making memories

Had a good long sleep in. The bed back home is so very comfortable.

Rubie came over in the morning. We helped haul the couch into ma's mini barn to prepare a spot for a Christmas tree. Nathan took a hike to gather some moss.

When they departed, mom and I watched a few episodes of QI. Then we three went to Kunie's to get a Christmas tree! Like the grand old tradition. Mom stepped in dog poo. There were other people getting trees as well, but it wasn't quite picked over. There were so many nice trees. We didn't even have to search for that long before finding what we desired. No brown spots. Even all around. Plenty of body with still some space to let ornaments dangle. Just right! Ma payed while Dad stuck it in the Shakee-Tree to shake off the needles.

We had a wholesome good time putting on ornaments. Dad removed them from the plastic bags and I put them on. I made sure to space them all around, even if it isn't the side commonly viewed, you should still decorate it.

Tree looks nice. Can't wait to put presents under them.

Rolph and Alison came over again. We all sat and drank apple juice and chatted. I drank hot cocoa instead. Showed them a slideshow of our Amsterdam/Brussels trip. After they left, we tucked into bed. Well mostly dad, he conks out pretty quick these days. Stayed up watching television as usual. Have to try to get up before noon so I can work on my box.

family & food

Turkey day. Mmm.

Threw my clothes in the laundry and ate a piece of french toast and some bacon. We all got in the hot tub before leaving. Ma, Pa, Bro, and Sis. Every few minutes someone would say, "rotate!" and we would trade seats. Got some fresh clothes on and off we went. Nathan let me play Patapon on his PSP portable gaming system.

Our Thanksgiving was to be had at the house of Grandma and Grandpa Spencer. No Rubie. Straight in the door, they asked where she was. Heh. Grandpa made root beer. It was quite tasty and went well with some ice cream. Dinner had all the classics: gravy, cranberries, mashed potatoes, salad, and of course turkey. I had good portions of what I liked and was well fed. The taters came from our garden and were very good. Quite cozy family meal. Talked about old memories and all that.

We left early to visit Grandpa Pedersen and Celia. Grandma is now resigned to the bed, but she still has a sweet spirit. She responded and ate well from a plate of leftovers.

Nathan and I got in the hot tub when we got home. Mostly had a soak because I think the jets have been hurting my back. Played more Patapon while Ma, Nate, and I watched Night at the Museum on television.

Staying up catching up on So You Think You Can Dance and QI. Tomorrow I will make my box!

turkey train two

Thanksgiving break! Yay!

In History of Laughter we had a minor discussion about Charlie Chaplin, and then we watched City Lights. A delightful comedy that was enjoyed by all who bothered to attend. During break, Rachel and I looked at the horrid Design I projects. Just really bad design with horrible use of stock images and Photoshop. There were only two that we agreed were decent. I returned to class to find them watching the Kick Ass trailer. Zach and I talked a bit about Millar and making comics just to get them optioned. And then we finished the movie and got out early. I sought out Martin but learned he wouldn’t be around till noon. Talked to the library people and killed time.

History of Printmaking got into Hogarth. Lovely lovely Hogarth. And Harry Potter Puppet Pals (Morgan brought it up). We got booted from our room by a conflicting room assignment, so we returned to our cozy second floor space. More Hogarth. I tracked down Martin and gave him my piece. He said, and I quote, “this turned out really great”. Whee!!

Got another Chiptole burrito for lunch. Addictive buggers, but I wanted something to eat later on when I was on the train. It burst when they folded it up, so I got a second tortilla wrapping. I love the wrappers. Mmmm.

Morgan gave us a lesson in good story telling and advised Cameron and Carla on effective thesis presentations (it involves pointing with a stick). Then we returned to Hogarth and the Rake’s progress.

I left class to find my back tire flat! I wheeled my poor baby to the streetcar. Jim was there and we chatted all the way back. I inflated the tire and I hope when I return, I don’t find my bike resting on a flat tube. I lasted a year and a half on the original tubes, why are they suddenly failing?

Packed, said goodbye to Katie, and hauled butt down to 10th. I missed the streetcar I wanted to catch by a couple minutes, so I walked down to the Finnegan’s stop. A guy was solving a Rubik’s Cube and all I thought was, “I can do that a lot faster.”

