Being Successful

Thoughts on success. Also, Youtube gives me the best thumbnail choices; enjoy this lovely claw-hand.

Typhoid Mary (Video)

This is my Typhoid Mary "audition". I was hoping to find a good image of the original scene but, alas, I couldn't. So I guess I'll just explain it to you. It is the opening scene from Deadpool #6. It takes place in a psych ward and is a conversation between the three aspects of Mary's personality; Typhoid Mary, Bloody Mary, and Mary Walker. Try not to make fun of me too much.

Inspired (Video)

Sorry, there was no video yesterday, we went to the vegan festival in Pittsburgh and I ran out of time. Anyway (I figured I might as well go ahead and use that word one more time, seeing as how I used it about 87 times in the video) I've been reading Felicia Day's book and it has inspired me to want to be more creative with my videos. So we'll see how that goes.

Shocking

Well, surprise surprise, I didn't sell anything at the artist fair. My sister gave out some business cards, but that was it. I pretty much sat there and read Deadpool (and then a novel, after I finished the volume of Deadpool I had) for six hours. Then we went home. Super productive.

My dad and I did get a little but of work done of the camper today. We got the water lines into the well, and got the pump put together (for the most part). Next week, we're going to try to get the electrical lines over to the pump house, so we can make sure the pump works. Then we have about 8000 other things that we still need to do. So yeah, it's still going to be a while.

Speaking of shocking, in this issue, Deadpool did his version of The Aristocrats and I found it pretty hilarious (don't judge me!).

Give It a Shot

Today my sister and I are going to Connector Art's artist and artisan fair in Fairmont, at Palatine Park, if you get a chance you should come check it out. I'm not holding out much hope for actually selling anything, based on past experience with this sort of thing, but you never know I guess. It seems like it might be kind of fun though.

On a totally unrelated note, I think I have everything I need for my Typhoid Mary photo shoot. My swords came yesterday, and I bought the last little pieces for the outfit. I still have to paint the swords and do a little bit of sewing and whatnot. Other than that it's basically ready though. I thinks it's going to be pretty fucking cool.

Ⓥ Mother of All

You know the old saying "Necessity is the mother of invention"? Well, it seems to me that necessity is the mother of......well everything. Necessity is the mother of strength, of patience, of evolution, of adaptation, of education, of everything. Humans, for the most part, are lazy. We do most things when, and only when, we absolutely have to. However, necessity is also a relative term. We can decide what is, or is not necessary. There is a switch in each of our minds that controls which things we see as necessary. We can think about it logically and decide for ourselves what those things are. When we stop thinking about something as optional, we suddenly find that we have access to all of the things that necessity creates.

When we find ourselves in difficult situations, we also find ourselves doing things that we never knew we could. We become better, stronger, smarter, more creative people when we have to. There have been many times in my life when I have done things that I didn't previously think I could. Some of these things you just do, and others you have to work your way up to but, one way or another, being placed in a situation which asks more of you than you thought you were able to give allows you to find parts of yourself you didn't know were there. You find a way to do what needs to be done, whether through brute strength, sheer force of will, creative thinking, or whatever, and you do this simply because you must; because it's necessary.

Why though, do we have to save the best parts of ourselves for times when we absolutely have to use them? The truth is, we don't. We can all choose what is most important to us, and live as if those important things are matters of life and death (and sometimes they really are). We can force ourselves to be our best by simply deciding that we have no other option.

When you talk about animal rights and veganism with the average person, you get lots of responses like "I could never do that!" or "I could never live with (insert random animal product here)." The truth is, yes you can! We all can. It can be difficult, especially at first, but we are strong. We are so much stronger than we realize, and the only thing we have to do to bring out that strength is to decide that we have to. I think that's the real difference between vegans and other people. It's not the we're stronger, or that we don't like those foods as much as other people do, most of the time it's not even that we care more. It's just that we decided that veganism is necessary. Once you've done that, the rest is easy.

Basically, necessity = Eve (from Supernatural).

Now Let's Keep It Rolling

Remember those changes that are supposed to be happening in my life? Well, I started by buying some new hair dye, which hasn't gotten here yet so I'm still not sure if I'll like it or not. I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I've also been (gradually) making some changes around this site too.

1- I've started the process of "labeling" my posts, in the hope that it will make things easier to find. Unfortunately since I have nearly 900 posts now, it's going to be a while before I make it through all of my old ones. I really don't know if it will be worth it, in the end, but I guess I'm going to do it anyway.

2- I've added some new pages to the site. This what my friend, Rachel, was kind enough to help me with a while back and I'm finally starting to actually do it! I'm still not sure how many pages I'm going to add, or what I want them to be. So the current arrangement may still change quite a lot, but at least I'm doing something, right?

3- Here's the really exciting thing though (at least for me)! My sister helped me get it set up so I can sell stuff straight from here! No more fighting with Etsy's rules and policies, or having to pay them even when I'm not selling anything. Just so you know, I actually love Etsy; it's just more of a pain in the ass than it's worth for me, since no one ever actually buys my stuff anyway. So now I can sell my stuff here, and do it however I want. Then if I don't sell anything, oh well.

