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Dec 21, 2012

No more Bat Blog

As you can probably tell, I've stopped blogging here. It was too hard to try to post daily, and thinking of things to post. I've started another blog that I hope will be easier to keep up, because I don't plan on posting every day but it's more about crafting and I always have something to say about crafting! If you are interested in following my crafty blog, it's here at D.I.Y. Daily!

May 7, 2012

Beauty Tips the First

Following with my pre-arranged blog post plan, I am going to post things like this, tutorials, home decor tips, and things for sale in the second week of the month.

I have a simple tip for tonight for those of you with acne problems: Pop them.

Tons of people say not to pop zits in the case that your hands are dirty and they will get infected. But a zit isn't a wound, it's crap in your pores. Based on personal experience, when you pop your zits, they DON'T scar. If you don't? They DO. Horribly.

If you get zits on your back, have your mom pop them for you. Just get rid of them. Don't listen to people who tell you not to pop them. They don't know what they are saying, and you will end up with a scarred face because of them.

I might sound a little vicious about this, but I am sick and tired of the people who believe that they will scar you if you do anything about them. It isn't correct, and by them telling other people that, people end up with ugly faces. So many of them could have had nice faces!!! So stop listening to your friends and family and listen to ME.

.....hehe ^^

May 5, 2012

Very basic overview of a Low Carbohydrate Diet

My boyfriend and I are starting a low carbohydrate diet. We're not going to follow a specific plan, because they are all pretty much the same: Eat about 20g of carbs per day for 2 weeks, gradually up the carbs until you've lost all the weight you wanted, up them some more until you reach a plateau but NOT gain weight.

Some people want to just to do the "Induction" Phase, where they eat a very low amount of carbs per day until they lose all the weight they want, and then go back to eating the way they did before. Well, you COULD do this. However, you will simply gain all the weight back.

The point of eating very little carbs in the first weeks is to switch your body from burning the sugars from all the carbohydrates for energy into burning the fat you eat for energy, and then continue burning the fat your body has stored for energy. Once your body has switched from sugar to fat, you will start dropping pounds.

The second phase is usually called Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL). In this phase, you begin to gradually raise the amount of carbs that you eat daily, between 5-10g per week. You need to find how many carbs you can continue to eat without gaining weight. If you reach a "plateau", try dropping some carbs. If you need help, you should exercise. Exercising REALLY helps accelerate the weight loss!

At the end of OWL, when you are closing in on that weight loss goal, start upping the carbs even more. You will lose weight more slowly, but at this point, you don't want to go below your goal, you want to stop at your goal. When you have lost all the weight, continue eating as many carbs as you can without gaining weight. You will feasibly do this the rest of your life. This is the third phase, Maintenance.

I've recently read that if you do a low-carb diet, and then end up gaining weight because you didn't follow your individual Maintenance plan, it's harder to lose weight the second go around. Nobody knows why, but I read from plenty of women that this is the case with them. It doesn't seem to happen to men quite as much, but it still does happen. This really worries me, but I have been doing fine, especially when I get to the gym!

UN-PROCESSED meat and eggs have no carbs, so you will be eating those a lot. You can cook the eggs in any which way you like! The meat must NOT be breaded though. That's extra carbs! That first 2 weeks you will be eating a lot of meat, eggs, and salad. However, if you plan to do a low carb diet, you will need to research. Some vegetables have a lot of carbs, some have almost none. Most fruit have a lot of carbs.

In order to figure out how many carbs you are getting, look at the nutrition facts on whatever it is you are eating. Subtract the grams of fiber from the total grams of carbohydrates. That's how many carbs you are getting. However, some packages have mistakes about the amount of carbs. If something says it only has 2g of carbs per serving, but the fiber and sugar add up to be MORE than 2g, it's WRONG. Always look at the package!!

Another mistake people make is trying to do a low-carb, low-fat diet. The fat in all the meat you are eating is what is helping keep you full. You need the fat, don't worry, you are BURNING IT ALL OFF! If you don't eat the fat, you will get tired, you will be hungry, and you will fail and just start eating carbs again. Again, you need to do your research about a low carb diet before you start one.

May 2, 2012

Maladaptive Daydreaming

All my life, I have rocked back and forth while I am sitting. I shake my leg violently at other times, like when I am laying in bed. While standing, I sway side to side. In all this time of moving for no apparent reason, I am actually daydreaming without being aware of it. When I snap out of it, I am not confused if I am in reality or a fantasy world. I know where I am, what I am doing, and that I was daydreaming. At least, now that I have realized that I AM daydreaming.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally googled this strange behavior. I never thought to do that before, but now that I have, I'm kind of sorry about it. I found pages and pages of people talking about their symptoms, wondering what they could do about them, and how it seemed impossible to stop. They talked about their addictions to spending hours at a time daydreaming, and how they wanted to stop WASTING their life doing NOTHING.

I never realized that I was daydreaming while rocking back and forth until I read about other people with the same condition. Then it clicked. I have Maladative Daydreaming, I have had it all my life, and I wish I never found out what it was.

Usually, and apparently, it starts with a traumatic incident in your childhood. It's a way to escape. I however have had it since birth. I would rock at night until my crib would block the door from being opened. My younger brother seems to have it, too. He doesn't make friends well, he would rather be by himself... Like me. People just get in my way of daydreaming...

Maladaptive Daydreaming is much worse than having idle daydreams while in school and your teacher is boring you. It's addictive. You can't stop. It's like a drug. If you can daydream for hours at a time? You might have it. While daydreaming, you do some kind of movement over and over. Shake something in your hand, rock back and forth, shake your leg. It will bother people, and they will ask why you do it. Most people don't have an answer. Then they make fun of you.

It's not a very nice existence. You waste your life. You stay in. You daydream during jobs and get fired for it. You don't keep friends. People yell at you.

You can stop it yourself. I would suggest doing so, unless you want to spend years of your life doing nothing. but daydreaming. Just catch yourself, and stop. Just keep trying.

There are usually triggers... Something that gets your mind start being creative. A book, a movie, music... The weather. I've noticed when there is a lightning storm, I start daydreaming about North Dakota. I used to spend summers there, and there is a lightning storm almost every night there. I am terrified about tornadoes, and then I get scared. That feeling remains with me when I snap out of it, but I know I am not in N.D. I'm still in a lightning storm though.

You end up with weird feelings and thoughts and it's just annoying. I feel like now that I know about it, I'm diseased. I never thought it did me any harm before, but now? How much of my time am I spending daydreaming?

May 1, 2012

May Holidays

So from now on, in the first week of the month I plan to do one of these posts. Just letting you know what monthly events are coming up and when, and possibly how they started.... If I feel like that last part.

I recently restored this laptop back to it's factory install, because I felt like it was going to die on me soon if I didn't. I had high hopes for speedy internet to come back to me, but now this laptop is slower than ever! I will type out a sentence and then stop to watch it slowly come into view, letter by letter. Blogging has now become a complete nightmare! Especially since I have finally wrote out enough things to actually start up again. Bah! This computer will become better if it's the last thing I do!

Well, today, May 1st, is May Day. This is, (in some countries) a celebration for the coming of Spring and Summer. In other countries, I guess it's a celebration for the workers. It's not really celebrated in the U.S. yet it's on our calenders.

May 5th is, quite obviously, Cinco De Mayo. (Spanish for Fifth of May.) This is really a celebration for Hispanic descent, however many people chose this day as an excuse to party and drink. It's on a Saturday this year, and Saturdays are MY excuse to party.

May 6th is Teacher's Day! Well how about that? Get them a Red Delicious! Wait, no... This year it's on a Sunday. Aw, well.

May 13th: Mother's Day. This also goes for your Grandma: She's a mother, too! Mother's day is really the second Sunday in May. Mother's Day doesn't seem to have much history, except that it has been going on for years.

