Tuesday, May 25, 2010

etsy

I know I've been a horrible slacker here on blogger, but only because I've been busy here: www.ninjapony.etsy.com It's my new online shop. The books are taking over my house. I have to dispose of them in some way :) Might as well make a buck from my obsession. I haven't sold anything yet, but I am hopeful. I will feel totally vindicated if I can sell just one book to a stranger, someone who isn't buying it because of a personal connection with me, but because they really like the article for it's own sake. Not that I'm saying if you know and love me don't buy my stuff. Feel free to purchase my entire catalogue. But the true feeling of having succeeded will be complete only when and if someone unconnected with me forks over some dough for one of my creations.

Self Portrait

As I finished work this morning and was leaving the bus terminal to go to my car, I saw this on the pavement. I see oil spills all the time there, but I've never seen one do this. As I was photographing what must from a distance have appeared to be nothing on the pavement, apparently I must've looked goofy enough to attract attention, because several people came over to see what was so engrossing. One of them even whipped out her camera and joined me :)


Sunday, May 9, 2010

Morbid Fascination

Perhaps it's my daily association with this vehicle that fuels my fascination with it's carcass, but I do find it riveting. I was 12 minutes late on my route yesterday because I was ogling it on my way out to my bus. I find it beautiful and full of interest. Am I a weirdo?

These were taken with my camera as opposed to my phone, so should be better than the first set:

This clearly is the engine compartment. There are bits of fiberglass all over the ground around it, but a lot of the casing was also consumed in the blaze.



The ceiling:

I like the drippy plastic bits.

Windows:


Tail lights:
I love this. I think it looks like snake skin.

Front window:

Front wall above driver's seat:

I think this is my favorite. I get a perverse sense of satisfaction seeing my company logo this way :D

My seat... with the totally untouched fire extinguisher next to it. There was no way I was opening that door to reach in and grab it. I got the one from the bus next door.

The aroma exuding from this shell of a bus really is like a carcass. You can smell it all over the lot - smoke and plastic and rubber and oil. I almost wish they'd leave it on the lot, but we need the parking space. And I imagine that the management aren't as pleased to see it every day as I am, a constant reminder of lost revenue and failed safety measures. For me it's a reminder that in a crisis I didn't panic and was able to do what needed to be done. I feel good about that.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Just a regular day on the job...

"Um... there's something wrong with 740... There's smoke coming out the back." That's how it all started. I had just finished my shift and was inside the bus barn chatting with Cody, the night phone guy, when the bus cleaning crew came in and casually mentioned that we might want to go outside and have a look. I walked out and sure enough, there were clouds of black smoke billowing out of the engine compartment of one of our older buses and flaming globs of engine stuff dripping out onto the ground. I yelled and Cody came out, took one look and tore off to find a fire extinguisher. He would have been entirely successful but he chose the mechanics shop as his destination... where they store the dud extinguishers that need servicing. The first several he tried didn't work, so I grabbed one from another bus and pulled the pin for him. Meanwhile I had called 911 and started moving the rest of the buses out of the area, so that if the humongous diesel tank exploded we didn't lose our entire fleet. The fire trucks arrived in good time and extinguished the now very respectably blazing bus with copious amounts of foamy stuff. I took a few photos with my phone, but by the time I was unoccupied enough to think of it, most of the really impressive pyrotechnics were buried under a mound of foam. So these are awful, grainy, blurry photos, but the best I could do under the circumstances.


Cody in the red shirt with the non-dud in his hand :)

The aftermath:

We've had bus fires before, most notably the sister of this bus, 739 about 10 years ago. 739 was caught early I guess, because it's still part of the fleet, but there will be no salvaging this one. You can't see it from the photos, but the rear windows all bowed out with the heat and the top roof hatch melted. The smoke was absolutely foul smelling. I got a couple of really hearty lungfuls during the process, but apparently I'll live :) Exciting times at bus barn. Unfortunately it means I'll have to drive the trolley tomorrow morning, as we are now short one bus x-[

Monday, May 3, 2010

My new hobby (obsession?)


Yes, I know.

Someone has too much time on their hands.


That's what you're thinking.


Perhaps you're right. Some of them are a bit bizarre.


But I love this one. LOVE. I want to marry it and have it's babies. It's my favorite, but Shhhh. Don't tell the other books. They'll feel bad.


This one is a Barbie book, for my friend who collects Barbies


Last year I saw an exhibit at a gallery in Bellevue of altered book art. I was instantly enthralled by the idea of taking old unwanted books and making them into something cool. Some of them were incredible, intricate, imaginative. I wanted to come home and start mutilating books, but it wasn't until a few days ago when I was looking online and found a site selling similar things to the first photo here... for $50!!! that I really became motivated to give it a try. There are lots of different versions of this kind of thing available, but I haven't seen anything like my favorite. No one seems to be using much color.