Stuff and Things

[tripperfunster]

*sigh*
Crappy News:
I did not win the t-shirt design contest over at Supernatural. And I really wouldn't mind losing if the other entries were better than mine? But some of them weren't. Three of them were EXCEEDINGLY similar to each other. I don't get it. The first one was pretty good, the best of it's 'style' that I saw. The second one was fantastic. Something I wish I'd thought of (and had the chops to pull off). The third one was … not my thing. I was surprised it won, but hey, different strokes for different folks.

The fourth? Kinda like the first but not as good. And the fifth? Um … yeah. Kinda exactly the same too. If I'd known that all I had to do was plop a bunch of words on the shirts, then I wouldn't have worked so hard on … DESIGNING! I am disappoint.



And here's my design, in case you didn't see it or forgot.


I'm not saying my design is fantastic or anything, but the others (excluding the tree one) were just … unoriginal? There were probably 50 more designs just like them.

In stupid customer news:
There was a dumbass in the store yesterday, and I was offering him help selecting a heater for his tank. He wasn't sure how many watts he needed for his size of tank, and I explained it to him, and showed him what we had. He wasn't happy with the pricing and wanted to know if he could buy two small heaters and use them instead of one bigger one. I told him he could, but it would probably cost him more in electricity in the long run, etc. Then I left him alone because he was incapable of listening to any advice I might have.

My husband was also at the store, and this guy latched onto him, asked him pretty much exactly the same questions, to which my husband answered with exactly the same answers as I had given. When he was leaving, the guy says to my husband (right in front of me) "Well, it was really nice finally talking to someone who knows what they're talking about."
My hubby (who is awesome) says: "Well, if you really want an expert, you should talk to my wife."

Ugh! What a dick! (they guy, not my hubby).

We also had a fellow in who was having a lot of trouble understanding the difference between a heater and a thermometer. "Uh … one thing is what gives off heat, and the other thing is what tells you the temperature."
"But why do I need both?"
"Because they do different things."
"Can't I just get the thermometer? ($30 cheaper than the heater)
"Well, your fish will be cold. You will know EXACTLY how cold they are, but it won't make them warm."
"I don't get it."
"Think of it this way. The heater is the time machine. The thermometer is the clock. The time machine DOES SOMETHING, the clock just tells you the time."
"??"
*sigh*

Under the heading of Sex talks with my kids:
My 11 yo was asking what FAP meant. I told him it meant to masturbate, and he got a hilarious look on his face. He knows what it means, but it is still a very foreign concept to him.
"But why would someone DO that?"
"Because it feels good."
"Isn't it gross?"
"Well, no, not when you do it in private. Nobody wants to see you touching yourself in a crowded room."
*laughs* "I'm never going to do it."
Me: *laughs* "Okay. sure."
"You don't believe me?"
"Hee! No I don't! Trust me, you will be your own best friend in a couple of years."
"No I won't!" *thinks* "Were YOU allowed to masturbate when you were a kid?"
"I don't know. I didn't exactly ask."
"Will *I* be allowed to do it?"
:D "Of course! Dude, it's free, it doesn't hurt anyone and it feels good."
"But it just seems so wrong, and sad!"
"Why do you think it's sad?"
"Because you're so lonely that you have to have sex with yourself."
"Honey, you don't have to be single and sad to do it. Think of it like this: You like ice cream, right? Is it sad, that if you're hungry, and you want ice cream, you stop at the store and buy some, and eat it alone? It doesn't mean that you never have desert with your partner, but sometimes you just want some ice cream."
"Do YOU do it?"
"Of course."
"OMG MOM!!eleventy EEEWWWW!!! DON'T TELL ME THIS!"
"Ahahaha! Dude, you ASKED!"

I wonder how long it will be before he breaks his 'promise'. Hee!

Comments

[sra-danvers.livejournal.com]

You're a great mum, I want to be like you!!!! I have worst conversations with my younger girl and she is 15!!

I'm so sorry you didn't win, but if the actors chose the design, I suppose it's just a thing of tastes...

Your hubby is really awesome!!!

[synn.livejournal.com]

That is really disappointing about the shirt; I think you're should have won too. And yeah, definitely heavy similarities between 3 or 4 of those (and the last two I have a hard time reading, actually). I actually like the third better than the second myself, but whatever : )

that customer is a douchebag, but at least you have an awesome husband and awesome conversations with your kids to make up for it. I think that sex convo is one of the funniest things I've ever heard.

[chocolate-frapp.livejournal.com]

eesh, those stories belong in customers_suck!
You're an awesome mom!
I am not a Supernatural fan but your T shirt design is excellent, those people who didn't pick it have no taste.

[charisstoma.livejournal.com]

I agree about the second place one, that is beautiful. Don't really understand 3rd place winning.
Your shadows on the Winchester Brand lettering were beautiful and the salt inspired. Maybe it was too much printed space and/or the more ink and different colors of ink the more cost. You used 3 shades of red, white, cream, and black, providing I counted colors correctly.

The Library Friends group was looking at having a printer do shirts and book bags. We wanted to do an adaptation of the city's logo which included 3 separate colors. We ended up with one color because of cost.