Armed Forces Day this year is May 19th. Like thanksgiving, Armed Forces Day is actually set for the third Saturday of May, instead of a set date. This day is a sorta screw-over: Each military branch had it's OWN day of celebration, but then the Secretary of Defense and the President (Harry Truman) decided that they wanted to put it all into one day.

Then, Memorial Day is May 28th. This year. This is also one of those dates Congress decided to change from always on May 30th to the last monday in May, so they could always get a 3-day weekend.

So, now you know that Holidays are subjected to personal gain. Either it's many days consolidated into one day, or it's changed to get a day off. President's Day was made so instead of getting the day off on both Washington's birthday AND Lincoln's birthday could be celebrated in one day, but it also was placed on a Monday to ensure another 3-day weekend instead of a day off in the middle of the week, or during the weekend.

I encourage you to change holiday dates for your own personal reasons if you have too. In order to spend Mother's Day with mom, you've got to BE with mom, and if that's not possible, decide on a date that's good for the both of you! The dates aren't important... Celebrating them properly is!

Apr 29, 2012

Pretty chainmaille!

I have just ordered a LOT of chainmaille for very cheap. I buy rings from a website called Blue Buddha Boutique, where they make cheap, quality rings. They have a page where they sell a variety of rings for even cheaper, because they didn't make the cut in order to be in regular packages.

When I get the chainmaille, I will definitely write a review about the quality, and if it is worth getting these cheaper packages. They are in different sizes, may have paint chipping off, or are slightly cut wrong, or a myriad of other things, but what I am worried about most is whether I will have enough to make nice designs. I figure I will, because they are measured by grams, so depending on the weight I will probably get enough. I got 50g of aluminum, which is a very light metal, easy to work with, so I should get about as many rings as the other two, 100g each of copper, and jewelry brass. Or more. Or less.

I have only worked with aluminum rings,  stainless steel rings, and copper wire. I am glad I didn't get any stainless steel, as it is very hard to bend open and closed. Of course, that way it's a lot harder to accidentally yank apart a piece. Aluminum and copper are much easier to work with. They bend open easily with pliers. Bigger rings are easy to open with your fingers, even. Aluminum is cheap and it is much lighter than other metals, but if you made a tunic with it, it wouldn't protect you very well.

Tangent: At Radcon 6, my boyfriend and I went to a panel that taught us to make chainmaille. Or, rather, gave us chainmaille and we simply started working before the guy had a chance to tell us how. At one point, my boyfriend tried on a chainmaille tunic. When I looked up, the guy running the panel was stabbing him in the stomach! With a real knife! He wasn't hurt in the slightest, but my god looking up and seeing that was terrifying!

I have a friend that could tell you more about metals, but I am telling you about chainmaille in this post. I don't make armor out of it, I make jewelry.

Source
I prefer simpler stuff, but I am trying to sell things to OTHER people who don't exactly match my taste. With these new packages coming in soon, I hope to try more weaves involving different sizes of rings in one piece. This creates awesome jewelry the likes I have never attempted before!

Now, making chainmaille jewelry is difficult to start. You have to choose whether to MAKE your own rings, which is APPARENTLY cheaper than buying them, like I do. I have tried this DIY ring making, and it is NOT cheap. I have friends who have read online that it is cheaper to make their own rings and have stood by their internet knowledge, but I have tried this and it is absolutely not true. There are so many things that you need just to get started, not to mention actually making them. The biggest problem is finding wire. If you are not incredibly serious about this, and attempt to find wire at hardware stores and craft stores, you aren't going to find any. It is either too soft, too hard, too easily chipped, or rubs off metal into your hands. You want nice wire? Good luck finding it. I gave up, because I knew I could buy rings cheap online.

CHEAP.
Source
If you want to start making chainmaille, I recommend buying rings first, instead of investing a lot of money and time into making rings and then finding out that you can't figure out how to weave them together. There are plenty of websites with tutorials, such as CGmaille, or M.A.I.L. Check out Spiderchain for more links to tutorials. There are also books, which I haven't looked for yet, that you can buy at craft stores, book stores, or online. You can buy rings online, (I suggest Blue Buddha Boutique, because it's much easier than The Ring Lord imo) or at craft stores. I have found them at Micheals, and a small amount at Walmart. You could also buy rings that are meant to be jump rings, but these are usually not as quality as actual chainmaille.

What's the difference between jump rings and chainmaille? A lot of people call chainmaille jump rings, and that really irritates me. Jump rings are not made with the same quality, they are thinner with a large diameter, bend too easily, and are made for connecting jewelry to clasps. They are ALL the same silver color. Chainmaille comes in different sizes, different colors, different metals, different thickness... etc.
Jump Ring Jewelry
Chainmaille is fun, frustrating, a challenge, with a beautiful outcome, whether it's armor or a piece of jewelry. It's definitely a recommended activity for those looking for some creative outlet!

Have any questions you think I might be able to answer? Go ahead and leave a comment.

Review - Tithe by Holly Black

I promised you all a review soon a couple of posts back, but of course my Nook Color's charging cable splintered in about 3 different pieces. Luckily, this apparently is a common experience, so Barnes and Noble is replacing it for free. Just have to wait for it in the mail.

However, I did finish reading Tithe and Ironside by Holly Black. There's a book in between those two that I also have on my Nook and HAVE read before, but I can't remember the name of it.

Basically, Holly Black wrote about Faeries. Faeries, in her description, are all sorts of creatures, from Ogres and Nixies to Hobs and Pixies. They are mean, they are cruel, but they cannot utter a single lie. The main character, Kaye, finds out that though she looks and was raised human, she is in fact a Faerie. She is about 15 I believe, and when she returns to the land of Faerie, she doesn't know much about mannerisms Faeries practice.

The 3 book series is undoubtedly dark and gruesome,  at least the first and last book, and a much better read than Twilight would be to a darkling. I recommend this series if you are interested in the Fantasy genre, especially if you enjoy books that have a perfect mix of real life and the fantasy world. These characters are set in the real world, yet they do not belong in this world. Iron makes Faeries sick, yet some are "banished" to live in the city.

They have a magic called glamour, in which they make themselves and other objects look like other things. When they need money, they pick leaves out of the gutters on the streets and make them look like any bill they wish too. They make themselves look like whatever they want, even down to their clothing. They can take a knife and glamour it to look like a pen.

Strangely, the glamour makes Faeries see what other Faeries want them to see. Regular people who have "the sight" can see through the glamour. They see that what Faeries are eating is actually old, rotten fruits and mushrooms. Faeries themselves don't see that.

It is a good read and, while I haven't read other books by Holly Black, I think I would recommend her as a favorite author. Don't say you got that from me, (yet).

Apr 25, 2012

Making Jewelry

 These necklaces were kinda based off the Rosary necklace design. They will most likely offend some people because of that... They are for sale for $25.00 each. If you are interested, please let me know and we will set something up. I don't know anything about shipping yet, though. I will start researching that soon.


 Cat "Rosary", and a blurry closeup of the charm. Tree Agate.

Fairy "Rosary", and closeup of the charm. Purple Agate.

Key "rosary", and close up of the charm. Freshwater Pearls.

Skull "Rosary". This one is mine and is NOT for sale.Black Spiderweb Agate.

Turtle "Rosary". Unakite, I believe? The charm is also the same gemstone as the beads.

Other Turtle "Rosary". Maybe Green/Yellow Jade?

I couldn't get good enough closeups of the Turtle charms. These necklaces are all made with real gemstone beads, hence the pricing. When I bought the strands of beads, I put them all in zip-lock bags with their names and prices because that was how you kept track of the things you were buying, but when I got home I put them all in a beading container and have forgotten which stones they are. The agates and pearl beads were easy to remember, but the other two weren't. Next time I buy stones, I will label them somehow.

