Monday, June 27, 2011

Run, Shinobu, run !

Current Mood : You'll find out tomorrow...eeeek !



Discovered something interesting a few days ago that I didn't fully investigate until today - wow. Aubrey Silver borrowed a copy of Mari DeWitt's Vintage Clothing for the Fashion Doll though InterLibrary Loan last week. Cost him $3., but it's the best way to evaluate a pattern book before sinking cash into it. He mentions being undecided about it, then yesterday announced that his blog, A Bit of Aubrey's Mind, was on hiatus for a few days. Can't say I blame him, mine must've been mild torture or a cure for insomnia to read through for most of June. But I'm too needy to let mine go for more than a week or so. Even when I don't post, I still Muse every day for it.


He mentions that, if he decides he wants the book, it'll be about fifty bucks to get his own copy. I thought he was joking. Nope. While you can occasionally find 'em cheaper on eBay, steady sources like Amazon wanted $59. ! And a similar book I got for Elphie is even more expensive ! Wow. I may give Aubrey a few more days, then list both volumes on Half.com or Amazon - it's not like I've touched either book in years. And a hundred bucks would be so nice to have around...


I'm still wresting with Monster High fandom. Crap, I have apocalyptic nightmares about it ! While I wanna know when the next Whatever comes out, and I enjoy some of the squeal, it's getting so that, if I wanna enjoy what I have, I have to avoid most fan-based groups. Sad, but even that doesn't work. Few weeks ago, I got a rather ill-toned set of messages on my own Flickr image account, basically telling me that I should be grateful Mattel sells me anything - and I saw a similar line of conversation on (sigh) a doll board I visit once a week. I've had to dump and run from at least one doll site because the admins - or members who thought themselves admins - were rude and called anyone who didn't agree with them stupid morons, or worse. I've got Mattel apologists on the left, name-calling kids (at least, I hope these are children !) on the right, and the webisodes are going in a direction I'm already losing interest in. Even Flickr-type sites- that mostly exist to host images ! -  are war zones on occasion, and I don't have time for that crap. No one should have to wade through all this because they like a doll ! What is it about MH that takes everything I learned to hate about Barbie Collecting As A Hobby and amp it to 11 ?


You've heard me whine through this before. I need to just sever all contact with most sites and just stick to my own pile of banality and a few Flickr friends. But it amazes me how difficult it is to do that. I still have that vision of grabbing up all my dolls and running away with them, so they won't be tarred with the awful brushes I keep seeing - it looks like today's image, from episode #28 of Urusei Yatsura. Just picture little Shinobu holding about 20 dolls instead ! And Ataru wearing a shirt that reads 'MH Fandom' or 'Mattel', your choice !


Meanwhile, our landlord wasn't surprised to hear of our Adventures in Air Conditioning Cleaning - and told us the previous tenants probably hadn't done anything for the last five or seven years, minimum. Gee, thanks for telling us ahead of time. They're gonna make an appointment for an actual AC tech to come by later this week, so I have a real reason to get busy on the housework. Started small today, and redid the sloppy pile of books by my side of the bed. Got them all moved, some donated, some relocated, but at least ankles are safe again. And I found a few from the last thrift-store run I haven't read yet, so those are where I can grab 'em now.


While I was catching my breath from that simple exercise, I noticed that my bangs were in my eyes again, which drives me crazy. Beloved's gonna be working late this week, to catch up...so I took scissors and a breath and went after them m'self. I don't normally cut 'em on my own, last time I did, I wandered around looking like a lost Vulcan for a month, but if I wanted to quit tossing my head around, there was nothing else for it. Came out OK, I think - I remember how Beloved does it, and how my old stylist used to, and blatantly ripping their techniques off worked out !


Oh. Em. GEE. Dearest Son just came home with the new kitten. Stay tuned for tomorrow's tale of terror - I'm about to freak out !

2 comments:

  1. Hey Dorrie,
    I got my name into your blog! That's immortality right there.
    I wanted to say thank you for offering the book to me, but I think it would be better if you sold it online. I'm not sure what I could pay for it and you deserve it's fair market value. Besides I can always copy the patterns from the one I borrowed from the library, it's not exactly the most moral of grounds, but since I'm not planning on selling what I make I think I can swing it with the big man upstairs.
    And you could really use that money. One hundred bucks, that's like 1/3 of a payment on those new Monster High dolls, right?
    (I'm such a card)
    -Aubrey

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  2. LOL @ 1/3 of a payment on those new Monster High dolls. It sure seems like it these days doesn't it? LOL! And it's crazy those books are so expensive. The one you got for Tonner dolls I wanted so bad, but I just couldn't afford to spend that much on a book. I found it scanned for free online and while I felt a slight bit of guilt downloading them I also felt justified that I wouldn't be sharing them with others or the like and just wanted them for personal use. I agree, if you are really done with the books you should sell them. Or if anything, scan them for personal use and then sell them. Just in case a few years from now you really want to make a pattern from one of them. Good luck selling them, and looking forward to this cat "tail" you have for us. :-)

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