I'm heading to the 2007 MCBA Fall Comic Con in October! Woooohoooo! I got the table request form in the mail today!! I'll have a fun table there with stuff and everything! Selling comics, and books, and maybe buttons if I can make that happen... I need to find that one website... however I can't make it happen without you! I need some Filthy Assistants (apologies, Warren Ellis!) to help me with stuff for the Fall Con.

Duties would include, but not limited to...

• Help me print and assemble comics for selling prior to Fall Con
• Organizing product to be sold (comics, books, prints, etc.) and pack them for transport to Fall Con
• Help set up table at the Fall Con location
• Hang out with me during the Fall Con to make it look like I have friends and I'm not pathetic(doesn't have to be for the whole day if you don't want)
• Take care of money box and inventory
• Other duties NOS (not otherwise specified)

I can only (sadly) have one Filthy Assistant with me at the actual convention, but that doesn't mean I can't have more than one FA before hand, helping me with the preparations. If you want to be my one FA at the con and/or a FA for the pre-Con stuff, let me know! Comment here on LJ or email me at ladytrebuchet(at)gmail(dot)com.

If you want to be my Filthy Assistant for the Fall Con, you'll get fun compensation in form of a free item from the inventory of your choosing, as well as foodage, your admission into event paid [O.o], and the benefit of my company. ^_^  The MCBA is October 6-7, 2007 at the MN State Fair Grounds, Education Building. Each day (Sat-Sun) 10am-5pm.

And as an added bonus, if the lucky Filthy Assistant wants to, we could also go splitsies on a hotel room to go to and crash and/or party in Sat night/Sun morning; instead of trucking all the way back to wherever we're originating from. I might do that, anyway, since I'm not a big fan of the hour drive from Chaska to the MN State Fairgrounds. So yeah, just throwing that out there for the lucky person to think about. I need volunteers ASAP, since I'm going to be sending out my table request form 9-1-07.

You have a week people. That is all.

I'm gonna do it! Sometime this week I'm going to email them and get a form to fill out to request a table at the MCBA Fall Con. Cool beans, huh!? I know! I thought about doing it last year, when plasticframes had a table there, but I dropped the ball on that one. For one reason: I didn't have a lot of stuff to sell/offer. Now I do. I have 5 comic titles, a book in print---soon to be two in print (working on Thessla Moon to join her big brother Through the Woods).

How sweet is that? I'll also see if I can't get some of my sketches printed up and sell them too. Yeah. So keep an eye out for more info about me at the upcoming MCBA Fall Con! Mark your calendars! ^_^

X-posted to draygns_lair

Guess what I'm doing now!?

I know that's a hard question to answer, especially when you're talking about me. But... after my last post... a few short minutes ago... I decided to put into action the Decluttering notions of the current session/module of my DBT group. It's called "Distress Tolerance", but it's basically about decluttering and reorganizing your life so that you can function. Get rid of the old crap (things, thoughts, people, memories) that may be holding you back and keeping you from moving forward and healing. So what do I do, at 1130pm? I start decluttering my desk. And I mean decluttering. I tore that thing a part. I threw away old bills, scraps of paper that have been accumulating on my desk from my pockets after work, old letters, just... crap. So I straightened that little corner of my room up, and it felt good! I actually did something, and it felt good to get rid of that old stuff that really serves no purpose anymore. I think that either tomorrow [if i have time] or next week before I go camping, and basically every day, I'm going to tackle a new section of my room and spend a few minutes just clearing that space. Maybe I can finally tame the evilness that is my room... aka Mount Craptuvious... or the Evil Twisted Vortex of Evil.

Then, that somehow gets me to think about scanning my new comics to my computer. I've got quite a few, so I've been doing that for the last half an hour. It actually isn't taking me that long to scan them, but I'm distracted by organizing and throwing crap out. So yeah. It's exciting! I have a new Bargain Section comic that's going to be coming out soon, called Bargain Section: Stampeding Turtles, with a whole bunch of new stuff that no one's seen before (unless I've shown it to you at work in little sneak-peaks). It'll be exciting! And I'm also going to be working on a brand new Bargain Section comic project called...

Project Bargain Section Omnibus.

I love that word. I do. It'll be all all four Bargain Section comics (Bargain Section, Bargain Section: Holiday Edition, Bargain Section Presents: The Gospel According to St. Slurpee, and Bargain Section: Stampeding Turtles) and a new mini-comic project that I've been working on in secret. Yes! I know, exciting, no? But the only catch is, that the Bargain Section Omnibus is... not going to be free. It includes stuff that I haven't posted here on LJ (to my journal or over on draygns_lair), or included in the comics I've left in the break room at work. So... it's kinda special. It will cost $$. But not a lot, don't worry! It's priced to sell! I'll get more info out to you when it's coming closer to it's debut. I'm excited for the Bargain Section Omnibus! Squeee!

I just like this comic so much... so I'm going to post it here too! Squeeee!

And now I'm off to bed...

X-posted to draygns_lair

Don't ask me where that title came from. Just accept it as it is. Although I'm not sure if waiter is spelt with an O or an E. Hmmph.

