Update in Scenes, Happy Halloween

A Halloween party: people gathered round and being silly. Beautiful candied apples and cupcakes galore. A fire in the hearth, a black poison punch... spilled in my crotch. I mean like really in my crotch. Intimately in my crotch. Shower and back to the party. Giggling and feasting, high energy, overwhelmed moments, sneaking away to play Panda Pop. Also I made leeches. Word to the wise, don't put gummy worms in a punch if you ever want to enjoy gummy worms again. Of the parties we've had this year, this group was the smallest. We felt no need to play party games. No Ouija and no Vampire. But the party did not suffer for it. Late night with friends and sleeping in the next day. A great introduction to the intensity of Halloween 2016.

Had a pajama day yesterday at work . Late paper protocol - could do this in my sleep. A bit crazy but still hanging in there. I was excited for tomorrow for Halloween at work. And excited for Halloween tomorrow night and then for tarot and Ouija in the first week of November to celebrate the cross-quarters. We are celebrating Saturday night with friends.

A few things that happened yesterday: I drove home behind a large black truck that had a ton of fallen and crisp pretty leaves in the bed. As we drove along an unending stream of autumn confetti drifted in gorgeous figure eights and whirls all around me. I grew a beautiful pumpkin, perfectly orange flesh and symmetrical, and today we discovered that it has been stolen. Of the three pumpkins I grew to fruition, my father and mother have the itty bitty one and I have the misshapen greenish monster (which I love very much), leaving the super model pumpkin in the hands of a thief. I'm telling myself it was a child who was seduced by the pumpkin's beauty and has now lovingly carved it into further perfection. That will be the truth.

I haven't kept up on my spells. But even in the few I've managed to offer up in this blog I've learned a great deal and continue to learn. I'm out of touch with my Book of Shadows. I'm out of touch - or feeling a bit out of touch - with the divine and the energies around me. So I'm learning. I'm learning to get past this, whatever this is. 

A myriad of dead and dying bugs fell on me after I stepped off the bus the other day. It was disorienting and upsetting and they clung to my jacket and my face. White fuzzy bodies, almost like fluff, wings veined and minuscule, legs kicking in death and suddenly my black clothes are dotted with puffs of passing. 

Went to Creepy Hallow two nights ago. Drank coffee-cocoa and walked through an Insane Asylum in the woods. Lots to look at, hard to see it. So dark. The best part was hearing shrill screams and maniacal laughter echoing through the trees, mixing with woodland mist and the ghosts of my breath. A tall ghoul clown came up to me. He sniffed me and I sniffed him back. He was wearing a cologne that made me hot. Wish I had asked him what it was. Almost like Armani Code but not as sweet. Ghoul musk. He followed me creepily. I was scared and excited. He touched my hair, gently letting locks drip through his fingers. I kind of hoped he would follow me through the whole forest. I'm taken and all but Halloween is a time for thrills and chills and he was doing a pretty decent job of both. Made it through the forest! Sprained my ankle on the way to the car. Figures. 

Didn't buy these the other day, but really wanted to. Any food with Vampire in the name sounds amazing. Even kale chips.

Last night I made a water mosaic. That's what I'm going to call it. I filled a punch bowl with water and Rowan berries, fallen Maple leaves, other leaves, two mini pumpkins, and the shell from my Golden Apple snail. Tonight we'll consecrate the water by adding moon charged water: the water is rain water from the roof terrace of my work, gathered in the dark morning hours after a full blood moon. 

Not sure exactly what mysterious fun awaits us for tonight. A ritual perhaps? Some meditation on the dead? Divination and Ouija? We'll find out later. For now I'm just doing my best to stay awake and alert. Tonight is the night when the world waits together for transformation, unveiling, and dark beauty. 

