Saturday, October 6, 2001
sad sad sad
I'm a little disillusioned with nervousness.org. I mean, a lot of the objects created there still inspire me, and I still want to participate in a bunch of them -- and I mean a BUNCH of them -- but I'm finding that sometimes it's not reciprocal.
That sounds strange. Let me put it another way: I'm doing a lot of work in people's objects, but the objects that I've created, though full, are disappearing. A few bad apples are spoiling it for the bunch.
I totally understand being late. I do. In fact, I've got the Frida Kahlo box still sitting here after a week because it happened to arrive right in the middle of my IQ deadline. (It was supposed to be sent to me a few weeks before -- I'm assuming that it was the 911 attacks that delayed it. I know it delayed some of my stuff from being sent.) But I'm working on it. And I've let people know that it's going to be late. The girl that has three of my objects just disappeared, it seems. (Well, not really, since she's still signing up for MORE OBJECTS. Jeez.) And two others aren't really being sent, or at least aren't being updated as to where they are.
I'm wondering now just exactly how many of these objects ever make it to their intended destinations. If anyone EVER gets their stuff back. It's really frustrating.
The site has such great potential. Its concept is fabulous -- if there are good people. Right now, there's no recourse if something goes missing -- and the site owner, Erik (of Seattle Stories, in fact), who is a genius but is way too trusting, just assumed that the place would be self-policing. However, with no way to remove people from our objects lists, and no way to talk to other people about who is a "good" participant and who isn't....we just send the stuff we're working on out into the ether and cross our fingers, not knowing if we're ever going to see it again.
The Dadaist's mail art philosophy is that you create it and let it go. Art should be free. Well, that's all fine and good for mail art, but when I'm making something with a purpose, I want to get that thing back as I was promised. If I'd known it was just going to vanish, I'd have made it as I've made plenty of mail art -- with no expectations. As it is, I feel cheated, and powerless to do anything about it.
Personally, I think Erik should take credit card numbers, and if someone loses an object, they should pay for its actual or perceived collective value. It'd stop people from signing up for objects that they have no intention of sending onward, or at least would make them think twice about it. And contact information should be visible to all members, INCLUDING a valid phone number. It might be a little radical, but I'd rather be safe than sorry with my stuff, y'know?
I set up a mailing list for nervousness.org members a few hours ago. I'm trying to get some communication going on. Maybe I'll set up a message board somewhere, too. We have to have some "policing" tools if we're going to be self-policing.
So what do you think? Should we have no expectations? Send out our art and let it go? Or do we have every damn right to be pissed if someone absconds with it? Leave me a comment if you've got an opinion.
-------e
Posted by beth @ 11:04 PM PST [Link]
Friday, October 5, 2001
aaaaargh part deux
Did I say another 8 hours?
Surely I meant another 20. I've mailed out more than half of this issue, and I've still got 23 to paste the fortune cookies into (long story), and address the envelopes for. My tongue is thick with envelope glue.
Sometimes I wonder why in the h*ll I decided to start a zine. And sometimes, I wonder how I can fit another one into my schedule. It's an addiction, I swear.
Oh, and Katie? If cloning was a legal venture, I'd be first in line. Though it might just be cheaper to hire that personal secretary I've been whining that I need. :)
Tomorrow: a visit to the coffee shop, a huge latte, and a big, fat congratulatory croissant for getting this issue done and out.
------e
Posted by beth @ 10:17 PM PST [Link]
crowing
I just have to crow a little bit here:
IQ#4 is printed, I'm collating now, and I'll have it out by tonight at the latest!!!! Yippeeeeee!!!!
Sometimes, it's like pulling teeth to get myself to sit down, focus, and get things done. I've got an insane number of interests (decos, letters, nervousness.org projects, journaling, this website, zines - more than just IQ, writing, found-word poetry, etc., etc., etc.,), and thus, an insane number of commitments. Things often get shoved into a queue where I have to totally prioritize everything, and as new things come up, other things get pushed further and further behind.
I suppose that's the way it is with everyone, to an extent. But I see some of these people out there that write incredible articles, make incredible artwork, and still have time left over to make sure their houses are clean, and I wonder how in the hell they pull THAT off...? I've been sitting in this chair off and on for the last 24 hours (with a 5-hour pause for sleep), just to get ONE issue of IQ ready to go, and I've got another good 8 hours to go before that's finished. I can't imagine trying to juggle more than one major project like this.
Not that that little fact stops my mind from racing. Other zines, other trades, other circles -- I keep thinking of other things I'd love to do when I get time. I want to write articles, make galleries on the website, learn new things and meet new people. There's just no time.