Anyways, I owe you an explanation. Basically, I have been sleeping in late and my boyfriend gets out of school quite early this semester. I don't usually blog when I am at his house-thing, but now that I have my camera and have run out of materials to be making things with, I have more time. I will be writing things down again for ideas to post! I actually have more of a plan now, that I can follow next month. Blogging will be SO much more easier!

Apr 15, 2012

CAMERA

I FOUND IT. Well, Brumeister found it. But it exists!


Will be posting more now! Hopefully will have some body mod posts up this month, I have plenty of friends with tattoos and piercings to see this weekend!!

Super excited!

Just had to post, but it's late. Bed time for now.

Apr 9, 2012

A knitted purse!

Yet another knitting project I definitely want to do! I have a friend who wants me to make her a "craft bag" so she can carry a ton of her craft things to school and back, since she has a ton of free time between classes. She already has a bag, but she wants one with pockets and and a nice closure and made specifically for what she wants in it. She bought some pretty fabric, but I have botched previous projects for other people, and I am REALLY not in the mood for sewing. Plus, I handsew, so the things I make don't come out very sturdy. For the type of bag she wants, there will need to be all sorts of things I haven't used before, such as interfacing and pockets. I have only made simple tote bags out of t-shirts before... Also, she would be carrying things that are more solid and heavy than what I carry in my own bags. I keep things to a minimum in my purse, but the straps are still straining.

Since I AM in the mood for knitting lately, though, maybe I can knit her a purse. It is likely to be a lot more better than if I were to sew it, even with my beginner knitting skills. So, I looked for purses.

Here is one (well, two...) that I really liked. It isn't exactly good for keeping crafting items in, but for myself. For my friend, I would just knit a solid purse, then make extra panels to attach as pockets.


The tutorial is here and honestly, I have really liked the ideas of the mesh knitting in general since I started knitting again. In the last post, I posted a link to a bolero that also has lace. I plan to cast on for my bolero tonight and possibly start working a few rows so that I have it for tomorrow after I leave for my boyfriends. After the bolero, I plan to work on one of these purses above for myself, in order to figure it out, because I plan on using the basic pattern on my friends purse (if she likes the idea of a knitted purse, that is.)

Apr 8, 2012

Change of direction?

So, since I do not have my camera, I guess I can just start posting some tutorials from online that can be easily gothified. This is NOT what I wanted for my blog, and I can't wait until I can find my camera. (It MUST be somewhere around.... NOT lost at a hotel!)

As I am particularly enamored with knitting at the moment, I supposed I will show you a recent find that I would like to knit in a plain simple black, at least for starters. It is called a ribbed lace bolero by the creator.


Isn't it CUTE??? There are more pictures on the webpage I linked to above, which also contains the tutorial.

I plan to do a simpler lace knit, but overall, I think it's going to turn out great! Now, to find out halfway through that I don't have enough black yarn....

So, I will start posting more often again. I plan to do a book/series review soon. Also, to post about my new diet! Since starting it, I got sick, and now Brumeister is sick, so we haven't gone to the gym yet, NOR have we donated blood plasma (which is how we weigh ourselves every week). The moment of truth will come sometime soon, I hope.

Ta ta, for now.

Did I really type that? I supposed I did.

Apr 4, 2012

Internship and lost camera

I got the internship! At least, I'm in the process of getting it. I will be going to Blue Mountain Wildlife in the early fall. I have a feeling that I will have the intern trailer to myself, because it sounded like they try to only keep one intern at a time. I'm super excited! I'm sad that I didn't know more about the stuff I will actually be doing, but as I said on my application, letter, and resume, I have only had experience with domestic animals, mainly cats and dogs.

The reason I haven't been posting is because I still have no clue as to where my camera is. When Brumiesters car was deemed totaled, he didn't find it when he went to go clean the car out. It isn't at his place, and it's not at his mothers. The only possibility is that it's in my room. Or, it's gone. I have no idea where else it could have gone!

All my posts that I had been planning kind of needed pictures. That my camera would have provided. I would love to show you that I've progressed from crappy knit squares to a crappy knit hat. I'm getting better! I'm really trying. It's hard. I'm getting really ambitious though, wanting to knit cami's and sweaters and stuffs.

So, when I find my camera, or lack thereof, I will continue posting then. Keep checking back! I guess.

Mar 16, 2012

Eye Doctor and Knit to-do list

So I went to the doctor when I first got my infection. I couldn't get my contacts out myself, so I went to a regular doctor in order to get them out. He prescribed anti-biotic eye drops. The next day, I went to my eye doctor, and he prescribed anti-inflammatory eye drops. I just had an "infection", but they never said a name for that infection. I had pus in my eyes. There may be permanent damage to my eyes, too. Pretty much, I think I got the infection long ago, but it didn't hurt that much. I would take out my contacts for a few days, then put them back in when it stopped hurting. So, it was still there, but the contacts were trapping it right around my cornea and iris, which is where all the damage is.

Contacts on a healthy eye is just fine. They don't do damage to your eye. If your eyes get irritated, take your contacts out. If you keep them, disinfect them with contact solution. But whatever you do, just take them out of your eyes ASAP. It doesn't matter where you are, or what you're doing. If you leave them in, you are escalating the problem.

Some people, like me, don't like taking their contacts out every night. I got the kind of contacts that you leave in for a month, then throw away and put new ones in. I never took them out and washed them. If you want contacts, you need to be more responsible than that. I wore them longer than a month, taking them out only when they started to get dry or itchy. Then I would instantly put new ones in.

I am out of contacts, so I will be very nearsighted for a couple of weeks. At least I can open my eyes and they don't burn anymore. I am getting new contacts, but I am going to figure out the best ones for me. Obviously, it isn't the kind that I leave in over a month.

On to knitting tutorials! This first one I really want to try, even though I can't really get purling. At least, I don't think I can.

$5 in Paris. Easy top down raglan sweater with optional side shaping noted in the tutorial. This is not the first picture I saw of this sweater, but I can't find the other one now. It had long sleeves and the neck was more of a scoop neck. It was also sort of an off the shoulder sweater, too. But I liked it that way. I'm pretty sure the girl had just knitted it too big, so that is what I am going to try.



Kitty "Hood Scarf" with pockets. This super simple tutorial can be changed to have different kinds of ears, like longer ones for a fox scoodie. (As I prefer to call them.) This project is simple enough that I am sure I could make it. (I'm not that good at knitting....)



Knitted Cat Hat. I have tried this one before. My needles were too big and I was too stupid to figure out that that would have quite an impact on the project. But I still want to try to make it right!


Knit Kitty Key chain. Anybody could do this one! (I like cats, okay?)


Double Nickles. I have also tried this one before. I just can't freakin' purl! I am going to try harder though. I have managed to follow ONE pattern so far. and make two scarfs. I have also managed to make two very different arm warmers. and failed at making a slipper, and a bikini top. Oh well?

Mar 14, 2012

More eye problems

Haven't been posting because I have a major infection in both my eyes - I couldn't get my contacts out myself so I had to wait until I could get to a doctor to do it, now I may have permanent damage to my eyes. Stupid eye doctor didn't call in my prescription so now I have to wait until they're open again to bitch about the fact that they have the prescription, THEY have to call it in, because we can't just go to the pharmacy and SAY a doctor said I could have this. Unbelievably painful. I hate people.

Mar 11, 2012

Hair Problems

So I've been trying to grow out my hair. It's about as long as it will ever be, because by this point the ends are so damaged I have to cut it short again. It ALMOST reaches the bottom of my shoulder blades. I would like to keep it this long, but at the same time, it is so thick and so heavy, that when I cut it my head will be about 10 pounds lighter. Not really, but it will definitely feel like it.

