5 days, 10 hours

then i'm totally on vacation.

i don't have enough hobbies

that's totally obvious, right? today i decided i absolutely had to buy the supplies to make amigurumi. amigurumi are insanely adorable japanese crocheted dolls. needles + yarn + crazy-cuteness = oh my god i have to try that. i taught myself to crochet before i learned how to knit, many years ago. the nice thing about crochet was that it was very straightforward, and i could teach myself from a book. once i figured out knitting, i gave up crocheting, and didn't even have any needles to work with today. i went by the library before going to the craft store to look for a crochet book, but didn't have anything good so i'm relying on the internets to help me out. so far i'm just practicing the basic stitches, and trying to remember how to increase and decrease. internets, you have a lot of knitting information out there, but i have to say, your crocheting tutorials sort of suck ass. there's a good chance i'm going to have to request a crochet book from a nearby library. the good news is, even though it's been a few years since i did any crochet i'm picking it back up fairly easily. plus, amigurumi only use a few stitches, so i don't need to be super great at it.

i have something very amigurumi-like that my aunt maize made me when i was little (i'd show you a photo, but mom's got the doll, not me!), and it was my favorite toy as a kid. to save it some wear and tear mom put it up, and every year we put it on the christmas tree as a funny little decoration. it's a weird, long, black bear. with googly eyes. i can't wait to make my own funny looking animals. hopefully the kids i know will like them too. (i mean, if they get them. sometimes i buy stuff or make stuff for them, but then it's so cute it never leaves my room. i'm secretly a jerky aunt!)

amigurumi:crochet

i'm not actually that bitter

but pretty bitter considering i had to work today, and did not get any special holiday pay because i'm not a real employee. goddamn i hate that job more and more every day. especially considering now i'm well beyond the point of temping, but thanks to the hiring freeze might not be a real employee for a lot longer. i would really like some health insurance, please and thank you.

ahem, i digress. maybe i am bitter. that might very well be, but i am also thisclose to vacation and i'm thinking seven days in a totally different state will do me good. i don't remember a time i needed a vacation this badly, which is sort of funny because you'll remember that about seven months ago i was unemployed for two months. my work ethic is just sort of shitty, i guess. none of that protestant work-yourself-to-death crap for me! nope. i like to think once i find a job i like, i'll stop being so shiftless and devoid of ambition, but there's a good chance i'm just kind of lazy.

again, with the digression. i'm lazy and can't write in a straight line tonight. so yes, vacation is good. i'm not just looking forward to it, it's kind of the only reason i'm not yelling at jerks at work. i can make it through a week. then after i am well-rested, full of barbeque and beer, cheered up by hanging out with friends, i can come home and look for a new job. i've polished the old resume, i've dusted off some skirts and gotten a decent haircut, i think my prospects are good. i'm sick to death of being jerked around by a big corporation, i kind of wish the american public would figure out that having a cell phone does not make you special, and knowing that i can do this is great,* but doesn't mean i should do it. i took this job as a lark, as a time-filler, expecting to quit right away when something else came along. nothing did, and here i am. it's been good for me in a way, i think i'm a lot more patient, but i don't honestly think this job suits me very well. looking for a new job is sort of depressing, i was hoping to be more settled at this point, but being this miserable isn't working either. i had that brief window of time when things were good, but now it's back to not sleeping and stomach aches. it's affecting the rest of my life too, i mean, when was the last time i made a good kraken? i don't want to make stuff when i come home, and when i do, it's not very good. if i could mainline television, i would at this point. i know i haven't always been this god-awful boring, and i can pretty much trace it to a few months ago when i sold my soul to a job called "sales."

dude! the point is, i'm going on vacation soon, and that's beyond exciting. i have tomorrow off, and i plan on eating pancakes, putting stuff in the mail, and getting out my luggage and making a list of stuff to pack. lists always cheer me up, and soon i'm going to get to see a whole new state. things aren't awful, it's just easy for me to focus on that sometimes.

