Trick or treat reyna!

Treat

Enjoy an entire roll of bubble wrap

I spaced on sending this when you initially made the post, but if you were ever so inclined to make that full list of recommendations on metafiction/the liminal space of tangential genres, I would be very interested to see it! (the original list was 100% some of my favorite books/media)

Oh man I've been uh. bad at reading as regularly/much as I'd like for the past few years, something I'm attempting to remedy, and I've never been the biggest of film buffs, and as such that covers a lot of the high points.

(obligatory reminiscing): Truly the the most "not actually a real problem" tragedies of my life is that I was a teenager before the Goodreads era and so I was shaped, indelibly, by whatever Collected Science Fiction Anthologies of the Latter 20th Century my local library had circa 2004. As a result there's like a thousand 70s and 80s sci fi stories the titles of which I cannot remember but which are etched deep within the recesses of my brain. Occasionally I have enough details to go to some thread on the internet and say "pretty please can you find it," but often I don't. There's definitely one I'm thinking of in which a group of scientists keep doing an experiment to change the time line and they keep believing that it fails, but as a reader you clearly see the list of names and various details is changing. This is not super helpful to anyone other than to say "go read short speculative fiction." ANYWAY here's a few more.

On the topic of short fiction, Sword Stone Table is a collection of short stories inspired by Arthurian legend which I read last year, and not all of them worked but there were enough to make it worth it (and it's a quick read). Hilariously, the coffee shop AU was one of the more metafictional examples.

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I don't remember this well but I own a copy and might re-read it; I distinctly recall purchasing it because she made a chapter in the form of a PowerPoint presentation and got interviewed by NPR about it since she could see how many people quit reading at that chapter thanks to eReader data, and I was like "sounds cool". I love when authors are hostile to their audience in a way that's good for them, and I remember enjoying that chapter very much.

I mean your bio quotes Calvino so I'm assuming you're good there but like...I have not read all their work, but I trust Calvino, Borges, Le Guin, and Susanna Clarke to always deliver.

Jules Feiffer's A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears; Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock (among other Diana Wynne Jones books); The Phantom Tollbooth; and the various works of Ellen Raskin (best known for The Westing Game but I read so many of her books) are middle-grade or YA but they are in fact a big reason why I eventually became a college student who would read House of Leaves and Calvino for fun and why I became an adult who devoured Piranesi in one sitting.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

It's also been a hot minute since I read Possession by A. S. Byatt but I do remember loving it at the time.

For...the best I can put it is "popcorn reads?" low postmodernism? mass-market metafiction? Fun shit? Jasper Fforde is your guy.

Technically The Princess Bride is metafiction. Fun fact: a good friend of mine in college did not realize it was not legit a translation when he read the book. His undergrad thesis was in part about translation. We made fun of him for this.

David Mitchell's literary universe, notably Cloud Atlas. David Mitchell is a very good writer who does tend to have a pretty dark interpretation of our world's future and so I sort of fell off following his works because they were particularly depressing but like, that's a me problem because he's immensely talented. (note: did not see the film adaptation, cannot speak to that.)

I am also going to plug the Teixcalaan books (two so far, starting with A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine which is a bit of a stretch but I'm doing it anyway because I think it’s underappreciated (it occupies the same space in my mind tbh as Ada Palmer’s Terra Ignota and to an extent Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire, both of which I’ve mentioned before, of an incredibly intelligent SF story with queer characters and relationships that was well received but just doesn't have the buzz of some other modern sf series). It’s not metafictional per se, but it does have an incredibly strong theme running through it of engaging with narrative and controlling it (honestly? Similar to Black Sails in that regard.) The Teixcalaan Empire is hyper-aware of language and legend, naming patterns are a number and a word, and the cool thing to do is write complex forms of poetry. The second book also has a character purchasing an indie comic and drawing all sorts of interesting comparisons to her ongoing situation... a little bit like Tales of the Black Freighter within Watchmen.

