We've upgraded to the newest version of Movable Type--if you have any weird issues when trying to post comments or anything, or if anything looks strange, please let me know.
And, the newer version of MT Blacklist is very, very nice.
Death to all blog comment spammers. Thanks ever so much for leaving me with almost 200 comments to delete. Yay for MT Blacklist, because otherwise, I might have to hunt these people down one by one and beat them with wet noodles.
I don't get the point either, really. All the crap they post is on all the older entries, why bother? Not only that, but unless my blog is suddenly reaching a wider audience than I'm aware of (though, eep, a co-worker mentioned the other day that his girlfriend had found my blog, and believe me, wasn't *that* freaky), most of the people who read it are my friends, and we're all smarter than that anyway.
Bah. Hate. So much hate.
I am still very freaked out over this whole business thing. (And yeah, if that bores you, skip this one.)
Brett is right in that it's not as if I've invested my life savings into this, and stand to put myself in the poorhouse if it fails, but it's still a bit...well.
This has been a dream of mine for a while, you see, and now it's starting to become reality, and that scares the hell out of me--especially since I have had issues with following through on things for most of my life. No, what I'm doing is real, this time. I have the business license, fictitious business name statement, resale permit, business cards (got those yesterday), and bank account (got that today) to prove it.
Holy shit. What the hell am I doing?
Agh.
Amusing side note: my weekly Cainer horoscope for the week starting last Saturday said that I was overthinking something and that, really, everything was going exactly as it should and that I should calm down. Yeah, I realize that trusting one's entire life to a horoscope is probably not the best way to go about things, but still...I also believe that there are times in one's life where you get a swift kick in the ass just when you need it, and I think I got one.
Now to just believe what I'm reading... :)
Looks like I'm going to be in Tucson from January 31 to February 6. I booked the hotel and everything. I still have to register for the Swarovski classes I want--depending on their availability, I may change the return date somewhat, but...
It's a bit scary, thinking that I'm going to a trade show. I mean, a *trade* show. Eek. It sounds really strange, but this, more than anything, really sort of cements the thing in my mind. The craft fair, the website--they're all steps toward a business, but actually going to a trade show...I haven't stopped to think about it before now, really, and I'm kind of...boggled. I'm not sure why it seems like the huge deal, but it does.
Anyway, so apparently, that two or three week period is just scary out there with shows. Most of them are rock/mineral/gem shows, but the four biggest bead shows in the country will also be there--thus the January 31 arrival. It's a few days before the Swarovski deal starts, so it'll give me time to see some of these other things that are going on. Can't hurt, right?
In case you're interested: http://www.tucsonshowguide.com/tsg/
Someone on my Livejournal friends list posted something about this last night--how memory can be such a funny thing. Smell is one of the big ones, but sound can do it, too--and it happened to me this morning.
The first thing you have to understand is that my mom is the one responsible for a lot of the things about me, especially my love of music. She tells stories about me, four years old, standing up in the back seat and singing Hot Blooded. And let's not forget that John Denver classic, Tokey Oads.
What, she's my mom, of course she tells embarrassing stories!
But then, there was the time she was in town for my high school graduation, and driving me to my last day of school, Rod Stewart's Forever Young came on, and I remember the two of us in the car, crying. She was trying to tell me what the song meant, from her perspective, and just couldn't do it. It was the first time she said she was proud of me, in spite of everything, and the last time I heard it for a good seven years or more.
Or the first concert that I remember going to--Moody Blues at the Huntsman Center in Utah. How she arranged for one of my classmates to babysit my brother, and she and my stepdad went with me, and our seats were so good (even though they were toward the back of the floor section) that we could see the jewelry they were wearing.
She was the Cool Mom, too, the one who volunteered to take me and two of my friends to see Def Leppard. Their parents never knew that she went because she *wanted* to go--and the girls, well, they thought she was just the coolest ever for that. When she agreed to smuggle in film for our cameras along with her, well, that was just the icing on the cake. Most of my pictures didn't develop well. I wish I could remember what happened to them.
So anyway, there's always been a strong connection with music for me. And, perhaps amusingly, none of these things are the reasons why I thought about her, either--not exactly.
