#plus the event was mostly 2-40 year old friend groups and couples. so i get it

[omishu]

3, 5, 10, 13, 28, 29, 40, 47, 61, 87, 95, 98!

AAH! 🤩 Thank you so much for your inquiries!! 😆 This is my first ever Tumblr ask challenge to receive, so I'm honored 😖 but it's a lot! 😱 I'll try to answer everything thoroughly. 😅 Here it goes! 😁

3. If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

I love the idea of shapeshifting., Not just the kind of transfiguration that Tonks or McGonagall do, but more like adopting the abilities of different animals suited for different scenarios. Like, if I could grow bat wings to fly and then switch to develop lungs like a seal to swim for long periods or the eyes of a tarsier to see in the dark, etc., that'd be dope.

But my superhero alterego actually has the ability to manipulate luck, so she can basically be a blessing or curse to others. It's based on her own storage of luck though. So if she's had a lot of bad luck lately, she can deal it out; alternatively she can give out good luck when she gets lucky. It's kind of a game of balance, but she has meters for both that get distributed and replenished.

5. Tell us some funny drunk story.

I've really only ever been drunk once. It was a time when I was house-sitting for some friends, watching their two dogs while they went on vacation (the usual). I invited a different friend over, my bestie from middle school. Typically, I have a code for myself to not invite guests into clients' homes, and doing so this time set the dominos a-topplin'. We decided to have a Toy Story marathon, like normal grown ups. To make it really adult, we thought we'd make it more interesting by playing drinking games throughout all the movies. There are four movies. Normally, I don't drink much, just a glass of wine or a beer every once in a while, so ... we got big cans of Mike's extra hard lemonade in different fruity flavors (because ... adults watching kids' movies). Anyway, we had our snacks (French macarons and Wegman's pizza, q classic combination, but not really), the dogs had been fed and set up for bed, and we had our jammies on. All was well for the first two movies: we're reliving our childhoods and the early days of cgi animation, laughing and having a grand old time. By the third movie, what's left of the large pizza is cold. So we stumble down two flights of stairs, carrying a mostly empty pizza box, while dogs jumped all over us, trying to get to the oven in the kitchen on the main floor, like this was some kind of epic high fantasy novel quest. I put the pizza on a cookie sheet. The oven's preheated. Pizza goes in. When pizza is all melty again, I grab a potholder, because I'm responsible. BUT it's not covering the end of the metal handle poking out, and I get BURNED, literally, right on the wrist. Which is the hand I usually pose with for selfies. I've had to totally rearrange how I take pictures of myself now because I have an obvious scar there. Anyway, I stick my hand under cold water and get some ice on it right away, so it doesn't actually hurt as much as it probably should have; granted I have a lot of experience with burn damage, so I may be somewhat desensitized to it. Moral of the story, kids, don't heat up food while you're drunk. I don't even remember what happened in the third movie tbh. I passed out after finishing my third large can of alcoholic beverage, and we went to see TS4 at the theater the next morning, hungover like fools.

10. Who was the last person to disappoint you?

The answer is me. I constantly disappoint myself, because I have impossibly high standards. I tend to be very ambitious and driven, so when I don't live up to my own expectations for myself, I'm disappointed. But failure is a chance to learn. Keep moving forward!

13. If the whole world listened to you right now, what would you say?

GOD IS REAL; HIS NAME IS JESUS CHRIST, AND HE LOVES YOU UNCONDITIONALLY MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE.

28. What was your last lie?

"I'll check it out" when someone recommended a phone app to me today. 😬

29. Dumbest lie you ever told?

🤔 I don't really remember most of my lies because they're small, meaningless, and/or usually get cleared up right away. Plus, I don't normally like to lie, so most of them are accidents from misunderstandings or possible future truths or super obvious for joking purposes, like hyperbole or sarcasm.

40. What was the last gift you gave?

When my sister and I rode the bus to NYC from DC to go see Frozen on Broadway together, I gave her a keychain. I got us matching Funko Pop Frozen 2 keychains to commemorate the event. We both Disneybounded as the queens, so we got the characters we matched; she got Anna, and I got Elsa.

