I'm a lackluster blogger.

GAH!!

Sorry its been so long since I blogged my loyal friends and fans!

So much has been going on. I have a difficult time trying to figure out where to start! I guess I can start by telling you all that I have no greater joy in my life then my recently liberated free time. I’ve been camping twice at the Indian reservation, I’ve been to the bars, hanging out with friends and sleeping in. Its been a great break for me!

HOWEVER

For the last couple weeks my roommate and I have been apartment hunting closer to downtown San Diego with mixed results. We find places we like but they’re out of our price range, we find places in our price range but not what we’re looking for. The good news is that we have found a couple places that we can live with (which is key here) within our budget and in great locations. We’ve applied at one and are making more appointments for this next Monday to see some others.
Meanwhile I’d been going back and forth with the resume guru at school tweaking and re-tweaking my resume. We finally agreed on a final draft and I’m proud to announce that I FINALLY have a complete resume suitable for shipping and handing out.

whoot!

SO on top of :

resume tweaking,

free time

and apartment hunting,

I’ve been compiling lists of jewelers I’d like to work for and reading the “about us” sections on their websites trying to get a feel for the shop before I decide to walk in and hand them my resume. I’d like to be comfortable with the idea of the shop (or my perception of) before I hand my resume to the worlds most uppity store in SD.

Needless, the last few weeks have been crazy. I haven’t sat down to relax or spend even a half a day being lazy since graduation. I’ve been moving moving moving!

On top of all of this I’ve been working more hours at my Crate job and I’m happy to announce that I have so many hours THERE that I was able to make this past Wednesday my last day at the worlds worst part time job (rhymes with Nichaels) . I loved the people I worked with there, and have a deep respect for folks who do this kind of work for survival. I will never ever be horrible to a retail employee ever again in my life. Or waitresses. Because they handle the stuff you eat.

Aaaaaaaaand on top of all of THAT I had a friend in town from back home last weekend, so I spent four or five days entertaining her and hanging out (I miss you Nicole!!!!) and it was a really good feeling to see familiar faces. Its only when I see people I love and miss, that I start missing home. Most days I’m fine and focused and love where I’m at… but seeing a good friend or a family member tends to change your mind, at least temporarily (sorry guys, not coming home any time soon. But I miss you all!!)

So as you can see I’ve been quite busy. We have 2 ½ weeks to find a place, move, and get settled. There’s a career fair at my school mid September which I’m bent on attending and handing out my resume. And somewhere in there I’m trying to find the time to head to some of these shops in person.

Help.

Also: I’ve been fixated when possible on the Olympic swimming. I’m certain that Dara Torres is the reason I’m saying this (she’s the 41 year old mother of two in her 5th Olympics and the oldest woman to swim! And in the most amaaaaazing shape of her life) but I’m considering doing a team triathlon with my roommate. I would swim, she would bike and we need a volunteer for the run (Jami, you in?) . I think I operate best with goals. So there’s one. Plus I have a dear friend (Jami!!) in Israel right now training to run the Nike Human Race on August 31st!! YAY!!! ( you can find information here:

http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/humanrace/index.jsp ) and it also admittedly has me inspired to do cool shit. But right now its an idea, and certainly is last on my list of things to focus on. But I’ll keep you all posted!

YAY DARA TORRES!! if i look like this any time between now and 41 i'll be happy

SO that’s what ive been up to. I’m sorry again that I’ve been so long! I promise to keep you all updated more frequently even if its boring and short.

Until next time my friends, be well.

Random abrasions are a side affect of being bored with writing your resume

I have to say that some days I really find free time too much and crave the structure once provided me by school and work, but then I think about all of the cool stuff I’ve gotten to do and I find myself enjoying it more then I admit. Albeit enjoying on a very thin budget, but im no stranger to heisting my way through my day on a low income.

After my tubing-down-the-river-adventure (of which I am already plotting my next trip to) I spent the next three days marveling at the amount of bruises I collected on my trip, along with mystery scrapes, abrasions and a sore rear-end from sleeping on the ground. While at the beach yesterday morning with my roommate, I decided to take a picture of my leg to sort of illustrate my injuries for you. In lieu of the hand injury tally report you’ve all become SO fond of, I give you the brand new

Random Injury(s) of the Week

SO last week I was incredibly motivated to write my resume. I sat down with my notebook, my pen, my stacks of information from career services and a guide on “how to write a winning resume”. I had a cup of coffee in my hand, snacks in my left and I started….I got just about all of the basic information down, and I got to that point with the resume that I had to start writing out my “objectives” and things like that. Now, my objective, as with anyone else writing a half assed resume, is to get a job.

