Ouch. I was tagged.

OK, so Ashley left this for me, only I don't really know 7 people with blogs, except maybe the same people Ashley knows, so Chickenbone Jones, you're the only one I can tag.

Consider yourself tagged!

The rules

Start with 7 random facts/habits about yourself
People who are tagged have to write their 7 things on their blog
Then choose another 7 people to get tagged and list their names
Don't forget to leave them a comment to tell them they
have been tagged and to read your blog


1. I can't decide which is more repulsive: mayo or Dr Pepper
2. I eat like a 5-year-old. If a kid doesn't like it, I don't.
3. I apologize to bugs when I kill them.
4. I hate to drive. I'm not scared or anything, I just hate it.
5. Getting gas and returning movies are two of my most hated chores.
6. I wear makeup and shave my legs every single day.
7. I love to bake but hate to cook.

Man versus needle

Poor husband. I love him dearly, but I'm about to make fun of him on a public forum. I apologize in advance. He's good at many things, like golf and understanding sports and writing and yard work ...
But he's not good at sewing. Or laundry, really, for that matter. Sometimes I get annoyed when I have to sew on buttons for him. I think, "How hard is it?!?!"
Well, I guess Mark's answer to that is "Hard."



Wish my photo wasn't so crappy. Rather than go up and down through the holes, he went around the edge. And left quite a wad of thread. I couldn't stop laughing.

Temporary success!

This may shock you, but I'm going to talk about my business, Burst of Happiness again.

I've really been working hard to promote my site, i.e. Google ads. Everyone at work has been so supportive -- I've sold a number of bags to co-workers, and I've had a lot of custom orders lately. Well, about 10 custom orders (from non-co-workers, too) in the past few weeks. I expect things to die down a bit, but I've been really excited about the interest. I've also been really exhausted because I work full time at my job and then I work full time, practically, on my business. I also am finishing up three design classes, but those end this week. I don't anticipate taking any more, but I'm so worn out right now. Perhaps in a few months it will sound appealing again.

I just want to thank everyone who has supported my business and bought items from me. It means a lot! Business has snowballed as one person sees the next person's bag. May everybody someday have a Burst Bag! The world will be a sunnier, happier place.

I've got a MySpace page for my business, too. Come join me. My private page is still limited to people I know in real life.

Where do I want this to go? Well, although I don't have huge hopes for this, ideally I'd like to be able to build up enough regular business that I can start a family and work from home for a while. That would be hard to do unless I have very steady orders and raise my prices a bit.

Eventually, I might also look into finding boutiques that may carry a few of my items.

Some cute things:

This one was a custom order, but I plan to make another because it's so darn cute! Thanks to Greg for buying this for his wife -- Greg and I went to school together from elementary on up!


This one I made for my mom for mother's day. I thought the fabric just cried out for bamboo handles, but she's too practical. Most practical people are nerdy, but that woman somehow manages to be practical and stylish. But if you don't mind me bragging, I'd have to say it's partly thanks to me, with this bag.


This one is for sale! Go buy it right now. It's got polka dots on the outside and matching flowers on the inside. You'll turn heads as you strut your stuff down the street.

Look for me next to the hippie selling hemp jewelry

I'm planning to do an "arts and craft show" this summer on two occasions. I don't like the term "arts and craft show" because it sounds like some horrible church bazaar with patchwork angels and kitty-cat toaster cozies with frilly edges. But this one is classy! This one is for vendors who make everything from artwork to handbags (me!) to jewelry. It's called The Neighborhood Market.

The market will be held in Downtown Albuquerque behind the Flying Star at Silver and Seventh every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. I plan to be there June 23rd and August 18.

I'll be sharing a booth with Beth, of Socks That Fit.
We're spacing our dates out in the hopes that our days will be fruitful and we will need time to replenish our stock. My best friend, Tamara, has graciously offered to help me out at the market. I am a bit nervous about getting everything set up.
I envision this really homey, cute tent, but I'm not sure how to go about that. I'd like multiple little tables to set things on so that it looks welcoming and cozy. Maybe cloths on the table so it doesn't look cheesy.
I'll be selling my Burst of Happiness handbags.