Run Lola Run/Lola Rennt (I watched it as a non-German speaker with subtitles and enjoyed it)

5 Qualities the Best People in the fake bags Industry Tend to Have

My ally advised me the opposite working day that she obtained herself a pretend bag.​ She mentioned that it was just a cheap a person as well! After i listened to that, I used to be like, "What?! You merely received a pretend bag?" She seemed to be all enthusiastic about it, though.​

I remember strolling throughout the markets of Hong Kong one time and getting intrigued by all the incredible reproduction bags on sale.​ Staying an avid lover of designer goods, I was right away drawn to them.​ I discovered how intricate they looked and the attention to depth was almost nothing short of exceptional.​ I planned to question close to to see far more but I wasn't confident if it was legit or not so I just saved it to myself.​

Minimal did I realize that These duplicate bags had been basically extremely popular and commonly acknowledged.​ Absolutely everyone wanted a piece of luxury without having to pay the hefty cost tags.​ I could see why persons were being getting so directed to it.​ It had been as In case the luggage ended up an extension of their identity, allowing them to specific their style and class quickly.​

The widest choice of replica bags seemed to occur round the spring.​ Every corner of the marketplace had a variation of sizes, models, and prices.​ The shopkeepers have been satisfied to reply all my queries and I even managed to choose up a couple of exceptional parts.​ The intricate finishing and quality good quality truly stunned me.​ I could not consider the level of expertise which was put into your bags although the positives unquestionably outweighed the negatives.​

I took my replica luggage house and applied them on multiple events.​ I am able to confidently mention that I received my money's really worth when it comes to use and high-quality.​ I felt like 1,000,000 pounds each time I put on a whole new accent.​ It made me a great deal far more confident and complemented my attire in a method that only designer items can.​ I've now turn out to be relatively of the collector and never ever overlook a chance to take a position in a brand new duplicate bag.​

The secondhand marketplace of duplicate luggage is developing massively over the past few years and This may be an excellent location to get them at a cheaper price.​ There are plenty of committed Web-sites and apps for purchasing and marketing significant-stop reproduction bags so it's starting to be simpler to uncover gorgeous pre-beloved items.​ I have managed to choose up some fantastic offers from thrift retailers far too.​

Because of their flexibility, my duplicate luggage may transition from day to night time appears to be with ease.​ There's something quite lavish about possessing a piece of great Italian craftsmanship which can elevate any outfit.​ Regardless if I am inside a rush and only have time to pick out a handful of components, I am particular that my duplicate bags will generally make the Minimize.​

Among the finest matters about replica baggage is that they haven't got to suit into a certain design or trend.​ You can layout them any way you like and Specific on your own in ways in which actual designer luggage are unable to.​ As well as they occur in a number of shades and elements so I'm normally spoilt for option.​ I am also surprised to discover that they're a lot more resilient than actual designer baggage in specified predicaments.​

I now understand why so many people are so fond of reproduction bags.​ They're inexpensive and fashionable and rather ideal for day to day use.​ No matter if you are a maximalist or maybe a minimalist, There replica handbags exists a duplicate bag available for everybody.​ You cannot go Mistaken any time you spend money on a piece of substantial-finish craftsmanship that oozes with appeal and sophistication.​

To start with, I didn't understand why she was so content over it.​ I imply, does not she are aware that faux products do not have precisely the same good quality as the real ones? I used to be stunned that she didn't Believe twice over it.​ I undoubtedly told her to reconsider her determination.​

But then, she started to explain to me why she wanted to buy the fake bag.​ She mentioned that the initial bag she preferred was way too highly-priced and he or she was looking for a more affordable just one.​ Now, I kinda comprehended her.​ I mean, we've all been there ideal? We want a thing really nice but the value tag does not suit our spending budget.​ This is exactly why A growing number of people are turning to fake luggage.​

But which is not all.​ My friend also pointed out that a number of the fake bags she observed on-line search even better than the first types.​ I used to be like, "That is unquestionably not accurate!" But she insisted that it was correct and confirmed me a few photographs.​ I gotta say, the bogus ones did seem pretty good.​ I had been beginning to adjust my mind about bogus luggage.​

Then, considered one of my other good friends chipped in.​ He said that buying a pretend bag may not be this kind of negative thought mainly because it's more affordable, and that the standard of the faux could possibly be pretty much as good as the initial kinds.​ That is when I started to really see why folks acquire fake luggage.​

Of course, I'm nonetheless not convinced that it's all right to buy phony merchandise.​ I necessarily mean, It really is even now a counterfeit merchandise and I'm from the idea of supporting the those who steal other makes' styles.​ But I can now realize why men and women would Opt for fake bags, especially when their budget is limited.​ I guess everything boils down to your own preference.​

Let's start the real meat of the discussion: The Dress.

