I hate wasps. Really, I do. After the
fun adventure yesterday, I had to deal with them again this morning. The apartment authorities have decided to pave the pot-hole-filled apartment complex roads this week. All cars have to be moved out of the lots on certain days so they can pave. This would be fine if my car battery would hold a charge. So, I go out this morning at about 9am and check to see if they’re ready to pave yet, as my car is still sitting there. I’m about to go back in when I notice that there are a lot of wasps around. Mostly on my car, in fact. I look around for a nest, even checking in the windows to see if there are wasps flying around inside of my car, but I see nothing. I then open the driver’s side door and attempt to start the car. It doesn’t. I shut the door, lock it, and walk inside to wake up John so we can move the cars before they tow them. I go back out and unlock the car again, and a wasp flies right up and into my car (you’d think I’d have caught the hint, but no). I run back in to grab the wasp killing spray, and come back out to kill it, the car door still hanging open. As I’m chasing around the first wasp, I notice (to my HORROR), that there’s a rather large nest hanging right inside my driver’s side door! I was less than 6 inches from a whole nest of wasps!! It wasn’t nearly as big as the nest that was in my window, but it was still damn scary. I panicked hardcore, then worked up enough guts to spray the nest. Wasps falling everywhere, the queen tries to save some nasty squirming larvae, but she drops them quickly. Oh, it was so nasty. I almost started crying, thinking about how close I’d been to them earlier. I couldn’t bring myself to check the other doors today, but I sure will.
I have issues with wasps. By ‘issues’, I mean that I am scared to wetting myself of them. Bees are tolerable and scare me a little, but wasps just scare me to bits. I run away in a panic, my heart beating so fast it makes me see spots. Usually when one manages to get into the house, John kills it while I hide in the bathroom. Today, however, he’s at school. It was such a nice day out (slightly overcast so it’s not boiling outside yet) that I left the door open so Stumpy could get out. I didn’t pull the screen door closed because it was a bit rainy (thus, no wasps out). I went to eat breakfast and forgot all about it until I heard a very loud BUZZZZZ coming from somewhere quite close to me. My heart in my throat, I looked around. Lo and behold, there’s a wasp checking out the trash bag (they’re attracted to dark colors), less than 10 feet away. I leapt up, knocked over my diet coke, and ran out the front door. My wasp spray was in the other room, so I ran all the way around the apartment and back into the back door for it. But it had disappeared. Where was it? I panicked and ran around the house again, finding the damn thing in the kitchen. I couldn’t reach it except through the ‘nook’ hole in the wall on the other side, so I ran around the house and in the back door yet again. I’m sure my neighbors loved this. John would have been laughing his ass off. I sprayed the hell out of that wasp (and the toaster, fridge, counters and floor), and it finally died. Whew. I waited until it was even more dead before taking a picture from far away.
Since I’ve been feeling restless, I decided to make do with the materials on hand and try my hand at some Kanzashi barrettes. I seriously have to get ahold of the things I actually should be using for this, but these turned out okay anyway. They’re a bit messy, and a bit larger than I had planned on them being, but I like them. I was aiming for something sweet and small enough to wear on a daily basis, but it just didn’t look right any smaller than these. As you can see from the second photo, they don’t look too bad in hair either. I plan on making some nice blue ones once I get the actual materials I need to use.
What I have:
Polyester fabric - too heavy and unflexible
Frabri-tac glue - Too thick and dries too fastWhat I should be using:
Habotai Silk, 5mm - Here. Thinner, easier to work with
Nori Paste - Here. Very slow drying but quite sticky. Allows for repositioning.
Since Kanzashi are becoming more popular again, I thought I’d share some videos I stumbled across back in October of 2004. Edo Hair Ornaments. 5 movie files showing how these things are made. The vocals are in Japanese, but it’s still quite interesting. Here is a site full of real Maiko Kanzashi. You can see how intricate these things get. Gaijin Geisha also makes Kanzashi with a bit more of a modern flair. She makes barrettes too, but they’re the clip-in kind and don’t do well in longer or heavier hair like mine. I wish I could afford to buy one of her more elaborate pieces, but they’re priced at around $100 (And rightfully so! These things are tough to make!).