Luckily, I have a new friend who has been cutting her own hair for quite some time. She doesn't have a job and goes to school, but that has come apart because her family and boyfriend has scattered to several different places when their lease was up and they couldn't afford to stay around. I intend to give her some money, but the reason I'm asking her to do it is because I'm flat broke and don't have the money for a real hair dresser. Still, I want her to get the idea that she could start cutting friends hair for cheap for at least SOME money.

I am more curious about whether or not the damage is caused by going to the gym's swimming pool every monday, or the chlorine and the bleach from dying my hair combined is doing the damage. Either way, if I don't cut it soon I think it will get worse. Which is not what anyone wants.

Mar 8, 2012

Knitting

Since I have all this yarn that I haven't used for actual knitting, I've decided I am going to use it up by making things to sell. I have had it all for so long the yarn is basically free.

My camera is, sadly, in my BF's car. The car that's in the shop for repairs that were intentionally caused by a complete bitch. So, I guess I am just going to have to wait until I get that back to start putting things up on Etsy. Blah. It will probably be at least a month. (Judging by how long it was in for repairs for the other two times someone ELSE caused damage to it.)

So far, I have made 2 pot holders, and most of a scarf. I really can't do patterns that well, but I think I've had a breakthrough on a problem that I had. I think I figured out how to move yarn from back to front in order to purl. So, maybe I can start something a BIT more advanced. Before I would end up wrapping the yarn around the project, and I did that all the damn time. I don't know how or why, it is so simple to do!

The pot holders are just squares with holes every four rows. They take me 3 hours to make. I have no idea how to price that. They aren't that special, so I don't want to charge more than $5 for them, but they took me 3 hours of knitting. Knit things are usually pretty expensive, anyways. Hmmmm... Maybe $7. Two for $10? I will have to ask my stepmoms mother.

The scarf is made from this really pretty yarn I got for free, it is mostly blue but has red, purple, lighter blue, and green mixed in it, peacock colors. It's going pretty fast, the yarn is thick and I'm using big needles. I have two big skeins of that yarn, I think I can make three scarfs from it. I think that type of yarn is the best to make scarfs with. But, what the hell do I know? I'm a beginner.

I'm trying to figure out how to make slippers with just straight needles, size 6 or size 13, since they are all I have. I want to make as much stuff as possible before I have to start buying more things. I am flat broke.

I am really upset about my camera. I need it!

Mar 7, 2012

Harassment - True Story

At around 9:00 or 10:00 one night, a man and a woman were stopped at a stoplight. They were in different lanes, although the woman apparently needs to get into the mans lane in order to get wherever she is headed to. She may plan to cut in front of the man when the light turns green, even though there is literally no one else around.

The light turns, and the man takes off, speeding up to the speed limit, but no faster. The woman decides he must be just acting like an asshole. Angrily, she starts speeding, and cuts him off right in front of a roundabout without using her blinker. She had cut it very close, for she nearly ran into the concrete sidewalk that separated the roundabout's lane and another lane.

She goes through the roundabout normally. Once she is out of the roundabout, she slams on her brakes, and keeps the brake depressed. Her brake lights stay on even though she has come to a complete stop. She is near a bank, but the entrance is far ahead. There is no reason to have come to complete stop where she is.

The man sees her brake lights, and starts to slow down. Too late, he realizes that she has actually stopped, and slams on his breaks. His skids into the back of the car the woman is driving, which is not even hers.

His hood crumples. The metal framing holding the radiator is bent, shoving the radiator into his engine. Fluid sprays everywhere; fiberglass and plastic flies more than 5 feet away. His front bumper falls off completely.

Before he slams back into his seat after the impact, the woman is out of her car, screaming at him. She calls the cops.

The man is in shock. When the cops come, they talk to him first. They believe he was simply following to closely behind. After talking to the woman, the come back to the man more sympathetically. She had said that she was slowing down for a person waiting to come out of the banks parking lot, 21 sidewalk squares ahead. Each square is about 3 feet, so the entrance/exit is roughly 63 feet ahead of the crash, perhaps more.

The story is unlikely, as she would have had the right of way if there had even been a person in the parking lot, and she was too far from the lot as it was too have started "slowing down".

She gets a ticket for negligent driving. He gets a ticket for tailgating her. He plans to fight his ticket. He was not driving too close to her. He just didn't realize she had stopped when he saw her brake lights.

I trust that the man, my boyfriend, is telling the truth.

That woman purposefully stopped in front of him, with her sisters (I believe) car. She intentionally caused damage to his car. Any woman who would do this, I would think badly of. I think even worse since she did this with someone's car that was entrusted to her. She has already screwed herself over with her story; I hope that her family understands what really happened and won't trust her with their car again.

You may think I have told a skewed story. I still want to know: Whose fault do you believe it was?

Mar 6, 2012

School

I'm sorry I didn't post yesterday... I got up early in order to get a ride to the community college, so I could finish my fafsa paperwork. What I didn't know is that spring quarter, AND summer quarter, are both part of the 2011-2012 school year. I guess it makes sense, since fall is when the rest of the lower schools start, but really, no one else knew either. I mean, they pay with their own money, so it wouldn't have mattered to them to know. When the lady at the financial aid desk told me, I didn't know what to do. I've registered for classes already, but now I won't be able to do my fafsa for LAST YEAR on time to pay for spring quarter.

I was so sure I was going to be in school this quarter. Now that I don't have even the slightest fucking chance, I have another 3 months of sitting around, trying to make things out of stuff I already have in order to sell them. In order to get the money to actually start making things.

I. Hate. School. In highschool, there was a mandatory class everyone had to take in order to graduate. The point of the class was to educate us on how to proceed to college, like keeping us up to date on when certain tests were, and BS like that. They told everyone to fill out their fafsa, even if their family made a ton of money, in order to get any money they could. Yet they didn't tell us, in fact they didn't even know, what to do once you've filled out the fafsa. Because the teachers aren't doing this stuff themselves, they've already been to college long ago.

I talked to a girl who has been using fafsa the entire time she's been in college and she didn't even realize that I needed to use last years fafsa. So now, I'm screwed over once again. I just don't know what to do.

Mar 1, 2012

Self-Injury Awareness Day

Today, March 1st, is Self-Injury Awareness day. I want to talk about this because I know that there are plenty of people out there who get angry and confrontational when they hear about a friend who cuts/burns/etc., and this is not a good reaction to self harm.

Self-Injury is NOT a suicide attempt or a way to get attention. A lot of people don't know why they do it. In fact, a lot of people don't even know that they DO it. People who look down on it, have probably done it themselves, and will do it again without even knowing, because it is a coping mechanism. Self harm does not have to be cutting or burning. Maybe you are in an abusive relationship. To cope with emotions you feel you can't express, you stay in it. You let yourself stay in a situation where you are physically hurt. You think that you are too scared to say that you are leaving, but really, you might be scared of losing the pain that you use as an outlet.

I speak from personal experience. I used to cut myself. Later, I would rub dirt and dust into my cuts. I have stopped since, and have talked to friends and family, but when I did cut, kids at school would laugh about it. They would yell about it. They would encourage me, or they would JOIN me, or they would get angry and tell me I was being selfish. Selfish! What is selfish about trying to cope with emotions you don't understand or are afraid of?

I had a friend who was a good christian, and was very against self-harm. Then she started to do it. She would scratch the top of her hand. Everybody thought she was just trying to get attention or be cool, after all, she started after seeing other people do it. I didn't say anything about it. I didn't understand at the time what I was even going through, and I knew that I didn't need to attack her about what she was going through.