Spooky Office and Seeing Red

The last two days of work have been really neat and really different. I've been able to spend a lot of time off the phones (a special treat to be sure) decorating the customer service quarter for Halloween. it makes me so happy to see all the spiderwebs and ghosts and bats. And a coworker has set up a witch's altar right in the entryway. Yeah, I'm pretty fucking stoked. When not decorating I've been working with my bosses to figure out my new schedule as well as helping with an outreach project that combined my bubbly phone skills and my writing skills. I got to speak to notable members of the community to ask them for quotable opinions about the paper. It was kind of nerve-wracking and kind of a blast.

Also a gentleman from Seattle sent some copies of a paper from 1889! They were from way back before the Spokesman-Review was actually the Spokesman-Review. Before it was the Spokesman and the Chronicle. This paper was titled Spokane Falls Review and even though we are pretty sure these are special reprints (still really cool even if they are) there is some debate as to whether or not they could possibly be originals! 

On my way home from work today... well let me start with the fact that due to construction my bus stop is two blocks down from where it normally is so I was already thrown a bit off as I made my way. I missed the bus. Saw it drive off while I was too many steps away to try and stop it. No worries though because there was another coming shortly. While I waited I called Hannah and before it was due, there came the bus, but I was seated in front of the financial building and too far away to hail it.

As I walked dumbfounded toward the now departing bus, I missed a step off the terrace and did the thing that no fat girl ever wants to do in public ever. I fell flat on my face. Scraped up my left knee (which was already injured by way of a strained IT-band) and twisted my right leg a little. Mostly though it was my pride that hurt. Did I mention I was wearing a skirt? I also had on red underwear. But I hardly need to tell you that since my skirt flopped up and onto my back and gave the entire world a lovely view of my panties. I'm on my period too. Thank the gods I was wearing red panties. 

Anyway, no sooner had I stood back up, lying in my assurances to passersby that I was "fine, fine, I'm really fine," did the tears start pouring. I was still on the phone with Hannah. Through all of it I had managed to hold onto my phone and keep the call. So I whimpered to her, "I just fell. Hard. And I'm really not okay." All of this was said through tiny hiccups and sniffles and sobs. Hannah said she'd come get me. I'm really thankful she offered. The last thing I wanted in that moment was to wait for the next bus to drive off without me.

I told her I didn't want her to hit the construction so I started down Sprague. I was so angry/embarrassed that I walked all the way to the Starbucks at the corner of Division and Second. It was over a mile which (for a fat girl who just skinned her knee and executed her pride) was a decent jaunt. I walk to the bus stop in the mornings most days but even that is only three quarters of a mile. So I was proud despite my resonating utter horror. Red panties. Just... red panties. Shocking that I'm so upset really considering what an exhibitionist I am. 

On the way to the meeting place I did find some solace in our city's art. I've seen these things hundreds of times but today I felt the need to document them. Both of them are on Sprague as you go east toward Division. Giant marmot and River Park Square Michelangelo (as I have dubbed them.)

Obligatory Birthday Blog

So I leveled up. At work they kept saying "oh, now you're finally 21!" They said it so much that when I got home on Wednesday last week I was actually a little confused and had to think "how old am I really?" Well I'm 33. The age Jesus was when he died. The composite of 3 eleven year olds. Not a bad age really. And besides. I don't really care much about age. What I care about is the party that sometimes accompanies the 'aging' process. I had very nice birthday. On the day of, my work decorated my cubicle and chair with confetti, streamers, balloons, and signs that said: Happy Birthday Amanda!! And my two bosses spoiled me with gifts. They gave me a Grumpy Cat coloring book, a package of colored pencils, a giant writing prompts book, and a quill ball-point-pen. It made me feel so very special. And at Dungeons and Dragons one of the players gave me a package of M&Ms wrapped up tight with packing paper. On the paper it said, "Happy Birthday Lars  Amanda" which was adorable. I really enjoy my D&D time with the boys. Even though most of our characters just about died during the previous encounter (fucking spiders and fucking Drow) it was really great way to spend lunch time on my birthday. 

