this isn't root beer

I planned to wake up early today and get a jump on things and hang out with Peeler later. But I fell asleep after I turned off my alarm and didn't wake up till noon. Oh well.

Mum, Dad and I went into town for a movie and errands. We saw Juno. It was okay, it might have been better a few years ago when all the hipster indie movies were just starting to hit mainstream. The cast was excellent. The soundtrack was really annoying; all the sounds sounded the same and didn't fit the lead characters that much. Some of the teen speak was very forced sounding. I give it a maybe DVD rental.

After than we went to Artist's Edge and I used my gift certificate to buy some art supplies. Art supplies cost so much. Booo for art supplies costing so much.

We hit up the mall next. All the teens look exactly the same and all walk around in same-looking lame little packs. Hanging around with artists and art school students sort of makes the rest of the people look the same. When I visited Seattle all the UW students looked the same. There isn't as many generic flat-hair-with-piercings scenester kids at PNCA. There are some sceney people, and tight pants are everywhere, but no one really seems to force who they are or how they dress. It is very refreshing. I'm really glad to be there; I never fit in here.

We ate at the Mongolian Grill where you select the food and they cook it up for you. When we were finishing up our meal and assembling all our food trash mom dumped the soy sauce into the soda cup for some reason. Dad was unaware of this and, much to our horror, took a drink. He promptly spit it out and we had a good chuckle at his expense.

I was so tired all day. From the instant I got up all I wanted to do was climb back into bed. Now I am in bed and it is GREAT!

never too young to sled off the road into the ditch

Well Mom and I were planning to go out to Silverdale today but it was snowing something fierce (well it was rather gentle actually) and we were trapped. By the end of the day we had 4 1/2 inches! A nice constant down-float of white misery.



At some point in the day Mom yelled at me for sitting about doing nothing for days on end so I put on some boots, jacket, gloves, scarf and hat and we went out to hit trees with sticks (to vanquish the snow from them).



When we returned from our walk we all sat about and drank cocoa. And I called it quits on the exercise for the rest of the day.

blue nude

Figure study from an open life drawing session on campus. Ink and bamboo stick pen.

relax mode: engage!

I did nothing today. Nothing nothing nothing.

Slept in. Sat about on my computer. Watched some Twin Peaks. Watched some Futurama.

Ate some chicken.

I think I'll watch some Tekkonkinkreet now.

Tomorrow I think I will actually venture outside.

I'm in deep relax and recovery mode right now. Been at the school thing full steam from September 4th (or close to that, whenever) up till December 20th. Nearly four solid months of work. Looking so forward to the next four but right now I need to just enjoy nothing.

snow, sardines, starships, straws, sugar, strategy

Well Christmas has come and gone.

Slept in a little more than usual for a Christmas day, my stocking was waiting for me all plump and full of goodies. We had cinnamon rolls, bacon and grapefruit halves for breakfast. Not the largest of gift exchanges we have had in the past but we are all to the point of wanting things we need and not wanting extra things.

I received from the family: crazy straws, sardines, socks, pringles, chocolate orange, bike fender, and sweets. Lots of sweets. Also Kirie and Mark sent me these VERY AWESOME snap closure leg warmers from Harlem. Very cool (and warm!).

I gave a Post Secret book to mum and dad, some skeleton stickers to mum, a treehouse making book and a PNCA tee to dad, and the Perry Bible Fellowship anthology to Nathan. Not the greatest amount of gifts but hey...I'm poor.

Rubie gave me these photo coasters that had photos of me, Nate and Basil in them. Sooo sweet! No photos of her and me so I'll just paste over Nathan's face with hers. Auntie Celia gave me some sweet art supplies.

We sort of chilled out for a while. Nathan got this game called Khet and wanted to play us. He beat dad and then I played Nate twice after that. I wasn't really paying that much attention and I beat Nathan at his own game. Hehehehe. That never happens. Dad beat me pretty quick after my two rounds with Nathan.

It had started snowing around Noon so we decided not to head out to the Grandparents right at that moment and see how the weather was going to shape up. We went outside and played in the snow a little bit.

I watched part of the first episode of the second season of Twin Peaks. That scene with Dale Cooper laying there on the floor after having been shot; EXCRUCIATING!! Oh my...I knew he would get help but when was just trying my nerves. Also around this time was when I started to "acquire" the new Christmas Special of Doctor Who. I don't like David Tennant but I do like Kylie Minogue. Ooohh I couldn't wait for it to finish...

About...ohh maybe three-ish we headed out for the Grandparents Spencer. The Seabeck roads were highly treacherous. Nathan wanted to play another game of Khet. He made a mistake in the middle of the game and I would have won but I let him have a redo so he ended up winning.

Grandma and Grandpa didn't have their Christmas Tree up but there WERE party poppers. Ohhh. They also didn't have their bouncing angel. Dad made an over sized red wagon for Grandpa and I brought along some of my peanut brittle. We threw a couple Christmas Pizza's in the oven and dad played Santa and handed out gifties.

Nate and Pa received matching flying helicopters. Those things didn't so much fly as go up really fast and all about randomly. Lots of fun. I received a gift certificate for Artist's Edge, my favorite little art store in Silverdale (Utrecht and Art Media are gougers). I think I will apply it towards book binding supplies, pen nibs, and nice paper. Auntie Joyce gave me the very awesome gift bag of uber hot cocoa mix, uber uber brownie mix in a snowman shaped glass, and a gift certificate for Bed Bath and Beyond. Whoo!! Nathan also received brownie mix, but mine was the only one shaped like a snowman. Yeah, I rock.

