cherry

A pressing question on my mind recently: When mistakes can't be undone, who will pick up the pieces?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I read an amazing book this past week on the 9.5 hours in total I spent on the train. I'm in the middle of reading about 3 other books right now, but they're all really big or hardbacks and heavy, so I had to choose something new to read. I honestly didn't expect to actually finish it all before the week was out.

I'm a slow reader, despite the fact that I studied literature as a specialist subject and even had a placement at a really good university. I try to read a lot when I have the time but no matter how often or how much I read I am still a slow reader. I've always had the greatest of ease understanding and remembering numbers but I've always had great difficulty with writing, spelling and reading.

Sometimes, however, I surprise myself.

Enough about my actual reading skills. The book I read was Emphyrio by Jack Vance



That's the original cover for the book and I really love it. I adore old books and I wish I could get my hands on a copy.

The legend of Emphyrio is a tricky one and I can't divulge anything without actually giving away the ending, so I won't. I will tell you, however, it's the perfect Sci Fi for me; that delicate balance between futuristic worlds, space ships, vaguely historical settings and social/political narrative.

The story itself has stood the test of time. I didn't realise until I was about half way through the book that Jack Vance is a Sci Fi author from the 60's (I've only just recently heard of him). The book was written in 1969 and is not only perfectly relevant today but it's entirely believable. There's so few books that stand up to the passage of time like that. The fact that it is based entirely on a far away planet thousands of years in the future doesn't hurt that, but there's something more that just makes it so utterly modern. I'm not sure I can put my finger on it.

I find it difficult to talk about books that I fall in love with, without giving away a critical part of the story. I always hold the hope that if I rave about something enough you'll go out and read it.

Have any of you already read it before? I'd love to know what you thought of it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been terrible at replying to comments on my last journal, as usual. I always mean so well to keep up with them, but I get so busy and sometimes I find it difficult to prioritise these things. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last week I took a last minute trip to Birmingham and got to spend a lovely couple of days with Frankie and her lovely man. They were both so generous in not only letting me stay at their home but also using their house and tattoo studio for shoots.

I had the immense pleasure of meeting and working with Sophie. That girl is amazingly beautiful! She went right on to shooting a set after a 5 hour (or so) tattoo session. I was amazed at her bravery.

I also got to meet some lovely new girls, and Blythe and Jackie were pretty awesome together too.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This week on Friday I'm off to London for a couple of days again (oh how I loathe going back to that city - it must be the most stressful place in the world for me to try and work, I swear). But, afterwards I get to go spend a few days with my lovelies Phinn and Akemi. I always miss them so much! And I can't wait to go to the beach again.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My hard drive still has not been replaced but I spent a small fortune on a nice external drive that looks a bit like Kit from Night Rider. I named him Phoenix and he's doing just great right now. It does however mean that I still have an incredible backlog of emails and sets. One day I will be totally backlog free. Ha. Yeah right.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



This was me 2 years and 4 days ago in Tokyo. This photo is very special to me.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As a final note: I'm really so incredibly tired all the time recently. I need to start making sure I have two days off a week, but right now I have so much to do it's just not feasible to take any time off from work at all. I feel like I'm going to burn out soon and it's not a very nice feeling.


:cherry:

mmmm... Science Fiction...