#43: Go on 5 vacations

Okay, so this goal was completed awhile ago, but I'm still going to write about it. In October Robert and I went to Toronto for just a couple days, to celebrate our 5th anniversary. We had good food, and saw lots of sights. We got a CityPass thing that got us into the Royal Ontario Museum (dinosaurs! It blew my mind more than I thought it would, realizing just how old those bones were!), Casa Loma (Robert is seen below peering out the window of the tower), the CN tower (we went at night! So cool!), Science Center (love love love) and the zoo. Coupled with other general explorations and wanderings, we had a great time.








(!!!!!!!!!. Spirit animal.)

#65: Have 10 event nights

So, I believe I mentioned that awhile ago that I was in derby boot camp for the Detroit Derby Girls. I have since finished boot camp, and passes skills test. In October us Fresh Meat were split into two teams for an exhibition scrimmage. I threw a little event night at my place to decorate/alter our jerseys for the scrimmage, and Melissa brought her donut-maker!





Sam assembled this, a display of all the factors of the evening...donuts, tea, her jersey (she put the silver polka dots on the letters, the book Melissa was reading from my shelf (she didn't have her jersey yet), and all the tools we used.

Here's my finished product--took the sides in, cut the sleeves off, and laced polka dot ribbon up the side (our colors were baby pink and polka dot--blame Lazer Beam! But I did end up liking it better than the neon and animal print that Team Sleeze wore).

The Fresh Meat Face-Off was a lot of fun. It was most of ours first time playing roller derby publicly. Robert and my mom came out to cheer me on--my mom even made a sign (cleverly making it black and white, so that when she found out what hometeam I'd been drafted to she could just add that team's colors to it!). I had a blast playing, and I even got to jam a couple times, and kicked some major ass! Okay, so I did go to the penalty box, but that just allowed me to get lead jammer two jams in a row! Hey-oh! Team Beav won, and I was having such a great time that after the game, I remembered we also got to find out what teams we got drafted to! I had forgotten in all the excitement--and then I was doubly excited!

The night before, Kraken Whips, one of the captains of the Detroit Pistoffs, was asking a couple of us what teams we wanted to be on, didn't want to be on, etc., since she knew where we had been drafted already. I told her I thought there was no way the Pistoffs would draft me. Well, the joke was on me, because I am now a Detroit Pistoff! When it was announced, Kraken hugged me and said, "I was laughing so hard in my head last night!"

I'm having so much fun as a Pistoff. My teammates are really fun and funny. Last week at practice we all sang the theme song to the Little Mermaid while stretching. I mean, c'mon, that's pretty awesome. Last weekend was our first game--the season opener and a re-match of last years championships where the Pistoffs beat the D-Funk Allstars. It was probably the most exciting game I've ever seen, and D-Funk ended up winning by one point in the last jam--a real nail biter! I was an alternate for that game and didn't skate in it, but I'm looking forward to the next one where hopefully I'll get to strut my stuff on the track.

#21: Leave 100 love notes in random places

I've only left one of these around so far, but I've started carrying them in my purse so they're handy.

#50: Go to 3 Tigers games

Completed 09.03.11

My mom bought Robert and I tickets to a Tigers game for his birthday. It was a crazy game! The seats were really good, but....well, this was the game time temperature:



It was pretty miserable...hot, humid, sticky. But, we were sweatin' through it and enjoying the game nonetheless. We were down 8 to 1 at one point, it was looking pretty bleak, but I didn't loose the faith because I assert that the Tigers have never lost a game that we attended. Robert says we went to one where they lost, but he can't remember any specifics, and I don't remember it (I have the better memory of the two of us...he barely has one at all), so I don't believe it happened. We started to make a comeback, 8-5, when all of a sudden, the skies filled with dark clouds, the air was completely still, and we were treated to aerial views of massive dances of lightning across the sky to the South of us. The crowd's loud cheers of "OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH" no longer coincided with plays in the game, but rather with the flashes of lightning. And then...well....


With the Tigers down by 4, and the sudden coldness of the air, our tummies rumblin' for dinner, and the prospect of waiting 40+ minutes before the game could start up again, we left. We drove to Pita Cafe (represent!) for dinner, with Robert following updates from the game all the way there on his phone. Tigers kept scoring and scoring, and just as we were about to the restaurant, Cabrera had a walk-off homerun, the Tigers won 9-8. Crazy, right?

