Star Crafty

What for? To pad the BILLION THOUSAND boxes I need to mail to to Vegas because I sold my rickety car and I am flying out there...

Oh did I say flying? Why, Yes! Thank you Delta for actually answering your bloody phones! Am leaving on Saturday at 6:00am (anybody wanna give me a ride, I hate taxi cab drivers at that time of the day... they have a crazy eye).

I'm sure the reality of this will sink in once I mail all my (heavy) belongings. In the meantime, I shall share pictures! Of Vegas! Of me! Of the desert! Of me AND the desert! (mmmm dessert.....)

hi Vegas!

Towards Red Rock Canyon, I will live just 3 minutes from here!

New York, New York (soon, my child, soon)

Aww the Stardust Hotel... it was imploded just a few months ago.

Giant M&M store... flashyyy

The Luxor... that tip up there? That's a GIANT lightbulb, seen from anywhere in the city. Follow it, and you'll come across the Strip.

The Freemont Experience in Old Vegas (or "Downtown")

I already have several of these call cards printed, will put them up as soon as I get there.... er....

ZMOG!

The view from Hoover Dam. That thing is HUGE. Like... HUGE. no no no you don't understand, it's HUGE.

YAY SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! okay so we only spent 15 minutes out there 'cause it was FREEEEEEZING. Like, I had layers upon layers of heavy fabrics on me (I had 4 jackets, I swear) and my hands were still freezing. But.. it was fun. Then I said, fuck this snow shit, let's go watch CSI.

My mom and my aunt are on to me. They keep wondering why I have delayed my departure to Las Vegas for so long (more than a month now). And I honestly don't know why.

I decided to write a little timeline to explain (mostly to myself) (and because it's 3:30am and am bored and not sleepy) how I got to this point (I remember dates VERY well, so I apologize for being so precise.

Monday, July 2nd, 2002, 10:10am-ish - I am offered a prestigious full scholarship to SCAD after I had abandoned the dream of ever studying in the US. I pack my bags and head on to...whatever this was going to bring me.

Saturday, February 24th, 2006, 2:00pmish- Have long dreamy talk with Tamara about... both operating a little bright studio where we'd create fantastic things and sell them in the storefront.

March, 2006- I stop being such a sissy and decide to move to New York (as I have been dreaming of since I was 13) once I finish school later that year.

Spring Quarter 2006- Come close to having a mental breakdown as I killed a huge spider at 7:30am in the bathroom right before going to work. Had the worst school quarter of my entire life. Did not feel like even continuing school, but I was so close to graduating.

July 2006- While watching Episode 3 of Season 1 of Lost, Mom calls me to tell me how I should not waste the $5000 she gave me from grandpa's inheritance by moving to New York. I should invest them, or save them for...whatever.

July 2006- Having built quite a niche for myself with the Mutation Craft Fair, I muse the idea of opening a boutique in Savannah selling handmade art and crafts by local, national and international artists. Realized how passionate about this I am. Even more so than my photography.

Thursday, August 24th, 2006- I have finished college.

September - December 2006- Post college life is not what I had imagined it to be. Have never felt so pointless and lost in my entire life. I rarely touch my fabrics or my brand new expensive professional camera. Feel untalented and inferior. Working two crummy jobs.

Friday, November 11, 2006- Tamara and I take a day trip to Charleston where a lady at a local boutique, without knowing my career path or ambitions, told me I should just pack up and move to NYC. My forehead hurt from all these signs hurled at me.

Late December, at work, 2006- Unable to have a fit at work, I force myself to snap out of it and stop complaining about the lack of... anything in my life. I find myself again.

Very early January, 2007- I ponder the idea of moving to Raleigh, North Carolina.

Saturday, January 13, 2007, Zunzis, 2:00pm- Meet a boy. Seems like a nice guy.

Friday, February 2nd, 2007, at Krogers, Superbowl weekend- Boy hurts me.

Sunday, February 11, 2007- After a week of crying like an idiot (he was nowhere near worth my tears), I go back to my Raleigh plan. So I drive up there. I must have looked like the star in a Lifetime Movie of the Week... costarring Lindsay Wagner. For reals. That same night, I decide to move to Las Vegas. Mom is very happy. My brother lives out there (this is a very important fact to add here)

Friday, March 30th, 2007- After a three week cleansing vacation in Puerto Rico with family and friends (and wedding!!), I come back to Savannah where I quickly begin to pack and throw crap away. Money situation with roommates getting worse and worse, it's bringing me down.

Friday, April 13, 2007- Receive a rather unexpected call from a national magazine in regards to an email I had sent them last Summer. They want me to write an article about Savannah for them. I quickly say yes, even though I'm quite aware it'll keep me in Savannah for a week or two longer.