*how many of you thought i would have already broken by now and said something shitty to a customer? go ahead, raise your hand. i know mine is.

dear god, please kill me

who thought it was a good idea to keep a cell phone store open on memorial day? whoever it was was a goddamn genius.

i'm being sarcastic, of course. while i totally appreciate everyone who has ever served in the military, being at work today is downright insulting. it's boring and no one's coming in but jerks who don't know they should be at a barbeque or the movies instead of coming in here and annoying me.

also, my sinuses are totally annoying me. by "annoying" i mean "causing excruciating pain," of course. i'm hopped up on sinus medication right now, which is beginning to kick in. my head feels better, but my brain feels mushy. nothing like feeling retarded on the most boring day of work ever. whoo!

ha!

that guy on top, the one without the gun, he's my brother-in-law. no, really. this cracks me up. i don't know why, maybe it's because even though he is indeed my brother-in-law, husband of my sister and father of my niece, i still think of him as being really young. and yet, he gets to shoot guns at work. crazy.

long drive

we drove all over colorado yesterday, and this was the only photo i took. one crappy, fuzzy photo of the flatirons.

my roommate and i took this great drive through the mountains, stopping in nederland on our way to boulder. i loved nederland. i spent a big chunk of today looking it up online and figuring out places to go camping up there. it was so beautiful. it reminded me a little of the town i grew up in, just in that was small and kind of in the middle of nowhere. plus, they have a campground where you can rent yurts and if you know me at all, you know i love yurts. the weather has been so lovely lately, all i can think about is going out into the woods and building a fire, having a hotdog, and taking naps out in the sun. i know, i know, it's not exactly roughing it, but i am more of a relaxation camper. i'm not ashamed.

we spent the afternoon and evening in boulder, which was super fun. i found a book i'd been thinking about buying, some funny baby tattoos for maggie, and a few little treats for the boys. it was nice to wander around the town, i kept meaning to head down there and explore a little. the ride out there was gorgeous, and now i have new camping destination. in all, it was a delightful day.

r. crumb:boulder, CO:nederland, CO:flatirons

at this point i can't stop myself

i have a million things i should be working on, but instead i keep cranking out the freezer paper stencils. this is a sweatshirt i bought for maggie a while ago, which is super cute. it's cuter now with the little skull, and once she wears it will become cuter still. so much cuteness! dear reynolds wrap, thanks for making freezer paper!

today was a nice loung-y sort of day; i ate entirely too many anchovies for lunch and dinner, although i can't find the ones i really love, i dropped some stuff off at the library and picked up some pippi longstocking, i got to talk to my mom and sister, and tomorrow i'm going down to boulder. i need to find some good anchovies. i could also use a hom bao. and a cloudy day. i love colorado's sun, but sometimes it's unrelenting. i miss the comfort of a cloudy day, when it feels like you're all cozy and covered in a big, grey blanket. i also seriously need a decent night's sleep. last night i got six straight hours, which was a good start.

freezer paper stencil:skull:crafty:anchovy

so sleepy

i went out last night with a co-worker. there is quite possibly nothing funnier than me in a college-cowboy bar. i mean that in a good way, mostly. i always have fun, but i stand out like a sore thumb. i never have enough eye shadow on, or enough boob on display!

i was there to stay sober enough to drive my co-worker, M, home. no, seriously. i was the designated driver! it's true i had a few beers, but they were the beers on special (they cost a measly quarter!), which are really only half a very flat beer in a plastic cup. the second i thought i started feeling tipsy i quit and two hours later we left. M was there to kind-of-sort-of meet up with a girl he is maybe dating. this "relationship" has been fraught with the sort of drama i normally only find on old episodes of degrassi junior high. frankly, as much as i like M, i hate hate hate hearing about this girl and him analyze everything she's every said/done in his presence. i approach dating in a very different way from M, and he's young and stubborn and loves to ask for my advice and then completely ignore it. it's frustrating for both of us. the most i can do anymore is just listen to him, avoid giving him a direct answer when he asks what i think, and remind him that he really is a very nice, handsome, sweet man, and someday he'll meet a woman who feels the same way about him as he does her. M is romantic and optimistic and i don't want him to lose that. the more bitter you are, the worse kinds of people you attract. plus, no matter how pretty this girl is (and she is extra-cute) she's sort of a jerk and he just doesn't get it. he lets her act like a jerk and then decides that he must have done something to deserve it. aargh!

