COMPANIONS OF XANTH

via gamershell.com

via abandonia.com

Via abandonia.com

There's this old game released in 1993 called Companions of Xanth. It's based off a Piers Anthony book called Demons Don't Dream. I never read the book but I LOVED the game. Of course in 1993 I was 8 so I couldn't really appreciate the puns and metaphors that make up the game. Almost every character in the game has a name that is a pun. A great deal of the dialog is puns. There's puzzles and riddles and all kinds of fun word play. I love word play!

Anyway I've been wanting to play this game again for several months but I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of the game, the characters, the release date. Nothing. I searched and searched through databases of video games released in the 1990s but I wasn't finding anything that sounded familiar besides stuff like Bomberman, Final Fantasy VII, and 007 Goldeneye. Not exactly what I was looking for! Finally I called my brother and asked him if he remembered. This hurt my pride a little because I was so determined to find it on my own. It was worth it though because he remembered immediately what I was talking about and gave me the title of the game!

With the title I was able to find an emulator for the game and I'm currently playing through right now! I remember a lot from when I was younger so that's helping solve the puzzles. It's not really a hard game to begin with. I'm playing it for the nostalgia mostly. I'm so glad that I found it and was able to download it for free. It's a lot of fun. Cute and silly with a lot of "Ha! See what they did there?!" with puns and metaphors.

One of the things that always amused me was the metaphors in the game. They're taken very literally. If you kick a bucket in the game you die. Also don't bite any dust! I don't remember if anyone offers to sell you a farm but I wouldn't buy that either! For someone who loves word play it's an excellent game. I think word play is the highest form of language. Knowing your language so well that you can alter it to hilarious ends is a fantastic ability. There are native English speakers in our country who can't enjoy puns because they just haven't learned enough grammar and vocabulary to understand them. That makes me really sad.

Word play is very close to my heart and so are video games! Any childhood favorites that you would love to get hold of? Maybe some vague memories of a game that influenced your life? I would love to hear about other's childhood game memories! Maybe we share some favorites!

And now back to the game!

Update 11:30PM 12/25/09: Just finished Companions of Xanth! It's not a very long game. Total play time was probably 4-6 hours over about 3 days. It's not a long game but it was still lots of fun. Just like I remember it! Only this time around I could fully appreciate the puns! It was worth looking up. I'm really glad I was able to find it again and play. I'm so grateful for the internet and all it has to offer, especially when it comes to old bootlegged games! Maybe I'll look up some more old games from my childhood.

NEW BEGINNINGS

Some things are about to change! I'm going to be telling my job that I'm only available to work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings. They can pick two of those days a week, or one, or none. This is so that I can devote the majority of my time to crafting! I'm not going to sit on my butt and hope that someone "discovers" me. I'm going to make things happen. It was very immature of me to hope that success would just happen to me. Sure, some people are very lucky and succeed instantly but most of us have to work our asses off so that's what I'm going to do! It's time to get involved!

I want crafting to be my business and not just a hobby type thing. I want my life to be about glitter, resin, yarn, crochet hooks, baking, etc.... Making money for a big company that doesn't appreciate my efforts or skills isn't what I went to art school for. I wanted to have the skills to make a modest living off what I love. What I love is making things.

I'm really looking forward to being a business woman, to getting my name and my work out there. I'm setting some goals for myself and I'm going to meet them.

For starters:
1) 100 individual pieces in my inventory
2) After 100 pieces it's time to send out emails to craft/fashion/whatever blogs that I enjoy asking if they would be interested in featuring my work
3) Keeping track of inventory, costs, customers
4) Applying to every craft fair I can find that I feel my work would fit into (probably not the "high class" type craft fairs that only stuffy rich people go to. I don't think they would be interested in glittery jewelry or colorful/cute hats)
5) Get active in the selling community! It's time to let Etsy know who I am and what I'm all about.
6) Eventually (and this will probably take some serious time), once I have a following, open a shop on my own where no percentage of my sales is taken out and there's no cost to list new items. (That's a major long term goal)

This is all going to take some time and some serious effort but after working at a job that I HATE I know it will be worth it. I want to answer to no one but myself. I want my time to be my own and I want a life I can be proud of. Making this work will also mean relocating will be much easier. If I have a successful internet business I can move wherever I want as long as my resin and my yarn go with me. I have a few concerns about going back to school for my MFA in a couple years AND trying to keep an internet business going (hopefully thriving by 2011) while doing masters work but I'll figure that out when I get there.