I once found a couple of dirty, rusted box cutter blades out in the street. I took them home and put them in my windowsill. A friend of mine asked to borrow them. I cautioned against them, but didn't stop him. Two weeks later he returned them, but that time I felt bad. I didn't want to provide weapons that could seriously kill my friends. I threw them away after that. That time I wondered if he was trying to commit suicide. He knew the potential of those rusted blades. You don't always know if self-injury isn't a suicide attempt, but I don't think he would have known it himself.


Please read more about self-harm here, and try to help those you may know that hurt themselves. Don't knock them. You might have done it yourself.

Feb 29, 2012

Review - Twilight series.

I am not a fan of Twilight. The plot of the books just repeats itself, and although they are well written, I feel that her degree in English may have had a negative effect on Stephenie Meyer's skills as a writer. Almost all of the dialogue in the books seem rigid and too perfect for a person speaking.


Source: Google

While reading the books, I got a sense of Deja Vu: something happens to draw attention to Bella, Edward attempts to hide her, they end up killing people in order for Bella to survive. The same thing, in every book. Sure, the story is different, but the idea is the same.

See, I have an actual opinion, instead of just being prejudiced against the series. Even so, if I were simply prejudiced against them from the get-go, (and in all honestly, I was), I would have found that it was because (1) it's a romance, (2) it supposedly shows the "perfect" relationship to young girls, and (3) it is a mainstream title. The reason I ever read the books? A relative sent them to me. Brand new books. I couldn't just leave them sitting unread! Plus, at that point, I got curious. What the hell was so great about these books?

Nothing. They were a popular series about yet another girl and vampire. Perhaps it's the kindest story about a girl and a vampire, at least that I have read, but people were entranced: So this is what it's like to love a vampire! They're nice and caring and they are simply the perfect men to go after! They can just read recipes and cook good food? They are strong and protect you from bullies? Even if they leave for the better part of a year, when they come back I'd understand! They just wanted to protect me!

It was just another description of a boyfriend that every girl is now going to seek out. I have actually heard of girls breaking up with their boys that they had been dating for 2 years in order to find their "Edward" or maybe even their "Jacob". There is an actual website, My Life is Twilight, for people to post on how obsessed they are with Twilight.

"Today, there was a big thunderstorm in my town. I told my children that the thunder was vampires playing baseball. MLIT."

Here ends my potentially horrible review for Twilight. Maybe it was more of a rant, but I tried.

Feb 28, 2012

Lip Balm Tutorials

I don't know about you, but I have dry lips a lot. I sleep with my mouth open and I don't know how to stop. In fact, it's hard for me to remember to breath with my nose. So, I use my lip balm. They all don't work, though. Some just smell yummy, some just taste yummy, and that's a problem. I want something that I can put on and feel it working right away. I want something natural, and not full of chemicals. I want something yummy that actually does something for me. So, why not make my own?

I haven't tried ANY of these tutorials (yet), but I am definitely working on it! I have plenty of containers to put mine into!

Bitchy Bee Lip Balm: Uses beeswax, which is a good start. Beeswax is a GOOD ingredient to have in lip balm. However, she doesn't really use measurements, so this tutorial could be hard to follow.

Honey Vanilla Lip Balm: I usually stay away from any kind of lip balm that uses petroleum jelly, but this one also uses beeswax as well. She also uses Vitamin E oil which is good for your skin! I plan on trying this tutorial out for sure!

Vanity Lip Balm: This is more of a lip gloss, but she uses beeswax lip balm as well. This could be a lip gloss that works just as well as a lip balm, and looks pretty! She sounds like she has had plenty of experience making lip balm/gloss.

Banana Lip Balm: This tutorial looks much more professional than others and has clear instructions. She also uses more ingredients, like Shea butter and and almond oil. I think this lip balm would probably be one of the better quality, but more expensive to make.

Beeswax Chapstick: This is the simplest tutorial I've found.

Buzzy Bee Balm: Another lip balm that requires more ingredients, but again, it looks as though it would be better for your lips! The instructions are simple to follow regardless of the amount on ingredients.

Lip Balm Making Tips: Just a list of tips on making lip balm. She basically tells you how to create your own custom lip balm with what to and what to NOT use and how to do it right.

These tutorials are all from just one craft site, so there are plenty more out there! Remember to stay away from petroleum jelly, a.k.a. Vaseline! This is not good to leave on your lips. It will help dry your lips out, NOT rehydrate them like you want!

Personally, I want to try some of these tutorials out, and create a custom lip balm using several ideas and techniques. Maybe I could even start selling them! Or just gift them.

Feb 27, 2012

Becoming a Dealer/Vender

So, I've been looking more into becoming a dealer. Vender. Whatever. A person that gets a booth and sells stuff. I have no idea where to start though.

I've been making ear cuffs, and I have quite a few ideas about other things.... but I want the name of my shop to be Babybat Days. Or something along those lines. I haven't thought of what to make involving bats, though, which I feel is necessary to draw into the name. I've been thinking about making bat wing clips, but I would feel like I was ripping off idolatre, the shop at Radcon I talked about in the previous post.

Another thing I have to consider is the displaying options and lighting. Lighting for the shops will probably come later, but it's a good idea. A very good idea. Displaying is the more important problem right now. How do I display ear cuffs? In a bowl, for people to pick through? I want to make some really good ones and some more common ones. I don't want them both in the same place. Maybe I should actually package them? But how to display the packages?

For my bracelets and necklaces, I do have labels for them that I can hang up. I'm thinking a revolving rack that I can put like bracelets on individual tines. So, no problem there.

For my dice danglys? Those will probably be put into a bowl. When I find my camera, (i.e. remember to grab it from BF's car) I will post pictures of those.

I want to go thrifting for giant band T-shirts and just plain pretty T's, so I can make Yoga Pants out of them. But hey, instead of wearing jeans and a band T, it's the band T that you're wearing for pants! Awesome! I also hope to find pretty belts that I can make into chokers. I feel like those big chunky chokers would be good for my target audience. I don't know how many goths attend craft fairs, though. Bigger events, like Radcon and the Renaissance Faire, I know that these things will sell better, because there are plenty of more people there than at craft fairs.

The jewelery I will have to make more "specialized" in order to sell at different places. Steampunk con? Steampunk jewelery. Radcon? Well, everything. Ren Faire? More regular colored metal, like silver, gold, copper, etc.

I have a friend who wants to join me. She has ideas of her own and pretty display options and her own merchandise. She's already been to craft fairs before, and has failed, but she's realized that the people there just aren't the age interested in her stuff. She has sold tons of things at the community college here to people our age.

I just don't want to split the money. I've had to do that before. With a little kid. Whose parents were like TAKE HIM OFF OUR HANDS AND JUST LET HIM HAVE THE MONEY WHEN YOU'RE DONE! and that just is not okay. That was a lemonade/krispy treats stand, but still. She has already made more money than I ever did with my poptab bracelets. I don't think she would want to split the money, but trading wares we will certainly do. Or she can have some of my stuff. I've already had quite a few of her wares.

I'm thinking about setting up an etsy account, but they CHAAARGE for putting your stuff up... and I don't know if it will sell or not. and I have to ship! I don't know. I'll think about it.

Feb 26, 2012

Dealer Links

So, at Radcon, there are MANY dealers. They all sell different things and some of them sell handmade stuff.

On Saturday, I walked into a room that held a new vendor, "idolatre". Yes, uncapitalized. I only stayed for a few minutes because I had already spent all of my money and she had things I was jealous of. What I really wanted: Batwings. They are adorable! I didn't check any prices while in her shop, understandably, so I don't know if things were cheaper there or not. The other two things I looked at were tank tops and panties. I want to be able to make both, but I am not THAT great at making things that are wearable besides my Yoga Pants. She makes a lot of other stuff, too, but I grabbed her business card and booked it out of there before I just grabbed the rack of clothes and ran.