wait, wait, wait. i didn't want to talk about M and his girl troubles. i wanted to talk about having fun with my friends (two of my girlfriends met us at the cowboy bar), how surreal it was to be the sober, responsible one, and how i got to sleep at two and woke up at five. yes, five a.m. i was up for another hour after that, fell back asleep around six, woke back up at seven-thirty to pee and then was full on wide awake at eight. whoo! needless to say, today at work was sort of painful. i will stand by my theory that for me no sleep is worse than a hangover, but that anything can be cured by bacon. with that in mind, today at lunch i ate a teensy bacon cheeseburger from a certain king who might or might not sell burgers. it was just the thing i needed to restore my will to live. dear bacon, i love you. in fact, i might have to create a t-shirt in your honor.

tomorrow i've got the day off! this weekend i plan on doing nothing but making more and more freezer paper stencils. my whole live right now revolves around finding things to stencil. up next, more shirts and a few funny tea towels. oh, and more bibs.
the lil kraken needed some frowny eyes.

lil kraken

reason number five why freezer paper stencils kick ass: being able to put kraken on a bib.

dude. the possibilities are endless.

last night i knew i wasn't going to sleep. i can tell when it's not going to happen, i'm getting good at seeing the signs. i take one and a half pills when those nights happen (the dosage is normally one pill). even then, sometimes it is not enough. i took the pills last night around 11 then laid there until two a.m. i got up for a while in between and did a little drawing, watched a little tv, then laid there cursing my stupid brain which was obviously tired but being seriously unco-operative.

it was rainy tonight, and overcast all afternoon. made me sort of homesick.

freezer paper stencil:kraken:insomnia

baby crack*

i keep the talk about maggie quiet sometimes, because as amazing as i think she is, she's my niece and that makes me biased. however, my sister is at home with my parents for the month, and the most remarkable thing has happened. my pop, who is a good guy, is also a pretty stoic man. he's not prone to outbursts of affection. i think i can count the number of times he's hugged me the past ten years on one hand. i always kiss him goodbye, but it's sort of formal (which sounds weird, but if you've ever seen it in action you know what i mean). having baby around, though, hasn't just softened the old guy, it's positively slayed him. everytime i talk to him he's happy and chipper and sweet and asks how i am. he answered the phone the other day with a "yes, hon?" rather than his usual, "insert-last-name-here's." my sister says he spends all day with her and baby, and that maggie absolutely adores him. she cracks up when he walks into room and reaches right out for him. they nap together. he tries to feed her from the table! he walks her around the house in endless, tiny loops when she gets crabby. he's patient with her in a way i haven't seen in years. it's incredible.

pop was always that good with us when my sister and i were small. during our teen years he was away a lot, due to his work in the navy. there's a good ten year stretch when i saw him six months out of the year at best. during this time our relationship became a lot more formal, i think partly due to the fact that just when we'd all get used to each other he would have to leave again. i know he loves us, and i can count on him to be there, but this relationship he has with maggie is a totally different animal. the pressure's off him in a way, and he's becoming exactly the kind of grampa i wished i had as a kid. honestly? part of me is a little jealous. thrilled and happy, too, but a touch envious. mostly that makes me feel lucky. maggie has no idea how good she has it.

and really, i hope maggie stays there a lot longer. dad's a whole lot more fun when she's around.

*that's what we call maggie now, due to her ability to hook you right away.

freezer paper goodness

freezer paper stencil project #1. red barrel of monkey on a green shirt. i love red and green together, and i swear it has nothing to do with christmas. i just like how red pops off green. i first read about this over on the make blog. this photo is a bit blurry, but you know i'm impatient. once it dries i'll take another photo of me in the shirt.

freezer paper stencil:monkey:crafty:diy

hi!

i got up early this morning, despite a hangover that almost killed me and got my tickets to see the raconteurs at the fillmore! i ate biscuits and gravy for breakfast. i am going to go and get a haircut in less than an hour. expect it to be shorter, but not insanely so. i think i'm going to have them take off a good three inches and clean it up. i am going to go buy red fabric paint and make a kraken shirt this afternoon.

