blogging

When I first found out about Neil Kramer’s Great Interview Experiment, on his blog Citizen of the Month, I was super excited. Interviewing another blogger sounds like fun but I was never sure how to approach a blogger about being featured here. I am also terrified of rejection and this way whoever signed up would most likely be willing to do it.

I signed up without thinking twice, and immediately clicked on the commenter before me.

My internet connection is just slow enough to give me time to panic. What if my interview subject hated my blog? What if they thought I was terribly offensive and asked to be assigned to someone else? Finally, Joy is Everywhere loaded up and I knew this was going to be a disaster. I assumed that the author of this inspirational, feel good blog was going to be disgusted by my sense of humor and think that I was a drunken, unappreciative brat.

But then I went on to read her tagline “This blog is brought to you by the number 69 and the letters F and U” Yay!! Crisis averted! This is going to be awesome!

So welcome Sus! I am really happy to have her here and I  know that my readers are going to love her.

The first place I checked out was when I got to your blog was the page where banners come to die. Obviously you switch it up often and there are a bunch of really great ones. I am a little indecisive about design changes and have spent hours playing around with headers, only to end up sticking with my original. I really like the clean look of your page and wondered as an artist if you spend  a lot of time thinking about your design, or if just comes naturally?

A little of column A and a little of column B.  There are times when I am designing and it is like pulling teeth to achieve something that I feel is presentable.  And then there are times when it feels like there is another force at hand and the work just seems to appear without any thought from me.  While the first is definitely a struggle, I almost prefer that.  I understand the effort and skill that was required to create the design, whereas with the latter I sometimes end up wondering if I will ever be able to pull something off like that, again.

In regards to the banner designs, many of them are inspired by movie quotes and by the random things my brother and sister used to say (i.e. “Hey Sucka, you got a big fat floopflo” and “Donk = MC2 Waldo”.)

The next place I stopped was your Oh so many facts about me page. We have so much in common (Sorry I’m really not trying to offend you).  Some examples, you grind your teeth at night, you like to do everything as fast as possible, you love children’s books and Metallica, and you are a mosquito magnet (it sucks when you are the only one being bitten and everyone acts like you are a whiner until they see you are covered in giant, fire-engine red welts). The list goes on…but then I got to the part where you claimed to hate cheese, I don’t really understand. My daughter also hates cheese and I really am not sure what to feed her. Maybe you could help me out, what do you eat?

That’s an odd way to put that.  You make it seem like cheese is the only food on the planet.  And I guess for some it is.  And those people should be taken out and beaten.  Just kidding.

Let’s see…I eat: most fruits (Except bananas.  Barf.), some vegetables (I hate onions, tomatoes, and summer squash), and grainsssppphhh hahahaha!  Oh man, I almost pulled that off.  I eat candy.  Lots of candy.  My sweet tooth is off the charts.  It’s a miracle I don’t look like an orca whale.  I do try to eat better now that I have a son who will be learning nutrition from my example.  It’s not easy.

One of the first things you mention about yourself is that you thought you would never get married, because you thought you were too weird. Reading through some of your posts about your marriage, it seems you guys are a match made in heaven. You work great together as a team and have some very interesting games you play together. What do you think is the secret to making a marriage work?

Honesty and trust and a ton of laughter. I know that sounds cheesy and cliche, but it is so true.  We talk about everything and really try hard to resolve any issues that we may have.  We also try to help each other act objectively and not emotionally when it comes to resolving any issues we have with others.

And we love to make each other laugh!  Most people might not appreciate our sick sense of humor, but we sure get a kick out of it.

I’m sure with your love of mix tapes you make a lot for you husband. If you were making one for him right now, what would be a few of the songs on it?

Hmmm…probably some Muse, a little AFI, definitely some Imogen Heap, and you always need a little Metallica.

Your son, Rocket, just had his first birthday and that cake was amazing ! What did he think of it? Have you guys come up with any ideas for how you are going to top it next year?

Thanks!  He totally dug it.  We gave him a huge piece of cake to trash.  It was the first time he had had any kind of refined sugar.  He was a maniac for about two hours after the party, crawling around and around the couch until he finally crashed on the floor.  It was hilarious.

I think next year will be a little more on the mellow side.  We’ll still have some kind of killer cake, but fewer guests.  I am thinking of making him an R2D2 cake.  We’ll see.

Speaking of Rocket, he is absolutely adorable, how are the sleep troubles going?

Aah, thank you, once again!  We sure love the kid.  The sleeping issues have been much better once I started following my gut.  We still have the occassional night when he wakes up and wants to be held, but they are few and far between.  Now he goes to bed at about 8:00 and sleeps to almost 7:00 the next morning. (Cue the angels…HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!)

As a mother of a boy, at first I was worried about being overbearing. My son is three years old now and I have accepted that I will be always overprotective, and sometime in the future I will most likely be the judgemental, condescending mother in law.. Have you imagined what Rocket’s life will be like in 30 years, about what kind of relationship you will have when he is an adult?

Of course.  What parent hasn’t imagined this?  As you can tell from my blog, my family is very close.  The most I can wish for is that I have the same kind of relationship with Rocket.  And I think my parent’s had the right idea when it came to accomplishing this.  We spent a lot of time together as a family; playing games, watching movies, going on road trips.  More importantly, they let us make mistakes.  We knew they were always in the background waiting to give us the love and support we needed, but also knew that they trusted us enough to let us make our own decisions, even if that meant falling flat on our face.

You are a very talented painter. I’m always interested to know how artists work change after they have children. Has your painting vision changed?

Yes, but not necessarily because I now have a child.  I had one particular style of painting that I did for years.  Now, I am kind of tired of it, so I am trying something completely against the norm.  It’s been challenging and excited and so far I have been really pleased with the outcome.

You weren’t lying about your obsession with questionnaires. I assume you have also spent hours taking facebook quizzes. Do you know your ghetto nickname? Do you always post the results or keep them private out of fear that your feeds will be hidden or you will be defriended?

Sadly, yes.  What can I say?  I am a sucker for a good survey.

No, I actually don’t know my ghetto nickname!  Let’s have any commenters make one up for me.

I always show my results.  If people want to hide my feeds, that’s fine.  I have done the same to some of my friends, as well.  It doesn’t mean that I don’t love them.  It just means that I don’t give a shit that they successfully completed the latest Harry Potter quiz.  And if they de-friend me because I got Darth Vader  on the “What role in the Galactic Empire will you play?” quiz, well that’s their problem.

Finally, anything special on your Christmas wish list this year?

Nah.  I am more excited to buy gifts for Rocket.

If you need more info to help Sus find her ghetto nickname, you can find out everything there is to know about her on her blog Joy is Everywhere.

If you missed Lady Wanderlust’s interview with me, be sure to check it out at the World According 2 Lisa.