Work Crew

I am strong and this wardrobe is a LOT bigger than me.

I mean, it's hollow, but it's 3x2x6 and made of wood. We alternate with who pulls the refrigerator-moving dolly because the edge digs into our arms and in my case, leaving my arms slack while I pull it pretty much exhausts them. Part of the weight of the wardrobe is on the wheels but I think because I tilt it down so far a lot of the weight is on my arms, too.

Today I was pulling it and it wasn't so bad! But afterwards I rode in the truck I thought the door was locked because I couldn't get it open but it turns out I was just too tired to pull on the door handle hard enough.

I lost my phone.

I lost my cell phone this weekend. It still might be somewhere though. The only reason I think it might be Lost For Ever is because I called it while searching my bf's house (where I was staying) and while searching my car and I didn't hear the ring. And the hoodie I was wearing this weekend has one pocket that is completely open at the end and one pocket that is intact so I might have gotten them confused and stashed my phone in the black hole one. It's okay though; I didn't bond with my Samsung the way I did with my Razr.

I decided to use this as a springboard for a mail art project where I mailed off everything I would have sent as a text. Ideally I would gather these back for display but realistically I photographed them before I sent them off and could display them digitally. Yesterday I sent like 15 letter texts but today I seem to have got used to being isolated and only wrote maybe 2.

My expectation was that this project would show me that lots of my texts are about nothing and it's fine not to be reassured by textees all day long, and some would be important enough still to matter in 3 days' time when the USPS gets them to their destination.

So far this project has shown me that it costs only a little more to send physical things by an elaborate physical process than it takes to send info only via magic and satellites and more magic. Magic must be more expensive than it seems.

ETA: My friend who the postcard above was for saw my link to this post on facebook and my phone was in fact in his car. I feel let down by the USPS but thrilled that I don't have to get a new phone.

Porter Cave

I have been to Porter Cave 3 times, and I always want to go through the little tunnel but the first two times I was scared and the third time I got in a little ways and then it was extremely too small to fit. Like my head might fit if I turned it sideways.

I realize there is nothing in this picture for scale, but the part I am lying in to take the picture is small enough that I had to crawl on my belly instead of my hands and knees. So the dark part in the middle is really too small.
Apparently the nice rock formations were gathered as souvenirs but there are still some interesting ones.

I think this is mold. The rainbow is from the flashlight. I like that there are rainbows even in caves.

About bodies and shaving.

I wish I could look like I don't shave and feel like I do shave. I bought a pack of 4 Venus Vibrance razor heads yesterday for $13.99. The one that came with my razor lasted me like 5 months (vs the 3-4 weeks that my last brand, Schick Intuition, would last) so I went to their website to see if they have a mention of why it lasts so long. My hunch was that taking it out of the bathroom to keep the battery parts from corroding kept the razors drier which is good for them. The website is really patronizing. Here are two parts I didn't like:
This one says "it's all about helping her develop self-confidence- let her find a routine that works for her." I don't see any way that shaving develops self confidence. It lets you look ordinary which takes less confidence than looking hairy, so it lets you bypass self confidence, but I don't see how it builds it. Well it could build confidence in your fine motor (guiding the razor) and gross motor skills (balancing in a wet environment) but that is clearly not what this webpage means.
This one says "since puberty is ruled by hormones and not fads, it's safe to say that if she really wants to shave, it might be time." First, I thought teenagers weren't allowed to do whatever their hormones say. Second, growing the hair is the part that is hormones, not shaving it all off to look like you've regressed to preteen years. I don't think shaving is a true fad because it has been around for a while, but it's not an immutable part of life either.

So. Ethically I guess I don't support the culture of shaving. If I'm not constantly sexy, then I'm not. But I really don't like how my skin feels when I have armpit and pubic hair, and feeling is what my skin does best (besides holding in my insides and keeping out the outside world). It's like, itchy. And for my armpits, how would I get deodorant on through the hair? Luckily, I like how my leg hair feels as well as how it looks, but shaving my other body hair still leaves me patronizing a company that is patronizing me. :(

Freeform post about artmaking

At the family reunion a couple of people asked me if I have shows. Well, no. None. And I don't sell work, and I don't think I want to sell work, at least not the work that I have done so far and have planned. Ideally, like in the true sense of ideally and not the watered down ideally that I usually mean, I would take commissions that involved a lot of dialog and cocreation and collaboration with clients. Or I would say to the world "This weekend I want to make a lazure layered heart on a sunny indoor wall in the Waldorf colors, starting with a stylized embryo in the color for the smallest children and building outward with colors developmentally suited to older and older children." and someone who wanted that would say so and pay me to do it and my art wouldn't just pile up in my house.

So I realized that maybe until I get that system lined up, I should try to do the self promoting things artists are supposed to do. So when I got a forwarded email from my school about do I have any art dealing with faith or spirituality to display for 4 hours at the grand opening of a new faith and spirituality themed floor of a dorm on my campus, I sent a picture and my contact info and now in October I have to hang up my Ganesha painting in public outside of my room and maybe put my name on it.

I can't tell if this is a baby step. It feels like a medium step. It was certainly easy. The only criteria for inclusion was that my piece be smaller than 3'x3' and not profane. And I used a piece I already painted. But at the same time, I am doing something extra that I have not done before. It seems like a solo show (omg, the thought makes me want a giant fuzzy womb to hide in... oh. I am maybe very good at the business of managing my needs) is like miles and miles and miles away from plausibly happening in the next five years.

