toodles year of suck

Bye bye 2010. You sucked. Really hard. There were some good times and some good people and I really learned how to appreciate the wonderful friends I have, and how supportive they are. But 2010 till had some horrible moments that I'll never forget, and some friendship lows. Anyway. I'm glad to be rid of it and I'm entering 2011 with a clearer head and self assuredness. Bring it on!

Woke up early. Begged and Dad made a poached egg on toast with melted cheese. Stuffed my stuff in the car and off we left. We got to the station a bit early, but I had to check bags, so early is better. We solved crosswords in the car till the train arrived. I tried to sleep but was unsuccessful.

Arrived in the slightly warmer Portland right on time. Pulled my stuff off of the area and right as I was pondering tugging the box that dad made(safely protected in cardboard with rope) to the curb to wait for my ride, he arrived to carry the box with a box in it! Good old Rollyn. Packed my stuff up in the car. He dropped me off at my place while he found parking, and I brought the stuff in. Then we went to Pizzicato because I was starving. He had been snacking, so I just got myself pizza and a drink. It was very good. We then chilled at his place for a while. It was nice to relax. At sixish he brought me back to the apartment. He had prior plans for New Years, but if he is in the neighborhood around midnight, who knows.

Anyway. Walked to Trader Joe's to get some beverages and chips, found them closed, so I walked to Fred Meyers. The apartment is looking great. It is a The Mighty Boosh themed new years party. Mark is dressed as Old Gregg and Kristen is Vince Noir. I just threw on some nice clothes, a sparkly top, and did up a scarf like a turban. Nothing major. Anyway, people are arriving. Party is starting. Bye bye 2010! Hello 2011!

I'll never be able to tell someone to fill their hands...

Got up a little earlier because I needed to look up times for True Grit and make plans for the day with various parties.

Had some tea and some microwave food, and then I looked up times and called Celia. The basic plan was to go with pa into Bremerton, get ma, eat lunch, meet up with Celia, and then go see movie. And that is how it played out.

Dad and I listened to Lady Gaga on the way to pick up mom, because that is the only way we can listen to Gaga: without mom. She just loathes the catchiness of her music. Anyway, picked up mum and then we went to Anthony's for lunch. And we all had salads! All though mom and pop had a soup bowl along with their salad. My almond chicken salad was good, though a bit heavy on the dressing. Mmm. Pa cleaned his plate and finished off mothers and helped with mine. We talked about taking a canal trip in France once the school year is over. Hmm.

The parents dropped me off at Goodwill, where I waited for Celia. The DVD selection was awesome. Picked up Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander, Point Break, and Spice World on the cheap. Picked up some clothes too. We drove to Poulsbo and talked and cruised around town a bit, then we got to the theater early and chatted. Ma and Pa arrived and sat next to us and then moved to the back because it was too close for mother.

True Grit was GREAT! Coens have done it again. Really solid direction. Great acting. Surprisingly violent for PG13. Better than the original. Bridges did so well. And the parents and aunty enjoyed it as well. We all left the theater in good spirits. I hugged Celia goodbye and home we went.

I packed up my suitcase and box. Dad helped pack the box. My suitcase is nice and light. The box is wrapped up in cardboard to protect it on its train trip. Mom gave me some of her old clothes. A nice coat and shirt that dad got for her in 1981. We really do not get rid of anything in this family. Now my stuff is all packed and I have to get up early. But I'll nap on the train ride.

blah day

Made the blog for my 365 project. Ooooh. Now I am committed!

I set my cell phone to chime at 9:45, even though I had no idea when I would be getting up. It is good to keep ones body on a generic time. Can't just let it sleep all day. All though I do spend half of my days here in Seabeck in bed.

Spent most of the day on the internet. Keeping the fire burning is a full time job. Dad worked on his truck. Lots of work to get it to move just a few feet. Really strange problem.

I decorated a couple more cupcakes.

Dad was nice enough to let Holly sleep on her rug inside! Normally the doggy is strictly outside.

Dinner was a delicious stir fry. We watched Shrek the Third, which was better than I was expecting it to be.

Now I think I'll read some Cannery Row.

It really sucks not having wheels of my own when I visit home.

portraitoday

http://portraitoday.blogspot.com

I'm going to do a portrait a day for every day in 2011.

sweet cuppin' cakes

Slept in. Oh joyous joy. Ate some cheerios. Wasted time on the Internet. Dad baked some cupcakes. We planned to go to get some sweets to decorate them with, but the truck had some wiring issues, so that occupied dad for the rest of the day (till dark). I just sat and wasted like, like I tend to do.

Dinner was pasta and fish and green beans. Ma came home with candy in hand. After dinner dad and I finally got around to decorating cupcakes. The frosting was warmed by the heat of our hands so when the bags started to get used up, the icing lines lost their fidelity. Still, turned out pretty good. Though from all the icing ingested while making them, I didn't feel like actually eating a cupcake till much later.

Ma and Pa and I sat down to watch Brothers Bloom. I like this movie bunches. Ma was a bit meh about it. Oh well. Now time to relax. La la la.

time turner, so I can do all of that again!

Woke up with shin splints. Not the worst ones I've had, but still not pleasant. Wasn't looking forward to a day of walking with them. Thank God for Advil.

Got up out of bed. Took a shower. When I got down stairs, it turned out the only tickets for the Harry Potter exhibit were in the late afternoon, so we didn't have to rush to Seattle. There were some flubs with the buying of tickets (it is timed entry) but a call sorted it out. Unfortunately plans with Jeanette didn't work out today, but will be arranged for later hopefully.

Since the tickets for the exhibit were not till 5:15, we didn't have to rush to Seattle. Drove and parked at Bainbridge. Decided to leave the umbrellas in the car. It was raining and sure to rain more, but we would be indoors, or near cover, for most of our day. The ride was nice and uneventful. Took some photos. Loving my camera. Thankfully I have rechargeable batteries because by the end of the day, the battery light came on.

In Seattle we walked up to Pike's Place, and because the line was long at the donut place we decided to just head straight to Seattle Center. Went to West Lake Mall and hopped on the monorail. A quick ride to the center. The EMP, which once I regarded as ugly mold architecture has now...well grown on me. Stockholm Architecture Syndrome I guess. Dad and I ordered some beignet's. Ma wasn't fond of them, or the latte she ordered. But I dug them. A nice warm food perfect for cold Seattle day. With our appetites sated a little bit, we went over to the Pacific Science Center. We could wander around the regular exhibits while waiting for our time to come up. The dinosaur exhibit was old. Actually a lot of the exhibits were old, and just how I remembered them. Not a lot of updating has happened, but when you have a lot of kids coming through...sturdy is probably best. I got a wax astronaut from one of those make your own wax figure machines. I totally want to get the naked mole rat next time I'm at the center. It was so cool. Love my green little figure. It was a lot larger than I was expecting too. I was expecting a little figure. Anyway, I liked it.

We went into the butterfly room too. Stuffed our coats into a cubby. So many wonderful butterflies. Giant blue morphos. It was also humid and warm, which was nice. Took lots of pictures. After that we decided to get in line for the Harry Potter exhibit. 35 people were admitted every five minutes. The first stop was the sorting hat. A lady had the hat and gave a little talk. One girl got sorted into Ravenclaw...or maybe it was Hufflepuff. And a shy little boy got into Gryffindor. Then we went into a room with some TV screens that played clips from the movie, and then when that was done the doors opened and we were let into the AMAZING exhibit of props, sets, costumes, and general things from the Potter movies.

