4 years old. Most of those bonsai’s they’ve sold will’ve been dead in a month (There’s also basic care instructions but nothing in depth) so I Googled serissa not expecting much (I mean, come on it doesn’t really sound that great, does it?) and discovered the most adorable name. According to Google search “Serissa Bonsai Tree of a Thousand Stars” Isn’t that just such a cute little name, tree of a thousand stars? I spent some time trying to come up with a good name for the tree (I’m not too happy with the result, because I’m adamant that we pronounce it wrong) I looked up star in Japanese, I considered thousand star but I only vaguely grasp the Japanese for 1000 years, not for 1000 as a number (I can’t be sure if they’re they same or not and I didn’t want to take that risk), I didn’t want to call it thousand year star, that’d be tempting fate (to kill it in an instant out of sick irony) so it’s just star, as I’ve seen it written on a few websites I searched at the time. Hoshi. The tree is called Hoshi. Thing is, in Enterprise there was a character called Hoshi (yes, for some reason I remember that, even though it was nearly a year ago that I was watching it) so that’s how I pronounce it. I guarantee it’s wrong but it’s easier to say and besides, it’s our tree, we can call it what we like. A few weeks ago mum bought another one that we think is the same breed as Chibi, so this is the new Chibi tree, but now Hoshi is most definitely my favourite. Although mum waters them both we’ve decided to have a tree each. Seeing as I put so much effort into naming it (and I prefer it anyway) Hoshi is unofficially my tree and Chibi is hers. Oh, and by the way, Hoshi’s gotten better now.