One step forward, two steps back

I feel weird because I haven't written a long, rant-y blog in a while. I guess I got semi-productive for a while, what with my 24 hour zine, my terrible zine workshop, the whole week of shows. I also finally bought some books (a Kerouac collection including On the Road, The Dharma Bums, The Subterraneans, Tristessa, and Lonesome Traveler and a collection of Bukowski's uncollected stories and essays), since we were at Borders and fiction was all 10% off. I'm making a serious effort to finally get into some modern American writers now that I don't feel so appalled by anything post-Victorian. I think I'll find my best connection with authors of the Beat generation; I'm a big fan of Sartre, who was definitely a prominent influence on the Beats, and given my usual desire for travel and interest in the "underground" (drugs, sex, booze, and all), I think I'll find my place there. Go figure, what with my being a working class white college student. Call me a hipster if you must; I'm not out paying thousands of bucks for a fancy loft in an area where low-income people of color are losing their homes just so I can say I understand their plight. I'm almost done with On the Road now and I've quite enjoyed it. I'm glad I'm over my fixation with everything Wildean and distaste for anything else heh.

My first visit to the gastroenterologist went just fine. I didn't see the actual doctor. I guess the man I saw was an assistant doctor or something? In any case, he was a very chill bigger Russian man and actually took an interest in the herbal supplements I brought with me, which I've never experienced before. I legitimately think olive leaf extract is working for me, although I definitely still have the occasional pain and everything. I think a lot of that has to do with hormones, since my complaints seem to follow my cycle. I regret waiting till last month to start really keeping track of that. I'm having blood work done tomorrow, which I've wanted for months, and I'm legitimately hoping it turns out that I have hypothyroidism; I have almost every symptom I've seen online and things would finally make sense. Plus, it could be corrected with medication or surgery and I could hopefully go back to normal. I haven't felt normal since 2008 or so, so that would be remarkable. With my luck, everything will be totally normal, but I've got my fingers crossed. I know it seems weird to hope for something wrong, but I'd just really like to know why I always feel like shit heh. If I had something solid to blame it on, I'd feel a lot better. Plus, if my thyroid is underactive and I get it corrected, there's the possibility that my hair and skin will be healthier, my stomach will feel better, and I'll lose weight and be more awake. That would be fucking perfect.

All in all though, for the last week or two, I've felt so much better, aside from yesterday and part of today. Again, though, my hormones are changing, so I think that's what's to blame. I generally always expect to feel like shit for about two weeks before my period.

My 24 hour zine ended up being a Jawbreaker-inspired half-art zine and half-perzine. It's not perfect, but it's probably the nicest thing I've done. I'm fairly impressed with myself heh. Maybe I'll put up some scans soon.

SXR

Wordpress and a 24 hour zine challenge

I've apparently had a Wordpress account just sitting around for ages, so I decided to start using it the other day. I was going to just post the same things on this blog and the Wordpress, but I decided I'd rather not. This blog will continue to be updated semi-frequently with boring, pointless rants, complaints, and fleeting bits of excitement while the other one will house decent bits of writing and such. If you're interested in that, you can find it at sxretton.wordpress.com. Wordpress is like a completely different world and I'm definitely still feeling my way around, but I'll get the hang of it.

I decided today to participate in the "24 Hour Zine Thing," which is a challenge that involves choosing any 24 hours in the month of July and devoting them to making a 24 page zine. The zine must be conceived, created, and assembled within the 24 hours of your choosing and then sent in to the distro that runs the challenge. Once they get it, you get a button and the chance to have your zine distro'd. Not a bad deal. I've never done anything longer than 14 pages, and my longest zine took probably 8 or 9 months to finish, but since it's summer, I'm bored, and I'm feeling creative lately, I think I'm up for the challenge. I'm going to spend my next few days gathering up some collage materials and such so I'll be ready to make my zine in a few days. The plan is to do the minimum of 24 pages, 1/2 size (as always), use color (at the very least for the cover), and use approximately 98% art instead of just scribbling jumbled prose all over it for once. We'll see about that. If you'd like more information on that, you can go to their site at 24hourzines.com.

Also, we're going to be working on a compilation tape for The Bel-Tower's first anniversary. The plan is to have one side of locals, one side of out-of-town bands who've come through. If anyone reading this has anything to offer, let me know.

SXR

Goings on

Last Thursday, I finally had my gallbladder removed. Miraculously, I made it out of the hospital (where I was forced to stay for approximately 30 hours) having had only two doses of demerol, and I never took any of the vicodin I was prescribed. I'm still sort of in the recovery process, but I'm doing well, aside from some itching in my incisions. I've already been to two shows since the surgery, so I'm doing quite well. I even drove there, despite my doctor's orders not to drive.

Last week, I also became examiner.com's Fresno straight edge culture writer, so I'm sort of employed as a freelance writer! I hear the pay is terrible (and since it's based primarily on page views, I'm sure it is), and I'm bound to run out of topics in no time, but in my current state of unemployment, it's better than nothing. If you've got any ideas for articles, please feel free to let me know. They have to be relevant to Fresno's straight edge scene or something I can tie into the local scene.

In other news, I'm trying to start a zine for the third or fourth time. This September will be the second anniversary of the 3SN zine that never happened! (Thanks, Kelly hah.) I'm thinking that this one will be a mix of my own assorted shitty work, including collages, fiction, nonfiction, and terrible drawings. Hopefully I can give it some sort of relevance that will make people actually want to read an issue or two. Wish me luck.

SXR