Also, you will notice in the photo at the top, my favorite Tigers shirt to wear is a hand-me-down from my brother, from the last time the Tigers won the World Series, in 1984. Meaning, the have yet to win the world series while I've been alive! (Born 1985) Also meaning, the shirt is absolutely falling apart, with holes surrounding all of the lettering. You can see some in the photo. I wore a tank top underneath the shirt, but Robert still said I looked like a hobo, and I had to bring a shirt to change into for dinner. The joke was on him when I had a dry shirt to change into and he didn't! Anyways, he got me a new favorite Tigers shirt for my birthday...awwww. It's super comfy and cute and I'm sportin' it often now that the tigies are in the playoffs. In fact, I'm wearing it right now!!

HALFWAY DONE.

So, according to my page over at the official Day Zero Project website, I am 501 days into this project, meaning I have 500 days to go! I've made it to the halfway point! Now, according to that site, which only counts items which are complete, I am 33% done. According to my own calculations, taking into account how much I've done in the items which are in progress, and I am exactly 50% done! 50% down, 50% done. Works out perfectly.

Now I just gotta get crackin' on the stuff I've been slacking on, and hope that I have enough time to finish them up!

photo from here

#71: Walk on the beach, 20x

First, let me say that I am posting this from a fort! It's a pretty grey, sad looking day, so I built myself a fort, taking over a corner of the living room, and blocking off the bathroom from Robert (bwahahaha, there's no way his giant self can crawl through this fort!). It's complete with couch cushions to lay on, lots of pillows, and twinkle lights strung up to make it extra-cozy. I'm loving this thing.

In the past few weeks I have gone on two camping trips on Lake Huron. One with my friend Jess and her 2-year-old daughter, Lively to East Tawas ("The Cape Cod of the Great Lakes", apparently). We hung out on the beach, I flew a kite, and we went swimming in the lake, but didn't necessarily go for a walk on the beach.

The lake was beautiful there, we were sort of in a bay, and the water was so clear. We walked out probably about 1/4 mile and the water was barely up to our hips, and we could still clearly see our feet.



Then, the next week, I went camping with my mom in her RV, to Sleeper State Park, in the thumb, right outside of Caseville. (Okay, so, Michigan is shaped like a hand, right? I think everyone knows that. Us Michiganders use our hands as maps quite often, pointing to places on our palms and fingers. So, the area that is in what looks like the thumb, we literally refer to it as "The Thumb".) We went for a walk on the beach both nights that we were there.





That's Mom explaining to me the scientific theory of arches. She was such a scientist on these walks. On the other walk she explained to me that zebra muscles are bad because, "They eat something or do something." But seriously, Lake Huron, in most places, is pretty murky these days, and I'm pretty sure it's because of the invasion of the zebra muscles. Just another reason why Lake Superior is the best Great Lake, we didn't have zebra muscles, and our water was very clear!


That's Professor Debbie herself.

We also went to a farmer's market while we were in the thumb, thereby checking off another one from list item #60: go to 50 farmer's markets. (I really gotta pick up the pace on this one! I've only got 8 down)


I think we did it wrong. First of all, it was the weirdest farmer's market I've ever been too, because there were way more flea market/antiques/sunglasses/knock-off louis vitton handbag booths than there were actual produce booths. Plus, puppies for sale! We spent time wandering around all the booths, not looking at much, other than antiques and a book/cigar box booth that kept us occupied for awhile. By the time we got to the actual food booths, they sounded the horn that the vendors could start packing up. To top it off, we had brought a lot of produce with us on the trip, so we didn't need any more for our trip, and we couldn't remember what we had at home or what we'd need. So, by the time we left, I had bought a cigar box, and Mom had bought two cigar boxes, a few books as gifts (including one for me about airplanes in the '40s. Let me tell you, that is all sorts of right up my alley), a plate of brownies, and a cinnamon roll. Oh well.

Here's a couple more cute pictures from Mom and I's trip, mostly on a walk through the hiking trails in the park. (I went for a jog through them at dusk...I was doing my cooldown walk until I looked over and saw a deer staring at me...and promptly screamed and ran! I'm not interested in talking to any wildlife at nighttime! If there's a deer looking at me, there's probably also a bear or bigfoot with its eye on me.)