What? You say you'd like to view one of my adorable totes? OK! This is a teal and brown toned paisley handbag with striped bottom and lining. Naturally, it has pockets galore for your cell phone, iPod and pens. And a flap for stuff you need to hide, like tampons or a gun. A really, really small gun. Actually, maybe Mace or a pocket knife would fit better -- for your own protection, of course. I'm not advocating that you pack some heat and rob a convenience store. Although, you'd look super cute doing it with this bag! But, I digress. Please, view:

If you look long enough, I'll be there

I went to Google and typed "handmade handbags" to see how far you have to go before my Web site is listed. Well, I kept on going, and www.burstofhappiness.com hasn't shown up, but on page 28 -- that's right, only page 28! -- of Google's listings, there's a listing for my etsy.com store, which is where my Web site links for purchases anyway. I don't know how many people are going to look at all 1,420,000 results, but I'm sure my Web site's in there somewhere.

There ARE blogs more boring than mine

Sometimes when you have time to kill, it's fun to keep hitting "next blog" at the top of the page and see what randomly comes up. WAIT -- don't do it yet. Finish reading my post about boring posts. Oh, and be careful at work. I got one that said it was about the life of male prostitutes and while I was reading the fascinating title, I failed to notice that the guy in the large photo had his pants unzipped and his privates hanging out. And there were people behind my desk talking. And I didn't notice for possibly 45 seconds because I was reading.

I know I often have fairly boring blog items. Sometimes, like in the previous post, I realize I've been away and just want to catch people up on what I've been doing. But, dammit, I don't post things like, "I brushed my teeth for 2 minutes today. Usually I brush them for 1 min. 45 sec."

Here are a few that nearly put me to sleep (please, God, don't let these people see this post. I'd feel really awful):
Stock babbling.

News about Iowa.

Obsessed with procrastination. Lady drones on about the amount of homework she does or doesn't have. She appears to think people in her life need to know that she's not sure what time to meet her study partner and she really wishes she could find out -- oh and by the way, she took a nap yesterday. If you don't have anything to say, feel free to just post every few days.


Here's an excerpt from one that will make a copy editor cry:
"today school was okkay. was rather highh after exams. hahas. still remembered yeaterday i called jiaqi and asked her what she doing then she said something yet i heard that she was watching DABIAN : haahhs. then we laughed like mad in the phone just because of the dabian thing.. then last night had terrible headache. grrrr. cannot taharn sehs. lols. then yeas, sad thing :/ my stooopid message go bao. hahahs. actually bao very long liaos. ahhahahs. i just wanna crapp... today cst do maths with jingwen and mr ng. then at the end of CST he told both jingwen and me that our algebra very weak, needa brush up T.T yupps. thats end of today~"

She is 14. These are the future leaders of America.

I am still alive

I'm sure nobody noticed that I haven't posted for a week or so because probably nobody reads this blog anyway, but here's an update:

Started filling in as assistant city desk editor on Saturday. It wasn't as scary as I expected, but today is my first weekday doing it, which is when there are more people around, including bosses.

Got a bunch of orders! Right before I left for the ACES conference, I got orders for 4 bags. Then I returned and got to work. Just as I was finishing the last one yesterday, I got orders for 5 more bags for three people.
This is great for me, although I'm busy as heck because I also have to work and I have to make two garments for my design class finals. One of the garments is cut and ready to sew. The other needs a new muslin of just the back bodice. I have to unstitch the old back bodice and sew it all back together. I'm hoping those were the last adjustments and then I can cut the real fabric and sew.

On top of all that, I'm doing a craft fair this summer on two occasions and I need to stock up on items to sell. I am also going to Hawaii soon, so if anyone has any extra time to lend me, that would be great.

Stalling in the sky: probably not good for your health

The final day of the ACES conference was busy. I went to three class sessions and then had to catch a flight. After the plane backed up, and then started rolling forward, it just completely stalled. I mean, all the power went off and the engine died. It was complete silence. I've never been on a plane and had dead silence like that. I don't mean the people, I mean the sound of the plane. The plane is always running when you get on.

Well, a few minutes later, it all started up again. And the pilots don't mention it. They just take off. All I can think is, what if that happens in the air in five minutes? Shouldn't they explain what it was so that we know that isn't an issue? I tried to reassure myself that the pilots are on this plane, too, and they probably aren't much more in the mood for dive bombing into the earth than I am, so surely they must be sure it's OK.

Nevertheless, I had what may be considered an anxiety attack. I'm not one for drama. I don't like to call attention to myself. I don't scream and carry on when I am afraid. I just sit there and slowly have a heart attack or stroke or aneurysm. I believe I had all three. My heart palpitated for hours after that, but at the beginning, my blood was just pumping so hard that I knew I'd get a migraine if I didn't calm down. My stomach felt kind of sick.

