Handbook for the Recently Deceased

My dog's are absolutely barkin' after yesterday's Zombie Walk through downtown Columbus!

I decided to go against the grain a little bit and wear my Miss Argentina costume. It's really hard to believe that I made that thing back in 2007. It took me about an hour to get into, with ample help from Ryo. I will say that doing the makeup is still a pain in the ass. . . I really need to work on mastering that set of skills. We met up with Pat at work, where he'd spent a good part of the day working on the layers of his zombie makeup. He did a great rushed job on Ryo and Carlos.

The walk was a lot longer than I had anticipated, but a really fun experience. I was a little nervous about wearing a non-zombie costume, but it was really well received and made my day.

doodles and drawings

I draw just about every day - I find it very centering and a refreshing change from my normal creations. I'm not on any deadline, I'm not creating for someone else, I'm on my own and all of these very simple things make for a change that's quite energizing. It's ok if I mess up or they suck or are never completed - because they're not for anyone but me. They rarely see the light of day and I'm ok with that.

Group 7 Clearance

So. . . if you're a Tron fan, you should mosey on over to Flynnlives and get yourself one of these kick-ass badges.

There you can upload a photo, enter certain pertinent information and the fine folks over at Flynnlives will send you an awesome laminated Encom International i.d. badge to help you to infiltrate the greedy corporation's network.

The lanyard just makes it that more official-looking :)

Zip-zap

I feel like I'm on a roll here - using up all of this stuff that I've had laying around for ages feels great! I've had these old brass zippers that I purchased in September of 2001. Now, the only reason I can recall such an inane detail is because this was the very first thrift store I went to when I moved to Columbus. Ah. . . memories.

I chose 2 white, 2 gray, 2 blue and 2 navy zippers and proceeded to cut off the stops at the ends. I removed the pulls and cut the zippers into various lengths. From here, I simply rolled them up into different sized circles and stitched them together. The lazy person in me wanted to stop halfway through and make this into a bracelet, but I persevered and came up with this little necklace.

Shrug It Off

I had a seriously messed up nightmare the other evening. . . I dreamed that I was shot 3 times - once in the breast and twice in the stomach. I was working at a derelict factory with a close friend. We had just gotten off of work and were enjoying each others company as we exited the building. Our laughter attracted a gang of 4 men that seperated us and mocked our good moods and then shot me. I died in my friend's arms as the gang ran off, laughing to themselves and congratulating each other. I have never dreamed that I died, let alone being murdered.

I like to try and suss things like this out, but I'm stumped. I woke up with a pain in my stomach which may or may not have been imagined and I couldn't fall back asleep. My feeling of unease about the nightmare continued well into the next day. . . I thought that your brain simply couldn't handle you dying in a dream and that such a thing wasn't possible.

To help shake the mood, I did a bit of sewing. I'm able to lose myself in the finer details of construction and the little jacket I created did just the trick. I made myself a sunny little shrug of vintage fabric and buttons that I've had forever.

Double Down

We made a pact to try this together - KFC is currently featuring a chicken sandwich called the "Double Down". The sandwich features 2 Original Recipe boneless chicken breasts (you can opt for grilled, but why bother?), 2 strips of bacon, 2 slices of Monterey Jack and pepper jack "cheese" and is topped with a white, creamy substance that KFC refers to as "Colonel's Sauce".

Our original idea was to split one of these and eat nothing else the rest of the day, but we somehow came around to ordering one apiece AND having sides and drinks. Phew!!

It was freshly made and the initial bite was hot and juicy. The soft bacon was a bit lost among all of the other flavors, which was a shame. Maybe if it'd been crispy, it would have added to the texture and I would have noticed it a bit more. I was unable to distinguish between the pepper jack and the Monterey "cheese" - they kind of just blended together into a melty miasma which was highly processed (no surprise there) and not really cheese-like at all to me. As for the Colonel's Sauce - it was very salad dressing-like. . . almost like a peppercorn ranch that was all pepper and no ranch. I suspect this was added to the sandwich to help coat the throat and make the whole thing slide down your gullet without complications.

All of this being said, it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Certain improvements could be made - Pat and I both agreed that adding a honey mustard sauce in place of the Colonel's Sauce would be a step in the right direction. Perhaps adding a bit of crunch would help - I know the coleslaw that I put on a couple bites improved it for me.

It didn't sit in my stomach like a rock and didn't put me into a food coma - of course, I didn't feel like reading up on the nutritional information on it. . . I'm sure that would have had a worse effect on me than eating the sandwich.

Wonderland

Fifer, her friend Amanda and I attended the Wonderland Community Launch - it's really going to be an amazingly creative space when it's complete.

For those of you that don't know, Wonderland is located at the former Wonder Bread factory down near Italian Village. The project will take the sprawling factory and transform it into a studio space/exhibition space/workshop/recording studio/performance venue/rehearsal space/office and retail space for artists, musicians and other various creative types. It's a massive project and I really cannot wait to see what they come up with.

The community launch invited the public to come see the progress that has been made and view the future plans for the space. There were many acoustic performances by local bands and it was great to see the huge turnout.

Flotation Walls played a energy-filled set - watching the crowd get into their performance was show all on it's own.

The costumes got filthy-filthy from all of the machine dust and grease and such. It's going to be a treat to clean them! Wish me luck