On the radio this morning, I heard Jack and Diane, and though I've heard the song a lot since, for some reason, *this* morning, it prompted another one of those memories I'd forgotten I even had. There's a part in the song that says, "Hold onto sixteen as long as you can," and I remember... I was probably 12 or 13 at the time, and very proudly told my mom that I was going to find some way to do that. I'd claim to turn 16 when I turned 14, and claim to *still* be 16 even when I was turning 18.
It wasn't the claiming to be 16 at 18 that bothered her, really, but the thought of me acting like a 16 year old when I was 14. I don't even remember what she said exactly, except that I shouldn't be in such a hurry to grow up.
For some reason, it strikes me funny, thinking back on that, and on the trip I took back to North Carolina the summer I turned 15. I got stuck in St. Louis for a long layover, and ended up with one of the airport's employees hitting on me. He made me take his address and phone number with me when I left--at 15, what was I going to do? I was too pole-axed by the whole thing. It wasn't until I was safely in the air that one of the girls who I was sitting with commented that he thought I was 18. Oops. :)
Swarovski is having a trade show in Tucson the first week of February, that I'm seriously considering attending. That two week period is huge for bead-related activites anyway--five major shows, plus the Swarovski thing, so I figure it'd be interesting/fun to go down there for a week. A few extra days to go to some of the other shows, to see what's down there.
The Swarovski portion is four and a half days, held at the Omni Golf Resort and Spa, so I know it's going to be expensive, and I'm hoping that the trade show people will either be able to get a (really goddamn good) group rate or be able to make recommendations about where else to stay. Just for laughs, though, I checked the Omni website today to check for availability and cost.
Holy shit, almost $350 a night. So, for seven nights, that's...uh. Way more than I want to spend on a hotel to go to bead shows, thanks. I'll just look into other options--preferably before registration for these classes, because if I can't find anything cheaper than that, then there is no trip to Tucson for me.
Ow. $350 a night. Jesus. For that, I should get a toilet that'll wipe my ass for me, and a massage every night. :)
As I've mentioned before, this whole craft fair in November thing is making me really nervous. It's hard to explain why, but I think I summed it up best when I told a couple of people yesterday (both at different times) that I'm the Queen of What If. As in...what if no one buys anything? What if everybody hates it? What if I'm the only booth where people don't stop? What if, what if, what if. And never the positive what if question, never 'what if everyone loves my stuff and I run out of stock while I'm there,' noo, never that.
Figures.
I feel like I'm becoming boring, though, like this is the only thing that I talk about lately. That's not entirely the case--I had a big, long post all drafted up the other day, but figured that no one really wanted to read me ranting about the disgustingness that is the ladies room here at work. I've mentioned that before, but this time, it was just horrible. I figured that I ought to spare you all the agony of it, though--it was really, really nasty.
Oh, I meant to add, I'm really seriously considering the NaNoWriMo thing again this year--even though the past two years have been pretty much miserable failures. Last year, I didn't even get an idea til the month was almost over. Agh. I've had one for awhile now, though, so...we'll see. If I get that far, and if anyone's interested, I suppose I can make it available for viewing, with the caveat that 50,000 words in a month does not make for concise plot lines, tight dialogue, or generally anything that resembles *good* writing. Plus, it'll be fanfic, sort of (but not HP or LotR), so...I don't know. If there's interest, let me know, I'll think about it.
See? There really is more to life than nerves and beads. Heh. :)
Note to self: not such a good idea to take the bead bag to work anymore, really. Bad idea. Really, really bad. Right now, in the bag, I have all the loose Swarovski beads that I own, and...urrh. I counted up how much money's in that bag, and holy crap. No more taking the bag to work. No, no, no. I do not want to lose $700 in beads. Bad. Bad!
In other news, I have two more lovely bracelets, two (soon to be four) new necklaces, and eight pairs of earrings. I am the beading machine. Ack. :)
You folks who see the adfree_crafts community on Livejournal will get this twice, but bear with me, I know a lot of you folks don't see that, and I want to write about it anyway, so you'll just have to live with it. :)
I should also add, for those who can't see/don't read my LJ, I got invited to participate in a craft fair at a community outreach/grand opening of new building for a church last Monday. It's a little odd to be solicited for that kind of thing at a craft store, rather than because I'm part of the church community, but hey--they've said it's going to be really well publicized, I have to do it sometime, and the lady who's organizing the whole thing really loved the bracelet I was wearing, so...hopefully, all of this is a good thing. I'm also going to start looking into other places, too--over the weekend, Jeremy mentioned PantheaCon, which I'm not really sure about, but I'm sure I can come up with something event appropriate, even if I am getting a supremely late start. Maybe I should look into it for the *next* year--2006, that is.
