I'm all riled up.

First of all, thanks to all you kids who came by my wacky yard sale thang. I dunno what was more fun, glamming it up with all my crapola, or reading your comments.

On the creative front, I''ve been swamped with offers to paint murals and teach art to kids at different programs this summer.  I'm overwhelmed and excited at the same time, I guess. The thing is, I always figured if I just set my mind to it, I could get this art thing moving.  I never expected that the little nudge of effort I've put in so far would set off a whole tsunami. I don't know if the summer will be long enough.

Oh wait...I don't have to go back to the old reality when September rolls in. I don't have to work for anyone else anymore. I have no obligations. I can keep doing this. And it's going to work.

Scary.

I tried to make a list today of all the things I've got going. Here it is:

• Logo design and brochure for my friend's mum, who just started a new company.
  
• Pro-Bono : ) work redesigning my cousin's weblog. We're thinking it's gonna be a modern art/ rollercoaster theme.
  
• Possible work painting an immense graf-style mural at a custom motocycle shop.  Sent the sketches yesterday. Totally badass.
  
• Other possible project in Philly to do a mural at a  recording studio. More badass? But of course!
  
• Giant public mural project with the Malden YWCA, leading a crew of teens to design and paint a wall in a park. Went to the interview today.
  
• Potential mural project at Winchester hospital, which has a grant to hire an artist to design art for their pediatric ER. (Thanks, crazy uncle!)
  
• Interview next week for a position as "Artist-In-Residence" at a community program in Cambridge, teaching illustration to kids.

Woo, art.

Last night I went to see Sting and Annie Lennox. Sting is Sting, and I feel we will always share an eternal and undying bond, but my heart truly belongs to Ms. Lennox. I remember watching her video for "Sweet Dreams" when I was maybe four or five, and being marvelously perplexed and mesmerized. Ever since then I've wanted to have cropped flame-red hair. And there she was on stage, the diva herself, my utter idol, and oh, man, do I love her. She is all at once silly and gracious, goofy and poised, and she sings to make the heavens rain down on the world. She is entirely gorgeous.

Which brings me to a little something that happened when Sting was on. He stopped to make a plug for Michael Moore's new film, Farenheit 9/11. I'm going to see it tonight, myself. The interesting thing was, after he told everyone to go see it, most of us cheered and yowled at the top of our lungs, but i could still discern an underlying booing in one part of the audience. Who is that??

I guess because i live in Boston, nevermind JP, a liberal, artsy neighborhood, that I forget that there are actually people who are suckers for the whole spoonfed-patriotism shlock that gets passed off on us. Seal kitty got me going on this, but today on the train I actually read a letter that someone had sent to the metro, which called Michael Moore an unpatriotic liberal terrorist. This person went on to say that anyone who has the audacity to question the president should be immediately arrested. 

What.

The.

Fiznuck?

I am not a tirade person. Mostly, I just draw stuff and mind my own business.  I've been keeping concientiously silent. But lately, for me, and I think alot of people, the situation has become so unbearable that I can't help but get furious. What i am most angry about, though, is not the corporations and skeezy politicians who manipulate the public. I am angry about the ignorance of the people. I am raging because of all the lazy, cornfed, insolent, gas guzzling slobs who refuse to think beyond their next Happy Meal, and justify their patriotism by slapping a flag sticker on the ass of their new SUV. I am angry because they accept, without question, the crap we are fed in the media. I am angry because they will not listen, or get up off their fat asses to form a unique opinion. I am angry that the people have let this happen to themselves, and have not questioned, challenged, or rethought anything that has been handed to them.

If you have read anything of early colonial history, not the schoolbook propaganda version that we get in grade school, but the real story, you would know that it was dissenters (much like Mr. Moore), who riled the people up to make change. I know this because I grew up here outside of boston, where in my backyard the first battles of the revolutionary war were fought, we still hold town meetings, and to this day many towns maintain a militia. But like americans today, most people living in the colonies were content to till their fields, run their shops, and allow the british government to have the final say.  yes, it generally sucked, but no one was willing or ready to think of a possibility beyond it. Those that questioned that authority were thought to be crazy, obnoxious, and generally scoundrels. Much like that wacko dude on the subway handing out flyers, or the noisy anarchists who live upstairs from me. But they made us think. They made us question. They got things started. And that was what the people needed. A swift kick in the pants.

It is not enough to watch some fireworks or put a bumpersticker on your truck. It is the duty of every patriotic citizen to actively think, question, and make change where they are able. If this means protesting, so be it.. If this means voting, well, yes. If this means seeing a certain movie, ok. If this means volunteering in your community, good on you. If this means putting your heart and thoughts into the things you say and do, and taking part in the process, then this is what makes a patriot.

Yard sale!