47. When was your first kiss?

It depends on what kind of kiss you mean. When I was in 1st grade, I kissed a boy's forehead on a dare. Then in like maybe 3rd grade, I kissed my best friend on her lips out of excitement for something that had happened. But if you mean romantically, I've only ever kissed one person in the lips, and that was my first love. He was my boyfriend in the beginning of high school, back when I still had braces, so it was probably freshman year. He used to come to my house after school some times, and we went for an evening stroll along the golf course one night. He kissed me, and I kissed him again, but then I turned away when he tried to kiss me again. My face was hot and red when we got back, and his mom was waiting to take him home; she knew exactly what had happened because she made a joke about it, and I started getting dizzy from embarrassment. He dumped me a couple years later and then almost a decade later, we started hooking up again, but then he decided he just wanted to be friends, which I couldn't handle, so I cut off ties with him. 🤷‍♀️ His loss

61. Something you find romantic?

There was a time when I liked a guy in my Japanese-American cultural exchange group. The whole club went to an obon matsuri at a Buddhist temple one year with crafts, food, kimono fashion show, taiko, etc. We danced together under the stars with my dress swirling at my feet and thousands of fireflies twinkling out of the ground around us. It was so magical. Then we all went for the best sushi I've ever had and my first beer, which I split with a girl who's now one of my besties. He walked me to my car and made sure I got home safely. Turns out he was 17 years older than me (short and baby faced), twice divorced, and had kids. I was barely 21. Yikes.

87. Meaning behind your blog name?

This is a fun question! I've always loved animation and making my own characters. When I was really little, some time in elementary school, I was super into the show Xiaolin Showdown, which has a character named "Omi". I used that as the basis for the name of my first ever OC and then several other OC's after her haha then in middle school, my best friend had the same first name as me, just spelled differently (yes, the same ms bestie from the drunken shenanigans above. We're getting brunch next weekend too). So we started calling each other by our OC's names, Omi and Lala (Omishu and Laphelliae). We even introduced each other under these identities, so the name stuck. Everyone called me Omi in highschool, and it drove my mom crazy! Even the teachers called me that; Mom absolutely hated it. Now it's my online alias for almost every platform I use. If you ever see a username with Omishu, Omishu Kitsuni, or OmishuK, chances are it's me!

95. Share your favourite quote.

Too many!! Short answer, THE ENTIRE BIBLE. Long answer ... Uh, it depends on the context. The whole series of quotes from the Disney wisdom collection, yesss. A couple on speaking/listening that I appreciate are: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt." - Abraham Lincoln and "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak." Epictetus. I live by Mark 12:28-31, though: "... 'Which commandment is the most important of all?' Jesus answered, 'The most important is, '... you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.'"

98. Have you ever made your mum cry? What happened?

Yes, in college my mentor's husband preached a message about forgiveness. I had to leave in the middle to call my mom. She had verbally abused me and my sisters while I was growing up, which has caused me to develop multiple psychoses in my childhood that I'm still learning to deal with today. My unrealistic expectations are also caused by trying to earn her approval. Anyway, I had to tell her that I don't hold it against her and recognize the stresses of parenting and appreciate how she's tried to do her best for me. We were both crying. She had no idea the affect of her words on me, but our relationship has improved so much since then. We're both careful to speak the truth in love with each other now.

[annaconkling]

Event interviews

Notes:

Dumbo flea market

3pm oct 7 2018

Muggy day

Flea market is very busy

Went up to a few people who said they were too busy

Walked further in to the flea market

Lisa Ferrari-Sullivan owns a vintage clothing store called “Pimbeche Vintage”

Me: What's your name?

Lisa: My name is Lisa Ferrari-Sulivan

Me: And what is the business called?

Lisa: It’s called “Pimbeche Vintage���

Me: I can take breaks or pause the recording if you need to talk to people

Me: When did it start?

Lisa: Well, I started probably like seven years ago

Me: So did you just start coming to the flea market here?

Lisa: I’ve been collecting vintage for probably over ten years

Me: Oh wow

Lisa: Maybe fifteen years. Then I just decided kind of to sell it.

Me: Where do you find your clothes?

Lisa: Everywhere! I go to thrift shops I go to estate sales, I go to auctions

Me: So do you just travel and do it or have you been to the Washington Square Park market? Or anything like that?

Lisa: No, I travel. I travel around to different areas

Me: In New York City?

Lisa: And just all over.

Me: Do you live here?

Lisa: I live in Queens

Me: You’re trying to open a shop right?

Lisa: Maybe eventually, yes.

Me: Do you have a specific thing you look for whenever you’re trying to find clothes?

Lisa: Quality.

Me: What type of thrift shops do  you go to? Do you find them at Goodwill….

Lisa: All different ones. It doesn’t matter, I  usually find one or two things wherever I go.

Me: Does it sell well here?

Lisa: Yes, usually I do pretty well there's slow days and good days but today hasnt been a very good day.

Me: What made you start wanting to do this though?