Oh, why is my art so bad, and why is there so little of it?

Review: Melitta Coffee Maker

Recommended.
More Details:

Looks Like this. Came with that mug.
The hotel provided this nonsense, which I used to heat the water.
Before:
After:
Note that I got my necklace ribbon turned the right way around. I feel pretty tired but that's good because I can sleep on the 4 hour car ride from Ventura to Santa Cruz.

Sock Dream Review

I want to review the socks I ordered from Sock Dreams as my splurge last paycheck. I spent 35 dollars for 5 pairs of socks (shipping is free). To me that is a lot to pay for socks. But I only pay retail for socks, shoes, and underclothes, and if I am going to pay full price for something I want it to be exactly what I want. Also, they are so big and long that I never lose them.

The Sock Dreams website has details about how high and stretchy all their socks are, and they have testers of different shoe sizes and leg lengths and circumferences, but instead of finding a measuring tape I just eyed the model and imagined how the sock would look if I made it stretch more in width. On this round of socks that didn't totally work so I found the tape and measured everything out and compared with their recommendations. I have fattish legs that are long for my height, which is 5' 3".

These are my leg circumferences, from the ground up:

ankle:9"

calf: 14"

above knee: 15"

thigh: 26" at the top, 20" at the part that thigh highs are usually worn.

inseam: 31"

So here are my reviews:

M Stripes Thigh High Socks- $8

From the website description:

Will fit up to 20-inch thighs, maybe 21. They will fit 19 inch calves nicely, though the tops may not go up too high if your legs are larger than 21 above the knee. For more top stretch, you might try cutting off the cuffs and wearing them with sock garters. Length is easily 30 inches from heels to tops.

These are beautifully long and after I pulled them as high as the cuff would go (which made my leg puff out around the cuff) I had some still scrunched up. Also, as I was pulling them on the cuff separated from the sock. So it looks like I will be doing their garter suggestion.

M Stockings Long Ribbed Socks- $10

Description:

45 inches from toe to top before you put them on, less once they stretch to go on your legs. These should fit a standard medium range & smaller, fitting 22 inch thighs snugly and comfortably. We found that, thanks to the ribbing, these stay up quite well!

These are amazing! Very snug because they are ribbed all the way up, and the foot is cushy and thick. My leg pooches out the top a little bit but these are so warm I will wear them in the dead of winter so my skirts might be a little longer. They are very sturdy feeling. I scrunched them down below my knees and it was like wearing soft boots. I am not sure what shoes I can wear them with because they are so thick. Also, the ribbing makes my legs look a lot wider and stocky, which I can't figure out because they only add maybe 2mm on each side. I like the stockiness, it works very well in brown, but I am not sure about the effect if I bought one of the lighter colors.

O Basics- $6

Description:

These start at approximately 24 inches from heel to top, but may only be knee-high on longer legs or thigh- high on shorter legs. The other colors should be fine up to 17 or 18 inches. Anyone with a calf circumference of less than 16 inches should have no problems with any of them.

My very favorite socks in the world are the O Basics. They are cotton and they are just perfect with everything! They come in 27 colors! However most of them don't look like my kind of colors. There are a lot of pastels and dark colors. I like brights and neutrals. I have dark brown, denim, gold, natural, plum, and teal. They need pulling up after walking somewhere, and I think the denim pair I just leave at knee height because they shrank in the dryer or something. The O basics look really nice with my low heeled character shoes, and I usually wear them with plain flats (my school is in a forest so heels aren't the best).

Brown Knees Over the Knee Stripey Socks $6

Description:

Medium size range, fits about shoe size 6-10.5. Larger feet may fit into these, but will likely wear through the toes and heels sooner. Length about 25 inches from heel to tops (or less when worn, depending on your leg size). Width is 19-20 inches at the tops but only 17-18 on the calves.These can be a bit loose around the feet and ankles.

this picture makes them look so cute! Maybe the bagginess is cute, but it's not comfortable to me.

I wouldn't buy these again. I think these would look nice with knee length pants, which I don't intend to wear. The brown and the blue are cute but I like stripes that contrast a whole lot. And, they are indeed loose around the feet and ankles. I think I will see if my mom or boyfriend want them. It's cool that you can pick from a lot of different base colors and a lot of different stripe colors, but they are too baggy on my feet.

Thigh High Topless Fishnet- $5

Description:

Label says: One size fist most (90-160 lbs), but we've had feedback telling us they fit much larger folks very well!

Love! Definitely need garters but these are so comfy. I was surprised how soft the material is when I opened the package. The diamonds are very small compared to the other fishnets I have which means more warmth and less dramatic lines. I think they sort of diffuse light over my legs. The effect is a little like pantyhose. I bought these in beige and they're rather paler than my summer legs. I think that looks fine, but I know they will look totally different on my winter legs.

After trying a few pairs of socks over them I think ankle socks are perfect because I like how long my legs look this way. These are Leg Avenue brand, which I usually avoid because I like cotton socks and their socks are all nylon, sheer, not breathable, and made for thinner legs than mine. However fishnets are so stretchy and open that none of that affects the wear. They don't have a reinforced toe which is silly, and they caught on my rough fingertips and toes, but they are strong so that doesn't make them run. I definitely want more but none of the colors catch my eye.