Various and Sundry

Bloggin’ time, I guess!

Well, the first and most obvious thing for me to type is that soynuts are disgusting. I’m eating a small bowl of salted soynuts with salted pistachios (the key ingredient here being salt, for reasons you’ll soon find out), but I can’t stomach them. At least, my tastebuds won’t let them get that far along the digestive track.

I’m eating salty stuff because I woke up this morning feeling queasy. This happens fairly regularly, because I usually wake up feeling anxious to start my day (I know, I know- that’s a problem), but this time I wasn’t sure if the tummy ache was caused by anxiety, or if I was actually feeling yucky, and as a result was feeling anxious, which, yes, made my tummy worse, which makes me worry more…anyway, last time I felt queasy for no apparent reason, things got pretty bad, pretty fast (someday I’ll write a really long blogpost about that). But this isn’t nearly as bad as that was- I went to the farmer’s market, etc., with mild (by comparison) discomfort. So now, in case I’m low on electrolytes or something, I am consuming salt. Oh, also, my appetite is nonexistent, which is very strange, and I’ve had a little bit of acid reflux going on. I feel particularly grossed out by sweet things. I made oatmeal without sweetening it, but added some raisins just to include fruit. I didn’t get much of the oatmeal down, partly because I couldn’t handle the taste of the raisins. The tea I had was good, though- two bags of green tea in a cup- it was warm, strong, bitter, and definitely not sweet. Last time I was queasy without cause (well, there definitely was a reason, it just wasn’t anxiety the way it usually is), I had zero appetite and drinking fluids was a chore that exhausted me (and therefore I did not consume them, a choice that I later regretted).

Let’s see, I had a few things to write about, other than that essay on poor Kristin’s tum-tum.

1) I finished another small journal and it will go up for sale on etsy soon. I still have to photograph it and do all the things necessary for making up a new-item posting. I like this little guy- it’d been waiting forever for me to get inspired for the drawing on the front cover, and then I came thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to totally screwing it up. Sigh. But then it was salvaged! Hooray!

2) Rain. Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain rain. Stop. I don’t recall 24+-hour constant rainfall in SoCal in May. Late October or January, maybe, but not May. I heard they had hail and even tornadoes in some places. There were mudslides in Sierra Madre, but those were contained to the areas south of where the fires had been. Since mudslides (unlike fire) can’t spread, my house was completely safe. Oh, and afternoon temperatures were in the 40s!

3) I’m working on two books along with the commissioned drawings. One of them I don’t want to say much about yet, but the other will be a blank book using some bookcloth that I painted. It’s pretty! I’m really excited. Depending on how it turns out, it would be cool do add that as a “product line” to etsy. Very unique. Yes!

4) This other book project, if I can actually be patient enough to work it through, will be pretty sweet, man.

5) I got a paycheck for working at Scripps the other day- now I can afford to buy new shoes!! Here’re the ones I’m thinking (and since I’m going to order from zappos.com, I don’t have to worry about paying shipping to return them if they don’t fit): http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/38567896/c/3.html and http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/27074761/c/1463/g/women/s/6.html#reviews
I’m just worried that the first ones will be too wide, or that they’ll get too wide after I’m walked 3000 miles in them (you know, after like, three months). I have narrow footses, so the customer reviews aren’t too encouraging.

6) I want to try getting into shows at local art galleries. While doing a bit of research for that, I came across this artist’s portfolio. http://www.susannehayekphotography.com/Portfolio.html She photographs real estate, and you can take virtual tours of these homes she’s photographed. I like touring homes, and these are some faaaaaaaancy homes, like whoa. :) The first one (1239 Palm) made my jaw drop. At a paltry $2 million, I’m sure it’s a steal.

7) In an effort to get to know people/be a part of the community on etsy, I’ve started editing peoples profiles and shop announcements. I think this is actually a bad idea- nobody loves a grammar/spelling nazi, but they must appreciate the constructive criticism. Looking like an idiot in a setting where you want to be taken seriously -your own business- probably won’t help your business. One person I notified (and I’ve only notified two people) had “we except paypal…”. I alerted them to this error, but then when I checked back later, they had mis-corrected it with “eaccept”. D’oh! Unfortunately, I think it would be too awkward to notify them of this second error. Hopefully they’ll catch it on their own.

Well, I’m sure I could invent more things to ramble on about, but this should tide you over until the next post. So long, and happy long weekend!