age quod agis

Buy a print, help a cat.

2009-01-22T20:38:36Z

My friend Megan's cat, Sydney, has developed hyperthyroidism and needs an expensive treatment that Megan can't pay for on her own. If you have an extra ten bucks lying around, and have compassion for nice cats and their impoverished owners, take a look at Megan's Etsy site and buy a Sydney card.

No groovy accessories on Election Day, OK, kids?

2008-10-30T21:43:07Z

I was not aware of this, but Dr. X clued me in this morning. Some sources are warning that people wearing political buttons or t-shirts might have trouble at the polls.

Best Not to Electioneer on Election Day. Even Snopes isn't sure what the story is.

Better safe than sorry: wouldn't you be mad if some misinformed yahoo told you you couldn't vote until you changed out of your Obama teeshirt?

And to think that I was going to wear my Obama-sash. I have so many Obama buttons, thanks to thimblewinder.

Oh, and by the way:

If you vote you won't be deported.
Don't listen to anybody with a clipboard.
And Election Day is still on TUESDAY no matter what the Republicans are trying to tell you.

And lastly, just in case you need a little Simon LeBon to get you pumped up:

Correspondence Merit Badges!

2008-08-19T02:04:54Z

Oh my gosh, the planets aligned and the Pod Post Correspondence Merit Badges are now in the shop! Tell all your friends! And then get to lickin' those stamps!

this is kind of awesome

2008-06-29T18:14:00Z

I love the Grammar Geek. I think I may need to order this for next year.

poule_avion @ 2008-06-23T16:00:00

2008-06-23T23:04:43Z

Some new softcover buttonhole journals are up in the shop, in case you've been hankering after something to scribble in.

Dribs and drabs of information

2008-06-20T15:36:31Z

Hello Dears,

This is what I have for you today:

Pod Post is working on a book about Mail Art, and we need your help! Rather than the festival of egomania that would ensue if we only used our own work in the book, we'd like to make the content as diverse and wonderful as possible, and that's where you come in! If you click on the image above, it will download the Call For Entries, which you should fill out and send in with your awesome mail art.

(If you'd rather not download the PDF, click here and here to view.)

Please note: all submitted work must have a signed copy of the Grant of Rights (page 2) included, to make your rise to published fame simpler.

Questions? Please comment.

for a rainy day

2008-02-02T23:23:16Z

Found at Red Charming, the online home of Emily Larned, formerly of Muffinbones, Memorytown USA, and currently of Parfait.

It's really the logical extension of all that time we wasted in junior high.

Obsessive Consumption

2007-12-08T17:23:23Z

This fall, I wrote a two-page piece on my favorite obsessive zines for Ampersand, a quarterly book arts journal put out by the Pacific Center for Book Arts. In that article I profiled Clutch by Greg Means, Secret Mystery Love Shoes and Listy by Maria Goodman and Androo Robinson, I Am A Camera by Vanessa Berry, and What Did You Buy Today by Kate Bingaman-Burt, also known for her awesome blog of the same name.

I'm happy to report, for those of you in the Bay Area, that you can head on over to Rare Device SF to see her installation and buy the zines in person!

photo by Lisa Congdon, from Flickr.

Good Morning

2007-09-19T16:34:17Z

Good Morning
Originally uploaded by le_poulet.

We're still living on the floor, but the house has sold and we can move our furniture as soon as we've decided where it all will go (i.e. here, storage, donation).
The morning commute isn't too bad. It's about 20 minutes longer than before, but it's so relaxing I haven't yet bothered to read; I just drink tea out of my thermos and look out the window.
I'm reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics. I'm just engrossed enough to keep going, but not so engrossed I don't continually think of the author as annoying and full of herself.
Today I get my library card--which, next to getting mail, is the thing that makes me most feel at home.
I have so much to say and don't know where to begin. Help me out by assigning topics.

The rest of the week looks like this:
Thursday: Work, dentist, water plants at house, pack up some more stuff, measure furniture
Friday: Work, jaw zapping doctor, home
Saturday: Practice single-sheet binding structure for class I'm teaching next week, look at scooters
Sunday: Work on new zine with Jennie; making more things
Monday: FLAX for paper to print new Overdue cards
Tuesday: Work
Wednesday: print

I'm sorry I haven't been commenting, but until very recently we were piggybacking on a one-bar wireless signal and any attempt to comment would result in the spinning disc of doom.

(Check out the Flickr for more photos of an empty apartment and views seen from the top of a toilet)

I made new icons!

2007-07-10T11:59:03Z

This post is really just an excuse to use one of my new icons.

