when was the last time you touched a monkey?

Our lit class was a small one. I thought my notes didn't amount to much but I did have a lot to say. I talked about removing a generation from the cycle, the painting, the roles of stuff, and arguing FOR breaking the fourth wall after that long take. Trevor passed around a bag of candy (mostly smarties) and I double fisted my portions of it. We watched a snippet of Wall-e and compared the two. It was short but I had a good time.

Very few people are in costume and of those that are, almost nobody constructed anything intense. Robin was Rosie, Madeline was Palin, Daniel was Morgan, there was a Lincoln, and several zombies and witches. What's going on, art school people??

I didn't win or place in the costume contest. Daniel won the first prize (a 25$ certificate for Yo's), a werewolf won second, and Lincoln won third.

Madeline, Robin, and I sat in the library during lunch. Daniel joined us as well and he had a nice little round of talking about whatever. School, classes, liberal arts teachers, etc. I played a little Toejam and Earl: Panic on Funkotron with Jason for his Science Friction project.

In Illustration we wrote a little describing a horror creature and then we switched with someone else and drew that for most of the rest of class. I wrote about these things that lurked in shadows and Madeline drew it. I originally got hers but then I switched with April and so I got this sort of werewolf that was also just a big nerd or...something. It was a great paragraph and then I went off the deep end and did some weird almost abstract painting of it that didn't quite...fit. I dug it and it was something new but also not...right. It was this orange and blue twisting sad mass of a man. Definitely different. Everyone now is putting out consistently awesome pieces. Critiques are a joy. We get to joke and really enjoy the work. Marilyn's mom was in class and also did a piece for our project based upon something Chad wrote for her. I love the class, I just wish I wasn't so dead by the time it rolled around. Having an end of the week studio is a bad idea.

I rode home thinking about how Mid Terms are over and how little Halloween spirit there is in the air. I put on my Waldo digs and went to the Pioneer Place Gap to use up the rest of my discount. Amazing how 50% can make pants really cheap. I'll try not to say this every time I buy something from the Gap but HOLY COW!! I tried on a pair of corduroys but I didn't even have to button them to know they didn't work. Some of the poor "working on Halloween" people had a good laugh when I came in. After those were reasonably paid for, it was time to go and attend the thing I have been waiting years for:

DAVID SEDARIS!

He was signed books before the show. Sadly I didn't have anything with me. Thankfully they had a table of his books including a reissue of Holiday's on Ice with a couple new stories added. I bought it to be signed later. He looks exactly the same in person. And sounds the same as well. My seat was pretty far in the back but for a reading, is that really important? He actually read from mostly unpublished and in progress work. One was only half done. He read about how he gives goodies to people at signings and the experience of buying said goodies at Costco. One time he was doing a signing at Costco but it wasn't advertised well and no one payed attention to him and that was made even more sad by his ever present "No Photos" sign. It was a wonderful blend between reading and discussion. One story was about the pretentious people who pronounce random words in their native language. I should have taken notes. He has a story in one of the newer New Yorkers about how people who go on TV and saying they are undecided voters are actually just attention seekers and how can anyone really be undecided at this point. My dream came true and it was everything I wanted it to be. Due to my seat being far back I managed to get out quick and into the signing line before it got too intense. He was very inconspicuous as he made his way to the table after the majority of the throng had left. The line for his signing was incredibly long but ha! I had a good location! When it was my turn he asked my name age and where I went to school and I said I was an Illustration Major at a conceptual art school (PNCA is heavy in concept and light on like...technical ability) and talked a little about how 12 Moments in the Life of the Artist is in the back of my mind as I see people drag themselves through paint for their thesis. I was jittery but I still got a smile a little response out of him. I met him! Sedaris! EGADS! He gave me a candy and a little leaf from somewhere. He signed the book with a drawing of Lincoln as a turtle. Don't know what that means but he said that it is all art school got him. Haha. For all the drugs and smoking, he has aged pretty well.

I changed back into Tintin and then it was time for Munchkin! First we played with dry ice. If you add dish soap it foams into bubbles and as the bubbles pop the gas/smoke releases. It looks super cool. We tossed it around at each other and had a good time. Food was consumed and we played a good round. Andy snuck in a victory. I had a powerful character but not enough monsters to fight to level up.

And now my long week is over. I have no real commitments for tomorrow so I can sleep in past noon.

the soldier, the horse, the light, the women, it's all there!!

Is this week over yet? No? I have one more day? Crud!

We had Kate as our model in figure drawing. We did a segment where we didn't draw her but everything around her. It was her birthday so she gave us all presents (her artwork). I got what I believe to be a self portrait. It is nifty but I don't know where to put it yet. A lot of class was occupied with talking. Talking about the web, talking about homework (zombie assignment) and just talking. It was a relaxing day.