This will be a multi-post adventure because it was a significant undertaking.

As I thought about it, I realized that I wanted glamour. I wanted 50's fashion. I wanted to feel feminine and girly and like I was wearing something that not every other bride would have. Mr. Wonderful has always considered me his personal pin-up girl and I wanted to be that for him on our day.

The game was afoot.

If you Google 1950s wedding dresses, you get this:

You might notice that there are quite a few, but they're all from vendors that are overseas and they mostly cost between $200-300.

I loved looks like this:

I couldn't even deal with how cute that was.

I also really liked this. Both of these gowns, however, were in the category of "overseas purchase", which meant that I was likely dealing with a vendor from somewhere in China that was mass producing something they'd seen pictured somewhere. I saw a lot of videos online of girls who had ordered what they thought was one thing and they ended up with a total disaster that looked nothing like the picture.

I figured out that I really like the tea-length look, which is usually mid-calf, and/or the ballerina length, which is generally a touch longer.

One of my Best Bitches, Lady Farva, said, "You are NOT buying a $300 wedding dress." ...so that was that on that front.

I also thought I liked sleeves.

Let's be clear: I'm 51 right now. I have a middle-aged body and this isn't my first wedding. I wanted glamour and passion in my gown, but I didn't want to look like I was trying to pass myself off as someone half my age. I wanted something that would pull my midsection in along with being reasonably modest. I will happily leave the figure hugging, cut-down-to-the-navel dresses to the younger girls. (More on deep V fronts later.)

Even places like Unique Vintage have lovely things, but I wanted a full-blown dress with all the trimmings.

I figured it was possible that my local Phoenix bridal shops might carry something in tea length, so I made appointments at a couple. Uniformly I was told, "No, we don't carry anything in tea length, but we can cut off a dress in alterations and make it tea length."

It wasn't a full circle skirt that I could petticoat up. It wasn't going to work. There were a precious couple that could be ordered in tea length, but they were also A-line and wouldn't have the fullness at the bottom that I wanted.

Let me just comment here for the record that it's next to impossible this year to find a wedding dress that isn't cut down to mid-sternum in front. I tried several and I looked ridiculous. Somehow the "bohemian look" means lots of cleavage apparently. I sent Mr. Wonderful a picture of my squished, hanging-out rack and he said, "Buy it." Silly boy.

Meanwhile, I was still looking online. I started to see a series of dresses that were gorgeous and absolutely knocked my socks off.

A lot of the overseas companies had these pictures posted or ones with a very similar style, but for the aforementioned $300 price tag. I searched more and started to find that the legit dresses I was loving all had one thing in common: the name Mooshki.

The House of Mooshki is a company in the U.K. that specializes in real vintage wedding dresses. They have dozens to choose from, and they customize your dress to about anything you want. You want a different color, pattern, lace? You want to drop the waist a little? Adjust the length? They'll do it all. If you've ever watched Say Yes To The Dress you know that this is unique in the bridal world. Take a look at their offerings.

Here are a few more selections because I just can't help myself:

Aren't they just divine? I strongly suggest hitting the link above and checking out the whole line.

So now that I've figured out where I want to buy my dress, how in the blue hell do I manage to do business with a UK-only shop? They have various other shops around the UK that they sell with but nothing in the US. (There's one shop listed in New York but I called them and they only carry very specific very modest dresses, for religious reasons.)

I loved the dresses. I had to do something.

So I sent an email.

The Iron String.

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self Reliance

Here we are. It's August. Five months plus since the start of the U.S. pandemic, lockdowns, and general disruption to society. Over 5.26 million confirmed cases in the United States alone to date, and 167,000 deaths. Our world around us has changed.