If I had my way my objective would say this:

“To find a half way decent job in a good location that I don’t have to commute more than 15 minutes to because commuting and I don’t get along. I would prefer that I get paid somewhere hovering above poverty level and with benefits to include vision. I would also prefer that my coworkers not be too chichi because I’ll probably not get along with them and talk smack. Casual attire preferred, bonus if I can show up in my pajamas.”

What my objective (thus far) REALLY says is this:

“to obtain and entry-level bench jeweler position working with sterling silver, karat gold and platinum”

Really. I don’t know how to sell myself like this on paper. I feel cheap presenting my objective in such a blehhhhhh blehbleh manner. It doesn’t FEEL me. I don’t feel it. It feels generic and uninteresting. So again, if anyone has advice, email me. Because I have no idea what to say. Bigkinz@hotmail.com

And yes this is the first time in my life I’ve written a resume.

So after that objectives debacle, I plunked away at the rest until I at least had something I could email to the career services lady for review. So I did that, I got it emailed and you know what, she emailed me back with like two generic questions about my “resume” (I use that term lightly right now) and suggested that I email it back to her after I “revise” it. *blank stare* I suppose I was under the impression that they were going to help me out more then this.

Let me be honest: I’m looking, I think, for someone else to write this thing.

So I’ve been dragging my feet in regards to putting this thing together, but being broke is a great motivator, so I’ll be working on it more today.

Moving on, I spent the rest of the week just relaxing, and working my crappy part time jobs. Which was nice. But I still find myself popping out of bed relatively early sans alarm and occasionally freaking out because I think I m late for school. I’m working through that.
This past weekend I went to the San Diego Pride Parade. I headed out Friday after work and went to my one of my friends place where I promptly had a drink or three and played Cranium until 2:30 in the morning on their porch. We wound up post-game at a taco shack where I spent 15 minutes in a half drunken state marveling at the size of my chicken taco, which had like, the entire chicken stuffed into it. Delicious. I spent Friday night at a friends and woke up thirteen times I swear. Saturday, fueled on three cups of coffee and two cumulative hours of sleep, we headed out to the salon where my friend works AND just so happens to have salon parking AND is a block and a half from the parade route… so I got to park my truck with no problems. In the bed of the truck we thrifty parade goers had a cooler full of beer complete with solo cups (no containers at the parade). We proceeded to pop a few open, and head out to meet up with other friends. We spent the majority of the day walking around the parade and ducking into liquor stores for refills if we were too far from the truck (FYI the stores here will give you a cup to dump your drink in, complementary!). Mid afternoon and post-parade we all found ourselves guests at a VIP hair salon party complete with food and free drinks courtesy of my hair stylist and friend who’s got the hook up. Since it was a hair salon party, there just happened to be like, 300 amazing hairstyles walking around too. It was a pretty party. I spent the remainder of the evening relaxing with my friend over at one of my friends houses watching the sun set from their porch and BBQ’ing. SUNDAY, I made it to the festival and got a chance to walk around and see booths. My roommate spent a productive weekend volunteering for a women’s health tent so we spent some time hanging out with her until I convinced her to take a break and head to the beer tent with us. Where I promptly received 5 free beer tickets from a dude looking to leave. HOORAY!

That’s 5 free beers people.

In any event, we spent the rest of the day there on the grass talking with everyone, enjoying music and cold beer and the atmosphere. When I went to leave the festival, my friend and I discovered that neither one of us were suitable for driving, so we left the festival, headed out into the park and sat on a blanket where we both eventually ended up napping. THREE AND A HALF HOURS LATER I woke up (it was 9:20 p.m.) to a dark sky and an abandoned park…. After laughing about it for 15 minutes, we both got up refreshed and headed to our respective homes.

me and some of my friends at the hair salon party

Monday I spent in recovery grilling out with my roommate, drinking water.

Which leads me to today, where I have decide to get busy and get some things done (finally). I’m enjoying the liberties associated with down time, and I’m feeling good about where I’m potentially heading! Carry on!

Until next time my friends, be well.

Adieu, pre-programed monday through friday alarm!

the cumulative description of the last six months is not eluding me, i'm just havng a great time trying to condense all of these emotions for you. I find it close to impossible to describe what this last week has been like for me, but I assume at this point if you’ve kept up with the blogs, you understand how emotional and out-of-control this has been for me.

bench clean out day :(

This tool box weighed like, a brillion pounds when i got done packing it.