I've also got a website now, though it's not really much more than 'hey, here I am!', it's all under construction and stuff, though the magnificent Clay (who designed the site) showed me how to manage it. (Oh, uh, yeah, y'all want the address, don't you? http://www.angel-moon.com.)
In addition to helping me with the site, the magnificent Clay is also helping me by taking pictures of the stuff, because the pictures that I took were crap. No, really. Craaap. :) It's amazing to watch him work, he thinks about stuff that I never even would've considered. Putting the jewelry against a white background, I knew about that, but who knew about taking a piece of white foam-core posterboard to bounce sunlight onto the stuff? Or that maybe the pure white isn't exactly the best way to go--what about putting stuff on a piece of fabric to accent it?
I have a ton of stuff, and he's taking pictures with both the digital camera and the film camera--he got pictures of four items before the light changed. He's going to come back by on Thursday, a little bit earlier in the day, and take more pictures. Whee. Strangely, the 5am-2pm shift is a good thing for that.
Anyway, for now, here's what I've got.
Bracelet 1 -- crystal, black, and sky blue Swarovski bicones, 4mm, three stranded bracelet. The black and crystal beads both have an aurora borealis finish on them, which gives the pretty rainbow-y tinge. I was going to wear this for my wedding, but decided against it. I can't remember why. This is a really lovely piece when worn--the amount of flash and sparkle that the crystal puts off is just insane. But then, Swarovski in general is like that, I've noticed.
White and Blue set -- sodalite and something, I'm not sure which, 4mm side-drilled cubes, bracelet-earring-necklace set. The side-drilled stuff I got from a bead faire. I wish I could remember where, because I really like them and I'm already out of the sodalite. I'm hoping that I can find them at the next Intergem, which is sometime this month, I think. Anyone up for a trip to the bead faire? I can get into the wholesale area now! :)
Sodalite set -- sodalite and seed beads, fan, 6mm rounds, and 10mm (I think?) ovals, bracelet-earring-necklace set. Amusingly enough, I got the sodalite in this one from Michael's. Both necklace and bracelet have a toggle clasp--I love those things, especially on bracelets, as it's entirely possible to put them on by yourself.
Illusion -- white opal (6mm) and rose alabaster (4mm) Swarovski bicones with spacers, bracelet-earring-necklace set. One of my first attempts at 'illusion' style, and I think it turned out okay. The only issue I have with this one is that the wire is so, well, obvious. The picture shows the wire in the beads in pretty stark detail, too, but it's not as visible in person, so to speak. I have another one that's almost exactly the same as this, but the beads are light green (think peridot) and grey (hard to explain without a picture).
Oh! And for those of you who haven't seen it...I made a necklace and bracelet for my aunt to wear at my wedding--she was my matron of honor. Largely Swarovski, again--capri blue and clear crystal in the necklace, capri blue and comet argent (I think that's what they call it) for the bracelet, which turned out really well. Andrea's set (See? See how much better his pictures are? :)
So...that's what I've got so far. I have some other stuff that I'm working on--same styles but different beads, but also completely new styles, as well. We didn't get a chance to get a picture of any of the magnetized hematite strands, but we'll get that on Thursday. Those are the coolest thing ever. :)
My business cards should get here soon, as well.
Eek.
Is this the part where I mention that I'm feeling rather punched in the gut by it all? Not in a bad way, but in a 'I am scared as hell, but excited, but scared as hell' sort of way. But then, maybe that *is* bad, except that...er. Yeah, babbling. Suffice it to say that I'm both excited at the possibilities and scared of what will happen if. Brett said that it's not like I've got my life savings on the line or anything, and of course, he's absolutely right. In the scheme of things, if it doesn't go anywhere, well, I'm out the cost of registering a domain name and some web space, and I can still bead to my heart's content and hand it all out as gifts.
It'd be really cool if it took off, though, wouldn't it?
And that, I think, is the part that really scares me.
Right, well. Time to get back to work, now that I've babbled on like this. :)
