A Ketchup Post, In Which CJ Hopes For Snow And Praises The Wonders Of Copy Machines

 

Cool button of sorts, eh?

Anyways, welcome back! It's 2012! And by the way, before we get to the Ketchup itself...there is some....

I'd just like to debunk the "little" rumor going around about the world ending. THE WORLD IS NOT GOING TO END IN 2012. Please see the four bullets below for further evidence:

1.Boredom. Have you ever gotten so bored with a project or activity that you just...let it...slip...awaaaayyy?

This probably happened with the Mayans and their calendar.

2. THEY DIED! Pretty self-explanatory. They all died out or were attacked, and there was nobody left to finish the calendar.

3. To freak people out. "Hey, let's leave off all the years past 2012 on this thing to scare the rest of civilization!" Why not? Practical jokes have been around for a while... ;)

4. Marketing. Corporations do anything to promote their movies or product sometimes. So, why wouldn't Big-Giant-Company-That-Made-2012-The-Movie plant a false rumor to draw more attention to their movie?

Anyways. 

Before I interrupted this post with that breaking news bulletin... 

Where were we...oh yeah, I hadn't even started.

So I'll begin...NOW!

Ketchup:

After my Maryland post, we began driving up to New Jersey. Inspiration hit over the car ride, and I began taking some pictures.....

Interesting fact: We saw 2 Hawaii license plates in a row-literally! The second car was right behind the first!

 Please note that all of these were taken in a moving vehicle, which explains the shakiness on some. :) I think they came out pretty good....

Once we got there, we had a great time in New Jersey! (I would have blogged more, but we were all gaming so much-too much. ;) ) One of my relatives gave me an epic (it really is-this isn't an exaggeration!) zine book- "Watcha Mean, What's A Zine?" The whole book looks like it's a zine itself, and provides all kinds of cool tips and addresses to zine libraries! Thanks, Aunt K!

We got to do some zining ourselves. My grandparents, on a road trip in August, decided to pass on a typewriter to me, and now we're using it for many purposes*. My younger cousin M decided to use it to make her own zine: "M's Information Of Mystery." It was filled with articles on mysteries, myths and why Selena Gomez should write her own books, as well as free coupons to places like a concert or island getaway. Another cousin, H, and I attempted to make another issue of our zine, "It Might Seem Odd To You"-we never finished. :( Oh, well, we can always finish it at OBX! The one article we did get to crank out was about H's hatred towards spinach, supported by the newly-formed Anti-Spinach Union (an organization firmly opposed by L and S and their newly-formed Spinach Lovers Union). 

We also over-played Plants vs. Zombies (as usual..), found a fantastic new pizza place, gave presents, and went to see a movie.** It was a nice way to end the winter break.

But then, upon getting home, disaster struck. I now had various zines with me (including one of my own) that were begging to be copied and distributed. Since our other printer needed new inkjets earlier, my parents killed 2 birds with one stone and bought.... 

An EPSON printer, which included.....

(wait for it)

(dramatic music)

A BUILT IN COPIER.

It was like all my problems had disappeared. 

Before, I had used the painful "Scan and Print" technique with zines. I would run zines through our scanner, then take the image files, put them on Word, and print them. The edges were often cut off, and the color was strange and off-kilter. Not very professional.

So, upon hearing that we now owned a copier and I wouldn't have to start saving up money to go to somewhere like Minuteman, I think I began jumping up and down in absolute elation.

And after actually making 5 copies of "M's Information of Mystery", I. Felt. Awesome. It just feels great to make copies of something and see your work (or a friend's or family member's) times 5. I don't know why.

Well! I think that's enough ketchup for your metaphorical hot dog (read: I need to quit ranting about the "magic" of copiers ;) ). 

Also, if you have any snow superstitions, please post them in the comments! I've been hearing about a possible sleet coming our way....

(Sorry for all the random font switching. I had to copy and paste part of this post)

Next Time, On Claire's Creative Days: Pavlov: A Cautionary Tale of Psychology, Saliva, And GT Gone Insane.

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*We also used it for some secret correspondence and spy activity later on.

**The movie was "The Adventures of Tintin". Very good movie! Lots of good chase scenes. :)