I did about 10 photocopies of my Ensign Ricky zine of the line art form and handed it out to people telling them to "Save the Red Shirts". My drawing class liked them (well the people who I knew who would probably like them, did). I finished them and ran off a pile of black and white copies and canvased all my friends through the day with them. Finished my painting with time to spare. Had a caramel apple courtesy of the school throwing us a Halloween shindig of sorts. It was good. I just plugged away at my projects and time flew by.

Painting class had a delay due to printing errors. Our critiques are really nice. It's hard to get up the nerve to say anything negative but I did manage to point out that one piece was the easy way but the person didn't seem to mind and actually accepted the fact with relish that they didn't challenge themselves. What?

I made a .pdf of my zine and put it on the class website and then scooted home, watched Pushing Daisies, and worked on my illustration homework and my response to Children of Men. I was looking up Guernica and holy cow there is a ton of crossover between that painting and the story! Lots of the same symbols and whatnot. I'm so excited about this, I can't wait for class.

first day at gap kids and the long day that followed

11:11 pm: I wake up thinking that it is 11am and that I have missed my shift. I freak out and call Paula and as I race around I notice that it is still dark and I had just dozed for an hour. I got back to sleep.

5:10 am: I slowly crawl from the warmth of my bed. I shower and wake up with some tea and oatmeal. It is becoming my staple breakfast fairly quick. I wear Old Navy pants and a shirt. I'll be doing mark downs but I still dress the part.

6:08 am: It is dark and empty but the max I catch it full of people coming in to work. A haiku:
hidden in the trains
those who make the city run
glide through the dawn light

There is supposedly a check point at the King's Hill station for tickets but the guy isn't there. I did buy a ticket anyway as I figured they check more often during the commuter times. Also they check more often coming in to the city than going out of it. Everyone is quiet. I read.

6:35 am: I am super early. My shift starts at 7. A cluster of people go towards the vacant Lloyd for their morning shifts. The doors are open and a few cleaning people are scattered around. Young teen girls are practicing ice skating. Very dedicated bunch. I sit outside the store and wait for someone to show up. I believe Mariane is the name of the lady who showed up and let me in. Sabrina arrives shortly after.

7:00 am: everyone is very exact about starting and stopping. Another woman, whose name I forget but it might have also been Mariane, showed me how to use the pricing gun and the price finder. We went through the entire store, checking everything to make sure the price on the tag was what it was supposed to be. Well not everything, but every color of every style. It isn't a huge store and we were a large team. We started in boys and worked back, went to girls, and then to babies. It was fun but everyone was much more speedy than I. Still, I worked hard and continually and try my best. We listen to the Gap Kids sound mix which contains, what I assume, to be a lot of Hannah Montana or Miley Cyrus or whatever. Lots of safe pop about needing you and how you haven't lived until you have been with me and other subliminally skanky stuff. What do kids listen to? A lot of the baby stuff was marked down randomly. There was a shirt that said "perfect just like my dad" and one that said "gorgeous just like my mom". I liked the idea of the padded baby clothes, like it was some sot of safe guard against dropping or whatever. Or maybe if you wanted to take your baby skate boarding with you. A pair of stain proof pants were marked down 40% because they had a stain on them. We got to the back of the store just in time for it to open. I asked if it was okay to work longer and they found out that it was okay and so I stayed on to help Sabrina finish (she wanted to leave early because her mom was in town).

10:20 am: I take a break and go buy that cable knit sweater. The color I thought I wanted really washes me out and make me looks sickly so I go for a mossy beige color instead. It is soft and wonderful and at 50% off totally awesome. I should totally make a run at the Pioneer Place Gap after class on Friday to use up some more of my discount. I buy a pretzel and consume about half of it. I accidentally drop it on the floor but I finish it anyway. I help with the rest of the racks in the back and we finish it off! Why mark something from 3.99 to 2.99? Why are Space Invader boxers discounted but plaid ones are not? Why are we marking sandals up in price when they were down to four bucks?

11:07 am: My first shift of work is over. Another max ride and I am back safe and sound to relax for about fifteen minutes before I have to jet to school and do the Comic Club thing.

12:31 pm: Comic club! We do jams and talk about setting up a big comic battle in the commons during our December meetings. We were missing a few people but the jams were generally good. I changed into my sweater so I got to show it off.

1:40 pm: Scanned in 19 comic jams for comic club and posted them on the site. Had some from a few meetings ago and the new ones that we did. Took a long, long while.

2:30 pmish: Karen and I go to Quizno's. I get my standard Turkey Bacon Guacamole sandwich. It's my favorite. We talk about work and other things.