Have a cold beverage and an ice cream sandwich--I'm going to the Lake for a week.

poule_avion @ 2007-06-27T08:45:00

2007-06-27T15:51:44Z

alanlastufka clued me in to the new blog of Cindy Crabb (of Doris zine). It's always odd for me to see that someone so zine-committed, so old-school, has taken to the Internet. I imagine the struggle that might have gone along with it and the subsequent justifications. I can see Cindy deciding that the things she has to say could help people who might never see a zine but who will forward URLs to their friends.

If you haven't read Cindy's zine before, Doris deals with punk lifestyle (now from an older perspective), friendships, growing things, staying passionate, surviving abuse, and in general the struggle to stay honest and committed to one's beliefs despite life changes.

The blog seems to be a [somewhat less charming] version of her zine (complete with iffy spelling). I was particularly taken with the post If Your Friend's Parent Died. It's something I need to read. Maybe you do, too.

(also posted in podpost)

super-extra dork with a dollop of nerd on top

2007-06-13T00:02:17Z

super-extra dork with a dollop of nerd on top
Originally uploaded by le_poulet.

poule_avion @ 2007-06-10T16:50:00

2007-06-10T23:52:45Z

Dear gods above,

I am just about ready to stop having to hunch over a cutting mat on the floor to make anything cool. I'm not trying to rise above my origins, or get inflated ideas of my self-worth, but I'm getting on in years and it's starting to make my back hurt well into the next day.

I wish for a workroom with a nice large table of the proper height. And a window or two.

Thank you.

Your devoted pal,
le poulet.

Six Books

2007-06-10T00:17:04Z

Six Books
Originally uploaded by le_poulet.

I made some notebooks yesterday, and then Frances tried to eat all the string.

I have ideas for a few more today.

And I'm almost ready to re-launch the superdilettante website! Whee!

Oh, brave new world

2007-05-27T21:47:11Z

With such things in't.

Dr X's sister is about to have her second baby, and Dr. X's mother is off to Des Plaines to help out. "How does she know the baby'll show up on time?" I asked. "She's having it on Tuesday morning," he answered. "8 a.m. sharp."

She's not having a planned c-section, she's being induced. She's not past her due date.

Is this how it works now? No more waiting for baby to be ready, or for some mysterious natural force to decide the bun is done cookin'? Schedule it like you would a dentist appointment and avoid the pesky hassles of having to get up in the night, running the risk of having no-one to look after the kid, or worrying about hubby being gone bowling. No more doctors-on-call. No more guessing! Just get that ol' cervix up to birthin' state toot sweet with our fancy birthin' drugs! No, don't ask what they are. The important thing is you'll be back home in time for 24!

It doesn't seem right. Anyone more in-the-know than I want to weigh in?

poule_avion @ 2007-05-24T13:54:00

2007-05-24T21:00:46Z

Notes

Act I

I see several of the same people nearly every morning while I'm out engaged in irritating activities in order to not get the diabetes and die: there is the Hispanic guy on a bike, who I nearly always see when I reach the same point in my run. I get the feeling he is biking to work while I, with my Caucasian privilege, am engaged in a pointless activity that is designed to keep me fitting into my pants. Anyway, he always breaks into a big grin when he sees me, and now I do the same when I see him. It's nice. We wave and say hi.
The next guy is usually wearing a fedora or an aviator cap. He doesn't seem much past forty, with a very youthful demeanor. When I first started seeing him around, he handed me his business card and introduced himself. He said he was out of work and looking for some kind of programmer job. He seemed nice enough but then, as we were getting a little friendlier with each other, he started showing up at the Saturday morning farmer's market with one of those crazy-people signs about 9/11 being a Bush administration conspiracy. Which, maybe it was, but I don't think I want to talk to him about it, because he probably has Time magazines leading back to the Carter administration in his living room. I started crossing the street when I thought I might have to talk to him, and now he is stone cold to me when I see him. Which is fine and dandy with me, as his six-pack does not seem to be a full half-dozen.
The third person is a recent addition; she's a tiny young Asian lady walking the teeniest doberman you ever saw in your life. One of my elderly neighbors leaves treats out for the dog, which is a stupid vicious ball of blackness that lunges at me snarling if I even pass on the same side of the street. She's nice enough, though. She waves as though she knows her dog is a shithead.
Yep. These are the people in my neighborhood, in my neighborhood, in my neighborhood.

Act II

Four chickadees, likely paired, in the bird-bath (the one that has been ignored for months and months and months).
A hummingbird buzzing about the backyard fountain, like he's not sure if the burbles are enemy or no. He dips his tail in, over and over again, but never stops to have a drink. I realize I know nothing about the bathing habits of hummingbirds.
At night, sitting on the trellis-bench covered in pink jasmine, I hear a rustling above me. Even in daylight the vines are too thick to see what might be sleeping in there.