When I started this program I set out to accomplish something for myself. I wanted to raise my personal bar of expectation and push myself to limits I only hear about people reaching. The goals I had for what I wanted to accomplish were not only met here, but surpassed. I found something here in me these last 6 months that I knew existed, but had lost touch with and I suppose it was only a matter of time before the love affair I had with metal was reignited.

I spent the last 6 months with one of the funniest, greatest group of classmates I could have asked for. The team dynamic in that room was outstanding. In and out of the classroom I met and became friends with people from Canada, Ohio, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Arkansas, Florida, California, Alabama, North Carolina, India, London, North Korea, China and Japan. My oldest classmate was 53 in for a life change, the youngest and one of my favorites, 16, and beyond gifted at such a young age. I had the pleasure of working side by side with so many talented and gifted people it makes my head spin sometimes. I learned something from everyone. Even irrelevant things like who Lil Wayne is or why people from the south start conversations with “bless her heart, but…”

Many people came here because their family is in the trade. Some came because they had to. Some came because they want to. But the ones that stand out in my mind are the ones that were as in love with what they do as I am. In the end we were all here to be better at what we did, learn, absorb and hopefully move forward in the trade as successfully as possible.

I worked a lot. I carried two part time jobs and went to school full time. I worked with one day off a week, knowing that it wasn’t forever, it was just for now. I lost weight (thanks tuna and ramen diet!), lost my mind a few times too, but I never lost my determination or my desire to be here. I would have never done this alone, so thank you all who emailed, called, commented, mailed me stuff and wished me well. Knowing there were people out there interested in what I was doing kept me going on these blogs too.

some of the amazing ladies and i at graduation!!! About the last week.

I posted some stuff. Blips if you will. But I passed everything just fine!! My family arrived on Thursday muuuuch earlier then I expected and we spent some time hanging out and catching up (via bottles of win of course). Friday was graduation. My mom and step dad were there, as were everyone else’s families. I got to meet a lot of my classmates family members which was neat. I always like trying to figure out who looks like who more when I meet peoples parents. The ceremony itself was two hours long. We had one GJ class (mine), one Graduate Gemologist (GG) class and one Applied Jewelry Arts class (AJA). Total was about 40-50 students. And the reason it took two hours is because they called us up one by one! Really. So everyone was presented with their diploma and shook all kinds of hands, and then had to SAY something at the podium.

I will say right now that I :

1) had no idea we were going to have to say something

2) am really bad at public speaking. So I couldn’t tell you what the hell I said because I saw a microphone and some words came out. It was like “i, uhhh, would like tehheplehhh aaguhhhbluhhh habababalahhhh thank you”. but my mom reassured me that it was eloquent and to the point. (which makes me suspicious since mothers are supposed to protect their young…)

After graduation we did a family dinner at a local brewery where I ordered some shrimp something or other and my beer sampler. Delicious. Yay me! And I was proud of my mom for expanding her palate a bit and skipping the hamburger in favor of a butterflied chicken breast cooked in a lemon garlic beer (brewery. Hello) saucy something or other with artichokes and capers! Yeah mom! Although I did eat most of the artichokes.

Saturday I drove the ‘rents around San Diego after breakfast which took up most of the day. We went through a bunch of small towns and then up over the bridge to Coronado and then back. Saturday night we all went out to dinner. And by we all I mean me, roomie, friend, mom and step dad. Then we came home and played apples to apples. Best game ever. aside from cranium. and pictionary, which i rock by the way.

Sunday afternoon my mom and step dad left in the early afternoon. After they left I went to one of the Indian reservations with a couple friends and went tubing down rivers and drank beer. And I think we ate somewhere in there. But mostly it was beer and river. I managed to smack my foot on some rocks, and gather about 20 bruises, but it was a blast! And it was peaceful. 24 plus hours with no cell phone, no music, no gadgets. Just the river, some beer and some friends. Perfect!!

I’m already finding that free time is over rated and I’m currently looking forward to going to work, which hasn’t happened in months, if ever. I’m already bored. But The good news is it will propel me into resume writing action quicker then I imagined it would. I just bought a brand new notebook (which always comes equipped with optimism for what you might fill it with) specifically for the task.