My Friday party was nice. I felt bad that we didn't do it in the club house - not that we really could have since our Apartment management team sort of said "We're out and about so come and find us for the key," on the day of our reservation. It was a very full house and a bit cramped. And one guest in particular was sort of antagonizing, but it turned out very nice and I'm excited to do some more painting in the near future. 

My twins from Moscow came up for the party. They stayed with us through the weekend and played Coven with us on Saturday. I really enjoy that game. It's very bizarre and you really don't know who's going to win until the game is over you do the maths required to suss out the winning Witch. The more we play the easier it will be to teach other's to play. I can't deny that I'm slightly curious about the game expansion called Coven the Village. From what I've read about it, this expansion gives you plot to the otherwise stream of consciousness type game play. 

On a personal note: I really truly cannot believe that summer is over. I didn't really do anything for Mabon and I feel like crap about it. I've never celebrated Mabon! And it makes no sense to me. It's my birthday Sabbat for goddess sake! But then again, I think that perhaps I've always celebrated it, just not in the traditional ways. I've always had treats and gifts and songs and fun. I've always spent Mabon with friends. All of my Mabon'ing' has been experienced through my birthday celebrations. That makes me feel a little better but next year, I think I'll skip a traditional birthday and seek a true second harvest celebration and spend an entire day in the balance of light and dark. Hannah got me David Bowie's last album and a book about Elen of the Ways. Perfect birthday gifts. Maybe next year I'll let Elen be my birthday goddess and guide and we'll take the celebration out into the woods and fields. Maybe we'll follow the deer trods as I level up to 34. 

"I'm engaged to a Serial Killer" or "Cleaning Day with Amanda"

When I was in high school we had yearly student planners and while I did use them as planners I also used them as diaries/doodle pads/swear word generators/incriminating evidence lockers. By this I mean I filled my student planners with things that expressed my really exacerbated teenage angst. To add to the gore (both written and drawn) I was going through a marvelous serial killer phase at the time. My choice books were the A-Z serial killer reference books as well as detailed accounts of Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy. So of course my quotes and doodles were almost always grotesque. 

Tonight, while cleaning out the Bowie room (our library/spare bedroom) I decided it was time to get rid of these old student planners that I've been carting around with me all this time. But first I needed to flip through them to see who I was and reflect on who I've become. With Hannah beside me I thumbed through my high school year. All the calendar days were marked off so violently that the exes and scribbles left indents in about five of the following pages. At the beginning of each mother there was a doodle depicting something being eaten, vivisected, or exuding some sort of mucous. I drew guillotines and warped mermaid-centaurs, I wrote sonnets of nothing but four letter words worthy of a Quentin Tarantino film, I stuck several pages together with gum chewed by my classmates, and used red pen to make almost everything bleed.

As I went through these planners, marveling and giggling at how "fucked up" I was, Hannah's expression turned from concern to actual unease. She looked a bit shaken. "You're a fucking serial killer," she said and I assured her I wasn't. I told that these journals were from a time when I was dealing with teenage drama and suffering from a lack of proper medication. "But look how far I've come from that time," I told her. "Not that far," was her response. In my desperation to prove to her that I wasn't really that bad back then, I picked up a notebook from late high school/early college and scanned the fading pencil marks. "Hmm, let's see," I said and then, "Oh! That's right, these are the notes for my serial killer screenplay." At this point Hannah fled the room. 

I cornered her in the bedroom. "Hannah, you're still going to marry me though, right?" Because that's not a creepy thing to say to a woman who thinks you're a psychopath. "Amanda," she said, "I'm not sure I even want to sleep in the same bed as you!" Me: "But I swear I've never killed anyone!" Hannah: "Yet!" The moral of this story, wait the full ten years before you show your mate how truly fucked up you are; nine years is still too soon. 

I'm happy report we're sleeping in the same bed. The old student planners are gone now (or at least in the trash waiting removal) but I figure the trauma they've caused will last for a long time. Chaos, panic, and suspicion that one's mate might be a serial killer.... my work here is done. Excuse me as I giggle myself to sleep.   