4- I'm pretty sure I'm going to abandon the name Flying Pigs Jewelry, in favor of Volatile Vegan Vestments. I like this name better because 1- You all know how much I love alliteration, and 2- I just think it sounds cool.

I was torn between posting a picture of someone wearing vestments (fancy ceremonial wear), or some dumb joke about rolling. Thanks to Spottedfire94 at Deviant Art, I have both!

For Other Wannabe Superheroes

I added two utility belts to my shop today. One I'm actually pretty proud of, the other is sort of eh, but oh well. I bought stuff to make more of them, so I intend to have a better variety in the near future. I also officially entered the Sexiest Vegan Next Door Contest, voting hasn't opened yet though. When it does, you guys could, like, go vote for me, and stuff (hint, hint, nudge, nudge). Anyway, here's the belt I like the best.

Not too bad for the second one I ever made, right? Even though I basically just sewed two, already made, things together.  

Flying Pigs Jewelry Lives!

I finally got some things posted in my Etsy store! Including four ceramic pendants, and the Panteater. I know it's quite unlikely that anyone will want to buy him, but I just had to post him anyway. So yeah, if you're interested in some weird clay stuff, you should check out my store. In the next day or so, I plan to get at least a couple of the utility belts on there too. So keep an eye out for that. Also, apparently, the best way to get more views on your blog posts is to include half-naked pictures of yourself. Yesterday's post got almost twice as many views as I generally get. Go figure.

For Real This Time

I really am working on getting my Etsy store back up and running. Hopefully I will have some things listed in the next couple of days. I tried to list some things today but (shockingly!) our internet cut out while I was working on them. On a related note, last night, I spent a ridiculously long time drawing a picture to use for the new banner on my Etsy page. It turned out fairly shitty by most people's standards, but for me it was pretty decent. I'm actually sort of proud of it. Then I tried to put it on my page and it ended up all cut in half so you can't actually tell what it is. Hopefully I will get that figured out soon too. Anyway, here it is in it's original, non-goofily-cropped format.

Sometimes I Actually Do Stuff

So, I'm putting a hold on the whole metalworking idea for a little while. I'm really not giving up on it entirely but, for the time being, I'm going to try making jewelry out of the clay itself. I finally manged to finish a few of the pieces, and I kind of like some of them the way they are. Also, precious metals are expensive as fuck and I figure its better to make things out of good clay rather than shitty metal.

I also made a few of those utility belts I was telling you guys about, and they turned out pretty decent . I'll post pictures of them sometime soon. 

Anyway, my point here is; I'm actually getting some stuff done and I plan on trying to get some things back in my abandoned Etsy shop in the very near future. 

Here are the ones I'm fairly pleased with. 

Too Much?

After the, seemingly, endless search which resulted in the Mitchell glove fiasco I decided "Fuck it! I'll just make my own." So Yesterday, I cut the fingers off a pair of gloves I had, dismantled an old pair of boots and made my own damn Mitchell gloves. I can't decide if I actually like them or not though. They might be a little more goth than I intended. Thoughts? Opinions? Insults?

Of course, I'm sure the black nail polish doesn't help. But I like black nail polish, so whatever. 

Now There's an Idea!

I just suddenly remembered that I totally forgot to write a post for today. It's not like I have anything exciting to talk about anyway, but I thought I should get something down here. So here's this. I've been on a serious superhero kick lately. I recently realized that I am just a natural born multitasker and that I have a hard time doing just one thing at a time, especially things that are time consuming and/or difficult. My mind gets bored or frustrated and I just end up giving up on whatever it was that I was trying to do. Well since, lately, I have been trying to teach myself how to do all of these new things, sculpting, drawing, making utility-belts, etc, I've been watching movies to keep my mind occupied whilst I struggle endlessly with the things I'm trying to make. For whatever reason I have been mostly interested in watching superhero movies. I already had some and I bought quite a few more from various discount movie bins. So far it has been working pretty well. I don't even notice that it takes me for-fucking-ever to make really small, unimportant, things. An unfortunate side-effect is that I keep finding myself thinking "Hey, you know what would be a lot more fun than making misshapen mugs? Being a fucking superhero!"

Today I watched Daredevil. I found it fairly enjoyable. Plus, I'm thinking that if you can get superpowers just by going blind.........that one seems kind of feasible for me. Just saying. 

I Did It! Kind of....

I kind of, sort of, made one of those things I was talking about yesterday! It really doesn't look much like the one I wanted to buy, but I'm still kind of pleased with the way it turned out. I wore it today, and it felt pretty badass. Although perhaps I am just delusional and it actually looks super pathetic. But, at least for now, I like it. Plus, I think it will be highly convenient because now I can carry the really important stuff with me and leave all the less important stuff, in my giant purse, in the car when I go places. I mean, you never know when you are going to be drawn into an epic battle of some sort and not want to deal with a big bulky purse, right?

