grrr mad, but whoo party

Blogging now, because I'm going out later and don't know when I'll be back.

Set my alarm, but this magical 9:30am alarm never seems to register because I woke up, looked at the clock at 11:12 and went "CRAP!" and bounded out of bed. Showered, ate some toast. Then I was off to see the Animation Show of Shows at Cinema 21. A free showing of animation.

It was cold, but I had my mobius scarf. The animations were AMAZING. The show itself was put on by an animation producer, Ron Diamond, who travels the world and puts together a great "best of" animation roll. I didn't catch the name of a lot of the shorts, but there were some brilliant ones. One was narrated by Tim Minchin, I enjoyed that one. "Angry Man" was disturbing, sad, and so complex in its all together. There was stop motion meets Kent Williams piece that had my jaw dropped through it. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before. A lot of the shorts were like that. So unusual and beautiful. Pure art.

Then it was over and the Brothers Quay short was cut. Boo.

Went back. Ate some scramble (eggs and ground beef). Chilled. Went down to get a drink for the party. Gotta bring something for the hosts, and I'm not feeling up to cooking something (seeing as how the brownies are a bit stiff). Then I went to the computer lab. And realized I had left my guide at home. Again. What a dummie. And again I tried to go it without. I struggled for a long time, getting more and more pissed off. I should have just gone home, and gone back. But by the time I realized THAT I was too mad to be much more productive. I'm not a fan of technology. It just wouldn't do what I needed it to, and it pissed me right off.

So I went home. I'm behind on my sacred list. A better Trillian would take a breather and not go out and resume work. However I am not a better Trillian and really want to have a fun night. So I'm going to do that. And Sunday and Monday will be work days. Be at school. All days. In the lab. Working. Listening to stuff. Slide show, animation, computer printing, drawing.

spray and wait

In Oregon, you have to sign a form and get your drivers licence number written down before you can buy spray paint. And they keep it locked up. I just needed some black to spray my nerf. I accidentally said "I need it to spray some stuff for Halloween!" and when I realised what what I just said implied, I was quick to ad that it was for nerf. And since I got the kind that adheres to plastic, I think the guy could tell I was telling the truth.

I left my yoga clothes at home, but my jeans were stretchy enough for all the yin yoga. I went to the computer lab and struggled with AfterEffects. I had totally forgotten the instruction and I had left my instruction book at home. Tomorrow I will coop up in the lab and animate until I have to get ready for the party. I did finish my portfolio mailer instead. And it looks much better. So Sunday is all thesis day, as I don't have to worry about portfolio.

Went home. Went to Trader Joe's. Got some butter, eggs, lettuce, apples, frozen gnocchi and Gorgonzola (I'm lazy), beef, and flavored fluids. Came back. Mark and Kristen worked on their Harry Potter (Mark didn't want to be Arthur Dent anymore, BOOO!!) and Katy Perry costumes. I made brownies that didn't turn out. And spray painted my nerf! It took a while because each side needed about 15 minutes. Sprayed it about five times. Once on each side, and once again to tidy it up. Will probably spray it some more tomorrow. On the last time I accidentally locked myself out of the apartment (I was spraying it on a brown paper bag in the courtyard) and had to knock on the window to get let back in. Hahah. But the gun looks great and my costume is FINISHED! I'm so excited.

Now I'm just staying up looking at awesome movie posters.

I love my new comfy sweater.

Tomorrow I have obligations at noon, so that keeps my sleep schedule respectable! And with that done, I should be ready to work on stuff. Just go to school and animate and all that.

Since we don't pay an electric bill, we can have a space heater running all day. Wheee. Cozy apartment. It keeps everything a lot warmer than the rattly system in the building.

formaldehyde face

Thursday: designated bunking off from responsibilities day.

Ate my oatmeal (need to make another Trader Joe's trip). Watched They Live for costume prep. Went to William Temple House for costume finishing. Picked up a shirt that works better than the one Karen is loaning me, as well as a tank, two belts, and a super comfy gray BDG hoodie. Always something good at William Temple. No glasses though. So we walked to Goodwill. No sunglasses there either! We shared some Skinnidip frozen yogurt because neither of us have had it. I got about four brain freezes. Then we went to Walgreen's. They had some "close enough, can't be bothered to look around more" glasses. It's weird, the shirt I got is XXL but it fits pretty well. Maybe it is designed to be tight, so someone like me who favors loose shirts would buy it larger.

It was misty rainy. Went back home. Did laundry. Ate a tuna sandwich. Watched a hilarious episode of Community. And made a four day work list. It isn't so bad, so long as I keep to it. And there is plenty of room for "chilling out".