also, the shoes i bought and painted skulls on are way to big. i think i might have had too much crack for lunch that day, because we are talking like a whole size too big. they are a boy's 5 1/2, which is a women's 7 1/2. if you want them, let me know and i will send them to you! i did wear them out last night to try them out, thinking maybe they weren't too big, but they are. other than that, they are clean and cute and someone should wear them, so why not you?

the raconteurs:skulls

ugh

i feel totally burnt out. on work, on colorado, on me, on everything. if i were a man, i'd grow a mustache right about now, just to take a break from my face. i've tried to blame this torpidity on the moon, customers, barometric pressure (my new favortie patsy), all to no avail. i think it's just me. i'm bored because i'm boring. if i take a few days off, it's because posts like this are ridiculous. i feel guilty not posting every day because i've basically been doing that for a few years now, but i feel worse posting drivel.

next week i get two days off in a row, which is what i think i need. one day off here and there doesn't give me much time to fully relax. i feel wound up tighter than a two-dollar-watch, like a bundle of raw nerves who are not happy to be here. more and more i notice my shoulders are all hunched together and my brow has a perma-furrow. i woke up in a bad mood a few days ago, and have yet to shake it. stupid, stupid neurosis. maybe what i really need is a nice shrink who believes in better living through chemistry, i.e. xanax.

a good night's sleep will have to do, though. cross your fingers.

(i've also totally convinced myself that looking for a new job was dumb, my interview was horrible, and i am doomed to sell cell phones by the sea shore until i pull out all my hair. at which point they'll move me to telephone customer service so no one will stare at the bald patches.)

nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

what i love most about cable tv these days is a little something they call on demand. with it, you can watch pay-per-view movies, or even better, free movies. whenever you feel like it! which is, right now.

hannah and her sisters is on. everytime i watch a woody allen movie i feel like maybe i was born in the wrong city, in the wrong faith, and like my hair should have been curly all along. if i can't actually be a nebbish jewish girl, than my next best bet is marrying a nice jewish boy. (all of my favorite uncles are nice jewish boys! sure, i also like brown boys like my pop, but i could still see myself settling down with ira glass. or ben stiller.) my chances of finding one are probably better anywhere but here in the midwest, but what can i do. i like the big sky. i like the cowboy hats, i like long, straight roads, and the sun. i like to think of colorado as a palate cleanser for me, because as much as i love it out here, i miss the city. granted, seattle wasn't a big city, but it was mine. i liked the three a.m. walks over to the gold exchange for cheap beer and cigarettes, i miss the spicy chicken livers from ezelle's, and for crying out loud, i miss uwajimaya and chinatown.

that's not to say i don't like it here. today was an especially nice day. slept in late, had lunch outside with the kitten and my roommate while she re-potted some plants, went to old navy where i bought a bag i did not need, and i found a plain black pair of slip on canvas shoes that now have gold skulls on them. both roommates went out tonight and i'm wandering around the apartment in my tank top and pj bottoms, drinking beer and watching on demand movies. i don't work tomorrow until late. it was really sunny today, so the upstairs is all hot and comfortable. the cat and i took a nap together. i picked up the new raconteurs album, which i like very much.

i took a million photos today, but haven't downloaded any. maybe tomorrow. i'm working on my new law & order towel, although it's a bit too warm up here to get much done. when i work i do it on a pillow on my lap, so i don't have to lean way over. the pillow i like best is down, which makes me even hotter. it's hard to do any sort of needlework when your hands are sweaty. i might have to get a new pillow. other than that i'm super excited that i'm getting closer and closer to my vacation, and you know what's sad is that the thing i'm looking forward to most right now is not wearing a uniform for seven whole days. if you see my in a black polo shirt in texas, please make sure to slap me. i've already bought some new cute summer things, and i can't wait to have a week where i look like me and not some dumpy girl in khaki pants. whoo!

woody allen:shoes:uniform

corny

i'm not going to regale you with work horror stories, although today i could. let's just say none of the computers were co-operative and i had to stay an hour late. yay! home was so nice after that. my roommates and i had our very first barbeque of the season! we grilled some corn, we made turkey burgers, and a delicious mango salsa. the mango salsa was sort of a lark; we were going to make guacamole but the avocado was bad. i had a mango, so we improvised. on the turkey burger it was amazing. the whole dinner was great. afterward we read spin magazine and found out that the raconteurs are playing in denver soon. we all have saturday off, so we're going to get up early and fire up all three computers and score some tickets. other than that, i'm tired now from the food and sun. i love days staying late longer. coming home and hanging out on the porch with the cat while stuff cooks on the barbeque is a good time.

