My blog got me in trouble recently (and here I was thinking no one was reading... turns out the one person I didn't know knew about it was!) which got me thinking of surveillance and investigating what else was out there (and I cleared out some of the excess crap... bye bye twitter, bye bye you tube channel that never got used.) and I found a few tasty HotRodLibrarian gems I hadn't seen before...

This one is from the lovely folks at Library Bonnet zine, love that they loved my ironic use of the fabulous $2 Jesus stickers!

And check this out... I’m in Google Books! Makes me wanna go out and do another zine!

But this one is possibly my favorite .. apparently I’m very influential to my friends and (possibly) have an IQ of 134! (mind you I had to look it up to find out that’s above average!) Well if I’m apparently so smart... how come I did something so frikkin’ stupid!

Sneak Preview...

Its funny how moving 'onward and upward' has also brought back so many past memories it aint funny, good ones though, making me see and feel how far i've really come. So thats what my new zines getting at, my journey here juxtaposed with images that take me right back here!!

Alli just can't get her groove back...

Here's my list of new years resolutions from 12 months ago...

1. Meh

2.Yes - Yay!

3. Hmmm... well I did join a team sport so that does look good on paper (screen!)

4. Check

5. feelers are out there... more news to follow!

6. well that's kind of why I'm here, you see i've no excuse really... just can't seem to get my groove back!

Other achievements from the year include...

• Actually putting myself out there to start Roller Derby Training - Yay me!
• Producing my first (and second) Zine - Third is up there in the brain... ditto as above - just can't seem to get my groove back.
• Survived probably the most intense job of my life working full time in a highly demanding role with two small children... just one minor hiccup/meltdown!!
• I'm sure there's more... and once I do get said groove back I'm sure it will come to me!

A review from a long time ago... thanks! issue #3 sometime soon...

Break in transmission...

I finally give myself the space- both physically and mentally, to write, and I seem to have given myself the old 'block'. You see I don't want this to turn into a big winge fest about poor me... But that's the majority of my emotional state at the moment. The world, along with everybody in it, seems to be driving me crazy (and I'm not even pre-menstral!) There are lights at the end of my tunnel so to speak, but even those are going to mean a compromise of my principles as well as my pride. But I must stay focused, I need to keep my eye on that long term prize, do whats best for me and my family and get over the fact that I might have to let a few people down in that process. I feel there's been a bit of a break in transmission from feeling myself, time to get that back I think!

OK OK lets get on with it and focus on a few positives;

Bought myself some shiny new Red Roller Skates so I guess that means I'm pretty serious about running away with the Derby... that and I got a decent tax return which I need to get my fair share out of before the boy spends it all! I am beating myself up about not doing it sooner, but hey, better late and all that. Made some new friends already including a skunk haired* Drag King who likes to talk about her kidney transplant!

I am also getting myself back into reading at least a book a week, even if it does mean getting up at 6.30 am to fit it in! Last two books I read were pretty good; Norah Vincent's Self Made Man and Thirty something and the clock is ticking by Kasey Edwards which I would consider the most sensible book on motherhood I have ever read!

I also managed to escape for three fabulous hours all on my lonesome today... Imagine it... ALL alone! I even treated myself to a cheeky afternoon glass of wine... ohhh naughty!

Who knows... with all this getting back to me stuff going on, I might even manage to get out Realia #3 sometime in the near to medium future!

*hopefully my new drag king friend has seen Ladies and Gentlemen the fabulous Stains and therefore understands this is most definatly a majorly positive thing!

Insecure...

I'm feeling a bit flat at the mo... Started a new, Full Time, Full On role which I will be in for the next 5 months, It's good, or it will be when I get a handle on everything I need to know and don't need to ring up Library Jo every 5 seconds for little stupid things I should be able to figure out for myself if I wasn't feeling so overwhelmed by the whole world! Right now I have the desire to hid under the blankets until it all goes away!

The other thing I'm feeling a bit crap about is; I entered this Zine challenge thing where you had to make a zine in a week based around Eurovision. It was right when I started back full time and I really did make a crap awful Zine which I feel a bit embarrassed about now. I received the zine pack in the mail today, and all though I've only looked at 3 so far I am feeling like I should have put a lot more effort into it, and feel like all my ideas were VERY un-original and well, just a bit crap! Some of these Zines are FANTASTIC... pity I haven't got much reading time at the mo!

I'll get over it and myself soon enough...

More reviews...

I've been such a bad blogger of late... Lucky others are writing about me! THANKS!

From Sticky's 'Sporadic Correspondence from the institute'

REALIA #2
HotRod Librarian
$1.50
www.hotrodlibrarian.blogspot.com
Loving the recycled book cover but i really feel the need to re-recycle it into art; maybe later once i have fully digested the information inside. Can fully understand where this one is coming from as i am writing this review while sat in a house being a housewife in the suburbs far enough from the city that i feel totally isolated. Like i said i really know where this one is coming from but all the swearing actually written down is pretty harsh. What strikes me about this writer is that she really really has plenty to say and its straight up to the point personal hard hitting honesty. She really wants to share her motherly wisdom to help the rest of us feel better about things. Certainly not sitting on the fence this hot rod librarian has got some things to say about bringing up children properly. I must say i agree with pretty much everything in the zine and anything that makes me laugh out loud is good news living out here in the suburbs. I'll definitely not cut up the cover to make more art works but i might follow the directions on how to make my own play dough!
-KESWICKLEMON

Looky here!