Chillin' in the yard with a PBR.
(I am not for sale, nor is the beer)

• Set: glitter bracelet and pair of mod snap on rubber cuffs, $2.00.
• Lightning bolt dress with glitter and sequins, size small, $3.00
• Set: wavy silver bangle bracelets and stretchy plastic rhinestone bracelets, $1.50.
   

• Sheer flowery shirt with rhinestones from Wet Seal, size medium, $2.00
• "Soothing Soaks" a waterproof bath book with relaxing ideas, $.50.
• Votive holder with beads and wire, $2.00

• Bling! Rhinestone necklace with tennis bracelet, $1.00
• Vintage white fur collar, satin lined, $5.00 

• Denim handbag, says "Fira" in red letters on front, $1.50
• Sage cotton peasant blouse with side zipper and brocade, size small, $ 1.50.
• Set: olive and brass jewelry; one necklace with suede cord, two stretchy bracelets, $2.00

• Knit bell sleeve sea green sweater, size small, $2.00
• Holographic heels with sunflowers and butterflies (they move!), size 6, $5.00
• Sheer red geomentric patterned shirt with black mesh back, size small, $2.00
• Copper bangle bracelet and flame-orange beaded dangle earrings, $1.00 each.

• 2 packages of computer stationery, 1 with exotic flower, another with bugs in a jar, $.25 each
• Notecards with exotic flowers, $.50

YARRR! Pirate hat, matey! $2.00

1. The yard sale starts at 10 am today, and ends at two o clock. I have a life, you know. Places to go and stuff.
2. I can change the rules if i want to. Problem? Then you can bite me. I love you!
3. If you would like to purchase an item,
   you can make your claim in the comments section. Start your comment
   with GIMME! so i know you're serious. First come, first serve.
4. I do not haggle or negotiate, unless you have cookies or donuts.
5. If you have a question I will be available on AIM all day long today. My screenname is listed at the side.
6. I accept paypal for payment on all
   items. Payment must be received in five days, or I will put the item up
   for grabs again. Pity for you.
7. I will be shipping via the glorious US
   postal service. Shipping rates for the contiguous 48 states are listed
   below; if you are an international Xangan, a.) good for you! and b.)
   you should IM me to find out about shipping rates.
8. All items are as described, slightly
   used, and generally pretty cool. Except for the Dido CD. Somebody
   please take that thing away from my sight.

Shipping & Handling:

clothing- $1.50
books & stationery- $1.50 media rate
cd's- $1.00 media rate
jewelry- $1.00
general crapola (I mean! wonderful miscellaneous stuff!)- $2.00, unless otherwise noted.

Have fun, kids!

Alright kids, the big day is tomorrow. If you wanna start a yard sale of your own, check out the Perpetual Yardsale blogring.

Oh man, am I glad I brought that titanuim spork with me on our camping trip, or we would have been screwed, lost out there in the woods....

...With! Nothing! To! Repeatedly! Jab! in My Eye! Socket! Auuugh!

Well.  Maybe I could have used a stick. But there's nothing quite like a spork in your eye. Snort.

I spent most of friday doodling on my wacom tablet, waiting for the Most Beloved Hedgehog to get home so we could head for the wilderness.  Suffice to say, hours later, we didn't pull into camp until after dark, and we were both cranky and wet and hungry and feeling uncooperative towards one another. I basically hated his runny hedgehog guts.

Despite this adversity, we managed to get the tent staked, haul out the pointless coleman stove, collect plenty of damp and useless firewood, and have angry peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner.  And then go to bed.

(The six year old in me was happy and excited to be sleeping in the woods with my best pal, eating crunchy peanut butter on wheat bread, and pretending that we had run away from home. The twenty four year old sourpuss that I actually am was deeply pissed off that my boyfriend was being a dink.)

The morning was much better. We woke up to a cacophany of raindrops on the roof of our tent, feeling secure and dry and marveling at the noise. I stepped out to wrestle with the stove, and listened to the ruckus of the early morning shower rustling the leaves and thrumming the ground. We decided to abandon camp in search of breakfast in the little town nearby, and settled in at a townie cafe which served cheap eggs and local gossip.

We wandered into a milltown up the road called Orange, a town I've visited more than a few times in my childhood. Most of it was grey and brick and closed up on a wet morning. There were bric a brac shops and tanning salons, used car lots with faded signs, odd characters lingering on rainy sidewalks, but nowhere to buy firewood or food or any other basic necessities. We turned up the main street and headed out the other side of town. And there we found the reason Orange was empty.

Like a horrible zoning mishap, or an alien behemoth taking a squat on the rural roadside, sucking the life out of everything around it, there was Wal-f'cking-Mart. Bastards.

I will take you on a tangent, because most of the rest of our trip turned out to be lovely, and we later forgave each other and are plenty in love once again. We don't need to hear about all that. But here goes my rant on Walmart. This is where i really could have used a titanium death-spork.