Green, Royo, Orc Story for Extra XP

Today's prompt for August Break was green. There is so much green everywhere I look that I sort of felt overwhelmed. I tend to overdo it with the pictures as it is so I wanted just a few really fun ones today. So a coworker, hearing of my green plight, offered up her cute bouncy froggy for my consideration and voila! We photographed the cute little frog in front of the giant pickle jar we have on our wall. We follow the 'give em the pickle' philosophy in our customer service department and so pickles are a major theme here. Figured the frog could enjoy some gherkins while bouncing around for the photo op. Also the pickles are nice and green.

For the Tarot draw today I used the Royo Dark Tarot. This is kind of a hard deck to read from (quite often the naughty images cause me some knee squeezing which makes it difficult to hone in on certain images and meanings) but I enjoy it immensely. The art is art done separately of the tarot deck and then edited to fit certain cards. I think, overall they did a really awesome job with it. And even if someone couldn't read very well from the deck it's nice to own it just as a means to have a mini gallery of 78 of Royo's pieces.

 

The control of strange forces. The triumph of meditation and discipline. Head to head, the interior and the exterior.

I drew the Knave of Cups. I couldn't find a really large image of this card so I'll share what I have and give my personal impression of the card. When I see this Knave of Cups I see a very naked woman - which isn't exactly unusual for Luis Royo's art. But what's neat here is that she's the symbol of emotional awakening. She's a Knave and so she's at the beginning of a journey and she's emotionally open (naked) to whatever comes her way. Also she is very calm and confident in herself (her inner calm) despite the intense emotions and intentions flying around her. I need to aim to be more like her and not let others' emotions invade and disrupt my inner peace. She is strong and armed but her biggest asset is her confidence. I'm need to relax the nagging in the back of my brain and ignore the nagging outside my brain and just have some faith in myself and the situation.

And lastly, because I felt this sort of fit in with the green theme, I'm going to share a very short and 'painful' to read story about my D&D character that I play during lunch times with the guys upstairs at my job. Our DM (because we were all pretty close to leveling up) gave us the chance to gain extra experience points if we each wrote a short piece about our respective characters. So without further ado, here's my terrible Lars narrative.

A Grammatically Atrocious History of Lars the Half-Orc Paladin

When Lars was puny child, Lars knew two things. First, he know earth worms really do taste like earth. And next he know Orc are enemy. Orcs are the reason I am the way I am. Why my brain doesn’t work right. Humans who raised Lars taught him about his brain and about all brains. Ego and Id and other stuff. They forgot to teach him what brains taste like though. So he learn that on his own. (Not quite earthworm, but not bad). Humans who raise Lars tell him: “Lars, don’t put that in your mouth.” They also tell me: “No hit, no bite.” But it hard not to hit. Hard not to bite. Humans make Lars so sad. And Orcs make Lars so MAD! Sometimes all he want to do is hit and bite forever. 

One day, people who raised Lars tell him, “Please leave.” They say Lars interrupts their peaceful ways. Say that Lars needs to find his own path. So Lars leave. But Lars not alone. He has his Lady with him. She is only friend he needs. But sometimes, I meet other animals. They like to hit and bite. They have weird brains. Same as Lars. They play with him. Great big wolves. Birds. Bores. I am kind to them. Sometimes I kill them and eat them. But even then, Lars not mean. He pray to the Wargod that the animal spirits forgive him. If they do not forgive, I will deal with that when I meet them in the afterlife. 

I am all grown now. Very big. And when Lars look in water and see himself looking back he think: “Hey, you not so ugly!” Not that Lars care. Lars only care about crushing his enemy. So I travel with Lady and we go hunting for things to kill. Not really looking for friends but sometimes Lars meets things he likes. He likes the things he travels with right now. I know their names! Which is big deal…. for Lars anyway. 

