The Adventures of the Red Cat

Finally! A Decision!

2009-06-14T13:33:00.003-05:00

Some of you probably know that I'm working on a Masters in Library and Information Science. It's a field that interests and excites me and I love it!

However, long story short, some issues have come up with the program I'm currently in. I'm not going to go into all the frustrating details, but it's something that's been stressing me out since February. It's been a lot of "wait-and-see-what-happens" and worrying. A month or two ago, I started to seriously look at transferring schools and UW-Milwaukee topped my list. Turns out that the school I'm currently at decided to partner with UWM and make it easy for those interested students to transfer to UWM's online program while still keeping a lot of credits. I went to an informational meeting on Wednesday about the deal the two schools came up with and finally came to a decision-I'm transferring.

I filled out the applications this weekend and just have to drop off one of them at my current school so they can forward all my application information and transcripts to UWM. I'll be giving up the face-to-face interaction and since I have 21 credits and they'll only take up to 18, I'll lose a class, but I think it will be a better fit with me personally and I won't run the risk of not receiving an ALA accredited degree and won't have to wait years until I'm finished.

It's amazing how much better I feel now that a decision has finally been made and I've taken action. Granted, I'm still stressed since I'm not technically accepted as a UWM student and it'll be hard turning in the application at my current school and saying "I don't want to go here anymore", but at least something is being done.

My Favorites, Card 2

2009-06-04T19:22:00.003-05:00

"The Raven" was made for one of my Quickie swaps, in which the participants have a week to make a card and send it in the mail. You can only use stamps that are already carved and materials that you have lying around the house.

This stamp is kind of a spoiler. I originally carved the image for a box in North Carolina (it's missing last I heard), but I loved the image so much that I carved a smaller version and made it into a hidden in plain sight box. My cat broke the "in plain sight" part, so it might be retired unless I can fix it.

The background is just black cardstock with handpainted swirls in a metallic green paint. Each card is (obviously) a little different. I love that paint. I can't use it often because I'll start looking around for things to paint. Very dangerous.

Blah

2009-06-03T20:02:00.003-05:00

I've been feeling very uninspired and, well, blah lately. I haven't been happy with most of the cards I've been making and I've been feeling that they aren't "good enough" (for lack of a better phrase).

So I'm going to go through cards that I've made and point out a few of my favorites. Maybe that'll get me going again.

The one in this entry is my favorite of my cards. It's "Eilwynn" from an Amy Brown swap. I love carving fairies and I absolutely adore carving Amy Brown fairies (I have one of hers sitting in my "Images I really want to carve" file that I really want to do this summer. It's kind of dark, but it fits my mood right now).

Anyway, this is Eilwynn. The scan doesn't do her justice. I saw this image and just fell in love and I'm very glad that my stamp is pretty close to the original. The colors are gorgeous-shades of brown and a beautiful light blue. It took forever to color all of the cards, but it was worth it. The ribbon is a sheer, irridescent blue held on with brass brads. The main part of the card is just cardstock (I think the name of the color is "mink"). This card is different than what I usually do in that it actually has some embellishment. It's still simple. I usually don't have the patience to deal with fiddly-bits, but sometimes I suck it up.

Speaking of Letterpress...

2009-03-29T14:22:00.004-05:00

I love carving letterpress images. They're usually elegant and look fantastic as stamps (as well they should, since they start out as a kind of stamp). This card, "By the Light of the Moon", was made last September in preparation for Halloween (my favorite holiday). It's a layered stamp. The first layer is the blue/teal color, then the yellow moon and the black outline is last. It was my first three layer stamp (up until then, I had only done two layers) and I like the way it turned out. The design is also very forgiving if you don't line up the pieces exactly right, which I always like. The stamps are on white copy paper and then just attached to a piece of grey cardstock. Simple, like all my cards.

The stamps were hidden in Bloomington, MN for my annual Fall/Halloween gathering. Unfortunately, it might be missing. *sigh* I haven't had a chance to go and check on it and don't know when I will between the crazy overtime at work and school. Ah well.

Letterpress!

2009-03-29T14:06:00.004-05:00

As frustrated as I am right now with my MLIS program, it has given me some fabulous opportunities and taken me to fantastic places. The latest is The Nomadic Press, a letterpress business that's in St. Paul. It's a one-man outfit in an old storefront just across the river from downtown. The first floor is the printing business and the second is his wife's graphic design office. My professor for the class I'm in right now is friends with the owner, so he arranged for us to get a peek at how presses work.

The Nomadic Press has three presses-one from the 1800's, one from the 1920's and the "newest" one is from the 1950's. The oldest one is a hulking beast that actually seems alive. It can feed its own paper and will "breathe" when it grabs a new piece. We saw the one from the 1920's in action. You have to manually feed in the paper and it's very easy to see how dangerous presses are. Too slow and you can get your fingers snapped off!

We actually got to print something using the one from the 1950's. The owner had a collection of old print blocks that date back to the early 1900s and later and we each got to pick one. I, of course, gravitated towards one of his oldest blocks. It's a little fairy (she didn't scan very well) that's about an inch high. Since it was so old and worn, there was a lot of adjustment that had to be done with the bed of the press, which I got to do (with supervision, of course)!

The entire shop was littered with fonts and frames and ink and gouge carving tools and I couldn't help but think of letterboxing. There is a lot of overlap, from the setting of type so that it prints correctly to the creation of new printing blocks/stamps and selecting the right ink, etc, etc. Maybe this summer I'll ask the owner if he would be open to having a letterbox in his shop...