There were robes, books, centaurs, goblets, wands, and so so much more. It was really well displayed too. Everything was in context. Not just items in boxes. The great hall was constructed, as were some of the woods and Hagrid's Hut. There were TV screens that had videos playing. Some parts were interactive, well just two (a place where you could pull Mandrake roots and a quaffle pitch). No photography was allowed. It was a wonderful exhibit. I fell in love with the book designs. From the Quaffler to the potion textbooks. So much attention to detail and design. The people who made them really knew their stuff when it came to references. I wished I could have one...but alas stealing is wrong. The kids who came were well behaved, and there were a lot of adults too. Of course, the original young fans of the series would be in their 20's now (ie: me). I should listen to the audio books again.

Anyway, it of course ended with the gift shop and lots of price gouging. Still, dad got himself a beanie (Gryffindor colors) and Ma got me a Ford Anglia magnet as an early Christmas present. I bought myself a Time-Turner. A cheaper plasticy one, not the silver replica that was about sixty bucks. I'm way pleased with my memento. It was dreary and dark when we caught the monorail back. We got some Ivar's to go and ate while waiting for the Bainbridge Ferry to load. We finished the fries and chowder on the way over, and I put my tired legs up.

I started to doze on the way home, but perked up enough back in Seabeck to lure mom into watching the Top Gear Syria (and general middle east) special with me. Hahaha, got her into the show now! Now I've popped some more Advil and a nice sleep seems good right about now. Tomorrow Dad and I are going to make cupcakes! And try some of the techniques from his book out.

Christmas and Boxing Day (not that we really celebrate that)

Christmas!!

Woke up at 7:30 but worked on nodding off, because I knew people were not up yet. Woke up at 8:20 and decided that was late enough, so I bounded out of bed and lo and behold there were stocking filled with sweets and treats! Dad was up. I put the kettle on and made myself some billy tea. I go the go ahead for the stocking so I opened up a few of the things in there while waiting for Nathan and Rubie to make their way downstairs. There was a lego toy from Harry Potter so I assembled that. Nate and Rubie came down and opened up their stockings. We got WD40 and 3-in-1 oil, which is very useful, and puzzles (mine had classic cars on it, naturally). And lots of candy. I let the oranges roll away toward Rubie and Nathan's presents piles. One of the parents grilled up sausages. Dad opened up the cupcake decorating book I got him. I think it has a lot of good ideas that can also be applied toward cakes. I miss getting the cakes that dad makes. He is so good at designing them.

Anyway, ma got up as well and then it was PRESENT OPENING TIME!!

Off the top of my head I got: a cool makeup set, two nice table mirrors (it is good to have multiple), Amy Sedaris' new book about crafting, David Sedaris' new book of fables, some socks with bacon and eggs on them, a soft teal colored turtleneck, the book Bad Marie, some emergen-c and tea, bike lights, and the big one of them all: A NEW DIGITAL CAMERA! 12 glorious megapixels! Easy to use interface! Lots of functions! And a 5gb card to go with it. Yess. Totally sweet present. Great Christmas. Got what I asked for and lots of other neat stuff. Nate got a new razor and a Kinect, Rubie got a skin buffer fancy thing...thingy. And some Lush bath stuff from me. And Nate got a card game from me. Among other presents (like my Christmas print and tee shirt, which Rubie and Ma also got). Anywaaay. Pa got a sweet boot dryer, Ma got a nice knife thing that dad broke within an hour. Only partially broke. It was a really good haul.

Pretty soon I'll start sorting through my photos. Already took a bunch.

I showered and got dressed and came down for waffles. Yum! I put my new mirror to good use. It is really helpful, all though there is such a thing as too much magnification. Yikes! Nate, Rubie, and I played a game of Poo. A fun money centered game. Fast paced.

Then we started packing the cars up. Nathan and Rubie had different night plans than we did, plus we couldn't have fit everyone in the Prius (maybe the Contour). I dozed a little on the way to Mats Mats. The weather is pretty sucky. Lots of rain and mud.

Grandma, Grandpa, Aunty Joyce and Uncle Dick were all there and we got to presents! Well first we got to the DVDs that we made from old family films. We popped it into the DVD player. Lots of my dad as a baby and his first couple birthdays. Then baby Joyce. Then Alaska. Nice films. We paused them and handed out gifts. Got a nice fat quarter fabric assortment from Joyce in a cool bag with some lotion. And cool hard cash from the grandparents. Now THAT I am going to put in the bank. Sweeeeet. It was a nice little exchange. Dinner was salad, roast beast, salmon, rolls, broccoli, and sort of done potatoes. I ate a decent amount of juicy meat and salad. No dessert for me. Nate and Rubie left for Rubie's parents place. I put my feet up and digested a bit.

Ma and Pa and I went to Pulali for the night instead. I worked on a crossword with lots of help. Celia came over for her presents. She brought us delicious fudge! Can't get enough of that fudge. Mmm. I read a good chunk of Bad Marie while trying to get to sleep.

Boxing Day

Uneven night sleep. Toast and juice and crosswords for breakfast. Got dressed and went over to see Celia and her puppy (which will probably go to a new home soon). Talked about future plans and we took a walk up to the end of the Pulali driveway. It seems so much longer a road in the car. The puppy is very spirited. It rained off an on. The whole day. Sometimes big juicy drops, sometimes not. Either way, not fun weather.

After our walk, we parted ways and I had bread and creme cheese and salmon open faced sandwiches. Yum! Listened to the radio and again, put my feet up while the parents did all the work. Classic Trillian move. We put our stuff away in the car. Well ma and pa did. I put my purse in the car. It was a rainy soggy ride home. Swung by Costco. Started watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special. Paused it for a hot tub break. A rainy hot tub break. Returned to Doctor Who. A delightful episode. Then watched No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency with mom. Then pulled up the Top Gear Botswana special, because mums show is set in Botswana. Now I'm watching the Top Gear Syria special. It is new. Yay!

Awesome awesome Christmas. Lots of family. Lots of food. Lots of love.

that pitter patter on the roof is rain, not reindeer

Slept in. All though I woke up at 8am initially. Ma made sandwiches for breakfast. Well, for lunch. Breakfast for me. We played Bananagrams. Nathan played games. I played a little Braid. Then we watched the Top Gear Bolivia special (it is a very car Christmas). After we were all cleaned up, we went to pick up Rubie! Yay Rubie! Costco was unfortunately closed when we got there. We picked up some Taco Time for dinner. Mmm. Tacos, burritos, taco pizza. I helped Dad put on some new LED lights on the tree. And then it was hot tub time! Mom stayed to watch something. Pa, Rubie, Nate and I hopped in. Hot tubs are nice, even if it is raining. Tucked into bed early. Now just going to watch some movies till I nod off.

Then presents! We might spend the night at Pulali. Visit Celia!

PRESENTS! FAMILY! FOOD! CHRISTMAS!

hey you guuuys

Another day where I am up before noon. Whoo. Solved another crossword last night. Ma made delicious french toast for breakfast. I give it five stars. Loafed around for a bit. Watched the Top Gear special again with Nathan. Drank some tea. Nathan left to hang out with his friend. I put some makeup on mom. For fun. She looked rosy and pretty. But ma is a babe naturally. We walked to the end of the driveway. Got the mail. Mom made chicken, broccoli, and au gratin potatoes for dinner. We played Bananagrams. I won. Then Ma, Pa, and I watched Goonies. Great movie. So many great lines and moments in that movie. It never gets tired.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! EEEEEE!!

nate's here!

Yay, Nathan is on this side of the water for the holidays. Hurrah. Now we just need Rubie, though I think she is with her folks. And again, no hot tub! What gives?

Had a restless night sleep. I kept loosing blankets. I set my phone as an alarm and I did manage to get downstairs before noon. Okay two minutes before noon, but that is still a nice accomplishment. Dad made poached egg on toast with melted cheese. It was perfect. Stopped by the minibarn and spied in on what mom was working on. Showered. Ma and I braved the traffic and went into town for some shopping. Stopped by stores. Bought some stuff for people. It was slow going back. Lots of people blocking intersections. At least it wasn't raining.

