I'm supposed to have my orientation for the other job on Thursday, but I haven't gotten the information on where and when it is going to be. Since this is a large company store, they like to combine all their orientations on one location, and that location changes from week to week. I thought I would know where it is by now, but if I don't hear anything by noon tomorrow, I'm going to call and see if they know where I'm supposed to go.
The interview yesterday wasn't the only excitement that I had. I woke up to this weird hissing sound, so I wandered around the house until I found where it was coming from. As I walked into the kitchen where I thought it was, I found that it was in the utility room. I opened the door, and stepped into a pool of water. My first thought was that the hot water heater blew, because it was incredibly humid and steamy from hot water. A quick investigation found that it was the hot water line on the washing machine. It had blew right through the line and was spilling water all over the place. I got the valves turned off and began laying down towels to collect the water. I walked into the garage, and it was partially flooded as well. This was all before the interview, by the way. I still need to air out the garage, but I replaced the lines with much better steel braided and insulated ones, so they should be good for the next 100 years. I bought them from my new employer. It's too bad that I didn't have my new employee discount card. I could have used it.
Yesterday and today, I was also working on the wand stand, which I don't remember if I told you, I am now making it into a box case wand stand. It just came to me, that this could serve two purposes, and house all the Harry Potter books, and display the two wands that Elie is going to get. I measured everything out, for the right dimensions to fit the books, and I can make this look really cool. It's not going to be a traditional book case, that's a box with an open side. It will be open on both front and back, and it will of course have the wands on top as a display. I cut the final test shape out today, and got it sanded down and shaped the way I want it. It's a bit rough because the wood had some bad spots that made the cutting and engraving difficult, but the basic shape is there, and I am going to finish it as if it is the final piece, even though it won't be. It will give Elie and I an example of what it could look like.
Since I was done with the original test pieces, I decided to cut them up and make some fun shapes out of them. I stained both of them, and I painted the one I'm keeping. I wanted to see how it would take acrylic paint, and it took it really well. I'm giving one of them, (the one that Elie liked the engraving on) to Elie. It is about the size of a coaster, so she could use it for that, or, she could just display it on her desk near her HP books, until she gets the book case wand stand. I did get a picture of mine. It's not finished, but it is pretty much complete. I still need to do a few touchups to it, and then see if I can edge or distress it somehow. The paint I used is just too bright, and I want to tone it down through some kind of aging process. I just need to research ways to do that. I'm thinking tea, to naturally stain it, but I don't know if that will work.
Remember that Elie's will be the negative of that one. All the engraved areas will be raised and vice versa. I did a test with painting a small patch of the wood, and then staining over that, but it just turned the white paint a little pinkish. I think it is coming out ok so far, but I want the final piece that will go to Elie, to be perfect, so that is why I'm doing all these tests. I have to teach myself how to do this with the tools that I have, and I think I finally have the right way to get it done right. I'm also going to be upgrading the wood that I use for the finished piece as well. This has all been with pine plywood, and I'm going to get red oak for the final piece. It should be less grainy, and a lot less knots in it. The knots cause a lot of my problems with the grinding down for the engraving and the cutting itself.
I'm going to have to cut the side pieces out, and then put them side by side, to draw the Deathly Hallows symbol on them, so that they will match up properly. I'm going to measure everything out, and make sure they are positioned, and placed in the right place. The good news is, that since this is becoming a book case now, it is going to be larger than originally planned, which means the Deathly Hallow symbol is going to be larger as well. That makes it a little easier to do, so that is a bonus.
I will of course keep you up to date on how it is progressing, and I will take pictures when I think of it to share the progress visually to you.
I can say, that readership for The Patchwork Knight has gotten really weird. I'm getting the normal numbers on here for the rough draft, but the polished story on Medium is hitting an all time low. The last chapter I posted before this week had no readers at all. This weeks has had 3 views and 1 read. The oddest part of it, was that someone clapped for it, that didn't even read it. I know that claps are part of how the decide if you get paid or not, but I don't want claps when it wasn't read, that just sucks. Anyway, I'm nearing the end of the story. I think I have only 4 more chapters to write. I could draw it out, but that is exactly what it would be. Me drawing it out, and I don't want to do that to the people that have been reading it this entire time. I want it to end as powerfully as it began, and not whimper into an ending. I plan on writing those 4 chapters in the coming days, and it is a little depressing and exciting at the same time. I get to see this story come all the way to it's ending, but I get to see this story come all the way to it's ending. No, that wasn't a misprint, I wrote that sentence twice. The reason, is that that sentence is both good and bad to me. I'm happy to see it end, but I'm sad to see those characters finally leave my brain and reside in that story. I will no longer have full ownership of them. That is also a good and bad thing. I lose ownership of them, but everyone that is reading gains ownership of them and that is a fulfilling thought.
If you are up to date on reading The Patchwork Knight on here, then you will only have 6 more chapters to go. I have two ready and waiting, and then those final 4 chapters, that I need to write. If you are only reading it on Medium, you will have a couple of months to go, since I'm posting a new chapter every week. I really do hope that you are enjoying it. Once It has been up on Medium for a few months after it has finished, I will take it down. In that time, I will get the manuscript together, and try to submit it to a publisher and get it printed. I have to have cover art for it though. I asked one person to do it, but they are far too busy to get it done. Although I really think there style would be perfect for the cover of the book. I'm going to have to find someone else to do it.
I know what you are thinking. Why don't you do it? I could, but I want to share this with someone else, so that they can get recognition for what they do artistically. Maybe it could open a door for them into doing more cover art for other people. I can hope that any success I might get from this story could be passed on to someone else. I will be looking around for an artist to do this piece for that reason. Just throwing this out there. If you are an artist and would like to do some cover art for The Patchwork Knight, email me, and I will tell you what I see as the cover and then it is up to your creativity and free idea to see what you come up with.
It's time for Favorite Song of the Week, and I'm going back for this one. Back in the 80's the coolest avant-garde goth, even before goth was a thing, was Siouxsie Sioux. Her look always consisted of dark as night hair and her trademark black over abundant eyeshadow. She was and still is incredible. Siouxsie and the Banshees had a ton of hits like "Peek-A-Boo", which was their break through hit in the U.S. and "Kiss Them For Me", but they also did a lot of great covers, like: "Strange Fruit", "Dear Prudence", and the song I'm sharing with you tonight. This is a remake of an old Iggy Pop song from the 1977 "Lust for Life" album. Siouxsie and the Banshees took their shot at it in 1987, and it is more than likely the version of this song that you have heard. I give you Siouxsie and the Banshees doing the Iggy Pop classic "The Passenger".
How great are they? I really wish they would get back together and at least tour again, although I would love to hear new music. You can't always get what you want, so just listen to that song above, and all their other great songs, and remember the good ol' days.
I'm out, peace in and goodnight.
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