If you ever have the chance to get a tour of a letterpress business, I would highly recommend it. And if you're in the Twin Cities area (or even outside Minnesota), definitely check out the Nomadic Press if you need invitations, business cards, etc printed. He does fantastic work!

Persephone

2009-02-23T19:16:00.006-06:00

This card was created for Esmerelda's "It's All Greek to Me" swap, which was Greek gods and goddesses themed. I had to do Persephone. I love myths and legends and the story of Persephone has been a favorite of mine since I was little. She was a fertility goddess and at the same time, the goddess/queen of the Underworld. This dual nature has always intrigued me and over the years, she's become one of my favorite goddesses. For more information about Persephone, check this site out.

For the card, I wanted to bring out her two sides, but I couldn't figure out a "cool" way to do so. I ended up using some spring wrapping paper that I ripped and then taped to a dark colored cardstock. Persephone is heading towards the dark side of the card (representing the Underworld) and looking back towards the earth (the wrapping paper). I don't know if anyone caught that, but it was the best I could come up with. I wasn't terribly happy with it when I first made it, but now that a few months have passed, I really like it. The wrapping paper is so vibrant and I think it contrasts nicely with the dark cardstock.

Ugh, How Ugly!

2009-01-17T10:33:00.009-06:00

Once upon a time, there were two LTC swaps in which the participants were to use the ugliest paper in their collections and to just cut it up and stamp it. No embellishments. Participants in each swap would vote on the ugliest card in each swap and the winners would receive a special, one of a kind LTC as a prize.

Group 1 winner: Pink and Green Psychedelic Vomit by The Red Cat
Group 2 winner: Hey, Who You Callin' Ugly? by FreezyCat of Bikercats

We decided to have a little friendly competition and see which paper the LTC community thinks is the ugliest. We both think our respective cards are eye-searing, but here's a chance to let your opinions be known!

Here they are in no particular order:

Hey, Who You Callin' Ugly

Pink and Green Psychedelic Vomit

So, which one is uglier?

Seriously, does it need to be this cold?

2009-01-14T17:14:00.002-06:00

As I'm sure most of you have heard, the Midwest is under a severe cold snap right now. It's a brisk -6 with a -26 windchill right now. It's supposed to get down to -20 tonight with a -35 windchill. It does not need to be this cold. Seriously.

One of my favorite things to do when it gets this cold is to bury myself under a blanket with a cup of tea and a good book. I'm currently working on Stardust by Neil Gaiman and The World Without End by Ken Follett. A nice fantasy book and a huge historical epic-perfect for forgetting how cold it is outside.

The LTC featured in this post is called "Reading Pixie" and was made for a Fairy swap. The little pixie is so cute-I love his antennae. It's stamped in brown on tea-stained paper that I printed part of Mr Simonelli, or The Fairy Widower, a short story by Susanna Clarke, one of my favorite authors. I figured using a story about fairies would be appropriate, even though most people would have no idea what the story is. There's also a little rhinestone under the pixie. I wasn't quite sure about the orange paper and the burgundy background, but I think it works in a weird kind of way.

Studio Ghibli

2009-01-03T19:44:00.005-06:00

I'm a huge Miyazaki fan. Howl's Moving Castle is one of my all time favorite movies.

This card is called Studio Ghibli Logo (very creative title, eh?) and was made for a Studio Ghibli postal ring. It was a little bonus present for members of the ring. The stamp was originally carved for another Miyazaki postal ring. It was my first time carving Japanese and I think it turned out pretty well. Also some of the smallest letters I have ever carved.

Another thing that I've noticed by looking through my cards is that I love using origami paper. And, yes, this one uses origami paper. :) I used a pack of blue-themed paper and each card has a different blue paper background. I love the texture of this paper-it feels like very thick rice paper. Usually when I use origami paper, I'll mount it on cardstock since the origami paper is very, very thin.

I have another Miyazaki LTC available, Lupin III: Lupin and His Gang if there are any Miyazaki fans out there who would like one. And yes, that one has origami paper as well. :)

I have a ton of Miyazaki stamps lying around (mostly of Howl's Moving Castle and Lupin III), so expect more Miyazaki/Ghibli cards from me.

The Snow Queen

2009-01-03T16:12:00.004-06:00

Wow...I'm really bad at this whole blogging thing. :P I've been kept busy between finishing up the term, being sick and the whole holiday thing. So here's an LTC that fits the season. We're in the midst of a winter storm here in Minnesota (there's "freezing drizzle" right now according to weather.com-I'm not venturing outside to check).

The Snow Queen was made for a regular bi-monthly swap. This was the first card that I made for that group. The theme was winter, so I turned to the Hans Christian Anderson tale. I love old illustrations for fairy tales and I love how this stamp turned out. It's just stamped on plain white paper that I mounted on a metallic white card stock and a stripe of metallic icy blue cardstock. The colors are really pale, so they don't show up too well in the scan, but I love the sheen of the papers. The faint little dots are course glitter that I sprinkled on the blue paper. I wanted it a little more glittery, but the glitter looks a lot like the heavy snow that we sometimes get, so I traded glittery for snowy. This was the third LTC that I made and I've found that I like using the whole "stripe of contrasting paper" thing on a lot of my cards. My cards are usually about the stamp, so it's a good way to showcase the stamp image.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

2008-10-29T16:42:00.002-05:00

I usually don't post pictures of LTCs that I still have available, but this one is applicable to what I did this past weekend.

Evan and I went to go see Cinematic Titanic on Saturday night. It's several of the people who were involved with Mystery Science Theater 3000 basically doing the same thing with really bad horror movies. Saturday's selection was Blood of the Vampires. It was an absolutely ridiculous movie. Apparently, the Phillipino actors that they got to play the servants didn't have "hispanic" enough skin, so they put them in black face. Really really bad and offensive black face. Needless to say, the Cinematic Titanic guys had a field day with this.