Lisa: I started to accumulate a lot of stuff because I was collecting vintage and it kind of took over. I was working full time, then I got married and had kids and thought “okay I need something I can do part time” and it just kind of worked out.

Me: You want to open up a store, have you thought about where?

Lisa: Maybe somewhere in Queens, I feel like there's not a lot of it there

Me: Bushwick would be good too, there's a lot of young people in Bushwick

Me: What drew you towards clothing?

Lisa: Well I worked in the fashion industry, I have a business degree I didn't study fashion per say but I worked in the commercial offices for a lot of french companies so then i was doing that full time then when I got married and had kids I thought I needed to do something but I was a stay at home mom

Me: So you wanted a side job

Lisa: Right and then this took off

Me: So now it's working pretty well

Me: And expanding?

Lisa: I hope too

Me: Have you looked at depop do you know that shop

Lisa: No i don't

Me: It's like etsy, you sell to a younger crowd

Lisa: Oh that could actually work because i sell to younger customers

Me: Do you have a certain type of vintage that you lean towards? Like grunge, 80s?

Lisa: I personally love older things from the 30s or 40s but those things are very delicate, I dont bring them here and they don't sell as well as the grunge and the 90s

Me: So that's what sells very well

Lisa: Definitely and a bunch of 90s dresses more of a grunge look. So I guess because thats what in the mainstream right now

Me: Do you add yourself to it? Does it have aspects of you?

Lisa: I do because I like glamours things so i throw that in there to mix it up and let people decide for themselves

Me: So is fashion your passion?

Lisa: Ya i'm really good at buying but i'm not very good at selling I love buying it and I know what to get.

Me: How long has this been around though

Lisa: Here, I’ve been doing the brooklyn flea almost 6 years now I think So it's doing very well I like it.

Me: Have you ever had to deal with anybody trying to steal anything?

Lisa: Yeah i had a bunch of bags stolen a couple weeks ago

Me: How do you stop that?

Lisa: I try to look but i'm not very observant

Me: Where do you find the handbags?

Lisa: The same places

Me: Were you fashionable when you were younger

Lisa: When i was working in the fashion industry I had to step up my game because you have to look put together I was fashionable when i was younger too but a lot of the stuff i’m selling now I wouldn’t have worn in the 90s which is funny but its cool some of the dresses that i actually see on girls look super cool but they didn't look cool back then.

Interview 2

Danielle and Jamie of Positive Times

A:What's your company called?

D: It’s called positive times we started about four years ago

A: How did you get started

D: We started off as a jewelry company we played around in our parents basements then it escalated to the point where we now have a studio in greenpoint

It started off as jewelry and now we offer home goods so we have either beauty products which we have our new line of nail polishes which contain crystal dust in them if you want to talk about that a little bit because that's your-

J: oh so the moonstone nail polish has real moonstone in it nail polish and it's also free from the ten most harmful chemicals that are normally found in nail polish

A: How did you pick the crystals to go in it

D: so each crystals have its own properties that go in it

Example amethyst has insight if you want to bring more insight into your life rose quartz is love and hope we talk about the properties, we offer cards that tell you about the properties and we say that if you find a stone you’re drawn towards than that's the one you should choose

A: How did you guys get started with that part of the jewelry

D:It started with the jewelry our jewelry has  crystals in it in our personal lives we keep crystals around throw it in some water to charge them We both when we were younger collected a lot of stones i would go on family trips to national parks and to the south west so i always liked crystals and it played a part in my life later because and influenced my career path because i went to school for education and earth science and took a lot of geology classes that had a lot to do with minerals and the way they form in the earth and then that kind of escalated

A: How do you guys know each other

D: We are actually friends from middle school, we’ve been friends for over fifteen years now

A: So you chose the business then you chose her as a partner

D: The jewelry started because we both have allergies to certain things i can only wear sterling silver or 14 carat gold so we made sure all our jewelry had that then we also have very odd sized fingers i have very small fingers and she has bigger ring sizes so we just decided to make our own jewelry and then it kind of escalated from there we were making simple things and now we’re actually using torches and shaping things and using different tools to make it more sturdy

A: How long does it take to make things like the necklace

J : we have an assembly line so it's not a certain time

D: But it is a process because we have to shape the brass, punch a hole in the brass sand the brass and then we make the thing to hold the crystals in and then we obviously have to add the chain

How did you guys learn to do this?

J: youtube university

A: Has it been pretty successful?

D: Yeah it's also been quite a ride it's definitely taking off

A:How did it start?