Put on my costume bits. It is looking good. Just need to spray paint the gun and I am ready to kick some 1988 butt at BT, Karen, and Phil's shindig. All the cool kids are going, sure to be a riot.

Friday. Go to Trader Joes. Go to Ace Hardware and get spray paint. Paint gun. Yoga. Animation. I don't know how much animation I will do, but I will get a start on it.

Saturday. Go to the special animation showing at Cinema 21. Some of the shorts may be up for Oscars. Finish up animation. Halloween PAAARTTYYY!

Sunday. Work on the portfolio (get it finished, shouldn't take long). Work on slide show (eek should take a while, I'll bring my audiobooks with me, almost finished with The Strain). Work on the write up for my thesis. The page or so about it.

Monday. Print my portfolio. Double sided. Tricky. Work on slide show. Work on pieces for advanced illustration.

Tuesday. Turn in stuff. Work on advanced illustration some more.

Wednesday. Turn in animation. Relax. Turn in piece and portfolio. Relax some fore.

Thursday. Do nothing. As it will be Thursday again, before I even know it.

had some fun, still have to do the work

Another school week draws to a close. And another five days need to be strategically planned.

But first, animation! I got a good night sleep and was not exhausted through the day. Go me. No tea either. We had an After Effects demo for the first chunk. I accidentally got my cursor changed into a different function and that set me back. I got the animation sorted, but I'm not a fan of the program.

Got me some Quizno's for lunch, and then chatted with Samala and April. It is so weird not knowing AT ALL what the other class is doing. Unless we talk to them.

Back in class was a sound lecture. I'm not so enthused about sound. I'm not a good listener. Also our next assignment was handed out. I'm a little confused about it, but I'll track down the assignment sheet. Manipulating frames or something or other. After break, it was critique time! There were some really cool things. Tippi was phenomenal. We saw mostly all of everyones, so I kinda forget a lot of it. Class ended.

Break time! Went to the class room. Sketched. Scanned. In class it was the portfolio review by three non-PNCA editor type people. We set up the portfolios and chilled for a bit. We broke up into three groups, and the three reviewers would swap. Kristen, Beth, Karen, Madeline and I were one group. Karen had a brand table set up, Beth had a print out, Madeline had a nice binder with inserts, and Kristen had a plastic portfolio with inserts. And I had my fold out.

From the review I learned that I still need to do a book type portfolio. For meetings the folder just isn't professional. I need to edit and make it more cohesive. They liked the format and all three agreed that it would be a more exciting thing to receive in the mail. So I know how I'll edit it. Mostly cutting out a bunch of stuff, and making some things larger. Might edit the gratuitous self portraits (there are more than enough, but that is me being silly and I should be professional). Sucks that I'll have to do a book after spending this much time on the fold out, but hey! I have the mailer already finished.

They loved Madeline's, as they should. They were a little baffled but encouraging about Karen's. Beth and Kristen's got some organization comments but they tended to like them. All in all, pretty good. Class ran late.

Dom, Karen, Josh, Janessa, and myself went to Yur's for a beer. I spaced out while Karen and Dom talked about Star Wars and tattoos. Went home. Can't be bothered to come up with proper lists. Animation something something, slide show, finish up portfolio, Halloween costume finishing touches, uhhmmm that other thing?

fda agent sketches

sketches for an illustration for an article about an FDA agent dude.

viva terry!

''

Just a little promotion for my buddy Terry. He is pretty rad.

love love love raising hope

Woke up, woke up with good time to spare. Forgot to hit the snooze once and then lost all that good spare time I had built up. Dang. Oh well.

Showered, put a hat over my hair, dashed out the door one layer too little, grabbed the spare blazer in my studio, and went to student council. The yoga intensive was tabled. I got some free food. And then meandered about for two hours waiting for the print lab to open up. It was crowded and the print lady (JP left) looked frazzled. I got some paper that I may not end up needing.

It was cold but not so rainy.

For the first half of class Martin talked more about client negotiations and what is to be expected for next week. It is slide show time. It is getting the focus week presentation together time. HOLY CRAP IT IS GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER. And I don't vlog, I should vlog more. But not now. My hair looks gross.

Anyway, during break I went and printed my portfolio for the review. I bought some of the paper they had on hand in the lab, but I accidentally put one sheet in backwards, so it didn't print as nice. But it is just for review. It isn't the final portfolio. For that, I'll spend a little more time and intention. Martin dug it. We talked a little more one on one. Things are good in my mind. He hasn't expressed any concerns. I just need to make brilliant art.