Much of the last two months of summer for me were spent in an agonizing holding pattern concerning the almighty School Question. What would happen in the fall? Would schools be reopening? If so, how would that look - would we just act like life is normal, or would there be modifications to help prevent transmission of the virus? If so, what on earth modifications are even possible for young children that are reasonable, and to which little kids can even feasibly adhere given their ages and needs? If it proves too difficult to reopen schools, what would be the plan? Would there be some sort of virtual learning program, and how would it differ from the shifts that happened this past spring, with teachers scrambling to educate themselves on distance-learning technologies and teleconferencing utilities in order to teach a room full of kindergartners on Zoom? Surely, with several months to ponder the possibilities and plan for vairous contingencies, schools would be more prepared with better, more structured and thought-out plans for fall, than what they had in the spring... right?

Er, wrong. WRONG. The short version of how this situation ended, at least in our geographic area, is that the public school system (and my own kids' small, family-owned private school) made the decision to reopen to face-to-face teaching by the middle of July. Late in the game, both also hastily threw together a virtual option for students - but the virtual option was tantamount to a continuation of the fly-by-night Zoom teaching that had been put into effect at the very start of the lockdown.

I for one was entirely disappointed and disgusted with this. With SO much time to plan, this is really the best that could be done?! Bruh, NAW. I wasn't having it.

So blah blah blah, hem, haw, blah. Research, research, research. Reading, millions of review websites, forums, blogs, legal defense funds, Department of Education website, nonprofits, clubs and associations and collectives.... a phone call with an old friend from high school with over 10+ years experience, and a series of long and informative text message exchanges with two other friends, one a veteran with over 15+ years with three now-adult children, another a mom about my age of children about my kids' ages, facing this situation just like me and working through options just like me...... and, after all this, I knew exactly what I would be doing. What WE would be doing, in our family.

By June 13, it was official, and it was all systems go.

Ladies and gentlemen.... I am officially a homeschooling mom. Like, a LEGIT homeschooling mom. As in, I am doing a 100% parent-led homeschooling curriculum plan, FULL-time, with my two children.

I won't lie. In a million, bajillion, baskillion years, I don't think I ever intended to find myself in this place. I'll also say with honesty, that I have admired from afar the rare few homeschooling families that I somewhat know, and the flexibility and creativity with which they approach academics and learning in general.

I have also been increasingly dissatisfied and frustrated with the academic progress of my own children... Dr. Spouse and I have had long discussions where we've tried to speculate on the things that we haven't been satisfied about in our kids' schooling. The list has been long. But even as we were able to identify specific shortcomings in our children's particular educational environment, I've felt a rising sensation of control-freakism and bootstrapism in my chest, that has whispered to my conscience: "if you feel something is wrong here, don't sit around waiting for someone else to fix it. And, when you articulate your concerns in a constructive, non-threatening, but clear way, and people have smiled and nodded and claimed they'd follow up on those items, but in the end, they havent taken those concerns seriously - then it is time to man the f&* up and TAKE CARE OF THAT SHIT yourself. Because YOU are the only one you can trust. YOU are the only one who can do it right, in your own view. So either do it, or stop feeling dissatisfied about it."

So here it is. Our original plan, prior to the pandemic, was to switch the kids to the local (A-rated) public elementary school for this coming year. We had hoped that a change in environment, teachers, and the accountability of being a reputed school in the public school system, would mean more organization and oversight, and that hopefully this would translate into better academic progress in our kids.... but the pandemic changed all our plans, and besides, I don't know if more "in theory..." type things ever really translate to palpable, effective change at the individual level (at least not for me anyway, I never have such luck).

Rather than seeing this weird, surreal circumstance has having forced me into the homeschooling decision (which, maybe it sort of did) - - for reasons I can't explain, I dove headlong into it, with great excitement and hope. I can't really figure out how I have been as enthusiastic or jazzed about it as I have been - - but lookie, I'm jazzed! Seriously. From the moment we made the decision to do it, I felt like a 1,000-lb. weight was lifted from my chest. No more feeling anxious or on the edge of my seat about decisions that are being made outside of my control. In this matter - I stopped waiting for other poeple, and I TOOK CONTROL. For my own kids, anyway.

