That's me, all right.
I've made a space just for all my sewing, DIY and design related posts. It's called Loveless Arachne - which also happens to be the name of the shop on Etsy I'll be opening in a few weeks, depending on how everything comes together in the next little while.
So I've been pushing myself and working out some new designs, while steadily and gradually building up stock to put in the shop. I don't intend to list a lot of things right away, but a few items at a time and we'll see how it goes. The first few things I intend to post are all things I worked out over last summer -- the Jellyfish will definitely be a part of this (not so much the Alot of Cake!)
I'm hoping that once I get a few items made up, I can perhaps get a few friends to help me model/take pictures of all my stuff. I really really want to try and keep them classy and more to the editorial and artistic side of things. I love editorial photography, and really want to use live models whenever I can - I think it just adds something. If I can't coerce my friends to do it with my charming zealotry for this project, perhaps I can bribe them (free swag, anyone?) Don't worry, friends who read my blog, I will of course ask/beg you in person when I'm prepared for this step, I'm just honestly really excited for it.
There are a lot of other things to do, of course. But for now the blog is up, and that's a start! ;)
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Prophecy in Retrospect
Recently, I was watching an episode of How I Met Your Mother, and once again it occurred to me just how similar the character Marshal and I are. Save gender, there's a lot of things about the character I personally identify with. The fact that he was raised in a smaller town in Minnesota gives him similar attributes that I acquired growing up in small town BC - love of outdoors, a large family, and a certain set of values I associate with living in a smaller community. I also identify with Marshal's tendency to sing what he is doing. This is a trait I've been known for, and just the other day Mr. C caught me singing a ditty about the load screen for Dr. Who: Worlds In Time. But, this episode put some light on Marshal's beliefs in the occult, and where it comes from. I, like him, read those stories as a child and saw them as almost a form of religion. It wasn't fake, it was all real, all of it. The possibilities were endless, and all things plausible. I mean, come on, it's a big huge amazing world, and if a book told me that it was possible for certain paranormal phenomena to exist it must exist.
I know a lot of kids who have big wide open imaginations, but I don't think I knew anyone who took it as seriously as I did. I was kind of the Luna Lovegood of my elementary school, as I see it. I was weird, I believed in everything, and kind of encouraged other people to open their minds too. I did projects about aliens, could of gone to a public speaking event for elementary students in grade four or five for a paranormal research speech I gave, if I had said yes but I didn't because I was kind of embarrassed by it. Because even though I believed it, with all my heart, I knew that the other kids thought I was kind of weird for believing it the way I did.
Eventually I learned my lessons in believing in everything you read or hear, and trusting sources and all that sort of stuff. It took awhile, but eventually I learned that sometimes a ghost story is just a story, not a fact.
But you know what? A part of me still does believe in all that paranormal stuff. I just can't close out that part of my mind, no matter what.
So when I randomly found a mysterious book in my house called "Mysteries of the Unexplained" a book published by readers digest in 1982, I was thrown back into my childhood. It wasn't the same book series my Mom has on her shelf that I read to death as a kid, but the stories were similar enough and some of them were even the same that I found my mind being taken to insane realms of possibilities once again. This is the stuff science fiction fantasy is made of, the stuff of my youth. It's a nice way to reminisce while at the same time explore the realm of what could be rather than what is. As a person who dabbles in writing sci-fi fantasy, it's the perfect way to relax and take your mind to new places. At least for me.
So far my favourite section has been about prophecies, and here's why.
The first thing that caught my eye when I opened the book was this image. Which made me think, respectively, of the TARDIS and Balloon Boy. Which made me laugh to imagine someone predicting balloon boy. Then I read the blurb (the book is written all in short blurbs laid out in a seemingly random pattern) which states that these are images from Cyrano de Bergerac's early science fiction works Voyage to the Moon and Sun published first in 1656. First off, I was happy to learn that Cyrano was a real person, it just made me love the play a little more. Second, I was shocked to learn that he was considered a prophet, and that he made references in his works of fiction to rocket propulsion. But there it was. He was the first to write of electricity, light bulbs, tape recorders, hot air balloons, berm houses and mobile homes. Oh, and he also wrote a short story about a Doctor from the sun who travelled through space and time in a box.
The book was published in 1982, so some of the prophecies printed hadn't hit their time yet. By that I mean, there are a few of them talking about the future, and one in particular caught my eye because of current events. It's about the papacy. I thought I'd share.
Basically, the blurb-article talks about the historical popes, and how this Saint Malachy of Ireland predicted what the popes would be known for in only a few words written in Latin. He said there would be 112 popes, and he wrote about each in order. Some of the predictions were really vague, but many of them were considered quite accurate given the facts we know about each popes reign (is reign accurate?). Of course, I looked into it more out of curiosity (here's the wiki on it!), but it seems to me that this St. Malachy was kind of a legit prophet to some extent. The prophecies were short, but they were also kind of eerily accurate. And, if it is to be believed , after this pope comes the end of the papacy as we know it.
So I looked at the state of the church, the papacy, and religion in our modern world. I could easily believe that there's going to be a big change in the church soon, I mean look at the way society is starting to view religion in general. Things are changing, a lot.
That being said, I'm kind of curious to see what happens here. I'm not routing for the end of the papacy, not exactly. I'm routing for the prophecy to wind up being accurate. So that I can confirm or deny it. And this looks to me like a prophecy that may actually be likely to happen in my lifetime. I mean, anyone can try and tell me Nostradamus acurately made prophecies, but his works were published in no specific order with no time frame references. They were kind of a mess, and are rather hard to translate, so you can sort of just slap a "Nostradamus predicted that!" on any global event and it can sorta kinda seem accurate.
I know a lot of kids who have big wide open imaginations, but I don't think I knew anyone who took it as seriously as I did. I was kind of the Luna Lovegood of my elementary school, as I see it. I was weird, I believed in everything, and kind of encouraged other people to open their minds too. I did projects about aliens, could of gone to a public speaking event for elementary students in grade four or five for a paranormal research speech I gave, if I had said yes but I didn't because I was kind of embarrassed by it. Because even though I believed it, with all my heart, I knew that the other kids thought I was kind of weird for believing it the way I did.
Eventually I learned my lessons in believing in everything you read or hear, and trusting sources and all that sort of stuff. It took awhile, but eventually I learned that sometimes a ghost story is just a story, not a fact.
But you know what? A part of me still does believe in all that paranormal stuff. I just can't close out that part of my mind, no matter what.
So when I randomly found a mysterious book in my house called "Mysteries of the Unexplained" a book published by readers digest in 1982, I was thrown back into my childhood. It wasn't the same book series my Mom has on her shelf that I read to death as a kid, but the stories were similar enough and some of them were even the same that I found my mind being taken to insane realms of possibilities once again. This is the stuff science fiction fantasy is made of, the stuff of my youth. It's a nice way to reminisce while at the same time explore the realm of what could be rather than what is. As a person who dabbles in writing sci-fi fantasy, it's the perfect way to relax and take your mind to new places. At least for me.
So far my favourite section has been about prophecies, and here's why.
The book was published in 1982, so some of the prophecies printed hadn't hit their time yet. By that I mean, there are a few of them talking about the future, and one in particular caught my eye because of current events. It's about the papacy. I thought I'd share.
Basically, the blurb-article talks about the historical popes, and how this Saint Malachy of Ireland predicted what the popes would be known for in only a few words written in Latin. He said there would be 112 popes, and he wrote about each in order. Some of the predictions were really vague, but many of them were considered quite accurate given the facts we know about each popes reign (is reign accurate?). Of course, I looked into it more out of curiosity (here's the wiki on it!), but it seems to me that this St. Malachy was kind of a legit prophet to some extent. The prophecies were short, but they were also kind of eerily accurate. And, if it is to be believed , after this pope comes the end of the papacy as we know it.
So I looked at the state of the church, the papacy, and religion in our modern world. I could easily believe that there's going to be a big change in the church soon, I mean look at the way society is starting to view religion in general. Things are changing, a lot.
That being said, I'm kind of curious to see what happens here. I'm not routing for the end of the papacy, not exactly. I'm routing for the prophecy to wind up being accurate. So that I can confirm or deny it. And this looks to me like a prophecy that may actually be likely to happen in my lifetime. I mean, anyone can try and tell me Nostradamus acurately made prophecies, but his works were published in no specific order with no time frame references. They were kind of a mess, and are rather hard to translate, so you can sort of just slap a "Nostradamus predicted that!" on any global event and it can sorta kinda seem accurate.
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Or: A List of Things Hollywood Doesn't Tell You About Being Unemployed
Number one, first and foremost over all other things: You can't afford shit all when you are unemployed. Hollywood always portrays unemployed people as running around in designer clothing, using the fanciest new cell phones, having cool cars and awesome haircuts. (I'm talking about you, Jeff Winger/Carrie Bradshaw). They go into incredibly expensive stores and, while loudly complaining about being broke, purchase half the store. Sure, sometimes TV and movies like to make a big deal about money issues, but they usually gloss it over in the shiny way that Hollywood does, and make a sort of joke about it. All while ensuring that the notably broke and unemployed character looks better than everyone else the majority of the time, and you rarely if ever see them wearing the same thing twice. In reality - it's the small things. When you find that once-loved designer item with only the slight stain on it that you're sure no one will notice at the thrift store you are thinking "score".
Number two: Mad-cap adventures don't randomly start happening just because you are unemployed, and your friends are busy with work and school and stuff. When you are unemployed, your social network does not all of a sudden become unemployed along with you. (And if by chance some of them do, you're all too busy looking for more work to spend much time together at all). On shows people seem to do more when they are unemployed. They make road trips to Detroit and get lost! They meet new people at the coffee shop who turn out to be mass murderers! They buy a cab! They go on some wacky zany get rich quick scheme that somehow winds up with the male characters being sold into a harem! And most of the time they manage to convince an employed friend to ditch work and go along with them. In this competitive market everyone knows they can be replaced, no one you know is going to ditch work for a road trip. And besides, as point number one addresses: You are broke, you don't have the money for this crap. Anyway everyone you know is probably too responsible for that kind of thing now; they have to look after themselves, they aren't teenagers and thus can't act like them. TV likes to make adults act like stupid kids a lot.
Number three: You're really not going to have a lot to talk about, anyway. Interesting things, although they will intermittently happen, wont happen constantly as they seem to on TV. In shows, interesting things must happen, dialogue must occur, because who would watch a show where nothing ever ever happens? So when you tell people something that happened, you might find you've already told them that a few days/weeks ago. And being unemployed kind of means that you are looking for a new job so most conversations probably are going to start with that awkward "Soooooo... uh, know anywhere that's hiring?" Because that is ALL you can feasibly think about after being unemployed for an extended period of time. Sure, you might do stuff. Like watch daytime TV and spend way too much time on I Can Has Cheez Burger. But really, you've posted all that crap to Facebook already, and we all know you've been tweeting about the episodes of Buffy you've been re-watching again on Netflix, and there are only so many conversations about your cats that people can take. And eventually, if you're me, you will start talking to your cat (because remember, all your friends are busy at work) about the other cat. Because you've even run out of things to talk about with them.
Number four: People don't often take whatever completely random job comes their way, they hand out resumes and go through interviews first. In a lot of TV shows you will see the job search, by way of the character being on the job site "trying the job out" because they are now going to have a series of hilarious mishaps and firings because they are doing things they've never ever done before. Like the person has never worked in retail/customer service and gets a job in retail and flips out at a customer. Or construction, another thing they've never ever done, and they cause a hilarious series of debilitating groin injuries. Maybe they were a teacher forever, and decide to cook meth even though they never have broken the law once. Or, as it is often portrayed as the most degrading of jobs, slinging burgers for a fast food joint perhaps hilariously thinking the meat is people. Occasionally this part of the story is a montage if it's in a movie. Sadly, I don't think montages actually happen in real life, at least I've never experienced one. And in my experience, jobs don't often let you try it out for a day, and most often you have to interview well before getting thrown on the job site.
There's a lot of uncertainty looking for work. It sort of drives you crazy, and it can kind of feel like you suck personally because of it after a while. And even though Hollywood doesn't always show that part without a bit of a joke or a sappy moment, they still do show it most of the time. In reality, unemployment isn't that bad, there are some bad points to it, sure. But it can be kind of cool, too. It gives you a chance to take some "you time" which every one needs, and it can shift your focus and help you out a lot more than you know. It can be a really cool positive time, and that's the part of it that Hollywood tends to focus on because hey, shows are meant to be entertainment and a distraction from reality. Just don't expect life to be exactly like the movies all the time, and you'll be okay.
(still hoping for a montage)
Number two: Mad-cap adventures don't randomly start happening just because you are unemployed, and your friends are busy with work and school and stuff. When you are unemployed, your social network does not all of a sudden become unemployed along with you. (And if by chance some of them do, you're all too busy looking for more work to spend much time together at all). On shows people seem to do more when they are unemployed. They make road trips to Detroit and get lost! They meet new people at the coffee shop who turn out to be mass murderers! They buy a cab! They go on some wacky zany get rich quick scheme that somehow winds up with the male characters being sold into a harem! And most of the time they manage to convince an employed friend to ditch work and go along with them. In this competitive market everyone knows they can be replaced, no one you know is going to ditch work for a road trip. And besides, as point number one addresses: You are broke, you don't have the money for this crap. Anyway everyone you know is probably too responsible for that kind of thing now; they have to look after themselves, they aren't teenagers and thus can't act like them. TV likes to make adults act like stupid kids a lot.
Number three: You're really not going to have a lot to talk about, anyway. Interesting things, although they will intermittently happen, wont happen constantly as they seem to on TV. In shows, interesting things must happen, dialogue must occur, because who would watch a show where nothing ever ever happens? So when you tell people something that happened, you might find you've already told them that a few days/weeks ago. And being unemployed kind of means that you are looking for a new job so most conversations probably are going to start with that awkward "Soooooo... uh, know anywhere that's hiring?" Because that is ALL you can feasibly think about after being unemployed for an extended period of time. Sure, you might do stuff. Like watch daytime TV and spend way too much time on I Can Has Cheez Burger. But really, you've posted all that crap to Facebook already, and we all know you've been tweeting about the episodes of Buffy you've been re-watching again on Netflix, and there are only so many conversations about your cats that people can take. And eventually, if you're me, you will start talking to your cat (because remember, all your friends are busy at work) about the other cat. Because you've even run out of things to talk about with them.
Number four: People don't often take whatever completely random job comes their way, they hand out resumes and go through interviews first. In a lot of TV shows you will see the job search, by way of the character being on the job site "trying the job out" because they are now going to have a series of hilarious mishaps and firings because they are doing things they've never ever done before. Like the person has never worked in retail/customer service and gets a job in retail and flips out at a customer. Or construction, another thing they've never ever done, and they cause a hilarious series of debilitating groin injuries. Maybe they were a teacher forever, and decide to cook meth even though they never have broken the law once. Or, as it is often portrayed as the most degrading of jobs, slinging burgers for a fast food joint perhaps hilariously thinking the meat is people. Occasionally this part of the story is a montage if it's in a movie. Sadly, I don't think montages actually happen in real life, at least I've never experienced one. And in my experience, jobs don't often let you try it out for a day, and most often you have to interview well before getting thrown on the job site.
There's a lot of uncertainty looking for work. It sort of drives you crazy, and it can kind of feel like you suck personally because of it after a while. And even though Hollywood doesn't always show that part without a bit of a joke or a sappy moment, they still do show it most of the time. In reality, unemployment isn't that bad, there are some bad points to it, sure. But it can be kind of cool, too. It gives you a chance to take some "you time" which every one needs, and it can shift your focus and help you out a lot more than you know. It can be a really cool positive time, and that's the part of it that Hollywood tends to focus on because hey, shows are meant to be entertainment and a distraction from reality. Just don't expect life to be exactly like the movies all the time, and you'll be okay.
(still hoping for a montage)
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Crooked Crochet
Yesterday it was so freakishly nice and warm and sunny out, I wanted to wear shorts. My cream soda shorts. With thigh high leg warmers. I didn't, because I don't have thigh high leg warmers. YET. (also Mr. C might have made that face he makes when I'm dressing too runway. I love having a man who's so honest when I ask his opinion about clothes. Honestly, if it wasn't for him some days I'd probably be a ridiculous explosion of colour and self expression and accessories.)