Another new shop I encountered was Door: Toilet Genie. It was a strange name. The first thing I noticed were her paintings of creatures that were Pokemon based. Well, they really were just Pokemon I guess. I bought two postcards from her; one of Pikachu, and one of Vulpix. I can't find pictures of the artwork on her deviantART, but here is an example of her unique art style:

She really only had her art available, and her comic book, which you can read online at the first website I linked to her.

Yet another new shop I found at Radcon this year didn't really have a name, but it was an artbased shop. The artist, Melanie Camp, had some amazing artworks for sale. I was complimenting a piece in front of her, but talking to my boyfriend when she said "thank you!!!" I think it scared him as much as me! She uses clay, fiber, and paints for her stuff. It's really super amazing to see it in person, because the pictures on her etsy (linked above) doesn't do them justice!

I have a business card for a Muffy Morrigan, but I do not remember who this was. I got the card from my boyfriends stash and since Radcon IS a large gathering of seasoned and new authors/writers alike, I am not surprised to find he is a writer. It is late and I can't be bothered to look through his website to try to discern what he was doing at Radcon, but it is possible he was simply running writers workshops.

I am glad to say that Firefox Leather and Furs does have a website, but it is not a pretty one. If you check their catalog, you may find their amazing furs. They are taken from foxes that are bred for the reason of taking their furs. I have leather rabbit fur lined handcuffs that are not yet available on their website, and I also have a fox tail! They have leather belts, pouches, and other expensive things, and is definitely a shop to look at. At least, at an event.

Kitty Mean Wear is a bellydancing shop, I don't go in there much because their sense of displaying things includes a rack of clothing right next to the door that is always blocking my way in. They do have quality things, though, as I have bought a coin hip scarf from them at the Renaissance Faire.

Dancing Muse... well, supplies you with tights. At events, they also have fishnet shirts. Not much more to say about them.

That is about all the shops that I can find links too that I have not already posted in previous posts. If you like what you see, happy shopping! If you don't like what you see, I don't blame you... Some of these people have horrible websites. It's a sad thing, really. I believe that having a good website would definitely help them out more... They would make more sales for sure!

Feb 23, 2012

Radcon Stuff

So, I still don't have my camera, so I am going to just post the pictures that I found online. I am not particularly fond of either of the pictures, I look really fat in one and the second one my boobs look weird. First picture:


As you can see, I'm wearing 7 different skirts, and shirt that is SUPPOSED to be ruffly, and a halter thing with boning in it that I should have worn a bra with. I have a homemade choker on, but I don't like the ribbon.

The cuffs were bought at Radcon last year, they were $35 and are made of leather and lined with rabbit fur. They are HANDCUFFS! I have a metal clip to clip them together from the D-rings attached to them.

The HAT! Oh my goodness, my brand new leather pirate tri-corner. The vender I got this from is named Victor Moray, and he is one of the most nicest guys you would ever meet. I am surprised that he has a website, for some reason he seems to be a person who wouldn't have a website. He certainly doesn't tell anyone about it. He makes quality stuff. Seriously. My hat was $110, and it is worth every penny. He custom fits it to your head, and it's HEAVY. It definitely didn't fall off in the wind outside. If I wear it often enough, it will soon look worn down like his personal tri-corner. So then it won't look brand new, but like it's been out to sea and across the world! Victor also makes custom fangs right ONTO your teeth. They are detachable but they are literally made on your teeth for a perfect fit. Go check out his website. ^^

Now, next picture:


As you can see, my boyfriend (you know, Brumeister) is also wearing his outfit now. He once saw a picture of someone with a license plate wrapped around his leg as armor, and fell in love with the idea. He has a Washington plate on his other leg. His brother has tons of license plates on the wall of their garage for some reason, so he didn't get to steal them off high schoolers cars like he wanted to. His pants also has a shirt from his college patching up a very large hole.

His duster... is a REAL duster. It's made of animal skin. Not leather. Not PVC. Not fabric. It's real. He got it at a gun show. It's awesome. It's also smelly.

That corset I got for $30. Because that was all we had left between us. Damsel in this Dress sells it originally for $55. It is one of the cheapest corsets they have, and it's amazing. She liked that I made most of my outfit and said I should be one of the dealers! I really am thinking about that now. They have a store on Etsy, and Artfire (linked above). I would suggest buying from artfire, as Etsy likes to charge people like 10% of their sales and charges 20 cents for every item in the store. Which is why I don't want to start OUT there.

I also got a white net shirt, but I don't have a link to that dealer. Next post, I will link to more people at Radcon, what they make, and tell you if it's worth it. It usually is!

Edit: I guess Etsy charges more like 2%, not 10%. It was something that started with a "T"...

Feb 22, 2012

Blue Mountain Wildlife Internship

I have started to apply at a place called Blue Mountain Wildlife. I learned about it at Radcon, which I honestly think is strange: In the midst of zombies, Magic the Gathering, hardcore drug and alcohol abusers, and shopping sprees, there was an elderly woman with a kestrel on her hand and larger birds of prey behind her on a stage.

When Brumeister and I came into the room, tons of people were standing in front of the stage to take pictures of the two falcons, two owls and a red-tailed hawk. Soon after, the woman gave a presentation: the organization was trying to raise $1 million in order to build a wildlife hospital in Pendelton, Oregon. They help mostly birds of prey when they meet with unfortunate events, such as: falling out of their nest, being hit by a car, being shot at, being poisoned by eating animals who were shot with lead bullets. They go through rehabilitation with minimal human contact in order to be released into the wild without an abnormal connection with a human, or dependency on humans for food.

I really want this internship. I want to work with animals, in some way, and I want the experience in order to choose what I want to do. The only requirement is to be 18+, but I have gone to a veterinarian technician class my junior year of highschool. I did a job shadow at a vet. I'm hoping that will be enough to be favorable to me. I've handled bigger pet birds before and we did a whole section of taking care of pet birds in the class. So I know more than the average person, but it's all about pet birds. It will be interesting to see the difference between domestic birds and wild birds, and how to take care of them.

I was going to post pictures from their website, but there is no way to copy the picture link or save it to my laptop. Oh well.

Wish me luck!

Feb 21, 2012

Review - The Last Unicorn

I have to tell you, I'm not a big fan of Unicorns. I might have a book about the last one, and I might have an adorable unicorn figure, but the way unicorns are described these days isn't something I like. They are supposed to be beautiful, graceful, magical, better than anything on earth, disgusted by humans and entranced by time as it passes them by. They are supposed to be perfect. Perfection is BORING. Nothing happens when everything is perfect. (Which is why as a child, I decided satanism and thoughts of simply killing myself was the way to go. Why go to heaven, where everything is perfect? Let's go to hell! ROCK AND ROLL!!! Aw, children. )


In The Last Unicorn, the book begins this way: everything is good, the unicorn is content in her forest, she knows she is beautiful, and la di da. Yet then an incident occurs and she is left wondering where all the other unicorns are. She becomes restless. Thus, her quest begins! Where are all the other unicorns? I must find them!

I haven't seen the movie, and I would like to, but I don't see how they can get across the amazing detail the book describes with sentences like, "Outside, the night lay coiled in the street, cobra-cold and scaled with stars." Unless there is some narrator just so there is not the loss of the greatest part of the book. The metaphors, the similes... It is hard not to go through the book and pick them out and type them here for you.

When the unicorn is caged for 16 hours of her life, the bars whisper evilly, and the lock laughs at her demise. During her hardships, she can feel time raking at her body for the first time in her life, she can feel herself dying though she is immortal. She thinks things no other unicorns have had the need to think of, and she loves when no other unicorn has ever loved. She forgets that she is a unicorn. She feels pain. It is not perfect, therefore is it perfect.