*sighs at customer* IDIOT.
Your hubby is great.
So are you. *snickers* Oh the poor little people who are ours. So your 11 year old doesn't have a problem with considering the how he was conceived and that his parents did THAT?

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Thanks hon. Yes, I am very lucky with my husband and kids. <3

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

:D We have those sex conversations ALL THE TIME. Well, different ones, but equally hilarious. :D

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Thanks hon.

Well, I did get picked for the top 20, so they have SOME taste. ;)

I think, as charisstoma says below, it had more to do with production costs than design.

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Thanks hon!

I agree, I'm sure printing settings and cost had a lot to do with what they printed, but then don't say 'YOU CAN DO ANYTHING. PHOTOREALISTIC IS FINE!'

I sometimes enter a t-shirt contest on Woot! and they are very specific about the amount of colours and halftones etc.

I think the shirts they picked were much easier to print, and that's why they won, but it still burns my ass.

As for sex, my kid thinks that's gross too, but not sad, like wanking. ;)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

You are terribly talented, and all of those t-shirts display way more artistic talent than I can!

I love your metaphors but I fear they are lost on many of the illiterati--the guy with the thermometer, not your son, of course. (Ugh, heater guy was AWFUL.)

(I am genuinely not sure what to think about the sex talk--I have been told that masturbation starts at different ages for different folk, but I had discovered the joy of orgasm well before age 5 and it boggles me to think of an eleven-year-old that doesn't. I wanna think he's being ingenuous to mislead you but you probably have the right perception of it and I'm just weird!)

[akatnamedeaster.livejournal.com]

Hee! No I don't! Trust me, you will be your own best friend in a couple of years."

Can't love anybody if you don't love yourself!

I'm sorry you didn't end up placing in the contest, but you did make the final round, and in a field of so many contestants, that's a pretty big achievement.

That second choice is really nice, but the third and fifth place ones are sort of clunky and odd looking. Not sure why they placed. :/

[djin7.livejournal.com]

2 things: Having been in the retail sector for many years, I can commiserate. Remind me to tell you the following stories, key words: 1) Video store, fisherman rental; 2) Computer software story, and 3) Godfather movie story.

Also, re: your 11 y old. I think this is relevant to your interests: https://31.media.tumblr.com/e4465587b27fae69b8f760ac62a41b8c/tumblr_mxpbgdhP891qm3a1jo1_1280.png

[nic]

I'm very disappointed that you didn't win - your designs were awesome! In fact, the winners surprise me; they're not designs I voted for because I found most of them quite boring.

(In other words, it seems like there were other factors aside from design-appeal-awesomeness that influenced the winners' list.)

[tealightwhimsy.livejournal.com]

I'm so bummed you didn't win :-(

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

5? Really? Holy shit! I had discovered the joys of masturbation fairly young, but probably not orgasm until I was closer to 10.

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I meant to add;

I don't think he's trying to mislead me. He's hilariously candid most of the time. It wouldn't surprise me if he actually lets me know the first time he wanks or has a wet dream or something. :D

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I was pretty excited to get in the top twenty. I really don't mind losing when I feel I've been beat, I guess, with a couple of these entries, I really didn't think they were better (or original).

When someone kicks my ass, I usually stand up and shot "Holy shit, that's great!"

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Hee! I'd seen that review before. I'm pretty sure that is going to be my life in the next few years. I think I'll buy them a bottle of lube each, a few boxes of kleenex and brand new garbage cans for their rooms! :D

And yes, I'd love to hear those stories!!

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Thanks Nic. Yeah, I am guessing, from the one or two colour options they picked, that printability had a big part of which designs won. *sad face*

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Thanks hon. Yeah, me too. Oh well. On to the next thing!!

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

No, he really sounds like he means it, and you're his mom, you'd know! My experience is just so different and I've always had a hard time with "Wait, everyone's experience is not my own?" that I get all jaw-droppy. ^_^

(Without being graphic, yeah, I was having what I did not know were BDSM fantasies when I was four, and I remember that I always felt guilty after orgasm, as if it was wrong to feel that deliciously good after thinking such wicked strange thoughts. Bless my mother, who had "the talk" with me in a kind positive way when I was about...eight, maybe. Her gist was, "Do you ever touch yourself to feel good? Well, everyone does it, and it's okay.")

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

OH God, you had the coolest mom ever! We did NOT talk about that shit at our house. Her only 'sexual' advice for me was: The best gift you can give your husband is yourself.

Meaning, of course, that regardless of my husband's sexual history, I should remain a virgin for him.

Fast forward to the land of irony when I ended up marrying a dude who was virgin!!!! :D
Well, he wasn't a virgin by the time I married him, but yanno. ;) (not my current hubby, btw. THis was hubby #1)

[tjs-whatnot.livejournal.com]

I was following the contest on FB because I was hoping to see your shirt. :( I actually thought one of the rules was you had to use the same few different phrases and wondered how the cool shadow one got away with out saying, "The Family Business" or "Hunting Things." Just unoriginal instead? BLAH.

UGH... customers. But, your son is awesome, so it all makes up for it, yeah? And yeah, if my mom told me that she did, I'd pretty much have the same reaction... even know. ;)