On to bigger things my friends! I will still be writing here, posting updates and whatnot, so check back when you can. I may not just publish on Sundays, but in a rather sporadic pattern and at will.

Thank you all again. And until next time my friends, Be well.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaand im done

Two friends of mine came over for our first and last study group last night. Knowing these two guys, i knew studying would be not only streamlined and shortened to the necessary information, but it would also involve beer and something delivered for dinner.

My hunch was correct as they strolled in, dropped beer on the table and one of them began talking about how he hadn't eaten all day. We got down to business AFTER i gave them a tour of my apartment, showed them some prior projects i'd done in college and we had sufficient time to bullshit.

fourteen books, one each, and we quizzed each other back and forth. The actual studying lasted approxamately 45 minutes, and then we ordered pizza. and then we played some Guitar Hero, drank more beer, ate pizza, played Guitar Hero, watched a special on KPBS about the Bog people being exhumed and studied, ate more pizza, beer, beer, and garlic knots.

4 1/2 hours of thier company and we studied for 45 minutes.

anyway, we were fine. I escaped with a 95%, and the guys got 95% and 96%.

I am officially a GJ!!

now i just have to pund through family weekend and graduation and i'll be soooooo done.

my next blog will most likely be posted late, as in a day or two late, as my family will be here and i have some entertaining to do.

Thank you all so much for your kind words, best wishes, love and support. You all certainly made this easier for me, and i'm glad to be able to share with you my experiences.

i love you all.
Until next blog my friends, be well.

Final bench update!!

HEY EVERYONE! I'm happy to announce that i passed my final bench exam on the first submit today! whoot! whoot! whoot! as of lunch time today there was just myself and one other classmate that submitted (and both of us passed!). I submitted at 11:30 this morning. I spent the next 15 minutes trying not to throw up or let my heart drop out of my chest, i said some hail mary's and rubbed all the good luck charms on me (you bet i had them). At 11:43 Don came back in with my grade sheet, smiled at me, shook my hand and asked me what my plans were for the rest of the day because i was DONE!!!

All i have left now is to sleep in tomorrow (teehee) and study for my written exam on wednesday! oh and shop for a graduation get-up!

a picture of my grading sheet!



A final update on wednesday my friends! be well!

sanity check cleared! whoot!

My second to last week. Unreal.

and no, i did not ride the ferris wheel last week for all who may be interested......

Since things were sort of grinding to a halt as far as projects were concerned, the week started out fairly uneventful WHILE building pressure in regards to the bench final. Monday we were given some “free” metal and allowed to root through some REAL stones (topaz, garnet, citrine, opal etc) and pick up to 7 stones (depending on size) to do a “creative” project. In other words, we’ve run out of things for you to do so find something TO do sort of thing. Since I already had a ton of my own silver already in ingot form and some rolled down, I opted to keep the bag of silver shot they gave me for some future endeavor. I thought about making it into an ingot and rolling it out anyway, but this way I have the option later on down the road to cast it if I feel so inclined.

Meh.

Long story short I just took the free stuff and squirreled it away in favor of practicing the ever loved freeform. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning were spent practicing.
that’s all I did.

It went like this for two and a half days:
-Heat up ring (previous freeform from week whatever)
-Remove heads.
-Clean up.
-Solder in new heads.
-Heat ring up
-Remove heads
-Clean up
-Solder in new heads.
-Repeat
-Repeat
-Repeat

Wednesday after lunch we started tool prep for the final bench exam on Thursday. I spent two hours cleaning my files, re-doing my sandpaper sticks, installing new pumice wheels in multiples, cleaning up my pliers, refreshing my firecoat and flux, cleaning tweezers, and rearranging my bench so that only the tools I knew I would need would be exactly up front. I certainly didn’t want to be rooting through there looking for something when time is not on my side, you know? But you guys should have seen it. It was like we were prepping for battle or surgery by the way we took care to clean and line our tools up juuuuuuust so. It made me giggle a bit. About a half hour before the end of class, Don jumped in and we spent some time reviewing all 18 quizzes in prep for the final written exam this next Wednesday. This was the last time that we would have a regular class! So it had to be done a week early.

Final bench exam, attempt #1.….

