Casual Entropy

*anything but casual

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  • Grandma Decor

    Grandma Decor

    I have recently gotten into sewing. I should say that I learned when I was about 7 from my mother trying to make sure my older brother and I have spent more time learning how to ‘”take care of ourselves fully”, and so I should state that I am getting back INTO sewing. Sadly after so much time, that I had to take a class to learn how to sew. It started with a tote bag, which was the perfect item for me to learn, as I have a problem with a love and want to own many backpacks, tote bags, luggage, you name it, if its a bag, I am about it and probably have too many. So great first project to learn how to sew.

    This drive to relearn started with the intention to make myself a pair of jeans since the current jeans sold in the US (for about 80 dollars a pair) shrink after a single wash, knees or inseam rip after six months; and in the span of two weeks I ended up buying 3 pairs while trying to return 2 of them because of the aforementioned above issues, just to be told that its simply not “our issue”. So congrats mom, it looks like the little nugget of getting me to be more independent took hold.

    Sure, I could have bought a pair of Japanese denim jeans for close to a couple hundred dollars, or for just a little less than that, buy the old 1980s Japanese made Kenmore Sears edition sewing machine. So why not give it the old college try? Why not ensure that once I get a chance to make a solid pair of jeans, I have the ability to continually make them from then on. Customizing them how I want when I want.

    But here I am, almost a year back into sewing and while not giving it a run everyday, I did bring my sewing machine down to Mexico with me to continue this hobby and my learning on sewing. While I have been at it, I have recognized a kind of culture in it that is definitely something fun and wholesome. Its been cool to look into the younger individuals outside of what you might consider being your “standard age for sewer” and see the items people create, post, share, and teach when it comes to the art and lifestyle of sewing.

    One thing I have realized though, is as I have been slowly outfitting my sewing gear, I have been leaning on more things that can only be deemed as ‘Grandma Core’. Sure, my standard pin cushion shown above is a slight deviation off the curve of ‘Standard’, but the other day my brain completely shifted gears.

    While at the grocery store I saw a tin of tea cookies and my brain was made up. I wanted that tin. I did not care about the cookies inside but I wanted the green and white tin with the little birds on it for my sewing gear. Currently, most my tools sits in a plastic quart container and or plastic bin with lid, and sure it looks maybe ‘hobbie-esk’ to the random passer by, but cute or appealing it is not. My tools simply read ‘I am used to do X thing’. Sure, that is fine, but I even recall my toolbox for my wood working shop. It was mine and I had built it with love and care and with woods I liked and metal I bent and polished by hand, and it read less ‘tools for tools sake’ and more ‘I am passionate about my craft. So I guess thats what I felt the moment I saw the tin. It feels ever so appropriate for sewing gear, does it not? Given the years as a kid I was fooled into a sense of hope those tins brought with the possibilities of cookies behind the metal lid. Just to find scraps of fabric. Who has not been fooled by the tin of cookies filled with other things. But for me, it no longer felt that way when looking at the tin of cookies on that shelf.

    That worry does not need to be. For when and if I get a chance to crack that tin, one of two things are to be. One, I might find cookies, something all people tend to love. Or two, I find that which I have come to love. Pins, scissors, and threads that have helped me build so many fun things. A passion for my work.

    *A part of me wonders if the reason our Grandparents used tins was because they looked beautiful. Even if left out on the counter, needles and scraps of fabric and scissors could look good, and not like some pile of junk to say someone who has unexpectedly come over and looked at your counter. Or maybe they just liked them because of what they looked like. I will report back in a few years when my tin pile gets more rounded out.

  • Just crushing beeeers

    Just crushing beeeers

    At what point does a bar become a persons favorite bar. I have recently read that bars are in fact starting to die out as the younger generations prefer to live a life free of alcohol, and more too them, what ever third space seems to call to you do so; but for those of us still around, still interested in my question, stick with me for a moment. I remember years ago, 2022-ish I think, going with my friend to meet up with some friends and friends of friends in a local Denver park and listened to girl tell me her favorite bar was the Dirks Bentley Whiskey Bar in LoDo Denver, a place that is neither Country, Whiskey, or even a Bar, as it really is, and I mean look this up if you don’t trust me, equal parts ‘state college fraternity back yard during pledge week’ meets club for 18 year olds. Wrap the whole thing in a bow where the only music playing is country hip hop and whose tables, floor, furniture, and bathrooms are all somehow the same level of ‘sticky’. I will admit, she was cute and I was looking for some form of connection given my current dry spell from physical or emotional connection, but I simply didn’t have the guts to tell her I hated her favorite bar. In fact as of me writing this I STILL hate that bar.

    When I hear Dirks Bentley Whiskey Bar, I cant help but think ‘Democratic Peoples Republic of North Korea’, all things in that statement being false except for the words North Korea.

    But once again I am not here to bash on a place that having been only once and paid 12 dollars for a Coors light to then have within a minute, a drunk early 20 something year old bump into me and spill onto me the contents of his tiny foam cup (which by the smell was menthol flavored tobacco spit chew mixture) was enough for me to realize I may end up being the first person, but maybe not last person, to murder a stranger in Dirks Bentley Whiskey Bar.

    I was more curious as to why it was her favorite bar. She responded she liked the country music they played (my brain recalling a couple hours of 2021 Lil Nas X, Jack Harlow, and Cardi B playing into the night) her love of the decor (me thinking to the open condom wrapper inside the hole of a cornhole platforms outside when another friend pointed it out to me after having said touched condom wrapper by accident), and then her statement of the “cheap drinks”. Once again, flabbergasted at paying NFL Stadium price for a slightly cold, 12 oz Coors light, only to respond to the bartender that I only wanted ONE with accompanying finger in the air when they said it was 12 dollars.

    But it was her favorite bar. I then followed up with a question I think is actually an important one when faced with someone who I think did not quite grasp my question. If you had friends come into town, where would you take them to get a drink. In which case she once again responded, Dirks Bentley Whiskey Bar, because its so much fun, and that we should go there some time. I am sure you have already guessed the answer I gave, while polite, due to my previous feelings on the location. I did however invite her to my favorite bar.

    For me this bar is both the bar I take people to when they visit from out of town, and also in general my favorite bar. It has food, good food too, which makes it all the better, but it leans into its grime and divey-ness which takes all illusion of the experience of being high end out, and focuses on easy, simple, and unassuming.

    Vesper Lounge in Denver Colorado. Right off Grant and 7th street in CapHill. It holds some of my favorite memories with friends and loved ones. It is even where I held my going away party before leaving to move to Mexico. Cheap beers, cheaper whiskey, and an energy about the whole place that is kind and fun.

    I have a few stories about my favorite bar, maybe ones I will share if and when I am back there. But I do hope one day you visit my favorite bar.

    *The service is slow and you will finish your first drink before they get close to coming to get your second order. I suggest ordering two of whatever you get when you snag the servers. Its cheap, don’t worry.