Our festive Pizza was delicious and thick. Take that Portland Pizza! Nathan and I played yet another game of Khet. I won. Or..wait I think he won. Uhh. Oh right yeah we played two games. I won the first rather sneakily and complexly (my earlier wins had been rather simple two laser bounce wins) and the second time we played, a freestyle set up, he won.

Dessert was had, more games were played, lounging was enjoyed. At around 8:00ish we returned home and slacked for the rest of the night. My Doctor Who had some problems in its acquirement so I had to start fresh. Watched a little more Twin Peaks while waiting for it to meander its way onto my hard drive. Sooo worth the wait! Still don't like Tennant (teeth gnashing, etc.) but Kylie was so adorable. Nice little complete special with mostly good effects (great for Who).

So late. I least I have no plans for tomorrow and can sleep in.

how can I sleep?

Oh man oh man oh man oh man! I watched all of the first season of Twin Peaks. It is 12:36 am. That season finale cliffhanger!! I can't go to bed now...have to see what happens to Special Agent Dale Cooper!

Oh and it is Christmas Eve. How ever could I nod off on a night like this.

Lazy lazy day. Didn't have to be anywhere so I didn't go anywhere. Made some Peanut Brittle, ate some cookies, had a nice family dinner by candle light.

Sat about in front of the fire mostly. Big day tomorrow! Presents, food, candy, and the Grandparents! We are going to be eating Pizza. I. Can't. Wait.

fish coffee

I've been up watching Twin Peaks and I am only two episodes in and already I am a little scared. Just want to watch more now...

Today we went to Grandma and Grandpa Pedersen's for a pre-Christmas dinner.

I brought along my tube o' art to show Grandpa John and it was really well received. He showed me some of his work from the late 30's through the 50's; Cornish through when my mum was a child. Really amazing, the Cornish figure studies were exquisite (interesting how we work with nude male models at PNCA and they had underpants on at Cornish) in their attention to detail. His sketches from Mexico were great at capturing the people and scenes with fewer lines (and more in some of the longer market scenes). That is what I hope to be able to reach, that level of talent where you can capture something without having to go over it again and again fine tuning it.

Dinner was a tasty soup, even though I only got one shrimp.

After dinner I read the new David Sedaris story from the New Yorker out loud for everybody. A very thoughtful and poignant piece, it made me think about my own reaction to Tracey's death. I love Sedaris because he is very truthful about how selfish we are.

Showed Joe Z. and Celia my art. Wish I had more to show after a whole semesters worth of work.

We did some last minute shopping in Silverdale on the way home and then we chilled for the rest of the night. Whoo for being freaked out by TV that is older than me!

I miss...my bike

Left my heroic post up a little longer, to make sure everybody read it, for I am awesome.


Yesterday:

I barely made it to the train on time. I missed the Max closest to 2:00 and caught the 1:15 one and didn't arrive at the station until 2:40 for my 2:50 train. Had to lug my suitcase up into the train and find a spot for it; couldn't check it. Sat next to a nice enough guy who just watched skater videos on his Mac. I forgot my headphones so I couldn't watch anything from my laptop. Enjoyed a hot dog, soda and a cookie for my lunch and read some more of Rant.

Mom and Dad were waiting for me when I arrived in Tacoma. Yay! Dad! Haven't seen him since August, yaaay!

We went to Nathan and Rubie's new Tacoma apartment. Pretty nice, mine is bigger. Ate some more food and dismissed the offer of Oreo's. Mom doesn't like my Patrick-telling-off story. I think I was awesome.

Arrived home and revved up my computer to utilize the Internet. Watched the last half of Ratatouille with the parents. It didn't interest me enough to watch the first half. We watched an episode of Scrubs and then tucked in for the night.


Today:

Slept in nice and proper.

Mom stuffed some of the cookies she had made this morning in my mouth for breakfast. She gave me a glass of Emergen-C to balance it out.

Mum and I went to go see The Golden Compass. It was pretty good, it ended right where I am in the book so it is good that that part didn't get spoiled for me, not so good that it didn't get the full book stuffed into the adaptation and the ending is a little anti-climactic. It captures the energy of the book; which is to say that it shifts scenes really quickly without resting to long anywhere. The quick scene jumps are...quick. Still, sad that there won't be another adaptation because this one is totally failing in theatres.

We went home, relaxed a little and Mom, Dad and I swung by and picked up Joe Z. and Celia for Auntie C's Birthday Dinner.

We went to a place in Manette (Manet?) which isn't "Bremerton" but damn close. I dozed off on the car ride there.

The place, while cold, was very nice. We ended up being there for about two and a half hours. I had this ricotta and butternut squash stuffed in...something...with something on top...uhm. It was really good! Mom and Celia complained about how long it took the food to get to us but the place gave us lots of bread and I was perfectly fine. We had nowhere to go so why were they ranting about the time? They were understaffed and busy; perfectly good excuse for being slow. The food was worth it. Totally worth it, the first time I have had gourmet fancy expensive food that seemed like it was worth the price tag.

After I gave Celia her present (some Log Home magazines) and we all went home and chilled out for the rest of the night.

Mmm my food was so soft and gooey.

Being home I am so tired and sapped. I think it is because I am not riding my bike three miles like I am used to. Bah.