chimesblog

Are you ready for this awesomeness?

Every year Ames has a throwback prom to raise money for American Cancer Society and this year’s theme was Night of the Living Prom. Zombies. Prom. Zombies. Prom. Prombies?

Of course, I had to cram myself into this awesome black dress I bought for last year’s prom that isn’t made to actually fit a human being. It’s a size … ?? I don’t know. 28 inch waist with 24 inches for a chest? Hmm.. yeah. I turned the back into the corset and laced it up to fit me. Frankensteined a dress for zombie prom.

Mark and I decided to do 80s glam punk — Billy Idol style. I made Mark a shirt out of a PBR t-shirt and some fabric scraps. And of course, I made us a corsage and a boutonniere.

It was a good mix of zombies and prom goers. We had a fabulous time. The band showed up in Ghostbusters costumes (complete with proton packs) and played the ghostbusters song! Thriller was played halfway through the night and a group of us danced to it. I didn’t learn it, but I jumped in and improved anyway.

That’s about it. Free beer and punch. Lots of dancing. Lots of fun times. Undead. And alive.

Here are some pix!

So in honor of my favorite celeb, this year’s prom theme is Night of the Living Prom. Well, not sure if it’s in honor of him, but either way, we’re learning the Thriller dance so most people can do it and it will be awesome.

In case you forgot, Prom is a charity event in Ames that is held every year.  It’s a throwback prom with a cool theme. Last year’s was Revenge of the Prom.

Anyway, last weekend they held a group practice to learn the dance, but I went home for the weekend to introduce Mark to my family (which went really well, BTW).  So, needless to say, this uncoordinated chica must learn this thing on her own.

So, I began.

And, I’m going to be videoing my progress and blogging about it that way I actually get this thing learned so I don’t look like a tool and so I can pay homage to the King like I always wanted to. Plus, life isn’t complete until you know how to dance like a zombie.

Yes. I am SO blogging about this. I’m trying to hold onto it as if it actually happened and wasn’t part of my random sick and twisted dream world.

I met MJ.  Yes. MJ. In my dreams (of course. the man IS dead according to popular belief).

I was at one of his rehearsals for This is It and he went backstage. He had shorter hair like he had during HIStory (when I REALLY fell in love with him and when he became a HUGE part of my life).  We danced together and he said he liked my moves.  Yes. He liked my moves.  For those of you who’ve seen me dance, you know this is when I realized this HAD to be a dream.

So we sang “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” together and danced.  It was amazing.  That man was a genius.  His music, talent and heart will live forever.

I’m just glad I could resurrect him in my dreams.

So if you didn’t get that … it’s the guitar line from Beat It.  (duh)

Anywho, I’m participating in craftster.org’s Michael Jackson “We Love the Gloved One” swap. Yes.  Go ahead. Groan.

*insert groans here*

Good. Now that you’ve got that out of your system, prepare to be put in a State of Shock (yes, I am going to heavily sprinkle this post with song titles, now shush).

Okay, quickie info on this swap: it’s 5 points (I’m not going to explain points, but it’s basically 1 small item=1 point, medium=2, large=3, etc).  You have to craft enough stuff to add up to 5 points.  Also, I’m paired with a cool girl from Australia.  Great. Except I’m poor, so that limits what I can send because shipping is hella expensive.

Enter: crafts I would never dream of doing in a million years.  But they’re my For All Time favorites (okay, that was a stretch).

Note: none of these are actually FOR the swap. These are simply testing the medium to see what I can do.

MJ in the infamous Beat It jacket. Silhouette on shrink plastic made into a pendant for a necklace. Chain is vintage.

Okay. I admit. I actually saw the next thing on craftastrophe.net and HAD to make it myself. I thought to myself, man, what a great idea!  And yes. Craftastrophe.net is a blog about exactly what it sounds like it would be about. Crafty catastrophes — ie BAD crafts.  However, somebody on etsy sells these for $40 a pop! Crazy. I’ll make my own, thanks. The fabric for this costs about $3 a yard.  Cut, pin, stitch, stuff. Nothing Dangerous about it.  Done in 30 minutes. (next time I’ll measure a bit better though and possibly use a light interfacing to make the stitching better)

ET … moonwalk … home? Yeah. I’m going to revisit this pattern to make it less alien-like and more human (nature). It’s a 1.5 x 1 foot stuffie of — you guessed it (I hope anyway) — the one and only sequined glove.  I have no clue what I’m going to do with this thing, except for right now I’m gonna Keep it In the Closet.

… and of course, his favorite gesture.

That’s all for now. YES.  There will be more.  MUCH more.  I purchased a Thriller music box movement for the craft swap and realized I wouldn’t be able to send something big enough to hold it, so I’m going to be making my OWN shrine box (only not really a shrine, more or less a pretty music box) complete with a fimo MJ that will be mounted on one of those twirly ballerina things. Now I just gotta figure out how to get the twirly ballerina thing to do a triple twist and land on its toes …

I was a bit excited about going to the post office earlier…

And rightly so!

