In defense

A prof once suggested that all graduate students keep a blog to practice writing and writing and writing; writing about something, writing about nothing, writing whether or not you feel like it. I don't agree about writing when you don't feel like it, as this makes for the most tedious and dull of posts, but it's still good advice. Maybe if I were a more diligent blogger, I wouldn't be having so much trouble writing an opening statement for my thesis defense tomorrow.

That's right; thesis defense tomorrow, haven't done the opening statement. I'm drawing a blank. It's a mere 10-12 min speech, which I've done a million times before. I even have permission to sit and read the damn thing; memorization and visual accompaniments are not expected. So why am I having so much trouble?

a) I'm sick to death of my thesis and don't want to talk about (much less think about) zombies for a long, long time.
b) Persistent distraction of a romantic variety
c) Other stresses/concerns; need of a new job, neglect of undeadclothingco.

Pick one, they'll all do. 24 hours from now I'll be freaking out in nervousness and 36 hours from now I'll be drunk with relief.

I received a very nice message from a woman on etsy.com who stumbled across my website and blog having seen my bat curtains on craftster.org. She took the time to send me a message letting me know how she found me and that she liked my stuff and plans to tell her friends about me. In the abstract imagination of interweb possibilities I'm sure this kind of thing happens all the time, but it's not often that people take the time to let you know about it. Now that I know how good it feels to get a message like that, I'll start writing some.

- I've written an email of appreciation for Katie who maintains the
Oh My Stars craft site . The site is packed with easy-to-follow tutorials of some of the most popular DIY projects out there, from T-shirt surgery to knitting. The amount of time this girl puts into her site is awe-inspiring to say the least, not to mention her willingness to share techniques for free rather than just selling her creations.

- I should write one to Veronica Varlow at Danger Dame. I've found her attitude and aesthetic to be very inspiring; in my head, I think I've envisioned undeadclothing to look a lot like what she's got going on.

- I've donated to support craftster, which remains a source of inspiration and encouragement for all my crafting endeavours after several years.

It really isn't enough to be another blip on the hit counter. Of the apparent 119 visitors I've had on this blog, I could count the ones I've heard from on one hand. Take the time to shout at someone who's inspired you! Make their day.