Class ended and I dropped my stuff off at the studios. Chatted with a snuffly Karen. Then yoga! Lots of leg stretches and stuff. Then some balance. Class wasn't as jam packed as last week. It even got out a little early, so I powered back home and caught Glee! That episode had a lot of hype, so the part I was unfamiliar with (Meat Loaf cameo!!) gave me the most excitement. Still, good episode. Those this season doesn't have much plot to progress. Kinda spent it all in the first one. Then two back to back episodes of Raising Hope! I love this show so much. I laughed heartily.

Now I'll do some sketching and get to bed at a reasonable hour. I'm tired of being dead all Wednesday long.

cabinet of curiosities

For most people, being done by midnight would be sort of a late night, but for me it is perfect! I can get up, go to school, and have a comfortable amount of time to do all my stuff (in theory). No worries. I'm so freaking set for things! Yeah!

I even accidentally slept in. I was awake at 10, even got out of bed to get a glass of water. And then I got back in bed...yeah. This non twin bed will be my undoing. Three years of just decent sleeping has been replaced by near perfect sleep. Yeah.

Had my standard four parter breakfast. I almost have the timing down perfectly. Turn on the kettle, put the bread in the toaster but don't put push the lever down just yet. Fry up the bacon. Beat the eggs while the bacon is cooking. The water should come to a boil some time, so make tea. When the bacon is almost done, toast the bread. Remove bacon and drain the fat. Scramble eggs. Put eggs next to bacon. Toast should pop up. Butter toast, put next to bacon and eggs. Remove tea bag. Enjoy and be sated for a long while.

Now I am out of bacon. And eggs. Blah.

I drew the cover for my portfolio, it could use some perfecting but it works as a better place holder for now. Wrote up the text as well, but I ended up not using it. Partly because Georgia worked fine once I tweaked it (unclear what the type Georgia looks like? Well it is what I use for my blog. I love it). But I didn't have time to scan it all in before the Print Portfolio meeting.

Every year the print department puts together a print portfolio. It is open to anyone who has (or is enrolled in) done a level 300 printmaking course, or honorary invitees like Lacey who makes beautiful reductive woodblock prints. Anyway, this year I decided to take part. The meeting was for size and theme. It was decided to be 10"x10". You can get six prints out of one sheet of standard printmaking paper, which is good when it comes to buying enough paper to do an edition of, say, 45. The theme was whittled down from cabinet of curiosities, aquatic life, chronology, body parts, and botany to cabinet of curiosities. A pretty good theme, really open to interpretation. Exciting!

Oh did I mention the rain? Yeah, I got nice and wet on the way down to school and not a minute later when I emerged from the studio, where I stowed my bike, it had stopped. Drat!

Anyway, meeting over I googled how to get from PNCA to Madeline's. Luckily the 77 stop was close. So I got on that, transferred to the 12 on Sandy. It was raining again and I got nice and wet while getting my umbrella out. Boo. I prematurely hit the stop button and apologized to the bus driver for jumping the gun. It had stopped raining for the walk to Madeline's. Last Movie Monday I went to, I was in shorts and my leg was gnarly from hitting the pavement, and it was sunny on my way there. This time it was dark, and cold, and three layers were not enough. Madeline made me a quesedilla. I wasn't expecting to arrive on time, but I did.

The movie was Aliens, which is a great action film. I nibbled on M&Ms and kicked back and enjoyed the film on her amazing television. Great great movie. Dried off. Madeline gave me a lift back to school (where my bike was). I also asked if it would be all right if I Trick or Treated with her on Sunday, and she said YES! Whoo! Yay for friends with younger siblings.

I scanned the portfolio stuff in, and dropped it into InDesign. Printed it out. Liked how it looked. Adjusted a couple things. Liked it even better. Left the library at 11:40. Talked to Jon at the front desk. Went home. Whoo! Done!

Tomorrow I'll go to student council, so that means getting out of the house before 1pm. This will make Wednesday a little easier because I'll probably be tired enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Whoo! These five days went by fast. Probably because I did something each day, instead of doing a lot of nothing. I need to list what needs to be finished for my costume. Glasses and spraypaint the Nerf for sure.

portfolioeeooeeoo

Daydreaming in the morning is my favorite hobby. I can doze for such a long time, just thinking. It is really nice. But then I have to get up and get on with it.

It rained pretty much solid all through the day. I miss the pitter patter of it on a roof, but it does make a nice sound on the courtyard outside. During my next free five days, I must swap out my wardrobe. It would only be a days chore. Need to get out my rain pants. And my winter coats. Bah. So yeah, I got waterlogged going to and from school. Thankfully the commute is half as long as it once was, maybe even 1/3's as long.