The story itself is very original, it takes elements from fairy tales, and characters talk about how to reach the happy ending. They talk about heroes, and what each of them are looking for. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone, hoping that each who reads this book can see it for what it is: simply amazing.

Feb 20, 2012

The disillusionment after the excitement

So, Radcon is over, I only have a few pictures, I am home and I don't have any of my things from Radcon with me. I won't be able to post about it tomorrow either, because Tuesday is the day I don't see my boyfriend at all. Or the next day, since I see him later in the day.

I was really very happy up until today, I will tell you about the happiness when I have my stuff, but right now I REALLY need to rant (and I have to tell you, I cuss a lot when I'm angry. Sorry.):

I donate blood plasma for money. You have to do a yearly physical in order to continue donating. I did mine today. One person called in sick, so the person who does the physicals was stuck doing HIS work. Even though there was another person there who was supposed to do his work, but she didn't WANT TO. So I had to spend 6 hours doing absolutely nothing, sitting on my ass when I had shit to do, because someone didn't want to do their goddamn job.

This is where the freedom in America becomes a curse: when the people who DO have jobs decide not to do them, but get to keep those jobs. It's bullshit.

One of the things I was going to do today was apply for an internship working with Blue Mountain Wildlife, who help birds of prey who get shot at or hit by a car or fall out of their nest heal so they can be released back into the wild. It's funny that I hear about this serious opportunity at Radcon, where most of the stuff that's going on is about zombies, Magic the Gathering, and making your own chainmaille for the apocalypse, all while most people are taking any kind of drugs they can find. and I am trying to TAKE this damn opportunity where I can fucking take it, only to be foiled by people who didn't have to do internships to get their job that they don't fucking DO!

As a funny sidenote, at the rave, (ahem - dance) where again MOST people are as high as a kite, they played Bohemian Rhapsody, and EVERYBODY sang it. Strangers slow danced and sang with strangers. It was the strangest experience I've ever had. Then again, I am not old enough to go to clubs or bars where there is a large group of drunk people, where I believe this would be commonplace. Maybe. Whatever.

Feb 16, 2012

Body Mods: Nipples

Yes, of course; my first body mod post will be about nipple piercings. This one will probably be a little short, as my interviewing isn't too great yet...



Picture from HERE

I interviewed a girl about this, however her piercings rejected, so there's no pictures. So you get this guy with the interesting ring on his right nipple. Plus, I'm not sure if I can post a picture of boobs on here. Anyways, on to the questions!


Pain scale: 6.5/10

Why did you? Any regrets?

Kanna says that she got the piercing for "kicks and giggles", in other words, this was an impulse piercing. She didn't have any regrets about getting it done; she only regrets that they rejected.

Any specific meaning to them?

Kanna's answer: "
It's like being a porn star"! She always says that nipple piercings are more rare than, say, tongue piercings. So, it's also a tad bit more special in that respect.

Any trouble at work? How?

Well, this would probably be a "no", except for the fact that she works (worked?) at a paintball field. Anybody who knew about them, would aim at them. Fun stuff, working with people who are close friends, close enough to know about your nipple piercings!

Any Harassment?

A lot of people would demand to see her tits when they found out. Other than that, maybe some friends who didn't approve.

Was it a good experience getting them pierced?

She said yes, she had some friends with her, and the people at the shop were nice enough.

Was there any physical trouble with them?

Just the rejection, and the pain they would endure while they were healing. Otherwise, they didn't catch on anything ever, which is good to know; a lot of people say that they do.

Would you recommend getting nipples pierced?

Yes, they are fun, everybody looks at you funny when they find out, and again, they are more rare.

What are peoples reactions?

Just surprise, some are freaked out. Piercings don't seem to get as much negative attention as they used to.

Would you recommend the shop you went to?

Yes, they were very calm and friendly, and professional! (Something that not all shops have for some reason -.-)

Kanna went to Freebird's Body Art.


How old are the piercings?

They were in for exactly 6 months before they rejected. So sad! =(


Okay, so if you're wondering, my entire post is in bold because halfway through the post, I had to have bold turned ON in order to type in regular font. Then after that, bold just wouldn't turn off at all. So I made the whole post bold so it wouldn't change halfway through. Also, even though I started making the answers really small compared to the questions, some of them DIDN'T do that. Jeez, blogger... Trying to make it pretty, here...

Radcon is TOMORROW!!! I will not be able to post probably (unless someone brings their laptop and I can use it) but I will be posting pictures afterward!!! See you all Monday!

Feb 15, 2012

Batfit 2012


I've been meaning to post this earlier, but I kept forgetting. It's not like I started it more than two days ago anyways. For more information about what Batfit 2012 is, go to Le Professeur Gothique's blog post introducing the idea. Generally, it means everyone participating is trying to get healthier.

This is a catch-up post, meaning that I will be posting the first four challenges in this post because I haven't posted them before.

Challenge 1: Write out your health goal and what you think good health means.

(I am more of a list writing person, btw.)

HEALTH GOAL

  • Get fit
  • Eat less junk food
  • Lose weight
  • Feel better in general
OTHER GOALS
  • Go to 3 classes a week at the gym
  • Continue donating blood plasma
  • Be social instead of a shut in
  • Craft something every week


To me good health doesn't necessarily mean getting skinnier, but feeling more energetic and sleeping better. These are both things that I have been experiencing since starting the gym. Losing fat would be awesome, but I don't expect to much in that department. My sister and mom have the same... belly as me, and they have tried a lot to get rid of it. We have never been close to flat, but my sister does get close to it at least. So maybe I will, too. =D


Challenge 2: Dance every day for 2 weeks.

I...
  • Go to dance themed classes at the gym
  • Dance to music whenever it's playing pretty much
So, I'm covered with challenge 2.

Challenge 3: Drop a bad habit and replace it with a good habit.

  • Bad Habit: Eating crappy junk for meals
  • Good Habit: Thinking ahead for dinner
My bf and I have 2 New Year Resolutions: To stop eating out (to save money) and to stop eating candy/soda/sugary stuff for the year. Except on special occasions, like Radcon. (I am totally going to eat nothing but chocolate muffins, rice krispy treats, and drink rockstarz/bawls/cocaine for 3 days.) So, I have already dropped my bad habit!

Challenge 4: Be good to yourself.
  • Go to gym willingly and every week.
  • Loooong hot showers when I have the time.
  • Read/Play video games 20 minutes each day.
  • Eat more meat + iron in order to donate blood plasma.

Here is a picture of my journal:

It's nice to have a physical (pretty) reminder to write my 5 things every day. (Another piece of "homework"... write 5 things you are grateful for, or productivity or liked about the day.)

So far, I have been doing pretty good, even though I only just started! I am happy that I have mostly been doing this stuff by myself this year before I participated. I cannot do the latest homework assignment, as I have not lost enough mass to fit into anything old, and I make stuff out of anything that doesn't fit me, so I don't have anything old to fit into. The only things I have that are too small involve my too-big boobs, and I definitely don't want to lost weight there!

I guess I do have a prom dress.... but I never fitted into it.

Radcon is only 2 days away and I am so excited!!! I hope all the junk I eat will be countered by all the walking!

Feb 13, 2012

Hedgehog Valentines Picture!


Photo by David Kasper


The second one is her baby picture, she was about two weeks old. Isn't she adorable? Amiira means "Princess" in Arabic. Have you ever read The Kite Runner? The main characters name is Amir, which means prince!

As a side note, my BF loves his new swimming goggles!

Valentines Day

So, my boyfriend has school on Tuesdays all day long, so I don't get to see him tomorrow. Sad. It's okay with me, however, because Radcon is this weekend! Our first valentines together was actually DURING Radcon, so Radcon to me is our valentines.