I recently have been experimenting with crocheting to look like knit ribbing, and I've created a knee high spats style leg warmer in khaki green. I just need some awesome buttons, and then the one will be done. I've started the second one, although I kind of wish I had written down what I had done exactly as I went along because right now they don't look exactly the same... Oh well, next time I decide to whip up something in crochet off the top of my head I will remember to write down the pattern so I can recreate it exactly.
I'll definitely post a picture of me wearing them in the near future... camera needs batteries. And to have the zoom function fixed.
I got a Pintrest account set up today. Decided that it's going to be used (primarily) as an inspiration board for my design. I've slapped some pictures of designs I love and some inspirational photos so far. I like the idea of Pintrest, but I think I have to play around with it more to really know whether I'll use it or not.
I got a scanner for my birthday! So I wanted to show you some of my sketches. I'm gunna go through and pic out the ones I like best, and will make another post of just them. I've made a couple of them already, like the cream soda shorts. I have all the fabric I need to make the long coat, but I haven't started it yet. I've also started the super wide-legged pants. They are so '70's retro inspired that I want to vomit up rainbows, I love the fabric I chose for them so much! And now that I also own my own serger (thanks Mommy! Best Christmas gift <3 <3) whom I have named Sergei, I can get a lot more finished sewing wise.
Although it's difficult to temper mass design/sewing urges with the desperate need for a 'real job'. So I have all these awesome sewing project ideas, but I probably wont have time to get to any of them super soon. I have to finish other projects first. Thus the crochet - it's far more portable, and I can work on it most anywhere. Except this last time I bought yarn I bought a ridiculously huge ball, because I wasn't sure how much I was going to need (I knew I was using it to make leg warmers, but I had no pattern and didn't even know if I was making thigh highs or knee highs).
Also - my crochet always seems to want to lean. Like the leaning crochet of Pisa or something, my rectangles always turn into trapezoids. Even if I'm following a pre-designed pattern. Maybe I'll make that my crochet signature.
I recently have been experimenting with crocheting to look like knit ribbing, and I've created a knee high spats style leg warmer in khaki green. I just need some awesome buttons, and then the one will be done. I've started the second one, although I kind of wish I had written down what I had done exactly as I went along because right now they don't look exactly the same... Oh well, next time I decide to whip up something in crochet off the top of my head I will remember to write down the pattern so I can recreate it exactly.
I'll definitely post a picture of me wearing them in the near future... camera needs batteries. And to have the zoom function fixed.
I got a Pintrest account set up today. Decided that it's going to be used (primarily) as an inspiration board for my design. I've slapped some pictures of designs I love and some inspirational photos so far. I like the idea of Pintrest, but I think I have to play around with it more to really know whether I'll use it or not.
I got a scanner for my birthday! So I wanted to show you some of my sketches. I'm gunna go through and pic out the ones I like best, and will make another post of just them. I've made a couple of them already, like the cream soda shorts. I have all the fabric I need to make the long coat, but I haven't started it yet. I've also started the super wide-legged pants. They are so '70's retro inspired that I want to vomit up rainbows, I love the fabric I chose for them so much! And now that I also own my own serger (thanks Mommy! Best Christmas gift <3 <3) whom I have named Sergei, I can get a lot more finished sewing wise.
Although it's difficult to temper mass design/sewing urges with the desperate need for a 'real job'. So I have all these awesome sewing project ideas, but I probably wont have time to get to any of them super soon. I have to finish other projects first. Thus the crochet - it's far more portable, and I can work on it most anywhere. Except this last time I bought yarn I bought a ridiculously huge ball, because I wasn't sure how much I was going to need (I knew I was using it to make leg warmers, but I had no pattern and didn't even know if I was making thigh highs or knee highs).
Also - my crochet always seems to want to lean. Like the leaning crochet of Pisa or something, my rectangles always turn into trapezoids. Even if I'm following a pre-designed pattern. Maybe I'll make that my crochet signature.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Movin' and Groovin', Shakin' and ... Bacon?
I really have to buckle down, I say as I type on my blog as a means to procrastinate. Well, that's not entirely true - I did just put a load of laundry in the wash. And the printer is printing resumes.
I need to crack down on the resume thing, because this is getting a little stressfully ridiculous. EI is up at the end of March, still haven't found a job. It's frightening, is what it is, and has been a factor in my horrible moodiness lately. I got my printer set up today, started printing off resumes with the intention of going out on the prowl today, only to discover I have no shirts clean that aren't logo T's, and not even ones I designed. I know, I know, it sounds like yet another excuse, but I really can't hand out resumes in khaki green cargo pants, a M*A*S*H t-shirt (that's almost the same colour as the pants, so really I'd never leave the house in this outfit) and red canvas sneakers. I mean, I could, but I wouldn't call me in for an interview dressed like that. I have standards, and expect other people to share those standards or at the very least have a set of their own.
So the laundry is laundering, the printer is noisily printing away (complete with curious cat investigating) and I'm preparing myself for my plans for next week: The resume week from hell. I've sectioned off my entire city via bus routes and primary hiring locations, I've prospected out the most likely hiring locations, and I've devised the most efficient way to hand out resumes at every corner of this city. If you're local, expect to see me at your place of employment with a resume in hand, a smile on my face, and a pair of killer heels. Because everyone respects a chick who'll hand out resumes in 3" tall heeled army-inspired boots when they are walking and busing it, right?
Anyway! Other than that -- I've been feeling a little bit better lately. Still not really 100% myself, but I think getting back on track and employed will help that.
I was going to blog about my opinions today, I had this whole thing planned to go off about bill C-11... and then I decided not to. Why? Well, mostly because I'm going to research my opinion a little bit more, learn a bit more about C-11 and current copyright law in this country. I want to get my facts straight, and then I'll blog about it. But! I will say this: I am firmly opposed to C-11. After the Prez' of the USA vetoed SOPA, I had hoped that politicians in Canada would see the devastating effects of such ridiculous laws. But I'm not going to rely on that hope - our current administration here in my beautiful country has already put into place some policies I'm dead against, and made some real jacked up decisions lately.
What it all boils down to: I just have a huge issue with copyright infringement sentencing being harsher than sentencing for rape, murder, child abuse, molestation -- well, pretty much the only thing I've seen lately that they will serve harsher sentences for is marijuana and other drug related charges. (Which is also really f@%^# up, in my humble opinion). Why do we need reform when these laws are already in place which are effective, and serve up sentences which seem ridiculous and cruel? I mean, come on! Kim Dotcom from Megaupload was denied bail, even though he is not a violent offender. Even though his only crime was to create a website, where other people uploaded the content, people from around the world he didn't even know. The US wants to extradite him and his colleagues (Thank you Gov't of Canada for opening that window of extradition on ridiculous charges. See: Mark Emery) and the case against him is claiming he owes over $620 million in lost revenue due to pirated content of the website, and is allegedly being charged a minimum of 50 years to life in prison. (Okay, I know he hasn't been sentenced yet, and he was a hacker and was charged for some insider trading and fraud in the past. But these previous cases against him aren't being included in this new copyright based one)
How about we shift focus for a moment, and start punishing REAL criminals? You know, the murderers, the rapists, the gangs and the child abusers? How about we focus our criminal justice system on the people who are actually killing other people, and stop putting so much focus and attention on what should be considered petty crime? This year in Peru an American was in the court system for mass murder. He was sentenced but will serve no jail time due to a misrepresentation of evidence, even though he plead guilty. In 2005 a child rapist in Vermont was sentenced to 6 months in prison for over five years of repeated offence. The judge said long term sentences do nothing for these kinds of offenders, so there was no point sentencing him for a longer prison stay. He had no monetary fines, and was permitted out on bail in less than a month. This year in Vancouver, BC a man who broke into a home and attacked a 12 year old was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with chance of bail. Because of time already served, he was honoured a credit in the system and will be getting out in about 5 years.
Fuck that noise. I'm sorry, but in my mind all this proves is that the justice system is completely fucked up. That people with money make the laws, that all us regular people have no rights. Unless of course, we're criminals, because then we must be treated fairly while incarcerated. I would never kill or rape or hurt another person on purpose for any reason. But because I download shit, because I use YouTube and occasionally enjoy spoofing something, because I may have once or twice grabbed a few pics off of Google without crediting them, I'm a horrible criminal who must be punished to the harshest sentence possible? GIVE ME A GODDAMN BREAK.
...
I just made myself very angry
...
Now that I'm calm - I understand Kim Dotcom is not just a regular person. He's an internet mogul who is in charge of all the "mega" websites. He created a space for people to upload content - similar to youtube, really. But less control over copyrighted content. How can he be blamed for the content users of the website upload? Allegedly the person who uploaded Wolverine: Origins to the website was to be incarcerated for a year. That doesn't seem too extreme. However, where does it stop?
Mash up videos, spoofs, a song playing in the background of the video of baby's first steps - will these be pulled for unauthorised use of copyright content? Will the uploader be fined or incarcerated?
A teenage girl downloads a song from an album her parents wont let her buy because they decided it's too racey. All her friends listen to it, and sing it, she wants a part of that. She's a kid, what does she know of consequences? Too bad the download she picked had a tracer, and now she's being fined for copyright infringement.
That bronie over there, the one making the video of the My Little Ponies using that li'l Wayne song - is he going to be charged twice?
I just can so easily see these control measures turning into something awful. Something akin to censorship, a control measure to stop people from freely accessing information. I remember how the internet used to be, a few hackers here a few there, chat rooms and terribly designed web pages with inaccurate information floating around all over the place. Then the flood gates burst, and it was like the world shifted focus. We don't look out our windows any more, we look at our Windows. Or whatever OS you're using.
How about lets make it easier for websites to obtain licensing to show television programs online, without restrictions like "you're from Canada, and even though you GET THIS CHANNEL you can't watch any of our shows online because you're from Canada!" Nothing drives me towards downloading more than that one little thing. Even though I have cable with 2 different channels that show South Park, I never seem to catch the new episodes. And I can't watch the damn show online anywhere because I'm not allowed. Even though I would be considered part of the shows audience. Even though I would be willing to put up with shitty ads if I could just watch the damn show when I want, not when it's scheduled to be on TV. So yeah, I will download it. Because you've given me only one (2) other option(s), that never seem to pan out. Every time I tune in, it's an old episode I've already seen.
Maybe Netflix spoiled me. Maybe Megaupload and other free streaming sites have corrupted me. Or maybe, I just see the innovation of it, the potential. Maybe if television could give me a better, more affordable option to watch the shows I want to watch when I want them without having to pay out the ass I would be able to. But as it stands I can barely afford the basic cable I have now. I can't afford to add 28 more channels just to get HBO, because to get it I'd have to upgrade twice because you can't have tier 5 without tier 3 and 4. Cable television is a money grubbing horrible HORRIBLE corporation, that feeds on societies addiction to entertainment. And they are threatened by the fact that internet gives us even more than what they are providing.
Anyway, now that I'm seriously riled up again, I think I'm gunna go watch some episodes of Buffy. On Netflix. Because like there's anything I actually want to watch on TV right now.
Thursday, 26 January 2012
They Used to Say "Big Boned" to be Polite. That Sounds Like A Euphemism
There's been a lot of talk and controversy that I'm noticing on my social network feeds. About how skinny is not beauty, about the fashion industry and it's portrayal of size 0-4 women as being "average" sized.
First and foremost, before I go any further I'm going to stop you all right there. In no way did the whole super skinny super model come about to portray a society standard in women's clothing sizes. Any woman who looks at fashion and thinks a designer dresses only size 2 girls on his runway because of more than industry standards and expense is silly. Sure, on some level their may be aesthetics involved. On some level, designers might want a particular model for her name. But the smaller the girl, the smaller the sample being made for the runway needs to be. And the smaller the sample, the less of the expensive chiffon and Swarovski crystals are needed. Which cuts down a designers cost. If every designer were dressing "real" size women for their runway samples, they would be spending double and triple their budget for the same sample run. I'm not being callous, it's the truth. It costs way more to produce a dress for a size 20 than it does for a size 2, you need more edging to go around a size 20 hem, you need more fabric. You need to cut the dress completely differently, you need to know your models proportions and bust size far more intimately. With a size 2 girl you can count on her having little curves and a smaller bust, leave some extra seam allowance for letting out and taking in where you need to, and with that you can architecturally build the shape and curves you want with fabrics, interfacing and a little boning. On a size 20 girl you need that interfacing and boning just to ensure her décolletage is under control and she isn't going to have a nip slip on the runway. And you may not have enough fabric to let out the seams if you need too. I'm not trying to be callous, I'll make dresses for real plus sizes, and petites and whoever. And I have, so I know the difference.
Some designers will pack their runways full of only one type of girl, with one body shape. This is totally because of comfort and ease, and the speed of which someone can produce when they know they are only picking models size 2 with relatively the same dimensions. Sometimes you will hear of designers only picking Scandanavian women, or women of African descent. And this happens because fashion is art. Designers, artists. And all artists have a vision. When a designer draws up a concept, sketches out a model, and starts mocking up a new gown, he already has a type of girl in mind. She might be willowy and hippy like, with long tawny hair. She might be fierce, a warrior woman, a business woman, a girl on a night out, the girl next door -- trust me, this is all part of the process of design, whether you've been through school for it or not. Even us self taught pattern makers and sewers and designers have a person in mind when we make a beautiful garment. It's not that designers are trying to push their own ideals into society, they are just trying to show society their artistic vision.
That being said, do I agree with only using super tiny super tall girls in a runway show?
Well, if I were running the show, not at all. I would want to be able to show my diversity as a designer, which means displaying diversity on my runway.
And a lot of designers do just that! Betsey Johnson used plus size girls in the live runway she broadcast via Youtube for fashion week in NYC. Her daughter was one of the models too. It's part of her ascetic as a designer to design for women of all shapes, sizes, colours and creeds. This is why she's one of my favourite designers. Here's a picture Google tagged as a Betsey Runway model from her 2011 show. This girl is rocking it, and is considered plus size for the industry.
I know, I know, a lot of people look at this girl and say "She is NOT plus sized!"
Well, lets agree to disagree for a minute. I always kind of considered the fashion word "plus sized" to mean "plus ten" so in my head I like to call this girl a "size zero plus". Think of it. If you're a size 12, you could tell everyone you are a size 2 plus. Does it make you feel smaller or bigger to say it that way? Okay, I'm being kind of sarcastic. But, it's true. Any girl size ten or larger in the fashion industry is considered plus, whether we think that's fair or not. It's not about our own size, and a lot of girls take it personally like that. I fit clothing anywhere from a size 10 to 14, depending on cut and fit and style. Do I like hearing a size 10 girl is "plus sized"? No, not really. But I look at myself in the mirror, and I know I'm not fat or ugly, just because an industry labelled me plus. I'm not a model, I'm just a girl on the streets. People double take me, I have gorgeous brown eyes and love my curves. Am I plus? Well, if I were walking a runway, yes. In real life, not really.
Now, here's another fun thing. Sizes are not the same everywhere. Every designer has their own conventions for measurement, some only do custom work, some mass produce using a standardized chart. A European size 12 and a US size 12 are going to be different, guaranteed. Just like a department store size 10 vs a designer boutique size 10. No two sizes are going to be the same. Heck, who hasn't been shopping for jeans and put on two styles and found they needed a larger size in one pair, but in the other style needed a smaller size? It's all about standards, and their are no international standards, nor standards that run between companies. I swim in a large from Old Navy, but have to buy some things in a large from Le Château. So, to some people that girl in that picture is a plus size, to others she's not. It's all just opinion. (And really, who cares! She was in a BJ fashion show I'm really super jealous of her even if she's plus!)
This model is plus sized, probably to anyone no matter how they look at the label plus. And gorgeous, although I wish more designers encouraged their models to look happy and smile when they walk. And, the bust on this dress doesn't fit her properly. This is what I mean, this would be a reason a designer might not want a plus sized model, because you cannot guarantee that she isn't going to have completely different dimensions than the dress you designed at her size. She might have told the designer she was a D cup in bra, where to me she plainly looks larger than a D. But, not all designers are even aware of cup size, especially if they are male designers and have only ever dressed smaller women with smaller breasts.
