Irony is... 

...arriving at the vet's, cat carrier under arm, and waiting in line behind two people (one of whom spoke English) who had their dog's name wrong on the system (like WAY wrong), three (wrong) addresses and contact names listed, and needed to show that yes, this was the dog they operated on last year so they could het his eye looked at....

...Thinking, wow, how disorganized are these people...

...Then getting to the counter and realising that Tanja brought the cat in previously, but I couldn't remember if if was before or after we got married (so not sure what surname they had),  seeing they spelled "Magrat" as "Margaret", and that they had me in the system, but from my address 4 years ago.

So yeah.

Gah! I'm all sappy!

After looking through my blog-stalking list, I found the following entries. And thewy made me feel all clucky and broody and sappy and emotionful:

"Zoe" by Neil Gaiman (from his Journal on neilgaiman.com)

"The Owl of Bryant Park" By Kevin "Johnny Johnny" Gamble (from Naked Sponge)

"In My Own Image" by Annika Barranti (from Through The Looking Glass)

And just a cute one, "Eight Months" by Stephanie Whalen (from Four of Two)

Costanza'd

So this week is sort of planned out for Tanja and I. I'm on 1:30-9:30 shifts, and we're planning our barbecue on Sunday. So Tanja made a huge spinach pie/quiche thing, with the intent that it can be my lunch and her dinner over a couple of days (Monday & Wednesday). I was to make chilli on Tuesday, which would be my lunch and her dinner for Tuesday and Thursday. Also, at some point, I was to take down the skeletal remains of the pagola in our backyard, and also make a trip to Dan Murphy's to pick up booze.

So this morning, Tanja takes the mince out of the freezer so it'll be defrosted by Tuesday. then goes to work, reminding me of the schedule on the way out. I get up, have my breakfast and coffee, loaf around a bit watching Avatar, then decide, "Okay, time to take down the pagola". It goes relatively smoothly, with me not having to hacksaw anything, and only one of the pieces dousing me in liquified rust. I get finish, wash all the grease & crap off my hands and glance at the clock. It's 10:41.

"Oh no," says I. "I need to get the chilli on the stove. It takes an hour to cook, and if I still want time to eat it, I'll need to start right now!"

So I do. I prep the vegetables, get the spices, get the onion simmering, then take the mince out. It's frozen solid. "Stupid fridge!" says I. "It's almost like it hasn't been out of the freezer more than an hour!" So I use the microwave and a hot knife to break it into pieces.

I get the chilli simmering, realising it'll finish at 12:30, and that'll only leave me like 10 minutes to eat. I make my sandwich, and wrap it up. I go to put the lettuce back into the fridge when I see the spinach pie. And realisation hits me.

I call Tanja and explain that I'm an idiot. She really agrees.

So now I'm putting the chilli in Tupperware as soon as it finishes, wrapping up some Spinach pie, and having that today.

Also? Today being Monday? I start at 1, not 1:30. So I'll have like 10 minutes to get to my train.

For I am Costanza, Lord of Idiots.

The New Year, and Resolutions of Same

I told myself (and Tanja) that this will be the years I monetise & business-ise (that's not a word, but I'm making it one) my t-shirt operation. I've been looking into getting a t-shirt press, and essentially starting to print my designs off the computer. This way I have greater detail control over the designs, and it becomes astronomically easier and quicker to print shirts (especially large orders). This press, bought from a wholesaler, costs over $1000. You can get cheaper ones from eBay for between $300 and $400, but if I'm going to be doing this right, I want to be able to afford a good one.

This lead me to the consideration that if I'm going to be spending this much (plus changing the cost structure of my enterprise from stencils, paints & brushes to sheets, ink cartridges) I need to think tax-wise. To do that, i need to be able to claim stuff and write receipts. For that, I need an ABN.

I tried to do some reasearch into this the other day and got depressed (this is partially as Tanja meantioned trademarking, copywriting & intellectual property. This tweet was my response: http://twitter.com/lokified/status/7477505890).

I need to stay focused. I've had thoughts toward buying one of the cheap shirt presses and using that as I do shirts now to get together the money to get the good press.

I've also been thinking about marketing. I think doing the Paddington Markets or whatever may not be the way to go. My thought was towards a site something like TeeFury, wherre I'll have a selection of shirts for sale. I'll continue doing the custoemr stuff, by appointment.


...

I was just about the write more, and then stopped to let my thoughts whirl around for a moment. I haven't a clue what I'm doing, or planning to do. I have tons tof ideas, but no way to actualise them.

Result of hypothesis? Further study is needed.