Short Circuit.

So yeah, it's been about three weeks since my last login.

A lot's happened, amigos. School started, met someone, cleaned out my closet for monthly Salvation Army drop off... I might have lied to you before, but I'm ready to admit now that I'm not made of steel.

I need to move out of my condo too because my mortgage company has been hounding me to refinance. I did it about 4 years ago and have been skating by paying pennies since (got in before this horrible economic downtown) Anyway, my loan is due to reset next year so my mortgage will double unless I move out. I've been toying with moving in the last few months, but now I need to get the ball rolling.

I never thought this would come out of my mouth, but I think I'm scared of change. Or maybe more I don't want to make my life any more difficult, so I've been acceptant of the status quo. This is the year I finally do it. I've been talking so much bull about leaving here, but this is the year it'll actually happen. I can feel it. I need to remind myself not to be scared of change, but to embrace it. Easier said than done.

Uploaded some more videos from my Japan trip; still not done. This vid is from the top of the Floating Garden building in Osaka. I was there on my last day, just a few hours before heading to Kansai to come home.



I think I can find those chairs at Ikea. I hope so anyway.

Here's a shot of the outside of the building. Took a little over 10 minutes to get to the top.

Made some new Hello Kitty listings. I got this one at the site of the Great Buddha in Nara (see below). This one I think I'll keep. I'm not much of a Hello Kitty fan, but I couldn't think of a price point I'd be comfortable selling at... not to mention I find it ironic and mildly blasphemous :)

Gotta get back to school work. I have to go to a testing lab tomorrow because my Biology teacher is a Julian-calendar-using-I'll-give-you-3-days-to-do-a-16-page-lab-and-I-don't-care-if-you-work-10-hour-days-you-have-6-tests-a-week sadist.

M <3

Kenroku-En Garden, Takoyaki, Rainstorms

Uploaded some new vids today. These are from Kanazawa in Kenroku-En ("Six Attributes"), one of Japan's 3 great gardens. Click here if you want more info.

It was raining pretty badly out, but it was so humid! I had on 2 shirts and a jacket that day; I was sweating like a pig. The whole place was surreal. I felt more like I was in Middle Earth than a place that actually exists in this world.

There were a lot of tourists there despite the weather. I stayed in the background and listened to them speak to each other to find out if they were Chinese, Korean, Thai, etcetera. I breathed a little sigh of relief if I understood them. The little Japanese I do know helped me out quite a bit. 

Everyone I encountered was very nice; smiles are universal :)

I made something like 30 videos during my trip so you'll have to forgive me if they're out of order or vague. I'll try to describe as much as I can remember.

Before I go, I have to mention this little tidbit because it was one of my "geek out" moments. When we came to a truck stop somewhere on our way to Kyoto, I shrieked a little when I found a takoyaki stand. 

Tada! :))

I love octopus and wanted to try it... and I won't even lie. It was only because there was a whole Ranma 1/2 episode about it (I believe in season 4) and I have yet to find it back home :-P

It was pretty good. The sauce was like A-1 or some type of barbeque sauce. I ate it for dinner whenever I found a stand if only to feel closer...

It's a really funny show if you've never seen it.

You should check it out sometime. I'm sure you can rent it from a local library.

Anway, back to the grind. Made some new listings for you Hello Kitty fans out there :)

Late,

M.

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?

Universal Traveler.

I'll be making a regular post soon, but I just purchased my domain name for my stand alone web site this morning :) Excited!

There's so much work that goes into site design, but it's one of those necessary evils... I can just think of my upcoming trip as a reward for my hard work :)

Need to get a new camera ASAP because my current one is shit..

About to leave in a moment to pick up some more supplies... still recovering from the Hard Rock last night.. How the hell do I do this?

Might be wearing the top you see above... The purse however is up for grabs.

Toodle-Loo Loves,

M.

Dreams on Fire.

I've been a pretty busy bee lately, but I decided to check in really quick and give you guys a glimpse of the hat I kept talking about....

My camera's pretty shitty at getting detail, but this little blue beauty will be spectacular when I'm done. I wasn't expecting it to be so labor intensive, but my imagination knows no bounds.

Each rhinestone is handset, and this is just the base; it's nowhere near completed. It'll easily be another month or so before I'm done.

Anyway, back to work. Have to go by the suite to change the title (I think I'll nix the "esquire" bit), got more listings to do....

Like this one....And this one...

さようなら! (Sayonara!)

Layering Experiment Numero Deux

More mannequin fun :)

I like to mix to it up. There's absolutely nothing wrong with mixing prints as long as it's done in moderation (notice the subtle polka dots on the skirt vs the bold ones on the black scarf). Green and blue complement each other well (especially since both of these shades are muted); the gold belt accents the necklaces.

Like the skull scarf? You got it!

Don't be afraid to color outside the lines once in a while! :)

Eff me pumps.

I'm having entirely too much fun right now. My floor is covered with newspapers for fear that I'll get blue paint everywhere.

Books, beads, bells, whistles, super glue, scissors, paints, pearls, yarn, wire, glitter, tape...

My top hat project is turning out to be an even bigger animal than I originally planned. I can't wait to see the finished project. I'll probably post a pic of my progress next week :)

**Edit - Speaking of "eff me" pumps, I just put some on sale :)

Layering Experiment Numero Uno

I'm asking the world for some insight before I step out of the house in it...

Too much?

Not enough?

Perfecto?

If I can't find more stuff in this color family, I'll chuck all of it.

The purse is already up for grabs...

Cyclone.

It's been preached to me time and again that good traders trade without emotion.

That I need to just look at my balance "as numbers" instead of, you know: food, security, and comfort. It's a hurdle I've yet to cross.

There's a direct correlation between my attitude of the day and how my trading went that morning. That said, I've been in an excellent mood :) A stock I was sleeping on quadrupled...

Chickadees: It's long overdue that you look out for your OWN interests instead of waiting for someone to do it for you.

Fell back into routine, stopped by the used book store again. Found an awesome library discard on Shintoism (Do I trade for security or material things? Can I give it all up and live in the mountains, among nature, one step below the floating bridge of heaven?)

Get one, get rid of another.

I was wearing low-rise jeans and (unknowingly!) exposed my crack to every passerby... Meh.

They needed some excitement in their lives anyway.