I’ve been feeling pretty down for the past two weeks or so. I usually am able to get myself out of a slump just by concentrating on stuff that I enjoy, but sometimes I just get so down that I just keep turning back to what I can’t do, or what I don’t like. I’m just restless, I think. I like to DO things. I like to work with my hands, I like to see new places and take pictures, I like to work with kids.. etc. I’m just not one of those people who can sit home all day for more than a week and not feel caged. I need to create. That’s why I’m so crazy-crafty. I like making stuff with my hands. I’m never happier than when I’m sitting in the middle of a pile of glue or paints or paper or costumes… etc. I’ve even found that I like sewing, probably for that same reason. It’s creative too. These two weeks have been difficult for me because I’m lacking the basic materials that I need to be crafty. I don’t have a costume to make, I don’t have new places to take photos, I don’t have the materials I need to make Kanzashi, and I can never draw when I’m down. They always come out looking awful. So, I’m feeling restless. Poor Larken has been trying to cheer me up, but sometimes I just want to sit at home and keep my poopy moods to myself. John’s at his wit’s end trying to find a way to get me un-depressed, but there’s just no cure for restlessness when you have nothing to do all day.
John’s in Peachtree City with his mother this weekend. I seriously needed some alone-time, so he’s gone until late late Monday night. I’ve been trying to concentrate on how nice being alone right now feels, instead of how everyone’s trying to cheer me up. I have to say, it’s mostly working. I felt better yesterday than I had all week. Good enough to clean up the house a bit and work on another web page drawing. Of course, it’s another girl with wings, but this time I’m tempted to give her pink hair. This would seriously kill the blue/orange color scheme I have going on right now, so I’m thinking of changing it to something a bit more pink friendly, but I have NO clue what. Tell me, if you know. Anyway, last night I took a bath for two hours before bed, so I was nice and relaxed. I laid down, and couldn’t sleep. It was awful. I just laid there, staring at the wall, for what seemed like forever. Then I realized that my fingers had been holding the sheets on John’s empty side of the bed. Damn it! I have a perfectly nice day alone, but when it comes time to sleep I can’t because I miss the person who left me alone? Grrr. Stupid. So, I finally got to sleep, but not before feeling even more pathetic than usual.
Back in 1993, Kemco resleased a game for the Super Nintindo called Top Gear 2. It was the second in the set of Top Gear games, and like all of them, was a driving game. Now, you wouldn’t think that a girl would love a driving game, but this quickly because and remains one of my very favorite SNES games ever. I broke it out last night. As you can see from the screenshot, the graphics aren’t much for today, but they were awesome back then. Jared and I played this game together for hours. I’m not very good at video games, and this was the only game that I would kick the pants off of him with. It has a 2 player setting that splits the screen and lets you race against whoever’s got the other controller. I usually came in first and Jared 5th or 6th when we played liked this. I think the best thing about this game is that you can customize the car you drive… Put a better engine in it, put a better gearbox in it.. etc. All of this comes from making money during the races. 1st place gets $10000, 2nd gives $6000 and so on.. This game was one of the few things that Jared and I could do together without killing each other. Every game I won just made him want to play more so he could try to beat me. Eventually, he got good enough to beat me every other game or so, but that was probably a year of practice. Anyway, if anyone does ROMS of SNES games for the PC, go find this one. I think it’d be pretty hard to play without a controller, but it’s worth a shot anyway.