It didn't help that the man across the aisle, one row up, apparently was terrified of flying. Usually, when something scares me on a flight (say, turbulence) I look around at other faces and feel better that they look perfectly normal. Well, every time I got scared, this guy would look petrified. So then I would feel worse. The guy, by the way, was the tannest man I've ever seen. He makes Bob Barker look like Nicole Kidman. I couldn't stop staring at him, which was freaking me out for multiple reasons.

I already had only 45 minutes to get off the plane and get to another terminal to catch my connecting flight. Then we were 10 minutes late. I figured I'd never make it, but this is cool:
Knowing some people couldn't make their next flights, they took aside all the ABQ and Portland passengers just as we stepped off the plane and were in the tunnel thing. Then they opened a secret door there and we went down some stairs to the Tarmac (AP used to require this to be capped and I can't let go). There was a bus waiting and they drove us straight over the tarmac (trying to let go -- that wasn't so bad!) and we climbed the stairs and got right on our plane!

I figured there was no way they could get our luggage over to our next plane that quickly, but they did. I have to give kudos to American Airlines, aside from the stalling planes.

I am not making this up

Day 3 in Miami was OK. I was too wiped out to really feel like trying to go anywhere on the lunch break or anything, but the one thing that kept me going was the chance to see the keynote speaker at the evening banquet. That speaker was Dave Barry, syndicated humor columnist from the Miami Herald. He no longer writes a regular column, so I have been Barry deprived -- get it!! Maybe I should take his place.

I went downstairs at 6:45 and everyone was crammed outside of the ballroom for cocktail hour. I couldn't spot anyone I knew and it felt very uncomfortable, so I fled back to the safety of my room for about 45 minutes. I figured if cocktail hour started at 6:30, the ballroom would open at 7:30. When I came back at 7:30, all the tables were full and everyone was eating their salads. I had to sit at the very back of the room. This is what my view was like:



Luckily, I could hear him, even if I couldn't see him. And he was hilarious. Worth the whole trip, I tell you.

When you live at 5,000 feet and then you go to sea level, you can drink A LOT and not get drunk!

Read my title. It's not a good thing, actually. It means you spend too much money on drinks.

Anyway, when I came back with money and a drink, our table had filled. There were lots of interesting people. As I talked about my job, I began to feel a bit embarrassed. It seems that other copy editors read 8-12 stories a night and do a really thorough job, but we read 30-50. They asked how we could possibly be doing a good job. I replied that maybe we weren't, but what choice did we have if they didn't let us hire someone? They also made fun of the fact that we still use Xyrite, an ancient DOS-based program that uses "coding." Coding means that instead of clicking on a headline box with your mouse and typing, you have to type all these weird keystroke combinations to tell the computer what font and size and width. It's rather time-consuming, so add that to the fact that we read way too many stories, and you see the difficulties. I am not complaining about my job, I was just surprised at how different it is other places.

Anyway, three of the women at the table invited me to Miami Beach that night. I thought that meant, you know, a beach. I was ready for sand and surf. What it meant was an area with lots of revelers. It was really fun, though, and I bought a really cute dress. My dress comes just past my knees, which was about 3 feet longer than most of the dresses people were wearing in Miami Beach.

We had a drink and some snacks and went back to the hotel to prepare for the next day.

There's only one place on earth where a seminar on diagramming sentences would be standing room only

Day 2, Miami

- Marched downstairs and demanded a new room. Was told there aren't any.
Me: "Nobody's checking out today?"
Her: "Well, other people are coming in."
((Thinking: Uh, I'm already here. Give me a good room and give them my room.))
Her: "Come back around noon and see if there's anything."
Me: "Are you going to put me on a list?"
Her: "No."
Me: "I can't go through another 2 nights of not sleeping."
Her: "Hold on."
((holding on))
Her: "Here you go, room 1126."
((How hard was that?!?))

Then I registered for the conference. This day was probably the hardest because I was so sleepy. Also, I took a class about polls. Sorry, but that's boring. I know it was useful, but it was boring. I took a few great classes, and I was actually most excited about the diagramming sentences class because I just couldn't remember how to do it. The class was packed with enthusiastic grammar freaks. I felt a little inferior when people were talking about predicate transitive nominative gerund modifiers. I mean, seriously, their names for things would go on for that long. And I had no idea what they were talking about. I guess I need to do some grammar studying. It's not too much to expect a copy editor to know these things.