When we got home ma made dinner. Ravioli and delicious salad and then I was too full for the risotto. Maybe tomorrow. Lots of ginger ale. We three watched the new episode of Top Gear. It was quite silly. Ma and pa watched Hair and I tooled around on the internet and then I heard a car door slam and Nathan was here!

We stayed up playing computer games. He showed me Braid, which was cool, and Osmos, which was neat. Fun games. He better not beat my Data Worm high score though. I'll be mighty peeved.

Don't know what we will get up to tomorrow. Games? Movies? Who knows.

feeling kinda weird

Slept in further. I set my alarm so I'll try to get moving before 1pm tomorrow. Maybe. I miss my comfy bed. This one is a bit stiff and I lost a lot of blankets. Mom scrambled me some eggs and toasted some muffins and even cooked bacon for me. Yum! What a good mum. Tooled around on the internet for a bit. Ma and Pa agreed to see the 4:30 showing of Tron. I showered. I just realized I haven't been in the hot tub yet since I got home! Weird! I'll amend that tomorrow. Dad came down from the garage and cleaned up. We got our seats in the theater right as the trailers started to roll. I'm excited for Green Hornet. Green Lantern, meh. Tron was good, but I think it could have had a little bit more grandness. The 3D effects were utilized well, but they could have shown more. The game and fight sequences were beautiful, but there were too few of them. It was a lot of CG sets and subtle things. It was good, but it wasn't the amazing oh my GOD thing that I was expecting. Still, I like it when movies utilize the medium of film, and Tron did that with our world not being in 3D and the Tron one being in 3D. I hope the technology sticks around.

Afterwards we went to Origami Sushi. Got a vegetable and shrimp platter with a caterpillar roll and a Philadelphia roll. mmm! Very good.

At home mom popped in Committed. It was cute. I started getting a headache and my stomach felt funky. Feeling better now that I've popped some advil and I have some tea.

I think Nathan comes over tomorrow. Christmas gets closer every day!

presents and presence

I was having a nightmare and thankfully my cellphone woke up me. Yay text messages! No one was around when I eventually got up. Made myself some cocoa and poured out some cheerios. Watched some stuff. Then I got to wrapping presents. Lots of presents. Yaay. Little things. Big things. With home made wrapping paper. Looks good under the tree. Dinner was pasta with white sauce and shrimp. Very delicious! Afterwards ma and I put our heads together and solved a crossword puzzle. That was nice. Ma went to bed. Dad snored. I stayed up but the special eclipse wasn't visible. Boo. Nice relaxing day. Really want to see Tron!!

flowers for julia

It is nice to head home. Set my alarm so that my clock would be started earlier in the day. Still took my sweet time getting up in the morning. Had a meager breakfast and some chicken tikka masala for lunch (courtesy of Trader Joe's frozen food isle). Did the dishes. Put away my laundry. Tidied up a smidge.

My suitcase was mostly filled with presents. I opted to pack light. A couple sweaters, five or so shirts, two pairs of pants. Normally I overpack. When I am going somewhere where there are left behind clothes for me to wear and a washer/dryer, I can pack lighter. It doesn't take me that long to pack. Though I still managed to forget my needle felting needles. Oh well. I have my crossword puzzle book at least! I only had my large purse (gift from Rubie) and back pack for carry on. Sweet. And Karen gave me a ride to the station.

Mark and Kristen got a larger fish tank. They are really into this fish thing. Fish, shrimp, a couple frogs.

It was starting to snow when Karen picked me up. More of a slush that wouldn't stick, but still it was coming from the sky. Got to the station. Hugged Karen. Got my ticket. Checked my bag. Sat down and worked on solving my crossword. Soon enough it was time to line up for seat assignments and before I knew it I had boarded. Got an aisle seat, but thats okay.

The person who sat next to me was a nice fellow named Alex. I complimented him on his Goorin Brothers hat and he said he worked there. We ended up talking for most of the ride. He helped me a little with my crossword (the first one I asked was about a Chicago radio guy, and Alex was from Chicago. What a quinky dink!). We chatted about art and writing and being positive. I drew him a picture of him holding flowers for him to give to his lady that he was meeting in Seattle. I worked on it slowly here and there. Building it up. I was quite happy with the final results. I hope his lady is as well. He paid me a piece of caramel for the drawing. I still pulled a piece off to share with him. It was so damn good. A perfect reward. I had a hot dog in the dining car.

It was a very nice ride, though a nap would have been nice. Made a new friend!

Ma was waiting for me. There wasn't a lot of people getting off at the stop and the luggage was brought out quick. We drove to SeaTac from Tacoma to pick up Dad at the airport. He flew in from Houston. There was a bit of a mixup. We were waiting by an escalator, and he was in the baggage claim. Neither were very far apart from one another. He just managed to go up a stair way that we were not watching. We drove the long way around, stopped for some drive through. It was rainy and then lightly snowy.

Yay! I'm home! Christmas is coming soon! Have to wrap my presents. But first. Sleep.

easiest twenty bucks I ever did make

I was riding to Roxy's and I saw a cell phone on the street, so I decided to stop and pick it up. It didn't have an obvious Mom or Dad listed, so I sent a text message to all the contacts. At Roxy's I got a bacon cheese burger. Very good. When I got home there was a response from a Jacob saying to call him, so I did. He was in the area so he swung by on my intersection and I gave him the phone (technically it belong to this fellow Rio, but Jacob works with Rio and it seemed a good call to give it to the guy who knows the guy, as opposed to waiting for the actual guy to borrow a phone to get in contact with me. It also looked like a work phone). He thanked me and gave me $20 for my "big heart" (his words). How neat is that? It wasn't that much effort, but I accepted. He offered to buy me a drink but I declined. Mainly because my burger was getting cold and I didn't feel like getting a drink, all though maybe I should have. Doesn't hurt to meet new people and Jacob looked interesting (wooly hat, glasses, floppy blonde hair).

Now I'm enjoying my burger and watching Sons of Anarchy. Good way to end the night.

Slept in. Didn't do much for most of the day. Watched TV. Didn't tidy. Karen asked me out to mini golf so I accepted. Knowing Lacey would be there was the clincher. At 6 I went to Trader Joe's, which acts as my ATM, because a 99 cent charge is cheaper than two bucks, and that 99 cents goes to candy instead of a company. And the sweet sticks were only 99 cents! Huzzah! Then I cruised down to black light pirate put put. An Escalade rode my tail all the way down, really irked me. She was so impatient. Then I turned off from them. Then I was lame and stopped in a bike box and didn't notice it was green. I was rightly honked at by the car behind me. I was the first to arrive, but I was a few minutes early.

Lacey and Karen showed up on the dot and Adam P (not Adam V) came by shortly after. I grabbed a white ball which under black light was a light blue, Lacey's was a dark blue, Karen's was orange and Adam's a different orange. I had a good start in the first half of the game. Well, I was very much behind but better than I usually seem to do. Adam was king. Lacey was queen. Karen was jack. I was jester. Still, putt putt is fun fun. Karen and I will probably get together over the break and hit up Kitsap putt putt.

We parted ways right after and I went to Powell's to see about more presents. I bought some stuff because I liked the covers and because sometimes, when it comes to giving presents, I am my mother's daughter. She knows what I mean. Hahah. After Powell's I went over to Rollyn's. This name keeps showing up in the blog. I don't wanna jinx things by putting info in my blog, but I do like hanging out with this fella. We just hung out for a little bit and watched some Christmas specials. A nice little visit. I was downtown so it was easy. Then I left and going up Clay or something I saw the phone. Picked it up. Went to Roxy's. Ordered a burger. Went home. Got the phone to the other person. And that was my day.