Act III

I should continue the habit I once had of writing down the strange quirks of conversation that fill my interactions with others. I once did this with my employees at the frame shop; it was the only way I could get over my supreme irritation with them. Someday this will all be fodder for my novel...

poule_avion @ 2007-05-20T14:46:00

2007-05-20T21:49:06Z

Hello All!

bubbleandsqueek and I have started up the Pod Post blog over at podpost. Only two entries so far, but there will be projects, neat things we like, and dispatches from the Land of Pod.

Add us!

poule_avion @ 2007-05-16T09:33:00

2007-05-16T16:34:39Z

Yep.

Until a bit later...

2007-05-09T04:53:50Z

Originally uploaded by acrofish.

Dr. X and I went to Big Sur for three days. Many calves were cramped, many bees were heard, and much cheese was consumed. These here cats were looked after by the inimitable acrofish.

I will update soon.

Airmail Splay

2007-05-01T17:54:13Z

Airmail Splay
Originally uploaded by le_poulet.

I made this yesterday, plus two others. I'm hoping to get another one under way today. Fits and starts, fits and starts, fits and starts.

OMGWTF

2007-05-01T16:22:24Z

OMGWTF
Originally uploaded by le_poulet.

This is a very scary picture of my desk right before the Alternative Press Expo. It makes me seriously anxious just to look at it. Get it--pile--clean it up--ohmygod...

Have you had your Death Threat today?

2007-04-30T16:40:39Z

I can't determine any way this spam could be profitable. But if I disappear you guys know where.

A am very very sorry for you, is a pity that this is how your life is going to end is a pity but I will like to give you some chance to help your self if you will like to.
As you can see there is no need of introducing my self to you because I don't have any business with you, My work as I am talking to you now is just to kill you and I have to do it as I have already been paid for that.

Some one that I will not like to tell you the name now but a friend of yours, came to us and told me that he want you dead and he provided us with your name ,picture and other information about you. So I sent my boys to track you down and carry on some investigation on you and they have done that but I told them not to kill you that I will like to contact you and see if your life is Important to you or not since there findings shows that you are innocent. I called my client back and ask him of you email address which I didn't tell him what I want to do with it and he gave it to me and I am using it to contact you now. As I am writing to you now my men are monitoring you and there telling me every thing about you. So I will like to know if you will like to live or die as some one has paid for us to kill you. I am given you a grace of two days to get back to me if you are ready to pay 20,000Euros or I will carry on with my job.

WARNING: DO NOT CONTACT POLICE OR TELL ANY ONE, FOR I DO THAT I WILL
KNOW AND I WILL EXTEND IT TO YOUR FAMILY.
DO NOT COME OUT ONCE IT IS 7:PM UNTILL I MAKE OUT TIME TO SEE YOU AND
GIVE YOU THE VEDIO TAPE OF MY DISCOUSION WITH THE PERSON WHO WHANT YOU
DEAD THEN YOU CAN USE IT TO TAKE ANY LEGAL ACTION ON HIM.
GOOD LUCK AS I AWAIT YOUR REPLY.

poule_avion @ 2007-04-23T09:34:00

2007-04-23T17:47:35Z

Good heavens, I'm getting old. After just two days of the Alternative Press Expo, I feel like I've been beaten about the head with a stick. I was a very bad chicken and did not drink nearly enough water, which I'm now trying to retroactively rectify. On Saturday my fingertips were shriveled and this morning I woke up with calf cramps. My body has a great many needs. Unlike bubbleandsqueek, who can fuel an entire day on a cup of coffee and enthusiasm (and maybe a scone or a cookie), I have to eat, and drink, and eatanddrink some more. And I still get headaches.

(The other day Dr. X said to me, "I hope I never turn into one of those people." "What people?" I asked, rather grumpily, because it was eight-thirty a.m. and I'd woken up with a headache. "Those headache people," he said. He seems to think that bad headaches are merely caused by weakness and lack of will, which I find really annoying. He was referring to a couple we knew who both got debilitating migraines and were always canceling plans to lie in dark rooms. I suspect Dr. X has never had a bad headache in his life.)

Anyway. The past two weeks were a combination frenzy of preparation and despair, as my mood got the better of me and planned project after planned project fell away into the 'not going to happen' pile. And I know I can't make up for the lack of letter-writing and mounds of undone in one day, but I do feel like having APE behind me will mark a turnaround of sorts.

But then again, I'm still in my pajamas.

On Saturday I fetched bubbleandsqueek from her quiet, dark apartment and we drove downtown to Blue Bottle for coffee and thence to the conference center. Our bags were crammed with merit badges, post office banks, notebooks, card sets, letterpressed envelopes, zines, pin packs, book belts, snacks...thank heavens for the rolly suitcase. Maybe someday I'll be able to downsize to artnoose's level and fit everything in a 6" x 8" box that can be stashed in a messenger bag.

We needed all of that stuff, though! We ended up selling out of two of our card sets and all of the zinester merit badges we'd brought. (I have 150 more of them here at home, though, so anyone wanting a set needn't cry.)

