How's the zine going?

This week has been crazy. On Memorial Day I recorded a youtube video for Etsy's collection series, but I never edited and uploaded it. During the afternoon we went to see Indiana Jones...if you can imagine how excited my grandfather was to see it, check this out!

As for the movie...well....oh well. It was cool to be a part of the crowd that can be like "I REMEMBER GOING TO THE THEATER TO SEE LAST CRUSADE AND NOW IT'S SO COOL TO SEE INDY ON THE BIG SCREEN AGAIN" but the whole premise of the movie wasn't an Indy movie. More like Indiana Jones meets Ed Wood. Yikes. Though I definitely liked the part with the atomic bomb. As for Cate Blanchette, she was a lot better in Babel...if that gives you any idea. Nevertheless, it was worth it just for seeing my grandfather so happy! If you ever wanted to meet a true Indy, well, this is the guy who got me into urban exploring. Looks pretty good for 77! Can't wait to climb Lantern Hill with him this coming Father's Day.

As for the zine, I worked on it during my lunch breaks for the post office orientation this week. Got a lot of writing done, but I'm not sure I'll be able to finish up and crank this zine out by June 5. There's just so much work to be done, nevermind the fact I can't come up with a decent title or a good place to start it. I've just been writing ideas ALL week. It will come together.

So now the rest of the week: Post Office orientation! Holy Cow...here's what my schedule was like...
Tuesday: up at 5:30AM, left the house 6:15, arrived in New Haven 7:40. Left New Haven 4:00, returned home 5:30. 170 miles round trip.
Wednesday: see Tuesday. 170 miles again.
Thursday: Slept in! Awesome! Then got a phone call that I was supposed to be at Norwich PO Annex at for training at 8:30....well somewhere that call got missed. Got to Norwich 10:00, left 1:20, lunch at 2:30, headed to the Bella Earth in W. Warwick for 4:45, dropped off earrings and headed home for 6:15. Over 150 miles driven.
Friday: up at 4:45AM. Left the house 5:20, arrived in Hartford 6:15...had to be there for 7 but Hartford is funny in that if you don't beat the traffic in, you WILL be late. And if you beat the traffic, you're ridiculously early. Returned home 4PM, 102 miles round trip, promptly passed out.

Next week's schedule:
Monday: New Haven 8-12
Tuesday: Hartford 7-1
Wednesday-Friday: Putnam 8-4:30. Putnam will be the easy one (32 miles round trip, LOL).

The worst part about orientation is getting up that early and driving for an hour or more just to get to where I have to be. The good news is they'll pay me 50 cents per mile, minus the mileage between here and Norwich.

Sophie Saab needs a trip to the car doctor. Needs a new oxygen sensor, which I've known for about a month but have been putting it off because I don't know any good Saab mechanics locally, and it's going to cost a pretty penny just to fix the car. Yeah she runs. But she's eating gas because she's not well (she ranges between 20 and 26mpg, but I'd much rather see it in the 26mpg ALL THE TIME). So I'd better eat the repairs instead of putting it off and eating the gas. And she stalls on start up and backing a lot more often--yesterday some guy beeped and yelled at me because the car stalled 3 times while I was trying to back out of a parking spot and he wanted my spot. So I figure if people have road rage this bad, I better fix the car before someone shoots me through the head with a crossbow. The truth is that I don't trust any mechanics with my car. Not this one. And you wouldn't trust anyone with it either if you drove all the way to Boston just to get it!!! lol

Today is Mom's birthday...Happy Birthday MOM! Sushi for dinner tonight!

Memorial Day Weekend

Yesterday while I was making my rounds to the local Salvation Army I found an old veteran sitting next to his car with a big sign that says "HONK IF YOU SUPPORT OUR TROOPS". Hey, I might not agree with this war but I've had a family member serve over there and wish we would just bring them all home already. Did I beep? You bet.

So much to do before I start post office training on the 27th. No big family picnics, no big nothings going on actually. I have to run some earrings over to the shop I'll be consigning them to today. Not to mention hope to get gas for under $4/gallon, because here it's $4.05 (as of last night).

I'm really REALLY not looking forward to spending the money for gas to get to New Haven for my post office training. Yes, I'll be reimbursed for it...but in the meantime...I just hope I don't have to go to New Haven every day this week.

I'm going to be starting work on a new zine this weekend. It's going to be done by June 5. I've needed to make this zine for 2 years. I had made a related video in late 2006 and haven't really gotten the courage to show it to my family. I actually made it as part of a contest entry relating to My Chemical Romance's album the Black Parade (it was something like "Show us what the Black Parade means to you") and I've always wanted to make a longer video but felt I really couldn't.

Why is it always easier to show extremely personal stuff to strangers and not my own family? There was a story I'd written in 2002 called "Death of a Boy" which was about the death of one of my old friend's little brothers whom I hardly knew, and it sat online for 2 years till one of my family members stumbled upon it and showed it to his family. When I found out they all knew about it, I was absolutely terrified having to face them about it till I found out they were all happy with it. I ended up re-writing that story and posted it on lock-down in my livejournal. So I unlocked it this morning, if anyone wants to read it.

Death of a Boy

As for the video, it's the same deal now, only it's not "someone else's" family I'm worried about, it's my own. Even I can't believe I still keep it hidden from them. Maybe I should just release it and get it over with?

My great-aunt's jewelry DESTASH!

My grandfather stopped by today to work on the remodeling of our apartment, and he dropped off a whole box of jewelry from my grandmother's sister. There is some crazy stuff in there... Powder compacts you can wear around your neck, sterling silver rings and one that's GOLD (anyone seen the price of gold lately?) I haven't really gone through it with a fine tooth comb, but there are some awesome goodies in there.

In unrelated news, I finally got wireless internet broadcasting through the house. (!!!) Is this a new era of the internet? Only time will tell...

I sold a copy of the first issue of Mannequin Reject for the first time since 2005 today. lol. I really should work on a new zine.

Time to work on some ACEOs, maybe.

Mannequin Reject

In addition to my other two blogs, The Indie Historian and Is This Your License Plate? I decided to start a blog about my booth at the College Mart Flea Market in Jewett City, CT.

But it's not just about the booth, it's about my artwork and crafts and things I'm working on at the moment.

Which until New Year's Eve, "Things I'm working on" was usually NOTHING. This was something that bothered me greatly ever since I finished high school. I mean...I went to college and did some things around 2003, finished my last novel in 2004, and wrote my zine, Mannequin Reject in 2005...and then became employed full time and all my artsy dreams vaporized.

I just realized this blog entry has the potential to become extremely long and not-internet-typical-ADD-reader-friendly. lol

So my latest mission is making jewelry.  Since New Year's Eve I've probably purchased about $200 worth of beads (went to a different store every day...Michaels....Walmart...A.C. Moore...Michael's again...ordered some online from beadworld.com)...and made 1 brooch, 1 straight pin, 7 pairs of earrings, and 2 necklaces.

The auction that's every other week (http://www.leonesauctions.com) is tonight and while I completely blew my entire auction budget on beads/jewelry/ebay, I am still going to go at least for a couple hours. I mean, I'm always looking for cheap antique furniture and auctions are the way to go.

I mean, I picked up a 1930's white velvet chair for $5 at the last auction. And a side table for the same amount.

Looking for pics? Check out the Mannequin Reject/ Egyptian Emporium myspace page. I'll get around to posting some here, when I go off on some rant about how artsy I feel. www.myspace.com/mannequinreject

So...WHY was my 2005 zine called Mannequin Reject? To be honest, I don't remember. It has something to do with the mannequin head I bought from the same flea market I now have a booth in. :)