Another Review!

P.S. issue #2 on childhood is done, trouble is I cant remember who I have and haven't posted it to yet!!! (FT work is killing the brain cells!) so if you get two, sorry, pass it on to someone! If you haven't got one in a week or so... tell me!
Love me.

Seems almost everyones favourite part of my zines has been the cute rubber stamp of the girl reading the book...

Her name is Kosheshi and she's from Talk to the Sun on Etsy.

Look...
My first ever review!!

Sticky Star!

The Book 2.0

I finished my first zine, only 12 years after I first planned to do one! (I was going through some old journals the other day and found the plans for it!) I'm going to send it out next week to various friends and new contacts I've made... oh and I've already started on my next one too!

I've loved having a little creative project to work on, and I like seeing my writing in something more tangible (I really don't enjoy reading on the computer screen and find I tend to only scan over things that arn't in physical form.)

But I'm already feeling all insecure about it! I'll probably get criticised for calling another woman that I don't even know a Bitch. Forgive me for that... I should have said Bitchy Attitude!

I also wonder if it's going to be seen as too light and fluffy (Isn't that the whole point... that it can be whatever you want it to be?) I think I've just been reading too much theoretical, academic stuff about zines that makes me think that to produce a zine you have to be a Vegan/Queer/Trans/Radical/Political activist.

So who would want to read a zine made by someone with 2.5 kids, a respectable job and a house in the suburbs? I guess we'll find out!!

Magazines I can stand!

Sometimes I feel like magazines are the enemy of the thinking woman, filling our lives with trash (not that that's always a bad thing!) and basically cheapening our lives in general. I used to be a bit of a magazine junkie, then all your who's and your NW's came out and I kind of swung the other way and wouldn't enter a newsagent if my life depended on it! But I am pleased to report in the last few years I have come across some magazines that I can stand... and a few recent articles that have tickled my fancy... I'm a regular subscriber to BUST: the magazine for women with something to get off their chest. Though I think they may be getting a little too slick and mainstream for their own good. They LOVE the DIY (as do I, in fact they may be responsible for my taking up knitting... just so you know who to blame!) and their latest 'food' issue contained this fab little project. Bitch Magazine has kind of stuck more to its feminist roots than BUST and I'm only a recent subscriber (though I used to always read it when I worked You-Know-Where!) LOVED this take on those ridiculous baby-nappy basket things... It kind of reminds me of one of my favourite episodes of Sex & the City called 'A woman's right to shoes' where Carrie is forced to remove her Manolo's at a friends party coz said friend doesn't want dirt coming into her house with her kids and blah blah, Carrie's shoes get nicked, friend refuses to pay for them, Carrie realises that she has bought that friend an Engagement present, Wedding present, Presents when each of the 3 kids were born, but what do singles get... a big fat nothin' Bring me a PMT cake over a baby thing anyday!! My newest favourite mag is Femme Fatal: Kustom Kulture for Dames. (when are you guys going to bring out another issue???) Being so out of the loop on stuff, I only came across it a couple of months ago, and immediately sent off for a copy and low and behold; The first issue contained an article on my lovely tattooist Jane! Issue #2 Had an article on Sharpies which is also definitely worth checking out too! For other magazines worth checking out I would say; Frankie, Milkshake and the Derby mag Hit and Miss. P.S. while were sort of on the subject... I just put the glue stick down from creating my first Zine (hey I did warn you a while back!) Now just got to sneakily use mum's photocopier over Easter (hope she's not reading!) Its doing that thing again where it wont let me put in line breaks... AAARRRGGGHHH

Zine serindipity...

You know how I got that parcel of zines from Sticky Institute the other day, well there were two absolute stand out gems amongst it;

&

Which is kind of funny because I didn't even order these two, there was one they couldn't provide so they sent me these as a 'sorry' gift... serindipity hey!

Some other ones that were pretty heavy going but really got me thinking were;




My other two favourites just coz they were a bit cute;

Zinies...

I love getting real mail... And today I received this tasty little package full of zines I ordered from Sticky Institute in a bit of a drunken online shopping splurge on my weekend off! Ima gonna be busy for the next couple of days! Oh and I will probably find them VERY inspiring... Don't say you haven't been warned!

Zine, Zine, you know what I mean...

We've just got a whole bunch of Zines in the library, trying to be all cool and hip and funky and 'engage' with the teenagers and all that! Ahhh its taking me back to the mid-to-late nineties when DIY publishing involved cut-and-paste and a photocopy card.

I always meant to start my own Zine, just like I'd always meant to start a blog way back when...

And I thought I'd start a revolution...

I just never got around to it!

Yay you Zinesters who actually did it!!!