D: Just kind of friends and family were purchasing and then it escalated, we have a website and do flea markets and pop up shops and we are in storefronts too we don't have a store but that would be the goal it'd be really nice but right now we just have a studio and sell to shops out of brooklyn and out of new jersey

How long have you been doing it?

J: We started making the jewelry around six years ago the business about five years ago

A: Did you start the business by going to flea markets?

D: Yeah

A: Do you have to have a license to do that?

D: Yes 100% you have to register with the sales tax you have to pay taxes you get insurance too to sell as well

A: You guys are really young how did you decide you wanted to do this instead of other things?

D: I dont know, we still have our day jobs but we do this on the weekends

A: What's your day jobs?

D: I work with kids she's a graphic designer that also molded how we do our packaging

J:  If were being honest this started because i designed a logo which we had nothing to do with

D: It was a plus and an X and we got positive times from there

A: Do you guys have a big group of buyers?

D: Yeah we do most of our advertisement is on social media its the best way to get publicity I couldn't imagine not knowing how to use social media especially in a business.  

A: Are there a lot of online orders

D: Yeah we get a lot of online orders it's nice to see when its not people we know. We’re coming out with a new fall line our nail polishes will be darker and deeper tones which are more appropriate for fall and winter

A: Do you have a place in the county where you have a lot of sales?

D: Mostly california and nyc people like to shop locally we have a lot o orders in California

A: How old are yall

D: We’re turning 30 in a month

[jamestaris]

Event #2: Cake on Acland St then The Astor Theatre

Melbourne Bucket List [Click here to join: https://www.meetup.com/Melbourne-Bucket-List-Group]