The most important thing in design, is fit. And many designers (obviously not this one) don't know how to dress and fit a plus sized woman.
But bad fit can happen on even the smallest of models. This is a picture of some terrifying clothing that came from Project Runway. This is a standard sized model, but she doesn't look right in this outfit, because it just doesn't fit. So, before you say I'm prejudiced, I just want to let you know that bad fit can happen on any sized girl. When a bad outfit doesn't fit, it's tragic. When a good outfit doesn't fit, it destroys what's good about it.
Okay, now I'm done over explaining about the fashion industry, I do have another point to make.
All of these women, be them the "plus" sizes or "standard" sizes, are fucking beautiful. Just because they are labeled as one thing or another does not change the fact that they are unique and stunning ladies. Is curvy more pretty than skinny? The answer is NO. Is skinny more beautiful than fat? NO.
On my Facebook wall I posted this picture a while ago that some people may have taken offence too. Especially my friends who are thin, or those who would ideally be thin. My personal tastes tell me that Marilyn Monroe is the hottest woman in that image, but that's because I identify with her curvaceousness. I'm a curvy girl, I have heavy bones and thick hips, I will never look like Keira Knightly, never ever no matter how much I work out or diet. I don't think Keira isn't beautiful, that's not what I was trying to say by posting this image, although I know some people took it that way. What I am saying is my body shape could look like Marilyn, I could get rid of the jiggle and maybe have a body like Betty Paige. Without plastic surgery, I could never look like Heidi Montag, and I don't want too.
I've come to accept that I am a curvaceous girl, that I have booty, I have breasts. And I'm beautiful.
I just wonder what it is, how it is, that society seems to think woman have to conform to some kind of standard of size and shape. In my opinion, beauty isn't being thin, or being fat. It's not having pale skin or tanned skin. It's not dying your hair to be brunette or blond or blue. It's something inside, and when I say when did thin become hotter than curvy, I mean, when did anything become hotter than anything else? Beauty is beauty, and all eight of those women are beautiful to someone. Beauty is subjective, and that's the truth.
And hey, just so you know, if Marilyn was a model today, walking runway or doing stills, she'd be considered plus size too.
First and foremost, before I go any further I'm going to stop you all right there. In no way did the whole super skinny super model come about to portray a society standard in women's clothing sizes. Any woman who looks at fashion and thinks a designer dresses only size 2 girls on his runway because of more than industry standards and expense is silly. Sure, on some level their may be aesthetics involved. On some level, designers might want a particular model for her name. But the smaller the girl, the smaller the sample being made for the runway needs to be. And the smaller the sample, the less of the expensive chiffon and Swarovski crystals are needed. Which cuts down a designers cost. If every designer were dressing "real" size women for their runway samples, they would be spending double and triple their budget for the same sample run. I'm not being callous, it's the truth. It costs way more to produce a dress for a size 20 than it does for a size 2, you need more edging to go around a size 20 hem, you need more fabric. You need to cut the dress completely differently, you need to know your models proportions and bust size far more intimately. With a size 2 girl you can count on her having little curves and a smaller bust, leave some extra seam allowance for letting out and taking in where you need to, and with that you can architecturally build the shape and curves you want with fabrics, interfacing and a little boning. On a size 20 girl you need that interfacing and boning just to ensure her décolletage is under control and she isn't going to have a nip slip on the runway. And you may not have enough fabric to let out the seams if you need too. I'm not trying to be callous, I'll make dresses for real plus sizes, and petites and whoever. And I have, so I know the difference.
Some designers will pack their runways full of only one type of girl, with one body shape. This is totally because of comfort and ease, and the speed of which someone can produce when they know they are only picking models size 2 with relatively the same dimensions. Sometimes you will hear of designers only picking Scandanavian women, or women of African descent. And this happens because fashion is art. Designers, artists. And all artists have a vision. When a designer draws up a concept, sketches out a model, and starts mocking up a new gown, he already has a type of girl in mind. She might be willowy and hippy like, with long tawny hair. She might be fierce, a warrior woman, a business woman, a girl on a night out, the girl next door -- trust me, this is all part of the process of design, whether you've been through school for it or not. Even us self taught pattern makers and sewers and designers have a person in mind when we make a beautiful garment. It's not that designers are trying to push their own ideals into society, they are just trying to show society their artistic vision.
That being said, do I agree with only using super tiny super tall girls in a runway show?
Well, if I were running the show, not at all. I would want to be able to show my diversity as a designer, which means displaying diversity on my runway.
And a lot of designers do just that! Betsey Johnson used plus size girls in the live runway she broadcast via Youtube for fashion week in NYC. Her daughter was one of the models too. It's part of her ascetic as a designer to design for women of all shapes, sizes, colours and creeds. This is why she's one of my favourite designers. Here's a picture Google tagged as a Betsey Runway model from her 2011 show. This girl is rocking it, and is considered plus size for the industry.
Well, lets agree to disagree for a minute. I always kind of considered the fashion word "plus sized" to mean "plus ten" so in my head I like to call this girl a "size zero plus". Think of it. If you're a size 12, you could tell everyone you are a size 2 plus. Does it make you feel smaller or bigger to say it that way? Okay, I'm being kind of sarcastic. But, it's true. Any girl size ten or larger in the fashion industry is considered plus, whether we think that's fair or not. It's not about our own size, and a lot of girls take it personally like that. I fit clothing anywhere from a size 10 to 14, depending on cut and fit and style. Do I like hearing a size 10 girl is "plus sized"? No, not really. But I look at myself in the mirror, and I know I'm not fat or ugly, just because an industry labelled me plus. I'm not a model, I'm just a girl on the streets. People double take me, I have gorgeous brown eyes and love my curves. Am I plus? Well, if I were walking a runway, yes. In real life, not really.
Now, here's another fun thing. Sizes are not the same everywhere. Every designer has their own conventions for measurement, some only do custom work, some mass produce using a standardized chart. A European size 12 and a US size 12 are going to be different, guaranteed. Just like a department store size 10 vs a designer boutique size 10. No two sizes are going to be the same. Heck, who hasn't been shopping for jeans and put on two styles and found they needed a larger size in one pair, but in the other style needed a smaller size? It's all about standards, and their are no international standards, nor standards that run between companies. I swim in a large from Old Navy, but have to buy some things in a large from Le Château. So, to some people that girl in that picture is a plus size, to others she's not. It's all just opinion. (And really, who cares! She was in a BJ fashion show I'm really super jealous of her even if she's plus!)
This model is plus sized, probably to anyone no matter how they look at the label plus. And gorgeous, although I wish more designers encouraged their models to look happy and smile when they walk. And, the bust on this dress doesn't fit her properly. This is what I mean, this would be a reason a designer might not want a plus sized model, because you cannot guarantee that she isn't going to have completely different dimensions than the dress you designed at her size. She might have told the designer she was a D cup in bra, where to me she plainly looks larger than a D. But, not all designers are even aware of cup size, especially if they are male designers and have only ever dressed smaller women with smaller breasts.
The most important thing in design, is fit. And many designers (obviously not this one) don't know how to dress and fit a plus sized woman.
Okay, now I'm done over explaining about the fashion industry, I do have another point to make.
All of these women, be them the "plus" sizes or "standard" sizes, are fucking beautiful. Just because they are labeled as one thing or another does not change the fact that they are unique and stunning ladies. Is curvy more pretty than skinny? The answer is NO. Is skinny more beautiful than fat? NO.
I've come to accept that I am a curvaceous girl, that I have booty, I have breasts. And I'm beautiful.
I just wonder what it is, how it is, that society seems to think woman have to conform to some kind of standard of size and shape. In my opinion, beauty isn't being thin, or being fat. It's not having pale skin or tanned skin. It's not dying your hair to be brunette or blond or blue. It's something inside, and when I say when did thin become hotter than curvy, I mean, when did anything become hotter than anything else? Beauty is beauty, and all eight of those women are beautiful to someone. Beauty is subjective, and that's the truth.
And hey, just so you know, if Marilyn was a model today, walking runway or doing stills, she'd be considered plus size too.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Another Year
It's 2012! Yes, that's right. It's the year the 'world ends' according to a bunch of people who have opinions about these sort of things. I'm not one of them, or so I would like to think. However, the permeating message that the end of times is nigh does subconsciously give me the heebie-jeebies, and I can't deny that a portion of my internal self is thinking "oh fuck" at the prospect of this potentially being my last year in this life as I know it.
Sounds like the apocalypse might be a lot of fun, actually.
Or then again, maybe that's just my stupid brain being stupid and I shouldn't listen to the doom sayers and just keep on truckin' through the futility of all things like every other person on the planet.
Man, I'm really depressed lately.
I'm done talking about that before I even start. It's dark and dank in that cavernous region of my mind and I'm tired of being there, and even that little paragraph is too much of a reminder of not good feelings for me right now. I'm starting this post over, and I'm not talking about things that you don't need to know.
I love coffee, but a fancy ass Starbucks latte is way too expensive, especially when you want such a lovely sugary coffee substance daily or even more than one a day. I'm not going to deny it, I love me my fancy ass Starbucks, it takes the coffee to a level of euphoric yumminess beyond it's natural state of yumminess. Not only do I get the invigorating effects of caffeine coursing through my veins, but the added sugary goodness gives a person that instant zip zap zoom that makes me want to actually accomplish things.
Sugar makes me manic.
Last January Mr. C bought for me an espresso maker. We searched all over town until I found one I liked. The steamer doesn't get to a high enough temperature to make perfect lattes, but I found if you microwave your milk first for about 30seconds it heats it enough to get a good healthy foam on top. Then I began searching for the best espresso beans. I had already graduated to grinding my own coffee before owning the espresso maker, so continuing on with this trend I searched high and low for the perfect bean. At first I thought Starbucks would be the obvious choice, but I learned that wasn't so. The Starbucks blends they sell just seem to come out different when made at home. After much searching I finally found Kicking Horse's Grizzly Claw dark roast whole beans. I can find it in any of the local grocery stores as its a semi-local company here in BC, and it's a really good dark roast, and makes excellent espresso albeit it's not a traditional espresso bean. So, after some trials and errors leading to less errors, I figured out how to get my espresso maker to work in top form and make coffee I love.
I also began purchasing different flavours of syrups (toffee and vanilla mostly) and experimenting with different flavours of latte. I found it strange how difficult it was to find syrups in town here, coming to the conclusion that only 2 places in town sell it, outside of Starbucks where occasionally I could purchase the caramel drizzle there as well if I was willing to spend more money on it than I wanted to. Because of the lack of supply, sometimes I wouldn't be able to find the flavours I wanted, and would wind up buying something different because I really prefer my lattes to have a sugary sweetness to them. This, I realised, was kind of a problem. The lack of flavours I wanted, combined with the seasonal deliciousness known as the pumpkin spice latte, I found myself back at Starbucks at least once a week.
Then I came to the realisation that I wasn't really saving as much money as I wanted to be saving by having my own means of making lattes. And I was still frequenting Starbucks to get the gourmet flavours I wanted, probably at least once a week. So not only was I still purchasing coffee at coffee shops, I was also buying syrups at approximately $15-$25 a bottle (depending on volume of bottle, of course) and honestly, the beans I buy are not on the cheap side, because I don't like cheap tasting coffee.
It hit me like something that hits really hard and makes you see things a little skewed for a few minutes, and I remembered: I have made simple syrups before. Syrups are fucking easy! Like STUPID easy to make! AND CHEAP.
Okay, so to make a simple syrup all you need is sugar and water in equal parts. Dump it into a pan. Bring the water to a boil while whisking. Wait for it to go clear, reduce the heat and simmer stirring occasionally until half of the liquid evaporates. It takes less than 5 minutes to accomplish all of this. There, sugar syrup, good for so many different things that need added liquid sweetness. So if a 4kg bag of sugar costs me approximately $5, I only spend about $0.10 on the sugar used in each 250mL bottle of syrup if I am using 1 cup of sugar per bottle of home made syrup, which I am.
Then flavouring? The first attempt was good ol' trusty vanilla. Because who doesn't have vanilla extract kicking around somewhere? And if you don't have vanilla, don't fret. It's still ridiculously inexpensive if you shop around for the best prices on baking extracts and spices. Spices are inexpensive these days, if you know where to look. I spent just under $9 at my local Bulk Barn on 5 whole nutmegs, a bunch of whole cloves, a honey bear squeezy bottle (for the dulce de leche I intend to make soon) and two 100mL bottles of baking extracts: Pure Almond, and Pure Anise @2.99 each.
I did the maths. I like doing maths for no reason sometimes. If I am only paying ten cents in sugar per 250mL bottle of syrup, and I'm only paying approximately 15 cents in spicing per bottle of syrup (depending on how fancy I feel like being), then each bottle of syrup costs me only ... twenty five cents. Seriously? That means I'm only paying three cents for each sugary shot added to my latte!
If I break it down even further, cost of milk and coffee beans, I pay roughly $1.50 for each fancy gourmet latte I make at home, as opposed to the $6 per grande size coffee at Starbucks I will spend. Totally worth it.
LATTE SYRUP RECIPES (ones I've tried so far)
Vanilla Syrup
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
(I used artificial vanilla for this one, and it was fine. I'm kind of sensitive to flavours, so I noticed the artificial vanilla seemed to bring out a metallic kind of after taste to the syrup. Probably a result of the propylene glycol in the extract, or perhaps using a little too much vanilla. I would suggest using real vanilla extract and only 2tsp at most, but if you don't have it and aren't as picky as me use artificial it's cheaper and almost as good)
Cinnamon Vanilla
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
2 sticks of cinnamon (2" long)
1 tsp vanilla extract (the vanilla extract I use is not the clear kind, it's the amber kind. I really like the amber colour it makes the syrups)
Anise Spice
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
5 whole cloves
1 tsp anise extract
1 pinch of ginger OR coarsely grate some ginger root into it if you don't want "floaties" in your syrup, but use a scant amount
1 cinnamon stick 2" long
1/4 of a very small nutmeg, crushed. Would have been equal to about 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg if you aren't worried about "floaties" in the syrup.
I strained out the cloves and stuff before bottling it.
Almond Rocha
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp butter -- this was a mistake. I should have purchased some butter flavour to use (found in most grocery stores baking section for flavouring icing), as the real butter made the syrup go kind of milky instead of clear and ambery pretty. Now it's separating the fat from the added butter and it's floating on top of the syrup, all yellow and butter fat looking. It tastes great, but looks weird.
All the recipes methods were the same.
1) Dump sugar and water unceremoniously into a pan. I used my 1 quart pot.
2) Add whatever spice and flavours you want. And, if you want, food colouring. I totally would.
3) Turn heat to MAX and bring it up to a boil while whisking occasionally and inconsiderately. A whisk is not necessary, but I just like them they are more fun than spoons.
3) When it starts to boil (in about 2-3 minutes) reduce the heat down to like 7, or somewhere between middle and high heat so it simmers.
4) Walk the fuck away and go on twitter and forget you are making stuff. But don't forget for longer than a couple of minutes, or you might evaporate it all the way down into a thick goo or burn it.
5) In about 2 minutes, when you remember you are cooking something, go stir it really well with your whisk. If it's reduced to half it's original volume it's done. You should have about 1 cup or so of liquid, a little more or a little less is fine.
6) Let it cool and for gods sake, don't try any right away! You WILL burn your mouth. And hot sugar burns are the worst. Especially in your mouth. Trust me.
7) Strain out any floaties from your spices with a mesh wire strainer or, if you want to make sure even the finest of particles don't make it into the final bottle, use cheesecloth.
8) Let it sit for awhile. I know, you want to try it NOW but seriously, this stuff is up tight and hot and needs a few minutes left alone to chill out and cool down.
9) Then pour it into a bottle. I went to a dollar store and bought some cute vinegar bottles, the kind with the rubbery corks with the pour spouty things, not the kinds with the little triangle tops that are for shaking on your fries. I guess they are called cruets. They all say "vinegar" in very fancy script on them. I like it, it's deceptive.
10) Label it, and store it. It doesn't need to be refrigerated, as it's syrup and it'll keep for awhile on the counter. You can refrigerate it if you are worried about it I guess. The worst that's going to happen is the water content will evaporate out and you'll be left with super concentrated syrup, or if it's left open for a really long time like a few weeks, you'll have lovely flavoured sugar crystals inside a glass bottle.
