Your Source for &#39;Ff&#39;lo

I'm always amazed at what should be generally obvious to folks, isn't. Not that I'm standing up for the film--haven't seen it. But educating folks about what's good for them appears to be a neverending battle.

Welcome to lj, by the way! I'm a friend of

fflo and

upsidedownblue.

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Hello,
I have heard of you from B. He said that you and/or your husband are involved in making/restoring wood furniture. That's very interesting to me. My live-in boyfriend is not exactly a carpenter...I would call him a widdler. He makes really lovely little things out of wood. He makes these great log lamps. I'm trying to motivate him to create at least five or so and put them up on e-bay to see what happens. Do you think there's a market for his talents?
As far as your earlier comment, yes, it is sad but true that people do not generally recognize the obvious truth, right before their eyes. I think it's rationalization, really. Somewhere in there the truth is known, but people would rather listen to opinions that make them feel better about their habits. It seems that people will easily rationalize away anything that doesn't fit their desires. I think that was a contributing factor in the fall of the Roman empire?! And I really have no room to talk because I'm a smoker, but I try not to rationalize it so much these days in an attempt to quit. Hopefully, the truth will set me free...
Anyway, it's nice to meet you.

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I think you mean a "whittler," don't you? I used to love to whittle. Wrote a short story once called "Whittling," told from the POV of a young girl who's just gotten in trouble for standing up as a baby feminist. (She's about to face the music for having punched a boy whose confrontation with her over her whittling ended in the intended trump card, "Girls don't whittle.")

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As my always-correct-supervisor :0) has informed me, yes, I mean "whittler" not "widdler" (thank you for saving me from my spelling faux pas).
That's so cool that you whittle--I used to not know any whittlers and now I know two! I'd love to read your story some time and others, if you aren't shy about them.

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Hey, who you callin' "always correct"? So's yer old man!

I should clarify that I have whittled. How recently must I have whittled in order to retain "whittler" status? Surely there's some statue of limitations. . .

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I'm not shy about old stories or poems or songs, except the ones I don't like myself any more. Don't know where a copy of that story would be, though.

It wasn't brilliantly executed or anything. But I do think it hung back a little, which is tricky for a young writer. Didn't overtell itself. Someone accused my narrator of being precocious, cuz she thought and spoke in complicated sentences for a girl her age, but some young people do that, you know? Not all children are childish, most particularly the freaks---those who stand out for something, like, say, being a tomboy and prototypical feminist gender rebel.

Besides, it's sort of a literary conceit anyway---the straightforward philosophical assertion of the relative innocent.

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Well, now, I do believe you mean "statute", however, if there were a statue to limitations I think Bush would make a nice likeness. Don't you think?
And I say, nay. Once a whittler, always a whittler.
Viva la whittler resistance!

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Ha!

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Good to meet you, too. I friended you--hope you don't mind.

Yep, my husband's a woodworker. Pretty much if it's made out of wood, he'll build it. I handle the office side of things, website maven, and help out with production. Very small at-home thing that we've been trying to get successful for some time now. Sometimes it is; sometimes it isn't. Such is self-employment!

That's cool that your guy "widdles". : ) Don't know if there'd be a market for his lamps or not. eBay's not a bad place to start. Putting up auctions is inexpensive. We've never tried it with our stuff, so I can't tell you anything more specific about that. We started out online with a craft mall. We're still with them, besides having our own website (ask

fflo to give you the link if you're interested). The trick online, though, is figuring out how to get people to find you. We're still working on that.

Another option might be local craft shows. Doesn't A2 have some big arts/crafts fair in the summer? Another possibility might be a bricks-and-mortar craft mall or cooperative.

So, those are my two pennies on the subject. I do blather on if you give me half the chance.

On the other subject, I agree that rationalization is a big part of the picture. People do like to hear what they want to hear, and the way the media feels the need to show both sides on every issue, instead of flat out saying, "This is how it is," gives folks that chance.

You know, I was going to bring up smoking in my previous post. Good luck quitting. It's worth the effort.

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Thanks for the encouragement. Were you ever a smoker? If so, how did you quit?
Thanks for your thoughts on business, as well. Yes, you're right there are plenty of arenas that we could try although I don't know how proactive he would be about it right now because he has a few things he's trying to get going. He's trying to start a painting business as well, figuring that home painting is a chore that people always need done, but don't want to do. He's very good, but just not very motivated. I could go on and on, too... I think if I can get him to make some lamps and we can take some nice pictures of them and see what happens, he might become more motivated to do the artistic thing. Self-employment is the best way to go, if you can do it. I applaud your efforts and hope that you become terribly successful :0) I will get the link from L. and check it out!
I guess when I wrote that thing about rationalizing, I was in a mood. I do see it that way to some extent, but it's never that simple either--there are lots of contributing factors...

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I never was a smoker, really. For a short time I hung out with a group who, if we were at a bar and drinking, would smoke. I joined in, and liked the buzz, but stopped before I got addicted.

My mom was a 2-pack-a-day woman, and it was one of the factors in her premature death at 53 from a heart attack. My dad smoked until he came down with pneumonia. He quit cold turkey. So, I can't give you any words on quitting, other than do it the sooner the better and convert all your friends.

He's very good, but just not very motivated.

Ah, that's been our problem, too. Both R and I are creative folk, but motivated? Not really. We're pretty laidback, so hustling to get established as always been hard. And we've been at this for 13 years!

I'd love to hear your thoughts on our stuff and the website. I'm always looking for ways to improve things. And I wasn't trying to blow you off by not posting the link here. I try to avoid posting identifiable stuff in a public post. I'm kind of paranoid that way.

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Yep---

pijeanf, which is pronounced like "pigeon 'f'," was my roommate as a freshman in college. (Okay to "out" us thus, PiJ?)

I'm with you about the cheesy premise for the jackass's movie, by the way,

maffick. The temptation to go see it was that it seemed he might address issues---as he DID, to a small extent and in an amateurish way---of corporate profit from addicting the people, and placing profits over nutrition with terribly low standards for the "quality" of the food, and maybe even the ways which the animals that provide some of the "food product" are kept/treated. (Secretly I think I want to be persuaded to vegetarianism; it's just still trumped for me by issues of freedom to eat whatever the hell I want, thank you very much.) Not to mention issues of cultural/economic imperalism (once again, only vaguely touched on in the film).

Of course, as it turned out, his film went for cheap "humor" in fat-bashing. And in doing so, as well as in presenting an oversimplified advocation (of sorts) of "weight loss surgery," it contributed to the hostile, demonizing atmosphere fat people face in this culture.

He also did a sloppy job with its central schtick---e.g., the guy stopped getting any exercise, too, while he ate only the McDonald's for a month, usually choosing double quarter pounder meals and uber-Mickie-D's options---thus both exaggerating and [thereby] undercutting his point.

Yes, all in all, a piece of crap. And now I've gotten some of the rant out of me after all!

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