Age of conan contest!

This is not crafty...

So there's this contest that ends on July 24. You're supposed to make a video using xfire. The video is supposed to be appropriate for one of three categories. I chose the "death/near death" category.

Now, I know Conan isn't about killing off zombies, but I thought it would be cool if I did something else rather than casting spells and all that mundane stuff. Instead, I decided to make a video of myself being chased by "zombies." So, here it is. If you have the time and the heart, please sign up and vote "cool" for me. Thanks.

URL: http://www.xfire.com/video/f2f81/

I got a fish!

I went to Montebello the other day with my brother and my boyfriend. My brother wanted to pick up some jamine plants from the San Gabriel Nursery, so after that, we headed to the Montebello Town Center, which is a pretty tame mall. Then we went to the Petco near that mall and I ended up with my new betta fish: Red Rocket!

Yes, I know. The name is pretty odd and inappropriate. I saw the fish's coloring and that's what he looked like to me. I was going to name him 'Draco', but my brother insisted that it was too Harry Potter, so we came up with the next best thing. The fish looks like alaunching rocket because of his red body. the yellow part of the tail is the flame that a launching rocket gives off, and the black part is the smoke.

InfiMint!

EDIT: Well, I got a free pack of gum from voting for this. It turns out that my friend is one of many people who made this suggestion, but the person that suggested it first (I'm guessing?) got an e-mail from Stride gum saying that they were one of the people who got picked. Sooo...you can vote or you don't have to, but free gum is free gum!

Hi guys and gals!

I'm pleased to announce that my friend's suggestion for the name of the new Stride gum has been chosen as a finalist.

His suggestion is INFIMINT.

I would love it if you guys would sign up at www.stridegum.com and vote for his suggestion. He's in the run for $10,000!

Thanks!

Back For Good!

I finally got my new Velociraptor hard drive so I'm good to go!

During my absence, I managed to make a Toyota Yaris (per request), and a little dog that I caught a glimpse of from a Ravelry avatar. I have no idea to whom it belongs right now. It wasn't important at the time, so I didn't make an effort to memorize the person's screen name. I wish I could show it to them, though, so they can see that they were an inspiration.

My brother's garden is growing well (for it being his first garden), and the strawberries plants that I put in his garden are coming along nicely. They are certainly not as gigantic as the ones in the plastic supermarket boxes, but strawberries aren't supposed to be square. You know what I'm talking about.

Computer troubles and Unique L.A.

Argh. I haven't been able to get my computer to start up in a couple of days now. I think it's a hard-drive issue. As usual, I did not back up anything, so all is probably forever lost. That's OK though because I didn't really have anything significant on my computer. It's just a pain to re-install everything I need again.

In other news, I went to Unique L.A. today at the California Market Center. It was on the 13th floor. Ha. I guess it was a little disappointing for me because I expected more crafts than clothing and jewelry. I'm not really a stylish person and I don't wear jewelry. My ears aren't even pierced!

I did manage to spend a few bucks on a few things that I thought were worth my money. My first purchase was a $20 TMNT t-shirt from totallyawesomeclothing.com's booth. The design was of Shredder pointing in an Uncle Sam-esque style saying he wants you to join the Foot Clan. I bought it for my boyfriend and he likes it!

My second purchase was also second purchase from Serah's. The first time I bought her soap was at the Silver Lake Arts, Crafts & Vintage Saturday market. I got the small Strawberries & Cream Cupcake soap. This time around, I decided to be bolder and went ahead and purchased the 'Neapolitan' soap in the larger size.

My third and final purchase was from P.O.P. I bought the assorted variety pack mainly for my boyfriend (again) because he's been looking for something like this for the longest time, but failed to find anything really up to his standards. Well, he really liked P.O.P's butter crunch treats!

Overall, I feel that the higher price is worth it for some handcrafted items. I actually appreciate the people who try, and I felt that the shoppers appreciated it too. As a patron of craft shows, I want to say a few words:

1. Just because I am wearing brand-name clothing doesn't mean I don't appreciate independent sellers. I say this because I visited a few clothing booths and was looked up and down probably due to my Aeropostale outfit. I walked away without spending money.

2. TALK to me. Say hi and then introduce your item. If you stay silent, I feel awkward and it makes me not want to pursue with the transaction. I might be interested in your item, but if you're just going to stare at me, then I probably will take my money somewhere else.

3. Have a nice display. Your display speaks more than you could ever say. I saw a booth with zero signs and just products on a display table. I'm not sure if they were trying to be 'eco,' but I did not visit that booth because it wasn't inviting or exciting. There wasn't anything to talk about. I felt that if I went by, I would have been obligated to buy, like a strictly business place. Shows are meant to be fun and a place to socialize. I can't talk about your product if you don't give me anything to talk about.

4. Don't just shove flyers in my face (young people!!). Talk about it.

5. And last but not least, no matter how tired/disgusted/confused, etc. you are, please don't express it in your face. It puts the money back in my wallet if you don't look like you are pleased with your products and ready to sell because I don't want to bother you anymore than you already are bothered.

I just feel like I was REALLY looking to spend at least $100 today, but I ended up spending $39 (not including the $5 entrance fee!).

I really want to go to MAKER FAIRE but that is in San Mateo (I think that's like close to San Francisco?). So it's either spending $200-ish on a new hard-drive or $200-ish on round-trip ticket to San Francisco.

In any case, I am looking forward to going to the Renegade Craft Fair, which is in July. Seems like I haven't found anything to do in June. Anyone know any more craft, less clothes fair in or near Los Angeles?

I will update as I can until my new hard-drive arrives!

Yoshi!

Recently, I showed my friend Mario some of my amigurumis. He requested an old school Yoshi doll based on this picture:

This is what I was able to come up for him. It will be sent out tomorrow:

Moved! Part 1.

Dear Faithful Readers,

I have finally completely moved all my belongings into a tiny room. Most of my furnitures went to my mom's business location. Everything else came with me.

Now let me tell you this: I lived in a 1200-ish sq. ft. home. I now live in one of the two master bedrooms in my mom's house, so it's quite crowded in the room right now.

The bright side of things is that my brother decided to redo the garden. He is in his botanical phase at this moment in time. My brother is attempting to grow cherry blossom trees...in Southern California. "Not impossible," says the tree's label, "but no guarantee!" I also got involved and bought my own tiny little celosia to create a row of colors at the entryway.

This morning, as I made my journey downstairs (as it is always a journey, trying to avoid sharp objects on the stairways and people I'd rather not talk to), I discovered a lady in black right outside the dried blood-colored outer metallic door.

I wasn't quite sure who the lady was, but upon closer examination, I realized that it was my own mother. She made movements that I found quite odd for one to perform such gestures outside. She was brushing her teeth in front of the house! Even worse: she was spitting her oral refuse unto my beloved baby celosia.

Would you vomit toothpaste on these!?

I quickly ran up to my brother and told him about it, in hopes that she would listen to him, the garden lover. When confronted, my mother at first denied "spitting on the plants." Of course, with my brother's limited Thai vocabulary, my mom thought he was accusing her of hocking a loogie in front of the house. However, I cleared things up by saying I saw her brushing her teeth in front of the house and "spitting" on the plants. Here are the things she said in response to the confrontation:

"Well, I do this everyday and that is how I water the plants for you."
"They're not going to die."
"They're going to die!?!?"
"Where do you expect me to brush my teeth?"
"I've been doing this everyday and all of the sudden you guys decided to plant some trees. Not my fault."
"The sink is too low in the bathroom."

Let's just say I am 5'2 and my mother is shorter than I am. My father has been faithfully using that sink everyday, and he is taller than she is.