bein' sandy
O what I wouldn't give to be lying on a Tahitian beach with a Mai Tai in hand right now.

That's the problem with winter, you see. Constant exhaustion, discomfort and irritability make it excrutiatingly difficult to NOT wish I were somewhere else, just relaxing and being. When I'm NOT present, when I'm miles away or miles ahead, it's remarkably easy for me to become irritated at my present circumstances. I also tend to become rather critical toward the behavior of others. (Let ye he who has not sinned cast the first stone, eh?)

So then I get all ranty, and that just makes me sandy, sarcastic and cynical. I've been rather behaving like a cunt these past two weeks, so if I know you and you've noticed, I'm sorry.

There's a lot of stress on the plate for me right now. All of the sudden it's time for me to be researching and composing content for my senior thesis project and I'm in a panic over that. The project, by the way, is a magazine I'm creating myself.

Finished, the magazine, called Tanuki, will be 32-pages, full-color, and full-bleed. It's a publication targeting Japanophiles that will focus on cultural crossovers between Japan and America, Japanese culture as it manifests in America, cultural events in Japan and travel tips, as well as a host of other tidbits. I'm hoping to create something that's a lot more intellectual than the average otaku 'zine intended to review anime, manga, video games and other toys. But I think that it will still be a really fun mag-- with a huge market.

Nevertheless, I'm only one woman, so composing all the content is a huge pain in the ass. I've contracted out some of the small stuff but I'm leaving all the main features for myself, both because I want credit and because I don't want to deal with editorial bullshit. I already did that for two years with the Oregon Voice and I don't want to do it again.

Unfortunately, I'm having trouble coming up with what seems like a solid idea for the third major feature story (1000-2000 words in length). Does anyone have any suggestions for a timely cultural piece either dealing with Japanese culture in America, cultural crossover issues or other relevant issues?

I'm devoting my long weekend to making progress on this project. I think once I get started it may actually turn into something fun. Until then I'm just going to keep biting my nails.