#31 & #32: Making and selling journals on etsy

31. Make 12 new book journals (2/12)
32. Get etsy shop back up and running and sell 12 journals (3/12)

So, I had gotten this up and running last year, and then I got busy and all of the listings lapsed, but I have recently started making new journals (I've only completed 2, but I have about 5 half-done) and listing everything again. I've also started making some felt kindle cases and have listed those in the shop as well. Go ahead and check out my esty shop, Literary Ruin.

I sold this journal and I've been featured in a few treasuries--here's the latest one, Upcycled Nerd.

#73: Read 30 books, Part IV.

The next five....




#16: Island in the City: How Belle Isle changed Detroit forever by Janet Anderson
This was a Christmas gift from my mother. Belle Isle is my favorite place in Detroit. The conservatory is a must-visit. This book contained a history of the island, from it's use by Native Americans, to trappers using it to breed pigs (because predators couldn't get on the island, hence its French name Ile aux Cochons--Hog Island), to private ownership, and it eventually being given to the city of Detroit and turned into a public park. I know the island is still popular among residents of Detroit and suburbs alike, but you wouldn't believe some of the photos in this book where all four or five lanes of traffic were bumper to bumper with all the weekend swimmers, fishers, gamblers, etc. This book was fresh in my mind when I came up with my derby name--Belle Isle Hurtya (say it out loud)--and my number--1879--is the year that the city acquired the park. I couldn't find a photo of the cover, I found this picture here.






#17: The Lake, the River and the Other Lake by Steve Amick.
I picked this up on a whim at the library, mostly because I liked the cover, and then because it was set in a Northern (Lower Peninsula) Michigan town. But, honestly, I just wasn't wowed as I thought I would be. There were so many different characters that it focused on mostly separately, that it felt like I was always getting backstory, and then when it all came together, it just wasn't all that exciting. And that one part about the priest...well that just creeped me right out.




#18: Zapotec Women: Gender, Class and Ethnicity in Globalized Oaxaca by Lynn Stephen
This was a gift from my friend Blair. I was super excited by the title, but most of the lengthy book is a detailed description of the inner workings of the textile industry in one specific city. It's really an ethnographical study of that city, and textiles, not Zapotec Women as a whole. About halfway through the book it did get in to more discussion of class and gender, and a lot about how the tourism industry affects portrayals of their ethnicity.




#19: Down and Derby: The Insider's Guide to Roller Derby by Kasey Bomber and Axel Rose
I borrowed this book from my friend Sam. It was good, I learned a lot about this history of roller derby. One of my favorite parts was a quote from a newspaper reporting one of the original roller skating marathons (the winner died after skating for six days straight!), saying that the skating rink was, "...a place where good-looking scoundrels do a great deal of damage." I couldn't agree more! It also took you through the birth of modern roller derby. It's good, but had a distinct lack of any mention of the Detroit Derby Girls, whatsoever! They had a whole section on Whip It, and they talked about the girls that trained the actresses, and some of the girls from other popular leagues that skated in the movie, but nothing about DDG eventhough it was filmed in Detroit/Ypsi, and featured a lot of DDGs! I mean, c'mon, Racer McChaseHer got punched in the face by Drew Barrymore! Total oversight.




#20: Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding & Correcting Dog Problems by Cesar Milan.
My mom's beau recently adopted a puppy, and since my mom lives with him most of the time, she's navigating her way through the new role of dog owner. Guys, my mom never really liked dogs. She's been scared of big dogs since childhood, and didn't seem to mind small dogs, but wasn't all that in to them. But once my dog learned not to jump all over her when she came over, she's been softening to them. And now she's totally a dog person! It's great to see how much she loves Chance, and that new puppy! (Whose name is Sugar and has a super-sweet face to go along with the name.) After having the puppy at her house for a few nights, she decided she was ready to have Chance over, so we had a little sleepover, and now we have a dog-sitter! At one point, she even had her own dog park, with three dogs running around her backyard. Bonkers. Anyways, she checked out a few of Cesar's books from the library, and had me borrow one. I watched his show Dog Whisperer before I had a dog, and I do love his personality and his humor. And so when I was preparing for dog ownership I looked up a lot of articles on being a "pack leader". But some of the things were just ridiculous and made life way too difficult. Like, the pack leader eats first...but what if we ate awhile after his dinner time? Was I supposed to eat a snack in front of him and then feed him? Or, you can't ever loose a staring contest with yr dog? So every time we lock eyes, I can't look away until he does? Anyways, I just kept getting really frustrated and angry when he wasn't accepting my dominance or whatever, and when I took a dog training class, I realized how ridiculous that approach was and found that positive reinforcement worked so much better for us (just like students!), and kept me from getting frustrated so much. But, I still read this book with a open mind, and certainly learned a few things. I don't doubt what he says, it's just not the right approach for me I guess?