Tomorrow I WILL tidy. And pack. And go back to Seabeck. Yaay!

i like purdy mooovies

Glorious beautiful sleep. How I love it.

Lazed about all morning. Like a champ. Took out the trash. Showered. Sorted out my presents. Looked at my laundry and contemplated putting it away, but I didn't.

Ate some frozen stir fry. Been lazy with the cooking.

Went to Trader Joe's. They didn't have the seaweed that I favor so much.

Decided to catch the 7pm showing of The Tempest with Karen and to get some sushi before. Killed time till 6pm rolled around and she found parking. I got two hand rolls and some of the kind with shrimp on top. No cut up rolls. I gave Karen her present and we chatted about stuff. She is a good friend. We had a good conversation in the theater about more things.

I hate the trailer for Little Furniture. I don't need to see movies about rich people in their mid 20's having existential crisis. Uhhhg. But the trailer for The Illusionist was great. I can't wait to see that.

The Tempest, Julie Taymor's adaptation of the play was interesting...

The casting was great. Molina, Mirren, Winshaw, Hounsou...and some of the parts were mind bogglingly spell binding and the visuals and costumes were the right kind of modern influences. I'm not familiar with the play so I think a lot was lost on me. It was good but, as Karen said after, it will need some time to digest.

We parted ways with a hug and I went home and put my feet up. One more day in Portland and then I go home home home.

hitting hilariously close to home

fart jokes are acceptable at any age

Wednesday:

Final day of classes! Yeah! The years are just flying by now. Got up a bit early so I could get to school to try and render the video smaller and properly. The third render still wasn't so good. Talked to Anouk and learned how to render through quick time. Huzzah.

Critique lasted all class, but each one was 10 minutes and watching animations take up time. So it went fast. And I took notes because I knew I couldn't remember all we watched, no matter how awesome. And it went alphabetical, so Tibby, Zach, and I were shafted. Tibbs and I shared our pain about how teachers ALWAYS say they'll do reverse alphabet but they never do.

Tippi - hand drawn shifting animation about how the bull was revered because it looked like a uterus. Very beautiful.

Andrin - stop motion cars sliding about. He made it look like the cars were sliding left and right. He did a lot of cutting out of cars, because the shadows never changed. It was totally convincing too, totally didn't look cut out. It was great.

Alison - something really conceptual. not my cup of tea.

Chase - goddammit Chase, why you gotta be so awesome? A side scrolling animation with lots of loops and his beautiful photoshop techniques. My side scrolled as well, but totally different styles. Anyway, Chase's animation was awesome. Robots and stuff.

Amanda - cute love story but the music was insanely loud

I think this is when we broke for lunch. I rendered my video properly (meaning good quality but not a HUGE file). I felt like pizza, so I got pizza.

Emily - a stop motion tribute to Jan Svankmejer. Cute old lady. Excellent animation.

Hill - stop motion. Mostly him going in circles. It was really nice. The movements flowed really well. There was a lot of stuff that apparently didn't work out, but all in all it was nice.

Most of the animations were under a minute. Rose and Anouck wanted good animations, and wanted us to keep them short so that they were good. Not try to do too much. It was amazing. So much great work. They brought in bagels and shmear.

Jeff - stop motion shirt and pants and shoes moving that eventually ended with him in it. Titled "waking up" or something.

Jaime - an animated dog moving about. Sound could have been better. Obviously took a ton of drawing.

Kami - a stop motion doll Marjorie. Sort of referenced Amelie. Very nice and simple and silly but effective all the way through.

Matt - told a story through well executed walk cycles, animation, sound, and cuts. Simple yet excellent. Really got the movement down for it all.

Kelly - He did a longer animation about a tooth fairy. Lots of composites in AfterEffects. Obviously made with his daughter in mind. Lots of unicorns and fairies but also crude humor. Turned out he wasn't accepted as a Tooth Fairy, but a Toot Fairy. Hahaha. The final shot was a door and farting noises. Heheh. It was very well received.

Leah R - stop motion cork screw and other items. really well animated with lots of variation.

Mitch - hand drawn stuff. really created this mood. nice.

Malcolm - figure moving against something trying to burst through the door. good sense of weight.

Kebrina - animating what music looks like, in a way.

Petra - rotoscoped animation done using sharpie, but scanning the sharpie on the reverse of the paper. the bleed through, not the actual page with the marks.

TJ - stop motion bear looking for a suitcase. cute.

My critique went really well. Everyone enjoyed it. No major trifles about what I did. One person said that they would enjoy playing a side scrolling game of all the animations that utilized panning. Owls and astronauts zapping aliens. Hehehe. Hill commented that it was cool that I can go just by one name in my art. I commented that the alliteration in his name was cool.

Tibby - very tense minimal animation. I said that it reminded me of greeting cards that you give people for tragic moments "I'm sorry for your horrible disease" I think I said, which got a good laugh unintentionally. The graphic looked like it, but the sound and the subtle build up acted very counter to the art. It was good, though Tibby knows animation isn't her bag. Well she says that it isn't, I think she is better than she is giving herself credit for.

Oh, Rose also got us mini cupcakes! Awesome!

And finally Zack. Goddamn that kid, he went for it. Stop motion, exposing light sensitive plants to light and documenting that as animation, puppets, set design, 3D stuff...god that kid. He did so much and probably it was all that he worked on for the past five weeks. It blew us all away. The conversation that took place when his finished was:

"How did you do that?" asked Trillian.

"In two words," added Hill Hudson.

"Black. Magic." answered Matt in Zacks place.

It was really something spectacular, and for a 200 level final as well. That kid will do amazing things.

And class was over. We said our goodbyes and applauded a lot. We applauded after each video and then after each critique. So 40 rounds, plus a couple at the end for everyone. Yay applause!

I scanned some website sketches in for Advanced Illustration and wrote up a response to the web survey. Class started and we mostly just talked about websites a bit and looked at our portfolio books. Then we watched Ponyo! Just for fun. And ate snacks. Ponyo was cute, though I was a little disappointed by the end.

Then Dom and I went to Yur's and met up with Danny, Leo, and Beth. Illustration booth right next to a design booth. I had a beer and a shot and we chatted and drew and gabbed and it was nice. A perfect end to the semester. Hanging with the awesome people at the local faux dive.

Went home. Was tired. Went to sleep.

Thursday:

Slept in, as I rightly deserved. Showered. Had some toast. Ran some errands. Went to Fred Meyer for some more of that intense conditioner that my hair is addicted to. It feels so sooooft. Also got some mousse and nail polish and maple candy and orange juice and blistex for my chapping lips. Then went to 3 Monkeys to get some presents. And then ush-Lay for more estents-pray for oiled-spay amiliy-fay embers-may. Hehehe. I think I'm set on presents now. A good mix of handmade and bought.

Then I rode my bike down to downtown, got buzzed in, and dropped Margaret off at Rollyn's apartment. Then we walked down to Pioneer Place and caught a matinée of The Tourist. It actually was a lot cuter than I expected it to be. I wasn't expecting much but it delivered just enough. Won't be the worst movie to rent down the line. Wasn't as trick stunt or innuendo heavy. Depp was charming. I liked it well enough.

We got pizza and hung out at his place after. It wasn't a bad bike ride back either. As his place is blocks from my old one, it is familiar streets. Just cut straight down to Johnson and then up to 22nd and I'm home. Right angles are the best.

Bought my train ticket home. I return the 19th. Don't have major plans from now till then. Probably clean the place up a bit. Wrap presents...

Odd Owl - The Way Home

Odd Owl - The Way Home from Trillian Spencer on Vimeo.