the ranconteurs:barbeque

wuss

the same boy who ate a lemon, a big chunk of raw onion, and the insides of fish oil capsules refused to eat my dried anchovies. they freaked him out. he wouldn't even get close to them! wuss. i eat these all the time, and they are delicious. slightly salty and fishy, and crunchy. way better than raw onion, anyhow. i can't believe he refused me. maybe he needs a bigger audience. i'll try again tomorrow.

anchovy

verbatim

my sister: anything else new?
me: yeah, i've been trying to take my vitamins every day. so far, so good.
my sister: great, i'll call tom cruise and let him know.
me: fuck you.
my sister: (giggling) he'll be so happy to hear you're on them!
me: fuck you and the horse you rode in on.

sisters

i had a job interview

it came about in a very weird, random way, and i'm not actually looking for another job but i thought, "what the hell?" it doesn't hurt to keep your options open, and honestly, you and i and everyone who has come into a certain cell phone store in the last few weeks knows that i am not the worlds best salesgirl. i'm not awful, and i'm pretty damn helpful, but when it comes to actually selling you stuff i'm stymied. so i heard about this job, and i called and had a nice chat with the lady in charge there. the interview went well, although i was sort of tired and freaked out because it's been months since i had to be on my best behavior and i hate answering the question, "what do you feel your weakness are?" and so i might not have been exactly sparkling. they're supposed to call me soon, and i might go in for a second interview next week. the job itself is typical office work, back to receptioning and doing the mail, but having benefits and a scheduled lunch hour is all i'm really looking for right now. that, and not dealing with assclowns with phone issues. for the very last time: having a cell phone doesn't make you any more important than anyone else. once crack addicts get them, i think it's safe to say the cache is gone.

i don't know. i'm too tired to be very hopeful at this point, and i would hate to get excited only to get shot down. i'd like this job, i'd like it a lot, but if i don't get it the world will keep on spinning and i'll keep on muttering "jackass" under my breath when i get yelled at for the price of text messages.

pssst...

i have an important appointment in about half an hour. if you could think nice things about me right about then, that would rule. i'd tell you more, but i don't want to jinx myself.

also, i'm watching martha this morning, and dear kenny rogers: lay off the face-lifts. you look all squinty and stoned, and honestly? you've always been a handsome man. you would have aged wonderfully, i'm sure. right now, though, you look a bit pained.

martha stewart:kenny rogers

bite me

sometimes it's not enough to feel evil, you've got to look the part too. here i am in my villainous mustache. the customers can all bite me.

mustache

hi

i hate my job. hate it. i was there for an hour this morning and had already gotten yelled at over the phone, hung up on, and then! i got to kick a drunk out of the store.

i will take a lot of shit without saying a word, but when a drunk calls me incompetent, i say, "bye."

fuckity fuck fuck fuck. i'm going to start drinking my lunch, if you know what i mean.

work

i am going to explode

some guy came in today who was a total, complete, ridiculous pain in the ass. he almost gave me an aneurysm. i dealt with him once, and then my co-worker had to deal with him again later in the afternoon, and while he was in it basically took three of us to figure out what the hell was going on. oh. my. god. so annoying. he wasn't that nice either, and i have to admit, when customers act jerky i feel like helping them a lot less.

i might someday be a competent salesgirl, but i will never be a good one. mainly because i just don't care. i have the hardest time being pushy and getting in anyone's way, and i don't want to sell you something you don't want just for the sake of the sale.

also, yesterday i bought teensy bottles of shampoo and new mascara because i'm going on vacation. i love buying vacation supplies. foldy toothbrushes, new undies, unneccesary eye make-up...it's all very exciting. it's all very "i'm getting the hell out of town." i get so excited about traveling, i'm surprised i don't do more of it. although in the past year i've actually seen a lot of new stuff, thanks to moving.

