Athena

Congrats ! (edit: that was @Inver). Good luck Lilywhite ! I'm also trying to lose weight (didn't gain any during the holidays, lost a bit instead due to illness). I used to be really thin (too thin), since a while I'm on medication (for my condition) that makes me gain weight (it's changed my whole metabolism). I don't want to go back to how thin I used to be before I used any medication, but I do want to lose some weight. I'll be quitting my medication after I graduate, so hopefully then it'll be easier to lose weight. I'll also have more energy to do more exercise, I plan to exercise more once I graduate. When I was a child, I was never hungry. I only ate "because I had to". I didn't like much food. If I didn't eat, I got cranky but didn't know why. I've taught myself to eat at certain times, because if I didn't I'd feel terrible. I was really thin, not that nice to look at imo. When I was a teenager I got depressed (and had too much input). I was put on medication eventually, and this made me feel hunger! Food has been tasting so much better ever since. I gained some weight and went off the medication once my depression was over. My weight was fine at this point. Since a few years, I've been needing medication to combat my problems with input (especially sound) again. They changed my metabolism, made it a lot more efficient. I've gotten even hungrier. It's weird because one moment I'm fine, the next I feel like I'm going to fall over if I don't eat anything. Because I'm used to eating at certain times, I try not to eat outside these times. I've tried to eat healthier too, and still am. I'm not sure how much effect it has on my weight, I've been eating less fatty things etc. for more than half a year now but my weight hasn't gone down that much. Anyway, once I graduate I'll do more exercise, that might help a bit for my weight too. I don't really like exercising, but I'm going to do a couple of things that I do enjoy doing or that I at least don't mind doing too much.

I'm about 300 pages into Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson - Wheel of Time #13: Towers of Midnight (out of 941 pages). The book is great so far, I'm really enjoying it. The letters are a bit small compared with some other books (not too small, though), so it takes some time to read (a lot of words on one page). I haven't been reading as much the past while, partially because I've been recovering from the flu and partially because my boyfriend's here and I've been spending time with him and watching more tv etc (I sometimes have periods when I read more and when I read less). My boyfriend is from the UK and comes to stay with me for a few weeks, every month or two months. We plan on living together in a while, that should make things easier I think.

That sounds amazing!! Congrats .

Awwww what a sweet dog, he looks cute! Congratulations on his birthday. That's true, the feathers look a lot like fur. They're called 'zijdehoenders', looking on Wikipedia it appears they are called 'Silkie' in English (link), at least the pictures are very similar. We also have chicken who are meant to lay lots of eggs, they are kind of a standard breed but I'm not sure what they are called. They could be Leghorn, but I'm purely basing that on looks. Then we have another breed but I'm also not sure what this is called. It could be Wyandotte, based on looks. My mum would know perhaps but it's her birthday today so she's busy talking with visitors.

No problem, you're free to ask . It's not health-related. When deciding what master programme to do, the health programme was one of the options but I didn't pick it. What I'm doing has more application in devices (ie. electronic devices) and lights etc.

I haven't read them yet but I bought the omnibus. So sorry can't help you but wanted to say I may read them in the coming year.

Thanks! I'll tell you about my current research if you want to know (didn't have time yesterday). I'm coding and performing simulations of a system with two types of particles in it, big spheres and tetrahedral clusters of spheres (four spheres attached to each other). These particles could be colloids (small particles, their dimensions are often in the nanometer or micrometer regime). Here's an old picture of the system, just to give you an idea. The system is here in a liquid state, I figured you'd be able to see it better this way rather than when the system is in a solid state.

I do have a lot of fun at home yes . Thanks to you both!

Sounds lovely!

I recognise quite a few of those books there, they are either on my wishlist or on my TBR list. I look forward to hear what you think of them.

I've read Stephen Erikson - Gardens of the Moon many years ago, back when I just started to read fantasy books (when I was a teenager). I found it to be really complicated and didn't enjoy it that much. Maybe now that I'm older I should give it another go!

I love home made pizza! Enjoy . What kind of toppings do you put on it? (apologies if you've mentioned it before in this topic) It's my mum's birthday this weekend so we'll have a special meal tonight, we call it 'gourmetten'. We use kind of a big grill with little pans underneath, to cook meat (several different kinds of meat). Underneath you can cook vegetables, little bacon bits we call 'spekjes' and egg (from our own chicken). The picture on this site might help. We eat homemade bread with it today as well as lettuce and other cold vegetables. I'm looking forward to it.