Andrea boarded the streetcar and we had a three block chat. The train station was pretty stuffed but it had good order. Most of the crowd was for the 6:15 train. Got my ticket and aired out my sweat. After I picked up my seat assignment, I got some corn nuts and gummy bears for the train ride. First I finished my burrito.

Speaking of burritos, in History of Print our final potluck is going to be a burrito assemblage. Everyone will be responsible for bringing the ingredients, that way we will all be well fed and none of us will have to pay or make a full dish. I might get dibs on rice when the food assignments are handed out.

Fairly quiet train ride. Finished watching The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Napped. Nathan and Rubie were queued outside the train station and I was quick to toss my suitcase and backpack in. Some families really took their sweet time loading while at the same time holding up traffic.

It was a nice, familiar ride back into Kitsap. Chatted about class and vegans and all that usual stuff. I find it interesting that I can explain silkscreening to Nate and he gets understands in, but trying to explain it to some classmates is near impossible. Some minds just don’t work like that.

Mom and Pop were still up when we got home. No late night hot tubbing. Chatted, looked at holiday catalogues, and Nathan showed Dad how to Facebook.

printing queen

Got to school right on time. We looked through our prints and discussed why monotypes would be hard to critique, then we did a communal print as per usual. Then we had open work time till 1:30. In that time, I finished the final layer on my silk screen! Madeline texted me wondering where I was, so she came to the print lab and I gave her a print.

After lunch, we had a guest come in and show us his monotypes. He was a nice fellow. Tom and Chelsey left early to catch a train. I finished silk screening my other print, the one for Morgan. It is looking good. Two more layers to go!

I also did another monotype, just to do one for the day. Played with abstract but it wasn't much of anything.

At five I helped them clean up. By them I mean the four other students who hung around after Tom left.

Rainbow asked if I wanted to grab a bite to eat at Yur's, so I agreed. Yur's is the faux dive bar that all the PNCA students go to. It is only a couple blocks, so a really easy walk. Comfy seats and very clean while having standard bar decor. I had a grilled cheese sandwich and a Mirror Pond Pale Ale. I showed Rainbow Grandpa John's silkscreen textbook. She loved it. Some other PNCA people joined us, namely Anthony, Tesar, Tesar's girl, and this other fella. We all sat and chatted about thesis and a good time was had, even though I didn't really know the other people. I left at 6:30.

Talked with Natalie about silkscreen and showed her my stencils. Tried to help her figure out how to use the systematic process of silkscreen to aid her own sense of image making. She left with a pleased look on her face, so I think I did manage to help.

Now just chilling out. Nothing left to do but the last few classes and packing. Whoo whoo!!

three down, one to go!!

Argh, was going to go to bed and then remembered I had to write an entry.

Back to the grind. The pre-lunch chunk of class was spent reading some of our better poems and looking at our pieces. From now on in class, it is just work on final project. Need to get my USB back from Katie so I won't be working off of emailed files.

I went straight to the print lab and got in some quality printing during lunch, when no one was around. Got all the green boots in. They dried only semi opaque, but I think when I finish, they will all tie nicely together. Then I went to Chiptole and ate a steak burrito during class. Talked to Sarah about how to expand my short story. Kind of sat around for class. Sketched a little, mostly chatted with Danny. Talked with Danielle about my final project. Scanned my reading response images and typed up my responses. Apparently there were only two turned in last class, and I was one of the ones who did.

After class, I printed the red umbrella. Cherish is really excited about her fancy dress birthday party, as am I. Finished that printing with time to spare, and I used that time to apply emulsion onto my print for the print exchange. Then yoga time!

Fawn is out of town, so her friend Bonnie took over teaching. She sounds so much like Winona Ryder. She was an intense teacher and most of the poses were way too hard for me to sustain. I've appeared to have gotten worse at Yoga, now that I have been doing it twice a week. Still I tried.

After yoga I exposed the emulsion on the screen and washed out the drawing fluid. It didn't wash out as well as I would have liked. Still, I will continue with it.