Oregonado

Animation is done! Whoo! I need to figure out how to export it at high quality without it looking horrible. Because I tried putting it up on Vimeo but it doesn't look as good as it should.

Anyway. School time.

Apparently there was a tornado in Salem. Oregon tornado? What.

Dropped my bike in my studio right as the rain started. Class was in the computer lab. Martin brought us pie! Four kinds! Meringue, apple, berry, and pumpkin. I went for the meringue. We filled out course evaluations and watched a little video about marketing and being prepared for the future or something. The speaker was really boring and it was hard to be invested in what she was saying. And then we were cut loose!

I headed to the print lab to print some wrapping paper. Critique was happening in the Etching/Litho studio and silk screen was free free free. Hurray! People came and it got crowded, but never intolerable. I printed my design on many sheets of newsprint and Dom showed up and started printing his right as I finished up. I got to printing my ChrissyPressy prints. Lots of printing. Did it in one stretch. Dom also printed tons and Morgaine printed and they collaborated and Samala came in and got some tuteledge. It was a regular illustration back of the studio take over. Whoo! So from about noon to five thirty, it was print happy time. Just doesn't get better than that.

Then I realized I was hungry, and I was done printing, so I cleaned my screen and picked up my stuff and said adieu and went to Chipotle. Got a soda as well, just a little caffeine to get me through the next bit of the day.

Went to the library and got in the comfy chair. Ate half the burrito, then curled up and took a 30 rest. Listened to audio book. Then I hauled my butt to yoga. Which kicked my butt again. Lots of core work. Stuff that takes strength. And my legs were giving out. Still, I did it. Good for me, and good for my physicalness. And now yoga is done for 2010!

I hauled my tired, worn out lump of a body to 815G (or was it F? anyway: the illustration computer lab). I tooled around on the internet and then I got down to business and finished my video. Actually the whole AfterEffects project went really well. No major problems or difficulties. No sound not exporting. Nothing like that. Hurray! Escaped the lab before 10pm.

Talked to the cool crew a bit.

Oh Morgaine said I should talk about her more in my blog. Or something. Morgaine is an awesome artist. She produces so much work, and high caliber work too. It has stuck with me from the first drawing I saw of hers and she continues to soar. She has a great sense of color and the human body. Her thesis is about the body and how we represent ourselves. Should be great. Her website is: http://www.morgainefaye.com/

Went home and worked on putting my prints into frames. Finished my burrito. Queued up lots of Sons of Anarchy. Now it is late, I am very weary. One last day. Mmm.

wrapping it up

It is amazing how easy it is to forget how much time something consumes.

Mmm sleep. Last time I get to sleep in for the next two days. Waaah.

Had my standard breakfast (you guessed it: tea and oatmeal, can't be bothered to make a scramble). Cut up a piece of lasagna for lunch.

It was actually a warmer day. Just had my grey hoodie and leather jacket. No serious layers needed. Went to the library and spent about an hour and a half cutting and folding my zines. Each one took four folds and four cuts and a staple. So all that times a hundred means a lot of time spent listening to A Game of Thrones. I got right on it when it came to passing them out. Serenity, Dom, Justin, Jon....

There were sandwich fixings (PB&J) in the commons so I had one of those. Kristen locked herself out of the apartment so she came by school to get my keys. Hahah.

I then put together my CD for Proposal Documentation. I sort of half assed it though. We were not kept totally up to speed on what we were supposed to turn in. Ehh, if it is inadequate I can turn in better. But I think it is fine. How much fine tooth combing are they really going to do?

Went to studio. Met up with Dom. Photocopied. Emulsified screens. Worked on our wrapping paper. And then we realized that critique was happening in the studio in about 10 minutes. We asked to be informed when there would be a break and sat in wait in the computer lab. I colored some stuff in. Then Phil texted and off we went. Exposed and washed out one screen like a champ. The bulb is getting old so it took forever to burn the screens. We were about a minute too late and sat through Antonia's critique because we didn't want to interrupt. Though having two illustration majors looming in the background of a final printmaking critique can't be fun. We felt really bad about it. But what was done was done.

Worked on my animation a little more. I think I'm going to recolor some of the owls tomorrow. Just so they flow together a little more. Do some tweaking. So right now just have animation to finish and Advanced Illustration stuff (but no illustration specific stuff) and Christmas related stuff. I'm nearing the finish liiiine!

When I was riding home, a man on crutches with one leg crossed the street.

limit

Turns out 275 pulls is my max number in silk screen. Good to know.

Had a slow start. The type of "well I'm only doing two things, I'll put it off" thing. Had breakfast. Drew a picture. Wrote out the to do list. Stuffed a frozen meal in my purse with a bunch of other things. I rode first to the laundromat to get quarters for laundry. Then I went to Utrecht and bought some paper. The lab was packed so I went to the library. Photocopied my sketchbook. Cut the spreads up. Oh, in the store I had a revelation about my format. I kept thinking of folding the images in halves, completely forgot about the notion of thirds. So yeah, spent a lot of time planning out the new layout. And then I realized I had counted the number of spreads, not pages, so I had to do even more folding and layout. Took a lot longer than expected. Drew some other stuff for printing.

The studio was still full, but I put my stuff down and cut down paper and emulsified screens and exposed. Waiting for a table to open up. And it did! In an hour I printed one side of the screen, and in another side I printed the other side. 100 zines. 200 pulls. Ahhg. Listened to A Game of Thrones. I also worked a little on the other piece but after hours of printing and being on my feet, my body was done in. At 9:30pmish I went to the computer lab and tooled around on the animation. Got it up to speed and all that. Finally staggered home. Well stagger biked.

Put my feet up. Relieved my back. Did my laundry. Now I'm going to fold my laundry and pass out. Long day tomorrow. Longish. Wrapping paper, print, thesis CD documentation disc or something, folding zine, animation. I'll probably work on animation and zine and CD during the day and printing after five.

Can only print so much yeah....

frame up

Crawled out of bed to another rainy day. Oh well. Had my breakfast.

Bekka came over at 1:30. She was in Copenhagen for three months but couldn't stand the weather and came back, and now she works as a design assistant! Way cool! We gabbed for a few hours. Ate lasagna. It was a nice visit. Now that she is going to PSU and all that, we need to hang more. Bekka is cool cool cool.

Anyway, she left at 4 and Karen showed up for Ikea time! Treated her to meatballs in thanks for the ride. We gobbled them down, because well...meatballs are delicious! It wasn't a major Ikea trip. Didn't go through the showrooms. I picked up another towel and then went to the frames department. There was a 3 for 1.99 frame pack, but the edges were really cheap, and a simple 4 for .99 set with clips. Guess which ones I bought ten of? So yeah, giving away a bit of what I've giving for Christmas, but it won't be all that I give.

Then we went back. I chilled at home for a bit but then went to school to work on my animation. Color corrected some bits. Got it into the file. Took some tweaking but it is getting there, inch by inch. I'm not really feeling the little owl yet.

When it was nearing closing, Mel and I went to Yur's. I didn't have my wallet, but I've sat at Yur's without being checked (or ordering) before. This time they were all "no wallet, can't have you here". Boo. So I left and changed my mind and grabbed my wallet but when I got back, Mel had left. So I rode around a bit at night. It was a good night for it. A little damp, but quiet.

Then I snacked on food, planned out the next couple days, and watched The Terminator. I'm feeling tired, so I think I'll go to bed early. Get up. Draw. Get paper. Print. Animate. Go to bed. Monday is more printing (wrapping paper) and getting the proposal thesis CD stuff in order. I don't think I'll print my mailer just yet. I want to get it nice and squared away and awesome. Not somewhat decent. Tuesday is the final Professional Practices. Turn in stuff, chill. Then sketch stuff for Advanced Illustration, survey for Advanced...touch up animation and yoga. Then turn all that stuff in on Wednesday.

