top ten today

in no particular order:
miranda july
chanterelle mushrooms
ulrich schnauss' far away trains passing by
sudoku
making lists
small things, especially if they light up
cat power's the greatest
my dirty crocs
moleskin daily planner
trader joe's roasted veggies in balsamic glaze (and garlic fries)

where am i...i am where...

i have been working on the body-lightbox project since about the end of last summer. i really didn't think it would take this long, but it's definitely been a process and lots of problem solving. there are still parts of it that i have not gotten to work--namely the specimen jars, but i have an idea not involving an autoclave but something akin that i want to try.

i finally finished the boxes, but need to stain them--with menstrual blood. i've considered backing out, but as i thought about it, it just makes sense...problem is that i barely bleed anymore. i managed to get a vial of my blood, so even if it takes a while, i will get these boxes stained. there's also the matter of figuring out how to have them float on the wall. some of the boxes have to be able to support a large specimen jar filled with resin....

of course, i really don't need any distractions, but i did start two new exciting projects. i need to make a mold of a baby so i can cast many--the baby mold must allow being poured one half at a time with the second half being poured in a different manner than the first, and then there's the addition of a polaroid transfer to the middle of the baby...after that, i have to figure out how to make it or rather the led lights i will embed in it respond to sound....

AND i am trying to print images on the inside of eggs. lots of fun challenges. i don't know why or how i find the most technically crazy ideas. i don't think they are particularly unusual, but they all seem to require acquiring some new skill. i suppose that is a good thing, but i don't want to get bogged down in the technical aspects. i hope that i learn something from these projects other than how to do them.

mukkachino experience

i've had my eye on this thing since xmas when i was shopping at crate & barrel. $89 is a lot to spend on what looks like not much more than a stovetop coffeemaker, but it is cheaper than many of the capuccino machines out there, and the $100 ones require finesse to foam the milk properly. at a minimum, you'd have to spend $200-300 to get a decent machine.

cravings for mochas & lattes wore down my reservations on the last visit. the sales lady said she had purchased three as xmas gifts and claimed they worked, but i was skeptical. the first batch came out watery and not so great, but the manual recommended brewing and discarding three batches to break the thing in, and by the fourth try, I had a good, frothy mocha (adding a spoon of Ghiradelli cocoa is perfection). it really works! and the best part is that it takes up little space unlike an espresso machine.