Sounds like the apocalypse might be a lot of fun, actually.
Or then again, maybe that's just my stupid brain being stupid and I shouldn't listen to the doom sayers and just keep on truckin' through the futility of all things like every other person on the planet.
Man, I'm really depressed lately.
I'm done talking about that before I even start. It's dark and dank in that cavernous region of my mind and I'm tired of being there, and even that little paragraph is too much of a reminder of not good feelings for me right now. I'm starting this post over, and I'm not talking about things that you don't need to know.
I love coffee, but a fancy ass Starbucks latte is way too expensive, especially when you want such a lovely sugary coffee substance daily or even more than one a day. I'm not going to deny it, I love me my fancy ass Starbucks, it takes the coffee to a level of euphoric yumminess beyond it's natural state of yumminess. Not only do I get the invigorating effects of caffeine coursing through my veins, but the added sugary goodness gives a person that instant zip zap zoom that makes me want to actually accomplish things.
Sugar makes me manic.
Last January Mr. C bought for me an espresso maker. We searched all over town until I found one I liked. The steamer doesn't get to a high enough temperature to make perfect lattes, but I found if you microwave your milk first for about 30seconds it heats it enough to get a good healthy foam on top. Then I began searching for the best espresso beans. I had already graduated to grinding my own coffee before owning the espresso maker, so continuing on with this trend I searched high and low for the perfect bean. At first I thought Starbucks would be the obvious choice, but I learned that wasn't so. The Starbucks blends they sell just seem to come out different when made at home. After much searching I finally found Kicking Horse's Grizzly Claw dark roast whole beans. I can find it in any of the local grocery stores as its a semi-local company here in BC, and it's a really good dark roast, and makes excellent espresso albeit it's not a traditional espresso bean. So, after some trials and errors leading to less errors, I figured out how to get my espresso maker to work in top form and make coffee I love.
I also began purchasing different flavours of syrups (toffee and vanilla mostly) and experimenting with different flavours of latte. I found it strange how difficult it was to find syrups in town here, coming to the conclusion that only 2 places in town sell it, outside of Starbucks where occasionally I could purchase the caramel drizzle there as well if I was willing to spend more money on it than I wanted to. Because of the lack of supply, sometimes I wouldn't be able to find the flavours I wanted, and would wind up buying something different because I really prefer my lattes to have a sugary sweetness to them. This, I realised, was kind of a problem. The lack of flavours I wanted, combined with the seasonal deliciousness known as the pumpkin spice latte, I found myself back at Starbucks at least once a week.
Then I came to the realisation that I wasn't really saving as much money as I wanted to be saving by having my own means of making lattes. And I was still frequenting Starbucks to get the gourmet flavours I wanted, probably at least once a week. So not only was I still purchasing coffee at coffee shops, I was also buying syrups at approximately $15-$25 a bottle (depending on volume of bottle, of course) and honestly, the beans I buy are not on the cheap side, because I don't like cheap tasting coffee.
It hit me like something that hits really hard and makes you see things a little skewed for a few minutes, and I remembered: I have made simple syrups before. Syrups are fucking easy! Like STUPID easy to make! AND CHEAP.
Okay, so to make a simple syrup all you need is sugar and water in equal parts. Dump it into a pan. Bring the water to a boil while whisking. Wait for it to go clear, reduce the heat and simmer stirring occasionally until half of the liquid evaporates. It takes less than 5 minutes to accomplish all of this. There, sugar syrup, good for so many different things that need added liquid sweetness. So if a 4kg bag of sugar costs me approximately $5, I only spend about $0.10 on the sugar used in each 250mL bottle of syrup if I am using 1 cup of sugar per bottle of home made syrup, which I am.
Then flavouring? The first attempt was good ol' trusty vanilla. Because who doesn't have vanilla extract kicking around somewhere? And if you don't have vanilla, don't fret. It's still ridiculously inexpensive if you shop around for the best prices on baking extracts and spices. Spices are inexpensive these days, if you know where to look. I spent just under $9 at my local Bulk Barn on 5 whole nutmegs, a bunch of whole cloves, a honey bear squeezy bottle (for the dulce de leche I intend to make soon) and two 100mL bottles of baking extracts: Pure Almond, and Pure Anise @2.99 each.
I did the maths. I like doing maths for no reason sometimes. If I am only paying ten cents in sugar per 250mL bottle of syrup, and I'm only paying approximately 15 cents in spicing per bottle of syrup (depending on how fancy I feel like being), then each bottle of syrup costs me only ... twenty five cents. Seriously? That means I'm only paying three cents for each sugary shot added to my latte!
If I break it down even further, cost of milk and coffee beans, I pay roughly $1.50 for each fancy gourmet latte I make at home, as opposed to the $6 per grande size coffee at Starbucks I will spend. Totally worth it.
LATTE SYRUP RECIPES (ones I've tried so far)
Vanilla Syrup
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
(I used artificial vanilla for this one, and it was fine. I'm kind of sensitive to flavours, so I noticed the artificial vanilla seemed to bring out a metallic kind of after taste to the syrup. Probably a result of the propylene glycol in the extract, or perhaps using a little too much vanilla. I would suggest using real vanilla extract and only 2tsp at most, but if you don't have it and aren't as picky as me use artificial it's cheaper and almost as good)
Cinnamon Vanilla
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
2 sticks of cinnamon (2" long)
1 tsp vanilla extract (the vanilla extract I use is not the clear kind, it's the amber kind. I really like the amber colour it makes the syrups)
Anise Spice
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
5 whole cloves
1 tsp anise extract
1 pinch of ginger OR coarsely grate some ginger root into it if you don't want "floaties" in your syrup, but use a scant amount
1 cinnamon stick 2" long
1/4 of a very small nutmeg, crushed. Would have been equal to about 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg if you aren't worried about "floaties" in the syrup.
I strained out the cloves and stuff before bottling it.
Almond Rocha
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of water
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp butter -- this was a mistake. I should have purchased some butter flavour to use (found in most grocery stores baking section for flavouring icing), as the real butter made the syrup go kind of milky instead of clear and ambery pretty. Now it's separating the fat from the added butter and it's floating on top of the syrup, all yellow and butter fat looking. It tastes great, but looks weird.
All the recipes methods were the same.
1) Dump sugar and water unceremoniously into a pan. I used my 1 quart pot.
2) Add whatever spice and flavours you want. And, if you want, food colouring. I totally would.
3) Turn heat to MAX and bring it up to a boil while whisking occasionally and inconsiderately. A whisk is not necessary, but I just like them they are more fun than spoons.
3) When it starts to boil (in about 2-3 minutes) reduce the heat down to like 7, or somewhere between middle and high heat so it simmers.
4) Walk the fuck away and go on twitter and forget you are making stuff. But don't forget for longer than a couple of minutes, or you might evaporate it all the way down into a thick goo or burn it.
5) In about 2 minutes, when you remember you are cooking something, go stir it really well with your whisk. If it's reduced to half it's original volume it's done. You should have about 1 cup or so of liquid, a little more or a little less is fine.
6) Let it cool and for gods sake, don't try any right away! You WILL burn your mouth. And hot sugar burns are the worst. Especially in your mouth. Trust me.
7) Strain out any floaties from your spices with a mesh wire strainer or, if you want to make sure even the finest of particles don't make it into the final bottle, use cheesecloth.
8) Let it sit for awhile. I know, you want to try it NOW but seriously, this stuff is up tight and hot and needs a few minutes left alone to chill out and cool down.
9) Then pour it into a bottle. I went to a dollar store and bought some cute vinegar bottles, the kind with the rubbery corks with the pour spouty things, not the kinds with the little triangle tops that are for shaking on your fries. I guess they are called cruets. They all say "vinegar" in very fancy script on them. I like it, it's deceptive.
10) Label it, and store it. It doesn't need to be refrigerated, as it's syrup and it'll keep for awhile on the counter. You can refrigerate it if you are worried about it I guess. The worst that's going to happen is the water content will evaporate out and you'll be left with super concentrated syrup, or if it's left open for a really long time like a few weeks, you'll have lovely flavoured sugar crystals inside a glass bottle.
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Christmas Time, Mistletoe and Wine
Man, I love the holiday season. I really do, all the snow and joy and laughter and tasty holiday baking...
This year there isn't so much snow; we're really seeing the effects of global climate change around these parts. I have vague memories of the not so distant past standing in a snow storm this time of year. I look outside now and the sun is shining down on my garden in the front of this new house that is still blooming. Yes, we've had frost, and a bit of snow. But apparently not enough to take down the mighty mutant snap dragons the previous tenants planted in the front garden. It's currently only -1C out there. I can very clearly recall my city used to have some of the worst winter cold snaps this time of year, when it would hit -28C in a blink of an eye and then add in the wind chill and snow, you were looking at some serious frost bite conditions. Although, we've never had tons of snow here like we did back on the lake where I grew up, but they haven't gotten much yet this winter either. I honestly worry when the winter is so dry like this, because I live in semi-arid desert region of British Columbia, without a good snowfall we can easily see drought in the summer time. Then again, last winter we got a walloping for winter weather in late January through February, which was a little odd considering. This year I don't even know what's going to happen.
I've done lots and lots of holiday baking this year, but none of it seems to have lasted 'til Christmas. I already ate a big chunk of the almond roca I made last night (that's a healthy breakfast, right?) but none of my 4 dozen walnut crescent cookies made it past a weekend in my house. I have a terrible sweet tooth, holiday baking is bad for me. I've gained back all the weight I lost over the summer, and a bit extra. Dammit. So the holiday baking is giving me glee in the baking and eating part, but then the weight gain is not making me happy at all. I still want to make some butter tarts and maybe some more almond roca. I'd have to go get some more almonds though.
So I guess there's been some stress on me this season, what with not working and all. Still. Big ol' sigh on that front. Then again, it's kind of nice to not have to worry about going to work on top of all the other holiday stresses, like family and gift buying and wrapping. I don't know when wrapping presents became a stress for me, but there you have it. I still haven't done it. The biggest stress I think is Christmas shopping, because I hate it and it's still not done yet. I'm one of those people who would rather have all my shopping done for Christmas before the 10th of December. I'm like that. But Mr. C is more of the procrastinating type, and when we're utilizing his cash flow for presents, I'm kind of at his mercy when it comes to shopping. He hates shopping. I keep trying to tell him that waiting until the last minute only makes things worse, but I don't know if he really has been thinking about that. And I hate having to last minute wrap gifts bought on the 23rd in a mad rush in a store filled with insane people who haven't bought a single thing yet and are freaking out and paying no gorram attention to anyone else in the store.
This problem I have developed over shopping in crowds and stores like Wal-Mart stems from having no personal sense of spacial awareness. I walk into people constantly, turn around and run into them if they are behind me, I talk with my hands and hit them in the face as they walk by, or whack them with my jacket as I'm taking it off when I come in the store or putting it on when I leave. I really try super hard to pay attention to others in public spaces, but in crowds I'm a complete clumsy mess. And around the holiday time, it gets so much worse. It gets on my nerves, because I try so damn hard not to get in other peoples way and to pay attention to their personal bubble, and when someone else doesn't pay attention and is spacing out and I accidentally bump into them as I turn around to look at the end cap display, they act like I'm the asshole. I'm really not a jerk, I'm not that person who doesn't give a shit that you are there, it's just that I have no ability to sense when people are in my space. I have the smallest personal bubble ever, it's not really my fault.
Man, I'd make a good target for a pick pocket.
I have, however, finally finished my nieces teddy bear she was supposed to get when she was born. Whoops, she's like one and a half now. Oh well, it's lovely and she still gets it and I know she will like it because it's soft and cuddly like her. And it's the same size she is. It's so pretty and tealy blue, one of my favourite colours. He has grey feet and grey ears and grey patches on his eyes, which haven't been appliquéd on yet. On his foot pads and paw pads I used some of the scrap paisley fabric from my 50's wrap dress I made back in July this year. If my camera were still alive, I'd take a picture for you to see the beautiful teddy bear. But it's dead, sadly, so I guess you will never look on the glory that is teal teddy bear with no eyes.
Anyway, yah. I think that's all that I feel the need to say. And, just in case I don't make another post for awhile,
MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!
/end holiday caps attack
This year there isn't so much snow; we're really seeing the effects of global climate change around these parts. I have vague memories of the not so distant past standing in a snow storm this time of year. I look outside now and the sun is shining down on my garden in the front of this new house that is still blooming. Yes, we've had frost, and a bit of snow. But apparently not enough to take down the mighty mutant snap dragons the previous tenants planted in the front garden. It's currently only -1C out there. I can very clearly recall my city used to have some of the worst winter cold snaps this time of year, when it would hit -28C in a blink of an eye and then add in the wind chill and snow, you were looking at some serious frost bite conditions. Although, we've never had tons of snow here like we did back on the lake where I grew up, but they haven't gotten much yet this winter either. I honestly worry when the winter is so dry like this, because I live in semi-arid desert region of British Columbia, without a good snowfall we can easily see drought in the summer time. Then again, last winter we got a walloping for winter weather in late January through February, which was a little odd considering. This year I don't even know what's going to happen.
I've done lots and lots of holiday baking this year, but none of it seems to have lasted 'til Christmas. I already ate a big chunk of the almond roca I made last night (that's a healthy breakfast, right?) but none of my 4 dozen walnut crescent cookies made it past a weekend in my house. I have a terrible sweet tooth, holiday baking is bad for me. I've gained back all the weight I lost over the summer, and a bit extra. Dammit. So the holiday baking is giving me glee in the baking and eating part, but then the weight gain is not making me happy at all. I still want to make some butter tarts and maybe some more almond roca. I'd have to go get some more almonds though.
So I guess there's been some stress on me this season, what with not working and all. Still. Big ol' sigh on that front. Then again, it's kind of nice to not have to worry about going to work on top of all the other holiday stresses, like family and gift buying and wrapping. I don't know when wrapping presents became a stress for me, but there you have it. I still haven't done it. The biggest stress I think is Christmas shopping, because I hate it and it's still not done yet. I'm one of those people who would rather have all my shopping done for Christmas before the 10th of December. I'm like that. But Mr. C is more of the procrastinating type, and when we're utilizing his cash flow for presents, I'm kind of at his mercy when it comes to shopping. He hates shopping. I keep trying to tell him that waiting until the last minute only makes things worse, but I don't know if he really has been thinking about that. And I hate having to last minute wrap gifts bought on the 23rd in a mad rush in a store filled with insane people who haven't bought a single thing yet and are freaking out and paying no gorram attention to anyone else in the store.
This problem I have developed over shopping in crowds and stores like Wal-Mart stems from having no personal sense of spacial awareness. I walk into people constantly, turn around and run into them if they are behind me, I talk with my hands and hit them in the face as they walk by, or whack them with my jacket as I'm taking it off when I come in the store or putting it on when I leave. I really try super hard to pay attention to others in public spaces, but in crowds I'm a complete clumsy mess. And around the holiday time, it gets so much worse. It gets on my nerves, because I try so damn hard not to get in other peoples way and to pay attention to their personal bubble, and when someone else doesn't pay attention and is spacing out and I accidentally bump into them as I turn around to look at the end cap display, they act like I'm the asshole. I'm really not a jerk, I'm not that person who doesn't give a shit that you are there, it's just that I have no ability to sense when people are in my space. I have the smallest personal bubble ever, it's not really my fault.
Man, I'd make a good target for a pick pocket.
I have, however, finally finished my nieces teddy bear she was supposed to get when she was born. Whoops, she's like one and a half now. Oh well, it's lovely and she still gets it and I know she will like it because it's soft and cuddly like her. And it's the same size she is. It's so pretty and tealy blue, one of my favourite colours. He has grey feet and grey ears and grey patches on his eyes, which haven't been appliquéd on yet. On his foot pads and paw pads I used some of the scrap paisley fabric from my 50's wrap dress I made back in July this year. If my camera were still alive, I'd take a picture for you to see the beautiful teddy bear. But it's dead, sadly, so I guess you will never look on the glory that is teal teddy bear with no eyes.