The thesis zine is giving me problems. Maybe I should just make it a poster. There are 11 7"x5 1/2" spreads.

oh god the fingernails

Karen passed on Ikea today because a part of her essay vanished and she had to dig through autosave to recover it. Oh well.

Finished my chili. Went to yoga. It was intense. Lots of deep stretches that really got me in a bind (ha). Just Diana, Fawn and myself. Pigeon. Mermaid. Cow face. King pigeon. It was good. Very good. I really felt it. Deep in the joints and muscles.

Afterwards I hobbled home, put my laundry in the basket, and then realized I didn't have enough change for laundry. Karen then contacted me to inform me of her victory over thesis paper recovery. She was really freaking out, so I said that if she picked me up, I'd treat her to some hot wings (within reason, not going to buy her 30 wings). So at around 7:30, Karen, BT, and Phil picked me up and we went out for wings! Hurray! Went to Fire on the Mountain. I got mild wings instead of the not spicy sweet BBQ. I ravished them. Karen and BT got tenders. Interesting choice.

On the way back I asked to be dropped off at Powell's. Some books for presents were too much, but I did get some things for some people. After Powell's, I wandered over to Fox Tower. There was a line and the late showings of Black Swan were selling out. Thankfully they added more. Rollyn arrived, we got our tickets (dutch), and bypassed the line for the 10:20 showing and got our pick of the seats for the 10:15 (which didn't have a noticeable line). Sweet.

Okay, Black Swan was intense. While Enter the Void was a slow exhausting burn, this was a too-afraid-to-bite-nails tense psychological masterpiece. Every moment was pregnant with tension and terror. Natalie Portman should just get that Oscar. She was magnificent. Brilliant movie. Acted with precision. Beautiful. But damn, I don't think I'll be able to watch it for a while. Too much fingernail related harm. And just general "I'm going to have a heart attack NOW" feelings. Very good. Very very good. Five sold out screenings I believe. Wonderful. Rollyn drove me home, and now I need to figure out my plan for tomorrow. Forgot I was going to hang out with Bekka. I can still hang and go to Ikea. I'll just get a later start on printing...not ideal but I need the frames for presents.

Thesis zine...wrapping paper. I can do that tomorrow. A long day in the studio. I'm fine with that. Once I get the frames, I can do that once finals are over. I have a few days to relax.

wellies & brellas

Sopping rainy day. Perfect to stay in. Except I had to go out eventually.

But first I caught up on sleep. Precious sleep. Oatmeal. Mmm. Did the dishes. Good old dishes. Tidied up a little bit. Thursday is my switch off responsibilities day. All though I did just make a list of what needs to get done. Thankfully no documentation discs or essays. I'm missing some thing I think...err I'll think of it.

Walked to Fred Meyer to get fixings for dinner. It was pouring rain, but I threw on some wellies and grabbed an umbrella. All was alright, all though I did step in some mighty big puddles. 21st was well flooded. Got fixings to make lasagna! Yay! A big hearty lasagna to eat all week.

Popped it into the oven, took out the trash and recycling. At 7ish Rollyn came over for dinner. Lasagna was perfect. Part of the agreement for dinner was to watch the new episode of Community. Which was brilliant. Claymation! And then after that we watched the classic Tampopo. Beautiful movie. Full of heart. And delicious ramen. And then Rollyn went home and I watched the new episode of Misfits and some Sons of Anarchy. Tomorrow we might go see Black Swan.

Yoga and Ikea. Also some drawing. and Skype. Saturday and Sunday are work days. Animation, printing...glorious work. OH YEAH I have to print the thesis zine!

in da lab, gettin' crunk on dat muybridge

Oh boy. Long day. Long day spent mostly doing one thing.

Got to class. Did the course evaluation forms. Then sat in 815B for hooour working on the animation. The computers started to crash so I took a break to get a burrito. But then I went back to work. Lots of drawing. Lots of scanning. Lots of editing. My brain got fried on it. But it is coming along and everyone has a positive reaction to it thus far. Finished the promo mailer for the mock up. It printed a little larger than it should. It will be a quick print job though. Just gotta get around to printing it. I suspect this Sunday I'll get up early and stay late in the print studio cranking stuff out.

Anyway, yeah, worked on animation. Rose and Anouck dug it at the progress meeting.

In class we looked at our promo pieces and talked about them. Postcards, business cars, all that jazz. Now we are getting into websites. So next semester we want to have our self promotion pretty well set up. I'll probably enlist Nathan's help with some web design.

It was a mild class. Got out at 9. Went home. Ate a salad. Ate some candy. Now I'm just chilling. Tomorrow I have some tidying up to do and a big plan for what I need to get done. Which is a lot. Friday I'm going to Ikea to get frames for prints for Christmas. So it won't just be in plastic. Hurray!

waddlin' owls

Final two weeks of school. They will be here and gone before I can blink, and I got a lot of art that needs doing, both for school and for personal stuff.

Got up. Showered. Dressed. Had a scramble. Left for school around 1 and scanned. Then I took those scans and edited them in photoshop. Then I took those files and worked on getting them into my animation. Then class started. It wasn't a major class. Just some feedback from the panels and overall discussion. Also got client lists. And some stuff to be thinking about. Next semester is getting a portfolio ready and preparation for pushing us out into the real world. Need to decide what I want to aim for and go and get it. I'm willing to move. The future will come faster than I expect it to. Mmm.

For the rest of class, I worked on animation. Getting that ready. The owl flying looks GREAT. Just need to get in the rest of the stuff. Like a little waddling owl. I have a plan now. Yup.

Sushi should not be followed up with cake. Doesn't sit as well as one would hope.

Yoga was good. Lots of stretches.

Walked and chatted with Karen a bit after. Went home. Had dinner. Raising Hope was hilarious. Especially the dirt cookies. Glee was okay.

Watched more Sons of Anarchy and worked on the promotional mailer for Advanced Illustration. I always forget how long simply inking something takes.

rest and work

Oh boy, a day to sleep in and relax. Haven't had one of these in...a week or so.

Anyway. Slept in. As I said. Then I got up and had some oatmeal and tea. And then did most of the dishes. It doesn't take much for them to pile up.

Showered. Had a salad. Then I watched my animation. I looked up some Muybridge. Carmen also sent me a great feedback email, so I have a little something to go from. I really wish the video was longer. It could be longer, but then it would be so much slower panning. Fifty seconds is enough. Just have to fill it. I'm stuck but not stuck.

Anyway, I drew an animation loop of an owl in flight and some background stuff to add. I think after I get it into the animation tomorrow and see what it looks like, I'll have more ideas. Watched Sons of Anarchy while drawing. I think I should have got more drawing done, but since it is so free form, accomplishing that is difficult.

Went to Trader Joe's. Got some frozen food and apples and seaweed snacks. I'm now addicted to those, instead of the mango. So delicious. Need to plop some rice on them one of these nights. I tried out the TJ's Shepard's pie for dinner. Very delicious, though it seems like it would be easy to make. Meat, veg, and mashed potatoes plopped together? How hard could it be...

I think I'll go to bed early, set the alarm, and be productive. Tuesday Mornings are good productive time frames. Plus I need to assess my finals and get a clearer idea of what is due across the board.

the way home: preview

Screen shot of the upcoming minivideo for Odd Owl's The Way Home.

Pen drawings with digital color manipulated in AfterEffects.

trees and do do do do do do

Mmm microwave pad thai. Almost as good as the real thing...almost.

In retrospect I should have put up some of the stuff I scanned today. I'll do that tomorrow or something.

