Happy Birthday to Paul!

I’m cleaning up a few things before Paul and I leave for the Riverhouse after his band practice. There are just so many little things to get done. I’ll still me making buttons while we are there but at least I’ll have a river to look at.  Paul’s birthday is on Thanksgiving which is sort of a bummer for him but we are going to get up there tonight before family and puppy children show up.

Sometimes we have what Paul called “grammi meals” because my grandma used to make similar means of little cups of things that you put on your own plate to eat. We also use the term “snacky” but our snacky isn’t dorritos and whatnot. Our snacky is stuff like this this little bowls: slices of good bread, hummus, olives, pickled okra, slices of apples, crackers, roasted garlic in the bulb, veggies, and fancy cheese for Paul. We also drink good beer and wine too. I actually bought Paul a really nice bottle of port for his birthday which I’m sure we will imbibe.

And when I get back on Thursday night I’m sure I’ll have lots of orders to pack and hecticness to wrangle but tonight I’m going to take a little time off.

I’m getting better.

The Sick seems to have turned to a different kind of Sick and I keep getting sparatic headaches but I have to cough but I can’t have a one of those deep fulfilling coughs because it makes my head feel like it will shatter. At least I’m not having fever dreams about quests that involve photocopiers anymore!  I am left with this gunk in my lungs to hack up that would probably be given a swift death if I had antibiotics but seeing as I’m of the masses of uninsured I’ll be with the hacking for a week or so. I guess I’m fine with that. you know, the whole what doesn’t kill us thing is sort of true with the body. At least my immune system is strong enough to fight stuff off and grow.

I built a fortress of button making around me in bed for a few days to tackle the orders that amount to about 7,000 buttons this week. It’s a good week! It’s getting me thinking about spending the money on tattoos, a great birthday present for Paul (he turns 33 on Thursday. Bummer to have a birthday on a Thanksgiving), travel again or probably just paying off bills which is no fun but more useful.

Yesterday I was going to do downtown to make more copies of my zine but I got distracted and the rain was raining and windy more than it was when I decided to go downtown.  I talked myself out of making copies Saturday because I already missed the postal carrier for the day and I may as well just go Sunday and rest up some more. Paul suggested we got to Pause and do a crossword puzzle. He had a beer and I decided to have a hot toddy because apparently whiskey is always good for you when you are sick? I also had some of their yummy soup, which was much better than my soup at home that I have been living off of for the past week. They always have a veggie option for soup and this one was a smoked pepper creole. The red color was also much prettier than the brown sludge in my pot at home.

Paul and I came home, I made buttons, and tea, and later James came over with a bottle of Whiskey because I had mentioned Hot Toddys. We hung out listening to records. he had wine and I had two more hot toddy’s and 2 pots of tea while putting pin backs in until I was about to fall asleep on him discussing the relative merits of the theory of science.

This morning I got up with Paul at 6;30, which is better than the usual 5:30 but still annoying that I am incapable of sleeping in unless I’m really sick like the other day when I slept in to 11. Also, we finished with our interviews for housemates and chose one we think will fit the best with our house and came recommended by my favorite photography wizard and cauldron of magical no sick soup. This morning I got an “anonymous” e-mail that I can only assume comes and angry soon to be ex-housemate of her’s with vague allegations of driving an old best friend mad and skipping out on them with two weeks notice that read just a childish as she had described her living situation as “Mom” in a den of lost boys who would rather hide from her than pay bills. Paul and I had a laugh about it. This is my fucking house and I think I’d be able to kick someone out before they drove me mad.

Anyway, time to get on with the day of photocopying and then packing up several orders that have been delayed due to the photocopier at the IPRC being out of paper and also, The Sick. I might meet James for some lunch later too. The wind and cold and rain give me a good excuse to wear a cloak today. I like those sorts of days.

The Sick

I think I have The Sick. I can’t really complain though. I traveled all over the continent on trains and plans for four weeks and didn’t get sick so I count myself sort of lucky.  I can’t complain that I’m home in my cozy bed with Paul making me tea and soup, ya know?

