8 March 1999

Well, if you access this journal through the main page of this web site, you may have noticed the minor addition of some JavaScript. (Mouse over some of the links and look at the status bar at the bottom of the window. I'm all proud of me.) I keep learning bits and pieces of what I want to know to make things happen on this site -- hopefully, it'll translate into something useful (useful in this context is synonymous with profitable).

I'm getting bored with the look of this site. I like it, mind you; I'm just tired of it. When I got tired of my hair color being a rapidly greying dark brown (thank you to my ex-fiance for that), I dyed it red. (It's called "coloring" now; dying is a term of the past -- as if that bottle full of strong-smelling chemicals was a Crayola I rubbed all over my head.) Change is good. Change is the only true constant (thank you Mr. Maki, my eighth grade earth science teacher). I like change, as long as I get plenty of notice.

So I'm going to change it. Problem is, I don't quite know what to do.

If I asked someone, they would likely tell me to make sure it reflected who I am. Pfaugh. Who's that? It changes daily.

I know this -- I don't want one of those spare, no-frills sites with no capitalization, teeny-tiny font, and angst dripping out of every word (every other is sufficient for me; my goal is every third), nor do I want one of those busy, cotton-candy pink sites with seventy-five animated GIFs of bunnies.

I want elegance. I want color (now there's a change!). I want award-winning writing and stunning public domain graphics (well, I can dream.) I want a coherent vision of what this site is and does, and if you have any clue of what "whitewater consciousness" is, you know what a major policy statement that is. I'd love it if this site (or at least what I'm learning to do here) helped me get a job.

Writing this has given me an idea or two about what I want to do -- now I just have to find what I need to implement the changes. I've been fortunate enough to find some excellent resources for making banners and so forth.

Now all I need is the award-winning writing... I'm working on it! I'm working on it!

I can hear the silk embroidery floss I bought calling my name. I can't wait to sew with it. I love soft fabrics and pretty threads. I have boxes and boxes of embroidery floss out in the barn (I really ought to go find them) -- I hoarded them because I loved the colors.

The snow started at 2:30 Saturday afternoon. I was at Reserves (I'm in the Army Reserve, by the way), and the Reserve center is an hour from my home. Despite all the heavy weather in New England, people persist in driving like idiots. You'd think we'd be good at it, but the proliferation of SUVs (sport utility vehicles, for those of you who have been living under rocks for the past few years) has bred a whole new species of idiot. This particular breed thinks that driving an SUV makes you ten feet tall and bulletproof.

I drive an SUV -- a Jeep Cherokee to be exact. It does give me more confidence in bad weather, but by no means do I think I'm invincible (though I joke about it). The new breed of idiot fails to realize two very important facts:

1. SUVs drive like trucks, not at all like cars.
2. Four wheel drive helps you start.
   It does nothing to help you stop.

It took me two hours or more to get home. I did stop at a grocery store on the way, to buy a little food and to go potty -- I was about to bust and at the rate I was able to drive, would have embarassed myself before I got home. Even so, I was astonished at the number of people on the road. I was also glad, when I arrived home, that I had worn my heavy mountain boots with my uniform instead of my jungle boots with the fabric sides -- I jumped out of the truck into ankle-deep snow.

I worked on my new garb for a while. I even used my new serger. I learned a couple of very important things:

1. Always be sure to test the stitching on a bit of the fabric you're sewing.
2. Always be sure your presser foot is down -- mine is a bit finicky. Not doing so makes things... well, messy.

It was fun, though. I can see where the serger will be a real timesaver.

I have some embroidery underway on my new sarafan that I think will come out beautifully. The colors sure change against the red linen I'm stitching on! A pretty royal blue becomes almost an electric blue; royal purple deadens and darkens into a violet-blue. It's really interesting to see how they change against the red -- and when they come out from under fluorescent light. If I am ever involved in the running of an embroidery store, I will have an incandescent light box where people can look at their color selections under that light.

Well, I've probably bored you all enough talking about new garb. If you really want to hear about what I'm working on, email me and I'll be happy to share the latest installment of Tasha's Garb Saga.