If you’ll note in the blockquote below (which I have to fix the CSS on), SOMEONE will be speaking there. I’ve also ousted myself, so identity thieves, don’t go getting any ideas.

Actually, maybe you *can* do something about making my life more interesting.

DID I MENTION THAT I’M SLIGHTLY NERVOUS?

We’re super-excited to present our line up for our next event, held once again at the King Cat Theatre on September 14th at 7pm. We look forward to seeing you there.

Here is the list of speakers for Ignite Seattle 11 (in no particular order):

Todd Bishop (toddbishop) Geek Guide to Seattle

Andrew Hyde (andrewhyde) I own 15 things: The Art of Minimalism and Travel
Recently I gave away or sold almost 1000 items I owned. I now just own 15 and am embarking on a yearlong vagabond around the world. Homeless, unemployed and without any direct purpose or plan; I’m either the most alive or the most alone I’ve ever been. This Spark will be about the unintended consequences of these actions.

Michelle Bates Toying with Creativity – the Joys of Plastic Cameras
The world of photography has become a race for the newest and most advanced cameras. Spin the wheels of technology backwards with Michelle Bates as she introduces you to the wonders of image-making with simple plastic cameras that use film and have no adjustments. See world-class photographers using Holgas and other toy cameras for fine-art, photojournalism, portraiture, fashion, commercial and editorial photography. Learn how going low-tech can open up a whole new world for your creativity!

Jenny Ingram (jennyonthespot) How To Be An Internet Movie Phenom Without Taking Your Clothes Off!
Vlogging is all the rage. But let’s face it… YouTube has far, FAR more crappy vlogs than awesome ones. What does it take to go from “crap” to “awesome”? I have some ideas, and not one of them includes taking off your clothes for the camera.

Roy Leban (royleban) Anatomy of a Crossword
In this talk, I’ll discuss lessons learned from solving and constructing crosswords and other kinds of puzzles, reasons why everybody should solve puzzles, and how creating puzzles can you make you a better solver (and maybe a better person).

Roberto Hoyos (throwboy) King of Geeky Pillows: How I turned a one-time sewing hobby into a global business
Once upon a time, I was selling products for Apple. Today, I’m selling my own product and my own idea

Myra Stephens (SniperWulfzen) The Dark Side of Plastics

Jenny Lam (helveticagirl) – What Not to Wear: the typography edition

Frank Catalano (@FrankCatalano) How Science Is Destroying My Childhood
I love science: As a kid, I marveled at planets such as Pluto, wanted to see a real dinosaur, and enjoyed mysterious sea creatures. My love of science spawned a career including stints as a science and tech reporter, science-fiction writer and, lately, tech industry consultant. But science is slowly erasing my childhood, and Pluto was just the start. It appears no planet — or creature — is safe.

Lisa Bronwyn (junefontaine) Finding Your Nietzsche
What do you when you’re 36, for example, and still have no idea what you want to be when you grow up? What if you missed every memo and hint thrown your way? What if, horror of horrors, you were sick during fingerpainting class in kindergarten and that very day held the clue to your future self?

Tom Music (@tommusic) Lymphomartini: Immutiny on the Bounty
Knowing something is wrong, but not knowing why (or what you can do about it) is scary. Even scarier is when that something is cancerous! After learning the mechanical side of what he faced, and the ways to attack it, Tom was mentally ready to join the fight for his life.

Cheri Walters (@dearcheri) How to Taste Wine Like a Smarty Pants – 5 Steps to Building Your Palate
Many assume a golden palate is required to experience the nuances of wine. But this just isn’t true. In fact, if you were born with the ability to see, smell and taste you too can train your palate to compete with the experts.

Damiana Merryweather (merryweather2u)
Wookin’ Pa Nub on the Internets or A guide to successfully navigating online dating
Finding a love match has never been easy. Especially for those of us who work a lot, have busy lives already or who aren’t naturals at standing out in group settings. Thankfully, that is what internet dating sites are for. Unfortunately, being good at coding or running complex Google searches doesn’t mean that you a natural at on-line dating.

Jacob Appelbaum (ioerror) Going Dark

Check out my latest site. It’s been coming to fruition since March of this year and I’m finally excited to share it with the world.

Lots of changes abound, including chopping off about 7″, of dead weight, that is.

I’m not sure how much longer I’m going to tinker with the updates with this site, but we’ll see. I’ve been enjoying doing the V-logs, though.

I made this one before I cut my hair, last week. Note the bags under the eyes as I haven’t been sleeping very well lately.

Strength, love and light, J.

I don’t have a lot to say at this moment. Maybe I’ll have more to say, later. Meanwhile, the kitties and I are doing our best to not melt. Apparently “Spring” doesn’t exist in Portland. It’s either raining or 102. Heh.

I admit that I do prefer it on the colder end of the spectrum, but the rain didn’t seem to abate for quite a while there.

Some of my current hobbies seem to be dependent on the weather, though, for better and for worse.

Onward and upward with the general malaise that had been getting me down as of late. I’ve been taking some fairly drastic steps in order to ensure that the doldrums don’t overtake the daily joy that I can feel.

I do have some terrific news that’s related to the future and all I can divulge about it now is that it taps into my inner performer. Many of you don’t know this, but I had been involved in much thespian training and limited performance while I still lived in L.A. It served to help me get over my shyness and to better cope with my selective social phobia.

It turns out that I might have to put all of that to good use at some point this year.