So, everyone knows how Japan-crazy I am, yes? I know more about Maiko (apprentice Geiko) and Geiko (Kyoto geisha) than anyone else I personally know. I know most of the bits used to make the kimono and obi fit, as well as the different kinds of kimono and how to walk in one. I know the shows to wear, and what Kanzashi to wear in what month if you’re a Maiko. I want SO badly to go over to Japan one day, mostly to see a real Maiko or Geiko in Kyoto. In Septembers here, Stone Mountain has a somewhat lame attempt at Japanese culture with JapanFest. I go every year, but I say ‘somewhat lame’ because it could be SO much more. The only reason i really go back every year is to look for authentic Kanzashi and to get dressed up by the two old ladies take your picture in a kimono. The fist time I did this, I thought I was just going to crap myself with joy. It was like a dream come true. Unfortunately, my red hair and lack of white makeup made it look half-assed. I’ve known for a while about the ‘dressing’ places in Japan, where they dress you up and take your picture, then let you wander around for a while as a Geiko or maiko. One day, I’ll get to Yumekoubou in Kyoto, for a real Maiko makeover. They charge 13125 yen, which translates out to about 120 dollars. Totally worth it, should I ever get there. They even have mother-daughter specials, which is awesome because I get my love of Japan from my Mom. ::sigh::
When I was in college, I was rooming in the dorms with my other sister, TaryAnn (you’ll notice she has one entry right now. Most of her entries are friends-only. She’s adding more public ones.). We used to come up with the craziest stuff to do. We recorded ourselves talking into the computer microphone, then sped up the recordings so we sounded like chipmunks chattering at each other. We drank loads of Mountain Dew and Diet Coke. We used to ride office chairs up and down the hallway. She even once talked me into auditioning for a musical ( I’m sure I was the worst audition that night). I drew her crazy pictures and made her climb in the window at night. Of all the nutty stuff we did, the fart contests were the most memorable, I think. At night, we’d lie in bed talking and farting. You know how you can put your hands up to your face and blow through them to make a really loud nasty fart sound? That’s what we did. For hours. TaryAnn’s signature poot was the ‘Do you have a question?’ poot goes up at the end. Mine was the ‘Skid Marks’ poot, the one that sounds like you’re giving birth to a brown blimp. It was awful. I know for a fact that the girls across the hall from us could hear it, because one night I woke up and heard them doing it too! We started a farting fad, or something. Anyway, she just posted a link, just for me, in her LiveJournal. It was so perfect that I had to share it with everyone else. The Ultimate Fart Soundboard It’s great. I laughed myself silly. Try ‘Packing Tape’, ‘Alien Encounter’, ‘Shave and a haircut’, ‘Clucking Chicken’, ‘BMX-Lax’ and TA’s fave - ‘What are you saying?”. Hell, try them all, just don’t shit yourself.
Still sick, but getting better. My fever’s gone today and I even managed to sleep last night! I woke up once at about 5am with a clogged nose, but a snork of Afrin cleared me up again. Today’s the last day I can use it though. Thanks to Kleef and S, I now know that it’s addictive. Who would have ever thought of anyone being addicted to nose sprays? Anyway, after 3 days of waking up every 20 minutes, I finally managed to sleep until noon today. Those three days were also crappy for me because I love to eat. You know how everything tastes funny when you’re sick? That just kills me, so I avoid eating anything but the blandest of foods. After three days of oatmeal, I decided to try something I usually adore: corn dogs. I love corn dogs. I cooked them up and took a bit.. oh, it was rapturous. It was so good, I nearly cried. It was practically orgasmic. I ate way too much, but it was too good to stop.
Blerg. I’m sick. Not just sniffly-sick, but running a fever too. I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. Lather, rinse, repeat. I was awake half of last night because I couldn’t breathe. I kept waking up and thinking “I should take something so I don’t keep waking up..” and then falling right back asleep again. My ears are full, my skin hurts, my head is splitting open, and my nose is running right off my face. Activate snot faucet! I’m supped to go visit John’s dad on Sunday, but I don’t think I’ll make it. He sure as hell doesn’t want this shit anyway. I was feeling pretty bad yesterday for the game, but I went anyway. Larken and Trinny and Tim and BrianS, I hope none of you get sick too. I’ll be keeping myself away from everyone until this gets better. Not that I really want to go anywhere anyway.
Edit: 12:45pm. Things look a bit better with more than two hours of sleep. Thank you, Afrin.
‘Imagine my surprise when I came in this morning to find Stumpy at the computer. I mean, here I thought she was a normal kitty. I backtracked her URLs and found out that she has a blog! www.stumpykitty.com
Okay, so.. no.. I didn’t find her at the computer. Yes, I’m one of those lame people who write blogs for their pets. I got a free domain with the server move, and Meggie didn’t want it, so I registered it for a kitty blog, because I thought it’d be funny. There are already other kitty blogs out there, so I don’t feel so bad about it. I even found an awesome photo-blogging device called Hello that works with Google’s Picassa. It pretty much lets me blog with pictures without transfers and such, for free! It’s so cool I almost wish I were still using Blogger for crickie.com. Almost. Meggie, you should put some damn batteries in your camera and check it out too. I even went to the trouble of getting a RSS feed for the damn page so I could get a Stumpy block here. Now I just need to get one of my LJ friends with a paid account to put it in syndication so people on LJ can friend her. For XML or RSS, the feed is here.