I started feeling uggie last night after we brought a pizza home from Eddie’s (The best pizza in Portland! and conveniently located right by my house) They I got a head ache and a fever and went to be right after watching the Doctor Who-Waters of Mars which was totally depressing… except for the jokes about The Doctor having wikipeida in his brain. I drank a bunch of tea and went to sleep. Jackie came with me and stayed with me all night.

This morning I felt more or less ok so I drank more tea and got more work done (lots of impending button orders!) I talked with my rad friend Zach online who told me about his new blog. He’s the one with the wizard photography blog over there —————–> well, he has a new blog that is No More Sick Friends. It is pretty rad stuff about healthy things. I started feeling crappy this afternoon and sent Paul to the store to get me tea and juice and fixins for the Fuck this Sickness Soup.  Then I took a nap with Jackie who hasn’t really left my side when I have been in bed.

Tonight we are meeting with a potential new housemate and we are meeting with some more tomorrow. My big plan was to make them play Apples To Apples with us but not sure what my fever brain can handle. Either way we’ll have a new addition to our house by this weekend. Which will be way rad. Ok, more napping with Jackie and some soup to eat.

Going to see the Pixies tonight!

All the free stuff in my Etsy shop and the promotion for my new zine has been keeping me busy but I’m having a hard time staying focused. I have been getting up at 6 or 7 when Paul leaves and working but switching from one task to another. Yesterday around 11am I got a headache and just retreated to my bed with a book for awhile. Then Marc came in to tell me that the electricity was out. So that was an excuse to get more reading done.  When the electricity did come back on the internets didn’t work so I just read some more and wrote letters.

Jess came over after work at 9 and I was already half asleep. She brought a bottle of wine and I made some soup and tried not to fall asleep while we talked about my travel adventures and her local adventures. I missed her! We need to do one of out vegan food and wine pairings again soon. I’ll post photos, I promise!

Today I got a lot of work done this morning and sorted through some potential housemates to meet next week and started cleaning my fucking office. I have been meaning to do this for months. I started in corner and am working my way across the room but I think I need to go get my day on. Paul is coming home at 1 and his friend is picking up to take up down to Eugene to the The Pixies! I also want to stop by sweet life for some of their vegan cheesecake. The only way I know how to get there is if you are going down 13th you take a right at Monroe…like the Avail song….even though that’s not really the name of the song that is just me and my sister’s sense of humor to get to the vegan cake shop! There’s also a great beer store/pub there we might check out too. I’m excited to see The Pixies, I hope I don’t fall asleep too early.

Stories on my street

I’m taking a break from posting on the internets about my new zine to mention that I have lots of PIFs (Pay It Forward in EtsySpeak) up in my Etsy shop to celebrate my 2,000 Etsy sale. Custom buttons, free coffee, etc. Now that I’m all caught up I guess I’m looking for more work so that I don’t have to clean my office? I even posted and ad on Craigslist looking for a new housemate. Ugh. Now I have those e-mails to sort through and talk to the rest of the folks about.

I live on the corner of a one way street. Across the street from my house is a soundwall with a bunch of Ivy growing on it. This is what the autumn raining Portland looks like to me working at the dining room table:

It was raining pretty hard yesterday

So, we live right by the freeway and it nevedr fails that at least once a month a semitruck will come down the road that isn’t one way and try to turn right on the one way street. The problem is that the soundwall blocks the front and the telephone pole on the far curb makes it completely impossible to take a right. This morning a semitruck distracted me from button making and so I took a photo and watched the show as it tried to turn 4 times before backing up into a tree down the street and breaking a branch. Wow, my life sounds really dull doesn’t it?

yup, a stuck truck

Last night was the second night that I retreated to my room and fell asleep before Paul’s band practice was over as I was reading the 3rd book in the Dies The Fire series. Paul came up after practice and my immediate reaction was to pull the covers over my head as if it was 5:30 am and he had just come up from his shower and was going to turn on the light. His response “what are you doing? The lights are already on.” And so they were, I had turned on Christmas lights to read. it made me feel silly. I really need to go to the post office today but I’m feeling lazy in this weather.

Brainscan zine #24 & #25 out now!

