Back to Routines [What's Up Wednesday]

It's Wednesday and summer in the Rivera household is officially over. My husband went back to work yesterday, so we are reconstructing normal sleep cycles and I'm doing what I can to build a routine for myself. That's a little bit of What's up this Wednesday (thanks to Jamie Morrow for asking!), here's the rest:

What I'm Reading

I am having so much fun in the reading realm this week! The first book I am reading right now is Fangirl by Rainbow Rowel. I LOVE it. I am intentionally not rushing through it because I can already tell it is a book I will mourn over. I already don't want it to end and I haven't even reached page 100.

Who Owns the Future? by Jaron Lanier is an audiobook I just started yesterday while doing my around the house chores. This book is going to blow my mind. As a person who spends a good portion of her life online, I can just feel that this book is going to lead to a personal paradigm shift.

Thinking in Numbers by Daniel Tammet is the other audiobook that I started this weekend in celebration of school starting up. I was incredibly distracted while this one was playing, so I know I am going to have to go back and re-listen to what I heard so far because somewhere in there Mr. Tammet said that he looks at the connection(s) between fiction and mathematics - I can't think of anything cooler!

What I'm Writing

I started my Memory Project on Monday (The Memory Project Begins). I wrote down my first memory story inspired by Zeppoles. While I am happy with what I wrote, officially starting the project has planted some seeds of insecurity as I wrote about in today's Insecure Writer's Support Group post.

My writing goals for this week are:

•  to write at least one blog post every week day (which will require scheduling ahead to guard against my sick days that will, unfortunately, show), 
• to write at least one "memory" for the Memory Project before next Wednesday
• to submit something to my writing group (meeting this Saturday) for critique

What Inspires Me Right Now

The empty house.

It's just me and Champ (my dog) until about 4PM each day. Of course I have a ton of chores to do and next week is going to be my disability hearing (meaning that at some point soon I am going to melt down from the nerves), but in the in between there is quiet and one thing I have learned is that:

What Else I'm Up To

I am embracing a Japanese tradition. I am creating 1000 origami cranes. When I first heard about it, the legend was that the person who creates 1000 cranes gets cured of an illness, which sounded awesome to me. After researching it to begin, I found out that it is actually that the creator is granted a wish - not too bad either. As of this writing I am up to 70 cranes and I find the entire process very relaxing. I make cranes while watching movies. I make cranes while on hold during stressful phone calls. I make cranes all over the place. Here are some pictures of my cranes so far:

My 1000 Cranes

According to Japanese legend, a person who makes 1000 origami cranes is granted a wish. In fact, when I first heard the legend it was that the creator would be cured of an illness.

I am a big believer in all types of things, particularly those types of things that can't hurt you if you try them. I have decided that I am going to make 1000 cranes in the hopes that the gods smile down upon their beauty and help me find my path to health.

Yesterday I found a book of almost 900 pages of origami paper to get me started. It wasn't easy for me to figure out to make a crane, but finally, the follwing YouTube video came in handy:



Last night I made my first 14 cranes.I have read that I need to create the thousand within one year's time. I don't see why I shouldn't be able to do this.

Have you heard of the Japanese legend of 1000 cranes?

If you were granted one wish for making 1000 origami cranes, what would you wish for?