Anyway, yah. I think that's all that I feel the need to say. And, just in case I don't make another post for awhile,
MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO EVERYONE!
/end holiday caps attack
Sunday, 4 December 2011
A Personal History of Keeping Fish
So shortly before I moved, I had 3 aquariums in my home, a 10gal, a 20 gal and a 40gal long. They were never very stable, no matter how hard I tried, well all excepting the 10gal which I had for quite a long time before it too finally became a problem. That was due to an outbreak of horrible murderous internal parasites, that got so bad, I had no choice but to go nuclear and clean the bacterial slate in all my set ups.
When I first began keeping fish, I had a betta I named Cid Fishious. The thing lived for a really long time, and I didn't know a thing about how to properly keep an aquarium. I washed the tank out with soapy water once a month depositing Cid into a 500ml glass, rinsed it in boiling hot water and reset it every time I cleaned it. My betta was probably exposed to all sorts of soap residues from the dish soap I used, and worse it was exposed to high ammonia due to the tank recycling probably every month or however so often I decided to clean the tank. Some times it sat stagnant for months before I cleaned it at all, and the water would evaporate to almost empty. That betta lived for four years or so and convinced me that looking after fish was easy, despite how terrible the conditions were in that teenage tank. That set up was in a 2gal hex tank with an under gravel filter, one of those $20 Petcetera starter kits with a tacky plastic plant and marbles mixed with the gravel that I wanted to be sparkly, thus I washed them. I never had a problem with algae in that tank, or bacteria. Once my betta got a bit of fin rot. I scrubbed the crap out of the tank, and shocked it with Melafix. Cid kept on trucking. Then, finally one day I was impatient and after soaking the gravel in boiling hot water I didn't wait for it to cool before re-assembling the tank. The water was way too hot when I dumped the fishy in, and poor Cid went into shock. He got sick and died soon after.
So then, after a few trials of keeping other betta's the same way I kept Cid with no luck, and an attempt at keeping a few guppies, I was given a 10gal starter tank. This tank had a simple in tank cartridge filter, the kind you load up with washed activated carbon and filter foam, add an aeration stone and a pump and its done. I didn't supplement the filtration at all, or cycle the tank, and dumped in one algae barb and one tiger barb. They died when we were on vacation, and then my father in law gave me some plants from his set up and a few Rosey Barbs. I wasn't a big fan of the Roseys, but Mr. C named them Legion because they were fairly aggressive. The size of the tank really limited adding any more fish, 6 Rosey Barbs would eventually grow large and take up the majority of the tank. But I wasn't truly happy with the fish at first, but they were hearty and didn't need a lot of care and that was fortunate because I didn't put too much effort in. I just let the tank alone, and it flourished for 2 years, and eventually became quite gross until we moved.
This time, I put a bit more effort into the 10gal tank and began to actually like Legion, they had some strange behaviours and reminded me of trout a bit, and they were really pretty in the sunnier living room. So I got a Chinese algae eater in that tank after Legion kept killing anything else I put in with them (all seperately: 1 otto, 1 bushynose pleco, another otto). It was the only fish the barbs didn't kill because it was just as aggressive as they were, and together the fish got bigger and healthier.
Then I got the 20 gal and decided that I wanted to set up a tank with mollies. It didn't work. I read more about aquariums, more about keeping them. I found out about cycling, and how long it takes for bacteria to establish. I got a waterfall style filter, thinking it would be superior to the in tank filter, and also a bubbler. Then I put a sandy substrate in for no other reason than I liked it. I cycled the system for exactly 4 days before I got impatient and bought a bunch of fish, added about every other day for a week or two. I put an african frog with 5 neon tetras and 6 guppies, an otto, 3 balloon mollies, a sailfin mollie and hillstream loach. It wasn't the best combination, as all those fish need different things to be healthy. And it was a little over stocked for the tank size. Also, I bought all the guppies and all the tetras at the same time, and added them into the tank. There was a lot of death in that ammonia filled nightmare, but I didn't know why everything was dying. I hadn't really read a lot about the ammonia cycle and over stocking and stocking to fast.
I wound up getting a killer deal on a beautiful 40gal long tank with a stand and everything I needed but substrate, buying the whole thing used from a friend of a friend for $100. So then I moved my 10gal set up into the 40, and added a bunch of new fish that probably didn't mesh well. I only cycled the tank for like, a week without fish and only adding "Cycle" to the tank. I didn't test the parameters for anything other than Nitrates, but put all the water from the 10gal into the 40 when I added the barbs and Chinese Algae eater (who Mr. C named "Visagi The Suck"). I added in more fish, some strangely aggressive Danios my friends gave me because they were ramming the tetras in their tank that would school with Legion. Then I tried adding glass cat fish, which was an expensive error because they were just too delicate for the rammy danios and the mean barbs. Then I added Apple Snails, which the Chinese algae eater would pick up with his sucker and drop on the rocks, and then they both were eaten.
Eventually, mysterious illness crept up on all my fish. After a couple hundred dollars of fish death, I put live plants in the 20gal thinking it might help the aquarium flourish. I added salt, because I had mollies and guppies together, but didn't realise the salt might harm the other fish. I put things together that well, might have been able to survive but with my lack of knowledge didn't get much of a chance. So, as I read more I began to separate my 20gal into the 10gal, putting the 3 balloon mollies and the sailfin in the smaller set up. Soon I had some weird white worms all over the inside of the tank. I had no idea where the freaking things were coming from. The fish kept dying, going all stiff. I learned later that this was ammonia poisoning, and I should have introduced the fish to the tank slower, and been testing the parameters and doing more frequent water changes. But I thought it must be the worms, so I treated the tank for parasites over and over again. The fish would not stay alive, and eventually the 10 gal tank was the first to die. I still never learned what those weird white worms were, or if they were contributing to the problem or if they were relatively harmless.
Then I bought sick fish from a local pet store *cough* Petland *cough* and lost everything else within a matter of months.
I thought I might have bypassed it in my 40gal tank, the danios had all survived except the one neon pink one I acquired. It had been a little bit gimpy anyway. The longfin and the two zebras survived. None of the barbs did, nor did the snails or the glass catfish. So I added krebensis to the tank, again donated by Mr. C's dad. They were gorgeous and I loved them, but then things started to go weird in that tank too. The danios went first, just dying one day. The algae eater ate them before I even realised they were gone, he was voracious. Then the krebensis (named John Johnson, John Bigjohn, John Littlejohn, John Lithgow and Bob) began to get some of the weirdest illnesses I had ever encountered in an aquarium. First, velvet. I thought I had treated it, then ick came along. After the ich, one of the John's got popeye. Then Bob died mysteriously. Popeyed John lost his eye, and another John got hole in the head. This all happened in a span of a few weeks until all the Johns were dead and only Visagi remained. He never stood a chance, and died shortly before we moved.
From 3 tanks, down to 0. Hundreds of dollars wasted due to poor research and over excitement and impatience. This time around, I'm going a lot slower. And so far, so good, I think. Although, all my initial guppies didn't survive the first stage of the ammonia cycle, I didn't really expect them too, they were inexpensive feeder guppies. I added them first, after the tank sat cycling for about 2 weeks. After a month, I added two julii cories. I lost a julii cory last month, which made me really sad. But now I have to pepper corys that are very active and like to hang with the remaining julli. I still haven't decided who else is going to live with the three cories, but I don't want to take out the waterfall filter so whatever lives there needs to be okay with the current.
I also have the 20gal slowly cycling. Some strangeness occurred within the first week in the 20gal. I was using cycle to start the process, with only a simple foam filter in the tank to begin, and no plants. After the first few days, the water got quite milky and began to smell. Then, on the substrate I could see deposits of what looked like cotton. There were two, one was about 4" in diameter and the other a little smaller. There isn't much current, so I assumed it was just the bacterial bloom settling and let it be for another two days. Then I looked it up when it seemed to get bigger, and turns out its most likely a fungus or bacteria, everything I read indicated it was harmless. There aren't any fish in there, but to be on the safe side I shocked the tank with tea tree oil for a few days and did a few 50% water changes to clear it all up. When I did the water changes, the stuff went all stringy somewhere between cobwebs and snot, but it definitely cleared up after 3 water changes over six days. Then I planted the tank three days ago, Mr. C's dad just culled out a bunch of java fern plantlets from his aquariums and gave me a few other interesting plants like a tall val and some nice grass. I did another water change today. The water still has a faint smell about it from the tea tree oil but its looking nice and clean, and I'm still going to keep changing out the water if it doesn't go nice and crystal clear until I get the new filter I want. I also decided on impulse to put some of the tank water from the 10 gal into the 20, just because I figured it wouldn't hurt to get some ammonia in the tank to help kill any of the weird bacteria left in there. I don't know why it seemed like a great idea at the time, but it did. I also intend to get another one of those in tank cartridges like I had in my old 10 gal that held up so well, because I think it might be good in tandem with the foam filter for a betta fish like I intend to add. Bettas don't do well with waterfalls, and I forgot I had an undergravel filter kit which probably would have been the best for a betta in a community. I already plan on adding some glass catfish and perhaps some ghost shrimp to the set up. I'm going to seed the new filter in the 10 gal tank, just to speed up the process and hopefully promote a healthier environment this time around.
Well, I guess that's all I have to say about boring fish tanks for now. I'm gunna go watch Walking Dead now, because I still haven't caught up!
When I first began keeping fish, I had a betta I named Cid Fishious. The thing lived for a really long time, and I didn't know a thing about how to properly keep an aquarium. I washed the tank out with soapy water once a month depositing Cid into a 500ml glass, rinsed it in boiling hot water and reset it every time I cleaned it. My betta was probably exposed to all sorts of soap residues from the dish soap I used, and worse it was exposed to high ammonia due to the tank recycling probably every month or however so often I decided to clean the tank. Some times it sat stagnant for months before I cleaned it at all, and the water would evaporate to almost empty. That betta lived for four years or so and convinced me that looking after fish was easy, despite how terrible the conditions were in that teenage tank. That set up was in a 2gal hex tank with an under gravel filter, one of those $20 Petcetera starter kits with a tacky plastic plant and marbles mixed with the gravel that I wanted to be sparkly, thus I washed them. I never had a problem with algae in that tank, or bacteria. Once my betta got a bit of fin rot. I scrubbed the crap out of the tank, and shocked it with Melafix. Cid kept on trucking. Then, finally one day I was impatient and after soaking the gravel in boiling hot water I didn't wait for it to cool before re-assembling the tank. The water was way too hot when I dumped the fishy in, and poor Cid went into shock. He got sick and died soon after.
So then, after a few trials of keeping other betta's the same way I kept Cid with no luck, and an attempt at keeping a few guppies, I was given a 10gal starter tank. This tank had a simple in tank cartridge filter, the kind you load up with washed activated carbon and filter foam, add an aeration stone and a pump and its done. I didn't supplement the filtration at all, or cycle the tank, and dumped in one algae barb and one tiger barb. They died when we were on vacation, and then my father in law gave me some plants from his set up and a few Rosey Barbs. I wasn't a big fan of the Roseys, but Mr. C named them Legion because they were fairly aggressive. The size of the tank really limited adding any more fish, 6 Rosey Barbs would eventually grow large and take up the majority of the tank. But I wasn't truly happy with the fish at first, but they were hearty and didn't need a lot of care and that was fortunate because I didn't put too much effort in. I just let the tank alone, and it flourished for 2 years, and eventually became quite gross until we moved.
This time, I put a bit more effort into the 10gal tank and began to actually like Legion, they had some strange behaviours and reminded me of trout a bit, and they were really pretty in the sunnier living room. So I got a Chinese algae eater in that tank after Legion kept killing anything else I put in with them (all seperately: 1 otto, 1 bushynose pleco, another otto). It was the only fish the barbs didn't kill because it was just as aggressive as they were, and together the fish got bigger and healthier.
Then I got the 20 gal and decided that I wanted to set up a tank with mollies. It didn't work. I read more about aquariums, more about keeping them. I found out about cycling, and how long it takes for bacteria to establish. I got a waterfall style filter, thinking it would be superior to the in tank filter, and also a bubbler. Then I put a sandy substrate in for no other reason than I liked it. I cycled the system for exactly 4 days before I got impatient and bought a bunch of fish, added about every other day for a week or two. I put an african frog with 5 neon tetras and 6 guppies, an otto, 3 balloon mollies, a sailfin mollie and hillstream loach. It wasn't the best combination, as all those fish need different things to be healthy. And it was a little over stocked for the tank size. Also, I bought all the guppies and all the tetras at the same time, and added them into the tank. There was a lot of death in that ammonia filled nightmare, but I didn't know why everything was dying. I hadn't really read a lot about the ammonia cycle and over stocking and stocking to fast.
I wound up getting a killer deal on a beautiful 40gal long tank with a stand and everything I needed but substrate, buying the whole thing used from a friend of a friend for $100. So then I moved my 10gal set up into the 40, and added a bunch of new fish that probably didn't mesh well. I only cycled the tank for like, a week without fish and only adding "Cycle" to the tank. I didn't test the parameters for anything other than Nitrates, but put all the water from the 10gal into the 40 when I added the barbs and Chinese Algae eater (who Mr. C named "Visagi The Suck"). I added in more fish, some strangely aggressive Danios my friends gave me because they were ramming the tetras in their tank that would school with Legion. Then I tried adding glass cat fish, which was an expensive error because they were just too delicate for the rammy danios and the mean barbs. Then I added Apple Snails, which the Chinese algae eater would pick up with his sucker and drop on the rocks, and then they both were eaten.
Eventually, mysterious illness crept up on all my fish. After a couple hundred dollars of fish death, I put live plants in the 20gal thinking it might help the aquarium flourish. I added salt, because I had mollies and guppies together, but didn't realise the salt might harm the other fish. I put things together that well, might have been able to survive but with my lack of knowledge didn't get much of a chance. So, as I read more I began to separate my 20gal into the 10gal, putting the 3 balloon mollies and the sailfin in the smaller set up. Soon I had some weird white worms all over the inside of the tank. I had no idea where the freaking things were coming from. The fish kept dying, going all stiff. I learned later that this was ammonia poisoning, and I should have introduced the fish to the tank slower, and been testing the parameters and doing more frequent water changes. But I thought it must be the worms, so I treated the tank for parasites over and over again. The fish would not stay alive, and eventually the 10 gal tank was the first to die. I still never learned what those weird white worms were, or if they were contributing to the problem or if they were relatively harmless.
Then I bought sick fish from a local pet store *cough* Petland *cough* and lost everything else within a matter of months.
I thought I might have bypassed it in my 40gal tank, the danios had all survived except the one neon pink one I acquired. It had been a little bit gimpy anyway. The longfin and the two zebras survived. None of the barbs did, nor did the snails or the glass catfish. So I added krebensis to the tank, again donated by Mr. C's dad. They were gorgeous and I loved them, but then things started to go weird in that tank too. The danios went first, just dying one day. The algae eater ate them before I even realised they were gone, he was voracious. Then the krebensis (named John Johnson, John Bigjohn, John Littlejohn, John Lithgow and Bob) began to get some of the weirdest illnesses I had ever encountered in an aquarium. First, velvet. I thought I had treated it, then ick came along. After the ich, one of the John's got popeye. Then Bob died mysteriously. Popeyed John lost his eye, and another John got hole in the head. This all happened in a span of a few weeks until all the Johns were dead and only Visagi remained. He never stood a chance, and died shortly before we moved.
From 3 tanks, down to 0. Hundreds of dollars wasted due to poor research and over excitement and impatience. This time around, I'm going a lot slower. And so far, so good, I think. Although, all my initial guppies didn't survive the first stage of the ammonia cycle, I didn't really expect them too, they were inexpensive feeder guppies. I added them first, after the tank sat cycling for about 2 weeks. After a month, I added two julii cories. I lost a julii cory last month, which made me really sad. But now I have to pepper corys that are very active and like to hang with the remaining julli. I still haven't decided who else is going to live with the three cories, but I don't want to take out the waterfall filter so whatever lives there needs to be okay with the current.