So sometime this week I get to start some new training funness with Jo, our Community Relations Manager (CRM) at work. What exactly I'll be doing, I'm not sure. I heard a little rumor that I'm going to be trained in to be able to authorize returns and do stuff with institutional/corporate accounts and stuff. Which will be really cool! My little informant, who will remain nameless because I'm not sure they should have told me, said this extra training is happening because I'm always working the main cash registers in the morning, and I'm always there; and I guess it's because I actually know what the hell I'm doing. Hehehe. So I'm excited to get this extra training. I want to do more at B&N than just be a bookseller. It's my hope that sometime in the next year or so, if the opportunity arises, to be able to work up to being a lead of some sort. I'd like to get more experience and more responsibilities at work (and also more pay) because I know I can handle it if I'm given the chance. I'm pretty sure that this new training I'll be getting from Jo won't really result in a pay raise... but... here's to hoping! (crosses fingers)

I'm working on a new comic now, and it's called I Love You A Latte, and it's set in a fictional cafe that I have used in other stories of mine. Get it... a lot... a latte, and it's in a cafe! Ha! It's sad sad coffee humor that I've picked up from working in coffee shops for the last three years. I've been working on it at work while on my breaks, and my coworkers seem to be excited about getting a new comic from me. They really enjoyed my other two comic ventures: Bargain Section and Bargain Section: Holiday Edition. I hope they like this one too. Other coworkers are asking if they can be featured in the new comic, and I can only say that I'll try the next time I crank out a Bargain Section comic. My new one, I Love You A Latte is more on the dramedy-fiction side, so not much satire on the retail business in this next one. I need to work on it more, because it's not getting done as fast as I'd like. Especially if I want to talk to The Source and Star Clipper about carrying my comics again. I guess I could give them more of Bargain, but I'd like to have more variety and stuff. I also need to get working on my stories, finishing them and also getting them printed off. While walking around at work (cuz it was stupidly boring!) I was hammering out a plan to print out Through the Woods and how to make that all work. And I think I have a decent way to print it all out at my house, and then just go to Kinkos to have them bind it together in book form. Hell yeah! Cheapness! Hehehe. Oh yeah, I also need to finalize a cover for that too. Ick. And I neeeed to get a different name for The Coven cuz it's just not working anymore for me. We'll see what happens. I know this week I need to start working on my newly plotted-out chapters and stuff. My self-imposed-ban-from-computer phase I did this last two weeks needs to stop! I have to sit at my puter to type! Ack! (Anyone who wants to donate a nice laptop to the Cracked Spine Books company, let me know! ) ^__^

This week I don't have DBT group on Tuesday because of some mid-module break thingy. Which is fine by me, cuz then I can get home and work on stories and stuff after work. I'm pretty happy with my DBT group. If you're interested, you can hit up the group at HopeAllianz Inc. At times though, I feel like I don't belong there, because to me I'm doing really well now. I'm balanced, I haven't felt this stable and positive in months.... if not years. So when I go there, and the other women in the group are talking about their problems (jobless, homeless, abusive parents, psycho ex's, single parent, etc.) I just sit there and go... "Damn, my life is really great compared to this. I... shouldn't be here. I'm normal compared to this." But then I remember all the times when I told myself that before, when I thought I was stable and normal, then all hell would break loose. Right now, though, I feel like this stable phase will last for a pretty good length of time. The only thing that I'm trying not to think about is my money situation. I know if I spend too much time dwelling on that, I'll start slipping down and spiral. I really don't need that now. I've got a nice little pile of bills stacking up, one over $500. Yeah. And when you make only $7.75/hr that equals maybe $230/week. Yeah. Ouch. But, tomorrow I'm going to be attacking that pile and mailing things out. I should have done that tonight, but I fell asleep on the couch watching CSI reruns on Spike TV. Hehehe.

But one big thing that I've gotten from my DBT group is something called DEAR MAN. It's a combination of steps that help you be assertive and get what you want, without being aggressive or passive. And it works. I've used in on a few people at work (customers who were being stupid) and even my own family! I recently used it on my cousin, when I called her and she brought up the topic of planning my sister's bridal shower. Due to stupid meddling by her older sister, things got a little confusing and out of hand when she was calling people and planning things she shouldn't have. So my cousin, Erica, and I had to do some damage control and stuff. And since that incident I've been still anxious about the bridal shower, and still feeling like it had been taken away from me. So I used the DEAR MAN approach with my cousin by 1) acknowledging their actions/feelings (I appreciate you for setting up time/place for the shower), 2) telling them how I feel (But I feel that this shower, which is for my one and only sister, was taken away from me), and 3) telling them what I want (I'd really like to have more control over the shower planning in the future). And awesomely, Erica told me that I had it all the while, and that I was freaking out about it more than I should have. She told me that it's not going to be a big circus (like what is was looking like when my elder cousin shoved her nose in our business), and that I have control. So there. Hehehe. Even though my perception of the situation was a little skewed, the outcome was still positive and it all worked out in the end. Yay for DBT!

If you're not familiar with DBT, check out the first DBT link I have one paragraph up. From what I've been lead to believe, it was started as a therapy treatment for those with borderline personality disorder, bipolar, and schizophrenia. It also works well with people who suffer from Self-Injurious Behavior (SIB). Which is why I was referred to the DBT program. So far it's been working. I haven't SIB'd in a while... except one day at work. >__< I wasn't thinking, was a little off edge, and then all of the sudden I realized I had been digging my thumb nail into my arm. Oops. Nice little gash there. My dad asked to check on my arms one night, the same day I did it, actually. I told him I was just scratching my dry skin. He looked at me oddly, then I lifted up my jean pant leg and showed him the scarred mess that are my shins. I'm still working out a label for what I do to my shins. Not sure if it's SIB or if it's just this weird obsession I have with scratching. I have Eczema, so the dry air of winter just sends my skin into chaos. So I scratch and scratch and scratch... and bleed. I do the same thing with mosquito bites. I scratch those till they bleed, then they don't bother me again. So... yeah. Not sure if my legs are early SIB or what. Although now I tend to scratch more, even if I'm not itchy.

And if you're interested... ( I'm not hidding anymore... )