i'm feeling good about munch so now i have to go start another law & order towel. who's up next? it's a surprise.

vacation

video!

i did it! i got the video of j drinking fish oil up on youTube. go over here and check it out. and as promised, a photo of the finished munch towel. i gave him a few wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, but i didn't want to go overboard so i ended it there. his one shoulder also seems a bit wonky to me, but that's because in the photo he's sort of got his arms crossed and is standing askew. i might even it out on the next one. up next? i think stabler. it feels weird to have benson done but not him. then i want to do some old school characters, like det. logan and jack mcCoy. and of course, van buren and det. curtis.

law & order

random

1. i finished munch! he's done! i'm so excited about this i had to tell you right away, although i do not have photographic proof right now because he is in the wash. i just couldn't wait to tell someone, though. i think he turned out nice.
   
2. did you know my pop always ends every phone call with a "bye bye?" always. he also always says "nite nite" when you go to sleep. he is not a man known for his softness, but these two things about him always make me smile. i hadn't talked on the phone with him for a while but today i did and when we got off the phone i thought "i'm such an asshole. i missed his 'bye bye's' for over a month because he irritated me." a month didn't seem like much until today, then i thought that was too long. he's not always easy to get along with, but he's my dad and i'm a huge pain in the ass too.
   
3. the thing about living far away from my folks is that when they bug me i can avoid them easier. sometimes that's nice, and sometimes that just helps me be the jerkface i try to avoid being. there's got to be a nice middle ground, and i'll find it soon enough.
4. i watched a movie that made me cry this afternoon. it also reminded me that i want mark ruffalo to be my boyfriend. maybe not mark ruffalo exactly, but someone who looks a lot like him. he's got great hair, and i like his sleepy smile.
5. i got my red vines! it took me fifteen minutes to devour them. i loved every second of it.
   

my life without me:mark ruffalo

giant dinosaur goodness

i never made it to the grocery store. sloth won out over red vines.

the sunday night movie on usa is jurassic park. i can still remember the first time i saw it. my friend owen and i went, we saw it at the biggest theater on the island, and by "big" i mean it had three screens half the size of what you'd find in an average multi-plex. the whole time in line we joked about how retarded we were for seeing a dinosaur movie. i'm sure we went because we were bored and not because we had any desire to see the actual movie; it was just the least offensive of the three playing. i was the worst of the two of us, i spent the entire time in line and through the previews talking about how dumb the movie was going to be, how lame we were, and how i could not believe i was watching a movie about dinosaurs. as usual i ate all my red vines before the movie started.

by the time we walked out of the theater i was a totally different girl. i raved about the giant dinosaur sounds, the scary velociraptors, i kept saying, "that was so great! didn't you think that was great? man, that was great." i made owen take me out for coffee so we could talk about it more. i loved that film. i saw it three more times in the theater, then when it came out on video, and then dvd...and every time i see that opening sequence i feel the same sense of holy shit i felt the first time i saw it. i love that giant dinosaur sound.

jurassic park:dinosaur:red vines

i really want some candy

why are there no red vines in my house? i need a red vine. i actually need about five to fifteen of them.

M is sick and insists on coming into work. the past few days i've felt my glands swell up and my throat get scratchy, which makes me mad because if he had just stayed home i might not feel so yucky. last night i slept for ten hours. tonight who knows! i thought i had tuesday off this week but it's actually monday. i'll probably spend the day watching movies and knitting and trying not burn down M's house.

i'm going to go out and get some candy. and ginger ale.

updated to add: i was on my way out, then the phone rang. it was mom. we talked. while we talked law & order: svu came on. i'm watching it and thinking about how if i go out now and get a few supplies (candy and ginger ale and maybe juice) then i can come home, take off my bra, and lounge for a full 24 hours. but this is an episode of svu that i haven't seen. and tutuola just wore glasses as a disguise. it's possibly the most genius episode ever. superman as a rapist! i might not get out of the house for another half hour.

law & order:red vines

hey

i took a short avi film today with my camera, but want to do a little editing and stuff so i can show it to you. in it, one of my co-workers drinks a shot of pure fish oil for five bucks.