If you ever get a chance to see Cinematic Titanic, I would highly recommend it. They are hilarious!

About the LTC: The stamp was originally carved for the Great Lakes 2008 gathering that celebrated all things Minnesota. I never really got a lot of the MST3K jokes until I moved to Minnesota since they reference a lot of local places and people. Now it just adds another level, so I had to carve an MST3K stamp. I'll probably end up hiding the stamp somewhere near Hopkins, MN. The stamp image is embossed on movie posters of some of the films they skewered on the show. The posters are: "The Brain Who Wouldn't Die" (my personal favorite-I love the woman's face on the card), "The Sidehackers" (Hard riders! Mounted on BURNING STEEL! With only their leathers between THEM and HELL!") and "Teenagers From Outer Space" (Thrill-crazed space kids blasting flesh off humans!).

I only have "Teenagers From Outer Space" and "The Sidehackers" available if anyone would like one.

A Permanent Souvenir

2008-10-29T16:26:00.004-05:00

It was five years ago today that I got my first (and so far only) tattoo. I was studying in Bangor, Wales and thought it would be the perfect time to get a tattoo. A friend and I took the train to Llandudno and we both got inked.

I've never regretted getting it and probably never will. The term I spent in Wales changed me and I fell in love with the rugged beauty of northern Wales. (If you ever get a chance to go to Wales, you have to go-it's amazing!) This tattoo is like a little piece of Wales that I get to carry around with me for the rest of my life.

The tattoo is a celtic knot-type design with three cats. My mom still swears that all she sees is fish, but trust me, they're cats. If you can't see them, their tails are the outer circle and their eyes, ears and a paw are towards the center. The stamp is about the same size as my tattoo and was originally carved for a postal ring. I'll probably turn it into a traveler at some point. The LTC is just a print out of a road map around Bangor (the red star is Bangor) and then I embossed the imprint of the stamp. This was my first attempt at embossing and it looks a little spotty, but I think it adds to the "tattoo-ness" of the image since it looks like a tattoo that has been freshly inked. I love this card because of it's meaning and the fact that you can see three of my favorite cities-Bangor, Conwy and Beaumaris.

Oh, and where is this tattoo? You'll never know. :P

Ok, maybe not. It's on my lower left back and you can sometimes see it when I bend over. Which is how my parents found at that I got a tattoo.

Where Have I Been?

2008-10-21T17:15:00.003-05:00

Wow...this hasn't been updated since May!

Where have I been?

Short answer: Around

Slightly longer answer: Let's just say it wasn't a very fun summer.

Nothing particularly bad happened. It was just a difficult summer.

There were a few good things:

Spent the 4th of July in Marquette, MI with my parents, brother and aunt & uncle and their families. The last time I was in Marquette was about 10 years ago. That trip really made me realize that Marquette and my aunt & uncles' house on Lake Superior had a huge impact on me and my childhood memories. I can stand in the middle of their lake house and tell you the view from the windows and where things are in the house.

Finally hit 300 finds! Find 100 was in the Outer Banks, find 200 was on Mercer Island in Washington and find 300 was in Chanhassen, MN. About time I have a milestone in the state I actually live in.

School has started again. I'm taking two classes: Management of Libraries and Information Centers (yuck!) and Preservation and Conservation (yay!). The Preservation and Conservation class is the first of the archiving classes and is absolutely fascinating. That class makes me excited about school again. The Management class is the last of the "required" classes that I have to take, so I can't wait until it's over!

The LTC at the top of the page is "Lotus Blossom". It's one of my stress relieving cards, meaning just use materials that I have on hand when I'm feeling frustrated and just need to do something fun (which happened a few times this summer). It didn't scan very well, but I like it. I used three different patterns of origami paper for the background.

Cycles Perfecta

2008-05-15T21:14:00.005-05:00

In honor of "Ride Your Bike To Work Week", here's a bicycle-themed LTC. The stamp was originally carved for the first Mucha ring last year (which was absolutely amazing!) and, yes, the stamp is actually 2.5 x 3.5 (well, it's actually a little smaller since there's a little border on the cards). My favorite part was carving the hair. I love carving flowing hair-it's so fun!

It's colored with my trusty set of colored pencils. I honestly don't know why I like to use colored pencils on so many of my cards. It takes forever to color them, yet I do it over and over. It just looks so pretty.

I'll probably end up planting this stamp eventually. I kind of want to put it near a bike path (for obvious reasons), but this is one of those stamps where if it goes missing, I am not carving it again. I nearly went cross-eyed carving it the first time! Maybe I'll think about putting it in a bike shop. Less chance of it going missing. Hmm...

The Age Old Question

2008-04-23T18:25:00.002-05:00

Last year, I sent out a postal that attempted to answer one of the greatest questions known to man: Who would win in a fight, pirates or ninjas?

After crisscrossing the country, visiting letterboxers, attending gatherings, and avoiding traps by the various anti-pirate and anti-ninja factions, it has returned home!

Here are the results:

Pirates would win in a fight: 19 votes
Ninjas would win in a fight: 21 votes

And one write-in vote for dinosaurs eating them all.

Read on for the highly scientific and totally based in fact reasons for voting.

