Planning a Project
The one thing I despise about sewing is that you can't improvise as you go along. Not really. You *can* but... it will either take twice as long, or three times as long, or it will just suck. One just has to plan out everything ahead of time, or you just seam rip the whole time. I hate seam ripping. Passionately.

For example, today I made this bag. I started thinking way too late, maybe I should put a pocket in somewhere. Well... I would have to undo major seams to do that. Almost start over. But with *this* bag, it'll do fine without pockets because it's reversible and for shopping. And if one needed pockets for shopping, then they would be on plastic and paper bags, wouldn't they?

I'm not good at that plannin business. I *hate* planning projects. I guess it's kind of weird, but now that I think of it, I really just think of the things I do right before I start... of course, I'm generalizing tho.

Shipping
The postal service is starting to piss me off. I actually like the postal service more than most. I really like the people that work at my closest one. But.... I'm trying to not go to the PO every freaking day... so I want to figure the online shipping out [I should have done this a year ago]. It appears that the PO will not entertain the thought of printing shipping labels for first class. Just first class. Just the only thing I ship with every day. I suspect this isn't because they can't, but because it coerces people into buying priority. Well priority shipping on a 3 ounce parcel is stupid and that's what I do all the time. I would rather not charge an extra 2-3 dollars shipping for items that are only worth $10-20. It is my opinion that buyers figure shipping into the total cost. Therefore a dollar saved in shipping will either bring me more sales because my items are cheaper, or will give me more profit because I could raise my prices that much more just to be the same cost.

I know some people disagree with me, like Mr. UPS. He would think it's just totally normal to do priority, tracking, insurance, and delivery confirmation. And that "people want that". Do people really really want to sit at home and check how far their package traveled in a day? Do they also want to pay for that? Does it seem reasonable to insure something that I have never lost in the mail, and only costs $10 if it went MIA anyway? Shipping my way: 87 cents. Shipping his way: 4.60+1.65+.65=$6.90 So... you tell me...

Fabric + Drawing
Are there any good permanent pens [or something like a pen] that you can draw on fabric with. I know sharpies look good until you wash it. So that's not gonna work. I'd like to just draw stuff on clothing sometime.

Etsy Labs
I get the uneasy feeling sometimes that the Etsy Labs is trying to teach people how to become my competition. I wonder how the book binders felt when they taught everyone and anyone how to do book spines. Isn't it also kinda weird that Etsy sellers would go to Etsy labs and teach people how to do what they do? I mean, do you really want other people to know how to do your art/craft? They will just become your competitors.

And what is with them doing everything that I already thought of myself, but hadn't done yet :P I had written in my profile that I was pretty excited to be screening my own fabric, and now "customfabric" is a hot topic in the labs. I haven't even remotely started screening my own fabric, but now I feel I would be percieved as totally lame and unoriginal if I did. I've been demotivated. This pre-emptive business has happened more than one time. BTW, I do think it's all just a coincedence.