3:30 pm: I start watching Children of Men for class. The cinematography blows me away again. Really beautiful film and well cast. The long takes are phenomenal, I found myself rewinding to make sure that there were not any cuts that I missed.

4:10 pm: The fire alarm goes off and we are ushered out of the library. I loiter with Jim and Jack and Kristen. We talk about movies and comics and Goodwill shoes and what has been going on. It lasts a long time but I don't think there is a fire, just an alarm pulled.

Near 5ish pm: I finish Children of Men, all while taking notes. I sketch out the thumbnails for my little mini midterm about red shirts.

6:00 pm: I relax and talk to Heather for a little bit. We are both excited about the return of Yoga tonight. Yoga!

6:30 pm: Yoga! I'm so out of shape. She doesn't explain the poses so well but she does have some I have never heard of. My knee doesn't like a few of the poses though and I have to ease up on it. By the end I am so tired and could have fallen asleep right there. It took a lot out of me but I come out of it jubilant and feeling well.

8:00 pm: I arrive home and relax.

9:10 pm: I get to work on my zine. I start loading the new episode of House and hit play on Black Sheep, the movie about Were Sheep. I love it, it keeps getting better every time I see it. I think you might like it Mom. It is silly enough.

1:30 am: I finish lettering, paneling, sketching, and inking four pages. It is a lot of work. I like the way the line art looks and am excited to finish it up tomorrow. Once I know what I am doing, I tend to get it done in good time. I think one of my strengths is working confidently. I mess up from time to time, but it just gives me a chance to learn and move on. House is getting really close to jumping the shark. The characters are aware of the cliche set up of the show and what what WHAT was with the kiss? Egaaads!

The Situation of Ensign Ricky

The Situation of Ensign Ricky. Mini zine/comic for the midterm in Science Friction.

8 1/2" x 5 1/2". Watercolor and copic pen on cardstock.

I love my sweater! I love sleep!

Today has been extraordinarily long. It started at 4:30 am when my alarm went off and it is now 1:38 am.

A lot happened and I would like to go about it at length, I shall do so tomorrow.

Highlights:
Work! It was great! Really busy! I used one of those pricing gun thingies!
Sweater! I bought one! It is great!
Comic club! Nifty!
Children of Men! Oh my god that cinematography!
Yoga! It is back! I am feeling great!
Black Sheep! Still awesome, possibly awesomer.
My midterm Red Shirt zine is inked! Just needs some spot color and I am done!
There was a fire alarm at school! Talked to Jim and Jack and Kristen and some girl with a lamp!

kiri kiri kiri kiri

Oh my... Cece got Netflix and her current one is Audition so I decided to rewatch it. The first time I saw it was with no subtitles and it was in German. Chris and I just poked fun of it throughout. We got a general idea of what happened but none of the real specifics. Watching it again, awwhh God. I felt really ill during several of the scenes. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts...like today! Today was good!

I had my midterm figure drawing review with Morgan. He said that some of my drawings were work that I could not have done 8 weeks ago, that my work has a good humor about it and I have very nice marks. He seemed to like what I have been doing and suggested that I pay close attention to measuring out the three dimensionality of the figure. After that, I payed close attention to the volume and my 30 minute drawing looks pretty darn good. I improve every day!

History of Design feature a lot of futurismo...futurisma...futura...futuristic whatever architecture. I loved the sketches and was saddened to learn that the real construction of monolith cities is actually either impossible or when it does happen, it turns out it is against how humans live. Science fiction lies to us! Other things were discussed but darned if I can remember. I wish she would give a better explanation as to why things are so awesome and that we should be excited about it. Okay I get that hand making curvy font is revolutionary but could you explain in better detail why?

Student council took 30 minutes to decide to cut food down. Damn, well I was getting sick of the weird soup anyway. It wasn't that appetizing today. Tom Manley, the president, talked about how awesome the school is and answered our questions. He was cut a little short by the lengthy discussion about food.

I'm right on track with my painting. The background is generally dealt with, the patterns are mostly in, the poem is included, and lots of other stuff I guess. Just a lot of little things. It has a lot going on, I can't wait to see it finished and I hope it isn't busy.

You know what is Friday? DAVID SEDARIS!! I printed out my ticket. I can't wait ohmygaaawwd so excited.

Now to sleep, for I have to get up in seven hours.

mega excited! (class drawing)

Self portrait doodle done during class. She wanted us to be hopping up and down in reaction to this site...we didn't quite meet her expectations.

Pencil and felt tip pen on paper.

the Utopia of the United Federation of Planets

Got my first shift assignment today: Wednesday morning at 7am. I work till 10am which gives me the opportunity to buy a sweater! I will also be able to go to both the club meeting and yoga. I just have to manage to roll out of bed at 5am for it. Looks like I'll be in bed by 9 tomorrow.