Es’rus likes to tease Lars. But Es’rus is girly elf boy and Lars not mind his teasing. Probably, elf is projecting his own fears and feelings of inadequacy onto Lars. But Lars like elf anyway. There is a shorty-short dwarf too. His name is Lehnard… but sometimes he is Dranhel (Lars suspect dissociative identity disorder). Dwarf likes to make dead things run. Dwarf also likes to bleed. Poor Dwarf. There is also a bulky humany thing. Kneel. He is strange. Likes to go first, likes to hit things. And likes anything shiny. Lars think it sad that Kneel tries to fill loneliness with money. But, uh, Lars have to admit it sure is fun to open treasure chests! I love surprises. Even if they bite back. Lastly is Loot’gar. He is really amazing ranger… who leads us a to bunny-wearing-man-eating tree stump. Poor Loot’gar learned what it look like on the inside of that stump. I think he still sees the inside of the stump whenever he sleeps. Lars notice him twitch sometimes and mutter, “fucking bunnies,” under his breath. 

Yeah, this is best group. Just like Pinkie Pie is best pony. And unless we get eaten by wall puke, or sucked dry by flying bat-bugs, or run out of shiny things, Lars think, “hey, we make a good team.” And Lars usually right. Especially about earthworms. Taste like earth. 

~ Lars

Chibi Half Orc by Alanwakeup

A day late: August Break 6 and Arthurian Advice on Cats

I wrote most of this blog last night but was just too tired to post it. Sorry, it's coming a day late but here you go:

We never made it down to the family reunion. We called Mom on Friday and asked her if it would be okay to skip and she said not to worry about it. The truth is, before we ever even left for the trip I had a bad gut feeling about the drive a sort of vision of us crashing into the river. Probably just being a worry-wort. Well Hannah also had a really bad feeling about the drive. And when we got to the Twins' house they sort of begged and pleaded for us to stay. And we got a text from our friend Fiona asking if we were alright and if we'd made it to the family reunion. Turns out she'd have a horrible nightmare about the situation and was worried about us. With all of this negative worry concerning the trip down to Kamiah, Hannah and I opted to stay and play an extra day with the Twins and then head home as planned. So that's exactly what we did. Today we went to a farmer's market and ate some really fun foods. We watched the second movie that we rented the night before and we visited Hastings again for a second pillage of the discounted goods. 

For August Break, the prompt today was "I'm reading...." and I don't have a really swell picture to show (at least not one that I took myself - the Blackberry can only do so much!) but here is what I've been reading yesterday and today: Phntasmagoria by Ian Daniels. This is the book that accompanies the Vampire Tarot Deck. There are several cool things about this deck and book. It goes past the regular tarot meanings and speaks to your astrological signs as well as your Vampire Clan and Court. The book helps you make a Vampire Profile for yourself so that you can use the cards to better examine personal issues and track your progress in dealing with large projects or decisions. It's really cool. The book also talks about how the Major Arcana relate to the Sephirots of the Tree of Life. 

Now as much as I am in love with this book and the new deck, I'm going to hold off on doing a daily draw from this deck until a little later in the month. For today I drew from Legend: The Arthurian Tarot. This deck belongs to Twin B who is a really huge on Arthurian Lore. I drew the Six of Spears (wands). 

The Return of Ambrosius:
Upright: A deserved victory; accolades; resolution of a problem; success achieved by hard work and careful planning; endearing supporters.

Reversed: Apprehension; low morale; inconclusive results.

When I picked this card I had a very specific question in mind. I was asking about our decision to bring a new kitty into the household. I don't want to upset Narcisa (which is inevitable with Queen kitties) but at the same time we really want to expand our family. The card for me immediately spoke of something coming home. A cat perhaps. And we've been looking at a little Russian Blue baby in Rathdrum and also an orange tabby. This card is covered in blue and orange hues. If Ambrosius is the cat then it's clear that the Blue Russian will be coming home with us. But it is an orange flag hailing the victor's return. I feel like this card says go for it. Be victorious. Your supporters will be there for you. The kingly figure of Ambrosius looks a little weary, but after a hard fought victory it makes  sense for the hero to be a little on the solemn side. This card warns that victory, that decision making, isn't without consequence. If you win; someone else loses. This is going to be a long haul with Narcisa keeping her happy with our decision but in the end I think we can meet a happy middle ground. 