We drove by. At first our idealism kept us going. We then considered our options, and our impending need for materials and supplies. We looked back up the road.  And realizing that this is exactly what Walmart does, we felt the evil take a death grip on our humanity. Because there was bug spray and matches and granola bars to be had, and we knew where we could certainly get it.

Now, I am not one to spread the hater-ation, but there are certain things that I despise like none other. Someday I will make a list for your benefit. And at the top of that list is Walmart.  I hate em. More than Comcast, or Starbucks. Die, Walmart. Die.

Some of you will argue that this evil morasse of corporate vampires actually benefits the communities it inhabits, doing nice things like employing people in wheelchairs or building playgrounds or revitalizing trailer park towns, just like they show you in the commercials. What a sham. By forcing suppliers to cut their prices, they have driven out american companies whose factory jobs employed  the very same people who buy from them. In turn, the factories overseas which produce Wal-Mart goods barely provide a subsistence wage, all so some frugal american consumer can buy TP on the cheap to wipe their fat ass. Their store employees are paid such a low wage they can barely afford to pay for the company health insurance, and  the company has threatened to sack employees who attempt to form  unions to protect themselves.  And in a stanktastic right wing effort to hold some sort of moral standing, they have refused to carry the morning after pill, and censor which recording artists they carry in their stores. But most of us do not mind this or remain ignorant, because what could be wrong with a nice, clean well-stocked business that gives us what we want. Do I really have to answer that again?

One mile back up the road, a town with great people and history and character is dying, being sucked dry and boarded up. And that is the least of the casualties. Because consumption is relentless, and monsters like Walmart propegate and fulfill that need.

Bryon was harping on me earlier for not generally having any sort of serious, concrete opinion on most things, and in fact, i rarely do. There is too much I do not know about, too many sides to take. But i think i just like to choose my battles. So.

We ended up at the walmart anyway. If I have sounded at all Holier-Than-Thou in this post, forgive me, and allow me to relent, because I've sunk lower than low. But i went into that place, and there was thoughtless consumption everywhere. I watched the citizens of Orange buying their boxes of cereal and polo shirts, contemplating the cheaper brands and filling their carts. Do they realize/ Do they care? Or are they in the same position as me, looking for the stuff they need, and conveniently, walmart was there? But the worst, the worst,  was a row of television sets blazing the american flag and advertising Walmart's support of the war in Iraq, something about freedom, and low prices. Sickening.

It felt good to go back to the woods and cook over a fire we had made ourselves, and to walk down to the lake and catch orange salamanders in the moss. To be aware of the world at its simplest, and best, and forgive each other. I don't know if that is an adequate or redeeming ending for this, but it is what it was.

Things to pack for camping:

• sleeping bag
  
• tent
  
• bug repellant
  
• big sharp knife
  
• frypan
  
• eggs
  
• coffee
  
• lantern
  
• rope
  
• water jug
  
• tarps
  
• matches
  
• biscuits
  
• peanut butter
  
• extra socks
  
• toothbrush
  
• book to read
  
• and a titanium 1 oz spork! I almost forgot, thanks liz!

two new drawings, done on my digital tablet:

I got inspired.

Means "dandelion"

I dunno about this new picture of me. It looks like I take myself way too seriously or something. I'm all artsy.

Actually, now that I'm on the subject of the state of things around here, it's an absolute travesty that I have freaking premium and I haven't pimped out the "look and feel" schmutzpah around the place. Especially with all these implements of design destruction at my fingertips. Going to do something about that.

Alright, I gotta get my act  together. I swear I'm gonna leave my house today, and enjoy the sunshine.

Konichiwa! I rediscovered the joys of my digital tablet.

see new art here.

and here.

oh, and the full version of this is here.

Woo! another day of nuthin'. What day is it? Oh, Wednesday. Yeah.

In other news, I have decided to have a yard sale, since I have too much crapola. And then I got a good idea.

Hey, I got some cool stuff. Practically irresistable. And I figured I'd give you guys first crack at it.

Here's how it will work:

First, I will post pictures of all my fabulous belongings, at tag sale prices, around 9am on tuesday. Maybe I'll even put wierd little price stickers on em. We're talking under a dollar kinda stuff. If you are interested in claiming one of my treasures for yourself, you can leave a comment which says so, and it's yours. I gotta get it to you somehow, so there will be nominal shipping fee, which I'll figure out and post on tuesday. It's not an auction, so you can't outbid anyone else, and i'm not bartering either. Well maybe, if you have beer or cookies or something.  You can try to haggle with me, but I'm pretty stubborn. This is gonna be like a real yard sale, kinda like  me sitting in a lawn chair drinking PBR in the sun, and the first of you to show up get first dibs on my worldly possessions. Hoo-boy!

If anyone's up for having a xanga neighborhood yard sale, let me know, and maybe we can link to each other's sites and reel in extra packrats and other suckers.