if you can help me figure out how to do some editing and posting (hopefully for free!), you'll be my new best friend and you'll get to see j make an awful face after he realizes what he's just eaten.

techno:help:avi

imaginary goodness

i've mentioned the imaginary world before, but i'm telling you, it is my absolute favorite thing in the world right now. do you see the cuteness above? so wonderfully, adorabley cute. but wait, it gets better! dan goodsell has a shop on etsy! yes, you read that right. i bought some imaginary world buttons, and a small painting of arizona that i'm going to send my cousin (whose middle name is arizona).

i know a post about shopping might not be the most interesting thing ever, but i'm almost done with munch and i bought these pretty earrings the other night too. someday soon i'll have a life and more interesting things to write about! okay, maybe not soon, but the someday part is definitely right on.

imaginary world:octopus:whale:dan goodsell

such a sweet face

do you see this face? i love this face. aria let me take some photos of her this afternoon, after i plied her with some dried anchovies. i sometimes think that's the reason aria likes me to begin with, i keep her supplied with dry fishies.
munch is coming along! i think i'll finish him tonight, unless i get bored and wander off to do something else.

i got an oil change today and went to the post office and that was it. my head is killing me, so it might not have been just caffiene induced. i'm blaming it on barometric pressure. damn, why don't i have a cool barometric pressure watch? until i get one, this is quite handy.

p.s. i am trying out technorati tags.

law & order
munch
embroidery
cat

list time

1. did you know there are still things in my car from when i moved? stuff i threw in there at the last minute, convinced i would need, only to ignore for the past six months.
2. my tent is in there too, only i'm not so much ignoring it as not needing to use it.
3. i need an oil change.
   
4. i have to go to the post office today or else all hell will break loose. okay, that's totally an exaggeration.
5. it's a beautiful rainy day, and it reminds me of home.
   
6. i haven't had a cup of tea yet, so i'm beginning to get a headache. yay for caffiene addiction!
7. my subscription to juxtapoz is already up, and i bought it in december. what the hell. i didn't realize i only signed up for half a year of service. (which is me being sarcastic. what happened is they went from being bi-monthly to monthly so i guess even though i paid for a year i only paid for six issues. jerks. but i really like the magazine, so i'll re-subscribe. sometimes it's the only art i see all month.)
8. i have decided that i'm going to try to do as many law & order towels as i can before september and then maybe see if i can get someone to show them before i sell them. in a way this freaks me out because it seems sort of pushy for me, but i have to say, seeing them in real life is much cooler than seeing them in pictures. i think they make more sense when you can see them and touch them, and i think they would sell better after being seen. at the same time, i'm not even sure i want to sell them. i love law & order, and part of me wants to keep every single for myself. which is another reason i want to show them; for law & order geeks like me. i don't know, this is an awfully ambitious project for a person as lazy as myself, but if i set a time limit and make a plan i might get it done. plus, i've always wanted to make those postcards that announce a show for myself. one little, teeny, tiny art show of my own would make me super happy.
9. that being said, munch is coming along quite nicely.
   
10. my pop just met my niece and evidently he is smitten. i kind of thought he would be, but he plays the part of stoic native so well he even fools me sometimes. also, he and maggie are twins (different colors, of course), and everyone is freaked out by how much they look like each other.
    
11. end of list! i'm going to get stuff done now.
    

oh micky, you're so fine

growing up on an island in a small town meant summers were isolated affairs. i spent most of mine on the beach reading, in bed reading, in the garage reading, with my sister reading, at the library reading, or watching tv. the reading bit i mainly did with my walkman plugged in, which meant i also spent a lot of time listening to albums i'd picked up at the library. it was a weird thing; you'd spend all school year year with your friends, but summers you spent with your siblings or neighbors your age (if you had any, which i didn't). every summer up until high school can be recalled easily with the right television show, album or book. i spent most of those three months out of school alone or with my sister.