I opened my package and …

One of these things is not like the other... (understatement of the year)

heeeeeee! I have to measure him now for my MJ craft swap so my partner knows what size to make his clothes.

I’ve got a TON of stuff I have to do this weekend! It’s crazy, but I’m staying in and getting it done!

1. I’ve got a couple of paying freelance projects so I’m going to blow their minds and try to get a chunk of work done on them this weekend (one of them that’s not due until Sept. I’m pretty sure I can actually finish today).Kim’s friend, Lisa Inman, and I are working together to update her website. She likes her current one, but she doesn’t like that she can’t do the updates (or atleast that’s what I’ve gotten from her so far).  She’s supposed to send me the original artwork today so I can work from those files since she likes the current design of her site.

   I’ve got an order for some customized wedding rehearsal dinner invites based on the sunflower invites I listed the other day.  It’s going to be a whole package: invites, envelopes, mailing labels, table place cards and tags for favors. I’ve got the invites and labels done. I need to pick an envelope and order it. I am designing the place cards and tags today.

2. I’ve got an awesome album cover project I’ve been working on since February that I need to throw together a press kit before the end of the weekend.  I’ve been working with The Half Hearts — who will actually be coming to Des Moines on August 19 if anybody’s interested — on their album art for their very first album.  My friend Kim did the painting that’s the basis of the album cover.  The album’s finished mastering and they’re planning to send a press kit August 1, so I’ve got to get a few things together for them to print.  That’s the first thing I’m doing when I’m done blogging here (important things first, right? hehe).
3. I’ve got an order for 2 custom tattoo mugs for my co-worker, Tory.  She’s the one I did the cute sunflower wedding shower invites for the other day. I don’t think she needs them right away, but I told her I’d do them this weekend, so I best stick to that.
4. I’ve got some dishes I started working on last weekend that I need to finish and bake. It’s a set of 8 — 4 bowls and 4 plates. I’d like to get that done today. I only have 2 more bowls left to paint, so that shouldn’t be a problem.
5. I need to paint a set of 16 dishes before Market Day next weekend.  I’m doing an entire set with the tattoo theme. I haven’t completely decided what’s going where…but I’m thinking mainly swallows and flowers on these dishes.  I might pick up a few more colors of paint before I get started on these.  It’s kind of a time-consuming project though, so I might not try to push it for before Market Day.
6. Speaking of Market Day … I need to blog about my deals that I’ll be doing — including a special deal if you advertise or blog about me somewhere.  Details to come!
7. I’m doing a Michael Jackson Craft Swap. Yes. For real. Go ahead and groan.  Unfortunately, I got paired with somebody in Australia, so that limits what I can make because of the price of shipping. I had some really cool things planned before we got partners, but I can’t afford to ship there and I’d rather spend money on the things to swap than on shipping.  I’m completely lost for ideas, which is not good.  I was originally going to make a 16-piece dinner set with silhouettes, but, not shipping that to Aussie for price and fear it will break.  Anyway, I’ll be brainstorming this weekend and purchasing supplies. I have until 8 PM to figure it out since Hobby Lobby closes at 8 and isn’t open tomorrow. I guess I can go to Michael’s but I like Hobby Lobby.
8. And … I have a few backburner projects that if I have time I’ll get done this weekend.  I was hoping to make a bunch of fast t-shirt bags to sell for $1-$2 at Market Day since it’s a BYOB sort of deal. A few people were upset last time that I didn’t have bags, but it’s like Farmer’s Market…bring your own bag.

I’ll probably put my string quilt away. I’m getting sick of looking at it and I know I’ll just end up working on that instead of these projects that need to get done.

Anyway, wish me luck.  I also need to run sometime today, so hopefully the weather cooperates. I had a bad week for working out and I ate terribly the last 2 weeks…so I’m definitely feeling like BLAH right now.

AND … I’m off!

I had sent in an entry for the Diary 2010 Project a while back and I got an e-mail a few days ago from the organizer asking if anybody would like to do a 2nd page.

So, in the spirit of recent events and my latest re-surfaced obsession, I snagged June 25th (I really wanted August 29, but that was taken).  I decided to make a memorial-type page. Something subtle. Typography only.

If you remember, the diary is in 3 languages… English, French and Spanish. Also in black only.

Here’s what I came up with in 15 mins over lunch today.

hmmm on second thought, I should resize “forever” so the “f” is on the page more. Also, the size of the bullet on the bottom between my websites kind of bothers me. Too big!

Anyway, I like it. I like my original entry better, but I’m glad I got another date that meant something to me.

