Art Links Updated

 Trying to get everything working on the blog here. I've updated the Art links. They should all link to the artist mentioned. If you come across one that doesn't, please let me know. I will be adding artists over the next few weeks/months. 

Have fun!

Supercorp Zine

Fandoms are cool. Especially really active ones that help boost causes. I was and still am active in the Xena fandom. It was my second fandom. Beauty and the Beast from CBS 1987 with Ron Perlman & Linda Hamilton was my first. I was very active in that one as well. I used to get the International Beauty and the Beast fan zine. I even got some art in it. 

With Xena, most of what I did was online. I even did some illustrations for the virtual 7th Season. I run the Netforum over on Tumblr now. 

The Supercorp fandom reminds me of the Xenite fandom. Especially when it comes to the art and fanfic and charity. The very last Supercorp zine just opened submissions. Check it out here:

Supercorp Zine

I have never seen a more talented pool of artists and writers in a fandom and we had a ton in Xena. I'm always blown away. I'll be adding artists from this fandom to the artist list over to the right. There's a few over there now. They do way more than fan art. I mean, fan art is real art, but they get paid to do art as well. Many have stores. Need a cool gift for a fan? Art is always a cool gift. 

The best thing about this zine is that all the profits go to charity. 

These charities:

Trevor Project, the Transgender Law Center, and Futures Without Violence

The zine isn't available for purchase yet. I'll let you know when. If you want to give submitting art or a story a shot though, go for it. I'm going to. 

I love this fandom and I hope we are still around to celebrate our 25th like Xena. 

Supercorp Endgame

One for the Supercorpers

 It's no secret I was/am a huge Supergirl fan. I mean, I cosplay her for goodness sake. I was also a big Supercorp shipper while watching the CW Supergirl show. So much so that I made a fan video. Here ya go, kids. 

Supercorp

Star Wars Rogue One Holidays

 Hey, Star Wars: Rogue One fans, there's a limited edition K2-S0 ornament at Hallmark. It's pretty sweet, too. Really heavy though. Hang it on a sturdy branch. 

Only one per customer and you can't get it online. 

I'm heading to Hallmark after work today to grab mine. 

Feast Day (formally know as Thanksgiving)

 

    (Feast Day photo © by Jen Tucker 2021)

Happy Feast Day. It used to be Thanksgiving and then COVID hit. Last year was the first year I did not spend Thanksgiving with people I was related to. I learned things. Lots of things. About myself, about holidays, about happiness and freedom and about boundaries. You could say I was incredible thankful for the time to myself. To think. This year was the same. Maybe less insightful, but incredibly relaxing. Happy. Joyous, even. 

My lovely lady made us a 10lb. organic free range turkey. It was perfect. Delicious. More food than two people could possibly need, but that's okay. No guilt, no shame. We ate, we laughed, we loved. We ate turkey for 4 days. All of it. None wasted. Even if we hadn't been able to eat it all, it's okay. For the first time in our 25 years, we have room to breathe financially. It could change any second. So, we celebrated. But without that fear that we could lose it all any second. We just relaxed. 

We talk openly in my house about "poverty mentality" these days. It has caused us so much stress & harm, but we are learning to leave it behind. What is "Poverty Mentality"? It's a complicated way of thinking and living due to living or being raised in poverty. It was passed down to me and due to the lack of preparation before, during and after college, as well as how I was raised, it continued into my adult life for far too long. You keep everything. Cluttering your spaces. You keep repairing things rather than replacing them, even if the repairs aren't really fixing it. More like just sticking a band-aid on it. You find the best "deal", even if quality is lacking. a $200 mattress as opposed to a $800 mattress. Sure, you saved some $$$ but your in constant pain & never get a good night's rest. 

You hoard food. Canned food. High salt food. Sugary food. Full of preservatives. Good food spoils too fast. 

You don't go to the doctor or dentist unless it is 100% necessary. Basically, unless you think you are dying. You scrimp & save. You fear losing everything, constantly. That fear drives your choices. Not just at the grocery store, but with life decisions. Risking changing jobs, even if the job is what you want & better for you. Traveling is a no go. You can't trust that your vehicle will make it more than across town. So, you miss out on friend time almost all the time. your relationships suffer. You also carry so much guilt when you find yourself with more. 

You find yourself hanging onto clothes that don't fit anymore, or furniture that doesn't work for you anymore because gods forbid, you might need it again someday. I promise, 99.8% of the time, you won't. 

We slept on a mattress on the floor for most of our adult lives because why spend money on a bed? This works. 

No, no it didn't. 

There's nothing wrong with fixing things or looking for bargains, but if you keep repairing a 20 year old vehicle and spend a couple grand a year or buy a bunch of bargain things to try and match the quality of one nice thing, well, you've probably got some "poverty mentality" and you're not really saving anything, but spending more & struggling & stressing while you're at it.

Just buy the nice thing. Trust me. It'll allow you to breathe.