You're welcome , I hope you can find them. Well the goats are most of the time behind a fence, Pamuk's fine with them (generally they leave each other in peace) but Boris is so young he wants to play with them! But goats play differently than dogs, so it's not a good idea (one of them could get injured). We try to tell him not to play with them (he tries to play even if they are behind a fence) but he keeps trying so far . Thanks for those topics! Sure I can try that, I think Thea Beckman's a great author.

I'm glad you like them . I took some pictures of the goats and chicken: The goats: The chicken: And another one of the dogs:

Yep I live on a farm (though we don't have cows or sheep or anything). My parents own the farm and I'm living with them until I'm done studying (which should hopefully be in about half a year). I prefer to travel to university and live here in this beautiful house, rather than living in a room on my own. Our farm is from I think 1629, so it's quite old. Here's a picture of it, this picture was taken before we moved in (about 12-13 years ago), so it's not recent, but I really love this picture. I'd be happy to tell you more about my research some time, but I have to go now, sorry!

Nearly all of the time I finish the book I start reading, though I have abandoned a few books in the past (only a few though). Last year I didn't pick up any books that didn't hold my interest . The books I read last year were all average to excellent. I haven't abandoned a book for a few years now. So it's a combination of both, really.

Thanks for your welcome! Hmm, well there are some Dutch books I like. Unfortunately there are very few Dutch books in two of my favourite genres, namely fantasy and science-fiction. Some of my favourite Dutch authors though write books for children or young adults, since I used to read much more Dutch when I was younger. Thea Beckman is one of my favourite Dutch authors, she writes mostly historical novels, for young adults. Crusade in Jeans (Kruistocht in Spijkerbroek in Dutch) is my favourite book by her. It's about a boy who gets teleported to the time when there were children's crusades. Thea Beckman has also written a science-fiction trilogy, the first book is called Kinderen van Moeder Aarde, which I love. It takes place in the future and is about two different countries, one ruled by men and military might and another ruled by women and non-violence. I don't know how many of her books have been translated (I don't know if you or anyone here can read Dutch?), though she is pretty famous (Crusade in Jeans has been translated). It's strange because I'm normally not one for historical novels but I love her books. I should reread them sometime (though I don't own all of her books.. maybe I should rectify that XD)! Another book I really liked is Anna Blaman - Op Leven en Dood, I don't know if this was translated in English, it's not that famous I think but I really liked it. It's about a man who battles with depression (it's literature). Another one of my favourites is Arthur Japin - De zwarte met het witte hart, a book about two African brothers, who come to the Netherlands. It's a historical literary novel. One other I really like is Willem Frederik Hermans - Nooit meer slapen, it's about a man, I think a geologist, who travels in Norway to find some answers (again literature). I had to read literature for school you see . There are some Dutch books for adults on my TBR list but I haven't read them yet so I can't comment on them. I've posted a picture of our dogs, for the chicken I'll have to go outside and take some pictures since we recently got some new chicken and I haven't made any photos yet. Will do that sometime though .

Last night I had pork filet, chips in the oven and salad. When I say salad, I mean I had lettuce with lots of other cold vegetables, such as tomato, mushrooms and carrot.

I have cat allergies and asthma too. Gladly dogs I'm allright with . But as a child I really liked our cats, nowadays I'm completely a dog person though. Here's a picture of our two dogs. Boris is on the left and Pamuk's on the right. This is one of the few pictures I have where you can see both of them relatively okay, they love to play so it can be hard to get a good picture .

This has happened to me too, several times. I try to avoid this, by printing out a list of my books when I know I'll go out to buy books (when I order online I can check it more easily, since the list is on the computer). But sometimes it happens. It's especially annoying when it's a different cover or a different title. I generally tend to remember specific covers but if they change it then it gets a lot harder.

Thanks!! I've added the first three to my wishlist.

I've not read on an e-reader but I feel the same way, I can't read anything on the computer for too long. I seem to be ok with using websites or programs (so long as it's not in long periods of the same thing), but reading an ebook (I've bought a few) somehow doesn't appeal that much to me, I much prefer to read a physical book.

summer

I recently bought The Snow Child, I haven't read it yet. I look forward to hear/read your thoughts!

Happy reading! I loved The Midwife's Confession! It's one of my favourite books (well, I've got 50 or so favourites XD). I hope you will like it too. There are several more books on your list that I own but haven't read yet, so I can't tell you if I like them or not (I probably will though). I look forward to hear/read how your year of reading progresses in 2013.