Here are some fun pictures from yesterday that don't really cover the August Break prompt but definitely satisfy the August Break purpose: stop and smell/photograph the fun!

Hannah sitting by the fountain in downtown Moscow, ID. We went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday.

Note the size of these chess pieces. That is a child in the picture and the pieces are almost as big as he is! These were for sale at the Farmer's Market and if I were a rich Manda I'd have me a set of ginormous chess set right now!

These spices were formulated based on the four elements. The witch in me needs these! But the poor girl in me says I'll make my own set and put cute symbols on the bottles. What a great idea though! I love this set of spices. If I could find them cheaper as a set online I think I would go ahead and grab them.

Huckleberry Crispin. Can't wait to try it later with Hannah.

A little piece of sunshine. Love this pretty flower.

Some more pretty flowers from downtown Moscow area.

Blue flowers outside the Starbucks in the Vandal Store on the U of I campus. This is where Twin B works.

The Summer Bucket List

Yea, all things live forever, though at times they sleep and are forgotten. 

H. Rider Haggard

Several of my friends have made summer bucket lists for this summer and Hannah and I felt it a good idea to join. I think Hannah is going to post a bucket list on her blog and while many of the items on the list are things we are planning to do together, my list does have a few different things that are 'Amanda specific.' I shall notate those with an asterisk. Because noting with an asterisk is fun.

This summer I want to do the following (in no particular order):

1. Run through the sprinklers
2. Go to Silverwood (at least three times!)
3. Go camping
4. Star gaze
5. Be naked outside
6. Spend time in a cave
7. Complete my Camp NaNoWriMo goal of 25K words
8. Play in Lake Coeur'd Alene
9. Eat campfire food
10. Hike Tubb's Hill
11. Paint each nail a different color
12. Read one fiction book
13. Read one writing craft book
14. Do an ephemeral art project such as body painting
15. See a waterfall
16. Do the Yoga DVD
17. Learn how to fight (SCA style)
18. Go to a hot srpings
19. Test drive a car
20. Get my passport
21. Go to Canada
22. Spend the night ghost hunting
23. Go to an anime convention
24. Go to the Planetarium at SCC

This list is subject to some change. Finances may or may not be available for all of these things so I might put on an alternate to certain activities. But these are the things I really want to do this summer as it stands now. These are the components of "Summer 2016." I'm hoping to have a few of these marked off the list after this weekend and the next. Some of these things I figure I'll do multiple times but they are still worthy of the list as they still take me out of the regular norm. I've been a busy person the last several years (MFA stuff, work, moving, more job stuff) and now I'm at the point where creativity and imagination are starting to stir back up. I want to live life more fully and right now the best way to jump start that is to tackle this list. 

A Review of Creative October and Three More Projects

A better picture of the cute Monster High nails I did earlier this month.

So, I'm confident I can succeed in Creative October. I have been doing projects (I haven't been able to post them immediately but I've still been doing them) pretty regularly and so I still right on schedule. I have a poem I've been working on for a few days and I will be posting that later today for Project #25. In the mean time, however, I wanted to share a few pictures and do a small review of my experience so far with Creative October. 

This is a piece of jewelry from another project I did earlier this month.
I coated the backs of several bracelets, pendants, and rings with clear
nail polish to make them wearable for me.