For future reference, I am going to start calling my boyfriend "Brumeister" in the blog. He is the type of person who would not want his real name up on here.

Today, we are going to swim at our gym, so I am going to give him one of his four presents. We both have problems putting our faces into the water. I simply can't keep my eyes closed, and he immediately pulls his head up to see where he is going. I have had a pair of swimming goggles (the ones that only cover your eyes, and not your nose) since my last trip to Hawaii. (Which I am sure is "Hawai'i" when spelled properly.) Brumeister, however, does not have a pair of these quality goggles. So I got him a pair. I hope he likes them, they are apparently a womens pair, but I saw no difference between the male and female goggles. Except that most of them were either pink or bright blue.

His other presents I bought on Thinkgeek, and I know at least one of them he will be happy about. For Christmas, I got him a "japanese" puzzle. He had to separate the two pieces from each other. I got him another one of those, because he likes them. Even if he solves them within two hours.

Then I got him some minty caffeinated hot chocolate! We are hot chocolate junkies. We even got insulated travel mugs to put our hot chocolate in. When we go grocery shopping, we get a box of 30 packets and then some individual packets of caramel, mint, or vanilla. He, like a lot of people, prefers his hot chocolate made with milk. I see this as a waste of milk, plus there is something in hot chocolate that is good for you that is absorbed by milk. I don't remember what it was, but I am getting it!

His last present I got for free with my "geekpoints", Baconpop. It's bacon popcorn. I hope that it is good, otherwise I could have saved my points up for something better.

THAT said, what are you doing for your valentine? Anything more special than just gifts? If you need some ideas, here is a link to lots of valentines crafts, and here is another link for my own, rather useless and time consuming Paper Hearts.

Feb 12, 2012

Useful(ish) Tutorials

As you might imagine, this post contains links to some tutorials that I enjoy and might have used so far, though I am planning on making all of them!



This T-Shirt Shrug is a quick and easy tutorial that I have used before. I didn't like the one I made I think, because I haven't seen it for years.


This Bustle Skirt tutorial is very detailed, and while I haven't used the exact tutorial, I have made something like it that I gave to my sister. If you click on the link, below the tutorial there are versions that people have made of this skirt that you can see. There are so many!



I have used this tutu tutorial before and I really do like the way it came out. It sticks out instead of lays down, which is what I think a real tutu should do. However, other people who have used this tutorial end up with tutus that lay down. I think everyone is happy with their own. I used 2 yards of each black, light blue, and dark blue tulle to make mine, so that was 6 yards, and my waist is about 34 inchs around.

These next two don't have pictures, but if you look at the site there are line drawings for part of the instructions. This tutorial is for making a pencil skirt into a fuller skirt - something that I am doing right now. This could be a very useful tutorial for those of you who go thrifting and find skirts you absolutely love the pattern on, but the the pencil...ness.

This tutorial I really want to do: make a circle cloak! This is a detailed tutorial on how to make a cloak. I haven't the money to go and buy fabric just yet, but I have my own idea on a cloak/coat.

Antimony and Lace has some other tutorials.... Take yerself a look-see and you might find something else you'd like to do!

Lack of Posting

While at my boyfriends house, (where I am three nights of the week) I will not be posting often. His internet currently sucks. Just a heads up! Tomorrow I will be posting about Valentines, and I will be putting up that list of tutorials I wanted to earlier this week, and possibly a Body Mod post! Keep looking out for those.


Also, I have found that I have been calling Radcon 6 "Radcon 6A", but this year it is simply Radcon 6. NEXT year will be Radcon 6A.

Feb 9, 2012

Radcon 6A details

Today I was going to post links to tutorials that I liked and would add to outfits, but the site I was going to seems to be having technical problems. Oh well, I guess I can talk about Radcon, what it is, and what happens there.

A general description of Radcon would say it is a sci-fi/fantasy convention, and that there are real authors there to talk to and run writing workshops. There is SO much more to Radcon than that, however.

In highschool, I would write a short story and send it in beforehand so that I could get in for free. If I won, which was not something I ever tried to do, I would win money, a notebook made from recycled goods, and/or time set aside with an author for a personal review of my story and get ideas to make it better. People who sent in stories could also bring a "guardian" in for free; in my case, that was my boyfriend. Who could deny a free badge?

The usual price for Radcon, at the door, is $35. If you pre-register, it is only $30 and your badge is pre-printed. You have to have your badge on you at all times, because it is proof that you paid to get in. You get to choose a "badge name", which is whatever you want. This year, I am RainyKat. I think. This year I actually paid. But on to the good stuff.

Radcon is hosted in a Red Lion Inn, for 3 days. In one wing of the hotel, there are several dealers. They rent hotel rooms and that is their temporary "shop". You can buy custom made fangs (literally made on your teeth right there), swords, leather tricorner pirate hats, whips, energy drinks, belly dancing accessories, books, cards, dice bags, elf ears, horns, cloaks, clothing, corsets, hats, fox tails/pelts, fur-lined leather "handcuffs" (I will post a picture of mine), masks, plenty of dragons, gemstones, glow sticks and accessories, skull candles, Celtic STUFF, games, jewelry of every sort, collectibles, incense, and tons more.

The dealers are set up by 12 on Friday. Most people go to pick up their badge long before, there are long lines by 10 A.M. Some people bring their dogs, some people bring their dogs dressed up as dragons. During the day outfits must be more family friendly, as there ARE children about for some reason, however at night many girls seem to take their pants off. Plus their shirts transform into fishnets. There is a rave both nights, but all the officials call it a "dance"...

When you get your badge, you get a pamphlet telling you when and where there are workshops; last year I went to one that taught you how to make chainmaille. The guy teaching liked to make armor, while I prefer to make jewelry with chainmaille. This year I plan to go to more; I have found that the workshops was where you get free stuff. The past two years I have had absolutely no money, but this year I have more. Ish. More than I had before, at least. I was planning on buying a Tricorner, but now I think I will wait until the Ren Fair. The same dealer will set up shop there, but there are more dealers at Radcon than the Ren Fair that I would like to buy stuff from. So, bring less money, buy more stuff.

There are tons and tons of more stuff going on, like "Room Parties" and people ODing on Cocaine, (an energy drink, NOT the drug!) which I hope will be there this year, but I am sure I have just about talked your ears off with all this junk about Radcon.

Radcon is next weekend! I will post pictures which will certainly be more eye catching than a solid wall of text. Until next time!

Feb 8, 2012

Make-up Scare

In the past 6 months, my contacts have been bothering me. One of my eyes will constantly feel as though something (like an eyelash.... or a twig) is in it. My eye waters, becomes red, and I literally cannot open it for the pain. After a while I will venture to get my contact out, and then the pain worsens. It's completely unbearable for about the next 10 minutes. For the next few days, I cannot open that eye, and it waters constantly.


When it's better, I am too wary to put makeup on. I feel sure that I am going to end up rubbing that eye, or it will water again. For about two weeks I go without makeup. In that time, I become accustomed to rubbing my eyelids if they itch. Then when I go to put makeup on again, I will rub it all off without thinking about it. Until I see strange powdery colors on my hand.

Is it normal to have eyelids that itch occasionally? It's not that often. When I remember the makeup, I gently pull on my eyelashes.

What I know is NOT normal, is the "thing in my eye". However, I have a friend who gets it when I go over to her house with it. Is it contagious? I don't touch my eye and then touch her face, but we do hold hands... and we both wear contacts. Different brands of contacts.

For this reason, I have been going minimalistic on the eyes. Not like I do much anywhere else. Overall, it has made me rather lazy in the "bothering to do anything with my hair/clothes/makeup" part of my mornings.



For those of you who like to sew, here is a tutorial on making a shirt into a simple shrug. An easy way to spice up an outfit with your own touch!