Pro-Pirate:

"They have no moral code...while the ninja is whipping around, the pirate will use his cutlass." -Dewberry

"We may be drunks, but we are deadly! Slow of wit but sharp of blade, we shall rule the world!" -Kittenwithoutmittens

"Ninjas require a full face mask, but pirates can make do with but an eyepatch. And besides, pirates have a kick-butt flag!" -wassamatta u

"They have way cooler outfits and get to sail around in awesome ships!" -Bikercats

"Rat Queen says that if a ninja was after her, she'd run away. But if a pirate was after her, she would run away screaming. Mr. M7 says that the pirates would win because they have no honor. We all agree that dinosaurs would eat them all." -Murray7

"Pirates have the best music! Jigs, reels, hornpipes and Wages of Sin is a cool pirate-punk band!" -dbltall

"While the ninjas have the turtles, the pirates have Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. Plus pirates have cannons, guns and swords." -Team MTpt101

"They are like the Peter Pan of the sea. Stealing from the colonial powers who were stealing from the natives." -Anthrogradjess

"Mama Fox and Baby Fox are on the pirate side and it has nothing to do with Johnny Depp as Capt. Sparrow-ok, well, a little. And pirates have much cooler clothes and get to hang out at the beach-what more do you need?" -The Little Foxes

"With pirates as good looking as Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, we'll always win!" -Mama Bear

"The clothes say it all...one has style, the other is boring! And the weapons...little flying discs vs a cutlass & a black powder pistol." -Feather

Pro-Ninja:

"My sons are adamant that the ninja is the superior fighter-they think it's no contest!" -Dewberry

"This Jedi votes ninja-training is everything!" -SHH/The Inky Jedi

"I'm with the Jedi. My heart is with the pirates, but the ninjas have ruthlessness and discipline. A scary combination." -Dale End Farm

"Ninjas are sneaky. Pirates are drunk. Ninjas have stars and can attack from afar. Pirates are drunk and fumble for a sword. Ninjas are quiet and can stay that way for a long time. Pirates are always singing about drinking while they are drunk." -Littlemonkey

"The pirate might put up a good fight, but ninjas are scary, deadly dudes." -Celtic Quinn

"The pirates would be drunk and the well-trained ninjas would quietly take out each pirate till they were all 'dealt' with." -NeNe

"The pirates would be more fun at a party, but in a fight, the well-trained ninjas would win." -The Box Hunters

"1. Ninjas are mammals. 2. Ninjas fight ALL the time. 3. The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people." -AfghanPenguin

"Ninjas have way better movies. Also, you only need one ninja to defeat a whole crew of pirates." -Lucky Charm

"Ninjas are awesome!" -DK

"While I think it would be great fun to hang out with Orlando Bloom (*wink*), I do think the ninjas could win battles-so ruthless and deadly." -Scrapper

"Foxy boy is convinced Ninjas would win...they are much sneakier and more elusive." -The Little Foxes

"Ninjas are totally cool!" -Baby Bear

"Ninjas would win-with the power of the cat." -Team BearCat

"I visited a ninja house in Japan and know that they are disciplined, sharp and STEALTHY." -Cat Eyes

"Ninjas are best because they wear black and they don't have to worry about getting seasick." -PAWS

"Stealth, agility, grace and incredible bodies-ninjas all the way! Besides, with all that rum pirates drink, they're too pickled to win!" -mudflinginfools

"Ninjas all the way! They are too quick for any pirates to get their swords or guns out!"-Gargoyle Girl

"They are better at distance and stealth fighting. Ninjas do have a code of honor, but that does not mean they are slow or weak! It is an advantage to be organized and disciplined." -The Gillespie Tribe

More Schoolin'

2008-04-12T12:59:00.004-05:00

The class I'm taking this semester is about user instruction, which means it's really an introduction to teaching theories and methods. And, of course, some actual teaching. I avoid getting in front of a crowd to speak whenever possible and even if you meet me on a one-on-one basis, I'm really quiet. Needless to say, I'm counting down the days until the class is over.

I'm in the process of working on my final project for the class. It's a 45 minute lesson on something involving the library science field I want to go into once I graduate. Since my areas of interest are special libraries and archives (which, coincidentally, has the least amount of user instruction) it's a bit harder to figure out what I want to teach. The other people in my class are all going into school media centers, academic libraries or public libraries (which all involve lots and lots of user instruction), so they've been doing the usual "This is how the catalog works, etc, etc." The only other archives student in my class made up an archive (that specialized in artifacts relating to pirates, yar!) and went over the rules and how to use a finding aide. I'm going to focus on corporate libraries and do a re-interpretation of a presentation that I've sat through at work.

And because of my procrastinating ways, I have two weeks to pull it together. I'm hoping to get a large part of it done this weekend while the weather is certainly un-springlike. As I type this, I'm watching the falling snow being whipped around by the wind. It's April! At least the snow isn't sticking. If the weather was nicer, I'd be seriously tempted to go out and find my first letterbox of the year now that most of the snow has melted. I have a serious itch to go letterboxing, but haven't been able to all winter since we've had a continuous snow cover since December. If I get enough work done this week, maybe I'll escape out to the woods next weekend and find a box or two. If not, then I'll get my fix at the Northern Iowa gathering in May and the Great Lakes gathering at the end of May. I don't know how much 'boxing I'll get to do as the host of the gathering, but that whole week is going to be like one big party for me. There's Memorial Day on Monday, my birthday on that Thursday, and then the gathering on Saturday. Maybe I'll finally break 300 finds for my birthday!

Enough procrastinating for now...

Stella!

2008-03-22T11:13:00.005-05:00

No, not that Stella!