There’s also news on the music and modeling fronts as well. I’m doing a photo shoot in the immediate near future that’s been confirmed and with that, I can say that I’ll have been in 3 books, 2 magazines, a documentary, a runway show, on a DVD cover, countless movies and TV shows (ok, in the background, but hey now!) and on a few websites. What a long, strange trip it’s been.

This made me laugh just now.

Thanks, I Can Read.

I started volunteering again yesterday, to feel better about things and give my time wisely, to network, and to also get some new skills.

There’s a little bit of travel on the horizon, to Seattle next weekend and the weekend after that. To see some friends and a good friend from the UK who I’ve known forever, Dylan. He’s headlining a DJ gig at Temple Billiards in Seattle on Saturday, July 3rd.

I haven’t been to Seattle since Emerald City Comicon. How time flies. It’s also funny how I like places more when I no longer live there, but I’ve said that before.

Here’s a new V-log that I made on Tuesday, the 15th. I’ve been so tired lately and had to go to the doctor last weekend, so forgive the matching set of Samsonite under the eyes. Eeeeeeek. Onward and upward.

Love and light, J.

Warning, the following song is heartbreaking. She has such a haunting voice that recalls the likes of Julee Cruise, Siobhan de Maré of Mono (remember Life in Mono?), Geike Arnaert of Hooverphonic, and Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star and Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions.

“You’re as bad as they come, if I knew how to run, I’d never see your face but in my dreams.”

Nicole Simone’s ‘Melt’

Thanks again, Stereomood.

Love and light, J.

Unless Google Analytics is wrong and there’s a glitch.

It’s interesting. To the few of you who still read my site, the birthday is over (it was nearly a week ago on June 7th).

My birthday was peppered with many drinks, sprinkled with liberal amounts of video games, entertaining conversations galore, and a mutual birthday, and you definitely have a recipe for some good times. I received some lovely gifts from my dad, P., J., and many more.

I’m still alive and have been experiencing some general malaise. Some of it’s tangible and some of it might be all in my head. I’ve been mostly unmotivated to do a lot about certain things, but I’m certain that it will pass.

Meanwhile, here are some random pics.

I’ve been doing some things to try and escape this nonchalance and apathy as of late. Hanging out with friends, reading, and pursuing educational and volunteering opportunities. Good times.

Other things haven’t been worth mentioning. Some people are fading into the woodwork, where they belong, in my opinion. I won’t waste any more breaths on anyone who hasn’t earned my friendship or well wishes. It’s as if I imagined certain things and maybe I did. Their loss.

Strength, love and light, J.

The weather has been affecting me in strange ways, I think.

Which brings me to my next quandary. I’ve been saying this for some months now: “I’m leaving here if it’s raining on my birthday.” It was a joke at first, but seeing as my birthday is just around the corner, June 7th, I’m getting nervous. Do I renege on my statement? What should I do? If I left, where would I go?

Enquiring minds want to know, so if you find out, please contact me immediately.

Last night I went to Dr. Sketchy’s PDX with J., and fun was had. Familiar faces. I managed to draw a little bit and found that I was much more proficient with my left hand. Non-dominance, as I’m right handed.

So I’ve been watching my friend Nathan‘s v-logs and have been inspired to make my own. Follow me on my YouTube channel.

I’ve been amassing quite an interesting variety of playlists on YouTube. I’ve been finding a lot of old school rave and techno and some jungle. I need to revise my 1980′s section.

This quote has been sticking with me all day (so far).

“She had an amazing figure and her clothes were very severe and elegant.” – Isabella Blow

Love and light, J.

First off, I can’t believe that I’m going to be 36 in less than a month. This year has been something else, but things are only getting better and better.

I hope to see these furballs sooner than later!

These are two items that I recently acquired and you won’t believe me when I say that this outfit cost $2.99. Seriously!

I get to re-enact my Valley of the Dolls fantasies with this Betsey Johnson Intimates chemise/nightie. It’s a gorgeous bright royal blue with Pepto Bismol pink layer underneath. It was in the clearance section at (C)Ross Dress for Less in downtown Portland for $2.99. It was in immaculate condition.

I did this effect with Photoshop Mobile and Perfect Photo, iPhone apps, and wanted to give it a more 60′s vintage feel.

The heels were a gift from my friend V., and are Marciano of the Guess fame. They were worn once and are Polly of Californias in a snakeskin silver print. They go well with the nightie, don’t you think? I predict a photo shoot with both of these items in the future.

Let’s see. What else? I’m actually typing this from work, believe it or not. It’s been very slow as of late, but I’m practicing all sorts of neat and wonderful tricks to the detriment of my right shoulder. I’d better take it easy, but then again, anything worth doing is worth overdoing, no?

One of my lovely co-workers teaches aerial and trapeze classes and until I get to Seattle to learn from the almighty Liza Rose, I’ll have to something physical in the meantime.

If you don’t have a sense of humor, then don’t bother watching this. If you do, then let’s laugh together. I love the snooty girl at the very beginning!

Love and light, J.

Strength, love and light, J.

I’ve played every single Cocteau Twins album for the last couple of days, some harder stuff to find and some random 1990′s tunes that I enjoy periodically. A lot of interesting memories are coming up right now. Feels like 3 lifetimes ago, sincerely.

Muslimgauze’s From the Edge (Chris and Cosey remix)

Hey don’t you wanna go down, like some junkie cosmonaut? Sandra Bernhard!

I didn’t know that Dresden Dolls performed a cover of Dance Me to the End of Love.

Please don’t accuse me of liking Legendary Pink Dots because he sings about me periodically. Heh.

Conversation stayed refined, at Lisa’s Party. Having a real good time…

Love and light, J.