I’m actually at work right now, so I can’t write much, but I wanted to check in and let y’all know that I’m surviving.

I am The Marketing Department. I guess I need to learn about marketing now. Right now my priorities are to create a marketing plan, to get hooked up in various social networking avenues, (re)design a promotional postcard, and find ways to tap into the LGBT market.

So, basically, I’m getting paid to surf the web and learn about marketing. And figure out Facebook and MySpace. Hopefully, I’ll actually be able to implement stuff soon. Having a company email account will help. As will reading the 32 books I have checked out from the library.

At some point, I’ll be helping to design the new e-commerce site, and write item descriptions, and figure out cross-promotional stuff and participate in the ArtWalk, but for now, I’m just soaking up knowledge. It’s definitely overwhelming, but it’s good. I’m using my brain for the first time in a long time (at least related to work), and it feels good.

In other news, I have a billion buttons ready to be photographed and listed on Etsy. I have a handle on shipping costs, and how I’ll list the buttons. I just have to get a chance to do it.

Oh, and I have to start working on the Zonta newsletter, which I’m the new boss of. The June issue will be my first, and I’m redesigning the whole thing to suit my whims, so I have to start thinking about that soon.

Now, if only my house would sell, my life would be right on track.

So, to sum up, I’m quite busy right now. Lots of things swirling around in my brain, making me slightly nutty. Whee!

Sadly, the only thing I’m going to miss is my laptop. I’ve grown very attached to my sweet little laptop, with its wireless internet and Adobe Creative Suite and all my favorite setting just right.

But it’s a small price to pay to be out of here and moving on to something that might actually be fun and stimulating and challenging and interesting and not requiring a logo-embroidered polo shirt and name-tag.

Wheeeee!

I’m too excited and flibbertijibbety right now to really say anything worthwhile or coherent about it, except YAY!!!

This has been a very buttony weekend.

Yesterday I spent a good portion of the day designing new buttons, and then using my brand new circle punch (which is awesome) to cut out the designs that already got printed. Then I used my lovely little button making machine (which is also awesome) to make a bunch of buttons. Then I set up my photo-studio-in-a-box (again, awesome) and took pictures of all the buttons I’ve made so far.

I used little plastic dinosaurs to prop up the buttons. I stumbled on this idea when One-T needed me to take pictures of plastic dinosaurs for him, and I like it. Plus, the dinosaurs enjoy helping out and getting their faces out there. It’s a win-win.

Today, I uploaded the pictures to my photo gallery, then added captions. The captions basically just say what the button says, in case you can’t tell from the thumbnail and you don’t want to click on the link to find out.

Check ‘em out!

I’d love to get feedback on which buttons you like the best, and also if you have suggestions for improvements. Or if you have requests for new buttons. I’ve already gotten quite a few super ideas from Feazle, and they’ll appear in future batches o’buttons.

And some of the buttons are by the Amazing Mr. One-T. I think, if you click on the picture, it should say somewhere in the caption if it’s by One-T. If it doesn’t say it’s by One-T, the default is by Me.

Have I mentioned how much fun this is?

Soon, I’ll post some buttons to Etsy, once I set the prices and write copy and have all the packaging ready to go. I did some mall scouting yesterday and found that significantly less interesting buttons are selling for $1.75-$2.00 in stores. I’m thinking of doing $1.50 each or 4 for $5 to start, and see how that goes. Oh, and I have to figure out how much postage will cost. So many little details!

I’m glad I have this distraction right now, because it’s keeping me from being too obsessive about the job search. The interview I had on Friday was fantastic (at least, it seemed that way to me), and I really REALLY want that job now. But she had another interview to do, and then she’ll be out of town for a week, so I have a long time to sit and fret about it. But I want to get the job NOW so I can start planning and thinking up ideas and getting excited about it.

But this post isn’t about the job search or my inability to stop thinking about that one job. Rather, it’s about buttons. My super neato buttons that are going to make me rich. Or at least entertain me until I run out of ideas. But as I have a list of ideas that’s currently 17 pages long, single spaced, 11-point font, I don’t think that’ll happen any time soon.

