A Knitting Finish!

A finish is a finish and I'm excited to get one project off my "in progress" list. One of my friends is having a baby in July so I decided to make her a little baby blanket. I'm still a relatively new knitter, so it's not perfect, but I'm glad I finished something I started.

It's just a simple checkerboard pattern but it's soft and a good baby blanket size. So now that I've photographed it I'll pack it up and send it off to her.

In other crafting news, I'm learning to sew! I've been wanting to learn for a very, very long time, mostly because I have an intense desire to make costumes. Recently, I came upon Angela Clayton's blog, where she makes historically accurate costumes, and she's only 18! Seriously, her work is absolutely amazing, and she's self-taught in sewing, so I guess that was the push I needed to try my hand at it. I went to the craft store, I bought a pattern, and I dove right in. I'm taking it slow, bit by bit, so I don't get overwhelmed, but so far so good! If it's not a complete disaster I'll post the finish product and add another craft to my ever-growing list.

Finally, I had promised to post trailers and news about the Steve Jobs movie I got to be in as it comes up. I forgot to post it last time, but the teaser trailer came out last week! It's just a short little bit (and no, I'm not in it) but it does make me even more excited to see the movie.

That's it from me! Happy stitching, everyone!

College #75 and News on the Job Front

First things first, of course - the stitching!

Before:

After:

I'm about 2,000 stitches into page 20 right now and I feel like I'm tantalizingly close to finishing this project. As it stands, I'm just over 82% done, but that still feels really close! I also feel like I'm stitching faster (when I get the chance to stitch these days).  Either way, I'm getting there! And I'm excited about getting there! It will feel really great to get a BAP out of the way, even if I do have a million more to go.

On the job front some interesting things have happened. A few weeks ago I signed on with a temp agency thinking that it would be good to get some income while I was still looking for full time work. I've been placed on yet another eligibility list with a public library, but truth be told I'm not super excited about public library work. Yeah, it's a library, but it's not something I truly enjoy. I'd much rather go into records management. The temp agency tried to get me to do paralegal work, and I just wasn't having any of it. So they set me up with a temp receptionist position for a few days and kept scoping around for work.

In the meantime, I accepted a PA job with the BattleBots TV show, thinking it would be a fun way to pass the time.

While at the temp job, the agency set me up with an interview with a top tier law firm that needs help with their records management department. I ended up getting the job! So, basically, I have a job now, although it's temporary. However, if they like me enough, if their budget allows, if I'm awesome, there is potential for a permanent hire. So I guess that isn't too bad.

The only thing is that I was still signed on for BattleBots. I went to work the set Monday and quickly realized that this was not a feasible thing for me to do. I felt like I could do more good being at home, I had pre-employment paperwork and testing I needed to take care of, the drive was 4 hours roundtrip, and I was getting home at 1:15am only to have to get up early and do it all over again. It just wasn't going to work out. So I let production know, and they were really understanding about it. I hate flaking out on work like that, but sometimes you have to do what's right by you.There was some miscommunication, too, and the call lists weren't being sent out until 10:30pm the night before, which is really, really late. That being said, if you're in the states you should watch BattleBots on ABC June 21st.

In other news, I've taken up the nearly impossible task of taking care of my parent's yards. The backyard is half vegetable garden and half dead wilderness. I have a complete understanding of the fact that we're in a drought, but that doesn't mean the yard has to be full of weeds and dead grass. There are plenty of drought resistant native plants that can go in that would definitely be an upgrade to the hot mess out there right now. The front yard needs some work too. So I'm taking on that challenge full force.

With that, happy stitching, everyone!

"Flapping Parrot" #8

I haven't been stitching as much as I'd like. Life has been a bit busy, more on that after the stitching update. I managed some progress on the flapping parrot, and I'm still working on College, which I will update next time.

Before:

After:

I've mentioned this before but I'll say it again. Golden Kite pages are only about 3,000 stitches each, so they feel like they go a lot faster than HAED pages. The end result is that there's way more of them per pattern, but that's okay. I really like the way it's stitching up so far, even though you can't tell at all that it's going to be a parrot. In time, the picture will come out more and more, as is the way of cross stitch.