Well, We'll See What Happens

I found this thing online that I desperately want! There are three reasons why I have been forcing myself not to buy it. 1- It is kind of expensive. Really it's not all that expensive, but it's from that shop I found a while back that makes me wish I lived in Lithuania, which means that the shipping would cost me as much as the thing itself. 2- I always feel kind of guilty having things shipped from really far away, you know like from Lithuania, because of the environmental impact. 3- I think there is a good chance that everyone I know will think this thing is stupid, and give me a hard time about it, and I just can't justify dealing with #1 and #2 just so I can be harassed.

So you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to make one myself, from stuff I already had or bought at Goodwill. That way when everyone makes fun of me for it, I can be like "Fuck you. It's environmentally-friendly and it was practically free." Now if I can just make it look halfway decent, I'll be all set.

^This is the thing. Apparently, it's called a "waistbag" and I want it! 

I Made a Thing

So, I have been experimenting with making random things out of clay, just to see what I might be good at and/or enjoy. Well, the other day I made what was supposed to be a pig. Instead, it turned out as more of a panteater; a little bit pig, but mostly anteater. I decided that such a creature really needed a back story, so I made one up for him.

 The Panteater is a cunning creature who, though mostly harmless, can be highly inconvenient. He will sneak into your home while you sleep and, though causing no physical harm to anyone, will eat any and all pants within the home. Despite the great deal of frustration this causes when everyone wakes up the next morning to find that they suddenly posses not a single pair of pants, they often find it difficult to remain angry with the Panteater due to his endearing appearance and heartfelt apologies.

"I'm really sorry I eated all your pants. I was just so hungry."

Oath

Alright you guys, I swear, when the weather gets better ( I mean like spring better, not like slightly less snow better) I AM going to find something interesting to do with my time. I don't care if I have to take up drag racing, or grave robbing, or whatever, I will have something to tell you that you might actually give a shit about. As it is, the high point of my day was watching X-Men and making a set of Runes out of clay. I will get less boring eventually, I swear.

That's Something, I Guess

Sorry this post is so late, but hey, at least it's here right? Anyway, I just thought I would let you all know that I have, sort of, made a tiny bit of progress. I actually, finally, finished that job I was doing in Fairmont. You know, the one with the painting and the unbearably slow-going border peeling? Yeah, that one. It's done. I should be getting a check for it sometime in the next week. This will hopefully mean that I can buy some materials for all the projects I've been thinking about starting and maybe, maybe, get some stuff made and posted for sale. Also, my dad and I finally fired some of the clay pieces I've been working on, so wish me luck with that. Personally, I'll be pretty fucking thrilled if they don't come out as piles of dust, since neither of us really knew what we were doing and that kiln has been sitting around unused for about a century.

"You took that end and you...well you took it. And that's....well I guess that's somethin." 

In Reference to Yesterday's Post

I'm almost done with this painting/tedious-as-fuck-border-peeling job I've been doing. It's about damn time! I feel like I've been working on it forever, mostly because I spent most of that time snowed in at my house. Anyway, here is my new plan. Once I get this job finished, I'm going to use part of that money to buy a whole bunch of random art supplies. Then I'm going to just lock myself in my house and make a whole bunch of random shit. I'm just going to try everything and see what I like, what I'm good at, and what people might want to buy. I've had all of these ideas about stuff I want to try for years, but I've never taken the time to do it. Well, now I'm going to. Some of the things I want to try are; clay jewelry, metal jewelry, clay mugs, maybe some other clay sculptures, I also want to try drawing things and then writing some of my poems over the drawings, and I'm going to try to come up with something to do with all of these glass jars I've had lying around ever since the recycling place stopped taking glass. I keep trying to force myself to have a halfway normal life, to go out and do things, to try to have some sort of social life, but the truth is that I suck at that! So now I'm going to give the whole crazy, reclusive, artist thing a try.

Here are the things I've made so far. I know, the flower in the bottom center turned out sort of suspiciously shaped. I still think it looks kind of cool though, so whatever.  

More Unrealistic Life-Goals?

I have spent the majority of the last two week snowed in. For a while, it was driving me absolutely insane being unable to go anywhere. However, I have finally gotten used to it (which is super convenient since the weather is supposed to be clearing up in the next couple of days.) and have actually been making pretty good use of my time (at least by my standards, anyway). I have been working on a lot of different little art projects, and have come up with a ton of ideas that I have yet to put into practice. I made a bunch of different little clay designs that I hope to turn into jewelry in some way or another. I'm also considering using the clay to make various other things; I'm thinking some weird, nerdy, funny-shaped mugs might be a lot of fun. I also wrote a short story the other day, which I may or may not end up posting here. It's very odd and kind of disturbing, so we'll see. If nothing else, I figure it was good practice. I seldom write anything other than these diary-type posts and it was kind of nice to write something with an actual story-line. Anyway, the point of all this is; I'm starting to think that maybe, MAYBE, there is a chance that I could actually turn all of this random shit into a source of income. I'm considering reviving my Etsy shop from a while back and trying to sell some weird art and whatnot.

I mean hey, it worked for Priya. That is, until that crazy rich guy decided to get her sent to The Dollhouse. So it's basically a win/win.