I originally carved Stella for a postal ring. She's just a piece of clip art that I received from the weekly Dover Sampler email (it's from the publishers of all the Dover books-things like clip art, textures, etc. Every week they send out a free email that has samplers from their various publications. There's a lot of good material for stamps-like Stella!). I carved her in about an hour and a half, which just seems amazing when I look at all those little stars. She's about 3.5 inches tall and about an inch and a half wide. As a postal, she was almost lost twice and now that she's safely home, I don't think I'll ever plant her in the wild since I love the stamp too much. That seems a little silly, since it's just a piece of rubber, but I would be heartbroken if she went missing.

The "Stella" LTC is black paper with gold glitter, gold paper and then Stella stamped in black.

The Perfect Latte

2008-02-09T19:48:00.001-06:00

The Tea LTC group decided to move on to coffee for the next round. I chose to do my favorite coffee drink-a latte (well, a skim latte with plenty of foam and a raw sugar sprinkled on top in a cup and saucer). The best lattes that I've ever had have been at a sidewalk cafe in Florence, Italy (I guess that one was really a cappuccino, but it was absolutely amazing!) and at a coffee house in Seattle. I love the artwork that the barista creates using milk and espresso. When I worked at a coffee bar in college, I would always try to create swirls and whorls every time I made a latte. I had to incorporate the coffee art somehow into the card. I created the stamp from a photo from the internet. It was absolutely amazing to see some of the coffee art that's been created-flowers, leaves and even a couple of characters from Miyazaki films.

The bottom card is an advertisement for Rajah Coffee from the late 1800s drawn by Henri Meuniere. It was also available for trade in a full-color version for non-trading group members. It was one of those images that the second I saw it , I had to carve it.

My First LTC

2008-02-05T16:21:00.000-06:00

Yes, I've gotten into the whole LTC (Letterbox Trading Cards, although I think Letterboxer Trading Cards makes more sense since letterboxers are the ones making them and the stamp might not end up in a letterbox. But what do I know?) craze. It's not surprising really when you consider my little paper fetish. It gives me yet another excuse to buy pretty paper and carve stamps.

The one above can be blamed for getting me hooked on LTCs. It was created for a tea-themed swap last summer. I love carving Asian images and I love how this stamp came out. It's one of those that I just stare at every time I come across it while rummaging through my stamps and think "Did I really carve that?" I hate having it sit in my drawer o' homeless stamps, so I'll have to find a suitable place to hide it. Maybe in or near a Japanese garden. There are six different origami paper backgrounds to this card and I got quite the kick out of asking people which background they received. I had no idea which one I would would receive back, but this red one is one of my favorites. It was one of the patterns in a package of origami paper that I bought at Uwajimaya when I was in Seattle last July. I also love the T'ien Yiheng quote on the back:

"Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world."

My Neighbor...

2008-01-31T16:17:00.000-06:00

Snow Totoro!

Well, technically Totoro is a couple of blocks away.

I drive past this house on my way home from work every day and I just get this huge grin on my face every time.

Coming Soon...

2008-01-18T19:45:00.000-06:00

As SpringChick announced on the Great Lakes Yahoo! board this morning, I will be hosting the Great Lakes Gathering 2008 in Minnesota. This is the first year that Minnesota has the gathering and will definitely be the biggest gathering in Minnesota letterboxing history (at least so far). The one this past October was about 30 people. Attendance at the annual "Big" gathering is usually 100+. So if anyone is looking for some place to visit the weekend of May 31st (hey, that's right after my birthday!), Minnesota is lovely that time of year. This weekend I'll be working on finalizing the location (probably what I'm most worried about right now) and will announce the location hopefully by Wednesday.

I'm excited about it, but definitely very nervous. It will be the biggest gathering I've hosted and I plan on enlisting the help of Minnesota letterboxers.

Those of you who have hosted large gatherings, do you have any advice?

It's Official...

2007-11-26T17:24:00.000-06:00

I hate Mondays. I hardly ever have good Mondays.

I put in my request for my Christmas PTO this morning at work. My supervisor emailed me back and said that it was tentative. This afternoon he emailed me back and said that my request had been downgraded from "tentative" to "unlikely to be approved". That means I will be spending Christmas in Minneapolis. It's the first time in my entire life that I haven't spent Christmas with my family. I'm not particularly religious, but I do think of Christmas as family time and I love the warm, safe feeling that I get when I go to bed (in "my" bed with my heavy down comforter and my parents just across the way) and the smell of pine in the air. It's also my brother's birthday.

My parents are discussing what to do. My dad sounds like he wants to come up to Minneapolis for Christmas and my mom wants my brother and I to come down either the weekend before or the weekend after. It just won't be the same. Christmas Eve is the one time I actually enjoy going to church-mostly because of the candlelight. I know that I can go to a service up here, there are plenty of beautiful churches and I've never seen a midnight Christmas mass, so this would be a good time to go to one. But my parents won't be there. There won't be the drive along the lake to see all the beautiful old mansions decorated for the holiday. There won't be the opening of one present and cookies after church. Or dinner with my grandmother's beautiful china. Or my brother's annual chocolate chip cheesecake birthday cake and my annual complaint of "Can't you pick anything else?".

I know I'm welcome at Evan's family's Christmas, but it just won't be the same.

In the grand scheme of things, me not being able to actually be with my family on Christmas isn't a big deal. At least I have family and other people to share it with. There are people who don't even have that. I'm just amazed at how much this is bothering me. I've been fighting back tears all day. Yesterday I was all excited for the holiday season. I never get excited for Christmas this early. Now I don't even want to think about it and I just feel kind numb.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Have You Hugged Your Cataloger Today?

2007-11-20T20:08:00.000-06:00

This semester of school has certainly given me a new appreciation for what catalogers do.