MBLG Event #2: Having a Cake on Acland Street, then Watching a Movie at The Astor Theatre, St Kilda Saturday, 11 February 2017 On this day, my plan was to have a cake at Monarch Cakes on Acland Street, St Kilda, then to move on to The Astor Theatre, also in St Kilda. St Kilda is Melbourne’s most popular suburb when it comes to tourism, so I spent most of the morning online and in the Melways Street Directory, checking out my parking options. There’s nothing worse than getting to your destination quickly, only to spend the next 45 minutes trying to find a parking space – often at grossly overpriced rates. Even though I had earmarked several parking spots, I still decided to leave home early. I had seen some photos of Monarch Cakes online and there didn’t seem to be much seating inside the shop. If all the seats were taken when I got there, I was prepared to check out some of the other Acland Street cake shops. After all, the purpose of this day was to have a cake on Acland Street, and any of the four circa-1930s cake shops would suffice. So, I set out from home at 3.55pm and arrived at my destination less than an hour later. My parking research paid off handsomely, as I immediately found a parking space in Irwell Street, just a two-minute walk from Monarch Cakes. The parking rates were $5.10 per hour, or $12.30 for all day parking (ie. until midnight). Making the decision to pay for all day parking was easy because the first thing I noticed as I drove in to the carpark was a parking ticket on one of the cars. Better to be safe than sorry, I thought, and anyway, the movie wouldn’t be starting for another three hours. The weather was perfect, so bright and sunny. There were people everywhere, mostly in shorts, thongs and T-shirts. There were several tables on the footpath outside the cake shop, but I couldn’t see myself enjoying my cake with hundreds of pedestrians brushing up against me as they went on their summertime stroll along Acland Street. I quickly glanced inside the cake shop. It also had several tables inside. Not what I expected. A couple of them were occupied and another one was reserved. Luckily, there was still one table free. So, I dropped my panama and sunnies onto it, effectively claiming it, while I went to order my cake. The cake selection was very international: Polish Baked Cheesecake, French Vanilla, Sacher Torte Viennese Chocolate Cake, plus an assortment of gluten-free cakes. Ideally, I wanted to have something typically Australian. A pavlova, lamington or even a peach Melba (named after Australia’s famous opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba). Unfortunately, this was not that kind of cake shop! In fact, their specialty was something called a Kugelhopf. That just sounded too foreign to me. What could I possibly have that was somewhat Australian? Then I saw it. The label said, Continental Custard Vanilla, but I knew what it was to the Aussies. It was a Snot Block, and it was a bargain for only $5! Honestly, I’ve never had such a deliciously smooth Vanilla Slice in my life. No wonder these Acland Street cake shops had such a great reputation. My black coffee, at $3.50, was… well… just a coffee. Nothing special about that, but you need to have something with your cake. My cake disappeared in less than a minute. It was my coffee which kept me there for another hour, or so, while I observed my surroundings carefully. Monarch Cakes is the oldest cake shop in Acland Street. They’ve been there since the 1930s, and as soon as you walked into the shop, the décor made you feel like you were back in that time zone again. Everything was old, but not in a plush way. It had more of an Op Shop feel about it. Nothing matched. There were about 20 chairs in the shop and every one was different! Bookshelves lined one entire wall. They were filled with stacks of old books and magazines. They also had lots of framed photos of the shop owner with some special guests. I only recognised one of these guests. It was Michael Long, the famous Essendon footballer of the 90s. There were also several portraits of Marilyn Monroe, though I’m pretty confident that she’d never set foot inside this cake shop. I’d certainly recommend Monarch Cakes to my friends. The Astor Theatre is a Melbourne landmark. It was built in 1936 and is a wonderful example of Art Deco architecture. It is also the only theatre in Melbourne still with the traditional two-level auditorium. My earliest visit to The Astor Theatre was in the late 1950s, or early 1960s, when it was featuring Greek films for the burgeoning Greek community. Cinema attendance had waned since the introduction of television in 1956, so The Astor Theatre was grateful to have the Greek audience. Since then, The Astor Theatre has built a reputation for screening Art Films, Classic Films and the most popular Contemporary Films. Often, these films are screened as double features… for the same price of just one film! Actually, my visit on 11 February, 2017, made me realise that very little had changed. I arrived at 6pm and, because it was so early, there was still lots of free parking available on Chapel Street. I only had to walk about 80 metres to get to the theatre entrance. The wood-framed doors were such a contrast to the modern steel-framed cinema doors. Once inside, you noticed that everything was still done in the Art Deco fashion. The furniture, the carpet, the wall hangings and the movie posters… they all took you back to that era. There wasn’t anyone in the ticket ‘queue’, so I went to buy my ticket. It was so simple. I didn’t have to ponder over which film to see, or which screening time to go to. Today there was just one film choice: La La Land. And only one screening time: 7.40pm. Ticket prices were surprisingly economical: $17 Adult/$16.50 Concession. I remembered that this was one of the few places where you could still buy the traditional cinema Choc Tops: one scoop of ice-cream covered in a hard milk chocolate shell, sitting atop an ice-cream cone. They used to be just vanilla-flavoured, but now there were over a dozen flavours to choose from. I asked for a boysenberry, but after quite a few failed attempts to find one, I settled for the original vanilla (price: $4.50). I checked out every square inch of the theatre. The public spaces were huge and uncluttered, still emitting an aura of grand opulence. The main stairway led up to the Oval foyer which featured the Oval foyer cutting, visually linking the ground floor to the first floor. Some twenty years ago, I remember, they even had a theatre cat wondering around the foyer, quite happy to sit on patrons’ laps and get petted. I did look for it (or at least a replacement) but had no success with that. I’m sure the owners had a good giggle at the savings from not having to renovate the toilets. The toilets were still functional, but if they were in any other venue you’d refuse to use them. Having said that, I couldn’t imagine The Astor Theatre ever renovating them: that would just kill the atmosphere. The tickets didn’t have seat numbers, so when the doors opened at 7pm, I headed straight for the upper-level seating. Gradually, over the next 40 minutes, I watched as the 1,673-seat theatre filled virtually every seat! But the theatre patrons at The Astor Theatre are so different to your typical cinemagoers. Firstly, I didn’t see any children (although this was not really a kid flick), and the audience seemed to be mostly a young intellectual group. I may have got a hint of that when I noticed a number of patrons nursing a wine glass (wide bowl with long stem) filled with red wine. The lighting in the theatre was primarily from several large, bright and ornate chandeliers. The wall and ceiling were painted in soft pastel colours and framed with enormous art deco cornices and architraves. The seats were the old leather style seats pinned together with hundreds of studs. They don’t make seats like that anymore. As with the old theatres, the cinema screen was covered with a theatre curtain. At exactly 7.40pm, the lights dimmed and the curtains were drawn. First, they screened a few ads followed by several film previews. Then it was on to La La Land: a 2016 musical with an inspirational message. When the movie finished, the patrons applauded. The Astor Theatre attracts that sort of an audience: artists and intellectuals. On the way out, I grabbed an Astor Theatre Movie Calendar. Every 3 months The Astor Theatre prints a large (42cm x 59cm) full-colour calendar displaying which films will be screened each night. I can imagine many of these would end up on patrons’ walls, or at least on the back of the bedroom door: easy to quickly check to see what’s playing in the following days, or just to make your friends think you’re an intellectual. My first visit to The Astor Theatre was before I was old enough to go to school. I hope it’ll still be around for me to keep going there in the twilight years of my life. James Taris JamesTaris@gmail.com