Venus.

Promises, Promises.

I'm breaking one of my own rules: I decided to show you all my 1/2 finished works. Website preparation has been a bitch; sometimes I wish I wasn't so scatterbrained. I'm doing this in the hopes that I can choose ONE of these to focus on and finish. My goal is to have a completed work on my site before my trip to Japan, so when I hand out my business card there's something on my site other than a whole bunch of bullshit.

This is my little origami squad. I recently started making these to zone out, yet still keep my mind active. I was surprised at how peaceful the whole process is.

This is my first mask project in at least 4 years. I'm thinking a bit of a Carnivale vibe. Not quite sure where I want to go with it yet. Needs more paint and sealant before I start working on it again.

This is my "Miami Vice" Florida meets Grandma's-Worst-Nightmare tropical shirt. I have to drop by the suite to pick up the rest of the finishings. Not sure if I want to bring it with me and wear it on my trip, or save it for my site. These are the hard decisions I'm forced to make these days.

And last but not least is my wall art.

I did the background yesterday and added everything else today. Took a picture of it as the hot glue was still drying; it's fresh off the presses. I wanted to add a poem by José Martí because this poem really struck me and would've been perfect for the piece, but the notebook it's scrawled in is missing. Kinda bummed about that.

Anyway, just doing a quick check in so that you guys know that I'm still on my grind and I'm not full of shit ;)

M.

Happiness Trigger.

Goodbye, Christ

"Listen, Christ, you did alright in your day, I reckon ... But that day's gone now.

They ghosted you up a swell story, too, Called it Bible-- But it's dead now.

The popes and the preachers've made too much money from it.

They've sold you to too many.

Kings, generals, robbers, and killers -- Even to the Cossacks,

Even to Rockefeller's Church,

Even to THE SATURDAY EVENING POST.

You ain't no good no more.

They've pawned you till you've done wore out.

Goodbye, Christ Jesus Lord God Jehova,

Beat it on away from here now.

Make way for a new guy with no religion at all --

A real guy names Marx Communist Lenin Peasant Stalin Worker ME --

I said, ME!

Go ahead on now, you're getting in the way of things, Lord.

And please take Saint Ghandi with you when you go,

And Saint Pope Pius,

And Saint Aimee McPherson,

And big black Saint Becton Of the Consecrated Dime.

And step on the gas, Christ! Move!

Don't be so slow about movin'! The world is mine from now on--

And nobody's gonna sell ME to a king, or a general, or a millionaire."

Sing it, Langston. Expensive day today.

Went to Sak's 5th to look for a bag for my trip. My mom got a gift card there from an auction and gave it to me. I always feel weird at those über pretentious high-end stores.

I walked up and the door was opened by two guys in suits looking like off-duty CIA agents (sort of like multi-cultural James Bonds). I looked around and saw chicks toting Chanels & LVs, but thank God for consignment stores. I was in YSL; I wasn't about to be shown up.

"I know a good 60% of the people in here flaunting all that garbage are fronting for mass debt, but I won't call them on it if they leave me alone" I thought.

I ended up buying a bracelet I probably could've got on eBay for $25 and split. Everyone there was really nice, but I still felt like I was in a Venus Flytrap.

Went to the art store and got some screen-printing stencils and markers, working on a mask inspired by Björk. Still waiting for the studs for shirt completion.

Doing big things, chickadees.

Don't do tomorrow what you can do today.

Speechless.

Was thinking of modifying this dress by shortening it and making it a mod dress. Started out business casual; seeing it as Laugh-In or the Mod Squad. I could so see someone rocking this with a mini hem and tall fringed mocassins. I don't have the time to do it with all my other projects. Take a chance, see what YOU can do.

I know I missed my usual cutoff, but it's been a busy week.

Put tons of mileage on my mini bus driving across town. Had to get my taxes done twice: once for personal, once for business. Forgot one paper and it became a nightmare. Audit, schmuadit.

My (awesome, awesome) mom got me what any respectable business would want and need: a phone line :) Haven't set it up yet and I haven't been by the suite in a while... too much to do, so little of me. I need a clone.

Just purchased a new wireless service and have been messing with the router configurations since last night. Just barely finished it and am typing from my laptop as we speak :)

Can't drive for shit and totally banged up a co-worker's car (no one saw it but me and I could've bailed, but I wouldn't do that to her) Got up early and made her a care package for taking pity on me.

More random scrawling done in the night. See if you can interpret this:

* Fig jam (well, that's pretty self explanatory)

* 2 vices (just 2? That'd be a record for me)

* The Green Lantern (not much of a comic book afficionado, but I know who he is)

* Something that looks like "Heroic Love Rat Theseus".... umm, yeah

Movie screening in LA in 10 days, Tae-Bo in a few hours, and lunch is once again deferred.

Where's a Mimosa when you need one?

Solid Gold.

Had a few revelations this week...

As far as my crafts, I've been all over the place. I have a string of pearls leading across my bedroom floor... can't figure out what to do with them.

My current project requires silk (back to the fabric store!) Picked up a roller yesterday to finish up a screen printing project... if only I could focus on just one.

I'm finding pencils and random scraps of paper all over my house with mad scrawlings done in the middle of the night.. The engine is always running, but I only have two hands.

Waiting for some items to come in the mail so I can finish my shirt project. That one seems to be the closest one to completion. Thank God.

Projects aside, I had something like a series of epiphanies this week... Who do I live for if not myself? I think I might finally be at peace with moving away from my family. I can now accept that there's nothing wrong with not wanting a conventional life and the nuclear family with white picket fences, a dog, and 2.5 children.

Otherwise, all is well. Going out sporadically, breaking hearts along the way... :)

Won't Take That Talk.

Hard partying will catch up to you... I'm sick as a dog.

Bowling, house parties (pretending to like your friend of a friend's shitty band), midnight trips to the gas station... I can't even talk. Throat feels like sandpaper, ears & nose clogged, and I'm hacking up green stuff like Linda Blair from The Exorcist.

The picture is apropos; it's exactly how I feel.

What I would give for nirvana... I have a feeling stress contributed to this. Not stress from my crafts & website, those things are joys to me. I'm talking about stress from my 9-5. I'm convinced that I work with a blood relative (pun?) of Nosferatu & someone with absolutely no brains. Favoritism occurs everywhere, but usually not so blatantly.

Still beading my top, have made a lot of progress since last week. Should be completed within 3 weeks. I'm not a fan of posting 1/2 finished works, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Been invited to a lot of ritzy zip codes lately... saw a HUGE Noh Mask in a bathroom and now I want one for myself.

I like creepy stuff :)

Inspirations this week: Breakin', Persepolis, Ikiru, & the color raspberry.

Hopefully I'll be better by next week's post.... Ciao.