Had my tea and scrambled egg breakfast. Sluggish start. But then I put on Misfits and Sons of Anarchy and I started drawing. Started drawing trees. I drew five different panels of trees. One was 3"x6", then 3x8, 3x10, 3x12, and 3x14 or something like that. The different trees would pan across at different scales and rates, creating movement and depth. Pencil sketches, then pen inked, then shaded with pencil yet again. Took a fair amount of work to draw and line, but scanning and inputting it into video will produce some pretty art. And I don't have to draw that big to make the animation, as the resolution is just 720x480.

So I got that drawn. Went to school around 6. Said hi to Karen who was working on painting her thesis room back to white. Then I scanned and removed the backgrounds in some of the images and colored them and tidied them up and put them into AfterEffects. And it all went really smoothly! No major issues or anything. I'm really pleased with the foundation I have right now. I just have to draw, scan, and drop stuff in. Jon was in the lab as well. Karen was impressed by my animation and asked me to show her some AfterEffects basics during break.

My goal was to get the foundation done, and I did. So I went home. Popped some frozen pad thai in the microwave, and now I've consumed that, and I'm working on finishing the Ninkasi Brewing Company Sleighr Dark Double Ale that I bought for my chili. It's already lost a bit of its luster since yesterday. But it does hit the spot on this Sunday night. Now I'm just waiting on Walking Dead to finish, and Boardwalk Empire. Mmm. Season finales for both of those I think.

best chili EVER

Ahhg my knee. It has a hideous bruise now. Bleahhh.

Alarm went off at 9. Got up. Whipped out Auntie's chili recipe. Dug out the crock pot. Cooked up the sausage. Plopped in all the beans and miscellaneous this and that. Cut up the sausage. Stirred it all together. Set it to low and then went about checking off the check list. Ate a scramble. Check. Shower. Check. Trash and recycling. Check. Put away laundry. Check. Tidy room. Check. Sweep. Check. Make sign for window. Check. Kristen and Mark collaborated on a delicious salad spread, though Mark didn't stick around for the shindig. Went to Trader Joe's for some supplemental juice beverages. It all came together quite nicely.

Kristen and I sat and had some of the chili and I must say it was spectacular. A great recipe. Just the right about of subtle spice and flavors. Ahh, so good. First to arrive was Mel and Tabitha. Then Robin. Then Beth. Then Karen. Then Jon. And that was it, though it was a good crowd. They ate enough chili to have leftovers but not an obscene amount of left overs. The salad bar was utilized fairly well. Now we have precious greenery to munch on for a bit. We ate and ate and then chatted and migrated to the living room to digest. And chatted some more. Kristen made over Robin a little bit and gave her winged eye makeup. Robin and Jon did a duet on the ukulele and five string guitar. It was a nice little get together. Karen gave Mel a lift, Robin went to hang with Beth, and Jon left as well. And the clean up was fairly reasonable too! But that was to be expected, as it wasn't rowdy.

Rollyn invited me to the 10pm showing of The Warriors Way, so he came over at 8:30ish and we hung out. He already had dinner so alas no chili for him. One of Tabitha's friends came over as well and those three got ready for a night out. I'm not much of a clubber. I prefer booths in bars and gabbing about whatever.

Anyway, The Warriors Way was quite adorable. The lead actor couldn't emote worth a damn, so the rest of the cast had to fill in the blanks. It had its odd charm. Fun little film.

Yesterday there was street sweeping, and it was kinda weird to see a street devoid of cars. So vacant.

When I got home, I was tired and went to bed instead. Now to be productive! Here are some pictures:

slip ups and success!!

Oww I hurt my trick knee AGAIN. Slipped on the stairs at school and landed square on it. Looks like I'll be limping for a few days. Booo.

Last day of Focus Week. My proposal feels like ages ago. Not just five days. Ahh. Yeah.

First up was Morgaine! I got there right on time. Her thesis is about body modification and ways we represent ourselves. It was a very broad topic, and the panel sort of questioned her about ways to get it down. Still, quite good.

From there I went to the library to return books, and that was where I slipped. Ow.

It gets a bit exhausting to go to a thesis in almost every block (save for defenses). I have seen so much, and next semester around I'll see a ton and it will be mostly defenses. It will be interesting to see how that works out.

Followed next was Josh. He is doing promotional materials for a band Larry and His Flask. Sweet posters, and other stuff. Not quite branding, but it fits well and it should produce some good work.

Lunch time! More bloody sandwiches. No enchiladas this focus week. Boo.

I was trying to think of what to do during my lunch, when I realized I had enough time to print my shirts! So I got the stuff from the studio, and set up. There was a drum binding demo, but it was okay to print and use the pressure washer. The shirts got printed in a fantastic jiffy. Love them.

Got to Jennifer's proposal with time to spare even. She is doing six large scale paper dolls about body types and relating them to how they get "corrected" by vintage fashion media. She has spent all week being nervous but knocked it out of the park! Go her. Another round of good questions and answers and suggestions. She made it really evident from the start that she knew her research.

From there I went to the final proposal of the week: Samala! She is proposing a 2-3 minute animation about reliance on media and what happens when it all comes apart. She has the art for the project, just meeting the time and animation technique stuff will be tricky. It is a lot of learning to do real quick. That was what most people questioned. The logistics of the project and what she can realistically get accomplished. Still, another good proposal.

AND THEN WE WERE FINISHED! Fall 2010 Focus Week! My Focus Week!

I scanned and then helped Karen bag her art work. Chad stopped by and we three chatted. Then Karen and I went to the studios and dropped off stuff and then Safeway and then studios and then Rogue to meet up with James, Jon, Josh, Dom, Samala, and Morgaine. It is Jon's birthday today!! So the party was getting started there and Karen owed me a beer. So I had the delicious Shakespeare Stout and did a sketch of the table. We came a little bit late, so they moved on to the next spot on the East side while we stuck around for some food. Chicken fingers and fries! Before we left, Karen and I joined Rogue Nation. You get seventy five cents off pints and free stuff on your birthday! Hurray!

I went back home, and decided not to join the shindig on the other side. Knee too gimpy and I had errands. Went to Fred Meyer to get chili making supplies as per Brynne's recipe. It was a nice night for a walk, even one with a big bag of groceries.

I'm sooo tired.

I heat set the shirts while watching Peep Show and Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Now I'm going to crawl into bed, and get up at nineish and put the crock pot on with the chili and then clean the apartment. Well, mostly clean my room and get everything in order for our Focus Week Survival Luncheon! I'll also make a run to Trader Joe's for some veggies and drinks. Juice drinks, not booze drinks.

Owww my knee.

Fall Thesis Sketches - 5

Josh and Jennifer proposing.

Jennifer proposing.

Samala proposing. Last proposal of the week!!!

Sketches done during proposals and defenses.

Micron in a moleskin

fall Thesis Sketches - 4

Morgan, Lenny, and Daniel observing Heather's defense.

Kristen and Tabitha proposing.

Beth proposing.

Sivonna proposing.

Morgaine proposing. Chad observing. Muku blocking the way.

Sketches done during proposals and defenses.

Micron in a moleskin

a beth of beagles

It's been a fairly long day. Well, it was an early day. And early days lead into long feeling days. But it was a great day.

Heather's thesis defense was this morning. She made these beautiful etchings depicting these fables of hers. Morgan said it was the best aquatint he has ever seen at PNCA. Really intricate work. Lots of thought and depth. The panel kinda got into a critique about it, but the conversation was good and long. They actually had to stop it so they could continue onto the next stage. I was looking at some of my past thesis write ups, and they were more extensive than this. Heather is such a talented artist and an amazing, intelligent individual.

Got a way too salty pretzel from Safeway for a snack. Sat with Karen at the first half of Kristen and Tabitha's joint proposal. They started with a video, and launched into their proposal. They went back and forth pretty well. Kristen was nervous and spoke fast. It was a double length proposal, so we left during some of the questions. But they knew ahead of time, and it was probably expected that some would leave.