That evening was the cocktail event. I walked in and felt uncomfortable because I didn't know anybody. The last time I went to one of these, I think they didn't have tables, so you had to stand alone or awkwardly force your way into someone's circle. I was relieved to see they had large tables, and it's much easier to join in that way. I saw that most tables were half full. But at one there was a guy all alone. I felt very sorry for him, because as a shy person, I know that easily could have been me. So I joined him and we chatted for a few minutes before I went to go get some money for a drink.

This leads to my next post.

Went to Miami, didn't see no stinkin' sun

I had the privilege of being sent to Miami for the ACES (American Copy Editors Society) conference. This is primarily a group of newspaper copy editors, but also copy editors for private companies and government.

In the interest of not scaring you away with an endlessly long post, I will break it up into several.

This is Day 1:
- Got up way too early. Traveled all day. I left my house at 9 am and got to my hotel almost 12 hours later, although there is a time zone difference.

- Needed to pee, but there was someone else's pee on my toilet seat. I called and asked for someone to clean it and left for dinner. Nobody ever came and I had to call again late at night. I didn't care to sit on someone else's urine -- call me picky.

- Dinner was bad. I had no car, so I had few options. I went to an Italian place at the hotel next door. It seemed pretty authentic, since nobody there spoke English very well. I misunderstood the menu and thought I had ordered a nice filet of tuna with a salad. What I got was a salad with paper think slices of raw-looking cold tuna underneath. The serving was enough for a mouse, but I wasn't that hungry anyway. I hate cold fish or shrimp.

- Went to bed but didn't get to sleep because I was put right next to the elevators and was woken up about 20 times in the night.

Freecycle: Something cool and weird

Have you ever heard of Freecycle? There are lots of localized branches and it's a place online where you either post what you want, or post what you want to get rid of. You can only give it away or take it for free. No bartering or exchange of money. It's kind of cool, but I have to wonder what some people are thinking.

Here is one I came across that was posted April 7:

"A half can of Country Choice multi grain hot cereal (expires late this month).
Himself doesn't like it, but it's fine.
A couple of small tubs of what Himself calls "granola dust" and doesn't eat.
Nothing wrong with it (and it's not actually dust, either, just not huge
chunks!)."

I won't even go into her Gollum-talk. But then I wanted to see it again because I thought it was funny, and when I searched for granola, I got this post by the same person from last year (July 8, 2006), so clearly this is not fresh granola crumbs:

"A quart or so of cranberry-orange crunch granola. Himself has decided he only
likes the big chunks of granola, so when it gets down to what he would call dust
(I promise you, this isn't dust--more like regular cereal size), he wants to
throw it out. I rescued it before he got to it, in case anyone would like it."

Now, I live with a packrat, so I am aware that some people have a hard time throwing things away, but how long are you going to try to force your crappy, ancient granola dust on poor innocent strangers? I suppose if you're the type to scour the Web for free granola crumbs and then waste the gas to drive across town for it (or more like ride your bike, you hippie weirdo), then maybe you deserve it. And hopefully Gollum-lady won't steal your jewelry.

Cat rule #1

Always pick the most uncomfortable place to lie down. Also, if there's any item anywhere on the floor, barf on that.

I'm in business!

It's official: Burst of Happiness is now a real business.

I went to the N.M. tax department and then to what I think is City Hall, though I'm not really sure. It was cold and rainy and I didn't look at the official building name.

Anyway, one thing I've often felt about New Mexico is that people here are downright rude. There's a large part of the population here who think that customer service involves ignoring someone for as long as possible and then looking them up and down and giving them a stare that implies, "What the *&%$ do you want?" Sometimes I just stand there until they say "Can I help you." I am then happy to respond even though it's usually not said in a very polite manner.

Why am I talking about this? Because when you deal with the government, you're expecting the worst of the worst. You're expecting New Mexico attitude times 100. But out of the three government employees I dealt with today, all were incredibly nice, helpful and friendly. And I hardly waited in any lines. I was shocked at how smoothly everything went and how friendly the workers were. TGIF, perhaps? I don't know, but it was all-in-all a pleasant experience!

This Web site would be perfect for my dad

Do you ever type in Web addresses just to see if someone actually has a Web site called "(fill in the blank here.com)"? Well, I just typed in www.chickenbutt.com and lo and behold, it sorta exists. It seems to be one of those advertising things, but apparently I'm not the only one with this great idea because the hit counter says 185,840 visitors.

