As a first post, I figure it’s probably best to lay myself out there a bit so you can get to know me. I’ve been avoiding writing this post because it’s the one task out of all the others involved in creating a blog that makes all of this real. It’s the one piece of the puzzle that must be in place for this entire thing to work.

And that scares the ever-loving shit out of me.

I’m terrified of putting myself out there and having people hate on me, as folks are wont to do on le internets. But, such is life. Haters gon’ hate, so I may as well just be brutally honest. Propping up a facade is awfully hard work, and I’m lazy.

So, this is me with no filter:

A year ago I was depressed, kinda plump, getting lunch-drunk way too often, and was generally just a giant pile of ennui. Things weren’t bad, but they weren’t great either. Instagram-stalking the creative and edgy people whose lives I wanted to steal came to a depressing head, so I decided to cut the crap and take active steps to live the life I wanted so desperately.

Notice I said taking steps. This whole thing is a work in progress because…

…I’m rather gluttonous in that I can sometimes be found up-ending a bag of chips into my mouth, in part because I don’t want to have to wash cheese dust off my hands afterward. See? Lazy. I always have these grand daydreams of the super active life I’m going to lead; I act on those dreams 1/16th of the time. AND THAT’S OKAY. I’m working on getting better about that.

I am my own harshest critic. Something strange happens when I’m faced with a camera lens and I do this weird scared face and/or have drunk eyes. I made my poor friend Brennan take no less than 328 pictures of me so I could choose a SINGLE photo for our “about” page. #ofcourse I ended up choosing one of the first shots we took.

I have eczema and it’s been a life-long source of insecurity. The shitty thing is? Mine is mild in comparison to what some people have to endure. Eczema sucks, so I can’t imagine how bad others have it. In addition to searching for ways to slap this crap into remission (expect lots of future posts on sensitive skin care!), one of my goals for this year is to just accept my skin the way it is because I’ve come to learn that confidence counts for a great deal of how others perceive the way we look. Also, less stress hormones floating around my body = happy skin!

My main artistic jam is photography, but my soul yearns to become Norm Abrams of the New Yankee Workshop. I belong to a local hackerspace so I have some nifty tools at my disposal, but not nearly enough woodworking stuff, so sometimes I have to get creative with my limited resources. I get really weird about asking for help, so I usually teach myself how to do anything I don’t already know how to do and just try to make my own way. I’m a perfectionist and have a sponge for a brain so this typically works in my favor. As a bonus (for you all), I learn by trial and error. I’ve made pretty much every mistake ever and have learned the common pitfalls, so hopefully you won’t have to make the same mistakes I’ve made.

Obsession is my baseline operating mode. One moment, I’m buying materials to make laser etched linocuts of my face to ultimately graffiti around the city (true [unfinished] story), the next I’m drawing up plans to build myself a desk. I’m a revolving door of crafting and creating. Sometimes I finish things, but usually I don’t, unless that something is a gift for someone else (I thrive on deadlines!), but even then, not always. I’m hoping this blog will help me check some projects off my never ending to do list.

I take copious naps.

Much to my mother’s chagrin, I am often covered in lint.

Sometimes I go days without putting on real pants.

Whether we notice we’re doing it or not, most people curate their online persona to portray their bEsT eVeR!1! self. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it’s ultimately misleading. We all have faults. We all have crap in our lives we don’t want others to see, but perhaps it’s time to pull back the curtain a bit so we, as a whole, stop setting this false standard of what life is supposed to be like. Speaking from experience, when reality inevitably falls short of that impossible standard, it’s crazy-difficult to realize that everyone else has issues too. So, now you know some of mine.

My hope is that we can develop a symbiotic relationship here, wherein you will (fingers crossed) find some inspiration and usefulness in my posts, and I will be motivated to be better at life by all of you sitting there silently judging me.

If I haven’t scared you away already, you can expect fine posts like these in the future:

Making things with lasers! Because fire



Overly detailed tutorials because I’m an anal retentive crafter

How I manage my sensitive skin and being allergic to everything ever

DIY woodworking using only a dull hatchet and some shame (I kid, I kid)

My experience with a back-alley face laser, and the subsequent lesson on why face lasers are the type of thing one should not half-ass (I do not kid)

Many more posts not about lasers because I promise I have more going on than that

So, thanks for sitting through my long winded spiel. If you didn’t, here’s the tl;dr version: I’m lazy and gluttonous, I <3 wood, blog goals=you help me/I help you, LASERS.

The end!