Thursday we were allowed into the class 15 minutes early to start lining up things and setting up our benches. At 8 a.m. the head GJ honcho came in and told us the requirements of the exam and what specifically he’ll be looking for when he grades these. He spoke for about 5 minutes and congratulated us on meeting all of the academic requirements to be allowed to take the final exam. When he was done, Don stepped in and read the criteria for the actual exam, pointed out that this was a ONE day exam and briefly went over what Honcho had just said, and then he reminded us that he under no circumstances could answer any questions we have until AFTER we submit for grading. The minimum requirements that needed to be met by the end of the day were to have the ring sized, polished to a tripoli finish, four heads soldered in to the ring tastefully and in harmony with the structure of the ring, and the stones tacked into place. That was the minimum. And then he wished us the best of luck and put out the job box!

Our free form final bench exam bag consisted of one freeform ring, four stones (one oval, three RBC’s) , four heads and a chunk of sizing stock. I started by filing off the casting sprue, and sizing it up. I don’t normally have issues with sizing up, but I’ll tell you what… I was nervous. And when I get nervous, my brain farts and I cant think. Once I got myself calmed down to where I wasn’t shaking the solder off my pick, I got it sized and began clean up on it. By morning break I had all of that done and my goal was to have the heads soldered in by lunch. When we come back from break we only have an hour and 15 minutes until lunch, so that’s roughly an hour to get the four heads in place and accurate. Now if you have ever tried to slam heads into a ring, it doesn’t happen. You cant rush it. Not at least at my level. Every move is calculated, every piece of solder is places juuuuuuust so, and if the head is soldered in even the tiniest bit off, the whole ring looks stupid and you have to pull it and redo it. Well I got the oval head in (which was the biggest) just fine, and worked my way down to the smallest (which would be the first to melt you know). I wasn’t running into TOO many problems until I got to the last small head. Now, the requirements for this ring also include minimum contact for the heads on the ring. For example, a round head has to have 25% minimum contact with the ring OR 2 points of contact. Which wasn’t a problem until the last head. I got what I would say is 15% contact. So I obviously needed to get another point soldered in there. The problem was that the location of where I could add more solder was inside, underneath and around the fucking bend right near where the oval and the medium round head sort of met. Now, in order to get solder to flow you have to heat some stuff up. But you don’t want to melt things either. So getting what you want out of the ring involves some critical thinking and creative problem solving. So how DO you solder here here and here without melting the other heads?

Heat sinks. ridiculous ammounts of heat sinks........

Tweezers act as heat sinks and will draw heat away from whatever you’ve clamped them on to. So I dug around and brought out the arsenal of tweezers and clamped everything and their mother with these things. And about 10 minutes before lunch I had all four heads on! Wahlah!
Here’s a picture of what I mean.

By about 2:30 I had all of my seats cut and my stones tacked in, and decided that I would in fact NOT look a gift horse in the mouth and push through finishing in a half hour, but instead opted to get approval for meeting the minimum requirements, which were met, and I will be allowed to finish the final touches on Monday morning and submit for grading. So while I have MET some criteria, I will not know if I passed or not until I submit on Monday. I’ll try and post a tiny bonus blog Monday for you all!

My friend Domo Arigato Heather Roboto and I were so psyched that we all (WE ALL!!!) met the requirements that we did a happy robot chair dance. i have a video of it, but since i'm technology impaired, it's not going up. i tried. sorry.

Not one person in my class submitted for grading Thursday. We will all be back on Monday to tweak up some things and hold our breath while they grade. Wednesday we have our written exam and Friday, my friends, I graduate. My mom and step-dad will be here on Thursday and I’ll be super happy to see some family out here. They will be in town through Sunday so I may not get a blog up for you all until that following Monday. We’ll see. But there will be one!

Onward to my very last week my friends! This trip sure has been exhilarating, huh?
Until next week my friends, be well.

One sedative, please.

You know when you know you’re getting close to a big change? A move, school ending, new job, major life change of any sort… and all outward appearances point to calm and collected but inside you’re a raging sideshow circus?

Welcome.

And as much as I would love to write about all of the things swimming around in my head regarding what I’m feeling, I’ve decided to save some of that for my last school blog in a couple weeks! (and again, never fear my dear public reader, I will continue to write about my job hunting adventures, albeit maybe a little more sporadically)

This week officially ended our steady stream of graded projects. Our very last one was called Trudy’s Trillion. We were given 2 days to fabricate this pendant, bezel and set a trillion stone, for which they graduated us to a CZ! The fabrication of the actual pendant was standard issue construction for us at this point, but fabricating a bezel for a trillion was another story. A trillion is a three sided (think triangle, with bowed sides i kept refering to as "big hips") faceted stone. The tricky part of making the damn thing was getting three sides identical. Not one millimeter smaller or bigger. Exact. And once that was done, I cut into it and remove some of the side walls and leave three “V” prongs for the corners of the stone. And then file beveled edges on the side walls. And THEN I got to cut the seat and set the stone. As it turns out, my seat was a t-a-d off center, and it seemed that I may not be able to set it. Luckily, they have also taught us crazy modification skills, so stubborn Betsy plowed forward and a-modifying I did. I brought this bezel within and inch of its life, but I got that wide-hipped stone saran-wrapped into that bezel. Yes I did.