Tuesday, April 17th, 2007- The day I had planned to drive out to Las Vegas. Instead I had started booking interviews for the article.

Sometime late April, 2007- My dear cousin Agmar tells me she has to sublease her Brooklyn apartment. She offers it to me and this sends me into flights of fancy. Hours later I realize it's stupid to move up there with the money I have (or don't have) and that I should be a responsible adult and not make hasty decisions in the span of 3.2 seconds.

Saturday, April 28th, 2007- Last day at work.

May 1st, 2007- Having been asked for a rewrite, I have to stay a bit longer. I leave my dreaded apartment and stay with Brandon and Ness for just one week, no more.

Second week of May, 2007- Still doing rewrites, Brandon and Ness tell me it's okay if I need to stay a little bit longer.

Second week of May, 2007- Am feeling... weird. As in.. happier. Not as negative about Savannah. Having a great time at Brandon and Ness' apt.

Thursday, May 10, 2007- Meet a really nice boy. Here we go again.

Friday, May 10th, 2007, at Back in the Day Bakery- I finally confess my... second thoughts to Rafa. Though I do not dare call them that, because it's stupid. I already sold half my stuff. He tells me has no idea why I'm even moving to Las Vegas in the first place, you have it all there, you have a craft fair, lots of networks, etc, etc. Running out of money.

Sunday, May 13, 2007, wee hours of the morning- HA!

Friday, May 18th, 2007- Car dies. Thank you. Thank you very bloody much. Then realized if I had left weeks earlier this would have happened probably somewhere in Texas. Past Amarillo. Where there isn't a single soul for more than 500 miles. And I would've shit my pants. I also feel like crap that I've stayed this long at Brandon and Ness' place, when I had originally intended to lodge here for only ONE week. I hate doing this

Sunday, May 20th, 2007 (or was it Saturday)- I decide to stay in Savannah, don't think Vegas is the right place for me. I think the situation with my ex-roommates was so suffocating, I was willing to move to an entirely different time zone to just get away from it all. Many people are very excited to hear these news, such as my great friend Mariola who reminds me how much this place inspires me. I get eager to start organizing for the next Mutation Craft Fair, opening my online shop by Xmas time. I prep up my resume and incredibly finish my online photography portfolio, of which I am FINALLY proud of. I drop off resumes and applications. Start realizing things slow down in Savannah during the Summer....

Wednesday, May 23, 2007- Mother once again reminds me of my dreams and how I will find the money in Las Vegas, not in Savannah. It doesn't matter if it's the right place for you, you'll only be there to make money and THEN you'll go to the place where you're meant to be, she says. Go to your brother because he will take care of you.

Sunday, May 27th, 2007- I realize how pointless it is to stay here and make up my ridiculous mind. I make arrangements to fix the car, because brother told me he doesn't want me there without proper transportation.....except it doesn't, and I spend the ENTIRE business week dealing with mechanics and their prices. $50 left in my bank account. Miss Cheryl at the Bakery playfully says, I think somehow you're meant to stay in Savannah...

Friday, June 1st, 2007- Not only have I spent a MONTH at Brandon and Ness' (and feel so uncomfortable in the situation), mechanic #3 informs me it'll be $982 to fix the car, after I had just spent $400 at Honda and $180 on towing charges. My brother says, sell the bloody car for $500 and fly out here and we'll figure it out. I say okay.

And that's where I am right now. I feel.. I feel like I am waiting for something great to happen that will make leaving to Vegas absolutely unnecessary. But I haven't found it. Or maybe I have and I'm just waiting for a few words of reaffirmation. God is saying something and I don't know what it is. I know this whole post seems as if my mom, my aunt and my brother are the leaders in my decisions... and maybe they are. They are worried about me. They want me to succeed. I feel like a little child who does not know where to walk to.

Honestly, I just want to be SOMEWHERE. I don't care where, just somewhere where I can set up my sewing machine and sew the night away. And I want to do that here. But I don't have ANY money left to my name, and if I go to Vegas, all will be taken care of.

This is bloody ridiculous. Bloody, bloody ridiculous. And it's getting tiring. I have set a date for flight departure for Saturday.

Posted by starmagn at 04:44 AM | Comments (0)

May 18, 2007

The words I write...

I have been mentioning a secret assignment on several entries, and I'm sure you're all dying to know. All I can say it is an article about Savannah for a national magazine. And that's it. This being my very first experience with a magazine, I have been asked for several rewrites that have delayed my departure. So these are pictures of me working on said article at the Back in the Day Bakery, the most wonderdul place on Earth!

and these are just pretty flowers

Added bonus: me:

HOTNESS.