I'll write a detailed post at a later time about some of the particulars of the homeschooling plan that I am using, the research I did, the materials I ended up purchasing, the knowledge and insight I required while in the preparations phase, and other stuff. But, for now - I've droned on long enough. I'm gonna share some pictures now.

To bring it back to the start of this post - - with this homeschooling plan, I have found my iron string. I literally felt this resounding, reverberating sense of CONFIDENCE the moment that I decided to do this, and effectively brought Dr. Spouse on board. NEVER, in my life, have I felt so right about a decision. I feel a tremendous inner harmony about it - like I've come home to myself, if that's not too weird to say.

Sooo.... here are pictures of Week 1 of our great homeschooling adventure.

Obligatory "First Day of School" picture....

Our newly-tweaked home office - - now serving as our homeschooling classroom!

Particularly proud of our new training clock, our large-format calendar, and the "today's date/weather" board that I made with vinyl die-cuts from my Cricut, some chalkboard-surface Contact paper, and some rainbow sparkly duct tape :)

Spanish class: kids use a fun new app for two class sessions a week

Dey working on simple addition/subtraction with Teddy Bear Counters

Dey slaying his worksheets in Handwriting class - we're doing both print letters and cursive

Vev learning to tell time, and to recognize and convey the time in both analog and digital notation

After reading several history textbook chapters on the origins, diets, nomadic lifestyles, housing practices, and modes of dress among prehistoric humankind - we did a "History in action" lesson where the kids were given 10 minutes to construct a shelter out of a "mammoth skin" (blanket), "two tree branches" (pool noodles), and several large "rocks" (throw pillows). They didn't need the full 10 minutes :)

Vev enjoying one of his first chapter books - an "I Can Read" reader during a Language Arts learning block

After a week reading science textbook chapters about the earth's atmosphere, we conducted science experiments to better understand the properties of air! The boys had a "paper race" using construction paper and pieces of cardboard as fans, to race two paper structures across a finish line. They discussed their expectations and each articulated a hypothesis about which paper would travel faster, prior to conducting the experiment; afterwards, we determined whether our "guesses" (hypothesis) were accepted or rejected :)

This is just a smattering. There's been so much, and in only four days. I can't believe how much we are able to learn and cover in our homeschooling time. And the crazy thing is, we are able to do Phonics and Grammar, Reading, History, Read-aloud time, Math, Spanish, Handwriting, and Science in only about 3 hours per day. We integrate things like art, movement, current events, and practical life skills into pretty much everything we do, but on occasion we are even able to do a discrete, planned-out period of time for these topics too.

The iron string is taut, and secured in its proper place. We are ready for it to guide us through this school year.