I recently participated in a heavy metal swap on craftster.org. This was the first organized craft swap I’ve done through the site, and I think it turned out pretty well.

For those of you who don’t know, basically in a craft swap you decide that you’re going to make a certain number of items and find out a lot of stuff about what your partner likes. Craftster does a lot of themed swaps like the metal swap (next up, MJ swap).

My partner was really into a lot of the same kind of stuff that I was into…Children of Bodom, In Flames, Pantera…etc.  But she was a HUGE Maiden fan. I took this as an opportunity to get to listen to some Maiden since I never really gave them a chance.  I got really excited about crafting some Maiden stuff since I got kind of into the cheesiness of the music. I decided that I’d only make her maiden stuff so she wouldn’t outgrow it later (like she might have with some of the newer bands).

We decided that it would be fun to make some über-girlie items with a metal theme. She seemed pretty interested in kitchen items, so that’s what I made.

Potholder set (with Eddie and Aces High lyrics on the back)

Grocery Tote Bag

Grocery Bag Dispenser

I tried to make it cute... but it didn't quite work. The inside is a pink floral (the top too) and I quilted the outside with silver...but Eddie's just so fugly.

and…. Breakfast with Lemmy — the one non-maiden item. Mötorhead. Ace of Spades. (what’s with the aces theme??)

I was the first one to send, and my partner was the first one to post her stuff… apparently I rocked the eff out of this craft swap.  :) So hopefully I get a rockin’ package in return (actually my partner is sending late b/c she wants to thoroughly rock the eff out of MY package too).

Sooo I’m switching gears and crafting for my all-time favorite musician… Michael Jackson.  (okay, here’s where I almost went on a “to those of you who are now riding the MJJ train… seriously get off it” rant…but I restrained myself)  You guys all know how I feel about him (or at least you know now…most of you knew before), so yeah, I’m a little bit upset about the whole deal but on the bright side, I’m getting to experience him all over again and am discovering things I never knew existed.

I realized that the official Michael Jackson site is now a memorial wall. Here’s what I wrote:

Michael, you’ve touched so many people’s lives in your short stay on this earth. You had so many gifts to share with the world. I’m glad you were able to give all you had to give even though the world never seemed to give back. I hope you’ll be able to find the peace in death that you were searching for your whole life. Your talent and music will live on forever as will your caring heart and soul.

Deepest condolences to your family, especially for your children. May they grow up in a world filled with things you could only have dreamt about and may they always remember how much you loved and cared for them.

——–

I really can’t say much more other than I still can’t believe I’ve been this affected by the death of a celebrity. Michael seems like so much more than a celebrity though. In a weird way I feel like I knew him at one point, but I guess that’s what happens when you’ve had a camera and media in your face since the age of 6.

All in all, I’m most upset about the way the media is handling this. TMZ and other crap-tabloids are exploiting the story of course. I haven’t watched anything on TV about it since CNN when the news broke and the morning after. That’s when all the crazies started coming out. With Michael, you have to ignore the crazies.  I’m waiting to hear when the funeral is and I’ll watch that if it’s televised.  I want to remember him in MY way, which is hopefully the way he’d want to be remembered, not the way the media wants to make him out to be : a child-molesting prescription-drug-abusing plastic-surgery-addicted freak. I’m sorry — he may have been some  (or all) of those things, but that’s not what he should be remembered for. Elvis Presley was also a prescription-drug addicted (overweight) freak, but what’s he remembered for? His talent.

With that in mind, I leave you with this video and a message that will always ring true in my heart when it comes to MJJ. Just leave the poor guy alone. He’s dead. Isn’t that enough?

WARNING: There is not one cohesive thought in this post.  Also – if you don’t know me very well, I am a HUGE Michael Jackson fan.

Where were you when JFK died? Where were you when Elivis died?

Whenever I heard people ask those questions I always thought that my generation’s “where where you when _______ died?” person was going to be Michael Jackson. 

Well. I never would have imagined in my 10-year-old mind that I was going to get a text message from several people all at once with the news while I was driving home.

I always imagined he would be shot by a crazed fan or collapse on stage in the middle of a performance.   Not a cardiac arrest at home. Michael Jackson was inhuman. I didn’t think something so common would lay him to rest.

Normally I don’t get sucked into the media and the celeb hype  - mostly due to the fact that I’ve seen how the media treated MJJ and other talented people like him and pretty much drove them insane.. or to their death (Princess Di? Anybody remember her? I do). 

Well, I can’t really help it this time.  I’m really truly sad about the death of Michael Jackson.  More or less I saw it coming, but didn’t actively think about it until it really happened today.  I remember hearing a while back that his estate was being auctioned off…then hearing he was going to go on his last tour in Europe.  I thought to myself, “That tour will be the death of him. He’s not going to make it through one performance.”  I swear I thought he collapsed at a performance a few years back. Those concerts are intense if you’ve ever seen a live taped show. He was way too frail for all the dancing, let alone the singing.