Posted by starmagn at 03:05 AM | Comments (0)

April 28, 2007

Ode to my Savannah people

I just said my first goodbye. Somehow, in all the excitement of the Cross-Country Move, selling furniture, changing addresses, closing accounts, among other things, I have forgotten, on purpose perhaps, the very single thing that made my five years in Savannah worth every single penny, every single hardship: all the wonderfully fantastic people I've met along the way.

I guess I shouldn't be sad, but grateful that I was never, never alone, that whenever I needed company to have a beer or to just sit and watch horribly corny movies, I knew perfectly who to call.
I'm glad I met such incredible people (though the lot of them were mad as heck, but that's the kind of people I like).

Posted by starmagn at 02:06 PM | Comments (1)

April 22, 2007

My dear Atlantic Ocean...

...I shall miss you. More than you and I will ever know. I have always believed there is a certain mystical energy that comes from living in an island. The waves that come and go for centuries on end, bringing forth messages from far away lands, bringing happiness, bringing wars, bringing driftwood. Just as quickly and easily, the waves rush back to wherever they need to be. An endless network of synergy between the Sea and the Land. This energy is transmitted unto you the moment you are born, and your whole life mirrors that of the Sea. You come and go, as if this dance was absolutely necessary for your existence. Perhaps this explains why Caribbeans are the way they are. We harbor too much energy in our little bodies, and it all comes out in dancing, laughing and comical hand gestures.

It is because all of this, and much more, that I will miss you, Atlantic Ocean. I haved lived with you side by side for 25 years, your waves have battered me into the person I am today. Don't worry, I'm not bitter. I rather like being as scarred and thick as driftwood.

In approximately three weeks or so I will only be four hours away from the Pacific. I still remember when I first visited California three years ago and I squealed like a little girl when I touched the Pacific in Santa Monica. It is all One Sea, but it felt like I was stepping into the other side of the Planet, albeit fiercer and harsher than you. Your gentleness (with a hurricane every now and then as wake up calls) have taught me well, and I am more than prepared to face this new territory.

I am not scared.

Thank you Atlantic Ocean, I am 70% you.

Posted by starmagn at 11:36 PM | Comments (0)

April 04, 2007

It all fit!

Amazing! It all fit! Even in the trunk. Wow. Simply wow. I am at a loss for words. Except to say, I WANT TO LEAVE ALREADY!!

Posted by starmagn at 08:26 PM | Comments (2)

April 03, 2007

She packed my bags last night, pre flight...

Back in Savannah once again. The energy of Spring is contagious and soothing. Pollen is slightly annoying, as always.

If you recall from a month ago, I confessed to the world that I would be moving to Las Vegas. Well, now that I am back in SAV it is time to begin preparations for the ROAD TRIP ACROSS AMERICA IN ORDER TO FIND MYSELF (tm) mid April. As all of you are aware, packing is HARD. And TEDIOUS. But also, necessary, because really, do you honestly believe you will use ALL of those pretty tacks and 1 inch emo-buttons? No. So I've been packing and throwing away Random Crap for the past... 20something hours. Again, packing is HARD. And I do not have enough patience and/or enough attention span for it.

So pictures.

Last night modeling glow-in-the-dark PJs and a 20 year old Barbie and the Rocker's T Shirt. BTW, going to the mall at age five and yelling at fake blonde-Puerto Rican Barbie to throw me a fantastic B&TRs shirt is one of my earliest favorite memories. That cassette tape was the bomb. It was HOT PINK. Like me!

On the wall below you will see what I WON'T be taking with me (minus uber expensive laptop on the right). There are other things in my room, such as TV, DVD player, bed and other Random Crap. Still very undecided about my fabulous metallic-pink Xmas Tree. I mean... come on! METALLIC PINK! And yes, I feel very bad about all that trash on the left corner. I've been sorta good about recycling lately. But to be frank, I don't have the energy to sort thru things right now. Won't even have time for a yard sale (which I planned on naming, "THE YARRRR SALE" and have a drawing of a pirate on the flier. How AWESOME is that. Not nearly enough.)

This is what I WILL be hauling with me. (Yes, even my boxes are cute and matching!)

And my 50's table I scored for $40 at a junk shop last year and is my ideal dining table.

Oh and my horrendously gorgeous 80's prom dress. It may not seem like I'm packing much, but it is, ESPECIALLY considering that all of that will be crammed into...

THIS!!!

AND THIS!!!

And oh Christ, THIS...

All because I am avoiding the need to rent a handy and roomy U-haul 5x8 trailer, that will set me back about $500. And right now, money is VERY TIGHT. And I am sad because I will have to let go of these babies... *le sigh*

Again, packing is HARD and I'd rather be chatting on the net with hillarious boys and girls from Canada, or having delicious mango sorbet or.. I dunno, SLEEPING.

Posted by starmagn at 04:31 PM | Comments (0)