I, like Dani, really enjoy projects that span a certain amount of time and test one's will power. I tried a 'write every day' thing many years ago and made it into late March before I petered out. I think that for an 'every day' project to work, it's good to start out small. Make a goal of doing something every day for a week, then a month, then for a season, etc. I've very much enjoyed working on and finding my creative every day this month. Yes, there were a few days that I accomplished nothing but for the most part I've learned that sometimes less is more and that we can find creativity in the oddest of places. Also, like Dani, I've rediscovered some of the things that I loved doing in my childhood. Just simply sitting and coloring, or doodling with pencil, or painting... these things are so much fun and easy to do. They are stress relievers with the added benefit of leaving you with something tangible afterwards. 

Pony magnets at work!

But tangibility isn't the most important thing. It's the knowledge that you stepped outside of a normal day's routine and tapped into the beautiful universality of creativity. That might sound a bit extreme but that's what this month has meant to me. It's also been a blessed distraction from not only the stress of leaving one job and beginning another, it has also kept me sane while my poor Hannah has suffered some incredible blows concerning her parents' health. So I'm thankful that, even though Creative October filled my plate to overflowing, that I did decide to do it. And, gods willing, I'll see it through to the end!

A view of my desk at work. You might notice the
Sharka page posted proudly on my cubicle wall.

Project 22: I did a sketch of my character from Dungeons and Dragons. His name is Belafax Malfeiri and he's the crown prince of North Fendar. What I learned while doing this project is that I'm very out of practice with drawing, Also I learned that even though I know Belafax is a fairly attractive half-elf with barbaric tendencies, I always tend to picture him as more of an orc! Even in this picture I feel like he's rather orcish, haha. And I learned too that when it comes to drawing I always cop out and go for the profile shot because for some reason I think they are easier. But in reality they aren't. I need to take some more drawing classes and become more adept of relaying the human shape. All that aside, however, it was fun to draw again. 

Project 23: Yesterday at the IEPG Samhain celebration I portrayed Ereshkigal in our ritual reenactment of the descent of Inanna. So to get more into character, I drew the eye of death on my palm. Then, when it came time for me to kill my younger sister, Innana Goddess of Heaven and Earth, I showed her my hand and spoke the words of death. It was all very theatrical and fun. What I learned in this project is that I really love Sumerian mythology and I want to do further study into the archetypal journey of Inanna's descent. Also I learned that sharpies are the best for making death eyes. Also I learned that I really love the crap out of my Pagan family. They were all so supportive and sweet. Sometimes I get very nervous about performing in front of anyone and even though I felt a bit anxious, I knew that no one would care if I messed up, that they would take it in stride. It was a nice experience over all. And I definitely want to do a ritual in honor of Ereshkigal sometime. She's the Goddess of the Underworld and traditional worship of her usually includes some form of BDSM. So, of course, I'm a total fan. 

Project 24: I sanded and painted a table. Our lovely neighbors gave us their octagonal table earlier this year and since Hannah and I will soon be moving into a place of our own, we decided to spiffy up the table and make it a little more ours. With my mom's guidance, I sanded the crap out of the wood and metal parts then painted over it with flat black rustoleum spray paint. I learned that I apparently suck at spray painting (too many pools of thick paint) but I also recalled a fondness for the smell of aerosol paint. I also like the smell of gas too. I do not, and have never, huffed. But man I sure don't mind a good sniff while I'm gassing up or painting a table! It was brass and brown before. It will all be black as soon as I apply the last coat tonight. Unfortunately I won't have a final, finished shot of it until later because it will be too dark for my pathetic phone to handle another picture after the last coat.

Project 15: Shrinky Dinks!

Inspired by my friend Danielle's recent project of Shrinky-Dinks, I decided to have a little shrinking fun myself. I bought a cheap kit at the dollar store earlier today. When I opened it up I was surprised to find that you had to draw the designs onto the plastic. I seem to remember that back in the day, the plastic already had the outlines on it and all you had to do was color them. But, with the freedom to draw whatever I wanted I decided to include My Little Pony and a few Halloween images. 

