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Monday, July 15, 2013

It Ain't Alcatraz

First off, let me say that I in no way feel any dislike toward the people of Oklahoma but WTH?  Are your prisons made of nerf?  Ever heard of bars or guards or locks?  I ask this because on my social media feed, I receive updates from an Oklahoma news channel.  Having lived in Oklahoma for a couple of years, I found it interesting to get the local low-down on the what's up in Okie Dokie Land.  Anyway, daily, ok maybe weekly, it seems that the police in OKC have surrounded a house containing a suspect believed to have escaped from so-and-so prison.  I guess I was young and naive when I lived there because I don't remember Oklahoma being one of our more dangerous states unless your talking tornadic terror.  I just don't get how all of these people keep escaping.  Hubby says that they are most likely on a work detail but don't they still have guards with them.  And we all know that Oklahoma guards like their guns.  Why don't they just shoot them?  Then Hubby reminded me that its not the guards in Oklahoma that like their guns, its the police.  See when we lived there, an elderly man with dementia on his front lawn weilding a weed-eater was shot several times to his death when he charged police with said weed-eater.  Now, man charged with assault trying to escape prison or elderly man with a weed-eater - which one would you shoot?  And they aren't just escaping prison.  They are doing it with flair.  I recall a posting from a few weeks ago about a young man who escaped prison and went to a local fire department and stole a fire truck.  The posting told anyone seeing a man in prison garb driving around in a fire truck that "well, you know what to do".  At first I thought this was a very nonchalent treatment of the situation but upon further consideration, I think it was an invitation for the gun-toting populace.  I think it was Oklahoma code for shoot him yourself.  This may not be a bad idea because I have often wondered what would happen if one of those major Oklahoma twisters hit a large penitentiary.  But maybe that's why so many Oklahomans have guns.  They are just waiting to hear that secret code.  So take caution who is around next time you say "you know what to do".  You may just open a whole can of worms - worms with guns who are ready to take you down.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better -or- How Delusional Thou Art

I have a problem.  See, I see things on etsy (the online craft emporium) and I think - huh, I could make that.  I mean, it looks easy enough.  So I secretly yearn for the supplies.  I go to the craft supply store and look longingly at the materials I would need and price out the cost of each project.  I wrestle internally with rationalizing my need for this new creative outlet.  I feel held back by my lack of supplies.  I am tethered to the world of the uncreative by my inability to finance my artistic dreams.  But then, one day, I go for it.  I decide to try my hand at this new craft.  Usually I justify my purchase of materials under the guise of "I'm making it as a gift for a friend" and "It is much cheaper than buying the finished project."  The former is typically true.  I have all intentions of giving this as a gift.  The latter is also true.  If I had the talent, the project would be much cheaper than purchasing a final product.  The problem is that I know better than to believe both of these "excuses."  So today, I sit down with my clay and my sculpting tools to make a wedding gift for a friend.  It takes all of ten minutes for me to realize that this craft is going the same way as many of the other crafts I have attempted over the course of my life.  See when it comes to crafts, I am either a natural or I totally and completely suck.  There is no in between.  No grey area where the project turns out "good enough."  Its either awesome or crap and todays experiment was a big stinking pile of crap.  So I pass on the clay to my daughter to play with.  The tools will probably make it to a yard sale ten years or so in the future after living in a closet or the basement until then.  My ideas of sculpting the perfect gift are quickly thrown by the wayside.  They join the ranks of the pottery wheel, the handmade drapes, the quilt, the afghan, the cake decorating, the painting, the ceramics and all the others in my ever-growing unfinished craft project graveyard.  I should probably just stick with jewelry, card making, scrapbooking and drawing - things I know I can do.  But even as I type this, I think of the faux stained glass and the mosaic tile creations I have seen.  Surely they can't be THAT hard???  Hi, my name is quirky and I'm a delusional crafter . . .