peach-coloured crayon

i get distracted easily. how easily? think dory. i started to see it as a problem when i realised i couldn't read beyond of few paragraphs (mmm, sentences?) of a book before putting it down and doing something random that popped up in my mind (ooh shiny!). i often find myself getting back to my dishes at least 5 times and would still not have finished washing them. and it occurred to me that this lack of concentration was probably my main weakness when i sat for my jlpt paper in 2007. while the rest of the paper wasn't so difficult for me, the first long passage in the reading section was a complete train wreck. my heart was palpatating and i was desperately wanting to control-tab.

that's why concentration appeared on my resolution list. and i'm glad to say my kitchen sink has never been emptier. not any shiner though, just emptier. i've also been making myself read for a longer period of time. say a few pages at a time. heh.

i borrowed chihiro iwasaki's ももいろのクレヨン from the library a couple of days ago and since it was a simple illustrated book, i could go through it pretty fast. chihiro iwasaki is a well-loved children's book illustrator and her water colours are soft, wistful and amazingly beautiful. i've always been very drawn to her works, but then again, with most popular artists, most people are. but reading the book - a compilation of her sketches, extracts from her diary and the letters she wrote - and a biography of her life in a magazine that i borrowed at the same time, gave me a little insight into her life. and now, her illustrations are more than just beautiful pictures to me. her words struck a chord with me and i now understand why the characters she drew often had the distant look on their faces.


i especially loved the illustration of a little black cat in the book and knew i couldn't imitate it even if i tried. so i photocopied and pasted it into my journal. it also reminded me of the photograph i wish i took few days ago - of a black cat on a street covered with freshly fallen snow.

the librarian told me there is a chihiro art musuem in tokyo. i suppose i will be making my way back to tokyo again. when spring comes.