There must be a more efficient way to live my life, other than hiring someone to clean the bathrooms and be a personal secretary. I just haven't found it yet.
Any ideas?
------e
Posted by beth @ 10:30 AM PST [Link]
Wednesday, October 3, 2001
productive little girl
All day today, I've been finishing up on tons of projects. Between the backup of nervousness.org projects and my personal stuff, I think I've got enough to do for the next fifteen zillion years. (A little bit of an exaggeration, of course.)
I've been looking for other links on altered books and the like. I found this site with a few pages, and this gorgeous thing that makes me wish I had the kind of time to devote to them.... There really are some incredible artists out there.
My copy of the STUDIO zine arrived yesterday, and I'm feeling wholly inadequate. And broke -- I'd love to pick up some of the alphabet rubber stamps that they offer on limited edition through that zine. It's not like I don't have a million of them already, though. I should work on using the stuff that I have, or at least paring it down to the stuff that I do use.
And just in case you're one of those that is looking for inspiration for your own work, coffeebreak inspirations has some stuff that might be right up your alley.
What kinds of things are you looking for to inspire you, by the way? I know I'm kind of talking to the ether here, but I'd really like to work on creating a site and a zine about inspiration that is actually useful for people. I crave interactivity -- as evidenced by my overblown participation on nervousness.org -- and I'm working peripherally on The Hanging Gardens for this site, but I want to collect information, techniques, art. I want to share all of this with the world, anyone who's looking for it.
Am I overly ambitious here? Do you think it can be done? And if so, can I do it?
------e
Posted by beth @ 12:12 PM PST [Link]
Tuesday, October 2, 2001
insomniacs ho
I should never, ever, under any circumstances, take a nap in the middle of the day. Ever. I took one today from about three p.m. until four-thirty, and now I'm awake. Very awake. I may never sleep again. And this is without any excess caffeine or anything. Ugh!
I just dragged myself out of bed with the intent of getting some more done on this issue of IQ, but it's not happening. I'm all zombied, but not enough to sleep. It's that weird limbo state where you're not awake really, but you're definitely not sleepy. The kind of awake where no thought makes a whole lot of sense, but the thoughts are voluminous enough to make sleeping impossible.
I just hate this.
H and I went downtown today with Jeff and Ronnie. Presumably, we all got together to have H go over the poems for this next issue of epicenter, the literary mag that a group of H's friends put out on a semi-regular basis. But as tends to happen at every kind of epicenter gathering, there was about ten minutes of poetry and three-or-so hours of playtime.
Today was great, though -- we sat at this great cafe in downtown Riverside, Back To The Grind, and watched people walk by while drinking italian sodas and iced mochas, listening to the indie folk filtering out to the shaded tables through the open door. Back To The Grind is one of those fabulous, overly-literary cafes that just oozes with charm and intellect, where the highly-caffeinated literatti hang out with their artist friends, sketchbooks in hand. Of course, I'm in love with the place now.
In fact, it spawned this mail-art project that I'm probably going to post on nervousness.org, if it ever gels up for me: I'm thinking of having participants head to a cafe/coffeehouse somewhere local to them, taking along just a glue stick, scissors, and pens (and the blank book or whatever I send out), and recording the experience. Use only what you find -- like the free flyers or local newspapers or napkins or whatever, and your own words...then send it on.
We'll see. For now, I'm going to head back to bed and try to battle the insomnia demons for a while.
Wish me luck.
-------e
Posted by beth @ 03:42 AM PST [Link]
Sunday, September 30, 2001
layout
I'm laying out issue four at the moment. Well, to be honest, I'm taking a big ol' break from laying out issue four. As much as I love writing the zine, placing the text drives me up the nearest batty tree. I don't know why, really. It's not like it's that hard. It's just all the minutiae. And I am my own worst critic, so I second-guess a lot of what I've done while I'm doing it.
Last night, we watched _The Mummy Returns_ and _Heartbreakers_. I have never seen so much action-packed drivel in my life. (The Mummy, not Heartbreakers.) The CGI was impressive, of course, and I can see why it was such a blockbuster, but jeez. I've seen "Sesame Street" episodes with less predictable plots.
I found this great page on a mail art exchange that has me wondering about the feasability of sending toast through the USPS now. I love mail art. Just imagine opening up your box to find a polyurethane frog inside.... I had a friend send me a letter on the inside of a shoe recently, in fact. (Like one of those Dr. Shole's insert-type-things, only in a wild Hawaiian print.) I'd just love to be a fly on the wall when that postman had to deliver THAT thing, y'know?
Back to layout. Or maybe a game of Age of Empires. One of the two.
-----e
Posted by beth @ 09:42 AM PST [Link]