A la artnoose, I'll do a highlight/lowlight roundup.

Lows:

--the headache.
--the crazy man with chicken in his beard (he was holding a chicken wing, so I suspected it was chicken) who accosted me on the main floor and demanded to know what 'the girl scout thing' was all about. While I tried to explain he grew progressively more verbally abusive and stalked off in the middle of my sentence. Later he came by the table and tried to steal a customer's coffee. There is an interesting city-folk way of dealing with the possibly insane that involves being firm and very bland and matter-of-fact that I haven't quite mastered yet.
--I'm getting tired of having my picture taken. (The solution to that would probably be stop dressing like a faux-military-girl-scout.)
--feeling like I'm being weird with people I genuinely like.
--I'm getting worse at going around to tables and meeting people. I get tired and shy and just stay put behind our table.
--weird comic-boy tee shirts that just say boobs across the chest.
--cold hamburgers from the concessions table.
--the bartender who tried to charge us for ice.

Highs:

++getting to hang out with artnoose and pick her brain about art and writing stuff.
++seeing a certain acquaintance (a friend of an acquaintance, really) who always awakens a feeling of amazement and quiet envy in me, for she is so particularly and confidently and unapologetically herself. Do you know what I mean? Every time I see her, I think, "She's not like anyone else, and some people might think her a little strange, but no matter what else she is she is so very much herself." I think maybe I was like that for about five minutes once.
++waiting outside the venue to be let in and striking up a conversation with V. Vale and his friend John. We talked about books and Japanese vintage clothing dealers (well, bubbleandsqueek talked about that) and what it means to feel like you're part of a community. Later we swapped a pack of zines for some vintage Search and Destroy fanzines that I know Dr. X will dig.
++as always and forever, tugboatcity. Sometimes I feel like I'm the mean but crushy sixth-grade bullygirl to Clutch's bewildered artboy. I think he's so awesome that I just end up abusing him. My apologies, tugboatcity. I really do think you're awesome. And I only tease you so much about putting out more zines because I'm a Clutch junkie.
++seeing two seventeen year old boys wearing trenchcoats and carrying light sabers. Pfffft!
++the early-morning Clutch-and-Pod ten-second dance party to "Push It".
++sour patch kids from comic book boys.
++fraunahgooyen and her posse.
++sharing our extra table with Yoshi, a sweet adorable someone I met at the Foothill College event last year who also just happens to be a really great artist. As J. and I pulled away from the venue in our car, we saw Yoshi and her friends walking down the sidewalk, smiling and laughing, high on having just sold art and made new friends and contacts. I said "I feel like we just gave her her first taste of crack."
++again, seeing people catch sight of the uniformed Pod Post double-whammy and watching the smile spread slowly across their faces. If it is about nothing else for some people, the costumes are enough.
++talking to a really polite and hip guy (who J-Pod later told me writes a really popular blog--this one, I think) and slowly realizing that his shirt, partially obscured by the chest strap to his messenger bag, says I'd rather be masturbating.
++fluxions and her greatness.
++meeting up with artists Mr. Wertz and Ms. Hardeman, talking about letter-writing and handmade things, and receiving their beautiful zine/artists' book Fescue Me. How excellent that we qualify as "nice folks" who merit a zine.
++seeing more of Carmen. Although previously unaware (as in, up until three seconds ago) of the role of Christianity in her life, it explains a lot.

Next year I'm going to walk around more and meet more people. That's what's really important.

Stones 1

2007-04-12T22:49:38Z

Stones 1
Originally uploaded by le_poulet.

Cold. I photographed these for a co-worker, the stonecarver. He wanted to enter them in a juried show and appealed to me for assistance. The best part was showing him how I could turn them slightly, in Photoshop, to reflect his original calligraphic strokes. I didn't do the best job with cloning the shadows back in, but he didn't seem to care.

Nosy and Not New

2007-03-17T17:37:03Z

After mwittier suggested a meme involving linty tampons and grey felt bus transfers, I realized that I really, really want to see what's inside your bag, purse, or satchel. Will you please indulge me? Include a link to your own post in your journal in comments, or just post the photo and notation in the comments.

This is my bag. Occasionally I have dalliances with others, but they don't last. This bag was a gift from Jennie-Pod and her Baron, for my 33rd birthday. I believe it originally came from the army surplus on Haight Street. It has been tweaked in true chicken-magpie fashion, with stitched-in red string; patches on front and inside flap courtesy All This Is Mine; Amassed Sick Days postal pin from my dad; tea-and-cigarette button from Mr. Whittier; "In the middle of training" button from Daiso, Asakusa, Japan. You can't really make out any of that stuff but I'd be a bad tour guide if I didn't point it out.

I've made notes to the Flickr photo, so you can just go there for the gory details. There are also more close-up photos of the junk.

Now, you! Please!