The Dewey system and I? Well, we get along fabulously. It's like doing a puzzle. A very elegant, nerdy puzzle. Granted, when you get into dropping digits and zeros it gets a bit confusing. And sometimes when you look at a number, you can't really figure out the thought process that the cataloger took, but I love it. A book on breeding racehorses? 636.12. You say you're interested in civil engineering as a profession? 624.023. Doing a Dewey number really reminds me of letterboxing-looking at clues, trying to decipher them to get to the right place, and the "A-ha!" moment when you find what you're looking for. You can really tailor the number to bring out certain aspects of the work. It's fantastic!

My relationship with the Library of Congress Classification System? I want a divorce. There are 44+ volumes (compared to Dewey's sleek four) and there are no instructions (the brief instructions in Dewey seem downright verbose). Granted, it's the Library of Congress and they do pretty much what they want to do and this system obviously works for them. It was created for use only in the Library of Congress and they don't really share the rules that their catalogers use. So us mere mortal librarians (and poor MLIS students) basically have to figure it out based on what others have figured out.

I've spent the past three hours pouring over various volumes of the LoC Classification System for my final exam and I honestly feel like throwing them out the window. There are directions to look at a certain table, but no clues as to where this table is. The descriptions of the headings are vague at the best of times and the indentations screw with your head. Tables are scattered throughout the volumes, so you have to go digging in several different books to find what you need.

So hug the cataloger at your local library and thank them for making it easy for you to find what you need! 'Cause it sure as heck ain't easy to do.

It's Red!

2007-11-18T14:42:00.000-06:00

As I type this, I'm sitting in my favorite coffee shop and sipping chai. I'm supposed to be working on my final exam for my Cataloging class and looking up Library of Congress authority headings, but I'm having too much fun playing with my Christmas present to myself-a new laptop! It replaces my six year old Vaio. I'm quite attached to the old one. It's been through several moves and had even gone to Wales with me, but it was time to retire it. The new one has wireless and doesn't weigh 50 pounds. And most importantly, it's red!

It's been kind of fun going through and adjusting the settings and whatnot to my liking. When it came time to assign it a name, I christened it Childermass. My boyfriend (the man who named our home network "Voltron") saw the new name and said "Childermass? You're naming it after a character in Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell?"

So say hello to Childermass!

Amazing what fifteen years can do...

2007-09-15T17:47:00.000-05:00

This week I received The Little Foxes' contribution to the Quote This! II ring. All of the stamps had something to do with confronting fear and it seemed quite appropriate that I got that this week.

As I've mentioned before, I've started Aikido again after taking a break for fifteen years. I remember how I loved to do forward rolls and being thrown and falling when I was little. I would get this thrill at just effortlessly tucking my body and springing back up in a perfect hamni (stance).

Fast forward fifteen years. Front rolls are the bane of my existence. I hate seeing the floor come up and I dread practicing moves that involve me having to do a front roll. That changed a little this week. Summer is always a bad time for me with headaches and just generally not feeling good, so I haven't been able to go to the dojo as often as I'd like (there's a reason why I live in the northern part of the US!). Now that the weather is getting cooler, I've been going more often and have been able to concentrate more.

This week I felt a little twinge of the thrill I used to feel when doing front rolls. It actually felt good to feel my feet flying over my head and knowing that I am in perfect control. And on Thursday we practiced a move that I have never enjoyed because it basically has the defender turning the attacker's arm in to a staff and launching the attacker into a front roll. I have never been able to do the front roll without hitting my head or hurting my shoulder. But I actually managed to do a decent roll and stand up in hamni. Granted, I still hit my head or roll on my shoulder, but I'm not so afraid of it now.

I'm still amazed that in my (very) long break from Aikido, I became afraid of falling. I went from this fearless ten year old who would try any move, even if it looked really difficult, to a twenty-five year old who cringes when she sees the floor rushing up.

Fear is a funny thing.

Schoolin'

2007-09-09T11:27:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was the first day of my second semester of library school. I'm only taking one class this semester since I've heard from others that this is one of the hardest classes of the program. It's "Organization of Knowledge", which is basically learning cataloging rules. It only meets every other Saturday, but for five hours each time. I honestly don't know if I'll like the class or not. Cataloging has never really interested me, but who knows? I could actually end up enjoying it.

There are a few familiar faces in the class, mostly from my Intro to LIS class. And "That" girl is in the new class. You know the type-always has something to say even if it has nothing to do with the topic at hand, argues almost everything the professor says, asks if every single chart or PowerPoint presentation is going to be posted on the class website, etc, etc. She was in my Reference Services class and by the end of the term, the professor was having none of it. It made for some interesting classes and the rest of us would place bets on how long it would take the professor to shut her down. By the end of class yesterday, I could tell that the professor for this class is going to get quite sick of her quite quickly.

In terms of my other schooling (aikido), the dojo is hosting a seminar this weekend with the head of the Virginia Aikikai Assocation. He's a 6th dan (a sixth degree black belt). They're doing testing this weekend as well. I really wanted to watch the testing since the next time they hold testing, I'll probably be the one being tested. I managed to catch the tail end of the testing after my Cataloging class. The upper ranks were testing and it was kind of intimidating. The whole test for the higher ranks is basically defending yourself against three or four attackers. It was amazing watching a woman probably a little taller than me send three tall men flying. I know that they've all been training for years, but I can't imagine being able to do that at this point. Someday...

The Sculpture Garden

2007-09-03T14:50:00.000-05:00

A visiting letterboxer made her first plant at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden a few blocks from my apartment. It took me two trips to find it, mostly because it's one of those "hidden under a rock in a pile of rocks" clues that I always have problems with. Not that I minded going to the Sculpture Garden. It's always fun getting lost there.