The heating system in my apartment is scary. It rattles throughout the whole place. More of a shudder really. I'm not used to it yet, so when it comes on it disturbs me for a few seconds before I place what the noise is. It also plunks.

Went to school around fourish. Documented my shirt packaging (which is now pretty mangled, it really wasn't built for longevity) and shirt. Went to the illustration computer lab and resized and reconfigured my portfolio. I got there realizing how much work I was actually missing that needed inputting into the portfolio. Background textures mostly. Need to do another 11x17 print out to see how it looks. But it is almost there I think. It looks a little informal though...and it feels very repetitive. Oh well.

Worked for hours, and my tummy got really rumbly. At 8:20 I packed it in, slogged through the rain to Chipotle (feeling lazy) slogged back. Packed up and rode home. Pants were pretty darn soaked. Bleh. Thankfully my apartment keeps warm and I have sweaters aplenty laying about. I'll have more once I swap out my wardrobe. Made a list of what I need to do for the next couple days. Right now I have to decide between relaxing for the next couple hours and being really productive tomorrow, or being sort of productive right now and sort of productive tomorrow morning. I want to finish up my portfolio design before the print meeting. It just needs stuff put into it at this point, so I need to make what needs to be put into it. Will it take an hour? Three? Hmmm.

Well, that is all I'll write for tonight. Time to watch Boardwalk Empire.

that that is is that that is not is not is that it it is

Oops looks like I forgot to update last night.

Friday:

Slept in. Way in. Crawled slowly out of bed. Just did the morning thing, killing time till yoga. Yoga came. It was only three people and Fawn, but it was some good stretches. Lots of peaceful structured breathing. Afterwards I talked to Cherish a bit. Went back to my apartment. Had the last of my breaded cod and salad. Then I remembered that there would be food at the illustration party. Darn. Oh well. Got dressed up slightly nicer. Put on my white boots and headed out to Martin's Studio. There was a show up of the teacher's work. Martin, Annie, Chad, Kurt, Ryan Bubnis, Zachary something something, and the others. There was soda pop and wine and seniors and juniors and freshmen. The latter two I barely recognized any out of. It was a little awkward. Lots of small group chit chat. I chatted with Kristin and Ryan and this kid Evan and Dom and Tippi and Martin and Chad and Annie. Lots of people. It was fun. I stuck around till 8:30 and went home. Then I was like "crap it is 9pm on a Friday night, I should go do something" but then I didn't. Staaayed in.

Saturday:

Animation day! Well, animation night. Anyway, got up a little earlier. Had my usual huge breakfast. Eat a big breakfast, and your metabolism gets started on a high note!

Puttered around till 5:30. Still need to tidy my room up. It is getting really crazy. Well not REALLY but it needs some tidiness in its life.

It was starting to rain when I left. I got to the lab to find the room locked (obviously, they wouldn't leave equipment that free to students, especially when there are not good cameras) so I went to grab my animating supplies. Got some tape, plexi, ink, put some mineral spirits in tupperware, and brushes. TJ had come by security and got it unlocked by the time I returned. Hurrah! I taped down my plexiglass, and got to work.

I did four failed starts (or was it just three?) before my final one. TJ also did a lot of play with moving sand about under the light. I did a face, but the movement was not fluid at all. I did another face and it was also not fluid, though it had some nice bits. Then I just started playing with abstract line, and that turned out pretty good. I did the animation and then thought about what it was conveying, and I came up with decay. I could have animated the different parts for a lot longer, but the textural quality I dug. Pretty happy with it. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Clean up was intensive. Wiped everything down with mineral spirits. Got lots of black smudges all over the place, and I rested my arm in the ink more than once. Still, it looks cleans. And TJ's animation is looking good.

It was quite wet when I emerged. Lots of rain. But I also saw the notice that the theme meeting for the print portfolio is on Monday at 5:15! I should so be there and get in on that. I'll get so much awesome art if I participate.

Went home. Tabitha and Kristen were preparing to go out on the town. They were all sparkly and stuff. They also called a cab to get to the club across town. Pretty smart, seeing as how the weather still sucked. Daring girls to go out with no sweaters.

What did I say I had to do tomorrow? Oh yeah portfolio work day. Go to school, work in InDesign, document my shirt. Monday is print portfolio meeting day and then movie night. Before that, maybe print my portfolio out, so I'll be pretty much set for Wednesday night. Well, still need to do thumbnails for the Bear Deluxe assignment. And maybe an illustration for the fold out for my portfolio. And stuff. But that can be done on Monday, because if it folds out again, that won't require any extra design....the other sides are what need the design. And I'll do that tomorrow. Yeah!