I'm writing up my scripts for the Red Shirt midterm. Type type type. I'm about half way through. I'm to the part that is more analysis and less information; the real meat of the essay. I have good feelings about it. The art should come easy to me because as we all know, I can rapid draw comics like a mean green mother from outer space. I'm getting a slightly late start on this project but Wednesday is going to provide me with a lot of work time and once I have the scripts I just need to put art on the paper. Comics are what I do, ya.

How come all the characters in Heroes are out of character? And since when was Sylar so gullible? Or is he? Peter is annoying and he says everything in the same irksome voice. A lot is being set up in this season, we shall see how it turns out. Pushing Daisies is much more enjoyable.

I really want to just snuggle down with Time Traveler's Wife. Thanksgiving break isn't that far away now... Registration for Spring starts in a couple weeks. illustration studio I: part two, the graphic novel intensive, history of printmaking, and an internship are what I'm looking at right now. Math and another Painting class are required as well but those can always wait. I have plenty of time left here.

brainwashing 101

The preliminary training went very well. It was a general scope of Gap Inc. and the Gap Card and helping people and whatnot. We spent a good hour on just the paperwork. Lots of signing things and filling out W4's. The first few videos had really high production values but as the films they showed us progressed, they went down and down. I had no idea just how powerful Gap is. I'm glad to be working for them because my Gap clothes are still in good shape years later and now I will acquire some new ones for the next years of my life. Also: who wants Gap Clothes for Chriiiistmaaaaas??

The Nordstroms girl and the first job girl (Danielle and Jasmin I believe) were hired at Gap Kids as well, so that is cool. I was hoping for that. There were only about three guys hired and about 17 girls. It wasn't all just the Lloyd Gap stores, it was the Washington Square Gap and this one store I forget the name of that sells Gap Maternity. Lots of nice looking people. We were given things to read through, role playing to do, quizzes to take, and lots and lots of emphasis about how awesome the Gap Card is. The Gap Card is almost more important than sales it seems because if you get someone to own a Gap Card then they shop at your store more over other places and you get lots of cool rewards. I was almost convinced but then I pulled myself back, I think I get enough rewards as an employee. Speaking of which: at the end of the session they were giving out accolades for the people who spoke up and interacted the most and yours truly got one! I also helped Steve (my new manager along with Paula) carry some chairs back to Gap Kids so I'm making a great early impression I think.

No hours assigned yet but it looks like I start Wednesday. Might not make it to either Comic Club or Yoga then. We shall see how it plays out ya.

I chatted with Karen who was on duty and surveyed the clothes at the regular Gap store. Question:

Which sweater should I buy first? The red ruffly one, the tan cable knit, or the lavender striped one? Keep in mind that they are all 50% off!! I can only use the 50% towards me. Absolutely. Positively. Towards me. Only. If I use it for gifts it is discount abuse. I can use my all around 30% for gift buying and that is still pretty good.

The Max was pretty vacant going to the store but it was crowded going back. I sat next to a very facially pierced man who listened to his music way too loud for his ears. The zombie walk is going on today, I think I saw a protester with a repent sign at the Pioneer Square. I didn't feel up to it so I spent most of the night just looking feebly over my Red Shirt notes and eating carbs. Robin invited me over to mooch some of her delicious squash soup. Mmm. It was so orange and warm and tasty. She says it is as simple as boiling but I think she is just being humble. We had a group hug and now I am looking at my notes. I think I'll try to cram it into four pages for ease of printing and scanning.

Guess the Halloween costume:

TrillTrill

The jello went over well at the potluck today. Phil made pie so it was a little overshadowed. He took great offense when someone accused him of it being store bought. Sadly, it was gone before I could have a piece. At first it looked like no one would show but about 10 people did come and we got a wild game of Apples to Apples going. Food was consumed, laughs were had, a couple costumes were worn, I got a little sick on candy, and the time passed by. I got a pretty good number of cards considering we were playing the game with about 15 people. Too bad we were playing to the point where we got fed up with it instead of to a number. Karen still won out right.

I won third place for food and costume and got a pumpkin. I helped them clean up and that was that.

I went to Goodwill to see about the possibility of constructing a new costume. It was crowded and after some good searching I found the perfect sweater, perfect shoes, perfect undershirt, and good socks. Karen is going to lend me her coat to finish it off. As of right now, I look pretty spectacular in my get up. Spot on I must say. If you knew who I was, you would get it right away. I'm excited to wear it. Hairs a bit of a problem but I'll get to that when I get to that.

Sat up with Karen for a few hours tonight. Scribbled out some talking points for my midterm in Science Friction. She worked on her illustration collage.

Tomorrow I start work. How exciting!