I also have the 20gal slowly cycling. Some strangeness occurred within the first week in the 20gal. I was using cycle to start the process, with only a simple foam filter in the tank to begin, and no plants. After the first few days, the water got quite milky and began to smell. Then, on the substrate I could see deposits of what looked like cotton. There were two, one was about 4" in diameter and the other a little smaller. There isn't much current, so I assumed it was just the bacterial bloom settling and let it be for another two days. Then I looked it up when it seemed to get bigger, and turns out its most likely a fungus or bacteria, everything I read indicated it was harmless. There aren't any fish in there, but to be on the safe side I shocked the tank with tea tree oil for a few days and did a few 50% water changes to clear it all up. When I did the water changes, the stuff went all stringy somewhere between cobwebs and snot, but it definitely cleared up after 3 water changes over six days. Then I planted the tank three days ago, Mr. C's dad just culled out a bunch of java fern plantlets from his aquariums and gave me a few other interesting plants like a tall val and some nice grass. I did another water change today. The water still has a faint smell about it from the tea tree oil but its looking nice and clean, and I'm still going to keep changing out the water if it doesn't go nice and crystal clear until I get the new filter I want. I also decided on impulse to put some of the tank water from the 10 gal into the 20, just because I figured it wouldn't hurt to get some ammonia in the tank to help kill any of the weird bacteria left in there. I don't know why it seemed like a great idea at the time, but it did. I also intend to get another one of those in tank cartridges like I had in my old 10 gal that held up so well, because I think it might be good in tandem with the foam filter for a betta fish like I intend to add. Bettas don't do well with waterfalls, and I forgot I had an undergravel filter kit which probably would have been the best for a betta in a community. I already plan on adding some glass catfish and perhaps some ghost shrimp to the set up. I'm going to seed the new filter in the 10 gal tank, just to speed up the process and hopefully promote a healthier environment this time around.
Well, I guess that's all I have to say about boring fish tanks for now. I'm gunna go watch Walking Dead now, because I still haven't caught up!
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
When it comes to Occupy Hat, I'm in the 1%
Did you know that 99% of people only wear 1% of the worlds hats?
Okay, so lets talk some Occupy today, mostly because today I haven't said anything about it yet here or anywhere else online. I have opinions, and they demand to be shared! But only because the internet is a mute friend who wants to tell me to shut up but can't say it.
Since the Occupy Wall Street movement began, I've been one confused left oriented political minded gal. At first I thought "all right! Yes! It is time for change! Let us protest!" And thought I might be able to give my support to any and all occupy movements. Yes, I'll admit I am a person who is greatly moved by the history of political protest in North America, and thought at first it's about time that the people started standing up for their rights again. I think that since the 70's there's been a state of ambivalence towards government policy in some facets, and people have become docile, complacent in their hard-earned rights and freedoms. Most of the rights my generation takes for granted (women's right to vote, social equality, children's rights, and even the right to free speech, for example) are all relatively new historically speaking. People had to fight for these rights, and as a society we have grown complacent with allowing governmental policy to alienate and distort our basic freedoms. I do believe that the economy is going to hell in both Canada and the US because we are so strongly intertwined as nations, and I do believe that something's gotta give. It's obvious, the people are unhappy. And, I am currently unemployed and have been so for six months now. So I thought, because of all the convoluted information I was getting about the occupy movement to begin with, that I should look into it more to better understand what I was considering supporting. I went in with the hopeful idealism that perhaps much of the confusion was derived from right wing propaganda. What I learned is that the whole thing is a big fucking mess.
I'm all for protesting, I'm all for standing up for rights and I'm definitely for trying to solve the problems of a dissipating middle class. I do see problems with our government, problems with our electoral processes in Canada and the US, and problems with prohibition and the decline of social services. I agree that homosexuals have every right to marriage that straight couples have. I believe in free speech, and I definitely believe that the government has more to fear in the people they govern than the people should fear their respective governments. But trying to shove all these problems and more under the single "occupy _____" protest sign simply makes no sense to me. What does it even mean any more? With all these subcategories for change, they have lost the heart of the protest, and the point of all of it, and my support.
There's a really good video on YouTube about the points of the current economic decline in the US that I honestly only saw by reading a cracked.com article talking about the occupy protesters who are hurting their own cause. I'll let you in on a big secret: most of my exposure to current events comes from humour news and articles I read online. Stephen Colbert and John Stewart keep me well informed. I had heard only a very minute amount about the occupy wall street protests until I read this article, and the author really expressed how I felt about it then and still feel about it now. You can read the article here. There is another article on cracked.com that also hit home with me, talking about how society affected the occupy generation (mine) which also shed some light on the whole state of the protests. Read that one here.
Anyway, Robert Reich is the man in the video. He seems intelligent as he explains very succinctly the problems the economy has been facing in the US currently. The problems are very similar here in Canada, although they aren't quite the same. If the occupy protesters in the US stayed true to this message, using the simplified explanation to base their platform on, perhaps people could easily understand what they are trying to say. But, someone allowed Occupy to become an open forum for the nation's grievances, and no two protesters will say they are protesting the same thing.
That is, until someone started waving the 99% in the faces of the media.
Now, I agree that there is something fucked about that statistic. There's something very wrong there on a scary level. But again, the protesters I've seen are going about using that statistic all wrong. Instead of educating people about the 99% and what it means, they are just throwing it in peoples' face like a label. And no one wants to be labelled. Everyone I know is in the 99%, I'm not lying, but walking up to someone and yelling in their face "you're poor!" only makes them upset, and makes them dislike you. Trust me, I'm going to have friends take offence to me calling them poor. I'm poor and I hate admitting it myself. I admit as I type on my personal laptop, with a roof over my head and food in my fridge. Yes, I'm poor but by a first world standard. I'm surviving, I've got heat and food and shelter so I'm not really that poor. Thus, telling me I'm poor might get my hackles up. Understand? If I tell you I am poor, that's not a problem. Tell me I am poor, and I say "fuck you too, asshat!"
Now the other issue I have with Occupy, is I am Canadian. The problems we have here in the great white north are not the the same as our southern neighbours. Tagging along with the Occupy protests here in this country makes little sense to me. The system is different, our governments are separate. Wake up people, you don't live in America, you're Canadian. Our problems, albeit similar, are NOT the same. By taking up the occupy mantle all you have done is convolute the message further, by tacking on a whole new list of grievances.
The other thing that really bugs me about occupy is it seems more and more like the protesters are protesting their inability to find "good jobs". What is a good job anyway? I just went through a career decision making course this past spring, and it opened my eyes to the current job market. The degree you were told you need? It might help, but you didn't need it, because even with it you are still going to have to fight your way into the career you want. Many people have spent thousands of dollars getting degrees towards getting the good job, and then don't get it because someone with real world experience won it over you. Protesting that you can only find work flipping burgers is ridiculous. Flip those fucking burgers and just keep looking. At least you're getting real world experience. An employer might look at your resume and go "Oh, you are currently employed at McD's, and are in a management position. That shows stick-to-it-ivness, and that you are a manager means you are capable. I will steal you!" I've always found it easier to get a job when I already have a job, even if it's a dumb one. I'm not saying that having the piece of paper identifying that you in fact have taken that 4 years to solidify your knowledge in the field is a bad thing, but it doesn't always make it easier, it doesn't give you a foot in the door. You still have to network and throw yourself in the face of the job market with a neon sign over your head that says "I'm Awesome! Hire me!" and hope your sign is brighter than the other buddy applying. Highschool and college are not the real world. They are nothing like it. Real world experience beats paper, like scizzors. And who doesn't respect a classic rags to riches story of the boy working in the hardware store who really wants to be an actor and gets discovered at random to play the heart throb role of his life? See, even Harrison Ford had to start doing physical labour.
I didn't go to college. I've taken like, 2 courses and dropped out. I'm that gal, it's true. I've applied to go, been accepted, and then didn't go because the $ sign freaked me out, and the insecurity in my own ability to later pay off that $. I know that I will probably have to work a blue-collar menial labour job for most if not the rest of my life. Hell, I'm only 24 and I've worked twice as many jobs as my fiancée who is 35. So don't get me wrong, I'm not complacent in working for a shit hole company either. Sometimes the thought of having to work in retail until I die sends me into rage or despair, or a very fun and volatile combination of the two. Perhaps I should go spend thousands of dollars I don't have, and take out thousands of dollars in loans that I might not be able to pay back to get a piece of paper saying I am qualified for something. But realistically? I don't know if that's ever going to happen. I dream of being a published author and a designer one day. Do I really need a piece of paper saying that someone has graded me well on such subjective topics? I mean, fuck I'm an artist, and it's what I want to be. I've resigned myself to the struggle that is art. Hell, perhaps I will never be recognized in my life, big whoop. Neither was Van Gough or Lovecraft. But protesting that fact? That just makes you look like a spoiled brat who wont put the legwork into your achievements.
I'm not saying the people shouldn't rally for change, I mean in the end we all want a good job, and the good life. But unfortunately, the world doesn't work like that, you have to put in what you expect to get out. There are no winners and losers in life, just livers. And I don't mean the organ. Even if you are poor, even if you have to break your back to work for a pay-check every day of your life, you are still alive. You beat death another day, so in my books that's a win. It shouldn't matter if someone else got the job you wanted, you are still living. You're a liver. You win. So what some asshole makes more money than you. Find happiness in other things than the material.
When it comes to the Occupy movement, I'm lost. I love the idea of fighting to maintain the struggling middle class. I don't want to see the western world as I know it collapse, I love my comforts and freedoms. The economy is going to hell, and the people are unhappy. They are restless and angry, and we have the internet which has taught us we all have a voice to be heard by someone. Revolution is only a natural progression of these kinds of problems. But what is a revolution without any solutions to the problems? To me, the worst part of Occupy is the list of grievances without suggested solutions. We can all sit and bitch about the state of things all we want, but we have to have a plan for change for any protest to work. And I'll say it again, something's gotta give. But Occupy will never work.
Why will Occupy never work? Because of stupid people jumping on the bandwagon, convolution the message. Because it makes young people, with the best intentions and the biggest dreams, look like spoiled brats who don't want to get a job. Because of people building tent cities, partying and rioting and OD'ing in the name of Occupy. Because of rumours about officials burning literature connected with the occupy protest, which prove unfounded. Propaganda is coming out of this on both sides, and it makes people like me throw our hands in the air and back away rather than get involved. Call me jaded, but this movement is going to be flushed like most other movements reserved for the bathroom.
You want to occupy something?
Occupy Hats.
Did you know that only 99% of the worlds population wears 1% of the worlds hats? That's a staggering figure.
Addendum:
In the end, I see myself as a hopeful person. An optimist. I really really do hope that on some level Occupy works, and that someone in power will see that people are restless and start trying to do something about it. Although it's received a lot of negative attention, I hope others will take what started here and simplify the message, and work on solutions. All these problems DO need to be addressed, but no one likes a whiner. Roll up your sleeves and think out solutions before you open your mouth again, and keep it simple. This is only a beginning, all Revolutions start somewhere. Yes, Occupy is a joke. But, despite my belief it will not work, I do see it opening peoples eyes to a flawed system that is begging for an overhaul.
Okay, so lets talk some Occupy today, mostly because today I haven't said anything about it yet here or anywhere else online. I have opinions, and they demand to be shared! But only because the internet is a mute friend who wants to tell me to shut up but can't say it.
Since the Occupy Wall Street movement began, I've been one confused left oriented political minded gal. At first I thought "all right! Yes! It is time for change! Let us protest!" And thought I might be able to give my support to any and all occupy movements. Yes, I'll admit I am a person who is greatly moved by the history of political protest in North America, and thought at first it's about time that the people started standing up for their rights again. I think that since the 70's there's been a state of ambivalence towards government policy in some facets, and people have become docile, complacent in their hard-earned rights and freedoms. Most of the rights my generation takes for granted (women's right to vote, social equality, children's rights, and even the right to free speech, for example) are all relatively new historically speaking. People had to fight for these rights, and as a society we have grown complacent with allowing governmental policy to alienate and distort our basic freedoms. I do believe that the economy is going to hell in both Canada and the US because we are so strongly intertwined as nations, and I do believe that something's gotta give. It's obvious, the people are unhappy. And, I am currently unemployed and have been so for six months now. So I thought, because of all the convoluted information I was getting about the occupy movement to begin with, that I should look into it more to better understand what I was considering supporting. I went in with the hopeful idealism that perhaps much of the confusion was derived from right wing propaganda. What I learned is that the whole thing is a big fucking mess.
I'm all for protesting, I'm all for standing up for rights and I'm definitely for trying to solve the problems of a dissipating middle class. I do see problems with our government, problems with our electoral processes in Canada and the US, and problems with prohibition and the decline of social services. I agree that homosexuals have every right to marriage that straight couples have. I believe in free speech, and I definitely believe that the government has more to fear in the people they govern than the people should fear their respective governments. But trying to shove all these problems and more under the single "occupy _____" protest sign simply makes no sense to me. What does it even mean any more? With all these subcategories for change, they have lost the heart of the protest, and the point of all of it, and my support.
There's a really good video on YouTube about the points of the current economic decline in the US that I honestly only saw by reading a cracked.com article talking about the occupy protesters who are hurting their own cause. I'll let you in on a big secret: most of my exposure to current events comes from humour news and articles I read online. Stephen Colbert and John Stewart keep me well informed. I had heard only a very minute amount about the occupy wall street protests until I read this article, and the author really expressed how I felt about it then and still feel about it now. You can read the article here. There is another article on cracked.com that also hit home with me, talking about how society affected the occupy generation (mine) which also shed some light on the whole state of the protests. Read that one here.
Anyway, Robert Reich is the man in the video. He seems intelligent as he explains very succinctly the problems the economy has been facing in the US currently. The problems are very similar here in Canada, although they aren't quite the same. If the occupy protesters in the US stayed true to this message, using the simplified explanation to base their platform on, perhaps people could easily understand what they are trying to say. But, someone allowed Occupy to become an open forum for the nation's grievances, and no two protesters will say they are protesting the same thing.
That is, until someone started waving the 99% in the faces of the media.
Now, I agree that there is something fucked about that statistic. There's something very wrong there on a scary level. But again, the protesters I've seen are going about using that statistic all wrong. Instead of educating people about the 99% and what it means, they are just throwing it in peoples' face like a label. And no one wants to be labelled. Everyone I know is in the 99%, I'm not lying, but walking up to someone and yelling in their face "you're poor!" only makes them upset, and makes them dislike you. Trust me, I'm going to have friends take offence to me calling them poor. I'm poor and I hate admitting it myself. I admit as I type on my personal laptop, with a roof over my head and food in my fridge. Yes, I'm poor but by a first world standard. I'm surviving, I've got heat and food and shelter so I'm not really that poor. Thus, telling me I'm poor might get my hackles up. Understand? If I tell you I am poor, that's not a problem. Tell me I am poor, and I say "fuck you too, asshat!"
Now the other issue I have with Occupy, is I am Canadian. The problems we have here in the great white north are not the the same as our southern neighbours. Tagging along with the Occupy protests here in this country makes little sense to me. The system is different, our governments are separate. Wake up people, you don't live in America, you're Canadian. Our problems, albeit similar, are NOT the same. By taking up the occupy mantle all you have done is convolute the message further, by tacking on a whole new list of grievances.
The other thing that really bugs me about occupy is it seems more and more like the protesters are protesting their inability to find "good jobs". What is a good job anyway? I just went through a career decision making course this past spring, and it opened my eyes to the current job market. The degree you were told you need? It might help, but you didn't need it, because even with it you are still going to have to fight your way into the career you want. Many people have spent thousands of dollars getting degrees towards getting the good job, and then don't get it because someone with real world experience won it over you. Protesting that you can only find work flipping burgers is ridiculous. Flip those fucking burgers and just keep looking. At least you're getting real world experience. An employer might look at your resume and go "Oh, you are currently employed at McD's, and are in a management position. That shows stick-to-it-ivness, and that you are a manager means you are capable. I will steal you!" I've always found it easier to get a job when I already have a job, even if it's a dumb one. I'm not saying that having the piece of paper identifying that you in fact have taken that 4 years to solidify your knowledge in the field is a bad thing, but it doesn't always make it easier, it doesn't give you a foot in the door. You still have to network and throw yourself in the face of the job market with a neon sign over your head that says "I'm Awesome! Hire me!" and hope your sign is brighter than the other buddy applying. Highschool and college are not the real world. They are nothing like it. Real world experience beats paper, like scizzors. And who doesn't respect a classic rags to riches story of the boy working in the hardware store who really wants to be an actor and gets discovered at random to play the heart throb role of his life? See, even Harrison Ford had to start doing physical labour.