#37: Alter 10 items of clothing

Item #5 of 10.



I have had this dress for years, I don't even remember where I got it from, but most likely I got it from a thrift store/Value Village. I wear it occasionally, but as you can see it was a bit ill-fitting and frumpy looking, so I always had to wear a cardigan over it. I'm starting to think it's my lucky dress though, since I wore it to interviews for my student teaching placement and my job at the spice store, and I got them both. Nonetheless, I could tell it would be wayyyy cuter if it fit me properly.


Ta-da! Sooooo much better. I can wear it on its own now. I love pencil skirts, and I'm just in love with the overall silhouette of this dress now. I specifically altered it with my grandmother's memorial in mind, and this photo was taken after the memorial, hence the flower my mother made out of g-ma's scarves, and I'm also wearing her pearl bracelet. (ignore the claw hand, I'm holding my phone/just got off the phone w/ mom.)

#86: Make a new friend

That's me and Sam! Sam and I met this spring while going to speed-skating class and open skates, preparing to try out for the Detroit Derby Girls. We started carpooling because we live just a few minutes away from each other. Months later, we've both passed tryouts and are now Detroit Derby Girl Fresh Meat, and carpool to bootcamp!

I've been repeatedly surprised by how quickly Sam and I got close. She's so open, sincere and non-judgemental, which has been very refreshing. We talk about literally everything and there have been so many drives home where we find ourselves saying, "Oh my god, I've never told that to ANYONE." Gross stuff, sexy stuff, embarrassing stuff, it's all on the table. And we spend so much time together that whenever she talks about stuff that's happened recently, she always assumes that I was there. I'm so grateful to have a partner in crime along this new and exciting journey.

Sam, I can't wait to bout with you. Unless we get drafted to different teams, in which case I can't wait to knock yr ass to the floor!

#50: Go to 3 Tigers games

Game #2

So, I'm home from work for like, five minutes, ready to spend the night at home, cleaning up the place for company the next evening. Then, my friend Sam calls and tells me that she has free tickets to a Tigers game, and we have to go, like, RIGHT NOW. So, off we went!

She got these tickets through work, a company that gets business from her work I guess owns these seats, and gets to give tickets away to their clients. Let. me. tell. you. Our tickets were in the second row behind the Tigers dugout. When we were walking down to them, we just kept going and going...I felt like I was getting away with something! I've been to a handful of Tigers games, but we always buy the $12-15 tickets, and these were $68 tickets! We were so close that Sam kept pointing out all of the things we could see. "I can see how straight his spine is! I can see the crease on the back of his neck! He just spit! I totally saw his spit!"



After some people in the front row left, we even snuck down there!



Not only were we close, but we also got free food, and free drinks!



And on top of all of this, the Tigers pulled off a really exciting win!



I'm so thankful to Sam for bringing me along, it was the most exciting Tigers experience I've ever had!

#69: Get a Keeper cup

Completed 06.11.10

I'm gonna warn you right now, if you don't want to read about periods and menstrual products, do not read this post. Even if you don't really mind reading about it, I love talking about this stuff, so be prepared for geeking out and blathering on.

So, for the past, I don't know, 6 or 7 years I have been using cloth pads during my period. If you've never tried them, you need to. Before cloth pads, I had only ever used disposable, plastic pads. I can't even tell you how amazing it felt when I started wearing cloth pads...to go from the plastic, diapery feeling, the wet feeling from butt sweat, and how they hung down away from my body (okay, maybe I needed better-fitting underwear? But we all know we've got some granny-panties for our periods), to the comfortable, soft-not-sticky, fits-to-my-body feel of cloth pads was like an "ah-ha" moment. And the shape of them prevents the diaper feeling. If yr in the market for some cloth pads, I got a bunch of mine from Hag Rag, and I love them, the pads and the company. The pads are great and they always sent me free gifts or extra pads. Their website seems to be having some problems right now, though. Most of the pads you find elsewhere, and most of the patterns you'll find are for pads that are shaped very similarly to disposable pads, but I really like Hag Rags because they have a more diamond shape, so that the ends of the pad come to a point. I love it because then you don't have any lumps showing in yr pants/skirt/dress/leggings/whatever. With disposable pads, because it wasn't up against my body, I ended up with blood from end to end of my pad (and sometimes beyond--not good), but with cloth pads up against my body, the blood pretty much all goes to the middle of the pad, so I don't need the extra coverage (and I should say that I have pretty heavy periods). I also have an overnight pad from Glad Rags. I think I actually have the Extra Overnight pad, and that one is pretty diapery. But, I must say, since I've been wearing cloth pads, I haven't had any leaks, night-time or otherwise. I do have to change my cloth pads more often than a disposable one, but that's not much of an inconvenience. I also have a number of hand-made pads, I made a few, and a friend made a few for me. I didn't use a pattern, I just went off of the Hag Rag ones I had because I liked the shape, but if you're interested in looking at some patterns, there are some here, here and here.

