Editing

Editing is a concept that I’ve yet to embrace.  In almost every facet of my life, I have a little too much.  I’m a collector and I’m sentimental, and this is a lethal combination.  I don’t think of myself as a hoarder, but that’s arguable.  One man’s hoarder is another man’s frugal “waste not, want not” type.  Who knows when I might be able to reuse that sheet with a hole in it?  What if a day comes when it is necessary to have a hundred saved wine bottles that never quite made it to recycling? 

It sounds bad, I know. 

My mother was one of those mothers who saved every book report and scrap of baby clothes.  She instilled in me and my brothers a sense of the animate in inanimate objects.  A pillow, for instance, might be very sad indeed if you threw it out after it spent twenty years dreaming with you. 

Add to this the fact that I am a very disorganized person and multiply that by almost seven years and this is the mountainous task that is sitting before me now when I realize that the day to move has come.  Joseph and I have to pare down our possessions and fit ourselves back into an apartment lifestyle. 

This is a colossal change in itself!  For seven years, Joseph and I have been living in a three bedroom farm house on five very blackberry-infested acres of land.  We can stomp our feet on the floors.  We can shout from one bedroom to another.  And we can crank up Joseph’s sound system as loud as we want when we watch sci-fi movies late at night.  These are all things I am going to have to edit to fit myself into a smaller, more urban space.  Because we are not just moving into an apartment, we are moving off-island and back into the mainstream of things.  I will have to go through this house bit by bit and box by box and shave off those pieces of my life that can live as an easily-carried memory and not as a memento.  This is not going to be an easy task.

But I am going to make it a challenge.  Every week I will pick a different room and get it shaved down, packed and ready to go.  This week will be my lavender room, also known as my craft room crap room.  Next week perhaps I’ll go for the living room.  And I think the following month will be a very good lesson in editing. 

Roberta Sanchez

Judy, who is nothing if not a realistic-thinker, suggested that we do not try to make clothing for full-grown people when we decided to produce our own “Project Runway.”  Her suggestion: Barbie Dolls, not Bratz, not Polly Pocket, but Barbies.  In fact, she insisted we make it a rule of our “Project Runway,” Barbies were necessary.  It was because of this, my friends and I were suddenly thrown into finding the “Perfect Model.”  And it was because of this I found Roberta Sanchez. 

Joseph took me to a Kmart in northern Seattle off of Hwy 99 (Aurora Avenue).  Here we looked at Barbie Dolls.  Joseph knew I was partial to red heads.  In fact, most photos from our life together show me trying to rock a redheaded look myself.  The Barbie selection was a little sparse, but Joseph zeroed in on the only redhead in the store.  Her packaging was all in Spanish and I had to check that it was, in fact, a Barbie Doll, because I’ve never seen a Barbie with Spanish packaging. 

Apparently there is a wonderful Mexican telenova (soap opera) based on an Argentinean called “Rebelde” which means rebellious.   Mattel was only too ready to make a Barbie version of the cast of characters and the doll in the package I had before me was in the likeness of Roberta Pardo Rey, one of the main characters who sported dyed red hair.  I renamed her Roberta Sanchez, and a star was born! 

Roberta has a sordid past.

Roberta is a bad girl.

Roberta has a reputation.

Roberta will cut a b****.

Roberta is beautiful.  She became my muse and helped me to win the competition, even though Judy was breathing down our necks and only missed beating us by a point or two.  She has certainly developed her own persona, and negotiated it into having a Myspace page and a Facebook page.  In her hay day of Myspace-ing, Roberta received friend requests from total strangers and even had an offer from a budding new photographer to pose for some pictures he was taking.  He may have been one of those blind photographers.  And Roberta may cut me for saying that.  I am still asked about her in the circle of friends.  Roberta Sanchez is alive and well! 

Barbie Project Runway

April 13, 2011

I am blessed with some very creative friends who are willing to play with me.  One day at work I was talking with the girls at work about one of our favorite shows, “Project Runway.”  I thought we should try doing it for ourselves, and suggested that we make ourselves outfits and have a party to vote on the best one.  Judy, our resident realistic-thinker, said that there was NO WAY she was going to sew a human-sized outfit, and that we would be using Barbie models.  Thus Barbie Project Runway was born. 

Our first challenge was in the Spring of 2009, which was “Bring what you have as a designer to the table.”  We had many interesting designs show up. 

We decided to make it a regular thing.  Every two weeks we came together to meet different challenges.  Everyone cast a vote (not voting for themselves) for the best design. 

We would pay $5 to enter our designs and after a series of four challenges, the person who had the most votes over all, would win the pot of money! 

After the first four challenges a year passed and we came back again to see if we could still rock the runway.  I have a feeling that BPR will be a part of our lives for many years to come.