I'm one of those people who has followed this sub a long time but have had a hard time getting started because of fear of failure. I just decided to go for it and accept that I'm fumbling through this and not everything will be perfect. So yesterday, I made my goal of making at least $1 online this year lol. My subscription box is launched and so far I have 5 sales. I know it's nothing so far but I'm damned proud of myself for starting and now to figure out what is next! And I know, I know, subscription boxes... but it makes sense for my audience and I'm having a lot of fun with the subscription model!​What I've Done So Far:Planned out products for the first 6 boxes. I sourced them on Etsy, Alibaba, and some I will make myselfBought samples from the suppliers to use for pictures, and checked with them on bulk pricingBuilt a website. I decided to do Wordpress with Woocommerce Subscriptions because I've made other websites before on WordPress and I like the flexibility I will have compared to some of the pre-built packages for subscription sites. I spent $50 on the Shoptimizer theme because it is very fast. I learned that fast is most important when I bought a slow theme for my last project. So my website loads fast, I can use Elementor to design the pages, and I have the flexibility to add to my shop over time if I decide to sell more products. I'm using PayPal for payments.Built an audience from scratch. I feel like most guides are for people who already have an audience in some capacity, but I had absolutely ZERO, so the following are steps I took to make something out of nothing and with no experience! Hell, I had never even used Instagram before.Instagram setup and strategy: I built up my Instagram page to about 500 followers. Every day I followed and liked a few pictures based on hashtags in my niche and most people followed me back. Instead of creating content for posting to my account, I picked a theme and scoured Instagram for photos that fit that theme. Then I reposted with credit back to the original authors, while adding a graphic that explained the theme and also promoted my box.Facebook setup and strategy: I setup a Facebook page but also a Facebook group. I set up the group around the same theme I had for my Instagram posts and posted similar content, and encouraged others to post too. I joined about 30 existing Facebook groups where my target audience was. Every time someone posted something that fit with my theme, I responded saying "I love this, you should post it in this other group too!", since creating new posts to advertise another group wasn't allowed. My group is up to about 150 members.Ran a contest to collect email addresses. I used King Sumo to incentivize and track people who were signing up to win free boxes. I collected about 300 email addresses from this, plus I got about 100 likes on Facebook and 50 Twitter followers, which I liked because it looked pretty lame having like 2 followers on each before. It looks slightly more legit now. I kind of thought this would be more successful, but looking back I think it wasn't a great match for my audience. They don't really have email addresses of people they know with the same interest they can refer. So I should have figured out a way to promote this better through influencers on social media.Partnered with a nonprofit. I like supporting nonprofits anyways, and it's a good way to reach out to my audience. I gave a small donation to a nonprofit in my niche and offered them 10% profits on my first box, and they threw up some advertisements on their Insta and FB accounts. That's where I got about 200 of the email sign ups.Now at this point I was kinda discouraged because I had 300 emails and I knew I needed more like 3,000. I had reached out to some other influencers in my niche but not gotten a response. I think it was because I didn't actually have a product yet. I was stalling because of lack of motivation to be honest. So I just said fuck it, I'll move forward with what I have. I can test to see if anyone buys what I've got so far, and set aside some free boxes to send to YouTubers for unboxing videos later, so that maybe the second box would get more traction.I sent out to my email list the link to pre-orders for the first box (I said I would ship in December so I have a little more time). I posted to my Instagram and Facebook groups the same. Immediately I got 5 purchases! This made me feel much better, since I hadn't really been able to validate yet if people would purchase it at that price. The price of the box is going to be $35 per month, but since this is a pre-subscribe I decided to put it on sale for $29.99. So on this first box I'm only making $6-8 per box, but the margin will be better later on, especially when I can scale it and get better bulk pricing. I've only spent about $200 so far to get this started, which includes setting up the website and ordering samples.​Now here's where I would love some help and advice:I've got a month to try to sell more of my pre-order boxes and I'm not sure what the best way to market/advertise would be. My long term strategy will be to send this first box to YouTubers, because that's where the influencers in this niche seem to be. Also SEO and content marketing seems like it would work quite well for this niche, but it will take me some time to work on that since I've never done it before and it will take time to put together good content.More about my audience:There's probably 30-50 Facebook groups with my exact audience, some of the bigger ones have 50,000+ members. I've been a little stumped on how to reach them because advertising in these groups is strictly not allowed. I wish I could create Facebook ads targeted at exactly these people, but I don't think there is a way.There are no blogs in my niche. Literally none lol.There are some popular YouTubers in this niche. The top 2 have 250,000 subscribers each. This is why I feel like giving them free boxes must be the best way to go.There are a few Instagram accounts with large followings, but not many. The top 3 have about 100,000 followers, then there's a bunch of smaller ones with about 10,000 followers. I should send out some boxes to them too.There's a decent number of nonprofits that are followed by people in this niche, so I plan to feature one nonprofit per box and leverage their audiences.I'd like to try paid advertising (especially Facebook) but I don't really know what kind of $$ I have to put in here to test to see how well it works. If anyone has a really good guide they would recommend, that would be really helpful!Any and all advice welcomed! I didn't post my niche or website for privacy, but I'm happy to PM it to you.It's been an amazing learning experience for me since I didn't know anything about starting a business or marketing when I started. But of course, the most important thing I learned was to get past my fears and just get started, and just show up!