Beth! What a great thesis. Animal grouping in visual form and what it reflects. It was a packed house also. I got front row right in front of the podium. She was nervous but did really well. Answered the questions well. Borrowed and returned my pen well.

Lunch time! Lasagna! Ate with Madeline, Amanda, Rachel, Amanda, and Jaymee. Chatted about stuff. Showed them how to fold a zine down.

Then scanned some stuff. Chatted with more people.

Eckard was doing a performance where he had a candelabra strapped to his legs that bound them in this raised position (but they were also propped) and he was laying on the floor and dragging himself around this crack on the floor with a little pick and this tube. He cleaned the crack on the floor and blew the dust away. It was odd but then it became just a background detail as I talked to BT about promoting positivity and high fives all day every day.

I went to Sivonna's Muku Mania proposal. I got a sticker from it! Yay! It was a nice proposal. I've already heard it a bunch of times. She lost her voice for about 10 seconds during it, but that passed.

After I talked to Samala, and then Dom, Thom, Jon, and I did a Chinatown loop walk. First to Utrecht. Jon got some paper. Then Everett Street so Dom and Jon could pick up their art from a show. Today was First Thursday. Too bad I made plans. Oh well. Jon went back to school to print. Finally was Floating World Comics. I got an email reminding me of my much neglected box. I gotta show up at least twice a year to get my MAJOR backlog of comics. So I did that. Then we walked back towards the studios. Thom is in town for the next few months again, totally awesome. He is going to teach English in China! Just needs to save for the ticket. Way way cool.

I headed back home after that. Relaxed a bit. Called Rollyn to confirm that we were still on for bowling. Unfortunately the bowling alley at PSU was all reserved for a special deal. So we stayed in, ordered pizza, and watched Goldfinger. Then spent a lot of time comparing what movies we have and haven't seen. I should have taken his bet when he said that Tampopo wasn't in the 1001 Movies to See Before You Die book, because it totally was. It was a nice night.

Tomorrow after the proposals, I will print my shirts. Not participate in the crazy drinking that takes place at Yur's following the finals and instead go and buy fixings for chili! Whoo! And then listen to audio books and clean the apartment. Jon is having a birthday celebration roaming party thing, but that doesn't start till later. I want to focus on cleaning the apartment. Put it into good shape for the Saturday Luncheon.

Tomorrow is the last day of proposals! Morgaine, Josh, Jennifer, and Samala! And then print shirts!

Fall Thesis Sketches - 3

Dominic proposing.

Rachel and Robin proposing.

Mel proposing and Karen defending.

Karen defending. BT observing.

Heather defending.

Sketches done during proposals and defenses.

Micron in a moleskin

another brilliant day in thesis land

I think my hair is totally improving with the better conditioner. Unfortunately I use a lot and it isn't a big container.

Anyway, another day of Focus Week. Relaxing, kicking back, supporting awesome people

First up was Dominic. 201 was crowded. The seats were filled and plenty of people sat. I sat next to Jennifer and Abbie, who was at my proposal and she complimented me again about it. Hurrah! Anyway, back to Dom. Again, another person who did extremely well. Got through his cards. Answered the questions well. Was clear and all that good stuff. He is doing illustrations about neurosis. Should be awesome.

Before Rachel's, I went to Safeway and grabbed a muffin and Perrier and some cash.

Rachel's proposal was also good. Unfortunately the podium light was facing towards me, so I couldn't get a good drawing of her. Still, I tried. Rachel is doing illustrations representative of the visual kei type of Japanese rock..stuff. Uhh. I'm a little unsure of what it is exactly, but it fits her artistic style.

Lunch was sandwiches and salad. It was good. I've had an odd appetite lately. I haven't been able to finish a lot. Not eating in the portions that I once did. Sat with the illustration cronies.

Karen went to a salon to get her hair styled for her thesis. She was also wearing a nice sweater tucked into a black pencil skirt, heels, and tights. She looked GREAT. It's that dressing up for the game/the show/the situation thing that gives one extra confidence. She looked hot. I whistled and Madeline cat called at her. And when she got close I said "yeah baby, I'm so going to objectify you". She seemed pleased with the reaction. I dropped my bike off at the studio (I was running late so I had to park it at school, so I could get to Dom's thesis in time). We chilled in the library.

I went to Robin's. It was a packed room. Stuffed to the gills. Fifty plus. Robin is so sweet, and makes some breath taking works of art. Her thesis is photo graveure prints of contemplative interiors. Lots of light and shadow. Just beautiful. A really complicated process, but it works perfectly for what she is best at. Her proposal was succinct and she handled the suggestions and questions masterfully. Really good.

I claimed a seat at Mel's and went back to talk to Eva, Asha, and Asha's fiancée while waiting for Robin to come out with the meeting with her panel. It is weird. Every now and again I stop and think "I'm here. I have one semester left. That is it. Huh." All these years, all this study, all the work. It is coming together.

I'm really understanding why I do art, and what my goals are, and understanding my unique aesthetic and view point. I'm unarchival, I'm accessible, I'm not terribly picky...but I like friends and portraits and I'd rather achieve a piece that represents a soul than technical beauty alone. Or something like that. I'm still thinking, but I'm on the right road I feel. And it makes me feel so good and so satisfied.

Anyway, Mel blew us away with her thesis. She is designing signs for people that have ugly signs in their store. Sort of giving good design as a gift, and doing it in this last sort of chance before she leaves college and has to make money and stuff. There is a lot more to it than that, and her slide show was brilliant considering it crashed two days ago and she had to start over. It was also a packed room. Lots of people showing their love for Mel. I'm excited for her project to start taking shape. She already did one sign as a practice run, and they put it up. She isn't telling people she is doing the signs for them, just making them and leaving a note card with some info. It is an interesting topic and raised a lot of questions, which she handled very well.

Chatted to Nicolo, a yoga buddy whose name I now finally know!

Afterwards I grabbed a seat at Karen's. Well I grabbed several seats. Wanted to save one for Madeline, but because of shuffling and stuff and lack of clarity on my part, it ended up not being saved. But she got a seat anyway. Karen's attendance for her defense was seventy plus strong. Bloody amazing! She had pie and sweet tea and a little give away that was most excellent. It really completed her thesis. Anyway, foxy Karen NAAAILLLED IT. Bam bam bam got through all of her points and the importance of looking back and yay America and history and stuff. Really clear. Good viewpoint. One of the panel members said "well, I don't have much to ask" or something like that. She got lots of applause and lots of hoots and cheers. I scanned some stuff, and waited around. Lacey and I escorted her to Yur's when all was done and done. I didn't have anything to drink. Just sat and sketched and chatted and listened. It was a nice crowd jammed in to the booth. BT, Karen, Sandra, Miles, Dom, James, Chris, Jim, Mel, Phil, Patrick, Robin, Diana...well some sat in chairs and others came and went. But it was a good bunch of people, all talking and having a good time. THESIS!!! YEAHH!

I left at 7:45, a bit early compared to the rest of the crew. Met new friend Rollyn at Blue Moon. I was hungry so I had a pint and a grilled cheese. Chatted about movies and school mostly. Not much to say about the evening really. Wouldn't classify it as a date. Ended early, and now I'm set to relax. Tomorrow is a shorter day. Not going to as many things. Heather, Tabitha & Kristen, Beth, lunch, Sivonna and then home I guess. Home to work on animation. I think I'll set the goal of having the backgrounds for the animation done. So I can have a starting point. Been slacking.

Fall Thesis Sketches - 2

Asha proposing.

Jon proposing. Martin observing. Cherish defending.

Cherish defending.

Sketches done during proposals and defenses.

Micron in a moleskin