Rocketship Underpants

photo by saipal

I just did something big. And I mean BIG. I just, are you ready for this? No way. We need prepare better, so sit down, and grab a glass of water. You’re going to need it. Okay. Now put your feet back and lean a little, like you’re comfy. Even if you’re not. Are you still on the edge of your seat? Oh fine. Okay. Here it is. I just went to a movie BY MYSELF. For the first time! Ever!

I’ll let that settle in a bit.

Are you ready to talk about it? Okay, how about HOW HAVE I NOT DONE THAT. It was great! I felt a little weird about the idea. See, everyone is out of town this weekend or they didn’t want to see this movie. And I’ve been waiting a long time to see this movie, because it’s just the kind of stupid-hipster-indie-crap that I love. So, I waited for it to come out FOR MONTHS and then it was only a limited release, but Portland got it almost immediately and then I looked at how much it would cost. Holy crap on a stick. $10.50? For a movie. Way to make me feel old. When I was a kid, hell, when I was a teenager. I went to the movies all the time. Because it was freaking affordable. But this one might be worth a lot, but $10.50? Really?

I waited more. A month, to be exact and then this week I said: “I am going to Away We Go and I’m going this weekend.”

The skies opened up and a heavenly body came down to say: “Alright. Cool.”

But then tonight I realized that there was no one to go with me. No one. And I thought about it. Some people go to the movies all the time. It’s not exactly a social occasion anyway. And you’re guaranteed not to be stuck with someone who talks to you the whole way through. So bonus! But it still felt a little weird. I don’t know why. Maybe just because I’ve never done it before. But I’ve wanted to. A lot. I’ve had this same situation several times. When I’m itching to go to a movie and not a person insight to take with me. So this time I just put my ass in the car, drove downtown to the theater way early, picked the best seat in the house because I was the FIRST person there, and watched a movie. And I loved it. And I didn’t worry a bit about whether the person I’d coerced to come enjoyed it. I enjoyed it.

By the way, I highly recommend seeing Away We Go. It is just as indie hipstacular as you might expect with all the beards and quiet-guy-with-guitar soundtrack, and simple scenes full of pretty things.

I was listening to the radio, to Pandora, to be exact and it was lovely. It was guessing my present mood pretty well as I guided it along giving thumbs up or thumbs down to particular tracks. And then, after about fifteen minutes, a commercial for P.F. Chang’s came blasting through my speakers. Excuse me, but I said I liked stupid-hipster-indie-crap, not commercials for fast food chains. It’s a subtle difference, but an important one. I emailed the company to ask if there was some mistake. Did you think P.F. Chang’s was some ironic name for a new stupid-hipster-indie-crap band? Because I could totally see where you might get that, but you were sadly duped by a large corporation.

They’re Cheif Operating Officer got back to me. That alone gave me a clear idea that this company is not organized well. I should totally be talking to a minion. I am not important enough to talk to the COO, believe me. But she emailed me right back anyway and told me that this was the way online radio is going. The royalties alone cost more than the company can make from visual ads.

But what about Last.fm? What about Slacker, Imeem, SomaFM, Songza, Blip.fm, Mixturtle, Lauchcast, Playlist, TheRadio, Seeqpod (Oh wait, our beloved Seeqpod is metamorphasising. Let’s hope that beautiful catterpillar is still recognizable as a butterfly). Still, there are are dozens of sites offering the same services and technology Pandora offers.

It’s not directly related, but this whole experience reminds me a little of this clip from The Daily Show. The blind disregard for what the market is going in favor of where they wish it were going and that’s too bad.

Many people are afraid of robots. If not outright afraid, they’re wary and suspicous and even resistant. Not me. I want them. I think the dishwasher is a brilliant invention, as is the washer, dryer, clocks, and the Roomba. These are all mechanical devices we use to help us out. There is nothing in these inventions that makes me wary, only eager for more. Helper robots are so behind.

And I’m not talking about a WALL-E existance. It’s just that I hate cleaning. I think it’s one of those parts of life people might describe as building character, but you know what? I’ve been cleaning my whole life, how about giving me time to build other parts of my character? I could read more with that time, spend more time engaged in conversations with interesting people, I could exercise more, sleep more, hang out more.