i can categorize most of my summers by television shows. one summer spent watching the brady bunch, one sumer spent watching old cartoons, and the summer i discovered the monkees. the weird thing about the monkees was that i was sure i was the only person in the world who knew about them. every morning before i got to reading and building giant lego structures (yes, i was just that cool), i would watch the monkees, totally enraptured. i was totally in love with davy jones, and then peter, and then micky, and then finally with mike. i think it's mike that is to blame for my love of sideburns to this day. after a month of this i told my mom about it, and she said, "oh? the monkees? i used to really like them when i was a teenager." i thought, "what?! the monkees are that old?" the monkees were mine, they were only mine, and i couldn't wrap my brain around the fact that they were older and my mom liked them. i think that was the first time my mind was officially blown.

lots of kids love the beatles. i loved yellow submarine as a kid, but that was about it. the monkees were my passion, they were funny and cute and had the best songs ever. plus, a television show! it wasn't until many years later when i discovered that the monkees were produced, made-up, and considered to be a sad imitation of the beatles. this hurt me, i loved the monkees so much.

today head showed up from my netflix queue. it's not the most amazing movie ever made, but it's funny and smart and trippy (hello, 1960's) and honestly, if i had to pledge allegience to anything today, it would be the monkees. i can sing "daydream believer" without lookng at the words. i'd be more thrilled to meet peter than ringo anyday. micky is the reason i will always go for the boy with curly hair over the other guy. davy is little and cute. i am a simple, american girl who loves her 60's pop and thinks that even if the monkees were created by way of casting call they were amazing.

plus, head was written by jack nicholson, had dennis hopper, toni basil, annette funicello (!), teri garr and frank fucking zappa in it. oh my god. tell me you aren't at least a little bit interested? i'm not trying to tell you it's the greatest thing ever, but it's sly and clever and at one point peter walks into the restroom whistling, "strawberry fields forever" and damn if that doesn't crack me up. it might be that i love this movie because i love the monkees, so you might not want to listen to me, but if you even just like the monkees a little i think you'll like the film. even if you didn't spend a whole summer watching monkee reruns, eating blueberry bagels and building giant lego castles.

yes? no?

my first attempt at the munch stencil. i'm not 100% convinced it looks enough like him, though. i'm going to do some work on it, maybe make some adjustments, and get back to you.
this cracks me up, though. it's just the basic outline of an old-school nintendo controller, but it makes me laugh. i'll have to put it on some more baby stuff and see how it looks on that.

i slept in until ten

and other than that, nothing's going on.

p.s.

i take that back. i went to buy more souther salazar books and got the last two at giant robot. but since i want you to get this book, i did some checking, and it looks like you can get them over here too. and over here, at the press that actually makes them!

i really can't stress enough how much i love this book. i've read it a few times more since i posted last night, and it really is amazing. the link above is to an article that talks about souther and the book, and it sums it up better than i can. the first time i read it, halfway through i thought, "this is the sort of book a kid reads over and over." it's brilliant, and feels both familiar and brand new all at once. if you can find it, get it. i bet giant robot will get some more in as well.

happy mail

happy orange goodness! today at work everything that could go wrong did go wrong, then went wrong again, and ended with me on hold with tech support. do you know how awful being on hold for tech support with a cell phone company is? it's miserable. it's actually not any better when you work for the cell phone company, just so you know. then i was going home for lunch and heard a rancid song on the radio and was immediately in a better mood. um... i know loving rancid won't increase my indie cred, but dammit. i love ruby soho!

on my way home from work i stopped for beer. i don't work tomorrow and was in the mood for a little pillowy-beery-softness, and they had a beer i haven't had in forever. buffalo bill's orange blossom cream ale. it's lovely and light and creamy and tastes like oranges. it reminds me of anne, and that makes me both sad and happy at the same time. she can't have beer right now anyway, so i'll have on for her.
i got home and found the stuff i ordered from giant robot waiting for me in my mailbox. the souther salazar book was sort of a lark; i was super curious about it because i love his art, and was thinking if i liked it i would send it to tiernan and get one for maggie. i didn't like it, i loved it. it's smart and sweet and clever and the kids aren't getting my copy. instead i'm ordering two more for them. maybe five million of them to send them to every kid i ever met in my whole life. you have to go get one right now if you know anyone under the age of seven who will sit still and let you read them a story.

tomorrow i want to go down to denver and see the body worlds exhibit. we'll see how i feel about that then, i don't want to plan anything. for now i'm going to have another beer and check out the sale at threadless.