It was a painful ride home. Liz stopped over and hung out with Katie for a bit, who made us all delicious hot cocoa. I relaxed and watched House and Lie To Me. When I got up for a between show intermission, my back had a bad spasm. Eventually it sorted itself out. Yoga is supposed to make me stronger, not injure my body.

return to work

Had a good sleep after that late and most horrid return. Mom even made me breakfast! Poached egg, muffins, bacon, and orange juice. My ideal morning meal.

Uncle Rolfe and Aunt Alison stopped by in the afternoon for a catch up chat. Talked about drains and ditches and hot tubs. Basil melted for Alison’s pets. She wasn’t so pleased with me. Oh well.

Soon it was time to depart and pick up dad at the airporter drop off in Silverdale. He was there when we arrived. He had a spoon and fork salad set for mom and myself. I picked the cat one and mom received the giraffe set. There was also a decorated (hollowed out) ostrich egg to put with our collection of around the world goodies. The three of us went to Skipper’s. Hurray for fish & chips!

Once we got home, we all promptly hopped in the hot tub. Dad tested all the different seats. Mom floated over the main powerful jet. I just soaked and relaxed. It is such an excellent way to relax. I wish I had one in Portland. So easy to hop in for a few minutes and rest.

Then it was time to get dry and dressed and head to Tacoma again. Mom tucked a tired and weary dad into bed and then the two of us set into the descending night once again. It was dry and a delightful drive. Arrived with time to spare.

My seatmate was a young girl in a cookie monster hat. Worked on typing up the poetry that is due tomorrow. The train movie was Julie & Julia.

The 506 (or was it the 509?) arrived fifteen minutes early in Portland and I just managed to catch the Green line. The red took a while, so all in all it took me thirty minutes to get in my front door.

Katie said she missed me.

I got right to homework. Did two stencil images for my reading response to Dylan Dog (it was a free choice this week). I don’t like construction paper for stenciling. Newsprint cuts so easily. Then I did some character studies of people in out of my poems, including myself. Cut them out and put them on blue paper then cut that out and put some lettering to indicate which poem they are from. And I think that is it for things that are due tomorrow. Now all I have to work on is screenprinting.

dance / snow my god

Ma's mini barn was completed. She is going to put a framing workshop and sewing station in their.

Took a hot tub soak before getting dressed for the show. It was so very very cold. And wet.

Put on a skirt and tights and grabbed the big coat. Don't know why I didn't bring more layers. Oh well. It was fairly dry heading over, just cold. Picked up Rubie in Tacoma and then headed to Everett. Left at 3pm, arrived around 5:45. Long long drive. Ate a meal at McDonald's. Something easy, ya know.

There was a line outside the Comcast Center but it was assigned seating, so you didn't have to show up that early. Rubie had an umbrella, I had a hood. Mom waited outside for Averie and we went in to get our seats.

We were a ways back, but there were screens so we could see the show. Seats were uncomfy and the place was cold. Oh well. Averie and Mom came in at around 7:15 and then come 7:30 it was time for So You Think You Can Dance season five tour!!

The top 12 were there: Jeanine, Janette, Randi, Caitlin, Kayla, Evan, Brandon, Ade, Kupono, Jason, and Phillip. I hooted and cheered and clapped plenty. In between dances, they hammed it up. There was a narrative about that unfortunate Russian Dance that went through the whole show. And every now and again they would switch things up. Other dancers would come in during the numbers or they would mix up their outfits. It was soooo much fun. Saw a lot of the numbers that I loved so much over the summer. All our favorites were there, and Averie who had not seen much of the show also had a good time. Oh oh and there was Bollywood! The lights were bright and the sound was loud. It was great. Made me wish I could dance...

It was hell getting back. It was pouring rain, the roads were pooling water and ma did her best not to hydroplane. Dropped Rubie off and then off we went into the dismal night. It was horribly slow going and when we got to Seabeck, there was SNOW. Actual snow coming from the sky. It as only a slush and it wasn't at our house, but for a few miles it was bonafide snow.

Tomorrow I return. Then I am in Portland for three more nights, then I am back in Washington for Thanksgiving.