HOWEVER,

if you check this thing out under a loupe you may or may not discover the stone is mildly crooked and the v-prongs could use a bit more stone contact, but other that that, MEH! Its done. it’s the last one. I certainly got to a point where that’s all I kept saying in my head. And since it was the last one, Don told us we could do whatever we wanted to the finish. And since I may or may not have had very mild fire scale *gasp* near the bezel, a-texturing I went. Here’s some pictures of the front and back of the pendant.

The remainder of the week was spent on a two day bench exam. This is the one I mentioned that we got to pick the piece to make. I will start by saying this was the bench exam of all bench exams to date. Inside the bag were three patterns for us to choose from, one flat sheet of metal, one strip of metal, once piece of wire and TWO marquise stones, of which we were to bezel set and incorporate into the design. I initially was going to do this pair of earrings that swoop around and had the stones set near the bottom of them. At the last minute I decided that it was way too organic and curvy for me to want to polish it, so I detoured to a very geometric pendant. My reasoning was that straight lines are easier to clean up then curvy ones. No matter which one you chose, they all had their challenges. Had I stuck with the curvy earrings, I would have been blessed with trying to figure out how to fold and polish them without tearing them up. And there was minimal soldering for them. Instead I chose the queen of all things solder-able and began construction. For this particular pattern I had to cut out two pieces, one of which would be soldered onto the top of the other for a layered look. I also had to modify the design to accommodate two bezel set marquise, fabricate a bail, make the bezels for the stones, set the stones and then solder the whole thing together which turned out to be extremely labor intensive. By the end of Friday I had managed to get the piece within basic polish and was in the process of burnishing the insides when my burnisher slipped and make a nice fine scratch on the surface of my piece. So I got it 95% done.

I was a little irritated that I didn’t get it done, but I was relieved that over half the class wasn’t done either. Monday I will be finishing it up and turning it in. here’s a picture of the piece mid construction ( post-pickle, so it’s a bit on the dull side)

Monday next week they’re giving us metal and REAL stones for us to make a “creative” project, which we get to keep. I have no idea what to make or even the kind of stones I will choose, but its not graded and he’s not collecting it, so he said if we want to skip it and keep the goods, we can. Which I am. Free gift with minimal purchase of one class? I’ll take it. And if I have time, I will make something. Tuesday and Wednesday we get to practice free-forms AGAIN, and Thursday we will have the final bench exam attempt number one. No class on the 4th! Whoot! And they have decided that because it’s a holiday weekend, we wont find out if we passed the first round until the following Monday morning. So I will have to go in, and if I passed, I can leave and come back that Wednesday for the written, and if not, I get to stay and attempt again. Good times!

So we’re winding down. As of today (Sunday), I have 12 days until graduation! I have decided to keep my crappy job schedule in favor of spending my days writing my resume and researching jewelers I can mail said resume to. I have no idea how to write a resume and will be in contact with the schools resume assistant via email to get this thing put together. Ideally I’d like to take a couple weeks to relax and write and research, and then maybe once I’m sufficiently bored with free time again (which wont take long) I will start mailing this thing out. If anyone has tips on how to write a jeweler resume, or ANY resume for that matter, email me.

Please.

This weekend I’m going to the Del Mar Fair. I haven’t been to a fair in yeeeaarrrs, but I’m looking forward to crappy fried fair food and 4-H club pigs. And maybe a nerve wracking ride on a ferris wheel, which I am notoriously and ridiculously pansy about riding. I’ll spend the entire ride peeking over the edge while death gripping the seat and inspecting the bolts on the ride to ensure that they’re attached and focusing on how far away the ground is from my feet WHILE freaking out about how often it stops to let people on and off. So I may have to investigate a beer garden before my ride. Maybe I’ll bring my camera and shoot a picture of me having a nervous breakdown on the ride. Hilarity to come!Until next week, my friends, be well!