Okay, I needed to sing those praises, so lets move on to the cup! I wanted to get a menstrual cup when I started teaching, and couldn't always change my cloth pad every 3-4 hours (and I was using the student bathroom---lets not even talk about having to rinse it out in the sink which was outside the bathroom/open to the whole hall of my middle school--yikes!) so I started wearing tampons and disposable pads when I worked. And I was not happy about this! So, I put the Keeper on my list.



If you aren't familiar with menstrual cups, there's basically two main ones, the Diva Cup which is made of plastic/silicone I believe? And the Keeper, which is made of rubber. As far as I can tell, I don't think there's much of a difference between them in terms of use or how well they work. I went with the Keeper, I don't remember why, or if I even had a reason. You can find both on-line, or in your local food co-op or any natural food store. I got mine from the Marquette Food Co-op when I still lived in the U.P. I don't know about the Diva Cup, but the Keeper comes in two different sizes, depending on whether or not you've given birth.

So, I've had my cup for over a year now. And. I. Love. It. Basically in one day now I can just wear my cup and a cloth pad, but I only go through one pad a day now. During heavier flow you should empty it every 3-4 hours, but towards the end of my period I just empty it once or twice a day. Used properly, there shouldn't be any leakage, but my cervix is a bit off-center, so I can never get a perfect seal. But even with a bit of leakage, I still love it! And it's better than a tampon because on light days, I can leave it in all day long and not even think about it. And I can wear it for a couple days leading up to my period, so I'm not as paranoid or anxious about it starting and being stuck without any menstrual products. Hooray!

What are all of your thoughts? What do you like to use? I'm also interested in menstrual sponges, but I've never used one, do any of you have experience with them that you could share?

#14: Eat 40 big breakfasts

The first one bites the dust.

#26: Answer the 5,000 question survey

Alright, so, I answered 395 out of the 5,000 questions, and then gave up. Honestly, this item is extremely time consuming, something I had to force myself to do because it felt like an obligation and overwhelming, and the questions are that fun to answer, there were a lot of really stupid ones. It made it not fun, and I wasn't really putting any effort into my answers because I just wanted to get through them. I'm a busy gal, and there are much more important things I should be spending my time on than answering lots of questions I don't care about and am not getting anything from, just to check one task off my list.

#54

Go on 15 dates with Robert

We went on our 8th date this past weekend. First, we went to a matinee of the new movie Everything Must Go, with Will Ferrell. It was good! We both really liked it, and recommend it. And we shared Sour Patch Kids I smuggled in. Yum.

For dinner we tried a Thai restaurant by our house for the first time, called Tup Tim. It's a weird looking building, as it used to be a Long John Silvers, and they painted it in primary colors. We'd heard mixed reviews about the restaurant (particularly from Mary and John, one of whom said it was good and one whom said "don't even fuck with Tup Tim", and they ate there together), so we thought we should see for ourselves. It was fine, but I suppose we were a bit underwhelmed. It's hard for much to compare to the wonderful Thai restaurants we had in Marquette (Thai House and Rice Paddy). The food was good, Thai is almost always delicious. But we went a bit on the early side, so we were the first there for dinner, and when more groups of people came in, they kept sitting them all around us....They had a whole restaurant open, and they kept sitting everyone next to each other. Not a huge fan of that, especially when one of the groups contained a grumpy 11-year-old.

All in all, it was a good date. It always is, spending time with my guy.