It was Juan Enriquez at Ted Talks this year, who said, “Those of us of a certain age grew up expecting that by now we would have Rosie-the-robot, of the Jetsons, in our house. And all we’ve got is a Roomba.” Exactly, except I’m waiting for this too, and not patiently. We can create stem cells out of skin cells, a man regrew his finger last year, so can we please create something that will organize my crap? Or at least something that can scan my stuff and tell me where my keys, favorite sweater, other shoe happens to be located at this very second? There was that woman with the self-cleaning house, but to tell you the truth it’s the organizing that drives me crazy.

This brings me to my new love. And don’t worry, John’s not jealous because he got one too. It woke me up this morning and reminded me to take my vitamins with breakfast (Astrid). When I go to the grocery store, I can scan everything I put in my cart (or enter the price and quantity for produce) and it keeps a running tally of what I’m buying so I can keep within budget (Shopulator). I can set it to remind me to pick up more yogurt when it sees that I’m at the grocery store (Locale). Last night I was at Powells and I scanned the book’s barcode to see if it was cheaper elsewhere, and what other people thought of it. If I hear a song I like but I’m not sure who the artist is or what the song is called I can tell the phone to listen for me and it will tell me everything I want to know in ten seconds (Shazam). This robot has already changed my day-to-day life and I’ve only had it for two days.

I love my new robot. So much that I named it H.E.L.P.eR.

(I still want a Roomba, though, this thing refuses to do manual labor.)

I didn’t mean to abandon you, really. It’s just with work, researching grad schools, and now putting up a shop on Etsy, I’ve been a little out of time. In fact, lately my days have pretty much run out of ways to run out of time. But the cost of just applying to grad school is going to soar over $1000, so I need a way to bring in a little extra income. I had an idea that I could make things out of buttons. I really like earrings especially, but they’re always so goddamned expensive. Then I came up with the brilliant idea of using all my buttons.

I have tons of buttons for reasons that would take too long to explain. Let’s just leave it at this: I like buttons. They’re pretty swell. I think wearing buttons in jewelery and accessories would be interesting and possibly adorable. So, I made a few pairs and immediately wanted to keep them for myself.

I also made a shop, called On the Button Design. The logo was designed by John, of course. All the earrings are handade by me and I’m selling them for cheap on Etsy. I’m trying to keep the prices way down to ensure that people like me can buy one for every color in their wardrobe.

Go look and, if you like the stuff, add me as a favorite. I would be so very thankful.

The idea behind Rocketship Underpants came when I ran into age gaps all around. People who were determined to figure out if I was an adult or still a college-age kid. I’m not wearing a smoking jacket and yelling at kids to get off my lawn, but I also take responsibility for myself completely. This wobbly existence is sometimes hard to pin down and sometimes very easy. Lego art is good example of a Rocketship Underpants in action. This particular sculpture was created by Nathan Sawaya and I found his art through Design Sprout.

If only I could make something this breath-taking sometime in this short life:

photo by John Mealy (of course)

We had a thunderstorm last night. Which was exciting and very short. So short that we only had time to stare with our mouths open and forgot to take any pictures. That said, a picture from a thunderstorm last summer will have to do.

is called LifeHacker. And I can honestly say I have found something awesome every single time I’ve pulled up that homepage. Jebus almighty. LifeHacker is where I found FatWallet, Mint, and Ubiquity. Through LifeHacker I reminded myself to continue searching for new applications. They have everything from computer apps to brain hacks. Articles on saving money or being productive. Many of the applications they tout are add ons to Google Maps. This yard sale finder, for instance. You will have more fun if you check LifeHacker on a regular basis.

There are productivity articles, highlights on products that assist one in getting things done, food hacks, kid hacks, mind hacks. Anything and everything that might make someone’s life better, easier, or at least more productive. Check it out.

Photo by John Mealy

My camera and I aren’t soul mates. Since switching from film to digital I haven’t loved a camera. When I did shoot on real film, develop, and print it myself I felt more connected to the photos I took and because of this I loved to show off my photos. I still have a portfolio book filled with grainy photos of shoes and playground equipment. The stuff of genius photographers, I tell you. But now I have a digital camera that I want to love and don’t. So I almost never take pictures. John’s love of photography also helps this. He takes photos all the time, so why do I need to?

Okay, so how about I show some of the cool pictures this boy takes? Like the above photo of watermelomatoes. Two mini tomatoes on top of a mini watermelon. Oh yeah, and photos like this one:

photo by John Mealy