But success!

I walked there early this morning, thinking that there wouldn't be the clumps of people that are always wandering through the garden. There were a few families, but it wasn't too bad.

Of course, there was a crowd around the Spoon Bridge.

It felt really good to get out and letterbox on my own. Lately it's either been too hot or I've had my parents (and less than enthusiastic brother) tagging along. I spent probably about an hour wandering around the garden and visiting all my favorites.

Unbelievable

2007-08-04T10:53:00.000-05:00

It's finally starting to sink in that the bridge is gone.

After I dropped Evan off at the radio station for his show, I had to take the Washington Avenue bridge (two bridges down from 35W) across the river. While I was crossing, Marine One (that Presidential helicopter) flew close to me on its way to the wreckage. As my eyes followed it, I saw part of the wreckage. Only a small section of the northern part was visible-part of the "V". It was kind of shocking seeing an image that I've seen on TV. Up until that point, I had only seen the wreckage on all the news coverage. It still seemed far away. But seeing it in real life was very...odd.

I turned on to River Road and saw that people had parked their cars and were standing and trying to peer into the woods on the bluff. I saw an empty parking spot and went to go see what they were looking at. Marine One had landed at the park across the river and the President was getting into his motorcade to (I'm guessing) go on the closed-to-normal-traffic 10th Avenue bridge to survey the damage. You couldn't really see any of the wreckage due to the curve of the river and the woods on the bluff.

I drove through the Dinkytown/Marcy-Holmes neighborhoods (neighborhoods surrounding the U. 35W is the dividing line of the two areas) and when I crossed over 35W and looked west, my jaw just dropped. Except for the lack of normal traffic and all the police and news vans, it looked normal-the construction barrels were still there, they had just finished paving the on-ramp a few days before. Normal until you got to the start of where the bridge was. There was a sudden drop off and then that piece that's sticking straight up blocked my view of anything else. Once I got to the end of the overpass, I could see the west side of the bridge that's just dangling. I just felt sick to my stomach-partly because of the destruction and partly because of the mass of news vans. I'm only allowed to watch the coverage in the morning, other than that, I avoid it. It's hard at work though. There are flat panel screens that show CNN all day in the elevator lobbies. I saw one "special report" that had the name "The Road to Ruin" plastered across a full span shot of the wreckage. I wanted to find that person that designed it and just smack them. And then Nancy Grace was crying "Terrorism!" within hours of the collapse, even though it was clearly not. My dislike of sensationalist news coverage is at a new all-time high. I lived in Dinkytown/Marcy-Holmes for about five years and it's strange seeing pictures of my old neighborhood with dramatic captions. Especially some of the arial shots that show my old apartment buildings on both sides of the river and the park where I hid my first letterbox.

After doing the errands that I was going to do on Wednesday (the errands that would have put me on the bridge on or near the time it fell), I took the Central Avenue bridge across (it's one bridge to the north of 35W). I couldn't see any of the wreckage, but it was very strange looking over and seeing the 10th Avenue bridge that used to be hidden behind 35W. It was like 35W had never crossed the river there. I drove past the Guthrie and the new Gold Mill Park. People were standing on the hill in the park, watching the meeting with the President and the recovery. There were parents with kids on their shoulders, little ones in strollers, people who had been walking their dog and just decided to stop and watch. It reminded me of when people would pack picnics to go watch a battle. I took the Washington Avenue overpass of 35W and looked east. It looked like nothing had happened. Granted, the highway was empty except for police cars and construction barrels, but since that end has a bit of an up-hill climb, it looked pretty much normal. I couldn't see the wreckage on the other side. It just sloped up and that was it.

I'm happy (it seems wrong to be happy about that-people are still missing) that the number of missing people dropped. There were two people from work (not in my department) who were on the bridge, one is shaken, but fine and the other is in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. I hope Lisascenic's friend is ok. I still can't watch the news without crying, but life is returning to normal. I now live in the Uptown area of Minneapolis, which is about a mile from the bridge, and when Evan and I went out to dinner last night, no one was talking about it and the TVs in the bar/pizza place were tuned to the Discovery Channel and the Twins Game. I think I'm having a hard time getting used to it because I could have been on the bridge. I keep asking myself those dangerous and pointless "What if" questions. What if I had decided to do my errands that day? What if I had let Evan borrow the car to go to the video store? (I would never forgive myself if he had been on the bridge) What if the cats had a vet appointment and I was taking them home from it? Would I have been able to save them? What if it had fallen on Monday when Evan and I were stuck in the same rush hour traffic at about the same time on the bridge? I'm keeping busy and try to stop those questions from running through my head. Nothing is going to get accomplished if I dwell on it. Luckily, we have Evan's 7 year old sister spending the day with us and we'll be busy entertaining her (and we'll avoid the collapse area-I don't know if his dad and stepmom have talked to her about what happened). And (it sounds really dorky), I'm kind of getting excited to see what the new bridge will look like. I know it's a few years off, but will they still make it with no center pier? It probably won't be steel and concrete, what will they make it out of? Will it be all cool and modern looking to fit with the Gehry designed art museum near by and the new ultra-modern Guthrie Theater?

It'll be interesting to say the least.

Le Morte d'Arthur

2007-07-31T20:44:00.000-05:00

As some letterboxers might know, I love trying to translate my favorite works of art to pieces of rubber. Sometimes it works, sometime not so much.

I've always been in love with the illustrations that Aubrey Beardsley did for Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and started carving stamps from the many that he drew.