#37

Alter 10 items of clothing



This shirt has been sitting in my "to do something with" pile for YEARS. My friend Eryn sent it to me when I still lived in Marquette, so it's been at least two years, maybe more. Eryn had stamped these airplanes on the shirt because airplanes are my FAVORITE shape. The fit of the shirt was really unflattering, but I liked the airplanes so much I wanted to do something with it so I could wear it. I took the sides in, cut the collar off, and cut the sleeves shorter. I think it looks pretty cute now!

#33: Finish a crochet project (with Mom's help)

completed 4.22.11



I started this back on our event night, as blogged here, using a pattern which my mother deciphered, and then taught me how to do it, teaching me the different crochet stitches along the way. Once I had the hearts done, I chainstitched a thin/lace thread, and strung 'em up!


The pattern I used can be found here.

#27

#27: Leave a note in a library book -- completed 04.15.11

One year!

I should have posted this yesterday...but I forgot. It is officially one year (well, one year + 1 day) through my Day Zero Project. Seems weird.

According to the Day Zero Project tracking of my project, I have 635 days left, and am 30% complete. Of course, that 30% only accounts for the tasks that I've completed, not how much progress I've made on some which are yet to be completed.

It's been fun so far, and I'm happy with what I've completed, but I've got a long way to go! Wish me luck!

To-do list

What's your to-do list like? I keep two organizers/calendars. A smaller one where I keep track of my schedule/events/work days etcetera. I keep a larger one that is exclusively a running to-do list. It has big stuff, but mostly smaller stuff...like clothes I need to mend, things I need to mail, things I need to buy, etc.

I feel like I'm juggling a lot in my life right now. I wrote it all down to make it somewhat easier to deal with. Here's my to-do list of all the important stuff/what my life is right now:

Grad school:
-pick concentration
-mail copy of transcripts and certificate to admissions

Jobs:
-check AESOP constantly for subbing jobs
-mail transcripts to UPSM for subbing, set up meeting
-won’t find out til early-to-mid-may if I’m invited back for a teaching demonstration at UPSM, and then, if I get the job until the end of May.
-Prepare for interview on Tuesday
-research school
-practice interview questions
-update resume and portfolio (paper and on-line)
-Complete Ypsi High job application
-Apply for office/supplemental/part time jobs to survive over the summer

Roller Derby:
-Skate 2-3 times/week
-Attend Racer’s speed-skating class Mondays, as often as possible
-Get outdoor wheels
-Practice jumping
-Increase speed/endurance
-Practice backwards skating

Tutoring:
-Tutoring every Tuesday for three hours at YMS when I'm not working
-Find some time to get to Clemente high to help with editing historical writing publication pieces.
-Figure out what summer program I want to be involved with and contact 826 about it

Mail:
-package and mail letter and zines to Billi
-find handheld recorder, finish tape to Nicole, mail tape, zines and list of distros for her to check out
-package and mail traveling notebook.

Arts/Crafts:
-Make a lot of new journals
-Get etsy shop up and running--re-design
-make more pads--including post-partum pads and wet bags, create “packs”, sell on etsy with help of Jessicalyn.
-Get journals ready for shadow art fair
-Come up with interesting table design/decoration for Shadow Art Fair
-Look into vending at Ann Arbor Artist’s Market

I hope your life is a little less complicated.

#80: Go to a protest

Completed 04.05.11

So, it was quite a bit different from most of the other protests I've participated in, but this past week my mom and I went to a Take Back the Night march & survivor speakout. It was hosted by HAVEN, a non-profit my friend Blair works for that offers a range of services for victims of abuse. It was on the campus of Oakland University, as Take Back the Night marches are usually on campuses. It seemed a bit odd since I wasn't a student there...walking through a campus I had no connection to, at night when not many students are around. I'm sure it held more meaning for OU students--we even had a girl join us who was just walking around campus!

The survivor speakout portion was really moving--yeah, I cried. Quite a bit. Listening to stories of survivors, what they went through, and how they got through it, made me so proud of them, and so grateful that I haven't had to deal with such tough issues. As a woman in this society, I've dealt with my share of harassment, cat calls and misogyny, but never anything as bad as family members assaulting you for years. I wanted to hug every person that spoke, but settled for just hugging our friend who did. They all have such courage, it is a true inspiration.

Here's an article on the march. To be fair, the video is of the beginning, when we were having a hard time getting the chants together :] If you look closely, you'll see my mom and I. And my friends Blair and Lauren are two of the people holding the banner!

#23: Table at a zine fest.

