Here’s another odd one:
glass jewellery maps distorted necklace
Huh?
Something tells me they didn’t find what they were looking for when they stumbled upon my blog.
I picked up a word search book last year to keep in my bag in case I get bored. I take the bus everywhere, so I have a lot of down time where I can listen to music, read, or whatever else. I used to do puzzles, word searches and such when I was younger, but I stopped doing them for some reason. Now I’ve been picking up variety puzzle, crossword, fill-in and word search books pretty frequently. I like to do them before bed, because it’s pretty relaxing. I used to play my Nintendo DS before bed, but I haven’t found a fun game to play since I completed Lego Battles.
Two of my Mission 101 goals are to complete an entire word search book and an entire crossword puzzle book. Why? Just because. I’ve never finished an entire book of puzzles, and I thought it might be fun.
Unfortunately, there’s no point to this post except to say, “I like puzzles, and I’m a dork for buying lots of puzzle books lately.” I guess that’s the TLDR version.
Lately, I’ve been on a kick of making jewelry out of safety pins. I love the idea of working with materials that aren’t traditional jewelry elements. A couple of weeks ago, I went to Ax-Man Surplus, a local surplus store that sells lots of random stuff. It’s one of my favourite stores because you never know what you’re going to find there. It’s an adventure!
I bought a lot of stuff when I went there. Lots of bolts, screws, electrical wiring pieces, springs, tiny bottles, washers, wing nuts, brass drawer pieces, rubber seals, and pretty much everything in-between. If I could imagine it used in a jewelry piece, I bought it. Of course, everything there is ridiculously cheap, so I got a giant bag of goodies for $40.00. Nice!
The first piece I made was a cuff bracelet using vinyl butt connectors (huh huh, butt) for electrical wiring. They’re supposed to be red, but they’re actually a dark pink that I thought was very awesome. I bought an entire bag. Using a basic ladder stitch and some black size 8 seed beads, I made this:
Pretty neat, huh? I like it a lot. I have lots of leftovers, too, so I can make something else from them.
Then, I made a necklace using some aluminum plates. They’re just 2″ circles (not sure what they were for) and I used a metal hole punch to make holes in it. I hung some wire-wrapped beads from it, added a vintage key, hung it from some waxed cotton and used some nuts and metal beads to add flair to it. Ta da!
It’s surprisingly lightweight.
The third piece I made was a bracelet using some nuts and a wing nut, and just a bit of leather cord.
I think it turned out really well.
And my most recent piece is a necklace I made using just about everything I bought at Ax-Man. I made dangles from a bit of everything I bought, and included some buttons, beads and safety pins I already had. It’s really fun. It might be my favourite necklace ever.
It’s so fun. I love it. I’ve already gotten a lot of compliments on it. Hooray!
I’m not sure what my next project will be, but I have a lot of stuff left to use. This is going to be fun.
The absence of school in my life is very weird. It’s strange to come home from work and think, “Hmm, what should I do tonight?” instead of veering into a panic trying to figure out what I can cram into a mere few hours. I’ve been keeping busy doing little things that I haven’t had time to do before (mending clothing that needed mending, updating my music database, etc.) and I’ve also been able to dive into my crafts again. It’s awesome.
So, for a graduation gift from my friend Carin, she gave me a few skeins of some really crazy green yarn. She said, “If anyone could come up with something creative to do with this yarn, it’s you.” Too right.
From that yarn (and some yellow boucle that my friend Amber gave to me a few years ago), I came up with this:
It’s a caterpillar scarf!
I used a 29″ size 8 circular needle and cast on 150 stitches. I just knit two rows each of the various yarns to create lengthwise stripes. I left the fringe on one end (created when I joined new yarn) and then sewed on buttons for eyes. It’s pretty ridiculous, but cute. It’s also a great way to use up half-skeins or small skeins of yarn you might have lying around.
Aww, wookit his wittle fuzzy face!
Yeah.
Now that that’s done, I’m working on another scarf. I love knitting scarves, because I love them. This is why I love living in Minnesota — I get to wear scarves pretty often. Except now, because it’s 85 degrees and humid. Yuck.
I was a bit of a “late bloomer” when it came to buying CDs. I didn’t buy my first CD until 1995, and my first CD was actually my first ten CDs (R.I.P., Columbia House) — but I digress. Fifteen years later, I have close to 2,000 CDs. I’m not even sure how that happened. I know my collection grew significantly when I worked in record shops, because you can’t really beat the discounts you get from being an employee. Plus, you get first pick of everything that comes in, which is an awesome bonus. I think what surprises people the most when they find out how big my music collection is that I actually like that many artists and bands. I have incredibly eclectic tastes, and I don’t believe in “guilty pleasures” — I like what I like, and I don’t care if I get teased for it. There’s also a handful of artists and bands I felt the need to collect every album and single they’ve ever released (currently, I own basically everything Franz Ferdinand and Travis have ever released; I also own at least 20 CDs for Radiohead, David Bowie and Stereophonics). So, that adds up as well.
