Another Great Idea That Won’t Get Me Money

I received a really insensitive email from a company I was applying to work for. I had contacted because I was having some trouble finishing the application process on their website. I’m not in the mood to go into details, but suffice to say it made me furious. I will be emailing them to express this since I can’t finish my application, but I have yet to be able to draft a message that doesn’t start off with “Dear Butt-Head…” or something equally insulting (and usually more profane). I refuse to look foolish even in an email and even though their opinion of me does not weigh on my mind one bit. I am just simply better than that. I was looking for something to do that would occupy me and help me cool down because it’ll take forever otherwise. I thought about baking, but a second or two in front of a full-length mirror cured me of the desire for cake, cookies, and most other treats, so I decided to dig out some yarn and crochet a scarf. Yep, crochet a scarf in the near 100 degree weather we’ve been having. I was on Etsy looking for a scarf pattern that doesn’t look like something you’d see at an old folks’ home, when I found this.

Crochet suddenly looked a lot cooler. I bought the pattern and when out and got what I’d need… almost. I forgot the stuffing for my little stuffed ninja dude.
This morning I woke up with a mission – buy stuffing for my new little toy. It was too early to go out though, so I settled in watching BBC America’s morning news and thinking. What in the name of all that’s good and right with the world is a twenty-five-year-old going to do with a 2.5″ stuffed ninja? What had I been thinking? Why did I waste very limited resources on something so stupid? Granted, it wasn’t a lot of money – I’d probably spend more on one trip to Starbucks – but it was the principle of the thing that got to me. There was also the issue of what to do with all the extra yarn. I couldn’t justify the creation of one ninja let alone a whole army of them. Then I got an idea – donate some of my crocheted creations around the holidays. I am now a humanitarian… sort of.

I like making things, particularly scarves, but I always wind up with more than I can use and I really have no use for toys, except for the fact that making them will keep me for dwelling on how pathetic my prospects for work are, so I try to keep my crocheting to a minimum. This way I can make as many things as I want, keep only what I need and then use the remaining yarn to make more stuff that will fill a need someone has. I like feeling like I have a purpose and have long ago realized that the things I like to do will never make me any money, so, while I have no real work, I can indulge in something I like to do and simultaneously elevating myself from the category of Waste of Grey Matter. Sweet!

I will probably try to sell a few items at some point and my mother has already requested a pair of ballet-style slippers with ribbons and first pick of everything else in exchange for supplying me with yarn and other necessities, but otherwise this is about me trying to do something good and make use of my vast tracts of free time.

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My Fascination With Other Cultures – World Peace Playing Itself Out On My Bedroom Wall

As we grow up, we realize that some of the things we aspired to become as children won’t ever be possible for some reason or another. I am no different. I will never be a veterinarian because I’m terribly squeamish. I will never be a French teacher because, to be a French teacher you have to study copious amounts of French grammar, which I find no more interesting or enjoyable than sitting around studying English grammar. To put it another way, I’m thankful for many things – “spell check” is one of them. I have also determined that I will never become a diplomat, namely Secretary of State, as I wanted to be when I was young. Madeleine Albright is someone whom I have admired since she became Secretary of State. I was very young during the 1992 election but watching the campaign (the first one I really remember) got me thinking about “running for” First Lady as Hillary Clinton had. I didn’t realize that Hillary Clinton’s behavior during that election had a whole lot more to do with her as a person than it did with how one becomes First Lady. Ah, youthful naiveté. Once I realized that the only qualification for First Lady was marrying some guy who was elected president and when I saw how a First Lady was treated, I quickly decided that was not for me. The Secretary of State didn’t seem to get kicked around as much and it was a position which could affect real change in the world. Making the world a better appealed to me greatly. It still does and I’ve always taken quite an interest in politics, world events, social anthropology, and foreign policy but I’ll never have the qualifications or connections needed to be appointed Secretary of State. I mean, I have a B.A. in Theater and Media Arts – that’s not exactly dripping with diplomatic potential. There is also the fact that I’m not one to hold my tongue. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be a better choice than, say…

John Bolton - Two-Toned Walrus

him, but I don’t think I’d be at the top of anyone’s shortlist for the position.

 

Despite all of that, my interest in other cultures (and their politics) persists unabated. I suppose, all things considered, that I shouldn’t be surprised that my little paintings are taking on a multicultural feel. I blame it on Ovation TV running the entire art history miniseries This Is Civilization last week. (Yes, I am that much of an arts geek, thank you very much!) The first was a mhendi design

– not this one, but a mhendi design – a staple of my doodle repertoire – which I’ve already sketched out. But then islamic geometric patterns,

and Israeli hamsas,

and african designs (this one’s from Mali)

all looked quite inspiring. I’ve decided to do more looking into designs from different cultures and there is so much out there for me to enjoy and glean ideas from. The final project – all the little canvases together like a patchwork quilt on some sort of mounting which has yet to be designed – will be an interesting blend of modern and traditional styles… provided, of course, that I don’t ruin it or give up.