I got some new molds in the mail today! Three new heart molds because the last set all broke, a tie mold and a mustache mold. I'm excited to get started with them. Unfortunately there's not much I can do today because I have to work in a few hours and pouring resin can be an all day thing, even if most of the time is spent waiting for the resin to set up enough to embed. Tomorrow is a different story though! I'm gonna get busy and stay that way.

One last thing before I play a little World of Warcraft and then put on some eyeliner before work: I'm not sure Epoxy Upon You is the right name for me anymore? When the name was chosen I was ONLY making resin things, but now I'm branching out into crochet. I want a name that won't pigeonhole me. I need a name that will give me the freedom to branch out in the future and won't limit me to one medium. I do like Epoxy Upon You though. I still think it's funny. Who knows. I'll keep thinking about it and see what happens!

WORKING FOR THE MAN

I work at Urban Outfitters now! The store I'm working at isn't actually open yet so we've been putting everything together, getting ready for opening day on October 1st. We put anti-theft tags on ALL the merchandise except things under $20. We had over 1000 boxes of clothing and accessories that had to be tagged. That took two full days! I am completely guilty of making a catalog in my head of all the things I want to buy with my massive 40% employee discount! Of course my first couple of paychecks will probably all go to paying rent/bills. Whatever I can save I want to put into finishing my shoulder tattoo. I probably won't be able to buy any clothes for a while. Maybe when they have employee appreciation and I can buy sale stuff at discounted prices. Woo!

I've been working 7 or 8 hour days and it's been really hard. I'm not used to being on my feet all day and my fingers ache from shoving pins through seams to attach the anti-theft tags. Every. Single. Piece of clothing had to have a pin shoved through the thickest part of the seam (to prevent people from just ripping the tag out and stealing the merchandise). It was not fun. Today we finished all that! Now we have to fold/hang everything up and either put it out on the sales floor or back into the stock room. That should be a little easier but who knows. It'll probably be just as grueling and tedious as everything else we've done. At least I'm getting paid! Not nearly enough, but it's money I don't have right now so I'm OK.

I really hope my back/feet get stronger or more used to this crap because I've been coming home in pain and unable to do more than sit and stare off into space until it's bed time. I feel like I can't enjoy my time at home. It sucks. Doesn't help that I have to ride my bike 3 miles to and from work. Coming home isn't so bad because it's mostly down hill (except for one part that I have to walk the bike because I'm not strong enough to ride for half a mile up hill!). Going to work is a bitch and I want to die for most of the ride. I get to work all sweaty and red faced, having almost been run over by at least 10 cars. It's really not fun and it's not the way you want to start an 8 hour work day! Taking the train would take an extra hour so it's not even really worth it. BLEH! Please let me get better at this whole thing! I want to come home and be able to function. I want to be able to bike up that hill instead of walking. I want to get into work not feeling like I want to die. Please?

NEW SHIRT!

Danielle gave me this new shirt as a late birthday/Christmas present! It has a CUPCAKE! I love cupcakes! Threadless shirts are the freaking best!

She had three shirts for me to choose from and of course I went for the cake. That was pretty obvious no?

I'm staying with Danielle and her boyfriend Mike at their place in Denver for the week. No more Sarasota for me. I had to leave my Honeybear behind. He's gonna stay in SRQ for the next two months doing stuff and saving up so that we can get our own place in Boston come August.

After this week I'm going back to Utah to hang with my mom and 18 year old brother until August. Hopefully I can get a job, or make enough resin stuff to get me through. I'm hoping to sell some stuff around Moab. It's a neat little hippie town so I'm sure there will be people to sell to. I'll hand out business cards and talk to the local consignment shops. There are lots of funky little shops with handmade stuff. There are plenty of little girls who love pink things too. Or maybe I'll get a job at the gas station. Whatever happens I just want to be able to save some money for the big move and to put down money for a new house/appartment.

Being in Denver is making me really excited to live in a big city! Boston is going to be a great adventure. Mostly I'll be glad to be reuninted with Jon. We could be in Alaska for all I care. I just want to see my baby again!