It seems silly to people that I still collect CDs. Everyone has moved onto MP3s, it seems, but I still buy CDs. It just doesn’t feel “official” unless I have the CD case in my hand, complete with artwork. I don’t know why that’s so important to me, but it is.
In addition to CDs, I also collect records. I’m not one of those people that collects records because it’s “cool” and basically just owns them as decorative pieces. I actually listen to my records, and I listen to them on an old Elgin turntable that’s hooked up to my small shelf stereo system that I’ve had for about ten years. (It has a dual cassette deck, too, so I can make mix tapes!) Records hold a special place in my heart because that’s how I listened to music when I grew up. I just love the sound of records. Hearing a crackle or snap is comforting to me, as is knowing just when a phrase in a song will be interrupted by a needle jump. It brings back good memories.
There’s really no reason I collect music. Most of it is probably worth nothing. I know most of my CDs aren’t even worth $1 each, and the majority of my records aren’t rare. I have a few gems, but mostly it’s just run-of-the-mill stuff. I have never sold a CD (unless I accidentally acquired a duplicate), and I can’t see myself ever selling them. Weird, I know.
Since my collection is ever-growing, it’s gotten to the point where I can’t remember which CDs and records I own. I seem to have a harder time remembering what records I own, for some reason. I own five copies of David Bowie’s album, Let’s Dance. I own two 7″ singles for Men Without Hats’ “The Safety Dance” (picture sleeves, too!). Luckily, records are pretty cheap, so I just end up keeping the extras in case one gets a scratch. To help with keeping track of what I have (and don’t have), I downloaded an incredible cataloging program called OrangeCD. I downloaded it in 2005 or so, and I’ve been slowly pecking away at entering in all of my CDs and records. Currently, I have all of my CDs cataloged, but I’m still working on entering in my records. I’m very close to being done, which is something I’m very excited about. It’s nice to be able to see what I have, all in one place. There’s even pie charts! I love pie charts! Yes, I’m really that nerdy.
It has an HTML export option, so once everything is entered into my database, I will export it to HTML and upload it. In the meantime, everything I have entered in so far is up on Racks And Tags (and OrangeCD is connected to the site so I can just update my latest additions and they show up on my profile). It’s pretty nifty, actually.
So, what does nearly 2,000 CDs look like?
The basement of our town home is basically our “music room.” It’s where Nic does his mixing/mastering, recording, etc. It’s where we keep our music equipment as well as our CDs. This is the first CD shelf. It holds my collection from A – C. I’m not sure how many CDs that is, but it’s a lot. (Also, disregard how creepy this photo is — our basement is not creepy at all!)
Here’s the second shelf. The first five rows are all of my CDs. The rest are all Nic’s.
This shelf is the third part of my CD collection. Those are all mine, save for a few on the bottom which are duplicates of MSRP CDs. I just wanted to put something there because the shelves looked sort of empty.
It’s pretty crazy, I guess.
June 19th was my last day of school. My two-year A.S. degree in Graphic Design took four years to complete since I was enrolled part-time, but my goal was to get some sort of degree before I turned 30. I completed that goal with two months to spare. Go team Kris! It hasn’t quite hit me yet, since this would be my “spring break” if I were still enrolled. I spent last week doing a thorough cleaning of our house to prepare for my graduation party on the 26th. Our place is never dirty, but I’ve been so busy over the past several months that I neglected the areas not typically seen by guests (on top of the fridge, under the counters, etc.) Our place looks fantastic right now.
The party was a success, and there was a really good turnout. I didn’t expect so many gifts, cards and words of congrats. I felt really loved, and it was great to be surrounded by friends and family.
I think people had fun?
Having free time is still a bit weird. I’m taking the time to focus on getting freelance design work, so hopefully that will kick off. I also have time to do fun stuff again, which is very weird. I can do crafts again! I’m so excited. I’m knitting a scarf right now, and I can’t remember the last time I had time to knit. It’s awesome.
Sometimes, it’s fun to see what search terms people used to get to this site. Usually, it makes sense, but this one confused me:
im deathly afraid of mailboxes
Well…that’s interesting. I hope that the person who searched for that term and found this site was able to find useful information to help them overcome their fear of mailboxes.
Stuart Cable 1970-2010
It’s always heartbreaking when I hear that a musician dies. It’s even more heartbreaking when it’s a musician I’m a fan of. Needless to say, I was shocked and saddened to hear that Stuart Cable, former drummer for Stereophonics, had passed away yesterday at age 40. 40 is so incredibly young, and although the cause of death hasn’t been officially released, it’s sounding like it was from a binge of drinking. I’m not even sure what to say about that, except that he didn’t have to die so young.
I first saw Stereophonics in 2000 at the now-defunct Quest Club in Minneapolis. They opened for The Charlatans UK, and during 12 Rods’ set (they played before Stereophonics), Stuart was just out and about, listening to the band and mingling with people. My friend spoke with him a while, and all my friend could say was how nice he was. When I saw Stereophonics again in 2002, I caught my first drum stick — and it was Stuart’s. I still have it.
