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Thursday, August 9, 2007 Okay,
it's time to think about the business.
I hate marketing myself, but I think I need some more (or different)
exposure. Maybe galleries or boutiques
or something. Wish
I had a person who would do this for me.
Ha ha ha! BTW,
I've got to say a huge thanks to Scary Terri, even though she doesn't even
know about this blog. She is being a
huge help to me with the new website.
Terri, you rock! Oh,
made some new stuff, but don't have it listed yet. Wanna see anyway?
Oh, and Monica has a slew of sterling swan clasps made from 18 gauge silver, along with a couple Lampwork bead clasps too. They're hammered, polished, and all ready to be photo'd and listed. Yay! Any
of you ever hear of a place called Trunkt? So,
I'm listening to John Madden on KCBS the other day (okay, probably more like
a few weeks ago). They were discussing
that ref in basketball who was found out to be betting on games and therefore
making calls that might really have had nothing to do with reality, but more
to do with his wallet. Anyway, I'm
thinking, if an athlete knew ahead of time that the outcome of the game was
already determined... if he knew for a fact that it was decided ahead of time
who would win and who would lose, would he still be interested in playing the
game? And
THAT brought me to the thought of: How is this different from those who
believe (strongly) in fate and/or destiny?
What is the fun of playing the game if your actions really have no
affect on the outcome? Tuesday, August 7, 2007 Ah! I’m starting to fall behind again. Let’s
see... got some I
have a big necklace to finish too.
Well, maybe tonight. And I've already
got three bracelets to photograph. I
can't believe the kids are going back to school in 3½ weeks. Egad!
I don't think any of us are ready for that. Not that my kids I
seem to have nothing useful or interesting to say at the moment. Sorry.
Let's see what I can pull from the internet to entertain you before
you exit. Although
I've seen many compiled videos of silly cat antics, this one does rank up near the top. This
is probably dumb, but I always found it funny...
Isn't this cute!
Ha
ha!
Okay, enough fooling around… I've got work to do. TTYL! Saturday, August 4, 2007 Well,
it's our first weekend with the kids in about a month and it's gonna be
jam-packed (mostly with hockey). Right
now (Saturday morning) is my most extended "down time". First hockey today is at 4:15 and second
hockey is at 10:15... then we start again tomorrow morning (but I have to
decide between San Francisco and Oakland). I
got some wonderful things in the mail this past week. Got my uberly cute cat card from QuirkyNBerkeley. She does great work. I'll be back. Got
(and already used half of them!) my great set of cards (thanks for the
extras!) from Sonita's
Treasures. I hope she and her son make more
of those sets available in the future. Got
some awesome beads from Patti Gill but can't show you 'cause she pulls her pictures
down to fast. Ha! By the way, it's her son who makes those
EXTREMELY useful bead caps... in sterling, brass, copper, etc. If you need bead caps like this, that's the
place to go.
And
silly me, recently bought a nice and very unique set of lampwork beads...
only to see the same set selling again and again on eBay. Nothing WRONG with what the seller's
doing... it's just that, wow, my beads aren't special anymore. The circles I normally buy in (the mid to
high end lampwork sellers), the sellers make a set and more on. I'm so totally not used to seeing a set of
beads that I purchased going to other bidders week after week. It's disheartening just 'cause it's
unexpected (but that goodness it's a rarity), and now whatever I make with
the beads won't seem so special to me 'cause I'll know there are so many more
of these beads running around the universe.
You know how I feel about one-of-a-kind items. Sigh... Ah
well. Now, onto some GOOD news. My first set of the new cards sold. Yay!
I actually have some more to photograph and list, but I'm in no hurry. Oh,
I had the COOLEST surprise when I got home from work last night. The kids were in the kitchen and they were
just finishing up their big "surprise" project. They had washed every single dish, pot, and
pan in the house and cleaned the entire counter off. If you've ever seen my kitchen, you'll know
just what a monumental task that was.