First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for your support about my previous post. It was upsetting when it happened not just because my feelings were hurt but because this is such a prevalent problem, not just for women, but for everyone. We are constantly being judged and placed against impossible standards that, thanks to photoshop, don't even exist in reality! I know it's weird to say but it took me being in the physical presence of celebrities for me to realize that they are real people! Silly, right? That's not to say they weren't beautiful people. I mean really, they were. But they were still people. Their kids were running around on set. They were laughing and joking between takes. Whistling and singing to themselves. Doing the robot. They ate food. They drank coffee. They had their earbuds in and were listening to music/podcasts/radio/etc. It was very eye-opening and extremely comforting in the most positive way. So thanks, everyone. Your kind words and thoughts are so very much appreciated.

H³ got a job! He's now a field geologist! He also got into grad school! Things are moving forward for him, which is really great. I'm still looking for a job. I've had some interviews here and there but haven't found anything full time or permanent yet. I'm on a couple of eligibility lists with libraries, I'm working through an agency for the possibility of some records management work with law firms, and I've received some referrals for movie and TV work as crew. In fact, at the end of April I had the opportunity to work as a PA on the set of a pilot called Rellik, directed by Tim Russ (of Star Trek: Voyager fame). It was so much fun! Not only did I get to do PA work but also dress sets for the art department, and be a stand-in. Rellik is going to premiere at Sacramento Comicon in June so if you're around I think I'm going to try to go. We'll see. Here's a cast/crew photo.

I am in that photo, but pretty tiny so not sure if anyone will be able to find me.

That's all that's new in my neck of the woods. One of my friends is having a baby in July and I'm almost done with her baby blanket. Maybe another 2-3 days of working on it and it'll be ready!

Happy stitching, everyone!

Off My Chest (a non-stitching post)

I would really like to get something off my chest. Something that happened yesterday that has been bothering me since. And although it might seem an insignificant thing, it has larger ramifications.

Yesterday I changed my profile picture on Facebook. Not really a big deal. It's what happened next that has me in a bit of a kerfuffle, so to speak. Within minutes, a certain individual thought it was imperative to let me know that I looked like I had "gained a couple of pounds." I haven't. In fact, I've lost a couple of pounds. I am, however, wearing a somewhat baggy jacket in the photo, which is actually an older photo of me:

I'm not here to defend my weight, honestly, though it is a bit of a pride issue, too. The point is, I don't care who you are and I don't care who you're talking to, you have absolutely no right to say something like that to an individual, especially not in a public forum. Obviously there are exceptions (like medical) but I stand by what I say.

All of us have malicious thoughts. Whether we're seeing a person who may have been mean to us at a certain point of our lives or a friend who may have put on a few pounds, we can't help thinking to ourselves sometimes "oh, wow!" or "they look different" or something along those lines. That's natural. From that thought, though, we have a choice. We can choose to share with them our negative impression of their body or we can choose to keep it to ourselves and go by the mantra "if you don't have something nice to say." I prefer the latter, personally.

Nobody is perfect and sometimes we can't control the thoughts that pop into our heads. But as long a those thoughts stay there, no harm is done. It is when you make the conscious decision to body shame someone that I have a problem with.

Now, this isn't the first time something like this has happened to me. A lot of people seem to think that because I'm mildly attractive and on the fitter side of life that it's okay to talk to me in any way they see fit and comment on my body, because I obviously have a lot of confidence and I won't be offended by it.

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, WRONG. Everyone is insecure to an extent and hearing constant criticism regarding the way you look isn't the best way to maintain a healthy body image. I feel like a fair number of people would be shocked, or at the very least surprised, to find out how I really feel about myself. A lot of people have even said to me that there's a fair number of people who would kill to look like me, so I'm not allowed to feel poorly about myself. To make an exaggerated analogy, I feel like that's akin to saying, "you're not allowed to feel hungry because people in this world are starving."

So, what I'm trying to get at is think before you speak. You don't know how words that to you may seem harmless may affect someone else. You don't know what that person is going through. Maybe they're feeling really, really terrible about themselves and you've now sent them over the edge. Maybe they're struggling with serious body dysmorphic disorder and just needed that one little push to fall into full anorexia. Or maybe they were having a really great day and now it just got a bit sour. I'm not saying you're responsible for the mental health of everyone out there, but you are responsible for your own actions and choices, and deliberately trying to make people feel bad about themselves shouldn't be a choice anyone makes.

I could have told this person off. I could have turned right back around and made a snide comment in return, designed to hurt back and hurt worse. But I didn't. I deleted the comment, and I blocked the person. And that was my choice.

Sorry about the serious, and perhaps depressing, tone of this post. It's a widespread issue that I feel truly passionate about and I just needed to get it out of my system.