By the way, Dad, I would like to know if you made up the following or where they came from, if not (the chicken butt thing reminded me; you'll see why later). Because I walk around singing/saying things that get strange looks from people and I always forget because they just seem normal to me. You know, because you taught them to me growing up. Yeah, you. The guy who painted pictures of chopped off hands with rats chewing on them.

OK, here they are:

Wienerschnitzel, Wienerschnitzel, dis must be de place. Just come right in and stuff a great big hot dog in your face!

and

Chicken squat behind a pot get it while it's hot

and

Mama's lil babies love shortnin' shortnin, mama's little babies love shortnin' bread. Two lil babies lying in bed, one is sick and the other's half dead.
(it's the last part of the song I'm wondering about)

Temporary promotion

As we all know (all two of my loyal readers, anyway), I have been pretty focused on my business, Burst of Happiness.

In real life, I'm a newspaper copy editor. Once upon a time, I was young and ambitious. Now I'm kind of young and not very ambitious. I graduated from college late, at 25. I started my first newspaper job at almost 27. I felt like I had wasted my entire life and was practically ready to retire. Now, at 33, I feel like I've been a copy editor for eons and have 30 more years to kill before I can retire.

Now, let me be honest. I like my job. I love my coworkers and I even love my bosses. Our assistant managing editor has been good to me and he's someone I like a lot. I feel like he's an ally in my future at the paper. I am not kissing butt here, because I don't think any coworkers know about this blog and it's unlikely anyone will happen upon it.

As I was saying, I do like my job, but lately I've been thinking about how important it is to enjoy your life outside of work. Work takes up a lot of your time, and it's important that you have other things going on that you enjoy. For me they are Mark and my sewing. So I haven't been thinking much about where I want to go career-wise at work.

Last summer, my direct boss's job was open. It was rough for a while because it remained unfilled. I finally applied just because I had been filling in several times a week anyway. That is probably what gave the idea to the higher-ups that I have hopes and dreams of moving up (not that I don't, but I guess I it's not something I think about a lot).

Yesterday, I was called into the managing editor's office. I think I looked terrified because she told me to quit looking so scared. She said that since two assistant city editors quit at the same time (one retired, one moved with his wife for her job) that they need some help and they'd like me to fill in for 6 weeks. She said they already discussed it with my boss.

Needless to say, I was completely surprised, but also very honored that they thought of me. It is a management job, so it's nice to be considered. I am scared of doing something different because I've settled into my comfort zone, but I think shaking things up is exactly what I need. I can learn something new and see if I'm interested in it for the future, or I can find out I much prefer what I do now and feel refreshed when I return.

I start in two weeks and return to my regular duties 6 weeks later!

Don't call me a fat face

What's the worst part of having a cavity? (Assuming it's small and your whole tooth isn't rotting out.) It's the fat feeling face you have for hours after getting it filled.
That's why on Monday I didn't get a shot when I had my tooth filled. And guess what? It DIDN'T HURT. At all. It's a trick, that shot they give. I don't know what the hidden agenda is, but you don't need it.
Alright, you might need it if it's a big cavity, but if you're going for your regular dental checkups, you shouldn't have a big cavity.
I feel so brave. Be brave with me and forego the fat face.

I'm a beautiful star

You've probably been to My Heritage before and done the face recognition thing, right?
Apparently I look Asian. This is OK by me as I was always jealous of my aunt's Japanese family.



But then, even when I use the bucktooth picture, I'm still a beautiful star!

I mean, Scarlet Johansson?!?! Jessica Alba!?!? Why did my parents spend so much on braces?

Google girl

You know when you use Google to search for something and to the right of the search results are some little ads? And usually they are useless, but sometimes they are good? Well, I bought one of those ads. I am experimenting to see if it will drive any traffic to my site. Basically, you pay a $5 startup fee and then set your monthly limit. My limit is $50 and I hope to God it wouldn't cost me that, but I think it might not cost me $1. How it works is, depending on your monthly limit, they do some math and figure how much time per day your ad can show. Then someone has to be searching for your key words at that time to see your ad. In other words, your ad won't pop up at any old time.
Then, if someone clicks the ad, you pay 10 cents or something. I will be interested in whether it works even once, but we'll see. It's worth a shot. I did find my ad once, but I'm glad I didn't click it after all because then I would have charged myself.