I didn't go to college. I've taken like, 2 courses and dropped out. I'm that gal, it's true. I've applied to go, been accepted, and then didn't go because the $ sign freaked me out, and the insecurity in my own ability to later pay off that $. I know that I will probably have to work a blue-collar menial labour job for most if not the rest of my life. Hell, I'm only 24 and I've worked twice as many jobs as my fiancée who is 35. So don't get me wrong, I'm not complacent in working for a shit hole company either. Sometimes the thought of having to work in retail until I die sends me into rage or despair, or a very fun and volatile combination of the two. Perhaps I should go spend thousands of dollars I don't have, and take out thousands of dollars in loans that I might not be able to pay back to get a piece of paper saying I am qualified for something. But realistically? I don't know if that's ever going to happen. I dream of being a published author and a designer one day. Do I really need a piece of paper saying that someone has graded me well on such subjective topics? I mean, fuck I'm an artist, and it's what I want to be. I've resigned myself to the struggle that is art. Hell, perhaps I will never be recognized in my life, big whoop. Neither was Van Gough or Lovecraft. But protesting that fact? That just makes you look like a spoiled brat who wont put the legwork into your achievements.
I'm not saying the people shouldn't rally for change, I mean in the end we all want a good job, and the good life. But unfortunately, the world doesn't work like that, you have to put in what you expect to get out. There are no winners and losers in life, just livers. And I don't mean the organ. Even if you are poor, even if you have to break your back to work for a pay-check every day of your life, you are still alive. You beat death another day, so in my books that's a win. It shouldn't matter if someone else got the job you wanted, you are still living. You're a liver. You win. So what some asshole makes more money than you. Find happiness in other things than the material.
When it comes to the Occupy movement, I'm lost. I love the idea of fighting to maintain the struggling middle class. I don't want to see the western world as I know it collapse, I love my comforts and freedoms. The economy is going to hell, and the people are unhappy. They are restless and angry, and we have the internet which has taught us we all have a voice to be heard by someone. Revolution is only a natural progression of these kinds of problems. But what is a revolution without any solutions to the problems? To me, the worst part of Occupy is the list of grievances without suggested solutions. We can all sit and bitch about the state of things all we want, but we have to have a plan for change for any protest to work. And I'll say it again, something's gotta give. But Occupy will never work.
Why will Occupy never work? Because of stupid people jumping on the bandwagon, convolution the message. Because it makes young people, with the best intentions and the biggest dreams, look like spoiled brats who don't want to get a job. Because of people building tent cities, partying and rioting and OD'ing in the name of Occupy. Because of rumours about officials burning literature connected with the occupy protest, which prove unfounded. Propaganda is coming out of this on both sides, and it makes people like me throw our hands in the air and back away rather than get involved. Call me jaded, but this movement is going to be flushed like most other movements reserved for the bathroom.
You want to occupy something?
Occupy Hats.
Did you know that only 99% of the worlds population wears 1% of the worlds hats? That's a staggering figure.
Addendum:
In the end, I see myself as a hopeful person. An optimist. I really really do hope that on some level Occupy works, and that someone in power will see that people are restless and start trying to do something about it. Although it's received a lot of negative attention, I hope others will take what started here and simplify the message, and work on solutions. All these problems DO need to be addressed, but no one likes a whiner. Roll up your sleeves and think out solutions before you open your mouth again, and keep it simple. This is only a beginning, all Revolutions start somewhere. Yes, Occupy is a joke. But, despite my belief it will not work, I do see it opening peoples eyes to a flawed system that is begging for an overhaul.
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Here's a NaNo there's a NaNo fuzzy NaNo funny NaNo...
Wait. That's a llama.
This month is NaNoWriMo (that's National Novel Writting Month for those of you not savvy with the slang). They call it a month for literary abandon, but I call it a month of writing where quantity triumphs over quality. But that's what I like about it, it makes me stop focusing so much on how good the work is I'm producing, and to start thinking about just getting it written. Besides, the editing process is for making it make sense, right? The month is over half way done, and I'm doing pretty well I'd like to think. I broke 30,000 words this week. The goal is 50,000. That's a decent goal for one month of daily writing, but I know it wont actually be my entire book. I'm a little wordy, and even though I'm over 30,000 words my characters still haven't even embarked on their quest. Of course I'm writing fantasy, it's like writing candy for my fingers as I type. The best part of fantasy is the world creation. I have a dream to be considered one of the best world-creating authors, like Dave Duncan, George R.R. Martin, Tolkein and H.P. Lovecraft. *swoon* their worlds are dreamy...
I googled "opalite shards beads" last week to try and find a picture of what the opalite I purchased looks like to show a friend of mine, and the top three pictures that appeared in the image search were my Jellyfish earrings! I was pretty stoked. I did a little happy dance, and then listened to some Ida Maria (my new-to-me musical ear candy) so that I wasn't doing a dance to nothing. Then I got to work on an order of 4 earrings for x-mas gifts a friend of mine is purchasing. I really REALLY have to get on making a bunch of those to plop in the local gift shop, and get cracking on a companion site for my jewellery so people can maybe order them online.
I don't know if I put anything on this blog yet about my snowflake earring design. Here's a picture!
These are the first two prototypes, before I learned how much better the flakes look with a little starching and some random coloured beads crocheted in. I like the look of the snowflakes with the lapis lazuli dangling down from the icicles, and the opalite looks great against dark hair because it glows kind of blue like ice. I'm working out a decent price for these beauties, but I think they may wind up being the same as the Jellyfish. Although they take less time to crochet, they have a little more detail and a whole secondary step which involves starching and drying. So if you're from where I'm from expect to see a couple pairs make it to The Golden Buddha down town. Or if you want to order direct from me, and save a bit of money, let me know.
I think that's all for now, blog readers! I'll be back in a few days with some updates, and pictures of my new super awesome crochet design. I'll give you a hint: it's a spider web! Wait, that's not a hint at all, that's telling you what it is. Darn.
This month is NaNoWriMo (that's National Novel Writting Month for those of you not savvy with the slang). They call it a month for literary abandon, but I call it a month of writing where quantity triumphs over quality. But that's what I like about it, it makes me stop focusing so much on how good the work is I'm producing, and to start thinking about just getting it written. Besides, the editing process is for making it make sense, right? The month is over half way done, and I'm doing pretty well I'd like to think. I broke 30,000 words this week. The goal is 50,000. That's a decent goal for one month of daily writing, but I know it wont actually be my entire book. I'm a little wordy, and even though I'm over 30,000 words my characters still haven't even embarked on their quest. Of course I'm writing fantasy, it's like writing candy for my fingers as I type. The best part of fantasy is the world creation. I have a dream to be considered one of the best world-creating authors, like Dave Duncan, George R.R. Martin, Tolkein and H.P. Lovecraft. *swoon* their worlds are dreamy...
I googled "opalite shards beads" last week to try and find a picture of what the opalite I purchased looks like to show a friend of mine, and the top three pictures that appeared in the image search were my Jellyfish earrings! I was pretty stoked. I did a little happy dance, and then listened to some Ida Maria (my new-to-me musical ear candy) so that I wasn't doing a dance to nothing. Then I got to work on an order of 4 earrings for x-mas gifts a friend of mine is purchasing. I really REALLY have to get on making a bunch of those to plop in the local gift shop, and get cracking on a companion site for my jewellery so people can maybe order them online.
I don't know if I put anything on this blog yet about my snowflake earring design. Here's a picture!
These are the first two prototypes, before I learned how much better the flakes look with a little starching and some random coloured beads crocheted in. I like the look of the snowflakes with the lapis lazuli dangling down from the icicles, and the opalite looks great against dark hair because it glows kind of blue like ice. I'm working out a decent price for these beauties, but I think they may wind up being the same as the Jellyfish. Although they take less time to crochet, they have a little more detail and a whole secondary step which involves starching and drying. So if you're from where I'm from expect to see a couple pairs make it to The Golden Buddha down town. Or if you want to order direct from me, and save a bit of money, let me know.
I think that's all for now, blog readers! I'll be back in a few days with some updates, and pictures of my new super awesome crochet design. I'll give you a hint: it's a spider web! Wait, that's not a hint at all, that's telling you what it is. Darn.
Sunday, 23 October 2011
As I was colouring my hair by myself, I was kind of regretting having long hair. I mean, I love the way long hair looks on me, but I'm beginning to loathe my current haircut. Especially when colouring it by myself. Considering how difficult it was to do myself last time with this colour (Loreal Paris UV3 - Ultra Violet Black) and knowing how runny the stuff is compared to some other products out there that are much easier to use, maybe I should have considered a different colour, but I REALLY liked the intensity of this one, and it seems to have pretty good coverage. Maybe I should have asked someone for help. But honestly, there are some things I prefer to do myself. Not because I enjoy the challenge, although to say I don't enjoy challenging myself would be a lie. It's more a combination of not wanting to burden other people, and not trusting other people.
I love my friends, I do. But some things I just don't trust to other people. And those things are usually fairly cosmetic. Figures. I don't necessarily think of myself as a shallow person, but when it comes to my appearance I hate it when I don't look the way I want too. It makes me feel uncomfortable. And if I'm doing something, like getting my hair coloured by some one else and they screw it up I get pretty angry with them. Honestly, I get angry at myself too when I screw up something like my hair colour or cut, but at the same time I can use the excuse of doing it myself to justify a few flubs, 'cuz I'm not a professional. But when a professional screws up, I get super pissed. And yes, in the case of dying my hair professionals have screwed up way worse than I ever have on my own. And in the case of friends? Well, I think the reason I don't trust them with my hair is because most of my friends just aren't into the whole beauty thing. And the ones who are don't trust themselves enough to do it and get it professionally done themselves, or I have seen their mistakes and well, don't want to have a similar experience (sorry gals!).
And this whole train of thought got me thinking about my whole quest for identity when I was a teenager. We all quest for our identities at that age, although I'm a super geek who would refer to it as a quest. When I was younger, I wanted to so very badly be that cool feminist intellectual, with wit and a laissez-fair style. I wanted to be Janeane Garofalo. Cynical, witty, dry and oh so uncool that I became cool, so anti-trend I would set the trends. But when we are young, we don't really spend a lot of time reflecting on who we actually are, we just focus on who we want to be. And I didn't ever really understand the distinction until I got interested in style and fashion.
You see, style and fashion taught me that it was okay to have self expression, to like things because I liked them, whether they were popular or not.
(Excuse me, the timer just went off, so I have to go rinse my dye out.)
*twenty minutes later*
Aaah, and the teal menace is gone! (Not that I disliked the teal. But my last highlighting job was only so-so and as it faded, it looked worse and worse...)
ANYWAAY...
My point is, that for me, my self discovery was very much intertwined with my style discovery. It was through clothing that I learned to be myself. To mix patterns and colours boldly, to dress like an insane person one day, and the next dress demure. Through a lot of trial and error, I became more and more self aware. I became the owner of my own opinions on what I liked and didn't like. It's strange now, but when I look back all I really wanted was to be a non-conformist, and fit in with all the other non-conformists. You know, be just like everyone who wasn't just like everyone else. And when I finally "gave up" and "sold out" and "bought in" I all of a sudden gained a lot of personal freedom. And to think, pop culture was telling me that being outside of the system gave us freedom, but being inside of it actually made me feel like I could be more free.
Then one day, I realised it wasn't a choice between one or the other. That I could still be a little goth one day, and a brightly coloured pin-wheel the next. That I could still watch popular sit-coms AND at the same time watch the newest anime to hit Canada straight from Japan. I could still listen to indy music, and rock out to the classics, while on the same playlist jam to the top 40. Most importantly, I could still be intelligent and enjoy style. I could wear pants and a skirt, but never at the same time. I tried that, once. Never again.
I always thought the fashion system, the beauty, the all of that, was bad. I thought it set a poor example, that it made girls starve themselves and have low self esteem and become sluts to fill the void. But you know, it never made me compromise my morals. Loving clothing never made me hate myself, watching a size 0 model never made me want to be a size 0. Fashion taught me that the reason they started using such tiny ass models was because it was cheaper. Marilyn Monroe is still considered a sex symbol, and she wasn't tiny. Even fashion tries to be frugal, although you'd think by their designer prices they weren't. But to me that's a problem with inflation and honestly, society in general. And you can't blame all of fashion for big business. Inflation is everywhere, life costs money, the whole system is broken, recession blah blah... but that isn't the fault of fashion.
The message I take from style, from fashion, is to be yourself, express yourself, find what you like and make it your own. Sure, some things may be out of your price range when it comes to style, but there's a million different takes on what fashion should be and there's a lot of affordable nice things too. There's designers who wont dress girls over a size 8, and there's others who wont dress a girl under a size 8. It's all about expression, it's all about finding who you are, and expressing it through the way you look. And when you look good, you feel good. And that's a matter of pride. Who gives a shit if other people don't like the way you look, if you like the way you look, then you feel like you look good. You've expressed yourself, made a statement, and it almost makes you feel a little more courageous as a result.
I know it seems like such a simple idea, but it actually isn't. Trust me, as women we grow up thinking that you can only be one way or the other. You can be vapid and vain and popular, or you can be uncool and intellectual. That's it, there's no middle ground. Well, the day I learned that there was a middle ground was the day I realised that I am fucking amazing in my own right, I'm beautiful, and don't need to be defined by labels even if I buy them.
I love my friends, I do. But some things I just don't trust to other people. And those things are usually fairly cosmetic. Figures. I don't necessarily think of myself as a shallow person, but when it comes to my appearance I hate it when I don't look the way I want too. It makes me feel uncomfortable. And if I'm doing something, like getting my hair coloured by some one else and they screw it up I get pretty angry with them. Honestly, I get angry at myself too when I screw up something like my hair colour or cut, but at the same time I can use the excuse of doing it myself to justify a few flubs, 'cuz I'm not a professional. But when a professional screws up, I get super pissed. And yes, in the case of dying my hair professionals have screwed up way worse than I ever have on my own. And in the case of friends? Well, I think the reason I don't trust them with my hair is because most of my friends just aren't into the whole beauty thing. And the ones who are don't trust themselves enough to do it and get it professionally done themselves, or I have seen their mistakes and well, don't want to have a similar experience (sorry gals!).
And this whole train of thought got me thinking about my whole quest for identity when I was a teenager. We all quest for our identities at that age, although I'm a super geek who would refer to it as a quest. When I was younger, I wanted to so very badly be that cool feminist intellectual, with wit and a laissez-fair style. I wanted to be Janeane Garofalo. Cynical, witty, dry and oh so uncool that I became cool, so anti-trend I would set the trends. But when we are young, we don't really spend a lot of time reflecting on who we actually are, we just focus on who we want to be. And I didn't ever really understand the distinction until I got interested in style and fashion.
You see, style and fashion taught me that it was okay to have self expression, to like things because I liked them, whether they were popular or not.
(Excuse me, the timer just went off, so I have to go rinse my dye out.)
*twenty minutes later*
Aaah, and the teal menace is gone! (Not that I disliked the teal. But my last highlighting job was only so-so and as it faded, it looked worse and worse...)
ANYWAAY...
My point is, that for me, my self discovery was very much intertwined with my style discovery. It was through clothing that I learned to be myself. To mix patterns and colours boldly, to dress like an insane person one day, and the next dress demure. Through a lot of trial and error, I became more and more self aware. I became the owner of my own opinions on what I liked and didn't like. It's strange now, but when I look back all I really wanted was to be a non-conformist, and fit in with all the other non-conformists. You know, be just like everyone who wasn't just like everyone else. And when I finally "gave up" and "sold out" and "bought in" I all of a sudden gained a lot of personal freedom. And to think, pop culture was telling me that being outside of the system gave us freedom, but being inside of it actually made me feel like I could be more free.
