I want to go back to Middle-earth as soon as possible

My across the street neighbors are having a shindig, and the live mariachi band has been playing for two and a half hours now. OH OH is this their last song? Though every song for the past 45 minutes has felt like it should be their last song. Please make it stooop. It has to stop some time? Right? I drove to Walgreen's and bought a bottle of wine to get a break from the music, as well as something to get me to mellow, because printing and ceaseless mariachi was driving me up the wall.

I went with the Agoston Garmacha & Syrah, and I find it quite tasty.

NO THEY ARE STILL GOING! STOP STOP STOP!

Hopefully as we are nearing 10pm, they'll shut up.

Okay so I didn't blog last night because I got back late and I was tired. Soo...

Friday:

I double coated screens for discharge, and burned a bunch of screens for printing. A job coming up has no pieces up against other pieces, so it will be really easy to register. If ink is next to other ink, it has to be precise, but if the piece are just floating, then it is really easy! Moreso if it is on white shirts, which require no underbase. Huzzah! I ran part of the discharge job as well. I finished Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. So good! The descriptions in the book were so precise. It only took a couple words to really get a picture of it all. (Oh God they are playing ANOTHER SONG!). It was a good shift.

I headed up to San Jose and hung out with Steve for a little bit before The Hobbit. Then, THEN IT WAS TIME FOR THE HOBBIT!

I didn't need to preorder the tickets because the theater was far from full. But I got a really good spot in the middle. I dropped my wallet, but a lady was all "hey did someone with a Washington license loose their wallet?" So I got it back.

The Hobbit was amazing. It was so very good. The visuals were (that song has ended....please not another one start....) the visuals were engrossing and detailed, but in Imax 3D, it was still quite clear. The dwarves were all separate and (NOOOO!) I could tell each one apart. Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bombur, Bofur, Dori, Ori, Nori, Kili, Fili, Dwalin, Balin, and Thorin. No reference needed for me! It felt a bit short, but only compared to the other Lord of the Rings movies. It was so nostalgic as well, seeing some of the characters again after nearly a decade. I loved it. I need to see it again, and soon(they've stopped...please don't start again). There was also singing, which was lovely! Nice to include the songs in the movie.

I hope this coming year passes quickly. I can't wait for the next movie! Oh and in the Imax, there was a 10 minute Star Trek trailer, which was AWESOME!

Then I drove home and went to sleep.

...the band hasn't started again. I think they have stopped. I THINK THEY HAVE FINALLY STOPPED!!!!

Saturday:

Slept in a reasonable amount. Had some oatmeal and a mason jar of tea. Worked on my prints! My cards are done, just need to be sorted (the goods from the not so goods from the bads) and folded. I got one layer on my Christmas print done but as I was working on the second, the band started playing and the layers were not quite lining up and I was starting to get anxious and frustrated. So I cleaned up my printing (the ink I mixed was too runny, and too dark, so it will be good to restart anyway, and went to Walgreens. I had a pasta dinner earlier.

So now I am enjoying my wine and finally getting some peace. I don't know if I'll resume printing, probably not. I think I'll just take it easy. Have some calm. I work tomorrow, but I don't think it will be a long shift. I can print in the evening tomorrow. It doesn't take that long to actually print. I was held back more by the prints drying than the set up. My at home set up works pretty well, just so long as the Mariachi doesn't play.

And yes, they have appeared to have stopped. Whoo!!

long days and cold nights

Not only am I wearing a sweater over my sweater, but I am also wearing gloves. Buuhhh it is cold! My room just retains no warmth whatsoever.

In 24 hours, I'll have watched The Hobbit! Ahhh!

I'm pretty tired and shall soon be retiring to bed. I've been reading in bed before sleeping, and that has been nice. Reading the first of the Patrick Melrose novels. They are so exactly written, and the words carry so much weight with them. I dig it.

Work ended up going loooong. But I can do looooong because soon I'll be heading hoooome. Vacation is just days away! And I may be working Sunday. I'll sleep Saturday. Actually I'll be printing Saturday, but printing my own stuff. I got my screens burned at work, so those separations worked out. Not totally perfectly, but good enough. It will be a long Saturday...or maybe it won't be? I won't know how long it will be till I start.

It was warm early in the day, then got cold fast.

We ran these two color fronts, that were pretty simple and the same colors, just four different designs that needed lining up each time. Then we ran a discharge job. Boss provided dinner, which was awesome. The discharge agent removes the color of the shirt, which makes the ink not so heavy on the fabric. It has a cool look to it, and the design we ran was one I still enjoyed after the end of the run. Discharge takes a lot of set up though, because it will break down the emulsion. And you need to print FAST because of it. No pausing like with plastisol. I also cleaned some screens and set up some screens to burn. It will be busy tomorrow as well!

Almost done with Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I have the next Thursday Next book to listen to, so that should be perfect.