I traced each design onto the clear shrinky-dink plastic and then colored them all using a wide variety of markers (the dollar store package only had two small markers with it). After I had traced and colored all of the images that I wanted to include on the plastic sheet, I cut them out carefully and placed them on aluminum foil on a cookie sheet.

Only takes about two minutes for these babies to cook. And when they come out they are reduced in size by about fifty percent. It's a fun and silly project. I had to add My Little Pony to mix because Danielle mentioned in her video blog that she remembers when she used to do My Little Pony Shrink-Its when she was a kid. So in the spirit of revisiting both our childhoods I traced a few choice MLP characters. I only had Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, and Pinkie Pie on hand otherwise I probably would have only done ponies.

If you look at the first picture of the designs laying on the college ruled notebook, you can see how the ponies take up about six rows before cooking and only take up about three rows after cooking. They are so tiny now! The ponies, skulls, and Halloween thingies all fit in my hand with room to spare. Not quite sure what I'm going to do with them all yet, but it might be fun to drill tiny holes and make an itty-bitty mobile out of them. So to sum up: I did Shrinky Dinks. What did I learn? Choosing my own designs was more fun than having the designs preset. I'm sure I learned something else, too, but I'm still too groggy in the head right now to come up with it. Did I complete the project? Yes. With the help of Narcisa. She loves to get up on the table whenever we do crafts. Today she helped me color by rubbing her face all over the end of the marker as I was trying to stay in the lines. She's a good kitty.

Day 2 of Work and Day 12 of Creative October

So work is going pretty well. I have the bus stuff pretty figured out and tomorrow, I hope, I'll be getting my bus pass so that I don't have to keep coming up with change each morning and afternoon. Goodwill Working Solutions offered to pay the first 2-4 months of my bussing for me and I'm definitely taking them up on it. The passes from work are only $25 a month instead of the usual $45 from the bus station. It's a good deal for all of us! Anyway, while I'm learning lots and lots about customer service in the circulation department, the building is still quite a mystery to me. I tend to spend my lunches on the roof terrace surrounded by gargoyles. Please enjoy some pictures from my new "lunchroom." 

The Knitting Factory is a popular place for concerts in Downtown Spokane.
It's right behind my work. See the gargoyle feet on the ledge?!

Roof parking on the building next to us. Also a pretty cathedral.

A nice view of Sprague, which is the road behind my work.

Gargoyles! And in the distance are the smokestacks attached
to a very cool restaurant that I want go to someday.

Another shot of the smokestacks as well as a view of downtown
Spokane and the horizon of the South Hill area.

A long shot of Monroe Avenue, the road leading away from my work.

A side view of the beasts. The gargoyles are nicknamed "Printing Devils"
in honor of the novices in the printing business who tended to cause problems.

As for Creative October, I'm counting the photography of the gargoyles as one project. I need three total to be caught up so here's two more and I'm golden! Second project: I made my work journal nifty and pretty. I learned that writing bus times is obnoxious and I also learned having multiple different colored pens at your disposal is pretty much the best thing in the world. Also I learned that I miss my other journal. I still have some room left in it but now I worry that it won't get filled all the way before I really attack my work one. I already did a journal entry for today in it! In purple even.

This is the information for taking alternative transport to work and how
you can win prizes for choosing to reduce your carbon footprint.

I drew all the icons I'll be using as I navigate the software for the paper.
Also I added a few fun stickers, but mostly this is my crappy insta-art.

Calendar and pay periods. I added some Captain America and Monster High.
And some My Little Pony because I couldn't resist.

HR and other contact information. In style!

Third Project: Manifestation Board. What did I learn? I learned that I apparently really need some intimacy in my future life. Also I need to write. I've been writing in my journal and blogging but that isn't really getting the big things done. I knew that I needed a break from it after graduation but it really is time to get back into gear again. I need to work on short stories and novels and keep trying to get published. I feel that the more stable job, plus the option of having my own home, will help me get some writing out eventually. I finished this project and feel pretty good about it. Had to download Paint.net to get the job done, but it was worth it.