Sorting Buttons
A new sort of mindless activity to find my Zen in: Sorting Buttons.
Collecting, some would argue hoarding, raw materials for mixed media projects is something of a passion. Saving up things, scraps, for better days when I'll find time to make something of them...
From work, corks. Thousands. Over a hundred pounds already, and try collecting a hundred pounds of corks. Osso Buco bones from the restaurant, Bottle caps from the nearby pub, cigarette duty stamps, atlases & bibles, these are the beginnings...
And buttons. Don't ask how I got started, only that I did, and a few bags grew into a few hundred and I have this idea that before I go to Alaska I'll do something with them. Something grand. And I've begun to sort them.
First - into colors. I'm still on the various shades of white - Mother of Pearl, White, other. I could get anal and sort according to size and shape, patterns, textures as well, but, well, this is just the beginning.
Snipping threads, sorting, snipping threads, sorting. The downstairs cat considers this our quality time. Me, it's just dull repetition, freedom from obvious thought, time for the subconscious to work it's magic...
There are no ideas for the buttons as of yet. I've seen what other people are doing, I have other ideas, just nothing that calls to me. The Osso Buco bones, I need more but that project is already done in my head. Sorry, dishwasher, it wasn't the immunity necklace I promised. The corks, well, they're versatile, I can use them for almost anything. Atlas's & Bibles, I need more, but I know what I'm doing there as well.
But the buttons, sorting, color, hue, maybe later on shape and size, I haven't a clue, only that they're terrific raw materials.
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- Category: Miscellany
Creativity And Dishonesty Go Hand In Hand
Don't know if I agree, but food for thought nonetheless.
Quote: "Creativity is the art of concealing one's sources" - attributed to both Albert Einstein and Coco Chanel. Ah, the failure of the interweb. If you find out who really said it, let me know. I won't update this.
Link: Creativity And Dishonesty Go Hand In Hand
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The Vogel Collection: thoroughly modest Medicis
Or, in short, how it's possible to do and acquire great things if you have the eye and the inclination.
Link: The Telegraph - The Vogel Collection: thoroughly modest Medicis
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St. Paddy's
On Friday the owner got his new luxury car. Very nice. But hopes that it might put him in a slightly better mood were dashed when G accidentally overcharged a table the owner was sitting with, end of night the owner screaming at G at the top of his lungs in the back, he's trying to be quiet but it's still audible throughout the restaurant.
Saturday the new car is in the parking lot, a new rock-chip in the windshield, the owner's still in a foul mood. Arrive, set up, staff are muted, on eggshells, he's going to blow.
And during dinner he calls a staff meeting - "I have some things I want to say" and from here it escalates...
"If you don't a fucking want this fucking job....and I fucking don't want to see this....looks like we're robbing the customers.....fucking losers fucking shit"
Lunch is done, no one is eating, and he's fucking off his nut. Still on about the night before, various other things, I've been exempted from the diatribe, specifically and named as blameless, this to prevent me from walking out, but everyone else is guilty of running the business into the ground, loud and then screaming, looking at everyone in turn, naming the worst of our customers and telling us that we should be bending over backwards, forwards for them.
When he's done he storms out of the room. Staff sit quietly. M, who arrived drunk with an early start on St. Patrick's day, turns to look at me with a small, wry smile on his face...
"You know, when you chew ice like that in my ear it's really annoying...." .
***
The owner isn't done by a long shot, he still rants and screams in various of the corners of the restaurant, finding staff and screaming at them, the night is long, customers overhear and ask if someone is being fired, another if I like my job.
***
I'm telling the nephew about how if you catch a leprechaun you should never let it go, they'll do anything to escape, but you must hold onto them until they show you where to find the pot of gold. I'm implying, vaguely, specifically, that it might be worthwhile to grab M and demand the whereabouts of his pot of gold, the resemblance is uncanny. The nephew isn't getting it, someone explains in Italian what a leprechaun is, he has his "a-ha" moment and then tells me - "I hit one once with my truck, a 600 euro fine, they're so short, small, I couldn't see...."
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- Category: Miscellany
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