BRAINSCAN 25-This zine has been five start and stop years in the making. I finally finished it in October of 2009 at the Anchor Archive zine residency in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Brainscan 25 Chronicles my Saturn return as a love story, an ending, and a new beginning with someone from my past. The Saturn Return is the time between ages 27 and 30 when the planet Saturn is in the same place it was at your birth. It is usually seen as a harbinger of change and a test of character where individuals are forced to evaluate their life in relation to their values. Brainscan 25 documents my life between 2004 and 2006 which was full of upheaval and questioning my path and choices in life. The linear story is spliced with narrative flashbacks from 1996-1999 full of punk shows, travel stories and the difficulty of dealing with emotions and the insecurities of growing up. Text heavy with high contrast cut and paste layout and photocopier art.

Brainscan 25 is 80 pages, legal sized (8.5″x7″) transparency acetate and cardstock covers, and an envelope containing a 16 page epilogue.

BRAINSCAN 24 is a mini zine with answers to questions I’m frequently asked and random facts like how I was made in Canada, am left handed, and was the very first Aquacadet. 32 pages and 1/8th legal (3.5″ x 4.25″)

Both of these zines, actually, there are three zines together weighing 6 ounces and are available in these ways:
put $6 US in and envelope and send it to:
alex wrekk
p.o. box 17230
Portland, Oregon
97217

paypal $7 in the US or $8 Canada or $9 rest of the world to alex@smallworldbuttons.com

or from My Etsy shop here along with lots of other ziney things.
or My Artfire shop here.

If you already carry Brainscan in your distro I’ll be sending you a sample copy. If you do not carry Brainscan please get in touch for a sample copy.

Home again and cooking in my kitchen!

I touched down last night in Portland around 11pm and when I turned on my phone I found that James and Christina were offering me a ride home and Paul was on his way to the airport by train. I was so exhausted I was planning on just taking a cab but a ride in a car with friendly faces was excellent!

Paul and I got home. I was tired but we stayed up and drank the Rogue wet hopped ale that Paul had been staring at every time he opened the fridge. I also sorted through my stacks of mail: letters, trades, stuff I bought off Etsy before I left and an awesome gift of the very first mix tape of Sunshine songs I have ever received. Caleb had read in my zine that no one had made one. I guess it is sort of a no-brainer with my real name being Sunshine and all, but no one had done it. Paul had started a subtle Sunshine mix tape years ago but the tape got lost and he never finished it. So Paul and I chatted, I made some steamed veggies, said hello to the cats and housemates, and drank glorious Oregon beer!

We were up late and I slept in more than I expected. I was up at 7am Pacific time and got to work. Sorted orders, packed orders, answered e-mails, printed button artwork, took photos of buttons and posted some new items to my Etsy shop: new astrological magnets and my NEW ZINE, Brainscan 24 and 25!

I needed a break and I wanted to make Squash soup so Paul and I showered and went up to New Seasons to get supplies. I used it as a reason to wear my brown cloak on the walk.

That’s my brown cloak. It is the second one I made. I have a gray one too. I’ll have to get someone to take photos of them on me at some point. This one isn’t line and not as heavy as my gray cloak. Paul likes to steal this one and wear it around the house a bit like a wool blanket with a clasp.

At New Seasons we got lots of food and beer and a bottle of wine. I had intended to just make a simple squash soup but somehow I ended up making a pot of wild rice, barley, and brown rice and a stew rather than a soup to put over it. the stew was squash, potatoes, onions, garlic, carrots, miso and peanut butter and greens. I also got some yummy vegan apple sausage field roast things. I thought they needed some kind of sauce so I opened  the wine, a Spanish wine called Evodia and added a handful of cranberries, two tablespoons of apple juice concentrate, a bit of balsamic vinegar,  just the bud of  one clove, some salt and thyme. It wasn’t too sweet and nicely tart

Fresh cranberries are fun and also pretty

yum.

Paul’s got band practice so I think I’m going to go retreat to my room for some alone time with the rest of this wine bottle and a book. I feel like I could have done more work today but I’m still trying to get back in my work pattern. It is really disconcerting to not have Rick Emerson to listen to as I answer e-mail and press buttons.

I’m headed home today!

