Random...

So it's been a slow day at work, though it will pick up this afternoon, at least a bit. And then I should have things to work on for a few more days. :)

But in my extreme boredom, I've been going through my old blog posts and adding tags. Back in the old days, when I started blogging (2002), we didn't have these fancy tags. So a lot of my old posts are without them. How many, you ask? Well, my blog has over 1,000 posts on it. I posted a lot in the early days...

While working through this, however, I was reminded of something Marlo asked me on Sunday: "What is it with you and fish?" She asked this because I made a linocut fish and then a crocheted fish in rapid succession. Now, granted, the crocheted fish was for a specific project. But the linocut was more of my choice.

So here's the deal with me and fish:

1) My birthday falls just a couple of days after the cusp between Pisces and Aries. I'm technically an Aries, but most people who know me would not guess that. I think I act quite a bit more like a Pisces. I always blamed this on being born so close to the cusp, but as I later found out, my complete astrological chart is FULL of stuff in Pisces. And for this reason or possibly a non-astrological one, I've just always had this weird connection with water and fish.

2) This is unusual because I don't like to eat fish, nor have I ever had a pet fish. Or, perhaps, it's because of my weird connection with fish that I don't like eating them and wouldn't keep one as a pet. :)

3) Fish is a part of a nonsensical back and forth that several of my friends and I used to do. It is:

"Butter?
Parkay?
Fish?
Quack."

Like I said, totally nonsensical. This was usually the sort of thing that we'd do when everyone was at a loss for words. This is actually pretty common among my friends in Carbondale. Other similar ways of saying everything while saying nothing were to say "Blue?" (usually when you couldn't/wouldn't answer a question) and "Monkey!" (which goes back further than C-dale, and is from a Space Ghost episode).

4) The character of Delirium in Sandman is given a demon at one point to help her find her missing dog, Barnabas. For whatever reason, the demon turns into a fish (I can't remember if he does this or if she turns him into a fish) on a leash. She then proudly proclaims "I am following my fish."

So there it is. Mostly, I, too, am following my fish. Which is either a major part of my existence or something nonsensical. Mostly, I think it's a little bit of each of those. :)

Random

1) My to-do list keeps growing. To clarify, my current to-do list is only for crafty projects. And every time I put a small dent in it, I seem to be adding 3 or 4 more things to it. But some of it is time sensitive stuff (read: stuff for the Punk Rock Flea Market), so I just have to make myself do that stuff instead of the fun stuff (read: making another stuffed monkey for us to keep).

2) After carrying a box of stuff 6 blocks to Kinkos, then doubling (or more) the weight and carrying it back 6 blocks, coupled with essentially punching myself in the stomach with a 20-ounce bottle of soda this morning, I pretty much hurt all over. It's really a shame that none of my crafts are particularly waterproof, because I don't have time for a bath. :(

3) Three weeks until we fly to St. Louis! *runs around like a chicken with her head cut off* As if I didn't already have enough stuff to fuss over!

Monkey ears!

For those who understand, as I was drifting off to sleep last night, my brain was thinking of making monkey ears. It was a wee bit disconcerting. :)

For those who don't understand, this is because I spent most of yesterday at Carrie and Finn's house, helping Carrie to make some of her funny hats. With fall craft shows and Halloween rapidly approaching, she definitely needed some help to get caught up and a bit ahead on her hat making. I am pleased to say that Carrie now has enough monkey ears to last her quite some time, and probably enough giraffe-antenna-nubbin-things to last a little while. I also got her started on some completed monkey hats, but I was a little intimidated by the last step in the process. Luckily, Carrie showed me how quickly she can make a hat once she has the ears done, so I know that we got her headed in the right direction. Hurrah! :)

It was also lovely hanging out with the other EtsyRain ladies and their little ones--Katy, Laura, Leah, and Marlo all stopped by to help as well.

There is something a little bit creepy about a tub full of monkey ears, regardless of the fact that they are made of fleece and not real. I wish I had taken a picture. :)

I've also discovered that I do pretty well with production sewing--making the same thing over and over again. I think I need to figure out how to make this work for my shop--perhaps I will break out the sewing machine some rainy Saturday in the near future...

I've been putting off posting today, because I don't have anything good for the End of the Work Week Wisdom. I still don't. So this will have to be a weekend without any wisdom to get you through. I suspect you'll survive. :)

Looks like only the Sabbat game this weekend, as OWBN was cancelled. That's okay by me, I suppose. On the one hand, I could have used the XP. On the other hand, I will gladly take the free Friday night, even if it will only result in sitting around and watching movies. Sometimes sitting around and watching movies can be a very good thing. :)

We have our "as official as it gets" official moving date for when we go from the library to our new offices. September 1st. This gives me 8 more working days to finish packing up the office. I think I'm ready for it. Most of the packing can't be done until the last three days anyway, so I'm as ready as I can be. :)

Right. Monkeys.
.

Friday Five!

1. If you had the chance to meet someone you've never met, from the past or present, who would it be? So many choices! :) If I went with someone modern, it would probably be one of the people from my favorite bands... Jon Crosby (VAST), Peter Steele (Type O Negative), or Rogue (The Crüxshadows), most likely. Or I could go for meeting Neil Gaiman... *shrug*... If I went with someone from the past, there's still a lot of choices... so I really don't know who I'd choose!

2. If you had to live in a different century, past or future, which would it be? I could totally deal with living in the 19th century, as long as it were the latter half of the 19th century... :)

3. If you had to move anywhere else on Earth, where would it be? Oooh, too many choices... St. Louis is good, sometimes... I really love Phoenix and Madison, but I dunno if I would like living there... England could be fun, but very different... as much as I'd like to say Germany, I would have to learn German really quickly, if that were to actually happen...

4. If you had to be a fictional character, who would it be? Death from the Sandman comics. Not necessarily for the occupation, but being her would be kinda neat. :)

5. If you had to live with having someone else's face as your own for the rest of your life, whose would it be? Winona Ryder? :)

::..::

End of the Work Week Wisdom: (as promised)
First question: am I your trained monkey?
--Bruce Campbell, in response to a request to do the laugh from the end of Evil Dead 2

::..::

And in other news, lots of gaming in store for the weekend, as both our games run this weekend... so tonight, dealing with my now extended pack (we went from 3 members to 5 members + 1 probationary member in the span of a few minutes) and actually being in the city that I'm the bishop of... :) Tomorrow night, the usual Forgotten madness... nothing big in the works for that yet, but you never know what I'll come up with if I'm bored tomorrow before game... FEAR the bored SWG! :)

Okay... here's the funny thing that I found while cleaning on Monday night. Now, it should be noted: this was originally "Instructions for Life from the Dali Lama"... but Adam and I were EXCEEDINGLY bored one night, so we altered it for our own purposes. The ScaryWhiteGirl is proud to bring you the results of that boredom.

Instructions for Life from the Monkey Llama:
1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great monkeys.
2. When you lose, don't lose the monkey.
3. Follow the three Rs: Respect for self, Respect for others, and Responsibility for all your monkeys.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of monkey.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break the monkey.
6. Don't let a little monkey injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take baby monkey steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone with your monkey every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your monkey.
10. Remember that monkey is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back you'll be able to monkey it a second time.
12. A loving monkey in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the monkey.
14. Share your monkey. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the monkey.
16. Once again, monkey someplace you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other. (The only unaltered part of the list!)
18. Judge your monkey by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and monkeys with reckless abandon.

Hope ya'll like it! :)