I’ve been using every spare moment lately to make button designs on Photoshop. Well, compiling ideas for buttons and then actually making the button designs. Next, when my circle-punch is ready to pick up, I can actually make the buttons. I can’t wait to see what they actually like under mylar with a little pin-back.

So far I’ve made about 80 button designs. And, if I may say so, I’m pretty darn good at this. And I’m having a ridiculous amount of fun.

Once I actually have buttonized samples of all my buttons, I’ll take pictures of them (using my nifty little photo-studio-in-a-box) and put them on Etsy. It’ll be interesting to see which ones other people like.

It’s so much fun – way more fun than I thought it would be. I get to use some of the billions of fonts and dingbats I’ve been collecting for no apparent reason, and I get to use some of the billions of quotes and sayings I’ve been collecting for no apparent reason, and I get to put them all together into something little that makes me happy. And if it doesn’t turn out how I’d hoped, I can fix it. Or ditch it and move onto the next idea. There’s not a huge investment of time on each button, and it costs nothing to play around with designs on my computer.

Of course, now I’m having second thoughts about wanting to ditch this job so fervently. After all, my work laptop is where Photoshop is, and my workplace is where I frequently have giant swaths of spare time in which to insert button efforts. I wouldn’t be nearly as productive if I had a job that actually required concentration or time.

It’s weird, but I can see myself not getting bored of this, because every button is such a new adventure, and there are so many zillions of ideas out there I still want to try. I could sit here for 10 hours straight just making new buttons, and thinking up new ideas, and figuring out ways to market and sell the buttons. If only it could bring in some decent money. Maybe, someday.

Oh, and it’s not just buttons. I can buy the accessories to turn the buttons into magnets, zipper pulls, key chains, tie-tacks, or earrings. Although 1″ round earrings does seem a little odd.

The Amazing Mr. One-T is also on the button bandwagon. He actually has a real job that demands his attention, so he hasn’t made quite as many buttons as I have, but his are awesome too. Plus, he’s able to make little pictures using Illustrator, so his get a lot more creative than mine.

So, if you have anything you’d like made into a 1″ round object of desire, let me know.

• I got a button making machine! Now I just have to figure out what buttons to make and I can begin building my empire.
• I’m going to a crafting party this weekend, which is exciting, but I have no idea what crafty project to bring. I haven’t done this in a long time. Maybe I’ll bring stuff to make a shadowbox, but I’m not sure yet.
• Starting tomorrow, I get to work at the weirdest show I’ve worked at. Northwest’s largest Anime convention, if you must know. I’m looking forward to the helmets made of aluminum foil and the many, many tails attached to butts.
• I’m getting another freelance proofreading job this afternoon, and it has a very short deadline. Yay for money!
• Today’s Happy Bunny says, “I’m writing a song about you. What rhymes with dorkface?” Good ol’ Happy Bunny.

Just walking through the Trouser Socks aisle of JC Penney makes me itchy and nervous. If I ever have a job that requires not only trousers but a special kind of boring sock to accompany them, that will be the day I weep for my lost youth.

Although I’m partial to the sock art of Happy Bunny, it’s not an exclusive deal.

The genius who brought us Happy Bunny also has some other favorites of mine: Meany Doodles, Dog of Glee, and Sweety Puss are good ones, but he has a bunch of others too. Of course, these aren’t all available in sock form, but it’s my blog and I can digress if I want to.

This isn’t really a post about socks anymore, but about my mission to incorporate nasty little bits of humor into my life in a defiant stance against stale and musty adulthood.

So, back to my commercial. If you like Jim Benton’s snarky cartoon characters, here are a few others worth checking out:

David & Goliath
Angry Little Girls
ULB

Oh, and back to the sock thing. Here’s a sampling of some of my own sock drawer favorites:

Boys are strong. Bury them deep.
Like I need your approval.
Hooray for guys with money.
I’m a nice person. Come closer.
Pyscho-licious (and yes, the socks really are spelled that way)

This site never fails to get a smile. There’s just something about kittens with bad grammar that I’m powerless to resist.

Side note: It’s a proven scientific fact that kittens make people happy. How else can you explain the episode of Scrubs where JD saves a man dying of a broken heart by emptying a box of kittens on his face?