Invasion of the Superheroes

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I promised you Comic-Con photos, and Comic-Con photos you shall have. Went over and sat in front of the convention center for a little while this morning. It was great people watching. There were quite a few people in crazy costumes, and a lot of people just there for the convention. And then there was the third category. You know, those people where you wonder “Is that a costume? Or did they just get up and get dressed like that this morning?



More Comic-Con photos to come in the next few days, as I get a chance to pop them up. And I may be going to the convention on Sunday, under an alias, of course. Because, um, I like to travel incognito. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!



You can see more Comic-Con photos on my Flickr page.

Look Like Scarlett Johansson

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Apparently if you wear my fabulous Forged Open Hoops, you, too, can look like Scarlett Johansson. That’s according to the Etsy Finds newsletter, anyway, which featured my earrings today, along with some great clothes and shoes. You can see my earrings down there at the bottom of the picture. Or check out the Storque article[link broken] to see it larger, so you don’t have to squint ;)

It’s all very cool, as this is the first time I’ve been featured on Etsy. And the readership for their newsletter is 13,000. Yikes!

GilBea, the author of today’s Etsy Finds, also featured my Forged Open Hoops on her shopping blog, GilBea’s Fashion & Handmade. Thanks GilBea!

Klingon Alert

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Yes, it’s that time again. Comic-Con is coming to town. So there will be Klingons on the trolley, anime characters wandering down the street, and a lot of people wearing skimpy costumes who really, really, really shouldn’t have.

Comic-Con is the largest comic book convention in the world, and the largest convention we get in San Diego all year. There’s really nothing quite like it. I will make an effort to pop out with my camera and catch some of the craziness for y’all, just so you can get a feel for it. But you really have to be here, and baste in it, to grasp it. If you want to attend this year, though, you’re too late. They’re all sold out!

Beaten at the Start Line

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I’m a huge cycling fan, so these three weeks are pretty much dedicated to following the Tour de France. Versus recently ran a profile where they interviewed the German cyclist Jens Voigt. Jens is an all around nice guy, known for his aggressive cycling. He’ll always jump out ahead of the group and try to win the race, even though the chances of winning this way are really slim.

So they asked him why he spent so much of his time working against such incredible odds, when so many riders don’t. And he said something really profound.

“One of my first coaches, when I was really really young, he already told me, ‘In case of doubt, just go for it!’

If you try to win, you might lose. But if you don’t try to win, you lose for sure. When you’re at the start line, and you know you’re not really gonna take a chance, you know you’re beaten at the start line. How frustrating is that? … When I go out, it’s a small chance that I’ll actually succeed. But it’s by far better than nothing! … It’s better to take a small chance in your hand, make your own destiny, instead of just waiting for other people to just drop you off their wheel. That’s another missed chance. And I do not want to have that, you know?”

I think that’s a great approach to life. I’ve been trying to live that way the last few years. Not fearless, but working regardless of my fears. Life’s too short to be hemmed into a small space. If you define what you will and won’t do by your fears, you’ll eventually find yourself living in a box that shrinks every year, surrounded by walls of all those things you dare not try. You need to push those walls out, climb over them, dig under them, punch holes through them… and just do!

What’s the worst thing that can happen? You might fail? You might fail 95% of the time? So what? If you don’t try, and fail 95% of the time, you’ll never get those 5% of successes either. And you’ve lost before you’ve even started.

Ouch

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So I’m having a late lunch, eating a grilled cheese sandwich and reading a novel, when suddenly - crunch! I immediately get that sinking feeling, as there’s nothing crunchy in a grilled cheese sandwich. Tentative feeling around with my tongue, and… yup, my temp just fell out. Happy Friday to me.

Off on an emergency trip to the dentist (and let me tell you how happy I was that they were in!) to have it glued back in place, and to learn a couple of slick tricks. Now, if you don’t have any inlays, onlays, or crowns, fall down, kiss the ground in thanks, and there’s no need to read further. If you feel my pain… read on.

If your temp falls out when they usually do, on a weekend, in the evening, on vacation… there’s actually two ways to fix it yourself. Apparently drugstores carry some sort of kit for fixing these, with temporary glue. Or, if you can’t find that, you can glue it back in with Fixodent. You know, the denture stuff.

My dental tech regaled me with tales of how she earned some hot young guy’s eternal gratitude on a cruise, when he lost a crown on one of his front teeth. She cleaned it up with a toothpick and glued it in with Fixodent (a la MacGyver), thereby saving his plans for hitting on hot chicks on the cruise. (And, of course, saving him from a lot pain. But the hot chicks were obviously more important. And hot chicks won’t look at you twice if you’re missing a front tooth.)

Just think, armed with this fabulous new knowledge, one day you too may amaze someone, and save the day, when their tooth comes crunching out in the middle of a meal. And now, you may continue with your Friday.

Reports of Our Death

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For those of you who have been desperately worried about the fate of the Kansas City Barbeque, used in the sleazy bar scene in Top Gun, I have an update for you. In case you missed my original post, the bar went up in flames last month. Rumors abounded that it had been totaled and wouldn’t be reopened.

Apparently, reports of their death have been greatly exaggerated! I wish I had more details, but as you can tell, I only know this little bit because I walk by the place every day…

Shoehorning

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I have a studio. A nice one, in a building full of artists’ studios, in a cool part of town. I used it a lot last year, for sculpting. But these days I’m buried in jewelry, and I find I just prefer to work at home. I’ve always skipped from task to task, and I’m happiest popping back and forth between design, marketing, fabrication, and playing the guitar, with plenty of time for chai breaks.



So I’m shutting down my poor unloved studio this month, and shoehorning my jewelry studio into my small loft. So far it’s fitting nicely into the corners and crannies. You can see my fabulous new Foredom flexshaft, dangling from (yes, it is) my tripod, with my photography light folded up behind it. That table you see is a worktable, a mailing/order tracking table, a photography studio, and (rarely) the kitchen table, all in one. It’s so me! And as long as Andy keeps putting up with it, I’ll keep finding unused corners of the loft and shoehorning in my studio.

Road Hockey?

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This morning I saw a guy out rollerblading. OK, I’m with him so far. I’ve been trying a little morning rollerblading myself. So he’s rollerblading along the path… wearing hockey gloves and carrying a hockey stick. Now he’s lost me. Off for a little morning road hockey? Where’s the rest of his hockey kit?

Ah yes, another fine morning in the city…

For the Multi-pierced

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Finally, a day for photography! I’ve been meaning to reshoot these little 7mm cartilage hoops for ages. Don’t even ask me how long the top shot took! But they look so tasty now…