Took them several hours. But
the part that touched me the most was that they thought of it on their
own. Wow, I feel like some of the
sacrifices I make for them really are appreciated. Oh,
took pictures of the few new pieces... will list later. Want to go take a bath while I have my
small window of opportunity. I'll
leave you with some cartoons (courtesy of she who is not me)...
Thank you, sweetie, for always brightening my day! Thursday, August 2 2007 Weird
news this morning. Still waiting to
hear who it was they gunned down here in downtown Oakland at 7:30am. Onto
other things... I have a new project.
I’m making notecards from photos of my jewelry that have been
computer-altered. Here’s an example
(going up on eBay later today):
This
is the first of the "Mandala Series". I hope to have more to show very soon. So
Mandalas got me to thinking about ... well, official Mandlas, Buddhist
traditions and all. Now here's a
perfect example of non-attachment in action.
Sand
Mandalas... If
you go to the "pictures from" section on this page, you can see photos of the process. Just
look at one of the finished projects...
Wow, huh? Making it…
So… why am I a fan of the Buddhist tenet of "non-attachment"? Because: A) It seems to make sense. We live in an ever-changing world and those who expect permanence in anything are often fraught with emotional pain. B) It makes for a more peaceful way of dealing with things that could otherwise cause great emotional pain, for all parties. How many times does someone tell you they love you (perhaps followed by "and need" you), when what they really mean is that they love to have you near them and in their lives? It's not about YOUR best interests or YOUR happiness that they are thinking, but their own sense of attachment to you. BTW,
in no way am I saying *I* have accomplished a sense of non-attachment in my
life/thinking, but I do work on it and the philosophy has gotten me through
some times that would have been tougher without it. And you don't know the half of it! I am TOTAL EMOTIONAL MUSH!!! I was born with an overactive
emotion-gene. NOT funny! Okay,
the up-side is that I can feel happiness more deeply than some, but the downside
is... well, you know where I'm going with this. When
I first started thinking about Buddhism and the idea of non-attachment, I
freaked out thinking they were suggesting a life of flat-lining. Y'know... nothing to get excited or
passionate about. Without deep lows
how can there be soaring highs? I
didn't want to become an emotionless human.
And for the record, the reason I say I was freaked out is because
there is SO much in the Buddhist teachings that I *do* agree with... you know
me, all or nothing. I needed to be
able to relate to and agree with it all. Well,
from there two things happened. One, I
came to accept that it doesn't need to be all or nothing. I still have no emotional connection to the
idea of reincarnation and some of the more religious aspects of Buddhism, but
I've decided I can think of my Buddhist beliefs as a philosophy that I can
live by, and not necessarily a religion... or even a spiritual path. The
second thing is that I'm understanding that losing the ability to feel great
emotional pain (through a change in thinking) does NOT mean you become a
piece of human cardboard. There is
still much happiness to be had. I'm
not entirely GO with this yet, still exploring, but I'm on a definite OKAY
with learning more about it. I think
there may be a part of my brain that thinks it all has to be Yin and Yang...
how can there be happiness and joy without equal pain and suffering? Peter
Morrell said: "It is difficult to be a Buddhist, chiefly because the
rest of humanity does not approach life like this." I wholeheartedly agree with this. He
goes on to talk about how "desire" and "hate" are the
driving forces of much of humanity.
BUT!!!... he also admits that he is part of that humanity. Glad he said that, 'cause I want to agree
with him. Although I STRIVE for
certain ways of being and thinking, it's still only STRIVING... I'm not
anywhere near where I want to be. But
I feel I at least have a leg-up by knowing what I want. J Anyway,
enough of that for now. Onto
other things... like the
I love them! They were made by a self-representing artist who sells on eBay under the ID mayfair106. Check her out if you have a chance… some nice work at very low prices. Oh, and the seller is also a very nice person. Well, I'd better get back to business… TTYL! |