Stuart’s Drum Stick
He’s always been a favourite drummer of mine, because he reminded me of Animal from The Muppets — all hair and arms flying, and a gigantic, enthusiastic grin. He was awesome. I was really sad when he left Stereophonics (don’t get me wrong, I love Javier Weyler, too). It just didn’t seem the same without him.
So, although I never got the chance to meet him, I hope he’s still rocking out in the great beyond. You will be missed, Stuart.
I just completed Lego Battles for Nintendo DS, and I feel like there’s a void in my life now that I’m no longer pecking away at it. It was my nightly routine: I would put on my pajamas, wash my face, make sure all of the furry critters in the house were fed, and then crawl into bed with my DS and a glass of water and play a level or two of Lego Battles. I had a ton of fun playing it, and I never would have guessed that I would enjoy an RTS. But I did, and now I miss it. I don’t really have anything else I want to play on my DS. Releases have been kind of “meh” the past few months. How depressing.
I love the Lego games, though. They’re always really fun, and not too easy. Nic and I have played through Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Batman on the Xbox, and I know I’ll end up getting Lego Harry Potter when it’s released, even though I’m not technically a “fan” of Harry Potter. I have Lego Rock Band, which is way more awesome than I thought it would be. I mean, I love Rock Band and I love the Lego games, but I didn’t think it would be that good. Turns out, it’s awesome.
Maybe my love for Legos comes from my childhood. That was my favourite toy. I think I played with Legos every day. It was kind of ridiculous. (I attribute my talent for assembling flat-box furniture quickly and accurately to my years of building things from Lego kits.)
Nic gave me the best Christmas present a couple of years ago: a Lego Batmobile kit. I squealed. It’s so amazing.
I actually have a Batman action figure sitting in the driver’s seat. Did I mention there are flames that shoot out of the back of the car, and they spin when the wheels roll? HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!
The album artwork I’m doing for Say Like The French Say is all Legos. David and I sat and built all of the scenes from my Legos, and then I took photos of them. They’re pretty fantastic.
You’d think that turning 30 in a couple of months would snap me out of my child-like ways, but I don’t see that happening any time soon. I still go down the Lego aisle at Target to see what’s available (I’m kind of tempted to get a Prince of Persia kit just so I can have a little Jake Gyllenhaal minifig). I go on eBay to buy Lego pieces I can’t find anywhere else. My excuse is that as a kid, I didn’t have a lot of money to spend on toys, so I’m making up for it now. At least, that’s the story I’m going to go with.
I love my cat, Jack. He’s a little jerk sometimes (like when he wants food at 2:00 A.M. and won’t stop trying to wake me up) but for the most part, he’s a good boy. There are some things about him that make me wonder if he really does have part of my genes, even though he’s a different species and adopted. He’s fastidious to the point where he does a full cat-bath at least twice a day, with little half-baths in-between. He likes people, but gets sick of them after a while and needs to have “alone time.” He loves to sleep. He’s not a force to be reckoned with when he’s angry. He loves chicken and turkey. He loves hummus. He likes routine. His stomach and digestive system randomly freak out for no reason. Basically, if I were a cat and male, I would be Jack.
Because of his random digestive system explosions, he will randomly vomit for no reason. He is fed the same food every single day at relatively the same time every day. He gets the same amount every day. He very rarely eats “people food,” and even then, it’s tiny bits. So, the reason behind his random vomiting is beyond me. The one thing I do know is that he times it so that he vomits roughly five to ten minutes before I need to leave for work, and usually on days when I’m running late. Every. Time.
What’s odd is that I work two part-time jobs, and so my schedule is really weird. Some days I leave for work at 8:20 A.M., some days I leave for work at 2:00 P.M. No matter what time I leave, he will manage to vomit right before I need to walk out of the door. It’s like he saves it up and notices my panic because I’m running late and decides, “Hey, now would be a good time to purge.” No, Jack, now would not be a good time to purge. And I don’t know if other people’s cats are like this, but when Jack vomits he doesn’t just do it in one spot, all at once. He does it in phases, over a minute period. He’ll pick one spot, make that HORK-HORK-HACK noise and barf up a bit of food. Then, he’ll walk a few feet and do it again. A few more feet, and finish up. It’s ridiculous. It’s bad enough to have to clean up cat vomit in one spot, but three spots? Come on, Jack. Really?
He did it again this morning. I had two minutes before I had to leave, and he started with the HORK-HORK-HACK crap. I managed to get him to vomit in his litter box for the second round, but then he left a mess in another part of my home office. I cleaned up the best I could given the time I had, but I know I’ll have to do some intense scrubbing when I get home. (As a side note, Gojo and Palmolive dish detergent work wonders to get cat puke out of carpeting.)
If anything, Jack has impeccable timing. He has also mastered the post-vomiting look that says, “Wow, that feels better. Can I have more food now?”