I havent seen much of him lately, mostly because I’ve been trained to ignore most of what gets shown in the news or in tabloids when it has to do with MJJ.  And because after I saw him hold his child out the window of a balcony several years back (and yes, I remember exactly where I was when that happened because it was such a scary/bizzare image), I decided from there on out I was going to remember him for what he was and for the way he was when I grew up watching him - a talented musician and dancer and a loving person.  

His career has been over for a long time. It’s been hard for me to watch the decline. And sad for me to see him pop up in the news ocassionally.  The media just can’t get enough of him, even when he’s not doing anything interesting.

It was only a matter of time before this happened. He’s been slowly deteriorating along with his career. He was so frail back in ‘95 when he released HIStory and has been declining even more since then.  I remember hearing at one point that he weighed 98 pounds. It’s like he’s just been miserable and living in an alternate reality for the last 15-20 years. Somebody said something about him abusing prescription drugs. I don’t blame him if that’s true.  How else would you get through a day in an alternate reality? 

As I’m listening to Thriller, I notice, again, how he’s singing “girl I could thrill you more than any ghoul could ever dare try.” All of the songs he ever made that were about women or had sexual undertones (In the Closet anybody? I was so not allowed to watch that video when it came out) have seemed…well…off.  Even forced.  I never really saw him as a man, which was why it was weird to me when he had children.

Not to mention, I’m more sad for his children. It’s so horrible that somebody with that much love to give wasn’t able to sanely give it to his children and provide for them in an acceptable way. I always thought his children should have been taken away from him because he wasn’t mentally fit to be a parent. Besides that, those poor kids have been getting the same kind of negative attention that MJJ was, and might end up growing up and having the same sorts of problems.  This to me is the biggest tragedy.  All he ever wanted was to have a real childhood and he thought that by having his own children he might get to enjoy some of the same simple pleasures of childhood he missed or at least watch from afar. It seemed like he was too interested in enjoying them himself to be a proper father to those children. I just hope too much damage hasn’t already been done and that those kids can grow up knowing their father loved them and that he was a very talented and gifted person.

As far as the molestation allegations go, I hate that topic. I’m torn as to whether or not he did it. It could have been a ploy to get money from him, or the allegations may have been true. Either way, it was a terrible situation, and if it’s not true, this exremely gifted, talented and caring individual’s name will be forever tarnished. I feel like more people from my generation are going to remember him for THAT than for the wonderful things he gave to the world (more than just his music).

Anybody remember Ryan White?  MJJ spent a lot of time with him when he was dying from AIDS. White was one of the first major cases of AIDS that was popularized in the media as being not related to the homosexual community – thus a huge step forward for LGBTs in the 80s.  His school kicked Ryan out because of fear and ignorance, and MJJ and a few other key celebrities stepped up and spent time with him and helped get his story out. MJJ wrote Gone to Soon for Ryan White after he died in 1990.

What about USA for Africa and We Are the World?  C’mon people. Who put that together?  Heal the World?  He was into the environment before it was as imperitive as it is now, and before it was ultra hip.  Man in the freaking Mirror for crying out loud. 

That’s the Michael Jackson I’M going to remember.

Ask anybody who’s anybody in the music industry (not even limited to R&B or pop) and I will bet that MJJ was one of their influences.  I know he’s on my list.  Billie Jean was a huge reason that I always wanted to play bass. Maybe now I’ll finally pick it up and learn how.

I feel like I grew up with MJJ.  In a weird way. I used to tape all the stuff on TV about him and watch it for hours on end. I knew everything about him – the good stuff that the media would show when he was producing music and videos that were popular – not the bad stuff they would show when he wasn’t doing much of anything. It’s like they were poking him with a stick sometimes.

I remember Michael kidding around behind the scenes in the making of Thriller.  I always remember him smilling and happy … I guess that was Thriller-era MJJ.  Before all the media hype. The Elephant Man’s bones… bubbles the monkey… child molestation…oxygen tank…countless nose jobs (okay maybe this one has got to be true)… bleaching his skin…etc.  Anybody rememeber the video for Leave Me Alone? Even his attempt to poke fun at these weird tabloid allegations didn’t make the situation any better.

For the record, if anybody’s ever seen his mother OR La Toya, they’ve got the same kind of skin pigmentation disease.  I can’t remember the name for it, but it’s basically when you lose all your pigment in your skin. 

And Blanket… oh my god. 

I can’t even collect my thoughts. It’s all so ridiculous when I get to thinking about it.  What a shame. I’m glad he was here and that we were able to enjoy all the gifts that he was blessed with. I will continue to enjoy his music and talent – maybe not so much in the closet anymore.