I planted the first of the stamps-a section of the Title Page-when I was home visiting my parents last weekend. I'll eventually plant the rest around Minnesota and Wisconsin, possibly in other states.

Hopefully I can get around to planting the second one-Merlin-this weekend. We have Evan's little 7 year old staying with us this weekend, so I probably won't get much done.

It should be interesting.

It's almost here!

2007-07-20T20:45:00.000-05:00

My copy of Harry Potter arrives tomorrow!

I'm almost afraid to read it. I hate endings and apparently this is a big one. I'll probably be a mess by the end of it.

Plan for this weekend:

Avoid news broadcasts, newspapers, etc.
Work Paw Pals at the library and avoid discussing Harry Potter with those who are carrying around a copy of HP#7.
Run errands.
HP#7 should arrive around 4 pm.
Read the rest of the weekend. Have box of tissues at hand.

I'm sure I'll love the new one, but I'm dreading finishing it.

And if anyone spoils the ending for me, it won't be pretty.

Has it been that long already?

2007-07-03T21:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my four year anniversary with Evan. Four years! It really doesn't seem that long. We met in a Shakespeare class and started dating the summer before I left for Wales. The "Has-he-popped-the-question?" questions have pretty much died down by now. They resurface around Christmas and Valentines, but we're happy not being married or engaged, thank you very much. Yeah, we'll probably get married eventually, but I just started grad school and Evan just got his first "adult" job, so we're in no hurry to change things just yet.

We stayed in last night, mostly because both of us had to work early today, and had one of our "Asian Stereotype" nights. Meaning we ordered in Chinese, drank sake, and watched anime. Last night's selection was some of the first season of Avatar. Ok, so maybe a Nickelodeon produced show that has it's own Happy Meal toys doesn't technically qualify as anime. It's still a damn fine cartoon.

The best part of all though was what he got me as a present-a gift certificate for Stampeaz! While I do appreciate the gift card, it's more the fact he actually paid attention. Evan puts up with letterboxing. He knows I love it and will go out letterboxing to spend time with me. He's also been known to be amazed by some of the postals I receive. He does complain about the coffee table being my carving table and the little bits of rubber that seem to get everywhere, but he doesn't get too upset because he knows it makes me happy.

I'm really lucky.

Dumping Grounds

2007-06-30T13:50:00.001-05:00

Today's goal: Clean out the screened-in porch.

One of the main reasons Evan and I picked this apartment was the screened-in porch. There's a beautiful old tree just outside that provides shade and we're on a quiet street, so it's the perfect place to sit and read on a summer afternoon.

Theoretically.

In reality, it became a dumping ground for empty moving boxes, seasonal items (note the mini-Christmas tree) and things we just didn't feel like finding a home for at a particular moment. And one ugly mauve loveseat. It was in Evan's "bachelor pad". The thing has no seat cushions.

Cleaning out the porch wasn't really high on the good ole' "To-Do" list - who wants to sit out on an un-heated porch in the middle of a Minnesota winter? But now that the warm weather is here (that and the fact that we've been in the place almost a year), it's time to tackle the jungle of junk.

So today I'm sorting through things, decided what stays (the bike) and what goes (hopefully the couch).

If I disappear, send reinforcements. You know where I'll be.

Try getting him to do this if he has to go to the vet...

2007-06-23T18:54:00.001-05:00

Try getting him to do this if he has to go to the vet...
Originally uploaded by Heather W.

I think the heat (hey! It's hot for Minnesota!) is making us all a bit loopy. For the past few days, Macavity has been hanging out in his cat carrier. I've been meaning to put it back where it belongs, but he just looks so comfy.

It's like his own little kitty fort. Easily defended against maurauding long-haired calico cats.

Back into the swing of things

2007-06-19T20:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm back from vacation. Uh, I mean "YAY! I'm back from vacation!" It's always a bit humbling to realize that every day life goes on without you and that you aren't really as important as you might think.

Don't get me wrong-vacation was fantasic. Give me a few days and I'll get around to uploading my pictures. But it's always hard to come back. I always have to stop and look around and see what has changed.

We've been back in Minneapolis for a couple of days now and things are returning to normal. The cats have forgiven us for leaving them in the care of my brother, I'm caught up at work and I've put a large dent in the pile of postals I received while I was gone. We were only gone a little over a week, but it seems like so much has changed. There's a new tech guy at work (who looks a lot like the character of Mason from Dead Like Me) and another guy at work got married. I have two Bleach episodes recorded that I have to watch and there were two new people at Aikido tonight who joined the dojo last week.

Ah, Aikido! I only skipped three of the classes I usually attend (the basic/beginner ones), but it seems like I've been missing them for months. I almost didn't go tonight, but I'm so glad I did. I felt a bit unsteady, but after the warm-up, I felt more centered than I have in a long time. I've only been doing Aikido for a little over a month, but already I find myself noticing how scattered I feel if I haven't attended class in a while. After a good class (actually, even after a bad one), I feel fantastic-more graceful, more centered, more peaceful. Tonight was a so-so class. My rolls still need a lot of work (something about the floor rushing up to me just freaks me out), but Sensei was pleased that I quickly caught on to the moves we went over tonight. I still don't feel like I'll be ready to test in September, but we'll see. I'm going to start going three nights a week next week.

Lookit me!

2007-05-25T23:06:00.000-05:00

Here it goes..venturing into the blogosphere once again.

I think you get kicked out of library & information science school if you don't have a blog or at least some form of self-publishing. And honestly, I've been meaning to start a new one anyway.

There will be lots of rambling, some letterboxing adventures, stressing out about school, work, and aikido, pretty pictures, yada yada yada-you know the drill.