Then one day, I realised it wasn't a choice between one or the other. That I could still be a little goth one day, and a brightly coloured pin-wheel the next. That I could still watch popular sit-coms AND at the same time watch the newest anime to hit Canada straight from Japan. I could still listen to indy music, and rock out to the classics, while on the same playlist jam to the top 40. Most importantly, I could still be intelligent and enjoy style. I could wear pants and a skirt, but never at the same time. I tried that, once. Never again.
I always thought the fashion system, the beauty, the all of that, was bad. I thought it set a poor example, that it made girls starve themselves and have low self esteem and become sluts to fill the void. But you know, it never made me compromise my morals. Loving clothing never made me hate myself, watching a size 0 model never made me want to be a size 0. Fashion taught me that the reason they started using such tiny ass models was because it was cheaper. Marilyn Monroe is still considered a sex symbol, and she wasn't tiny. Even fashion tries to be frugal, although you'd think by their designer prices they weren't. But to me that's a problem with inflation and honestly, society in general. And you can't blame all of fashion for big business. Inflation is everywhere, life costs money, the whole system is broken, recession blah blah... but that isn't the fault of fashion.
The message I take from style, from fashion, is to be yourself, express yourself, find what you like and make it your own. Sure, some things may be out of your price range when it comes to style, but there's a million different takes on what fashion should be and there's a lot of affordable nice things too. There's designers who wont dress girls over a size 8, and there's others who wont dress a girl under a size 8. It's all about expression, it's all about finding who you are, and expressing it through the way you look. And when you look good, you feel good. And that's a matter of pride. Who gives a shit if other people don't like the way you look, if you like the way you look, then you feel like you look good. You've expressed yourself, made a statement, and it almost makes you feel a little more courageous as a result.
I know it seems like such a simple idea, but it actually isn't. Trust me, as women we grow up thinking that you can only be one way or the other. You can be vapid and vain and popular, or you can be uncool and intellectual. That's it, there's no middle ground. Well, the day I learned that there was a middle ground was the day I realised that I am fucking amazing in my own right, I'm beautiful, and don't need to be defined by labels even if I buy them.
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
Pita Chips and Hummus, Let's Be Friends FOREVER. Until I Eat You.
So I'm sitting here, eating my yummy lunch of pita chips, hummus and Italian wedding soup thinking how ridiculous it is that the whole bag of mini-pitas I bought was $1.75, and how quick they toast up and make the equivalent of $5.00 worth of a bag of pita chips. Being fugal has never been more delicious. And it's probably healthier too. That being said, I've been thinking about other things than delicious frugality today, the main thing being branding.
Frankly, I'm at a bit of a loss. I'm trying to work on this whole business plan thing for getting my designs out there to sell and making a name for myself, a brand. And right now, my working business name is ... horrible. I hate it. It's so... cute. I mean, it sounds like a company that makes jewellery in a small town and sells it at a gift shop. Which is, ironically, exactly what I'm currently doing but that's not the point! I want a name that will grow with my designs, and that feels accessible to the people I design for. Right now, the only saleable pieces I have are my Jellyfish earrings, which are fun and whimsical, and the current name I'm using for my "company" -- Little Biggs Designs -- suits them in a silly girly way. But what about when I start getting some saleable pieces of say, the Cream Soda Shorts? Or the Wrap Skirt? Little Biggs Designs is just not a name that speaks to me, and I don't think it speaks to my customers either.
I've been thinking a lot about my client, who I am designing for. And honestly, my niche is in the semi-geeky quirky girl, the kind of woman who cares about her appearance, but doesn't give a shit about what's "on trend" exactly. She's the kind of girl who would wear a corset as street wear, who wears retro head phones while listening to classic rock, who paints her nails to glam up her look, and then lets them chip away rather than removing it. It might be said her style is a little laissez-faire, and layers are her friend. She loves piercings, and tattoos, yet would still gleefully raid her grandmothers closet for vintage pieces of awesome. My client loves the idea of reclaimed clothing, and organic cloth, but will still wear polyester if it's rad enough. She also says rad. And she is a living rainbow.
Then it occurred to me, I am designing for myself.
And I'm a bit of a hipster, aren't I?
But anyway, after thinking a lot about that, I'm trying to come up with something that speaks to me on a few different levels. I've been getting a lot of ideas from people in my life, well input more than ideas. A lot of the input has been helpful in finding a direction, but some of it is derailing me. And now I'm a little stuck. A friend of mine who works in web design and print design gave me a few pointers on dealing with the internet, and how I want to make my business name something Google searchable, related to the product I'm selling. His exact example was "if someone is looking for edgy awesome earrings, and they Google that the first thing Google will pull up is EdgyAwesome Designs giving it most points for relating to the search." My current business name will not come up in that search, unless I inundate the site itself with text that says "Edgy" and "Awesome" all over it. Which I am not adverse to doing.
Right now, I'm stuck on one idea I'm particularly fond of, but it has nothing to do with anything I've made. But it sounds artsy and I kind of like it.
Maybe I should just call my business Terribly Titled too, because I apparently am no good at titles...
Frankly, I'm at a bit of a loss. I'm trying to work on this whole business plan thing for getting my designs out there to sell and making a name for myself, a brand. And right now, my working business name is ... horrible. I hate it. It's so... cute. I mean, it sounds like a company that makes jewellery in a small town and sells it at a gift shop. Which is, ironically, exactly what I'm currently doing but that's not the point! I want a name that will grow with my designs, and that feels accessible to the people I design for. Right now, the only saleable pieces I have are my Jellyfish earrings, which are fun and whimsical, and the current name I'm using for my "company" -- Little Biggs Designs -- suits them in a silly girly way. But what about when I start getting some saleable pieces of say, the Cream Soda Shorts? Or the Wrap Skirt? Little Biggs Designs is just not a name that speaks to me, and I don't think it speaks to my customers either.
I've been thinking a lot about my client, who I am designing for. And honestly, my niche is in the semi-geeky quirky girl, the kind of woman who cares about her appearance, but doesn't give a shit about what's "on trend" exactly. She's the kind of girl who would wear a corset as street wear, who wears retro head phones while listening to classic rock, who paints her nails to glam up her look, and then lets them chip away rather than removing it. It might be said her style is a little laissez-faire, and layers are her friend. She loves piercings, and tattoos, yet would still gleefully raid her grandmothers closet for vintage pieces of awesome. My client loves the idea of reclaimed clothing, and organic cloth, but will still wear polyester if it's rad enough. She also says rad. And she is a living rainbow.
Then it occurred to me, I am designing for myself.
And I'm a bit of a hipster, aren't I?
But anyway, after thinking a lot about that, I'm trying to come up with something that speaks to me on a few different levels. I've been getting a lot of ideas from people in my life, well input more than ideas. A lot of the input has been helpful in finding a direction, but some of it is derailing me. And now I'm a little stuck. A friend of mine who works in web design and print design gave me a few pointers on dealing with the internet, and how I want to make my business name something Google searchable, related to the product I'm selling. His exact example was "if someone is looking for edgy awesome earrings, and they Google that the first thing Google will pull up is EdgyAwesome Designs giving it most points for relating to the search." My current business name will not come up in that search, unless I inundate the site itself with text that says "Edgy" and "Awesome" all over it. Which I am not adverse to doing.
Right now, I'm stuck on one idea I'm particularly fond of, but it has nothing to do with anything I've made. But it sounds artsy and I kind of like it.
Maybe I should just call my business Terribly Titled too, because I apparently am no good at titles...
Friday, 14 October 2011
I've never understood the expression sick as a dog.
I am not feeling well. Went to the burlesque show last night, and although it was probably the best one yet I couldn't stay for the whole show. After the use of a smoke machine and some angle grinders on stage, I was having trouble breathing. And I decided I wanted to drink a whiskey sour, and that was also a mistake when combining with hootin' and hollarin' for the girls when I already had a sore throat to begin with. Then combine the random waves of vertigo and the fact that where I was sitting was right under a very cold fan, I started to get chills even when the fan wasn't running. Today I'm running a bit of a fever as a result, an my throat has blisters. I hate it when that happens.
So I'm taking it easy today, drinking some herbal remedy tea made by this company, that if you are in Canada and don't believe in taking cough medicine I highly suggest trying it. I've been able to find it at all sorts of grocery stores, Save On Foods carries it. It's not that I don't believe in cough medicine, it works for some people. But I find when I have a mild cold or flu that when I take alcohol and sugar based remedies, it only makes the symptoms worse when the medicine wares off and before I know it I have a sinus infection or strep throat or bronchitis again. Sugars and alcohols only increase the bodies acidity, making it hard for the body to fight infection on it's own. So although the cough medicine may make the symptoms feel better, it's making the illness worse. I'm also eating probiotic yogurt with honey and almond granola, because honey has antiseptic and antibacterial properties and yogurt helps reduce acidity. And it's just super yummy and easy to eat when you are feeling icky.
Anyway, other than feeling sick I'm pretty happy about this week. Made some money selling the Lace Jellyfish and only have 1 pair left in store, so I'm making more. I was super stoked when I realised I'm turning a profit on the things, I've made back what I've spent on supplies already! Now I just need to get a bunch of stock made and get serious with selling them online too. I also need to work out some new and fun designs, keeping with the crochet lace look because I want some consistency. I also want to gather some supplies for more shell and feather hair pins. So many ideas! I'm also working on a few upcycled items, like fingerless gloves and legwarmers, and some cool ideas I have for vests made from denim. Hopefully I can get my butt in gear to get enough stock and a bit of money down on it to consider doing my own booth at the farmers market.
But today, I'm not going to worry about any of it, except maybe crocheting some jellyfish while I relax and watch Netflix. Which is getting so much better here in Canada than it was when I first signed up! So many amazing TV shows are on it now, like X-Files and Buffy, and even some newer stuff like Walking Dead. And the movie selection has expanded. I had just read an article about how Netflix lost liscencing in the states, and then all of a sudden it got better in Canada. My other plans for the day include finishing Storm of Swords (book three in George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series also now known as the inspiration for the HBO series Game of Thrones). I started reading the series like, a month and a bit ago. It took me awhile to get through the first two books, but it's taken me less than a week to read through the third one. I'm probably going to have to run to Bookland tomorrow to buy the next one, because I don't want to stop until I'm caught up. I should also probably do dishes and laundry, but the illness says no to that! I tidied up my sewing room this morning, and it made me feel super light headed. Dishes really need doing though, and I think I might just have to suck it up and get 'er done. Being an adult is difficult some days...
So I'm taking it easy today, drinking some herbal remedy tea made by this company, that if you are in Canada and don't believe in taking cough medicine I highly suggest trying it. I've been able to find it at all sorts of grocery stores, Save On Foods carries it. It's not that I don't believe in cough medicine, it works for some people. But I find when I have a mild cold or flu that when I take alcohol and sugar based remedies, it only makes the symptoms worse when the medicine wares off and before I know it I have a sinus infection or strep throat or bronchitis again. Sugars and alcohols only increase the bodies acidity, making it hard for the body to fight infection on it's own. So although the cough medicine may make the symptoms feel better, it's making the illness worse. I'm also eating probiotic yogurt with honey and almond granola, because honey has antiseptic and antibacterial properties and yogurt helps reduce acidity. And it's just super yummy and easy to eat when you are feeling icky.
Anyway, other than feeling sick I'm pretty happy about this week. Made some money selling the Lace Jellyfish and only have 1 pair left in store, so I'm making more. I was super stoked when I realised I'm turning a profit on the things, I've made back what I've spent on supplies already! Now I just need to get a bunch of stock made and get serious with selling them online too. I also need to work out some new and fun designs, keeping with the crochet lace look because I want some consistency. I also want to gather some supplies for more shell and feather hair pins. So many ideas! I'm also working on a few upcycled items, like fingerless gloves and legwarmers, and some cool ideas I have for vests made from denim. Hopefully I can get my butt in gear to get enough stock and a bit of money down on it to consider doing my own booth at the farmers market.
But today, I'm not going to worry about any of it, except maybe crocheting some jellyfish while I relax and watch Netflix. Which is getting so much better here in Canada than it was when I first signed up! So many amazing TV shows are on it now, like X-Files and Buffy, and even some newer stuff like Walking Dead. And the movie selection has expanded. I had just read an article about how Netflix lost liscencing in the states, and then all of a sudden it got better in Canada. My other plans for the day include finishing Storm of Swords (book three in George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series also now known as the inspiration for the HBO series Game of Thrones). I started reading the series like, a month and a bit ago. It took me awhile to get through the first two books, but it's taken me less than a week to read through the third one. I'm probably going to have to run to Bookland tomorrow to buy the next one, because I don't want to stop until I'm caught up. I should also probably do dishes and laundry, but the illness says no to that! I tidied up my sewing room this morning, and it made me feel super light headed. Dishes really need doing though, and I think I might just have to suck it up and get 'er done. Being an adult is difficult some days...
Friday, 30 September 2011
Hmmm... been really busy getting everything settled in everywhere, I've barely had time for a break. Still haven't gotten everything unpacked, and we're turning in the keys to the old place tomorrow. Things are okay, vet bills are expensive (but he's doing fine now, it wasn't super serious.But it could have been. Gotta keep a close watch on him for a while yet).
I'm looking forward to unpacking my sewing things, which I've held off doing so far because I don't want to be tempted to sew instead of unpack, and also because the sewing room needs some work. I think I actually have excess storage, and not a lot of room to move around, So I want to ditch a few pieces of furniture. So I have a pretty nice compact desk on wheels that I will probably sell, and a dresser that I'm going to repair and possibly give away. I'd rather save on the floor space and mount some shelves on the wall if I need too.
I'm pretty stoked to get to sewing again, I mean I have a few projects that I need to work on ASAP if I intend to get them done in 12 days. I don't think I'll be able to pull everything together in time, so I might have to prioritize and change the plan. But I've seen the type of stuff the pull out on Project Runway, it's not like I'm working with only 20 or so hours.
I also intend to look into a few options for making hats. And I need to decide if I want to do American Steam Punk, or Victorian. I keep flip-flopping between the two. As much as I love the original concept, I don't know if I'll have time to pull it together, it has a long coat and some pretty awesome striped pants going on. But I don't know if I'll have time to work the coat out, as it's something I've never made, and I want to to be really nicely tailored. The pants, holster or vest and tank to go under the jacket will be easy, and if I think I don't have time that's pretty much the second look, with a few added details. I really want to work out if I can make a hat or not in time. I have some goggles I can use, but this look kind of needs to be a little more refined if I can do the jacket too.
Also, my new kitchen screams "BAKE IN ME!" So I've been obliging. I made cookies, and bought supplies to make Doughnuts. I also realised I had a can of pumpkin in my cupboard, and I have some tart shells. So I want to make pumpkin tarts soon!
...Now I am hungry. Time for some lunch =D
I'm looking forward to unpacking my sewing things, which I've held off doing so far because I don't want to be tempted to sew instead of unpack, and also because the sewing room needs some work. I think I actually have excess storage, and not a lot of room to move around, So I want to ditch a few pieces of furniture. So I have a pretty nice compact desk on wheels that I will probably sell, and a dresser that I'm going to repair and possibly give away. I'd rather save on the floor space and mount some shelves on the wall if I need too.
I'm pretty stoked to get to sewing again, I mean I have a few projects that I need to work on ASAP if I intend to get them done in 12 days. I don't think I'll be able to pull everything together in time, so I might have to prioritize and change the plan. But I've seen the type of stuff the pull out on Project Runway, it's not like I'm working with only 20 or so hours.
I also intend to look into a few options for making hats. And I need to decide if I want to do American Steam Punk, or Victorian. I keep flip-flopping between the two. As much as I love the original concept, I don't know if I'll have time to pull it together, it has a long coat and some pretty awesome striped pants going on. But I don't know if I'll have time to work the coat out, as it's something I've never made, and I want to to be really nicely tailored. The pants, holster or vest and tank to go under the jacket will be easy, and if I think I don't have time that's pretty much the second look, with a few added details. I really want to work out if I can make a hat or not in time. I have some goggles I can use, but this look kind of needs to be a little more refined if I can do the jacket too.
Also, my new kitchen screams "BAKE IN ME!" So I've been obliging. I made cookies, and bought supplies to make Doughnuts. I also realised I had a can of pumpkin in my cupboard, and I have some tart shells. So I want to make pumpkin tarts soon!
...Now I am hungry. Time for some lunch =D
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