Just a quick last note on the east coast. I stayed at Nicole’s for my last night. She runs the fabulous Click Clack Zine Distro, has an adorable dog named Oliver that wears a bandana and doesn’t like it when I put my hair up. I have been sleeping in a real bed, this was my first stop that I haven’t even unpacked my sleeping bag! But, tonight I’ll be in my own bed and I’m excited about that.

What I’m not excited about is flying from here to NYC and then the SEVEN HOUR FLIGHT back to Portland. Ugh. I hope it is one of the planes that has the internets because I don’t have that many zines to read since I shipped so many off. I may see if Nicole will stop off at a book store for me to get one of the books recommended to me. I think drinking some beer might also make this trip a bit more palatable.

I also have an abundance of e-mail I need to get to and orders that Paul is dealing with that I need to check up on. Yesterday at brunch with Nicole at Impanema we sat at the bar and I made a list that took up one side of a napkin of things I need to do when I get home. On the rest of the napkin I attempted to create a metaphor that related Rumplestiltskin and spinning straw into gold to the overabundance of boxes of zines in my basement that needed to be cataloged which somehow had to do with a zine residency at our house. It sort of fell apart when I got the the first born child part if the person failed. Actually, it failed because it took so long to explain it even though I was giggling in my head.

Anyway, my stuff is packed and I’m about to don my trusting backpack and head west. In my head sometimes I think that once I have been some place then I have sort of stuck a pin it it, that I’ve been there and done that. But, it’s not like that at all. Most of the time it leave more questions and leaves me missing people and friendships that have only scratched the surface. So, that just means that people have to come visit me.

Which brings me make to musing about our basement room where we can put Marc’s old bed and stack up the epic zine collection to be spun into gold.

Last days in Richmond and the working zine description

Greetings from Richmond! Nicole has a spare room for me. With a bed! With sheets! I haven’t slept with sheets since I left! The Richmond zine fair was Friday night and all day yesterday. I’ll write more about it later. Last night we played and awesome game of Apples to Apples and had a lot of fun. nicole took me to a bottle shop and I geeked out over all the beers I had never tried.

I head home tomorrow. I was feeling really homesick at the zine fair yesterday and wondering if I could get a sooner ticket home since my plane ticket is for Monday. I decided to stick it out. Here’s the working description for brainscan 24 and 25. I’ll post more when I’m home and they are available.

Brainscan 24 & 25

This zine has been five start and stop years in the making. I finally finished it in October of 2009 at the Anchor Archive zine residency in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Brainscan 25 Chronicles my Saturn return as a love story, an ending, and a new beginning with someone from my past. The Saturn Return is the time between ages 27 and 30 when the planet Saturn is in the same place it was at your birth. It is usually seen as a harbinger of change and a test of character where individuals are forced to evaluate their life in relation to their values. Brainscan 25 documents my life between 2004 and 2006 which was full of upheaval and questioning my path and choices in life. The linear story is spliced with narrative flashbacks from 1996-1999 full of punk shows, travel stories and the difficulty of dealing with emotions and the insecurities of growing up. Text heavy with high contrast cut and paste layout and photocopier art.

Brainscan 25 is 80 pages, legal sized (8.5″x7″) transparency and cardstock covers, and an envelope containing a 16 page epilogue.

Brainscan 24 is a mini zine with answers to questions I’m frequently asked and random facts like how I was made in Canada, am left handed, and was the very first Aquacadet. 32 pages and 1/8th legal (3.5″ x 4.25″)

These two zines together will be $5 plus $2 shipping for a total of $7. I feel sort of bad for the price but the zine is 80 pages and the copies I have now cost over $3 each to make.

Message from paul

Paul send me this image from his work where he arrives at 6:30ish AM. The message was simply “Good Morning Beautiful” I think I’m about ready to get home.

The Willamette river with the boat dock and the Marquam bridge. If you look closely you can see the tip of Mt. Hood in the distance.

I had Vegetarian dim sum last night and stuffed myself then went to d.b.a. and rattled my brain trying ti figure out what beers to drink with Jeska and Jenna. Tonight I’m meeting Jeska and Justine (what’s with the J names ladies?) at Blue Stockings and then headed to Kate’s Joint for dinner. Tomorrow morning I catch a train down to Richmond for the last leg of my journey. I head home on Monday.