Completed 3.26.11

I tabled at the Chicago Zine Fest the other weekend. It got off to a bit of a rocky start. I spent literally the entire day beforehand copying, cutting, assembling and stapling zines until 11:30 at night. Blair and I got on the Megabus to Chicago at 7:30 am, and about two minutes after we were on the bus I realized I had forgotten them all at home. After a couple minutes of freaking out and brainstorming plans that wouldn't work, I realized I had one copy of each issue in my backpack, so I could make copies when we got there. Unfortunately, I had spent $70 on copies the day before, and really couldn't afford to do that again. But, I called my lovely boyfriend during my panic, and he offered to pay for the new copies, as his contribution to my endeavor. Awwww. Then I had to enlist the help of Blair and Melody to help me assemble them all, which they graciously did. I also did a reading at the exhibitor reading the night before, which was a lot of fun. The day of the zine fest was a long day, but I had a great time seeing friends, meeting new people, having interesting conversations, and trading with lots of people and getting lots of new zines.

Like I said in the last post, this was kind of my "last hurrah" in the zine community. And it was a nice way to go out.

Besides the zine fest, I had a great time in Chicago with Blair, Melody and Jason. We ate lots of good food and talked a lot about criming, and our new best friends Darquavious and Cheezegravion Q. Pimp. Thus, I went on my fifth vacation, completing #43: Go on five vacations.

#17 & #30

#17: Put out issues #16 & #17, completed 3.24.11
#30: Finish piece on queer identity and publish in a zine, completed 3.24.11

My life, interests and priorities have changed a lot since I started this list, and it hasn't even been a year yet. Some of the fitness goals were a bit hard for me to get motivated about, but when we adopted Chance I started jogging with him every day. And now I'm in training to try out for roller derby, and made a workout schedule for myself, so things like doing yoga twice a week happens every week now. Also, I made this list a few weeks after attending the Chicago Zine Fest last year. I have been publishing zines for the last ten years of my life, since I was 15. It's something that's always been important to me, as well as feeling at home in the zine community. I slacked a bit for a few years during college, only publishing one zine every year or two, instead of twice a year or more. I always explained it away as being busy with school. And after I went to the CZF I was inspired! I wanted to start doing my zine more seriously, and so this list contains a lot of items related to making and promoting zines (publish queer piece in a zine, publish two issues of Checkered Past, submit zines to five distros, leave my zines in 5 places, table at a zine fest). And so, I signed up for the CZF this year, and decided to finish up those two issues before the fest. I finished up CP #16, which was such a long, hefty issue, that I didn't have the motivation to do a lot of interesting layout design with it, I just glued the printed out pages onto maps. And then it came down to CP#17. The prospect of gathering the material/writing for it and putting it together was so...unappealing. I just really didn't want to do it. And at first I decided not to at all. At the last minute I decided to put together a mini-zine of one section I was going to have in CP#17: interesting stories from my time working in a hotel. So I did that instead, and threw together Hotel Stories in lieu of CP#17. And I'm glad I did.

But it just made me realize that my heart's not in this anymore. It probably hasn't been for years, or I would have been making zines no matter how busy I was. I don't really do that kind of writing anymore, and I guess I don't have a desire/need to put my life out there for others in the same way (I say while typing in a blog...psht). I'm more comfortable just living my life and keeping it to myself.

So, I think I'm done making zines, at least for now. CZF was sort of my last hurrah in the zine community, and it was a great way to go out.

What I Wore Wednesday #2

Although I did not remember to take photos every day this week, at least I'm remembering to actually post this on Wednesday. I swear, though, after I post this I'm working on one of my list items by going for a jog.

A day spent running errands/spending Target giftcards!
T-shirt-gift
Long-sleeve shirt- Target
Pants-hand-me-down from friend
leg-warmers--I think I got them from the now-defunct No Sweat

Chance says "hello!"
T-shirt- gift
Cardigan- Target
Pants- St. Vinny's/thrift store

Rollerskating outfit-went to Derby U!
T-shirt- had since I was little
longsleeve- Target
Skirt- hand made, via this post
Workout leggings- hand me down
Socks- Target

Lazy day at home with Robert
Pullover-Rocky Mountain National Park
Pants-delia's clearance

Work Day
Long sleeve shirt-Target
Cardigan- Target
Pants- Value World/thrift
Necklace- Gift/antique store in Negaunee, MI