COVID helped us with this. Well, not the virus itself, but the break & the COVID relief money as well as therapy and reading & learning about poverty mentality and how it was really screwing us up. 

It started with the bed, then the hot water heater, then the plumbing getting fixed and the kitchen sink being replaced and we just went from there. Now we have a new HVAC system and the foundation guy is coming out this week. With each new repair, there's a breath of fresh air and stress disappears. Learning how to spend & breaking that mentality has really helped. I finally took a chance at changing my job (thanks for the inspiration Lena Luthor) and that also helped. 

We still have work to do. 

I hope you all had a stress-free holiday as well. If not, ask yourself why? Take steps to change it. Life is short. Let's really live it. 

Online Holiday Shopping

 Before you lecture me, I agree. Shop local. 

If you can get it local, do that. Sometimes, you can't. Sometimes, you are supporting small business, just small business online. 

With that said, I'm going to talk about a few companies that I am familiar with online if you want to go that route. 

There are so many businesses popping up online nowadays that sometimes it's really hard to tell if they're legit. Even legit ones though can totally suck or just aren't real great at what they do.

Disclaimer: I do not work for or get anything (perks, free stuff, promos) from these companies. These are my own opinions based solely on my own experience. If they want to send me free shit, I would be super excited, but as for now, they do not.

The first business I'm going to tout is The Angry Minnow. This business is out of Minnesota and claims to "custom make and finish each piece" in their US facility. They've managed to wrangle some fun & impressive IPs for use as well as their own designs and use them on really quality hats, clothing & accessories. I, myself, have a Sleestak hat. I love it. Probably my favorite hat ever. 

If you know someone who loves trucker hats, baseball caps, etc. These guys are legit. They have anything from Sleestaks to Whitecastle to your fav sports team and did I mention quality. Seriously. It's a great hat. I don't own a flannel or other item from them, so I can't speak to the quality of those, but if it's anything like their hats, well...yeah. Quality. 

Pricing? Yeah, the stuff is a little expensive, competitive though, and again, quality. At least, the hats. 

*(Insert Image Here)<---waiting for permission*

Next up is Merchoid.

I'm not going to lie. They have some sweet stuff over there. Especially if you like superheroes and ugly sweaters. Or pretty much pop culture home decor. However, quality is average & they are international (outside the US) and despite saying "no additional shipping costs" and making jokes about their workers being "enslaved wookies" (yikes!) I've been charged import shipping/tax by them. I have the receipt. I'll find it & post it if I do. Plus, they completely screwed up my order & it took forever to get here. Two years ago BEFORE the USPS was all screwy. I can't imagine the wait time now. You'd need to order holiday sweaters in May to get them before Turkey day. I love my Superman ugly holiday sweater, but it's acrylic, cheaply made & by the time everything was sorted, the holidays were over. Plus the import/customs/extra charge on my Credit Card. Oh, and they weren't real nice about the sweater mix up either. I did get to keep the extra sweater, but when it's not the item you want...is that really a positive thing? It made a great donate-able gift though.

Looking for holiday cards from a real old school printing press? Oh boy, do I have the place for you! Also coming to you from Minnesota, The Warrior Printress has what you need. If they don't, they can custom design them for you. Now, this isn't some cheap $10 box of 50 cards from Wal-Mart. These are hand designed cards made on a real letterpress. Check out the video below.

Pricey? Yes and no. More expensive than that cheap "Made in China" box of cards but priceless for the art you get. And that's the thing. It isn't some lifeless thing you are giving, it's something that was 100% made with love. And quality? Absolutely. Best quality you can get. Oh, and they do more than cards.

Lastly, I'm going to let you in on one of my favorite places to browse. The Goodwill Store. No, not the one downtown. The one online! They recently revamped their site & seriously, you never know what you'll find. They have everything. Wish you could buy your childhood back but hate EBAY? Try this? Want a cool pocket knife. This is the place. Old fishing lures. Yep. Bundles of cheap comics for the kids. Indeed. Lots of action figures at low prices? Absolutely. 

Now, shipping can get you sometimes, depending on weight, but they only charge you what it costs to ship. For real. And it goes to a pretty good cause. And seriously. There is nothing they don't have.

I mean, I just typed in the word Braille in the Goodwill store search engine and boom, a Brailler came up. I didn't even know they made those. I mean, of course they do, but see what I mean? 

Museum Craftsperson

 Finally. I made it. I'm a Museum Tech/Craftsperson.

What is a Museum Tech/Craftsperson?

A creative problem-solver mostly.

You check the lights daily, make sure all the touch screens are responding check all the knobs and switches and keep everything running smoothly. 

There's lots of things to keep running smoothly. Lots of things.

Plus, you help Education with builds they need. And come up with creative ideas for events. 

You also help curators and collection managers. From building dummies to showcase outfits for an exhibit to welding rods and building brackets to hold ancient cunieform tablets.

It's what I've always wanted to do.