Time to crawl into bed. Tomorrow awaits in all its excitement!

separate & work it out

Have the separations (aka the layers for screenprinting) done for my Christmas print!! And for my Christmas card!!!!! Tomorrow I expose them, and hopefully I'll start printing them that night. Hurray! Neither are large editions, or large prints, so they should print relatively fast. Wheee! I drew them using sharpie on transparency sheets, used for overhead projectors. I had a bit of a driving adventure looking for Staples. 17th magically doesn't connect to Soquel like it should, or at least not in an obvious way, so I went down 7th and jogged over, and the streets between 10th and 17th are named, not numbered, gaah, but I found Staples! I bought a 12 pack of bigger Sharpies, because one can never have enough Sharpies, and some fine tipped ones, and some envelopes to send my cards in (I splurged and got bright envelopes, so it really looks like you got a card, and it isn't just some white envelope blah whatever), and the 50 packs of transparency sheets were, like, fifty bucks, but I just asked the person at the copy section if I could buy it by the sheet (because obviously you can get transparencies printed there) and you can! So I got six sheets to be safe (I only needed 4, based on the scale I'm drawing at). It costs about five cents more a sheet to get it singles, but I'd have to be making a lot of separations before it would become better to break down and buy the stack instead of as needed.

Anyway, got some junk food on the way home because I was tired and lazy. Ate that, and got to drawing! I have watched soooo much Once Upon a Time tonight. Well, it has been on in the background while I worked. It, like Supernatural, is a perfectly functional background show.

Work was stressful. A lot is needing to get done, and it is getting done. Somethings are smoother than other things. I reclaimed screens. Finally got one job finished that has been waiting to be printed for a few months now, so all those screens, which are the most commonly used mesh count of 156, are back in circulation. Or they will be when they get coated. Boxed the job we ran today.

Tomorrow, hopefully, is long because day after tomorrow I can't stay all that late due to having to drive up to San Jose to see THE HOBBIT!! I should plan to get there around 8...so I should leave Santa Cruz at around 7. So I can work up till 6, which is still a pretty good late, but it's nice to have some down time.

Ahhh, time is running out so quickly! Have so much to do still. Wahhh! In less than a week, I'll be back home.

getting my printing ducks in a line, or however that saying goes

I got my paper all cut down! Ready to be printed on! And my screens are coated. Damn I love the resources at my job. So awesome. We ran the backs on a job, and I set up the backs, and did a pretty good job at it. I taped more screens. I prepped more screens for discharge. I'm working full shift after full shift, and loving it! Busy times call for busy people. I've got the stamina, lets do this!

Though my paycheck hasn't come in (it normally comes in a Tuesday or a Wednesday) and I'm waiting on that to get the transparencies to make my stencils for screenprinting with. Don't want to spend my money till I get more in. Like a responsible adult! So I took it easy tonight. Watching Premium Rush, that Joseph Gordon-Levitt bike messenger movie. It's mediocre, but the bike scenes and pretty nifty.

Dad, what was the name of that boat style you liked?

not holiday themed, but still nice

Whooo! Got my drawing done. It wasn't what I intended to do, but it looks quite nice. Excited to turn it into a card.

Had a nice full shift at work today. Burned screens. Washed out screens. Tons of screens! There will be more burning tomorrow as well. Finished prepping some of the screens for discharge. Another screen was cleaned and is half way to being ready for discharge. Discharge inks break down the emulsion, so you have to double coat it once it has been burned and washed out, and you use a hardener for that extra kick. New things I have learned! I also cleaned the floodbars. We ran the fronts on one job, and the fronts and backs on another. And that was that.

I got some groceries, went home and had dinner, and worked on drawing. I have a lot to squeeze into a little amount of time. It's the 11th! I go home in a week and a few days! AHhhh! But I have the weekend...I'll accomplish a lot this weekend. After I'm done being REALLY EXCITED about having seen The Hobbit.

Oh Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell continues to be excellent. Mom, I think I have a paperback of this book in my library. Should be a short, squat tome with white lettering on black. Feel free to read it.

Man, how have I watched this much Once Upon a Time?

can I just do a double post for every weekend?

Saturday:

Set the alarm because I had errands and couldn't do the 1pm wakeup thing. Had oatmeal, forgetting I had eggs and bacon in my fridge. Went and got paper for Christmas presents, and got some beach reference photos. It was a nice day for it.

Afterwards I drove up to San Jose to meet Steve for a house party/barbecue thingy. It was a fun shindig. There was so much food! And bacon was heartily used in most of the dishes. I ate a ton of mac & cheese, and noodle things, and beef with broccoli. Met Travis, Kate, a second Steve, Nargas, Sam, Crystal, and others. It was full of computer and engineers, but none of them could figure out how to adjust the color on the TV screen. Haha. We watched the Gary Mitchell episode of Star Trek on the projector. Gary Mitchell is supposed to be the new Star Trek movie villain (played by Benedict Cumberbatch).

Got back to my house after the shindig pretty late, so I went straight to sleep.

I finally finished Shadow of Night, and have started with the Patrick Melrose novels. I have the collection of the first four in one tome. It is so dense and beautifully written. Can't wait to read more! No longer am I languishing at the words of Deborah Harkness. I had high hopes but that book was just a disjointed mess.

Sunday:

Slept in! Hurray! Had a big scramble. Worked on my holiday gifts. Had some frustrations though. Wasn't a good work day. But as long as I keep working through the evenings in the coming week, all shall be well. Have to get up early tomorrow and get some Mylar, so I can get the seps ready for printing. Won't emulsify and expose my screens for a few days, but I want that done by week's end.

Now I am watching telly. Will probably tuck in early and read, though I know I've written that before.